CHAPTER 1
A small human girl ran up to a green-scaled being, bobbing at her elbow agitatedly. "Aerin?" she said in a high voice.
The taller draconian tore her slit-pupiled eyes away from the starfighter she was studying. She ran a finger down her muzzle in an unconscious gesture. "Yes, Laureli?"
"Come on!" the younger girl squeaked. "Everyone else is leaving!"
Aerin sighed. "Coming." She padded after the flighty human, self-consciously furling leathery wings tighter to her back. Her personality drove her to desire solitude, and she hated being stared at.
The older clans of Jedi Younglings were dispersing after one of their routine starfighter classes. Beings of all types were heading their separate ways, clad in the tan tunics associated with the Jedi. A few wore the same dark navy tunics that Aerin did, that showed that they had not been picked as Padawans and were 13 years of age.
A warm, damp wind swept in through the open hangar doors, rustling cloth, hair, and wings. Aerin raised her muzzle and sniffed the breeze. It smelled like rain and green growing things, like spring...
"Hey guys! We're over here!"
Laureli's shout jerked Aerin back to reality. They had found the rest of their clan waiting in the hall outside.
Sabrel, a human with dark hair, wore the same dark-blue tunic Aerin did, and an air of nonchalance. She was the oldest of the Raven Clan, followed closely by Aerin, and she self-elected herself to be leader.
"What took you so long?" A short human named Riko demanded. He was a few years younger than Sabrel and Aerin, and small for his age. He tried to seem older by acting condescending to everyone.
The draconian barely glanced at him. "I was studying a starfighter."
Riko shrugged. "You know too much already. Give the learning a rest."
Aerin made a strange coughing bark. "Well, that's not a likely endeavor," she laughed as they traversed the halls of the huge Jedi Temple. She fell to the back of the group, managing to shake Laureli off her arm. "What did you think of today's flight class?" she asked the fifth member of the Raven Clan.
Nat, a clawdite, shrugged. "It was fine." He was quiet and serious, holding his counsel for more serious matters. Most days found him in the shape of a dark-skinned human that he preferred.
Aerin nodded, knowing that was as much as she could get out of him in one go. A thought struck her, and she strode forwards impulsively. "Did any of you see the Delta 7 Jedi starfighter in the back of the hangar? The one I was looking at?" She pivoted and began walking backwards to face them.
"I did!" Laureli exclaimed brightly. Everyone else stared at Laureli.
"Did you think anything about it was interesting?" Aerin said, trying to get a real answer out of her.
Laureli's eyes glazed, and Aerin fancied that she could see the electricity spark in her mind. "It... It was a pretty color!" She finished.
Aerin sighed, disappointed. "Maybe. I personally don't like yellow all that much." She shook her head. "What am I saying?" Her mind righted itself." I meant to say that it was extremely modified. More efficient, in theory. And do you know how hard it is to modify engines?" She tucked an errant strand of fine feathers behind her spiky ear fin. The feathers were daily mistaken for hair- it was similar, she would always admit, but the structure was different, and were one of the factors that classified her as a reptomammal. She turned around, speaking over her shoulder to them. "I wish I knew who owned it-" She leaped back quickly as she looked up and nearly collided with a Jedi. Her four-foot tail lashed, keeping her balanced; she hoped that she didn't cut anyone with the barb on the end.
The Jedi was startled out of his thoughts by her sudden movement, and put his hands on her shoulders to steady her.
"I'm glad you like my ship," he said, still preoccupied. He stared at her vaguely canine face, but his mind was still elsewhere; she could tell by his eyes. "I'm very proud of it." He smiled awkwardly.
Aerin dipped her head in a small bow. "You have reason to be proud, Master Skywalker."
Anakin Skywalker immediately fixed his full attention on her. "I'm not a Master yet, I'm afraid," he said with forced gaiety.
Aerin was taken aback by the resentment that burned in his eyes and wondered if he was angry with her, or someone else. Before she could try to placate him, he stepped back, taking his hand off her shoulder.
"I should be going now." He nodded to the rest of the Raven Clan, who were standing mutely behind Aerin, and strode off, back to his ruminations.
Aerin watched his cloak disappear around the corner before she reluctantly allowed herself to be dragged off by Laureli.
Sabrel shook her head as the winged being struggled to rid herself of the happy Laureli she had acquired.
"I wish I could get the chance to talk to a Jedi Knight as handsome as him," she said as she gestured back where the Jedi in question had gone.
Aerin disentangled Laureli from her arm. "I'm sure you would Sabrel, I'm sure you would. It might be a different kind of conversation though," she said keeping the laughter out of her voice.
Sabrel pouted becomingly and tossed her sheet of black hair over her shoulder, making every male Padawan in a 50-foot radius go weak-kneed. "Of course, that's one of your faults, although not a bad one at that."
"If that's one of her faults," Riko cut in, "Then anger is one of yours, Aerin."
Her ear fins went back, and she stared at him with eyes more deadly than any lightsaber.
If Riko had been watching his opponent instead of making sure everyone heard him, he would have reconsidered debating against her. The last person to get that stare- a human that had called her 'lizard freak'- had an embarrassing accident a few days later involving machine oil, ball bearings, a bucket of compost, and a toy duck that squeaked. No one had ever accused her of doing it- of course, the Padawans said, who'd want to accuse a being with razor-sharp teeth? Not me - but it was definitely possible.
"Why do you think that, Riko?" she said in a carefully controlled growl.
"Uh...well...anger and hate lead to the Dark Side!"
Aerin frowned at the mantra the Jedi Masters had drilled into them. Then her eyes unfocused and she stared at nothing. "But they don't, do they? Emotion is perfectly normal, but we're suppressing it; if it would surface, we wouldn't know how to deal with it. It would be the Lost Twenty all over again." She shook her head. "But the Masters wouldn't tell us untruths." Would they? She thought worriedly.
"Anyway, everyone knows the Sith Lords are evil," Riko stated as if it would solve everything.
"But what's evil about them?"
"Well...they're bad and stuff, and they wear black, and they use the Dark side!" Riko finished, jabbing a finger in the air to emphasize his words.
"But the Force is singular," Aerin reminded him. "It just depends on how much you want to use. And wearing black doesn't make you evil. You may correlate it with evil in your mind, but that itself won't make you evil."
"What? Co- corol- whatever you said. What do you mean?"
"It means," she said, "that you connect it. Didn't you know? The Masters say that all the time."
Nat spoke up, and the others fell silent, knowing that he would say his part once, and only once.
"Aerin's right. White is associated with good and purity, but black was never originally thought of as evil. It's associated with sophistication and plainness." He fell quiet and introverted in on himself again.
"And the Sith held the Galaxy together for centuries," Aerin said. Better than the squabbling Republic ever could, anyway, she thought, adjusting her wings with a gentle rustle.
Sabrel and Nat were starting to get nervous, glancing around in case any older Jedi were in the halls. They had been overheard and reprimanded the last time their conversation had taken this track.
"Well, yeah, but Democracy is a thousand times better!" Riko shot back. "Beings were miserable when the Sith ruled," he finished heatedly.
"But aren't people miserable now?" Green eyes dared him to argue.
"What!? No! Because of democracy-"
"What about the Separatists? What about the millions of beings in poverty? The Outer Rim planets that are so far behind everything else? Aren't they miserable? More miserable than a thousand years ago, because the Senators promise to make everything better, but they only mean it for themselves?" What about my planet?! What about my entire species, without technology, without starships, preyed on by bounty hunters? Forced to work as slaves on other planets? What about them, Riko? She wanted to scream that into the ignorant boy's face. Her entire body shook with the effort of restraining herself.
Sabrel forced herself in between the two. "Be quiet!" she hissed. "D'you want to get us in trouble again?"
Aerin turned away with a snarl, and shoved open the door marked with a Raven, indicating the room belonged to the Raven Clan.
The room had bunks lined against the walls, stacked two high. Most of them were empty, as most of the Raven clan had become Padawans already. Aerin immediately climbed up into her bunk up by the ceiling. She'd left the debate- all right, an argument, she admitted - with more doubts than she'd started with. Are the Jedi all they're supposed to be? She flopped on to the bed, staring at the ceiling. I can't be worrying about that- I should be worrying about whether or not I'll become a Padawan! She sighed, and easily started daydreaming of flying. Someday I'll fly. She rustled her wings irritably. I hope.