A/N

Hello all, and thank you for reading my story. I wanted to take this time to orient this story in the Star Wars universe. I myself have seen the movies many times, the Clone Wars and (most of) the Rebels series, and read a couple EU (Expanded Universe) novels (also some SW guides). So while I have a good grasp of Star Wars basics, I do not claim to be an expert. This story will try to thread the gap between pre- and post-Disney timelines, but deviates from either when necessary. The story takes place post Star Wars movies, and while references are made to previous characters, it features a completely original cast of characters. In general, this work is at its heart a story: a tale of characters and the challenges they face. Therefore, it is my hope that it can be enjoyed by Star Wars fans and non-Star Wars fans alike. To help you out, I try to italicize any new creature, planet, or concept I created the first time I introduce it into the story. All other foreign concepts are from the EU. Languages, such as Basic and Huttese, appear in the story and when possible is based on existing information, but since Basic is just English in Star Wars, it is based on something different, which will become clearer later on in the series.

I anticipate this as a trilogy of stories, this being the first in the series The Path of the Jedi. I will try to update weekly with new chapters, anticipating its culmination in September of 2018, with the subsequent books appearing in late 2019.

With all that said, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy it.

Part 1: The Boy from Earth

Chapter 1: The Explorer

He heard a sound overhead. He looked up. Nothing. He thought about telling the others, but then, he thought to himself, it would be just like those crazy tin-foil-wearing-area-fifty-nine-crawling nut-jobs seeing things in the clear Arizona sky. Anyways, eyes back to the path.

"Can we stop and rest?" his sister asked.

"Yeah, alright," his mother said. "Hey, Ken, Lilly needs a rest!" she called up ahead. The family put down their backpacks and sank down as the sun beat against their backs. He graciously took the bottle from his mother and took a few sips, while his dad made his way back. He poured some of the water into his hat and put it back on, feeling the beads of water dribble down his neck. He liked hiking, he really did! But why did it have to be so damn hot? The sun blazed with an energy out here that he just didn't feel back home in Maryland. It seemed to streak to the ground faster, sear harsher and turn all the land red. He knew that some people liked it, but it always felt rather suffocating to him.

"Why are we breaking?" his father asked. "We're so close."

"Lilly needed a rest," his mother said. She looked over the hazy desert. "We shouldn't have taken this path. We're gonna get stopped by a ranger, or you're gonna fall off that cliff over there."

"Beth," his father said. "There's nothing to worry about. The ranger at the station even said it was fine. Just because it isn't on the map, it doesn't mean that it's dangerous. The arch is supposed to be –"

"O.K., O.K.," she said, cutting him off. "Let's just go. C'mon guys." He caught his sister's eye and they laughed. Their parents' arguments were always entertaining, and his mother's complaints about the prospects of his father falling off a cliff were a classic.

After a few more minutes of hiking, they turned the corner and saw the arch. All four of them immediately stopped and stared. But it wasn't because of the arch. It was because of the spaceship underneath it.

.

"Wait, so, are those some of those crazy alien-hunter weirdos?" he asked out of the corner of his mouth. They must be, or maybe it's some science thing that looks like a spaceship.

"Well, I'll just go down and see," his father said.

His mother opened her mouth to protest, then closed it. "I don't know…"

"Beth, it's no big deal. It looks fun."

"We don't know what it is. It could be a government project or something. We shouldn't just la-di-da down…"

"The rangers would have told us; I'm just going to check it out." He went down without another word.

The other three members watched from behind a rock as his father climbed down. They heard him shout "hey!" to two people who appeared to be examining the ground. They suddenly saw his father and stood up. They looked wound up, like a cat in a corner. His dad seemed to sense this and stopped walking. He greeted them again and asked what they were doing. They still said nothing, but one of them touched his arm and the door to the spaceship opened. Out of the steam came what looked like a robot, or someone dressed as a robot.

O.K., he thought, these people are clearly obsessed, and most likely unbalanced. The smart thing would be to turn around now. But all four of them stayed where they were, transfixed at the otherworldly scene. The gold humanoid robot continued walking until it was standing a couple feet in front of his father.

"REE-teen AH-ma-neen…KAH-sut KAH-beese?"

Oh great, they made up their own language, too. At least that's what everything the robot said sounded like. His dad stood, looking nonplussed. Then he smiled and continued.

"Hi! So…"

"Hah-ee," the robot-man said.

"Yes. Hi." Again, his dad looked confused. "So, is that a model spaceship? Are you guys into aliens?" His dad was conversing about aliens as one might chat about the weather. The robot-man stood, looking.

"Yesss," the man finally said.

"Oh! Well cool! Was that, like, Klingon that you were speaking?" A pause.

"Yoo," the robot-man said, pointing to his father. Now his dad looked really confused.

"Me?" his dad asked, pointing at himself.

"Mee."

"You?" The robot-man pointed at himself and pointed up. His dad laughed. "What, you're from outer space?" Again, his dad laughed. The robot-man also chuckled mechanically.

"Me from outer space," he said, again pointing up. His dad chuckled again.

"O.K. alien. Can I go inside your space ship? It looks really cool." He started forward. The robot-man held up his hand and the father stopped. Another figure emerged from the ship, looking slightly familiar. The boy tried to think if he had seen this costume before…and then the figure turned to him. And he was suddenly seized with the undeniable understanding that this was not a human. He felt the presence of the other, a foreigner from a foreign land, a stranger not seen or felt on this earth: an alien. The figure seemed to ponder something as he stared at the boy. A slight breeze fell down into the depression and the sound of a faint trickle of pebbles bounced on the walls. Then silence again.

The alien beckoned to the remaining family members and walked back into the ship. The boy began to stand up and his mother pulled him back.

The boy looked to the mother. He could see in her face the creeping fear, the lingering doubt, but also the growing fascination.

"Couldn't you feel it? I think this is…" His mother was silent. He started to move and Lilly moved after her brother. Their mother quickly moved in front of her children as they marched toward the misty opening. The family followed the alien up the ramp.

Who are you? a voice said in the boy's mind. Was it was the alien's? In his head, the boy answered back.

Abel.

.

After an hour, the protocol droid was proficient in the English language. The alien often helped the language learning process, leaning forward in his chair to make a point, then sinking back into the semi-darkness. He certainly looked like an alien. His angry red skin, like the world outside, was lined with veins and he seemed part robot with some sort of mask obscuring his mouth and two coverings over his eyes like death. When he wasn't helping with language lessons, he was continuing to stare at Abel.

"Now that we can speak together," the droid said, "my name is C-4XA, human-cyborg relations. We cannot, I am afraid, reveal our purpose on your planet, but –"

The alien interrupted him and the droid translated the message. "It is helpful in our work to talk to natives. And I sense the light." He did not elaborate. The droid seemed flustered, as much as a droid could be, that is.

"Ah. Well, we are on an exploratory mission to chart a new hyperlane from Coruscant to Endor, exploring new life on the way –"

"Wait!" Abel interrupted, looking at his family who had all noticed it. "Hyperlanes? Coruscant and Endor? Is Star Wars real?" But as soon as the words left his mouth, he felt foolish. Of course it's not, these are actors after all. Though they certainly created an elaborate ruse. The alien, however, stood up.

"You know these things?"

"Well…yeah. From movies."

After they explained, the alien interrupted, "How is it that you happened upon these images?" But by this point, Abel had had enough.

"O.K., I give up. I can't keep doing this if you're just doing this for fun. Tell me the truth, now, or we're calling the cops to pick you up for trespassing on park land. If you really are from up there…we need proof." The alien thought for a moment as his sister and dad nodded while his mother fidgeted. Then the alien removed a glinting cylinder from under his robes and clicked a button.

"Does this answer your question?"

The blue lightsaber hummed with life.

.

"You…you're a Jedi." It was his mother who spoke first. The alien looked to her and waved his hand at a cup. The cup lifted off the table, then flew to his outstretched hand.

"Yes. My name is Master Ma Fenn."

"Hold on," Abel said, concentrating on a forming idea. "You could have that cup on a wire or something."

"You are skeptical." Then with a flick of his hand, Abel began to rise. His feet left the ground and he hovered two feet off the floor of the ship. It was a strange feeling, being weightless. Then he was gently put back down. Lilly's mouth had fallen open.

Abel's breathing was a little uneven. "O.K., so…maybe…"

"Skepticism is good, on the whole," Ma said. "It allows one to examine, to understand…to look beyond that which is seen. But in this, I will ask you to trust. The Force resists examination, and every time Jedi try to probe its mysteries, it slips away again."

"To be fair," Abel countered, "I doubt you, not the Force." The edges of Ma's eyes crinkled.

"No, you doubt my existence, and by extension, the idea that life can exist beyond your world. Oh, not your planet," for Abel had been about to interrupt him. "I mean the world of your mind. To you, I am a fantasy, this movie, and you cannot reconcile your fantasy world with a real, living world. And the connection between the mind and the body, between the possibility and reality, that is the Force. You doubt that there is a power greater than that of your world. And so I ask you again, to trust."

Abel thought about it. Trust in the Force? Do I actually believe in the Force after only stumbling upon these explorers two hours ago? But suddenly all the questions that were being constructed in his mind died, leaving one single thought. It would be so much easier if I just believed…and the cup in the alien's hand twitched.

It had drawn the eye of everyone in the room and silence fell. Ma Fin broke it. "I knew this boy could wield the Force from the moment I saw him. I felt it."

"What!" Abel started to pace. "Then why haven't I been able to do anything until now? I mean, I've tried enough times to accio the remote across the room…"

At this, Ma furrowed his brow. "Yes, this is puzzling. My powers are greatly diminished on this planet, a sensation I have not felt in a long time. But even without this effect, and even with your…" his eyes crinkled again "summoning attempts, you most likely would not have been able to use the Force. You never did believe in its power."

"What, so seeing is believing for the Force?"

"Did my demonstration really make you believe?" Abel thought about it and was silent. "I should like to take this boy with me to begin Jedi training." His family was taken aback.

"What?" his mother piped. "Take him? Oh…I don't think so."

"He would be able to return for periods of time. But it would greatly benefit both him and us to have him in our order."

She sank into a chair. She seemed ready to protest again, but then she looked around the room, at the wondrous world her son would enter, and she couldn't help but let a smile creep onto her face. His father was pondering the implications and his sister's eyes were far away. Finally, Abel spoke.

"I am sixteen. Does that matter?"

"That's true," his father said. "Don't they usually train Jedi from a much younger age?"

"We generally like to have them start younger, age eight for humans," Ma said. "But many of our initiates, in fact most, do not start until later because with a greatly diminished order, for reasons you apparently know, we often do not locate Force-users until they are older. Abel will fit right in at the academy." It was Lilly who spoke up next.

"What year is it anyways for the galaxy?" She looked around sheepishly, embarrassed that she had spoken. "Well, the movies are always long, long ago."

"But they weren't far, far away," Abel said with a grin.

"The year is 227 after the Battle of Yavin, which was the battle in which the first Death Star was destroyed." They processed this information. In almost a last desperate attempt, his mother spoke again.

"But, he at least has to come home for Christmas… Right?"

"Students receive regular holidays. He will be allowed to come back to visit."

No one spoke. Abel saw his father holding his mother's hand and heard him sigh. None of them knew how this should go.

The Jedi master continued. "In the meantime, we should establish diplomatic ties with your planet's leader and begin the process of cultural exposure. We could send ambassadors, and they could –"

"I don't know if that's such a good idea," his father confessed. "It was probably good that you remained hidden here."

"Yeah," Abel said. "For starters, we do not have a planetary leader. We have 197 countries, at least according to Sporcle, and every one of them has factions, and…well, at the very least, your arrival would kick-start the doomsday preppers to start shooting. It just…it would not be good. Trust us."

"Yes, this may be true. Perhaps…" Ma sighed, looking old. "Yes, things have been changing in the Jedi Order. It is certainly not what it once was." He left that cryptic statement hanging in the air. "Very well, I will advise the Academy to accept your request. But I really do need an answer. We must return to report to Ossus in the coming days."

Coming days?

Abel looked to his family. Two hours ago, he was on a hike with them on their family trip, their yearly traditional vacation. So much of his family was tradition. They were about as close as any family could be. Not to be callous, but Luke Skywalker's choice was easy. Abel's family was still alive, and he would be leaving so much of it behind. He knew that he was deciding on something so much bigger than a boarding school. He was deciding on a way of life, a path that did not include the traditions of his family. But he could not pass up the Jedi tradition, either. To be able to use the Force…and it's not just about the physical power; he would be validating that there is something else out there. Nietzsche was wrong. There is something more out there.

"I think…I would like to go." He looked at his family, but especially at his mother. Her mouth was shut tight.

"Maybe," his father began, "if you would stay with us for a couple days or so…" Beth's eyes shot wide and she tugged against his arm. Abel could hear her mutter things like, "the house is a mess" and "he could be a – for all we know."

"We really do need to return, but we could of course stay to learn more about your culture. We will leave the ship here."

"Ahh…" his father began, "that might not be the best idea. It'd be a long walk. Come to think of it, it's too long of a drive for you to leave…" He began to think of possibilities, but Master Ma cut him off.

"We will carry your ship."

"Car."

"We have plenty of room in our hull." He motioned to another droid which – presumably – keyed in information and the ship hummed to life. The ramp pulled up and the doors shut them inside and Abel heard the distinct intake of breath from his mother. Looking out the window, he saw they were already high in the sky.

The ship sped away and touched down near the parking lot. Ken got out and drove the car to a more remote road where he was able to drive it right into the ship, which then sped off to the east.

.

They decided on the story that Abel had been given a wonderful opportunity to study abroad for several years. That is what they would tell their friends when Abel suddenly disappeared from their lives.

He had thought about confiding in his closest friends, but he decided there was no point. Would they even believe him? It's not like he could offer proof.

For he had tried to replicate what he had done in the alien ship, but try as he might, he could not make anything move with the Force. In fact, the whole thing seemed ridiculous when they arrived home to quiet suburbia. Everything was as they had left it: the couches in their normal formation, sheet music on the piano, pens exploding out of the junk drawer… Then the Jedi Master walked in through the door, removing his hood, his angry red skin and metallic breathing clouding the entranceway.

Their cat, who had immediately started begging for food on their arrival, suddenly streaked away from this intruder. The master held out his hand. The cat turned back and tentatively sniffed. Then she walked calmly back and rubbed up against his hand.

"Wow," Lilly said, "she usually just hisses at strangers, and she never lets them pet her."

The cat started to purr.

Abel shook his head.

The family didn't really know what to do with the Jedi who sat stoically at their counter. Any attempt at polite conversation seemed silly. For the most part, he was content to observe, probably noting the similarities and differences in our culture that he could mention in his report. He looked out the window.

"Is it usually so hot and humid here?"

Oh God, they were talking about the weather.

They continued to answer his questions about their planet, and even showed him the Star Wars movies they had talked about. He made little comment on these. In the evenings, he returned to his ship which they had hidden in a nearby park that was never used.

One evening, just before leaving, he made the announcement.

"I will be leaving your planet tomorrow. If you would like to train to become a Jedi, you must come with me," he said, staring at Abel. He nodded, then whisked out the door.

It was late by the time he finally trudged up the stairs to go to bed. As he was about to switch off his light, he noticed his sister's was still on. He poked his head in her room and saw her curled up, but still awake, staring blankly.

"I don't want you to go."

She was going into her freshman year of high school, and she had been looking forward to being in the same school as her older brother again. Now she wouldn't even been on the same planet.

Abel sat on the edge of her bed and leaned down to give her a big hug.

"I know, I don't really want to either."

"Then don't."

"But could I really do that?"

She shrugged. Then she smiled slyly. "I just can't imagine you actually having the Force. Using a lightsaber." She laughed like a hyena. "You're gonna be so bad!"

"Hey!" But he was laughing too.

"You can't even win a swim race, how are you gonna fight bad guys? You probably won't –" But then she cut herself off and a shadow crossed her face. She curled up tighter.

"Look," Abel began, "I probably won't even face that many bad guys. There're probably different types of Jedi. Maybe I'll be like a…researcher or something."

"Or a janitor." He hit her.

"It's true though, I've been trying to use the Force ever since we got back, and nothing's happened."

"Well, that's normal, isn't it? The Jedi said the Force was…weak here. I wonder what that means, anyway." They both thought on it.

She sighed. "You'll be fine, Abel. You always are."

She rolled over to face the wall.

Abel rose creaking from the bed, then Lilly whispered, "I'll miss you."

He turned and saw her little hand outstretched. He took it and squeezed it. Then he reached over and pecked a kiss on her cheek. "I'll miss you too, Lee-lee. Good night. Love you." Then he returned to his own room for a night of restless sleep.

.

Abel said his goodbyes with his family and there were many hugs and promises. After all the questioning during the previous days, the actual parting was surprisingly easy. He left his family and walked with the Jedi master to their purring ship, ready to take them on a long journey. As he started to ascend the ramp, he turned and stared wistfully at the land. This was his planet, his world, and he was its ambassador, its son. He knelt to touch the earth one more time. The dirt slipped through his fingers.

As he was climbing the ramp, Ma turned around and said, "It really is beautiful, this land of yours. What is it called again?"

"Earth," Abel said. "It's called Earth.