How the world has changed, thought the Crèche Master as she was baking some pastries in the numerous kitchens of the Jedi Temple. They were in the middle of the Clone Wars now, death, suffering and chaos seemed rampant, the pull of the Dark Side more and more evident… Her sapphire eyes and gold hair glinted in the artificial light as she moved about, mixing ingredients that resembled closest to the ones used to make the pastries in her homeland.
She had been a Jedi for far longer than anyone remembered, but only a select few knew of her existence. She had thought the terrors she had been told of were the epitome before she had come to this strange, new world, but she was wrong… She was so wrong… Younglings from various clans came to her in droves and droves, wondering what she was baking, but she would not allow them to touch a single pastry. She would bake them other ones later.
In her world, ages ago, there had been tales of a Queen these pastries to a wandering warrior, as a gift of goodwill and protection. Thousands of years later, another Queen gave them to eight warriors travelling on a Quest to destroy great evil in her homeworld… She remembered those days, not because she was there, but because her father had been one of those travelers… They lived rather primitive lives there, not knowing of Coruscant, of the Republic, or even of the Jedi, a planet on the furthest vestiges of the Outer Rim. It was ironic… that it was essentially so close to Kamino, and she did not notice.
Born in a continent known as the Blessed Realms, during a time that had been known as the Forth Age of the Sun, she lived among the greatest of her homeworld, her father, a venerated warrior for his accomplishments, her grandfather, even more… There, she lived like a princess, until the day strange beings from a great ship that descended from the skies landed near her home. They declared that her powers, strange among her kin, but a common one among that of the Lady of Light's, originated from an entity known only as the Force, and that she would be trained in the ways of the Jedi… She had not wanted to leave her parents, or anyone in her home, but it was her father that told her, "Iell nin, do not fear. No matter where you may be, we will always be by your side… Have you forgotton what Lord Elrond said to the Ringbearer and the Halflings?"
"I Aear can vên na mar…" she replied, and her father nodded to her, smiling; the Sea called them home, it always did. That was the last time she had seen her father, or anyone else in her home… It had been close to a thousand years… As a Jedi, she was trained to use the Force, to learn the many philosophies, and she had taken into account that the teachings of the Jedi since the Ruusan Reformation… did not suit her. From a Jedi High Council Member, she left, retiring into the Crèches, were the children, they were easier to deal with than ultra-conservative and serious Jedi…
For generations, she tended to the children, one after another, until she came across a few who deemed very, very promising… The first among them was Dooku, followed by Qui-Gon Jinn, and Obi-Wan Kenobi. They will change the flow of Destiny… the Force told her in her own voice when she encountered them one by one, and when another boy came into the Jedi Temple, brought in with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, she knew that he, would be the strongest of them among all… He was known now, as the Hero with No Fear.
"Skywalker, would you please come here for a moment, and you, Padawan Tano," she said to the Jedi and his Padawan. Who would have thought that a Human and a Togrutan would have such close chemistry? But the both of them, she could see their obvious similarities other than their lightsaber forms. Once the pair had entered her spotless kitchen, she gave them a box, filled with the pastries that she had baked. "These are for you and your men. One small bite of each will fill your bellies for a full day."
The two of them quickly brightened at her words, and bowed their thanks. She chuckled, and sent them on their way. Go, go and meet your destiny…
"Boy, General, this is good stuff, where did you get it from?" Captain Rex asked Anakin while munching on the strange bread wrapped in leaves. It took only a bite, and he was already full, not to mention the wholesome, sweet flavor, it beat whatever they had to eat in the height of battle anytime, any day…
Skywalker smirked. "A Creche Master gave it to us," he replied, breaking a small portion of his own when Obi-Wan approached them.
"Ah, Lembas bread…" the Jedi Master commented. "Only Master Arya Lascalen bakes them. They tasted so good that a youngling once ingested three of them in one go." Having said thus, he left the others, leaving them room to guess the identity of the foolish young perpetrator.
As they moved further away from Rex and Anakin , Commander Cody said, "It was you, wasn't it, sir?" Obi-Wan sighed, and told his faithful second hand that should Anakin ever catch wind of it, he would be punished by scrubbing the 'freshers on all the ships of the Open Circle Fleet.
That being said, Anakin never knew who it was, not even he had become a redeemed Force Ghost watching his son in the brink of victory after the destruction of the second Death Star…
Master Arya Lascalen was not sure if she would live to see that vision come alive, but in her own Jedi Interceptor, tears stung when she remembered how many Jedi would be killed. Order 66 had caught them by surprise, without any prior warning. She left, not out of fear, but out of necessity to survive. She had heard that a Lord Vader had attacked the Temple, and killed everyone there, and she was lucky to have escaped.
"I Aear can vên na mar", her father had told her. Those were the words she had repeated to Anakin and Ahsoka when they left, and surely, just surely, their paths would cross once again, and they would all meet once again, all the younglings she had taught, all of them, every single one…