Out With the Old Life, In With the New
Status: Complete
Rating: G/K
Setting: About 32 years before Episode I
Category: Drama
Summary: A youngling leaves one way of life for another.
Disclaimer: I make no money in the writing of this fiction based on George Lucas' universe. In fact, I lose money wasting my time on populating his world just a little more. If only it weren't so dang much fun…
Spoilers: None.
Comments: Please!
The under-sized, auburn-haired girl sat is stony silence as the taxi sped through the mid-city traffic of her homeworld of Mendoraan. Across from her, in equally chilly silence, sat her grandmother. Gramma Katrin was taking her away from her home and family, because her mother didn't want her any more.
Though not quite five, the child understood why she had been rejected: Her father had finally refused her presence. Even though the little girl understood from her mother that her father was all important and that she needed to please him, somehow she just had not been able to measure up. She'd tried so desperately to please him, but he never really seemed appreciate her efforts. Instead, Daddy would go away on his long "business" trips that made her mother sad. He'd finally come home again just a few days ago and one more time, little Cassila Sanar had tried to gain his favor, this time by going through his private datapad and organizing his documents.
Somehow, though, it had not at all worked out well at all. He'd demanded of her how much she'd read and knew, how she'd even defeated the lock on the datapad. When she explained that she'd only read enough to know how to group them, he'd… Well, Grampa Alaine had described it as "ballistic." Cassila just knew that he'd been so angry with her he no longer wanted her around. And if Daddy didn't want her around, then Mommy didn't either. And Mommy was queen of the noble house in which they lived.
Cassila stole a glance at her grandmother. "The little freak belongs with her own kind," was what the elder Sanar woman had said, to back up her father's desires. Cassila knew she made her grandmother uncomfortable, that the woman refused to stay alone in a room with her. The only reason she was "alone" with the little girl now was because they had a real, living driver instead of a 'droid.
The woman caught the small girl's gaze and shot back an icy stare. "If only you weren't so strange…" Katrin Sanar seemed to be at a loss for the right words. "Odd... Just downright weird. But then, so are the rest of the Jedi." She waved off the child's gaze with a wave of her hand. "You definitely belong with your own kind," she concluded yet again.
A tear finally began to creep down one small cheek. Cassila remembered what her mother had said about tears, how they were temporary friends that carried sadness away. Mommy, I still love you even though I didn't work out this time, she thought, and more tears came.
By the time they arrived at the satellite Jedi Temple for this inner-rim world, little Cassila's face was fully wet. Tira Sanar handed her a genuine cloth handkerchief, nearly snarling as she did so. "Clean up, right now. You are not going to embarrass me again." Cassila wiped industriously with one hand as the elder woman led her by the other. The driver came along behind, bringing the child's bag of belongings.
Almost immediately, they were ushered into an office that was spacious and comfortable. Cassila remembered it from before. Behind the desk sat Master Reesoh-An, a Twi'lek. Cassila remembered her, too. The driver deposited Cassila's bag next to the chair she had climbed up into and quickly retreated back to the vehicle.
"Tira Sanar," Reesoh-An started in her honeyed voice, using Katrin Sanar's formal title as a society matron, "you and your husband do realize that he will no longer be able use his influence as Executive Trade Minister of Mendoraan to remove Cassila from our custody? That what happens here and now is permanent?"
"My husband did what he had to do for our daughter," the human woman countered, not appreciating being dictated to in any way by these people. "We removed Cassila from your hold eight months ago because it was necessary at the time. My daughter's situation has changed and she's come to her senses. This child needs to be with her own kind." There was nothing generous in the tone Tira Sanar used. "After all, it was your blood test when she was a baby that said she had some kind of some thing in her blood and that made her eligible to be trained by you people."
The orange-ish Jedi Master smiled softly. "My records indicate that it was you who wished keep the child, to raise her as 'normal.' I'm sorry that has not worked out for you."
The older woman's face went hard and Cassila shrank back in her seat. She'd long ago learned not arouse that face in her grandmother. "Yes, well. It seemed in the child's best interest to not become some kept freak. However, whatever it is in her blood is showing through. So you people get her."
The smile never wavered from Master Reesoh-An's face. She merely nodded and stood, then held out a hand to Cassila. Dutifully, the little child slid down from the chair, picked up her bag and took the Master's hand. "Thank you for bringing her back to us, Tira Sanar. Cassila is no longer your concern."
Her face still rock-hard, Katrin Sanar snapped out a very curt, "Good day," and left the office. Cassila squeezed herself behind Master Reesoh-An, just in case Gramma made some last ditch effort of some kind, but it never came. Cassila watched her go with large, dark green eyes that seemed to refuse to blink.
A breath after Katrin Sanar was gone, Master Reesoh-An took a deep breath and the whole room seemed to clear. Cassila looked up at her. "Now, my dear child, it's time for you to learn what the Force wants of you, and not just people who only say they love you." With that, the Master smiled reassuringly and led Cassila away from the office. Cassila, though, did not smile.