Jedi Academy: An Unexpected Lesson
Summary: Join four very different Jedi students (an arrogant boy desperate to prove himself, a spoiled Twi'lek girl, the independent daughter of a former bounty hunter, and a Chiss outcast) as they run from criminals, bounty hunters, and more!
Disclaimer: Star Wars does not belong to me. Characters like Luke Skywalker and Kam Solusar don't belong to me either. Characters like Kenobi Lucetor, Alaira Vorann, Sothar (Sotharen elth'renuar Lethruel'tan), and Milaa Tanzaro DO belong to me. Seeing as you probably neither read nor cared about a single word from this disclaimer, I'll get on with the story:
CHAPTER 1: Boring School Days
"Ow!" cried Kenobi Lucetor, as yet another of the remote's bolts hit him. He swung in vain with his lightsaber, but was unable to prevent a second hit.
"Let go of your emotions, Kenobi," Kam Solusar, his instructor, advised. "Let the Force guide you, and let go."
"I'm trying!" Kenobi retorted. "I'd like to see you do this," he muttered to himself, spinning desperately and barely managing to avoid more shots.
"Do or do not, Kenobi: there is no try," Solusar advised, quoting one of Master Luke Skywalker's favorite sayings.
As Kenobi received yet another blow (this one to the stomach), he cursed in Huttese and Corellian, "A chor da! Shassa!"
Solusar switched the remote off. "I think that's enough for now."
"No," Kenobi protested. "I can DO this!"
"You're having a hard time concentrating today," was all Solusar said.
Kenobi sighed as he removed his blindfold.
"You need to focus, Kenobi," Solusar told him. "The Force is your greatest ally. Without it, you would stand no chance against an opponent wielding a blaster or another lightsaber. You must learn to focus on the Force; forget about your worries or concerns." Solusar pointed to the right, where another Jedi initiate was exercising with a remote.
"Sotharen," Solusar began, gesturing toward the blue-skinned Chiss student, "lets go of his thoughts and lets the Force guide him. See how relaxed he is? You must do the same."
Kenobi narrowed his eyes and glared in the direction of the Chiss. Sotharen was always the one the instructors were holding up as an "example". Why was that...that CHISS doing in the Jedi Academy? Why didn't that Grand Admiral Thrawn-look-alike just stay on his own homeworld?
"You have too much anger in you," Solusar scolded. "You must let go of that. Anger leads to the dark side."
"I know," Kenobi muttered. "I understand. I'll try to let go of my anger, okay?"
Solusar opened his mouth to speak. Kenobi tensed. He didn't need the Force to know that his instructor was about to talk about his experience with the dark side.
"It begins innocently enough," Solusar said quietly. Kenobi's eyes never wavered from Solusar. He was determined not to miss any part of this. He, like all the initiates, had heard the rumor that Solusar had once been one of Palpatine's Dark Jedi, but Solusar rarely mentioned it.
"Sometimes you don't even realize that you are using the Dark side instead of the Light," Solusar continued, his normally gruff voice getting softer and more solemn than usual. "Then, by the time you realize that you are on the path leading to the Dark side, you often don't care. For the Dark side bring short-term pleasure--and long-term pain. And, even if you do realize the true nature of the Dark side, the road back to the Light is long and arduous. And yet, a conversion by to the Light side will never totally erase the... memories. The nightmares."
Solusar's eyes bored into Kenobi's as he silently willed his student to understand. He continued, his voice getting stronger, "Every Jedi will be tempted by the Dark Side many times in their lives. Everyone, Jedi or not, is tempted in this way. And yet, a Jedi must be stronger than the average person, strong enough to resist the Dark Side in all its forms. For with great power in the Force, comes a responsibility equally great. We Jedi have a gift, and we must use it for the good of all, not for personal satisfaction. Not to alleviate pain, or boredom, or...jealousy." Solusar gestured slightly in the direction of Sotharen's practicing.
Kenobi looked away, embarrassed. It appeared that Solusar now knew about Kenobi's rivalry with Sotharen. And that Kenobi was losing.
"I have given you something to think about," Solusar said quietly, momentarily gripping Kenobi's shoulder. "Now rest and study. We can practice more tomorrow." He left.
Kenobi watched the Chiss practice, adeptly moving his lightsaber in a blur of motion. His anger and resentment returned, though Kenobi controlled it. It WAS tempting to give Sotharen a little...er, push, but Solusar's lecture HAD gotten through, at least a little. Kenobi certainly didn't want to fall to the Dark Side. And if his anger were bad, then he'd just have to control it.
Then maybe he'd become a better Jedi. Someone to make his family proud.
Kenobi's family had no Force tradition. Lasron and Aletta Lucetor had been surprised when Master Skywalker told them that their two-year-old son had potential Jedi abilities. They were amazed and overjoyed, and immediately began devouring all the Jedi information and legends that they could. They were so proud that they changed their child's name from Alesron to Kenobi Lucetor, after Obi-Wan Kenobi, the famous Jedi hero.
His parents had sent him away to Yavin IV to be trained, expecting him to return a great Jedi Knight. Kenobi had a lot to live up to--but he could NOT disappoint them.
Kenobi shot one more angry look in the Chiss's general direction, then grabbed his lightsaber, flipped on the remote, and practiced some more. Soon he'd be able to beat that miniature Thrawn. And become the Jedi that his family wanted him to be.
One hour later:
Sotharen's lightsaber sliced through the air and swiftly intercepted a last laser bolt. Then, using the Force, Sothar promptly turned the practice remote off, removed his blindfold, and looked around.
All of the other students were sitting around and talking to each other. It was lunch break. One of Sothar's classmates, Kenobi Lucetor, sat surrounded by four other initiates (three of them female). Sothar, lunch in hand, paused, hoping for the impossible.
Kenobi only glared at him. The others didn't even look up. Sothar inwardly sighed and walked onward, to a nice shaded spot under a tree, meters away from everyone else. Sothar began to eat his lunch.
"Any room?" a female voice asked. Sothar looked up.
"Are you talking to me?" he asked, his voice tinged with disbelief.
"Yes," the girl replied. "Can I sit here?" Sothar nodded wordlessly.
The girl promptly sat down, and began eating. Through focused red eyes, Sothar studied her. This girl looked different from the other students, though Sothar couldn't quite explain how. She was Human, like many of them, with dark black hair and serious turquoise eyes. She wore a jumpsuit instead of a Jedi robe, however, looking more like a veteran spacer than a Jedi trainee. There seemed to be an air of...defiance about her. Of independence.
The girl, seeing Sothar's gaze, began to examine him as well. She saw a young teenage boy with pale-blue skin and reddish-orange eyes. He looked serious, to her, and solemn, in a melancholy way. He too seemed...independent. He wore a Jedi robe like most of the others, but it did not seem to fit him.
"I'm Alaira Vorann," the girl said abruptly, extending a hand.
"Sotharen elth'renuar Lethruel'tan," the Chiss replied. "But my friends call me Sothar." Or they would, Sothar mused, if I had any.
"Sothar it is then," Alaira replied, accepting the Chiss's not-so-subtle proposal. "I'm Laira, for short."
"You're new, aren't you?" the boy asked, mentally kicking himself afterward. What a dumb question to ask--of course she was new!
Laira nodded. "I got here three hours ago. I discovered my abilities years ago, but I haven't gotten a chance to train until now. So here I am."
"Oh," Sothar replied, for a lack of anything better to say. "Well, uh, don't worry. It's not hard here. All you do is learn about the Force, how to use it, Jedi history...things like that. You don't have to learn math, science, or anything like that, even though some students do those courses here and send in completed homework over interstellar transmissions."
"Do you?" Laira asked.
"Do I what?"
"Take correspondence courses."
"Yes, some. Though I learned a lot on my homeworld."
"I learned a lot of the basic subjects with my father," Laira explained. "I was home-schooled, I guess you could say."
Sothar nodded, trying to think of something to say. He was not very good at talking to others. He hadn't been that way on his homeworld, but that was among other Chiss. These aliens were suspicious of him, and his race. After all, the only Chiss they had ever heard of was the infamous Grand Admiral Thrawn. But Thrawn was long dead. Couldn't they understand that he was NOT a typical Chiss, that he had been exiled for his crimes?
Sothar looked up when he heard Laira fidgeting with her bag and putting things away. She had finished her lunch. Laira stood up, clearly preparing to leave.
"Goodbye," Sothar ventured, reluctant to lose the company.
"Bye," Laira replied. She didn't leave right away, though. Instead, she paused for a moment, then asked, "Sothar, could you show me where the bedrooms are? Tionne said I could pick out my own, but I don't even know where they are."
"Yes, of course," Sothar said, immediately standing. "I could give you an entire tour...if you want."
"Sure," Laira agreed. She grinned. "Let's go."
Sothar and Laira received many stares as they walked through the courtyard. People always gave Sothar weird looks, and he was used to it. But Laira probably wasn't. Now she would be forever linked with him in the other students' minds, which was not an association that anyone with dreams of a better social life wanted to have. Sothar felt like apologizing to Laira.
Most of the trainees' voices dropped to whispers as the two walked by. Kenobi's, however, didn't. "Here comes Thrawn again. We'd better watch ourselves."
"You see that girl next to him?" replied another student, Milaa Tanzaro, a Twi'lek from a wealthy Corellian family. "She just got here a few hours ago. I heard the instructors mention her. I heard," here her voice dropped to a whisper that Sothar could barely make out, "that her father is a..._bounty hunter_."
Sothar could tell that Laira had heard them from the way her body tensed. Now Sothar understood. Laira too was used to being talked about and regarded with suspicion.
Which was why she had sat with him.
Laira immediately stopped, turning to glare at those who had just spoken. "Do NOT insult my father," she said curtly.
The students who had been talking froze. Milaa looked up, startled. Clearly she hadn't expected Laira to hear her. And Milaa certainly hadn't expected Laira to confront them if she had. "I wasn't insulting your father," Milaa replied smoothly, feigning innocence. "I was just telling my friends about you, our new classmate. That you're the daughter of a bounty hunter. That IS the truth, is it not?"
"No, it is not," Laira replied coldly. "And now that my father is dead, I would appreciate it if you would not insult his memory. And if you want to offend me, do it to my face, not behind my back like a bunch of cowards! If you must insult me, insult ME, and leave my father's memory out of it. Do you understand?"
"Your father is dead?" Kenobi replied dully. "I...I'm sorry." He was truly contrite. Sothar could sense that through the Force.
Laira, however, couldn't. Or if she could, she didn't care. She simply turned and walked away without accepting Kenobi's apology. Sothar, casting one more look at the shocked students, followed her.
It took a minute for him to catch up, she was walking so fast. "I'm sorry about that, Laira," Sothar offered, unable to think of anything else to say.
Laira turned to look at him. "Why apologize? It wasn't your fault."
Sothar shrugged. "Well, I'm sorry it had to happen anyway. Spreading lies about your father..."
"They aren't completely lies," Laira abruptly replied. Sothar gave her a confused look.
"My father WAS once a bounty hunter," Laira went on. "A decade ago, at least. He was pretty good, not just one of those punk amateurs who gets killed within the first month. Then he found me in an escape pod." Laira paused, then continued, "I guess you could say that I'm not his biological daughter. But birth has nothing to do with it, in my opinion. He cared for me and raised me, and that makes him my father.
"Well, at first he wanted to get rid of me as fast as he could. I mean, having to take care of a three-year-old kid is not the best situation for a bounty hunter." Laira gave a bit of a sarcastic grin. "But I guess I grew on him. By the time he got to a more civilized system (he had been working in the Outer Rim when he found me), he wasn't ready to give me up. And so he decided to raise me.
"After a while, my father's work began to disgust him. I guess caring for me brought out the compassion in him. At first he stopped taking 'vengeance bounties' and only took jobs that involved smuggling objects, tracking down some long-lost relative, or simply being a bodyguard to some crime lord. Then he quit altogether.
"After that, he and I traveled through the galaxy doing odd jobs. Dad was a pretty good mechanic. He also did security work. Once he worked as a bodyguard for the Thuls, a rich trading family from Alderaan. Sometimes he delivered cargo from one place to another--legal, of course. I worked alongside him, and he taught me everything he knew.
"Then he died last year," Laira finished solemnly. She looked up at Sothar, unsure why she had told him all this. She continued, "So I decided to come here. My father taught me a lot about the importance of justice, and of knowledge. Dad wanted me to come here; if only to learn about my abilities. He didn't say I had to become a Jedi, he only wanted me to learn. So I came. I've never had lessons about the Force, and I'm curious about what I can do."
"So am I," Sothar replied. "Curious, I mean. There aren't any Jedi on the Chiss homeworld. Then I discovered that I had Force potential, and I decided to leave my homeworld to see what I could learn." Sothar paused, then continued. After all, Laira had just told him about her life. It seemed only fitting that Sothar do the same. "My family did not want me to leave. You see, we Chiss are a very...private people. We don't often leave our territory to travel to new places. My family warned me that I would be seen as strange, that I would never fit in. But I wanted to learn, and so I left. My family was upset, but they told me they would be waiting when I returned.
"They expected me to return within a month. I've been here for five. I send them messages, but no one responds except my brother, Atrarsh. I suppose they..." Sothar's voice trailed off. Why had he just told her this? His family matters were private, and he had no right to share them, with an ALIEN of all possible people...
Laira said nothing. She only put a hand on his shoulder. Sothar tensed, uncomfortable. Among Chiss, only family members touched each other. But Laira was Human, and she clearly meant it as a gesture of comfort.
Laira, wisely, changed the subject. "Come on, Sothar. Why don't you show me the Temple?"
Later, in the evening:
Master Skywalker had called Kenobi to a meeting. Kenobi rushed up to the observation level of the Temple, wondering what it was about. Finally, a chance to prove himself to the Master.
Kenobi burst into the room. "Here I am, Master Skywalker," he blurted eagerly.
Luke Skywalker inclined his head in greeting. "Hello, Kenobi Lucetor. Please take a seat."
Pausing to look around, Kenobi saw three other students in the room. One was Milaa, the Twi'lek. And the other two were Sotharen and the new girl, Alaira Vorann.
Kenobi inwardly gulped. He had the feeling that he was in trouble. Had Master Skywalker heard about the exchange in the courtyard?
Kenobi meekly sat down.
Master Skywalker began to speak, "Alaira Vorann, as you know, is a new student here. I hope you have made her feel welcome." He seemed to stare at Kenobi when he said this.
"Everyone has made me feel VERY welcome, Master Skywalker," Laira replied smoothly. She gave Kenobi and Milaa a look. "Everyone's been kind to me."
She certainly knew how to add on the guilt.
Skywalker seemed to know that this wasn't the case, but he said nothing more about it. Instead, he continued, "Another of student, Milaa Tanzaro, is going to Coruscant to visit her family. Kenobi, I heard that your family lives in Coruscant and has not seen you for some time. I took the liberty of arranging a visit for you as well. Sotharen, I know that you have no family in Coruscant, but you have expressed an interest in finding some better science textbooks. I'm afraid our library database here is not very developed in that area, and so, if you wish, you may join Kenobi and Milaa. You can find anything you need at Coruscant's libraries."
The Chiss nodded. "I would like that."
Master Skywalker turned to Laira. "Alaira, I know you have only been here a day and are probably interested in beginning your training, but I thought that you might like a chance to get to know some others your age. Would you like to travel to Coruscant with them?"
Laira glanced at Milaa, Kenobi, and then at Sothar. She gave a quick nod. "Yes, Master Skywalker. I'll join them."
Skywalker smiled. "Good. I believe this will be a learning experience for all of you. Well, I have nothing to spare at the moment, but Alaira has a ship here that once belonged to her father. Alaira, if you could loan us your vessel? And perhaps your piloting skills as well?"
"Are no teachers coming with us?" Laira asked.
Master Skywalker shook his head. "I'm afraid I have no instructors to spare either. But you are a licensed pilot. Kenobi here has had some training as well. Between you two, I believe you'll do fine."
Alaira nodded. "Very well. We can use my ship."
And so the adventure began.
NOTE: Stay tuned for Chapter 2, when the four run into a little trouble (okay, so "little" is an understatement). It'll be up within a few days. May the Force be with you!
PS: If you want me to finish this, you'd better review!
Summary: Join four very different Jedi students (an arrogant boy desperate to prove himself, a spoiled Twi'lek girl, the independent daughter of a former bounty hunter, and a Chiss outcast) as they run from criminals, bounty hunters, and more!
Disclaimer: Star Wars does not belong to me. Characters like Luke Skywalker and Kam Solusar don't belong to me either. Characters like Kenobi Lucetor, Alaira Vorann, Sothar (Sotharen elth'renuar Lethruel'tan), and Milaa Tanzaro DO belong to me. Seeing as you probably neither read nor cared about a single word from this disclaimer, I'll get on with the story:
CHAPTER 1: Boring School Days
"Ow!" cried Kenobi Lucetor, as yet another of the remote's bolts hit him. He swung in vain with his lightsaber, but was unable to prevent a second hit.
"Let go of your emotions, Kenobi," Kam Solusar, his instructor, advised. "Let the Force guide you, and let go."
"I'm trying!" Kenobi retorted. "I'd like to see you do this," he muttered to himself, spinning desperately and barely managing to avoid more shots.
"Do or do not, Kenobi: there is no try," Solusar advised, quoting one of Master Luke Skywalker's favorite sayings.
As Kenobi received yet another blow (this one to the stomach), he cursed in Huttese and Corellian, "A chor da! Shassa!"
Solusar switched the remote off. "I think that's enough for now."
"No," Kenobi protested. "I can DO this!"
"You're having a hard time concentrating today," was all Solusar said.
Kenobi sighed as he removed his blindfold.
"You need to focus, Kenobi," Solusar told him. "The Force is your greatest ally. Without it, you would stand no chance against an opponent wielding a blaster or another lightsaber. You must learn to focus on the Force; forget about your worries or concerns." Solusar pointed to the right, where another Jedi initiate was exercising with a remote.
"Sotharen," Solusar began, gesturing toward the blue-skinned Chiss student, "lets go of his thoughts and lets the Force guide him. See how relaxed he is? You must do the same."
Kenobi narrowed his eyes and glared in the direction of the Chiss. Sotharen was always the one the instructors were holding up as an "example". Why was that...that CHISS doing in the Jedi Academy? Why didn't that Grand Admiral Thrawn-look-alike just stay on his own homeworld?
"You have too much anger in you," Solusar scolded. "You must let go of that. Anger leads to the dark side."
"I know," Kenobi muttered. "I understand. I'll try to let go of my anger, okay?"
Solusar opened his mouth to speak. Kenobi tensed. He didn't need the Force to know that his instructor was about to talk about his experience with the dark side.
"It begins innocently enough," Solusar said quietly. Kenobi's eyes never wavered from Solusar. He was determined not to miss any part of this. He, like all the initiates, had heard the rumor that Solusar had once been one of Palpatine's Dark Jedi, but Solusar rarely mentioned it.
"Sometimes you don't even realize that you are using the Dark side instead of the Light," Solusar continued, his normally gruff voice getting softer and more solemn than usual. "Then, by the time you realize that you are on the path leading to the Dark side, you often don't care. For the Dark side bring short-term pleasure--and long-term pain. And, even if you do realize the true nature of the Dark side, the road back to the Light is long and arduous. And yet, a conversion by to the Light side will never totally erase the... memories. The nightmares."
Solusar's eyes bored into Kenobi's as he silently willed his student to understand. He continued, his voice getting stronger, "Every Jedi will be tempted by the Dark Side many times in their lives. Everyone, Jedi or not, is tempted in this way. And yet, a Jedi must be stronger than the average person, strong enough to resist the Dark Side in all its forms. For with great power in the Force, comes a responsibility equally great. We Jedi have a gift, and we must use it for the good of all, not for personal satisfaction. Not to alleviate pain, or boredom, or...jealousy." Solusar gestured slightly in the direction of Sotharen's practicing.
Kenobi looked away, embarrassed. It appeared that Solusar now knew about Kenobi's rivalry with Sotharen. And that Kenobi was losing.
"I have given you something to think about," Solusar said quietly, momentarily gripping Kenobi's shoulder. "Now rest and study. We can practice more tomorrow." He left.
Kenobi watched the Chiss practice, adeptly moving his lightsaber in a blur of motion. His anger and resentment returned, though Kenobi controlled it. It WAS tempting to give Sotharen a little...er, push, but Solusar's lecture HAD gotten through, at least a little. Kenobi certainly didn't want to fall to the Dark Side. And if his anger were bad, then he'd just have to control it.
Then maybe he'd become a better Jedi. Someone to make his family proud.
Kenobi's family had no Force tradition. Lasron and Aletta Lucetor had been surprised when Master Skywalker told them that their two-year-old son had potential Jedi abilities. They were amazed and overjoyed, and immediately began devouring all the Jedi information and legends that they could. They were so proud that they changed their child's name from Alesron to Kenobi Lucetor, after Obi-Wan Kenobi, the famous Jedi hero.
His parents had sent him away to Yavin IV to be trained, expecting him to return a great Jedi Knight. Kenobi had a lot to live up to--but he could NOT disappoint them.
Kenobi shot one more angry look in the Chiss's general direction, then grabbed his lightsaber, flipped on the remote, and practiced some more. Soon he'd be able to beat that miniature Thrawn. And become the Jedi that his family wanted him to be.
One hour later:
Sotharen's lightsaber sliced through the air and swiftly intercepted a last laser bolt. Then, using the Force, Sothar promptly turned the practice remote off, removed his blindfold, and looked around.
All of the other students were sitting around and talking to each other. It was lunch break. One of Sothar's classmates, Kenobi Lucetor, sat surrounded by four other initiates (three of them female). Sothar, lunch in hand, paused, hoping for the impossible.
Kenobi only glared at him. The others didn't even look up. Sothar inwardly sighed and walked onward, to a nice shaded spot under a tree, meters away from everyone else. Sothar began to eat his lunch.
"Any room?" a female voice asked. Sothar looked up.
"Are you talking to me?" he asked, his voice tinged with disbelief.
"Yes," the girl replied. "Can I sit here?" Sothar nodded wordlessly.
The girl promptly sat down, and began eating. Through focused red eyes, Sothar studied her. This girl looked different from the other students, though Sothar couldn't quite explain how. She was Human, like many of them, with dark black hair and serious turquoise eyes. She wore a jumpsuit instead of a Jedi robe, however, looking more like a veteran spacer than a Jedi trainee. There seemed to be an air of...defiance about her. Of independence.
The girl, seeing Sothar's gaze, began to examine him as well. She saw a young teenage boy with pale-blue skin and reddish-orange eyes. He looked serious, to her, and solemn, in a melancholy way. He too seemed...independent. He wore a Jedi robe like most of the others, but it did not seem to fit him.
"I'm Alaira Vorann," the girl said abruptly, extending a hand.
"Sotharen elth'renuar Lethruel'tan," the Chiss replied. "But my friends call me Sothar." Or they would, Sothar mused, if I had any.
"Sothar it is then," Alaira replied, accepting the Chiss's not-so-subtle proposal. "I'm Laira, for short."
"You're new, aren't you?" the boy asked, mentally kicking himself afterward. What a dumb question to ask--of course she was new!
Laira nodded. "I got here three hours ago. I discovered my abilities years ago, but I haven't gotten a chance to train until now. So here I am."
"Oh," Sothar replied, for a lack of anything better to say. "Well, uh, don't worry. It's not hard here. All you do is learn about the Force, how to use it, Jedi history...things like that. You don't have to learn math, science, or anything like that, even though some students do those courses here and send in completed homework over interstellar transmissions."
"Do you?" Laira asked.
"Do I what?"
"Take correspondence courses."
"Yes, some. Though I learned a lot on my homeworld."
"I learned a lot of the basic subjects with my father," Laira explained. "I was home-schooled, I guess you could say."
Sothar nodded, trying to think of something to say. He was not very good at talking to others. He hadn't been that way on his homeworld, but that was among other Chiss. These aliens were suspicious of him, and his race. After all, the only Chiss they had ever heard of was the infamous Grand Admiral Thrawn. But Thrawn was long dead. Couldn't they understand that he was NOT a typical Chiss, that he had been exiled for his crimes?
Sothar looked up when he heard Laira fidgeting with her bag and putting things away. She had finished her lunch. Laira stood up, clearly preparing to leave.
"Goodbye," Sothar ventured, reluctant to lose the company.
"Bye," Laira replied. She didn't leave right away, though. Instead, she paused for a moment, then asked, "Sothar, could you show me where the bedrooms are? Tionne said I could pick out my own, but I don't even know where they are."
"Yes, of course," Sothar said, immediately standing. "I could give you an entire tour...if you want."
"Sure," Laira agreed. She grinned. "Let's go."
Sothar and Laira received many stares as they walked through the courtyard. People always gave Sothar weird looks, and he was used to it. But Laira probably wasn't. Now she would be forever linked with him in the other students' minds, which was not an association that anyone with dreams of a better social life wanted to have. Sothar felt like apologizing to Laira.
Most of the trainees' voices dropped to whispers as the two walked by. Kenobi's, however, didn't. "Here comes Thrawn again. We'd better watch ourselves."
"You see that girl next to him?" replied another student, Milaa Tanzaro, a Twi'lek from a wealthy Corellian family. "She just got here a few hours ago. I heard the instructors mention her. I heard," here her voice dropped to a whisper that Sothar could barely make out, "that her father is a..._bounty hunter_."
Sothar could tell that Laira had heard them from the way her body tensed. Now Sothar understood. Laira too was used to being talked about and regarded with suspicion.
Which was why she had sat with him.
Laira immediately stopped, turning to glare at those who had just spoken. "Do NOT insult my father," she said curtly.
The students who had been talking froze. Milaa looked up, startled. Clearly she hadn't expected Laira to hear her. And Milaa certainly hadn't expected Laira to confront them if she had. "I wasn't insulting your father," Milaa replied smoothly, feigning innocence. "I was just telling my friends about you, our new classmate. That you're the daughter of a bounty hunter. That IS the truth, is it not?"
"No, it is not," Laira replied coldly. "And now that my father is dead, I would appreciate it if you would not insult his memory. And if you want to offend me, do it to my face, not behind my back like a bunch of cowards! If you must insult me, insult ME, and leave my father's memory out of it. Do you understand?"
"Your father is dead?" Kenobi replied dully. "I...I'm sorry." He was truly contrite. Sothar could sense that through the Force.
Laira, however, couldn't. Or if she could, she didn't care. She simply turned and walked away without accepting Kenobi's apology. Sothar, casting one more look at the shocked students, followed her.
It took a minute for him to catch up, she was walking so fast. "I'm sorry about that, Laira," Sothar offered, unable to think of anything else to say.
Laira turned to look at him. "Why apologize? It wasn't your fault."
Sothar shrugged. "Well, I'm sorry it had to happen anyway. Spreading lies about your father..."
"They aren't completely lies," Laira abruptly replied. Sothar gave her a confused look.
"My father WAS once a bounty hunter," Laira went on. "A decade ago, at least. He was pretty good, not just one of those punk amateurs who gets killed within the first month. Then he found me in an escape pod." Laira paused, then continued, "I guess you could say that I'm not his biological daughter. But birth has nothing to do with it, in my opinion. He cared for me and raised me, and that makes him my father.
"Well, at first he wanted to get rid of me as fast as he could. I mean, having to take care of a three-year-old kid is not the best situation for a bounty hunter." Laira gave a bit of a sarcastic grin. "But I guess I grew on him. By the time he got to a more civilized system (he had been working in the Outer Rim when he found me), he wasn't ready to give me up. And so he decided to raise me.
"After a while, my father's work began to disgust him. I guess caring for me brought out the compassion in him. At first he stopped taking 'vengeance bounties' and only took jobs that involved smuggling objects, tracking down some long-lost relative, or simply being a bodyguard to some crime lord. Then he quit altogether.
"After that, he and I traveled through the galaxy doing odd jobs. Dad was a pretty good mechanic. He also did security work. Once he worked as a bodyguard for the Thuls, a rich trading family from Alderaan. Sometimes he delivered cargo from one place to another--legal, of course. I worked alongside him, and he taught me everything he knew.
"Then he died last year," Laira finished solemnly. She looked up at Sothar, unsure why she had told him all this. She continued, "So I decided to come here. My father taught me a lot about the importance of justice, and of knowledge. Dad wanted me to come here; if only to learn about my abilities. He didn't say I had to become a Jedi, he only wanted me to learn. So I came. I've never had lessons about the Force, and I'm curious about what I can do."
"So am I," Sothar replied. "Curious, I mean. There aren't any Jedi on the Chiss homeworld. Then I discovered that I had Force potential, and I decided to leave my homeworld to see what I could learn." Sothar paused, then continued. After all, Laira had just told him about her life. It seemed only fitting that Sothar do the same. "My family did not want me to leave. You see, we Chiss are a very...private people. We don't often leave our territory to travel to new places. My family warned me that I would be seen as strange, that I would never fit in. But I wanted to learn, and so I left. My family was upset, but they told me they would be waiting when I returned.
"They expected me to return within a month. I've been here for five. I send them messages, but no one responds except my brother, Atrarsh. I suppose they..." Sothar's voice trailed off. Why had he just told her this? His family matters were private, and he had no right to share them, with an ALIEN of all possible people...
Laira said nothing. She only put a hand on his shoulder. Sothar tensed, uncomfortable. Among Chiss, only family members touched each other. But Laira was Human, and she clearly meant it as a gesture of comfort.
Laira, wisely, changed the subject. "Come on, Sothar. Why don't you show me the Temple?"
Later, in the evening:
Master Skywalker had called Kenobi to a meeting. Kenobi rushed up to the observation level of the Temple, wondering what it was about. Finally, a chance to prove himself to the Master.
Kenobi burst into the room. "Here I am, Master Skywalker," he blurted eagerly.
Luke Skywalker inclined his head in greeting. "Hello, Kenobi Lucetor. Please take a seat."
Pausing to look around, Kenobi saw three other students in the room. One was Milaa, the Twi'lek. And the other two were Sotharen and the new girl, Alaira Vorann.
Kenobi inwardly gulped. He had the feeling that he was in trouble. Had Master Skywalker heard about the exchange in the courtyard?
Kenobi meekly sat down.
Master Skywalker began to speak, "Alaira Vorann, as you know, is a new student here. I hope you have made her feel welcome." He seemed to stare at Kenobi when he said this.
"Everyone has made me feel VERY welcome, Master Skywalker," Laira replied smoothly. She gave Kenobi and Milaa a look. "Everyone's been kind to me."
She certainly knew how to add on the guilt.
Skywalker seemed to know that this wasn't the case, but he said nothing more about it. Instead, he continued, "Another of student, Milaa Tanzaro, is going to Coruscant to visit her family. Kenobi, I heard that your family lives in Coruscant and has not seen you for some time. I took the liberty of arranging a visit for you as well. Sotharen, I know that you have no family in Coruscant, but you have expressed an interest in finding some better science textbooks. I'm afraid our library database here is not very developed in that area, and so, if you wish, you may join Kenobi and Milaa. You can find anything you need at Coruscant's libraries."
The Chiss nodded. "I would like that."
Master Skywalker turned to Laira. "Alaira, I know you have only been here a day and are probably interested in beginning your training, but I thought that you might like a chance to get to know some others your age. Would you like to travel to Coruscant with them?"
Laira glanced at Milaa, Kenobi, and then at Sothar. She gave a quick nod. "Yes, Master Skywalker. I'll join them."
Skywalker smiled. "Good. I believe this will be a learning experience for all of you. Well, I have nothing to spare at the moment, but Alaira has a ship here that once belonged to her father. Alaira, if you could loan us your vessel? And perhaps your piloting skills as well?"
"Are no teachers coming with us?" Laira asked.
Master Skywalker shook his head. "I'm afraid I have no instructors to spare either. But you are a licensed pilot. Kenobi here has had some training as well. Between you two, I believe you'll do fine."
Alaira nodded. "Very well. We can use my ship."
And so the adventure began.
NOTE: Stay tuned for Chapter 2, when the four run into a little trouble (okay, so "little" is an understatement). It'll be up within a few days. May the Force be with you!
PS: If you want me to finish this, you'd better review!