A/N: This is partially based on "Shatterpoint. A Clone Wars Novel" by Matthew Stover, so maybe you should get yourself a summary for better understanding ( wookiepedia, amazon). Also there is a bit much dialogue in it. I like dialogue.  Further note that English is not my mother tongue.

Disclaimer: This is borrowed from Star Wars. Master George Lucas owns it. And I would trade every bit I invented myself for some chocolate cookies and a cup of tea.

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Unchosen Life - Chapter One : A new path

Mace Windu opened his eyes, breathing hard. In his dreams he had been in the arena on Geonosis again, facing Count Dooku and Jango Fett. But it was the first time ever that his former Padawan Depa Billaba appeared in this dream. She looked at him without seeing him and there was the rag over her forehead that covered the place where her Grand Mark of Illumination had been cut off. And then he was back in that damned jungle, facing the darkness within himself. She had said that however the war would turn out in the end, the Jedi would lose. And she had surrendered. Nowadays her presence in the Force was lost, there was only darkness. And it was his fault. He had sent her on that mission to Haruun Kal, the planet he had been born on. He hadn't seen what would happen to her. To him. And now he had lost her. Failed her.

He rose and dressed. There wasn't much to do for him today, nothing except coordinating the fighting Jedi, but that was merely routine. After a moment of thought he decided to skip breakfast and meditate instead. He wandered through the dimly lit corridors of the temple towards the small meditation chambers, without meeting anyone but his own dark thoughts, only accompanied by his wavering shadow. He opened a door and sat down on the small carpet. There was a large painting on one wall, showing different shades of blue that were blurred into one another. The soft tinkling noise of water running over pebble stones somehow managed to calm him down. He closed his eyes and opened up to the Force.

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Lynna Sajar opened her eyes, breathing hard. In her dreams she had been in the arena of Geonosis again, facing the battle droids alongside her master. But her dream was not just a repetition of what had happened. In her dream her master turned to her one last time after that fatal blaster shot tore her breast. "You failed me." And Lynna knew that her master was right. She had failed her. She should have been better, even closer to the Force. Not her beloved master should have died on that day, but she herself. Better than being a burden to the order, a half-trained Padawan without a master.

She rose and dressed. It gave her a strange feeling that she couldn't go to her master's quarter now to share their morning tea. She didn't feel hungry, so she decided to skip breakfast and meditate instead. The blue light that constituted the night time illumination of the temple's corridors soothed her troubled mind. Then she heard the clanking of a stick drawing nearer. There was only one person who produced such sounds: Grand Master Yoda. She turned round a corner and faced the tiny, green and incredibly powerful gnome. "Padawan Sajar. A morning bird you are, hm?"

"Usually not, but I just couldn't sleep anymore."

"A nightmare you had, huh? Pale, you are. Skinny. Eat, you must. Have breakfast with me, you will." She bowed.

"Yes, master. I'm honoured."

Yoda chuckled and she followed him to the dining hall.

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Lynna kept her gaze fixed to her plate. She was still not hungry, but if Yoda told one to eat something one did, even if it made one feel sick. "Don't look up, don't look up." It was hard to ignore the slurping noises and the smell that came from the place opposite her. Yoda was definitely not her first choice for sharing any meal, as he preferred to eat things that looked like either mud or the rather inedible remains of some stinking beast.

"A new master, you need. Resume your training, we must."

"But who would choose me? I don't think many masters want to take on a Padawan who already had three years training with a master who then died. I'd say they'd rather take on one of the young ones. Besides I'm not quite sure that I want a new master right now."

"Let go of the ones that become one with the Force. A new master, I found for you. Need a new Padawan, he does. Heal and help each other, you will."

"Who is it? And he really wants to be my master?"

"Know it, he does not yet. Tell him soon, I will."

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Mace stared at his old friend. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. "I can't take a new Padawan. I don't have the time to train him thoroughly. And I have already given proof of what I do to mine. I failed once, but I will not fail twice."

"Not your fault what happened to Depa. Her own path, she chose. Away from you, it led her. Now a new path, I offer to you."

"And I suppose you will not accept 'no' as an answer."

"Quite determined I am. Meet her tomorrow, you shall."