I don't own the characters except for Skyla.

Ben, as I soon came to know my master as turned out not to be as bad as the rumours said. Sure, he would often lash out if something went wrong during training but it wasn't all bad I guess. I'm just glad there was no such system as to having to repair equipment we damaged. He had a knack of slicing things to pieces if something went wrong or if someone interrupted his meditation for example since it was so hard to get into it. I nearly had my legs sliced out from under me when I accidently called him while he meditated.

I didn't really like meditating anyway because it would often lead to me having strange thoughts and ideas. Sometimes bad memories resurfaced and I just wanted to burn them out of my mind. Memories of what happened to Master Miran make me scream in my sleep most of the time and I would often wake up feeling so dead I wanted to die there and then.

I realized as my training progressed that Ben was actually a pretty good teacher. Take away the temper and his harsh tongue, he can be somewhat kind even when he taught me, although he would occasionally give me a couple of burns every now and then, which I didn't mind as long as I don't lose any limbs. We even had this little routine of having our meals together as master and apprentice everyday, which I came to enjoy. I didn't like to dine with people who badmouth both me and my master.

We became known as the inseparable duo of doom since I was the klutz and he was the one who couldn't control his temper. Not like we cared. We found some solace in each other's training and company although I still didn't know much about him other than him being Grandmaster Luke's nephew. The only thing he can dig out from me was that I was from Naboo and that was the only thing about the past I never knew about.

"Hm interesting. No wonder you seem to like nature so much," Ben said as we sat together after our morning run. We had taken to running around the plains surrounding the temple every morning to clear our minds before meditation. Since both of us had such hard times trying to clear our minds, I proposed that we run so that when we were tired, it might be easier for us to concentrate. But sometimes Ben just gets more agitated when he was tired, as though he was afraid of letting something slip.

"That's all I know. But I'm glad I'm here. I don't think I would be the type to go to school and study all those kind of stuff. I much prefer studying the Jedi arts, even though I'm such a sucker at them," I said as I drank the dark liquid they called coffee. I didn't like it but it helped me stay awake. I've been drinking it more lately since the nightmares have been coming back. I thought being tired means being able to sleep better but it was the other war around.

"You have something you want to tell me?" he asked as he set down his cup. His brown eyes swiveled to me as I gulped a little. He had this way of making people spit out whatever they were hiding with his eyes. Maybe it was because people were scared he would lash out at them or break their necks. "Just an old nightmare. Nothing else," I said. "Really? Then why do you have such a dark cloud around you?"

"Well so do you," I said as he chuckled. "I always do so its not surprising isn't it?" he said but it was true. I always wondered why he never seemed to have gotten rid of his dark cloud that wrapped him like a blanket. There were times it seemed to have thinned down a little but it was always there, tormenting him. I wanted to ask what was the matter but knowing I had no chance of getting anything out of him, I just focused on finishing my food.

"Today we're doing a little different kind of meditation. This one might be a little hard," he said as we sat at our usual spot. "I want you to picture the thing that disturbs you most. When you grasp onto it, try to find peace with it and let go of your emotions hanging to it. That is one of the first steps of becoming the Jedi, which is to let go of old feelings. Now, close your eyes Skyla and focus," he breathed and I realized he had been speaking in my mind for a while. I found it a bit odd at first that he could do that to bark orders in my head sometimes as we spared but now I found it slightly comforting.

I bit my lip as I searched my mind of what was holding me back. It didn't take me long to know what it was and I felt myself pummeling to the ground, slamming into hard rock. I searched around, not wanting to be here as I heard blaster fire and the sound of a lightsaber being drawn. "Take the child and go, Skyla! That's an order!" a voice yelled and I recognized the speaker immediately. "Master Miran…" I whispered as I heard myself shout, "No! I'm backing you up!"

"Don't be stupid! The child is more important than me! You're the next generation of Jedi. Now go!" he cried out as I ran back to him, leaving the child at the entrance of the ship as I ran. "No! Get back!" he shouted as I felt the earth beneath me heave ash. I screamed as I was hurled into the air, slamming onto the ground as I heard someone cry out. "Skyla! Skyla! Let go of that feeling! Let go of the regret!" Ben's voice screamed in my mind as I fought my inner demons. I felt myself screaming, breaking my concentration as I fell flat onto my back.

"Skyla!" Ben yelled, this time out loud as he ran to me. "Get off," I muttered as I tried to stand up, my body wobbling as I tried not to fall. "Sit down," he said as I tried to stand up. "I'm fine," I started as he snarled, "Sit!" With that I plopped down on my butt, letting the grass tickle it as he squatted down. "What happened there Skyla?" he demanded. "I remembered my old master. I regretted going back to help him and failing to save him. I felt like a coward for not being able to do anything," I said.

"I would be lying if I said that would be easy to let go but yes, it would be difficult to to get rid of it," Ben said as he sat across me. He looked like he wanted to do something but was contemplating on it. The next minute he was grabbing my hands, his own sweaty underneath mine as we held onto each other. "Breath," he instructed as he channeled some calm into me. I always wondered how can such a hot tempered person be able to channel such calm into another person.

"Better?" he asked as he let go of our hands. I wiped my hands on my pants since they were coated with his sweat and smelled as he scowled. 'Hey, be grateful I did that for you," he said as I gave him a lopsided smile, "Thanks, master." With that he hurled a small rock at me, which I caught with the Force, levitating it before dropping it onto the ground. "Don't call me that," he growled as he stood up, a tease in his voice as he cracked his knuckles. "What do you say we do some hand to hand combat?" he said as I did the same, "You're on." I needed a way to get rid of this anxiety bottled up in me for now. Even though I was dead tired inside.