A/N: As many of you may notice, this is much shorter than my pervious posts, but that is because I've found writing up to 10,000+ words for each chapter to be too draining and time-consuming.

I apologize to those of you who really enjoy long updates, but I've realized that it's taking too much out of me and interfering with both my schoolwork and inspiration to write this story, which in turn affects my ability to get it out within my self-imposed schedule of one chapter every two to three weeks.

I do want to apologize for taking so long to update. I know it's been weeks, but I dearly hope that this will meet standards set by my previous work.

This chapter is kind of filler, but the next few chapters needed the set up. Next update will be in two to three weeks and the story will start moving and developing again.

And of course, a very BIG 'THANK YOU!' to Ducky9002 for editing again for me! Enjoy!


Chapter 7: Initiate

"Aaah, new best day ever!" Korrah's mind trilled happily and she dove as deep under the water as she could.

Oh sweet bliss! Of all the features that the Jedi Temple had within its walls, the giant pool was definitely in Korrah's top five favorite!

Laura Sunner neé Tokugawa had – in another life – also loved the water. Whether it was being out in the rain or a day at the beach, she'd loved to swim and having been born and raised in California just minutes from the Pacific ocean, her summers had been spent in the sand and waves for as long as she could remember, with surfing and swim club following as she got older.

Korrah's mind was brought back to the present as the need for air forced her to return to the surface, only to be accosted by Master A'kam's displeased voice.

"Korrah! It is time to leave. Get out now!"

She flinched a bit at the reprimand and quickly – if reluctantly – swam back to the pool's stairs where she took a towel from the attending Master.

"Korrah, when I call you to come out you will do so at once. The rest of your peers are already changing." Her gaze was stern and immovable. Korrah knew she was in trouble this time. "You will be meditating on the proper respect you should demonstrates to your elders, understand Korrah?"

Korrah squeezed water from her thick braid and lowered her eyes as she nodded apologetically to the Camaasi Crèche master. "Yes, Master A'kam. I will."

She'd rather take the extra meditation than start another debate with her Crèche Master.

Korrah liked Master A'kam, but the last year had seen their fair share of the two of them 'butting heads' in the intellectual and personal independence arena and the human girl had had learned when to pick her battles.

It was hard though, and becoming harder as time went by, that she was no longer seen as an adult. These people weren't her parents, so the loss of her personal freedoms was chaffing against her more and more. Korrah had nothing against showing respect to her superiors, it's the natural way of things especially in a workplace, but she'd gotten to a point where her status as a child had become a daily curse for her.

Once again, her prescribed "equals" were children too young to understand their own wariness of the stranger in their midst and would rather whisper and point at her behind her back for being too different, too smart, or 'too-grown-up' than befriend her. Only Roloh stubbornly stayed by her side to this day. Qui-Gon had long since been moved to the Initiate dorms and couldn't spend as much time with them anymore.

The tall Jedi quickly ushered her forward and she cast one last doleful look at the pool before hurrying away, careful not to slip on the smooth floors.

That was another sad thing. Ever since being 'reborn', Korrah hadn't really had much opportunity to indulge in one of her favorite pastimes until she'd arrived at the Temple. After the scare with the fish pond, Savah had planted flowering bushes around it as a preventive measure against her ever falling in again.

However, it seemed that not even the memories of Laura's death under the circumstances she'd been dealt with had done a thing to taint her love of the water.

She hurried a bit faster as Master A'kam strode behind her watching menacingly and furiously rubbed away the excess water to ward off the chill of the air. She joined the rest of her crèche-mates in the side room who had already changed out of their swimwear into their tunics.

She quickly changed and jogged out to join Roloh, where she was immediately faced with two girls from her Clan, a Rodian and a Twi'lek, were giggling into their hands and standing next to Roloh even as he tried and failed to shush them.

The Twi'lek – Korrah was pretty sure her name was Lyn Dar-… 'something' – pointed a blue finger in Korrah's face as the human girl finally joined them.

"You must be part Mon Calamari, Korrah! You spend so much time swimming under the water it's like you don't even breathe air."

Lyn's Rodian friend choked out another burst of laughter behind her green hands. Her name was…Kwela? Or Jena, one of those.

She stuck her tongue out at them rather than answer and rushed into a side room where she threw on her tunic and boots as fast as she could. When she came out, she caught Master A'kam sending her one last glance before calling the Heliost Clan to order and leading them out. She filed in next to Roloh with the others into two lines and the followed after the Jedi Master. Korrah sighed and squeezed more water out of her hair as she walked through the halls, hoping she got enough so that it wouldn't end up soaking into her tunics.

It was nice to recognize the telltale landmarks in the vast hallways since she'd come to the Temple. General navigation and foot paths were more than familiar to her now, so it wasn't long until she could tell when they were all close to arriving back in the crèche.

Korrah was immediately directed by Master A'kam to one of the corners away from the main group to carry out her assigned meditation with which she complied without fuss.

It was well into late morning by the time she was called again by the crèche Master. Swim lessons had been slated to take place first thing in the morning and lunch would be a few hours from now.

Korrah knew what the Master wanted from her. It had already been six more days. She bowed and looked up silently as she waited by the doorway.

The Camaasi nodded. "Go on, then. You know the way."

Korrah dipped in a bow again and left. Despite the rift of unseen years between them that left them at odds, it was nice to have her crèche Master still trust her to make her way unsupervised through the halls of the Temple.

She trotted down the hallway until she turned a corner and spied a couple familiar faces, the first being Qui-Gon and the second, a dark-skinned Noorian girl who was standing next to him.

Her name was Tahl. And she was cool. Not just because Korrah remembered her in her memories from 'Before', but because ever since Qui-Gon had introduced them, she'd never treated her like a child. If anything, she acted as if she saw Korrah as a very small adult. It was a small thing, but something that made Korrah swear life-long friendship and determined to ensure she'd try to somehow prevent her tragic death; for herself, for Tahl and Qui-Gon. After all, it just wouldn't do to lose one of her best friends and one of the few Initiates who could kick Qui-Gon's ass on the training mats.

Korrah's face split into a happy smile as she increased her pace to a slow jog.

"Qui-Gon! Tahl!"

The two Initiates turned and smiled in reply as they greeted their younger friend when she caught up to them.

Tahl squinted her – really cool – stripped eyes at her. "Huh. I don't think I've ever seen you without your hair in a braid, Korrah."

The girl shrugged by way of explanation and ran her fingers through her thick, long hair which was still very damp. "My Clan just returned from swim lessons and it's too heavy to braid when it's wet. It makes my head hurt."

She then pinned all her attention onto Qui-Gon. He raised a challenging eyebrow in response to her pointed look.

"Don't you dare forget! You said you'd celebrate Roloh's birthday with the two of us." She warned.

She glanced back at Tahl and quickly added. "You're invited to come too if you want! It's three days from now."

Qui-Gon just rolled his blue eyes and looked a little annoyed at her accusation. "I haven't forgotten." He said. "Our next class is about to start, Korrah, so I'll see you and Roloh in a few days when the Masters call for volunteers in the crèche again."

Korrah nodded, satisfied. "Okay, because once you do, you're helping us in sneaking out and finding a place where Roloh can finally taste the greatness that is chocolate."

Qui-Gon smirked, not commenting on how her blatant announcement would definitely get them in trouble if one of the Masters overheard them. "Do you even know where to find one? I agreed with getting us out, but it's no good if you get us lost on the streets of Coruscant."

Straightening her back, Korrah smiled confidently back at him. "Oh ye of little faith! Padawan Sifo-Dyas told me about a place just last week. It's supposed to be really close by too and he's also one of their regulars so if we mention his name they probably won't ask too many questions."

Tahl glanced between them before she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose in resigned disagreement. "Honestly, between the two of you, you're going to drive the Masters into early graves with your escapades. And I think you're both bad influences on Roloh. You're going to corrupt the poor boy."

The three children laughed and said their farewells as they parted. Korrah continued on alone down another hallway.

She still had to get to her appointment with Master Che.


"…Master A'kam informed me some time ago about your fondness for swimming. And you haven't suffered any kind of relapses, memories of your visions?"

Korrah looked up. "Huh? Oh, no, I don't have any problems with swimming; I love it, really!"

Her hazel eyes went distant for a few moments as she thought back. "When I died…in my vision, I was trapped in a vehicle during a storm and it was dark, so it's not like anything in the brightly lit swimming area brought that to the forefront of my mind…I was also impaled at that time, so, there's another difference."

"You're much better at talking about it now." Vokara commented.

She shrugged. "It's been years since then and I have you to talk to about it. You want to know and I don't have to worry about letting you down or worrying too much about me."

Vokara allowed herself a small smile. Korrah had become much more open to her after the first few months and the therapy sessions had progress over the past year.

Still the way she wasn't affected by her initial vision was…a good sign, she decided. Reversing the damage had long since been dismissed by the Jedi Master as a pipe dream, but preventing further trauma was something she had shown some promise in.

…Of course, this would have made the Jedi Healer feel more secure if it weren't for one problem that Vokara had been dealing with for over a year since beginning these mind healing sessions with the girl.

Korrah was a genius.

The thoughts and arguments that came from the young girl in front of her had more often than not left the Twi'lek Jedi glancing at the chrono and wondering if she'd be able to lay in bed that night without staring at the ceiling for hours just trying to process half of what Korrah could unload on her.

The girl understood…so much. Too much! Science, music, economics, politics…although that last one wasn't too surprising. Korrah had been born on Chandrila, where it was completely the norm for democratic practices to be argued and debated back and forth as if they were competitive sports teams.

Their sessions hadn't initially been meant to cover so many, or varied topics, but Korrah was so…advanced that the conversation had naturally flowed into places that Vokara hadn't expected. If she was being honest with herself, despite the mature mindset that the girl had gained under the stress of her visions, she had still expected to be treating a child. Korrah didn't act like a child. Even more perplexing, she didn't seem to even think like one! She was…

…a genius.

Vokara was not. Decidedly not but she was doing her best.

Thankfully, she had discovered that there was less damage to Korrah's mind than initially expected from what she had tentatively dubbed the 'split-personality' brought on by the intense visions, but Vokara attributed that to the naturally nurturing traits it – thankfully – possessed. Subconsciously, it seemed to be holding itself back from being too harmful and to the healer's relief, merging more and more with Korrah's primary conscience. It was truly fascinating and infuriatingly hard to treat.

Korrah meanwhile, lay on her back sprawled out over the circular cushion. It was much easier to talk to Master Che now. The familiarity that had been built up between them made her comfortable enough to confide in her.

It also made it possible to relax like this. She wouldn't get scolded for it, even though it was a childish and undisciplined, but Korrah could tell that small acts like this actually reassured Master Che that she was a child…at least in some small ways, so she let her get away with it in this private setting.

"…I'm bored." Korrah blurted out suddenly.

"Oh?"

She quickly went to explain herself before she offended the Jedi Master. "I'm not complaining, I mean, these appointments. I didn't mean I was bored about this! I meant the crèche…and I'm not even trying to complain about that, either! Boring is good. Boring is safe." She paused, then blew out a long breath looking up earnestly at Vokara. "It's still boring of course, but boring's not bad. It's just…boring."

"I'm certainly impressed at your display of maturity and patience." The Twi'lek's twinkled as her eyes glanced up with a quick upturn of the corner of her mouth and she wrote something down, her stylus making light a tapping sound within the room. She had no trouble believing that Korrah was starting to struggle with life in her Clan. Even tutoring with the older Padawans who volunteered at the crèche hadn't satisfied her mind anymore.

"I still have almost three more years until Initiate Trials." Korrah muttered darkly.

"Just three more years until I can take the Initiate Trials. Please just tell me this counts as a Trial of Patience or something." She thought to herself.

The stylus finally stopped moving and Vokara inquired about a different topic. "How are you progressing with your studies, Korrah?"

Korrah dragged a hand over her eyes and through her long hair. It was still loose so that it would dry faster, but it was so thick that it was taking its sweet time to do so. "We are beginning our studies the various philosophies regarding the Jedi Code and…I understand it, I just don't comprehend them." she sighed.

Vokara raised an eyebrow. "Ah yes. I've had a few conversations with Master A'kam regarding a certain youngling who insists on debating Padawans who come in to aid the Masters in the crèche over the Code. And even a recently Knighted one if she's to be believed."

Korrah rolled her eyes. "Padawan Sifo-Dyas needs to study more if he isn't able to formulate a counter-argument that a five year old could poke holes in and even Master A'kam could tell Master Dooku was enjoying himself," She smirked up at Vokara. "If not slightly annoyed that he was slowly losing ground to someone over two decades younger than him."

Vokara shook her head at her smug satisfaction.

"And the extra assigned meditation on the Code?"

The girl gave an up-side-down shrug. "I made the mistake of summing it up in one sentence within Master A'kam's hearing range: 'There are no absolutes, absolutely.'"

"Where would you come up with that?" Vokara asked. She had a bad feeling…

Korrah answered immediately. "From the beginning: 'There is no ignorance, there is only knowledge.'" She then glared up from her stretched out position on her seat, her face scrunched in annoyance. "Master Che, if we are denying the existence of ignorance, are we not claiming omnipotence?"

Oh, dear. Not again. Please don't let this start what Vokara thought it was heading towards.

"As Jedi, we are called by the Force to perform our duty and challenge ourselves in the constant pursuit of knowledge. As long as we remain secure in this calling, there will be no ignorance."

Hopefully that would be enough to avert any further discussion along that line of thought.

"To pursue knowledge, we must first be free to think." Korrah muttered.

Vokara stopped writing and peered down at her. Despite the Jedi's initial hopes that Korrah would not pursue her questioning of the Code (which sadly had not been the first time) there was now a…curiosity.

Her head tilted to the side with an odd look on her face.

Korrah continued.

"After all, a person is only free if they are free to think and not fear persecution for it. But the Code has no room for diversity of thought." She stated conclusively. It was something that Korrah had determined from reviewing her memories of this reality. In the centuries after the New Sith Wars, the Jedi had become something of a benevolent version of George Orwell's negative dystopia in his '1984' novel. Bizarre as the might sound.

"I should totally write down the speech O'Brien's gave to Winston about power the next time I get a chance."

Vokara inhaled slowly and steadily. She'd never come out of sessions with a clear mind whenever the conversation meandered across discussions of the Code. She was a healer, not a philosopher.

"Korrah that is not-"

"It's not a condemnation, Master Che. Merely an observation."

Vokara restrained herself from heaving a frustrated sigh. She'd somehow found herself sinking into (yet another) philosophical debate with a five year old child! And quickly comprehending that she was out of her depth. This level of deep thinking and discussion of the Code was best left to the Archivists, Jedi Consular. Or better yet, Grandmaster Yoda.

Korrah continued after Vokara failed to respond. "We are only free if we are free to think, because thoughts are dangerous. But even though they're dangerous, they're not the…problem." She was only rambling, talking to herself at this point, but her words brought Vokara up short.

"And what do you think is the 'problem', Korrah?" Vokara asked warily.

Her eyes were unfocused, looking at something far away. It was an expression that had become increasingly disconcerting to the Healer.

"I'm still trying to figure that out."

"Be careful and mindful of where such thoughts can take you, Korrah. You're very smart, but doubting the Code can lead to dangerous paths."

Korrah frowned. "Smart huh…no, I'm something different. Some kind of freak."

Vokara was surprised by this and quickly tried to counter, but the girl shook her head and interrupted as she Vokara's eyes. "I'm fully aware of it, Master Che. That I'm not like…you, Master A'kam, Qui-Gon, Roloh, anyone else in the Clan or outside it, at least that I've met." Her gaze darted away for a second before returning. "There is something different about me. I just don't know why!"

"Don't cast yourself so low so quickly. You're still a youngling with many years ahead of you and patience is one of your strongest virtues, Korrah. Such knowledge is hidden from us until we are able to handle knowing it. Many don't know what their reason for living is until they have lived for decades and gained the experience necessary to determine what it is. Rather than obsessing over it and the far off future, try to remember to keep your mind in the present and the answer will come to you in due time. There is a purpose for all life, trust in the Force."

Korrah hummed noncommittedly.

Quickly taking this as a sign to move on, Vokara continued with her counseling. "There's one more thing that was brought to my attention earlier this week."

Her small patient paused for a few seconds before sitting up straighter in realization. "Was it about my debate with her on the defining qualities of love?"

Vokara flicked her stylus. "Yes. Do you understand why Master A'kam was warning against the dangers of love and how it leads to attachment?"

The Twi'lek healer mutely admired the girl's control to not roll her eyes – this time – even though the desire was completely obvious. "Yes, I did. But she didn't."

"Oh dear."

A feeling of helpless resign washed over Vokara who shut her eyes as her right lekku twitched involuntarily. She dreaded asking this next question, but this session had already turned into one of the difficult ones and as a professional she knew she had to.

"And why did you say that, Korrah?"

"Because Master A'kam was warning us of the so called dangers. Except, love is not dangerous, love is perfect. However, we as people are not perfect. Every one of us are very flawed with things such as fear, jealousy and greed which are capable of distorting our depiction of love."

Vokara quickly wrote down several paragraphs of notes and motioned her patient to continue.

"I love my parents and they love me," Korrah confessed.

Vokara flicked her stylus with a short jerk of her hand leaving a familiar shorthand symbol to remind herself of this point in the session. This conversation thread which had come up many times during Korrah's therapy sessions. It stemmed from the young girl having very clear memories of her parents and a strong attachment to them that she had yet to let go of and even after a year of instruction. It seemed like she was determined to indulge it.

"We loved each other so much that I chose to be separated from them and they allowed me to go…even though it hurt…we still did it because we wanted what was best for each other. That's what love does, right?"

…Well, when Korrah described her attachment in such a light, it seemed perfectly justified.

It worried Vokara.

Korrah was rambling at this point, as she often did when talking about her parents. They certainly sounded like good and kind people from everything Vokara had heard about them. "I didn't want them to die, and they didn't want me to suffer on account of my untrained Force-sensitivity. We each made sacrifices for the sake of the other. That's selfless is it not?"

Vokara couldn't bring herself to answer the question and quickly brought the conversation back to the incident that Korrah's Crèche Master had brought to her attention earlier that week. "Do you remember what you said in the…conversation that you had with Master A'kam five days ago?"

Korrah ignored the obvious redirection.

"Yes."

"And you said…?" she encouraged.

Korrah shrugged. "I told her the truth: 'Love is patient, kind, doesn't envy, isn't boastful or proud, doesn't dishonor others and isn't selfish, slow to anger, keeps no record of wrongs, doesn't delight in evil but rather rejoices with the truth…" she looked steadily up at the counselor as she continued. "…always protects, trusts, hopes and perseveres. Love never fails.'…that's what I said." She finished.

Vokara was stuck in a dumb silence and was just staring at her blankly. She suddenly understood why the Caamasi Jedi had been so out of sorts.

What could she say to that?

Korrah tilted her head slightly. "Was there anything wrong with my definition of love?"

…Truthfully, no. The Jedi Healer shook her head rather than vocally answer.

Korrah pushed forward. "So then, if that is love, why did Master A'kam warn us about it like its evil? If love is all these good things: selfless, slow to anger, kind, and so on, then how it is a danger? Love is good; the ultimate good, I believe. And so…"

Korrah stopped, eyes wide as if she'd just realized something important. A smile spread across her face.

"Oh! Free-will! That's the deciding factor. Literally!"

Vokara finally gave into her urge to sigh. "What do you mean?"

Korrah grinned, open and innocent. "It's a choice, free-will! When people have the ability to choose, then inevitably someone will chose wrong."

Vokara sat helplessly in her seat. She…had nothing to refute this child with.

Her earlier feelings of inadequacy returned with a vengeance.

"I've reached my limit. I've done all that I can in this past year, but she needs someone who can debate her…heresies on her level. Her mind is stable, but she's too…advanced…even for me. How can I prevent this kind of rebellious way of thinking if I keep getting stumped like this?"

Even as she thought this, Vokara couldn't help but internally flinch at her labeling of her patient's words 'heresy'. There was…a small part of her that pointed out what Korrah was saying made…sense. She pushed it aside to focus, but the helplessness remained.

"This child is five!" Vokara's mind wailed helplessly.

A quick glance at her chrono made her realize that their time had run out.

The human girl bowed respectfully as the Jedi Healer dismissed her and exited the room. Vokara spent the next ten minutes compiling her notes from over the last three weeks and strode through the Temple until she came to a stop in from of another door.

A familiar aged voiced granted her access and she bowed before the members of the Jedi High Council. She began her report on her meetings with the youngling Korrah Hyymn in a clipped and professional tone, but as she continued on recounting her analysis of the girl's mental health, estimated intelligence and level of maturity, her countenance started to fray and her desperation became more and more obvious.

"-And when the Master tried to reason with her, she defended her positions by relating an in depth account of the Battle of Rakata Prime and the redemption of Bastila Shan from the Dark Side allegedly by her love for Revan!"

Her hands gestured helplessly as if it would convey the…near hysteria she'd felt when she'd had to sit through her young charge recount that to her. "She gave a word by word dialogue between Revan and Bastila, as if she'd been in the room with them! And-"

Master Yoda cleared his throat, not unkindly, and Vokara stopped and took a deep breath to regain her control over herself.

"And it's not just that. She's…talking and reasoning of things that Jedi Masters have struggled to debate! And she is a child!"

Whispers and hushed arguments started to echo around the Council Chambers. Several long minutes passed by as the Councilors turned and discussed between each other over the content of her report.

Yoda tapped his cane lighting and gestured to her. "Any more to add to your report do you, Master Che?"

Vokara straightened herself. There was only one possible course of action that she could see from this point.

"Masters, with all due respect, Korrah Hyymn needs to begin training immediately. Keeping her in the crèche is stagnating her abilities as well as allowing her more…radical ways of thinking to continue without the proper instruction. She is mentally sound; completely sane, but her intellect is desperate for challenging study."

The thoughtful mutterings started again, but softer and subdued this time. Most were in agreement.

"She is a prodigy." Rancisis conceded to the Council.

And she was, but they could all feel it through the Force. Korrah Hyymn was also…something else. Unlike any being any of them had ever encountered.

Master Tor Difusal spoke up from his seat.

"It is agreed that she cannot stay in the crèche." He stroked his chin pensively. "It would be unusual, to have one as young as her to take the Initiate Trials, but her abilities are too advanced to remain unchecked. With her unprecedented level of sensitivity, she needs training." He looked around at his comrades. "We will put the decision to a vote.

One by one the Councilors put forth their votes and at the end of the meeting the decision was made.

Yoda tapped his gimmer cane once more as the meeting was adjourned.

"Decided it is. Take the Initiate Trials, young Korrah Hyymn will."


Thank you so much for your support and for taking the time to read 'Anomaly'! If you feel like doing so, please leave a review. Any constructive feedback is welcomed!

When next we see Korrah several more years will have passed and there may be slight differences to what her expectations of life as a Jedi might have been. Only small changes so far, but the effects will be felt in the far future. I hope that you all will still be here to see that!

Thank you all once again!