A/N: Welcome! There's another time skip (about two years, sorry to those that don't like them) from the last chapter, but things are developing and we're moving along. We'll be seeing some changes here and there so I hope it'll be interesting to see where characters are now.

Thank you Ducky9002 for editing!

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars. I do own my OCs.


Chapter 10: Teacher

"Ow!"

Korrah paused in her work and sucked her burned index finger, soothing it after she had accidentally brought it too close to the miniature soldering gun. In front of her, the small droid Batt had given her when they'd first met lay on the low table she was kneeling in front of partially disassembled with its covers removed to expose the working parts underneath. The disk-shaped droid whirred-clicked at her in a high-pitched binary.

"I am being careful! Stop overreacting." She instructed and pushed her Padawan braid out of her face. More beeping followed. "No, stay still! I'm almost finished."

Korrah was in the middle of making yet another addition to her Lock-Pick droid that Batt had given her a couple years ago. A new power cell had been just the first of many 'upgrades' that she'd ended up installing, along with an up-to-date motivator, vocoder, even an omniscience unit she'd snatched from the Temple scrap bins in a stroke of good luck. The droid's sonic imprint sensor and ROM had been slightly corroded, but still salvageable and now she was finally in the process of installing legs to the piece of machinery so that CH1-B or 'Chibi', as she had named it, could function with some independent mobility. It never hurt to be prepared in case she was too otherwise occupied to open something with it herself.

She resumed her soldering until she was satisfied with the result and set her tool off to the side, replacing the parts she had removed, finally snapping the droid's coverings on and spread her hands.

"There! Now how do you feel?"

The droid gave a few long beeps before four spindly legs came out of the disk's sides and lifted itself off the surface of the table. A robotic eye fixed at the end of a slim, flexible metal coil rose from the center of the droid and looked around itself and started crawling around testing its new appendages. Along the underside of its covering plates, Korrah could spy the small identification numbers that were stamped there. The eye swerved around to look at her as it chirped.

Korrah sighed in relief and sat back.

"Phew, good! See, Chibi, I told you I could do it. Now, are you sure you don't feel anything? Any lag, unresponsiveness, or locked-up servomotors?"

Chibi crawled figure eights over the surface of the table at alternating speeds before it whistle-clicked at her again in the negative. Then he stopped and turned back at her, two senor probes that looked like flexible wires extended from the droid like little feelers, waving around as if to express itself and it pointed its one eye in the direction of the door.

Korrah immediately sat up and scowled. "No, no, and no! I don't care how well you say you can improve security, I've already told you, absolutely NO tampering with the apartment locks! We're in the kriffin' Jedi Temple's residential section and there's nothing to steal from this room, so who's going to bother trying to break in? Master might just toss you into the garbage compactor for real this time if you make another mistake and lock him out again. You remember how long it took to reprogram that little mishap don't you?"

Chibi buzzed angrily and she glared at him. "Oh, but of course. And now that you can walk on your own, if I ever find out you've done it anyway I'll throw you down the chutes myself, got it?"

The little droid emitted something close to a metallic 'growl' and she quickly grabbed him, ignoring his wildly waving legs and eye stock as he beeped at her in protest. "Well, get over it. Until then you're staying with me."

Her mechanical friend buzzed one last time in defiance before withdrawing its new legs and powering down in a manner that seemed to be the droid's equivalent to sulking.

Placing the little machine inside her tunics, Korrah heaved a breath and leaned over the table. With her morning classes canceled, she'd had little else to do beside finish Chibi's additions before she got ready for the rest in the afternoon. There was still some time before that though. She looked around the living area of the apartment and considered dusting again. Laundry was already taken care of, but it had been a few days since the last time she dusted.

The Master/Padawan apartments she shared with her Master were very spartan in their decoration. Being a Jedi, it was discouraged to value personal possessions too highly and Sifo-Dyas was a simple man anyway so there was very little beyond the necessities. He did however seem to fancy carved boxes of wroshyr wood from Kashyyyk and a certain artist from Chandrila that specialized in minimalistic paintings of nature and had several hangings around the rooms. There were small signs of her own influence including several potted plants by the windows and basically everything they used in the kitchen as the older Jedi didn't cook often at all.

Besides dismissing material possessions, Master Sifo-Dyas also seemed to forego chairs or high furniture. Even their respective beds were thick futons that lay on the ground.

Korrah laughed at her thoughts.

"Master really is a samurai."

Deciding against dusting, she went her room and resolved to pass the remaining time reading over the required text for class instead. She perused her bookshelf for her textbook until her eye caught on her personal journals. She now had seven full journals of visions and was half way through her eighth. Looking over the dates marked on the spines, she selected one of the earlier ones.

Korrah flipped through the pages of flimsi until she came to the page she had marked of a vision she'd had several years ago. She skimmed down to the latter half of account, towards the end.

world of gray again. Standing on a cliff in the fog, then the fog parted and I saw that I was at the edge of a huge canyon spanning off to both sides. Impossible to go around. I couldn't see the bottom and the mist that remained was still thick enough that I couldn't see the other side, but there was a very narrow path that led out across from the cliff. It looked incredibly treacherous, like one wrong step and I'd probably slip and fall into the gray abyss. Then a person walked past me from out of nowhere and stopped at the beginning of the path. They just stood there for a second before turning and holding out a hand to me.

I can't remember what they looked like or if there were even details to remember, but there was one thing that stood out. At the person's side I could see a lightsaber, simple and neat in design…almost classy, but that's really the only thing that I can remember or describe in any detail. Everything else is too murky.

I ended up accepting the hand and we were walking across the path. Some of it broke under my foot at one point and I slipped, but my guide pulled me back up. There were actually a few times the Jedi(?) almost fell off too, but I was able to keep him with me. The vision seemed to go on forever until we made it to the other side. Then the Jedi let go of my hand and…and there was something in my hand after they let go, but for the life of me I can't remember what it was! I just stood there and waited for them to do or say something, but nothing happened.

When they continued not to do anything, I bowed in thanks (it just seemed like the polite thing to do) and started walking forward again, but I found myself looking at yet another impassable canyon! There were dark shapes already there at the edge, but the vision ended at that moment before I could see more. And that's it.

Korrah calmly shut the journal. She'd come across this entry two weeks after she'd accepted being Master Sifo-Dyas' Padawan and started pouring over her records of her visions. At the time that she had been keeping this journal, she'd been suffering from vision-induced insomnia and had immediately forgotten about this after writing it down. Now though, she had some idea as to the proper context of the vision thanks to that one key detail she'd mentioned.

The lightsaber! The one that she'd seen in the vision was the one she now recognized as Master Sifo-Dyas'!

She replaced the journal. "And therefore, ignoring visions is perfectly fine. Their purpose is either to prevent or prepare. So, obsessing over them does no good."

Now if only Master would simply understand that.

She set about for her textbooks again. All this free time she had accomplished through wise time management threatened her with boredom and sometimes made her wish to be teaching the classes again. Old habits certainly die hard it seemed.

However, her intended self-study was interrupted by impatient knocking on the apartment door. When she finally opened it, Qui-Gon stormed in past her, his Padawan braid whipping around wildly and his blue eyes were narrowed. Korrah raised an eyebrow at her friend's dark expression. He was fuming.

"Oh dear…"

Tahl walked in behind him and made eye contact with Korrah. She grimaced, which was all it took to explain the situation to her. He'd had another heated…'debate' with Master Dooku again.

Looking back over and taking in her friend's tense appearance and the aggravated line in his shoulders, she let out a low whistle. "Oookay, so, are we going to skip class and just put some tea on, because you look like you could use some right now."

The tall older boy blinked as if realizing where he was and closed his eyes, breathing in deeply through his nose. "Tea…yes. That's why I'm here. For…tea." He grit out.

Korrah shared another concerned look with Tahl and headed for the apartment's kitchen. "And class?" she called over her shoulder and set the kettle over the stove as she reached for the cups and tea leaves. This looked bad and was probably going to get worse before it got better. She just hoped she still had some store of her friend's favorite tea left from the last time this happened.

Qui-Gon plopped himself down on the floor at the table and stretched out his long legs while Tahl joined him in a more reserved fashion.

The Noorian spoke up before their friend could. "No skipping class today. Just some tea to calm certain heads and we'll all go down together."

Qui-Gon sent her a pitiful look, but she returned it coolly and remained firm. "It'll provide a distraction Qui-Gon, and I'm not going to let you shirk your grades or give you an excuse to start brooding."

"I'm not here to brood, Tahl. And you didn't have to follow me."

Korrah listened in as she handled the now hot water into three cups.

"That's because you always bring in Korrah on these sorts of issues and force her to play mediator. It isn't fair to her Qui-Gon."

Tahl narrowed her tiger-striped eyes and the older boy sighed in the face of her admonishment. He rubbed at the stubble that he was trying to grow out over his chin and jaw. Another rebellious act on his part. Padawans were supposed to be clean shaved, but Korrah thought that Qui-Gon seemed to be cultivating his maverick streak against authority a bit early.

He tried appeasing his agemate. "Tahl, I don't mean to impose my problems on Korrah or any of my friends. I just need to get away from Master's obstinate…views; some space to reflect and cool down, you know that."

Korrah barked out a laugh. "Don't listen to him Tahl. He'd needs someone to argue with when he gets like this or else he's as moody as a pregnant gundark."

Tahl cracked a smile as Qui-Gon shot her an evil eye. "Kiss a sarlac, Korrah!"

She grinned triumphantly as she walked out of the kitchen.

"Well, I'd tell you to pucker up, lover boy, but I don't think Tahl would approve." She set the cups down and winked at the Noorian who rolled her eyes. At fifteen years old, the mutual crush that was growing between the two Padawans was obvious, but she refrained from commenting on it beyond friendly banter and never outside the trio's privacy. The circumstances weren't exactly optimal for discussing it anyway.

Qui-Gon and Tahl accepted their cups and most of the strain seemed to melt from the young man's broad shoulders as Qui-Gon inhaled the rich aroma from the rising steam.

"How do you always have the same expensive tea that Dooku keeps in his rooms?" he asked.

The deadpan stare she sent him could have leveled a forest.

"Our Masters are friends remember? So, it stands to reason that Master would share at least some taste in the kind of teas that Master Dooku favors."

Of course, her Master could have just as easily gotten it from one of his black-market contacts, but this was a far more likely reason. She steepled her fingers and tried to smother a knowing grin.

"But you already knew that. It's why you're here isn't it? To get your kriffin' tea fix without having to go back to your own rooms and risk running into Master Dooku before you calm down enough to be rational, am I right?"

Qui-Gon crossed his arms and scowled over his seeping tea.

Korrah smirked, knowing she had him and he knew it too.

"So…what is it this time?"

Tahl calmly sipped at her tea, beginning the…therapy session? Intervention? Whatever these little impromptu tea parties were meant to be.

"From what I understand, it's a disagreement over their individual values regarding the Living Force."

Korrah nodded and took a shot in the dark. "Aaaand how it leads you to rescuing every poor, pathetic creature you come across, am I right?"

Her male friend's reaction confirmed her suspicions.

"We encountered a man who was escaping prison on Devaron that had been falsely accused! You know how brutal their justice system is! He needed more than just some platitudes or being turned over to the authorities! Of course I was going to help prove his innocence. We're supposed to be servants of the Force and it must have been its will that we'd cross paths just as negotiations got put on hold."

Korrah nodded indulgently. "Yes, so I've heard. And then you somehow ended up getting locked in the cages where they keep the starving Quarra in this daring rescue, which I can only assume was all part of the plan?"

He threw up his hands. "That wasn't my fault! The corrupt magistrate got the drop on us, but it did end up giving us the confession we needed." He blew on his but it was still too hot. "It all worked out and the innocent man got acquitted, but Master still just…insists on lecturing me."

Tahl swallowed a mouthful of her cooled beverage. "Not everyone is as in tune with the Living Force as you are Qui-Gon and I think you aren't giving Master Dooku the credit he deserves. A Jedi Master of his caliber couldn't be that ignorant of the Living Force, at least not as much as you seem to think."

"He's completely dismissive of it!"

Korrah watched them as she sipped her own tea.

"Well at least they've moved past their differing views on swordsmanship. This stubborn shaak really wouldn't take up anything other than Ataru unless his life literally depended on it."

Still, with that thought in mind, Korrah felt some reassurance in knowing that he had eventually acquiesced to learning some defensive Makashi katas his Master had been trying to drill into him. She'd suggested it over a year ago when these kinds of arguments had started becoming more and more frequent between Qui-Gon and his Master, though he'd only done so after she'd subtly dropped enough hints to get him to believe that her insistence stemmed from a vision she'd had of his death. Or something equally as horrible.

It wasn't much, but even a one-degree deviation could prove fortuitous in the future.

Still, Korrah worried over the rift that seemed to be forming between the two. She respected Dooku as a Jedi Master and experienced diplomat (Master Sifo-Dyas had unintentionally dropped hints that he might have been a Jedi Shadow in the past as well), but she did understand Qui-Gon's frustration over how hard it could be to see past his aristocratic mask. Sadly, that was just how he was. Master Dooku was a naturally guarded man and it wasn't in his nature to show his inner thoughts or feelings no matter how deep they ran.

As for her best friend, he…well, it seemed as if Qui-Gon's infamous 'live in the moment' philosophy actually stemmed from the young man's bad habit of tunnel vision that would grip him whenever he got too emotional over something or convinced he was in the right. It seemed like an unavoidable pitfall as he was just too stubborn in his nature and headstrong while Dooku was too old and set in his ways.

And somehow, she didn't know how, but she had ended up as the 'safe' middle ground for the two of them. Korrah still wasn't quite sure how she felt about that.

Tahl reached over and held her friend's hand. "How are things, Qui-Gon? Really?"

"We're fine."

Tahl remained unconvinced. "Qui-Gon."

He lasted five more seconds – an impressive new record – before he relented and sighed.

"I haven't spoken to him since we returned from Devaron over a week ago." He said, somewhat contrite.

Korrah gave an unladylike snort. "Color me shocked."

Her words didn't amuse the teenage boy in the slightest. "Some friend you are." He muttered and took a sip of tea, but coughed when he swallowed it wrong.

"You know you love me."

Qui-Gon continued to frown, but he was thankfully no longer as tense as when he first entered. His eyes fell on the piece of equipment on the table.

"What's the soldering gun for?"

Recognizing the redirection in the conversation, Korrah pulled out Chibi. "Well, with morning classes cancelled, I decided to finally put some more touches to this little guy. He can walk now, look." She presented him with a flourish and tapped the little guy to wake him up.

"You've been working on that thing for years. When are you ever not tinkering with it?" Qui-Gon asked as Chibi's one eye lit up and he quickly registered the presence of the other two organics.

Tahl smiled as she observed the little droid as it extended its new legs and crawled around excitedly. "Very nice work, Korrah. Though, I hope you're not going to let it loose in the apartment. If it escapes and gets loose in the Temple at large it might do more damage than just break the lock on one door."

She shook her head and fixed the Lock-Pick droid with a flat stare. "No. Master and I already talked about that. And Chibi knows better than to go behind my back anyway. Don't you?"

The little droid in question 'nodded' its eye stock and warbled affirmatively, spending the next few minutes entertaining them with his new features before Tahl checked the chrono on the wall and swallowed the last of her tea. "Time for afternoon class, you two."

Qui-Gon halfheartedly heaved his great frame up from the floor as Korrah retrieved Chibi, quickly washed their cups and stored them away – as well as the soldering gun – before grabbing her books and following them out.

Astronavigation was an endlessly fascinating subject, but Korrah was continuously distracted by Qui-Gon sitting next to her. He only seemed to be paying half his attention to the material.

She whispered to him as the instructor covered the various hyperspace lanes that connected the Inner and Mid Rim.

"You know you have to do something about it."

He frowned and didn't answer.

When the lecture had ended, Tahl had a separate class afterwards so the two humans walked along at a sedate pace. Korrah directed them around a lesser used route to avoid having people overhear them as Qui-Gon ranted quietly. She figured they had enough time for that.


Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas was in the lesser perused section of the Archives where the records of past council meeting were kept. There was some questionability over whether he had the clearance to see some of these records, but there were ways around that.

He'd spent the last few hours reviewing the individual Councilor's notes of the disturbance that had shaken the Force, Light and Dark alike, approximately twelve years ago. A certain quote from Jedi Master Thame stood out to him just as it had when he'd first come across it.

disturbance in the Force…an anomaly…end to these times of peace…the Chosen One…

Sifo-Dyas pinched the bridge of his nose as a headache began to build inside his head.

Chosen One.

For some inconceivable reason, he was tasked by the Force to train the…the youngling that all the signs pointed towards being the Chosen One.

And then there was the Jedi High Council. He'd been called in by the Council for enough meetings over his student's development to know their minds on the subject. And if he was being honest with himself, their continued interest in monitoring his methods of instruction was growing more and more…undesirable. Far be it from him to doubt the wisdom of the Council, but after the first year of scrutiny he'd received, Sifo-Dyas had reevaluated his initial misgivings of their roles regarding apprenticeships.

He thought back to the past medical reports regarding the girl's mother which had been what convinced most of them of the truth about Korrah. The youngling's biological mother, Savah Hyymn, was physically incapable of successfully carrying a pregnancy past second trimester and after her previous stillborn, shouldn't have conceived again. Not without the interference of the Force as the evidence stated. Korrah's midiclorian count itself seemed an echoing testament to the Force's undeniable involvement in her birth. Over twenty-thousand pc! Over double the average count for a Jedi Knight!

"And approximately four-thousand more than even Master Yoda's count…" he thought and Master Thame's recorded words haunted his mind again.

He released his fear into the Force with practiced ease. The past two years had been…thankfully easy. The biggest change that he'd experienced was that he hadn't left Coruscant for any great length of time since taking on a student.

The Council had assigned them on several missions as a Master/Padawan pair during these two years, but none of them had really amounted to anything too dire or dangerous. Not like his usual assignments. They were the kind of missions that the Council would assign to aid in deepening the bond between Master and Padawan and giving each side the opportunity to learn more and understand the other while out in the field, short-term disaster relief, low-risk escort missions, even supervising a group of younglings during their Gathering and other such things.

Through each mission Korrah had acted according to his instructions, hadn't been afraid of voicing questions and alternate solutions to a problem, but had always differed to his greater experience with maturity rarely seen in a recently chosen Padawan.

A fact that he thanked the Force every day for.

Sifo-Dyas was not a person who was great at handling children, so the less time he had to spend trying to corral a child into doing what had to be done, the more time he had to ensure that the mission could be dealt with properly and cleanly.

And making sure that they both got out of the mission alive and intact when they finally started dealing with the type of missions where such leeway couldn't be afforded. He had been itching to get back into his field of expertise for the past six months now, but he had to admit his growing fondness for his young Padawan had made him pause.

His line of work in dealing with the criminal underworld of the Galaxy wasn't one to be taken lightly or treated as some kind of game.

In other words, it was no place for children.

And if he was being honest with himself, if his Padawan hadn't shown herself to possess as much maturity as she constantly did (the only exceptions seemed to be when she was in the company of her friends), he most likely would have insisted on leaving her behind at the Temple every time he was called in by the Council.

Then again, if she had been any other youngling and the Force hadn't sent him those visions of their eventual apprenticeship, he probably would've never taken her as a student in the first place.

There was one thing about Korrah that confused the Jedi. The twelve-year-old girl had visions nearly every night and as someone who was also gifted in foresight he had originally thought this would be the easiest hurdle that he'd have to guide her through, but that was not the case. Sifo-Dyas didn't understand why she was always so determined to ignore her visions. The most thought that he witnessed Korrah delegate towards them was to record them in a coded journal and then shelve it as if that was the end of it.

He'd tried to talk with her about it. That the Force gave visions for a reason and he often had her make time to meditate on her visions. She did the meditation, but he could tell she would slip back into ignoring them immediately afterwards again.

It worried him. He still didn't know how to properly broach the topic. Maybe he'd talk with Master Yoda or ask Master Che more questions over what she knew that could possibly shed some insight on her steadfast avoidance.

He continued scanning the rest of the entry when Dooku walked up and greeted him. "Sifo-Dyas. A pleasure to find you here."

He smiled and returned the nod. "Good afternoon Dooku. How are you and Qui-Gon?"

It had become customary for him to ask about the Jedi Master and his student over the past few years. He was the one whom he sought the most advice from besides Master Yoda about his own apprenticeship. However, years of friendship allowed Sifo-Dyas to recognize the older man's carefully concealed tells and he noticed that there was an ever so slight downturn to his mouth as he casually reached for a book. Concern settled lightly in the back of his mind and he hoped that the two weren't experiencing…tensions between themselves again.

"The boy still has a penchant for attachment that is driven by his unhindered compassion for all things in the Galaxy. It would serve him better as a Jedi Knight once he learns how to temper it properly with discipline and a better sense of discernment, but that is still beyond his capacity at the moment with his hard-headed nature. He still has much to learn." Dooku related. "I admit I often find myself envious of the smoothness you seem to enjoy within your own apprenticeship my friend."

Sifo-Dyas sighed as the conversation turned to him and replaced the holobook. "Dooku, you know me. I am not as naturally inclined to teaching as you are. Taking on a student was never something that I considered in my future. It was the shock of my life when I started to receive visions from the Force directing my path elsewhere."

Dooku smiled. "I believe it has as much to do with the student as well as the will of the Force Sifo-Dyas. I have yet to hear any complaint of the child from you."

Sifo-Dyas could tell that this was his friend's way of deflecting the conversation away from himself, but the topic he brought up was one he had meant to discuss with him. A masterful Makashi move, even in his manner of speech; as to be expected from his friend. He breathed deeply in a manner that was either resigned or troubled by something he couldn't yet put into words. "Korrah is…well, she is not a child." He said slowly and rubbed his forehead. "At least, she doesn't act like one would expect of a human girl her age. The only exception seems to be when she's around your Padawan and her other friends, of course." He commented and they strolled out from among the shelves. "She's organized, studious, and obedient and…and mature. Surprisingly so. Honestly…I don't think I'd be as self-assured at teaching her if that hadn't been the case."

Dooku's thoughts seemed to elsewhere as he replied. "Yes. It is indeed a blessing when a young mind understands the value of maturity." He selected another holobook with just a mite too fast – too much snap in the wrist – to be counted as casual.

Sifo-Dyas tried to discern the cause of his friend's irritation, but Dooku cut off his attempt and issued an invitation for tea in his rooms. Sifo-Dyas accepted his friend's offer and they exited the Archives, walking down the halls. They were largely empty and afforded the two a rare instance of quiet at that certain time of day.

"How does your Padawan progress in her saber play Sifo-Dyas? Is Korrah still attempting your chosen style of Form V in the salles?"

He gave a rueful expression. "She continues to improve her technique as the months pass by, but despite expressing some interest in Djem So earlier this year, she just doesn't possess the physical strength needed for it to be effective. She does well enough with the Shien aspect of the Form, but I've encouraged her to retain her focus on her combination of Soresu and Makashi. It suits her much better than mine."

Dooku nodded. "I've heard it from my own Padawan that she has already surpassed the majority of her peers. He still spars against her frequently and has reported defeats at her hand as an increasing occurrence. As the one who instructs him in the art of swordsmanship I know that is no easy feat."

Sifo-Dyas couldn't help but feel a rush of pride flow through him at Dooku's words, recognizing the underlying complement for what it was. He tried to belay the praise. "She is talented and receives instruction well. I can't put forth a claim to what comes naturally."

Dooku gave what counted as an elegant scoff. "You continue to underestimate yourself my friend, but I will not press you over your insistent humility. Even obstacles such as that are overcome in their own time."

Sifo-Dyas smiled. "It's certainly been a surprisingly fruitful experience so far."

One that he had never considered for himself, but couldn't bring himself to regret now.

If only he could get over the weight and responsibilities the Council believed her future held as well as her importance to the Force and the Order as a whole.

Dooku and Sifo-Dyas suddenly stopped walking as they heard conversing voices approaching and recognized them as none other than their respective students. The two young ones didn't notice their presence in the hallway adjoining the one they were traversing through, too caught up in their own conversation.

"…well, you are a fifteen-year-old human male. I'd honestly be more surprised if you weren't having some kind of rebellious faze."

"It's not a faze, Korrah. I'm serious."

Korrah rolled her eyes.

"I'll alert the media. You did have a point in all this grumbling didn't you?"

Qui-Gon made a pained face. "When he took me as his apprentice, I thought it was everything I ever wanted, but now I wonder…what if it turns out he's not the kind of Master I needed."

Sifo-Dyas mentally winced and refrained from reacting to the boy's words. The context of the Padawan's conversation was now clearly apparent and without a doubt not something he should be overhearing. He didn't look over at his friend's face at that moment, afraid of what kind of expression would be set there, but from his peripheral view, Dooku had gone completely still next to him.

"Hmm, maybe so," Korrah allowed. "But have you ever considered you might be exactly the kind of Padawan he needs?"

Both Masters paused in their thoughts when they heard that and even Qui-Gon stopped walking, looking bewildered. Korrah continued.

"This apprenticeship is a two-way street, Qui-Gon. Hate to be the first one to tell you this, but it's not all about you." She finished her sentence in a dramatic whisper and dodged a retaliatory swipe at her head. "But seriously, what if all this 'woe is me' chssk you keep brooding over is just keeping you from realizing what he's having to deal with, work through and learn from?"

"You're taking his side?"

"Ugh, I'm trying to open you up to the possibilities." She countered. "I mean, having someone as stubborn as you for a friend isn't exactly the easiest job in the Galaxy." Her hazel eyes twinkled as she grinned back at him. "I can't even imagine the kind of agony it must be to suffer having you as a Padawan."

Qui-Gon peered down at her, annoyed. "It's not exactly delightful having to deal with your irksome company and know-it-all remarks either, you know."

Korrah shrugged unrepentantly. "Hey, if you want someone with a sympathetic shoulder to cry on who will commiserate with you, go talk to Tahl. If you want answers with a healthy dose of the inconvenient truth, you talk to me. My point is: whatever your differences, Master Dooku cares about you. Whatever his views are, they're important to him just as are you and he wouldn't be trying so hard to get his points across to you if that wasn't true."

She pointed a finger straight in the taller Padawan's face. "And you. Know. This. So man up and get over it! Apologize if you have to. You don't even have to use words if that's too hard! The two of you are different, but that's not his fault."

Qui-Gon was silent for several seconds. Then he sighed heavily and shook his head, but his lips pulled back slightly into a resigned expression.

"Alright, I get it, I get it. So, how would you suggest I face him the next time I see him?"

Korrah snorted and walked ahead. "Nuh-uh, no, that's on you! If you're just too lazy to put forth the effort-"

The two Jedi Masters stood in the hallway for several long moments as their students passed out of their hearing range. The content of what they had just overheard slowly digesting within their own minds. Dooku stroked his beard thoughtfully and slid his gaze over to Sifo-Dyas.

"Quite the insightful Padawan, my friend."

His worry was back, but Sifo-Dyas nodded in response.


As Korrah fell into her dreams that night and was immediately assaulted by an unpleasant stench of rotting vegetation. The air was awfully humid around her and the ground was swampy. She looked down and realized that she had sunk into the mud until it almost spilled over the tops of her boots.

Korrah hurriedly pulled them out with a thick squelch and awkwardly high-stepped her way towards the tall trees as fast as she could in search of more solid ground. She made it to the base of the nearest tree and almost slipped again on the thick but slimy roots back into the mud. Her footware was well and truly ruined when she finally managed to free herself from the stuff.

Looking around at the swampy forest she had found herself in, she couldn't push back the feeling that this whole place seemed terribly too familiar to her. The trees were tall and winding, dark with moss and algae twisting upwards as tangled vines climbed all over and around them blocking out what sunlight there might have been. A light mist softly carpeted the surface of the ground and pools of deeper water. Korrah thought she saw something move in the dirty, stagnant water off to the side and pulled a face as she drew back from the water's edge, careful where she stepped.

This whole place tickled the back of her memory something fierce. Why couldn't she just remember where it was?

Raucous bird-like noises drew her attention upwards and although she couldn't make them out, she could hear that there were animals flying around in the tops of the trees overhead.

And bugs. So many insufferable bugs!

Korrah almost lost her balance and toppled back into the foul-smelling mud as she swung her arms around trying to disperse a swarm of the abominable things when they attacked her, but then a cloud of twinkling lights fluttered into view and the swarm passed way. She focused on the lights curiously.

Fireflies! At least those were a less nefarious type of insects than the pestilence that inhabited this place. What was it called again? It was right there at the forefront of her mind; so familiar to her, how could she possibly forget it?

The fireflies flew around her in a dazzling display like tiny stars before spiraling away in another direction. Following her instinct, Korrah took off after them.

She climbed over roots, rocks and swinging on vines, now ruining her tunics as she crossed more of the swamp towards their destination, following the fireflies until she saw the entrance to a cave in front of her. It was covered in huge tree roots and thick vegetation. The interior was dark and ominous.

The little fireflies stopped in front of it, but she continued without breaking her stride, pulled forward by some unseen power.

There was something in there, just out of sight calling her inside. It was-

"You must come."

Korrah's eyes snapped open and sat up straight. She looked wildly around her room, almost expecting to see someone there. The voice she'd just heard…it wasn't one she knew, but it had sounded like it had been spoken right next to her.

Just as her heart started slowing down, Korrah was surprised when in the following second, her Jedi Master enter her room. He was still in his sleeping ware and his hair was down and loose.

"Korrah, are you alright?"

She couldn't decipher the look on his face. Maybe it was the dim lighting. He seemed concerned. What was he doing awake at…fourth morning hour?

"Just another vision, Master." She said calmly. She wanted to go back to sleep.

However, Sifo-Dyas came over and knelt down beside her bedding.

"What did you see?"

She paused, wondering if he'd insist she should meditate on her vision, but obeyed anyway. Her reply was only one word.

"Dagobah."


A/N: So the Jedi Council and Sifo-Dyas are having a bit of 'dim bulb' moment in assuming Korrah is the Chosen One, but I have a reason for that. This is an AU after all.

Also, since I can't seem to find the actual 'Lucas-approved' prophesy I thankfully have some leeway with this plot point and I'll definitely go into more detail on it as some point in this story. Hope you all are wondering where I'm going with this because what I have planned gets really interesting.

It's a pity I wasn't able to add any scenes of Roloh in this chapter, but we'll probably see him in the next one. I'm glad I've got Chibi established as he's going to be Korrah's 'R2'/swiss army knife.

See you all in the next chapter everyone! Please leave a review and tell me what you think. What was your favorite part? And as always, I hope you enjoyed this!

-ObsidianShadow1994