Asajj closed her eyes and took deep breaths. She was using the lessons her master taught her to cope with her situation. After a few minutes of calming herself down, she turned to face the body.
Her mind was still gripped in a whirlwind of emotion. She walked over to the lightsaber and picked it up. While her lightsaber was ruined, she would keep her masters. She crept toward the Jedi, somehow still afraid.
She stood over Yoda and knelt down. This scene reminded her of when her master died. Such memories brought sadness in her mind and heart.
In her mind's eye, she saw her dying master trying to tell her something. She could not hear his words over the loud explosions on the battlefield. He died in her arms, his spirit taken by the Force. She became overcame with grief and anger.
Now it did not seem so different. This Jedi did not seem to be an enemy or a person responsible for her master's death, just a person who met an unfortunate end. In a way, this Yoda seemed familiar to her.
In her deep thinking and soul searching, she was not aware of her surrounding.
"Be Jedi he wished for you to be." Asajj jumped in surprise and stared at the suddenly alive Yoda.
Asajj practically hyperventilated in surprise and shock. The green troll was actually alive, and kicking.
"How…" Asajj stuttered, her voice trailing off. She clung to her master's lightsaber for comfort.
"Will of the Force it was." Yoda stood and bushed off his clothes. He had used the Force to hide his heartbeat and to seem dead to observers. It was a great way to hide.
Asajj gaped like a fish, her eyes wide. She gestured at the lightsaber but did not speak.
"Set on low power it was, forget you did to reset it?" Yoda said in jest.
Yoda rubbed his chest, while it was set on low power it still smarted.
Asajj slid to her knees. She could not beat this Jedi. He was too strong and he reminded her too much of her master. Maybe she was wrong, and it was not the Jedi's fault.
"Master Yoda I am, you are?" Asajj eyes widened. Her master told her of the great Yoda, Grandmaster of the Order. Asajj gulped, she was no match for Yoda and foolish to even try.
"I am Asajj Ventress," she whispered, all trace of anger gone. She felt fear and slight embarrassment. Her master adored Yoda and in his stories, she too felt the same admiration for the grandmaster.
She realized why she faintly recognized Yoda, from the tales her master told of his childhood.
"What will happen to me now?" She asked her voice small and tiny. She felt humbled by this Jedi's mere presence and surprising warm.
"Come with us you can. Friends your master had, wished to meet you I believe. Saddened they were about his apparent death, even more so now that proof we have of his death." Yoda walked toward Asajj stopping right in front of her.
"Really?" There was this pained hopeful tone in her voice that reminded Yoda of his current charge Anakin.
"Family the Jedi is, brother and sister we all are." Yoda said calmly, while sending a message to his pada-Anakin, assuring him that all was well.
"Could I still be a Jedi?" Asajj asked, her eyes fixated on the floor. She prepared herself for a rebuke after all; she did try to kill him.
"Jedi you are." Yoda proclaimed. "Just lost you are." Yoda patted Asajj on the shoulder and walked toward the door.
"Choice of yours it is. Come with me you could." He gestured to the door. "Leave you could, report this I will not."
Asajj bit her lip and thought deeply. This would be an opportunity to meet her master's friends. She could even get more people to help her stop her people from fighting all the time.
However, would she fit in?
From her master's stories, she learned that all Jedi came as children. She was not a child but a teenager.
Would the Jedi accept her?
"I will do it." Yoda smiled serenely as his face wrinkled in happiness. He hobbled out, pausing to pick up his grimer stick. Asajj followed in a subdued pace, a bit wary. She was aware that Yoda trusted her enough to allow her to keep the lightsaber. She also knew that it was at low power but she knew how to make deadly again.
She was touched in how trustfully he was. Her planet did not have such trust. Only in her former master, that she found such trust. As a child, she was unaware of this trust and when she discovered it, she was amazed.
Asajj promised herself that never would she betray the trust of Yoda, for he have given a chance despite all that she tried to do.
Kkkkkkkkkkkk
Anakin sat huddled beneath the rubble. He was concerned for Yoda. That was something new for him. Every since his mother died he kept to himself. He endured the torture and made himself weak, emotionless. At a point, he even accepted his death.
However, in the presence of this small green troll he was happy. Being with Yoda made him feel alive, made him feel human. At first, he thought Yoda would be repulsed at his killing of his mother but instead Yoda understood. In a way, Anakin relied on Yoda and wished that he could stay with Yoda forever.
The bond was also something very new to him. This bond was developed between him and Yoda. He felt very close to Yoda due to this bond. His former master tried to make a bond by ripping into his head. That was a bad experience. This bond however was full of love and devotion. Anakin could feel faintly Yoda's emotions and he knew that Yoda could feel his.
Come out youngling; wish you to meet someone I do.
Anakin crawled out of the rubble. His big eyes saw a tall figure standing next to Yoda. His eyes went from the figures boots up to the top of her head. It was definitely a female, but with no hair.
He never met a girl without hair. She looked like a boy. He even said so.
"Are you a guy or girl?" He asked a puzzled look on his face. Her eye twitched and she looked very angry.
"I am a girl." She hissed out, barely containing her rage. Yoda placed a hand on her knee and she took a deep breath.
"Oh," Anakin blinked. "So, are you really old then?"
She resisted the urge to strangle the little boy. Never had she been so insulted. Yoda however was amused.
Anakin's observant eyes noticed that she too was attached to Yoda. He felt a well of dark emotion rise up. He felt jealousy at first but then after he fully looked at the girl he realized she was like him. They were both very lost and have found by the same person. He did not like the idea of not being unique. At that moment, he viewed her as an adversary.
Anakin glared a challenge at Asajj. Asajj glared back.
"Come, back to ship we go." Yoda hobbled toward the hanger. He chose to ignore the animosity. He knew that motivation was a great way to improve, as long as they did not kill each other. "Back to temple we go, coming?"
Anakin stuck his tongue out at the funny looking girl and raced to catch up with the diminutive Jedi. Asajj had longer legs and caught up faster. She gave Anakin an all-knowing smirk and followed Yoda at a leisurely pace. Anakin huffed and ran as fast as his short little legs can go.
Yoda continued hobbling along at a fast pace, you would never think an old troll could move so fast.
Anakin knew he needed to exercise when he could not run as fast as Asajj. Asajj smirked at him. Yoda watched, vaguely amused at this childish competition.
"I win." Whispered Asajj, triumph in her voice.
"Till next time." He shot back. Flames of resolution burned in his eyes, he will beat her in everything.
A rivalry was born, bridged on the fact that Asajj had longer legs.
Kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
Yoda laughed to himself as he looked at his two charges. The two were huddled on either side of the room. A few hours earlier, they were glaring daggers at each other but both fell asleep.
He noticed that they were fighting for his attention. While it was good for children to develop healthy rivalries this was getting ridiculous. Asajj needed a master to finish her training, someone who was a good sword fighter and who already had experience with a padawan. The Dark Woman was out, she was busy with a padawan.
Yoda waddled to the comm system and decided to contact an old friend.
"Dooku? Pick up you will, make out Jocasta Nu you may but pick up you shall."
The perspired face of Dooku appeared; he looked a bit red.
"Master? I …was not snogging anyone." Dooku looked affronted and huffed a bit.
"Oh? Hear giggle I did, know you long enough that giggle you do not." Yoda smirked at his former padawn.
Dooku flushed and did not speak. He knew when he was beaten.
"Returning to the Temple I am. Bringing a visitor I am, meet me at the Temple you will?" Yoda asked Dooku. Dooku raised an eyebrow. He knew Yoda long enough that whenever he does something, chaos follows with a lesson fast behind.
"Very well, anything else?" Yoda shuffled a bit, and pouted. Dooku's eyebrow rose a bit more.
"Keep secret you will of my arrival from council." Yoda ordered. "Left I did, without telling anyone. Believe I do that when I return gripe they will."
Dooku smiled a bit too happily. "Sure." Yoda frowned suspicious of his former padawan and turned the comm off.
Yoda went to the pilot's room and closed his eyes. He needed to mediate. He would consult the Force for wisdom in choosing Anakin as his padawan. He was mediating on the fact that he was sure his former padawan was up to no good.
Meanwhile in the temple, eleven Jedi Masters got a rude awakening. This awakening was followed by indignant mutters. After they received the news, they got a bit miffed. They then thought of a great way to freak Yoda out. After all Yoda scared them first, and constantly played pranks on everyone. It was justice to give him a taste of his own medicine.