Chapter 33 - Initiate Trials

"Luke, are you coming?" Leia called.

"Yes." Luke answered. He took another moment to check that his shields were up. No reason for anyone, even his sister, to know how nervous he was.

"Luke, if you don't come out now, I'm coming in!" Leia shouted.

"Alright, I'm coming." Luke grabbed his Jedi robe and ran out. "You'll want to work on your patience or you'll never pass Self Discipline."

"Oh, I'm gonna ace Self Discipline. Look how much practice I get waiting on you all the time." Leia rebuffed.

Luke made a face at her, but before he could give her a scathing reply, they were interrupted.

"Luke, Leia. Come down here," Anakin called. "Your mother and I are so proud of you. Whatever happens today, we love you."

"Da-aaa-ad," Luke moaned when his father bent down and kissed his cheek. He wished the man wouldn't get so mushy all the time. But at least they weren't at the center in front of the Masters and other younglings yet. The only witness here was Leia, and she was in the same predicament a moment later.

"Dad," Leia squeaked as Anakin kissed her cheek.

"You'll do great. I know it." Anakin said. "Alright, go get in the speeder, and I'll be right out."


Anakin walked his Ten year old twins into the doors of the Community Center auditorium the council decided to use for the first parts of the initiate-trials. Normally the room functioned as a cafeteria, but there were no meals being served for their function. "Okay kids, remember what I said this morning." Anakin bent down and reached out to hug his kids.

"Oh Daddy. Uncle Ben, help!" Luke called over his father's shoulder.

Obi-Wan laughed. Luke took advantage of a momentary lapse in Anakin's attention to squeeze out of his grip. Obi-Wan grabbed him and pulled him closer to give the boy a hug of his own. "Help, like this?" Anakin laughed too.

Obi-Wan let go of Luke a moment later and Anakin let go of Leia. Luke took a moment to restraighten his robe and tunic. "You're so embarrassing!" Seeing that his scathing comment only made his father and uncle laugh more, Luke turned to walk with his sister. They joined the other younglings who were standing in a group in the middle of the room.

"Welcome Younglings," Yoda started. "A tradition for longer than even I have lived, these trials have been. Your potential as Jedi, they will demonstrate. In all of you, the light shines, yet hard, the path of a Jedi is. Knowledge first, you will demonstrate. To every initiate knowledge is taught, yet absorbed it must be. A difference for your future it will make."

Several Jedi masters walked from the edges of the room to each find a seat at one of the many tables in the auditorium. The younglings then spread out, one going up to each master. Luke tried to get to an easier master, Master Kirak Infil'a, Master Coleman Kcaj, or even his Uncle Ben, but he was too slow to claim any of them. When he looked up the only master left was Master Jocasta Nu.

"Master Nu," Luke gulped, the former temple librarian was the last person anyone wanted for the knowledge trial.

"Initiate Skywalker. Come sit down. How are you feeling today?" She asked.

"Um-mm," Luke blushed. If this was how he responded to such a simple question, his outlook on the test didn't look that good.

"You're nervous," Jocasta interpreted. "That's okay. So was I, you know." She smiled at Luke, and that made him feel a little better. He sat in front of her, across the table and took a deep breath.

"Okay, I'm ready." said Luke.

"What is the first principle of the code?" she asked. And Luke answered easily, reciting the principles from memory. Then her questions shifted to be more about interpretation and Luke struggled a bit, but Jocasta seemed to appreciate his answers.

"And that's why the code was changed to allow attachment," said Luke.

When she was finished, Jocasta stood up and bowed to Luke. "A fine Jedi you will make, young Skywalker. You pass this trial of Knowledge." She reached up and pulled a small strand of Luke's hair out from his head, and she placed a small tan band around it. It hung down in front of Luke's face two inches down, but if he passed the next two tests, it would be braided with two more strands to mark him as eligible padawan.

"Thank you, Master Nu." Luke's face broke in a big smile, and he could see his father giving him a proud thumbs up from across the room.


Leia had to fight from squealing in happiness as she inwardly cheered. She passed her first trial, now just two more to go. But Jedi didn't squeal in happiness, they stayed calm. She gave Master Infil'a a respectful bow as he stood up and went to rejoin the other adults.

Master Yoda stepped up again. "To see you all perform so well, I am pleased. Self Discipline, your second trial will show. Patient, A Jedi must be. Everything in it's own time, the Force does. Your emotions, a Jedi must control. To the dark side, many of them can lead. Meditate, each of you younglings will. Pull you for the trial when we are ready, we will. Begin now."

Leia closed her eyes and tried to sink into a meditation. 'This is going well. Easy peasy muja squeezy.' Then the strand of hair hanging to mark her earlier achievement started tickling her face. 'Did someone open a door. They're letting a draft in. It doesn't matter. You can do this. You can.' Leia was trying really hard to stay focused.

After what felt like ten minutes went by, Leia was about to burst. 'Oh, come on. I haven't heard anyone get up yet. What are they waiting for! Control over emotions, that's right. You are not irritated. You are not impatient. You don't want to whack Master Yoda with his own stick.

'How long has it been, 20 minutes. They must be about to pull me. It would be unethical to leave me here any longer. I wonder where the Masters are. They couldn't possibly still be standing there watching us.' Leia reached out with the Force, but couldn't detect anyone. Not even the other initiates in the room with her. This meant the Masters were blocking them. 'Oh why do they have to be no fun.

Mmmmp. Has it been 30 minutes or 3 hours now? I don't know. This better end soon or... ' Leia felt something cloth go over her head, then a strange weightlessness. By the time her feet finally touched the floor again she could feel the force flowing through and around her again.

"Leia, Leia," she heard a voice calling her name.

"Uncle Ben?" Leia asked, as she tried to pull the hood off her head. It wouldn't come.

"Leia, Leia." The voice called again.

Leia started to run towards the voice, then she stopped. There was an instinct telling her to beware, so she used the Force to stretch out and it became her senses. From what she could tell, she was either in a hallway or a narrow room, and there were obstacles in her path. She stepped around one and ducked below another. Next she saw her entire path was blocked by something, so she ran and jumped, and used the force to make a smooth landing on the other side. In front of her now was her Uncle Ben's force presence.

He greeted her with a hug and pulled the hood off her head. "Leia, I'm so proud of you." He reached up to her head and pulled two more strands out. He braided it about an inch and then put the tan binder at the end of it. The rest of the strand hung loosely at the end. When she officially became a padawan the braid would be completed. "Come let's go back to the auditorium."


When they arrived, Yoda was standing in the center of the room again, and initiates and Masters were slowly filing in. Yoda smiled. "Pleased with your progress, I am. Long to wait for a youngling, ten minutes is."

"Ten minutes!" Leia shouted unbelievingly. The other Jedi Masters attempted to stifle their laughs by coughing in their sleeves.

Master Yoda didn't stifle his laugh at all. "Ten minutes, indeed. Self-discipline you have demonstrated. And the force to get past obstacles, you have used. A strong connection to the Force, you have demonstrated. Initiates, you no longer are. A part of the order, you shall now be."

Leia looked around and found Luke, sporting the same braid she had just received. She was so happy that she couldn't contain it anymore. Bouncing up and down she ran to her brother, showing off her braid, then they both ran to their father.

Anakin greeted them with open arms in another big hug. 'This one is congratulatory. You get away with it old man,' Leia heard Luke's thought over their twin bond.


The next day Anakin got Luke and Leia up bright and early. Today was the Gathering, and as newly minted Jedi, his children were ready to find their first Kyber Crystals and build their first Lightsabers. He was so proud.

"Huh," Luke looked at his father like the man had sprouted another head.

"Where's the Speeder?" Leia asked.

"No speeders today. We're going out into the dune sea. And we're going there by Jerba." Anakin almost laughed at the critical looks his kids were giving him. "Master Yoda had a field generator put up over the area for security, so speeders and ships won't be able to get in. Come over here and I'll help you up."

Luke walked up to Anakin and he lifted Luke up to the back of the Jerba.

Leia stood there staring at it. "But it's so ugly."

"He's not a beauty, but if you don't ride him, you'll have to walk," Anakin threatened.

This got Leia's attention and she shrugged. "Alright. We do this again, I'm taking an Eopie."

Anakin laughed as he lifted Leia up with her brother, then he climbed up next. The great shaggy creature was large enough that it fit the three of them on it's back. "Okay, hold onto me." Anakin gripped the reins and used the force to give the Jerba a slight kick, as it started walking.


The location Anakin was bringing them to was a cave that also served as the back door to Jabba's former Palace. After the Hutt's demise they found that a part of the subterranean complex was connected to natural caves. And they found that a few of these caves went very deep and contained some traces of natural Kyber.

Master Nu then suggested something she had read about the earliest Jedi doing long ago. They place the last of the crystals they took from Ilum in those caves, and several Jedi came to tend to the caves each day. It worked sort of like a garden. New crystals started to grow from the walls and floor. Yoda felt there was now enough to let their youngest members harvest a crystal from the caves.

Anakin turned around to help his twins get down, but quickly found his efforts were not needed. Luke and Leia both jumped down from the Jerba's back. Anakin opened his arms. "I know you two are almost knights already, but can I get one last hug before you go in?"

Luke looked mortified at his father's request. He started stepping away towards the other younglings, then ran faster as he got away.

Leia did walk up and hugged her father. "I love you daddy." Then she ran off to join her brother and the other younglings.

Anakin sighed as he watched the children play what looked like a game of tag. He left the Jerba to munch on a naturally growing bush in the desert sands near the cave entrance, and he walked to where he could observe with the other Jedi youngling's guardians.

"Younglings, Younglings." Master Coleman Kcaj tried to get their attention.

Anakin whistled. This stopped the younglings game and everyone looked at Master Coleman to continue.

"Thank you. Younglings, you've performed excellent in your trials, I understand. Now you are about to perform a ritual Jedi have done for over a thousand years. The Gathering. Now, the dunes here tend to shift so much that the cave entrance gets filled with sand and debris so frequently. Come, help me to clear a pathway."

The children all walked up and stood beside Master Coleman in a line. They put their hands in front of their chests and pushed with the force. Sand moved as if a wind had blown through and pushed it all out of the way.

"Very good. Now, before you go in, gather around. The caves are very deep, and you will have to use the force to find the crystal that you are meant to have. But also remember that you will need to hurry. We cannot keep the animals here overnight. They will return to their stables at dusk, whether we like it or not. And another sand storm is predicted here about the same time. That means that if you are still in the caves then, you'll be sealed in." Several of the younglings gasped when Master Coleman said this. Anakin looked away, knowing this was mostly a fib. The force would clear the cave again and none of the Jedi here were prepared to abandon any of the younglings. "Now go, hurry!"

Anakin stood back and watched as Luke and Leia both disappeared in the caves.


Luke walked into the caves, keeping his mind on the force. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, but his teachers all said he'd find it if he looked for it. Several of the cave tunnels split into multiple directions, so by the time Luke looked around for them, Leia and the other younglings were no longer in sight. They must have all gone down different paths. He silently wished they were having better luck than he was. He'd already gone very deep in the cave and hadn't seen or felt a trace of a crystal so far.

"Tag, you're it." Leia ran up behind him and playfully taped his arm.

"Wha- Where did you come from?" Luke asked.

Leia giggled and ran off. She turned round a bend ahead and then screamed. Luke ran after her.

What he saw when he passed the bend in the tunnel startled him. A large man wearing a black suit, cape, and mask towered over his sister. Leia was being held up in the air and he could tell she couldn't breathe. Then her arms started to turn brown like the rock walls. This quickly spread over her body and soon a lifeless rock shaped like his sister crashed onto the floor of the cave.

Luke screamed and lunged himself at the man. He didn't have a lightsaber yet. No one had thought to bring training sabers to The Gathering. But he did his best to kick at the man who just hurt his sister.

The man pushed him off him and ran down the cave tunnel ahead of him. Luke looked around for his sister, but he couldn't find her all of a sudden. 'Leia? Did he take her?' He tried to access his force bond with his twin but found it unusually quiet. Tears leaked down his cheeks. Luke could see no other choices. If he left to get a master, they'd take too long to get down here. His only option was to follow this man deeper into the caves.

"Luke, there you are." Anakin turned around the bend ahead. He seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Huh?" Luke stood stunned for a moment. He'd left his father at the entrance to the caves. How he ended up ahead of him was unfathomable.

"I went looking for you when the Sith arrived. These tunnels are a maze. Have you seen your sister?"

"Um…" Luke didn't know how to answer his father's question. "I think the Sith has her. He's up ahead."

Anakin gasped. "Stay here!" he ordered.

Anakin turned around a bend in the caves ahead. Luke nervously waited. Then he heard lightsabers being activated. A terrible fight was underway. Luke crept against the wall to peer ahead. He saw his father's lightsaber slip and then the man in black stabbed Anakin through the chest. A moment later his father vanished and his cloak fell to the ground.

"No-oooo-ooo!" Luke wailed. He used the Force to pull his father's saber to him and activated it. It felt different than the last time he'd held it, but Luke was too angry to notice. He screamed as he lunged with the saber at the man.

The man defended himself with his red saber. Then he turned to run away again.

'Why does he keep running away?' Luke remembered his father telling stories about the younglings he'd rescued from the Sith. 'Why would anyone want to join them? I wonder if he was one of those kids? Was he taken away from his mom and dad too. No wonder he became such a bad guy.'

Luke caught up to him again soon after. "You killed my Father!"

"No, Luke. I am your…" said the Sith. He was cut off suddenly when Luke deactivated the saber and reached his arms around the Sith's cold waist, giving him a hug.

"I understand why you'd fall. With no mother or father to love you. Dad says the Jedi of old used to live like that too. No attachments, but that's not the way anymore. I am so glad that I get to love my parents but I didn't even give my Dad a hug this morning. This is what they feel like. Big and warm and happy."

Suddenly the man disappeared, and Luke was clutching air. "Hmm?" He looked around in shock and found nothing.

Luke turned around and ran to the entrance of the caves. He then stopped and gaped at his father who had turned to see who was coming. A moment later Luke jumped into his father's arms and gave him a long hug. As he whimpered into the man's shoulder he didn't care that there were other younglings and Masters standing nearby. He also didn't care about his sister's snickering nearby. He was so happy to see his father again. "I love you, dad."

"I love you too. Say, is that your crystal?" Anakin asked.

Suddenly Luke saw it in the palm of his right hand. It was where he was holding his father's lightsaber in the caves. But the saber was still on his father's belt. And he was alive!

"It looks like a nice one. Going to make you a fine saber," Anakin whispered before he gave Luke a kiss on his cheek.


Hello Everyone,

I did try to research the whole Jedi Initiate trials, but I found surprisingly little info about them. Wookieepedia only had a basic summary, but I based what I had on that. Most of it is from my imagination.

The first trial, according to Legends, is in demonstrating their knowledge of the code. Now, I know in most fanfics, as well as certain canon, the code is treated as nothing but a simple poem. I, however, believe it must have been more than that. Perhaps the poem was a way to help the kids memorize the longer code. Or perhaps it was a part of the code, like the Lord's Prayer is a part of the Bible. Anyway I also added a bit about some of the knowledge trial being interpretational questions and not just memorization, which seemed more logical to me.

The second trial according to Legends was in Self Discipline and it said it was either meditation or combat with a hood. I figure, when dealing with children between 10-12 here, getting them to sit still for any length of time is a big accomplishment, so I kept it at that, and I used the hood for the next trial.

The third trial has the least info from the wookieepedia sources I used. According to that the trials tested their connection to the force and their ability to live a Jedi lifestyle. I couldn't figure out how to test the last part, but I figure that navigating over obstacles with the Force was a good demonstration of your connection to it.

For The Gathering, I figure since they are on Tatooine now, instead of Ilum, the ritual is going to be different. According to my research, the Jedi did do a bit of fibbing to the kids to get them to feel more rushed and anxious about getting their crystals in time. I figured they would replicate that on a new planet.

And the bit about them tending crystals to grow them like a garden is entirely from my own imagination. As is them finding crystals in caves under Jabba's palace. According to Canon the place used to be some sect's temple before Jabba took over, so I don't see it as very hard to believe.

And, yes. What happened to 'Leia' when Luke is in the caves is supposed to be similar to what happened to Han Solo in the original movies, frozen in carbonite. The Sith is supposed to resemble Vader from those movies. And the lines about 'You killed my father!' 'No, Luke I am your…' was supposed to mimic a certain conversation, cut off of course, because I didn't want to give poor Luke too traumatic an experience. It's all an illusion, of course. To get him to conquer his fears. I hope you like how I had ten year old Luke solve that problem.

In the next chapter Luke and Leia will be eligible to be padawans and I may do a bit of an Apprentice Tournament. I also plan to use a story of Luke getting into some trouble too. The twins may be eleven by then, but I haven't decided yet.