"Is there anything you want us to add?" Jedova asked.
"I don't think so," Reg Tug said and looked at his fellow Councilors
"We are done. May the Force be with you," Oppo Rancisis dismissed the team.
Jedova and Arya bowed and left the chamber to the turbolift. Arya felt quite proud of herself for having been there, reporting to the High Council after her first mission. She wanted to say it aloud but Jedova was faster to speak up than her, "If you're quick, you will make it to the lesson in time, so go."
"Yes, Master," Arya said. When the turbolift stopped and they stepped out of it, she bowed to her Master quickly and rushed away.
"I hope she starts to feel like a real Padawan soon," Jedova muttered to himself once the girl had disappeared behind a corner.
Arya managed to make it to the lesson.
"You came in the nick of time!" Tahl remarked.
"Yeah," Arya gasped, trying to even her breathing.
"Well, well, well... You still managed to come here in time, Padawan Deinden," Master Gla remarked, looking at Arya's slightly messy Padawan braid. Jedova had not noticed it in passing due to his distance and height, but Arya had not done as good work as they both had thought she had.
"Yes, Master Gla. I did make it," Arya answered, still a bit out of breath.
"I hope you will make your own lightsaber to replace that training lightsaber soon," Master Gla remarked.
"I will, Master Gla," Arya reassured.
"You went on a mission with a training lightsaber?!" Tahl gasped in disbelief.
Master Gla flashed his sharp teeth – they had always made Arya feel uncomfortable yet the girl managed not to shudder when she saw them – in satisfaction with the reply he had gotten and went past them to give the instructions to the whole class, "Pick a partner and do katas 10 to 15."
Arya gritted her teeth. She had mastered katas one to five during her time, but struggled with the ones past that. She could only barely do katas between 10 and 12 at her own pace while anything past that was a complete mess. It was definitely the best way to make her feel like a crappy Padawan – now that she actually was a Padawan.
"We should be a pair," Tahl noted. "Gomorrah is trying his luck with Clee."
"Sounds good," Arya agreed, relaxing her jaws. Tahl was both good at the katas and also aware of how bad Arya was at them, so she could slow down in order to allow the Veledosian to keep up with her.
The Force flowed all around the Padawans as they picked their partners and got ready. Arya was happy to finally be a Padawan like the others even though she was badly behind them all. At least she was not a to-be washout who would leave soon anymore. She was actually one of them like she was supposed to be, like she had always wanted to be.
"Begin. Remember to do it precisely instead of fast," Master Gla's voice echoed in the room sooner than Arya had expected. Green and blue lightsaber blades came to life and moved through the air as their users progressed through the five katas.
Arya did her best to keep up with Tahl and to kata 11 she did quite well, but then she started to stumble. At first, she was just a couple of seconds behind her but suddenly "a couple" had multiplied repeatedly and Arya was ten seconds behind her. Tahl tried to slow down, but by kata 14 Arya was completely lost.
"Go on," she formed with her lips. She did not dare to speak aloud as she desperately tried to follow her friend.
Arya was glad to notice that many were having trouble at this point, too, but she knew she would still be the last one to finish. Like she had always been. Others had gotten help, advice and private training from their Masters but Arya had only gotten herself into a bad state due to her poisoning so far. It did not really matter whether she had been chosen as a Padawan or not; her skill level had not changed. Not yet, Arya told herself, but soon it would.
Her focus was lost for a second as she stumbled again. That was when the boy next to her – Arya did not remember his name – stumbled as well and had his lightsaber slip from his grip just enough to scorch the back of Arya's hand. The Veledosian girl cried out and jumped out of the reach of the green blade. It had been set on low power but, as she looked at her hand, Arya saw a bad-looking burn which had replaced the healthy skin she had stared at just a kata ago.
"What is going on?" Master Gla approached them.
"Uh, sorry, Initiate-" the boy started.
"It's Padawan now," Arya snapped, then let go of her pain and anger.
"Sorry," the boy said again.
Arya did not reply. She saw Tahl finish kata 15 undisturbed by the incident right in front of her and tried to finish the last kata while ignoring her aching hand. She made it half-heartedly, just wanting it to end so that she could try to alleviate her pain until she would go to the Halls of Healing. Despite of taking some shortcuts, she was still the last one to finish the final kata.
Arya felt like she was always last on everything and it frustrated her more than anything even now that the continuation of her Jedi training had been assured. It would take some time to get over it – if she could ever do that, of course. She did not have to worry about impressing anyone anymore because there was no longer need for that, but from now on it would all be about not letting her Master down.
The lesson ended soon after she had been able to finish. Jedova was outside waiting for her.
"How did it go?" he asked.
"It went all right," she replied. Although it had not been as bad as some of her lessons, she did not want to tell her new Master what kind of a mess it had been. "I just need to get some bacta. My hand got scorched."
"I can see that," Jedova noted, glancing at the burned back of the tense girl's hand. "Let's go. How did you get that burn, by the way?"
Arya nodded, so they started to walk towards the nearest turbolift.
"It's no big deal. I stumbled while doing a kata and didn't notice the lightsaber of the person next to me slipping right towards my hand. That's it." Arya paused to come up with a quip. "And it is not even the shortened version Airka would make."
"How would he shorten it?" Jedova asked out of curiosity.
"He would say something like 'I stumbled and did not notice the lightsaber of the person next to me slipping', I think," Arya answered.
"That's short," Jedova noted.
"Well, Airka is short, too. If I didn't know better, I'd think he tries to shorten his talk to match his height," Arya remarked with a half-hearted smirk.
They stepped into the turbolift.
"I do hope the check-up will show no damage from your poisoning," Jedova said quietly. He was not sure whether or not he should express his worry to the girl, but he still did so. It was probably for the best that he was open about it; whether he wanted it or not, he taught by the example he set when he was with his apprentice.
"I hope so too, Master," Arya noted, immediately showing the Master that his example encouraged her to speak up about her own worry. "It wouldn't be fair if after all I've done to get this far I'd have to stop because of some permanent damage."
"Permanent damage doesn't automatically mean that you have to stop," Jedova noted. "My Master, Xurego Odyrogo, proved it."
"I've heard a good lot of him," Arya said and looked up to her Master's eyes. "He was great, wasn't he?"
"Yes. Great indeed," Jedova said fondly. He treasured the time he had been in Arya's place, just having been chosen by Xurego. It had been great time, even with its downs.
They reached the Halls of Healing.
"Hello there, Jedova. Have you gotten injuries to be tended again?" asked Amariel, a Cathar healer Jedova was well-acquainted with.
"Actually not this time. My new Padawan needs a check-up. She got a poisoning on our mission. And she also got a burn at a lightsaber lesson just a moment ago," Jedova told.
"You sent her to lesson after a poisoning?" Amariel asked in shock.
"I'm fine, really. I could pull it off. It wasn't my fault I got my hand scorched," Arya defended herself.
"So you're the Arya Deinden I've heard about. Someone did mention that you needed to be checked for any damage," Amariel said. "Ahem, aside from whatever injury you got after that..."
"Still not my fault," Arya told stubbornly.
"Of course," Amariel agreed, smiling. Arya's stubbornness reminded her about Jedi Initiates. Although, as far as she had heard, Arya had been chosen as a Padawan very recently, so it was understandable. "Jedova, I have a feeling that we can manage on our own. Do you think you need to pick her up from here?"
"We did not have time to arrange her moving from clan quarters to Padawan quarters before we left to our mission, so yes," Jedova answered.
"Oh right, I thought that I had forgotten something," Arya said and let out a nervous chuckle. "It's been a wild week."
"Half an hour should be enough. Be back here then," Amariel said. "Now shoo before someone else thinks that you need to be tended to."
"Very well. Don't worry, Arya, she won't bite you. At least she hasn't done that to me," Jedova said with a grin.
"Just because I hate the taste of human blood," Amariel noted.
"You're both creeping me out," Arya muttered, eyeing the two adults with an uncomfortable frown. Besides, I am not a human.
"Sorry, Padawan," Jedova apologized warmly. "I'll see you in half an hour then."
"He is pretty much like a mother hen, don't you think?" Amariel noted as soon as the door closed behind the leaving Jedi Master.
"Uh..." Arya did not know how she should reply to that.
"You know, he really worries a lot about his new Padawans and pretty much tries to do whatever he can to watch over them. I've noticed that during my time as a healer," Amariel noted. "Now come so that we can get you checked and your Master can stop worrying about it."
Arya did not say anything. She had to admit that while at times Jedova's protective attitude had been a bit annoying – she had learned to do things on her own without anyone helping or protecting her – at some points it had been nice. The thought that she had someone who watched over her willingly and cared about her made her feel happy. Suddenly, she realized that while she believed that the Ancients had always been watching over her and all the Veledosians, she now had someone who watched over her in this physical realm, visibly by her side.
Jedova wandered through one of the meditation gardens, thinking of the path he had taken Arya to. He knew that the Veledosian girl deserved safer training than what he could ever provide with a plethora of misfortunes lurking right behind his shoulder, yet he had seen that he was the only one to be ready to provide any training to her.
The Jedi Master knew that from now on all he could do was making sure that his apprentice would not get killed while he trained her into Knighthood. He could not see the future – and in the end he was not even willing to see it – so he could know nothing for certain.
Now, the only certain thing was the decision he made in the current moment: the decision to be the best Master he could be.
/Star Wars (c) Lucasfilm, any characters you cannot find on Wookieepedia, Veledos, Veledosians and their language (c) Me/
