In the next morning at 0600
Jedova stretched a bit. He admitted to himself that it had been a bad idea to stay up so late while waiting for Arya. For once, he was grateful that he was quite used to not getting enough sleep occasionally and thus could let the drowsiness fade away as he invited the Force in. He knew that he had to wake Arya up himself, though; the girl could not possibly have gotten up yet. When he was certain that he was fully awake, he walked to the common room and through it to Arya's door. He knocked lightly. "Arya, it's time to get up now."
Just like Jedova had expected, there was no answer. Arya's Force signature echoed with deep sleep. Jedova sighed and opened the door. It was a pity to disturb such peaceful sleep but they had agreed to get up at this hour. He walked to the sleep couch and knelt to the floor by Arya's side. The Padawan's back was facing him but he could hear her slow breathing. Jedova took a deep breath, gripped Arya's shoulder and started to shake the girl carefully. "Arya, wake up." He had done this with Degu countless of times, even at hours that are normal for getting up, so it was easy for him to keep his voice calm. Despite of that, he hoped that he would not have to do this with Arya often.
The girl groaned.
"Just five minutes," she muttered, trying to shake Jedova's hand off.
"It is time to get up already, Arya," Jedova said.
"C'mon, Master Chama... It's too early," Arya muttered. The corners of Jedova's mouth twitched; Padawans could say almost anything when one tried to wake them up but being mistaken to clan caretaker was new to him – even though Degu had called him Master Yoda once.
"Have you forgotten that you have been chosen as a Padawan?" Jedova asked as he leaned closer to Arya's ear. "We have a lot to do today, so we have to start early."
"Oh shut up," Arya moaned, took her pillow from under her head and put it on her ear.
"Now that was very rude of you, my Padawan," Jedova said and took a grip on the pillow and lifted it up. Arya could not hold onto it for long, so the Veledosian's hand fell down soon afterwards.
"I'll have you know, young one, that you're not the first Padawan I have woken up by different means. I've actually become an expert at it, so would you please just get up now so that I won't have to resort to any... drastic means?" Jedova asked. He did not want to be too demanding as the very first thing in the morning, but he was already growing tired of trying gentle but ineffective methods of waking the girl up.
"Go away," Arya muttered.
Jedova sighed. "If that's the way you want this to go, fine. Since this is the first time, I'll go easy on you... At first."
Jedova put the pillow next to him and lifted his hand. Then, he started to tap Arya's shoulder with his fingertips at a fast pace; Degu had never liked it and thus it had been a quite effective and easy way to make him wake up. Arya tried to turn and swat the hand away, but whenever the girl was close enough to hit, she either did not put the required strength to it to make anything else than a barely audible smack or Jedova just moved his hand a bit to avoid the hit.
"Oh, seriously!" Arya yelled and fully turned. She used her arm to swat Jedova's hand away, but in the process she fell off the couch, only to be caught by the man.
The Jedi Master kept her an arm's length away from collapsing on him. Thanks to the girl's lightness, it was easy to do.
"Now you're awake," Jedova said, smiling. "Get dressed so that we can begin."
"Yes, Master," Arya said, blinking in surprise. She could not recall what had happened while she had been half-asleep, but she knew that now that she had woken up fully, she was in an odd position, looking down on her kneeling Master whose hands were the only thing that kept her from falling down on him.
Jedova stood up and lifted Arya to her feet, amused by her bafflement. Then he left the room, leaving Arya to wonder what had just happened. The girl shrugged and walked to her wardrobe to get clean tunics; she had forgotten to switch her previous tunics to her sleeping clothing last night.
After Arya had changed her clothes, she found her Master from the common room, meditating on the floor. Arya went next to him and knelt to join the meditation. She let her topmost feelings fade into the Force, as usual. It was easy to calm down when there was not that much to feel yet. She sensed Jedova end his meditation and opened up her eyes to look at him. Once they had established eye contact, they turned to face each other.
"What do you think there is left to do before we are ready to go on another mission?" Jedova asked.
"Well... I need to build my own lightsaber, at least..." Arya begun.
"Is there something that we are missing as a team?" Jedova prompted.
"A bond," Arya said.
"It will form and define itself over time as we work together, but we can set its foundation on our own initiative, which is why I brought it up," Jedova told. "There is a lot of things we need to talk about as well. I happened to talk with Master Gla yesterday. He told about how your studies at Form I are going. And he also told about how the lesson actually went on your part."
Arya did not say anything. She swore in her mind. Why did that cekaa go tell him?!
Jedova lifted his eyebrow and sent a small reprimand through the Force. It was enough to make Arya aware of that she had not shielded her thoughts well. The girl's posture did not change but her face turned red. She did not know whether she should say "Oops" aloud or not.
"He said that given how bad you are at katas overall, you did quite well yesterday," Jedova told. Arya blinked. She had not expected to hear this; the strict lightsaber instructor hardly gave anyone any compliments ever. Even when things went well, Dius Gla always found something to nitpick about. Actually, the only one who had ever gotten compliments from Master Gla and whom Arya had heard about was someone from years ago.
"He also mentioned that your braid was messy when you came to his lesson and that I should make sure that it will change," Jedova added.
Arya could not take this anymore. She slammed her face to her palms; she had absolutely no idea about whether she should laugh at the irony of the situation or just cry in humiliation. Jedova reached out to take a hold of Arya's right shoulder and pressed it firmly, hoping that it would help her calm down.
Upon feeling the hand on her shoulder, Arya started to take deep breaths and try to pull herself back together. The Master's hold was reassuring but she found raising her head up and looking back into his eyes difficult. Jedova was patient, though. He knew that there was no need to rush the Padawan. He had made sure that they had time.
Arya took as deep a breath as she could and made herself lift her gaze. Somehow, once she got that far, it felt easy to look into those dark brown eyes. There was understanding in them.
"It's perfectly all right, my Padawan. These things need time. Time that we did not have before," Jedova said, his voice calm. "Now, however, we have more than enough time for them all and we will use that time for them now, right?"
Arya nodded. She knew that she had now been fully dropped back down to earth – and the drop had been a hard one.
Jedova moved his hand to take a hold of Arya's Padawan braid. Now that he looked at it more closely, it truly was quite messy. Arya seemed to feel a bit uncomfortable about such closeness. Jedova understood that perfectly, though; he was intruding the girl's personal space. It was not like he would have enjoyed the position, had he been in Arya's place, either.
"You know, we could get two birds with one stone here. Maybe even three," Jedova said. "Along with re-braiding, we could form the foundation for our bond and talk about whatever we need to talk about. What do you think about that?"
"Is multitasking a good idea on an important thing as this one, Master?" Arya asked, worried. "I am not really sure about it."
"There is no need to worry about that," Jedova assured. "I know what I'm doing."
"Then it's ok," Arya said quietly, more intimidated than anything else by the whole situation.
Jedova moved to Arya's side. There he did not have to bend so much in order to reach Arya's braid. The girl tried to start to unbraid, but Jedova stopped her hand midair.
"Let me do it so that I can see what's wrong about it," he said softly.
Arya eyed the man, clueless about what she should think about it all. "Uh... Ok, Master." She tried not to withdraw, although it was difficult when she felt so small next to her Master. She felt completely out of place in the room she had not gotten familiar with yet.
With a surprising amount of care, Jedova started to unbraid the hair. What Dius Gla had most likely noticed was the number of locks which had gotten out of the braid before and during the mission. Placing the few marker beads to the floor once the braid had been completely undone, he paid attention to the spots from which Arya had gathered her hair for the braid. With male Padawans, they were chosen very carefully from the beginning as the rest of their hair was cut short, but with girls it was freer as long as they made sure that their hair did not end up in front of their eyes.
Jedova noticed that Arya had picked her hair from spots that, together, would make braiding difficult. Upon that realization, he understood one of the reasons why the Master was usually the one who first braided their Padawan's braid. He let go of two of the small bunches of hair and tried to get the hair from better spots all the while avoiding pulling the girl's hair.
When she felt his fingers brush her scalp instead of the light tugs in the roots of her hair, Arya felt like she had to jerk her head away from the touch. While she managed to fight against that instinct, her breathing rhythm changed nevertheless.
"Taking your hair from spots that are close to each other makes braiding much easier," Jedova told. "Don't twitch, Padawan."
"I'm trying," Arya said, still uncomfortable even though the Master's serenity reassured her. "It just feels so weird to feel someone finger my scalp."
"Just take it easy. I'm afraid that there will be a day when you will feel something much, much worse than this. I do hope that you never will, but the chance is always there, no matter where you go and who you become during your life," Jedova said as he drew locks into two different bunches alongside the third one which he had spared from the previous braid.
Arya relaxed her shoulders, still fighting against the instinct to withdraw. "I know that, Master. You have encountered that, haven't you?"
"I have indeed. And I'm afraid that in the upcoming years I will drag you into such situations with myself even though I don't want to put you in danger." Jedova got the final locks sorted. "There. What do you say if we begin bonding?"
"Sure, Master," Arya said. She admitted to herself that she had very little idea about what she was supposed to do now, but she did not want to try to admit it to her Master.
Luckily, she did not need to say it aloud as Jedova sensed her uncertainty.
"There's no need to worry. Just be open and let me form the connection through the Force," the Jedi Master said.
"Alright." Arya breathed in calmly, closing her eyes, and fully opened up herself to the Force. Jedova could not help but be slightly frightened by the girl's blind-looking obedience; it felt like he could ask the girl to do anything and she would do it, possibly without thinking much about it. However, he was certain that Arya had not questioned him because she trusted him to know what he was doing and that he would not do anything that he was not allowed to do. It was not the Jedi way to abuse nor take advantage of anyone, much less one's own apprentice, after all.
Closing his eyes, Jedova connected himself to the flow of the Living Force. It was easy to find Arya's nervous presence there and start to form a connection. He got a good start for a small thread, but then it snapped when Arya suddenly broke away with a shudder. Jedova opened his eyes and saw that Arya had crossed her arms and tensed her shoulders.
"What is it, Arya?" Jedova asked. Arya did not know what to say, or at least how to explain, so she just shrugged, not looking at her Master.
Jedova understood what was wrong. He made sure that his voice was so soft that it did not sound like he was accusing the girl at all. "You feel insecure about letting me in, right? You're afraid of my reaction to seeing all the negative feelings that you have inside."
Arya turned to look at him, insecurity now clearly visible on her face, not just her eyes. She nodded, trying not to let her confusion about how the Master could put her feelings into words so accurately show.
"You have been hiding them for long because you can't let go of them," Jedova said. Arya nodded again, her eyes now locked with her Master's own, so Jedova continued, "Arya, listen, there is no need for you to be ashamed of your feelings. We cannot affect the way we feel, only how we react to those feelings and what we do with them. I know how you feel, I really do. I have been through the same as you. I won't despise you for what you feel."
"You promise you won't?" Arya could not help feeling a pang of shame when she heard how weak and shaky her voice was.
"Yes, I promise. If you can't work out your feelings nor let them go, you can always talk about them with me. I can and will help you if you need me to."
For a moment, Arya did not say anything. She just stared into Jedova's eyes, as if looking for deception in them. Then she relaxed and let her hands drop back to her knees.
"Will you let me continue?" Jedova asked.
"Go on, Master." There was a huge difference in Arya's voice now; it was as if she had been relieved of a huge burden. She most likely had been; Jedova knew from personal experience that the feelings Arya harbored inside were a heavy burden to carry alone, especially for such a young person.
He connected to the Living Force again and sought to reform the connection to Arya he had managed to make. This time, Arya met him there, wary of her movements. For a few moments, they just sat there, twining small threads of the Force between them into a bond.
The Force was peaceful around them as the bond turned secure. There was no interruption in its flow. Arya did not share any feelings nor anything else with Jedova but she welcomed his presence, carefully observing it and learning what it showed of him: serenity, understanding and wisdom earned through decades of service.
With a relieved breath, Jedova let go. The bond was tiny and could barely let anything go through it, but he saw how big of a difference it made to Arya. Now, the girl smiled, most of her insecurity faded away. She seemed more certain of her place now, of where she belonged. The bond carried out a sentiment, the first one Jedova had learned to broadcast when he had become Xurego Odyrogo's Padawan: Thank you.
You're welcome, my Padawan. Jedova knew that Arya could not receive it as words, but it came as a feeling she recognized. The way the girl relaxed further told the man that the sentiment had gone through.
Jedova had never realized how big a difference of such a small and weak-looking bond made to everything. Yet now, as he had been on a mission with Arya without the bond existing between them, it was clear as day that there was a vast difference not just in how they both felt about each other but also in their body language; they were now definitely more comfortable with one another than just a moment ago. The feeling of belonging side by side that most teams took for granted was not as granted as Jedova had thought.
It was, in a way, bewildering how even after three different Padawans there was something more another one could teach a Master. Jedova looked at the girl for a while, wondering what she would teach him during the next ten years. The way they had connected over feelings, the experience of being almost a washout, suggested that Arya would teach him more about emotions.
That would be more than fine. With a smile, the Jedi Master turned his focus to braiding, paying attention to making the braid neat without pulling his apprentice's hair. At first, they sat there in a friendly silence, just enjoying each other's company and their new connection, but then Jedova started to tell some tips on making a good braid; Arya would have to learn to maintain her Padawan braid, after all. At some point, their conversation sidetracked to different things, none of which were what they were supposed to talk about. Nevertheless, Jedova did nothing to bring it back to its track; Arya was happy to tell about the things that had happened to her during her time as an Initiate and he enjoyed listening to the stories.
Jedova put the final marker bead to its place. "And now it's ready. No one should have anything to complain about it."
"Thank you, Master!" Arya's voice was much lighter now compared to when they had begun.
"You're welcome." Jedova let go of the braid. "All right, now that that's done, there is something I want to remind you about: Padawans are not supposed to hide things from their Masters. I've had my fair share of dealing with issues with that and I would be more than glad to avoid such situations with you. Did I make myself clear?"
"Yes, you did, Master."
"Now, what was so secret that you needed to hide it when you moved it with you?"
Arya looked down. Her fingers fidgeted. What could she say?
"Arya, please." Jedova's voice was not demanding and with the bond they had formed he did not intimidate Arya like he would have before.
"It's just... I don't know," Arya said. "I've... never really thought about that..."
"Why don't you show it to me and tell how you got it?" Jedova suggested.
Arya swallowed. She considered her possibilities and decided that it would be for the best to just do what her Master had suggested, so she got up and went to fetch the scroll. Maybe Jedova could tell something about it.
Once she had come back, she sat back down and gave the scroll to Jedova, trying to fight against her mind screaming against it after the long time of suppressing everything she knew of the item. The Jedi Master examined it, but he had no idea what it actually was. It was made of leather, there seemed to be some sort of illustration on it and there was something hard inside it. However, it was fully closed and he could not find any part from which the scroll could be unwrapped. Concluding that examination would lead him nowhere, he put the scroll on the floor and asked, "How did you get this thing?"
"It was the day when I passed the last Initiate trial. I had been sent out to help at a dispute near the senate building and I was on my way back to the Temple when I heard some sort of an odd whisper," Arya started.
"What did say?" Jedova asked.
"I don't remember," Arya told. "I recall that it sounded like hissing and that it was the same word all the time. It felt like it was calling me. I just couldn't continue towards the Temple. I had to follow my instincts to the source of that whisper, so I did."
"Where did it lead you?"
"To a low level. A very low one. I think it was 500-something."
"Was the scroll just there?"
"No, there was a small fire and two humanoid-looking, very wrinkly forms there. They mostly repeated the same word, but when they presented the scroll to me, they told me to take it."
"What happened to them after you took the scroll?"
"They just turned into dust and the fire went out. I rushed back to the turbolift and returned to the Temple. I kinda forgot about it after I hid it, but I always knew it was there and that I should never tell anyone about it. That's it."
Jedova smiled. "It's good that you did not compress that story."
"You would've required the full version anyways." Arya's mirth was unmistakable.
"That's true. You're catching on quickly," Jedova noted. "Have you ever thought about what you would do with this scroll?"
"Well... Not really. I guess I've been thinking that I'd find out what it was later or something. I don't know." Arya shrugged.
"Maybe someone else, like a droid at the Archives, could tell at least something. We could try that out. Or have you tried that already?"
"No. I just hid it in my quarters and swore not to tell about it to anyone."
"Let's think about that later. Have you thought about your lightsaber?"
"A bit. That's next on the list for today, am I correct?"
"Yes. You should talk with artisan Zakfe about that. I mean in the afternoon." Jedova gave a laugh. "I don't think it's a good idea to go and talk with her right in the morning."
Arya grinned. "Me neither."
Shi-sha...
Arya startled. It was that voice from the day she had found the scroll!
"What's wrong, Padawan?" Jedova asked.
Shii-shaa...
"It's that voice..." Arya looked down on the scroll. She noticed the spot where the pattern painted on the leather changed abruptly. Could it be the opening point?
Arya took the scroll to her hands and tried to find and edge there. There had to be something. Jedova watched her in silence. He believed that the girl had realized something, even if it was not a conscious realization.
Arya felt the edge of the leather but she could not grip it. It was too tightly attached to the leather underneath.
"I can't get it open," she sighed. "It's impossible to get a grip."
"Perhaps you should try using the Force?" Jedova suggested.
Arya's eyes lighted. "You're right, Master!" She concentrated on the edge she had found and pushed a small part of the Force's current under the leather. The scroll started to unfold. Now Arya could get a grip on the edge and unfold it the rest of the way. Jedova watched with great interest. He, too, wanted to know what was inside this mysterious scroll.
What they first saw were metal and three gray crystals. Then Jedova started to identify the metal as parts of a lightsaber. "You know what, Arya?"
"Well?"
"I think we have a dismantled lightsaber."
"You think so, Master?" Arya was surprised to hear this.
"These are lightsaber parts, there's no doubt about it. Therefore, these are more than likely kyber crystals or other crystals that can be used in a lightsaber," Jedova said. "The big question is: whose lightsaber was this?"
Arya stared at the parts, mystified. Then she started to pick them and arrange them to form one side of the lightsaber, unable to shake the feeling that there was something familiar about these parts. She managed to get something together to a weak formation, one that was enough for her to identify the lightsaber; she had seen it in the vision from the Ascherlee bush.
"Master, I have a feeling I know who was the owner of this lightsaber," she told.
"Who?" Jedova asked, surprised.
"A VeledosJedi named Findio Acheta, an apprentice of a VeledosJedi called Daa-Rei. I saw them in the vision the Ascherlee bush on Bimmisaari gave me," Arya told.
"Findio Acheta and Daa-Rei?" Jedova repeated. "I'm not sure if I've heard those names before that vision... If I have, it was on Master Kuro's history lesson about The Poisoning of Veledos."
"The Archives should have some information about them," Arya said and moved the parts away off the leather. There were some weathered letters and a meaning almost faded away. "'Wiacha Shi-Sha heshat…' 'In Shi-Sha we trust.' Interesting... Daa-Rei called Findio 'Shi-Sha'."
"'Shi-Sha'?" Jedova frowned. "That says nothing to me."
"The Archives may have something about that, too."
"You don't know? I mean, it is a Veledosian thing, isn't it?"
"I guess it is. But I don't know what a Shi-Sha is. Something – no, someone – important, but that's just a vague feeling I'm getting, that's all. A lot of information was lost after our planet was poisoned. Not all could have possibly survived verbally to these days."
"Well then, why don't we go to the Archives right away to find out more? Maybe some analyzer droid could help analyzing these patterns."
"Most of them are just what they are: patterns, decoration. The only writing here is that one line. We only need information on this VeledosJedi duo."
"Go and put these parts away then so that we can go then, Padawan."
"Yes, Master."
Arya gathered the parts back to the scroll and wrapped it quickly. As Jedova stood up, Arya went to put the parts to one of the drawers. Then her stomach growled.
"Uh... Master, do you mind if we eat breakfast first?" she called out from her door.
Jedova could not help laughing. "Of course I don't!"
/Star Wars (c) Lucasfilm, any characters you cannot find on Wookieepedia, Veledos, Veledosians and their language (c) Me/
