Very early in the next morning
With a gasp, Jedova woke up as his back suddenly met the floor, the back of his head following. He had fallen off the bed during the most disturbing of his dreams. While pain jolted all around him, he let his breathing become steady slowly before he even thought about getting up from the cool, dust-covered floor.
It had been a very long time since he had seen a dream in which either of his former Masters, Xurego Odyrogo and Thrion Aslas, had been in. Now they had both been there, rejecting him, and they had not been the only ones there. He did not understand where his subconscious ever ripped such things off. Jedova chalked it up to all the things he had been through, all the horrors he had seen and faced. His subconscious had a plethora of dreadful footage to be used for all the nightmares he could not nor even wanted to imagine.
After the pain had faded away, Jedova started to sit up slowly. It was no use to upset his balance after waking up directly from a deep sleep. He took his time to get up on his feet, brushing the dust away from his clothes. Then he looked out of the window. The sun was rising. Would it hurt if I went outside to meditate? the Jedi Master wondered, thinking of the frightened tribespeople. No one seemed to be awake, though, so he believed that he could go out without disturbing anyone.
Jedova tiptoed out of the house, careful not to make any sounds as he opened and closed the doors. No one saw as he came out. Even with his physique the Jedi training at being perfectly voiceless and unnoticeable had been effective, and after months of training after he had stopped growing Jedova had become stealthy.
The cool air of the morning was refreshing. The Jedi Master took deep breaths, allowing the current of fresh air clean his lungs from the dust which still remained in there.
After breathing Jedova took the shortest way out of the village, settling to its outskirts to meditate on the dew-covered grass, facing the sunrise. A luxury he very rarely had, he put his bare feet on grass, enjoying the feeling he did not dare to seek in the gardens of the Jedi temple.
If I ever retire, I'd love to spend my days of old age like this... Jedova sighed. "Let's just hope I will live old and decide to retire..."
"Who do you speak to?" a female voice asked with a rough accent, its tone stingy. Jedova startled and turned to look at the Lianorosian woman who was glaring at him.
"Just to myself. I... did not realize I was not alone," he answered. The woman glared at him for a moment more, then she came to sit down next to him.
"The Seer said that the only way for us to stop fearing you is to interact with you," she said, looking at the horizon. Jedova nodded.
"I do not know much about your way of life, so I trust your Tribe Seer's judgement. But I'd love to learn more about all this," he told and wrapped his arms loosely around his knees. "It must be peaceful here, with none of the issues of the galaxy hanging over your head."
"Peaceful?" the woman repeated, seemingly surprised.
"That I think of this scenery," Jedova told, "peaceful. No horrors caused by horrible people to be seen."
"I take it that you have seen them," the woman remarked.
"Too much of them," Jedova told. "I must be under a curse or something."
"What about Arya? Has she seen such things?"
"Not really, I think. Not yet. But all of that, slavery, crimes, murders, massacres, torture, everything that's wrong with this galaxy... as Arya continues her training as a Jedi, she will see and face those things," Jedova told with remorse. Nevertheless, he wanted to be honest.
"Must be dangerous, being a Jedi," the woman mused.
"Sometimes only, under normal circumstances. Or very often, if the Jedi is either me or usually with me. Or if one chooses to go to hazardous places. There are the spots for those maniacs and skilled individuals too."
The woman chuckled at the quip. "I remember the old fairy tales about Jedi, those which the Seers tell to children. I think we all believed the existence of your Order, but I think none of us actually admitted that before you ended up here. But I don't know if taking Arya there was a good idea."
"I have been wondering about it myself for the last weeks quite a lot. When I found out that she was still without a Master, when we have been trying to get used to each other, when I see the rather discreet signs of that I am not welcome at all here." Jedova turned to look at the woman. "I guess that is just natural since, to your community, I am pretty much just a stranger who took one of your children away."
The woman stared into his eyes.
"Do you think you'd want to live here as one of us?" she asked. Jedova blinked in surprise.
"I really don't know. I've been a Jedi literally all my life. How could I choose a new way of life?" the man wondered and looked into the horizon. "If I could decide, maybe if I retire during my old days I'd look for a small place like this to live in for the rest of my life. But such utter isolation from the galaxy like here?" He turned to look at the Lianorosian. "Maybe not. I want to know what's going on outside my place, so that I could go and help if I thought that I could do something."
"You have lived a life of going around the galaxy. You cannot let go of such a thing, can you?"
"Maybe not. Maybe I will never even retire. In fact, maybe I will never live to my old age. Maybe I get killed before that. I'm just 54, after all."
"54?" the woman repeated in pure astonishment. "Oh yes, humans. It was as if I was talking to an age mate of mine, someone who has lived for almost 200 years. Or maybe someone who is some decades my senior."
The corners of Jedova's mouth twitched.
"Oh dear lord, I'd be copletely retired if I was that old," he mused, his attempt to keep his laughter inside altering his tone into something odd. "Well, I'd still be quite puny when compared to the 800-year-old Grand Master of the Jedi Order."
"800 years old? That is older than what our people can reach without lots of manipulation of their biology."
"It may be just me, but 54 years is already a long time in this galaxy, let alone as a Jedi. 800 years sounds like an impossible amount of time. Oh well, Master Yoda, the Grand Master, sure has seen a lot of change in both the Order and the Republic during his time. Generations have come and left, passing along their knowledge to the future generations."
"It's part of life. There is life, then there is death."
"Indeed."
They did not say anything for a while. They just sat there in silence, watching the sun rise slowly.
"Quarmath! Etitchia nia!" a man's voice called out. The woman turned quickly to look at the source while Jedova reacted to it more slowly because of his light meditation.
"I need to go. See you around, Master Jedi," the woman said, got up and walked away to the man who had called her. Jedova watched from a distance as the frantic man said something to the woman, who just responded calmly. He did not understand Veledosian, but he made an educated guess about the topic.
Ignoring it – what else could he have done about it at this point anyways? – he returned back to his meditation, certain that the brothers of the Deinden family would not wake up anytime soon.
However, the man raised a loud hullabaloo. It woke up the residents of the nearest houses. Jedova sighed and leaned his forehead to his knees for a moment, trying to collect the pieces of his shattering patience together, as more Lianorosians came up to join the uproar.
What was I even thinking when I decided to come out to meditate here?"
After some time Jedova sensed the Seer coming along with the Deindens. The Tribe Seer started to yell something to silence the tribespeople, and then she most likely demanded for an explanation.
After some talk the crowd, Ni'Dea came to Jedova.
"I only came here for meditation." Jedova could not help becoming defensive.
"I understand that. But Ta'koa freaked out due to seeing Quarmath with you."
"That woman? She came to talk with me. We just talked, that's all." So that man is the teacher of Arak. Jedova recalled hearing the name. This isn't the best way to begin...
"So we heard," the Seer noted. "But you should not wander around on your own."
The sudden urge of anger rose inside Jedova. He suffocated it, then turned to look at the Seer and calmly asked, "Which scenario are you more concerned about: me causing damage to your tribe or vice versa?"
The Seer's eyes narrowed. She was not pleased about the questioning from the outsider.
"Listen, I can see that you try to control me. There is no need for that. Just tell me what is inappropriate to you and I'll avoid doing that," Jedova told, keeping his tone calm. Getting angry and showing it would not do any good in this delicate situation.
Tureq and Arak came there, carefully approaching the situation.
"Hey, Master Wang, I talked with Ta'koa and he is willing to help with Arya's birthday gift," Arak told. Jedova smiled to them in delight. At least something was going right, then.
"I believe you want to discuss about the payment for this all," Tureq noted before Jedova could voice his thoughts.
"Yes, that would be great," the Jedi Master said.
"Let us talk business then," Arak said enthusiastically, slapping his hands together and sat down next to Jedova. Tureq went next to him, ensuring better chances at negotiating with his elder brother. They knew this would be a good chance to get rid of some of their family's debts. Ni'Dea shrugged and walked away.
"What can you do? And which is the time you have to be here?" Arak asked.
"I really don't know what you can demand, but anything to which I have enough skills. And when it comes to time, I'd like to be here for as short amount of time as possible. I cannot be away from Arya for too long," Jedova told.
"Well do you have any skills on doing work as blacksmith, artisan and farming?" Arak asked.
"Some housework things maybe?" Tureq added.
Jedova blinked in astonishment. This was the point when he finally realized that he had walked into a figurative swamp in a world he did not know.
"Not really at any of those," he ventured carefully. The brothers took a look at each other, then briefly discussed something. Then they turned back to the human.
"Not artisan works then. We can ask around to see what you could do," Arak noted. "Are you ok with that?"
"Yes," Jedova answered. He felt suspicions about it all, but he could not back down anymore. He had to assure himself that he had been through worse things during his career as a Jedi.
This was the unstable and hazardous way he had chosen. He had to suffer the consequences and walk through it all.
"Shall we meet at noon at the temple?" Arak asked. "I'm sure we have found something by then."
"I'm fine with that," Jedova told.
"See you there then," Arak noted. Then he left with Tureq, the younger Veledosian saying something in their native language. Jedova did not know what they were saying. He could only guess and hope.
There was no backing down anymore.
/Star Wars (c) Lucasfilm, any characters you cannot find on Wookieepedia, Veledos, Veledosians and their language (c) Me/
