Chapter 13 – Celebrations
It took a little bit longer to update my stories than I thought. I had a bit less access to the pc with my stories than I had planned. In any case, I'm finally done with school for this year. I waited with uploading until I had finished both this chapter and another chapter for my Barriss story. These two chapters are a lot 'lighter' than my other chapters. Both include a bit of a celebration. I felt like writing some happier chapters to celebrate being done with school.
I've also uploaded something extra, more about that at the end of this chapter. Enjoy.
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General point of view
Master Luminara Unduli sat in her quarters. Barriss was meditating in her quarters. Luminara wondered how she was doing. Barriss had been meditating a lot lately. She had promised to talk to her if she felt troubled, she still hadn't fully recovered from recent events. Luminara sighed. Barriss hadn't received much support from many others. "This war has damaged our believes, Barriss was right about that. I recall that part of the Jedi Code involved helping those who were corrupted by darkness find the light again. What has happened to our traditions?" she wondered to herself.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the doorbell of their shared apartment ringing. Luminara got up and made her way to the door. She opened the door and saw two female human padawans standing outside. "Hello master Unduli. I'm padawan Bionte and this is padawan Sarden." Alyva introduced herself and Naria. Luminara nodded. "Barriss told me about you two. It's nice to meet you." She replied. "likewise Master, is Barriss here? We wanted to talk to her about something." Naria asked. Luminara nodded. "Yes, she in. I'll see if she can come out." She replied as she went to Barriss' room.
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Barriss had been sitting on the floor, meditating. She had been doing so for about an hour before she decided to stop. She was still a little hesitant to fully immerse herself into the Force out of slight fear of something dark trying to attack her. She sighed deeply. "Someday I'll need to trust myself with the Force completely again..." Barriss thought.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Luminara knocking on her door. "Come in Master." Barriss said. Luminara entered her room. "Barriss, your friends padawans Bionte and Sarden are here to see you." Luminara informed her. Barriss' face lit up a bit. "I see, thank you Master." She replied as she got up.
Barriss moved to the front door of their apartment to greet her friends. "Hey girls." She said as she reached the door. "Hello Barriss. We didn't disturb you, did we?" Naria replied. Barriss shook her head. "No, you didn't. So, what's going on?" she asked. "Well," Alyva began, "She probably didn't tell you, but it's Nyla's birthday tomorrow." She said, earning a surprised look from Barriss. "No, she didn't mention that when we spoke before." Barriss replied. "Yea, that's what we thought." Naria said. "Nyla doesn't really like others to know those things. I don't know, she doesn't really care about things like that." She explained. "However, we wanted to do something on her birthday." Alyva continued. "Several of our other old clanmates are returning tomorrow morning. We wanted to throw her a little surprise party." She said. "That sounds like a good idea, it might cheer her up a bit after that whole ordeal she went through." Barriss replied with a smile. "I'm glad you agree. Would you mind helping us with a bit of the preparations?" Alyva asked. "Sure, what do you need help with?" Barriss asked in return. "We wanted to go out and get a cake or something. My master gave me an address for a large bakery on Coruscant. Do you want to come along?" Naria said. "Yeah, sounds good." Barriss replied. She turned around and looked inside her quarters. "Master, do you mind if I go out for a bit?" Barriss asked her Master. "Not at all Barriss. I think your friend could really use such a display of friendship. You go and get her something nice." Luminara replied. "Thank you Master." Barriss said with a smile. "Well then, let's go." She said as she turned to Alyva and Naria. They both nodded and the three of them left Barriss' quarters.
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The three Jedi made their way through the streets of Coruscant. They were discussing some things of the party and a few other things that recently happened. Barriss was a bit distracted however by what Master Unduli had asked her yesterday. "Should I really go on that show? I'm not exactly sure if I'm the right person to represent the Order right now… How would the public react?" All kind of thoughts spooked through her head.
"What do you think Barriss?" a voice suddenly asked her. "I'm sorry, what?" she replied. Naria gave her a curious look. "Are you alright Barriss? You look like you've got a lot on your mind." She said. Barriss chuckled a bit. "Is it that obvious?" she asked. "What's wrong?" Alyva asked. Barriss sighed. "Well, it's this rather odd request I got from the Council." She replied. "What kind of request?" Alyva asked. "The Council has been discussing some ways with a few Senators to try to improve the public's opinion of the Jedi Order. One of these ways is to be a bit more open about things and answer direct questions from the people." Barriss explained. "How do they want to do that?" Naria asked. "By having a member of the Order appear on a talkshow." Barriss replied. Both Naria and Alyva looked very surprised when they heard this. "And they asked me to appear on the first time." She continued. "Huh, that's…pretty different…" Naria said after a short moment. Barriss let out a deep sigh. "I'm not sure what to do. Should I go on that show? How will people react to that after everything that happened?" she asked. "I don't really know how to answer that." Alyva replied. "Yeah, I'd try talking about that with your master. If you think that you shouldn't do it then you probably shouldn't." Naria added. "Thanks guys, I'll discuss it with Master Unduli after the party." Barriss replied with a smile. "Now then, let's continue. We still need to get that cake don't we?" she asked the two. Naria and Alyva both nodded. "You're right. Come on, that store is this way." Naria said.
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Sometime later the trio of padawans arrived at the store. "Wow, this place is a lot bigger than I thought it would be…" Barriss said as she looked at the large building. "Yeah, no kidding. I thought it would be a simple bakery, but this is something else." Alyva said as well. All three of them could sense something strange coming from the store. The three girls looked at each other. "You both sense that as well, don't you?" Barriss asked her friends. "Yes, panic and fear." Naria replied. "It's coming from inside. "Can't we ever have a quiet day out?" Alyva said with a frustrated groan. "No, I don't think we can." Barriss replied sarcastically. "Come on, we'd better check it out."
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Inside the bakery
"What kind of thugs rob a bakery?" the owner of the establishment asked. The three Weequays just laughed. "We don't really care!" the leader of the three bandits said while waving his blaster around, scaring the customers. "We know the amount of money this place makes! And it sure is easier to rob than a bank or something like that!" The three thugs laughed. "Now, all of you!" the second thief yelled at the customers in the building. "Place your valuables on that table there! SLOWLY! And don't try anything funny!" he ordered as he pointed his blaster at the small crowd.
The third thief walked up to the register. "And as for you, hand over all of the money." He said to the woman.
All of a sudden the doorbell chimed and Barriss, Naria and Alyva walked in. The leader of the three bandits turned to them. "Well hello ladies, welcome to the Coruscanti Bakery." He said mockingly as he pointed their blaster at them. The three padawans looked at each other with bored expressions. The Weequay just laughed again. "Why don't you the three of you just place your valuables over there and stand next to the others. Try anything stupid and you'll regret it." He threatened them as his two friends moved next to him. Naria sighed. "The three of you are ruining our day off." She said with a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Why don't you just surrender now? We've got other things to do." Alyva added. The three thieves just laughed again. "Real cute." One of the tree said. "Now get over there!" he yelled. "The three of you don't stand a chance against us. Let's not make a mess of things and just surrender now." Barriss replied to their threat. "Ha ha ha!" the leader just laughed. He looked at Barriss a bit more closely. "You look familiar…" he remarked. Barriss looked at Naria and Alyva. They all nodded. The thieves looked a bit confused at their actions.
The silence in the store was broken by the sound of whirling energy as the three Jedi ignited their lightsabers, a trio of blue lightsaber blades humming in the bakery. The look of confusion of the thieved quickly turned into a look of horror as the three padawans quickly struck and destroyed their blasters, leaving the thugs unarmed and each of them with a blue lightsaber at their throat. "Does surrendering sound good now?" Naria asked. The thieved nodded with fear. "Y-yes." They replied.
A few minutes later a group of police droids were taking the three thieves to the prison. Numerous cheers were heard from the crowd gathered in the store. The owner of the bakery walked up to the three Jedi. "You have my thanks, Masters Jedi. You've saved my customers and my store. My name is Tomas and I am in your debt." He said happily. "You're welcome." Barriss replied. "Well then, now that that mess is over…" Tomas began, "Welcome to the Coruscanti Bakery, how can I help the three of you? Name it, anything. It's on the house for you." He said with a large smile. "Oh no, you don't have to do that." Naria said. "We're Jedi, it's what we do. You don't have to…" "Nonsense!" Tomas interrupted. "It's the least I can do for you to repay your kindness." He said. The girls looked at each other. "Well," Alyva began, "We were on our way here to get a cake for our friend's birthday tomorrow." She said. The head chef laughed. "Good, we'll do our best to make you a great cake." He gestured at the back of the store. "Come on, let's see what kind of cake you want us to make."
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About forty minutes later the three Jedi were on their way back to the Temple. They had discussed a lot of things with the chefs at the bakery. They were pretty determined to make a very large and complex cake as thanks, but Barriss and the others had told them that a simple cake would be enough. "I'm still not sure if they're really going to make a simple cake or not." Naria said. Barriss chuckled. "I have the feeling that their definition of a 'simple cake' is something very different from ours." She said. Alyva and Naria laughed a bit at her remark. "You're probably right about that." Naria replied. "So what are we going to do tomorrow?" Alyva asked. "We need to pick up the cake and get the other without letting Nyla catch on." She said. They thought about it for a moment. "I have an idea." Barriss said. "Nyla doesn't know that I know it's her birthday, right?" she asked. "You're right, she doesn't." Naria replied, catching on to Barriss' idea. "I'll go and keep Nyla company in tomorrow at first and make it seem like a bit of a routine medical checkup.." she said. "And in the meantime we'll get the cake and the others and then surprise her." Naria finished for her. Barriss nodded. "Sounds like a good plan. I can't wait to see the look on her face." Alyva said excitedly. "I really hope she enjoys the surprise, I think it will really do her well mentally." Barriss replied. "I hope so, it's not easy to see Nyla in that state." Naria said with a hint of sadness in her voice. "Don't worry, she'll make a full recovery. It will just take some time." Barriss replied. "You're right, I shouldn't let that worry me now." Naria said. "Yeah, let's not let that ruin the mood." Alyva said. "Come on, let's head back to the Temple. I'm getting hungry." Barriss and Naria laughed and they continued towards the Temple.
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The next day
Barriss walked into Nyla's room in the Halls of Healing. "Hello Nyla." She said as she walked up to the bed. "Hello Barriss." Nyla replied with a smile. Barriss made sure to keep her thoughts shielded so she wouldn't give the party away. She grabbed the medical chart from the end of the bed. "So, how are you feeling today?" Barriss asked as she sat down next to the bed. "Despite the fact that I can barely do anything… Good, I guess." Nyla replied after a moment's thought. "No pain or something like that?" Barriss asked. "No, I feel fine right now. I may be unable to move much, but I'm not in any kind of pain." Nyla replied. "That's good. I'll try to get you a holopad or something later. Maybe that can fix your boredom a bit." Barriss said with a smile. "Oh Force that would be great!" Nyla replied. Barriss chuckled a bit at her reaction.
They kept talking for a few minutes, Barriss filling Nyla in on some recent events. Then there was a knock on the door. "Come in." Nyla said slightly surprised. The door opened and a group of padawans walked in, followed by Naria and Alyva holding a large box. "I guess these are their old friends" Barriss thought to herself. They looked a bit shocked at first when they saw Nyla lying in the bed, but managed to smile afterwards. "Wha-What is this? What are all of you doing here?" Nyla asked between confusion and happiness at seeing her old friends. "What? You didn't think that we'd forget your birthday, did you?" Alyva replied. "We wanted to surprise you and asked everyone to visit you now while Barriss kept you occupied." Naria said. Nyla turned to Barriss. "You were in on this?" she asked surprised. Barriss nodded. "Oh, you guys are the best!" Nyla said happily. Two of the guys moved a table next to the bed and they placed the box holding the cake on it. "We got you a little something." Naria said as they opened the box. Inside was a large two-level square cake, covered with a pinkish glazing. On the top of the cake was the symbol of the Jedi Order, made of cake as well. The lower level of the cake had been decorated with a few candles that had been made to resemble lightsabers. Nyla looked at the cake in amazement. "This is what they call a simple cake? Then I don't want to know what they call a complex cake." Barriss commented as she looked at the cake. "Guess you were right about them having a different definition about the word simple huh?" Naria replied. "No kidding. But I gotta say, it's looks great." Barriss said. "I'll say" Nyla said as well. "Well then, let's cut it up!" Alyva said excitedly.
The party lasted for a few hours. Nyla had really enjoyed the cake, especially after being served simple hospital food for a while. Barriss had been able to make a few more friends as well. After all of that Nyla had gotten rather tired and her friends still needed to attend a debriefing. Barriss had said goodbye to Nyla and her friends and made her way back to her own quarters.
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Barriss entered her quarters and found her Master sitting at the kitchen table, reading something on a datapad. "Ah, hello Barriss. How did the party go?" Luminara asked when Barriss entered the room. "Hello Master, I think it went very well. Nyla enjoyed it a lot. Although I might have had a piece of cake too many." Barriss replied as she sat down at the table. Luminara chuckled a bit. "Despite that, we all had a great time. I made some new friends as well." Barriss continued. "That's good to hear, Barriss." Luminara said with a smile. "Did anything happen while I was away?" Barriss asked. Luminara shook her head. "No, it's been a bit of a boring day, boring in a good way that is. Just a simple meeting and I took over a youngling class for one of the other Masters that had something urgent." Luminara replied. "Was it a quiet class or some of the more wilder younglings?" Barriss asked. Luminara chuckled. "It was lightsaber practice, so they weren't really quiet." She told her padawan. "Oh, I see." Barriss replied with a chuckle. "Do you have anything else to do tonight Master?" She asked. "No, why?" Her Master replied. "Well," Barriss began a little hesitatingly, "I wanted to do some deeper meditating and I…I'd feel a little more at ease if you were there with me…" she explained to her Master. "You're still a bit worried about using the Force to a deeper extent, aren't you?" Luminara asked as she looked at her padawan. Barriss nodded slowly, not sure what kind of reaction her Master would give. "I figured as much." Luminara thought. "Don't worry Barriss, I understand." Luminara said with a comforting smile. "I told you that you could come to me if you needed anything, didn't I?" Barriss smiled. "Thank you Master." She replied. "I guess I was just a little worried about asking you." They both got up and moved to the living room to meditate.
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That's the end of this chapter.
Just as I said, a simple little celebration.
On another note, I'm still doubting on the whole talkshow thing. I had a few reviews that of people saying I should and a few that said I shouldn't do it. I'm still not sure…
I wanted to use that part to add a few more details about Barriss' fall and her opinion of what the Jedi Order is coming to, some reactions and opinions of other people as well. Let me know what you think.
Like I mentioned above, I've also uploaded a story idea I had. Please read that and review it. I'd like to know what other people think about it and whether or not I should write the story.
Until next time.