Master and Apprentice
As I stayed awake,
practicing with my lightsaber, my mind wandered off to recent events concerning
the Order that even I, a Jedi Apprentice, was involved in.
Use the Force, a voice inside told me. I probed into the energy field, reaching
out, groping, sensing...It was helping me, guiding my every move, my every
stroke, my every swing...
I was so lost in my thoughts and in my practice that I hadn't noticed my Master
silently watching me. It was only after he spoke did I halt my practicing.
"You are doing well, my young Padawan," said Jedi Master Anakin Solo,
walking into the room and smiling down at me.
I bowed low before him as a sign of respect, sweat dripping off my forehead
from the intense training I plunged myself into. "Thank you, Master."
"How long have you been keeping up with lightsaber practice?" he
asked.
"Not very long, Master. I couldn't sleep, and I thought it best to
practice while I couldn't. Sleep, that is." I mentally slapped myself for
stumbling over my words.
He smiled once more. He must've known how it is.
I pressed the switch that deactivates my lighsaber; the faint humming sound
stopped, and the pale white light was gone. I placed the lightsaber back on my
belt. There was an awkward silence for a few moments.
"I-Is everything alright at the Order?" I said after a long pause, in
an attempt to break the silence.
Master Anakin sighed wearily. Young as he was, a few years my senior, the lines
of worry were beginning to take a toll on his face. "We still cannot make
contact with Master Luke. He seemed to have gone to Almenia in search for Aunt Mara,
but we cannot locate his ship on our sensors. Strange, Almenia is near
Yavin...I don't know how..."
He stopped and looked at me. "Lunaris, are you sure you gave us the
exact coordinates Uncle Luke told you to give to us?"
How many times have we been through this? "Of course, Master," I said,
struggling to keep from rising my voice in my annoyance. "How many times
have I let you--and the Order--down?"
He gazed steadily at me with his piercing blue eyes, and I suddenly felt the
Force prod at my brain. I looked back at him unflinchingly, determined to prove
to him that I wasn't lying.
He seemed to have sensed my frustration.
/Never. I'm sorry./ He used the Force to speak to me again, without
having to open his mouth.
/Sorry for what?/
/For doubting you, even just this once./
This surprised me. I was at a loss for words.
/It's...alright. Thank you, Master./
I smiled faintly and started to walk away. I was conscious of his stare upon my
retreating back, and just before I turned the corner, he called out my name.
I wheeled around, waiting for him to talk.
I could not read his expression; he seemed to want to say something to me.
"Goodnight, Lunaris," he finally said.
I bowed slightly. "Goodnight, Master."