Imperturbable Serenity
*Learning*
The Jedi crechelings were sent to school very early. There were many things that had to be instilled upon them, so their training began at a young age.
Today was Qui-Gon's first day of class. He was going to be in with a new group of children, and a Master he did not know would teach them.
He walked into the classroom slowly, eyes roaming around and taking in the new environment. Desks and chairs were set in neat rows, green and blue plants in the corners made the room cozy, and in front stood a Cirean clad in Jedi robes, the teacher.
A chime sounded and the children took their seats. Qui-Gon sat beside a girl with dark hair and a pale white face. "Hi!" he said to her, trying to be friendly.
"Hi." She smiled back somewhat shyly.
He introduced himself, "I'm Qui-Gon."
"I'm Nozomi," she replied.
"Nice to meet you, Nozomi. That's a pretty name."
"Thank you." Her smile grew, and she turned to the front of the room as the teacher was ready to begin.
"Good morning, children. I am Master Pring."
"Good morning, Master Pring," all the children intoned.
"Today you will begin to learn about the Force." Pring paused a moment to let his first words sink into the small Force-users' minds, his brown bushy tail swishing behind him. "The Force is all around us, it guides us and controls us, but we can control it too. You will learn to do that in time. For now, I want to show you some examples of how you can manipulate objects using the Force." Pring gazed over his students, seeing them intently watching and listening. "We will start with something small." The vulpine Master smiled as he raised a hand toward a datasheet on a table near the wall and using the Force raised it into the air and floated it over to him. The room of children filled with gasps of wonderment, which then turned into shouts of how could they do that and who would get to be first.
Pring held up his hands to silence the room. "Now, you will need much more instruction before any of you tries that." Indeed, they spent the rest of the day listening to Pring's lessons on the Force and its proper uses. Some were disappointed that they did not get to try the neat floating trick, but others, like Qui-Gon, were simply eager for the next day's lessons.
When class was over, Qui-Gon ran to find his good friend Raniwasha. "Rani, there you are!" he called when he saw him outside the playroom.
"Hey, little guy, where you been?" Rani responded with his typical good-natured smile.
"I had class today! We learned all about the Force!" Qui-Gon was clearly very excited.
"Oh, that's right," Rani said slowly as if thinking. "Sometimes I forget you don't know about that stuff yet."
Qui-Gon was overjoyed to hear his friend knew about it too. "Can you do anything with it, like make stuff float?"
"Well," Raniwasha pondered, "I can do some stuff."
"Like what?!"
"Like... this!" The Donitian boy threw out an arm and called on his limited Force abilities. Slowly, with widening eyes, Qui-Gon lifted off the ground. He started to wave about and shout.
"Hold still or you'll fall!" Raniwasha told him. Qui-Gon became very still and hung suspended several centimeters above the floor. After a moment, he was lowered to his feet.
Qui-Gon burst out laughing and clapping his little hands together. "That was great! What else can you do?"
The winged boy shrugged. "Some other stuff. I'm more interested in what you can do."
"Me? I can't do anything."
"Not yet," Raniwasha smirked, "but I bet you'll be real good, when you learn."
"Ah! When will that be?"
Rani chuckled. "It'll be soon. I bet you'll learn fast too. Come on, let's go play." He tugged his friend's arm and ran off.
*
"Today, we will be having class in the garden."
Master Pring watched his class stand and form an orderly line, as orderly as three-year-olds can be, and then led them to the Room of a Thousand Fountains and over to the area he had prepared for today's lesson.
The children stood before a patch of empty soil. Pring held up a bag of seeds. "Each of you will plant one of these seeds." That was all he said. Each child came up to him, and he placed a seed in each little hand.
The children knelt before the earth patch, some of the little fingers eagerly digging at the dirt, though not for planting. Some were quite unsure what to do.
Qui-Gon knelt a moment, deep in thought. Then he stuck two fingers into the dirt and dug a shallow hole, placing the seed inside and pressing the soil back around it.
Beside him, Nozomi gazed forlornly at her patch of dirt, a look of distress on her face, seed still clutched in her hand.
"Nozomi?"
She looked up at him. "I don't know what to do."
"Just listen and do what you feel."
"But it's hard."
"It might help to close your eyes, and take a deep breath," Qui-Gon instructed like a little master.
She nodded and did what he said. She opened her eyes and did what Qui-Gon had done with his seed. She looked at him again and smiled, "Thanks, Qui-Gon."
He smiled back.
Master Pring was looking over the children's work. Some of the little students had simply thrown their seed on top of the soil; others had had too much fun and were now covered in dirt. Pring smiled to himself and thought how some of the creche masters would certainly be busy tonight.
There were of course those who had completed the task correctly, some better than others. Below him, Qui-Gon and Nozomi had both planted their seeds fairly neatly.
"Well done, children," he praised the class. "Qui-Gon," he called on the boy, "how did you know what to do with your seed?"
"I listened to what it told me it needed."
Some of the children, the ones covered in muck, snickered at his answer.
In response, Nozomi spoke up. "He helped me hear it too."
Pring nodded. "That was the Force talking to you. It guided you in your task, and you listened well."
Their next task was to tend a selected row of plants. Again, some of the children had difficulty, tearing off the healthy leaves and basically shredding the plant, while others like Qui-Gon did better.
The children's abilities of course did not escape their teacher's notice. "It seems some of you are very strong Living Force-users. You have all done well. Now form a line, and we will go to lunch."
******
Eladh watched the active youngsters playing on the lawn, giggling and running about as children do. He performed this duty almost every day, but it never got boring. He enjoyed it too much to ever think of it as tedious.
Today another joined him for a while as Knight Segun entered from the corridor. "Good day, Eladh. I brought those toys from Tonkin III." She had just returned from a mission and, as some of the Knights and Masters did after visiting exotic worlds, had brought back some rare playthings. She placed them on the table behind him.
Eladh turned to look at her and her gift. "Thank you, Mistress."
Kalaya let it slide this time. She placed another small object, quickly exchanging a glance with Eladh. Tonkin chocolates were a rare delicacy, and a favorite of the Dimnara creche Master.
"How are the children?" she inquired.
"Well-behaved, for the most part. Crage fell and hurt his leg, but not too badly. It took a while, but I finally got him to sit still until he feels better."
"Ah, children," Kalaya chuckled.
Meanwhile, Qui-Gon and Raniwasha were playing and laughing by a small pool.
"All right, my turn!" Rani yelled before chasing his friend around the water until he caught up and tagged him, both boys then tumbling into a pile.
"Hey, Ran! You gonna come play or what?"
Untangling himself from Qui-Gon, Raniwasha looked around for who was calling him. "Oh yeah, Qui-Gon, Taal and those guys wanted me to play Tantas with them today. I didn't think you'd wanna play, huh? So we'll play some more later, 'kay?"
"Oh. All right, well, have fun." He watched Rani run off. Qui-Gon was a little disappointed that his friend was leaving him, but he knew he could not be his only friend, and the others did not much desire to allow Qui-Gon in their games. So he walked out to the garden.
He wandered about, feeling that same strong presence in his mind he always felt in a garden. It always felt like a close friend, even a garden he had never been in before. He did not feel alone here.
He passed a row of colorful flowers, stopping to admire them in particular. Thinking how beautiful they were and that their beauty should be shared, he stepped closer and carefully touched the plant.
"Forgive me, but I must show my friends," he said to the flora. "I will try to be gentle." With that, he picked five of the most perfect blooms, each of a different color.
He returned to where the others were at play. First, he went to Raniwasha with his bundle. Rani did not notice him until another boy pointed, then Rani turned and smiled at him.
"Hey, Qui-Gon. Whatcha got?"
"I just wanted to bring this to you." He held out the white flower, its color the same as his friend's wings.
Raniwasha accepted it with his big friendly smile. "Thanks, little guy."
Qui-Gon smiled and started away until he saw Crage sitting with them. "Sorry about your leg, Crage."
"Yeah, hey, thanks, Qui-Gon," he said without malice.
Next, Qui-Gon took his gift to Lila. She was a close friend of Raniwasha, and of Qui-Gon too, but right now she was playing with some other girls and their dolls. He gave her a red flower. She giggled and thanked him.
After that was Nozomi, who today was allowed to play with his group. To her he gave a pink bud; he knew she liked that color. She smiled shyly and quietly thanked him.
Qui-Gon clutched the last two as he made his way to the only adults in the room. Holding his arms up beseechingly, Eladh bent down and lifted him.
"I got this for you." Qui-Gon indicated the bright blue flower, a match for the Master's skin tone.
"Thank you very much, Qui-Gon. That was very sweet of you." Eladh placed the stem at the tip of his antenna, which then rolled up and held the flower close to his head, prompting a smile from the child.
A small hand held out the final bud. "Here, Master Kaya, for you."
The purple petals were the same hue as her amethyst eyes, shining out brilliantly against her silver skin.
"Thank you, Qui-Gon, but how did you know I was here?"
The boy just smiled and rested his head on Eladh's shoulder. Eladh shrugged at her gently, so as not to disturb Qui-Gon, and gently rocked the crecheling.
When Qui-Gon had fallen asleep, Eladh sighed forlornly. "I wish I could keep them this small."
Kalaya smiled at the two. "But what of those that go on to become great Jedi Knights?" she queried.
"I know, but they are put in so much danger. I wish I could keep them little and safe."
Kalaya could not help musing that Eladh had a very great heart, particularly for one who was not even old enough yet to be knighted, had he been chosen.
"They are so sweet and innocent. It is so hard to let them go."
The young Councilor could see in his eyes how much he loved each and every charge in his care. She touched his empty shoulder. "Look at it this way," she suggested, "you are their very first role model. They learn a lot from you, not least of all responsibility. You are a good teacher, Eladh, and they will only benefit later from how you have shaped their lives early on."
Eladh smiled broadly; he had never seen his influence that way, and it lifted his heart.
They fell into a comfortable silence for a while, Eladh still rocking the sleeping tot.
After a time, Raniwasha came running up to Eladh.
"There he is. Can Qui-Gon come play, Eladh?"
"Well, he is sleeping right now," the Dimnara told him.
"No, I'm not," a sleepy voice interjected.
Eladh looked to the heavy-lidded boy on his shoulder rubbing his eyes with a diminutive hand. "Do you want to go play with Raniwasha?"
"I sure do." He scrambled to his feet as he was placed down, and the two scurried off.
Qui-Gon and Rani dashed into the playroom. "Let's see if we can find something good to play with." Rani opened the toy chest and started rooting through it. Various toys came flying out of the box, flung away in the child's quest for the best plaything.
Seeing a bauble that caught his eyes, Qui-Gon picked it up. It appeared to be some sort of stuffed animal, with round ears and buttons for eyes and nose but with a hole in its side where the insides were coming out. "What's this?"
"What's what?" Rani replied.
"What's /this/?" Qui-Gon said again, giggling.
Rani finally paused in his search and turned around. "Oh, that's just some old Dontarran bear. We used to play with that when I was little, but the stuffing's all falling out now."
"I think I'll hang on to it."
"All right, little guy." Rani ruffled his hair.
"Hey!" Qui-Gon laughed and batted his hand away.
Later, Qui-Gon took his new find to one he thought could help him. "Eladh, could you help me fix this?" he implored, holding up the bear.
Eladh looked at Qui-Gon's toy. "You want me to sew it up?"
"I want you to show me how to."
"Hmm. Let me see." Eladh retrieved a needle and some thread, then sat Qui-Gon in his lap. His little fingers had difficulty holding the needle, so Eladh got the stitching started. Once he saw how to do it, Qui-Gon took over, the Master's hand guiding his. It seemed the little one had some natural talent; Eladh did not know both Qui-Gon's parents were crafters.
When they were done, Eladh held up the creature. "There, all better." Qui-Gon smiled and clapped.
As it was getting late, Eladh carried Qui-Gon to his bed where his other animal awaited. He tucked the smiling boy in with his new friend and his new sense of accomplishment.
*Learning*
The Jedi crechelings were sent to school very early. There were many things that had to be instilled upon them, so their training began at a young age.
Today was Qui-Gon's first day of class. He was going to be in with a new group of children, and a Master he did not know would teach them.
He walked into the classroom slowly, eyes roaming around and taking in the new environment. Desks and chairs were set in neat rows, green and blue plants in the corners made the room cozy, and in front stood a Cirean clad in Jedi robes, the teacher.
A chime sounded and the children took their seats. Qui-Gon sat beside a girl with dark hair and a pale white face. "Hi!" he said to her, trying to be friendly.
"Hi." She smiled back somewhat shyly.
He introduced himself, "I'm Qui-Gon."
"I'm Nozomi," she replied.
"Nice to meet you, Nozomi. That's a pretty name."
"Thank you." Her smile grew, and she turned to the front of the room as the teacher was ready to begin.
"Good morning, children. I am Master Pring."
"Good morning, Master Pring," all the children intoned.
"Today you will begin to learn about the Force." Pring paused a moment to let his first words sink into the small Force-users' minds, his brown bushy tail swishing behind him. "The Force is all around us, it guides us and controls us, but we can control it too. You will learn to do that in time. For now, I want to show you some examples of how you can manipulate objects using the Force." Pring gazed over his students, seeing them intently watching and listening. "We will start with something small." The vulpine Master smiled as he raised a hand toward a datasheet on a table near the wall and using the Force raised it into the air and floated it over to him. The room of children filled with gasps of wonderment, which then turned into shouts of how could they do that and who would get to be first.
Pring held up his hands to silence the room. "Now, you will need much more instruction before any of you tries that." Indeed, they spent the rest of the day listening to Pring's lessons on the Force and its proper uses. Some were disappointed that they did not get to try the neat floating trick, but others, like Qui-Gon, were simply eager for the next day's lessons.
When class was over, Qui-Gon ran to find his good friend Raniwasha. "Rani, there you are!" he called when he saw him outside the playroom.
"Hey, little guy, where you been?" Rani responded with his typical good-natured smile.
"I had class today! We learned all about the Force!" Qui-Gon was clearly very excited.
"Oh, that's right," Rani said slowly as if thinking. "Sometimes I forget you don't know about that stuff yet."
Qui-Gon was overjoyed to hear his friend knew about it too. "Can you do anything with it, like make stuff float?"
"Well," Raniwasha pondered, "I can do some stuff."
"Like what?!"
"Like... this!" The Donitian boy threw out an arm and called on his limited Force abilities. Slowly, with widening eyes, Qui-Gon lifted off the ground. He started to wave about and shout.
"Hold still or you'll fall!" Raniwasha told him. Qui-Gon became very still and hung suspended several centimeters above the floor. After a moment, he was lowered to his feet.
Qui-Gon burst out laughing and clapping his little hands together. "That was great! What else can you do?"
The winged boy shrugged. "Some other stuff. I'm more interested in what you can do."
"Me? I can't do anything."
"Not yet," Raniwasha smirked, "but I bet you'll be real good, when you learn."
"Ah! When will that be?"
Rani chuckled. "It'll be soon. I bet you'll learn fast too. Come on, let's go play." He tugged his friend's arm and ran off.
*
"Today, we will be having class in the garden."
Master Pring watched his class stand and form an orderly line, as orderly as three-year-olds can be, and then led them to the Room of a Thousand Fountains and over to the area he had prepared for today's lesson.
The children stood before a patch of empty soil. Pring held up a bag of seeds. "Each of you will plant one of these seeds." That was all he said. Each child came up to him, and he placed a seed in each little hand.
The children knelt before the earth patch, some of the little fingers eagerly digging at the dirt, though not for planting. Some were quite unsure what to do.
Qui-Gon knelt a moment, deep in thought. Then he stuck two fingers into the dirt and dug a shallow hole, placing the seed inside and pressing the soil back around it.
Beside him, Nozomi gazed forlornly at her patch of dirt, a look of distress on her face, seed still clutched in her hand.
"Nozomi?"
She looked up at him. "I don't know what to do."
"Just listen and do what you feel."
"But it's hard."
"It might help to close your eyes, and take a deep breath," Qui-Gon instructed like a little master.
She nodded and did what he said. She opened her eyes and did what Qui-Gon had done with his seed. She looked at him again and smiled, "Thanks, Qui-Gon."
He smiled back.
Master Pring was looking over the children's work. Some of the little students had simply thrown their seed on top of the soil; others had had too much fun and were now covered in dirt. Pring smiled to himself and thought how some of the creche masters would certainly be busy tonight.
There were of course those who had completed the task correctly, some better than others. Below him, Qui-Gon and Nozomi had both planted their seeds fairly neatly.
"Well done, children," he praised the class. "Qui-Gon," he called on the boy, "how did you know what to do with your seed?"
"I listened to what it told me it needed."
Some of the children, the ones covered in muck, snickered at his answer.
In response, Nozomi spoke up. "He helped me hear it too."
Pring nodded. "That was the Force talking to you. It guided you in your task, and you listened well."
Their next task was to tend a selected row of plants. Again, some of the children had difficulty, tearing off the healthy leaves and basically shredding the plant, while others like Qui-Gon did better.
The children's abilities of course did not escape their teacher's notice. "It seems some of you are very strong Living Force-users. You have all done well. Now form a line, and we will go to lunch."
******
Eladh watched the active youngsters playing on the lawn, giggling and running about as children do. He performed this duty almost every day, but it never got boring. He enjoyed it too much to ever think of it as tedious.
Today another joined him for a while as Knight Segun entered from the corridor. "Good day, Eladh. I brought those toys from Tonkin III." She had just returned from a mission and, as some of the Knights and Masters did after visiting exotic worlds, had brought back some rare playthings. She placed them on the table behind him.
Eladh turned to look at her and her gift. "Thank you, Mistress."
Kalaya let it slide this time. She placed another small object, quickly exchanging a glance with Eladh. Tonkin chocolates were a rare delicacy, and a favorite of the Dimnara creche Master.
"How are the children?" she inquired.
"Well-behaved, for the most part. Crage fell and hurt his leg, but not too badly. It took a while, but I finally got him to sit still until he feels better."
"Ah, children," Kalaya chuckled.
Meanwhile, Qui-Gon and Raniwasha were playing and laughing by a small pool.
"All right, my turn!" Rani yelled before chasing his friend around the water until he caught up and tagged him, both boys then tumbling into a pile.
"Hey, Ran! You gonna come play or what?"
Untangling himself from Qui-Gon, Raniwasha looked around for who was calling him. "Oh yeah, Qui-Gon, Taal and those guys wanted me to play Tantas with them today. I didn't think you'd wanna play, huh? So we'll play some more later, 'kay?"
"Oh. All right, well, have fun." He watched Rani run off. Qui-Gon was a little disappointed that his friend was leaving him, but he knew he could not be his only friend, and the others did not much desire to allow Qui-Gon in their games. So he walked out to the garden.
He wandered about, feeling that same strong presence in his mind he always felt in a garden. It always felt like a close friend, even a garden he had never been in before. He did not feel alone here.
He passed a row of colorful flowers, stopping to admire them in particular. Thinking how beautiful they were and that their beauty should be shared, he stepped closer and carefully touched the plant.
"Forgive me, but I must show my friends," he said to the flora. "I will try to be gentle." With that, he picked five of the most perfect blooms, each of a different color.
He returned to where the others were at play. First, he went to Raniwasha with his bundle. Rani did not notice him until another boy pointed, then Rani turned and smiled at him.
"Hey, Qui-Gon. Whatcha got?"
"I just wanted to bring this to you." He held out the white flower, its color the same as his friend's wings.
Raniwasha accepted it with his big friendly smile. "Thanks, little guy."
Qui-Gon smiled and started away until he saw Crage sitting with them. "Sorry about your leg, Crage."
"Yeah, hey, thanks, Qui-Gon," he said without malice.
Next, Qui-Gon took his gift to Lila. She was a close friend of Raniwasha, and of Qui-Gon too, but right now she was playing with some other girls and their dolls. He gave her a red flower. She giggled and thanked him.
After that was Nozomi, who today was allowed to play with his group. To her he gave a pink bud; he knew she liked that color. She smiled shyly and quietly thanked him.
Qui-Gon clutched the last two as he made his way to the only adults in the room. Holding his arms up beseechingly, Eladh bent down and lifted him.
"I got this for you." Qui-Gon indicated the bright blue flower, a match for the Master's skin tone.
"Thank you very much, Qui-Gon. That was very sweet of you." Eladh placed the stem at the tip of his antenna, which then rolled up and held the flower close to his head, prompting a smile from the child.
A small hand held out the final bud. "Here, Master Kaya, for you."
The purple petals were the same hue as her amethyst eyes, shining out brilliantly against her silver skin.
"Thank you, Qui-Gon, but how did you know I was here?"
The boy just smiled and rested his head on Eladh's shoulder. Eladh shrugged at her gently, so as not to disturb Qui-Gon, and gently rocked the crecheling.
When Qui-Gon had fallen asleep, Eladh sighed forlornly. "I wish I could keep them this small."
Kalaya smiled at the two. "But what of those that go on to become great Jedi Knights?" she queried.
"I know, but they are put in so much danger. I wish I could keep them little and safe."
Kalaya could not help musing that Eladh had a very great heart, particularly for one who was not even old enough yet to be knighted, had he been chosen.
"They are so sweet and innocent. It is so hard to let them go."
The young Councilor could see in his eyes how much he loved each and every charge in his care. She touched his empty shoulder. "Look at it this way," she suggested, "you are their very first role model. They learn a lot from you, not least of all responsibility. You are a good teacher, Eladh, and they will only benefit later from how you have shaped their lives early on."
Eladh smiled broadly; he had never seen his influence that way, and it lifted his heart.
They fell into a comfortable silence for a while, Eladh still rocking the sleeping tot.
After a time, Raniwasha came running up to Eladh.
"There he is. Can Qui-Gon come play, Eladh?"
"Well, he is sleeping right now," the Dimnara told him.
"No, I'm not," a sleepy voice interjected.
Eladh looked to the heavy-lidded boy on his shoulder rubbing his eyes with a diminutive hand. "Do you want to go play with Raniwasha?"
"I sure do." He scrambled to his feet as he was placed down, and the two scurried off.
Qui-Gon and Rani dashed into the playroom. "Let's see if we can find something good to play with." Rani opened the toy chest and started rooting through it. Various toys came flying out of the box, flung away in the child's quest for the best plaything.
Seeing a bauble that caught his eyes, Qui-Gon picked it up. It appeared to be some sort of stuffed animal, with round ears and buttons for eyes and nose but with a hole in its side where the insides were coming out. "What's this?"
"What's what?" Rani replied.
"What's /this/?" Qui-Gon said again, giggling.
Rani finally paused in his search and turned around. "Oh, that's just some old Dontarran bear. We used to play with that when I was little, but the stuffing's all falling out now."
"I think I'll hang on to it."
"All right, little guy." Rani ruffled his hair.
"Hey!" Qui-Gon laughed and batted his hand away.
Later, Qui-Gon took his new find to one he thought could help him. "Eladh, could you help me fix this?" he implored, holding up the bear.
Eladh looked at Qui-Gon's toy. "You want me to sew it up?"
"I want you to show me how to."
"Hmm. Let me see." Eladh retrieved a needle and some thread, then sat Qui-Gon in his lap. His little fingers had difficulty holding the needle, so Eladh got the stitching started. Once he saw how to do it, Qui-Gon took over, the Master's hand guiding his. It seemed the little one had some natural talent; Eladh did not know both Qui-Gon's parents were crafters.
When they were done, Eladh held up the creature. "There, all better." Qui-Gon smiled and clapped.
As it was getting late, Eladh carried Qui-Gon to his bed where his other animal awaited. He tucked the smiling boy in with his new friend and his new sense of accomplishment.