PART 1: Racara

× CHAPTER ONE ×

The young, red-headed Shi'ido took her time on her way to the nursery, examining every wall, every door, every conduit with the care of someone seeing a much-loved place for the last time. Her time had come; after years of training and being top of her class, she had finally been chosen. She was eleven years old.
Her extraordinary skills with a lightsaber and keen mind had resulted in her being placed in the senior class at age nine, and deemed ready for apprenticeship by age ten. Her aggressive fighting style, however, had made most Jedi searching for an apprentice loath to choose her, despite her skill. Finally, one had picked her! She was a Padawan Learner!
At the nursery entrance, she paused, closing her eyes and listening to the little children's Force energy. A smile played her lips as she entered, knowing just who she'd see. She squatted, altering her size just enough to be on eye level with the tiny green toddler. He'd only been at the Temple three years, but she already knew he would surpass her in his accomplishments; he and his not-quite-Human friend, Heather. Oh, Heather looked Human, sure; the Jedi record even labeled her as one. Certain… things she'd noticed Heather do, however, led her to suspect otherwise.
She gave the midget toddler a high-five, her lime eyes glinting. "Hey, Yoda! What's up today?"
Yoda cocked his head to one side, his visage assuming a look of profound maturity. It was as though he were measuring her, determining what she expected him to do. Yoda hrumphed, frowning, and looked down.
She smirked. The fact was, she never expected anything in particular when it came to Yoda's behavior, so she got to see some rather interesting aspects of his personality that most people didn't. "Well?" she prodded, knowing full well the boy would answer her when good and ready.
Finally, the green fellow decided how he would behave, which would probably be as a dimwit right now, as his ears lifted, brown eyes lighting up, and a mischievous smile played his lips. The Shi'ido's face broke into a grin. It was always fun when Yoda played stupid, because that was when he told you things that were important, like not to eat those cookies that had been sent from Jedi sympathizers on Corellia. (They had made everyone who had eaten them extremely ill, and the Masters had later discovered that the shipment had been laced with poison.)
"Ah! What's up, you ask? What's down, the question is!" His bright, round eyes suddenly closed to slits as his ears lifted even higher, giving Yoda a malicious look. When he spoke again, his voice was sly. "Ah, Racara, more accurate, who's down, is."
Racara frowned as she considered what he could mean. She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Yoda. I don't get what you're saying. I'm gonna go find Mana. I'm leaving. Say 'bye' to Heather for me." She stood up, reverting to her natural height. Racara was about to enter the back room where Mana Lee had her living quarters when Yoda scurried in front of her.
"No!" he rapped, swatting her shin.
Racara scowled. Perplexed, she tried to step around the tiny toddler without hurting him.
Yoda intercepted her. "Go in, you must not!" he reiterated.
"Mana always lets me in!"
"Not today."
"Why not?"
Yoda sighed, his ears drooping and eyes saddening as he looked down. "In an important meeting, she is."
At that, Racara laughed out loud. "Oh, she just says that when she doesn't feel well so you'll leave her alone!" Ignoring Yoda's protests, she entered the room. "It's me!" Silence. "Mana?"
She heard a grunt and thump in the back. After a few seconds, Mana Lee came down the hall, looking harried. "Yes, darling?"
"Are you all right? Yoda said you were in one of your so-called 'meetings'!" Racara laughed, not noticing the worry in Mana's lovely deep violet eyes or the skittishness with which Mana kept running her fingers through her naturally white hair.
Mana Lee laughed with her, but nervously. "Well, I am very busy." She gave an anxious glance towards the back, biting her lip. "I don't mean to sound rude, but what did you come here for?"
Racara's face lit up at the reminder, not noticing the oddity of Mana's behavior. "I've been chosen!"
Mana tried to smile. "Really, darling? Why, that's marvelous! Who's your Master?"
"Jedi Knight Drevon!"
The blood drained from Mana's face. "Drevon?" she whispered weakly. "Drevon?" Tears welling in her eyes, she pleaded, "Oh, Racara! Please tell me you didn't accept him!"
Racara blinked, surprised at Mana's reaction. "Uh… sorry?" She tried to give Mana the answer in the least heart-rending way.
Tears streamed down Mana's face. "No…" she groaned, shaking her head. "No… No!" she screamed. "No! No! No! No! No!" Her voice broke as she sobbed hysterically.
Discomfited, Racara gave Mana a consoling shoulder pat. She thoughtfully scanned the room and hallway, then turned back to Mana. "You aren't alone in here, are you?"
Mana Lee froze, paling. Racara had thought that Mana was white before, but now she was really white, as in albino white. Her body quivering, her pleading eyes met Racara's. Don't tell she mouthed, then uttered a sharp cry which sounded like "yak", slumping to the floor in a faint.
A man came down the hall, going on the defensive when he saw Racara. "It's all right," she said quickly, eying the man's weapons arsenal. "I'm a friend." Two descriptions leapt to her mind: scruffy and brawny.
The man followed her gaze, then smirked, placing his blaster and energy whip back into their respective holsters. "You may be a friend, but you're a Jedi first, right?" Racara cocked her head to one side, not following him. "In other words, the Masters are going to hear of this, right?"
Racara shrugged, affecting nonchalance as her mind worked fast. "Well, that would be hard to do, considering I don't know what 'this' is!"
The man gave her a sidelong look-over, brow furrowed. "How old are you?"
"Eleven, sir."
He waved the title aside. "Don't call me that, please! I'm called it more than I should be, I can assure you! More than I should be," he repeated, tenderly gazing at Mana Lee's unconscious form. He abruptly drew himself up, as if suddenly reminded of what he was doing. "You mean to tell me that you are eleven years old, and you haven't a suspicion of what I'm doing here?"
Racara shook her head, eyes wide with only partially feigned innocence. "Nope!"
The man eyed her warily, obviously suspicious. "Well, in that case," he ventured cautiously, "you won't tell the Masters you saw me here with Mana?"
"No." Racara felt her neck redden as she figured out what it probably was that they didn't want the Masters to find out. "She's your paramour, isn't she?"
The man, the process of sipping something from a metal flask, choked. Mannerly covering his mouth with the back of his hand, he shook his head, not furiously, but fiercely enough so as to leave no doubt as to his disgust without seeming rude.
She scowled. "Then what are you so concerned about the Masters discovering?"
The man, having caught his breath, replied, "No comment."
Racara, meditative, nudged Mana Lee with her shoe. She awoke instantly, sitting up and getting to her feet in one fluid motion. Her gentle gaze scanned them, heavy-hearted.
Racara noted this and tucked it away for future reference. "Excuse me, Mana, but who is this guy?"
Mana's melancholy gaze met hers. "He's a friend of mine, Racara; a very good friend."
Racara gave the man a cautious sidelong glance. You would think his unkempt dark brown hair and coffee eyes would make him seem average, but something about him attracted attention easily. "A bounty hunter?" she guessed, judging from the man's number of weapons and wear on their holsters that he had more than a casual knowledge of how to use them.
The man snorted, taking a hearty gulp of whatever it was in his flask. "Sure! I'm a bounty hunter with a bonus on my head!" He rolled his eyes. "No, I'm a rogue."
"Yak!" Mana's voice was unusually sharp.
He held up his hands in a soothing manner. "All right! I'm a vagrant. Happy?"
It was apparent she wasn't, but Mana nodded slowly. "That's better." Her lips quirked. "It improves my appearance, anyway."
The man frowned, pondering what she meant. His eyes widened as he realized what he'd done. He laughed, abashed, anxiously apologizing to Racara, "I'm sorry. That must've sounded funny, saying we weren't paramours then calling myself a rogue. What I should have said was that I'm generally considered a rogue."
"So who are you?" Racara pressed, aware that the respectful thing to do would be to keep her mouth shut. She never had been too good at that…
The man gave her an amused, yet rueful, half smile. "If the Masters haven't told you about me, then you don't need to know." He turned and went down the hall, towards the back exit, as well as Mana's private domicile.
Mana, meanwhile, enveloped Racara in a huge hug, so she couldn't tell whether the man left or not. "I'm going to miss you, Racara." After several seconds, Mana released her, her worried gaze boring into Racara's. "You take care of yourself, you hear?"
The young Shi'ido nodded. "I will."
Mana got up suddenly. "That reminds me, I have something for you."
Racara followed Mana to a chest against her far wall that was covered with a hand-crafted throw. "Why were you so upset about me being apprenticed to Drevon?"
Mana, rummaging through the chest, froze for a long moment. Sighing, she lowered her hands into her lap, forcing herself not to turn around to look at Racara. "There are some… strange incidents surrounding him." She combed through some data disks she had filed in a small box. "Sundry rumors hint that he's a Sith; or in the least a Dark Jedi. But one mustn't put their faith in mere hearsay." Mana's voice sounded appropriately dry for what she'd said, but the gulp she made afterwards left no doubt as to the fact that she believed the rumors.
Racara laughed outright. "Oh, come on, Mana! The Masters would know if he were a Sith! They fought them!"
Mana Lee gave Racara a reproving look. "Are you so certain, young one? They can hide themselves well. But you're right about the Masters probably being able to detect his dark energy. That's why I'm leaning towards him being a Dark Jedi."
Racara shrugged. "Sith, Dark Jedi, what's the difference?"
"Plenty!" Mana rapped out. "A Sith has tenets they follow; doctrines of hate, of control, of power, and who but they know what else. A Dark Jedi is merely—and don't get me wrong from my using that word, they still are extremely dangerous—a person who uses the Dark Side of the Force, normally former Jedi."
Racara shrugged, unmindful and rather bored. "Whatever. Look, Mana, I don't mean to sound rude, but I'm the one who's busy now. I really should be going. I told my Master I'd meet him for lunch ten minutes ago."
Mana Lee nodded, her eyes taking in every detail of the young Shi'ido before her, unwittingly using the Force at a higher level than she had ever learned how to use it. That those features would remain in her memory a good long while, Mana had no doubt. Whether they would ever live long enough to mature, Mana could not dare to hope. She had her own personal reasons for believing what she did about Drevon, but who would believe her? She'd never completed her training. With these thoughts in mind, Mana wordlessly handed Racara a black pyramid-shaped box.
She took it, smiling, and gave Mana another hug before leaving. "Thanks a lot, Mana! I'll come see you whenever we come visit the Temple!"
Mana's lips could barely form the words as she weakly responded, "Happy apprenticeship, Racara."
Her heart near breaking, Mana Lee watched her young friend go to what Mana knew could only lead to, at best, her death…

"…The farm boy had such a sassy mouth that I used the Force to shove him into a mud puddle. After the contingent made it back to the palace, you know what I discovered?" His eyes lively, Jedi Knight Drevon leaned forward towards his new Padawan, telling her of past escapades of his.
Racara, playing the part of eager listener, nodded, much to the surprise of her new Master.
Drevon smirked, raising one eyebrow. "You do, huh? What did I discover?"
"You found out that the farm boy was really the missing prince, didn't you?"
Drevon regarded her with a look of approval. "Very good," he complemented, taking a Barabel fruit from the bowl in the table's center. "You catch on quick."
Racara nodded, merely smiling. At one time, such praise would have caused her cheeks to redden with pride, but she knew better now. Her right knee started its familiar throbbing at the reminder. Drevon frowned, and Racara knew the sudden pain must have shown on her face.
"Are you all right, young one?"
Racara nodded sheepishly. "I suppose I should have told you: I have a chronic knee injury. It likes to act up every now and then. I'd rather have it ache than wobble or give out, you know what I mean?"
Drevon nodded his agreement, his mien thoughtful. "A chronic injury in one so young… what happened?"
So Racara told him of how the Masters had disagreed with her fighting style, and the many ways they had tried to force her to change it, climaxing with the training exercise with the Twi'lek Knight which had wrenched her knee…

Mana Lee opened her eyes suddenly, roused from her meditation by a familiar presence. She was on her knees in front of the chest. She turned. "Yoda? How did you get in here?"
His brown eyes met hers, and Mana knew that here was one child whose maturity rate would break Racara's record, both because of his high Force-sensitivity and species. "Followed Racara, I did," he said softly. "Take care of herself, she will."
Mana struggled to keep her face from expressing the dolefulness she felt. Playfully mocking Yoda's odd way of speaking, which she knew to really be an accent left over from his native tongue, she queried, "So certain, are you?"
To her surprise, Yoda nodded. "So certain, I am."
Mana started, only then realizing what made Yoda so mature; he was already experiencing visions! She had known almost from the start that he would possess a very active sense of foresight; she just hadn't expected it to start so soon. As privately elated as she was with this latest tidbit she'd learned from a very Force-sensitive four-year-old, she felt obliged to teach him an important lesson concerning visions; one that she needed to be reminded of, herself.
"Yoda, I'm sure you've had a dream where Racara's okay, but there's something very important you need to understand when you make a decision to trust your dreams; they only show the future as it may be, not as it definitely will be. Always in motion, the future is." She imitated his speech in the last statement in the hopes that it would stick in his memory, so that even if he didn't understand what she was saying right now, he would recall that much when he was older, and comprehend what she was trying to tell him. "Okay?"
Yoda nodded slowly, although Mana Lee could tell much of what she'd said had been beyond him. He would remember it though, and when he was older—Mana froze. Here she was, thinking of what this little child in front of her would be recalling from what she'd said as if she wouldn't be there in a few years! Could it be that she was seriously considering his proposition?
Mana felt the blood drain from her face, her eyes misting as she looked down her hallway, to the door of her private study where she knew he would wait for her answer for the next ten hours. Then, he would leave. A week, a month, or perhaps even a year later, he would be back, again. Privately, Mana knew her heart had already decided; she wanted to go!
"All right, are you?" the midget toddler in front of her asked.
Brought back to reality by the young child, Mana tried to smile as she nodded. "Sure! Why wouldn't I be?" Her voice sounded weak even to herself.
The brown eyes bore into hers, and Mana got the uneasy feeling that the four-year-old was reading her soul. A tiny part of her hoped he was; she felt so weighed down, so alone, in the decision she must make. She couldn't speak of it to any of her peers; love was forbidden for a Jedi. All passion was forbidden.
Yoda bowed his head, closing his eyes and lowering his ears, a position he took sometimes, often right before he made one of his freaky declarations. After several minutes, during which Mana made some hot cocoa for the two of them, resisting the impulse to make some for the man in her study, he opened them. Taking his cocoa, which Mana put in a special mug made just for him, he thanked her, his mien downcast. "Go, you should," he said sadly.
Mana would have laughed had her own heart not been so torn over this decision. Attempting to smile, but only succeeding in a small half smile, she shook her head. "You don't know what you're saying, darling."
To her horror, the tiny boy nodded thoughtfully. "Right you are," he agreed. "Know what I am saying, I do not. Know what I have seen, I do. Go, you must, if see Racara again, you will. So the Force has shown me; so I tell you." At that, Yoda drained his cup, thanked Mana again for the cocoa, and left.
Mana Lee, dazed, followed the teeny toddler to the door. She closed it after him, slumping against the wall, gasping for breath. She shut her eyes tightly, regaining control. Once her breathing steadied, she turned and entered the nursery. She looked about, blinking back tears. These kids needed her! She couldn't leave!
But if she didn't go, she wouldn't want to live! She'd be dejected, heartbroken! Was that the example these young ones needed? That being a Jedi would destroy their lives?
But she couldn't leave!
But she had to!
But she couldn't!
But—But—But—But—Her face in her hands, Mana, in mental torment, screamed and burst out sobbing. The little children, thinking they were in danger, panicked, running all over and screeching themselves. Mana was in no condition to comfort them, having a great need for solace herself. Suddenly, all was quiet. All Mana could hear was the intense pounding of her heart. She looked up, and there was Yoda, speaking softly to the others, soothing them. His best friend, Heather, was helping him.
When Mana saw that, she knew the nursery would be all right without her. She looked down at her hands, then back at Yoda and Heather, her gentle gaze much more perceptive than was apparent from its mildness, which was more fitting to a ingénue than one of intellect. Even many of the Masters—well, she might as well admit it, all of the Masters—mistakenly believed her too purblind for making any observations of importance. Just because she always suggested the best of any person in all situations didn't mean that was what she believed. In those two children she saw great potential and strength of character. The Force swirled about the two toddlers, surrounding them… Her eyes narrowed. Was it her imagination, or did she just sense something go through Heather a second ago? She felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned.
"Yak!" she whispered, anxiously. "What are you—"
"Uh, Mana?" a six-year-old boy who hadn't made it to the next class yet asked. "Who are you talking to?"
Mana blinked, staring at the boy. "Who am I talking to, Terr?"
Terr nodded. "Um, yeah. I don't know if you noticed, but there's nobody over there—oh, I'm sorry, I forgot about Mister Wall. Hi, Mister Wall." The boy, making fun of her, waved at the wall. "How are you today?" The kids old enough to understand what Terr was doing tittered, a bit reluctant to tease their elder so audaciously.
By then, Mana Lee had figured out that by some trick of the Force, the others couldn't see Yak. She smirked almost maliciously, protesting in a motherly tone, "Now, Terr, don't make a fool of yourself in front of the younger children. If you need your doggie, ask me during nap time, okay?"
Terr reddened. Having been taken from a family who had been farmers for centuries, he had an inborn craving to have creatures around him. His 'doggie' had been a source of comfort for him many a time, even recently. Extremely embarrassed by this sudden turn, he fled among the twits of the other children.
Mana clapped her hands. "All right! That's enough! Time for meeting, everyone! Come on!" Sending Yak a scolding glance, she directed her flock down a hall to where the Masters met with them as a group for an hour each day. It had once been an hour a week, but Mana had protested; and, considering her lack of skill with the Force, the Masters had consented to increase the number of meetings.
At the door to the meeting room, two Jedi Masters awaited her. "Any variation in your references since our last conference?" the younger one asked, merely as a matter of courtesy. The Masters had no faith in her recommendations, as they believed Mana too naive to have cognizance of anything meaningful; besides, her testimonials rarely, if ever, varied from what she expected from each child when they were first brought to the Temple.
Today, however, was otherwise. Mana Lee nodded. "Yes, actually." She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "I have reason to suspect that Yoda is already experiencing visions, and both he and Heather are astonishingly mature and well controlled."
The two Masters exchanged a look, expressing their incredulousness at a four-year-old being ready to progress to the next class, much less being able to experience visions. The elder one solemnly stated, "We will look into the matter. You are dismissed, Mistress Lee."
She bowed. "Thank you, Masters." Turning around, she realized Heather had dropped back and was at her side, tugging on her tunic. "Yes, darling?"
Heather stood on her tiptoes to whisper something, and Mana squatted to be able to hear her without the Masters being able to. She would often look back on that moment with a shudder, thinking of what would have happened had she not done so.
"Miss Mana, you might want to tell your sweetheart to get out of here. Shielding him took a lot of energy, and tricking the sensors is really taxing my limits right now."
Mana stared at her, paling; then swayed, nervously licking her lips. "By the Force!" she whispered hoarsely and collapsed, nearly swooning. She shook her head in attempt to clear it.
"Mistress Lee?" the younger of the two Masters asked anxiously. "Do you require assistance?"
She looked up at him abruptly, her heretofore mild expression assuming a cagey appearance. After a long moment, she shook her head, thinking fast. "No, thank you. I… I'm just a little dizzy, that's all. I think I'll get a bite to eat and rest for awhile instead of my usual meditation, if you don't mind."
The older one shook his head. "Of course not. This is your spare time. You could even go out into the city, if you so wanted."
Mana blinked, surprised. "Really? So I can go to a restaurant or something at this time of day instead of meditating?"
The man nodded. "Of course. Forgive us if you never knew; we took it to be understood."
Mana smiled, actually managing a genuine one for what seemed like the first time that week. It had been a long day. "Oh, that's all right! We all have our misunderstandings!" While saying this, she was moving away, smiling and nodding as if her nearly fainting was routine. Once all the proper apologies and sympathies had been exchanged, she turned and progressed at a rather rapid pace to her suite, considering how she could use this last tidbit of information to help hide her private life…

When Racara finished her narrative, her Master was silent. She feared she'd bored him with her tale, which she had made much longer than necessary, as she liked to talk. "Forgive me, Master, if I wearied you—"
"Oh, no, not at all!" Jedi Knight Drevon interposed. "I was only thinking of what a pity it was that the Masters couldn't accept skill as they saw it, instead of trying to force it to conform to their laws."
Racara hesitated, not sure how to respond to this remarkable statement. To be honest, she felt a bit taken aback, as no Jedi in their right mind would ever criticize the Jedi Code that the Masters had written to keep Jedi from turning to the Dark Side. She felt obliged to put in a good word for them. "Well, I do fight aggressively," she pointed out, "and that's a sign of anger."
Her Master shrugged. "So?"
"Anger's a sign of the Dark Side!" Racara was shocked. Then, it hit her: He's testing me, checking my loyalties. Her lime eyes glinted and a mischievous smile played her lips. She lifted her head, meeting his gaze squarely. I'll tell him what I am—a Jedi!
Drevon returned her gaze, his glacial royal blue eyes revealing none of the thoughts whirling around in his mind…

Author's Note:
Little button's still there. Waiting. For four more chapters…