A Togruta youngling circled among the bushes of the Temple garden with her eyes shut, a playful smile dancing on the edge of her lips. She stepped carefully. Without her vision, the Force was her only guide in the verdant maze. Shadows of surrounding life projected onto her mind, not quite taking shape yet, but precise enough to orientate her path.
She must be close. Very close.
Suddenly she reached into a gugri shrub.
"Got you!" she exclaimed victoriously.
"You peeked!" complained the other girl, emerging from the branches.
"I didn't! I'm just too good at this."
With a sour grimace, Aleena swept the heart-shaped leaves of the shrub off her clothes. It was not so long ago when she was the one too good at hide and seek. As their mastery of the Force grew, however, Ahsoka not only caught up but by now was winning most games, a development that annoyed Aleena greatly.
But she had an idea how to even the score. She glanced around to make sure they were alone.
"Hey" she whispered "Let's spar."
The Togruta hesitated.
"I don't know. We're not supposed to do that outside class."
"Come on, just a little!"
"I don't want to."
That was not true and Aleena knew it. Just like her friend, Ahsoka was always up for a good saberfight.
"How are you going to defeat the evil Sith if you're afraid even of me?" she teased.
"What? I'm not afraid of you!"
"Yes, you are!"
"No, I'm not!"
"Yes, you are!"
Ahsoka frowned, turning her back on Aleena to cut off the provocation. But like all too often, her hurt pride triumphed over all else in the end. She ignited her lightsaber and abruptly reversed to point the blade at her playmate's sardonic face.
"Very well, Darth Leena! But beware, this battle will be our last!"
"Oh, I don't think so" Aleena grinned, powering up her own weapon.
They crossed blades giggling. Strike, block, strike, dodge. Aleena enjoyed lightsaber battles thoroughly, not the least because this was the one activity she could surpass her peers in. Sitting on a cushion trying to think of nothing never really worked for her. It was only the thrill of the fight that could focus her mind, that allowed her to reach beyond to that mystical power encompassing all life. It is said that in a good Jedi, there's lost both a monk and a warrior. In Aleena, though, there were certainly no monks but probably a whole bunch of unruly little warriors, itching for battle all the time. Strike, strike, block. She stepped up the pace.
Ahsoka attempted a backflip but didn't quite succeed and landed on her bottom with a painful thud. Aleena held her breath for a second, unsure if it was appropriate to be amused, but Ahsoka dispelled any doubt as they both burst out laughing. The Togruta promptly got back on her feet and the blades resumed their dance, occasionally separating when the younglings paused to exchange a complicit smile. Their skill was far from that of a seasoned Jedi, but nonetheless impressive for their age. Being frequent partners in practice sessions they knew each other's favorite moves well which further improved the fluidity of the fight. Strike, strike, dodge and thrust!
Something went horribly wrong. Ahsoka should have deflected the attack, but Aleena didn't feel her saber being pushed away. It went straight forward, piercing into… the youngling panicked.
"Ahsoka!" she screamed "Ahsoka, no!"
The Togruta couldn't reply. She clutched her stomach with blank face and collapsed onto the ground. Her silence was more frightening than any wail.
Aleena stood petrified. What has she done? And what to do now? Will Ahsoka…? The thought was terrifying. Healer. Ahsoka needs a healer, fast. She snapped out of her paralysis and dashed away shouting for help.
The garden was so big. Too big. Where is everyone? The reclusivity that felt so protective just minutes ago was now hostile. Lines after lines of trees and exotic plants, watching down unmoved by her despair. At long last she noticed an adult, a man sitting under a birch tree. She changed her course and ran towards him. The Jedi broke his meditation and looked at her confused.
"Why are you so scared, young one?"
"Ahsoka, I stabbed Ahsoka!" Aleena cried "We were sparring and I accidentally stabbed her! She needs help!"
The man quickly rose to his feet.
"Where is she?"
They rushed back to the gugri shrub together. Ahsoka was as lifeless as she left her. The Jedi lifted the Togruta into his arms and headed for the Temple without wasting another word. Aleena couldn't make another step. She covered her mouth with her hand and wept uncontrollably.
Aleena had been staring at her knees for probably three hours straight. The hearings had been going on for a while, but she perceived little of it. The past few days had been hazy. She had barely touched food or talked to anyone. The images of the catastrophic duel replayed in her mind over and over again, each time pushing her deeper into a mire of guilt and self-reproach.
People came and went. Mostly teachers; occasionally some other Temple personnel. Each gave a testimony of their experience with the youngling, how she studied, how she behaved, how she interacted with her peers. Some veiled their judgement behind phrases of worry, others didn't spare the harsh words. But the essence was always the same, and she didn't need to listen to know it. She was deemed an unfocused student and a disobedient child. She'd heard it before – and so did everyone else in the room. There was no point in going through it yet another time. But the Code mandated a due process, so a due process she was to get.
"Aleena Sakkar."
She lifted her eyes to meet the gaze of the judges behind a towering wooden pulpit. Three senior Jedi: Master Windu, Master Mundi and a Twi'lek she did not know. Normally she would have been excited to have the attention of such revered figures, but now their emotionless faces filled her with fear. Windu spoke up.
"Nine years ago you were inducted into the Jedi Order in the hope that one day you would join our ranks. You were to become a beacon of justice, a protector of the weak, a peacekeeper of the Republic. You were given every support and opportunity to achieve this noble goal. Yet you chose to stray from the path. Repeatedly you acted against the instruction of your teachers and broke the Jedi Code itself. You greeted our efforts for correction and benevolent guidance only with defiance and further infractions. You betrayed our trust and let your potential waste away. Four days ago, in yet another display of outrageous recklessness, you nearly caused the death of one of your fellow initiates, who suffered grave injuries due to your actions. Your conduct is an offence to our ancient customs and a danger to your peers. This will be no longer tolerated. You are hereby expelled from the Jedi Order. Our decision is unanimous and final."
The world collapsed around her.
Honey stalk was not native to the mountains of Yag province, but had become an essential part of the landscape over the last few decades. Who or what brought in the first seeds was not clear, but once introduced, its economical utility was quickly discovered. The plant flourished on the sunlit cliffs of the mountain range and the sweet, viscous sap of its flower – called 'honey' by all except a few pedants insisting that honey must come from insects – was in high demand among local and off-world buyers alike as a favored delicacy of many cuisines. As Yag's traditional industries floundered, more and more people flocked to the highlands to cultivate the stalk. Running a honey farm was tough work, but a few dozen stems, if properly cared for, could provide for an entire family.
Kolhem was the owner of one such plantation, albeit a fairly small one. Sitting on a small plateau about two thirds up the mountainside, it was one of the more remote farms in the vicinity of Moryag. The compound consisted of three buildings: a workshop, a storage room and a modest home. The former two airy but durable constructs of steel beams and tin sheets; the latter a hallmark of rural Yag architecture with round wooden walls and a cone-shaped roof. Behind the structures was the plantation itself: a solid wall of rock standing fifteen meters high, webbed by snaking green arms of honey stalk. The plateau was framed by a beech forest, with the line of trees broken only by a small dirt road coming from the town and continuing towards the summit across the clearing.
Kolhem had just finished pruning the stalks and distanced himself from the scarp to inspect the results. Much to his delight, all twenty-two stems survived winter in excellent health. It is common to lose one or two in the cold months, especially at such a high elevation, but luckily there were no prolonged freezes this year. Should the favorable weather persist, he can expect a generous harvest.
The stalks were neatly groomed, arms branching out between the main stems in a regular, interleaving pattern to cover as much surface as possible without intruding on one another's space. Cut off twigs and branches were bundled below. Nothing left to do, Kolhem decided. Satisfied with his work, he headed for the house to lay down for a while before getting busy with dinner. He could barely make a few steps, however, before he noticed something out of place: a stranger standing on the Moryag road next to the storage building. A little girl, around ten, with ink-black hair and a pale complexion. She looked at him and opened her mouth as if trying to say something, but no sound came out. She seemed scared.
Kolhem smiled at her.
"Hello, can I help you? Are you lost?" the situation was surprising. The next farm was three kilometers away, the nearest settlement almost five. He was not used to getting visitors, especially such young ones.
"I am looking for Kolhem Sakkar" the girl replied in a thin voice.
"That's me. How can I help you?"
The child fixed her eyes on the ground.
"My name is Aleena Sakkar, I'm… I'm your daughter" she muttered.
She did not know what to expect. By any sensible measure, this man was a stranger to her. Supposedly this cottage was where she had been born and taken to the Temple from, but she had no recollection of the place or its inhabitants. Like the vast majority of younglings, she didn't know her family at all.
After a few moments of startled silence, the man's expression changed. His face lit up with a smile, but strangely at the same time he started crying. It was confusing and even a bit scary for the child grown up with the stoic disposition of the Jedi. She involuntarily made a small step back when he rushed over to hug her.
"Aleena, my little daughter, it's you? Is it really you?"
Aleena tried to formulate a reply, but her voice faltered again. The unexpected outburst upset the fragile balance of her own emotions, and in an instant her carefully constructed introduction fell apart completely. She found herself struggling to hold back her tears.
"They expelled me from the Order" she sobbed "I can't live in the Temple anymore."
"It's okay, Aleena, it's okay. You have a place here. I'm glad you're home."
They stood there for a minute, Kolhem's arms wrapped around his weeping child. She was embarrassed having displayed her sorrow so openly and slightly uncomfortable from the protracted physical contact she was not used to, but didn't have the strength to protest. When Kolhem's hold loosened, his smile was even brighter than before.
"You can't imagine how happy I am to see you! And what a big girl you've become! You barely just started walking when we last saw each other. Sorry I didn't… nobody told me you were coming. Come on, let me show you the house. I guess you don't remember much, do you?" Aleena shook her head.
Kolhem led her inside the home. The room they entered occupied most of the building – and within its round walls contained almost everything a simple farmer would need for his daily life, too. A hanger, a table with chairs, a bed, various cupboards and shelves.
"Here, take a seat, I bet you're tired after walking all the way up here. Didn't they even give you lift? Not much changed here, actually. Not that you'd know, right? This is the main room, bed, dining table, other things. Not as elegant as you're used to, probably, but it's homely. That door over there is the kitchen, and that's the bathroom. This" he waved his arm over an empty area by a window "this is where your crib was! There's an old mattress in the storage, I could lay it here, and" he paused for a second "and I'll sleep here. You'll of course get the bed…"
He continued, striding up and down the room, reorganizing the furniture, radiating happiness and excitement. He emptied a drawer for her clothes, another for books and toys, and in general designated a corner for every activity a ten year old girl could possibly engage in.
Not for a moment did he seem to consider the wrongs she must have committed to be here in the first place, let alone test her prepared excuses with any semblance of scrutiny. He just kept on narrating his venture to make the house Aleena's perfect home, apologizing for every perceived shortcoming that could not be fixed right away, always pairing it with a promise for a timely solution. The handful times a question was asked, it was the same couple of mundane patterns: which one would you like, would you prefer this or that… nothing on why she was expelled or what was it that made her unfit to be a Jedi. It was very different from the Temple where praise had to be earned and failure was inevitably followed by reprimand.
Aleena silently watched him rearrange his life around her, wondering if such emotional instability was normal for an adult. Nonetheless, Kolhem's goofy enthusiasm took a grip on her, too, and for the first time in a week, her gloom started to lift. Being the center of attention was warming, and the whole experience not nearly as humiliating as she had expected. However, something was still amiss.
"Is my mother home?" she asked.
The question stopped Kolhem in his tracks. For a long moment, he stared at the cushion he was about to place on Aleena's newly dedicated chair by the table.
"No… no, she's not."
"Where is she?"
"Your mother is… not with us anymore."
Dead, Aleena translated quietly. She felt the newfound warmth inside her cool a bit. Though she could not genuinely mourn the woman she had never actually known, grief still touched her in a way. A sense of loss and disappointment, like when someone suddenly withdraws from a much anticipated meeting.
"What happened to her?"
"I'll… I'll tell you later, okay? But let's not talk about it today. Today, we should…"
"What happened to my mother?" she demanded with sudden defiance "I want to know."
Kolhem took a deep breath. His enthusiasm dissipated. The mention of his wife evoked painful memories.
"She was… killed. By some bad people."
"Who? Why?"
Kolhem shook his head. He didn't want the day to be spoiled by ghosts of the past, not this day. But Aleena did not relent. She started to feel something new, something powerful. She wanted to know who the bad people were and what happened to them. A few seconds passed, Kolhem looking aside, Aleena looking at Kolhem. Then, reluctantly, he started to explain.
"Bandits. It happened a year after you were taken to Coruscant. People showed up here one day… some thugs, with weapons. They said they worked for a bandit called Monga. They demanded money. We didn't have much, we were never rich… but I wanted Fafa safe. They threatened to hurt her if I don't pay. So I gave them all I could. They took it, but it was not enough… it was never enough. They set up a camp in the woods and came back every couple months to demand more. Not just from me, every farmer. Nobody dared to stand up to them. Yag had always been such a peaceful place, these monsters, we just didn't know where they came from or what to do about them. We were frightened.
"Then… then they started kidnapping people. Women and girls. They said it's because someone ratted to the police. They took… they took Fafa too. I was out in town, and when I arrived home, she was gone. It was so stupid… I was so stupid to leave her alone, with those gangsters around. We begged the police to help. The governor. Someone even travelled to Coruscant to talk to the Senate" he started to shake "But nobody came… they all said it's not their job. They just kept pointing fingers at each other.
"In the end, we banded together. Me and the other farmers and some good people from Moryag. The Bobans, Karf, Malmahti… Huy Boban got us weapons" he waved at the wall behind Aleena. She followed his arm: there was a rifle hung up next to the door "It was a terrible, terrible night. In the end, Monga and his henchmen fled. A lot of people were saved, but Fafa… she didn't make it. First I lost you, then her, within a year. I was devastated."
He had to wipe off his tears. Aleena began to regret pressing him to talk. It felt ungrateful to return his kindness this way.
"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry, I know you were looking forward to meeting her. Your mother was such a wonderful woman, Aleena, I loved her so much. She'd be very, very proud of you. She always said that you'd come home to us one day. If only she could see it happen."
Aleena squirmed uncomfortably. She felt like she should say something, but didn't find the words. Kolhem looked at her and forced a smile on his face.
"But let's not talk about such sad things now. You must be starving. What would you like for dinner?" he managed a weak chuckle "See? I don't even know what your favorite foods are. We have so much to learn about each other!"
Aleena shyly returned the smile. In a way, the little house on the mountain with this strange, erratic man already felt more like a home than the Temple ever did.