Chapter Two
Caren woke from her deep sleep, suffering from the same nightmare as always. She turned over, ruffling her sheets, and mused. It was essentially the same, except for one thing. This time, the figure had held a white lightsaber. As she made up her mind to get up, her hand struck a hard, round object. Shaking out the initial pain, she picked it up and held it to her dim light. It was a crystal, and although parts of it were clear, it was a milky white color. It was entirely smooth, oblong, and rather heavy. It was hard as well. Well, she thought. Where did you come from? She stuck it into a hidden compartment in her wall where she kept a few things, and stood up. Looking out her window, she noticed that the black night and pinpricks of small light had changed to the sterile white of hyper-space. Well, we must be in transit. But with injured on board, why are we doing it now? We never have before.
Being as quiet as she could, she dressed and made her way out of her room. She looked down the hall, and started walking. She made her way to the small diner reserved for long-term patients and employees. As she stepped into the room, nodding at the guards, a form seemed to materialize off to her right. She stopped and turned to meet the figure, and her eyes widened in surprise and suspicion. "You!" She cried, getting in front of the group of people behind them. She eyed the Jedi, boring into him with accusing eyes. Jedi and their stupid mind tricks. "What do you think you're doing in here!"
Orril Dystop just smiled at her. "I had to come see you again. We have some very important things to discuss."
"Like what? I don't have time to discuss things. People don't stop their pain so their healers can chat."
"I'm fully aware of that. It's just that-"
"It's just that nothing. I don't have time for this. Do you understand?" She said, enunciating each word distinctly and clearly. All she got out of him was a shrug.
"I thought you might be difficult. Just give me a minute," he said with a wave of his hand. Caren felt a bit of a pressure on her head, but that was it.
"Was that supposed to be one of those oh-so-feared Jedi mind tricks? They must be overrated." She wrinkled her nose in disgust. How could this Jedi come off so arrogant? They were supposed to be the humble but powerful servants of the New Republic. Orril sighed, and gave her a serious look.
"I'm trying to be serious, Caren. We need to talk about your future."
"My future? Isn't that obvious?" She gestured at the spaceship around her. "This is my future!"
"You're only a girl. You can't know that yet."
"I'm 16, and I've been healing since I was three. This is my home. Can't you see that? There is nothing to discuss." She turned to leave, but Orril grabbed her arm. She struggled with him for a bit, but his grip remained firm.
"I'll let you go this time, but just remember what I said. I'm willing to talk anytime." With that said, he swept his robes over him in a majestic movement, and left the room. Caren's friends, who had politely been avoiding the situation, turned to her, worry on their faces.
"What did he want? Was he threatening you?"
"No, it's nothing," Caren assured them. She got her food, which was hardly that, but she had lived off it her whole life, and hadn't gotten off badly. She was healthy, although a little undersized. But her small figure made it easy for her to get throw crowds of panicked people, so it was really an advantage, as well as small and sensitive fingers. Caren stood only at 5'4. The people that she had asked about her mother told her that her mother was at least 5'8, so that was a little intimidating. She hoped she didn't grow into that height! Caren looked at her thin arms, with a little disgust. She didn't want to be that thin. And to think, before new ways of weight-loss had been discovered, about a millennia ago, people actually starved themselves! The idiocy.
Compared to most, Caren's delicate features, square but a little wide face, and deep brown eyes made most people think she wasn't that strong-willed. That was usually before they tried to force their way into the ME ward. Most thought of her as physically weak, as well. Caren was surprisingly strong, as a result of a lifetime of carrying heavy equipment that she didn't trust the droids to handle.
She turned her food over and over, but after her meeting with that, that Jedi she didn't feel remotely hungry. She stuck what looked like a vague imitation of a biscuit into the pocket of her uniform, white like everything else, and left the room.
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Orril paced the corridor outside the mess hall waiting for Caren to reappear. He thought that maybe he should've come off differently. He could sense her disgust for him, even now. She can really hold a grudge, that one. He knew it was partly his fault. The poor girl had lost her parents 16 years ago. She'd never even known them. In fact, she'd never even had a homeworld. He doubted if she'd ever even been on land. He supposed it was another of those things about her too-stubborn personality.
Orril, with nothing better to do, walked until he saw a bench. He sat down, and took out hit lightsaber. He had made it when he was almost 15, at the academy. Before his mother had left, when he was 12, she had given him a rosy pink crystal. It had rough and ragged edges, but he had always carried it with him. When Master Skywalker had announced that they were building lightsabers, his mind had leapt immediately to his crystal. It turned out to be perfect. And, as far as he knew, he had the only pale-pink lightsaber in existence. The rest of his friends had favored blue or green lightsabers, in the fashion of the Jedi of the Old Republic.
Sighing, Orril opened himself up to the Force. Orril was a life senser, but not strong enough that every other mind drowned out those who were strong in the Force. He could vaguely make out Jardin, but in his healing state, it was dampened. Strong in his mind though was Caren. In his mind, she shone, and her thoughts were as sharp as a Force-pike.
In the days of the Old Republic, someone as strong as Caren would've been identified within the first few months of life, if not even before birth. But with the limited number of Jedi, that practice had been somewhat abandoned. And who would think to look for a force-sensitive child on a Med Station?
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"Well, you had quite a nasty accident."
Thanks to his rapidly improving condition, Jardin had been moved to a recovery ward. Caren had come down to make sure none of the wounds came open during transit. Jardin had seemed to like her company, so she stayed, and now she was checking for internal bleeding.
"Well, it looks like nothing bad happened on the way over here, and at this speed, I'd say you're out of here in two standard weeks."
"That's good to hear. A Jedi's work is never done."
"What were you doing out there, anyway?"
"We followed an Imperial Scouting Mission from close to the Imperial Remnant. We thought they hadn't noticed us, but they came out of Hyperspace early, and attacked us. Our analog frigate wasn't able to withstand all of it, and out shields failed. I lost my X-wing's life support, as well as shields, during a run0in with a TIE, but luckily the ship was close by, so I didn't have to go EV. Course, I'm here now, so maybe it wasn't luck."
"That's odd. I didn't think the Jedi were involved in fights with the imperials.
"Some aren't, some are. Me and Orril are in on it because we don't want another Vader, or an Emperor. I guess you could say we fight the dark side."
"The Dark Side, what is that?"
"The Dark Side is when a Jedi is corrupted. They used to be called Sith. A Jedi is supposed to act without anger and fear. A Jedi is to let go of emotion. Although Master Skywalker has proved that love and compassion do not lead to the dark side, I think that you can never be too sure. Skywalker's Jedi Master, Yoda, told him fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering. Yoda survived Palpatine and Vader's purging. That has to mean something.
Jardin sighted and looked away, a piece of yellow hair falling on his face, which he brushed aside. He glanced back up at Caren, his face distorted with shame.
"I… I…"
"It's all right. The only one here is me."
"I fear the dark side. I know I'm better than this, but I do. There was a dark Jedi on that mission," he went on. "He, or she, clouded my mind. That was the darkness you felt. I guess it's your aptitude for psychic healing that helped you do it. Or you're incredibly strong, and I think you are."
"I'm sorry, but I don't quite understand."
"The Force. When you 'speed heal', you're using the Force. That 'trance' was a Force-trance. That means you're a Force-senser, like a Jedi is. A strong one. People with innate skill, such as you, are rare. Here, turn around."
Caren sat on the bed, avoiding his legs, and faced away from him. "What are you going to do?" she asked.
"I'm going to see how strong you are." With that, he placed his hands on her head, and she began to feel like someone was prodding her mind. The next thing she knew, Jardin was flying back, and nearly hitting the wall.
"Well", he said, "It looks like I was right. You are strong in the Force. Nearly as strong as Master Skywalker. Now I must go into a healing trance. It was nice talking with you." With that, he closed his eyes and sat, leaving Caren to wonder at what she had just found out.
