The Last Defender

By Lyda Mae (RavenDove) Huff

Epilogue

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Fenice stood atop the great temple of Yavin IV with all the other Jedi trainees. She was watching the rainbow storms in the Yavin's atmosphere for the first time. They were caused by the morning sun rise hitting ice crystals in the upper atmosphere of the gas giant. They were beautiful.

Fenice found herself looking back at the short time since Master Skywalker had literally fallen out of the Ansath sky. She would never have found the scrolls without help from him and from Kyp. Or without the Help Princess Leia Organ Solo had provided with the ship and Threepio.

The celebration on Ansath had passed in a whirl. It started with her presenting the seven scrolls they had and a translation for the Santik'sa Archive. She had finally been declared a Defender because she had proven it was in her heart. The medallion hung heavily around her neck to remind her what such an honor meant as did the ornaments in her hair. The delicate silver and gold pins and clips had been a gift of thanks from the people of Ansath. She wore her hair in a half-bun with twenty small braids. The bun clip was a gift from Santik'sa as the home of her birth. Eight of the accenting pins worn above were from the other independent towns, plus the ninth for Tan'ki. Finally the twenty braid clips were from the combined trade communities. Such displays were a high honor where decorations in hair is a sign of reverence and few Tein'kal earned such a level of respect. Maybe one in every other generation. Kayan had earned such an honor but left all but his medallion and lightsaber behind in the ruins of Tan'ki when he left to pursue his sister.

Next Hapha Lidya had come with Ambassador Kiben to declare her the cousin of Hapha presenting her with an elaborate golden sash. There had been honors for Luke and Kyp as well. Which they had been forced to accept. Fenice chuckled inside at the thought of a Jedi intimidated by a crowd of people that just want to thank them.

But mostly she thought of her new gabardine that her sisters had made. It was black with white trim around the arms down the front and below the silver and gold embroidery at the shoulders. Different from any before. Magistrate Alhead had called her the last Defender, but Martina had made the gabardine different to mark her as the first of the new Defenders to come.

She stood there in her new Jedi robe with the light of the rainbow sunrise glimmering off her medallion and the ornaments in her hair. The breeze rose over the jungle. And she wondered what the future would hold for a Tein'kal Jedi.

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THE END,

At least of this tale...

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References:

LUCAS ARTS, Star Wars: Behind The Magic CD Rom

LUCAS ARTS, Games: Dark Forces, Jedi Knight & Mysteries of the Sith

The Star Wars: Original Trilogy Movies

Every Star Wars Novel I've Ever read