Coruscant
I had not been away from my parents for very long, only a day or so, their faces and voices still very much fresh in my young mind. After Vrook and I left the house, we did not stay on Tiberius for long; we only stopped to get some food, which I was not all that keen on eating. He seemed to understand though, and didn't force me.
We departed in a Republic transport ship, directly to Coruscant, where I would meet Master Vandar and a number of other masters in person. Once that formality was over my training would begin.
When I first set my eyes on Coruscant I was awestruck by its magnificence. Coruscant is the most central world in the entire galaxy and thus has become the 'Capital Planet' of the Republic; this place is the ever ticking heart of the republic since its founding, some 20,000 galactic standard years ago. Since that landmark day, the cities that once dotted the planets surface swelled and did not stop until there was no more land to cover with the enormous, majestic and imposing buildings that now adorn it. Many people, including myself no longer think of it as a planet, just a ball shaped super city.
We approached the planet from its dark side and even from the many hundreds of miles that separated us from the surface; I could see the beautiful patterns of glowing lights all over the surface. As we rounded past over into the light side, facing its sun I wondered if it ever actually got dark down there, and if not, how did people sleep?
Huh, how silly it was of me to not realise the fact that people do have windows with blinds. I probably just wasn't thinking straight at the time.
Still, if you relaxed, cleared your mind looked at it hard enough, you could almost feel the planet pulsing with life, and I knew I could. I realise now that Coruscant is a planet brimming with the force, it would be impossible for it not to, given the amount of life that dwells there, including the great Jedi masters, even one as inexperienced in the ways of the force as I could not fail to feel it.
It's like… it's like being blind and having someone stand near to your face, you can't see them, but you can feel their breath drift over your skin. That was what the teeming life of Coruscant felt to me, back then, just a flush of light air. It was a strange feeling, I wondered how Master Vrook perceived it and how strongly he felt it. To him it was probably more like having someone actually blow on his face. I know that's how it feels to me now after all this time.
It did not take long for the transport to pass through the atmosphere and descend to a height where I could see the shapes of buildings clearly. Three particular buildings stood out to me, they seemed to be purposefully positioned in a linear fashion. The first and most distant was an enormous, glossy grey, mushroom shaped building, and it was by far the biggest of the three. In the middle was a wide dome, much lower in height compared to the other two and was identical in colour to the large building. Finally there was a large, cream coloured, cube of a building, out of the top of which protruded five spires, arranged like the dots on the five side of a die, the central spire being the largest.
Noticing my fascination with these three, Vrook pointed to the large mushroom.
"That building there is the Galactic Senate building, housing a platform for every Senator representing a member planet of the republic. The inside of the senate looks like a spiral turned upside down and in the centre of the that throng stands the appointed Supreme Chancellor of the republic- by all rights the most powerful man in the galaxy. That position is currently occupied by Chancellor Reyes of Alderaan."
"What's that one there?" I asked, pointing to the smaller dome.
"That is the Senator and Jedi residential complex and transport docking facility. Living there is more like being in a hotel- the best hotel in the galaxy, according to every Senator that has ever used it. It's the only ten star hotel in the galaxy, and rumour has it, though I don't think anyone has ever made use of this feature yet, that if you have enough credits, or high enough status, you can have your backside wiped for you by a servant."
Have someone wipe your rear for you! I thought that was a disgusting idea, I resented it when my parents did that for me when I was a baby, let alone having a complete stranger do it, ugh!
I grimaced at the thought, making Vrook chuckle, "Jedi never get involved in such decadences."
"Good." I said firmly. "What about that one there? That's different from the other two."
"That is the Jedi temple, the heart, mind and soul of our order. All young Jedi start their training here before they are considered experienced enough to venture out into the galaxy and perform missions or tasks, with their master of course."
"Does that mean I'll be going with you when I'm older?"
"Thinking a little bit ahead of yourself there aren't you? But yes it may well be me."
"What training will I do?"
"There are many aspects of Jedi and as such there are many components to your training, both mental and physical. However, I cannot tell you what each component is, because if you started training on one particular aspect and then wanted to do something new, even if what you were doing was incomplete, you would become very impatient, knowing that there was something else at the end of the tunnel."
I was a little disappointed, I wanted to know everything. I now realise the wisdom of that policy; Children, if presented with many choices of activities, would want to do all of them at once, and never stick to one particular task until it was finished. I was probably no different; becoming a Jedi is something that must be done step by step.
We touched down on a platform next to the spectacular Jedi temple; grabbing my bag I followed Vrook off the exit ramp and through a huge arched door, built centrally to this side of the structure. I saw many people here, of all ages, races and colours. Young apprentices, some not much older than me strode purposefully around with their much older masters. I saw Twi'leks of all colours, the tentacle mouthed Quarrens, Zabrak, and the horn headed Iridonians.
Not many know this, but a Twi'lek's colour vaguely tells you how old they are. Blue skins are the youngest, anything from one year old to twenty. Then you have the green ones, they'll be between twenty one to around thirty, give or take a couple of years. After that, the males turn orange and the females yellow, though there have been reports of some getting their colour 'confused'. This is quite a short phase in the Twi'lek life cycle, lasting only five or six years. Then they start turning red, shortly before they reach forty, this penultimate phase is as long as the first one and most of their kind will stay this colour for another twenty years. When old age finally reaches them, the redness starts to fade into a mottled purple colour and funnily enough, unlike the other phases, the irises of their eyes follow the suit of their skin and turn purple too.
Although no one, other than other Twi'leks, has ever actually seen a baby Twi'lek, they are, I hear, born with translucent skin, like a jellyfish. It turns blue within a couple of weeks. But I find that thought very amusing- no wonder no one has seen a baby Twi'lek if it's skin is translucent! Ha!
Oh I amuse myself too much; I'm losing my train of thought, enough about the damn Twi'leks.
Master Vrook took me to an elevator that only seemed to go up, as it happened this was the central elevator that took us to the top of the centre spire where the masters of the Jedi Council awaited me. Reaching the top, my ears popping on the way, we strolled into a large circular room with a number of chairs, arranged in a circle, many of which were not occupied, and an obelisk in the very centre of the room. Five of the Jedi masters sat in the farthest chairs from the door.
Vrook and I walked around the stone centrepiece and stopped, Vrook giving a bow, I looked at him and hesitantly followed suit.
One of the masters, an orange Twi'lek stood up and addressed us "So this is the boy you encountered on Tiberius, Vrook?"
"That's correct Master Zhar; I felt it would be prudent to present him to you so that you may see for yourself how fluidly the force flows through him, even for a youngling."
"Perhaps," spoke up another master, a short alien, no taller than I (back then of course) with big eyes, long pointy ears and dowdy brown skin. "Perhaps the young lad would like to introduce himself to us?"
I took this as my cue, "My name is Revan, master, from Tiberius."
"Greetings young Revan, it is good to have you with us, I am Master Vandar, the man over to my right is Master Dorak, the chronicler of our order and keeper of the archives." Master Dorak was a middle aged man, whose black hair was starting to recede, exposing the dark copper skin of his brow.
"Next to him is Master Quatra, currently the newest member of the master's council." Quatra was an Echani; she looked about twenty five, maybe a couple of years older. She had amazing silvery white hair, tied back in a bun and silvery robes to match.
"And over on my left, sitting next to master Zhar is Ulic Qel-Droma, a man who had once fallen under the influence of Exar Kun and joined the dark side, but, thanks to his late brother, Cay Qel-Droma, he now walks the path of light."
I didn't say anything, I was a little nervous. I think they sensed that.
"Do not be alarmed, Revan, Vrook was right, I can sense the force is strong in you, there is no need to continue this meeting, by your mere presence you have satisfied us enough. Vrook can take you to your quarters where you can get some rest in preparation for your training which begins tomorrow."
"I begin tomorrow?" I asked almost surprised.
"Indeed it does young one," spoke Master Zhar "Your training cannot be delayed any further. I do however sense you are afraid, there is no need; nearly all new apprentices feel a sense of trepidation, you will accustom soon enough. Remember, your training will gradually open up a whole new and exciting world where virtually nothing is impossible, because that is the way of the force. Good luck, Revan."
I was taken to my quarters, which were simple enough; a bed, a table and a couple of chairs. Concealed on the left of the room was a toilet, sink and shower, even Jedi need to keep themselves clean you know. I stepped inside and Vrook stayed in the doorway. I watched through a window as the sun began to set on the horizon, bathing the many magnificent buildings in a stunning orange glow.
"You'd better get some rest now Revan, you've got a big day tomorrow." Without waiting for a response he closed the door, leaving me to myself and my thoughts.
After having left Tiberius, events were moving very quickly, far too quickly for a young mind like mine to keep up. But now, here in my solitude and silence, everything started to catch up with me. I was going to be a Jedi, people who often put their lives on the line for that sake of others and the common good. Many die prematurely in battle, or fall to the dark side. I was not familiar with what the dark side was but from what I had heard about Exar Kun, the dark side was the evil aspect of the force, an entity that corrupted your thoughts to act violently, cruelly and irrationally towards your fellow man. A power so malevolent it even changed your appearance making you look… ill… threatening. I had all this to take on board, quite a lot for a toddler. Then there were my parents, never seeing them again was the biggest of all the weights on my shoulders. I tried to keep myself, but it was too much.
I cried myself to sleep that night, but I did not do so again.