Part 2 The Training of a Taegan Warrior and the Shaping of a Jedi

Chapter 4: Raphen, Alara, and the Sandstorm

Shaiey stood outside of Castle Tagla, her ancestral home, with Lalatha.

"Now remember all that you have learned so far." Lalatha instructed.

"Why do I have to go? We've only been here a week. Why can't I stay here longer? My arm is still sore. How come I can't stay in Talaego with you? Why didn't my mother come for my birthday?" Shaiey asked in a rush, all at once.

"Shaiey, slow down. You cannot stay here or in Talaego, you have to start your training. You were suposed to have left for your training two days after your birthday. As for your mother, she was unable to attend for many different reasons." Lalatha answered. "You will see her soon, and your father too. Now, come and give me a hug. I have to be going. Master Raphen will be here shortly, and you must be alone when he gets here."

"Why?"

"Because it is the way. I have already sent your things ahead. Now, mind your manners, and behave. Learn all of your lessons. Bye my dear, and take care of yourself. I love you, and the Force is with you." Lalatha said, hugging the girl. She then walked back into the castle, leaving the child by herself.

Shaiey stood there looking at the sky, lost in thought. She was remembering when she first came to the castle. It was the day after her birthday, and Shaiey looked forward to seeing a new place. Lalatha gave the girl the run of the castle. Equipted with a canteen of water and some chocolate, Shaiey went wild, seeing what she could see.

Shaiey was startled out of her reverie by the sound of a pair of flapping wings. She looked up and saw a figure in the sky heading towards her. At first, it was just a speck in the sky that steadily grew larger and larger. Shaiey realised that it was not a bird after a bit. She saw that it was a Windicorn with a man on its back.

The Windicorn alighted gracefully a couple of meters in front of Shaiey. In a matter of a few seconds, its smoky black wings were folded tight against its glossy bluegrey body. The man then jumped off its back.

"Princess Shaiey Tagla?" the man asked.

"Yes, that's me." Shaiey replied.

"I'm Master Raphen, your teacher. This beautiful lady is Alara." Raphen introduced himself and the Windicorn.

"Hello Shaiey." greeted an ethereal sounding voice.

Shaiey noticed Alara tipping her crystal blue horn at her at the same time that she heard the greeting.

"Who said that?" Shaiey asked.

"I did." replied the voice.

"I who?"

"I'm Alara."

"You can talk?" Shaiey finally questioned.

"Of course, but not in the way that you do. I use my mind and the Force to talk." was Alara's answer.

Raphen just stood there and watched, not saying a word. It was Shaiey's first lesson of many, and Alara's to teach it.

"There's that word again. The Force. What does it mean?"

Time for lesson number two, Raphen thought before he began to speak. "The Force is a field of energy that that surrounds everything. It is from the Force that Alara and the other Windicorns, we Taegan Warriors, the nearly extinct Jedi Knights and the Septes get our special abilities."

"Are you going to teach me the Force?"

"Yes, in a way. You will learn some lessons from others." Raphen answered. He swung back up onto Alara's back. "Come here now, and let me help you up. It's time for us to head to the Sky Castle."

Shaiey went over, and in a flash, found herself in front of Raphen on Alara's back.

"Hang on tight to my mane. You won't hurt me." Alara instructed Shaiey as she took off. "Here we go!"

With the flapping of powerful wings and a short run, the trio were off flying to their destinies.

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It had been a week since Luke had had his dream. He sat in the sand at the base of an old broken vaporator, looking at a book on how to repair and maintain them. However, Luke was not really looking at the book, but thinking of that dream.

"I wonder why she wouldn't tell me her name?" Luke asked himself. "I would have given her my name. Oh well, maybe one day we will meet up. I hope I know her when I see her."

Luke started concentrating on the book in his lap, just stopping long enough to open a panel on the vaporator. As he tinkered around, Luke paid no attention to the surrounding area. WOOSH! gusted the slight breeze, picking up velocity. The noise registered in Luke's conscious. He looked up, past the vaporator and gasped. In the near distance, a sandstorm was rapidly approaching.

"I've got to get out of here." Luke told himself, as he stood up. He turned and started to run, hoping that maybe, just maybe, he could outrun the storm to the homestead. Nature decided against the racing boy. A small boulder, more like a large rock, lay buried in the sand directly in Luke's path. Luke hit it full force with his right foot. Down he went, white hot pain shooting through his ankle. He let out a yelp, and tried not to cry as he looked back at the oncoming storm.

"There's no way I'm going to make it home. I'm too far." Luke stated in a pain filled voice. "Maybe I can get closer though."

Luke's time had run out, however. The wind propelled sand hit with full intensity. Luke found himself being hit from all sides by the sand laden wind, cauing him to lose his bearings. Luke did not realised that he had turn completely around, when the old vaporator, loose in its moorings, came crashing down on him.

Back at the homestead, Owen Lars went into the kitchen, just having reached the safety of the building.

"Made it, just barely." He told Beru.

"Have you seen Luke?" Beru asked.

"No. Isn't he here?"

"He was at the old broken vaporator, studying it. I thought he came in with you."

"I haven't seen Luke since breakfast."

"Let me see if he might be in his room or the refesher first, Owen. He might be in either." Beru said, leaving the kitchen. A moment later, she was back, her face white. "Luke's not in either room."

"That means that he is out in the storm, then."

"Owen, you have to do something. Luke can't survive out in all of that."

"I know Beru, I know."

Luke came to, finding himself pinned under the vaporator. He tried to free himself, fighting to stay conscious. He was unable to do either, giving in to a pain filled darkness. He did not see the brown robed figure that came to his rescue.

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Shaiey woke up with a start. Looking around, she realised that she was leaning against Alara's neck. It had been several long, hard days of traveling. Raphen was nowhere in sight, but Shaiey could hear him talking to someone. Down she slid off of Alara's back. Then unsteadily, she turned to look at the castle in front of her.

"It's beautiful." Shaiey said, without realising it.

"I'm glad that you think so." said a half familiar sounding voice. Into Shaiey's veiw stepped a woman who had a resemblance to her grandmother and sister.

"Do I know you?" Shaiey asked the woman, who pulled her into a hug.

"Only sort of. My name is Xana, Shaiey." The woman introduced herself. Her daughter had only ever seen her dressed in formal clothing, not in warrior's garb. "I'm your mother."

"I thought that you looked familiar." Shaiey said, returning the hug. "I have missed you."

"And I you. Now, I have some things to show you, and some people to meet." Xana added, pulling the girl away from Alara's side. "This is Captain Aila Ralf, my aide. Aila, this is my daughter Shaiey. She will be training under Master Raphen."

"Hello Princess, it's nice to meet you." Aila greeted, holding out her hand to the girl.

Shaiey took the offered hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you Captain Ralf."

A man came over followed by Raphen. He knelt down and gave Shaiey a big hug. The child looked suprised to see the tall sandy brown haired man hugging her. Shaiey did not know who he was, and he sensed her budding fear. "It's okay, Shaiey. It's been a long while since you have seen me. You were so tiny the last time we were together. My name is Kade. Kade Halan Tagla, your father."

Shaiey looked at Xana for assurance. She then looked to Raphen for agreement. Xana knelt next to her husband and daughter.

"He is your father, dear." Xana told Shaiey.

"I'm sorry, Father. But I don't remember you." Shaiey told Kade.

"It's alright Shaiey. I'm partly to blame on that. I haven't come to see you at all." Kade started explaining. "Having an Imperial warrent on my head makes it kind of hard to be with my two girls."

Shaiey let out a huge yawn. "I'm sorry." She said, as she yawned again.

"We flew straight here from our last campsite, and it was a long flight. Shaiey handled it well. She will make a powerful Warrior." Raphen stated, ending in a yawn himself.

"That's excellent then. Now we best see to getting Shaiey to bed. Good sleeping Master Raphen." Xana said.

"Night Master Raphen." Shaiey and Kade replied in unison, as Kade picked Shaiey up.

"Sleep well and may your dreams remain peaceful." Raphen replied.

"A few minutes later, Shaiey found herself in a tent, sitting on a cot. "Who's tent is this?" The girl asked.

"Yours, for tonight. Now into bed you go. You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow." Xana answered.

"Why do you say that?" Shaiey questioned.

"Because tomorrow you will start training with Master Raphen at his camp. Now good night." Xana replied to her daughter.

"Night Mother, Father." Shaiey said, drifting off to sleep.

"Night Shaiey." Kade added, as he and Xana left the small tent.

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Luke woke up, and found himself unable to open his eyes. "Where am I?" He asked, trying to sit up.

"Shh, Luke. Lie back down." Beru told the boy, then turned to call out, "Owen, Ben, Luke is awake." She gently pushed Luke down on his back. "You can come in."

The two men came into the room. Ben sat on the edge of the bed, and removed the bandage from Luke's eyes.

"Luke, tell me how you are seeing things?" Ben gently asked.

"Everything is blurry." Luke replied.

Ben took a close look at Luke's eyes, and gave a short nod of approval. "No lasting damage then."

"Tell us what happened." Owen ordered in a gruff voice.

"Well, I was looking at the book and comparing it to the vaporator. I lost track of what was going on. I didn't notice that a storm was coming until the wind whistled by." Luke told his tale. He explained that he had started back to the homestead, and the rock. "The next thing I knew, I'm stuck under the vaporator, and now here."

The adults looked at each other. Beru looked at Ben, asking him with her eyes to tell the boy all that he had done. Owen shook his head no.

"Luke, you'll need to stay in bed for a couple of days. You have a bad concussion, and a severly sprained ankle. Along with those, you have sustained some bad cuts and bruises and a nasty case of wind and sand burn." Beru told the boy.

"Will my eyes be okay?" Luke asked, slightly scared.

"Yes. They were also windburned. Lots of rest, and very little light for the next few days will have you back on your feet." Ben assured the boy. "Now get some rest, Luke. Your eyes should be better in a week."

Ben stood up, and left the room. Owen gave an angry look in his direction.

"Get some sleep, Luke." Owen ordered the boy in a gruff tone, before leaving the room himself.

"Aunt Beru?" Luke asked.

"Yes?" she replied.

"I'm not in trouble, am I?" was the boy's question.

"No. It wasn't your fault. You were doing as you should have. Now get some more sleep. I'll bring you a bowl of soup later." Beru answered, tucking Luke back into the bed.

"Will you tell Ben thank you for me?" Luke got out around a yawn.

"Yes, I will." Beru replied, as she left the room. She pulled the door shut behind her.

Walking into the main room, Beru heard a low pitch arguement.

"Why did you have to put him into a healing trance!" Owen stated, in an angry tone.

"Luke needed medical attention that he couldn't get here under normal circumstances. I had to use the Force to heal the worst of the damage. He could have been permemently blinded." Ben replied, in a calm tone. He then pulled out a long silver cylinder. "I want Luke to have this."

"NO!" Owen cried in a sharp tone. "It would just get him into trouble and get him killed. Luke doesn't need to head off on some damn fool crusade. And THAT would take him in an instant."

"It's part of his destiny."

"Not if I have my way, it isn't!"

"The Force is with him. He will be trained."

"Over my dead body! I will NOT have it!" Owen said, and stormed out of the room.

"I hope not." Ben said softly to himself, concealing the lightsaber in his robes.

Beru looked at Ben with a stricken expression on her face, and nodded in agreement.