"Wake up, little one," a soft voice pierced through the thick mist of tiredness and sleep. "We are landing and I believe you would like to see a bit of the planet before we do, don't you?"
Startled awake, it took a moment for Danali to realise that a hand on her leg was gently shaking her. Slowly the words began to make sense and nodded eagerly, or as eagerly as she could while yawning and stretching in her seat.
Once her eyes adjusted to being open again, she took a moment to blink around and then her eyes really opened. It wasn't like she hadn't ever seen skyspeeders before but this was something else.
The sky was filled with endless lines of speeders zipping through the air and they were going so fast. And the buildings were reaching so high into the sky that she could almost touch them as their ship flew over by a particularly large one. Every surface of the planet was covered in various lights, structures and machinery, sprawled and packed against each other in every inch. She imagined a thick jungle that eventually became this one megacity. Tyrena looked like...she didn't know what Tyrena looked like compared to this, but it was tiny. Tyrena was tiny compared to Coruscant.
The sun was still rising and the golden and red colours were painting the clouds and the buildings and it all just looked so pretty and massive and she couldn't suppress her awe at the sight. She doubted that even the best storytellers in the galaxy could describe the sight before her with the right words.
"Wow…" Danali knew that she looked like an idiot with her jaw hanging open the way it did but she just couldn't stop herself.
Master Hes chuckled right next to her as she steered the spaceship towards a particularly colossal building. It towered above everything else and was so incredibly massive that Danali found it almost impossible to wrap her head around its sheer size. Five spires were standing tall on its flat roof, the one in the middle being the highest.
"This is the Jedi Temple, Danali," Master Hes explained. "Once your initiation has been approved by the High Council, you will begin your education here. Together with your peers, you will learn about the Force, about yourself, about the world and many more things. This will be your new home."
Hope gripped her heart. This could be her home. No more Kind Mother, no more toilet and bed in one room. No more women dancing for others in underwear. This could be her home. She could learn.
"And I can ask questions?" Danali wondered.
"You just did, didn't you, little one?" Master Hes asked her with a small chuckle. "Asking questions is the most important thing to do when you want to truly learn."
Danali smiled, her hands tightly holding onto the armrests of her seat in excitement. Her heart was pounding, her belly was fluttering, her legs were whipping up and down.
She could ask questions.
Still mesmerized, Danali continued to just let her eyes take in all the sights she could; all the buildings, all the speeders, the rising sun's colourful rays, the Jedi temple's sheer size. There was so much to see, but, at the same time, somehow not nearly enough.
Their approach to the building was steady and not for a moment did she fear that they might crash. Then, a gentle lurch went through the shuttle.
They had arrived. Danali almost regretted that fact.
Master Hes turned everything off that needed to be turned off and got up from her pilot seat. It was time to see the inside of the temple.
The inside of the temple was just as beautiful as the outside, if not more so. Cream and brown colours dominated the walls and ceilings, there were stairs and pillars everywhere. The halls were so long and wide, she was sure that thousands of people could fit in there at the same time. She spotted many other Jedi as well – humans, Twi'lek, Mon Calamari, Rodian and many more aliens she didn't recognize – who were mostly wearing cream and brown but some blue, passing by them, greeting Master Hes pleasantly. Master Hes greeted them back with a smile and a gentle nod herself.
It struck Danali just how nice everyone appeared to be here in this temple. No one looked angry or mean or dangerous. Everyone had a small smile on their faces when talking or just saying 'hello, how are you?'. Everything seemed to be right in their own, little worlds.
But was it really little? She had seen how huge Coruscant was. She had seen how huge this temple was. The number of Jedi living here...she couldn't even imagine it. So many people and they all looked happy. The Kind Mother got angry when she had to deal with two people she didn't like or even just one. But these Jedi...did they like everybody?
Master Hes had led them to a lift at the end of a hall. After pressing the button, they had to wait for the lift to arrive, so Danali let her gaze wander. Looking to her left, her eyes widened at the masked people she was seeing for the first time. There were two standing guard by a large set of intricate double doors. Both wore pale cream-coloured robes that appeared different from the simple ones Jedi like Master Hes, Master Arraira or Jaro Tapal were wearing. They looked prettier, had golden patterns weaved into them and the masks looked kind of neat, she had to admit; they were white with wavey golden patterns and slits to look through for the eyes.
"Temple Guards," Master Hes explained after urging her forward with a gentle push. Danali hadn't realized that their lift had arrived. "Knighted Jedi Sentinels, who have been pulled from their ranks to become anonymous Temple Guards. It is a most sacred and honourable position they hold and they are formidable at what they do."
Danali didn't answer as the door to their lift closed. Only the gentle, faint hum of the lift indicated that they were even moving.
Thinking back to what Master Hes had told her about the Temple Guards, Danali wondered what type of people they were. The way they were standing all stiff and unmoving, they appeared to be strict. She didn't know what 'sacred' and 'formidable' meant, but she had a feeling that the Temple Guards must also be very special for Jedi.
"Are there...are there different Jedi?" Danali asked Master Hes hesitantly. It was still a bit weird to be able to ask questions but she was curious. She wanted to ask things and know things.
"Yes, there are," Master Hes replied with a small smile. "And you will learn about them when the time is right." A ding indicated that they had arrived wherever it was the lift had carried them to. "For now, however," the Jedi Master continued, "it is time to meet the High Council."
Danali swallowed thickly but nodded and followed the Togruta Jedi Master at her heels. The nervousness was settling in her stomach once more as they strode through yet another vast hallway. This one, however, was less lively. More Temple Guards were patrolling the area and guarding bigger doors. Flower pots holding alien and beautiful plants were decorating the vast emptiness of the room. She tried to do her best to keep her gaze straight ahead, though; a curious peek to her right and out of a large window had her open her eyes really wide once she saw just how high up they were.
Once they reached a guarded door, they stopped and Master Hes turned around and knelt to face her. "You have to wait here for just a moment and then I will call you inside. Would that be alright?"
Danali nodded. She could stay quiet and out of trouble. It had been pretty much her job when working for the Kind Mother, after all.
Master Hes smiled at her before standing up again and entering the room behind that mysterious door.
Danali craned her neck to properly look at the Temple Guards standing at either side of the door. They didn't pay her any attention, though. They were stubbornly staring ahead. For a moment, she wondered if she could become a special Jedi. If – if – she would be allowed to become a Jedi at all, just what kind of Jedi would she be? She was so curious and she wanted to ask the Temple Guards questions but she was a bit scared to do so. The Jedi Masters she had met so far hadn't minded her asking questions, but these Temple Guards didn't look like they would enjoy being pestered.
Thankfully, however, the door opened with a low hiss and Master Hes beckoned for her to come inside. Danali, hesitantly and after giving the guards one last lingering and curious glance, entered into a circular chamber with a very wide window that stretched through the entire room and provided an amazing view of Coruscant below. After a quick count, she was sure that there should be between eleven and fourteen chairs. She stumbled after reaching eight; the Kind Mother hadn't taught her to count the way her mother had.
What she did notice was that the chairs, which were placed almost in a full circle, all looked different. There were two little green Jedi, who had the smallest and lowest chairs. There was a Kel Dor, who had a bigger chair, into which he could lean comfortably. There was an alien, which almost looked human except for the strangely shaped head. He was bald and had a white beard and white, bushy eyebrows. His chair had a low back and he sat very straight. It didn't look as comfortable as the Kel Dor's chair. They and the other Jedi council people were all looking at her curiously.
One of the green aliens – the bald, male looking one – spoke up first in a croaking, thoughtful voice. "So, brought to us this youngling, Master Arraira has?" He stroked his chin with three clawed fingers. "What is your name, child?"
"D-Danali Bretrow, sir," she answered, fiddling with the hem of her sleeves. It was only then, she realized, that she was still wearing the same dirty rags she had been wearing back in Corellia. She must be looking filthy.
The Kel Dor with his deep and weirdly filtered voice spoke this time. "And how old is she?"
"She is seven years old, Master Plo Koon," Master Hes answered. "And her parents have been killed by a gang leader in Tyrena, Corellia. She has no family."
"No attachments, then," a dark-skinned human Jedi sitting next to the little green male one said. "We have taken in cases like hers before," he added, "but more often than not they struggle because they missed out on a lot of what the younglings we have taken in as infants have learned by that age. Initiates gather their Kyber crystals by the time they are eight."
"Of course, Master Windu," Master Hes replied, "but Danali is strong in the Force. Or, rather, her Midi-Chlori count is very high, if that is what you prefer. We have made exceptions in the past and she is still of an initiate's age. If she applies herself, I don't see a reason not to take her in."
The Master Windu person raised a brow with a wry grin. "Telling me that she is strong in the Force is more than enough. I can feel it. And as I have said, we have had cases like hers. Some succeed, while others do not."
"Great dedication to the Order her future shows," the female green little alien said with her eyes closed and speaking up for the first time, "but also worries and great fears."
"These are things that many a Jedi have gone through in their lifetimes," the large-headed alien Jedi said. "With a guiding hand and readily given wisdom, any worry and any fear can be cast aside. I, for one, am curious to see where her path will lead and would not want to waste such potential."
"Hmm, much wisdom in your words are, Master Ki-Adi-Mundi," the male green alien Jedi noted.
Then a dark-skinned human-like alien woman with a hat with tentacles spoke for the first time. "I, too, concur with Master Ki."
And then, it suddenly went very quickly. All the other Jedi Masters began muttering similar words of agreement and nodding their heads at what large-headed Masti Ki-something had said and Danali couldn't believe it.
They wanted her. They wanted her!
"Your journey begins now if you are up for it, little one," a dark-skinned human-looking woman with braided, dark hair and two studs on the bridge of her nose said gently. "You have a lot to learn and catch up on. It will not be an easy path," she warned her.
"I will do my best, I promise!" Danali told them eagerly. "I-I can do it!"
"Follow your journey with curiosity we will," the female green alien Jedi said.
And then, she was dismissed.
Her whole body was vibrating. Her heart was pounding, her entire being was tingling. They had accepted her. They had taken her in. She would have to study hard because she was not taken in as a baby and had missed a lot but she would do it. She needed to. She didn't want to go back to Tyrena and she didn't want to live the way she had under the Kind Mother.
"We still have much to do, little one," Master Hes told her, a tinge of amusement in her voice as they were taking the lift down again.
Danali didn't know why, but maybe because her eyes were torn wide open since leaving the High Council or maybe because she could feel that silly smile on her face and it just wouldn't go away.
"Uh-huh," was all she could say.
"You need your own set of robes and you need to be placed in a clan so that you can meet your peers and your assigned sleeping quarters."
That sounded scary. The Kind Mother had never allowed the children to talk to each other. They hadn't ever even played together. Would those other children here like her? She didn't know things the way they did.
"Don't you worry, little one," Master Hes assured her. "Yes, most children are taken in during their infancy, but we also have many whom we have taken in at ages four or five and sometimes even six and seven. If you dedicate yourself and show that you are eager to learn, you will have no issues."
Danali just nodded and followed her after she stepped out of the elevator.
Getting her robes was a surprisingly exciting thing. She got the usual cream and brown coloured set. They had taken her measurements, then they had given her several pairs of similar robes for her to choose and pick from and now she had clean clothes in just the right size for her. That was pretty much it but just the fact that she now had clean clothes that actually fit her was exciting because she almost couldn't remember what that was like. Danali had more memories of the Kind Mother than of her actual mother, which was sad but which also made these little things all the more exciting.
Now, however, they were on their way to her new Clan's quarters.
Master Hes had told her that the children would be assigned their clans from the moment the Jedi Order had accepted them and that didn't change with her. Danali wasn't so sure if she liked it but she also didn't know if she was brave or loyal or if she liked to keep and hoard secrets.
There was the Dragon Clan and the Helios Clan and the Bear Clan and the Bergruufta Clan and so many more, it was overwhelming. Master Hes, however, had decided that she would fit with the Bergruufta Clan; a clan that stood for loyalty and perseverance even in the darkest of times. Master Hes had said that it had been something about Master Yaddle's words – the little green alien who had said something about great dedication – that made it seem like a great fit. And now she was approaching her new home and new children and she would actually talk with them.
A new life. A new Danali Bretrow.
"The day has already begun for the other initiates," Master Hes told her once they had reached the door to the Bergruufta Clan's quarters. "I will inform Master Kaykeel Bayncuul about you. For now, I do believe that you have earned yourself a proper shower and proper sleep."
Danali nodded vigorously. It was all amazing but it was also a lot.
Master Hes chuckled and opened the door for her. "Then please, do step into your new home. Pick yourself an unoccupied bed, get a shower and sleep. Tomorrow, your new life begins."