Different journeys chapter 2

Caleb couldn't believe it. He was finally with Cham Syndulla.

"Cham Syndulla, sir, I'm Caleb Dune, a Jedi padawan to Jedi Master Depa Billaba," said Caleb.

"I can't see that what would you have with me," said Cham, guessing that Caleb was only here because he wanted something.

"I got separated from my master on the planet Kaller. I need your help finding her," said Caleb.

"I am sorry to say this, but this isn't my place. She is an adult and she should have known what the consequences would be for trying to rise up against her government," said Cham.

Caleb felt anger run through him. His face turned red and he clenched his fists. He thought Cham would be different. But no, the Jedi had saved his planet and he still believed the Empire's lies about the Jedi.

"Don't worry, I won't turn you into the Empire, but you can't stay here either. I am on shaky grounds with them. I can't be found hiding an enemy of theirs. I can have you smuggled to a village of the children of the force in the next province over. You have the same religion as you and a few humans live in the village, so you should fit in there," continue Cham. "At least until all this blows over, I'm sure in time the Empire will realize that you're still a child not accountable for your elder's actions."

"No!" shouted Caleb. "I will not abandon my master. I am done running. And, my master isn't a traitor. She never wanted to overthrow the Republic. The clones turned on us for no reason. They tried to shoot us in the back. We, the Jedi, were the ones who were betrayed!"

"I'm sorry, but I can't risk going to Kaller to rescue an enemy of the Empire," said Cham.

"I have proof," said Caleb, pulling out of his robes two items, a Jedi holocron and a small disc.

"Alright, I'll humor you, " said Cham, he looking at his wife. "Rhea, if he traveled all the way from Kaller he is probably hungry. Tell the cook to prepare him a small dinner."

Rhea was happy to leave the balcony.

XXX

Cham had taken Caleb to his office to view the holocron and the disc. Cham had just finished viewing both of them. He saw the holocron first. Only a Jedi could open it. Cham watched Caleb use the force to open it. He had seen the force used several times before, but it still always amazed him.

A message from Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi played. Cham had met Kenobi briefly when he was one of the Jedis that had led the liberation of Ryloth. The message talked about how the Republic had fallen and the Jedi would have to go into hiding but to trust him and the force. Cham thought Kenobi seemed honest but listening to a man talk wasn't really proof that the Jedi were the ones that were betrayed.

Next, he watched what was on the disk. It showed Caleb and the woman who he assumed was his master. She was a pretty tan skinned human. She looked like she was in her late 20s to early through 30s. One of her most noticeable features was appeared to be piercings on in the bridge of her nose and one on her forehead. Those must have hurt thought Cham he had one of his ears pierced when he was a teenager and remembered it hurting a lot. She had an interesting hairstyle. Most of her hair was tied up behind her head with two braids of her hair made into loops.

She was sitting by a campfire with Caleb and several clone troopers. Cham assumed this must be at the Republic's army camp at Kaller. One of the troopers, an officer probably a captain or commander thinks Cham, got up and put his helmet on and moved out of view of the hologram. Depa's expression changed from being happy and relaxed to worried about determined. She stiffened and abruptly stood up. In a fluid motion, she took her lightsaber off her belt grabbed Celeb and held him her close to her.

The clones pointed their blasters at them and opened fire. Depa ignited her lightsaber, blocking many of the shots and sending them back to the attackers. She, then, used the force to lift the bench she and Caleb were previously sitting on and threw it at the remaining clones, knocking them down. Caleb activated his lightsaber. Depa grabbed his hand. Then, they both ran out of frame.

Caleb feels proud of his master. he had wanted to run and escape right away. But, Depa wanted to grab the recording from the camp security cameras before they left. She wanted proof that the clones had attacked them. She had been right. He would tell her when he saw her the next time.

Cham Syndulla thought about what he just saw. It looked like the young Jedi was telling the truth. The clones had really fired on them unprovoked. The hologram could be faked but he doubted there were enough Jedi left to have the infrastructure to do that.

And if the Empire could betray its greatest defenders, who had led them to victory in over a thousand battles and who had served the government loyally for thousands of years, what chance did the disorderly rebels of the free Ryloth movement have? They had only helped win one major battle and had conflicting interests with the galactic government.

Cham felt dread. He realized that he had been in denial when he thought that a peaceful coexistence with the Empire was possible. It won't be long before the Empire tries to wipe his people the way they did the Jedi. Cham thoughts continued along these lines. What would happen they need allies from off world.? Two Jedi would be a good start if they were half the Jedi he met during the Clone Wars. Celeb and Depa would be a great help in the future fight against the Empire.

" You have convinced me, Jedi. I will help you find your master," declared Cham.

" For real!" said Caleb excitedly.

XXX

Rhea had the family chef make a traditional twi'lek meal. It was on a tray with meat as the main dish and sides of edible lichens and mushrooms. With the exception the meat which was cooked in consideration of Caleb's proclivities, twi'leks prefer to eat raw meat. She remembered from her time working at a human tourist trap restaurant that humans preferred their meat to be cooked. She was tempted to give him the raw meat to eat and see his reaction but she decided that would be cruel . She was starting to think that was really unfair for her to dislike the kid so much.

"Here's your food, kid," said Rhea, with a tone handing the tray to Caleb

"Thank you," said Caleb gratefully. The food looked really good to him right now. He hadn't had anything to eat in two days.

"Jedi, why don't you eat that in my office while I go talk to my wife," said Cham. Caleb nod that it was okay and Cham walked out with Rhea.

"Rhea I've decided I'm going to take him to Kaller to search for his Jedi Master," said Cham .

"But what about the family reunion?" asked Rhea.

"I'm hoping I'll be back before then. Kaller is only a few parsecs away and I think the kids knows where to look his master so she shouldn't be too hard to find," said Cham. Rhea still looked apprehensive. "Rhea, I know how you feel about humans but Caleb is just a kid and his master is the closest thing to a parent he has. If Hera were separated from us, we would want someone to help her," said Cham.

Rhea pictured her little Hera in a Jedi robe, crying and rubbing her nose with her long sleeve of her robe. Hera tearfully asking strangers if they have seen her master.

"Okay, I understand," said Rhea, putting her hand on his shoulder. They both walked back into Cham's office. Caleb, in the short time they are outside, had eaten in all the food on the tray.

"Thank you, ma'am, the food was good," said Caleb, trying to be polite.

"I didn't cook it," Rhea said rudely as she snatched the now empty tray out of his hands.

Caleb got sad look on his face. It hurt his feelings a little bit how she didn't like him. He assumed it was because he checked her out instead of looking at her in the eyes like the gentleman was supposed to do. He wished he could go back in time and make a positive first impression with her.

Likewise, Rhea felt a little guilty after seeing the sad look on his face. She knew it was wrong to be rude to him just because he was a human. After all, he had no control over it. But, it was just that being around him brought back bad memories for Rhea.

"I mean your welcome," said Rhea, trying to sound nicer.

"Caleb, I'll get a friend from my days in the free Ryloth movement to fly the two of us to Kaller to get your master," said Cham.

Thank the force thought Caleb.

XXX

Hera was told by her mother that Caleb and her father would be leaving for the planet Kaller tomorrow. Hera felt cheated. She was the one that found the Jedi Padawan. She should be allowed to help him find his master.

The ship was a small freighter with a two person crew. They were two younger blue skinned twi'leks male and female. They were a couple and were the co-captains of their ship. Cham said that during the CIS occupation of Ryloth they had used their ship to spy on the separatist ships of the blockade and reported back to Cham.

Hera had pretended to pout in her room when she had really snuck onto the ship. She was so small barely anyone noticed her so it was easy. She was so excited. She had never been to space before. She was jealous of the children of other wealthy twi'lek families that often go on vacation off world but Cham didn't approve. He believed that their place was on Ryloth. She had been very hopeful that she get a chance 5 years ago when her father was campaigning for galactic Senate, but, unfortunately he had lost the campaign. Hera would still on occasion get sad about it. She believed that living on the Republic's capital planet of Coruscant would have been fun.

Hera was able to find a nice place to hide in the ship. When she felt the ship take off, she left her hiding place. She really wanted to be able to look out a window while it was taking off.

Almost immediately, she was seen by a member of the small ships two crew members. She was taken to her father. He was very mad at Hera for sneaking on to the ship. He even yelled at Hera. Instead of being afraid, Hera was embarrassed. "Why did he have to do it in front of the ship's crew and especially, Caleb?" she thought to herself. Her dad also made her call her mom. Her mom was even more upset than her father, if that was possible. Rhea had told her, "Hera, you better enjoy this adventure in space because you are going to be grounded a long time when you gets back to Ryloth!"

XXX

About a half hour later, Caleb was in the ship's kitchen looking for a snack. Then, he saw little Hera walk into the room. Caleb had felt bad when he saw her getting yelled at earlier but decided it was best for him not to say anything because he didn't think it was his place to undermine Cham's parenting. She started staring at him intensely.

"Hi, Hera," said Caleb, giving her a small wave. But, she just kept staring. She was starting to weird him out.

"Can I touch your hair?" Hera nervously blurted out.

Caleb thought that was a weird question, but didn't see the harm. "Okay," said Caleb, his tone hesitant, but willing. Hera didn't have an hair. No twi'lek does. Hera has always been curious about what human hair would feel like. She pictured it feeling soft like a blanket or the fabric of her dolls' dresses. But it didn't feel quite the way she expected. She thought that it felt like animal fur. She petted his hair gently and as she became more comfortable she ran her fingers through it.

Hera remembers that humans sometimes lose their hair when they get older. She learned the hard way that it's considered rude to ask a human why they're bald. One of the human businessmen that had visited her home had been bald. Hera was curious if we shaved his head on purpose or if his hair just fell out so she asked him, "Mister, did you shave your head or did your hair just fall out? "The man had been offended and Hera had no idea why. Later, her mom had explained to her that it's considered rude to bring up baldness because humans love their hair and are sad when it's gone so it is rude to remind them that it is not there anymore.

She decides that she likes Caleb's hair. She hopes that it doesn't fall out anytime soon. Even though she thinks he'd still be pretty without it. She is shocked when she realizes that his Padawan braid is gone. Hera let's out a gasp.

"What?" asked Caleb.

"Your braid is gone," said Hera, concerned. "What happened to it?"

Caleb looked sad for a second. "Yeah, Cham thinks that it was too dangerous for me to keep it, so he made me cut it off," said Caleb.

XXX

Caleb thought back to the conversation he had with Cham about cutting off his braid. Even though, he had decided to help Caleb find his master, he wouldn't do it with Caleb walking around with such an obvious sign that labeled him a Jedi. Single braids weren't a popular fashion except for Jedi padawans.

"I can't cut off. It's not supposed to be cut off until my knighting ceremony," protested Caleb.

"Maybe you should put more thought into surviving to see the ceremony!" said Cham sternly. "Because if you go out into public wearing that braid the Empire will know your Jedi and will shoot you on site." Cham didn't like being mean to Caleb but Caleb needed to understood the gravity of the situation. "Then you might never be a Jedi Knight or see never see your master again. I'll be imprisoned for aiding an enemy of the Empire! Is that what you want, Caleb?"

Caleb obviously didn't want that. But, he hated the idea of getting rid of his braid. He often fantasized about his knighting ceremony. In his mind, he would have just passed the Jedi trials. Depa would be looking at him proudly. Master Yoda, leader of the Jedi council, would then cut his braid, symbolizing his graduation from Padawan to knight.

Caleb also worried his master might be disappointed in him if he cut his braid early. "But, my master wouldn't want my me, too," said Caleb meekly. Caleb looked at Cham, afraid that the twi'lek man might yell at him again. Caleb is surprised when cham puts his hand on his shoulder.

"Caleb, a Jedi Master once told me that they liked to think the relationship between a Padawan and master was like the relationship between a parent and child," said Cham gently, but still with authority. "If that's true, as a parent, she would want you to do whatever it took to survive. If Hera were in the same situation you are in now, I wouldn't care about her hair. I would just be happy that she was alive. A haircut isn't worth dying for. Your hair will grow back but you won't live if the Empire spots you."

Cham had made a lot of sense and Caleb realized he was right. Except maybe the part about Hera being in the same situation as him. Hera didn't have any hair. The Jedi would have given her some jewelry to wear on her head to symbolize the braid. It would be easy for her to hide she could just put it in her pocket. But he couldn't do that.

Cham looked at Caleb satisfied knowing that he had gotten through to Caleb. Cham handed Caleb a pair of scissors. Caleb put the braid in between the blades of the scissors and about to make the snap but his hands start to shake. He couldn't bring himself to do it.

"Sir, could you cut it for me?" asked Caleb. Cham sighed he had forgotten how sentimental humans could be.

"Sure, kid," said Cham he took the scissors from Caleb's hands. Caleb closed his eyes and then heard a snip. "It's done," said Cham.

Caleb opened his eyes. He felt sad that part of his old life was over. It was only a month ago before everything had changed with Order 66 being enacted by the Empire. He felt as though it wasn't just his hair that had been cut but part of his old life that he would never get back. But knew it would be worth it a matter of most was getting to his master alive.

XXX

"Are you okay?" asked Hera. She had gotten a little worried now that Caleb had grown 's voice brought Caleb out of his mind.

"I'm alright. I was just thinking," answered Caleb.

"What about?" asked Hera.

"I was thinking about my master," answered Celeb.

"What was she like?" asked Hera

" I'll show you a holograth," said Caleb

Celeb took out the image of his master and him. Hera looks at the picture of Depa. She is smiling warmly. Hera thinks she looks pretty. She also thinks she looks a lot like Caleb. His master could have passed for his mother. Hera is especially taken in by Depa's weird hairstyle of being braided into loops. She always liked how creative humans are with their hair. Hera thinks if she were human she would have a different hairstyle every day. "I like her," said Hera.

Caleb thought it was a weird thing to say considering she didn't know her.

They spent the next couple hours in the kitchen. Caleb told her stories about him and Depa while the two of them shared a bag of chips. About how Depa had befriended him when he was a youngling and how she had told him, back then, as soon as he was old enough she would make him her Padawan. She did this because when she was a youngling she was stressed out thinking that no one had choosen her to be their Padawan and she didn't want Caleb to go through the same suspense. About their adventures together during the Clone Wars. Hera enjoyed the stories. She was looking forward to meeting Depa. While Caleb was telling his stories, she started to have a fantasy of Depa and Caleb moving in with the Syndulla's and Depa making Hera her Padawan, teaching her to build her own lightsaber, and fly a Jedi Starfighter.

XXX

Caleb and Hera were called to cockpit of the ship by Cham. The ship was about to come out of hyperspace and he thought Hera and Caleb would want to see the planet from orbit.

Hera never felt so excited. This would be her first time seeing another planet. She looked out the cockpit's window to see it. It had been one of her dreams to go to space ever since her parents had given her a holo called "The Guide to Planets." Hera would often stay up late reading and imagining going to the different planets. Sneaking on the ship was definitely worth being grounded the rest of my life, thought Hera.