Chapter 4
Flashback
"So what race are you anyway?"
Elsi remembered the first time that Ben asked her that same question.
It was her first day at the jedi temple. Luke had just rescued her from her dying planet and offered to train her once he realised that she was a force sensitive child.
She walked into the training room, Luke's hand on her back guiding her forward.
She was scared; petrified.
Not only had she just lost everything but now there were about 12 young children all around her age (10) staring back at her. Most children were human but a few were of different species like her.
Each child in human years appeared to be between the ages of 10-13. Though it was hard to tell.
Elsi lifted her head high and entered the room as Luke introduced her.
"Everyone this is Elsinyade. She will be joining our classes from now on. She has never had much training before so go easy on her. Today we will be practicing focus and concentration." Luke walked to the front of the room to get the class started.
"Difficult to concentrate with miss lightbulb in the room." A boy with green skin whispered to his friend next to him.
Elsi's hair and skin often glowed luminescent when her emotions were heightened, which they were now due to her being so nervous.
She lowered her head and looked up in shock as a boy next to her spoke up. "Hey! Just because she glows doesn't give you the right to make fun of her. Learn to respect your fellow jedi or else get out!"
Elsi was shocked that this boy stood up for her. She didn't know him. He didn't owe her anything. Yet on her first day he had set the standard that if anyone messed with her then they would mess with him.
"Thank you. You- You didn't have to do that though."
"I didn't do it for you!" The young boy exclaimed. "It's just not the jedi way to let others get away with injustice. Besides, don't expect any special treatment from me. If we were to spar, then I would beat you hands down. What race are you anyway? My mother taught me about many different planets but I've never been taught about anyone that looks like you."
Elsi decided that there was no harm in telling the name of her species, but she would not divulge the horrid story that went alongside her past. "I'm a Cisanee from the planet Soris."
"Never heard of it. Tell you what, I'll give you one month to get used to training with master Luke, then you go up against me in a sparring match. If I win then you tell me more about your home planet. But if you win then I will tell you my deepest secret."
"You're on!"
"I'm Ben by the way. Ben Solo. Master Luke said your name was Elsinyade right? Well I'm gonna call you Elsi."
Elsi looked up at him, knowing that from then on they would have a relationship built from rivalry. What she didn't know was that there would be a few sweet moments thrown into the mix.
Present Day
Many memories accompanied that one as Elsi explored around the Falcon. In particular she remembered a time where Ben would often sneak onto his dads ship with her and they would move stuff around to see if his dad would notice. Han ended up thinking the place was haunted until Leia reassured him that it was just Ben and Elsi playing a harmless prank.
Perhaps the most vivid memory she had was when she and Ben were outside of the Falcon sparring one day and Ben was distracted by something which caused her to strike his arm. Elsi could still remember the look he had on his face as she bandaged his arm on the ship and looked up only to see his deep blue eyes staring straight back at hers. Elsi wondered whether they would have kissed then if they had not been interrupted by Chewie entering the room.
She smiled at the memory, looking at the very seat that Ben had sat in.
"Elsi could you help me with this? It appears that Finn is useless at this type of stuff." Rey interrupted Elsi's thoughts, calling from where she was trying to fix the Falcon under a hatch.
"Hey!"
"Yeh sure." Elsi wiped her face for the few tears that had unknowingly escaped.
She reached down into the tool box. "What do you need?"
"Pilex driver. So where's your base?"
"There you go." Elsi handed the item to Rey and looked towards her questioning whether they could trust her enough to share the resistance bases location. She knew that Rey was travelling with them for now, and she had helped them so far, so she supposed that it would be okay for her to know.
She looked to Finn and nodded her head, indicating he should tell her.
"Go on BB-8 tell her." BB-8 looked back and forth between each of them. "Please." Finn pleaded with BB-8 in a whisper hoping that Rey and Elsi did not overhear.
Elsi had her suspicions that Finn was not from the resistance before, but the desperation on his face proved it when he pleaded with BB-8. The question remained why he wanted to get away from the first order so badly. But she guessed if he knew Poe and he was trying to help the resistance get BB-8, then he wasn't so bad. Poe was a great judge of character and besides, Elsi couldn't detect any dark side vibes or imperial vibes from Finn. He was also shot at on Jakku, so he wasn't on the first orders side anymore. But if he stepped out of line, Elsi knew she could easily deal with him.
BB-8 beeped at Rey.
"The Ilenium system?"
"Yeh the Ilenium system that's where. Get us there as fast as you can."
Elsi gave Finn a questionable look as he exchanged a thumbs up with BB-8 who stuck out a lighter as his own version of a thumb.
Finn saw that his cover was blown with Elsi but gave her a pleading look when he nodded towards Rey as though to indicate she keep quiet about it.
Elsi mouthed one word. Later. She also put two fingers to her eyes and pointed them back at him, as if to say. I'm watching you.
Finn merely nodded his acceptance.
"I'll drop you three at palema terminal. I need the bonding tape hurry." Elsi passed it to her.
"What about you." Finn questioned.
"I've got to get back to Jakku." Rey spoke as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Back to Jack- Why does everyone wanna go back to Jakku? That place is-" Finn was beyond frustrated with everyone's obsession with Jakku. "Hey Rey, you're a pilot, you can fly anywhere. Why go back? Gotta family? Gotta boyfriend, cute boyfriend?"
Elsi snorted at Finn being so obvious that he liked Rey. She did not mention it but knew she would soon need to tell Rey that she would need to be the one finding a new ship once they got to Palema terminal because Elsi would be taking this one back to Leia.
"None of your business that's why."
The lights on the ship turned red.
Elsi stood up.
"That can't be good."
"No, it can't be."
They each ran to the front of the ship. Rey checked the controls.
"Someone has locked onto us. All the controls have been overridden."
Finn climbed up on top of the controls, pressing against Rey's head to lean up and get a better look.
"Get off!" Rey protested. "See anything?"
Elsi could see what appeared to be a giant ship swallowing up theirs. She didn't want to think about who could be flying it.
"Oh no. It's the first order."
"We don't know that. It could be someone worse." Elsi tried to think of who would want the Falcon and imagined many scenarios where Hans old enemies were the ones who were capturing the ship and what they would do if they found them onboard.
"What's worse than the first order?" Finn questioned Elsi in fear.
"Trust me there are some people out there you don't want to get on the wrong side of." Elsi tried to flip some switches to override the system back to their control but it was no use.
As they got closer into the ship Elsi was sure she could sense something. Something familiar. But she wasn't entirely sure what it was. It had been a long time since she was completely attune with the force.
"What do we do, there must be something."
"You said poisonous gas." Finn pointed at Rey.
"I fixed that."
"Can you unfix it?"
Rey caught on to what Finn was suggesting and started to run back to where they had previously fixed the panel.
Each of them grabbed gas masks and headed down into the panel.
"Come on BB-8."
"I got him. Urggh. I'm okay." Finn gasped out.
Elsi laughed slightly as Finn fell to the floor, catching BB-8 as he rolled into the hatch under the panel.
"Quick place the panel back." Elsi helped Rey pull the panel back over them so that they were hidden under the floor.
"Do you think this will work on the stormtroopers?" Rey questioned.
"Yeh, their masks filter out smoke not toxins."
Elsi looked at Finn suspiciously. He seemed to know a lot about stormtroopers. He seemed pretty confident in his knowledge as well. Was he a defector?
Finn lifted the panel to see who was entering the ship.
"Hurry!"
"I am hurrying!"
Finn lowered the panel again just as the ship doors opened.
Elsi could sense two figures walking in.
After a few moments of silence, she heard a familiar sound. She knew who was here.
Finn and Rey were busy trying to activate the poisonous gas. Elsi needed to stop them before they did.
So she picked up her blaster hanging at her hip and wacked it against a pipe in order to make a loud noise.
She pulled up her cowl and hood in order to cover her face as much as she could and waited as the hatch was lifted open.
Authors Note:
I cant believe that this story has over 170 views! Thanks to all those who have reviewed, favourited and followed my story. I really appreciate any positive or constructive feedback that you have. What did you think of the first time Elsi and Ben met? I just love the idea of class rivals becoming best friends. Ben is 10 when he first trains with Luke. When he meets Elsi for the first time he is 12 and she is 10. I hope this makes sense. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thanks again, ZV.
