The Jedi Council was a beautiful room for its simplicity. Twelve seats spread out around a round pattern on the floor and large windows that gave a breathtaking view of the skyline of Coruscant. The simple architectural and design features of the room being all the decoration needed. It was in this room that the Jedi High Council met in various topics ranging from missions to concerns one or another Council member may have to discussing things that would normally be called gossiping if done by those not of the council.

Today's meeting was currently only occupied by some of the council members on the topic of how to handle the latest 'prodigy'.

"So, who is it that has you so interested in their future?" Ki-Adi-Mundi asked, his position very relaxed as he looked towards Yoda and Mace Windu.

With a click of a button on his arm rest, a holographic image of Tanya appeared in the center of the room. "Tanya Degurechaff, currently aged four, been with our order since she was three months old. She has shown a remarkable gift for the more academic pursuits, while also having an advanced understanding of lightsaber combat for one of her age."

"Are you suggesting that a four year old is ready to take the initiate trials and become a padawan?"

"No. Maybe in another year she will be, it is her gifts that lead us to looking into her more, and certain suspicions have been confirmed and we need to decide our best approach to handling her."

"Are you suggesting she is some sort of spy?" Mundi asked, his eyebrows creased in serious contemplation.

Yoda shook his head. "Whisper the Force has. Her first life, this is not. Remember the past, she might."

Mundi's face dropped into on of shock. "Her life essence is going through a second life? Why would she choose now for a second life?"

"We are not sure she did choose a second life. I have been teaching her Vaapad to help her deal with some of her dark emotions. At the same time, I have been trying to gauge her." Mace Windu leaned forward in his seat and looked to his long time fellow council member. "If she does remember her previous life, it was from a time very far in the past. Possibly to a time when lightsabers were first made, possibly even before then if her fighting style is any indication. However, all her knowledge of history seems far more modern than that and while she is able to articulate it very well, sounds academic and not like she lived through it."

"So, we have a youngling who has the skills from a previous life, but not the associated memories. An ancient foundation that a new structure is to be built on." Mundi stroked his chin as he thought. "Well, if we are to teach her, we should give her freedom in what she wants to learn."

"Explain your thoughts, you should."

"Well, if she has the skills locked away inside her, skills of techniques we may have lost long ago, then we should let her relearn them on her own. We may learn a thing or two from her in turn."

Mace leaned back in his chair, nodding his head in agreement while Yoda tapped his walking stick on the ground.

"A fine plan, that is. Follow it, we shall." With that, the meeting was adjourn for now.

—-

The Jedi archives are a vast collection of knowledge from thousands of years of recorded history, including writings on just about every topic imaginable. The main weakness was a lack of instructions on the various force techniques that Jedi can apparently utilize. There was plenty of mentions of incredible things done on the field of battle, but every hint of how to do those things appeared to be locked away in the holocron vault with access limited to those with permission from the Jedi Council.

An excellent way of limiting access to the information that might hurt the organization while also making those not a part of the council respect and grovel at their knees. Sighing, with a shake of my head, I download another file on history. Bring a foreign transplant has left me so far behind those native to this existence when it comes to historical context and the results said historical events had on the galactic political scene and the associated economic policies. Thankfully even here history is tied tightly to militaristic action, which has always been an enjoyable subject of study for me. The pressure to catch up to my peers was grating though.

I had been spending months training with Battlemaster Windu, trying to get my form up to snuff, but my rusty techniques from my previous life appear to be hampering me at every turn because no matter how hard I try, he has never gotten back to correcting my form in the Katas those of my new age are being taught.

And now I was being kicked out of the normal training to get a more personal instruction. Oh, sure, they tried spinning it as me being ready to be a padawan and move up in the order to save my pride and encourage the other children along, but I could see what they were really doing. There hasn't been a padawan just younger than seven in so long I couldn't find record of it having happened at all. Clearly they thought this was the best way to get me caught up while giving me what looked like a gift.

Gathering my things, I head to the Requisition Office to get a heavy coat. The first step to becoming a padawan was that I had to make a lightsaber, and we could only do that on an icy planet called Illum. I would need the extra warmth from the little bit of information I could find on this 'Gathering' that I was being taken on.

If there was one good thing about this trip, it will be a chance to do what few from my last life ever got a chance to do, and go into space.

—-

Spaceships are not as fun as I was hoping. The quarters are tight, there are crates and objects everywhere, and we don't even get a chance to float around and enjoy bubbles of liquid because the ships have artificial gravity. The only difference between this and a lightly more roomy private jet was that at least in the jet you can watch the scenery pass by. Spaceships only have an outside view in the cockpit and all you can see during hyperspace is a bunch of flashes of light from the stars streaming by.

At least the other children are keeping to themselves and leaving me alone to catch up on my reading. And what a group of children they are, clearly fellow bottom of the barrel candidates. Jedi are, from what we have been taught, suppose to be calm, rational beings in control of their emotions. These children are loud, brash, brats not taking any of this the least bit seriously.

Focusing on the file on my datapad, I began reading through an admiral's account of one of the battles that lead to the end of the New Sith Wars, a ridiculous name considering how long ago said wars were, and the subsequent Ruusan Reformation that limits the size and arrangements of military equipment to this day. Even with the clear bias displayed against the Sith, painting them as diabolical trash willing to eat babies and kick puppies, the admiral's accounts of the battle are thorough and an interesting read on what naval battles in space are like. A slow deliberate dance of battleships trying to gain a positional advantage as the fighters caused distractions and aimed to take out the shielding of the larger ships to give a single decisive blow from one battleship to the other.

Imagining the careful maneuvering to use the gravitational wells of the nearby celestial bodies to help hide the actual trajectory of the torpedoes as the lasers light up the empty space in between, I can see why a group of otakus from my previous life would geek out and get so invested in such scenarios as unrealistic as they were then. Now, however, such battles are historical fact.

Feeling a jolt I have learned meant leaving or entering hyperspace, I set down my datapad to join the others in the ship's hanger. It was about time for the Gathering.