Trigger Warning: This chapter contains the non-graphic, Canon death of a character. Then, if you have read the previous chapter, this should not shock you. Still, take caution if you must.

Chapter 89 - Gimer Realities

Anakin stood in a somber gathering. After the news about Yoda's condition was shared with the rest of the Jedi, everyone wanted to come see him. In fact, all of the Council made arrangements to come in person. Yoda seemed to know this without anyone telling him. He had asked them to gather the Council and hold a meeting at his bedside. Anakin didn't understand it. If he were the one on his deathbed, the last thing he'd want to sit through would be a Council meeting.

Jedi may have a reputation for being detached, but they do understand death in the most intimate of ways. The mood of everyone was diminished. Occasionally there was an emotion released to the force that he could pick up on. Grief was strong, as most of those here grew up with Yoda practically watching their first steps, but there was also a bit of fear. It all made sense, after losing their Temple and home, they were about to lose their guide.

"He's ready for you," one of the nurses came to the door where they waited and announced. Without saying a word, every Jedi stood up and walked towards the room where their Grandmaster lay.

Inside was a simple hospital room. Yoda lay on a bed with white sheets. A machine beeped behind him, and another dripped medicine, drop by drop, to his wrist. In Yoda's lap he held his Gimer Stick, a tool he was not shy about whacking you with if you needed a little help focusing. The thought of it brought a bit of humor to the sad situation.

Anakin bowed, and stepped to the side to make room for the group. Obi-Wan knelt by Yoda's bedside, and leaned in to hear what the elderly Jedi had to say, though he didn't need to. Yoda used the Force to communicate his words to everyone in that room.

"Greetings. Glad you are here, I am. To join our kindred, I will soon go. My position, traditionally, your eldest would inherit. But not today. Meditated on this, I have. And another Grandmaster, the Force wills." Yoda coughed, then he spoke, his voice crackly and weak, "Mass-ter Sk-Sky-Walk-kkk-er."

Anakin stepped closer to his summons. "Grandmaster, what do you need?" He grabbed a cup of water from a nearby table so that he could offer him a drink.

"Grandmaster Skywalker, you will be," Yoda said, again through the Force.

"What!" Anakin was flabbergasted. "N-no. I can't lead." He looked around the room for support, but clearly everyone was too shocked to help him.

"Take my staff. Made from wood imbued with the Force, it was. Know the Jedi's true leader better than I, it will."

Obi-Wan picked up the little more than a foot long cane, and at the old man's bidding, he turned towards Anakin. Then Yoda's body was thrown through another coughing fit. Anakin reached out to grab the stick as a means of allowing Obi-Wan to have both hands free to help him.

Anakin's hand gripped around the cane, and his hand moved to hang beside him as he watched Obi-Wan rub Yoda's back.

"See, right I was." Yoda said, once he'd stopped coughing, bringing everyone's attention back to Anakin again.

Everyone's faces went wide with shock. For a moment Anakin was confused. Obi-Wan nudged his right shoulder, and Anakin looked down to see he was not holding the miniature Gimer stick anymore. Instead he was holding a full height staff. Anakin jumped and dropped it like it was a snake that bit him. It clanged as it hit the floor, but did not change its size again.

"Knows the Jedi's true leader, it does," Yoda said through the Force. "Grown to fit him, it has."

Anakin stood there in shock as activity happened around him. He could hear a loud beep, as if it were a longer distance away. There was movement in the room as medical personnel came in and herded the Jedi aside to care for their patient. Finally Obi-Wan grabbed Anakin and his Staff and carried them out.

"Wrong we were, when came to join us, you did. A warrior, we expected. A leader, we needed. A teacher, you became." Anakin could feel the life force from the other room taper out. Still, Yoda's voice came back to his head, "Chosen one, bring balance to us all, you will."

Leia was on Kashyyyk when they received news of Yoda's passing.

Bail had spoken to Chewbacca about the way the Empire had turned his whole planet into a slave labor camp. Bail had also spoken to Gavin, who was raised here before he and his father rejoined the Jedi. Gavin and his father had seen many good Wookiees die in the pursuit of freedom. After hearing all these testimonies, the rebellion decided to do something about it. She was a part of a team that was going to liberate Kashyyyk.

It was a mission she heard about when she was by Yoda's bedside. Her old Master had been the one to encourage her to go. "Something essential, you will find on this mission," he had said. "Wants you there, the Force does."

Leia ran into her quarters after she heard the news, ripping the beaded doorway curtain down as she ran through. The old Jedi had predicted, before she left Beskarn, that she would not see him again. A part of her refused to believe it. Had prepared to tease her old Master on her return. But she would not have that opportunity.

"Grrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh," Mallatobuck, one of the first Wookiees they had liberated, worriedly fussed.

"I'm alright, Malla," Leia tried to push her emotions aside. "I j-just f-found out my m-master died." As she finished saying it, she couldn't hold it in anymore, and she erupted into tears.

Malla put a hand on her back and purred, as she let Leia sob into her fur.

Anakin walked into the room that they used as the Council's main chamber on Beskarn. He was in a daze. He had not slept well since Yoda's passing, and even his meditations this morning were difficult. He thought he'd try to use a different room to see if he could get better focus.

He remembered, back when they were setting up the room, Yoda had been very peculiar about where they placed his chair. "Good winds of the Force, this side has," he had said. Anakin remembered seeing the Jedi in meditation pose on his small stool there many times.

Of course, Anakin couldn't use the old man's tiny stool. Not without his joints painfully making him feel nine hundred years old too. So he moved his own larger stool to that position, then sat down, and closed his eyes.

"Grandmas…"

Anakin opened his eyes in a shock. The room was empty. "Okay, you are not hearing things." he commanded his subconscious.

Master Sk…"

Anakin opened his eyes again. To his ears, that voice sounded a lot like Yoda's, which it couldn't be. Yoda joined the Force a whole day ago. It was that same voice keeping him from sleeping or meditating in his own quarters. He tried to clear his mind and start again.

"Mas-sss Master," Ahsoka entered the Council chamber, then did a double take to find Anakin sitting in the room. It still surprised her to see him as such a prominent member of the order, and it did not escape her notice which seat he was trying to meditate in.

Anakin opened his eyes looking startled, then relieved to see her. "Snips, what can I do for you?" he asked.

"Are the rumors I heard correct? Did Yoda really pass on, and name you Grandmaster before he…"

Anakin sighed. "Yes, he passed yesterday. I think he was a little…" Anakin tilted his head to gesture his meaning, "...before he went. Everyone else is still in shock mode. We haven't even had a full meeting since he passed. I imagine my new title will not last much longer. I give it forty eight hours. I hope."

Ahsoka smiled a mischievous smile, "Oh, I don't know. I think Grandy Sky Guy has a good ring to it." Anakin glared at her while she was laughing. Then she turned back to him and said, "Actually, I wanted to ask the council for a favor."

Anakin held a hand out to encourage her to sit near him. "Tell me all about it."

Hello Readers,

In Canon Yoda's Gimer stick doesn't really have any Force-imbued powers, but I liked my idea and I hope you do too.

I know the Liberation of Kashyyyk happened some time in the future, but I decided that enough has changed that I can let this happen too. The Wookiee Mallatobuck has a certain significance. I won't ruin the surprise, if you don't go to google and look her up, but she will be mentioned again.

In the next chapter Anakin will need to figure out if he is really going insane. And Leia will be do-in stuff. She may bring her dad home his first big Jedi leadership problem. Maybe…