17 YEARS Earlier…

Nube Canthar watched Master Yoda begin to lift the lightsaber up into the air, without his hands. To an older Jedi this would have seemed like nothing, like lifting a finger, but to Nube, this was the most amazing thing he had ever witnessed, simply because Nube was not an older Jedi, he was a seven year old Padawan learner, and Yoda, who was shorter than Nube, was his Master. Although Yoda was not quiet the Jedi Master he would one day, he was still very powerful.

They were in Master Yoda's private training room in the Jedi Temple of Coruscant. The room was circular, but otherwise plain.

"Feel the Force, you must. Surround us, it does. Binds us…" Yoda said, as he gently used the Force to place the lightsaber on the floor in front of Nube. "Now, use the Force. Lift the blade."

Nube took a deep breath, and held out his hand. It wasn't neccasary, but it helped him visualize better. He closed his eyes, and felt the Force flow through him. He was young, but even at his age the Force was very strong with him. Through the Force, he could almost feel the cold metal of his small lightsaber, which he had used as a Youngling. When he could almost feel the metal with his mind, he used it to pull, and the miniature lightsaber jumped into his hand.

"Good that was. Strong in the Force you are, my young Padawan," Yoda said, a small smile on his wrinkly little green face. Nube felt a rush of excitement rush through his body, as using the Force usually did.

"Thank you, Master," he said, and bowed. Yoda smiled kindly.

"Enough training, this is. Done for today, we are," Yoda said. Nube rose from his bow, grabbed his Youngling lightsaber, and walked out the door.

Nube loved the Temple. It was so peaceful, and everybody was friendly. Not like where he had come from. Nube was a human, and had been raised on Tatooine. He hadn't been a slave, but his family still didn't have much money. Things had been pretty tough until the Jedi came one day. He been detected by Master Yoda, and had been given the choice to lead the path of a Jedi. He had accepted.

Now, as he walked, he felt slightly bored. He liked being around the Jedi Knights and Masters, but he rarely saw any Padawans his age, let alone species. Many of the other Padawans weren't human: Zabraks, Twi'Leks, Canthars and more; most of whom were still studying Intergalactic Basic. He had seen some human Padawans in his years here, but they were all older than him, and he was a little intimidated.

He was now in the small garden outside the Temple. The garden was like a park, very large and filled with various trees and plants, all beautiful in there own way. He took a deep breath, and sat down near a small pond, filled with Rollerfish and Burra fish. He crossed his legs, being careful not to get his Padawan robe wet from the pond, and closed his eyes. He tried to meditate, which Master Yoda had been teaching him to, but he always had trouble concentrating.

He was about to give up when he felt someone approach him. He opened his eyes to see another boy, around his age, standing in front of him, a big smile on his face. The boy had short blonde hair, and looked very playful.

"Hi," he said. Nube didn't recognize the boy, but responded anyway.

"Hello," he said, and rose to his feet. The boy stuck out his hand.

"I'm Kyan," he said. Nube shook his hand.

"I'm Nube," he replied. He let go of Kyan's hand. There was a brief silence before Kyan spoke up.

"I was wondering if you want to spar with me," he asked. Nube didn't know what to say. He had only used his lightsaber against a training droid; he didn't feel ready to go against a person. But then again, he didn't have many friends, and besides, how good could Kyan be?

"Ummm, I don't know. I don't think we're supposed to. The Masters might get mad," Nube told him. Kyan scoffed.

"I see the older Padawans spar all the time, and they never get in trouble," Kyan said. To Nube that did make sense, and the older Padawans used real lightsabers, younger Padawans used their training lightsabers, which only numbed the body on impact, instead of cutting straight through it.

"Okay, but where?" Nube asked.

"How about here?" Kyan asked. Nube nodded, but didn't feel right about it.

"Okay," he replied, and pulled out his Youngling lightsaber. He turned it on, its yellow blade made of crystal light extended. All training sabers were yellow.

"How is this gonna work?" Nube asked. Kyan shrugged his shoulders.

"I guess we just spar until one of us loses," he explained. Nube had a bad feeling about this, but didn't say anything.

"Ok, let's start then," Nube said. Before he could blink Kyan had turned on his training saber and swiped. Nube nearly tripped trying to block the blow, and nearly lost balance from the strength of the blow. Kyan went for an overhead strike, but Nube dodged it. Nube did a sideways swipe, but the strike went far over Kyan's head. Kyan hit the blade upwards with his own, and lunged toward Nube, his blade aimed at Nube's waist. Nube had known he wasn't a great swordsman, but Kyan was far greater, even for a seven year old. Master Yoda never let him spar, but this was still the most fun he had had in a good while. He went to parry a swipe from Kyan, but he missed. He felt a sharp pain in his left side, and then everything went dark.

Nube opened his eyes. He was in the garden, Kyan leaning over him. His head hurt, and he felt like a forty pound rock had hit him in the head.

"Nube, are you okay?" he asked. Nube blinked, and tried to sit up. His whole body ached, and he felt dried tears on his cheek. He must have been crying while unconscious. He finally sat up.

"Uhh… what happened?" he asked. He tried to relax, but even that hurt.

"When I hit you, you fell over and starting shaking," Kyan told him, concern in his voice. All Nube could remember was losing the sparring session.

"I'm okay," he said.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you," Kyan said. Nube could tell he was sincere.

"It's okay, I know you didn't mean it," he said. Kyan smiled, and extended his hand. Nube grabbed it, and Kyan helped it up. There was a silence, and the boys began walking back towards the temple together.

"You want to spar tomorrow?" Kyan asked. Nube smiled.

"Yeah, that'd be fun."