Pushing the button on her saber, Rose felt the light vibration as the saber in her hand extended, revealing a pale blue light. She saw something move in her peripherals. Turning to face it, she saw that it was a simple training droid. The clicks of the gears in the small droid echoed throughout the room, filling Rose's ears. She saw it getting ready to fire, and barely dodged one of its blasts in her directions. Now crouching, she held up her lightsaber, ready to block.
The small droid began firing in her direction. Rose deflected most of the blasts, having to dodge the ones she didn't hit. This game of cat and mouse continued on and on, neither one of them letting up. Rose wasn't sure if she was supposed to destroy it or not – the Jedi Masters never actually told her what was supposed to be done. Between blasts, Rose glanced around the chamber, looking for something she easily could have missed. Sure enough, on one of the statues, a key hung from his folded hands.
Making a break for it after the droid had finished a round of blasts, Rose booked it to the key. She used the Force – or, at least what she thought was the Force – to push her feet as she neared the statue, sending her skyrocketing towards its top. A blast from the droid came at her, but she used the lightsaber to deflect it, sending the shot back at the droid and shattering it into a million pieces. Now clinging to the statue, Rose eased herself up the side, climbing closer and closer to the key. She took it from the hands and used her high vantage point as a crow's nest, scouting for a nearby door. She smiled when she saw the small hatch in the wall – the perfect size for her. As she dropped down and neared the door, two more droids appeared behind her. She drew her lightsaber, but was a little too late on the prep, as one of the droids blasted it out of her hand.
A shot of pain threw through her arm, causing her to drop the saber at her feet. Rose didn't have time to pick it up – the droids were still firing at her. She swiftly moved out of the ways of the blasts, trying to get around them. Stuffing the key in her tunic, Rose made a beeline for the opposite end of the room. As soon as she passed the center, the two droids stopped chasing her, allowing her to catch her breath.
"So that's how it's going to be, you tin cans," she muttered to herself. She crouched down, eyeing the saber on the opposite end. It was a good ten yards away from her.
Rose closed her eyes and tried to imagine the saber floating as Qui-Gon had with the fork. She felt nothing happening, and when she opened her eyes again, the saber remained unmoved. Rose fell back on her butt with a frustrated moan. She once again held up her hand and focused everything she had into it, willing the saber to move. It didn't. She sat on the floor for a while, thinking of a plan. She got up from her spot and tested the boundaries that the droids followed, slowly inching her foot closer and closer to the halfway point. As it crossed the circular seal on the floor, the droids immediately began hovering towards her, causing Rose to jump back a bit. They stopped. Putting her foot right on the edge of the seal, Rose once again focused her energy, trying to will the saber to move to her. She thought she saw it shift a little in its spot, but she couldn't be sure. She tried more, concentrating hard to the point she felt like her mind was going to snap. She heard the clatter of something on the floor and felt the metal as it flew into her grasp.
"Okay, coolest ability ever," she said, proud of her work. Her head had begun to ache a little, but she still had work to do. Using the hand that hadn't been blasted, Rose wielded the lightsaber, charging towards the two droids. They immediately turned on her, but she was able to deflect their shots with ease. Coming in from the side, Rose was able to get one droid to take out the other one in its attempt to shoot at her. With only one droid to worry about, Rose maneuvered herself around its blasts and struck at it, slicing the bot in half. Taking the key from her pocket, she fit it into the door. The lights of the training room immediately went back up.
"Impressive, young one," Qui-Gon said, approaching her. Master Yoda and Obi-Wan were with him. "You did better than we expected you to."
"So, what's next?" Rose said, breathing heavily. She clipped the training saber onto her belt, not wanting to lose it. "Is this the part where I fight a giant acklay, tame it and it becomes my best friend?"
"Test of the mind, you shall encounter next," Yoda said, a hint of amusement across his face. "A harder challenge for you, this will be." Rose followed the three Jedi out, Obi-Wan pulling her back a ways from the two masters.
"You did a good job, Rose," he said. "It normally takes people twice as long to try and get past the droids."
"That was hard," Rose admitted. "I don't get this how this Force thing works. When I want it to work, it doesn't seem to want to work.
"You'll get better. Hey, a word of advice for this next trial: don't let your fears control you. It's okay to take a second to breathe," with a wink, Obi-Wan left the entourage, heading towards his own daily activities. Rose caught up quickly with the other two Jedi, not sure what Obi-Wan meant exactly.
They reached a room with a few padded chairs, the curtains drawn so the light only streamed in. Qui-Gon ushered her over to one of the chairs, taking a seat himself. Yoda sat across from them, his eyes closed.
"Strong with the Force, yes, but much to learn, you still have," he said. "Trial of the mind, you shall now do."
"Let your mind go blank, young one," Rose heard Qui-Gon say beside her. She relaxed, letting her shoulders droop and her breath steady. She felt the odd presence of something picking at her mind before the world began to go black.
"Where am I?" Rose was startled awake. She was back in the treetops of her home world, Varia. The treehouses that made up her village dangled precariously over the ground above, hundreds of feet off the ground. The thick mist of the canopy obstructed her sight, making it nearly impossible to see what was coming. She moved slowly from her resting position on the swinging bridge she found herself, not wanting to accidentally topple over the edge. The wooden boards creaked and swayed as she stood up, threatening to drop under her weight. But Rose knew they wouldn't break.
Rose gingerly stepped along the bridge, wishing to get to a more stable platform. She didn't dare look down, afraid of the nauseating sight she would see. She kept her head high, her eyes glued on the fog in front of her. She felt her feet reach a new surface – the platform. Walking a little farther onto the platform, she held her hands up, not wanting to run into the hut that was surely on it. Feeling the familiar slimy walls that Varian homes were famous for, she moved her hands along the wood, searching for the cloth door that was the entrance to the home.
"Hello?" she called out, surprised at how hoarse and unfamiliar her own voice sounded to her. "Is anybody here?" Her hand fell through the wall, and she took it as a sign she found the entrance. Pushing aside the tapestry, she found a humble living space. Her foot kicked a doll that was in the middle of the floor, the small squeaking sound rippling through the quiet air. Rose stopped when she saw the forms of bodies come into view, her stomach flipping at the sight.
"No!" Rose shouted, feeling sadness eminate throughout her bones.
"You can save them," a voice startled Rose from behind, causing her to jump. Rose turned on her heels and faced the mysterious figure. It was cloaked and leaned over Rose's figure, but from its voice Rose could tell it was a woman.
"They're already gone," Rose countered bitterly, recognizing the symbols on the arms of the bodies. They weren't as elaborate as hers, but they all bore the crest of her family on their right arms. "They were gone long before I got here."
"Then why not bring them back? Give them the life they always wanted – the life you always wanted," the figure took another step towards Rose, who took a step back in response, her foot nudging who used to be her sister. The figure held out her hand.
"There is a power in the universe that will allow you to," she said, taking another step. Rose didn't have anywhere to step to now, lest she step over her sister. "Will you embrace it?"
"It's not supposed to be that way," Rose hissed out. She shut her eyes tightly, trying to calm herself. The anger that was bubbling inside of her was becoming unbearable. She crouched down to the figure at her feet, turning it over to reveal the stone cold face of her sister. Her eyes were still opened, a look of horror plastered onto her pale features. Rose lifted a hand to her sister's cheek, feeling a tear running down her own. It dropped onto her sister's face, clearing a wet pathway into the thick layer of dirt that covered it.
"You know me to be right," the woman called out, creeping close to Rose's face, taking Rose's hand into her own. "Do it for your sister, Anali. She would have done it for you."
"Who are you?" Rose asked, slightly afraid of the answer.
"Why, I am you," the figure said, drawing back the hood. Rose saw the features of a beautiful woman. It was her, but it was an older version of her. Beneath the black robe, she saw the dark tunic and rugged scars of battles. Her eyes were as green as the forests of Naboo, and her thick, golden hair fell over her shoulders with grace. But Rose saw something that was slightly off about her face. There was a twisted darkness to her gaze - one that held terrible misfortune. Her smile, however good-willed it was meant to appear, was laced with mischief and temptation of something far darker than Rose understood.
"What will it be?" the older woman asked, her eyes holding the others. Rose moved her hand out of the older woman's and wrapped them around her middle.
"No, this isn't right," she said, her voice shaking. Rose reached down and closed her sister's eyes, a bright lotus appearing above her body. "She wouldn't have wanted that. She needs to be burned. Her spirit needs to rest." Rose moved from her spot and walked past the older woman.
"You will regret this," she said darkly. When Rose turned around, the woman was gone, along with the bodies on the floor.
"I know," Rose said sadly. She walked out of the hut and had to shield her eyes against the sunlight. The fog had lifted and the light streamed through the canopy above. Birds of every color and size were dancing through the sky, their vibrant colors filling the air with cheer.
Cautiously, Rose crept back across the bridge. She peeked down at the ground below her, only to be filled with a moment of terror. The height of the suspended village made her nerves tingle on edge, and she tightly gripped the ropes of the bridge, bracing herself so she wouldn't fall.
"I told you that you would regret that," the older woman's voice called out from behind her. Fear plastered itself across her face as Rose whirled around. The woman had a lightsaber drawn, mere inches away from the very ropes that were holding her suspended above the ground. She felt her feet freeze beneath her, unable to move them. Behind the woman, Rose could see her sister – alive and well – peeking out of her robes.
"Anali, you need to run!" Rose mouthed, but no words escaped from her throat. The woman smiled before flicking her wrist, the ropes of the bridge being set free. Rose clung for dear life as she felt the bridge drop beneath her, the ground approaching fast. She heard the menacing laugh of her older self as she fell through the air and the crisp crunch as the wood bridge grew still in a vertical position, Rose still dangling from its midsection. She felt the hot tears streaming down her face, her small whimpers unable to be contained.
"I will not be afraid, I will not be afraid," she mumbled continuously to herself, trying to free her mind of the nightmare she was caught in. She heard Obi-Wan's words echo throughout her head.
"Don't let your fears control you," she remembered him saying, his voice filling her heart with a sense of hope. Rose opened her eyes and slowly tilted her head down. The ground was right there. There was no death-defying height she had thought she was dangling from – it was all just an illusion. A trick her mind had played on her. She let go of the bridge, falling to the earth below her. Slowly, the world around her began to collapse into a sphere of darkness. Rose closed her eyes, and when she opened them, she was back in the familiar room of the Jedi Temple.
"Welcome back," Qui-Gon said to her. Rose's vision swirled back into focus.
"Let's not do that again," she said, grasping her head. Her heart felt heavy in her chest as her breathing returned to its normal state.
"Begin your training now, we may," Yoda said, getting up from his own seat. He hobbled over to the door, leaning on his cane as he walked. Rose followed him out into the hall before being stopped by Qui-Gon.
"I'm afraid this is where we say goodbye for now," he said. "I shall like to hear more of your training when I get back from my mission."
"Thank you, Master Qui-Gon," Rose said with a bow. "Good luck."
"We say 'May the Force be with you' around here, young one," he laughed before turning to leave. Rose watched his retreating figure before running to catch up with Master Yoda.
"Master, what is next?" she asked, trying to hide a new surge of excitement within her.
"Create your saber, you must," he said. "Fetch the crystals with the other younglings, we will."