"Oi, dork, where are you taking me?" Rose whined as Obi-Wan pulled her by the arm down the halls, the light of the sunset peeking in through the windows. He brought them to the lifts, pushing a button and then positioning himself in front of the panel, obstructing Rose's ability to see which floor they were going to. Her eyes narrowed at him as the elevator quickly made its way to the upper floors.
"Why so much secrecy, Kenobi?"
"Why so much curiosity, Amaha?" his eyes narrowed back at hers and he crossed his arms across his chest. The lift came to an abrupt halt and the doors swung open, revealing the familiar room that Rose had done her tests when she had first come to the
"The training room?" Rose spat out, stepping off of the elevator. "I didn't know you could get in it this way."
"There's like five entrances," Obi-Wan said, moving to the center of the domed room. The statues continued to loom over them menacingly as Obi-Wan turned to face Rose, dropping his cloak at his feet. "Up for some sparring?"
"I don't know how to use these things!" Rose said, coming to meet him at the center, dropping her own brown robe.
"Well then you can practice on me. That's the point of this room, isn't it? It is the training room," Obi-Wan countered, unclasping his saber from his belt. He drew it, its blue light twinkling in the darkness. Rose copied him, but only drew one of her sabers, its white light countering his. They began circling each other around the center, daring the other to strike first.
"Feel the Force move through you," Obi-Wan copied the same speech Master Yoda had given him when he first started off, slowly circling closer and closer to Rose, closing the space between them. "Allow it to guide your movements." He struck down at her, which she quickly blocked. The two sabers sizzled together, both young Jedi struggling for the upper hand. Rose felt her foot beginning to give out below her on the slick tile, and she slid out from under his force, narrowly missing the swipe of Obi-Wan's saber.
"Little close there, don't you think?" Rose said, a little out of breath. She saw a cocky smirk cross Obi-Wan's face as he twirled his lightsaber around his hand. The two continued to duel off against each other, beads of sweat gathering on both of their foreheads. Rose used the Force as her guide, as Obi-Wan instructed, and was able to counter his offensive strikes.
"Let's work on your stance. Since you're dual wielding, I would say you would use Form Six of the lightsaber combat styles, but honestly, it's something you'll have to discuss with a master," Obi-Wan breathed, trying to catch his breath.
"Wait, there are different lightsaber combat styles? I thought it was just a bunch of feeling and swinging," Rose asked, pulling out her second saber as beads of sweat rolled down her forehead. Obi-Wan nodded.
"Absolutely. There's about seven of them, I think, but as I said, you'll have to discuss what is best for you when a master chooses you."
"If a master chooses me," Rose corrected.
"When a master chooses you," Obi-Wan corrected back. "I don't have any doubt about it. You're already at an advanced stage as far as combat goes – far beyond any of the other younglings. I can keep up because Master Yoda has trained me, but I don't see any reason why a master wouldn't pick you."
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" a voice called from one of the doorways. "It's Oafy and the newbie."
"Who's this moof-milker?" Rose whispered to Obi-Wan as she retracted her sabers, straightening her back a little bit. An uneasy feeling filled her as the boy with the white hair approached them, his piercing white eyes feeling like they were striking her soul.
"Bruck Chun," Obi-Wan spat out, his saber still drawn. Rose could almost feel the venom in his tone, slightly taken aback by his normally laid-back nature.
"Oafy, it's so glad to see you," Bruck spat back. "I don't believe I've had the pleasure of meeting your little friend here," he addressed Rose, nodding into a small bow. Rose didn't bow back.
"What do you want, Bruck?"
"Why, I just want to meet the new Initiate. Do you have a problem with that, Kenobi?" Bruck's eyes targeted Rose. She stepped forward, blocking Obi-Wan.
"Rose, now scoot" Rose turned her back on Bruck, trying to end the conversation. Not wanting to end their training, and also not wanting Obi-Wan to do something he might regret later, Rose drew both of her sabers and moved back to the center of the training room.
"White sabers, eh? Who did you have to kill for those beauties?" Bruck asked, jealousy basically dripping out of him.
"How about you see for yourself, moof-milker?" Rose shot back. Bruck drew his own training lightsaber, its crimson color overwhelming the room.
"Let's see what you've learned then, newbie," he challenged, swinging his blade at her. She managed to block the initial blow, but the sabers clashed dangerously close to her neck. He bore down with such power that Rose wasn't prepared to brace for, and his saber began to slice into her shoulder. She let out a holler of pain as the smell of burning flesh and hair filled her nose. She saw the deadly glare of Bruck's eyes as he stared back into hers. They were eyes she had seen before. They were the same eyes that Tamba had when he hurled himself at Qui-Gon and Rose in the alleyway before she came to the Temple. She fell down to her knees, the arm with the cut dropping the saber, leaving one arm to bear the full weight of Bruck's force.
"Rose!" Obi-Wan called after them, his drawn saber in hand. He hurled himself at Bruck, going on the offensive and swinging wildly at the blonde-haired boy, anger filling him. Bruck's attention turned from Rose and to Obi-Wan. "Don't you dare touch her!" Obi-Wan threatened.
"Who's going to stop me, Oafy? You?" Bruck badgered Obi-Wan as they fought, their boots squeaking on the floor.
"Don't wound my pride, dork. Stay outta this one," Rose called out, her shoulder feeling as if a million knives were sticking into it. Gritting her teeth, Rose hooked the saber she wouldn't be able to use into her belt and took the other into the fight, drawing it as she neared. Bruck saw her approaching figure and frowned, not anticipating for her to be able to get up.
"Persistent, I see," he mumbled, kicking Obi-Wan in the abdomen, causing him to topple back onto the approaching Rose. The two tumbled over each other onto the floor, Obi-Wan's elbow landing in Rose's shoulder, causing her to yelp in pain. Both of their sabers crashed around them, retracting immediately. Bruck stood over the two and laughed menacingly.
"Better luck next time, Oafy," he said, retracing his own saber and clipping it onto his belt.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Qui-Gon's voice bellowed from the doorway Bruck had entered from. Obi-Wan was desperately trying to calm Rose's wails of pain, placing her head in his lap as Qui-Gon made his way over to them. Bruck threw on the most innocent face he could, stuttering over his words.
"Master, I don't know what happened. I came and here and they started attacking me. I had to defend myself," Bruck started, but shut his mouth when Qui-Gon gave him a cold, disbelieving glare.
"We will talk later, Initiate Chun," he said coldly, helping Rose up.
"Holy Hell, that's a lot of burning feeling!" Rose felt the pain in her shoulder, but when she tried to move her fingers, there was nothing to feel. Panicked tears began to fill the child's eyes as she moved along to the elevator lift, Obi-Wan trying to soothe her.
"Obi-Wan, take Rose to the Halls of Healing. I will deal with Bruck and then come deal with the two of you," Qui-Gon scolded the children, watching as they disappeared to the elevator lift.
"Rose, I'm sorry, I didn't know he would be there," Obi-Wan began rambling apologies, but she cut him off with the lift of her good arm.
"Thanks for the lesson, Obi-Wan," she smiled, trying to lighten the situation. "I owe you, dork."
"You're going to be okay, Rose," he promised as the lift came to a halt. He led them to the Halls of Healing in the southwestern portion of the Temple, and a Twi'lek woman met them at the door.
"Master Che, my friend needs help," Obi-Wan said, handing Rose over to her. The Jedi Master scanned Rose over briefly before dismissing Obi-Wan with a flick of her wrist. Before he could protest, the Jedi was already whisking Rose away and out of sight.
"Leave me, Initiate Kenobi. We shall begin the healing process immediately. Come, child. We shall treat that shoulder of yours in no time," the Jedi led Rose over to a private room, the door sliding shut behind them. The healer spared no time but went straight to her work, helping Rose take off the singed tunic.
"So, you're the new Initiate I've heard about," The Jedi spoke as she worked, applying a sticky substance to Rose's shoulder, soothing the stinging pain. "Do you have a name?"
"Rose," the youngling replied, relaxing into the odd tickling sensation that was happening on her shoulder. "I'm going to guess you have a name as well?"
"I am Master Vokara Che. I am the Chief Healer here in the Halls of Healing. Pleasure to meet you," the Twi'lek said with a small smile, wrapping a bandage over Rose's torso. "Now, this will heal nicely, but you will have to stay in the Halls for a couple of days to ensure it heals properly. There was some severe nerve damage that will need to be addressed by the bacta. I will come and check on its progress in a couple hours. For now, relax and rest, young one." The Jedi Master left Rose's chambers as swiftly as she had entered them, most likely leaving to attend to her next patient. As ordered, Rose leaned back into her bed and relaxed, letting her eyes close. She felt the grips of sleep tug at her, and she allowed her body to rest.
Rose was awoken by the gentle knocking on her door. She gave a soft "come in" before the face of Master Qui-Gon entered, a look of seriousness etched into his features.
"Feeling better, young one?" he asked as he took a seat by her bedside. Rose nodded, noting how the feeling in her arm was returning slowly. It prickled like it was being poked by a million needles, but Rose was relieved nonetheless at being able to feel her arm again.
"There are some things we must discuss about the events that transpired yesterday. I would like you to tell me what happened, in your own words."
"Well, after Obi-Wan and I talked with you and Master Yoda in the Council Chambers, we went to the training room. I wanted to learn some techniques before I begun training and Obi-Wan taught me how to kick some ass. Trouble started when that Bruck kid showed up. We talked for a while, and some words were said on both sides, but then he attacked me! Look what he did to my shoulder, too! Obi-Wan fought him until you arrived. Those eyes that Bruck kid had… I've seen them before. They were the same eyes that Tamba had when he attacked us in the alleyway. I don't know what the moof-milker wanted, but I have a hunch he was attacking me just to make Obi-Wan upset. The way they talked… there was a lot of bad vibes between the two," Rose didn't feel a need to lie to the Jedi Master, but she didn't see the harm in twisting the truth a bit so the blame for them being in the training room – should it have been a problem – would fall on her instead of Obi-Wan.
"Interesting how both you and Obi-Wan have the same basic story but you each placed the blame on yourselves instead of the other," Qui-Gon stroked his chin, his eyes contemplative. "But never mind that. You have someone here who wishes to talk with you, Rose." Qui-Gon went into the hallway. Rose could hear muffled talking outside of her door before a Togruta walked through the door, her brown robes trailing behind her. Rose couldn't help but gawk slightly at her beauty. Her blue and white striped horns were an impressive height while her red skin contrasted nicely with the white spots around her eyes, the bones of some creature set around her forehead in small triangles. Beautiful ornaments hung from her forehead in true Togrutan beauty.
"Greetings, young one," she said, her voice calm and warm. "My name is Shaak Ti. I am a Jedi Knight here at the Temple. I have heard many things about you, Initiate Amaha. Tell me, what do you believe it means to be a Jedi?"
"Kick ass. Save people. Be a good person," Rose said. "Just be a good person in general"
"Certainly the most amusing answer I've ever gotten. Do you know what Padawan training entails?"
"Not really," Rose admitted sheepishly. "The old guys who run the place haven't really explained an awful much to me. It's all been a bunch of shifty, hidden messages and weird prophesies."
"Young one, I have a proposal for you – one that the Council has agreed upon. I would like to take you on as my Padawan learner, but you must understand that my teachings are… unconventional to those of the other Jedi Knights here at the Temple."
"I don't know the difference between 'conventional' or 'unconventional' here yet. I can hardly find my way from my room to the food area without getting lost." The Jedi Knight laughed at this, her face lifting into a warm, motherly smile.
"Should you be taken under my tutelage, we shall travel to my home planet of Shili. There, we will begin your training. I do not normally allow my Padawans to accept missions on the bequest of the Council, but for you I feel as if I need to make an exception, as the Council wishes for you and Initiate Kenobi to form a bond," Master Ti explained. "Will you join me, Initiate Rose, as my Padawan learner?"