I hope you guys are enjoying this story so far- I'm going to try and update as much as possible in the next few days and I have some pretty interesting stuff planned for the next chapter.

I've edited this as of December 16, 2017 to improve the written work.

Unfortunately, Lirri had not seen Ben with a chance to speak with him in the days after she had crashed into Ben. Any free time she had was occupied was dealing with this cold going around, helping younger Padawans with their trainings or completing tasks for Master Skywalker. Finally, Luke had strongly encouraged Lirri to join everyone in the afternoon meditation outside. He insisted since it was a beautiful sunny day.

However, she was running behind because she was trying to actually eat lunch for once while she was trying to clean up the last of the dirty dishes. It became an unfortunate habit for her to wait until everyone else had gotten their portions and ate before she had. Lirri had just shovelled the last few spoonful of rice in her mouth as she tried washing the dishes quickly.

Lirri swallowed the large portion as she stretched her arms upwards as he walked towards the general meeting spot where everyone else probably was.

She wondered how Ben was doing with the other students. He seemed to be a few years older than the older group of Padawans. Lirri had a gut feeling that Ben was going to struggle to make some friends with the age difference. It was just a concern of hers, for all she knew Ben could be creating a large network of friends already.

Lirri headed down the stony path as she noticed Ben looking quite confused as his head looked between the two different paths that forked out of the current path. Lirri could tell that he was angry and frustrated getting lost with a string of curses coming out. Lirri cocked her head as she put her hands around her mouth as she called out.

"Ben!"

The pale boy shot around as his angered expression lightened to one of mild annoyance. Lirri walked over as she smiled up at him. "Are you heading to meditation with the other Padawans and Master Skywalker too?"

He hesitated before rubbing the back of his head. His cheek were a bit red. "I was debating it- yeah." he answered, as Lirri resisted the urge to chuckle at what obviously was Ben covering up his embarrassment.

"You could walk with me?" Lirri offered before adding. "It's a nice day, and would be better to spend some time with another Padawan without needing to deal with business." She knew this sounded more like Ben was doing her a favour, and wouldn't damage his ego compared to saying 'You're lost. I'll help.'

Ben responded as he dropped his hands into his pockets. "Sounds great." he responded, although a bit stiff as Lirri walked beside him down the proper path to the left.

"You know the other way has a gorgeous spot to swim." Lirri began as she smiled. "Sometimes we do bonfires there."

As they walked, Ben continued to steal glances at the short girl walking beside him as they made their way down the path. Ben knew the temper had gotten the best of him and that if Luke had seen him there, he would have scolded Luke about it. That letting his emotions, especially anger, get the best of him when trying to use the Force.

The thought of that irritated him since no one as of late seemed to have faith in Ben. Even some of the other Padawans questioned why he was so late to joining their rankings, as he discovered he had at least three years on most of them. Lirri, however, was an outlier. She rarely participated alongside the Padawans in training, rather helping to run it and seemed to be older than the rest. That could just be the maturity of being Luke's assistant. The question gnawed at him and before Ben knew it he asked.

"Are you a Padawan or a Jedi?"

Lirri nearly tripped as she cocked her head before opening and closing her mouth a few times. It was as if she was looking for an answer. "Neither I think." Lirri stated hesitantly as she continued her train of thought. "I am Force-Sensitive, and Master Skywalker brought me here to become a Jedi but I doubt I will finish. I am not a fan of violent, and I don't believe that in violence you can create peace, just fear."

Ben nodded in a partial understanding as Lirri made some awkward faces as she shrugged and her hands were fiddling with some of the longer strands of hair that went past her chin. Within moments as she bounced back as she jumped around to face him while walking backwards.

"While on the subject, may I know why you started the training so late? Master Skywalker has mentioned you before but most of our Padawans are between 7 and 14. You must be around… 16?" Green eyes connected with his brown ones.

"17 actually." Ben corrected her as he chuckled a bit. "I came late since I was doing some training at home with my mother, Leia." He didn't say it but added that 'they wanted to work on managing my 'temper issues' before sending me to be with other people.' Lirri didn't notice this hesitation in Ben as she smiled.

"It'll be nice to have someone my age to talk socialize with I think. So many younger Padawans only want to speak about lightsabers, and the combat aspects. That or the stories of Luke and the rebellion." She made an annoyed face before continuing. "The Force is so much more than that though. It's all around us."

Lirri began to ramble about the other amazing things about the force as she waved her hands happily around. On occasion, she would look back to make sure that she wouldn't trip.

Ben listened to Lirri as he smiled at her. She seemed interested in Ben and not his family of their history. She barely blinked when he said his mother's name. He was looking past her at some points as he saw the scattering of Padawans in a small clearing where it was surrounded by bushes of beautiful new flowers and trees. The sunlight was casting on the clearing as it made them look far more appeasing place to meditate.

"Lirri, we've arrived." Ben spoke as he tapped her shoulder and pointed behind her.

Turning around, Lirri glanced over at Ben as she smiled. "Thanks. It was nice to walk here with you." Lirri waved at some of the Padawans as she left Ben to go speak with Luke for a moment. Luke had glanced to his nephew before responding to Lirri. Ben headed to find a seat where he would be further away from the other Padawan. He also looked for some shading since he had quite pale and fair skin that he would prefer didn't burn.

As he waited, Ben examined the other students. They sat in rows, with the little groups being closer in some sections as they faced Luke. He could hear about how to manage a lightsaber and making the proper movements. Lirri was still speaking with Luke. She nodded him as Lirri walked towards the back as she sat a few feet away from Ben as she raised her face up to the sky as she closed her eyes and let out a relaxed sigh, her shoulders slumping a bit.

Ben watched as she was embracing the warmth of sunlight on her skin with the largest smile on her tanned skin. Maybe it was the sheer happiness or how the sun reflected, but Ben could swear that she had a soft glow.

His focused was pulled back as Luke called the meditation to begin as he began to give instructions.