Chapter 4: Exile - Dagobah
Grand Jedi Master Yoda steered his escape pod into the lush, green, foggy atmosphere of Dagobah. With the help of the Force, and activating the rocket boosters, he touched down gently on what he judged to be a dry piece of land.
The escape pod opened with a hiss, and Yoda plodded down the exit ramp, his cane preceding ever step of his green webbed feet.
He had landed on the edge of a swamp. The gooey earth was shrouded in mist. Calls from wild animals cackled and cawwed in the distance.
Spooky, this place is, Yoda thought. Yet, no other place for me, there is.
The swamp itself had a rather wide perimeter, and it took Yoda an hour or so to wander around the circumference of it before he found earth that did not automatically sink under his feet.
A good bit of earth, this is. My home, I will build here.
Gathering lumps of clay and mud from the ground about him, Yoda slowly but surely began to construct his final residence. The walls came first, then windows carefully carved within them. With the help of the Force, he could levitate himself long enough to construct the mud hut's roof. Any materials the Jedi Master used were reinforced with layer upon layer of peat. When he ran out of this precious substance, Yoda would light small fires to harden the mud into something that resembled clay.
The process took many days, weeks. But finally, Yoda looked around, and found what he created to be very good.
And now... to rest. And wait. The little green alien meditated on the floor of his abode. From the netherworld of the Force, he received a connection almost immediately.
Master Qui-Gon Jinn! Too long, it has been.
Patience, the deceased Jedi replied. You will have the time I did not. Study the Force in all its aspects. Learn the Secret Order of the Whills and you will become one with the Force when your time comes. But that time is not yet. Not yet.
Strong, you are in the Force, Qui-Gon, Yoda mused. Your apprentice, I gratefully become.
He smiled as he felt the ghost of the Jedi Master's approval. Yoda was ready to begin. After nearly 900 years, he was ready to take the first step on his final journey as a Jedi. He had one last master to learn from. And one last pupil to teach.
Though it would be many years before the pupil would find the Grand Master...