Leeda's Bag- . /pNwBugpv3WJkvFP28

After Rishi, the 345th was granted shore leave on Coruscant. None of my friends are here, but since I'm a padawan now, I have more homework and whatever, since I can't take the classes at the Temple. So I go by the Tower of First Knowledge and pick up the assignments I'm supposed to do. Once I have the assignments, I head to the Archives. I walk up to Master Jocasta's desk, and wait for her to finish with the datapads she's cataloging.

"Ah, Padawan Skywalker, can I help you?"

"Yes, Master. I have a few new assignments I need to do."

"Of course. Which assignments do you have?"

"Um, I have assignments on the role of Shadows within the Order, the role of the Jedi during the Sith Wars, the meaning of the Jedi Code, the reason behind the change in the code allowing relationships, Republic History from the Ruusan age, and the history of Diplomatic Solutions to Galactic Conflicts. I usually don't have that many, but I've been a little busy with some of the battles in the Mid-Rim, then some in the Outer Rim."

"Ah, yes, I heard about some of those. I'll find you those datapads. I got in some new material on coding and there are several new datapads with information from cases that the Investigators have done if you would like to check those out as well."

"Thank you, Master. I think I will."

While Master Jocasta gets the datapads that I need for my assignments together, I walk over to where the mechanical datapads are. I easily find the new ones on coding, and pick them up. Once I grab the two that I want, I head over to the section about the work that the different types of Jedi do. It's pretty easy to find the section for Investigators, and I grab two old ones that I like, and three of the new ones. I figure it's useful to know about the work that the Jedi Investigators do since I want to be an Investigator myself. When I finish my padawanship, that is.

After I have the datapads that I want, I head back to Master Nu's desk. She hands me the other datapads I need, and I check all of them out. Thankfully, our shore leave is a week long, so I should be able to turn all of these back in before we have to leave again. And I should, hopefully, be finished with my assignments by then. I grin at Master Nu, before walking out of the Archives with my bag full of datapads.

Once I have my datapads, I head back to my quarters. Which are shared with amu and buir's quarters at the Temple. Once I get there, I see them both working on reports on the couch.

"I got my stuff. I'm going to go work on my homework."

"Okay, and remember-"

"Latemeal is at 1900? I remember."

Buir (buir - dad) and amu (amu - mom) both shake their heads, and I take that as my cue to go work on homework. First, I set a timer on my comm, then I start working. I use the blank datapads that the Council of First Knowledge gave me, starting on the history assignments. I manage to finish my History of the Ruusan Era essay, my History of Galactic Diplomacy essay, and half of my Meaning of the Jedi Code essay before my comm goes off. And just as my comm goes off, amu (amu - mom) yells,

"Leeda! Finish up what you're doing. It's time to eat."

I put my datapads up, I'll probably work on it a little later before I go to bed. But for now, it's time for dinner. When I open the door to my quarters, I am greeted by the burn inducing smell of Tiingilar (Tiingilar - spicy Mandalorian stew) mixed with the sweet, fruity smell of Uj'alayi (Uj'alayi - sweet dense Mandalorian cake). Yummy. Buir (buir - dad) probably cooked tonight, his tiingilar and uj cake recipes are amazing!

When I get to the table, I am proven right. The large bowl is filled with the stew.

"Yes!" I say.

"Excited?" buir (buir - dad) asks.

"Yes. The rations are so boring to eat. Tiingilar (Tiingilar - spicy Mandalorian stew) is definitely a welcome difference."

"I don't blame you. Next time though, you're going to help me out again. You get a free pass tonight because you have homework that needs to be done."

"Can we have it again before shore leave is over?"

"Sure, if it's okay with your amu?" (amu - mom)

"Fine by me," amu (amu - mom) says from the kitchen.

When she comes out, she has a platter of fruit. I can see slices of Mandalorian oranges, meilooruns, jogan fruit, and muja fruit. Once again, I'm glad for the gardens of the Jedi Temple. Along with producing many wonderful flowers, they also provide fruits, vegetables, herbs, and spices. The Council even has a large part of the garden set aside for the vode (vode - brothers) to use to cook or make tea.

Before I can sit down, I sense my vod'ika (vod'ika - little brother) outside the door. I walk over to open it, and am met by the glare of one very upset twelve year old boy. His arms are crossed and he's glaring at me. I sigh, and go out into the hallway.

"Why didn't you come to see me?"

"I had to get my new assignments. There isn't a lot of time to do essays while you're on the battlefield. And you know how the Council of First Knowledge is."

"Yeah, they pitch a hissy fit when you don't get assignments done."

"Exactly. Now, you know it's time for latemeal, so you either just got away from your crechemaster to see me, or... you wanted food as well as to talk to me. Which is it?"

Chase's cheeks go scarlet, and he says, "I wanted food."

"I figured. Come on, you know amu (amu - mom) and buir (buir - dad) make enough food for guests too."

"Yeah, I know."

I walk with Chase back into the apartment. He sits beside me at the table, and amu sets a bowl in front of him. The tiingilar (tiingilar - spicy Mandalorian stew) is spooned into our bowls, and then we start eating. Amu (amu - mom) always turn the temperature down when we have tiingilar (tiingilar - spicy Mandalorian stew) because it makes us all so hot.

Compared to the bland flavor of the rations that the GAR distributes, the heat of the tiingilar (tiingilar - spicy Mandalorian stew) is quite welcome. The bite from the stew, combined with the sweetness of the fruit makes for a delicious dinner. Even though by the end of it, all four of us have faces as red as the paint of the Corrie Guards' armor. Though, that probably isn't helped by the jokes that we all crack. Or funny stories Chase shares from our time away.

Before I was a padawan, even when buir (buir - dad) and amu (amu - mom) were on shore leave, uj cake was a rarity. And I can't figure out why buir (buir - dad) would have made it today, even with racking my brain. So, I ask him.

"Why are we having uj cake? You only make that on special occasions."

Amu (amu - mom), buir (buir - dad), and Chase all look at each other in surprise.

"You really don't remember?" Chase asks.

I shake my head, and amu (amu - mom) says, "Leeda, think. What is today?"

"Zhellday?"

"Yes, but no. Really think."

"First day of shore leave?"

"Again, yes, but no. And think, hard."

I start delving into my memory, and the next thing that pops into my head is something that happened fifteen years ago. And once I do, I can't believe I forgot.

"Luke and I's birthday!"

Chase laughs, and bumps my shoulder. "Yep! You forgot your own birthday."

"I guess that I did. Force, I'm fifteen."

"Yeah, ori'vod (ori'vod - big sister), you're old!"

"I am not, vod'ika (vod'ika - little brother)! Besides, you're only two years younger than me, you'll be thirteen in like a month."

"Anyway," buir (buir - dad) says, "Briikase gote'tuur, Leeda'ika. Now, eat your cake." (Briikase gote'tuur - happy birthday, Leeda'ika - nickname {lit. little Leeda})

"Then go comm your brother. Aayla commed me earlier today, and said that Luke has forgotten that it's your birthday today."

"I will."

Then I dig into my cake. I've had a couple of different types of cake with different masters, a glaze cake with Master Aayla, a Dagobah mud cake with Master Yoda, and a Quinberry cake with Master Ria Tiro. But my favorite type of cake is an uj cake. After I finish my piece of cake, I get up and get my comm that will give an image projection.

I put in Luke's comm number, and after a few moments, he answers.

"Hey, Leeda. What do you need?"

"Well, what's today? And the answer isn't Zhellday."

"Um... Oh, kriff. I forgot. It's our birthday. Sorry, happy birthday!"

"Happy birthday to you too, ori'vod (ori'vod - big brother). Where are you today?"

Luke grimaces, "I'm on Ago. And it's freezing. I'm just in my tent where there's a heater."

I laugh, "Well, I'm on Coruscant at the moment. Shore leave. And I had homework to do."

"You also got tiingilar (tiingilar - spicy Mandalorian stew) and uj cake, didn't you?"

"You felt the burn and the happiness over the bond?"

"Uh huh. Oh, and by the way, it's almost midnight here. So, I'd like to head to bed soon."

I laugh again. "No worries, ori'vod (ori'vod - big brother). I want to finish one of my essays before I turn in. But can you believe it? We're fifteen already. And we're just made padawans."

"Leeda, we were made padawans six and half months ago."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ret'urcye mhi, Luke." (Ret'urcye mhi - goodbye {lit. May we meet again})

"Ret'urcye mhi, Leeda." (Ret'urcye mhi - goodbye {lit. May we meet again})

We each disconnect our comms, and then I head to my room. I finish my Meaning of the Jedi Code essay as quickly as I can. And when I'm done, I head to bed. I have little issue falling asleep, but what happens after I fall asleep, is much different.

I see myself, Ahsoka, aunt Padmé, Jar-Jar Binks, ba'vodu'e (ba'vodu'e - uncles) Rex and Kya, along with several other troopers in 501st and 345th armor. There's a blue fog creeping along the floor of wherever we are. All of us whose skin I can see, I can also see the veins beneath our skin, and our skin is pale.

Troopers begin to collapse, dead. Soon, aunt Padmé falls, and more troopers become weak. Ahsoka collapses next, still alive, but very weak. My ba'vodu'e (ba'vodu'e - uncles) are the next to collapse, and I look at myself. My future self still awake, though barely. I collapse on the way over to, who looks like, Racer.

Then I see nothing for a moment, before it shifts.

I see myself again, along with Ahsoka, amu (amu - mom), uncle Anakin, ba'vodu (ba'vodu - uncle) Obi-Wan, buir (buir - dad), ba'vodu'e (ba'vodu'e - uncles) Cody, Rex, and Kya. Along with several other troopers. We're all grouped together on a landing platform, and one of the Arcs runs with a ship toward a shuttle. A shot from a canon, blows up the shuttle just as the Arc reaches the ship.

The vision switches again, this time, I see a man in a black cloak. I can just make out his yellow eyes. A Sith lord. He's seated in a throne, and there's a girl beside him. She has a hood up, but has yellow eyes too. I look out to the floor, and see an older version of myself. The man presses a button, and lightning engulfs future me's body. I can't help but scream along with myself.

Then I feel someone gently shaking my arm.

"Ad'ika (ad'ika - little one). Wake up."

I slowly blink my eyes open, and I see amu (amu - mom) and buir (buir - dad) sitting on my bed. I sit up and lean against my the head of my bed. When I sit up, I pull my knees up and wrap my arms around them. Laying my head on top of my knees. Buir (buir - dad) slides over to me, and wraps his arm around me. Pulling me to his side.

Amu (amu - mom) gets up, while I curl up next to buir (buir - dad). I swallow thickly as I mull through the images I saw. In just a few minutes, amu (amu - mom) comes back, holding a mug in her hands. She hands it to me, and I smell my favorite tea. Panganat tea. By the time I'm finished with my tea, I'm calm enough to explain to amu (amu - mom) and buir (buir - dad) what I saw.

Like me, they can't make much sense of it. But when I ask if I can come and sleep with them, both amu (amu - mom) and buir (buir - dad) nod and get up. All three of us crawl into their big bed, and with me in the middle with amu (amu - mom) brushing her fingers through my hair, and buir (buir - dad) telling me the legends of Mandalore the First, I quickly fall asleep.

"Parents aren't the people you come from. They're the people you want to be, when you grow up." -Jodi Picoult