8
27ABY
Perusing the book in my hands, I found myself flipping through the pages and only paying attention to the pictures rather than the text. I let out a loud yawn and slowly pressed my fingers in my closed eyes, willing myself to stay awake. A heavy sigh escaped my lungs as I leaned back in my chair. 'You look thoroughly enthused.' Ben's voice echoed throughout the room and was met with an abundance of shushes from other students. 'I'm too tired to focus on T'enna's zoology journals today.' I flipped the book shut and slid it across the desk as Ben took a seat next to me. 'Master Skywalker has given me an errand if you want to accompany me?' He whispered so that others couldn't hear. 'Absolutely. Let's go.' We both rose and left the library, our footsteps resounding against the stone flooring.
The warm sun beat down on my arms as we strode out towards the cargo ships that sat at the back of the academy, consignments being unloaded and transported inside by various droids. 'One of the shipments didn't come in this morning. Master Skywalker thinks that it may've crash landed nearby.' Unhinging his electrobinoculars from his belt, Ben looked out across the hills. 'I see smoke rising from that direction, that's probably a good place to start.' Following his gaze, I could see a very faint mark of grey in the distance rising upward. 'Sounds like a plan.'
Trudging up and down the ever undulating landscape, I wiped sweat from my brow. 'Water?' Ben passed me his waterskin, which I took tentatively from his hands. 'Thanks.' I murmured, relief washing over me as the cool liquid slipped down my throat. 'Shall we play a game to pass the time?' Wiping water droplets from my mouth, I screwed the cap on tight and handed it back to Ben. 'Fine, I'll give you the first letter of the thing I'm thinking of and you have to guess.' An imperceptible smirk crawled up the side of Ben's cheek and he nodded. 'Okay.' Processing thoughts through my head, I pictured a landspeeder zooming across a wide open desert. 'It begins with L.' Stepping in time with one another, Ben stayed silent for a few seconds before quizzically saying 'A landspeeder?' Nodding I began to think of the Ewok's on Endor that I had read about in books. 'This one begins with E.' Ben paused for a moment. 'Endor?' I shook my head triumphantly. 'Ewok then?' 'How did you know that?' He shrugged in response. 'I guess I'm just too good at this game!' Teasing me, he walked a few paces ahead. I couldn't stand him being so smug. 'This one begins with-' 'Coruscant?' I gave an infuriated growl and noticed his hand ever so slightly outstretched by his side. 'It's not exactly a game if you just read my mind.' He turned to look at me devilishly. 'Isn't it?' Catching up, I pushed him gently with my side. 'Get out of my head idiot.' As the words left my mouth, a huge plume of smoke caught my eye just over the rise of the hill ahead of us. 'Can't be far now, let's hurry.' Ben remarked, quickening his pace.
Standing at the top of the hill, Ben's white cotton shirt billowed in the breeze. He pointed down to crashed cargo ship. 'Let's go take a look, we might be able to find some clues as to why it failed to land.' Taking quick, small steps we edged down the steep slope to meet the wreck ahead of us. The stench of burning metal filled my nostrils and I coughed. 'What the hell happened?' Ben peered into the cockpit. 'There's no driver.' Leaning to look, I noticed a trail of red liquid glistening across the grass. 'Ben, the blood.' He switched around, peering at the ground. I walked to the rear of the ship and saw large tears across the back. The metal had caved inward, curling round and piercing some of the canisters held within. Something had pulled it down out of the sky. Stomach churning, I yelled over to Ben. 'Whatever did this caused some serious damage, I don't-' I was cut off by an ear piercing squawk. The large shadow of a huge bird soared over the wreck. Scarlet in colour with ten metre long wings, the bird screamed out again before circling around and landing atop the crashed ship. 'Tess get back!' Ben ran towards me, lightsaber drawn. I fumbled with my own, finally turning it on just as the huge bird lunged towards me. Stabbing forward, I burnt its black beak making it move back slightly. I leapt out of its reach just as Ben bounded up the ship and sliced down on the bird's neck. Feathers flew and it let out a harrowing cry of pain, splaying out its wings. I took the opportunity and jumped up on the ship's rear, balancing careful. Wielding my weapon, I slashed downward, taking out some of the flight feathers. Unable to take to the sky, the bird turned on me and grabbed my left arm in its powerful bill. Teeth sunk into my skin, firing off my nerve endings, causing me to scream out. Swinging at the bird's face with my saber to no avail I felt the creature begin to shake me. Suddenly, the bird's legs gave out and it tumbled down dropping me with it. My body flailed and rolled limply across the ground. Ben stood with gritted teeth as he held the bird down with the force, manipulating its talons. His hands began to tremble as the bird fought back, attempting to move towards me. Helplessly lying on the ground, all I could do was watch as Ben struggled to keep the beast pinned down. Mustering strength, I pulled myself to my feet and lit up my saber. I could feel rage and fear seething through every inch of my body. Pummelling my feet into the ground, I stormed towards the screeching raptor and swung my blade across its ankles, narrowly missing the snapping beak trying to grab me. As it toppled onto its side crushing the cargo ship, Ben sprinted over and butchered its head clean off. My knees buckled and I landed hard on the ground, panting. 'You okay?' He gestured to the bite wound on my arm. I gave it a quick glance over, the pain beginning to settle in as my adrenaline levels dropped. 'It'll be fine I'm sure. What is a bonegnawer doing on this planet?' Ben didn't answer, instead looking over to the hilltop where a figure stood with his arms crossed. 'Uh oh.' I murmured as we both began to walk over.
Master Skywalker held an unimpressed expression on his face as we approached. 'Master, it would appear a bonegnawer pulled the cargo ship out of the sky. We successfully eliminated it.' Ben bowed his head slightly. 'No Ben. You disobeyed my orders. I asked you to come alone and to find the cargo ship, not snoop around it and risk your life. Not only that, but you endangered the life of another student who is now severely injured.' Flushing red, I covered my bitten arm with my hand. Ben balled his hands into fists and his lip began to shake. 'Your foolish greed could've gotten yourself and Tessala killed.' Ben turned his head to the ground as Master Skywalker turned to me. 'It was my idea Master to join him, Ben insisted I stay behind but I wanted to come.' Raising an eyebrow, Luke gently took my arm and inspected the bite. 'You are a terrible liar Padawan. Now get back to the temple and have the infirmary clean up this wound. I need to have a talk with my young apprentice here.' Gingerly I began to walk away, glancing over my shoulder to see Master Skywalker's silhouette imposing in front of Ben's.
The droid nurse carefully finished stitching my wound up, each movement of her mechanical wrist perfectly calculated. 'Now my dear, I recommend washing yourself and getting some clean clothes before I bandage this up. The washroom is just through that door.' I adhered to her recommendations and entered the room. Slowly removing my clothes, I stepped into the shower and allowed hot water to run over my bloodstained body. Something felt so soothing about just standing still and calmly breathing with the sound of running water echoing. I eyed the sewn up bite on my arm and thought of Ben, how hard he had fought to keep us both alive. Washing my hair, I hopped out and dried myself before putting on clean clothes. Back in the infirmary, the nurse wrapped a bandage around my arm to protect it before discharging me. I immediately ran across the temple grounds, searching high and low for my friend. 'Tessala! Hey wait!' A girl from one of my classes grabbed my arm lightly. 'Is it true you killed a bonegnawer?' Her blue eyes were alight with excitement and a few other students hung back, whispering among themselves whilst throwing glances in my direction. 'It wasn't me, Ben's the one who struck the killing blow. Have you seen him?' Panic rose through my voice and I desperately tried to keep myself grounded and calm. 'Oh yeah, he went out that way a while ago. Seemed angry as per usual.' She pointed towards the door just to the right of me. 'We were gonna go into the main hall and play some games. You can come with us if you like?' Her fiery red locks bounced as she gave me an eager nod. For a fleeting second I was inclined to join them as this was the first time anyone other than Ben had offered me some kind of friendship. 'Maybe another time, sorry. I just need to make sure he's okay.' I reluctantly declined and continued out of the door and into the courtyard.
The cool evening air whistled through my hair as I stepped out into the stone yard. Alone, I listened carefully and could hear growls of anguish in the distance. Following them, I soon came across Ben in the training garden. Violently swinging his lightsaber he smashed barrel after barrel after barrel, his dark black hair frizzed and stressed. Upon hearing my footsteps he let his weapon hang weakly by his side, chest heaving. 'Why are you here?' He grunted, looking up at me. Hot tears stained his cheeks and his face was flushed red. 'What's wrong?' I took a step closer to him and he flinched. 'Master Skywalker doesn't think I'm taking my apprentice duties seriously.' Taken aback, I ran a hand through my hair and reached to touch his arm. 'But you are! You saved my life Ben. If it wasn't for you using the force on that giant bird, I would've been eaten.' Raising his lightsaber to force distance between us, he pointed the end to the bandage on my arm. 'But I also caused you to be injured. I'm a danger to you Tessala. I don't think we should be friends anymore.' I motioned to speak but he simply turned his back on me. 'Leave me alone from now on.'