Chapter 12: Close the chapter
The Initiate Clans, a surrogate family for children released into the Order by their families. It had been home for 12 years, but everything that once began must end one day, or so Bel tried to convince himself. While his clanmates where more accepting about their limited time in the Clan, he had always struggled with the thought of friends he'd stop seeing everyday and may not even see ever again in the worst case scenario. Considering this time it'd be him leaving, the problem was magnitudes worse as he usually only had to deal with one or two friends leaving. Even so, he intellectually understood the necessity of him leaving, and he was just working on the emotional aspect of it now. By the time of his Trials, he had enough of a handle on it that he didn't think he'd cry at all. Or too much. Or at least he wouldn't cry and demand to stay, probably.
The day dawned clear, as it ever was programmed on Trial days, and Naltek and him awoke earlier than usual to talk about their plans before the rest of the younglings were up. Bel had talked with Naltek and decided on a solid game plan, having dedicated the last three months to theory in the mornings and practice of their chosen skills in the afternoon, with a strict "no new stuff" policy, focusing only on polishing their existing repertoire. This, of course, was a tough sell to their teachers, but when they proved their qualification for the regular coursework, permission was extended for them to train. They were probably curious to see how well they'd perform in any case, or if it was an arrangement that might be convenient to implement in a regular basis.
As he had previously decided, Bel had practiced Jar'Kai as his lightsaber form of choice, and he had kept polishing Jedi Healing in his own time, but he had decided to demonstrate telekinesis and telepathy for his Trials instead, and a bit of body enhancement, keeping healing in reserve for the moment. His forays into Phase and Fold space where making headway, but he didn't consider them ready for everyday use, not to mention advanced use or long range teleportation. Still, it was a foregone conclusion he'd master them at some point, and he wouldn't be using them in the Trials. As for Naltek, they had drilled extensively in body enhancement, force sense, and the mind trick, so they expected that said suite, along with his form VI skills would be enough to carry the day.
Their lenghty preparations had a calming effect on their psyche, so it was a pair of calm Initiates that greeted their companions that morning when the rest woke up. Fosterer March, seeing them ready when she arrived, smiled and led the younglings to the auditorium. The by now familiar hum of pre-trial conversation soon reached their ears, as the rest of the Clans also made their way there. Soon, they split from the Clan to join the rest of the aspirants in the center of the hall, while their clanmates are seated around them. The Jedi that would be observing the Trials filed in afterwards, arranging themselves next to the rows of seats, where they greeted each other and engaged in conversation, patient as they waited for the Initiates to settle down.
Once everyone was properly in place, Master Morre called the younglings to attention and had his Padawan hand out the datapads with the written test. It was nice, Bel reflected, to take a test you were well prepared for, a relaxing experience before the more stressful practical parts. Looking sideways at his fellow candidates, he nodded as he noticed they seemed focused and unhurried for the most part. Naltek was answering at a fast pace, no hesitation evident in his features. But this test was never the problem, was it? Nevermind, we prepared enough, we will do fine. The test had been a real treat, allowing him to put his fears to rest, Bel realized. He put his datapad down to wait for the rest to finish with theirs. And I'm not even the first one, huh. I guess there's some good ones this year.
The wait before being called was enough to sharpen their focus, Bel decided, but not so tense as to make them too jittery. It was probably the result of thousands of years of experience wrangling younglings, and probably hundreds of thousands of Padawans. As he ruminated, their turn at lightsaber evaluation quickly came up, and Naltek eagerly stepped up to face off against the Jedi Knight opposite. He bowed quickly to the Duros female, who calmly bowed back, then waited as he ignited his saber, then raised an eyebrow as he settled into a confident Form VI stance. His fluid movements were tested by the Jedi, but she found no flaw in them, only the weakness his smaller size and lesser strength made inevitable. Lightsaber combat evaluation was not a problem at all.
Naltek's Force skills were quickly tested and the approving nods from the evaluators boded well for his result the next day, so only Bel was left now from their Clan. His lightsaber evaluation was a bit deeper as Jar'Kai was both a teaching opportunity for the spectating younglings as well as a skill that needed to be tested. So they danced across the floor while the examiner, a Rodian male, probed his defenses and parried his blows. After a lengthy duel, they bowed to each other with a smile, and Bel continued on to his Force skills test. The Master that examined him was efficient, and he soon rejoined the rest of the candidates after showing up his abilities. Slithering back, he prepared for his next challenge. This was their light night in the Clan, and he planned to hold a small farewell party.
Author's note:
Well, no surprises there, a fun time was had by all. Tomorrow, we leave Coruscant.