Chapter 15: Montage
After their exciting first mission, cleanup followed. Bel shadowed Rowe as they traced back the raiders' movements. Their patron had done his best attempting to cover his tracks, but "he is no match for our elite investigation skills, little Padawan!" Or so Rowe claimed, anyway. Truth was, they did dedicate themselves to the investigation, and both Rowe's experience and the hand of the Force eased their way. The mysterious backers turned out to be hiding behind two patsies, middlemen that got paid solely to deliver funds or instructions, blind to each other. That level of concealmente was commendable, but inadequate, and they traced the funds to a small time trader's guild looking to muscle in on the Mid Rim. Sadly, they turned over their findings to the Council instead of attacking their headquarters, but not everything can be a fun ride, Beldorion, or at least that's what his Master claimed.
The Temple saw their triumphant return after one month after the expected mission time of one week had elapsed. It was disheartening to learn unexpected complications (probably Force induced, of course) usually lenghtened assignments far, far beyond their expected completion times, and the fact that Rowe held a record for most complicated mission made it so much worse. The worst part, however, was just how damnably smug he looked as he boasted about his dumb record. Foreboding filled him as he realized unscheduled detours and "unlucky" complications it would just be a fact of life from now on.
True to his misgivings, the next few years were a whirlwind of varied experiences, running the gamut from lessons in diplomacy in the Outer Rim, education in the intrincacies of interspecies contact ("Yes, you grace, Hutts can in fact speak Basic"), fleeing from carnivorous fire wasps ("it's a rare species Bel! No killing any of them"), and lazy days in what Master called mandatory downtime, but Bel suspected was code for "lazy days". Still, it probably helped consolidate his training gains, as Master Rowe explained it. But only a little. When their time at the Temple permitted, he met and trained with his former clanmates, an even took part in classes for younglings with his Master on occasion.
Their adventures were many, discovering and befriending the sentient coral from a lost planet called Dukar by it's natives, a rare form of Force-sensitive organism that bonded with the native warriors, and had agreed to bond with them. Master Rowe was still undecided, but Bel thought it might be a good idea to let the Jedi know about it, at least once the Sith were dealt with. Of course, Master Yoda and the High Council had been privately appraised of their finding. It made their visits to aquatic planets a treat, not even taking into account its other benefits. He expected that eventually it might become a rite of passage for young Jedi to visit the Dukar seas and commune with the natives.
When time permitted, he continued his exploration into rare Force powers, and he had managed to instruct Rowe and Bink into competent Healers, while Bold and Icia took to Fold Space with gusto, even if they where limited in the range they could execute it. Bel's dream were clear that a true breakthrough would come only after a lenghty quest, when the Aing-Ti accepted to share their knowledge, but he was hopeful it would happen soon. Their work against slavery, both direct and political, was likely to prove a boon in said endeavor.
For his part, Master Rowe had seen Bel grow in skill and wisdom, and his chest filled with almost un-Jedi pride when he considered his Padawan. He felt the day of departure fast approaching, and couldn't help but to increase the pace of their training when he was reminded of it. They soon became infamous for the speed at which they took missions, seeming frantic to the patient Jedi at the Temple. But Master Rowe sensed it, a time of change was coming to the Galaxy, and Beldorion was set to become central to it, for good or for ill. Preparing as best as they were able made only made sense, and Bel himself... well, he was ever mindful of an account he had to settle with some pesky Darksiders.
When his Trials came after 10 years of apprenticeship, Beldorion let the Force guide him. The smile in Master Rowe's face tasted sweeter than a thousand Droch, even tempered by the knowledge that he'd be his Master no longer. Father Khooshu, Mother Irpenn, is this what your smiles felt like? It had been so many years, and he had promised to return to them some day. Maybe when he had a Padawan of his own then.
Author's note:
Beldorion becomes a Knight, and he is set on going hunting.