Crucial Instruction
Meanwhile in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, Ashlyn approached the private meditation chamber of the Jedi Grandmaster and entered when the doors opened to find Master Yoda inside. The Jedi Knight sat on one of the cushions and waited patiently for the small green alien to talk to her.
Master Yoda chuckled lightly, "Wait for me to talk, you need not," he said as his green eyes opened.
"I didn't want to interrupt your meditation, Master Yoda," Ashlyn explained briefly.
"Interruptions, common for the Jedi Grandmaster, they are," Master Yoda stated, "Learn that in time you will," he added in response to the confused look that the Jedi Knight now gave him.
"What did you want to talk to me about today?" Ashlyn inquired curiously.
"Change the Jedi Order must, if it is to survive the oncoming war," the Jedi Grandmaster revealed in a serious tone.
"In what way?" Ashlyn asked in slight confusion but was focused on her elder's words so that she could learn what would be required of her as the next Jedi Grandmaster of the Jedi Order. She had been having private consultations with Master Yoda so that he could instruct her on what was required of the Jedi Grandmaster since she had been knighted over a year ago.
"Strict on relationships that Jedi have, the current Jedi Council is," Master Yoda stated, "More open you and your Jedi Council must be but be sure that stay mindful you do," he cautioned.
"How do I choose who to allow and who not?" Ashlyn asked slightly nervous now as the topic of the conversation had just turned personal.
"Meditate you and the Council must before discussing it you should, when a request you receive. The final decision ultimately yours it is," Master Yoda explained.
"What if the person who requests it is on the Council?"
The Jedi Grandmaster chuckled, "Good question, that is," he said, "Exclude the individual from the meditation and discussion, you must," the small green Jedi added.
Ashlyn nodded her head lightly in acknowledgement and understanding but she still could not shake off the worry that was grasping her chest.
"Worried you are," Master Yoda mentioned as he sensed the concern radiating from the Jedi Knight through the Force.
Ashlyn sighed heavily, "I'm worried that if I say no to someone, that people might see me as hypocritical," she started to explain, "Because of Daly and I," the young woman added.
"Worry about that you must not," Master Yoda stated firmly, "If think carefully before making the decision, correct it will be."
Ashlyn nodded in understanding, "So you want me to be more relaxed in regards to the relationship rule?" she asked, checking that she had heard the Jedi Grandmaster correctly.
Master Yoda chuckled in confirmation.
"Master Yoda-," the Jedi Knight paused momentarily, "What exactly did you see in your vision that warrants this change?" she asked in deep concern.
The Jedi Grandmaster's face fell as he got down off the cushion and began to walk around the room, leaning on his walking stick heavily. Then he came to stop at the window which was normally shielded with blinds as he looked out at the Coruscanti sunrise.
"Too soon it is for you to know," Master Yoda revealed, "Otherwise attempt to prevent it from happening you will," he added.
"But Master Yod-," Ashlyn started but was stopped as the Jedi Grandmaster turned to look at her with a stern expression.
"Dangerous it is knowing the future," Master Yoda said as he approached where Ashlyn still sat on the meditation cushion, "Normally in constant motion the future is but this future happen it must, no matter how devastating."
Ashlyn's eyes fell to her hands which were resting in her lap, "Will people die?" she asked as she glanced up at the Jedi Grandmaster through her eyelashes.
Master Yoda nodded stiffly, "Unavoidable, it is."
Ashlyn nodded her head solemnly but was now determined to make sure that as many people as possible would survive whatever challenges that the Jedi Grandmaster had seen in his vision.
"Finished this lesson has," Master Yoda announced as he began to walk towards the door with Ashlyn close behind him. The young Jedi Knight walked slowly towards the North Hangar with Master Yoda's parting words echoing in her head, warning her not to tell anyone. However, when Ashlyn reached the North Hangar and saw all of her friends inside chatting with each other, happily unaware of what dangers lay ahead of them. The future Jedi Grandmaster felt conflicted and extremely tempted to tell her friends about what Master Yoda had told her but something nagged at the back of her mind that this was her burden to bear. For now she decided to trust in Master Yoda and pushed what she had just learnt to the back of her mind as she entered through the hangar doors to socialise with her friends.
A few hours later, the North Hangar was filled with the sounds of chatter and heavy work as the majority of the boys tried to help Eric with the modifications to the Scoundrels Constellation. The older Smuggler had already shooed Daly and Raven away as they were causing more problems rather than helping with their oversized thumbs as Eric had put it.
"Remind me to never let them near my ship again, would you Stret?" Eric requested in a joking fashion as he went to work fixing all the mistakes that the two Jedi Knights had made.
Stret laughed heartily, "I did warn you about letting them help Eric," Stret reminded him as P7 whistled in agreement with that statement.
"Oh get back to work both of you," Eric mumbled, slightly disgruntled as he walked away.
Stret shrugged his shoulders in response before going back to work, he knew that Eric was just stressed out because they had fallen a week behind in the modification schedule that he had put together for this project.
Ashlyn was standing in a circle with Jania, Kayli, Inoma and Alazea; all of whom had taken a break from helping their Smuggler friend.
"So how long do you think it will be?" Jania asked, looking at Ashlyn with a knowing look.
"For what?" Ashlyn inquired curiously with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh come on, you know what I'm talking about Ash," Jania insisted, "The first little you and Daly," she hinted at with a quick wink.
Ashlyn laughed nervously in reaction, "I don't think that will be happening for a while yet."
The other three woman exchanged a look before looking back at her with slight smirks.
"What?" Ashlyn asked as her cheeks blushed slightly red.
"Are you seriously going to deprive me of a little Niece or Nephew?" Jania asked in a serious tone, the use of those titles shocked Ashlyn slightly and when the younger Jedi Knight realised this she continued, "You do realise you're like a sister to all of us, don't you?" she asked.
"Yes but would you really want my children to call you Aunt?" Ashlyn inquired, still feeling slightly nervous about the conversation.
"Ash if you don't believe me how about we put it to a vote with the whole group?" Jania suggested.
"Oh no Jania, that's not nec-," Ashlyn started but was interrupted by Jania walking off into the middle of the hangar and she pounded one of the crates with a metal rod a couple of times causing everyone in the hangar to stop what they were doing and look at her.
Ashlyn looked around for Daly and upon spotting him quickly walked over and hid her face in his chest as she hugged him before mumbling, "Hide me."
Daly looked down at Ashlyn with a raised eyebrow and then exchanged a quick, confused look with Raven who simply shrugged his shoulders in response.
"Everyone, we have something very important to vote on," Jania announced to the whole hangar, "Raise your hand if you consider Ashlyn as a sister," she ordered as she raised her hand and turned to look at her friend who wasn't even looking. The young Jedi Knight gestured for Daly to make Ashlyn look at all the hands raised and the young man grinned.
"Ash, look around you," Daly whispered softly into her ear and his wife did so to see every hand in the Hangar raised.
"Now who sees Daly as a bro-," Jania was about to ask when Daly walked forward slightly and shook his head curtly, stopping the younger Jedi Knight in her tracks, "Very well, go back to what you were all doing everyone," she ordered as she walked towards the couple with a proud look on her face.
"I think you made your point Jania, we all see each other as family," Daly reassured her that she was correct and didn't need to put it through a vote.
"Hey Ahsoka!" Ashlyn called out to the Togruta who had just walked in with Mayken who stopped just inside the door to talk to Rexan and Obi-Paulo. All of a sudden, Ashlyn could see nothing but a white dust cloud as everyone was covered in some sort of white powder.
"What in the name of a gundark's nest was that?" Raven called over the sound of laughter that came from over by the door.
Ashlyn wiped the substance out of her eyes and looked around to see the entire hangar and everyone in it covered in the white powder. Then all eyes laid on the three youngest members of the group. Mayken stood there looking completely dumbfounded and shocked while the two boys were bent over in half from laughter.
"Rexan," Obi-Paulo growled softly through gritted teeth which caused the other Padawan to look around at everyone who was not laughing.
"Uh oh," Rexan mumbled, "Run!" he yelled as he grabbed the sleeve of Obi-Paulo's robe and they both ran, dragging Mayken with them.
"Where in Mandalore did the flour come from?" Mayken demanded.
"Where do you think?" Rexan asked.
"We got it from the kitchens," Obi-Paulo revealed as they rounded a corner and skidded to a stop upon seeing all three of their Masters.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Rexan mumbled when he saw how unhappy their Masters looked.
"Oh, Ctubar Bic," Mayken muttered under her breath, earning confused expressions from the boys in the process.
Ahsoka, Raven and Serin approached their Padawan Learners quickly which caused the three teenagers to each react differently as the lectures started.
"Master Tano, I promise you that I had nothing to do with this," Mayken stated confidently.
"Then why did you run?" Ahsoka asked, pointing out how that action had made her look guilty.
"Paulo dragged me along with them and I was in shock so I didn't have time to react," Mayken tried to explain but the Togruta held up a hand to stop her.
"The prank wasn't pulled until after we walked into the hangar," Ahsoka pointed out.
"Admit it Master, nobody in the group has had many opportunities to laugh lately," Rexan tried to excuse himself for the prank.
"That's because there is a war going on at the moment, my young Padawan. There is a time and place for this sort of fooling around," Raven responded in a serious tone.
"Well at least it wasn't in the middle of a battle," Rexan mumbled under his breath.
"That's it!" Serin called over everyone and the group turned to look at him curiously, "You three cause way too much trouble when you are together constantly. Until you learn to behave yourselves together you will each have to stay with your respective Masters," he suggested as he looked at Raven and Ahsoka to see what their thoughts on this proposal was.
The other two Jedi Knights nodded their heads in agreement and Ahsoka added, "But right now all three of you need to go and clean up that hangar."
"But Master-," Mayken was about to protest and try again to explain to her that she had nothing to do with it but she was stopped by a raised hand.
The three Jedi Knights then proceeded to walk their Padawans back to the hangar which was now empty of everyone but themselves; everyone else had clearly gone to clean themselves up. Mayken, Obi-Paulo and Rexan began cleaning up the flour which was a difficult task within itself to simply get it off the floor.
"You two owe me big," Mayken mumbled with annoyance to the boys.
"Like hell we do!" Rexan yelled and Raven coughed loudly as he stood nearby with the other two Jedi Knights which caused the Padawan to go back to work.
"I had no involvement in this prank and yet I'm in trouble for it," Mayken growled under her breath. "Mayken's right Rexan, she's helping us clean because her Master doesn't believe her that she wasn't in on the prank," Obi-Paulo mentioned.
"Whose side are you on?" Rexan demanded in frustration.
"Nobody's side, I'm just pointing out what is fair," Obi-Paulo said, "We do owe Mayken."
"Fine then," Rexan mumbled angrily as he went back to cleaning.
"This prank was well worth it though. I bet after we ran everyone laughed," Obi-Paulo whispered as a grin spread across his face.