Legend of the Harp Episode I: Birth of a Jedi

Legend of the Harp By Hemaccabe Episode I: Birth of a Jedi

Legend of the Harp

By Hemaccabe

Episode I: Birth of a Jedi

Chapter 7: Jojo's Story

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

***Jedi Knight Jors Zaemon, Coruscant, Jedi Temple***

I was a Coruscanti kid, born and bred. My family lived on a working-class level people referred to as 'verge,' as in on the verge of downward social mobility. I didn't care, for me it was home, and I was happy there.

My Father and Mother had me, waited a few years and then shot out three daughters in rapid succession. After the third daughter, my Dad decided he'd had enough and disappeared. We never found out what happened to him. Was he knifed in an alley and became one of those many unidentified bodies that turn up on Coruscant every day? Did he go off world and have another family? That I'd never know, which meant I couldn't hate him and I couldn't grieve for him. It was just an open sore in the background that never went away, and I had to live with. Life in the big ecumenopolis.

That said, I wasn't really the self-reflective type and didn't spend a lot of time weeping about it. I had things to do. I was helping my Ma run our place. I was mopping floors, changing diapers, cooking food, no fancy housekeeper droid for verge folk like us. My busting my hump meant my Ma could spend every spare minute trying to find a way to squeeze out another Credit to keep our bodies and souls together.

When I wasn't helping around the house, I had a little gang of neighborhood kids that I led around. We knew every alley, hole and crevice on the level. We could outrun police speeders and sometimes did. I was seven when I figured out, if we put a little girl in front of the droid driven lorry which delivered to the local bodegas, then engineered some chaos in front when it stopped, we'd have a few minutes to jimmy open the back and steal the cargo. My Ma wasn't pleased, but she wasn't above putting the food on the table either.

Of course, with so much responsibility and entrepreneurial spirit, I missed a certain amount of school. This was probably why I wasn't picked out till after I turned nine.

I had missed the two previous times a Jedi had made the rounds at our school. This time I went on purpose because I wanted to see the Jedi close up. Maybe something cool would happen like it always did on the holovid when a Jedi was around. Something cool did happen. I got picked to go to the Temple. I would have never guessed that would've happened.

My Ma was happy to see the backside of me. One less mouth to feed. I was looking forward to three steady hots and a cot as well as my own personal light saber.

I settled into Temple life easily. Lots of other younglings got all homesick, not me. To me it was pretty cushy, except for one thing, I had to go to school. I did fine on physical disciplines, but academics were always a problem. I was older than most kids when I came to the Temple, which put me behind. Further, I had missed a lot of school, which really put me behind. I was attending classes with very bright six-year olds and desperately trying to catch up with my only so-so brains. I did have a tutor, but still, it was bad.

While I frequently felt behind due to being older and academically clearly behind, the one area I really excelled in was the light saber. From the moment our training began with the blade, I just had a natural affinity. From the moment they allowed us to start sparring against each other, I never lost a match against someone of equal or lower rank. I'd get that saber in my hand and I could do no wrong.

I got a lot of tutoring and my academics got better. I would clearly never be a mental giant of the order or among the best educated, but I worked hard, and I got help and I definitely didn't want to risk washing out over something like a sheet of math problems.