Star Wars: Darkside

Ch: 5

I sat there like that for I don't know how long...a while at least. Time just seemed to go on forever in this place. I felt a light touch on my shoulder, I looked up to see Kala.

"Kala...?" I questioned her, a bit surprised to see her here...she felt like a light in this sea of darkness.

"What's wrong...?" Kala seemed to ask me, concerned about my well-being.

"Kala...?" I started once more, completely confused about just how she was here. "You can't be here...you're...?"

"What...?" Kala seemed to ask me. "Not here...?" She then took my hand in hers. "Nova...I'm your best friend. I'll always be here whether real or fake."

"I-It's Obi-wan...he...." I stuttered, not quite wanting to finish.

"What...?" Kala seemed to ask me. "Loves you with all his heart...?"

"T-that's not what-" I started but she interrupted me.

"Not what fake Obi-wan said...?" Kala seemed to ask me. "But it is real...you've seen it...you know just how much he loves you. He wouldn't just break the Jedi Code for anyone, he lives by it." She searched my eyes before she continued. "Search your heart...you know it to be true."

"B-but-" I started but she interrupted me.

"Search your heart." She insisted, a brief moment of silence then passed before she added. "This was only a fear you saw.... The Force is great at pointing them out...even if you're unaware of said fear. If it's buried so deep inside you, you didn't even know it was there."

Her words seemed to make everything seem so clear. That wasn't Obi-wan...not my Obi-wan. I took a deep breath before I looked back down at my hand...at the finger, my wedding ring should be on but wasn't. A shred of fear then pulled at me as I looked into the darkness. Where did I throw it...? I looked around.

I bolted up before I went towards where I thought I threw it. I got down to the groundless ground and racked my fingers over the darkness...not finding it. Just when I thought all was hopeless....

"Looking for this...?" I heard Kala's voice from behind me.

I instantly stood up and faced her, my eyes instantly caught sight of what she held out to me.

"You know...you shouldn't be so careless with this...." She told me as she held out the ring to me.

I reached my hand out toward her, and the ring was quick to join its rightful place on my finger. "I won't...." I told her once the ring was back safely with me. I'll never lose this again...of that, I promise.

Kala had a joyful smile on her face, one that seemed to be contagious. "Always remember...the world isn't so much as in black or white...light or dark...but rather...it's always in shades of grey, Grey Jedi." She then disappeared from my sight as the world around me swirled around like a bad headache.

I closed my eyes and when I reopened them...I was back in the council chambers on Coruscant, the whole Jedi Council sat in their chairs in front of me.

"Padawan Amidala." My Jedi Master, Master Yoda greeted me. "The Trials you've taken...the Trials you've passed my dear Padawan."

"You are no longer a Jedi Padawan." I heard Master Windu tell me, and with a flick of his hand...my Padawan braid was unbraided. "You welcome you into the ranks of the Jedi Knights."

"Thank you, my Masters." I stated as I clasped my hands together in front of me. "I shall do my best to uphold the compassion of the order."

"All things...forever changing, they are." Master Yoda told me. "Always learning, we are. May the Force be with you Jedi Knight Nova Amidala."

"May the Force be with us all," I stated, and with that...I was dismissed from the room.

~~~

I was in one of the outside training areas, meditating when I felt a somewhat frustrated aura approaching me. "Nova...!" I heard them say once they neared me, I opened my eyes to see Kala.

"Kala." I calmly stated in greeting.

"How could you not tell me the instant you got promoted to knighthood...?" She seemed to demand of me.

"Couldn't find you." I just told her even if I came out here almost as soon as I'd left the council chambers. I needed to clear my head.

"That's no excuse." Kala seemed to tell me. Which for a Jedi...it wasn't. If we can't find someone and know they are nearby us and know what their Force Signature feels like and it's not faint...there's no way why we shouldn't find them.

"I had no time." I just stated, trying to dodge her friendly upsetness at my leaving her left out. "Wait...." I seemed to realize. "Just how did you find out...?" I haven't told anybody about it yet and it literally just happened not too long ago.

"You walked around the Temple without your Padawan braid." She instantly told me as if that should explain it.

"What if I had to fix it, take it down, and then just forgot to put it back in...?" I questioned her.

"You've never forgotten." She instantly told me. "And you were seen leaving the council chambers without the braid...anyone can put that together."

"Sorry...." I apologized to her. "But...I needed some time to think...alone."

Kala instantly recognized the look on my face. "What did you see...?"

I looked around us, there were a couple of other Jedi out here...some training Padawans of their own. "Not here...." I told her as I looked around at all the possible witnesses. Kala caught my gaze before she understood. Without saying anything, we stood up and walked toward my room...my new room. As at the end of one's apprenticeship, your room can change as when you are a Padawan...they like to keep you close to your Jedi Master. So when you become a Knight...you don't need your Master's guidance as much as you did. They should have my new room ready by now...it's been a couple of hours since I'd left the council chambers.

~~~

Kala and I walked toward my new room when Kala suddenly stopped. "What is it...?" I asked her, a little bit concerned.

"This is the hall my room's within." Kala just told me before we started our walk back up.

After a couple more minutes of walking and I stopped in front of a door, the door to my new room. Kala turned around to face the door on the other side of the hall, parallel to mine.

"Your room's right across from mine...!" Kala seemed so happy. "We could have sleepovers and no one would be the wiser...!"

"Have you been reading those holo-books again...?" I questioned my friend.

"W-what...?" Kala asked me. "No...." I gave her a look. "Fine...maybe."

"Kala...." I stated...that wasn't really an answer to my question.

"Nova...Trials...." Kala told me in the same tone I'd just used on her.

"Fine...." I stated before I opened the door to my room and we entered.

It looked the same as before only now the room was slightly larger...slightly...and it also had a small balcony instead of a huge window that overlooked the towering cityscape outside.

Kala entered the room behind me and I locked the door before I went to go sit on the bed, it was slightly softer than my last one. New ones typically are before they get worn. Kala joined me as she pulled up a chair from a nearby desk, putting it to sit beside me. We then started our private chat.