Star Wars- A Jedi's Journey One: The Padawan's Struggle

Chapter One

There is no emotion, there is peace.

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.

There is no passion, there is serenity.

There is no chaos, there is harmony.

There is no death, there is the Force

I was repeating the words inside my head, as I walked into the room. The lion clan, whom I had been attending the Jedi Academy with, were all walking together with me. Our head teacher, Sholi Quare, was leading the way through the hall. Today was the day. The day, I would go through my Initiate trials and possibly emerge as a Padawan on the other side. I could have a Master dubbing me their Padawan. Or I could at least graduate and become someone, they could select as their Padawan. If I didn't graduate, I would go into the service corpse - although I did have the opportunity to go back to my biological family. I walked beside Aaron. "Do you think, I'll make it, Aayla?", he asked. "If anyone can, Aaron, it's you. Your lightsaber skills are nothing short of impressive", I reassured him, and I thought back a couple of months:

I sat on a tree branch, reading my book. I had always been contempt with reading and learning about force abilities, in hopes of becoming Rubel Klaar's apprentice. His use of a forceshield amazed me. I smiled at the thought, and conjured my own barrier around me. "Another shield?", Aaron asked from the ground below me. "I don't get your obsession with force abilities, Aayla. How will healing help you, if you're in the middle of a battle, fighting alongside a clone squad?", he had asked. "Conjuring a strong shield will prevent me from being hit", I replied, as he beat his training droid. Again. Aaron sighed. I continued reading. "Woah, Aaron, did you know that immense control of the force can allow a person to manipulate fluent material?". I couldn't believe it. "No, Aayla, I did not know. I don't think most masters know it either". He sounded exasperated. I looked at his bottle of water. "Only if you promise to spar with me afterwards", Aaron said, pointing at me with the bottle. I nodded, smiling. I closed my eyes, remembering the words of the book. Immense concentration. I had been meditating five times everyday, since I was enrolled in the academy. It was a part of the curriculum. I locked out the world. The sounds disappeared into the distance. I felt the surroundings around me through the force. I felt all the movements around me. They didn't matter, all except the water, which was moving slightly. The force flowed in it, but in another consistency, than in the tree. It was slower, but not weaker. Further from me, but not out of reach. Immense control. I felt the force flow through me, speaking to me. Immense will. I wanted to do this. I felt a reassuring jolt. My midi-chlorians communicated with the force, and I communicated with them. 'Come to me' I called to the water. I felt the movement in the water. I felt it around me, rushing to me. It felt different to control the water than air or any solid material. 'Surround me'. I had a picture inside my mind. The water was floating in little droplets suspended in-air. "Woah", Aaron exclaimed loudly. I opened my eyes. The picture was not just in my mind. Water was floating around me. More water than I had anticipated. This was definitely not just water from a bottle. My concentration was broken and the water rained down. "Hey! Watch it!", Aaron complained, as the water drenched his clothes. I giggled, jumped down, and called my training saber to me. "Go change your clothes. We can train when you come back". I didn't think, I had enough skill to pull the water out of his clothes again. Aaron left, and I swung around the training saber a little, while he was gone. I stood on the grass, as I noticed that the little pond in the middle of our training ground had been drained a little. 'That's the extra water', I thought. The Jedi academy engulfed the training area to all sides. The concrete walls rose towards the sky, which was turning orange. If Aaron wanted to train before curfew, he really ought to hurry. The tree I had just sat on was just in front of one of the gray walls. I had been facing the grand entrance to the academy and the temple. Behind it loomed three of the towers of the Jedi temple. Aaron walked out, wearing dry clothes. He drew his training saber, and we clashed. I ended up on the ground, his saber above me. "That was way too easy, Aayla. Soon, we will have to pass the trials, and you're not committed to a form yet, are you?", he asked. "I'm not committed to violence, Aaron", I answered. I could feel a slight prickle on my skin. It was a slight activation of my healer abilities. I got up, and put my hand on the slight bruising I had been able to give Aaron, before falling onto my butt. Most people closed their eyes to heal in order to help their concentration. I didn't. Technically, I didn't have to touch the wounds either, but it did make it much easier. Healing was an ability, which was strongly connected to the living force. If I had distance to the wound, I would have to send the healing energies through the air using the cosmic force, and that meant it would require more concentration and power. Green light engulfed his bruise, as I healed him. Sometimes, people would ask me how I did it, and I could do nothing but blame it on instinct. The funny thing about healing was that every force-sensitive could do it, but it was not all who had a gift with it, like I did. "Thanks", Aaron said. The sun was moving below the walls of the training ground, and we walked inside.