Guardian | Obi-wan's new padawan

Chapter 5: Life at the Temple

The other younglings were, unsurprisingly, leagues ahead of me. They'd been at the temple for as long as they could remember, their days filled with coursework, saber training, and force control. And I couldn't even speak basic.

The first weeks in the temple saw me running around all over the place in an attempt to make it to all my classes which I barely understood, which included extra language classes, and fumbling with force control and saber practice. My head felt ready to split on the best of days, the bustling planet around me still very overwhelming without someone else shielding me. Master Yoda and Lergo did their best to instruct me, but it was still difficult to concentrate like that for days on end. This usually resulted in me falling asleep face-first on the table when I tried to study, or snoozing on the meditation cushions. My clanmates knew better than to laugh at me when in the presence of the masters and our clan master, but when they weren't around, it was free game.

The usual group pulled at my tail as I tried to meditate, talked me down when I tried to study basic, and laughed at me when another droid was able to sneak up on me, making me jump into the air, hissing and fur puffing up.

Safe to say I'd become quite the lone wolf in those times, avoiding my other clanmates wherever possible, retreating into quiet corners in order to study and meditate. Of course, master Lergo took notice and encouraged me to try and make friends. He didn't want me to isolate myself. I promised him I'd try. Of course, I wanted to make friends, the problem was that my clanmates didn't want to be friends with me.

It wasn't until I was months underway into my youngling training, and had mostly mastered basic, I'd make one.

Master Drallig, our saber instructor, was showing mine and another clan some basic stances for form three, our training sabers twirling around in an array of colours as we mimicked him the best we could.

"Well done everyone." The master said as we finished another string of movements, all of us now standing in the last defensive pose. "If you all would excuse me for a moment, I have to check on something. Please take a seat and read through the forms before I return."

We all disengaged our blades, and I quickly moved to the corner of the dojo to go over the stances of form three, hoping to go unnoticed.

"See, wolf girl still can't even hold her saber right. No way you'll ever be able to master Soresu like that!"

I perked up. What was that all about?

I turned to see a group of younglings of the other clan surrounding another youngling, a white Shistavanen girl. From the looks of it, she'd taken to the same tactic as me, scurrying away to a corner in the hopes of being left alone. Only, she hadn't been as successful. One of the offending younglings, a green Twi'lek boy, took hold of her book on Soresu and threw it to the side. It made my fur bristle.

Get a hold of yourself, Maxine. Anger was not the Jedi way, as master Lergo liked to remind us all.

The Shistavanen girl looked like she was trying the same, her fur bristling with anger as the boy continued boasting. "It's sad you even need to read those books. Even the youngest of us can master a form as simple as this." He laughed, his three henchmen laughing along. "Why do you even keep trying, we all know you'll be sent to the Agri Corps before long."

All right, that was it! It wasn't hard to sense her distress and anger flowing through the room, blooming in dark blues and reds. Sensitive to others as ever, I felt it like I was the one being berated. The anger, it burned, like a smoldering fire in the night. I shouldn't let it affect me, I knew that well enough, but the oblivious glee coming from the four boys across the room put me over the edge.