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

Chapter Ten

I laid down on the bed, still thinking about the day's events, when I saw the odd shape lying on my table. I sat up slowly, pondering what the little thing could be. When my angle allowed me full view of the item, my eyes widened. A wrist-comm. Feeling too tired to get up, I pulled the thing to me telekinetically. On the electric green display was a yellow text with a title stating it was from General Swift. 'This is yours. Leave a message, when you have received it'. I tapped the thing and was faced with an intercom where yellow letters shone on the otherwise green screen. I stared at it wide-eyed. While I had once had a wrist-comm with all manners of state-of-the-art translation applications, courtesy of Basic being my second language, it had been a while since I had seen it and a much longer while since I'd used it. When I'd stared dumbfounded at the device long enough, I shook my head clear and hurried to send back my response to The General. When I exited, I learned, The General had added another contact to the device. Master Lon's name glared at me from the screen. I hadn't gotten any messages from him. I longed to speak to Aaron, though, so I tapped the call-button, hoping his Master would pick up. I sat with my legs crossed as I waited for Master Drime to appear on the screen. It only took a few seconds before a miniature of the Master's figure formed in the air above the screen in a green hue much like the one the screen held. The Master tilted his head, when he saw the rendition of my figure. "Aayla?", he asked. "I see you have gotten a wrist-comm". His eyes darted to some part of my own minifigure before looking into the scanner of his wrist-comm. "Is Aaron with you?", I asked before he could say anything. He nodded. "Aaron, come here!", he called. Aaron's figure came into view on my wrist-comms holo-projector. His jaw dropped, his eyes fixed on the spot, his master had looked at just a few seconds before. "Padawan Moon", he said, a wide grin on his face, I couldn't help but return. "Soooooo, who braided your hair?", asked my excitable best friend. "It's General Swift", I replied, earning loud cheers and fist-pumps into the air from Aaron. Master Drime smiled broadly. "Now, before I leave you two to speak privately, I just wanna say, I told you so. Have a good day, Padawan Moon". The holo-screen blurred, then refocused on Aaron who now stood alone. "When, where and how? On the spot, now - Speak". And I told him. His face slowly dropped, as I reached further into the story, though his smile was most certainly still there at the end of it.

"Well, congratulations", Aaron said hesitantly. Mid-call, Aaron had banged on my door and he now sat beside me, comms switched off. He seemed as bewildered about his feelings about the event as I was. I'm Curra Swift's apprentice. Yeah, I was definitely proud. That was the most prominent feeling inside of me, though the doubt was there too. "Hey, wanna go for alberry crepes? I heard the refectories are serving them as a celebration of the end of the tournament", Aaron said. It was very evident on his posture that alberry crepes were amongst his favorite desserts. "Come on, let's go", Aaron said, as I caved.

Several temple rooms and long hallways later, we reached the nearest refectory in the temple. Sounds of cutlery and plates rang through the massive dining hall with steam fleeting from the adjacent kitchen, which was filled to the brim with running chefs. I knew this because the kitchen and the dining hall was divided by a half wall topped by a table top whereon stood the buffet prepared by the kitchen staff. Aaron and I walked over to a group of empty stools by one of the long tables. Aaron used a holo-screen embedded in the table to glance at the menu. Regrettably, we are not only here for crepes. I scanned the contents of the list of food, too. "Hmmmm, I think, I should go for the fried gatter", Aaron said. Although Jedi were allowed to eat anything we wanted, our diet was mostly vegetarian, which was represented in Aaron's choice of meal. I scrolled further down the screen before coming to my own decision and we went up to the buffet. I stood and picked up noodles and dumped them onto my plate, when someone smashed their plate down hard beside me, making me jump. I looked up into the eyes of... Oh no... The eyes of Youngling Starrl. He looked at my braid. No, not looked, stared. His fury made me feel so tiny, when he looked back at my face. "Who?", he practically snarled. I stiffened, his yellow eyes like the lights of a transport about to barrel into me and squish me underneath its heavy weight until some part of the roaring machine's underbelly stabbed through me. "She is the apprentice of General Swift now. Leave her alone". My friend puffed up his chest. Padawan Starrl's eyes glowed in response. He raised his fisted hand. I raised my arms to block the blow and... A figure was in front of me, rapidly moving away from me. Their white robes flowed dramatically. I recognized the attire of the Temple Guards. I stared after The Guard, as they dragged Padawan Starrl to the opposite side of the room. Phew. Whispers started slithering through the room; "General Swift's Padawan", "His apprentice", "That girl". People turned in my direction, their chairs screeching, fingers pointed and eyes wide. I shrunk, hoping I would fit into the shadows as I shoved Aaron in the direction of our seats fleeing the scene. I fixed my eyes on the floor to avoid eye-contact. "You just had to say that, didn't you?", I spoke in the general direction of the shoes moving along with mine. Feeling unnerved by the many stares and the obvius scrutiny of my person, I tucked at Aaron's sleeve, leading the way up to my room. "Let's eat somewhere else", I said in hushed tones. Aaron looked at me, an odd expression on his face. He enjoyed the attention, I realized. "Are you sure? What about the cutlery? The cooks hate it when we take it out of here", he asked. "They won't care, so long as we make sure to put it on the wash tray", I shot back. He stiffened. I paused. "Please Aaron, let's go", I pleaded. "They are staring". Looking around, I realized they were in fact still staring, but not at me. They were all - as one - staring at the exact opposite side of the room where a silhouette stood in a secondary entrance to this refectory. I felt the pull from the force before my eyes recognized the figure in the doorway. General Swift strode into the room. Silence engulfed us. I tensed. "'Master' or 'General will suffice". I tensed as I recalled the General's anger when he had received me as his Padawan. As the General came closer, keeping eye contact with... With me, he gave me a tiny nod in greeting, his face obviously carefully devoid of emotion. I came to a slow realization. If I left the room now, it would look like I had fled from him.