Jedi Storytime: The Jedi Queen

Once Upon a Time

If there was one thing that got students of any age excited, it was a field trip, a time on a school day when students actually got to be outside of school and not get in trouble for it. The only downside students usually saw, they had to write a report about it later.

Field trips could be anywhere. The best ones were usually to, dare you dream, amusement parks. But, most of them were usually to educational places like a museum, an aquarium, or an observatory. Today, though, Windy Falls Academy students were taking a field trip to the zoo, where there were lots of animals to see.

There were big animals and small animals; tall animals and short animals; animals with lots of fur and animals with not so much fur; animals with scales, animals with feathers, and animals with very bushy or very strong tails. Each of them was beautiful in its own way, and a lot of them came from lots of different places.

"Ooh, look! Pandas!" Comedia exclaimed, running to another cage.

"Comedia, stay with the group!" Myra said, going after the alicorn, but she was about as fast as some of the zoo animals ran. If Comedia wasn't wearing the vest Master Mundi made her wear, she might've been mistaken for an escaped exhibit.

Comedia loved panda bears. The markings on their eyes made their eyes look so big, and the way they moved around was funny and cute.

Boba and Omega, on the other hand, were watching the meerkats as they popped their heads out of the holes, and it made them laugh seeing them all pop their heads out from different places so fast.

"It looks like that whac-a-mole game at the arcade." Omega giggled.

"They're cute, but they're pretty vicious if provoked." Boba said.

"So are the horses. And the little kids too."

"Good point."

Boba honestly wasn't sure which of the younger kids back home he was more afraid to provoke, his sister Gabby since she had powerful magic, or Goldie since she could transform into a literal wolf.

All the students loved looking at all the animals.

Myra always loved visiting the zoo, especially when she got to know more about her heritage. She knew most of her heritage resided in Haruun Kal, where her father and her maternal grandfather were born. On Haruun Kal, there were lots of beautiful animals and beautiful lands. And so many intriguing traditions existed there, but their most cherished tradition was respecting and honoring the great circle of life. Granted, this galaxy had more than one circle of life, but something they all had in common, each had its own cycle that ran and needed to be kept in balance.

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"Look at those little guys," Vince laughed, looking at the lion cubs as they were playing.

Those little cubs reminded Vince of some of the baby animals he helped take care of at the animal shelter. Lions were basically the wild version of domesticated cats, and maybe you couldn't keep them in your house, but they were fascinating nonetheless. Even if you could have a lion as a pet, you'd need a pretty big litter box, and there was no way anyone was going to want to clean that up everyday.

"The kings and queens of the jungle," said Myra, looking at the lion cubs.

One of the cubs got a little mischievous and started to play with the father lion's tail like a kitten chasing a loose string.

Myra chuckled at that. One other thing she liked about seeing the animals, they actually had some things in common with humans and other bipeds in the galaxy. The biggest thing they had in common, they all had different kinds of families. Some of the babies only grew up with a mom, others grew up with both parents. But some animals don't have parents at all to take care of them or protect them. Nature could be a cruel place, but that was also something Myra found fascinating about the animals; in such a dangerous place, there were those who found a way out; they survived and thrived. In the wild, it was survival of the fittest. Not too different from high school, you could probably say.

The father lion yawned, not seeming bothered by the fact that his tail was now a chew toy.

"Hmm, I wonder who sleeps more, that lion or my cat Jingles." Boba wondered out loud.

"I'm pretty sure Mufasa in there sleeps longer." Vince said. "I've spent enough time around cats to know."

"Do you know why they have fur if they live in hot climates?" Omega asked.

"No, but I've always wondered that too."

"Yup," said Comedia. "Some things about animals are probably just meant to remain a mystery."

"Look who's talking." Myra joked.

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Of course, no trip to the zoo was complete without browsing the gift shop for a souvenir.

Myra promised Kade she'd bring him back something nice from the gift shop. Kade loved animals, and he was sad that his big sister got to go on a field trip to the zoo today and he was stuck just going to school. So, she took lots of pictures of the kangaroos especially for Kade.

"G'day, Myra." Comedia said, imitating an Aussie accent as she tried on a slouch hat. Then she returned to her normal voice. "What do you think?"

"You look good." Myra said. She was looking at some of the jigsaw puzzles for sale, trying to see if there was one Kade would like. "Ugh. I've checked this entire shelf, and I can't find a puzzle with kangaroos on it."

"How about this one instead?"

Comedia picked up a puzzle that was a picture of a giraffe with a bunch of balloons in its mouth.

"Kade already has one like that." Myra said.

And then Myra found something she thought would be perfect.

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When Myra got home that evening, Kade was excited for his big sister to tell him all about her trip to the zoo.

"Did you bring me back a present?" Kade asked.

"Yes, I did, Kade." Myra said.

Myra reached into her bag and pulled out a book with a red cover.

"A book?" Kade said curiously. He hadn't expected that.

"It's a really special book, Kade. It's a story with lots of different animals in it. I think you'll really like it."

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So, when it was bedtime for Kade, Myra helped tuck him in and got out the book she got for him to read to him before he went to sleep.

"Alright, Kade. You ready?"

"Uh-huh." Kade nodded, cuddling Kade Jr. the plush kangaroo.

Myra opened the book and began to read the story.

"Once upon a long time ago, there was a kingdom that, like many, was found on a great circle of life."