Star Wars the Untold Story: Episode I - the Line of the Dark side #Wattys2016

Obi-Wan's discovery

As soon as I woke up the next day, I went to Jem's room to wake him up. It wasn't so early and yet he wanted to oversleep. I couldn't let him however, strict discipline was part of the Jedi training, and I already slept for too long.

"But I want to sleep."

"It's time for your training."

"But ..."

"We are not on a holiday!" I insisted. "Get your clothes on, I'll be waiting outside."

He finally nodded and I sighed with relief. I had a padawan and I really didn't want to mess up on my first full day as his teacher.

The sunny day that was supposed to be great turned into a bit of a nightmare, when my little brother ran towards me with a bunch of kids that I assumed were his friends.

"Can you show us your lightsaber?"

"No," I answered.

"But ..."

"No buts! How many times, Janei, my lightsaber is a deadly weapon, not a toy!"

I  wasn't entirely sure he was listening to what I wanted to say as he proceeded to turn towards his friends and started pretending to be me, mocking what I was saying in a silly high-pitched voice.

"I'm a Jedi Knight and I'm oh so important ..."

I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath. I was old enough to not get upset over his childish behavious, and I was also a Jedi Knight after all. I wasn't supposed to get angry with him. Anger leads to the Dark Side, as Master Yoda said for every single emotion ever.

Jem ran out of the house and I smiled at him. We slowly walked away from the village to where our ship landed, and I couldn't help but notice that the boy was looking back towards the town as we walked, and I assumed he was hoping to make friends with Janei's friends.

"First, I need to check on something," I said when we reached our ship, "Wait outside and meditate". The boy obediently nodded without asking me any further questions about my instructions. I was glad I was doing at least something right.

I entered the control room and just as I was checking if everything was still there I got a hologram call.

"Oh, good Jedi Knight, I call to hear the wisdom of the day!" Of course it was Obi-Wan.

I rolled my eyes. "Please, stop it already, we're too old for that sort of stuff. Besides, aren't you supposed to tell me what you've found in the archives?"

"First answer me what you are not doing on Terraith."

"Our ship lost its power on our way, we get spare parts tomorrow."

"Right," he nodded, "anyway, I've been to the archives. And the whole thing is strange, since it wasn't the first Terraith incident to date."

"Wait, what?"

"I had to dig deep into the whole thing, it's strangely hard to find, but most noticeable fact that I found is that every few years either a Jedi master disappeared or their apprentice died on a mission to Terraith."

"What are you saying?"

"Your master's master and all the masters in that line disappeared on Terraith after successfully finishing training of only one apprentice whose predecessors all died in accidents on Terraith."

"That's strange," I frowned. I also noticed how he said the name of the planet  with a little bit more emphasis and with distrust than the other parts of his sentences.

"Listen," he said, "I don't think it's wise to go to Terraith."

"It is my mission to find out what's behind it."

"Sherilynn, at least wait until I convince Qui-Gon to go to master Yoda ..."

"If you'd really like, come. But I'm not waiting; I was doing so for years."

Obi-Wan sighted. "So, tomorrow evening?"

"I'd rather say the day after tomorrow morning."

"Alright then. I'd love to chat some more but ... ugh all this bureaucracy and politics are killing me. I have to go."

I grinned, glad I didn't have to attend meetings with the Supreme Chancellor as part of my mission.Just the fact that the Trade Federation was not my business made me feel better, even with the news Obi-Wan brought about the events that happened on Terraith way more than I was comfortable with.

"But before that, the wisdom of the day."

I took a deep breath, knowing that he was going to say that. "You can find your family at unlikely places."

"That's deep," he nodded, "may the Force be with you."

"And with you," I smiled.

The call was over, but it left me feeling empty for some reason.

Jem's training went great. The boy was a good listener and we got along very well. As I was explaining him what he did wrong during training, I heard footsteps coming closer. I looked in the direction of where they were coming from and noticed my mother and brother walking towards us.

"Sherly!" Janei happily exclaimed, running at me and hugging me without any warning.

"Why doesn't he stop?" I asked my mother, tired of the boy who was squeezing my waist way more tightly than I was comfortable with.

"He missed you."

"I didn't even know I have a brother," I responded matter-of factly.

"I know, it must have been quite a shock for you to discover. But anyway, I brought you two a snack," she smiled at me without complaining about how I acted around my younger sibling.

"Also, Aleynn and Exeinn ..."

"Oh, those two. Don't take them seriously."

She pushed the basket full of goods into my hands.

"I'm not taking them seriously. But they did try to insult me."

"I know, they're just like that. When you're finished here, dinner will be waiting for you."

I nodded. While we were eating, I was thinking about what Obi-Wan told me about Terraith. We had to go there because I had to know. Maybe it was a little bit selfish, I admit, but after I'd find out what was up with the planet, I wold maybe be able to move on from the events of the past.

It was late evening when we returned to the family house. I wasn't as hungry as Jem was, or hungry at all, so I went directly to bed.