A Few Thousand Lifetimes

Chapter 9: Younglings, and Clones

The members from the Jedi Temple had gathered at the foot of the grand staircase, the Jedi-Masters in the very front, looking at the entrance warily, ready to fight at a moments notice, along with the other Jedi behind them. Behind the Jedi, the Padawans had formed a protective circle around the younglings and were attempting to comfort them. The many clones were standing on either side of the staircase, watching carefully for instruction.

A sudden noise at the top of the staircase startled some of the Jedi who had been so focused on trying to sense what was going on outside of the castle they hadn't noticed Princess Allura and Coran approaching the staircase. Just as the Padawans and younglings began to turn towards the princess the main door opened and the Paladins of Voltron entered, along with Anakin Skywalker, all looking very regal and intimidating. It obviously didn't affect Obi-Wan Kenobi as he turned to stare at Anakin with an eyebrow raised, his body language clearly stating, 'What did you do this time?'

Anakin rubbed his neck awkwardly "Hey Master Obi-Wan, uh, what are the chances you'd believe me if I told you it was her fault?" He asked, gesturing at Delmira, who rolled her eyes and shook her head in exasperation before turning to look at him in an amused, deadpan stare.

In the meantime, Pidge glanced down at her watch, finding it was just a little before their normal breakfast time she began to move in the direction of the kitchen while calling out to the rest of everyone "Since we're all up anyway why not go have Breakfast, I'm STARVING."

Hunk nodded along in agreement, "We've got enough leftover's from when Delmira cooked breakfast that we only need to whip up a few things and we'll be good." He said, already following Pidge down the hallway that would take them to the kitchen.

Shrugging the remaining paladins started walking to the kitchens, being joined by everyone else who decided they were hungry as well.

Falling back slightly Delmira turned to face a group of younglings she didn't recognize, "So what do you guys think of the Castle of Lions so far, do you like it."

The younglings stared at her in intimidation and awe. Delmira grinned sweetly at them, "Come on, you can tell me! Do you like your rooms?"

"Uh, Um, the-well I think the gardens are really pretty, Ms. Paladin." said one of the younglings, a blue female Twilek

"A-and I think that the training room looked cool Lady Paladin." a young male Cosian commented. Some of the other padawans nodded their agreement

Delmira smiled and laughed, "Just call me Delmira, please. What do you say to going exploring together after lunch and you can help me pick out a favorite room?" Delmira said, winking at them. "Meet me in the entryway after lunch and we can get started, in the meantime, I've got to go catch up with the other Paladins."

Delmira jogged forward in an attempt to catch up with the rest of the group, smiling contentedly at the excited whispers she heard as she departed from the cluster of young children.

She quickly caught up with a small group of around 4 Jedi masters who were walking slower than the rest and seemed to be discussing something.

Approaching slowly she made her presence known to the other force users known, "Is everything ok? " Delmira asked, "You seem bothered by something, is there anything I can do to help?"

One of the Jedi in the group, Shaak Ti turned to face Delmira, eyeing her carefully before nodding. "While we thank you for allowing us to stay here with us in our current position we do need to continue training our younglings. We need to go over how exactly we are planning to work together, as today has reminded us, we are now in the midst of another war once again and it would be best to discuss tactics while we are ahead. " The Torguta explained

"Of course," Delmira nodded as well, seeing the importance of what the Jedi was saying, "We have plenty of extra rooms for you to work on training your younger members and I completely agree that it is in our best interests to see how well our forces will work together. If you tell Princess Allura what kind of rooms you think you're going to need she can make a list of rooms that would be best suited to your needs. I was going to take the Padawans and Younglings exploring later if you or some of the other Masters would like to come along and scope out some of the rooms for yourselves."

By the time Delmira had finished speaking the small group of 5 had made their way to the dining room and parted, nodding to each other. Making her way over to the little buffet that was laid out with all of the food she had made yesterday. Delmira grabbed a plate and filled it with pancakes, fruit, and a few other items before turning to find a place to sit.

Rex POV

Shrugging I nodded to the rest of the 501st and began following the General Skywalker to the cafeteria putting my blaster its's hoster as turned.

" --training room looked cool Lady Paladin"

I glanced over to see the black paladin chatting with a group of younglings. I shook my head and to walk over to the hallway to the cafeteria, looking around one more to make sure none of the shinies got left behind.

I emerged into the dining hall and was immediately greeted with the smell of food, good food. The kind of food that the republic never had enough to share with its thousands of clones, not when the force users housed there required more energy and food than those without the ability.

Grabbing a plate of something that I'd occasionally seen some of the Jedi eating back at the temple I drifted over to the area where the clones could be found eating, rolling my eyes at some of the shinies, who were sitting as close to their Jedi knight as they could while still sitting with the rest of the clones. They hadn't matured enough to realize that they were just soldiers and therefore expendable. Moving past all the excited shinies and half-matured cadets over to where the rest of the 501st was sitting and eating.

Sliding into the space between Heavy and Mixer, I lifted my fork up to my mouth and felt my eyes widen briefly in surprise at how good the unknown food was. I was in the process of lifting another forkful to my mouth when everyone turned to stare at me in shock and slight awe. Confused I raised an eyebrow and after a moment began slowly lowering down my fork. I turned slightly to face mixer, intending to ask him why everyone was looking at me like that, only to startle when the black paladin plopped down with a plate of some other unknown food in the space between me and Mixer that I had assumed was too small for someone to sit in.

"Hello Gentlemen"