Everything Broken: A Star Wars Story

Chapter Five: Bes, Wolffe, and Missing Friends

The temple was quiet, the soft roar of engines in the sky outside Kidara's window were barely even audible. It was strange. Her Togruta friend had been missing for a week now. Kidara didn't sleep. Obi-Wan didn't sleep either. Anakin wouldn't even eat.

Ashoka was missing and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Kidara knew she was alive, the small tug on their bond every once and a while kept her hopeful. Anakin was faring terribly, feeling every second of Ashoka's panic, hunger, pain, and loss. But not once did she ever give Anakin a hint at where she was, who she was with, or if she was coming back. Kidara had insisted Obi-Wan halt her training shortly so he could look after Anakin. He was nothing short of an absolute mess, and honestly, she couldn't blame him. She instead looked for a distraction, not to forget about Ashoka, but to force herself from potentially endangering the togruta by distracting her through their bond. In the past couple of rotations she had attended technique clinics and classes to practice different forms of attacking and defense. Kidara had hoped it would help her strengthen her grip on her saber, but it mostly made her frustrated. The other padawans who attended only seemed to make fun of her. Now, instead, she wandered aimlessly through the temple, the sound of her boots heel lightly clicking against the floor being her only focus. She obviously should have been paying more attention, a sweep to the back of her ankles effortlessly knocking her off her feet.

Kidara reached for her lightsaber but did not ignite it, only pointing it sharply at her attacker. But something felt familiar. Like a string had been suddenly pulled taut in her mind, like someone was yanking on an old bond.

Bes?

"Haha! You are distracted, Kidd." He spoke, propping his long wooden staff under her chin. "You may have vision but I have something better," He spoke cockily, "Focus."

Kidara sighed, smiled, and clipped her lightsaber back onto the safety of her belt. "Bes!"

The blind padawan laughed, and held out his hand to help Kidara to her feet. "I'm honestly surprised, Kidd. How did you not see me? or sense me?" Bes tossed his staff in-between his hands, catching it in its kyber grip.

"I've got a lot on my mind lately," Kidara spoke carefully, trying not to get Bes to push further. Instead she tried changing the subject. "Still no saber?"

"Unfortunately, no." Bes sighed, rotating his staff in his grip. "The masters still don't trust me, even if I can out-spar all of them."

"One day they'll trust you Bes, I'm sure of it." Kidara put her hand on Bes's shoulder in warm regard. Bes had been her closest friend when they were younglings, they grew up together, being in the same age group. Bes was blinded when he was barely seven years old—having been caught in the line of blaster fire on a republic starship during wartime—so he had to learn how to train as a Jedi without his vision. One of the major downsides to such an injury was his inability to wield a proper lightsaber, only being allowed a bowstaff with his padawan kyber crystal imbedded in its grip. Of course, Bes would take this as no disadvantage, and quickly became the most skilled bowstaff users in the entire temple, even without his vision. Another downside to Bes's lack of sight was the inability to use the force like many of the Jedi; Bes could not move things or manipulate objects with the force; because he couldn't see them. However, he used the force in a way someone with their vision could not. Bes was incredibly skilled and attuned with the living force, explaining it as "always being able to see someones force signature as they live and breath, but never seeing them." Bes had always used this to his advantage, being able to sense someone before he was in their line of sight.

"Its actually been quite a while since I've practiced sparring with a staff, are you particularly busy?" Kidara asked, resuming their conversation.