The Arrogance of the Jedi

Part 1 - Lore Traveler and the Jedi Academy: Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

This part of the walk was always my favorite. The leaves of the silverberry bushes reached out into the path. Their feathered crimson leaves bounced in the slightest breeze and tickled our shoulders as we passed. I was tall as my dad now so we both could peek just above their height to keep a lookout, but we didn't worry. We didn't have anything of value but herbs, seeds, and berries.

Mother always warned us about that part of the woods and always insisted that they wear armor because those feathered leaves grew so thick and were comforting places for people to hide. I'm not sure what they would hide there for or what they'd want to steal from us. My dad was following me, stepping in the rust dust where I stepped. 

"You're feet are as large as mine." He'd tease. My dad was a bit small in stature but tall for his species. He was shorter than my mom and some people found that odd. I got her height and his curls, her attitude and his grace, his teal cheek spots, and her solid black eyes with the silver slits. 

I zigzagged and hopped along the path, deviating as much as I could on the narrow path, landing in the crimson feathers every now and then. And with the next hop, the whirl in my sight turned into the burning sharp pain in my shoulder. Another whirl and I heard my dad cry out and fall forward onto me, and as I fell, I felt the same pain strike between my shoulder blades before the crimson feathers that cradled me disappeared into the black.

***

"Her armor would have stopped it, and she would have been able to shield her father." I heard a voice, but it sounded like it was my mother's voice filtered through water. I tried to open my eyes, but I could only make slight slits to see her shape moving in the doorway. I don't even have armor, I thought. What is she talking about?

"She doesn't have any." My mother's voice again but no longer awash. I tried to open my eyes again. I wanted her to see that I was okay, that I was trying hard to see her and hear her. Her two voices quieted and weaved together and I tried to focus on one to hear, then everything went black again.

Then my eyes opened with such lightness, almost as if my eyelids had lifted then dropped a heavy weight and became lighter than had ever been. I worried for a moment if I would be able to close them with ease again.

She squeezed what looked like ambergris into a mug and poured in some filtered spice juice. She ground down the root of the wetland nectar flower and grated part of some silver pod into it. Then she added hot water and chanted. A swirl of cursive-runic letters rose from the steam. Then she blew on it and a flame rose before forming icy crystals across the top of the potion. Then she tapped sharply on the crystal and it broke, cooling the cure as she handed it to me to drink.

My mother then walked into the room, and I could see how much she was the younger version of the woman handing me the drink. "Drink my love." My mother said. I pushed with all my might to sit up a little to sip. The slightest draw of breath and the liquid rose from the mug to meet my lips. As it touched my tongue, I could feel the pain of my wounds in a sharp instant then no longer.

I figured that she was going to make more for my dad, but she sat and watched me. I wanted to ask her why she wasn't making some for him, but as much as tried, I could not talk. I felt the words swirling in my head and on my tongue, but I could not make them come out.

I woke up on what I thought was the next day, but my hair had grown longer and looser and covered my shoulder and wrapped across my chest, and I felt no more pain nor fatigue.

"How long was I asleep?"I asked my mom as I sat up ready to throw off the covers and see my dad.

"Just overnight, my love."