T'Aqol | Chapter 2: The Code

Chapter 2: The Code

Training to become a Jedi taught me a lot of valuable things. The Jedi Code taught me to keep an open mind and to listen to others. If something wasn't going right, you tried to resolve the issue as kindly and peacefully as possible. It brought no good to anyone to be rude or to cause violence. That was the first thing I learned after I started my Initiate training.

Learning to understand the force and the Jedi Code was difficult at first, but with time my mind opened and I was able to grasp the force with ease. Master Yoda told me he saw I could understand and communicate with the force in a different way than others could. I could speak to others through the force without actually talking. I communicated with my classmates through signing and the force, I made sure to be patient with my classmates as they had to adjust to having someone who did not speak their language verbally, but it was rewarding when they began signing and making an effort to have the same patience with me as I did with them.

The first friend I made was a Zabrakian girl named Lema Restiso, she was also from Tatooine, but her and her mother were slaves. Early into our Initiate training we sensed each other during meditation. We had both just been taken from our homes, we both could sense our feeling of loss. I like to believe the force brought us together after we each had lost someone we loved.

After Initiate training she approached me and asked about where I was from. I tried my best to communicate with her through signing, but I used the force to help her understand me better. I told her about how I was from Tatooine and came from a small Tusken Raider tribe. She told me how she was also from Tatooine, but was a slave. Master Kit Fisto came one day after sensing her force sensitivity and offered her mother to free her. Since then she's missed her mother, and not a day went by where she didn't think of her. We both grew very close after that day, sharing stories of our childhood, even though we didn't have much of a childhood before the Jedi Order.

Over the course of the next few years we trained together and grew as Initiates. I helped her learn how to sign and speak through the force so we could communicate without issue. As we got older we grew stronger, but I could tell we both excelled in the force and did not wish to use combat when it came to lightsaber training. Lema thought to resolve issues through diplomacy, she didn't always agree with the council, especially as we grew older. She showed me how to not use violence, even though being a warrior was part of my way of life. I told her I'd only ever use a lightsaber if it was to stop me or those close to me from dying.

Lema and I didn't really talk to anyone else during or outside of training. However, there was a day we had been put into teams of four for a training exercise. It was then we would meet our other close friends, two Nautolans named Hapa Laena and Chūsei Dequisto. It took some time for us to all get to know each other and get along. It was hard for them to understand me at first, Lema had to translate a lot of what I was saying, but it made our training better. We were basically forced to communicate and listen to each other and work as a team more than any other team. When we weren't in training we worked to better our skills outside of the classroom. We meditated together and helped strengthen each other's abilities so we could all benefit and grow together. It was important that we all could become great Jedi someday. That was something I wanted for all my classmates and fellow Jedi.

As training and learning progressed, I found it harder to follow some elements of the Jedi Code. I strived to follow the code as strictly as possible, but I feel every Jedi, even Master Yoda, has their flaws. I found myself growing a connection to Lema, and I believed I could sense a connection she had to me. There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force. That is the Jedi Code. As a Tusken Raider, I found it difficult to allow harmony, it is Tusken nature to be chaotic, we are warriors. I tried my best to maintain my culture while still following the code, but it was hard to not hold attachment for my friends, as well as for Lema.

I confronted Lema the next day after training about how she felt about the Jedi Code. She expressed how she didn't agree with every aspect of it, but did her best to follow it. As training to become Jedi she felt it was her responsibility to maintain the code for now. She hoped to possibly change the code and the way the council works when she was a Jedi Master someday. I thought it was insane that she'd wish to change the code after so many generations of Jedi before us following it. But as she spoke about it more I realized possible flaws in the council and the code.

As we walked back to our quarters Lema asked if I would come to her quarters with her. I agreed and we entered her quarters. As the door closed behind us she asked if we could meditate together. I was finding this odd, but I agreed and began to focus on connecting to the force. As we sat I could sense that connection I had felt to her once again. Not just a connection with the force, but an emotional connection. I opened my eyes and hers were open as well. Before I could say anything she asked,

"Did you feel something different?"

I told her I felt some sort of connection, before I could say another word she interrupted,

"I felt this emotional connection just then. Something I know shouldn't be happening, but I couldn't help but let it happen. It goes against the code to show emotional connection."

I told her I felt the same way, and that yesterday while meditating I had felt this same connection. It didn't seem natural at first, we're taught to not give in to such feelings. But for some reason I felt this connection to Lema gave me something more in life, rather than just being a Jedi, or being a tribe warrior. I knew if we had any sort of emotional attachment to each other we would have to hide it as best as we can. I told her we couldn't let anyone know and that it would risk us passing our trials if the council knew. She agreed, but I knew it was going to be hard for us to not let others sense this connection.

I left her quarters and returned to mine for the night. I was thinking about the possibilities of if Jedi could fall in love with anyone, let alone one another. I had a special connection with Lema, we had helped each other grow not only as Jedi but as individuals. I hoped to one day be on the council with her after becoming Jedi Masters and to maybe even become Master of The Order like Master Windu. Maybe then we could implement a new order that fit our times now. But I knew that was far from now, and who knew what was to come in those times.

It was rare for a Jedi to have foresight or see the future. Master Dyas was removed from the council for speaking of his visions he had, believing he could see the future through the force. He told the council a war was to come. I wasn't sure how true it was, but the council did not appreciate his ideas. The Jedi are peacekeepers of the galaxy, if a war is to come I would suspect them to take any action possible in stopping it or preparing for it. Master Qui-Gonn also had ideas and ways of his own that me and Lema admired. We looked up to him, not all of his ideas and actions adhered to the ways of the Jedi Code, but I felt he was one of the wisest Jedi to live.