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Stellan stopped outside the crèche. He’d been doing that a lot recently. Just about every time they were even remotely near the crechelings they’d have to stop and watch whatever lessons they were doing.
“Man you must really want a padawan,” Elzar said, gently elbowing Stellan’s side.
“I—I’m just drawn to her,” Stellan said, still staring at a group of kids.
“Oh, have eyes on a specific one?” Elzar asked. “Which one?”
Stellan leaned closer to the transperisteel that separated them from the younglings. He pointed to a Mirialan girl. “That’s Vernestra Rowh. She’s apparently the top of her clan.”
Elzar laughed, “Of course you would go for an overachiever.”
“Look at her though,” Stellan said. And Elzar had a feeling he was definitely looking at their new padawan.
He wasn’t even eligible for a padawan yet and he knew Avar wasn’t interested in taking responsibility for a youngling yet. But Stellan was. Which meant they got all of the perks of having a youngling without any of the responsibilities. A solid system.
Elzar smiled, “I am. Well how about you let me meet her then? Actually we should probably let Ave come too. So we can all meet our new padawan.”
Stellan backed away from the window. “There’s so much wrong with that sentence. One: she’s not old enough to be a padawan yet. Two: she would be my padawan. Not yours. Not Avar’s. And three: even if she was somehow all of our padawan, which isn’t a thing, you’re not eligible for a padawan yet.”
Elzar waved him off. “Eh. We all know she’s going to be all of ours. I’m just cutting to the chase.” He smiled. “So, when can we meet her?”
—-
“Where are we going?” Avar asked.
Elzar had pulled her, physically pulled her, out of the halls of meditation. He looked like a Wookiee pup on life day morning. She couldn’t even begin to fathom what shit he’d pulled to get that excited. Though Stellan didn’t seem to be running for a fire extinguisher, so that was a good sign.
“You’ll see. Stellan has something to show you,” Elzar said.
Avar glanced over at their other friend, trying to use the glance as a way to beg for more information. All she got back was a shrug.
Her initial instinct was to be very annoyed at that. If he was the one showing her something then he was the one who knew what the something was. He was also the one that was supposed to be helpful of the three of them. Not purposely obtuse.
But she took a deep breath and instead let her frustration go.
She followed them through the halls of the Temple. Up to the younglings area. “What are we doing here?” She asked, worried that someone had done something really stupid and a kid had gotten hurt.
Though that wouldn’t explain the absolute glee on Elzar’s face. Unless of course he’d thought the kid deserved it.
Stellan knocked on one of the doors to one of the clan rooms. The master opened it. “Knight Gios, here to see her again?”
Stellan nodded.
And Avar wondered what the two of them had gotten into that they had apparently been checking in on a crecheling routinely. Force, they were both stupid.
“Knight Stellan!” A young Mirialan girl ran over to him. If Avar had to guess she was probably around seven. Not even old enough to go to Ilum.
Stellan crouched down to her level, and in one fluid motion picked her up and rested her on his hip. “Hello Vernestra, how are you?”
That’s when it clicked. Nothing bad had happened. Avar was about to meet their new padawan. Or, more aptly, the girl who was going to be Stellan’s padawan that they were going to steal.
“Vernestra, these are my friends: Elzar and Avar,” Stellan said, “They wanted to meet you.”
Vernestra scrambled out of Stellan’s arms and bowed to both her and Elzar. “Nice to meet you, Knight Elzar and Knight Avar.”
Elzar got on a knee to be at her level, she was pretty tiny after all. “Nice to meet you too, Stellan’s talked a lot about you.”
Avar opted to just sit on the floor, legs crossed next to the girl. “I’m sure we’ll all get to know each other really well. But what are you interested in Vernestra?”
Her face lit up. And she started telling the both of them facts about Kaiber. Very passionately and very animated. She didn’t have a lightsaber of her own yet, but that didn’t stop her from pulling out a toy one that crechelings used to practice with. She disassembled it with the force and showed the plastic crystal that sat inside, using it as a reference. Then put the toy back together, just like a Jedi would with a real lightsaber.
She was a girl after Stellan’s heart with the way she talked about lightsabers. She was going to fit in perfectly.
She rocked back and forth, smiling wide. “That’s what I like! Kyber and lightsabers! I can’t wait to go to Ilum and get mine.”
“When do you go to Ilum, Vernestra?” Avar asked.
She thought for a moment, “Well…Master Kei said I might be able to go next year if the Masters say I can. It’s a little early but I’m really excited.”
“You seem really knowledgeable too,” Elzar said.
“And responsible,” Stellan added, “I’m sure if the Council thinks you’re ready you’ll be able to go.”
Elzar leaned in close to her, “How are your katas?”
She lit up, “Oh! I can show you.” She paused, thinking, “If you can get me in the training rooms.”
Elzar glanced around, “I’ve got you kid.”
In a moment he scooped her up into his arms and he was already halfway out the crèche door by the time Avar even registered what had happened. She shot up off the floor and followed him. Stellan ran after them as well.
“Elzar,” He said, by the time they were rounding the corner to the training rooms. “You can’t just kidnap a crecheling!”
“Is it really kidnapping if I consented to it?” Vernestra asked innocently.
Avar smiled, she was perfect for them. This was the exact kind of shit they pulled when they were kids. Bending and oftentimes breaking the rules on a whim. Though, they’d had the wonderful mind of Kantam Sy to help them sneak out of lessons. Apparently, Vernestra was going to use them for the same purpose.
“It is, at least for your crèche master,” Stellan said.
He noticeably wasn’t stopping them, however. Just following them to the training room. Where Vernestra pulled a training saber from a case sitting along the wall. Stellan pulled his lightsaber out and switched it to training mode. The two, instinctively, ignited the blades at the same time.
“Okay let’s go over some basic forms,” Stellan said, positioning himself next to her.
They went through all of the basic forms, probably all the ones Vernestra knew at such a young age. She wasn’t perfect, she was still just a crecheling, but she did pretty good for a youngling that didn’t even have her own lightsaber yet.
“Knight Gios.”
Stellan turned toward the voice, as did Elzar and Avar. Master Kei, of course.
Stellan pointed his lightsaber in the direction of Elzar, “In my defense, Knight Mann was the one to actually take her.”
Master Kei shook their head. “Vernestra.”
She powered down the training saber and dropped it off with the others before making her way over to her crèche master. She sheepishly waved goodbye to the firebrands. “Thanks for training with me, Knight Stellan.”
Once they left the three of them found themselves staring at each other. Avar decided to be the one to break the silence, “So she’s gonna be our padawan, right? She’ll fit right in. She’s just like you, Stel. Except tiny and green.”
“I can only hope that’s the will of the Force.”
—-
Vernestra could feel all of the Masters that had come. She stood in the center of the council chambers, with a blind fold on. It only did so much, she could still feel most of the present Masters’ Force signatures, though they were blurring together at the edges. If she focused really hard she’d probably be able to pick out Master Stellan. But that was exactly what she wasn’t supposed to do. So she didn’t.
“Alright,” Master Mali said, “Go ahead Initiate Rowh.”
Vernestra reached out a hand. She let herself lean deeper into the Force. Letting the feeling of rain and the sounds of running water over take her. She moved herself around in a circle. She would know when to stop. No one had told her how she would know, just that she would. She just had to have faith.
She felt pulled in a particular direction. She let the Force guide her that way. She landed in one place. She moved slightly on either side next to it, but remained firmly where she’d stopped the first time, feeling that it was right. Like the Force was totally in balance. She took a deep breath and pointed. Still not sure what or who she was pointing at.
“Initiate Rowh, is this your decision?” One of the Masters asked.
“Yes, Master.”
A Master came over to remove her blind fold. And it was no one’s surprise who she was pointing at. “Master Stellan!” She ran over to him.
He met her halfway, scooping her into a big hug. “Padawan Vernestra,” he quietly whispered in her ear.
She looked up at him, smiling. “I knew it’d be you.”
“Congratulations Master Gios and Padawan Rowh,” Master Kant said, coming over to them to bring Master Stellan a box.
Vernestra briefly wondered if Master Kant had been the one to announce it because Master Stellan had been her padawan. Then she bowed to the Council members in attendance, and Master Stellan did the same.
They made their way to temporary housing, they’d be sent to Hynestia in the coming days, that was where Stellan was a Marshal, but until then they’d live in the Temple, in a small room together. Getting to know each other, though they already knew each other fairly well.
Once they arrived in the room Master Stellan opened the box. Inside was a new padawan obi, in a vibrant purple to match her lightsaber, scissors, elastics, and beads for her hair. He handed her the obi and let her put it on, between her belt and tunics.
Then he gestured for her to sit on the floor. He started by pulling up most of her hair, leaving a small strand right behind her ear. He braided the strand left behind, muttering a prayer as he did so. Probably the same one Master Kant had said as she braided his braid. And her master before her. Going back generations of Jedi.
He added an elastic to the bottom of the braid and put a bead over it. Then he pulled out the scissors, “Do you want to cut your hair, padawan?”
No padawan had to cut their hair when they became an apprentice. Technically they didn’t need to wear a braid either, but most Masters preferred it. Anyway Vernestra wanted to look like a Jedi, so it didn’t bother her. Some Jedi wore their hair cut short except for their braids to really emphasize their connection to the order. And others didn’t, they wore their hair as long as their braid, typically pulling it up or into a separate larger braid.
Vernestra wanted something between the two extremes. She felt the end of her braid and moved her hand up slightly, “Maybe to about here. So it’s just a little shorter than my braid but long enough for me to pull up.”
He didn’t say anything. Just started cutting her hair. She felt the strands of dark purple hitting her back and even her legs and he cut. She took the time to meditate. Closing her eyes and letting herself feel the Force.
“Okay, how does it look?” Stellan asked.
She got up and looked in the mirror in the ‘fresher. It looked good. She wondered if new masters had to take a class on how to cut their padawan’s hair before they got selected. She smiled thinking of Master Stellan practicing on a doll of some kind. Or, even more amusing, Knight Avar.
She came back out into the main room, “It’s perfect, thank you.”
There was a knock at the door. Since she was closer she opened it. “Master Elzar! Master Avar!”
“Hey kid!” Master Elzar pulled her into a tight hug. “Wow, take a look at you, all grown up and Stel’s kid now.”
“We brought celebration snacks and we’re going to eat them and watch bad holos all night,” Avar said.
“Yes!” Vernestra said, “Two of my favorite things.”
And they did just that. They all started off on one bed, snacking and watching together, but as the night went on eventually Elzar and Avar ended up in one, and Vernestra and Stellan in the other. It was supposed to be one for her and one for him, they weren’t really supposed to have two guests staying with them. But honestly, Vernestra didn’t mind. Most nights the younglings in the crèche would pull the mattresses off their beds and combine them into one big bed fort on the floor. She hadn’t slept on her own very much in her life, and a part of her was glad she was going to ease into it.
She eventually settled in, curled up against Master Stellan. “Good night, Master.”
“Good night, my padawan,” he replied, kissing the top of her head, “Sleep well.”