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When Mira Salen is 12, her clone commander braids her hair and calls her ad’ika. The Jedi Code says that all emotions are to be released into the Force, but Master Bahram says that she can keep the good emotions, if she’d like. Which she does, Mira really doesn’t want to let go of the fuzzy feeling in her chest.
Needle, her clone commander, tells her that family is important to the clones. He says that they’re all brothers. She can’t imagine having that many siblings. Mira has her creche-mates but she doesn’t think it’s quite the same.
Master Bahram is a special Jedi. The public calls him The Fighter, which she thinks is very silly, because instead of using the Force or his lightsaber, Master Bahram fights hand-to-hand. He says it’s because he doesn’t like using the Force for violence. Mira, as his padawan, follows his example. She is taught and drilled until she can at least match Master Bahram in a spar. Then, he has her spar with Needle, after she’s consistently beating him, they add another clone into the spar. And so on, until she can fight 5 of the clones at a time and win. She’s very proud.
Mira’s lightsaber is a pretty indigo colour. Master Bahram tells her that indigo is a rare colour because it’s a mix of blue and purple. Blue represents justice and protection, and purple represents the light and dark equally. Mira thinks she’d have been better off with just a blue lightsaber. She really doesn’t like the dark side of the Force.
She’s very proud to say she’s never used the Force for violence.
Mira is a commander because there’s a war happening. She’s on the good side of it though and Grandmaster Yoda told her and her creche-mates, before they all left for battle, that good always triumphs over bad. So, Mira’s not worried whether they’ll win, she knows they will. Her battalion has never lost a battle, and Master Bahram has never lost a fight because good always wins.
She’s still 12 when she makes her first non-droid kill. Master Bahram doesn’t like to have her in non-droid fights, but the extra manpower was needed. Her men tried to protect her as much as they could, but war requires all of your attention. She feels the shift in the Force and swerves out of the way before engaging the enemy. She’s knocked to the ground for a moment and there’s a blaster in her face before she jumps onto the enemy’s shoulder and twists her body sharply. She hears the sound of his neck breaking before the body drops. She walks away from the man she killed and does not cry till the battle is over.
Needle makes her a hot chocolate and Master Bahram lets her stay up late and watch her favourite holo-drama.
Mira is 12 years old, and she is a killer and a Jedi both. She was raised to be a soldier and a peacekeeper. Mira thinks she’s made of contradictions.
“Ad’ika, you really need to start paying attention.” Needle whispers in her ear. She’s been dutifully ignoring the senator they’re defending. He called her men disposable upon seeing who his guards would be. Mira is a Jedi and Jedi are supposed to be forgiving and defend everyone, but she really doesn’t like this man.
“Little girl, are you listening?” Senator Tril asks her, rudely. Mira can feel her Master shift, bristling under the other man’s tone.
“No. The Force willed me to ignore you.” She informs him as sweet as she can manage. She can feel Needles amusement radiating off him. The senator looks confused. “If you’ll excuse me, I should go meditate.” She leaves and practices her katas. Master Bahram makes her apologise but she thinks it was worth it.
“Do you miss them? Your other brothers?” she asks Needle one night when the silence gets the best of her.
“Yes.” He answers. She frowns.
“Do you want to visit them? I’m sure I could arrange it.” she tells him, dead serious.
“No, ad’ika. I’m fine where I am.”
“Why don’t you want to?”
“Because then I’d miss you.”
She smiles at him so hard her cheeks hurt.
Her other men teach her various things. Jaws teaches her card games and how to cheat in them. She’s gotten quite good at her sleight of hand, so much so that she can fool Master Bahram. Once when they were stationed at Coruscant, Frog took her to a bar that he was meeting some of his brothers at and gave her a shot of Correllian whiskey. She tried very hard not to scrunch up her face at the taste and she thinks she succeeded. The smell was familiar and comforting; Master Bahram and the men all share a bottle and talk when they think she’s asleep. She hates the taste though and tells Frog as much. He just laughs and pulls her into his side. Byr teaches her how to repair a ship. He teaches her how to check the compressor and fix it, how to add the necessary upgrades for speed. Master Bahram often brags about how he has the fastest ship in the Order and Mira knows that’s because of Byr’s upgrades and modifications. When she fixes the broken heat exchanger all by herself, Byr cries and says it’s because of the steam.
Master Bahram is big on contingency plans. He says that he wants her to know what to do in an emergency. Her answer was to just find a Jedi. He accepted that but still made her read through his plans. Which all boiled down to, if you’re alone meet on Naboo. Master Bahram is from Naboo, and he says it’s a peaceful planet that is allied with the Jedi. Mira thinks the reason he’s so adamant she learns this because he got lost once when he was a padawan. She doesn’t say that though, just nods and recites the address they’d meet.
“Little star, you still have much to learn.” The illusion of Master Bahram sneers at her.
She snorts. “Nice try, Sith temple, but Master would never use that tone with me.”
She can feel the fury radiating in the Force before it screeches, “Insolent child! Your blood will paint these walls and—” it is abruptly cut off by Master Bahram’s lightsaber cutting the vision in half.
He smiles at her warmly. “Good job, little star.” She beams at him before motioning to clear the rest of the temple.
“Little star.” Her Master questions.
She blinks at him, “Yes?”
“What have you done to our men?” he asks, his tone concerned.
“I gave them all makeovers!” she squeals in glee. “I was missing my creche-mates, so the men offered to stand in for them!”
“Right. Well then. I’ll leave you be.” He leaves hastily, with an apologetic glance shot to Needle.
Mira doesn’t have a family. She was named by the creche-master and is presumed to be an orphan. Jedi don’t have families and despite what people think, they don’t want them. Jedi are raised communally. Mira was taught her first ever lightsaber katas from Master Windu, she was taught meditation by Grandmaster Yoda, she was taught how to take apart and rebuild a speeder by Knight Skywalker, and she can’t count how many other small bits of knowledge have been imparted onto her. Jedi rely on each other, and she loves that. She loves that she can walk up to any Jedi and ask for help and they will be happy to. Theres a safety in community. That’s why Mira always makes sure to visit the creche whenever she’s on Coruscant. She was taught by her elders, and it is up to her to impart their wisdom.
However, if you were to try to assign typical familial roles to Jedi, which she doesn’t recommend, the most blatant one to label would be Master and Padawan. It is a Master’s duty to care for and teach their padawan, which is a similar set of responsibilities to that of a parent. Mira’s never had a father, but she thinks that Master Bahram would make a good one.
Cal Kestis is her best friend. He’s a year younger than her but he’s cool so it doesn’t matter. If she’s on Coruscant, there is a more than likely chance that she’ll be by Cal’s side. They’ve been best friends since they were foundlings. It’s been said more than once that they act identical. Cal’s going to be a really cool Jedi, she knows that. He has psychometry! Which is just, so cool. Mira’s a little jealous but she gives those emotions to the Force.
“Reds!” Master Krell shouts. “You’ve gone too far this time!”
Mira giggles into her hand and sends her amusement through the Force to Cal. He grins back at her. Their recent prank was a work of art but they’re now hiding in the ceiling while they wait to escape. Mira recognises a familiar Force signature a few moments before she hears a voice below, “Ad’ika. Come down from there.” She sighs and Cal gives her a face befitting of someone seeing their friend off to war (Mira knows that face very well). She jumps down through the open vent but as she is about to make her pre-planned excuses, she sees another set of clones. She sends Cal a distress signal and the sign to run but its too late. “Young padawan.” Master Tapal warns. “Get down here.”
They part ways, both having been chastised and both not regretting it in the slightest.
The name ‘Reds’ comes from Cal’s hair, even though its more orange but no one listens to her, and Mira’s eyes. It’s suspected that one of Mira’s grandparents were non-human, leaving her with some alien features. Her red eyes are the most visible.
When they were younglings, Cal and Mira played a lot of pranks. They dyed various Masters robes and hair, they painted sections of the Temple with glitter and paint, and other equally hilarious things.
It’s Mira’s 13th birthday and she’s on guard duty. Let it be known that this is the worst birthday ever. Guard duty is so boring. You just stand there and look. Master Bahram is acting bodyguard on another Senator, and she’s stuck with the most boring job in history.
She hears rustling behind her but after 50 times she spun around in a panic only to find an animal, she doesn’t bother. If it was a threat the Force would tell her.
She hears the blow before she registers any pain. She spins around, dazed. She dodges the next hit clumsily. Mira sends out distress signals in the Force and hopes her Master will be here soon.
The assailant is still pursuing her, and her reaction time is getting slower and slower and she’s panicking and then the next blow hits. She goes down and her vision fades.
She wakes up in a dark room and starts crying. She’s tired and in pain and she wants her Master and her men. She wants Needle to make her a hot chocolate and call her ad’ika. She wants Frog to ruffle her hair. She wants to go home.
Jedi padawan are not prepared for torture. They have no reason to be. No Master would ever let their padawan get taken.
They are especially unprepared when the assailant doesn’t want information, when they just want to hurt.
Mira cries when the blade cuts a line across her thigh.
She screams herself hoarse near the 4th cut.
She blacks out after that.
She comes to with the man’s face in front of her. She spits on his face and grins when he hits her across the face. She can feel the blood on her teeth.
Mira stops screaming, choosing instead to taunt.
The man tries new methods to make her scream, but she refuses. She refuses when the knives slide themselves under her nails. She refuses when her legs are broken. She refuses when the brand sizzles against her back.
It takes 2 days and 11 hours for her to be found.
Mira startles awake to the sound of blasters. That’s new, she thinks. They haven’t shot her yet. She prepares herself for the pain when the door is blow off its hinges and then Needle is in front of her.
“ad’ika. I’m here. you’re fine now. I promise.” He repeats over and over like a mantra. She smiles weakly at him and proclaims, “I spat on him.” He laughs but it sounds wrong, desperate and terrified.
“SHE’S IN HERE!” he yells and within seconds the entire battalion is helping her stand and Master Bahram is sending her comfort and love through the Force.
She’s put on rest at the Jedi temple for 3 weeks to recuperate. Master Bahram said he requested Cal to come but he’s on an urgent mission.
The entire 3 weeks is just Stonn, her battalion’s medic, fussing over her and trying to make her stay in bed, despite her assurances that she’s fine. She manages to spend at least an hour a day with the younglings so it’s not a total waste of time. Mira also spends a surprising amount of time answering questions for the younglings that are about to be padawan age.
“Young one, I must insist you rest!” Stonn reprimanded. Mira groaned, “But that isn’t fun! It’d be so much cooler to train or spar or—” she was cut off with a stern look.
“I’ll go back to bed.” She muttered in defeat.
“Thank you, ad.”
“I just. I really love you guys. You know that right?” Mira questioned, teary eyed and very drunk. She decided that a good Jedi should be able to handle her alcohol, so she drank some of Master Vos’, but she wasn’t sure how much was appropriate, so she drank the bottle. It tasted really bad but considering she’d been forced to eat Master Yoda’s soup before, not the worst she’s ever had.
“Yeah, ad’ika we know.” Needle laughed at her.
“Aw, ad. We love you too.” Stonn answered.
“Shit, she’d handled the whiskey a lot better than this.” Frog chuckled.
Needle turned to stare at him, his eyes cold. “What whiskey.”
“Hah hah, so I’ve actually got to go now. Bye ad!”
“Padawan Salen, do you have anything to say in your defence?” Master Luminara asks her, stern.
“Yes. With all due respect Master, if I stay cooped up any longer, I will go insane and start talking to the walls.” Mira answered serenely.
“Exaggeration and sarcasm are frowned upon, young one.” Master Kenobi cut in, mirth leeching into his tone.
“So is insanity.” She shot back, unwilling to submit. He nodded his head in agreement, “I suppose so.”
“Little star, what’s going on?” Mira jumps at her Masters voice and starts rapidly trying to explain.
“Your padawan tried to scale the Jedi Temple.” Master Kenobi snitches. Mira curses him in her head.
“Ah, well. She deserves some fun.” Master Bahram says and Mira grins. “And I wouldn’t look so smug, Obi-Wan. I just saw Knight Skywalker teaching the younglings to curse in different languages.”
“Ah, well. He deserves some fun. Wouldn’t you say, Icar?” Master Kenobi parrots back, before dashing off. Presumably to stop his former padawan. Mira finds the two masters’ very funny. They were trained by the same man and have never let go of their rivalry.
Master Bahram winks at her as he leaves and Mira smiles.
Mira has been a padawan since she was 10. She was chosen early due to her high midichlorian count, second only to Knight Skywalker. She’s been fighting in this war for 3 years. It ended today. Master Kenobi killed Grievous, the last separatist leader.
Mira was raised in war. Master Bahram told her today that she isn’t a soldier anymore, only a padawan. Mira really hates that. She’s always going to be a soldier, she thinks. How is she supposed to be anything else?
Mira is a Jedi and a soldier and a child. In that order. While she thinks the instincts of war will always be ingrained within her, the Jedi order and its teachings are harboured in her very blood.
The Jedi are a religion. Mira is a disciple and devotee. She prays to the Force for guidance, and it answers.
Mira Salen is 13 when her men fire on her. She sees Needle aim his blaster, hand shaking, and before she has time to ask him what he’s doing, he’s fired. The pain is nothing compared to the confusion she feels. Master Bahram went to the moon of the planet they’re staying on so she can’t call for help. Mira runs.
She steals the ship that Master Bahram leaves in case of emergency and leaves.
She’s in the ship headed for Coruscant when she feels the Jedi order die. In the haze, one death sticks out. Master Bahram is dead and she’s alone.
She lands on Coruscant in a daze. She tamps down her Force signature till its invisible and heads for the Temple. The council will know what to do. This is all a bad dream. Mira will wake up soon and Master Bahram will be there and everything will be—
There are bodies on a pyre outside the Temple. This is wrong. This isn’t how the Jedi honour their dead what’s going on—
She recognises all of them. The council. And the—
The younglings.
Val. Taic. Rena. Kuna. Cryk. Teckla. Tala. Jeela.
She saw them last week. They took turns braiding and unbraiding her hair. She taught them how to hold a blaster. Jeela called her sissy once and never called her anything else. Val used to run up to her and latch onto her shoulders. Kuna would beg for stories about princesses. Cryk would shyly ask for her to teach them katas.
Mira stumbles back to her ship and gets the fuck out of Coruscant.
Here is what she knows:
The Jedi are dead. Mira can sense no Jedi left in the Force. She is the last of her religion.
The Empire is controlled by the Sith.
Mira is alone.
Her men fired on her. Needle fired on her.
Mira is alone.
Mira is the last Jedi. There is no one left to save her. Her people have been massacred. The Dark side has won. She wonders if Master Yoda lost faith in his words before he died.
She decides she cannot die. Mira is the last of the Jedi and she will not allow her religion to die. She is a single devotee, but she hears the Force hum around her resolve.
May the Daughter guide her.
She picks up smuggling. Mira used to respect the law but those were the Republic’s laws. Mira has no respect for the Empire.
Eventually, she has to upgrade her shitty ship. It’s failing apart at the seams, and it kills her a little bit to sell it for parts, but Mira cannot be sentimental if she wants to survive.
She gets stabbed while defending her shipment and she grunts before yanking out the knife and stabbing the guy with it. She’ll have a mini freakout about her being a cold-hearted killer later. For now, she marches back to her ship, shipment in hand, and tries not cry when she stiches the wound.
“Who are you, little girl?” the man she’s handing the spice to asks. Mira tilts her head and says, “Icarus.”
Master Icar Bahram had no children, but he had a padawan. His legacy will survive; Mira swears it.
Mira Salen dies that day, in that dingy bar talking to a man with wandering eyes.
Icarus walks back to her ship.
(Unbeknownst to Icarus, Master Bahram did not die. He felt the panic of his padawan and rushed back. Before the clones could fire on him, he knocked them all out with the Force. He disabled the chips in their minds and felt the Jedi die.
Needle fired his blaster on an ad. On his ad. He will never forgive himself. Hi ad’ika is dead and it’s because of him.
Icar joins the Rebellion with his men. He tried to offer them a life of peace on a faraway planet but the look of disgust on all their faces was a resounding answer.
Icar Bahram joins the Rebellion to avenge Mira Salen.
Icarus stays alive to honour her dead.
Their paths will not cross.
At least, not for a long, long time.)