TItle: The 51st One
Author: JinnaraQ
March 2000
Summary: For Part One.... there seems to be a trouble-maker on the loose at
the Temple!
Rated: G
Feedback to: JinnaraQ@aol.com
Archive: Yes at 'Early Years' and 'The Master's Pathway' @ http://www.oocities.org/jinnaraq/index.html
DISCLAIMER: Star Wars and all publicly recognizable characters, names and references, etc are the sole property of George Lucas, Lucasfilm Ltd, Lucasarts Inc and 20th Century Fox. This fan fiction was created solely for personal use and private entertainment. No money was made from it. No copyright or trademark infringement was intended. This work and its author are NOT in any way connected with or to Lucasfilms Ltd.
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CHAPTER ONE:
Grand Jedi Master Yoda sat stilly on the large flat grey rock in the Western Temple Garden area. He loved the coming of autumn to the garden and it had been a perfect afternoon for a peaceful time of meditation. This was not a garden frequented by the initiates and Padawans, probably due to it's meandering walkways and flowerbeds rather than expanses of grass to play on.
He sensed a small bird approaching him, curious about the nature of this addition to the rock that had stayed so still for so long.
Behind him he heard the quiet sound of the gate doors, then quick but very light footsteps hurrying past on the walkway. Just past him they broke into a quiet but fast run as their owner rushed off into the foliage of the garden. //An urgent matter of plants?// Yoda wondered in puzzlement. It was enough of a distraction to cause him to break off his meditation and open his eyes - just in time to see 2 of the very senior Padawans come in with color spattered robes - and rather angry looks to their faces.
"I swear to the gods I'm gonna wring his scrawny NECK!" one exclaimed hotly, and the other with him scowled.
"Sith spawn initiate! That's WAY too good for him C'Ali! He did it to get back at us for telling on him!" he observed vehemently and the first nodded with a deep scowl.
"And I'll tell on him AGAIN if I ever catch him doing such a thing!" he said, then noticed the ancient diminutive Master and did a double take and looked surprised, as did the other.
"Master Yoda, have you seen an initiate in here? Little kid - reddish brown hair - blue eyes… looks like he's can't be more than 9 or 10." He said, and the one shook his head with an upraised eyebrow.
"I have not - but might I ask why you are in need of him?" he asked blandly and they both frowned hugely.
"For one Master - just look at our robes! He dropped a balloon from the balcony - right behind us! This stuff is the liquid paint they use in the initiates art sessions! It NEVER comes all the way off!" one said of his own clothing and Yoda just nodded with a knowing look, and the other finally sighed.
"This kid decided to sneak into the senior Padawan's practice room and try out a REAL saber against a droid Master Yoda… MY saber as a matter of fact.
We went and got an instructor. I was afraid if we said anything ourselves he'd drop the thing on his own head or cut his foot off maybe! He had the power up on full even! Some kid so small he had to use BOTH hands to even hold the thing out in front of him! On FULL power! Master Va'rich came and grabbed him from behind by the scruff of his tunic and picked him up and grabbed it out of his hands… I think it kind of scared him to see this tiny kid waving around this big ole' thing he could hardly keep above his own head. Now, for the last week we've seen him scrubbing saber burn marks off the walls with a rag while the rest of his group comes to practice for the competition. Today, we both looked up and saw it was him Master - and you can't say a balloon filled with paint is exactly an accident! Believe me Master, from what we've heard in the past, this initiate is really a holy terror!" he told him and Master Yoda nodded with a rather dark look. "So perfect are the two of you, and know him so well do you? Judge and jury are you in one now?" he asked sharply, and both instantly blushed and looked away.
"No Master, of course not…. but - " one of them blustered softly and Yoda nodded.
"Go you may. Chase down initiates you may not. Should you see him - I expect you will notify the instructor or group mother as to the behavior…. But no, … there will be no 'wringing' of the initiates necks." He said sternly, and now both boys blushed strongly and beat a hasty retreat.
Yoda considered the garden path that led off beyond him. Paint balloons, reddish brown hair and blue eyes…. And yes, he had indeed heard of the incident with the saber. Master Va'rich had been just irate. In fact, it was the first time in over nearly 100 years that he had seen the blue skinned teacher turn that particular shade of purple when reporting at the monthly instructor's staff meeting. He sighed deeply to himself.
This particular child had been known always for his energy, his determination, his stubbornness, his curiosity… and for the depth and breadth of his connection to the Living Force. Mischief should have been his name some teachers swore…. But over the last several months the behavior had become more frequent and the violations more serious. Several times recently this one student's disruptive actions had been the subject of intense concern among the instructors.
He frowned as he considered the path… then slowly got off his peaceful rock and slowly started down the path. He did not have to go too far before he came to a place where a thick grove of trees came almost to the edge of the walkway. He heard an unusual dull thumping noise in a rhythmic form, and curious as to it's source made his way around the grove. He frowned deeply as he came upon a small figure clad in initiates' tunics and cloak, who sat at the base of a tree as if to meditate, but now rocking back and forth and thus pounding the back of his head against the trunk of the tree.
The Ancient Master opened his mind towards the child, and frowned even more as he realized how confused were the child's emotions and thoughts.
Loneliness, grief, discouragement, self disparagement, self recrimination and guilt all flowed around him in an enormous cloud of depressive grey energy. Then, suddenly the child quit rocking to now bring his knees up to his chest, where he hugged them tightly as he suddenly buried his face in them.
The diminutive Master felt the young boy seem to slowly give in and surrender to the depressive emotions, and almost instantly a twinge of a dark feel came to the area, even as the child began to sob softly into his knees.
Yoda felt a twinge in his own heart and one eyebrow arched mildly. Yes, he knew the child, but he also knew many, many of the others as well. The strength of the ache he had felt still surprised him. He checked his mental shields to find them still intact and strong, then sighed as he went over. Quietly he sat down beside the child and waited, and it was not long before the young one glanced at him, then half turned away to squeeze his knees even more tightly to his chest.
"Talk we need to Qui-Gon Jinn…. Troubling you something indeed is." He said with authority, and the boy seemed to pull into himself even more.
"Unusual is your method of meditation…. Did it help, to pound your head on the tree?" the ancient one asked as now he did it a few times himself, and the sound got the boy to at least look over at him and frown, as now tears seemed to flood his eyes. Yoda frowned deeply as he felt a stab of deep pain at the child's heart and he gulped, quickly reaching out to touch the child's arm.
"Sorry I am Qui-Gon…. Making fun of you I was not. Trying to distract you I was - but not to seem cruel." He said reassuringly and the child seemed to relax just a tiny bit with a soft shudder of relief and gently Yoda rubbed the boy's back as they sat in silence for a long moment. The slow circular motions seemed to do a great deal towards comforting the young one Yoda realized and he half smiled to himself as he let a little more of himself flow into that gesture.
Normally such a gesture would frighten a student… but this particular one had never been as intimidated nor as distant with him as the others all were.
Yes, he had been disciplined as had the others, had indeed been contrite, but never had he seemed intimidated by Yoda, and the ancient master had to admit it was an attitude he found refreshing at times…
"What has been occurring Qui-Gon, that is causing you to make all this disturbance for your teachers and the other students?" he asked gently. The boy shook his head and was silent as he again buried his head upon his knees and turned his face away from the ancient one.
"I sense much turmoil in you my young friend -" Yoda observed and the boy turned to scowl at him darkly. "I am NOT your friend! NOBODY here is my friend! All the other students laugh at me cause I don't understand things as fast as they do when it comes to history or mathematics…. Then they laugh at me and call me 'Nature Boy' when I do well at Science or Languages… Even half of my teachers think I'm a waste of their time - why should I stay late and help this one - he's of the living force - AgriCorps material only - he'll never need to know this where he's going… Then the other kids who are bigger than me get mad and say I cheat when I beat them at gymnastics or saber skills. They just try to hurt me since they're all bigger than I am! I don't have ANY friends here! Mace was my friend…. But he's gone now. He went off to be a Padawan." He said all in a loud, angry rush as now he leapt to his feet, fists clenched and cheeks ablaze with his anger just as his eyes shone with the brightness of the tears that threatened to spill down his cheeks again.
"Giving up then are you, on being a Jedi Knight?" Yoda asked patiently and the one gave him a deeply devastated look as his chin wavered some, then he willed himself into what seemed like deep, dark resignation.
"Nobody will ever want me. Even the saber instructor told me he'd let me participate in the contest even though I haven't practiced like everyone else - because it doesn't matter if I lost or not since no Knight or Master would ever want someone like me as a Padawan anyway…. I'm NOT the right kind of the Force to be good Jedi Knight material." He said very caustically and Yoda sighed as he easily caught the image the child pushed at him, 3 instructors overheard by the boy without the adults ever realizing… and said young man being the topic at the time of their complaints and groans…his overhearing his teachers' private negative opinions…
"I've tried and tried and tried to be like everyone else Master Yoda…. I've tried only meditating on the Unifying aspects, doing what the others like, trying to like the kinds of things they do…. And I just can't change it! I hate being of the Living Force! I'm not good for anything except growing a bunch of stupid plants! Hah! Some Jedi I'd be anyway-" he said in a deeply emotional tone, and Yoda felt a giant tidal wave of pain and anguish seem to come from the child who now strode away as if to leave.
TBC
This was posted on April 21, 2001.
© 2001 heather.lively@ns.sympatico.ca
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