A Last Good Bye

[JediKaren]

A Last Good Bye

 

Note to readers: This is the third and last story of the Karen Nightingstar series. It is highly advised that you read An Emotional Battle and Reaching Through Darkness before you read this story or else you will be confused about many things that are mentioned.

 

Karen has finally found peace after years of torture in various forms. She has healed all of her mental and spiritual wounds. She has become a Jedi Knight, sometime she always wanted to be. She birthed a beautiful and curious, Force sensitive son named, Tem. She raised him for six years with the help of her master and her other Jedi friends. She does her favorite thing: teaching teens about the Force, while learning more about the strange and powerful energy herself. Yet, even in the most predictable, happiest days of her life, the pattern is about to be throw off in one of the worst ways possible.

[Dartha Athanth]

Can't wait! You should post the ad in the News thread or something.

[JediKaren]

Ch 1

Karen

 

”œMom, mom!”

[Dartha Athanth]

Awwwww...... cute!

 

And i wonder what evil things are going to happen now. Muahahahahahha!

[JediKaren]

evil? Why would I do evil? No nothing "evil" will happen. Just life.

[JediKaren]

Ch2

Tem

 

Why do moms have to hug? She did it in front of the other boys! And then I had to be laughed at! So after Mom let me go I went over to the other boys and laughed with them. I don't think they believed me. Then the teacher, Master Nuk, told us to get ready for class. So I went back to my desk with my name on it, ”œTem Nightingstar”

[Dartha Athanth]

Lol that reminds me a bit of 'about a boy'. lol. Mirmo is cool.

[JediKaren]

Ch3

Karen

 

I was comfortable in my bed. I was peacefully asleep. I was one with the bed. I was then waked up. Again.

 

This time it was the door bell, chipping to announce that someone was at the door. I reached out to the Force and felt it's warm, comfortable, tingly feeling and wound my mind through its currents to outside of the door. I felt Mirmo's presence the same way you would smell his scent or taste a favor of him. I groaned as the door continued to chirp in a persistent way. I slowly got up and drug my still sleeping body to the door.

 

”œGood morning.”

[Dartha Athanth]

I imagined my former master dripping with brown liquid over his face and head.

 

Lol!

 

This sounds like college. Haha!

[JediKaren]

I imagined my former master dripping with brown liquid over his face and head.

 

Lol!

 

This sounds like college. Haha!

 

huh?

 

*said by college writer*

[Dartha Athanth]

Lol the classes and everything remind me of college. ARGH! HOMEWORK! NOOOO!

[JediKaren]

Ch 4

Tem

 

I like to learn. Learning is fun. At least learning in my class is fun. Learning with mom isn't so fun. But I better not ever let mom know that. She would get hurt.

 

Today we learned how to feel the Force in each other. But first we had to go through our exercises. Master Nuk says it's very important we go through them. I like them. I think they are a lot of fun because Master Nuk makes them fun.

 

First we have to sit down and quiet our mouths. It was hard at first to sit still for so long. The only time I have to sit and not move is when mom puts me in time out when I'm being bad. Master Nuk says this isn't punishment, but a good thing.

 

Then we have to quiet our minds. Our teacher says our minds are very loud. We talk in our minds like we talk with our mouths. She says we can't hear anything if we're talking, so we have to be really quiet. So we have to make our mental voice be quiet too. This isn't hard for me. Mom says she wishes she had it so easy. Mirmo says that mom never did this as a kid and it's harder when you're older. I'm glad I'm doing this now!

 

Next we have to get rid of our emotions. At first I didn't understand how we can get rid of our emotions. Our teacher says that our emotions are very loud like our voices. If we want to feel the Force, we can't be feeling other things like fear or anger. So we have to let go of them. I don't have any anger, except when mom makes me sit in the corner. Sometimes I have fear. I fear storms that are really loud at night or when I can't find mom. But I'm happy the rest of the time. Mom says sometimes I'm too happy.

 

Master Nuk has a fun way of making our emotions go away. We close our eyes and breathe in and out slowly. Then she tells us to imagine a cloud sitting over our heads. The cloud is big and heavy. The cloud has all of our emotions, like the good and the bad ones. Then we let the cloud rain so the water runs through us and into the ground. The teacher says this is the cloud letting out the emotions in a good way. I always see the cloud crying. Mom says sometimes crying can get rid of our emotions. I think she's right. I always feel better when I cry.

 

Now we can feel the Force! I like feeling the Force. It's all warm and like a hug, only even better. I can't get hugged all the time, but I can feel the Force a lot! Sometimes when I want a hug and no one can give me one; I'll feel the Force and imagine the Force hugging me.

 

We have to open ourselves up to the Force. We have to imagine throwing out our arms and letting the Force come in. The first day we did this, our teacher had us throw out our arms so we know what to imagine.

 

We then feel the Force in our whole body. We have to feel it from our head to our fingers to our toes. I like the feeling of the Force in my toes. It tingles. One girl started crying when she did this. Master Nuk asked her what was wrong. The girl said she didn't like the feeling. She couldn't make the Force go away.

 

Master Nuk says we should never fear the Force or hate it. I don't think I could do that. I asked mom why we would fear the Force. Mom says sometimes the Force can do scary things. I asked her what kind of scary things. Mom said I would find out when I'm older. I asked Mirmo. Mirmo lifted me up with the Force and said sometimes we can lose control of the Force. When that happens, bad things happen. He then let go of me and I fell on the couch. That wasn't scary. That was fun.

 

Then we have to feel the Force outside of ourselves. Master Nuk brought in a bubble kit one day and let us make really big bubbles. It was a lot of fun to play with the bubbles. We had to clean up afterwards because we got all sticky.

 

She told us to imagine us inside of the bubble. We were going to feel the Force inside of that bubble. That was fun. The Force feels different outside of us. It's bigger and more of it. Mom says I'm right. There is more of it outside of us and it's bigger.

 

Today we learned to make our bubbles bigger by imaging the sides of the bigger stretch. We made our bubbles so big that we bumped into each other and a lot of kids gasped. I didn't. I was used to this feeling.

 

Mom and I bump our bubbles all the time. Mom calls this linking. Whenever I want to feel mom, I can just make my bubble find her. I can feel Mom's bubble bump back to tell me she knows I'm there. Mom doesn't want me to let the kids know I can do this. Mom says that the kids will get jealous. So I didn't know what to say when I was doing really good at this. Our teacher said that this was my special gift. We all have our own special gift and the other kids will find their own. I think the teacher was lying.

 

We practiced raining the Force through us again. The teacher let us have a snack break. Mom gave me blue milk and a cookie to eat for snack. The cookie was really good. The other kids got blue milk and crackers to eat. I traded part of my cookie for a cracker with a friend. My friend said the cookie was better than the cracker, but I don't think so.

 

The next thing we did is lightsaber fighting. We're learning how to move around with a stick in our hands. We learned how to hold the stick just like we would if it was a lightsaber. I wanted to swing my stick around and pretend I was fighting, but I know that is bad. One kid did that once and he wasn't allowed to hold the stick for the rest of the class. He had to sit and watch us. Master Nuk says lightsabers aren't a toy and our sticks aren't toys either, so we can't play with them. No one plays with their stick anymore.

 

We learned how to put our feet in a certain way. This is called a stance. We have to hold our sticks in the right way too. Every stance is different. Master Nuk gives each stance a number. Then she shows us what the stance looks like. We have to copy her and she fixes us if we don't have it right. We went through five stances over and over. Then she called out a number and we have to get into the right stance. It's hard keeping them straight.

 

It was lunch time after that. Mom was at the door when we were putting up everything. I wanted to run over her, but I had to finish up cleaning. When I was done, I went to Mom. She hugged me again and wouldn't let me go even though I tried to get away. She held my hand all the way back to the apartment.

 

She made us lunch and we talked about our day. When I was done eating, I had to get out my school work. Mom has some books for me to work on. I have to do exercises out of the books.

 

We went over the old words from last week and then I learned how to spell five new words. The words were: grass, life, tree, sun, cloud. Mom had me draw a picture of each one. For life, I put me, because I'm life. Mom had me write down each word below the picture. Then we spelled the word out loud. Then Mom tested me on each one. I hate being tested. Mom makes me do it over and over until I get it right.

 

Mom was going to go to math, but Uncle Mirmo came over to our home and told mom it was time for her new student. I was so happy. I hate math. It's boring and hard. Then Mom told Uncle Mirmo to do math with me. I wasn't so happy then. Mirmo said it would be fun. I wasn't sure.

 

I hugged Mom before she went. I don't mind hugging mom if there are no boys around.

 

”œHave a good night. Behave for Uncle Mirmo and take your bath like a good boy.”

[JediKaren]

Ch 5

Karen

 

Mirmo has always tried to push me to take on an apprentice and I have always refused to. My excuses were that I had a son who was like three students in one. I had a class to teach and I was always being bothered by my students and others for help. My last and weakest argument was I didn't think I was ready to take on an apprentice.

 

Mirmo had counter arguments to all the excuses I gave. He said that he wouldn't mind watching Tem if I was worried about time. Mirmo had plenty of time on his hands for he didn't take an apprentice after me. Mirmo said I didn't have to teach my classes and I would still have time to help students with their problems. Mirmo would help me all the way, giving me his tips that he learned worked on me. He said that Tem would love who ever I picked and the apprentice could become like an older sibling for Tem to look up and play with. Mirmo also pointed out that if I could handle a six year old son and two classes a day, I could easily handle just one student all day long.

 

Perhaps it was the fear of my past with students. Before I came to the temple I taught plenty, but I rarely took on private students for a reason. I had taken on a couple, mostly in the earliest of my teaching days. None of them got anywhere and one turned on me. I found myself unable to commit to a student. I couldn't be bothered to plan out what they were going to practice next. I couldn't get them to practice or to turn in things to me. Maybe it was my pick of the students or maybe it was the student. I don't know and still don't know what went wrong all those years ago. The pain and the feeling of failure still exists in my heart and keeps me away from taking a student.

 

Mirmo nagged me so much to take on a student, relentlessly coming up with new reasons and new angles as to why I should take on an apprentice. I eventually gave in half way. I only gave in because of a new program we were starting.

 

With the rise of a new Jedi Order, it seemed that there was a rise in Force-sensitive people. Perhaps it was because people felt safe to let others know they were Force-sensitive. Or it could have been a galactic awareness of the Force and people were looking for it's activities. Whatever it was, more people were using the Force in untrained ways. The most noticeable and most problematic was Force-sensitive criminals.

 

The Force, even if one does know how to use the energy, makes slipping in and out of stores easier. It is easy to sense the people around you, sense the fear in a mother's eye, or the weakness of an old man and his daughter. It is easy to pick up on precognitive hints and fool the local police into looking the other way. The Force was the perfect tool for criminals and they knew it.

 

Criminals are bad, but they are also stupid and they end up in courts. Because there was a rise in Force activity in the caught criminals, the new and small Jedi Temple was contacted about the problem. There was a lot of talking and debating about what to do and why, but in the end, Master Skywalker decided to take a few of the criminals, under some conditions.

 

His conditions were very fair in my opinion. He would only take teenagers or younger. The teens had to be Force-sensitive. The teenagers had to be willing to come here. Usually the deal meant the teens were sent here for a three month trial. At the end of the three months they were evaluated for improvement in behavior and moral codes. If the teen showed improvement, they were released from the courts and given two options. They could continue to train at the Temple or they could go to any school that we approved. Most teens who made it through the trial time, chose to stay and train. They became some of the best Jedi we had, due to the fact that they understood right and wrong the best. For those who chose to go to a school, few went back to their old, bad ways.

 

Another condition was each criminal teen that was presented to us had to go through a long interview with Master Skywalker to see if their case was worth it. If they passed that step, they were sent to me. I was their main teacher and guide. I gave them private lessons, and made sure they were fitting in with the rest of the Temple. Their identity was kept a secret so the other students and teachers would not pick on them.

 

Today I was meeting a new student. The student was a fourteen old girl who was skinny, small, and tough. At least, she would have liked to convince me she was tough. What she didn't know was I had just gotten another, far tougher looking student through the program and I wasn't going to take anything from her.

 

Her name was Dilela Rinn. She was dressed in all black with her dyed black hair hanging long and looking dirty. She had been caught stealing a rather expensive music player and her blood sample showed her strength in the Force, as well as a history of drug use. This was her first time being caught by the police, but from the talk on her outer rim planet home, she had been doing this for years. Her police report said she had Force-pushed people out of her way as she ran through the streets and caused quite a mess as the police chased her down. It was obvious she knew of her Force-sensitivity and how to use it to a degree. Her parents were divorced legally, but somehow they were living together in a sad state of existence. The family was poor as dirt, leaving the daughter to find a way to live on her own. I could only hope she only stuck to drugs and stealing to make ends meet.

 

She was sitting in a chair in an empty classroom. It was early evening, just before dinner. She had just arrived a few hours ago and had finished her talk with Master Skywalker as to what was expected of her. Next to her chair were two bags, packed to the breaking point. I wondered how much of what she brought with her was hers.

 

She sat there, staring at me with this slight glare on her face. It was obvious she didn't want to be here, but Master Skywalker said that he sensed hope with her. I had a few doubts myself. She was pitifully skinny and looked underfed. There was a desperate hunger in her eyes. She sat in a defensive position as if she expected me to attack her. She probably had learned to defend everything she had and to always look out for other thieves like her.

 

I came into the room with nothing in my hands. I had no papers, bags, or books with me. I even left my lightsaber in the apartment. I wanted to show she had nothing to suspect from me and that I was no threat to her. I had to earn her trust, something I was sure was going to be hard to accomplish. Her eyes searched me from head to toe and then looked away at the adjacent wall. That was a good sign in my experience. If the student gave you any more of a look, it meant that there was something that made them feel uncomfortable and it would be impossible to deal with them.

 

A tactic I came on with cases like her was to stare directly at her and say nothing. That would drive teens crazy. No one can stand silence or being stared at for no reason. Combine the two, and most teens cracked within minutes. She lasted five.

 

”œWhat do you want?”

[Dartha Athanth]

:S I'm terribly sorry I'm so slow on catching up I just had my hell week because of a performance! :S:S:S:S:S

[JediKaren]

tis ok. I'm really behind on posting on this site:

 

Ch6

Tem

 

”œOk Tem, let's work on your math”

[Lord Ar-Pharazon]

JediKaren, an update please?

 

 

For all us readers.

[Tiana Calthye]

Ass.

 

I guess I should be archiving her fics sometime, but they were good stories. =(

[Dartha Athanth]

Lol at LAP. YOu can find her continuing them on JC. I'm following her healing hearts there. One of the main reasons why i don't usually frequent the JC boards is that their topic reply notification system sucks.

[Lord Ar-Pharazon]

Ass.

 

YOU KNOW YOU LOVE IT!

 

[Tiana Calthye]

Ass.

 

YOU KNOW YOU LOVE IT!

 

YES, I LOVE YOU!

 

[JediKaren]

Ch 7

Karen

 

I was not original for the Force crime program. When Master Skywalker explained the situation and idea, I shrank away from the idea of us dealing with criminals. We, the good guys, already had enough to deal with. The dark side was always there, always testing us. Criminals, I argued fiercely, are not easily dealt with and would be most prone to the darkside. They were already breaking the rules of society and did not have a good sense of right and wrong. If we trained them, we ran a high risk of them turning to the dark side. This was not a risk we needed to concern ourselves with. There were too many other good souls who were Force sensitive and wanted to become Jedi. Master Skywalker smiled patiently at me in front of all the other present and countered my points. His argument went along these lines:

 

The Jedi were created to protect the peace and fight for justice. As Jedi, we were to gain the trust of the public, but this had proven hard at first when the Jedi were starting to form. The public feared us because we did not have the rules and ideas about our conduct as we had today. Some Jedi went dark, turning to a life of crime, terror, and control. Some youths who were Force sensitive were not taught to hide their powers and either were feared or hated. As the Jedi organized themselves, they realized it was their job to look out for these troubled youths and to take them under their wing. Over time, meaning over hundreds of years, the Jedi grew into what they were most famous for. The public did not only trust them, but look up to them as heros, champions of good and evil. A time when sith ran amuck was no longer and wars were few and far between. But all good times can not last forever and the sith came again, bringing the clone wars and then the empire. The Jedi had become elite, egotist, and relaxed in their ways. They only took the best and at a very young age, leaving the rest to fend for themselves. They could afford such practices in a time when the galaxy did not need an army of Jedi. Their selective practices and their arrogant thinking lead to their downfall.

 

Now a new order was starting. Rules had to be discovered, tested, and thought about. The old order could no longer be followed blindly. We could not follow a path that brought down such a group. So Master Skywalker and others were forced to look at what the old order did right and wrong and decide what to copy and what to change. He looked at the old and few records that had managed to survive and saw that there was once a time the Jedi took teenagers and those who were in trouble with the law.

 

Master Skywalker argued that these youths were our responsibility. It was our mandate that we must take them in and show them a better path. These young criminals were our sisters and brothers in the Force and to ignore them would be a greater crime than what they did. If we let them run wild, without knowledge of what they are doing is wrong, then we would be supporting the dark side and would fail the order and all the Jedi stood for. It was true we could not and would not be expected to turn all of the teens to a better life, but we must try. We owe them and the galaxy that much.

 

Master Skywalker's argument was so passionate and well thought out, that I found myself agreeing with him. I had not thought about the old order and how they dealt with this problem. Yet, the more I thought about what I knew, the more I realized they really had brought their own end. We may not be any better than them, but perhaps we could avoid some of their mistakes.

 

It took weeks for us to developed a plan that would promise success with these youths. We had to gather a team of Jedi who would volunteer in this program. We had to study criminal behavior and teens to learn how to predict their minds and actions. We had to tailor our teachings so they could grasp and understand them with their limited education. Finally, we had to make the temple a place they would be happy and at peace. When we were done, we went to the senate with our preparation and asked them to approve our program. Since most of our funding came from the government and this program would require more supplies, we had to inform them of our plan. It took several days of talking and negotiating with them, but in the end we got the approval we seeked. We very much owed our success to Nea, who worked and bullied the senate behind closed doors and covered cameras.

 

Dilela was our twentieth student in the program. We had a rule that we only took two students at the most at once. We had this rule because one student was quite a task to take on and two pushed us to our limit. At the end of three months, if they had shown improvement, we started looking through our list for students to interview. We went through a long and tedious process to find the best students we thought would make it through. We would narrow our list to two or three and then come to the planet were they were in jail. We tested them for their Force sensitive and how strong they were. We showed them what the Force was and what they could become if they worked with us. If they were eager, we went into more detail. If they resisted us, we explained to them what would happen if they continued down the path they were set on. We told them that should they accept our deal, their record would be wiped clean after they got through three months. That would get a grudging ok from them. Finally we picked one or two of our choices, promising the third that they would be out of jail soon.

 

Dilela was one of those who was not excited about coming, but decided the training could not be worse than jail. I was not able to interview here as my son was sick with a cold and then got me sick. Yet, when I heard of her and her history, I knew there was a chance with her. She pierced my heart in a way I could not explain and I felt the compelling need to teach her, no matter how stubborn she tried to be.

 

Indeed, she was stubborn and sulky. She hardly ate her dinner. I tried to lighten her up and get her talking, but she clamed up and spent the rest of the meal, silently glaring at me. I then took her to her room and made sure she was comfortable. I also made sure the door was locked from the outside and that she could not try to escape. A few of the students tried that in their first week here. They were not willing to give us a chance at first. It took a lot of time and attention to convince them otherwise.

 

When I felt she would be ok for the night, I went back to my apartment. Mirmo was sitting in the living room, reading a data pad. By the silence of the rooms, I knew my son was asleep and tip toed to his room. I opened the door as quietly as I could and looked in. He was curled up into a ball with the blankets half on him. I sneaked in and pulled the blanket more on him. He sighed and turned over. I fought the urge to kiss him and went back into the living room.

 

I asked about my son's day and his lesson. I received a good report and made a note to give my son a toy the next day that he had been bothering me about for months. I asked about what story was told. Mirmo was always coming up with new stories and my son loved them. Tonight, Mirmo went to a true story, one I could not help but laugh at. It was about the epic squirt gun fight done through astral projection with none other than Master Yoda. It was an ongoing fight that was left and picked up on random times. I never could win and at best, tie. Mirmo found the story extremely amusing, as did Master Skywalker. I asked if Mirmo said who was the ”œ little Jedi”

[Dartha Athanth]

I was not original for the Force crime program

 

 

Hmmm, this was the only thing that I didn't really get. I like the idea of this rehabilitation programme. Good post!

 

Tell me if you need me to beta it again

[JediKaren]

Ch 8

Tem

 

I jumped up on Mom's bed and told her to get up. Mom groaned. I jumped some more on her bed. Mom doesn't like to get up. I told her I was hungry. She groaned again and lifted her head.

 

”œOk my little and very loud alarm clock. I'm up. Stop jumping on the bed or you'll break it.”

[Dartha Athanth]

I grabbed the little droid and ran to my room to get Super Jedi Master. He is a little toy Jedi Master from the Clone Wars. I really wanted a droid. Super Jedi Master needs an evil droid to fight. I started having Super Jedi Master clash his blue lightsaber to destroy the droid. The droid fought back, but he could not beat Super Jedi Master who has the Force and is better than everyone.

 

Lol this reminds me of my cousins.

 

Anyway, yay I can't wait to see Karen's day. Poor thing.