Borleias

[Aira Cadan]

"Lie still, Mjan," I said as my apprentice began to pull things from his rucksack and hand them to me. But it was mostly out of reflex; it wasn't as if he was seriously injured. And I trusted that he knew his boundaries. When he pressed the items into my hands, vocalizing a desire for me to give them to their owners, I bit my lip. The awkward thing was, I didn't remember who he had chosen to help all those months ago. A small smile touched my lips. "I can if you'd like, but wouldn't you prefer to give them to them yourself? Besides, I honestly don't know if I could pinpoint which specific family you're talking about."

Silence fell again between us. I wanted to know everything--where had he gone, what had he done, and more importantly, what had he learned? But I knew from my own experiences that it might take time for him to find words to process everything he had gone through. And he'd only reach that point with some serious thinking and reflecting. 

I rose to go, and brushed his mind affectionately with the Force. "I'm glad you're back. I never doubted you." Calm flooded me. "And when you're ready to talk, I'll be here."

[Aira Cadan]

The next few days continued in the same pattern as the last ones had, but they felt different somehow. More meaningful, in a way I didn't understand. Perhaps I was simply putting myself in Mjan's shoes, but I sensed a change in the atmosphere.

Towards the end of the third day after his return, I had just gone to my tent to settle in for the night, bone-weary from the day's labors, but content, when I sensed Mjan approaching. I turned as he pushed open the tent flap, and didn't hesitate when he asked to talk. Instead, I motioned for him to follow me, and we moved out of the tent circle to an abandoned fire ring. Maintaining my silence, I quickly built a small fire. 

Once the wood was crackling away, and the sun had begun to set in earnest, I took a seat on the ground. "Tell me," I invited.

[Aira Cadan]

I listened quietly. Some of what he had said, I had gathered from his Force-aura. But he also didn't say some of the other things I was sensing. It didn't matter; the fact was I was proud of the Jedi he was becoming. 

"There is no death, there is the Force," I said softly. "Now you understand." 

Silence fell so that all that could be heard was the crackling of the fire, the call of the night birds, and the murmur of conversation rising from the camp behind us. I searched the Force for confirmation of my own thoughts, and found a steady comfort and peace. "You have passed the first test, Mjan: the trial of flesh. Remember the lessons it taught you." My voice turned a little wistful. "You'll be a full Jedi soon."

[Aira Cadan]

Mjan's question caused me to chuckle. "A whirlwind," I replied. "When Master Starlisk took me on, he was the Admiral of the New Republic, and it was during the heart of the war. Most of my apprenticeship was spent traveling from one engagement to the next. I learned to be an officer long before I learned to be a Jedi. Master Starlisk had another apprentice at the same time as me, Gren, and he and I both claimed all of Onderin's free time--and a good portion that wasn't free time." I turned wistful. "I don't mean to make it sound like my training was half-hearted or not thorough, but it was hardly traditional. Most of what I learned was in the field, pushing myself, testing my own limits. Onderin was there to guide me but not always."

I blinked as the smoke from the fire started to waft over me and scooted off to the side a bit. "The war was...painful. You've experienced what it's like to feel the suffering of those around you. Now magnify it by a hundred. Death everywhere, on both sides, and sometimes it was hard to see how war could ever be the will of the Force. I know Master Starlisk had some regrets later in his life, but I don't think he ever regretted participating in the war. He'd often tell me, 'There's no good in war, but there is good in why we fight them.' I suppose I've lived my life by that tenet, even though we've had a few years of peace. It's put me at odds with some members of the Order, as it did for him. But despite all the loss, the death, the pain, the sorrow that the war brought on...I know that the peace was worth it."

I sighed. "That's what makes the renewal of hostilities so disheartening for me. It was such a short-lived peace. When Raven and I called for the cease-fire, I know we both envisioned the beginning of a new era. But we were mistaken. For in that time of peace, the Sith grew in strength and number. And now they've struck and we're right back where we started. But this war..." I grimaced. "I get the feeling that it's going to be worse. Much worse. The Empire may have been cruel, but the Sith are ruthless. The Empire at least cared a little bit for the lives of civilians. But in this war," I gestured to the camp behind us, "it's going to be the civilians that suffer the most."

Abruptly, I shook my head. "Sorry, you asked about my apprenticeship, not my dire predictions of the future. The war shaped my apprenticeship, for sure, and many of the lessons and skills I learned directly applied to it. It was my classroom, for all intents and purposes. There were definitely moments I felt like just another soldier, but there were other moments where I was clearly a Jedi. Like the time I sensed the presence of hundreds of Jedi souls trapped on the planet below...that wasn't something just any soldier would detect. I was grateful that Onderin had given me some authority in the fleet, otherwise people like Admiral Slaughter would never have listened to me."

[Aira Cadan]

I nodded. "Then our time on Borleias has come to a close." Rising, I brushed dirt off my pants. "If you're sufficiently recovered, we'll leave in the morning." I gave him a little wave. "Goodnight then."

Turning, I headed back to my tent. I was pleased with how our time had been spent here: Mjan had learned much, and we'd been able to help a good many refugees. There was always more work to be done, but I knew that the best way I could help the people of the galaxy now was to give them another well-trained Jedi Knight. And the path to that was laid out clearly before us.

I slept well that night, and rose with the dawn. I had kept a shuttle from the fleet, and after pinging Mjan with it's location, headed there to get the engines warmed up. Preflight checks were in full swing when I heard the sound of his boots on the ramp. I was in the lounge slicing up some local fruit for our breakfast. "Wanna get us out of here?" I called out to him. "Take us up, and set course for Ilum."