The Padawan and the Rebel

The Youngling: The Force

Ahsoka dropped down on Adhara's bed, startling her out of sleep.

"What are you doing?" Adhara asked, rubbing sleep out of her eyes.

Ahsoka beamed. "Today is our first lesson with Master Yoda!"

That woke Adhara up immediately, and she shot up in bed. She'd forgotten that, after three years of doing coursework about becoming a Jedi, they were finally deemed ready to begin field training.

And it started with the Force. With the famed Master Yoda.

Ahsoka leaned forward, the light of dawn igniting her skin, so it blazed orange. Her head tails bumped against her chin. "Are you as excited as I am?"

Adhara pressed a finger against Ahsoka's lips, raising her eyebrows at her best friend. Dawn taunted her from the window of the dormitories, burning Adhara's eyes. "Shhhh. It's too early for you to be speaking."

Ahsoka rolled her eyes. "Do you want to fight about it, Addie?"

Adhara's grin was feral. "I am half Echani, Ash. I will conquer you in a fight."

Ahsoka snorted, pushing Adhara's hand away and dragging her to her feet. "Come on!"

Adhara groaned, her body begging for her bed, but let Ahsoka lead her out of the dormitory and into the Jedi Temple, towards their first real lesson.

And the truth was, she was just as excited. Perhaps more. Today she finally got to wield the Force again, and she knew she was returning to an old friend.

***

"Everywhere, the Force is," Yoda said, walking between the rows of Younglings sitting cross-legged on the floor, silently meditating. "Here, between you, me, your friends, yes. It's energy surrounds us and binds us."

Adhara exhaled, letting the Force run through her. She could feel it around her, in each of her classmates, in the wizened Jedi Master who paced in front of them.

"Open your mind to the Force, you must. Believe in it, you must. For a powerful ally, the Force is." His voice became low, ricocheting through Adhara like the Force itself. "Let it in, younglings. In the Force, you must trust."

Again, Adhara breathed and exhaled, letting the Force flow through her, take control of her.

If there was one thing Adhara knew, it was the force. She had grown up watching Aitor manipulate the world with the Force, teasing her with it, telling her she was weak if she couldn't master it. Adhara always ground her teeth together when he'd say that, turning to her Arus.

"We can do it," she'd say.

But Arus, just a toddler, backed away. "I can't," he wailed.

Adhara set her jaw, turning back to Aitor, and called on the Force. She remembered the look on his face as she lifted blocks of snow around her. It had been shock, then a content smirk.

"Oh," he said, smiling so wide it made Adhara smile back. "It's on, little sis."

It was only weeks after that that their parents were killed and they were separated.

Now, she sat cross legged with the other Younglings, listening to Master Yoda talk. She inhaled deeply, letting herself fall into a meditative state. The Force reached out to her, and she linked her mind's fingers around it, feeling it around her and everywhere. And though she knew it was not her task, that they were just supposed to mediate and feel the force around them, she could not help it. It called out to her like an old friend, Like a voice she hadn't heard since her family had been slaughtered. It sounded like music to her, and she answered its call.