The Padawan and the Rebel

The Youngling: The Jedi Temple

Coruscant was nothing like Eshan.

It was all big, towering buildings and huge spaceships and people everywhere. Glancing down from the ship, Adhara saw that the city went on and on and on - like it never ended. It made bile rise in Adhara's throat, when she thought about how different it was from Eshan. Eshan was a planet of multiple terrains, where some parts were a mountain range, others made of deadly, deep oceans, and some snow-less plains for farming.

Coruscant was nothing but city and city and city, reaching it's fingers down into the depths of the world.

It was more than her young brain could take. Immediately, the ends of her hair went white from the stress, a stark contrast to her black roots.

The Jedi landed the ship at the top level of the city, a large temple in front of them. Adhara barely had time to think about it, to process everything that had happened before the Jedi was opening the door and leading her out into the open. The hot air caressed Adhara's white skin with heat. immediately she could feel her skin frying, and tears jumped to her eyes. She missed the cool temperatures of Eshan. she missed the snow and the mountains, waving in the distance against dense clouds.

She missed her parents. Her siblings. Her life.

The Jedi led her into the temple , and Adhara's senses overloaded. She couldn't comprehend the decor around her or the soft plush of carpet under her feet, not when there were so many people around her, more than she had ever seen in her life. Her family had lived in a secluded area of the mountains on Eshan, for reasons she vaguely understood. All she knew was some people did not like her parents being together, as her mother was Echani and her father was Miralan.

She did not understand it. All she understood was that Eshan was nothing like Coruscant.

She tucked herself against the Jedi, and despite everything, the Jedi's voice was warm.

"It's okay, child. You're safe now."

Adhara tried to take the words to heart, but she couldn't. She didn't know how she could ever be safe again with her parents dead. With her siblings gone. When she herself was in a new city, with no one.

She was just as lost as everyone else.

The Jedi opened a door at the end of hall, guiding Adhara in. The room was full of 12 men and women, all in great chairs, but Adhara didn't notice them. All she could see was the city, sweeping out underneath the wide windows and stretching into the distance, as far as the eye could see. Adhara was simultaneously awed by the view, by the great sweep of it across the curve of the planet, and terrified of it, of how foreign and different it was.

The people in the room went silent as the Jedi swept in, arching brows at her.

"Master Shaak Ti," A male Jedi said. He was bald with black skin and sweeping Jedi robes, his voice low and commanding. "You're late."

"I'm sorry, Master Windu," she said, inclining her head at him. "But I came across a... situation off-world."

He arched his other eyebrow. "Oh? And what is that?"

Shaak Ti turned back to Adhara, her face kind as she gestured her forward. Adhara's legs felt numb, her hands trembling as she began walking into the middle of the room. 12 wise gazes followed her as she walked on shaking legs, willing herself not to throw up. She thought about her parents strength, her father fighting to his last breath. Her mother ushering her forward as bullets careened into her back. She thought about Aitor, his jaw set even as his parents fell behind him, his teeth bared at their killers as he fought for his siblings.

So Adhara channeled them. She channeled her parents, her brother, and lifted her chin.

"And who is this?" one of the male Jedi said. His skin was green, long hair tails flowing around him, and his eyes were wide and black.

"This is Adhara Starseeker," Shaak Ti said, putting her hand on Adhara's back. "A force sensitive child from Eshan."

"Force sensitive?" Master Windu arched a brow. "She is already four or five, is she not? How have we never found her before?"

"Her family lived in a remote area, near the mountains of Eshan."

Master Windu nodded, his eyes straying from Adhara to Shaak Ti. It was almost as if they were having a conversation through their gazes, and then he spoke to Adhara again.

"Adhara, do you mind stepping out for a moment?"

Adhara nodded, her legs still numb as she walked out the door and it slammed behind her, echoing through the hall. she could hear hushed voices behind her, caught very few words; "mixed species..... dead ...... siblings ..... sith ...... smugglers....." But Adhara stopped listening. Her heart was thundering in her chest, and it reminded her of the storms in Eshan, of snow rumbling down the mountain, and the fear she had felt then.

"It's okay," her mother had said, whispering in Adhara's ear as the snow rolled down a nearby mountain, as loud as a war. "We are always safe, are we not? We have the Force."

It was something her mother felt strongly about, the presence of the Force in their lives. And it was something that rubbed off in all of her children, so that Adhara could feel it wherever she went. And she realized then that she wasn't lost or alone, because the Force was all around her, was coursing through her own blood. A constant companion. A steady friend.

She closed her eyes, letting it flood through her. Letting it still her aching heart.

The door opened behind her, and Shaak Ti gestured her in. This time, when Adhara walked, it was on steady legs.

She stood before the council, and this time it was a small green man who spoke, his cunning, old gaze pinning her in place. "Adhara Starseeker, to the Jedi Order, we welcome you."

****

Shaak Ti left Adhara in the quarters of the younglings, and it hit Adhara then. That this was to be her life now, her home. That she was expected to exist without her family, the people who had been there for everyday of her life. That she was expected to be anything without them.

Stay with your brother. Stay with Aitor, always.

But she hadn't. She had left Aitor, had lost her family, and now it was just her and the Force in a foreign planet surrounded by people and species she didn't recognize, with a climate that turned the ends of her hair white.

It was too much. She couldn't cope.

She plunked down on the floor, letting the tears flood her eyes and pour down her cheeks. Sobs shook her small body, and she clasped her hands over her chest, sobbing for her mama, her papa, crying each of her siblings names.

Then there was a hand on her shoulder, and she looked up into the face of a young Togruta. her skin was a deep shade of orange like the dusk, her eyes blue like the sky, and her smile lit up Adhara's world.

"Hey, don't cry," she said, dropping into a cross-legged position in front of Adhara. "It's okay. My name is Ahsoka."

Adhara sniffled, extending her hand to Ahsoka. "I'm Adhara."

Ahsoka smiled again, and it warmed Adhara from the inside. It felt like home in a strange planet and foreign city.

"We're in this together," Ahsoka said with a wink. "You can count on me."

              Adhara smiled, and the memory seared itself into her mind.