Greater Than the Sum of Their Parts: Chapter Three

Tahiri looks at her apprentice; she hefts the box of the young girl’s possessions, shifting it on her hips as Noelani drops a final tunic into the box at her feet. Noelani turns towards Tahiri, a grin on her face, happy that she is moving from the barracks to their new shared quarters.

Tahiri returns the grin. “You sure this is the last of it?”

Noelani picks up the box at her feet and looks up at her, her blue eyes flashing with amusement. “Yes, I think this is everything. Of course once Papa finds out that I was moved to larger quarters he might send me more things.”

“You do realize that Jedi are not supposed to do the whole possession thing, right?”

Noelani laughs again, a musical tinkling. “Yes, Master I do. But Papa doesn’t quite understand.”

They carry the boxes through the halls chatting amicably, getting to know one another. They arrive at their quarters, and Tahiri sets the box down with the rest of Noelani’s things, and then shrugs out of her over cloak, hanging it on a peg on the wall.

She turns around, to find Noelani holding out a glass of water for her, and Tahiri takes it with a grateful nod.

Noelani beams up at her. “Thanks for helping me with all of this stuff. I don’t know how long it would have taken me to do it all by my self. I guess I really need to get rid of some of it, but I don’t know what Papa would say if I did that. What do you think I should do?”

Tahiri smiles, and for the first time in her life realizes just what her friends must have felt like when they were all younger. She shrugs her shoulders slightly. “It’s just stuff. Don’t keep it because you’re afraid of what your father would think, keep it around because it makes you happy. We’re Jedi; our focus is not on the things of this world.”

“Oh. I see.” The girl looks away from Tahiri, allowing her gaze to flicker around the room. Finally she looks back at her. “Can I ask you a question? A personal one. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but I’d like to know the answer. I mean I’m just curious.”

Tahiri holds her hand up, and the girl quiets down with a blush. “Ask your question Noelani. Don’t be afraid to do that. I’m here to teach you after all.”

“What are those scars on your forehead from?”

Startled, Tahiri’s hand reaches up, and touches the scars, her fingers flickering over the slightly raised tissue.

Tahiri walks over to the couch, trying to decide just how much she should tell the young girl as she sits down. Noelani drops in beside her, her feet tucking up underneath her as she watches her mentor.

“I got them, oh, back before you were born. During the Vong War. I was a Jedi apprentice, not much older than you, on Yavin 4. My best friend, Anakin, came back suddenly from the war, and told us that the Yuuzhan Vong were coming. Kam and Tionne rushed us away into the caves until help could arrive, but me, Valin and Sannah stayed behind with Anakin and my Master, Ikrit. It was a poor decision, as Anakin’s defense plan involved him escaping in his X-Wing, which wasn’t big enough for all of us. The Peace Brigade showed up, and ultimately we stole a freighter. Ikrit jumped out to stop those pursuing us, but was killed, and in my grief I followed him.”

Tahiri pauses, taking a deep shuddering breath.

“I was captured, and turned over to the Yuuzhan Vong. And then they shaped me.”

Tahiri can hear the slight inhaling hiss of breath from the young girl, and she looks over at her, seeing the tears in Anakin’s blue eyes. She gives her head a slight shake, dispelling the image of Anakin eye’s from her mind.

“Anakin rescued me, but in the end I choose to keep the scars as a reminder of who I was, and what had happened to me.”

She looks at the girl, noting the grin on her face. “He rescued you? Like a prince in a fairy tale?”

Tahiri laughs slightly, amazed at the young girl’s ability to ignore the bad things in the story, and to focus on the fairy tale aspects. “Just like in a fairy tale. He rescued me from the Shapers, and he rescued me from myself.”

“So what happened then? Why didn’t the two of you live happily ever after?”

A sharp pain stabs through Tahiri’s heart. She looks away from her apprentice, and out the window. “He died. Killed, while being a dumb hero.. A stupid, pointless death, in a stupid, pointless war.”

She can hear the pain in Noelani’s voice. “Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you sad. I won’t bring it up again. I’m sorry.”

Tahiri glances at the younger girl again. “It’s all right Noelani. You didn’t know. He died before you were born, yet I still mourn for him.”

Tahiri stands up, and walks to the shelf where she had already placed her few mementos. She picks up a small device, and returning to the couch, sets it down on the table in front of them.

She presses a button, and a hologram flickers into existence. A boy on the cusp of manhood, his blue eyes shine with the moment of laughter frozen in time by the picture.

Tahiri wipes away a tear from her eye. “That’s Anakin.”

After a couple of minutes, Tahiri turns the hologram off, and stands up; she looks down at the girl. “We need to get this stuff put away.”

With a bob of her blonde hair, Noelani jumps up and rushes to her room, and Tahiri can hear the shuffling noises of things being put away and organized. Sniffling slightly, she turns and heads into her room, taking care to put her few possessions into the places where they should go.

As Tahiri finishes, she steps out of her bedroom, and looks around the quarters they were given. They are simply appointed, three bedrooms, the common room with kitchen and eating area and a shared refresher.

Tahiri walks into the unused third bedroom, and looks around, a grin on her face. She begins the process of taking the bed apart, hauling its pieces out into the hallway. Next she shuffles the dresser out there as well. Then she dismantles the computer in that room, and takes it and the desk it was sitting on and puts them out in the hall as well.

Returning, Tahiri looks around the now empty room, a grin on her face. She goes into her room, and gathers a couple of candles, and sets them on the window ledges.

A crashing sound draws Tahiri out of the empty room, and she sees Noelani with the discarded console in her arms, a sheepish grin plastered to her face.

Tahiri lifts an eyebrow. “What are you planning on doing with that?”

Noelani bites at her lip. “I don’t know yet. But I couldn’t just leave it out there.”

Tahiri shakes her head. “Are you done straightening your room?”

“Yes, Master.”

“Then go put that down, and join me in here.” With that Tahiri walks back into the empty room, and settles into a meditation pose just off the center of the room. She closes her eyes and begins to meditate, allowing the Force to flow over and through her.

A few minutes later, Noelani comes in, and settles into a similar position facing Tahiri.

She watches her Master, and then starts shuffling around, making small noises.

Tahiri sighs, and opens one of her eyes. “Quiet your mind. Meditate.”

Noelani lets out a small sigh of her own. “Yes, Master.”

Tahiri chuckles to herself. She’s a lot like Anakin. Wonder if all teenaged Jedi are?

She pushes the thought away, not wanting to follow it to its logical conclusion. But her gaze lingers on Noelani’s young, earnest face. It surprises her when she realizes that she is still smiling at her.