Rogue Padawan

©2005 by D. Bieri (nightguy)
Rogue Padawan (how Tenric met his Master)

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Setting: New Jedi Academy on Yavin4, a few years after it’s founding. (date to be determined)

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They gathered eagerly at the story rock in the clearing. Master Tenric always accompanied his stories with Force Illusions and sounds. It was better than the Holonet!
Today he had promised them the story about how his Master had found him.

They strained their eyes watching the rock. This was part of the game as well. Using eyes, ears, and Force-sense they tried to predict when Master Tenric would appear. He always just appeared sitting on the rock. They never could tell when he entered the clearing or approached his spot…

Suddenly there he was! No one saw him appear. It was as though he had slipped in while everyone was blinking. His Jedi Robes were in the old style, as in the days of the Temple on Coruscant. They were a bit threadbare after decades of service, but that only made him all the more intimidating to the young students. He smiled his big contagious smile and waited for them to quiet down. Taking a deep breath and reaching out with his hands he began the story…

“Hear then the tale of a rogue Padawan and his Master.
A tale not to be found in the Holo-Chrons of either the crumbled Empire or the fledgling New Republic that arose from its ashes. A tale not even to be found in the lost archives of the Jedi Temple.”

Here Master Tenric paused briefly; collecting all of the students’ attention he used the Force to gently nudge them onto the same wavelength. It was never too difficult to do the illusions for his stories. One reason was that the images were real and still reverberated in the currents of the Force. The other reason was that the students wanted to see it all. That made it easy.

“It starts with an ending and ends with a beginning. Such is often the way of The Force; for beginnings and endings each flow one from the other and carry little meaning apart from their dramatic use.
The betrayal of the Jedi by the Clone troopers begins the tale of the Rogue Jedi, but ends that of his Master. The founding of the new Jedi Academy on Yavin4 ends the tale of the Rogue, but begins the one of the Jedi Master he became.
Worry not if such seems confusing to you….all will become clear in time.”

He had them all now. He could feel their desire and interest and used it to draw them deeper into the scene.

“Before the ending that was this tale’s beginning a Jedi named Bieda must be spoken of. Bieda was trained at the Temple on Coruscant and studied under the likes of Masters Yoda, and Drallig. He excelled as a student and had a reputation for calm that went far beyond his years. Bieda was befriended by a Jedi Knight named Qui-Gon Jinn and learned much from him. When granted the status of full Jedi Knight he meditated for a week in search of the Force’s will for his service. It was during this week that he received the visions that would guide his actions until his betrayal and death.

The future is never easy to decipher when meditating.

‘Always in motion the future is…’ was Master Yoda’s way of putting it.

Bieda saw the future in his week of searching, but not all of it. He was seeking for his path through it and was confused when what he saw seemed to not involve him at all. Upon finishing his meditations he sought out his former master, for that is indeed how Bieda thought of Qui-Gon. They congratulated each

other on their elevations as Qui-Gon had recently been granted the rank of Master close upon Bieda’s having passed the Trials and becoming a Jedi Knight. They spent some time talking of the living Force and its will. Qui-Gon sensed unease in Bieda and asked after the reason. Bieda told him at length of the visions he’d seen of…

‘…fire and death, darkness and a small boy with no face. War and death were on all sides but the boy played among the trees. There were alien suns and a scorched robe, a ring of stones and an odd opalescent blade.’

They agreed to meditate on the possible meaning of the visions and meet again in a few days time. Qui-Gon advised Bieda not to share these visions with the others, as they were too close to the visions of Seers that the Jedi had come to distrust.

‘Trust the Living Force in who you tell these things to.’ He advised. Bieda told no one else.

Upon their next meeting it was determined that the visions were indeed of the Jedi's future, but that Bieda was not to be a part of it. He was intended by the Force to be elsewhere until they came to pass. The final word of advice Qui-Gon gave him was to ‘…be mindful of the will of the Force and seek the place that the currents you sense converge upon.’ So Bieda took his leave of Coruscant to follow the Force out towards the outer rim and ride the currents of the Force.

Here it is that records of Bieda end. Qui-Gon never again publicly spoke of the padawan he had befriended and let his name slip from remembrance for he was convinced of Bieda's part in some future he could not clearly see.”

Tenric let the image Qui-Gon and Bieda speaking quietly fade slowly as he swirled the edges into passing star systems, slowly centering upon the third planet in a system littered with asteroids…

“So it was, some years later, that Bieda found himself on the little known, and sparsely inhabited planet of SomaIII. Through many adventures, and some misadventures, the currents had led him there. He took rooms in one of the few such establishments available and waited. The intervening years had made of Bieda a Jedi much wiser than his years would lead one to believe. He had spent much time upon the disciplines Qui-Gon had shown him and had learned to hear the whisper of the Force in all things. Finding himself on SomaIII in an out of the way hostel he waited, and he listened.”

“Then one morning a gentle movement in the Force awakened him. Somewhere not far away the currents he had been following pooled and grew still. Bieda followed them into the wooded hillside and found a young boy at play. He watched as the boy hopped to and fro in a clearing as though chasing or being chased. There was no one else around and Bieda wondered what the boy could be playing at so he stepped into the clearing to ask, only to find himself alone. Using the Force Bieda reached out and found the boy hiding up in the tree he had been under when Bieda had entered the clearing. There were no branches within reach of the ground and the boy was quite high up indeed. Bieda sensed the Force around the boy strongly and suddenly knew him to be the one from his vision all those years ago.”

“The boy was quite shy of strangers and it took some coaxing to get him down from the tree and learn that his name was Tenric and that he’d been Sun-Dancing. He was seven standard years old and lived with his grandmother. Tenric told Bieda that it was his morning game to come to the clearing and follow the rays of the sun as they gleamed through gaps in the leaves. Each shift of the wind changed all the places where the sunbeams peeked through to the grass. Tenric would dance with the wind and leaves and keep his feet within the spots on the grass. Bieda was quite impressed, since what Tenric so casually called Sun-Dancing to would tax the concentration and powers of any Jedi, and be beyond many. Bieda congratulated Tenric on his game and remarked on the skill needed to play it. Tenric beamed with pride but confided in hushed tones that he kept his dance a secret from all except his grandmother. She had told him others would not understand and would be afraid. Bieda told Tenric his grandmother was a wise woman and asked to meet her and Tenric happily ran off saying ‘catch me if you can.’

Catching Tenric proved to be a task worthy of the Trials themselves as Bieda quickly learned. The boy darted in and out of the trees and bushes, fell flat or jumped high into the branches, seemed to turn one way but actually went another. Bieda found himself needing to rely on the Force just to keep him in sight. Through it all Bieda sensed from the boy the purest joy and openness he could imagine. Tenric finally stopped at the edge of another clearing in which stood a small shack of very modest design. A small, circular, stone fence surrounded it. Tenric waited for Bieda to catch up and then led him inside to meet his grandmother.

From her Bieda learned that Tenric had always been a bit different. His reflexes were frighteningly quick and he had no fear, only joy. He understood things before you finished explaining them to him and always knew when someone was coming. Bieda then told them of the Force and how it had led him to Tenric. He spoke of the Temple and the Jedi and told of his own training. Tenric sat quietly and listened the whole time. When Bieda had finished Tenric just looked at him, cocked his head to one side, and said, ‘When do we start Master?’ ”

Knowing his story time was at an end Tenric let the image of his youthful face linger a bit and then caused it to morph into his current one.

“So now you know how Bieda came to have a padawan unapproved by, and unknown to, the Jedi Counsel. Out on the Rim Bieda became Master to Tenric and did not report it because he sensed it was the will of the Force.”

With the illusions dispelled the students realized story time was at an end. A few mumbled and complained about wanting to hear more as they always did. Tenric smiled at them and assured them that there would more time for such things later. Right now, he reminded them, it was time to assemble for Master Skywalker’s inspection and teaching. That got the students moving more quickly out of the clearing. They might find Master Tenric captivating and even inspiring, but Master Skywalker was a bona-fide hero of the rebellion as well as founder of the academy.

Tenric watched them scurry off to their meeting with Luke. After they had gone he turned toward the morning sun and closed his eyes. He could feel the warmth of it upon his face and almost, but not quite, feel as though he were in his own clearing in the Darkwood back home. Yes, he thought, it was nice here and the Force was strong on this moon, but it wasn’t home.

A stirring in the Force caught his attention and he opened himself up to it. Colors swirled around him as the ripples resolved themselves into an image of a scorched and torn New Republic flag. Tenric sighed deeply as the image faded. He wondered if Luke felt it too…the coming trouble. It seemed still a way off, and not certain…yet. He felt a brief twinge in his thigh from the saber wound he’d received all those years ago on Dantooine. He laughed to himself then, as he turned back toward the academy.

“I am definitely too young to feel this dang old!” He confessed to the story rock as he passed it on the way out of the clearing.