Part 1 - The Bear Clan

PART 1 - PART 2 - PART 3 - PART 4 - PART 5 - PART 6 - PART 7 - PART 8 - PART 9 - PART 10 - PART 11 - PART 12 - PART 13 - PART 14 - PART 15 - PART 16


PROLOGUE

She had never seen a Jedi before, but the tall, handsome man had appeared out of the rainy night looking for a child.

"Orphaned?" she asked.

"Abandoned," he replied. "A few months old, female, red hair, blue eyes."

She led him into a small room where six babies lay in cribs. Five of them were sleeping peacefully, while the other one fussed and cried and flailed her arms in the air.

"Bad tempered, this one is," the nursery worker commented. "Always out of sorts."

The Jedi reached his hand into the crib and touched the baby's face. Instantly she stopped crying and wrapped her tiny hand around his finger. He picked her up and she smiled, and a ripple in the Force passed between them. She snuggled down into his arms and made cooing baby noises.

"I don't believe it!" the nurse said. "She's never smiled for anyone before, poor thing."

Another woman appeared in the doorway, the administrator of the orphanage. "We can't let just anyone come in here and take a child. By what right do you claim this baby?"

"I am Qui-Gon Jinn, a Jedi Knight. This child is Force sensitive. I claim her in the name of the Jedi Order."

* * *

"Well, Qui-Gon, what is that you have there?" Digeeta peeked into the blanket wrapped bundle he held in his arms as he stood before her in the Temple nursery.

"Will you take her yourself, Digeeta? She was abandoned and needs a lot of extra attention."

"Oh, the poor little one, of course I'll take her. I need a new youngling in my group. What is her name?"

"Traelyn," he replied, having pulled the name out of a trashy holonovel he'd read on board the starliner during the trip back from Locaria. "Traelyn Zavall."

* * *

PART 1 - THE BEAR CLAN

The day that Traelyn turned five standard years old, she was taken to meet her new master. Digeeta, her caregiver, led her to the classroom where Master Yoda was teaching the youngest of the Bear Clan students the fundamentals of the lightsaber.

Traelyn was fascinated by lightsabers, as she had watched the masters spar many times before, and the humming sounds and the flashing blades never failed to hold her attention.

But she was terrified of Master Yoda, and she clung to Digeeta, hiding behind her skirts as Master Yoda looked her over.

"Much fear I sense in this one, Digeeta. Sure are you that she is ready for this? A big step it is, to move into the mighty Bear Clan."

"Master Yoda," Digeeta said discreetly, "It is your disapproval that she fears, she is extremely sensitive to the feelings and thoughts of others. But she is strong with the Force, and very bright."

"Humm, then mindful of my own thoughts I should be!" Yoda replied with a chuckle.

An older boy came forward and offered Traelyn his hand, and led her to the back of the room to choose a training saber.

"My name is Obi-Wan," he said. "Do you remember me?"

"I'm Traelyn," she said softly, shaking her head.

"Would you like one of these?" he asked. "They're the best we have."

"Yes, thank you," she said. Then she smiled. "You talk like Digeeta."

He grinned. "So do you. Digeeta was my caregiver, too."

* * *

For three days, Traelyn did as she was told, followed the rules of the clan and made herself at home in the youngling dormitory. She also did not speak unless spoken to, she hid from Master Yoda and the other teachers as much as possible, and tried to go unnoticed.

On the fourth day the younglings gathered at the Temple Lake for swimming practice. The older children were jumping into the water from a high rock, and Traelyn looked up at it in trepidation. She climbed up on it and peered over the edge while two of the older girls snickered at her.

"She probably doesn't know how to swim," one of them said.

"Or she's just afraid," the other replied.

A flash of anger crossed Traelyn's mind, and unfortunately for Obi-Wan, he picked that particular moment to try to be helpful. "Come on, Traelyn, it's easy. I can teach you how to swim."

She turned away from the older girls and gave Obi-Wan a shove. "I already know how to swim!" she said angrily, and pushed him off the rock into the water.

He came up spitting water and laughing. The older girls turned away, and Traelyn stuck her tongue out at them just before jumping into the water.

"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Obi-Wan asked.

Traelyn smiled. "I like you, Obi-Wan," she said. "You make the Force feel funny!"

* * *

Seventy years later, Traelyn sighed as she lay back in the thermal pool beside the rebuilt Temple Lake. Younglings scampered about on the beach, while the older ones jumped into the water off that same rock that had terrified her so many years before.

Her body had recently been healed and rejuvenated by a long immersion in Bacta, and sitting in the steaming water of the therapeutic pool no longer appealed to her as it once had. Her muscles and joints no longer ached with age and she was restless sitting there where she used to feel at peace.

She envied the younglings and then realized there was no reason for it. She rose out of the warm water and marched up to the diving rock. She easily climbed up its side, and startled the younglings.

"Gramma!" Young Aidriac Kenobi said. "What are you doing up here?"

Traelyn chuckled and dove off the rock into the cool lake water, and swam to the other side. Obi-Wan was waiting for her.

Do I still make the Force feel funny to you?

"Always."

* * *

For two years Traelyn worked on her lightsaber technique. The weapon continued to fascinate her, and she became quite adept at its usage. Often Master Qui-Gon visited her, as he had during her nursery school days, and he delighted in teaching her new dueling moves.

But she struggled with her other studies, as her emotions overwhelmed her at times and often she could not control her sympathetic tendencies.

Whenever a classmate was hurt, she felt it. Whenever one of her friends was unhappy, she felt it. She told no one, except for Obi-Wan, who had no idea what to do about it, but he comforted her as best he could.

Then the day came when a group of Jedi Knights and Masters came to watch the younglings in action. The children demonstrated their Force abilities, and answered questions about Jedi history and duties. Master Yoda selected the best swordsmen to demonstrate their skills, and Traelyn and Obi-Wan were paired up in a duel.

Obi-Wan announced to the other younglings that he was going to win, no matter how good Traelyn might be, he was older and wiser and she was just a child, after all.

Traelyn's eyes glittered with excitement as she ignited her saber and rushed at Obi-Wan, wasting no time in attacking him. He grinned and took a defensive stance, and they fought back and forth across the room several times before Traelyn pulled a sneaky moved she'd learned from Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan went down, his saber flying across the room.

Triumphantly she stood over him, her saber touching the side of his neck while Miracosta, the oldest member of the clan and the match referee, declared her the winner.

"I beat you! I told you I would!" she bragged. She twirled her lightsaber around and around as she pranced around him.

As he rose from the floor, his face red with embarrassment, he told her she'd cheated, that he didn't know she knew that move, and all that extra help she got from Master Qui-Gon had made the match unfair.

They stood almost nose to nose, glaring at each other in anger. Then the tap-shuffle of Master Yoda's approach was heard in the silence of the room.

"Acting like Jedi, you two are not!" he declared. "You," he pointed at Obi-Wan, "making excuses for your failures, arrogant and reckless you are. And you," he pointed at Traelyn, "Are worse." And he shuffled away, leaving them both speechless.

Traelyn was crying and Obi-Wan was silent as they left the exhibition hall. The older children were laughing at them.

"Jedi, you are not," one of the girls said, mocking Yoda's voice. "A crybaby is what you are, thinking you're so great," she taunted Traelyn.

"You can't even beat a little girl," another boy said to Obi-Wan.

Traelyn grew angry, and shook with rage as she tried to contain her feelings. Obi-Wan pulled her away from the group and out of the room as her anger boiled over. She resisted him, but he was bigger and stronger than her, and he dragged her off before Yoda could catch wind of their turmoil. He led her off though a hidden door into an old, musty, unused tunnel beneath the main floor of the Temple.

With all the Force strength that he could muster, he shielded her anger from the Force as she sobbed against his shoulder.

"We'll never be Jedi, Obi-Wan," she said, shivering in the cold of the damp room. "I cannot control my fear, or my anger, or anything else! And Master Yoda called you reckless."

"Traelyn, we're still just younglings. Those things will come to you, you must learn to trust yourself, and I must learn to control my pride." He wrapped his cloak around her, and winced as she wiped her nose on the sleeve.

"Obi-Wan, you're the best friend I have. I'm sorry I beat you, I didn't think I was cheating."

"You weren't." he said. "I'll always be your friend, Traelyn." And with all the seriousness a ten year-old could muster, he said, "I love you."

"I know," she replied. A tremor in the Force rolled over them.

She smiled as he nodded his head, and hand in hand, they slipped out of the hidden room.

* * *

That's bittersweet memory, my love. We were so young and innocent.

"Would you do it all over again? Your life, I mean.

I would give my heart to you again, without hesitation. But the rest of my life...I don't know if I could survive the heartbreaks a second time.

She nodded. "I know what you mean. The paths of our lives didn't go according to plan."

When did you ever plan? He chuckled.

She threw her head back with laughter. "When did you ever not?"

With a splash of lake water, two younglings appeared on the beach.

"Hello, Grampa," young Traelyn Kenobi said.

"Hi, Grampa," said Aidriac. "Are you still dead?"

"Aidriac!" His sister admonished him. "That's not nice!"

Obi-Wan covered his smile with his ghostly hand. Yes, Aidriac, I'm still dead.

"I'm glad Gramma isn't dead," he replied. "She almost was, you know."

I know, but she wouldn't leave you.

Traelyn covered her face for a moment. "I'll never leave you. Any of you." And she looked right at Obi-Wan. "When you pledged your life to me, you didn't know it would last beyond your death."

Yes, I did. I don't know how, but I knew. And so did you. You would not have promised anything less.