A Galaxy Apart

Author: Arwen Skywalker
Title: A Galaxy Apart
Disclaimer: I don’t own Star Wars, just the plot and oc’s
Rating: G
Summary: A mother deals with the loss of her Jedi baby.
Author’s note: This idea has intrigued me for a while now, what was it like for the families who said good-bye to their Jedi children? So I wrote about it.
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Taan Morehn stared out the window of her home. Today was a day she had dreaded for 3 months, a day when realization hit home fully; the realization that she would never see her baby again. She turned in her chair, distracted for a moment by her children’s voices, the voices of her other four children in the playroom with their father. Lean, 10, Faden, 7, Coreen, 5, and little Seran, 3, were playing with her husband of 13 years, Wahne Morehn, allowing her some time alone. Her baby would be two today, no, she corrected herself, little Aendi was two today. Taan wondered if they did anything to mark a child’s birthday.

She sighed as her thoughts turned to them. The Jedi, who had shown up at her door, telling her that her baby was force-sensitive, convincing her husband that it would be best to give baby Aendi to them to train as a Jedi. Sweet little Aendi had just turned 18 months old and was taking her first runs by herself. She couldn’t agree; she couldn’t make herself believe the Jedi’s reasons. How does a mother give up her child, knowing she may never hear word of her again? Taan wanted to teach Aendi to read, to write, to swim, as she had done with her three oldest, and would soon do with Seran. Added to her bitterness was the knowledge that she couldn’t have another baby. Not that any number of babies, no matter how sweet, could replace Aendi.

She grieved the loss of her baby, for though not truly dead, still Aendi was dead to her at least. Unless she made on the holo news some day, Taan would never hear of her again. It was hard to bear, and hard to understand. Surely there must be a different, better way, than to tear babies from parents. Orphans perhaps were better off in the Temple, but those who had parents who loved them should be with their parents. Of course, she thought to her self wryly, the Jedi know best, they always do. It’s what is taught to them from the cradle, and told to the rest of the galaxy. But still unfair, no matter how she tried to be resigned. Her baby was turning two without her.

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Each year the sadness came and went with the passing of Aendi’s birthday. Aendi’s parents did not forget her, and so neither did her siblings, though they knew nothing of her life. They still thought of her fondly, she was after all their baby sister. Many plays depicting Jedi were enacted with Lean or Coreen taking their sister’s part, while brothers Faden and Seran played her master or friends or bad guys, depending on what was necessary.

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Over the years Aendi did make it onto the news a few times, minor bits about a diplomatic victory, or the settling of a dispute between countries on various worlds. Taan saved whatever holographs she could, wishing that she could hear her baby speak. But padawans spoke to reporters even less than did Knights and Masters, so her wish went unanswered.

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The galaxy was becoming restless. There were two sides to every argument now, Separatist and Republic. Taan watched as her planet wavered between to allegiances. The Holo news stayed on at all hours, the latest news was bound to be important, even if discouraging. Taan knew her baby was now a Jedi Knight; a news report had dubbed her as such.

One day 23-year-old Seran ran into the kitchen and told her to watch what was on the Holo. Taan and her husband quickly ran into family room, where the news was playing a breaking report: war had begun. The three of them listened to the Chancellor’s speech, and the report of a fierce battle on Geonosis between droids, clones and Jedi. Taan grew pale hearing that many Jedi were killed. After all these years, she still loved Aendi as if she had raised her herself. Please, Taan begged the Force; don’t let my baby be dead.

Two days later the news had a death toll for the first battles of the Clone War, as it was now dubbed, including the Battle of Geonosis. More than an hundred Jedi dead. As the names scrolled down Taan caught her breath and started to sob. There on the screen for the galaxy to see, Aendi Morehn. Her baby was dead. And for what, Taan asked the screen bitterly, as the report switched to an overview of the fighting, which had spread rapidly in just a few days. It was not the last time she would ask the same question, as the entire galaxy was covered in war.

Her only consolation came two and an half years later, when an Empire was formed on the blood of the Jedi. Then Taan was grateful for her daughter’s death. Aendi was at peace, and wasn’t there when the Temple was purged, as the self-titled Emperor proclaimed; a bitter consolation to be sure. Her daughter had done her part for the galaxy, and Taan was proud. Now she would do her part. A rebellion was already underfoot on her home world, not surprising when Mon Mothma was senator of their system. No one would make her Aendi’s death pointless and get away with it.