Break apart to build anew;
Golden prisms rage on through;
Holographic pyramids;
We see behind closed eyelids.
Name: Lhevra Tundari Sarira
Age: 21 Galactic Standard Years
Species: Zabrak
Complexion: ████ Reddish Pink-Orange (Salmon) tone, clear skin
Hair: ████ Dark Auburn Red
Eyes: ████ Bright Yellow
Height: 5’9" / 175 cm
Weight: 126 lbs / 57.2 kg
Build: Slender, flexible, athleticIdentifying Features: Black tattoos around eyes and lower cheeks following jawline.
An Unfamiliar Face
Fear. It was the first thing Lhevra could remember.
“It’s okay, baby,” her mother cooed to her, pressing bittersweet lips to the top of her head. Her warm, caring arms wrapped around the young girl. “This man is going to take you to be a Jedi.”
Lhevra, age four, stood stiffly against her mother, eyes avoiding the tall, robed man standing in front of them. The light streaming in through the half-shut windows of their home dimly illuminated the dusty house on the Iridonian plains. It was hot and humid even with the breeze blowing through. The Jedi who had come was strange to her, wearing a dirt-brown cloak over robes and tunic of beige and dusty purple. His face was austere, with prominent cheekbones and a rigid jawline studded with bony spurs and horns. Stark red hair formed a widow’s peak on his forehead, drawn back tightly along his scalp and behind his pointed ears into a topknot. Standing over her now, each hand tucked into its opposite’s sleeve, he looked down at her with a serene sort of patience and a faint, understanding smile clearly meant to comfort her.
“I don’t wanna go,” the crying little Zabrak girl mumbled quietly, sinking into her mother’s arms and speaking into her shoulder.
“I know, sweetie, I know,” her mother’s sadness flickered into her voice for a moment. “But you have to. It’ll be better for you. You can learn to be strong and wise, they can take care of you.”
Lhevra shook her head and sniffled, tiny hands clutching her mother’s clothes. “I don’t like him,” she whimpered. “His horns are on his face. Can you and Tasi come with me…?”
She wasn’t sure how, but Lhevra knew her mother was hurting despite the brave face being put on. “N-no, Lhevra, we can’t go with you. Tasya and I have to take care of Grandfather, okay? It’s alright, you’ll be safe, I promise.”
Behind her, the shadows moved, and she turned to look at the Jedi. His smile remained as he crouched down to her level. “I understand, young one. You care for your mother and sister very much. You do not want to leave them, do you?” Lhevra’s eyes met his, topaz to maroon. She stared at him for a moment, fearful, and nodded slowly. It was difficult to place, but something about the man frightened the child. Perhaps it was the coldness in those eyes, behind that smile. The little indicators that said his expression wasn’t genuine.
“Well, child, my name is Aroth. I am a Jedi Knight, as your mother says. Do you know why I came here, Lhevra?” his hands emerged from his sleeves and folded in front of him, arms resting on his knees where he squatted. Lhevra shook her head again. His smile broadened, and Lhevra shrank from him further. “It’s because you’re very special. I can tell just by looking at you.”
The rest of the day was a blur, flashes of sound and motion witnessed through a haze of tears. Reluctantly leaving her mother’s arms to be scooped up by Aroth. Looking back to watch her mother’s face… her face…
…She could no longer remember her mother’s face.
The Initiate Trials
The sun was getting low on the horizon, casting a blaze of orange and violet behind the clouds. Lhevra sat in one of the many courtyards of the still-new Jedi Temple of Coruscant. Constructed only thirty years prior (and completed in six), the building was pristine, the ivory Council towers soaring gloriously overhead. It was a true monolith of pearly white and gold, a beacon to the galaxy and a home for its guardians.
To Lhevra though, for the past nine years, it had simply been home.
The day’s events rustled like the garden leaves through her mind. It was meant to be the last of her five daily meditations, but she found herself restless. The Trials were weighing on her, and Master Nul’Phon was eternally unhelpful in easing the burden. “Worry not over your trials,” he would tell her. “Simply trust in the Force and that it will see you through.”
She did trust in the Force, she mused to herself as she shifted where she sat, the cold breeze brushing through her hair and across her face. It fluttered the edges of her earth-toned robes. What worried her was not her ability to complete her trials, but the prospect of no longer being among her peers in the Initiate clans, her fellow younglings and students. Especially…
“Lhevra!” a voice called from nearby, startling her yellow eyes open. She turned in surprise, salmon-pink skin and black tattoos thankfully hiding the faint flushing of her cheeks as her gaze fell on the young Pantoran initiate just about her own age jogging towards her with his arm held high in a wave. It was Chiro, from the Bergruutfa clan.
“I heard!” he beamed, pearly white teeth matching the short, snowy hair framing his handsome blue features which those golden stripes on his cheeks complemented so well. Chiro had been Lhevra’s closest friend among the other younglings, practically from the day she arrived. Almost her only friend, in fact, although she was reluctant to admit so. He slowed to a stop next to her and grinned, soft yellow eyes wrinkled with his smile as he gestured a hand to her.
“Is it true? You went through the second trial, right, so did you build it? Show me!”
It took the Zabrak girl a moment to process what the boy meant, before the recollection struck her of what was on her hip. “I-… yes,” she said at last, reaching down and pulling up the gleaming black-and-chrome hilt from where it hung. “I did. It went fine!”
Chiro’s eyes gleamed, and he threw his head back as if reeling from a blow, laughing. “Wow, you got it right first try? You Katarn clan really are something special.”
With the lightsaber resting across her palms, Lhevra gave a small frown, her cheeks reddening a little more. “I-it’s not that big a deal, I just studied and practiced. And not all the Katarn clan are overachievers, if that’s what you’re-”
She stammered as Chiro snickered and dropped down onto the stone beside her, giving her a nudge. “Come on, Lhevra, I’m trying to give you a compliment here.”
Her lips pressed together and she glanced down and away, clutching her fingers around the hilt in slight embarrassment. “R-… right. Thanks, Chiro.”
The young man just grinned, and with another little nudge he spurred on a conversation that carried the two on until the sun had fully set and a Temple Guard passing by urged them to their clan quarters. Chiro always knew how to cheer Lhevra up.
He was always the one to find her when she’d been hiding from the other students and the instructors. The one who wanted, at first, to help her study the Code and the Pillars - and later, for her to help him with his saber work. She was quite fond of him, in a way she wasn’t of others…
A pity.
Padawan
[To Be Continued]