Sandra slowly appears on the meditation mat of her ship. The Force Cloak’d meditation comes to an end and she takes a gentle breath. Her datapad goes off and she stands up to have a look at it. Her long white shirt flows gently before arriving to the beeping pad.
She picks it up and looks at the first piece of information she asked for had arrived. This first thing was far more for sentimental reasons than for any fancy one or any dedicated one. All she wanted was what she’d always sought… some answers. The question this time was one she never wanted answered until recently. For all the years that had gone by, she was never curious to how her master died because of intensity of it, but after all these deaths and coming to know her self far more than then.
As part of Vrake’s deal to break it off with Callista, she was offered two things she can ask for specifically from the Jedi Archives. While it was a crude method on Vrake’s behalf, it was all rather well played and, of course, he got what he wanted on almost every measure. So she asked for her Master’s records.
And so Sandra sat with the gigs of information that was recorded on him. She read his file for hours. She smiled, she laughed, she cried, and she once again continued to learn from him. Sandra never realized that how close they were in persona and yet so contrasting at their foundation. He’d had lived a really difficult life after becoming a Knight. He spend years solving abstract issues between politics, drama, small arms wars, and more. But, as a Jedi, this was not something out of the ordinary, and perhaps that is what made him so special… in that he never saw himself as special. All he really wanted to do was help people and granted them the methods to making peace in ways that were just as abstract and negotiable as he was. Isn’t that what so many people who really mean well for the galaxy want?
It was finally that she got to the end of the report and took a deep breath. Opening the KIA file makes her heart race and her hands shake a slight. What a lot of people don’t realize, outside of the temple, is that the Master and Padawan process’ final notion is really about one of the most difficult things to accept. That when the Padawan becomes a Knight, they are separated and freed of their Master’s company. They receive one of the hardest lessons about letting go because now comes the first time in their lives where they aren’t spending years with the one person they have come to truly rely on and give themselves to. The Mandalorian Wars really took a lot of that away and now the separations are instant or painful. Just as Sandra had been instantly separated from her own Master, so too were so many who felt the quick lesson of death and denial take them away from the most important years of their life.
She read the file and tears flooded her eyes…dropping to her thighs. He fought along Revan’s side to the end and it was in the final battle that the last record of him was found. That his datapad was found with nothing but his work information, some messages, and a single picture of young Sandra looking confused at him for when he was taking the picture.
Her arms close together and she lays her head on her arms to cry into. In her mind played dozens of scenes of where he had made fun of her, teased her, made her feel ridiculous, or when they just stared off into nothingness for peaceful moments. His laughter and smirks were clear as day in her mind as their adventures took them to many places over the years she had him. It was hard to say what she was truly feeling now…
What was she really feeling?
Joy
Pain
Love
Torment
Relief
Hope
Warmth
Did it matter?
Maybe not, but she had her final answers.
She had the truth.
As a spy… it was really the rarest thing to come across.
In this moment, she recalls one of the first vids she made with her Master…
============================
“Is this thing on? How do I use this?”
A female asks in a semi monotone voice.
“Push this switch, and then scroll to this option. Holotape. Got it?”
A gentle male twi’lek seems to instruct, knowing the video is on anyways.
“So this one…um, very well. Ah, it is already on. Master, why must you tease me so!” The female pouts off screen.
“How else would you learn? It is not as entertaining either if you do not stumble and learn. It is on now. Go ahead, talk about yourself. It is important to at least keep some record of yourself. Go on!”
A slight shuffle is heard as a redhead of what looks like 13 appears before the screen, pushing some hair aside and taking a deep breath.
“My name is Sandra Mana, I am from Coruscant. Um…My Master is asking me to make a recording for me to watch in the future to see how I have grown. I think it is awkward, but I cannot deny him…”
“Now, Sandra, do not gripe!” He laughs off screen.
“Right…um, I am currently Thirteen years of age, I like the color Blue, I do not like socializing, and I do not like onions. Loud people are very annoying. Oh um…I have been studying under my master for Four years now? It has been exhausting and difficult, mostly because my master has a sense of humor.”
“Hey, would you prefer to have the master that makes you wash all the dishes every week? Or the one that shows you the strange places you like AND occasionally bring a REAL smile to that determined and stoic face, heh.”
The Master of Sandra chirps in jest.
“Everything is a lesson in disguise. You said the last trip would be fun, but you just showed me how to slice a terminal, near a sunset.”
“The sunset was gorgeous, was it not?”
“I was slicing the terminal, Master!”
“Right, well, it WAS gorgeous. And we had snacks after.”
He peeks into the camera and smirks a little. A twi’lek comes into view for a few seconds.
“I liked that…” Sandra fiddles with her hair a bit and looks to the ‘camera’.
“Well, um…my Master is showing me a few things aside from training. He says that taking up other skills is a good way to release stress between serious training and work. I guess…it does help. I like doing things with my hands…making things. Taking them apart. I can disassemble a blaster and the lightsaber of others. First time was…a prank.”
“I think Jim did not appreciate it, heh.”
“He said my hair was blood color…”
“Do not mind it. He meant to harm.”
“It hurt my feelings…a lot.”
“Have patience, Sandra. With tinkering, lessons, and with people. Not everyone is the same. So be open about the personalities of others. It is good to study this also.”
“I know…humph.”
“Humph~”
“S-Stop…bully.”
Sandra pouts more. The Master bursts out laughing and comes to sit next to her on the screen. He waves and pats Sandra’s head as she winces a little at this action.
“Um…I will be going with Master to go…‘people watching’ in the square. What lesson is there in THAT?”
“A thousand. Learning about quirks and little things that make people an individual! Understanding is the greatest way to break the ice in socializing and noticing your own quirks and tells. You will learn a lot, I promise!”
“Humph, you will make me ah…do something odd meantime!”
“Maybe~” He chuckles loudly.
“Very well…oh um, this is Sandra Mana, Padawan of the Jedi Order. Signing off now, because time to study.”