Two Days Later…
Silverstream stood in the middle of the circular room of the Hall of Knighthood, surrounded by many Jedi Masters, each with their lightsabers held high in the air. Master Yoda stood on a floating pod, looking directly at her. This was it. This was the moment she had been training for.
The Clone Wars had ended a day ago and reparations were scheduled to be made, which pushed her knighting ceremony back another day, much to her frustration. The previous night, she had been treated to a mock ritual courtesy of Katooni and her friends, each acting out the part of the specific Master according to what Anakin had told them about the event.
To say that Petro had played the part of Master Yoda well was an understatement. He had practically nailed the gruff voice and reverse dialect, so much so that Silver was convinced for a moment that he was in fact Yoda in disguise. Afterwards, the younglings all slept in the same room as sort of a quasi-sleepover type event, though Katooni had no idea how to host one, so Silverstream had to help her.
Now Silverstream was standing before all the high-ranking Masters of the Jedi High Council. Several Padawans were scheduled to go after her and she had been selected first. She took several shaky breaths to calm her nervousness and fear, imagining the look of joy on Anakin’s face when she emerged from the Jedi Temple as a full-fledged Knight.
Master Yoda finally looked up, addressing the other assembled Masters with the beginning of the ceremony. He spoke loud and clear, the voice of authority carrying over to everyone present:
“All Jedi, we are,” the Grand Master spoke, “speaks for us, the Force does. Through our actions, the Force proclaims itself and what is real. Today, we are here to acknowledge what the Force has proclaimed.” He focused on Silverstream. “Step forward, Padawan.”
The Padawans in the back all raised a collective breath as Silverstream stepped forward, getting down on her knees. Master Yoda raised his bright green lightsaber and proclaimed, “Silverstream Starflight, by the right of the Council,” He touched his saber to her right shoulder, “By the will of the Force,” He touched her left shoulder, “Dub thee, I do. Jedi.” With a strike of his saber, he severed her Padawan braid, which fell to the floor in a grand gesture of leaving its host, “Knight of the Republic.”
Silverstream stood up proudly. All the Masters tipped their heads in acknowledgement to her. She could barely contain her excitement. There was no applause as that was not considered standard protocol, but she didn’t need any. She was just so elated. Master Yoda had the proudest smile he had had in a long time. Here was his former Padawan finally graduating to the next level of her training. A hero to the galaxy.
She had saved the entire Republic and the Jedi Order. No longer was she the scared hippogriff she was when she first came. She truly belonged. She had a family.
But there was still one thing she had to do.
“Master Yoda,” Silverstream asked, “I just have one request, if that’s okay.”
Master Yoda nodded once. “Your friend Katooni, hm?”
Silverstream nodded back, desperately hoping that he would say yes to her proposal. She took a deep breath and told him what was on her mind.
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The skies above Coruscant were a cloudy haze. It was still early in the morning when the ceremony was taking place. A crowd of citizens had gathered in front of the Jedi Temple, wanting to catch a glimpse of the Padawan-turned-Knight who had saved Coruscant and ended the Clone Wars. They had no idea who this Jedi was, yet upon the broadcast saying that she had a connection to Anakin Skywalker, they became curious.
Speaking of Anakin, he, along with Katooni and her friends, managed to squeeze to the front of the crowd, watching through the gradually clearing fog for Silverstream. As the fog began to subside, a figure became visible, walking towards the crowd.
“Look!” shouted somebody in the crowd, “The Jedi Knight!”
The figure stopped. The fog cleared completely to reveal Silverstream decked out in Jedi robes and carrying her light blue lightsaber. She looked at the assembled crowd in confusion, not understanding what they had gathered for.
That was when the crowd broke into thunderous applause, all gathering around the puzzled pink hippogriff. Anakin and Katooni rushed over to try and pry the ecstatic crowd off of poor Silverstream. As the crowd reluctantly parted, Anakin exclaimed proudly, “That’s my Padawan! That hippogriff right there, I trained her myself!” He then proceeded to tackle Silverstream in a bear hug. “Way to go, Silverstream!!”
Silverstream hugged back, gently pushing him off soon afterward so she could breathe. She laughed and smiled, “Thanks, Anakin.” That was when she noticed Katooni, Petro, Zatt, Gadoni, Gunji, and Byph all looking at her, “Oh, hey guys.”
Katooni was the first to bow down. “Master,” she addressed her respectfully. The other younglings followed suit, echoing the word.
Silverstream faced Katooni, thinking she might as well tell her what had transpired in the Temple. But first, they had to get away from the prying eyes of the crowd, “Speaking of ‘Master,’ can we talk in private? Just the two of us? Away from this crowd?”
Katooni had an expression of concern as she nodded. The two stepped away from the crowd and towards the Great Tree, the only secluded place outside the Temple. The crowd whispered to themselves as the two went.
Once they were alone, Katooni initiated the conversation, “So what happened in there? You seemed pretty worried.”
“That’s because I didn’t want to tell you in front of everyone,” Silverstream replied, “It just didn’t seem right. Katooni, you remember what you told me that night during the Battle of Coruscant? How you wanted to be my Padawan?”
Blushing slightly in embarrassment, Katooni nodded slowly.
“I asked Master Yoda about it earlier,” Silverstream told her, “I told him everything.”
Katooni took a deep breath, bracing herself for the rejection. She put on the best emotionless face she could, “I’m ready.”
“He said yes.” Silverstream answered, a wide smile on her face as she revealed the news.
Katooni was about to reply, then stopped momentarily in shock as she processed the news, “R-really…? You’re not joking with me, you’re 100% serious right now?” she asked quickly.
Silverstream nodded. “I couldn’t believe it myself! He told me that I had earned the right to choose! How cool is that?”
Tears came to Katooni’s eyes. She couldn’t believe it. All she could muster was, “Thank you, Silverstream…” That was when the tears started flowing. They were happy tears, the tears of a child being adopted at last.
The two of them embraced one another, their friendship and close bond now forever strengthened by the new development. Katooni finally had a mother figure in Silverstream as her Master. It didn’t matter that the two were roughly about the same age. Family was family.
When they finally released each other, they looked off in silence, staring at the city now illuminated by the sun fully rising. They didn’t say a word for about 5 minutes until Silverstream broke the silence:
“Do you want to go tell everyone?”
A brief pause, then a reply:
“…Yeah.”
END OF ACT ONE