Chapter Thirty Four: Lessons to be Learned
A month passed, Rainbow Dash was feeling a bit drained. Everyday after her work was done she would go to the Jedi Temple. Not to mention that Jelu was still missing and no one had said a word outside of their group. It bothered her, she didn’t know if Dooku had said something to coerce him into leaving with him or if he straight up captured him. Not even Anakin and Obi-Wan were sure.
“Do I really have to go with you? I have nothing to do while I’m there.” Shae said, Kory sitting behind them looking quite nervous. “I do have a life.”
“Because if I’m going and something weird happens again I’m going to need a ride home. Besides, Kory is here to keep you company.” Rainbow replied glancing back to see the frown on Kory’s face. “Everything alright?”
“Just my nerves and being away from the hospital.” answered Kory giving Rainbow Dash a nervous smile. “First time at the Jedi Temple.”
“I’ll say, you keep finding more work every time I bring Rainbow Dash here.” scoffed Shae parking the speeder. “I would say you were avoiding this place.”
“And this is coming from you Shae?” Kory pointed out teasingly as they climbed out. “Do you think Master Yoda will see you today?”
“I’m actually here to see Master Luminara if she’s in. I didn’t get a message stating that she wasn’t.” Shae and Kory shared a look at Rainbow’s response and laid back attitude. A grin grew across Rainbow’s face before she took off. Shae chasing after her, Kory just walked behind the both of them taking in the sight. A pink Twi’lek caught her attention but vanished around the corner the moment she tried to get a closer look. Kory shook her head the moment Shae called out. “Kory! She’s getting away!”
“Coming!” Kory responded, her pace picking up as she moved both quickly and respectfully through the halls.
“Is this the way?” Shae asked, finally catching up with Rainbow Dash who was walking into the library. Shae’s eyes narrowed as she spotted one Anakin Skywalker walking with a young Togruta girl. Rainbow Dash took off flying through the stacks with Shae on her heels. “Rainbow Dash!”
Her voice wasn’t loud, but it did carry, Anakin turned his head before looking up. He shook his head quickly and Rainbow looked at the Padawan before looking back at Anakin landing on the floor. Her wings folded behind her as Anakin took his Padawan to the desk.
“Want to explain?” Shae asked, finally catching up to her. Rainbow Dash looked at her before shrugging her shoulders saying. “Anakin looks busy, looks like Ahsoka is in trouble for something.”
“You should be seeing if Master Luminara is busy or not. We can do the research on what is going on.” Shae told her strictly but quietly. She took note of the kindly old Jedi at the desk, who did not look happy at Rainbow Dash’s presence. Kory just looked at Rainbow Dash wondering what she did, but she had already walked away talking with Anakin.
“My guess is that she pulled one of her famous pranks around here.” Shae guessed as she moved to find a table to sit at. It was hard to find one without a computer. They were currently guests and didn’t want to get in trouble with the librarian. Kory finally found a table that suited their needs. The computer was down for repairs so there wouldn’t be any suspicions that they were snooping.
“So what’s up?” Rainbow Dash asked, walking beside Anakin, glancing around for Master Luminara. Though she didn’t seem to be too upset about not finding her. Anakin chuckled saying. “Are you avoiding learning from someone today?”
“Hey I talk to you like this regularly. What gave you that impression?” Rainbow pointed out folding her arms and puffing out her cheeks. Though she began to chuckle. “Nah, I’m supposed to be meeting with Master Luminara. Just wanted to see what is going on with Ahsoka.”
“She got in trouble for doing something she wasn’t supposed to be doing on a mission and now she’s being punished for it.” Anakin explained, he took note of the questioning look on Rainbow’s face. “No I won’t tell you what it was. I know you won’t say anything but it is a sensitive topic for her at the moment.”
“Just needed to know when I can cheer her up.” Rainbow Dash explained as a female Mirialan approached them. Rainbow felt dread come down upon her. There was nothing about this woman that said emotionally attached to anything.
Anakin looked between them before bowing. “Master Luminara, this is Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash, this is Master Luminara Unduli.”
Rainbow Dash quickly fell into a salute. “Ma’am, it will be rather interesting working alongside you today.”
Lumniara nodded her head in greeting towards Anakin before her blue eyes locked onto Rainbow Dash. “Miss Dash, the honor is mine.”
It wasn’t even ten minutes and Shae could say she was more bored in the Archives than she was by the speeder. The librarian seemed to be keeping an eye on them, Kory didn’t mind. She was using her Corelian Spike deck in a makeshift game of somesort. Carefully setting down seven cards with six of them facing down. The next row was the same, only one card face up on top of the next face down card. Shae’s eye twitched as she rested her chin on her arms. She glanced over seeing the Librarian looking in their direction.
“What?” she asked, causing Kory to glance at her saying strictly. “Shae, leave it.”
"I understand that you two have special permission to be here at the Temple but here you will adhere to the rules in the Archives." The librarian said, her expression appearing warm and welcoming yet at the same time cold and serious.
“So a simple question isn’t allowed?” Shae sniped back, Kory sighed trying to focus on her game. “Or is it her cards that bother you?”
The librarian walked over to them while responding. "Like any great library or archive, you must remain quiet unless you are speaking to me, the librarian or whispering to study partners."
“Thought I was speaking to you. I don’t see any other librarian around.” Kory placed her hands against the table and Shae grew a little quiet. “We weren’t making noise intentionally.”
"If the game becomes a distraction to others or makes too much noise I will have to tell you to stop." The librarian answered with her expression appearing colder. Shae climbed to her feet but one order from Kory caused her to stop. “Outside, Shae.”
She turned her head to see Kory picking up the cards putting them into the pouch. Shae looked between them before walking out angrily. Kory gave a smile to the librarian saying. “Apologies, she can get passionate. It is good when she is saving the lives of others but makes interacting with others not used to her personality difficult.”
"No apology necessary young one, I deal with many rascally younglings so this is no different. You appear to be a good influence with your friend, I am sure she will do better." The librarian said smiling, the feeling of coldness disappearing. Kory glanced away quickly when the librarian said she was a good influence. She returned the smile shyly saying. “Thank you Madame Librarian. Tell me, how far back do your records go?”
"Oh no need for that, you may call me Jocasta Nu." She said. "The records here date back to the elder days of the Jedi Order. Much knowledge can be found here." She glanced around the library while speaking. Kory spoke carefully. “A lot of people have asked if I was related to Ashara Zavros, archeologists maybe, I was wondering if you know who that is. History isn’t my specialty and it is hinted that she was once part of the Order. I don’t want to touch anything for I am not a Jedi myself.”
"Come right this way please and we will have a look. Despite me being the librarian there's so much knowledge to be found here that I haven't gotten to everything." Jocasta Nu said, making a gesture for Kory to follow. Kory smiled as she moved away, her eyes glancing towards the door.
Shae moved through the halls gritting her teeth as she headed for her speeder. Her arms shook as she paused looking around. She realized that in her frustration she passed where she was supposed to turn. Letting out a frustrated groan she let out a few Mandalorian curse words under her breath, her back hitting the wall as she slid down. She laid her arms against her knee and rested her head against them.
A group of younglings happened to be walking in Shae's direction as they left a class. Their eyes turned to see her as a girl in the group asked. "Are you alright miss?"
Shae’s head jerked up and she began to blink saying. “Frustrated, but it’ll pass. Uh… hi by the way.”
One of the boys in the group spoke up. "Master Yoda taught us to be mindful of our emotions. You remember that right?"
“Not a Jedi, I’m just here to keep a friend from missing out on learning from them. She’s… uh dealing with a few things that everyone thinks the Jedi can help with.” Shae explained climbing to her feet. “I’m a medic for the Republic Navy.”
"Not a Jedi?" One asked. "That's allowed?" Another added. The girl from before walked closer to Shae and looked up at her. "Can we help with anything?"
“Special permission, got it right here.” Shae said, pulling out her datapad that Colonel Pir gave her, showing it to the kid who asked if it was allowed. “Help with what?”
"I dunno, you just seemed like you needed help. Master Yoda taught us that it's important to help people." The girl said with a cute smile. Shae got down on one knee and looked at her in the eye saying. “Well I was trying to get to my speeder, but it’s harder than it looks. I’d appreciate all the help I can get. The Temple is massive.”
"Yeah we can help!" The girl cheered gleefully. "Follow us!" The younglings started walking away looking back at Shae. Shae climbed to her feet and began to follow after them putting the datapad away.
One of the boys stopped to talk to Shae and said. "Can we be friends?"
“Course we can, do the Jedi have a rule against that or will it be cool?” Shae quickly had to add the question just to make sure she wouldn’t get the Younglings in trouble.
"I dunno, none of the Masters have said anything so let's be friends!" He said, grabbing her hand. Shae gave him a nod, a grin spreading across her face as she walked alongside the children. Around her belt gleamed a bit of metal a strong cord attached to it.. A skull of a Mythosaur, her only true connection to Mandalore.
Rainbow Dash walked alongside Master Unduli her curiosity getting the better of her.“So what are you going to have me do?”
“Master Yoda suggested I give you a course on Jedi discipline.” Master Luminara answered her, looking at Rainbow Dash closely. Rainbow Dash frowned slightly before nodding her head. “Well discipline is good. The Wonderbolts need to be disciplined when training.”
“Indeed, discipline is important even outside of the Order. Now Miss Dash, do you know what our Jedi Code is?” Luminara asked. Rainbow Dash bit the inside of her cheek before saying. “I remember reading it when I first got stuck here after you guys found me on Moraband.”
She gritted her teeth wanting to say Korriban. “Recite it to me please.” Luminara instructed. Rainbow Dash closed her eyes as she thought back. The words coming to her mind.
“There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the force.” she recited, trying not to grin at the ignorance and knowledge bit. She distinctly remembered chiding the Council on that. ‘I’m doing better, normally I would bring up mistakes like that alot… or is that a Pinkie Pie thing?’ Rainbow Dash questioned mentally as she opened her eyes.
“Well done, your memory is excellent not being a Jedi yourself. What does it all mean to you?” She asked pacing back and forth keeping her eyes fixed on Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash shifted her weight as she thought about it. “Well to me, it sounds like it’s not letting yourself being controlled by your emotions or feelings. This is coming from someone who’s overly passionate, but even I know when to calm down… with the help from my friends. But sometimes it seems a lot of you Jedi cut yourself off from emotions and passions. You try to be knowledgeable but sometimes you aren’t curious enough to learn. Well, not all Jedi of course. It’s like saying all Pegasi are outgoing and brash.”
“And do you know why this is so important to the Jedi?” Luminara asked next. Rainbow Dash shrugged her shoulders saying. “Well you guys are guardians of the peace, people who defend need to keep a level head. If you lose your temper you end up causing a lot of harm. I mean I’ve never seen Celestia lose her temper, but living for over a thousand years probably does do that.”
“You are doing wonderfully so far, but now comes what may prove difficult for you. While you may not be a Jedi, you do have powers laying dormant within you that activate based on your emotions. Like you say of us Jedi, we must keep our emotions in check so that we do not succumb and lose ourselves. You must do the same or you may continue to lack control over your abilities.” Luminara stated, no longer pacing and her eyes piercing right through Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash thought about it before saying. “I’m not sure if it will work, but I'm willing to learn.”
Luminara reached into her pocket and pulled out an orb shaped device. “This here is commonly used amongst Jedi to train our young patience, endurance, and their lightsaber abilities. The latter will not apply to you, so we will do things...differently. I am going to activate this droid and it will fly about and attempt to shoot at you. Do not worry, they are not harmful...though they will sting.” Her free hand reached into her other pocket and pulled out a blindfold. “You are going to put this on.”
Any confidence welling up inside of Rainbow Dash vanished the moment her eyes locked onto the blindfold. “Wait… what?”
Luminara smiled and said. “Just listen to my words and the sounds of the droid. You will be fine.”
“Fine.” Rainbow replied after a little while. She did believe she was going against her better judgement but her judgement often led her to doing reckless things. Which meant that this wasn’t reckless enough for her. That meant doing this exercise would be something Twilight would try out just for fun. ‘And now, my head hurts.’
Master Unduli stretched out her arm and activated the little orb shaped droid. It hovered around in different directions when a blaster bolt shot out towards Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash felt the vibration in the air but was late in pinpointing it. She felt the bolt hit her bicep causing her to rub the spot where it hit. She felt the frustration rise but she swallowed it down. After all it was only the first bolt, she knew she’d get the hang of it. Eventually.
Before it started moving again, without saying a word Luminara activate another droid. The both of them started flying around in front of Rainbow Dash, both firing at the same time towards her sides. Rainbow Dash managed to use the vibrations to raise her barrier only to get hit in the other arm. Before they fired again yet another droid activated, this time flying around from different sides of her. Instead of firing at the same time, they fired one after the other. Rainbow Dash felt like she was getting lost in the middle of a storm. She just wanted to protect herself as energy surged forth. The red electricity arced around her almost fusing with her barrier.
“Enough.” Luminara spoke as she deactivated the droids. “You may remove the blindfold.”
Rainbow Dash removed the blindfold holding her head. She gave it a shake opening her eyes.
“When the third droid entered, I felt a surge of emotion. An urge to protect yourself, causing this red electricity to pour out from you. When you felt this, were you in control or was someone else?” Luminara asked. Rainbow Dash thought back, shaking her head. “No, it was more like I was trapped in the middle of a thunderstorm and kept getting hit. I just wanted it to stop, more like instinct.”
Luminara responded with a serious expression saying. “We will proceed with the next lesson.”
No one visiting the temple would ever expect for someone to break in. Yet there he was on a ledge with a droid next to him awaiting for his inside man to find what he needed.