SW: Exceptional Jedi: Old Connections Chapter 1

Rating: Preset!K+
Warnings: Swearwords (both Basic and Veledosian), violence, injueries? To be updated.

Jedova's datapad flashed. It was the sign of that it was the day.

Arya was sitting in the common room, meditating. She was in the middle of the Padawan birthday ritual, reflecting on her past memories.

Jedova quickly dressed and picked the orb to his hand. He meditated in his own room in order to not disturb the Padawan. This was going to be an important day, and nothing should go wrong.

Jedova had his story about his mission on Kiros fully planned. He was certain of every single word, every single sentence. He had meditated on what had happened and pondered about the future; he had come to the decision that Arya would start her water element training after turning 13. He could not plan the conversation about it, but he was positive that it would go well. He just hoped that Arya would not take returning to her old home badly.

The girl got up from the floor and walked to prepare some tea. Jedova had successfully converted the girl into a tea-drinker during the course of the last weeks, and he was proud of such an accomplishment in such a short amount of time.

Jedova felt the intricate carvings of the orb against his palm. His hard work and skillfulness in using the Force, the future blacksmith Arak's skills and Tureq's precision had come together into this small item. He opened the door and walked into the common room, greeted by his apprentice right away. The girl was in particularly happy mood today.
"Good morning, Padawan", Jedova greeted. "And happy birthday."

Arya smiled even more brightly; she was so happy that her Master remembered it. Her Force signature seemed to sing in joy.
"Finally I can give you the gift I got for you", Jedova said. Arya became curious.
"When did you get it? You've been here ever since you returned from that solo mission of yours, Master", she said.
"I was on that mission to get the gift", Jedova noted, surprising his apprentice.
"So that explains why you didn't want to tell anything about it!" the girl exclaimed. "Now it makes sense!"
"It was the other reason why I didn't tell you indeed, young one", he said.
"What was the other reason?" Arya asked; after getting accustomed to the fact that she spent most of her time with her Master, she had started to ask questions and openly discuss, even though she was still rather intimidated by the tall Master. Jedova believed that they would get along with each other better after some missions.
"I went to meet your tribe", he answered the girl's question.
"You went to see the folks of Lianoros?" Arya's eyes widened in shock. "How is everybody?"
"They are doing well", Jedova told.
"How's Dad? And Arak, Tureq and Gamu? And Seer Ni'Dea?" Arya started to bomb her Master with questions. Jedova raised his hand to stop the flood of questions.

Suddenly he recalled that Arya had had a younger brother. Yet he had not seen Gamu anywhere during his time with the Veledosian tribe.
"I did not see Gamu, but others are well", Jedova told.
"You didn't see my younger brother?" Arya frowned. She did not understand how it was possible. "For how long were you there, Master?"
"All the time I was away, aside from the trip there and back", Jedova told.
"But how come did you not see Gamu? I don't understand", Arya said. A possible answer started to creep to her mind, but she wanted to deny it.
"No one even mentioned him", Jedova said partly to himself. He frowned now too. Could it be that...
"He's dead, isn't he?" Arya asked.
"Maybe", Jedova said, his voice low.
"I didn't even notice that he was gone", Arya said. She looked at the floor. The tea was cooling.

For a moment they were silent. Then Jedova walked closer to Arya and opened his palm, revealing the orb. He said: "He's one with the Force, but I am sure that through it he participated into making this with me, Arak and Tureq."

Arya looked at the orb and the Master. She found herself wanting to believe in those words, but part of her never even thought about Gamu. As the bewildered girl kept thinking, Jedova gently placed the gift to the girl's hand. He was happy that he could now tell everything.

Arya stared at the orb, recognition lighting her eyes. Her fingers searched the orb, and suddenly its parts started to move, forming a figure. Arya's expression turned into a childlike joy. Suddenly she was lost in a childhood memory, but she looked up to her Master and said: "Master... thank you so much!"

There could not have been a more sincere thank you. The girl was overjoyed as she moved the parts back into an orb, but then it turned into another figure as she found another switch. This time she was genuinely surprised. She muttered a Veledosian word in amazement; as far as Jedova felt it in the Force, it was not an expletive.

The Jedi Master recalled not noticing the Veledosian language's flow in the Force back when he had been at the village seven years ago, but he had learned to notice it during his six weeks at the village just a month ago. It was like he had been on a trip to hone his language skills further, but he still had no actual information on the language, let alone any skills to speak or even understand it. He had only learned to recognize its effect in the Force, and he believed he had learned to tell different moods apart from each other.

Then Arya looked back up to her Master and said: "I will always treasure this gift, Master. I promise."
"I believed that you would", Jedova noted. "Now I think we should discuss about your element studies. They need planning, as you need to be at your tribe's village in order to study."

Arya went silent. After she had left her home village, she had heard of water less. Generations long-gone had silenced the water at the Temple, and there hardly was any fire anywhere to be heard. Only during fires somewhere in the city the girl had heard it; she had almost forgotten it all.
"Padawan?" Jedova asked, worried.
"I hardly remember anything anymore. I feel like I've been separated from the elements here. I don't know how much I can do anymore", Arya told.
"I am sure that there is a lot you can do. And surely the Tribe Seer will take your time since the last lesson to account", Jedova reassured.
"What do you think the Council will say about it?" Arya asked.
"It's part of your education, and in my opinion they don't have anything to say against it."

Arya nodded.
"I'm just not sure if my elemental skills are necessary. There isn't much that triggers anything", she said.
"I can't say anything about that", Jedova mused, "so I think you need to have a mission or two and a talk with Seer Ni'Dea about it. Life beyond Coruscant is extremely varying. You have no idea what out there may trigger your skills. And even if being uneducated on them won't do any harm, you never know if your skills may be needed, maybe even required to save the day."

Jedova's reasoning hit the girl home. She, just like pretty much every child in the Order, had dreamt about saving the day and being the hero. It was enough to motivate her.
"Okay", Arya said cheerfully. "I'll talk with aunt at some point then!"

Jedova smiled; this was the first step on this.