Master Masbau is a familiar face to you. Having been the first to find you when you were left at the Temple, he has taken to visiting you occasionally in your crèche to check on your wellbeing. Despite him being rather brusque in his speech, his true-self shines through when you look at him, showing you how he truly cares for you, and all the other Younglings. This is perhaps why he takes his job as a Temple guard so seriously, having elected to continue as a guard after ascending to Jedi Master.

And so, you always take his instruction to heart even with the somewhat harsh words he uses. When he realized that you were too passive in combat, he recommended Ataru to you in order to get you to show more aggression. Your passivity had resulted in you being pushed into the defensive too often, and your lack of strength allowed your opponents to simply bat your lightsaber aside, leaving you wide open. Despite the negative connotations associated with Ataru, Master Masbau recognized its possible use in shoring up your weaknesses. With your small stature, you have to get in much closer than normal to engage your opponent. And, in doing so, you are able to force your opponent into a much tighter position than they are perhaps familiar with, giving you the advantage. Even your lack of strength is less consequential, for in such close quarters your opponents will rarely have the leverage to utilize their superior strength. Additionally, quick bladework on your part does not need so much strength behind it, for your opponent must always contest your attacks lest they be run through. After all, a blow from a lightsaber is never glancing unless your opponent wears specialized armor.

However, one weakness of Ataru is its performance against blasters. Oh, it still works just fine, but it will never match Djem So in defending against projectiles. Unfortunately, neither is Niman as good as Djem So, and so when Master Masbau announces to the class that you will next be doing bolt-blocking practice, you feel a sliver of apprehension.

And, it is not just your favored Forms’ lesser performance against projectiles that concerns you. When Master Masbau releases the training droids into the air, you grimace and grip your training saber just a bit tighter. For some reason, droids have always seemed… uncanny. Their capability for thought, speech, action — it all seems at odds with their existence. Many are able to act almost like a sapient, yet in your sight, they lack a true-self.

The true-self of a person is often buried beneath their emotions, clouded behind a glow of feeling. A person’s psyche is written upon their true-self, declaring their desires, intentions, personality, and even secrets. You try not to look too hard at the last of these to allow others their privacy, but sometimes, it’s just there! But, with droids, it is like looking at a cadaver – a dead thing, walking and talking despite having no business doing so. When you look at a droid, it feels as if there should be something else there, and yet nothing shows through the metal shell. Hollow, despite the weave of circuitry and sensors.

All the other Younglings seem perfectly fine with the droids, excitedly getting ready for the exercise. This kind of exercise is a basic one that all Younglings have done before, often one of the first exercises a Youngling has been led through. Donning the vision-restricting helmet forces the initiate to become familiar with the Force. The Force guides the blade, and gives the Jedi awareness beyond sight. Through this practice, a Youngling learns to trust in the Force, their body, and their saber.

As the training droid assigned to you floats its way over to your assigned zone, you feel your heart beat slightly faster and your breath catches in your throat. You shudder as you prepare, tying your blindfold in place — the standard helmet not fitting on your horned head — and do your best to center yourself.

You calm your breathing, reach out to the Force, and let go.

“Begin!”

In a matter of seconds, you block a dozen stunning bolts. The training droid darting all around you is a wisp in the Force, its presence glimmering as it circles. You ignore the dead feeling it emanates, concentrating only on the guiding hand of the Force, allowing your hands and feet to move where needed with little conscious direction. In this moment, you feel in control, at peace in the movement of your body, and able to ignore all the issues that have cluttered your mind over the day.

You feel as if the Force conforms to your body, not really weighing on you, but instead gently directing your body into just the right positions to either block or dodge bolts for the next few minutes. You know that it's seeping in and out of your body, flowing through your limbs as you dance through the exercise, even though you cannot feel it yourself.

During this exercise, more care must be taken than usual, for though each initiate has their own assigned area to work in, there is not much overall space and there are no dividing walls. Careless initiates often step outside their zones, forcing others to dodge them in addition to the stunning bolts. Not only that, but reflected bolts are another major hazard. Customarily, the training sabers will absorb the low-energy bolts from the training droids, dissipating them when blocked. Today’s exercise involves sabers that reflect the bolts, and it takes additional concentration to avoid sending the bolts at other initiates while you practice, and dodge bolts accidentally sent toward you.

After another fifteen minutes or so, Master Masbau calls a halt to the practice, allowing you to rest. You and many other initiates nearly collapse in exhaustion from the intensive workout. You are at least nursing far fewer bruises than your peers, having avoided or blocked nearly all of the bolts. Younger and less experienced initiates are doing slightly better, having had their training droids set on a lower difficulty.

“That’ll be all for today!” yells out Master Masbau. “Return your equipment and clean yourselves up. Dinner will be available soon at the refectory. Good work!”

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“My hand still hurts. Xena, feed me!”

Tera opens her mouth expectantly, happily scrunching her eyes as you comply. Unfortunately for her, she hadn’t done nearly as well in the exercise as you, having been hit in the dominant hand by a reflected bolt. She’d spent the rest of the exercise frantically dodging and trying to defend herself with her off-hand, alternating between cursing and trying to shake the feeling back into her hand.

“Xena, you really shouldn’t spoil her,” says Doran, one of your other clanmates. “She can just as easily eat with her other hand. It’s not like she needs utensils to eat that.”

“True… but she’ll keep whining if I don’t fill her face for her,” you respond.

Tera, gives you a brief pout, but you can see the rise of bubbly-purple mild amusement in her emotions. It grows even more purple as you feel a sharp jerk in your tail, and then hear a loud crashing sound right behind you.

“Aah! My food! Xena, you’ve gotta watch where you put your tail!”

“And you need to watch your step, Nyine! I tucked it as far beneath the seat as I could.”

“I can’t see your tail when my tray is blocking my vision,” she complains. "I’m going back to get more food. Help me clean that up and I’ll forgive you.”

With that, Nyine Uhdea starts walking back to the queue for food, grumbling under her breath. You roll your eyes and start picking up the food, gathering it onto the tray for ease. Thankfully, most of the food is of the dry variety, and in large chunks, so you’re not going to have to mop anything up. Nyine is usually the calm type of person, but her sticky-orange irritation marks a contrast with her usual self. You can’t really blame her either, as you probably could have been a bit more careful with your tail. On the other hand, her irritation is mostly directed, again, at the bolt-blocking exercise. Nyine is a perfectionist in her defense, but in the chaos of the exercise, she failed to deflect at least five bolts, each one striking her in her lekku or her sensitive montrals, both of which stuck out of the Togruta version of the training helmet.

In the meantime, Tera and Doran chat about the classes you had earlier in the afternoon. Neither of them are fans of the courses, despite the obvious necessity of them. To a Jedi, who keeps the peace throughout a galaxy of a million worlds and a million different cultures, understanding the economics, language, cultures, and politics of the people you meet is critical. Unfortunately, this doesn’t stop your friends from complaining.

“Why does Master Shima assign so much work? We’ve got so much to read already on the Naboo Crisis! Why’s he having us do more reading on the Gungan holidays too? How’s that even important?!”

“Well, the Gungans were pretty important in the conflict,” you say. “The Queen of Naboo was only able to get them on her side after appealing to both the peaceful and the militaristic sides of their culture. They’re normally a peaceful kind of people, at least that’s what the texts say, but they do have the remnants of a warrior culture from back when they were a tribal people. By reiterating that all she wanted was peace, Queen Amidala was able to at least calm the Gungan Boss. She was then able to appeal to their sense of honor by virtually begging them to help in the retaking of Naboo.”

Doran is a bit surprised at this, evidently having focused more on the exploits of the Jedi during the lecture than on the major players in the conflict.

“But still, why holidays?”

You think for a second, then hazard a guess, “Maybe it’s because of their Festival of Warriors? I don’t know much about it, but it certainly sounds like something important for understanding their willingness to overcome their isolationist stance to fight for Naboo. Probably important for understanding their military doctrine too.”

“Alright, alright. You’ve got a point.”

“Y’know, cultural studies is really really important! Misunderstandings between cultures are a major cause of many wars in our past,” you remark. “Sometimes, there are issues with basic greetings between cultures. Some cultures require you to meet the eyes of the one you’re entreating in order to show proper respect. In others, it’s a challenge for dominance and the correct greeting is to keep your eyes lowered.

“Understanding between people is so important. Take, for example, the Autsen-Haenden Incident. The Autsen are a historically pacifistic people. They would rather live and let-live than fight. In a cut-throat galaxy, this doesn’t exist very often, but the uniquely caustic atmosphere of their home planet essentially makes it untenable for anybody to try and take it from them. And, taking them as slaves or captives is more trouble than it’s worth since their biology is suited only for their world, and nowhere else.

“The Haenden on the other hand, used to be far more militaristic. In their past, they were hunted by a great predator they call the Changer. They either overcame the Changer at some point, or it disappeared. It devolved into their boogey-man, hiding in the dark and ready to eat naughty children. But, their racial fear of the Changer caused them to be ever afraid of new people, for the Changer was said to be able to shape-shift into anybody, striking when least expected. The only way the Haenden could identify the Changer was its lack of specialized, cone-shaped organs atop its head. The Haenden utilize these organs to sense the flow of the Force around their homeworld, “seeing” its currents in the upper atmosphere and using this to orient themselves. The Changer could not replicate these organs, and thus could be marked out. Once the Haenden discovered spaceflight, they built up their military and would make aggressive moves throughout the galaxy, though always avoided all out war. It is fortunate that they never came across any Clawdites or other shape-shifters before the formation of the Galactic Republic, or this story may be about a different incident entirely.

“Then, they came upon the Autsen. For some reason, they refused to acknowledge the Autsen. Not in interaction, but in their existence. They would not even say ‘Autsen,’ and feigned confusion or ignorance when anybody talked to them. In the meantime, they were invading the Autsen’s world in all but name, landing in their cities, walking through their homes, and taking whatever they wanted. Of course, the Autsen complained, but their pacifistic nature prevented them from fighting back. This continued on for months before the Autsen had had enough, and finally pulled out their wildcard.

“The Autsen declared to the galaxy that they had a superweapon pointed at the Haenden’s homeworld. If the Haenden did not stop their invasion, the Autsen would pull the trigger. At this, the Council sent a pair of Jedi to try and mediate between the two, but of course, the Haenden continued to ignore the Autsen, resulting in the negotiations going nowhere. However, at essentially the last moment, only a couple cycles from the Autsen committing genocide, the Jedi Knight and his Padawan discovered a crucial piece of information regarding the Haenden’s culture that allowed them to peacefully resolve the situation. Can you guess what it was?”