FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The planet of Habo was nothing special, in fact it was like millions of other planets in the galaxy. It was a life-bearing planet, one that was mostly made up of forests and mountains, so it was of the same “design” as thousands of other planets. It was one of those planets where one could really disappear, living a simple life as a farmer with little influence from the outside galaxy. It wasn’t even worth the trouble of bandits, or pirates, to come to such a planet for what could they rob? What little credits the inhabitants had would be too much trouble to attempt in stealing and it wasn’t as though they were going to steal food. So it was all the more curious when a distress beacon came from the planet.

Jedi Knight Thalor Marlock was on a patrol in the Outer Rim when the distress call had sounded. He was not at the controls of the ship for, instead, he was closer to the back of the ship. He sat on the floor, legs crossed beneath him. His Jedi robes were neatly folded and put to the side, nothing standing between him and the force as he meditated. It was not the deepest meditation that he could manage, for he still needed to hear the outside world, but any meditation was better then none for someone like him.

Upon hearing the distress call, though, he left his meditative state. A grunt of age escaped him as he planted one foot on the ground and stood up, the fog of dizziness overcoming him for a moment. After recuperating, he quickly dressed himself and made his way to the cockpit.

He took his time in sitting down in the Captain’s chair, getting himself as comfortable as he could in the uncomfortable seats before pressing a glowing, red button in order to answer the distress call.

“This is Jedi Knight Thalor Marlock, responding to a distress call?”, he said, his voice coming out a bit gruffer then he intended.

After a brief moment of silence, a voice on the other end spoke up. It was feminine, young, almost as if belonging to an adolescent.

“A-A Jedi!? Oh, uh...hello! We have a, uh, bit of a problem.”

Thalor leaned forward in his seat, ruining whatever comfort he had been able to get.

“What problem might you have, young one?”, he said.

“W-Well, we get a ship or two a year! One comes to buy our harvest, the other comes to sell us things we might need…”, she said “...and, uh, this is the time of the year where they come to sell us stuff! W-We, the village I mean, were i-in the middle of buying some equipment when this commotion came started from inside.”

Thalor fought back the wish for the girl on the other end to get to the point quicker, knowing all too well that getting all the details hashed out was important, even if the details themselves weren’t important at all.

“This, uh, person came out! It was being chased by some of the ship’s crew and it ran into our village! I-I didn’t see what happened but I heard a shot go off and it began to run up towards the mountains!”

“A shot went off?”, Thalor asked, intrigued now.

“Y-Yeah, they shot Pa. I think it was with some sort’ve slugthrower, he...he ain’t doing too good.”

“And you say this stowaway ran off into some mountains?”

“Y-Yes! There is this big range of ‘em behind out village, very pretty, and they took off towards there.”

“I see…”, Thalor said, leaning back in his seat “...I will be there shortly, hopefully I can help. Can you send me your coordinates so that I may land near the village?”

“Uh, y-yeah! Can do! The, uh, trade ship left so you can land there. Flat patch of dirt, can’t miss it.”

Roughly thirty minutes later and he had broken through the atmosphere of the planet, the roughest part of entry into a planet already being over with. He could see the planet’s topography quite clearly now, endless forests of tall trees being broken up with gray mountain ranges that were so tall that snow formed on the tips of them. Patches of flat land were interspersed with the trees, giving enough room for villages to comfortably house themselves and farm the land. With how rectangular each patch was, it was pretty safe to assume that these flat patches were man-made.

“W-8”, said Thalor.

There was a whirr and then a couple of beeps that sounded throughout the ship.

“Send the ship towards these coordinates here…”, he said while typing the coordinates into the console “...there is a flat patch of dirt in which we are able to land. Land there, please.”

W-8 beeped before control of the ship was given to it, Thalor now able to stand. He could not fight back a soft groan as he stretched, his lower back popping in ways not all too comfortable.

“42 years in this galaxy and you feel as though you’re twice that age. Guess there are some things even Jedi can’t protect themselves from.”, he said to himself.

He began to make his way towards where he had meditated, double checking that he had gotten everything. Seeing nothing, he patted himself down. Undertunic, overtunic, cloak, trousers, tabard, sash, and his lightsaber were all there.

Feeling the ship beginning to slow down, as it was preparing to land, he made his way over towards a cabinet on the left side of the ship. It was within this cabinet in which he pulled out a portion of a ration, a rectangular box sealed shut with the picture of the contents inside. It had been half a day since he had something to eat and his peckishness was beginning to catch up. Opening up the sealed container, he pulled out a densely packed together piece of bread. He was unsure of what the bread was made of, exactly, but he found himself reveling in the relatively bland taste of it anyways. Just a small sprinkling of sugar throughout the dense loaf raised it from “edible” to “palatable.”

The ship finally came to a stop, the hydraulics of the landing gear hissing to lower the ship down for exiting. Thalor finished up the bread and washed it down with some water, now making his way to the other side of the ship in order to prepare to disembark. A sense of dread suddenly overcame him.

“W-8, is the air on this planet breathable for humans?”

A quick bleep from the droid put his mind at ease. The air was, indeed, breathable for humans.

Hydraulics began to echo from the entrance ramp to the ship, a crack of light forming at the top of the ramp door before said ramp began to lower further. Cool air wafted over him and his eyes adjusted to the light, the first thing he was able to see being the distant mountain ranges. They were, indeed, very pretty.

As the door lowered further, he saw the fields in which the villagers grew their crops and the green grass that grew tall in areas where they fallowed the fields. The grass got shorter as it got closer and closer to the landing site of his ship and, soon, he saw the dirt in which his ship sat upon. It was compacted from hundreds, if not thousands, of ship landings.

With the ramp all the way down, he was free to exit. After making himself presentable, he made his way down the slope and found himself being greeted right as his foot met the dirt.

“M-Master Jedi!”

The same young voice from the distress beacon rang out to his left, his head turning to see the young woman flanked by two men. She was a human, somewhere within her later teenage years. A simple tunic and trousers were worn, but it was a well-made pair with bronze-coloring along the neck and arm holes. A leather belt was worn, a blaster pistol worn at her hip. The two men behind her were of similar dress but they carried themselves like trained professionals. She must be an important girl to need guards.

“Please, Jedi Thalor will do…”, he said, not wanting to be called a “Master” when he was not “...I assume you are the lady from the distress beacon?”

“Yes, that would be me.”, she said with a nod, the bob cut upon her head moving slightly as she did so.

“May you take me to see the man who was shot?”

“Oh, Pa! Y-Yes, please come! He’s developed a bit of a fever now a-and we’re not really sure what to do.”

She beckoned him along, Thalor following behind her while the two men flanked him from behind. He guessed he couldn’t blame the men for being cautious considering what had just happened.

“Do you have a healer here? A person of medicine? A medical droid, even?”, Thalor asked while following her into the village.

“We have a droid but it’s only really good for, well, what we’re used to dealing with here. As you can imagine, we don’t exactly get shot at a lot.”

“And no person here is a doctor of any sorts?”

“Well, not really. Everyone here knows what to do for sickness and what few injuries we get are simple enough to deal with. Anything more and the droid takes care of it!”

He found it hard to believe that a droid didn’t know what to do with a wound from a slugthrower, as such information should have been one of the very basics. If they were dealing with a rare disease or a particularly rare wound, he might have been less suspicious, but this just didn’t make much sense at all! It was not his place to comment on the droid’s performance, though, and he fell into silence as the village began to engulf him.

The village was shaped like a T, a wide dirt road in the middle of two rows of homes. Each home was different in size and shape but all were made of wood and had a front porch. These were no primitive homes for they had automatically opening doors and electricity, even status LEDs near the doors to indicate what was and wasn’t operational, but it still felt like a step back in time.

Everyone within the village had either stopped work or had come out of their homes to see the newcomer, many of them likely never having seen a Jedi before until now. Such a vast amount of gazes upon him would’ve made a younger version of himself rather nervous but, now, he knew that none of these gazes were of malice or judgment. In fact, these people were more fearful then anything.

He overheard two older women talking to one another, words like “village elder” and “pretty bad” being picked up. He put some dots together and figured out why he was currently flanked by two rather mean-looking men. This young woman before him was the daughter of a village elder, so she was likely only a step or two down from being one of the most important people in the village!

“Was there any sort of fighting that went on?”, he asked, noticing a lack of any signs of combat or even much of a struggle.

The young woman was walking up some steps now, this being the place in which her father was most likely being kept. He followed along up the stairs behind her, the edges of his vision watching as the men walked to each side of the automatic door and stood with their backs against the wall.

“No, uh…”, she said as the door opened, beckoning Thalor to come in “...they ran into the village and my father confronted them. He tried to snatch away their slugthrower and t-they shot him! Just...shot an unarmed man.”

“Did he not have guards with him?”

“H-He did but they were more terrified then he was. Ain’t nobody here ever shot at nobody before, even the guards.”

“I see. So this person ran off after firing a single shot?”

“Yeah. Left this big cloud of smoke after they fired, nobody saw where they went until someone saw them run into the forest towards the mountains.”

“Hmm, I see.”

The house was modest, slightly out of date technologically but still perfectly reasonable for an Outer Rim planet. There was a main room, where he was now, with a kitchen towards the back and a back door. There were two other doors, one obviously for a bathroom and another likely for a bedroom of some sorts. This was where the young woman was rapidly walking.

“I-In here”, she said, her voice dropping down to a loud whisper before the door opened.

Thalor followed behind her in silence, the iron smell of blood hitting him like a speeder. The room he walked into was fairly large, a wide bed sitting against a wall and in the middle of the room. It was on this bed in which her father lie, naked from the waist up with a once white bandage plastered over his stomach. Thalor fought back a cringe at the grizzly sight for he was simply not used to seeing violent wounds, even after all these years as a Jedi.

“F-Father, there’s someone here to see you. Hopefully he can help?”, she said, her last sentence spoken with pleading eyes in Thalor’s direction.

Thalor stared back at her, his eyes as calm as he could manage. He didn’t want to say out loud at just how bad of a sight this all was. Hope was what was needed right now, not fear.

“W-Who?”, croaked the father.

“A Jedi, father. A real Jedi!”

He came closer to the father, looking down at his stomach for a moment before looking at the man’s face. Despite his age, likely ten or fifteen years (Galactic Standard) older than Thalor, he had a full head of brown hair and a patchy beard. He looked as though he had been in great shape until he had gotten shot.

“So it’s true, you lot really do wear them ugly ass robes.”, the father smiled, fighting back a grimace of pain.

From Thalor’s initial assessment, he was likely on some sort’ve painkiller. That droid had at least been able to do that, although that made him wonder just where the droid in question was!

“Say, you said a droid was looking after him?”, Thalor said, looking over at the young woman.

“Mhm!”

“Where is this droid?”

Turning her head as if expecting to find it immediately, a look of confusion came over her. She held up her finger to signal the Jedi to wait a moment before she disappeared from the room, a backdoor being heard opening and then closing before a shout. The door opened up again and the sound of robotic legs could be heard whirring closer and closer to the bedroom door. The door opened and in walked a protocol droid, one so patched together that it was like a poorly put-together rainbow of metallic colors.

“Oh, visitors! May I-”

“May I ask what you’ve done with this man here so far?”, Thalor cut the droid off, motioning towards the now dozing father.

“Oh! Well, I bandaged him and gave him medicine to kill the pain.”

“Did you do anything for the wound itself?”

“That is not within my parameters of knowledge.”

Thalor stared at the droid as if it had just told him that two plus two equaled 42. He then looked at the young woman that stood behind the droid, who shrugged. He quickly deduced that whoever had put this droid together, and likely sold it to them, had done a job so poor that it probably shouldn’t be trusted with no more then sweeping the front porch.

“Right...”, Thalor grimaced, turning to face the father “...I’ll take a look, see what I can do.”

Carefully, he raised the now dozing man up so that he could begin to unwrap his bandages. After beckoning over the young woman and having her hold him up, he began to slowly upwrap the bandages that were wrapped around his stomach. He noticed the lack of blood on the backside, giving him a bad feeling on things. Having the shot from the slugthrower in his stomach was more dangerous than having it go through him entirely.

He fully unwrapped the man’s bandages now, helping his daughter in putting him back down on the bed. Although he let out a groan, he was still unconscious. Another dose of painkillers might be in order here soon.

With the wound bare before him, a feeling of nausea came over him. The entrance was a messy sight, coagulated blood keeping the wound from bleeding too badly but also making visibility poor. Still, he could see the grayish color of the ball of shot if he squinted and lightly pulled the wound apart. Maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t too deep.

“Do you have medical tools? Like, tweezers or a thin set of tongs?”, he asked the young woman, who seemed about ready to throw up from both disgust and worry.

“I...uh, F3. Do we?”, she asked, looking over at the droid.

“I have tweezers but I can already tell that they will not be sufficient.”, the droid said, at least having enough sense to know that.

“Right…”, Thalor said, planting both of his hands on the bed in order to prepare himself “...give him some painkiller and I’ll see what I can do.”

Right now, he so desperately wished that he had taken more time to study the medical side of the Force. The Medical Corps would have made such easy work of this, tools or no tools, and here he was knowing less than many Padawans. His studies and meditations had never really taken him towards that side of the Force, instead leading him down the path of History. Knowing about the history of the Jedi Order was certainly doing him a lot of good now, wasn’t it?

While he had delved into his mind, mentally punched himself for not knowing more, the droid had given the man a shot of some form of painkiller. Whatever it was, it seemed to work as the man’s body went limp and the tenseness of pain left him. Now, all Thalor had to worry about was extracting the shot.

“I need you to be ready to hold him down, in case the pain is more than what the painkiller can stop.”, he said, looking directly at the young woman.

She stared at him with a scared expression, being the pure image of a child scared for her father’s life.

“W-What are you gonna do?”, she said, following his order anyways and standing near the head of the bed.

“I’m gonna get the shot out. If we leave it in there, the wound will fester and the shot could work its way further into him.”

“With your fingers!?”, she said, exasperated.

“No, with the Force.”

She stared at him, incredulous, but seemed to trust the word of a Jedi enough to not push against the idea. After putting her arms out in preparation to stop her father from sitting up, Thalor put one knee on the bed and leaned over the father. His lower back was not a fan of this position at all.

Softly exhaling, he moved his right hand to hold onto the man’s waist while his other hovered over the man’s wound. He closed his eyes, letting a meditative-like state take over his mind.

“May the Force be with this man as it is with me.”, he whispered, repeating it two more times in his mind before beginning.

Pulling an object of this size with the force was of no trouble at all, in fact it was a rather juvenile skill. What made this difficult, though, was that he needed to pull the shot out of the man in the same line that it had gone in. He needed to avoid making the wound bigger, opening up blood clots, and generally just wounding the man any further. He took his time, lifting the shot gently and smoothly through the wound. Every time he felt the shot beginning to scrape against the side of the man’s insides or against a clot, he stopped and gingerly changed course.

“Oh my…”, he heard the droid say, Thalor’s eyes opening to watch the shot slowly floating out from the wound and into his hand.

The shot was mushroomed, originally being 16.5 millimeters in diameter or so. Although he couldn’t tell exactly what it was made of, he could tell that it had been hand cast. It was conical in its shape, grooves of rifling cut into the soft metal. This was far, far more primitive than any modern slugthrower. While he was nowhere near a weapon’s expert, this looked like it was many, many generations behind what a modern slugthrower used. Interesting.

“You...you did it!”, the woman said, her body shaking in an attempt to contain her excitement.

“Indeed, although do not celebrate too early.”, he said, gingerly putting the shot within a pocket in his robe.

“But you got the shot out.”

“I did, yes, and that puts the biggest risks behind us. Still, there could be complications. Bleeding, infection, and many other things.”

“O-Oh…”, she said, the excitement quickly fading from her eyes “...so, what do we do?”

“Well…”, Thalor began to say, gingerly taking his knee off the bed and standing up straight “...I can give you a trade.”

He might not have much medical knowledge but he certainly felt confident in the ability to do basic treatment on the wound.

“I’ll teach you how to sew him up, keep him from getting infected, and the like. In exchange, do you think you could tell me what this person looked like? The one that, well…”, he motion at her father “...did this.”

“So...with what you teach me, I’ll be able to keep him alive?”

“I can almost guarantee it, yes.”, he nodded.

“Okay, I’ll...I’ll try to learn as quickly as I can.”

“Should take you no time at all…”, Thalor smiled “...you look smart enough, perhaps you will be able to teach the other villagers here. I do hope that this information never needs to get used again, though.

“Why not teach the droid this?”, she said, looking over at the droid that was simply standing in the corner and watching.

Thalor looked at the droid, giving it a good look up and down in assessment, before giving her a knowing look. She looked back at him in understanding.

“Alright. Droid, do you have stuff to clean and stitch wounds?”

“Indeed, I do.”, it perked up, almost as if eager to be part of the procedure.

“Fetch it, please.”, Thalor said and, with a nod, the droid left the room.

“Now…”, he said, turning back to the young woman “...while we wait, what did this person look like?”

“Well…”, she said, thinking for a moment “...they kinda looked like a cat.”

Thalor was, to put it simply, wore out. Although he had been told the safest route to the mountains, it was still treacherous for someone of his age. A part of him had wondered if it might have been a good idea to use the ship to skip the, say, thirty minute trek. He had quickly put that idea out of his mind, though, for it would likely spook the feline he was tracking while also looking a tad odd to the villagers. So, he just suffered.

He made it to the edge of the forest now, his Jedi robes a little damp with sweat, and it was here where he decided to take a bit of a rest. Just a few meters to his left was a fallen tree and it was upon this in which he sat, nearly falling over backwards at the speed in which he slumped down onto the tree.

Meditating to himself now, he focused on recuperating the information he had acquired so far while getting his strength back. The individual he was chasing after was some sort of cat-person, likely a Cathar or many of the other dozen cat-like species in the galaxy. They were short, wore a cloak, and had a sword on their hip along with a slugthrower in their hands. He hadn’t been able to get much more information, only knowing that they looked young for their species. Getting a definitive answer on the cat’s gender had been out of the question as well, the young woman and other folks saying that they just couldn’t make it out.

Letting out a soft breath, he focused on an action plan. This person had been a stowaway on a ship and had shot an unarmed man. Was this a criminal on the run or someone just scared? He knew they’d likely be difficult to capture. Would he be able to talk to them? Convince them to lay down their weapons and come with him? There were a lot of questions in his head and not a whole lot of answers, this was likely to be one of those situations in which he had to figure things out as he went.

With no more answers to figure out, he simply emptied his mind and let the Force embrace him. He was completely and utterly vulnerable in this state, yet he knew that he was safe anyways.

Alas, he was unable to simply sit there and enjoy his ruminations for the rest of the day. There was a job to do, understanding to achieve, and as such he had to force himself to get off the log and onto his feet. Looking up at the mountain, he felt the dread seeping up in his stomach at how much upward climbing there was to do.

“The Force is with me…”, he sighed, beginning to walk “...I hope.”

The terrain went from forest floor to grass, then patches of grass, and finally rock. The rock was smooth but not so smooth that it was dangerous to walk on, Thalor’s boots having no issue at all in finding grip on them. The mountain, to him at least, was far less beautiful when he was having to climb it though.

As he climbed, keeping an eye out for signs of life, a pressure began to build in his chest. Alarm overcame him, initially fearing that he was experiencing a heart attack and that he was about to die much younger then he should, but then he felt a tug unlike any description of a heart attack that he knew of.

The tugging pulled upward and to the right, each careful step forward tugging his heart harder and harder. He felt an urge to follow where this tug pulled him but he simply couldn’t figure out why. He knew that this was the Force’s doing, for the Force wanted him to go in this certain direction, but why? What did the Force want?

The further he went, the more his curiosity peaked and the more powerful the tugging in his heart became. The tugging was so powerful, in fact, that it overwrote the dread of having to climb up a ledge that was higher then his own height. He just climbed it like he was twenty years younger, pain and discomfort forgotten in exchange for this tug.

He was walking on flat ground now, at least flat for a mountain, and ahead seemed to be a small overhang of rock. It was far too small to be a cave but it was enough to hide in, live in even, and it was through the Force that he felt sure that the cat was here. The Force had led him to the cat, then. Why? What was so important about this cat that the Force had to take such a direct approach?

Subconsciously, he moved his hand to the lightsaber on his hip. He didn’t take it in his hands or even hold his hand on it in preparation to draw it, no. Instead, he pinched a knob between his index finger and thumb. Turning this knob, he turned the power level of his lightsaber down until it was in “training mode.” He didn’t know why he did this, he just did it and asked himself no questions as if following external instructions.

As he came upon the overhang, he felt as though the tug had turned into a grip on his heart. This is what a heart attack feels like, he thought, yet he still persevered in pushing closer and closer to the overhang.

Peering inside, at first he saw nothing. Dread overcame him for a moment, afraid that he had been led wrong, but then he saw it: a slugthrower. It had a full wooden stock, bronze inlays being on the muzzle, fore-end, and buttplate. What almost looked like bronze carvings were inlayed into the stock, ferns sprouting from the butt and pointing inwards towards the trigger mechanism. Again, he knew nothing about weaponry, but this sort of rifle looked ancient.

Suddenly, he drew his lightsaber. The green glow of the saber brought a little light into the overhang as it swung over his head. His body felt out of his control as he brought the lightsaber behind him, feeling the force of something pressing against it. It was a similar feeling that he knew in lightsaber duels when blades locked together.

He felt the control of the Force ebb, control of his own body returning to him. He turned his body, pushing the weapon aside with his own blade and using the free space to take multiple steps back. Holding his lightsaber in two hands now, he held it up in a guard. Looking at his attacker, the grip on his heart seemed to turn into an explosion of emotion.

This was them, the person that he had been looking for.

The first thing he noticed, besides the fact that they were a cat, was their height. They seemed to be about 162 centimeters in height, what little of their body he could make out being slim. They were barefooted, hints of eggshell coloring being on the bottom of their feet while the rest of their fur was a light taupe. The eggshell coloring continued up the front of their neck and in front of their face, stopping right above where their mismatched eyes were. Their left eye was yellowish orange while their right eye was the opposite, an orangy yellow, and he couldn’t help but get lost in those eyes for just a moment until he was attacked once more, the feline coming at him with a metal blade in their right hand.

He raised his lightsaber at an angle, blocking the attack, and then swung downwards to swipe at their legs. They immediately blocked that attempt, surprising Thalor with their quickness, before attempting to sink the straight blade into his stomach. There was great skill within that cat but not enough to best him, yet.

He pushed the blade away with his lightsaber, grabbing the feline by their light navy cloak and pulling them. The feline was thrown to the ground, although not too rough, and soon rock dust dirtied their cloak. He found it to be a shame, considering how pretty that cloak was with its bronze-colored edges that matched their rifle.

As the feline stood back up, putting their sword in front of them in a guard, Thalor found himself shutting off his lightsaber and sheathing it on his side. This action took the feline by surprise, at least initially.

“What is your name, young one?”, he asked, the stance that the feline took now letting him get a good view at the loose fitting smokey blue shorts and bright blue shirt that they wore under their cloak.

“Who are you!?”, the feline shot back, their voice trembling but nowhere near indicating backing down.

“That is not what I asked, but if you insist…”, he said, smiling and shrugging while putting his hands outward in a non-threatening gesture “...I am Jedi Knight Thalor Marlock. Now, may I have your name?”

He watched the feline look them up and down, seeming to take him in much like how he had taken them in. He also couldn’t help but be a little transfixed by their brown hair as a soft breeze of wind blew it around. It was an odd, foreign feeling. What was the Force trying to tell him, if the Force was even part of said feeling?

“I’m not going back.”

The blunt words took him by surprise, a little moreso than the sudden swing of the sword. He simply stepped backwards, out of the swing of the sword, before dashing forward and grasping hold of their wrist. Fear overcame the feline’s eyes rather quickly, almost as if preparing to be struck down, but instead Thalor just held their wrist. Being this close, he couldn’t help but find their cheek tufts a tad cute.

In a “looking at a cute animal” way, of course.

Of course.

“I know not of what you talk about, young one…”, he said, letting go of their wrist before stepping back again “...I am not affiliated with anyone on this planet. The villagers, the ship crew, none of them.”

Attempting to insist that he meant no harm with his gaze, he slowly reached into the pocket of his robe and pulled out the mushroomed shot. Although he couldn’t see it due to their fur, he was sure that the sight of it made the feline’s blood run cold by facial expression alone.

“I assume this…”, he said, pointing the shot at the slugthrower still leaned against the rock “...was fired from that?”

The fearful silence from the feline answered his question enough, the shot now being returned to his pocket.

“The man who you shot will most likely live, the shot did not penetrate deep enough and I was able to teach his daughter how to tend to his wounds.”

He watched as a wave of relief washed over them, telling him that they had likely not meant to shoot the man. Still, their guard was still up.

“Ok…”, they said, grip tightening on their blade “...so what do you want?”

“I want you to come with me.”

Watching their fur suddenly bristle let him know real quick that he could have worded himself better, so he tried to explain himself further.

“Now, hold on. What I mean is that I am not here to put you in a cell or punish you. I’m sure the villagers or that ship crew might want that but that isn’t what I want.”, he said, keeping his voice as calm as he could manage.

“Then what do you want?”, they asked, voice tense.

“I want you to come with me, to my ship, and from there we can figure out what is best for you.”

“And why do you want what is best for me? You don’t even know me!”

“The Jedi want what is best for everyone.”

“The who?”

The fact that they did not know who the “Jedi” was caught him rather off guard, this cat certainly being full of surprises. He had assumed that, by announcing himself as a Jedi, this situation would be made simpler. Most people knew that fighting a Jedi was a bad idea and yet here this cat was, swinging a sword and holding their own.

That was when something else dawned on him, the tugging in his heart. The Force hadn’t been telling him something directly, it was the power within them that had tugged at him. The power had reached out to him, pulled him into the direction of that power’s holder. This cat was strong in the Force.

“Come with me and I’ll tell you who they are. I wish there was a way that I could convince you completely that I mean no harm but, well, that is for you to decide. You can keep that slugthrower pressed against my back the whole way there, if you want.”

He watched the emotion in their face, watched as they juggled their options and put the pieces together with their emotions. Thalor had done all he could do, aside from mind tricks that he was not fond of, and now it was up to them to decide.

“Fine.”

His eyes widened a little at the simple answer, said widened eyes watching as the blade was sheathed into a purple sheath on their left side.

“Fine?”, he said, fighting back a smirk.

“Fine, I’ll come with you.”

“Ah…”, he said with a nod, finally putting his hands down to his side “...one more thing before we leave, though.”

Dubiously, the cat looked at him. Their hand curled as if preparing to draw their blade once more.

“Your name?”, he said, reaching out his hand to shake theirs.

They looked at the hand, then up at his face, and some sense of understanding overcame them. The tenseness in their hand lessened and they lifted it to his, their palm soft but tough as the rock surrounding them.

“J-Jamie.”

He raised an eyebrow at them.

“Jamie Daughtler."

In the time that it took for Thalor and Jamie to make their way back to his ship, Thalor learned that they were 19-years-old (in Galactic Standard). He also learned that they were not like Cathar or other cat-like beings, for Jamie made no mention of them and also simply didn’t fit the description of any beings that he knew, although he was unable to make a real assessment with how covered up Jamie was.

By the time the two of them had walked in the ship, he had also failed to figure out just what to call Jamie. The cloak they wore kept them androgynous, their voice also far too androgynous for him to make out their gender. Calling them “they” didn’t really feel all that right but he wasn’t sure how to exactly broach that subject, especially if they were the kind of person that got a little self-conscious if folks assumed wrongly about them. He guessed that it could wait, though.

Then came time for takeoff, the ship quickly lifting from the dirt beneath it and disappearing into the sky. It was during this time that he learned that Jamie was hungry, although it was not spoken aloud to him. Instead, their stomach did the talking for them and Thalor responded with a laugh. Once the two were in orbit above Habo, he left his seat to fetch Jamie something to eat.

He noticed how uncomfortable they looked, looking as though they were some homebody from the Outer Rim suddenly dropped into the middle of Coruscant. That was a look that he quickly hoped to wipe away with time and a little bit of bribing with food.

“So, Jamie…”, he began to say, his back towards them, as he sorted through cans to see if he could figure out just what this cat might like to eat “...tell me, where do you come from?”

The lack of an initial response didn’t surprise him, for he knew he was still not entirely in the cat’s realm of trustworthiness, but he still eventually expected a response. He got a little worried when, after finding a can and beginning to open it, a response never came. Turning to face the feline, can in hand, there was a troubled look on their face.

“Jamie?”, he said, fetching a fork from a drawer before beginning to make his way over towards them.

“I, uh, don’t know.”, they said, eyes downcast.

One of his eyebrows raised, curious.

“You don’t know?”

“N-No.”

Thalor sat the can down in front of Jamie, said can an assortment of meat and vegetables condensed together into a brick of pure nutrition. It was intended to be put into broth and turned into a stew but, right now, he didn’t feel like cooking (if boiling water and putting a pre-mixed can of food into it counted as “cooking”).

“Not to pry or be rude but how can you not know?”

“What do you mean?”, they asked, downcast eyes fixating on the can before them.

“Well, I’d assume just about everyone would be able to point their planet out on a star map or, at the very least, know the name of it.”

“It...doesn’t have a name”, they said, wearily picking up the can and sniffing it as if testing it.

This confused Thalor, the idea of a life-bearing planet not having a name being unheard of to him. There were million, billions, of planets in the galaxy. The vast majority of them couldn’t house life, sure, and these were the ones that often went unnamed (although still had some sort’ve “serial number”, so to say). For a planet to house life and not have a name? Either something was amiss or Jamie was lying and he couldn’t sense any lie from their lips.

“Could you point it out on a star map? Tell me anything about it?”

An uncomfortable silence befell Jamie, the idea of talking about their home putting them on edge. This edge wasn’t enough to keep them from their food, though, and he could see sense some of the stress in Jamie ebbing with each bite of the, frankly, overpowering (for his tastes) meal. Thalor guessed he could just leave that question unanswered.

“W-8!”, Thalor suddenly called out, causing Jamie to jump before a swift apology was given to the feline.

The beeps and boops sounded throughout the ship, his handy little droid always ready to serve. Well, the droid was not “his”, but he had grown enough of a liking to it that he tried to take it with him as much as possible. It had a personality, even if it was fake, and he just plain liked that in a droid. It reminded him of a pet, something he never could have.

“Set us on a path for Coruscant, please. Give us, say, five days of time between here and there if you can.”

There were a few more beeps before the ship began to move, the droid having complete control. While Thalor generally preferred to control his own ship, now was not really the time to go and leave Jamie by themselves.

“You...have a beep boop guy?”

Jamie was pretty doing a solid job at surprising Thalor with how little they knew. It only brought out more questions and intrigue, but simply bombarding the feline with questions was not going to get him anywhere.

“Is that what you call them back home?”, he said, just being too curious about them to keep all of his questions at bay.

“N-No, we just...don’t have them.”

“You don’t have droids?”

“No, w..we do. Just, uh, none like that. The ones we got either look like you and talk or just take directions without speaking.”

Thalor pondered on this for a moment, idly swaying on his feet for a moment. Then he lifted his arms, mimicking the position of a Protocol Droid for a few seconds.

“They kinda walk around like this?’, he asked.

“Y-Yeah, that. Talk kinda odd but they’re pretty smart.”

“We call those “Protocol Droids.” W-2, who you call “beep boop guy”, is an Astromech.”

“The ones that kinda look like a trash can?”, Jamie said between bites of their food.

An agitated-sounding beep echoed throughout the ship, startling Jamie and even Thalor a tad. He then let out a chuckle, finally taking a seat across from where Jamie sat.

“W-2 is offended.”

Jamie looked at him, incredulous and with a mouth full of food. They spoke before swallowing.

“D-Droids can get offended?”

Such a sentiment was not uncommon in the galaxy but he hated to hear it all the same.

“Well, droids might be an artificial intelligence but they’re still an intelligence. They can have feelings, if programmed to do so or if they go unchecked for long enough. They’re...different, from us, but they still don’t particularly care for being associated with trash cans.”

Another noise throughout the ship had Thalor looking up, relatively close to where the droid’s “head” was poking out the top of the ship.

“No, W-2, you don’t need to come down here and beat them up. Just get us into hyperspace, if you please.”

He looked down to see Jamie tensed back up, fork held tightly in their fingers.

“That was a joke, Jamie. They’re not gonna come down here and, I dunno, run you over.”

Jamie didn’t look too sure, even as the sudden jump into hyperspace let Thalor know that the droid would be too occupied with calculations to worry about any form of revenge.

A few hours later, Thalor found himself in the Captain’s chair. He had gotten as comfortable as he could within it, watching as the streaks of hyperspace whizzed past the glass. It was as close to an open-eyed meditation as he could get, this semi-meditative state having him contemplate now.

His plan was to bring Jamie to Coruscant, in front of the Jedi Council, and attempt to bring them into the Jedi Order itself. The main problem, though, was that Jamie was 19. They were far, far too old to become an apprentice. They would be in class with people at least half their age, most folks their age already well into their Padawan training, and that was only if he could somehow convince them to accept Jamie.

Despite that, what he felt within Jamie was too powerful. There was so much greatness in them, so much potential to become a great Jedi, and yet they had gone undiscovered. Someone as powerful as this should have popped up on their radar a long, long time ago. They needed training, a purpose, and Thalor wanted to provide that so desperately for them. Throughout this whole ship, especially noticed now, he could feel the fear radiating from them. Fear of something within themselves, uncertainty as well. It was these feelings that he didn’t want to leave unchecked, untrained.

The last thing he wanted was for Jamie to become an adversary, if for no other reason than the fact that Thalor knew that they deserved better. What did he know, though? He hadn’t even known Jamie for a full day and he was putting as much thought into them as he’d put into his own former Padawan. She was freshly a Jedi Knight now and had gone on her own, with others like her, to chart new territories. His pride in her had overshadowed the lonely feeling it formed within him, like a parent watching their child grow up and move away.

He knew he was getting melancholic now, a feeling that never boded well when mixed with his meditative states, and he pushed those thoughts away. It was right as he was beginning to try and formulate a plan for Coruscant that he heard footsteps behind him. They were quiet, barefooted, and could belong to nobody but Jamie. Turning his chair around, he face them with a soft smile. Their slughthrower was cradled in their arms, nonthreatening and looking as though it had been freshly clean. It belongs on a wall as a piece of art and history, he mused.

“This is hyperspace?”, Jamie asked, their mismatched eyes being lit up by the lights outside.

“Mhm. Do you know what hyperspace is?”, Thalor said, trying to make his tone sound as respectful as possible for he didn’t want to make Jamie feel, well, uneducated.

“It’s...what ships use to get around quicker?”

“Indeed. It is an alternate dimension, of sorts. Ships are fitted with a hyperdrive, a mechanical part, and we are able to travel down hyperspace “lanes”, sorta like a space version of a road, in order to travel across the galaxy. It turns thousands of years of travel into, at the very most, a month of travel.”

He watched Jamie take the information in, their brain obviously having a hard time figuring out just how large of galaxy this was and how fast one would need to move to turn a lifetime trip into a weekend trip. Thalor couldn’t help but feel a little bad for them, someone with such little knowledge easily taken advantage of in the galaxy.

“And...how long are we going to be here? In hyperspace?”

“Should be about five days, we’re heading to Coruscant.”

“Yeah?”, Jamie said, probing for further explanation.

“Yeah, I will be taking you before the Jedi Council to get you training.”

Their face became the definition of weary while they took a step back from him, Thalor not sure if such a step had been done intentionally or not.

“The...Jedi Council?”

“I’ll have five days to explain it properly to you but, in essence, the Jedi Council is a body of the most powerful and knowledgeable Jedi in the Order. They make decisions democratically and are responsible for the steady operations of the Order.”

“So, a senate?”

“Correct, young one! They’re like a senate, although they’re not the senate. No, that body of people belongs to the Republic.”

He could already tell that he was losing Jamie now, all this information coming on too quickly for them to handle. There was a lot of information that he needed to condense down in these five days.

“Tell you what…”, he said, making motions to begin standing from his seat “...why don’t I make us something warm to drink and I’ll explain as much as I can?”

The excruciating discomfort of his bones almost popping, but not quite, put him in a terrible mood for just a few seconds. He fought back those feelings, though, and began to make his way towards the cabinets.

“About the, uh, whole Galaxy?”

“I’ll answer whatever questions I can, so just about. Now, do you have any preference for drink?”

Two and a half days had passed since Thalor and Jamie had left Habo, those two days filled with lots of learning for the young feline. They were a good student, even if they seemed to jump around a whole lot when it came to learning. One question might pertain to the Jedi, the very next one asking about currency. It kept Thalor on his toes, prepared to answer just about any question that Jamie could think of. Their eagerness and trust was building.

Enough time had passed that Thalor began to see fault in his plan in bringing Jamie to Coruscant. There was no way in which the council would accept Jamie. In fact, they could do the exact opposite. They could view Jamie as too powerful to be let free, instead either imprisoning them or pseudo-imprisoning them. Thalor had relative faith in the council but he knew that they weren’t perfect, no body of people ever could be.

So, what was he to do? So much time had been spent talking with Jamie that he had little time to meditate on things, his thoughts becoming less coherent by the hour. The ship wasn’t cramped, per say, but there was definitely not enough room for him to momentarily “escape” Jamie for half an hour of meditation. Sure, there was a singular private room on the ship but that was reserved for, well, one’s more natural needs.

“So, what is that on your hip?”, Jamie asked, pulling him from the musings of his mind.

The two of them were sat across from one another, a square table between them. This had been where they had spent most of their time talking, his droid doing all of the ship’s hyperspace navigation for him still. These seats weren’t the most comfortable in the galaxy, in fact they were far from it and he found the discomfort of the Captain’s chair far more appealing, but at least it was a decent place to sit.

“You mean my lightsaber?”, Thalor answered, reaching down to finger at it.

“If your “lightsaber” is what you fought me off with, t-then yeah.”

Thalor unclipped his saber from his hip, slowly bringing it up onto the table. It was still powered down into training mode, so any danger of the saber being turned on by Jamie and sunk into him was about as low as it could get. Granted, he doubted such a thing would even happen in the first place.

“Well, it is a weapon of the Jedi. It is our symbol of peace.”

“But why use it instead of one of them blaster things?”

It was a common question, especially from those who had grown up using blasters. The place of a “blade” in the galaxy was few and far between outside of the kitchen and those lurking in the shadows.

“Well, we do not need blasters. We are not soldiers, we are peacekeepers. These lightsabers…”, he said, picking it up and turning it on “...are a training tool as much as they are a weapon.”

The green grow of the blade lit up Jamie and Thalor’s face along with the surrounding area, the soft hum of said blade echoing off the walls. After a brief moment, he shut it off.

“But I don’t understand. If you can use a blaster, why not use that? I reckon its safer and quicker for everyone involved.”

Suddenly feeling the need to stand from his seat, he let out a soft grunt and pushed himself up. He took a moment to walk with his back to Jamie, taking said time to both ponder his words and get his limbs limbered up. After a few seconds, he turned back to Jamie.

“It is like that sword you carry, the same with your slugthrower. In comparison to the wider galaxy, it is rather outdated, but it is still part of you and your culture, at least I assume?”

Jamie nodded.

“Well, a lightsaber is just another tool to bring us closer to the force. Here…”, he said, unclipping his lightsaber and holding it out to Jamie “...take it for a moment.”

Standing from their seat, Jamie slowly walked over to the lightsaber and took it. They felt of the weight of the handle.

“Now turn it on, that little switch there. Keep it pointed away from you.”

Jamie did as they were told, although they still jumped when the lightsaber ignited.

“Swing it around, like how you do your sword.”

Jamie looked at Thalor, as if trying to figure out what this sort’ve lesson was about, but they could read nothing of him. So, all they could do was follow his instructions. They took a defensive stance, one foot planted in front of the other with the blade held horizontally over their head. They swung downwards, Thalor watching as they struggled with the unfamiliar weapon.

“It doesn’t feel right, does it?”

Jamie swung it again, underhanded, before shaking their head.

“The lack of weight in where a blade would be is throwing you off?”, Thalor asked, watching as Jamie nodded their head in response.

“A lightsaber is not a weapon which can be used by itself. Anyone can pick up a blaster and use it without thought but a lightsaber can only be drawn and used deliberately. No amount of training stances and proper swings can fully prepare you, no. Instead, one must clear their mind and let their body be controlled by the Force.”

Jamie turned the lightsaber off, handing it back to Thalor. He accepted it, clipping it back to his belt.

“You talk so much about this Force but I still don’t understand. You get good with a weapon by training with it…”, Jamie said, Thalor nodding in agreement “...but you don’t get good with a lightsaber the same way, instead this Force connection is necessary?”

“Correct. Not only is it a way to help us get closer to the Force, it allows us to protect those in need. You can miss with a blaster, swing wrong with a sword, but the Force will not misguide you in your pursuits of peace.”

The words that came out of Thalor’s mouth did not really seem to pierce Jamie’s mind like he had hoped. In all actuality, Thalor wasn’t sure he wasn’t explaining things all that well anyways. His lack of meditation was making his brain foggy, his words rambling, and he felt as though he was simply not enough to teach young Jamie here at the moment. Perhaps the Force would be of use.

“Here…”, he said, beckoning Jamie towards an open portion of the floor “...sit on the floor, cross your legs.”

Thalor had come to learn very quickly that meditation was not something that came naturally to someone like Jamie. Upon sitting on the floor and following Thalor’s instructions, they became restless. Sitting still became a chore, especially as he urged the young feline to grasp into their mind for their connection. He could sense that Jamie was able to delve that deep, for their fingers to brush against that strand, but they weren’t able to hold on, as if something within them pushed them back. It was confidence that was the issue, or lack there of. At least, that was what he sensed.

Slowly pacing behind Jamie with his hands behind his back, he pondered for a moment until an idea came to mind. He looked down at Jamie as he spoke.

“Take off your cloak.”

Jamie’s ears perked up, cutely he might add, as their head spun around and their eyes opened to stare up at him.

“W-What?”

“I often find my connection to the Force weakened the more barriers I have between myself and it, especially when it comes to meditation.”, he said.

Jamie continued to stare at him as if he had asked them to strip naked right then and there.

“You can put your cloak back on afterwards, I promise, but at least give it a try. It may not work for everyone, including you, but there is no harm in trying.”

He could sense a sudden rush of turmoil within the feline’s brain, the emotion truly being as strong as if Thalor had asked them to strip then and there. He found it peculiar, this strong emotion. He was aware of their confidence issue, it was pretty easy to pick up on, but was this issue something to do with their body? It was a curious thought.

“I’ll even turn around and instruct you without looking, if you want. Honest.”, he said, holding his hands up in a placating gesture.

After much deliberation in Jamie’s mind, they nodded in agreement to this. Thalor nodded back, turning around.

He heard the sound of the cloak being undone and falling to the floor behind Jamie, an ounce of curiosity tempting him to turn his head back to look at them, but he stood firm. He would not break Jamie’s trust, especially not when he was pushing them past their own comfort.

“Good, now try again. Breathe steady, like I instructed, and reach out.”

Although he could not see Jamie, he could feel their emotions, and they were still quite tumultuous. He formed a picture in his mind of Jamie’s hand, interweaving it with Jamie’s emotions, and “watched” as they grasped out towards that strand. He “watched” the struggle, the tips of their fingers barely brushing the strand, until they were finally able to grasp it. A wave of excitement washed over Thalor for Jamie had been able to do it. They had been able to reach out to the Force, to feel it.

“Do you feel that power, Jamie? Not the sort of power you wield but the power that wields you, instead. The kind that calls upon you when it needs your help, not the other way around.”

“Y-Yeah..”, Jamie said with an oddly quivering tone.

“That is why we use these lightsabers. We cannot truly use them without the Force first calling to us, guiding our hands. A lightsaber can still be misused, sure, but it is with training and discipline that we grant our body to the Force and let out lightsabers be used for good.”

Silence fell upon the room for a moment, Thalor sensing a quivering on Jamie’s lips as if they wanted to say something, but simply couldn’t. He did not push.

“You may put your cloak back on now, I will be turning around.”, Thalor said, although he did not hear the sound of the cloak being picked up.

He waited five, then ten, seconds before realizing that Jamie wasn’t putting the cloak back on. Now a little tense himself, he slowly turned his head around to look at Jamie. They were still sat on the ground, legs crossed, but their meditation had ended. Instead, the turmoil in their brain had built up once more. Thalor watched their shoulders move in a forced back cry, Thalor also now noticing the previously unseen satchel worn at their side.

“Jamie…”, he said, silently asking the Force for strength before he got down on one knee behind them “...what is wrong?”

A hic escaped Jamie, the sound tearing through his heart like a blade. He could feel his own lips quivering as Jamie’s feelings leaked into his own. There was shame, guilt, regret. It had all built up over the course of, what felt like, years. Repression had only backed up the dam, the floodgates rusted shut, but now it was all too much and the dam was about to burst.

“Was that why?”, Jamie croaked out, a shuddered breath escaping them.

“What do you mean?”, Thalor said, risking a gentle hand on Jamie’s shoulder. Thankfully, Jamie did not reject said hand.

“I...I couldn’t reach out to the Force until now, I...I’m the reason why.”

Thalor could see the tears beginning to form at the edges of Jamie’s eyes, the dam being ready to break any second now. He kept his grip on their shoulder soft yet firm, trying to keep a “Jedi-like” distance while still providing comfort.

“Whatever happened, Jamie, I can sense that you were very young. Even if…”

“Young people can still be powerful, can’t they..?”, Jamie interrupted “...you...you call me powerful, what if I was actually powerful enough back then to stop it all?”

“Jamie…”, he tried to say but was cut off, this time by cries instead of words.

He watched Jamie mentally crumple into despair, the flood gates fully open now as tears ran down their tufted cheeks and fell upon their shorts in small dribbles. Thalor’s heart fully broke now, his attempts at distancing himself from Jamie completely failing. Pushing through his aching lower back, he sat down on the ground behind Jamie and brought a second hand to their other shoulder. Slowly, he pulled them back against his chest.

Within the Jedi Order, it was always taught that controlling one’s emotions was imperative. Being controlled by one’s emotions was a path to the dark side, hence why so many Jedi took a stoic approach to life, but Thalor could see and feel the traumas behind those stoic gazes. Padawans lost, people failed, all those trials piled up and were never let out. It didn’t sit right with him, never had, and that was why, now, he decided that comforting Jamie was far more important than teaching them to push their emotions away.

Pushing their emotions away was what got them in this mess to start with, he thought, and it was after this thought that he pulled Jamie closer so that he could slowly rock them from side to side.

“Whatever it was, Jamie…”, he whispered under their cries “...it wasn’t your fault, it couldn’t have been. I can feel it.”

And yet, Jamie continued to cry.

And yet, Thalor continued to sit there with them. In fact, he was prepared to sit there for as long as he needed.

The lights of Coruscant shone brightly, these lights formed into circles with lines of light connecting them in a seemingly random pattern. With the amount of ships that could be seen coming and going, it was a miracle that he could even see the planet at all. He didn’t know what else he might’ve expected, though, for Coruscant was always busy. A constant flow of trade and people were needed to keep the planet afloat, the Jedi Order included. Despite all the bad in the galaxy, planets like Coruscant were proof that the galaxy was always capable of doing something great.

Thalor was not sitting in Coruscant’s orbit just to gaze upon it, no. Instead he was deliberating, sitting within his Captain’s chair yet again. His index finger and thumb rubbed at the black stubble on his chin that went up the sides of his face.

His original plan of bringing Jamie before the Jedi Council had become less and less of a solid idea over the past five days. He had heard of older people being allowed into the Order under special circumstances but nobody as old as Jamie had been ever let in, at least in recent times. There was so much emotional baggage with an adult, the ability to “groom” (for he could not think of a better term) them into the Order being just far too difficult. So, with his original plan out the window, what was he to do?

He stood up from the chair, still not finding it comfortable, and made his way back into the ship. In the very back of the ship was the sleeping quarters, two simple bunk beds being on each side with no room for privacy or personal affects. It was back here in which he found Jamie, fast asleep with their cloak over them like a blanket. Thalor found that odd considering there were covers but he just chalked it up to Jamie just being too used to sleeping under their own cloak. They seemed to be a creature of old habits.

He gazed upon the feline’s gear that was on the floor beside the bed, their satchel haphazardly strewn across the floor while their sword and slugthrower were leaned up against the wall. Before he could stop himself, he reached to pick up the slugthrower and examined it. It felt heavy, although not so heavy that it was a pain to lug around. It was also too small for someone like him to comfortably use, the stock of it being custom made for Jamie and Jamie alone. Whoever had carved this stock had done so with love, he could feel it through the Force.

Before he inevitably messed something up with said slugthrower, he put it back in its place. He then turned his head, looking down upon the peaceful Jamie for just a few moments longer than proper, before walking away. The peaceful look upon their face stuck to his mind, the sight being far more preferable to the crying of a few days ago. His heart was still about half broken at the sight, each thought of it making him feel as though Jamie’s sorrow was his own.

Although he had never learned about what exactly had caused Jamie to cry, he had been able to put together a few of the pieces. They felt guilty about something, this self-consciousness of theirs being the building blocks of that guilt. He could feel how they felt that they hadn’t done enough in some sort of situation, ounces of hatred bubbling up within themselves that he did not particularly like feeling. Hate was one of the easiest ways to be brought to the dark side, especially if that hatred was directed towards one self.

Thalor felt a tad stumped, knowing that the Jedi’s way of things was not going to be helpful in a situation like this. Jamie didn’t need to learn how to push their emotions away, they needed to let those emotions flow through them so that they could start anew. Coruscant was not the place for this, even without the influence of the Jedi Order. It was too loud, too dense, and far from being a proper place to take someone like Jamie. No, Jamie needed a quieter place. They needed a place where it was just the two of them, nothing but time needed to build a bond between the two of them so that Thalor could more effectively help them, train them.

He knew just the place.

The bright lights of Coruscant had been exchanged for the lush greenery of another planet, this planet split in half between a more urban side of things and the other side being agriculture. Vast fields, fields far too big to tend without the help of droids, were visible from space from in-between this greenery. It was yet another agriculture planet, like Habo, although this planet was far more densely populated and had more to it than simple living in villages.

He always liked these sorts of planets, the kind where one could get away from the hustle and bustle that came with an urban setting while still being able to go and get everything one could dream of without needing to leave the planet. It wasn’t often that he thought about what life he might live if he wasn’t a Jedi, for he was perfectly content with life as it was now, but he could see himself living as a hermit on a planet like this. Living in a little home, with no neighbors, and going into the city only when he needed.

Life like that would let him meditate to his heart’s content. There would’ve been nobody around to object to said meditations, especially in the rather natural manner in which he partook in them, and he could become closer to the Force rapidly in his own way. Still, life like that would be rather lonely.

“Is this Coruscant?”, came a sudden, tired voice from behind him.

Being brought from his musings, Thalor turned to see Jamie standing there. Their equipment was worn on their body now, their cloak hiding the majority of their satchel. The bed hair that they had acquired, especially with sleeping in a ponytail, was rather adorable.

“No, I’m afraid not…”, he said, now noticing that Jamie was currently eating some sort of densely packed together concoction of vegetables “...you’d be able to see the lights from here if it was.”

“I guess your plan didn’t work out, then?”, Jamie said between bites of the, frankly, rather unpalatable-looking “meal.”

He raised an eyebrow, arms crossing inquisitively. Thalor didn’t recall discussing his plan all that much with Jamie, even if he probably should have. It was their future, after all.

“And that plan?”

“You were gonna take me to Coruscant…”, Jamie began to say, their eyes contemplative as if delving into something that wasn’t entirely in their mind “...to the Council, to try and get me trained to be a Jedi.”

Thalor hummed, finding this interesting.

“I don’t recall ever telling you this.”, he said, now beginning to ruminate if Jamie was tapping into the Force at the moment.

“You mumble when you meditate.”

His hopes died immediately. Unable to hide the rather animated slump of his shoulders, he chuckled. He guessed it was far too early in Jamie’s “career”, so to speak, to be able to piece together other people’s thoughts.

“Ah, well…”, he sighed “...you would be correct. My original plan was to take you before the Council but, as you’ve probably already figured out, you’re too old for the Council to be willing to take you into the Order. Truth be told, I’m half afraid that they would try to imprison you. It is a risk that I’m not willing to take on you.”

Thalor joined Jamie’s gaze in looking out onto the planet, ice caps at the North and South poles of the planet shining brightly like beacons.

“So, I won’t become a Jedi?”

He turned his head to look down on Jamie, hesitating before putting a hand on their head. He hoped it didn’t come off as infantilizing, especially since Jamie came up to the same height as the top of his chest, for he honestly just wanted an excuse to touch their hair. By the Force, it was soft.

“I can’t lie to you, Jamie, so I’m afraid not. Hopefully, I can offer you the second best thing: guidance.”

Shrugging off his hand, much to his disappointment, Jamie looked up at him.

“Guidance?”

“The galaxy is a, well, dark place. I’ve explained how the Sith don’t exist anymore but the dark side still lingers on, influences how people act. Not everyone is as gifted as you, the dark side only influences them in small ways. You, though? The dark side wants you, wants to weaponize the hatred that I can feel in you, and I don’t want that for you.”

Thalor shifted his footing, not exactly the biggest fan of how he worded that last sentence.

“I don’t mean that I want to control your life, obviously, but I want to be able to give you the tools and skills to make your own decisions. I want you to be able to make the same decisions a Jedi would make, even if its all informal. That all hinges on if you want that, though. I won’t force you to go down to that planet and train with me but I do want you to do so, for your own sake.”

He was still not all too happy with how his words came out for he wanted Jamie’s path to be their own, not controlled by someone else. Although he felt as though this was the right path for Jamie, they might not feel the same way, and a part of him was afraid of that. If he were to let Jamie loose into the galaxy, there was no telling what might happen to others in the long run.

Truth be told, he was most afraid of what would happen to them.

“You don’t have to try and convince me, it’s not like I have much else of a choice.”

“You always have a choice, Jamie.”

“True, but…”, they said, vaguely motioning at the planet before them “...it’s either this or nothing at all. I...I don’t exactly have much else to turn to.”

Thalor fought back a nod, knowing that Jamie was correct but not wanting make that burden feel any heavier.

“Well then, shall we go down there? I’m sure I can figure out a way to explain to the Council why I went to Coruscant and then turned around.”

Jamie nodded, their tail poking out from beneath their cloak to lightly swish from side to side.

“Sure.”

The house was made of metal, although it had been painted and shaped to look like wood. It was obviously a manufactured home, for it had the same shape and layout as used on thousands of planets around the galaxy, but that didn’t detach from its coziness. The house sat in front of a vast pond, mountains within the distance. With mountains being few and far between on this planet, this was certainly one of the more expensive spots to be.

Oh well, the Order could afford it.

Thalor had landed the ship in a nearby town, a place far more prosperous than that village on Habo, and had asked around until he figured out who was part of the, frankly limited, tourism industry here. There wasn’t much of anything to explore, unless one wanted a guided tour through fields, but there was some houses in secluded places that one could rent. It was a relatively common industry on planets with beautiful landscapes, the practice of renting these homes mostly partaken in by the rich that were often rather shackled to words of little natural beauty.

He was beginning to get a little tired but he hadn’t much further to go now, his thighs burning slightly as he walked up some stone stairs. Jamie, on the other hand, looked as though they had more energy then when they had started.

“Well, we are here.”, Thalor said, walking up to the door and waving his hand in front of it to activate the sliding mechanism.

He let Jamie go inside before following along behind, the door automatically shutting.

The interior of the house was small but intelligently laid out, using as much of the floor plan as possible to make it feel cozy yet spacious. There was a sizable kitchen, smaller dining area, a lounge room, a bathroom in the back, and a bedroom beside where the bathroom was. Both of the last two rooms were hidden behind doors.

“It’s pretty big.”, Jamie said, looking up at the roof and noticing a small loft area. That was a second “bedroom.”

“It’s actually pretty small, probably average.”

“My home was probably about half this size.”, Jamie said, a hint of sadness in their voice at the mention of their home.

“I’m sure it…”, Thalor said, pausing a moment as he figured out whether to use “was” or “is” to describe their home “...is.”

Jamie went silent, taking a few steps around to take the whole place in. Thalor believe he saw satisfaction on their face, which relieved him. He wasn’t all too sure if being in a place like this would make them more tense or not, so he was glad the gamble had paid off.

“So, why this place?”, they asked, sitting themselves down on a couch.

“Well…”, Thalor began, sitting down on a plush seat opposite of the couch and internally thanking the Force for a comfortable seat for once “...when I was a Padawan, my Master believed that too many people in one place could get in the way of one’s connection to the Force. He’d always take me to these deserted planets, not all of them as beautiful as this one, and we’d do our training sessions there. We’d spar and meditate, he’d give me lessons, and it all seemed to work for me. I mean, I’m a Jedi so I learned enough at least.”

Jamie nodded, their slugthrower resting in their lap. Although the slugthrower had a sling made of some sort of hide attached to it, it was rarely slung over their shoulder. He found that rather odd.

“So, what are your intentions out here? With...with me?”

Thalor leaned back in his seat, clasping his hands together.

“Well, much of the same. I cannot give you the same sort of teachings I got for the lack of support with the Jedi Order makes some things rather difficult. Mostly, it’ll be meditation and learning. You seem fairly competent in being able to protect yourself so I doubt we’ll do much sparring. You won’t really gain anything from that without a lightsaber.”

“I see. How long, uh, are we gonna be here?”

“However long we need to be, unless you take a notion to leave earlier. Besides, I can only spend so many credits on a getaway house before the Order starts asking a few questions.”, Thalor chuckled.

The two of them sat in silence for a little while, seeming to just enjoy each other’s company. Thalor took the time to meditate in the silence, closing his eyes and letting the Force meld its way through the wrinkles of his brain. Being on a planet’s surface made him feel much more grounded, more connected to the Force.

After what felt like ten minutes, Thalor opened his eyes to find that Jamie was no longer there. He looked around, trying to figure out where they went, until he spotted them in the kitchen. They were going through the cupboards, opening and closing doors while their tail swished about behind them.

Curiously, Thalor stood up and silently made his way over to the kitchen. He watched as Jamie bent over, his own body stiffening a tad, and rummaged through a bottom cupboard. They came out of it with nothing more than dust on their hands. A startled yelp escaped them when they turned around and saw Thalor.

“Hungry already?”, Thalor smiled.

“Wha- no, no no. I just wanted to take stock of what we had here.”, Jamie lied.

“And what do we have here?”, Thalor asked, already knowing the answer.

“Nothing.”

“Mmm, well the owner of the property should be having some food delivered later today. Would you be able to wait that long?”

Jamie stared at him, almost as if trying to see if what Thalor said was truthful or not. Thalor hoped that Jamie was not deluded into thinking in any way but the truth.

“Yeah, I can wait that long.”, they said, only partially truthful.

“Tell you what…”, he said, pointing towards the door “...how about a spar to pass the time? I know I said that we wouldn’t be doing much sparring but you have too much energy and I don’t feel like dealing with that later.”

They raised an eyebrow at him, not sure whether to be offended or not at that comment.

“Do you feel like aching all over, then?”

“Is that a threat?”, Thalor challenged.

Thalor ached all over.

The two had gone outside and behind the house to spar, finding a relatively flat patch of grass in which Jamie was able to put their things near the edge of. He had convinced them to remove their cloak so that he could see their form unhindered. Their form wasn’t perfect but it was greater than the majority of Padawans.

The two traded blows with their blades, Thalor using the training mode on their lightsaber while Jamie kept the sheath of their sword tied on with a string. Jamie suffered blows, Thalor suffered about equally as many, but Thalor was certainly feeling them more than Jamie did.

They were circling one another now, Thalor in a low guard with Jamie being in a high guard. Jamie seemed to favor fighting with one hand, their free hand mostly kept out of the way until they brought it on for grappling. Thalor, being a two-handed fighter, had little training in regards to grappling and dealing with said grappling in fights. He thought this to be quite a weak point, especially when their blades locked together.

Jamie began to swing, feinted, and came around from the opposite direction. Thalor caught the feint just in time, his lightsaber swinging to knock the sword away. The sword was indeed knocked back, Jamie’s arm being sent behind them, but in its place came their free hand. This free hand grabbed the front of his tunic, catching Thalor too off guard to swing, before they swung their own sword down and at his legs.

A sense of weightlessness overcame him for a moment before he fell against the ground, a heavy-ish weight falling atop him and knocking the wind from him. This weight had been Jamie, who had lost their footing and fallen atop him, but now they were quickly standing back up with a reddened face. Thalor felt too much pain to feel any embarrassment himself.

“Oh shoot, I-I didn’t mean to have you land that hard.”, Jamie said with worry in their tone.

“It’s fine…”, Thalor said, hoarse “...just...gimme a moment.”

That moment was immediately ruined by the sound of an approaching speeder, the delivery of their food rapidly approaching down the same road from where the two of them had come. He moved to sit up but simply couldn’t, too winded to do so.

“D-Do you want me to leave you here and go get the food?”, Jamie asked, the tone of their voice making Thalor wonder if the prospect of food outweighed his own “injuries.”

“Yeah, just...just tell ‘em to put the bill with the cost of staying here.”

“Al...right.”, Jamie said before quickly dashing off, leaving Thalor there on the ground.

Despite his pain, he had been given yet another moment to meditate to himself. He sprawled out his arms and legs, forcing his breaths to become as steady as they could despite him still being winded. He really couldn’t get a good connection with the Force like this but he was still able to ruminate on the sparring session.

He hadn’t held himself back with Jamie, instead sparring the same way he would with any other Jedi. Jamie had kept up, held their own, and then even surprised him with how quickly they moved. A lot of it was their skill, sure, but the Force was what really shined in their movements. It was imperfect, Jamie in far too much control to let the Force take hold, but it was good enough for dealing with any non-force users in the galaxy. It briefly made him ponder just how good they were with that slugthrower of theirs.

After what felt like forever, he heard soft footfalls coming from above (relative to his position on the ground) him. He looked to see Jamie, upside down, and holding some sort of pastry in their hand. No, it was two. Said pastries looked untouched but they were chewing, implying that there had been a third pastry until now.

“Are you b-better yet?”, Jamie asked, clearly worried.

“Yes, just didn’t feel like getting up yet.”

Jamie offered him a pastry and he took it. It was far sweeter than what he usually allowed himself to eat but he quickly justified it to himself with the situation he was in now. If he had gotten a pastry every time he had been knocked on his ass in a sparring match, he’d be a much wider Jedi.

The two ate in silence for awhile, Thalor staring at nothing in particular while Jamie did the same and ate on the second pastry. A soft ruffling of wind caused him to look back at them, his face reddening a bit as he watched the wind catch their shorts. He was able to look up those shorts, just for a moment, to see those slim but athletic legs of theirs. The shorts seemed to tease him, though, for wind did not push them far enough to show him the most delicate of regions.

The thought immediately made him disgusted in himself, embarrassment exchanged with shame. Jamie was over half his age and said viewing of them would not have been consensual at all. He felt dirty even having the thought.

“I take it that we’re done sparring for the day?”, Jamie asked, walking around him so that they stood beside him.

“Yes, I do believe that you would kill me with another one of those slams.”, he said, sitting up with a groan and quickly trying to push what little he had seen of Jamie from his mind.

“Guess I know your weakness then.”

“What? Physical activity?”, he said, taking hold of Jamie’s offered hand and standing up.

Thalor wanted to groan as he felt his joints pop but he fought it back. All he wanted now was the comfort of a bed.

“Guess so.”, Jamie said, finishing their pastry.

The two went silent for a moment, Jamie wiping their hands on their shorts, before they spoke up again.

“No other sorts of learning for the rest of the day, then?”

“Not unless you feel like learning about how taxes work, why?”

“Oh, nothing.”, Jamie said with a grin, a crumb on the side of their cheek being too alluring for Thalor not to pluck off.

“I don’t like that tone of yours.”, Thalor said, tossing the crumb to the ground.

“Bite me.”

Thalor and Jamie had been here for two days now. It had become quite obvious that there would not be enough food to last them for as long as he thought for Jamie’s appetite simply outweighed what he thought it’d be. He had already known that he didn’t eat a lot but most people ate more, so he had ordered accordingly, but Jamie was simply on another level. How such a small body could fit so much food was beyond him.

The training was hit or miss, depending on the hour. Jamie was a good student, asked a lot of questions and took what answer they got to heart, but meditation just didn’t seem to work with them all too well. He had been able to convince Jamie to meditate without their cloak on but could not convince them to go further, even if Thalor swore upon his life that it was just so Jamie could get closer to the Force. They didn’t budge and their meditations suffered because of it.

Now, it was night. Thalor sat with his legs crossed upon his bed, naked, while Jamie was laying on a bed in the loft above him. This was the first time in quite a few days that he had been able to meditate in the way he preferred and there was simply no other feeling like it. He could feel the Force all around him, seeping into his pores and gifting him with, well, something he didn’t know how to explain. It wasn’t energy or knowledge, that much he was sure, but he still knew that he was being given something. Perhaps it was one of those things he was not meant to know.

His meditation was interrupted by the sound of creaking floorboards, the floors of this house made in such a way that even the creaking of wood was imitated, Jamie seeming to have gotten up. He listened as they made their way down the ladder that went into their loft before the front door opened and closed. There was no need to go outside to use the bathroom, so what were they up to? A fear welled up within him of them running away, for whatever irrational reason he could think of, and he moved to dress himself.

Foregoing his robe and just wearing his tunic and pants, he walked out of his room and confirmed that Jamie was gone. He felt uneasy as he made his way towards the front door, waving his hand before it and opening it. He was immediately met with fog, said fog having settled heavy in the night, but it was still thin enough that he was able to make out the outline of Jamie in it. They were beside the pond, back to him, and just staring out into it.

Thalor took a few steps forward so he could get a better look at Jamie, only stopping when something kept him from doing so. Reaching out, he felt emotion radiating off of Jamie and forming a bubble around them. None of the emotions were good, for it was fear, anxiety, guilt, and many more, and this worried Thalor.

“Jamie?”, he asked, doing his best to keep his voice low but still audible enough for them to hear.

Jamie didn’t respond, at least not initially. They just continued to stare out into the water, Thalor only now realizing that the water was up to their calves. It must’ve been mighty cold, that water, but it didn’t seem to bother Jamie one bit.

“I ain’t doing well with my training, am I?”, they asked, back still to him.

“Well, your training only “officially” started a couple of days ago. Even if you count what little we did on the ship, we’re still far too early into your training to tell. Nobody starts out doing well, not even prodigies.”, he said, not looking too forward to this conversation but still finding it necessary anyways.

“But meditation is one of the most basic forms of training, ain’t it? Like you said, nearly anyone of any species can do it the same way. Y-You just sit there and wait-”

“Well, there is a little more to it than that.”

“You know what I mean.”, Jamie suddenly snapped, turning around to face him now.

Thalor was surprised by the sudden emotion in their tone. Jamie hadn’t really had any sort of negative tone with them since their initial meeting, including when they struggling during their training. Had emotions built up over time and he had just not noticed it?

“Well, y- yeah, but-”

“H-How am I supposed to control myself, to be some sort of J-Jedi, if I can’t even do one of the most basic things? There are children who can sit still for longer then I can, get closer to the Force than me, and yet I can’t even do that.”

Thalor could see the tears forming at the edges of their eyes now, the sight breaking his heart all over again. He was able to take another step towards them, into the bubble of their emotion, and it was here that he could feel it: the turmoil inside them. Guilt was the strongest emotion of all for he could feel it nearly overpowering him, wanting to push him to the ground and keep him there for all of eternity. Was this what Jamie had been feeling all this time and he simply couldn’t feel it until now?

“Jamie, you’re not like those children. You’re an adult with a past, with life e-experiences and trauma. Those children in the Order can meditate easily because they have fewer worries to pull them back. You, though…”, he said, taking another step closer to them “...you’ve been through so much, I can feel it.”

The tenseness in their shoulders only tightened further, Thalor not sure of what to make with such a reaction. He pushed on, anyways.

“I-I don’t know a lot about you, Jamie, but I can feel that pain and hurt within you. I don’t know exactly why but the guilt that you feel is so overwhelming that even I don’t think that I could stand it. You’re strong, Jamie, maybe even stronger than me. Y-You’re intelligent, gifted even, and I don’t want to see that wasted.”

Jamie shrunk back a little bit, Thalor now fearing he had said something wrong. Being wrapped up in Jamie’s emotions had blocked out many of his own senses. Had he just pushed Jamie away?

“I...I know that it’s hard, Jamie, and I can’t promise that I can, well, give the best advice. I can listen, be warm shoulder to cry on. This doesn’t have to be some sort of Jedi lesson or grand ordeal, this can just be a talk between…”, he paused, half for emphasis and half so he could find the right word “...friends.”

Jamie, still shrunken back, looked at him. Thalor hoped that whatever look he had on his face was convincing enough for he couldn’t tell himself. He thought that the fog almost seemed to dissipate a bit but it could very well just be his imagination.

“Jamie…”, he said, taking another daring step forward before the opening of their mouth stopped him.

“W-When I was f-fourteen, we saw these gr-great ships in the sky. My people hadn’t been part of the wider galaxy in over 3,000 years so we didn’t know what to make of it. People came down from these ships, of all shapes and sizes but mostly human, and explained who they were. They were some corporation, delving out and exploring uncharted space. They said that they had found signs of life here and they wanted t-to, uh, help us join the rest of the galaxy.”

Thalor already didn’t like the sounds of this but he said nothing, letting Jamie continue on.

“We were unsure, initially, but we eventually agreed to join. They said that, in exchange, they wanted to do some mining on the planet as a form of payment; they would use that to fund our, well, integration into the galaxy. We never even got to see the galaxy.”

Jamie shuffled in the water, their legs creating ripples that disappeared into the fog around them.

“B-By the time I turned sixteen, our home was a husk. We only lived in the mountains, where we couldn’t even see the rest of our planet, but we knew that they’d cut down all the trees and tore up the earth. They started their mining outside out home first, b-but when that dried up they started digging up the dirt around out homes. People g-got sick, died, and all I did was watch. Some people tried to fight back but we couldn’t fight them, not effectively. They had ships, blasters, and what did we have? Swords and slugthrowers that couldn’t keep up with the speed of their weapons.”

Thalor knew of far too many planets who had been met with a similar fate. The Republic didn’t control the unexplored regions of the galaxy, so corporations could just swoop in on undiscovered planets and do what they want without consequence. By the time the Republic was able to get to these planets, the Corporations were long gone and the people were either dead or dying. There was nothing the Republic could do since these plants weren’t part of said Republic.

“Still, everyone rebelled in their own little ways. Stole this and that, attacked a guard or two. There were kids who had proudly claimed to have shot a guard, even, but me? I just stood and watched. I did nothing as I watched those little bits of resistance crumble, people getting caught one by one and disappearing. I did nothing when they took my mom, my dad, for something that I’m not even sure that they did.”

The tears were rolling down their face now, dripping into the water and making small ripples.

“All because I just didn’t, don’t, have the backbone. I’m...I’m too busy feeling sorry for myself, was too busy trying to justify my inaction, and look where that got me. Eventually I hopped on a ship and escaped, sure, but not after my sorry ass just stood and watched my people get wiped out.”

Thalor felt his legs weakening, the feeling not being his own though. Instead, it was Jamie’s legs that he was feeling. He watched them sway in the water, his own movements mirroring their own, and he wondered if their eventual fall into the water would be met with him falling as well. Knees be damned, he’d crawl into the water and comfort them if needed.

Despite that, there was something he was still confused on: why had they felt sorry? To him, it sounded like there was still something going on besides the loss of their home.

“You say you were busy feeling sorry for yourself. Why...was that?”, he asked, getting control of his own legs back now.

Jamie’s swaying came to a stop, the look of pure sadness on their face now turning to one of fearful guilt. They looked like a child who had been caught with an embarrassing secret, now being forced to tell this secret well before they were ready.

“You don’t-”, he began to say, but was cut off.

“Cause I wasn’t like them, I wasn’t...b-born like them.”, Jamie said, the words coming off as foreign-sounding, like they had never been spoken before.

“P-People are born one of two ways and I just...wasn’t born like that.”

Thalor’s eyebrow raised inquisitively, not entirely sure what Jamie meant, and Jamie caught this. The two stared at one another for a few agonizing seconds before Thalor began to get it, although he wasn’t unable to formulate his words before Jamie began to remove their cloak.

His throat felt tight as Jamie removed their sword from their hip and, with great hesitation, lifted up their shirt. Both their shirt and sword were tossed onto the bank, along with their cloak, and their torso was now bare to nobody but Thalor. They weren’t curveless but their torso certainly didn’t lean in either a masculine or feminine way, the only “feminine” part about their torso being two small breasts. He couldn’t even feel embarrassed, excited even, for those feelings felt so wrong in this situation that even his body couldn’t force them out. So, he stayed stoic.

Jamie stared at him, lips quivering for a moment, before they yanked down their shorts and had them join the pile of clothes on the banks. There was absolutely nothing between their body and Thalor’s gaze, their slim and androgynous figure almost seeming to glow a little in the fog. Between their legs, in the spot where he had almost seen a few days ago, was a penis.

Thalor had been correct.

“Jamie…”, he said, the words a struggle for him to get out “...everyone...has things that make them unique.”

“But everyone is either a man or a woman-”

“Jamie…”, Thalor cut them off “...in a galaxy as vast as this one, do you truly think that every species follows that logic?”

They were silent, body shivering but not from cold. This was likely the first time that anyone had ever saw them naked and Thalor assumed that it was hard to just stand there.

“I...I guess not, but-”

“And I assume that your species is not one of them. Your people are divided in half by sexes, correct?”

Jamie was silent but nodded.

“Who is to say that you’re right, then? There is nothing unnatural about you, nothing that makes you less of a being. In fact…”, Thalor said, taking a few steps forward and watching as Jamie just stood in place “...I know people like you, people in species that follow that divide.”

They stared at him, confused.

“Tell me, Jamie. Let’s say...you had a wish, a wish that the Force could grant. The Force gives you two doors, one door leading to being a woman and the other leading to being a man. Which door would you choose?”

Jamie’s mouth opened quickly, as if prepared to answer a question they had asked themselves dozens upon dozens of times, but nothing came out. They didn’t seem surprised by this lack of an answer but they still looked ashamed of it.

“There are a few humans within the Jedi Order who are born, biologically, as a man or woman. They don’t mentally align with that, though, and so they choose to live a different path. Some born as men choose the life of a woman, some vice versa, and some even decide to live life as neither.”

Jamie looked up at him, intrigued but still silent. This whole conversation was probably the first time they had ever discussed these feelings with anyone but themselves, he mused.

“Some choose to straddle the line or forego it altogether, choosing life outside of those two binaries. Guess what? The Order doesn’t care, most people don’t care. In a galaxy so vast, nobody is unusual. People are too worried about other things to care about what’s under your clothes or what words you prefer to go by.”

He stared into Jamie’s mismatched eyes, silently asking to put a hand on their shoulder, and a subtle nod was all he needed to put a hand on their shoulder. Then another came up and latched onto their other, his fingers ruffling their soft fur.

“What I’m trying to say, Jamie, is that...you’re not alone. I may not have the same experiences, the same worries, as you but I know people who do. People who grow up alone and afraid that they won’t be accepted. Your parents loved you for who you were, who is to say others won’t too? Who is to say that your people wouldn’t have?”

Thalor paused, for emphasis, before lightly shaking Jamie and continuing.

“Sure, a lot of this has nothing to do with…”, Thalor said, nervously laughing as he was embarrassed by his own upcoming words “...a non-typical arrangement of, uh, bodily parts. Nothing is impossible and, while I haven’t studied it much myself, I’m sure there are countless people born just like you. Maybe the Force knew who you would become and decided to nudge your DNA into a few places, I don’t know.”

He moved his hands down their shoulders, slowly stroking their fur as he went from their upper arms to their forearms and eventually those delicate, yet strong, hands of theirs. He clasped them together, sandwiching them between his own.

“What I do know, though, is that your parents loved you and that the vast majority of people in the galaxy would love you just the way you are. Hell, I love you just the way you are. Who you are makes you no better and no worse than anyone else, it just makes you you.”

Those words finally broke Jamie, an explosion of tears overcoming them. The bubble around them seemed to pop and, with it, the ability to hold themselves upright. Thalor fell down with them into the water, catching them and holding them against his chest. Wet tunic be damned, he’d hold onto them for as long as necessary.

He carefully rocked them back and forward, watching as each movement sent ripples into the water. The fog around them was receding with each choked cry, years upon years of pent up emotion spilling out of them like an overturned barrel. Thalor was here for it, all of it, and he’d be here for as long as needed. Jamie was still the smart, gluttonous, skilled, and occasionally goofy feline that he loved and this new information was just another part to love about them. Whether this love was from a platonic perspective or something more, though? He wasn’t sure.

What he was sure of, though, was that he hadn’t touched upon everything. He knew now that it was these thoughts about themselves that had held them back on their homeworld, their self-loathing having kept them, and ashamedly Thalor was somewhat glad of that. What would have happened to Jamie if they had enough confidence in themselves back then to rise up with their people, to potentially be the tipping point of forcing that corporation off their home? Would Jamie had ever left their home? Would Thalor have ever met Jamie? He didn’t know and, frankly, it didn’t matter right now. All that mattered was that the past was the past and that Jamie had a new road to go down, one where they hopefully loved themselves more than previously.

A week had passed by since that night. The food had depleted rapidly, like Thalor had expected, and he had to order more to last them the few more days they had here in this house. The longer he spent here, the more he wanted to stay forever. The peace and tranquility that he got here was like nothing else, especially with Jamie here. Jamie was doing a lot better, too.

Things had been awkward, for a day, but eventually Jamie had opened back up and things went back to normal. He hadn’t tried to coax them into talking about what had happened and he also hadn’t tried to coax them into meditating naked. Still, the growth that they were exhibiting made him wonder if they were meditating like him in that loft.

Today’s lesson had been on the Sith and their destruction, a midday meal now being taken inside. Thalor had used the food that had been delivered a few days ago to make a stew, this stew rather thick and hearty. The aroma of it filled the kitchen, and then the rest of the house, and rose Jamie from a nap that they had been taking on the couch. Their cloak had been used as a blanket, once again, but it was now left behind when they stood from the couch and made their way into the kitchen.

“Whatcha makin’?”, Jamie asked, tail perked in interest.

“Making a stew I picked up on a few years back. I’m not much of a cook but I figured I’d give it a try. Considering it rose you from your sleep, it must at least smell good.”, Thalor said.

Jamie looked as though they wanted to snatch the pot and run with it right then and there. They held themselves back, though, and instead moved to sit on the counter island behind them. Their legs dangled, idly swaying back and forward.

“How much longer are we gonna be here?”, Jamie asked, more out of curiosity rather than a wish to leave.

“Well, I believe that another day or two won’t look too suspicious on the spending report that I need to give the Council. I’ll tell them that I needed a break, a place in which to meditate, and that this was the best place I could find for that. I haven’t actually had a break of any sort in a long time and most people within the Council know of my affinity for meditation so I think they’ll buy that story.”

He left the stew alone now, letting it cook as he turned around to face Jamie. For just a moment, he could see their naked body flash in his head, and it took great effort to push it away before he got visibly embarrassed. These feelings he was, well, feeling were foreign and like that of a hormone-riddled teenager. It still felt wrong, even now that the situation in which he had first seen their nudity had passed.

“You don’t think you’ll get in trouble?”

“I don’t think so. If I do, whatever punishment I get will be light enough. I’ve never really been one to break the rules.”

“Aside from taking on a secret apprentice.”

“Aside from taking on a secret apprentice, yes.”, Thalor grinned, turning back to stir the pot just a tad more.

“Right, I think the stew is done.”

The stew was gone.

The two had sat down at a small, square table in which to eat the stew. He had placed the pot in in-between him and Jamie with a ladle, a bowl and a spoon placed before them. Thalor had ladled out two full bowls of of the thick soup by the time the pot was empty, Jamie having devoured the rest of it like it was no trouble at all. He couldn’t help but feel dumbfounded, his math just not adding up. How they could eat so much and yet stay so slim continued to elude him. Was it a design of their species or was Jamie abnormal in that too?

He’d worry about how it might affect them in the future if he didn’t find it so endearing.

Jamie leaned back in their seat, seeming rather proud of themselves, while Thalor felt he had pushed things a little with the second bowl. The stew had been too good for him to forego, though, and he was certainly feeling the consequences of his actions now. He’d defiently have to use this recipe again, though.

“So...what are the plans for the rest of the day?”, he heard Jamie ask, their ears perked to attention.

“Mmm, well I was thinking a session with a lightsaber. Not a sparring session, mind you, but one closer to the Force.”

“What do you mean?”, Jamie asked.

“Well, a common way in which we train is by putting on a helmet that blocks our senses. We then have a droid that shoots these little non-lethal bolts at you and you have to deflect them with nothing but the guidance of the Force.”

“Oh yeah, I remember you saying how the Jedi use them to deflect blaster bolts.”

“Mhm. There is something different about this training that I want to do, though.”

Staring at him from over the pot, it was obvious that Jamie didn’t like the sound of this.

“You’ve been improving a lot recently, I can tell. In fact, it is at a much faster pace then before…”, he paused “...that night.”

Jamie nodded, looking a little reluctant in their agreeing.

“You don’t seem too comfortable in meditating, uh, “naturally” around me but certainly you’re doing in the loft at night, right?”

Jamie, again, nodded.

“Well, and I’m saying this as an idea to make you closer to the Force, I believe that doing this lightsaber training, uh, like that would be the best thing for you. I’ll have to be there, for safety and guidance purposes, but we can do the training inside. I can already tell by that look on your face that you don’t feel too eager about this but, I promise you, I won’t say a thing. There is nothing to say, nothing to be embarrassed about.”

Jamie more than likely was heavily blushing beneath their fur, their ears flattening atop their head.

“T-Thalor, you know-”

“I know, Jamie. I know you’re not comfortable being naked around others, I know how much willpower it took that night, but I’m only asking you to do this because I think it will help. You know me, I hope, and you know that I have nothing against your body. Truthfully, it...it makes me very happy that you trusted me enough that night to show me. Not for my sake, though, but your own. You’re improving, healing, and I want to help you further that.”

Jamie was silent, slouching in their seat in a whirl of emotions. There was a lot of irrational emotions that wafted from them, fear of Thalor being disgusted or ashamed in them being a primary one. Both Thalor and Jamie knew that this was, as stated, an irrational fear but it just couldn’t be helped.

“If you become too uncomfortable, I won’t ever ask you to do it again. I swear.”

More silence, enough so that he feared that he had pushed Jamie away from the idea, but eventually they spoke up and he couldn’t help but grin at the answer.

“F-Fine.”

Thalor had not been prepared to see Jamie naked again, even if he thought he had. Furniture had been moved around to give them as much space as possible, windows being covered with blinds so that there was no chance of anyone but Thalor seeing them as they were. They stood there now with the helmet held in their hands and covering their breasts. Oh, how he desperately hoped to keep himself in control of his mental faculties.

“After you put on the helmet, I will hand you my lightsaber. You will turn it on and take a stance. This droid…”, he said, motioning towards a round orb of a droid that floated beside him “...will shoot low power, non-injuring bolts at you. This droid has no eyes, no memory, so you needn’t worry about it remembering your body.”

Jamie looked down at themselves, uncomfortable but pushing through it all the same.

“W-What do the bolts feels like? When they hit you?”

“They’re a light sting, a little worse than a pinch but nothing that will singe your fur or leave any marks. With a close enough connection to the Force, though, you won’t feel them at all.”

“Alright.”

Putting his hands behind himself and clasping them together, he moved to the side as to give Jamie as much room as possible. He kept his eyes stoic with a smile upon his face, merely an observer and nothing more. Nodding to Jamie, he watched them put the helmet on their head. It pushed down on the tufts of fur on their cheeks, looking quite goofy, but it fit their head well.

Almost forgetting about the lightsaber, he unclipped it from his belt and walked over towards Jamie. Jamie reached out, feeling his presence, and took the lightsaber. It was only after stepping back at Jamie ignited it, the green glow highlighting all of the parts of their body that Thalor couldn’t help but stare at, and took a stance. Holding it one handed, they did a simple guard that held the saber diagonal along their body.

The droid fired, Jamie’s wrist turning to block the bolt, but they missed and it caught them in the shoulder. They hissed at the stinging feeling, jumping, and Thalor watched as the private bits of their body lightly bounced at the jump. He pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes now. He couldn’t look at Jamie like that, not now and not ever.

The droid fired again, aiming for their thigh, and this time Jamie blocked the bolt. They smiled but Thalor couldn’t see it, his eyes stayed closed to stop himself from getting worked up. He was able to track their progress with his eyes closed, thankfully, and over the course of time they flip flopped between stopping bolts, getting hit by a few, stopping half a dozen, getting hit by one, and so on. They were improving.

Thalor opened his eyes now, having calmed himself down, and watched as the droid fired at Jamie from behind. Jamie quickly turned around, swinging at the bolt. The bolt dissipated but, if it were to have stayed together, it would have been sent directly back at the droid. Thalor hadn’t taught Jamie how to do that for they had figured out on their own.

Pride welled up in him, pride for how quick of a learner Jamie was, but this pride was quickly overshadowed as he looked down and saw Jamie’s rump. It was somewhat flat but strong-looking, the eggshell-colored fur acting like a highlight for where a person might want to, say, touch.

The thought immediately offended him, even as his mind raced and thought of how that fur covered every ounce of the delicate bits of their body, and it was becoming too much for himself. The disgust within him was boiling over now, Thalor needing to remove himself from the room before he did or said something he regretted.

Jamie’s training only continued, Thalor knowing that the results would be stored by the droid for him to examine later. For now, he had to go. His eyes just couldn’t stay off Jamie.

The outside was warm, the sun high in the sky and supporting life across the entirety of the planet. Thalor was sitting on the stairs leading up to the house now, the warm stone feeling mighty nice on his aging bones. The turmoil within him outweighed that feeling, though.

Jamie was doing a great job, far better than he ever expected, but he could see that he was beginning to fail Jamie now. While a Master and a Padawan, or an Apprentice, were to always be close and to form a sort’ve bond, the feelings that he was beginning to feel for Jamie were far beyond that. Although he never completely agreed with the Order’s stances on love, he knew that it could muddy waters and pull one away from the “right” path.

He knew that he was attracted to Jamie, every ounce of them. It wasn’t entirely lustful, if at all, but something about Jamie was just magnetizing for him. When he looked at them, in their most natural state, it was due to the trust that they had in him. It was that connection, that trust, that formed a bridge into his emotions and planted the seed for that longing. Their smile, their gluttony, their building confidence, their body, their breasts, their...everything.

He loved it all, every ounce, and he knew desperately that it was wrong.

Thalor was 42, Jamie was 19. Not only did it feel wrong to love someone that young, despite them being an adult, it felt predatory. It was downright unfair for Jamie, someone who deserved to be with someone else around their own age. Jamie wasn’t going to be a true Jedi, at least not in the Order’s eyes, so they’d never have to worry about following that rule. Jamie could find love, have kids (if their body allowed such a thing), and be with someone they could grow old with. If Thalor were to be that person, he’d die of old age and they’d still have half a life to live without him.

That was too cruel for him to put upon Jamie, too-

“Thalor?”

His thoughts were interrupted by Jamie, his own body jumping a tad as their sudden appearance had spooked him a bit. He turned his head, half expecting to see a naked body, but instead they were dressed completely. Shorts, shirt, cloak, and gear were all on their body. Their sword was strapped to their side and their rifle was slung over their shoulder for once. His lightsaber was held in their hand, offering, and Thalor took it.

“Ah, Jamie. I take it you finished your training?”

“Yeah, but I was confused when I saw you weren’t there. I thought you had to be there for my safety?”

Thalor’s pit in his stomach only grew, knowing that there was only one way to get through this conversation. He had to lie, something he wasn’t very good at, and he had to do it convincingly enough to fool a Force user. It was an uphill battle.

“Well…”, he said, scooting over to make room for Jamie to sit “...I just...found it hard to watch, in a good way. You improved so rapidly and...and it made me a tad emotional.”

Jamie sat down beside him, cloak beneath their bottom to shield their fur from the warm stone, and unslung their rifle to rest it in their lap. Thankfully, it was angled outwards and pointed nowhere near Thalor.

“I...I see…”, Jamie said, dubious of his reasoning “...wasn’t it still dangerous?”

“Truthfully? Yeah…”, he said, knowing he had screwed up there “...many things could’ve gone wrong but, like I said, you were doing so good that I just couldn’t stay there. It, you, made me so damn proud.”

That was the truth, even if it wasn’t the whole story. Jamie made him so proud sometimes that it hurt his chest.

“Well, I...I guess I did a good job. The last fifty bolts I was able to block.”

“Really!?”, Thalor said, this time being the more animated one of the two. “T-That’s great, Jamie! I was nowhere near as good as you on my first try and I trained the same way you did!”

He couldn’t help but wrap his arm around Jamie, pulling them into a half hug that truly was out of happiness for them. Jamie leaned into this hug, hugging him back with one arm, and his heart soared.

“I...I guess I did good, then.”, they said, suddenly feeling self conscious enough to pull away and rub at the back of their neck.

“Amazingly so, yes. You’re a great Force user, Jamie, and I only hope to see you grow.”

The conversation had turned from him hiding his feelings to him being genuinely proud of Jamie, such genuine feeling burying any chance Jamie might’ve had on his exit being anything more. It hurt his heart but it was a necessary hurt, for Jamie.

Jamie smiled, looking out at the glistening water. Their eyes caught on something in the far distance, about maybe six inches wide, and eventually Thalor caught a glimpse of it too. Although he couldn’t make it out, he knew that it wasn’t anything too important or alive. An idea overcame his brain now, his eyes gazing down at the slugthrower in his arms.

“Say, Jamie, how good of a shot are you? I never really got to ask you about your slugthrower.”

“Hmm..?”, Jamie asked, looking at him before looking down at their weapon. “I’m...well, not to brag, but I’m a pretty good shot.”

The object floating in the water was about 250 yards away now, give or take, and Jamie knew what Thalor was about to ask.

“What, you want me to see if I can hit that? That’s easy.”

“Oh? Prove it, then.”, he chuckled.

Jamie went on to “prove it”, the slugthrower being lifted as they adjusted their legs. With their left hand gripping the fore-end of the gun, they rested their elbow on their knee for support. He watched their left eye close while the other looked down the fine sights, their entire body going still apart from the muzzle of the slugthrower that slowly tracked the moving target. After raising their hand to pull the hammer back, they double checked their aim before slowly squeezing the trigger. The hammer fell, sending sparks, and after a brief delay the slugthrower fired. A cloud of smoke encompassed the two of them but it wasn’t thick enough to hide that Jamie’s aim had been true, the object split in half with each end floating away from one another in the water.

Just another thing for him to love about them.

Outside of the ship, nothing but a world of snow and ice could be seen. Endless, endless sheets of the stuff stretched for distances that many might struggle to even comprehend. It was here, though, and it wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

“I know, W-2, but that man said “no droids allowed” and I was already risking it by bringing along that training droid. Besides, wasn’t it nice to not have to get bossed around for awhile?”

Thalor was currently busy stripping the end off of a wire before he wrapped it around a screw within a side panel of W-2. After doing so, he used a screwdriver to keep the wire in place. Making sure it was tightly in its place, he flipped a switch and the droid’s left leg began to move about. It chirped, shutting its door and gliding away.

“Right then.”, Thalor said, grunting as he got up off his knee and made his way to the front of the ship.

It was at the front of the ship where he found Jamie, staring out at the snow and ice. In the distance was a small formation of rocks, just enough to be noticed from land but easily missed from up above. Thalor was glad that he had been able to find this spot for he had almost lost hope!

“So, are you gonna tell me why we’re here?”, Jamie asked, turning to face him.

The two of them were in the northern pole of the planet they had spent many days in that house on, trees and greenery having disappeared long ago in exchange for a landscape where very few creatures survived. It was not a place that either of them were dressed to go out in.

“Well, when it came time for me to get my own lightsaber…”, Thalor began, stepping away from the window “...my Master brought me here. Under those rock formations over there is a cave system and, near the back of it, is where kyber crystals grow. I’m fast-tracking a lot training with you so I think that it is only appropriate that we get you a lightsaber. I think it will serve you better than what you have currently.”

Jamie looked down at the sword on their hip, the weapon being the same that they had carried since they were thirteen. They looked back up at Thalor, curious and excited but still weary as if wondering just what trick he had up his sleeves.

“Of course, unlike everyone else, my Master did things his own way. He parked our ship a similar distance away, had me strip, and I went out in nothing but, well, my own skin to get that kyber crystal.”

“J-Jeez…”, Jamie said, alarmed “...d-didn’t you get hypothermia? Frostbite?”

“Not at all. You see, my Master taught me that the Force must always call to you, must use you, as I’ve stated many times before. The Force becomes a much stronger entity when you have a lightsaber, for you are much more capable of protecting those around you, and it is when you have that goal in mind that the Force protects you.”

“W-Wait, you actually want me to go out there? N-Naked? I’ll...I’ll freeze to death before I even get to those rocks!”

“With belief in the Force, of course you won’t. The Force will not let you freeze on your quest to get that kyber crystal, I promise you. You will get chilly, sure, but no damage will befall you as long as you keep your trust in the Force. Besides, you have fur. You’ll surely have a better chance than me.”

“B-But we don’t even get snow where I come from, at least not anywhere where we lived!”

“Yes, but I also had very few run-ins with snow before I got my own kyber crystal. It is perfectly doable, you will be fine.”

“But...but why do I need to get naked for this? I...I understand that your Master taught you different and, as such, with me, but why can’t I just bundle up and go in there like that?”

“Well, for one…”, Thalor said, walking back to the window and pointing at the rocks “...you cannot bundle up and fit through the entrance. I was barely able to fit through the hole myself. Secondly, if you are able to control your emotions and put your trust into the Force to such a degree as to survive out there then...I’ve taught you all that you need to know.”

Jamie was caught off guard by this now, their head turning to look out the window.

“S-So this...this is, like, a final test?”

“Mhm. After this, you won’t need me to help you. My faith in your ability to survive in this galaxy will be fulfilled.”

Jamie went silent for a little while, staring out the window and at the future that they could have after this. If they were able to get that kyber crystal, to complete this final test, they could do so much. Combined with what they had learned from Thalor, so much was possible.

“O-Okay.”, they said.

“Okay?”

“I-I’ll go out there, g..get my kyber crystal.”

Thalor smiled, happy to see that he didn’t need to convince them too much.

Jamie immediately regretted this as the door to the ship shut behind them, absolutely nothing standing between them and the cold around them. Their feet felt numb, their fur felt icy, and the wind buffeted them in places that were not all that comfortable! Panic set in and they turned to bang on the side of the ship, desperate to be let back into the warmth, but they stopped themselves. They hadn’t even tapped into the Force yet, had yet to even try.

So, shivering, they turned back around and closed their eyes. They forced themselves to slowly breathe in the cold air, slowing down their heartbeat and allowing the Force to trickle in through the tips of their fingers. They felt its warmth caress itself through their body, its hold on their mind taken with little effort at all. The Force was in control now, every movement of Jamie’s body made with purpose, and it was like this that they opened their eyes and began to trudge their way through the snow.

The Force kept them from freezing, yes, but it did not keep the chill completely off of them. Their loins looked like a shriveled up fruit and their nipples felt hard enough to cut the hull of the ship. Despite how they felt, Jamie pushed on. Their trust in the Force should never waver if they wanted to get out of that cave alive.

After making their way to the rock formation, they now knew what Thalor meant by the opening not allowing someone bundled up to make it in there. Jamie was dubious of the fact that even they could fit. Thalor had been able to fit in there, though, and Jamie assumed that he had likely been bigger than them during that time. Still, the hole didn’t look inviting in the least.

Getting out of the wind would take the greatest chill off of their nude body. So, with a bit more eagerness in their step, they got down on one knee before getting down on all fours. A sudden gust of wind pushed air onto their behind, a yelp coming from their mouth before they quickly scrambled through the hole and down into the cave.

They fell for only a meter before hitting solid ground, their surroundings completely and utterly black. This brought panic through Jamie until they remembered the training with the droid, the one with the lightsaber and blaster bolts. If they had been able to do that with no senses, they could traverse this place with only one sense gone! Yes, they could do this.

Getting off the ground now, thankful to have the wind off of their body, Jamie closed their eyes and reached out to the Force. They practically begged the Force to guide them, to take them to where the crystals were, and the Force lifted their legs along.

They walked through rough terrain, soft terrain, climbed up ledges, hopped off ledges, and contorted themselves in ways that would’ve looked weird or lewd if there had been any light in this cave. It wouldn’t have been all that hard if it hadn’t been for the cold, Jamie being mindful of each placement of their hand and feet as the ice still stung them a tad. At one point, when they had to crawl through a low spot, they had gone over a sheet of ice. Their breasts had felt ready to fall off and their loins felt numb by the time they were able to stand up again but the Force never let harm come to their body.

Jamie had opened their eyes awhile ago, seeing no reason to keep them closed in the pitch black, and it was with those eyes that they could see light in the distance. This light, along with the tug from the Force, let them know that they were headed in the right direction. Picking up the pace, they were still careful of ice but still made it over to the light as quick as they could. The sight that was bestown upon them was magical.

The cave was vaguely cylindrical, jagged in places as if the cave had tried to become more rectangular over time. Jutting out of almost every surface was crystals of every size and shape. Jagged, large crystals stood beside smooth ones no bigger than a bean. Jamie couldn’t help but stare in awe at the sight for what felt like five or, maybe even, ten minutes.

The tug upon their heart started again, this tug being a little different than the rest. It was still from the Force, of course, but this time it was as though something was calling to them through the Force. Jamie turned and walked towards the origin of this tug, soon coming across a small, orange crystal. The crystal was sandwiched between a jagged one and a smoother, larger one. As Jamie reached out to feel of it, they felt the roughness of its texture that wasn’t visible to the naked eye.

“You’re an odd lil’ one, ain’t you?”, Jamie said with a smile, feeling the tip of it and letting out a slight “ow!” when it drew blood.

After sucking on their finger until the blood stopped, they reached out to lightly tug on the crystal to see if they could get it out. Of course, the crystal did not budge and Jamie was left momentarily stumped until realizing that this was likely another test of sorts. Did these crystals have to be extracted with the Force?

Still feeling the tugging on their heart, they stepped back and shut their eyes. Extending out their hand, they slowed their breath and called to the crystal. It called back, echoing them, and they could feel it shuffle from inbetween the bigger crystals. Jamie called out more, tenseness rising in their body and weakening the bond until they forced it down and let themselves stand as loosely as they could manage.

The crystal wiggled, eventually freeing itself, before shooting into Jamie’s hand with the sharp side of it facing away from them. After feeling the crystal enter their hand, they opened their eyes and opened up their hand. The crystal fit inbetween two lines of their hand.

They had done it.

Jamie shuddered from underneath a blanket that was wrapped tightly around them, their cloak worn underneath the blanket, and within their hands was a warm, slightly tangy drink. They were on their fourth cup of the stuff now, the drink working overtime to bring back warmth to their body and size to a certain part of their body.

Thalor was examining the crystal that Jamie had gotten between two fingers, mesmerized by it. It was not often that one saw an orange lightsaber, so for this color of crystal to have chosen Jamie was certainly an interesting choice. Considering what he knew about the meaning of colors and relation to their wielders, though, he guessed it fit well.

“S-So…”, Jamie huffed, finishing their mug and finally deciding to not go for another “...w-what now?”

“Now…”, Thalor said, putting the crystal down on a table beside Jamie “...you will need to put yourself together a lightsaber. It is not that hard, just another test between you and the Force, so I have faith that it will be easy for you.”

“I see…”, Jamie said, looking down at the crystal “...does...does the color mean anything?”

“Hmm, sometimes.”, he said, sitting down across from Jamie now.

“Sometimes?”

“Well, many people have differing opinions on what lightsaber colors mean and if they even mean anything. Some only see meaning in white and red lightsabers, others think they can read a Jedi entirely just on the color of their lightsaber alone.”

“So, mine means..?”

“Well, with my understanding, orange is a pretty rare color. In old stories of the Sith, a few of them wielded orange lightsabers…”, Thalor said, quickly moving on as fear was struck into Jamie “...but a few Jedi today have orange blades.”

That calmed Jamie down.

“Orange means individualism, particularly self-discovery. It symbolized that its wielder has gone down a path in which they discovered themselves and what, or who, they are. I’d say that is a pretty fitting for color, don’t you think?”

Jamie stared at the kyber crystal, losing themselves in the glow of it for a little while. They thought in silence for a moment, letting their mind wander while Thalor waited for an answer. Leaving Thalor in silence forever wouldn’t do much good, though.

“Yeah.”

“I think I’ve got it, Thalor.”

Thalor had been sitting at the front of the ship when his name had been called, said ship now being in hyperspace. The two of them were now on their way to Naboo, a planet that was only a few hours of hyperspace away from the planet that they were coming from. With it being a relatively peaceful planet, Thalor found it to be a good place to drop Jamie off at.

“Oh? Do ya’?”, he said, turning around in his seat and making his way over to Jamie.

The chills of their little “expedition” into the cave were still affecting their body in some ways, so Jamie had yet to put on their clothes. They still wore their cloak, though, and it was this cloak that hid their breasts from Thalor’s view while the table in front of them hid their bottom half. Knowing what he knew now, it was not difficult to put the pieces together in his mind and get worked up all over again. He was too distracted by the sight of Jamie’s new lightsaber to delve too deep into that thought, though.

Jamie’s lightsaber sat before them on the table, the design rather simple. It was a thin, metallic handle that had been widened with black, grippy tape. There was a small knob on the underside for adjusting its strength along with a switch near the top where one’s thumb could easily turn the blade on. That was it, a simple but effective lightsaber. Considering how simple Jamie’s sword had been, it fit them rather well.

“Well, I can see that you went for a “no frills” route…”, Thalor chucked “...but does it work?”

Jamie picked up the lightsaber, feeling of the weight of the handle. It was built for one-handed use but one could get two hands on it if needed, akin to hand-and-a-half swords of old. Thalor thought this design to be rather intelligent of Jamie since, while they favored one-handed swordplay, two hands might just be needed from time to time.

Pointing the lightsaber upwards, they turned it on and became immediately bathed in its orange glow. The emitter had been tuned as to make the lightsaber’s “blade” exhibit the same length as their own sword. This might technically put it into the category of a shoto saber but Jamie seemed to be the type to not need the full length of a “full” lightsaber. Despite their combative skill, he doubted that Jamie would see much combat. They had initially run away from conflict on Habo, then ran even further after getting involved in a scuffle. They had only attacked him out of desperation, he knew, and now he hoped that Jamie would never need to feel that some desperation ever again.

“I guess it does work.”, Jamie said, wiggling the blade back and forward to listen to it’s hum.

“Well, congratulations. You might just have the quickest Jedi training time in all of history. You may thank me for such speedy training.”, Thalor joked, hoping that Jamie picked up on the sarcasm in his tone.

Thankfully, Jamie did pick up on the sarcasm.

“Oh, how blessed I am to have such a Master and his exhibitionist ways of training.”, Jamie said, giving a mock bow and turning off their lightsaber.

Thalor couldn’t help but flush, never having considered that aspect of things. His nudity was never a sexual thing to him and it had never intended to be a sexual thing for Jamie. To Jamie, their nudity hadn’t been sexual. They were embarrassed, sure, but he never sensed any sexual undertones from anyone but himself. He had made their nudity sexual, had sexualized their training in his mind, and now Jamie was calling him out on it without even knowing it!

“Well, I’m sure that these “exhibitionist ways” are the reason for your, well, greatness.”

An air of seriousness over came Thalor for a moment now, his flush still present but overshadowed by his upcoming words. He made his way over to Jamie, carefully putting his hand on their cloak-covered shoulder.

“But truly, Jamie, I’m proud of you. Not just for this…”, he said, motioning at their lightsaber “...but for you and your growth. You’re a different person, a better person, from when we first met. I can see it in your eyes, Jamie. You’ve turned from someone afraid of the galaxy to someone that could conquer it if they wanted it.”

Jamie looked up at his, ears slightly flattened and emotion in their face. Thalor couldn’t let this get too serious.

“Of course, conquering the galaxy is not the Jedi way.”

Jamie burst into a laugh mixed with a light cry, their body shooting upward so that they could wrap their arms around him in a hug. Thalor, like always, was caught off-guard by Jamie’s actions. The pressing of their chest against his own didn’t even register as he answered their hug with his own, hands working their way underneath their cloak as if to get better purchase to hold onto them tighter.

Jamie’s tail lightly swayed from side to side as they stood there, sharing that embrace. The seriousness of the moment slowly ebbed the longer the hug went on, the sexuality of him embracing the naked Jamie eventually turning into too much for him to handle. He pulled away from the hug, cleared his throat, and subconsciously pulled Jamie’s cloak tighter across their body to keep them “decent” before walking away.

“Now then…”, he said, crossing his arms contemplatively “...I guess now would be a good time to discuss the future, yeah?”

Jamie stared at him, arms to their sides, and nodded. With them standing before him, nothing really hid their loins from his gaze and he found himself unable to look at Jamie as he spoke. He wished he could have looked at them, to come off less distant, but he really didn’t need Jamie’s perfectness seared into his mind during this talk.

“I haven’t taught you everything but I have taught you everything you need to know to survive, to thrive, in this galaxy. I’ve put a card of credits in your satchel, enough to last you a year on Naboo.”

Thalor felt the room immediately grow tense, this feeling being the last thing he had wanted to put into Jamie. His own anxiety grew now, his inability to look at them turning from being ashamed of how he looked at them to shame of what he was doing.

“You’re…”, Jamie said quietly, staring in disbelief “...you’re...l-leaving me, then.”

Thalor didn’t want to word it like that but it was true.

“Jamie, I’ve...I’ve done a grave thing. I’ve gone and trained someone in the ways of the Force outside of the Jedi Order. If you were to be discovered, I could very well be kicked out of the Order and I...I don’t want to imagine what could become of you.”

“So your solution is to just abandon me? On a planet that I don’t even know!?”

“Naboo is a peaceful planet, one where you could walk around with your credits in your hand without ever having to worry about someone snatching them or attacking you. It’s the best place-”

“How do you know it is the best place!?”, Jamie snapped.

The snapping caused him to finally look back at Jamie, the bareness of their body overshadowed by the emotion on their face. Hurt, betrayal, even budding distaste and even hatred forming upon their face. This whole conversation was falling apart, fast.

“I-I’m just trying to do what is best, Jamie. I don’t want to see you hurt and, selfishly, I...I don’t want to give up being part of the Order. This is the best, the safest, decision that I could come up with.”

“So you choose to abandon me? After all this?”, Jamie spat, fingers curling into fists as if getting ready to put him on his ass.

If Jamie chose to “put him on his ass” then he couldn’t really blame them.

“I’m not-”

“Yes you are! We’ve spent all this time together and now you just want to throw me away so you can stay a Jedi! You...you’ve helped me in ways that I can’t even explain and you expect me to believe that this is how it is supposed to end?”

“I’m doing this for you, Jamie.”, Thalor said, feeling the tone of his voice rising in the throat.

“No! You’re doing this for your own selfish reasons. You know damn well I won’t last out there by myself. I know how the galaxy works in theory, same as you, but not in actuality.”

“Jamie, I promise you, everything I’ve taught you is correct.”, Thalor said, shrugging like a caught teenager trying to explain why he had snuck out of the house.

“And now I’m supposed to go through life without anymore of your guidance?”

“Jamie-”

“Screw you, Thalor. I...I expected you’d at least keep me around for longer.”

Thalor felt his heart break, truly break, and it was the hardest fight of his life to not break down into tears right then and there. He watched the hurt in Jamie build up more and more, the betrayal of this, and he couldn’t stand it. He couldn’t stand how so much of this was built on a lie, a lie that had begun on the stairs of their training house. If he didn’t speak the truth now, he’d push Jamie away forever and potentially be sending a hurt feline out into the world by themselves.

“Jamie, I’m...I’m doing this because I love you.”

They were in the process of turning away from him, walking to the back of the ship to build as much distance as possible, but these words at the very least brought their steps to a halt. They didn’t turn back to face him, to look at his tearful face, but they were listening.

“A-And I...I don’t mean that in a fatherly way or a teacherly way, I...I mean that as in, like, how two people usually love each other. I...I look at you and feel so much pride but I also just...feel so much longing. I can’t get you out of my mind, I can’t stop imagining you and me in fantastical futures. I...I find myself having trouble looking at you naked because I…”, Thalor shuddered, pinching the bridge of his nose “...because I find you attractive, beautiful even.”

The silence was dense enough to choke him out but he continued.

“I don’t mean that in a-an objectifying way, I...I just don’t want to hurt you. You’re nineteen, J-Jamie. I’m a forty-two year old man who is halfway through his life, at best. N-Not only is this romance building within me unhealthy, it...it would hurt you. The more time I spend around you, the more my heart swells, and the more that I fear I’ll do something to hurt you. I don’t want to wake up someday with you in my arms, knowing that I’ve hurt you in ways that’ll stick with you your whole life including when I’m gone.”

Thalor felt unsteady on his feet, taking a few steps backwards so he could lean against the hull of the ship. Jamie had turned around, just a little, to face him but their gaze was still downcast and far from his view.

“T-This is selfish, yes. Taking you to Naboo and leaving you is selfish because I know I won’t be able to control myself forever. The longer you’re around, the more danger I’m putting you in and...and I just can’t…”, he began to sob, slowly sliding down the wall until he was sitting with his knees bent “...I just can’t hurt you, you’re too...too perfect to hurt. I want you to grow old with someone your own age, someone that is your equal.”

Any further words spilled out of his mouth in uncontrolled sobs, the emotions overtaking him entirely now. Such a fit of emotion had not overcome him in so long that he was unsure of how to handle it, the urge to roll around on the floor like a baby throwing a tantrum being tempting. The shame of it all overpowered him the most, though. He was the one crying like he was the victim, like he was the one being left. It made him just want to shrivel up and die.

Thalor didn’t even feel the presence of someone coming closer to him, didn’t feel the light “shockwaves” on the ground as someone sat beside him. It was only when he was brought into a one-handed embrace that he became aware, aware of the fur that pressed against his tunic and how a cloak was being wrapped around his body to be shared between two people.

“I’ve...I’ve never had someone love me like that, before.”

The words echoed in his mind, the thought unbelievable for there was so much to love about Jamie, but they explained further.

“A-And...and I’ve never loved anyone like that before, either. I...I was too young to fall in love with anyone when my world was normal.”

He felt Jamie’s head resting against his shoulders, his tear-covered eyes unable to see the now fully bare body beside him. Even if he could see it, he doubted it could work him up in such a state right now.

“But...but I want to try, Thalor. I...I want to try and love you how you love me, even if it hurts me.”

The words sent shockwaves down body, disgust mixing with hope.

“I’m...I’m too old, Jamie. You-”

“You’ve done so much for me. Y-You mean so much to me, too. I just never really looked at that feeling from that sort’ve angle.”

Thalor kept his gaze away from Jamie, for now at least. This was all wrong, too wrong, but what would hurt them more? Loving them or letting them go?

“The...the dynamic wouldn’t work, Jamie. I have too much power and, truthfully, knowledge over you. The relationship would be one-sided, unhealthy. I...I feel disgusting.”

“You find me disgusting?”

“N-No, by the Force no. I...I just feel disgusted that the first time I...I fall in love with someone, they’re my apprentice and over half my age.”

Finally, he gained enough willpower to look over at Jamie. He couldn’t make out their face, only the vague shape of it, but he could feel the conflict within them.

“Do...do you think the Force would allow it?”

“The Force allows a lot of bad things, Jamie.”

“Then let it be bad, let it be unhealthy.”

Jamie began to move, initially moving away from Thalor, but they quickly came back into physical contact with him. They were knelt before him now, on both of their knees, and they had pushed his legs apart. The position might’ve been lewd if not for the situation.

“I don’t know how me sticking around will affect me but it can’t be no worse than leaving you.”

Jamie leaned forward, putting one hand on the wall for support while their forehead pressed against Thalor’s own.

“I can’t...I can’t be alone again, no matter how much this option could hurt. You’re...you’re all I have.”, Jamie let out a shuddered breath, tears re-forming on the edges of their eyes.

“D-Do you know how much hiding you’ll have to do? How much you’ll need to sit and wait for me to come back? I have duties, things I can’t do with you by my side. I don’t want you to be waiting for me.”

“I’ll wait as long as I’ll need, I have no other choice.”

“But-”

Jamie silenced him by leaning forward and planting their lips upon his own, the differing facial structure of a human and a feline making the kiss awkward but no less impactful. Thalor could feel the emotion wafting through his body like the Force did, overtaking his every move. He couldn’t stop himself from pulling Jamie closer to him by the hips, pressing their body against his so that the two could share an even deeper kiss.

That did it, he couldn’t leave Jamie. He couldn’t throw this away.

After what felt like an eternity, Jamie pulled away. A string of saliva formed between their mouths, staying unbroken for what felt like yet another eternity before it broke. Jamie wiped the saliva from their chin and then Thalor’s own.

“Now you can’t get rid of me.”, they said, smiling the most genuine smile in the entire galaxy.

Thalor agreed, he could not.