A Last Good Bye

Ch3
Karen

I was comfortable in my bed. I was peacefully asleep. I was one with the bed. I was then woken up. Again.

This time it was the door bell, chirping to announce that someone was at the door. I reached out to the Force and felt it’s warm, comfortable, tingly feeling and wound my mind through its currents to outside of the door. I felt Mirmo’s presence the same way you would smell his scent or taste a flavor of him. I groaned as the door continued to chirp in a persistent way. I slowly got up and drug my still sleeping body to the door.

“Good morning.”

I was too sleepy to comment.

“And I see it is a good morning for you too. Mind if I come in?”

I half shrugged and then shuffled to the kitchen where I poured myself a second cup of cold caf. Mirmo was not a coffee drinker, but I had to be with my early rising kid. I decided to complain about the fact that no was going to let me sleep in.

“Now you know how I felt when I was training you. Besides you have class in an hour Jedi Knight Karen.”

It was strange sometimes to think of myself as a Jedi Knight. I didn’t feel like one and sometimes couldn’t believe I was one. Because of my child, I could not and would not go on missions like all the other Jedi. Master Skywalker said that the other Jedi would take care of my son if I wanted some time away from him. If I was scared to go on my own, I could group up with another Jedi, as many newly made knights did. I refused his offer, saying I would not leave my son until his life depended on it. I would not endanger myself and risk my son to grow up without a biological parent.

So rather than just stay at the temple, bored and being slowly driven crazy by a wild four year old, I decided to teach. I was certainly qualified to teach. I had been teaching Force abilities since I was eighteen on my home planet. I had excellent results and pretty much knew the answer to any question a person could throw at me. I had demonstrated my knowledge in class enough times that no teacher argued my case. People from my class at the temple came to me enough times I received enough practice at teaching Jedi. Master Skywalker could not find any reason why I couldn’t handle a small class, focused on the Force.

In order to teach, I first had to be knighted. Everyone from my class had been knighted the time Tem was four and the only reason for my delay was because of my son. Everyone was so involved with helping me take care of my little boy, which we forgot to knight me. In everyone’s mind I was a knight, but we agreed it should be made final.

My Knighting Ceremony was rather laid back and relaxed. I wanted it that way. I did not want any more reason to blush than necessary. Also, I don’t think my son could have handled anything more serious. He had to be there and he had to be loud. Mirmo had to stand next to me so he could not quiet down the kid. I had my good friend Lyn sit with him, but she was having problems keeping his random loud bursts down. I wasn’t mad at him for once. I understood he found this fun and did not know why the grown-ups' wanted him to be quiet when he saw his mom dressed up and getting all of the attention. I asked Master Skywalker to hurry this up as much as he could. Mirmo was less than happy about my request. This was a moment of pride for him.

I was knighted and the next day I started on working out the details of how to run a class. I decided on picking an age group I had always felt comfortable with. This group was teenagers and I wanted the brand new, to-be Jedi teens. I knew how they felt and I knew how to reach them. I knew their pride, their fears, and the tender spots in their soul. I could demand and receive respect from them. What was more important, as a good teacher, I respected my students and made sure they understood this.

My first class consisted of eight teenagers. They were young, the oldest being fifteen. They were all new to the Jedi Order. They all had at least one parent and all the students volunteered to be here. They would try out being a Jedi for a semester and if they liked it, they would move in permanently. My job was to teach them the basics of the Force in five months and to make sure they were comfortable with being introduced to the ideas of the Jedi. The students had other classes, one with Mirmo on basic meditation, but my class was the most wanted and looked for.

No one could argue I ran a good first class, even with a few problems to deal with and smooth out. I had five out of eight students stay with the Temple. Two were homesick and found themselves not ready to leave home. One student found the Jedi path not for him. The rest of them liked my style of teaching, although they wanted me to speed up the pace that we went through skills. I remained stubborn on that topic. I told them that making them go slowly through each small skill and making them practice a lot on each one, made sure the students were able to do the skill in their sleep. I understood it was a bother to gather the Force and then to release it over and over each day, but it was mental muscle building and would help them when they tried more complex skills.

Over the next few years, my reputation as a teacher grew and gained popularity with the students. Plenty of these students would find me outside of class to ask for help. I was asked to help them understand the Force, their studies, and relationships with everyone you could imagine. I still stuck to teaching the basics of the Force, although I was offered many a time other subjects. I loved my class and its topics.

“If you stare at the caf long enough, I heard you can foresee the future in the swirls.”

I was jolted out of my thoughts about the past and looked up. I blinked slowly.

“Come on, the sooner you get moving, the sooner you will wake up.”

I imagined my former master dripping with brown liquid over his face and head.

“If you are plotting against me, I advise you to stop it. I am babysitting your child of terror and tricks tonight and I could turn a blind eye to his activities if given a good reason.”

I sighed, put down the cup, and stared to do the dishes from breakfast.

“Good decision apprentice.”

I reminded him I was not his apprentice anymore.

“Maybe not officially, but you are my apprentice and always will be.”

I kept silent, fighting the urge to splash water at him.

“Have a good class.”

With that Mirmo left me to start my day.