The Hidden Truth

last part of Mirmo's Past

Mirmo came back in the evening after I had a few hours of sleep with a tray. He gave me a bowl of steaming hot broth, a tall cup of tea, and some medicine.

“I want the soup and the tea gone the time I am done with the rest of the story. No arguments.”

I silently laughed at him. He was starting to know me well enough to forestall any complaining, whining, and excuses from me. I wasn’t a bit soup eater and had no appetite, but the broth tasted something like chicken noodle, so I slowly blew on a spoonful of the stuff and then sipped it even slower. I watched over my spoon Mirmo settle in my desk chair, leaning back into the back support, and remember where he left off.

“The Jedi temple had not much changed after my five years of absent. Another generation of Jedi knights made recently been forged by the hands of Master Skywalker. I was given time to recover from my journey, morning for the grandmother like Liviani, and then asked to report back what I had accomplished. Luke and the first made knights were pleased, even impressed by my work on my home planet. Luke suggested that I should go off and search for an apprentice, but I polite refused. I was only twenty five at the time, which meant I was still young, full of energy, and not interested in taking the responsibility of another person, not to mention teaching them what little I knew. Luke did not argue with my judgment, but asked me to accompany a just made knight in his search for more students. When I asked why me, Luke said I knew more about the galaxy and how the people viewed the Jedi. I had more experience dealing with the coldness many people gave me and could offer support to the new knight. I thought about what Master Skywalker said and agreed with his logic. The galaxy was still a rough place for the new Jedi order.

The Jedi Knight that I was traveling with was named Jos. He was your age and with your spirit. He was a bit too much restless and reckless for my tastes, willing to dare too much, and overly confidently about his status as a Jedi. He felt that the moment he stepped out on the planet, he would be greeted with formal sayings and treated with utter respect. I said nothing about his flaws, knowing society would correct him. We flew a small ship, with minimum weapons on board, needed to defend ourselves, to show we did not mean harm to anyone. We picked the planet Naboo. We chose that planet for it’s reputation of being out of the way and very peaceful.

We had no real idea of how to find a potential Jedi. All new Jedi were having problems seeking out students. We hoped that if we stayed long enough around the biggest and most known city, called Theed, we would luck out and find someone showing signs of being Force sensitive. Although our method worked, later in my adventures and missions, I would find out one can not rely on luck, or really chance, alone. It is better to consult the Force and read the subtle messages of its way.

It was on our third day of staying in the city did we come across a potential. Like all cities, big groups of people living together can attract many kinds of people such as the glorious rich, the slim of the poor, the strict business leaders, and the street performs. There were many street performs and out of the them was a strange circus tent set up in the corner of a busy street. There was a decent size crowd gathered around the tent. At the opening of the pavilion, was a teenage girl, probably sixteen, dressed in a colorful robe, back straight, eyes glazed over, obviously the center of attention. Jos and I quietly made our way to the edge of the crowd to learn what the fuss was. The girl claimed to be a magician, able to read the fortunes of anyone willing to pay her five credits. I instantly saw through this as another fake reader, taking advantage of the ignorance in people. I was ready to walk away when Jos held me back and had me wait out the girl’s talk. The crowd had mixed feelings about the genuineness of her claim.

One large, powerful man, shouted at her, saying she was a liar, using looks and a bit of cloth to lure the weak and stupid minds of old lady and young desperate girls. The teenage girl focused her clearing eyes on the rude man. The man laughed at her, with the crowd slowly joining in. I saw anger flash into her eyes before they cleared again and her glazed intensified. The man changed from a loud, vulgar laugh, to a senseless scream, kicking and struggling, as he rose ten centimeters off the ground. The crowd immediately stopped laughing and hushed over, some people running away in fear, others exclaiming their disbelief. Jos and I exchanged looks, agreeing we had found what we were looking for.

The man was abruptly dropped and landed with a thump. His face was a mask of fear, anger, and confusion, looking at the girl and then the crowd. He quickly left the area. The girl gave one last look, one full of anger, and promptly turned around and stomped back into her tent. With the action being over, the crowd dispensed back to the streets, leaving Jos and I free to come forward to the entrance of the tent. As I leaned to the flaps of the door, I could hear the hard sobs of the girl. Jos moved the flaps to the side, showing the young woman crying in her arms, hunched over a table with a crystal ball on top. My heart broke at the sight of her. What had this society done to her, to force her to turn to a life of telling lies in order to feed herself? Why was it that every Force sensitive I met, including myself, struggled to survived, never to be truly happy? Why did people despise our type so much as to shun us away?

Jos was the first to come over to her. She was crying so hard, she failed to hear him come in. She slightly jumped at his soft touch on her shoulder. I was touched, deeply to my core, how Jos managed to silently calm her down without the use of the Force. I came in when Jos began to introduce ourselves as Jedi. We spent the rest of the day with her, explaining what she was, why she could do telekinesis, and who we were and what we were about. The girl was utterly entranced by the idea of the Jedi and eagerly agreed to come to the temple to learn and study the way of the Jedi.

The girl turned out to be a fine Jedi and had completely changed from her previous life. The girl strangely enough wanted me to train her, but I declined her, saying she was better off with the kind Jos, who had been watching her for months during her training. I will never forget the look that girl gave me, when she knew I would not take her. The look was so shockingly strong, I decided then I would never take an apprentice.”

There was a moment of silence as I absorbed this. My poor master. He had done so much good, yet still could not do enough to satisfy everyone. I asked him what else he did during his years before training me.

“Well, that is another story for another time. You need to take your medicine and get some sleep.”

I protested, saying I wasn’t sleepy at all and really wanted to hear more.

“I am sure you would want to listen for days if it meant avoiding a shot.”

Oh no. Not a shot. I curled up into a ball, pulling the blankets around me, as if to protect myself from a needle.

“It is a sedative. It should keep your cough quiet during the night. Now, hold still”

Hold still meant keep quiet as he Force held my arm still and put the needle in. I shuddered as the drug went into my body. He rubbed my arm when he was done and waited patiently for the drug to do its job. The temptation of sleep came over me and I fell into a dreamless sleep.