It was early, before even breakfast. Des was on his way to his first meditation lesson with master Jenks padawan. His good mood still buoyed him along, lost in thoughts of spaceships and lightsabers he passed through the entrance to the classroom. It still struck him how un-jedi-like all the rooms were, in his mind every room should have been a feast to the eyes yet they were plain, utilitarian and boring.

  “Hello little one”

  A familiar female voice brought Des from his musing, he knew that voice. He turned to the source already knowing who he would find and sure enough he was right. She had watched over many of his classes, he even knew her name but Des still thought of her as ‘that creepy teacher from day one’. In a world with Ithorians, flatworm-like humanoids with hammer head faces, this plain human woman creeped him out.

  “Master Jenk has told me of your issue. Please, take a seat and we’ll get started”. Her voice was warm and friendly as was her smile. If Des was being honest his feelings on this woman were unwarranted. That moment on his first day, when he had shown he knew more than he should have had left him feeling exposed. It was that feeling of having been caught with his pants down that caused his discomfort.

  Des sat, they began to repeat the exercise he had learned yesterday. Any discomfort he felt was washed away by the force allowing him to focus on his task. Again and again he embraced the energy field created by all living things. More often than not he was pulled back by a gentle hand, offered warm encouragement then sent back under.

  When the hour drew to an end Des was succeeding around four in ten times. A small improvement but it was consistent, if he could keep this rate up he would be able to maintain awareness in around two months. Maybe less.

  As he stood to leave the padawan spoke “Not as bad as you expected”. She wore an amused smile while she waited for a response, clearly aware of the discomfort she caused in Des

  Des tried to think of a suitable response, nothing he could think of seemed reasonable so he defaulted to playing dumb, “what do you mean?”

  Her Smile widened a touch and she replied “it’s not important. I will see you after your next class”.

  Having no desire to argue the dismissal, Des left. He considered this new development. ‘If the price to advance is putting up with Miss Creepy, then it’s a small price to pay’.

  He made his way to his first meal, ate, then completed as many self study lessons as he could manage before making his way to history class. It was only a quick overview but Des was curious about the conflicts they mentioned. The instructor did not go into detail but the sacking of Coruscant caught Des’s attention. He wondered how it had happened and if it could happen again.

  His second meditation lesson went no different than the first. Although he failed often, he never felt frustrated, the force wiped clean his emotions each time he touched it, leaving a calm, peaceful Des always ready for more.

  Midday meal came and went. Des found himself walking unfamiliar corridors as he made his way to physical training. The halls in this section were much larger than he was used to. The grey stone pillars and arches stretched far above, at least four stories high and wide enough that his entire class could walk side by side without a problem.

  He thought he was heading towards the centre of the temple.Though he would not have called it busy there was still a significant amount of traffic. Seeing all the jedi going about their business an oddity stood out to him. He had expected brown robes, that was the uniform. These Jedi however sported all manner of dress, brown robes were common but so was armour, along with what Des could only describe as civilian clothing. Now that he thought about it, knight Yule had been wearing armour during his visit. Des’s concern had been on other matters at the time so had not given it any thought. He was unsure if it was important but It was a difference between the jedi from the movies and the ones he currently walked amongst.

  He wondered at the implications of this discovery while he continued his walk, his path leading to a large open doorway outside. Looking out the first thing he saw was the central spire, it gave him pause. He craned his neck back trying in vain to see its top. Having failed, he brought his vision back to ground level, he was at the top of a complex stone staircase leading down into a sizable courtyard. He noticed others from his class, clan salamander assembling at the bottom and moved to join them. Navigating his way down he spotted a rather pretty tree, its foliage seemed to stretch beyond what should be possible.

  After joining his class he did not have to wait long. When the last of them arrived their instructor made his presence known, he then guided them on a short jog around the courtyard. This was followed with stretching, then light callisthenics before another, much longer jog circling the courtyard repeatedly. After that more stretching and a final circuit of the courtyard and they were done.

  It had not been as intense as he had expected, though from the looks on his fellow initiates' faces they did not agree. Perhaps this was another advantage of his mental age, having years of experience the others lacked, the exercise was no hardship to him.

  The class was dismissed and the others began to leave, heading back the way they had come. With an hour till his next meditation lesson Des instead headed to the tree he had spotted earlier. He unclipped his holopad from his belt, intending to sit in the shade of the tree and continue his self study. There were no benches but that was fine.

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  As he chose a spot to sit he noticed a stray leaf that had fallen. Seeing an opportunity he sat next to it and picked up the leaf then slipped it into his tunic. He had a test in mind he could use it for but not now, here was not the time or place.

  Des was about to begin his work when a voice stopped him short.

  “What you gonna do with a leaf?”

  He looked up to see the Rodian girl from yesterday watching him. She was alone as far as he could tell, her friends nowhere in sight.

  Unperturbed by her question Des answered easily “I just thought it was pretty”. Deciding to move her away from that topic he quickly followed up with a question of his own. “Where are your friends?”

  She turned to look behind her, as if she was looking through the walls of the temple for them. Turning back she answered “Krit and Jason went to get something to eat. Said they were hungry”. Having given her response she stood there and continued to watch him.

  Des waited for more but nothing came, trying to move things along he said.“Ok, why aren't you with them?”

  “I’m not hungry.” The simplistic child logic defeated Des utterly, what could he say to that?

  “Ok, well I was going to study'' he waved his holopad at her as if to emphasise his point. She looked at it, seemed to contemplate for a few seconds then said “ok”.

  Des nodded to her then turned to his holopad again intending to resume his study. In his periphery he watched, instead of leaving, she walked to his side, pulled out her own holopad and sat down.

  Given she wasn’t actually doing anything or being annoying in any way, Des was content to let her be. He turned his focus back to his studies and began the next lesson.

  It was around twenty minutes later when she spoke again. “What lesson is that?”

  Des pulled himself from his work to find her staring over his shoulder, her eyes were fixed on his holopad. Her antenna swayed conveying an emotion Des could not read.

  “Algebra”, he said, he quickly realised she had no idea what he was talking about, so he elaborated. “It’s maths but with letters”, much like his explanation of the force, it was overly simplified. It was close enough for this though.

  “Oh, I haven't done that one yet, it looks hard”. Her innocent appraisal of his work brought a small smile to his lips.

  “It is, but it’s important,” he absentmindedly replied.

  There was a pause, then she asked “Why?”

  Something in the way she asked, or maybe it was the look in her pupil less eyes told him she was not asking why the maths was important. No, what she was asking was why the work was so important. Why did he work so hard?

  He thought about his answer, ‘what to say’, he didn’t have a single reason, no he had many.

  Knowledge was an advantage, in a galaxy that housed a small army of sith sworn to destroy all jedi, including him, he would take any advantage he could get. On top of that, In his last life he had died before he even had a chance to live. He was going to squeeze as much as he could out of this second turn. If he studied hard now that should give him future options and opportunities he might otherwise miss. He was reticent to admit it but it also gave him a sense of control over his life. When he first arrived in the temple he was lost, confused about what had happened to him and disbelieving of where he was. Losing himself in work had been a way to cope. Lastly, it was just, cool. who wouldn’t want to learn everything they could if they woke up to a world of spaceships, lasers and droids.

  But what to tell her. He opted for a part of the truth. “It’s a dangerous galaxy out there, the more I know, the safer I’ll be”.

  “Wise words” said a voice. Des turned to see a familiar face.

  “Knight Yule”, Des’s surprise was clear, he had no idea the jedi was back within the temple.

  Though his face was familiar it was also changed. His blonde hair was shorn clean and as he closed the remaining distance between them Des noticed a scar running from his left eye, across his head towards the back of his scalp

  “What happened?”

  “What this”. He reached his hand up and ran it along the scar. “It’s nothing, just a scratch. Are your studies going well?”

  The change of topic was obvious, Yule didn’t want to talk about his injury. Des put his curiosity aside, it really wasn’t any of his business. Answering Yules' question he said “well enough sir”.

  A sound that might have been a laugh or a snort, possibly even a snigger drew both their attention to the Rodian girl by Des’s side.

  “Hello little one, who might you be?” Yules voice carried a tone of amusement. Des was about to introduce them but the girl beat him to it.

  “Initiate Shofo Avlon sir”. For the first time Des thought he sensed discomfort from her

  “A pleasure to meet you Shofo, I am Jedi Knight Devin Yule”. He smiled reassuringly at her then turned back to Des. “I’m afraid I do not have long Des, my return was meant to be brief. A quick report to the council, then back to the fringe. It was only good fortune that I ran into you”, he paused for a moment, a flicker of something passing over his face. “Have you remembered any more?”

  “Apologies knight Yule, i have not”. A sense of guilt accompanied his admission, this was important, he had guessed that much yet he could give him nothing.

  His distress must have shown, Yule reassured him “Don’t worry, the galaxy won't stop spinning because you don't remember”. His smile was a touch weaker than the one he had given Shofo earlier. “Anyway, my transport awaits. Train hard little ones and may the force be with you”.

  Once more he was gone before Des could truly register it. He stared off in the direction Yule had gone, running over the encounter in his mind. He could have made a greater effort to access the memories from before he woke up here. Trying to recall them was not like trying to remember something from a year ago. It was more like trying to remember something from a childhood more than seventy years ago. Somehow they seemed even further back than his first life on earth.

  “He’s scary”

  The statement brought Des out of his thoughts, he looked at the Rodian girl somewhat puzzled by her words. He was about to ask what she meant when it clicked. What Des had seen was an injured Yule, he reexamined the sight from a strangers eyes. The bald head, the armour and the scar combined into an imposing image. He could understand why she might find him scary.

  “He’s not. Well, no more than any jedi”.

  With that the conversation died, neither initiate had more to add so they returned to their lessons. Des worked but his mind was on Yule, the scar had been nasty. He tried to imagine what kind of weapon could have caused it. The way it curled around his head, it couldn’t have been a lightsaber, or a blaster. ‘Maybe some sort of curved blade’ he wondered.

  His holopad warned him of his next class, rising he tried to excuse himself but when he explained his destination she just said “me too, lets go”. It made sense, they all had mandatory meditation at the same time.

  The walk was over quickly, Des’s mind was still on knight yule and Shofo didn’t say much. When they reached the entrance to his class she simply said bye and left without another word.

  The rest of the day was uneventful. It wasn’t until later that night, while undressing for bed, he removed his tunic and a golden leaf fell to the ground.

  He smiled as he reached down, picking up the leaf.

  ‘ok, let's see if I was right’.