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| Unwelcome Arrival by Beldar |
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Yoda suddenly felt troubled.
It figured; he knew that something serious would come along to balance out the pleasant day he was spending with his grandniece and her son. Having them around helped keep him young in spirit, though he had been born in these Dagobah swamps centuries ago.
The little one ambled up to Yoda, carrying his new stuffed toy, a furry blue creature with long limbs and a big smile.
"Fahzi's favorite, that one is," Ozette said. "A red on also in the market was. Both he asked for."
"Evil I sense in the red one," Yoda said, adding to his nephew, "The blue one you should keep."
The old Jedi then sensed something else.
"Master Yoda!"
The ghostly voice was for his ears alone, carried on the winds of the Force. A rare temptation to anger stirred within him. How many times during his meditations had he asked the Jedi Fallen not to disturb him? And it figured that this intrusion would be Obi-Wan.
As Yoda put his anger impulse aside, his feelings told him this would be truly important.
"Ozette," he said. "Go you should."
Her great uncle's tone spoke volumes. That, and the tingle in her ear that came from movements in the Force. "Come," she said, taking Fahzi's hand.
Yoda watched them board the swamp speeder. "Care you take," Ozette called out as she fired up the engine. There was no need to say "the Force with you be," as it always was with him, and it had already asked so much.
"Thought you were the last of your kind," Obi-Wan Kenobi said. Yoda could see his ghost clearly.
"Hiding we do well," the master replied. "Safe it keeps us. Deception should a purpose serve. Told the boy yet, have you?"
"I'm sending him to you for training," Obi-Wan said. "He's on his way now."
This time the anger was much harder to suppress. Of all the foolish things Kenobi had done, this had to be the worst.
"Why to me you send him?" Yoda demanded, his voice shaking. "A better Sith to make him?"
"Why master Yoda," Obi-Wan said in a chiding tone, "That sounds like anger in your voice."
The old master composed himself. "Alone is he?"
"Yes," the ghost answered. "He's in a one-man starfighter with the R2 that once belonged to the Queen."
Yoda's face brightened at the mention of the droid. "Yes. Senses the Force, the droid does, a good heart it has. The droid I shall train."
"I'd swear you meant that," Kenobi said.
"Test me not!" Yoda said, pointing at the ghost for emphasis. "What skills have the boy?"
"Hardly any," Kenobi said, and further humbled his expression at Yoda's visible disapproval. "He is working purely on instinct. I had to pass on before I could properly train him."
Yoda sighed. It looked like he would have to train this youth from scratch. "How close he is?"
Obi-Wan's ghost flickered as it extended its senses. "He's less than a parsec-hour away."
"One parsec!" Yoda exclaimed. "No time I have to prepare."
"You'll be fine," Kenobi said. "He has no idea who you are or even what you look like. That could be useful."
Yoda smiled, "Yes, your meaning I see. Much pride I already sense in the boy, and too much anger and fear. Sloppy thinking this makes. Assumptions too quickly to him come. Yes." The master hesitated. "Still - learn, can he?"
"He has to," Obi-Wan replied. "And he must learn from you before his father tells him the truth."
"His legacy he does not know," Yoda said.
"Not yet," Kenobi answered. "The deception still serves a purpose."
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