章 45: Oy-wey
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***
Problems, problems, problems, problems....
The Code teaches us not to accept problems, that is, to treat them with common sense - problems? Nothing, they're either solvable or we can't do anything about them anyway. Don't worry - it won't solve the problem, it will only make it worse.
Easy for you to say, eh? I'm a freshly commissioned Jedi Master, of course, but I can't possibly think of absolutely all problems as such. Because there are some problems that, on the one hand, are not solvable, but on the other hand, something will have to be done anyway. It's like a rhetorical question - there is a question, but there is no answer, no matter how much you look for it.
Toshi, oh, joy, she's knocked up!
Can you imagine? I took off, and she came back from her mission and went to Nova's, where she was diagnosed.
Problems, problems, problems.
And what do you think? As soon as Togruta heard such news, she immediately took a leave of absence, as the status of a master allowed and flew for many years to a peaceful planet, away from wars and cataclysms. And that's my problem now, since I haven't been here for six years and a bit, which means what? It means that the little one is now five years old, even more. And all this time Tosi Dan has been living as an ordinary housewife where there are no Togrutians, on a remote planet, which is neglected by the Sith and smugglers and pirates because of lack of resources.
Actually, the galaxy has to eat something, right? So there are enough agricultural planets with a good climate, but no important trade.
I couldn't keep my composure, no matter how hard I tried; it wasn't every day that news like this fell on my head. And even if Ali had gotten knocked up that night, it wouldn't have been a surprise to me, because Tosi and I were not in love, except for affection and attraction... and mutual sympathy. For her, forbidden fruit, since I'm considered human...
I left Lex's place in a state of somnambulism, even though he tried to reassure me. He said he felt less when he found out his wife was knocked up, but it didn't have the desired effect, just the opposite!
I was twenty years old, that's all! Finding out at twenty that you were now a daddy was too shocking, especially about being a daddy for six years.....
- Where can I meet her? - I asked Lex as soon as he was done drinking my tea.
- Trust me, she'd love to meet you. I hope you have a convincing reason for your absence.
- Being on an unknown planet with powerful beings determined to train a lesser mortal is a good reason?
- I don't know," he shrugged, "even if saving the galaxy and forgetting your girlfriend's birthday might be sacrilege. I don't understand women...
- Nobody understands them. I think there are three great mysteries - the Universe, the Force, and Woman....
- Ha, well said! - Lex smiled. - I'll have to remember that. She was looking for you, terrorising the holocron, but it didn't tell her anything. Although the results were...
- Results?
- For the first time in history, the great holocron advised her to stop looking for trouble and do her chores... even ancient Jedi spirits have limits to their patience.
- She must have really pissed him off," I smiled. - What now?
- What what? - Lex didn't understand. - Now it's up to you. I'll send a message to Master Dan about your return, but it's better if you meet on neutral ground. You see, because of her people's customs, she can't be seen in public with a child. It could affect her reputation.
- I see," I nodded my head, "then will you let me know when and where to go?
- Of course. It's better if you meet me on Coruscant, but don't show your faces..." I nodded.
- All right," I nodded, "permission to go?
- Go," Lex nodded, "and may the force be with you.
- May the force be with us," I replied, walking out of the office.
What a turnaround!
Now I couldn't sleep. Back on the boat, I lay down, but I couldn't sleep - I was too nervous. You bet - to miss so much! The thought of Tosi coming back here made me want to run away. Yes, child, but I didn't plan to tie myself to this time. I didn't! How can I, being a fairly conscientious and honest man, leave Tosi alone? It goes beyond reason....
After lying on the bed for about an hour without deciding anything, I walked towards the hold. With a sad glance at Erdv following me, I asked my friend:
- What do you think?
- I think you're worrying too much for some reason," the droid replied, "You can't change anything. And you won't solve anything until you talk to your female.
- You're right, my friend, you're right.
I set off for the training room. The droid followed me like a shadow, keeping pace.
It was time for a masterclass, and I was going to stretch my legs. I took the sword training crystal and started practising various juyo moves.
- She's flying," Erdva interrupted me after five minutes. - Master asked me to tell you.
- So fast?
- He must be in a hurry...
- Oi-way! - I was afraid. - I'd better practice here.
- It'll be here in four days," the droid spoilt my mood even more.
Training! Just practice. After half an hour of useless sword swinging, my partner joined me. He just came over and asked if I needed help.
- I'd appreciate it," I nodded, "I'm Hennia.
- And my name is Alyss," Alyss said his name with a wheezy "s" on the end. A man, black, judging by his age and pigtail - a padawan.
- Let's see-" I got into a stance and we began sparring. Alyss attacked with almost no acceleration, starting with his second form. His punches were too slow. I was used to the Son's frankly monstrous speed, so I parried Alyss's blows with ease. He only got more frustrated when I easily deflected his blows.
- Why aren't you attacking? - He asked after a moment.
- I could attack," I attacked, starting with a simple juyo attack of quick movement and not too fast punches. I could have been faster, but I didn't see the point in bullying the Padawan. Alyss parried the first blow, but I kept moving and took a step back, ducked, letting his sword pass over me and immediately lunged at an unprotected point. Alyss was defeated.
- One more time," he asked, attacking me, now with his fourth form. Since the purpose of the fight was to learn, I didn't use speed, but went into the seemingly illogical moves of Juyo's style-parrying and then moving out of the path of the new blow, crouching with a lunge, but moving backwards instead of forwards, rolling sideways. Alyss, trying to reach me, found that I was no longer where I should logically be.
- How do you do it? - He stopped.
- Elementary. Every style has strengths and weaknesses. The weakness of the fourth form is that it requires knowledge of the opponent's movement - too aggressive manoeuvres do not leave flexibility and to resist it is enough to make manoeuvres that the user of the fourth form does not count on. Speed and unpredictability nullify all the strengths of the fourth form.
- I see," he nodded, "Shall we continue?
- Perhaps," I raised my sword and attacked, now using another technique that was styled after the fourth form. We spent half an hour dancing with swords. I tried to structure the fight so that my opponent would learn from the sparring. By the end, Alyss was out of breath, and I stopped the fight.
- I can keep going," he said indignantly.
- I know. But there's no point, you've learned a lot, and if you take a little time to analyse your fight, you'll gain useful experience. The power of any form of combat is not in the sword, but in who uses it and how they use it.
Alyss seemed a little hurt, but only a little.
- Thank you," he replied, putting the sword away, "that was a good sparring session. I never hit you once, though.
- All in good time," I shrugged, "you'll be a skilled enough fighter someday, but it's a long and arduous road.
- I know," he ruffled his short, coal-black hair, "thanks for the good sparring.
- You're welcome, because that's what I came here for," I nodded.
I looked around at the other courts. All of them had either junlings or padawans training. There were hardly any adults with the younglings, just one for a group of fifty kids. And that one was just sitting in the corner reading something on a datapad.
I decided to see how the kids were being trained, so I went over to them. I didn't have a Jedi Master written on my forehead, and I was physically nineteen years old, so there was no reaction to my approach, except for a couple of kids who looked at me, and not very interested.
There were all sorts of races here. The youngest were about seven years old, waving their swords languidly, mimicking the first ataru. The older ones were less sluggish and more focused. The most mature group were teenagers already nearing the maximum age for a junling. These weren't so much fighting as showing off, or showing off to the girls who were standing around watching them train.
I decided to sit there and watch, so I sat down and stayed.
The kids were certainly active in bringing harm to each other's health. It's a good thing it's so hard to hurt someone with a training sword, or they'd be more than enthusiastic. I sat there for about half an hour watching this performance, thinking about my own thoughts. After that, I wanted to get some sleep - the clamour of voices and the hum of swords was so soothing... so I went back to the ship.
* Four days later *
This is it, this is it! The Master didn't call me back to his office, but made an appointment to meet me aboard my ship. In short, he just came to me and told me he was coming. I, at that moment, had tasted the delights of Coruscant cuisine and was engaged in one more thing that requires talent and practice, namely cooking.
When the Master arrived, I quickly set up a table with tea and desserts and waited for him. Lex didn't wait long; he came down, Erdva told me, three minutes after I'd told him about the meeting.
He stepped aboard the Crown for the first time, inspecting it with disapproval:
- A Jedi shouldn't be junk," he said disapprovingly.
- That's true," I agreed, "I'm just using what I have. And I don't cling to money, so I don't mind spending it.
- Look at me," he shook his head, "why did I come here? Your family is already here, as soon as I got the data about them entering the atmosphere, I came straight to you.
- That's how..." I frowned.
- I told her to look for your ship in the hangar. I think you'll have a lot to talk about.
- And you, Master.
- I'm leaving," he stepped aside, "I came to report in person, not trusting the means of communication.
- Thank you," I nodded, "thank you for your support and....
- Come on," Lex said, waving his hand, "I've got five dorks, so I totally understand. It's always hard the first time, but it'll get easier from here.
I pictured myself surrounded by little kids... No, no, dibs!
Lex must have seen my face, and he laughed and left the ship. I'm so screwed.
Toshi's ship flew into the hangar ten minutes later, flying in and immediately searching for me. It didn't take long - the silhouette of the Crown was quite recognisable. It landed five metres from the Crown's ramp and immediately released its own. I, gulping, went to meet the offspring.....
The meeting was like a spy bridge - Tosi's ship and herself on one side, and me on the other.
Tosi came down first, at a leisurely pace, and entered my ship. She looked a little different - her lekku was a little longer, reaching to her waist, her figure a little sturdier, her waist not like before....
- Toshi... good to see you! - I greeted her.
- Me too, you can't imagine how, - she smiled, - will you invite me? - she nodded at the entrance to my ship.
- 'Yes, yes, of course...' I stepped aside, 'come on in.'
She walked past and I followed her. We walked through the wardroom to my captain's quarters. There Tosi finally relaxed and reached up and grabbed me, clutching me in her arms.
- You're an idiot! - She was angry, - I was here, and he disappeared, and I haven't heard a word from him!
- Well..." I put my arm around her waist, "I'm sorry. It just happened, it wasn't up to me. Especially since I was given conditions - either I don't come back at all, or after six years.
- Who? - she pulled away from me, still hugging me, - who set the conditions?
- Just..." I bowed my head, "an old man. He demanded that I learn from him. Of course, I didn't miss the opportunity and stayed.
- Hennia, if you knew what was going on here..." she looked sadly into my eyes, "would you have flown away?
- No, if I'd known, I wouldn't have flown away. Not alone, anyway.
Toshi hugged me again, pressing against my shoulder.
- You're an arsehole, Henya!
- I know," I said guiltily, "you'll forgive me, won't you?
- Well..." she hesitated, or pretended to hesitate, "of course. I wanted to tell you so much!
- Tell me," I nodded, letting Tosi out of my arms.
- It slipped my mind," she said with a carefree smile. - But it's okay. Why were we so... um... how should I put it... shortsighted?
- Young, Tosi. I'd say we were young. We're still very young now, but we were even younger then.
- You're comforting," she sat down on the bed, "and anyway, I had to change my whole life because of what happened. The Master told you, didn't he?
- That you got pregnant? - I clarified, "Yes, he did.
- This 'got pregnant' is called Shiai, just so you know! - she said proudly. - And he is a copy of his father.
- What a news... - I shook my head, - I flew to say goodbye as I found my way home and here I find out such a thing....
- You can't help it," Toshi shrugged, rubbing the tip of her lekku, "but tell me you had nothing to do with it.
- Why, it had everything to do with me. It's just such news, and just like that... I've just had time to say goodbye to this time, and now here you are!
- I see," Tosi nodded, "it was a surprise to me, too.
I walked across the cabin and sat on the other side of the bed, looking at Tosi thoughtfully:
- I don't even know what to do now. I... I have no idea how to act in this situation. Well, I mean, those six years went by quickly for me - I trained from morning till night and I hardly noticed the time had passed.
- How do you act? - Toshi didn't understand. - Act like you did before. Just be yourself. But I didn't come here just to see you.
- Yeah? I don't get it. - Then what is it?
- We need to have a serious talk," Toshi furrowed her eyebrows, causing white pigments to move across her swarthy skin. It looked... comical.
- That's usually where the trouble starts," I informed her.
- 'That depends,' Togruta said mockingly, 'if your son is trouble to you...'
- No, of course not," I said indignantly, "it's just a phrase. What did you want to talk about? - I got up from the bed, inviting Tosi with a gesture to the table. The tea table in the dining room came in handy. We sat down and sipped our tea before Tosi continued:
- You know... it hasn't been easy for me all these years. For a Togruta, a half-blood child is a judgement call. If any Togruta had seen me, much less identified me... if anyone had recognised me, I wouldn't have had a future career or a peaceful life.
- It's... not a good practice," I said, choosing my words carefully, "But you've lived somehow, haven't you?
- Of course," Toshi nodded, "your money was enough to get by without needing anything, and my salary as a Jedi Master was not cancelled. It was enough for me not to think about finances. I bought a small farm, droids... Quite a peaceful place. But still - to live in constant fear of being found out, or just to suffer from hiding something... Terrible.
- I'm sorry," I said sadly, "I wish I'd been there.
- What could you have done to help? - Toshi asked herself. - I don't think there's anything you could have done to change the situation.
- I could have done something," I disagreed.
- You can do something now," Tosi set her cup aside, "have you found a way home?
- Yes, I can fly away right now.
- That's good," the togruta nodded slightly, "you'll take Shiai with you.
- What?" I didn't understand. - With me? To another time?
- Exactly," Toshi nodded more firmly, "Shiai was already growing up without a father. And now he needs you. I've started teaching him a lot of things, but it's not the same. And it's been hard to explain to him why his father doesn't live with us. I bet he doesn't even really know what a "dad" is.
That... that was a low blow. I didn't know my father either, and from what my mother said, I hardly wanted to know who he was. The words made me sink into my own memories for a while. Mum worked day and night to get us by, and then I helped her too. I guess I didn't know what it was like to have a father either. That's what I told Tosi:
- All right, darling, I'll take him. I understand Shiai like no one else. My mum once told me that I didn't have a father at all.
- Yes, I remember," she nodded, taking another cup of tea, "I thought it would take longer to convince you... Well, you know, there's a war going on here, and you can't be discriminated against there because you're a half-blood son, but here I'll be banned from Shili and stripped of the clan name....
- I understand," I nodded again, "but it's unnecessary. Can I see him?
- Sure," Toshi smiled, "I'll be right there.
She stood up and walked briskly to her ship.
Unlike our meeting, the meeting with her son was even more conspiratorial - he was wearing a hooded sweatshirt with a hood covering his face. Apparently, this wasn't the first time Shiai had appeared in public in this disguise. Tosi led him by the hand to my ship, where I immediately closed the ramp behind us.
- 'Shiai,' Tosi turned to the boy, 'meet your daddy...'
The kid took off his hood. The only thing I noticed was his swarthy skin, a little lighter than Toshi's, but still swarthy.
Wai, he really does look like me. We stared at each other for about a minute-the kid was blond, with blue eyes, like me, except I had sharper features, and Shiai's face was brightened up with pigments... just like Toshi's. Only the face was one-to-one human, really, with some of Toshi's features.....
The further "nya-nya-mimimi" can be skipped, as the kid wouldn't understand such treatment, I got right down to business:
- I'm glad we finally saw each other, let's go to the cabin, - I led the family behind me. The kid's emotions are a cocktail, not like Tosya's..... Together we reached the kitchen - quite a spacious room, by the way. Travellers on VIP yachts rarely have unpretentious eating habits and some take live cooks with them, not droids or dry rations. Toshi helped Shiai into a chair and sat down next to her:
- Well, I thought you'd at least say hello..." she seemed offended. - Why aren't you like family? Hennia, do you have something to eat?
- Sure," I turned around to the stasis chamber, which I referred to as the fridge, and took out a snack, placing what I had on the table. - Okay, let's be honest. Toshi, have you told Shia what's going to happen next?
- No. Not yet," she lowered her gaze to her plate.
- In that case, I'll do it.
- Next? - The boy didn't understand. - Mum?
- Listen to daddy, Shiai,' she took hold of the glass of tea. The boy turned to me.
- 'Dad, what are you talking about?
- Mum just wants to tell you that you're coming with me next. Far, far away. I don't think you'll see Mum again.....
The boy was shocked by the news, but he quickly switched to other topics, namely, pestering me with questions:
- Dad, did you really study with Mum?
- I did.
- You're a Jedi, aren't you?
- A Jedi Master, just like your mum," I nodded, "so now you don't have a bloodline, you're just fire! - I smirked.
- 'And where are we going to fly off to?
- I'll tell you that later. I'll just tell you that it's far away.
- Why can't we stay?
- There are reasons for that too. Unfortunately, we can't live like everyone else... - I looked at Tosya, who nodded at me.
- Will you teach me like mum?
- I will! Stop, no more questions! - I recoiled at Toshi's laughter.
- 'A very curious boy,' she commented, 'and very pushy, but that passes quickly.
- I see," I nodded.
The rest of the dinner was spent talking about Shia. The boy himself was escorted to the guest cabin, where he fell asleep....
- There, - Toshi came out of the cabin after putting her son to bed, - he fell asleep.
- I see... yeah, that's the kind of boy I didn't expect. He's cheerful.
- Yeah. Just like you.
- It's more from you, - I objected, - you're the quiet one.
- Well..." Toshi smiled as I came up behind her and put my arm around her waist, "I won't be long. At least there's no point in dragging this goodbye out too long....
- And judging by your hands, you really want to say goodbye..." she said playfully, "well, you're burning with desire...
Without answering, I was finally able to kiss her neck. Toshi turned round and kissed me, and we moved towards my cabin without looking at each other, without stopping the kiss. The bed was big!
* The next day *
The goodbye was indeed a long one. After our last night together, I was finally able to leave. I handed the remaining money, which was quite a large sum, to Tosi, as it would probably be invalid in its own time. Tosi thanked me and in the morning, only looked into the cabin where Shiai was sleeping peacefully.
- Will you come in? - I asked, nodding at the cabin, which was half-dark and the faint sniffling of a sleeping child.
- No," Tosi shook her head, "it's... hard. I'll never see you again. Not you, not our son. If I start saying goodbye, I'll wish it would never end, and I'll only hurt myself.
- Our wishes don't always come true, but are you sure? - I leaned against the wall, watching her face. Toshi would have cried, except she was too good at controlling herself, like all Juyo adepts.
- I'm sure she was.
I hugged her goodbye, after which Toshi gave me one last quick kiss, asked me to take care of Shiai, and went back to her ship. Which immediately took off. I returned to the bridge with a heavy weight on my soul - Toshi was depressed to say the least. The atmosphere of a hard farewell hung over the ship. But I had already felt something like that when Ali died. Hopelessness, loss, lostness... Then I looked the same way as Tosi does now - there is no way out, everything has already happened, but you have to part with the person you love, and forever. It leaves a heavy burden on the soul, but you can find the strength and purpose to go on living.
- Erdva, take the controls, - I started pre-flight check of the ship, - start all systems, close the hatch, start the reactor, activate the hyperdrive circuits.
- Acknowledged. Launch complete.
I've moved the repulsor control lever. The ship rose gently above the surface of the hangar.
- Tell Lex-- Tell him I said goodbye. Also, ask him to tell Toshi when she gets back that I love her. Sooner or later we'll meet again.
- Message sent.
There was nothing else holding me back, not in the temple, not on Coruscant, not in this time at all.
I pushed in the throttle stick and the ship bulleted out of the hangar, hurtling into the sky.
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