The first step is hardest.

[The Trio]

The birth was not easy by any stretch of the imagination, triplets never are.

While the master was out contractions started, it was a quick birth but very laboured. With the last of her strength she bundled all three of her boys into sheets and fled from the house. Luck followed her into the wastes untill her fickle smile faded and the mother fell.

The spilt and precious cargo filled the night with wails of mourning, and as they screamed their loss, they crawled together seeking comfort and warmth.

That day forged their bond, always a comforting voice, to keep your own thoughts company.


Through the waste, seeking the distress, came a man...

Single, solitary and anxious to find the source of the greatest disturbance he had ever felt in his long life.


Tucked into a hollow tree trunk he found them, three beutifull boys, hair the colour of corn, eyes....indescribable in their hue, he carried them to their new home, and kept them safe.

[The Trio]

The seasons passed...as they do...three babies grew into three boys and an old man turned into a father of three.

It was apparent from the start that the three were insatiably curious...from the first time they awoke...at exactly the same time...in their new home...a hermits hut.

They wanted to learn.

When they could crawl they did, all over the hut floor, into any nook and cranny, always searching for somthing, somthing elusive and special to them.

This behaviour, however curious to another person did not seem to worry the elderly wanderer, he to had felt the urge to be....somewhere else....but he put those thoughts aside, while these three were in his care, they would never feel the pain of that dreadfull draw any longer than nessicary.
It would be a long while before they could follow their collective urge to leave, they had much to learn and many skills to master before they could depart the safety of the glade that was the hermits only home.

[The Trio]

It was exactly eleven years since he had found them, he had no notion of their exact birthdate so he chose this date each year on which to give what small gifts he could to the brothers.
This year was different.
The day started normally, the boys woke, washed in the stream and dressed before coming to the table to eat. It was the one thing the hemit prided himself on, no matter what the situation he had always, even from the first day been able to feed the three extra mouths.

The boys returned from the stream, as usuall, they dressed in their own shared section of the hut, and came to the table.

In place of the usuall steaming broth and welcoming stools, the table was bare, in place of the stools were three identical packages, long and thin. In each, measuring forty inches in length were thin straight sticks.

The faces of the triplets did not fade as that of a normal child might, instead they each took one and regarded their benefactor.

Inside their own heads a hurried communication was taking place:

"What is this all about?" asked one.
"I have no idea." responded another.
"Well....Harsi...You ask him." urged the first

Harsi was the most diplomatic of the three, he was well spoken and he had developed the skill of judging peoples moods, he was the one most often asked to speak for the group.

Harsi stept forward.

"Father....What is this all about?"


The old man looked up from his place at the fire.

"You know, eversince i found you, you are not like the other children you see at the market." He pause and looked away "You are special, the gifts you have are unique, and except for a few others, you are alone in you're league."

Harsi, had he been a normal boy would have looked to his brothers, but instead he used his gift to convey his confusion to the other two. His mental shrug caused confusion in the remaining boys. Dunad, the most inquisitive of the trio 'made' sounds of incoherency and slight uneasyness at these unusual gifts.


The elder rose from his seat...took up his staff and left the house. He bekoned the three to follow.

[The Trio]

The old man led the way, deep into the forest waste.
The small group came to a clearing, the boys were told to sit down and wait, the hermit walked off, leaving the three alone.

In a line, with their legs crossed and their 'gifts' resting on their knees they waited.

An hour passed, and the boys pondered their predicament. Dunad suggested that they explore the area, he said that they had been brought here for a reason and al they had to do was find it but Quranar (the most single minded of the trio) made the point that they had been told to wait here.

"Im sure everything will become clear in time." said Harsi, eager to stop the impending conflict of views.

Time continued to drag on and the mental banter of the three turned to the matter of food, they had not eaten all day, and by the looks of the sun, it was late afternoon...

It was coming to the stage where they had just about had enough of waiting, they made to stand and leave when, from the trees came a noise.

From the bushes came the old man...looking damp amd miserable

"What took you so long?" he exclamed "How long do you have to wait for nothing to happen until you do somthing?"

"Well," said Harsi tentativly "you did tell us to wait, we did not want to disobey you."

The old man took them in with a glance. "It was a bloody stupid request that I made, I was waiting for you to realise this," he paused "You all must learn to differentiate between idiocy and common sence."

The boys wilted visibly.

The hermit continued "Does asking someone to sit in a damp swamp seem like a reasonable request to you?"

The boys did not answer.

"Well! Does it?"

"No father." they chorused.

"Good, its often after the event that you realise the mistakes you make," he looked down, and in a quiet voice said "This is not a problem for you three however."

Three faces looked up, quizzical expressions on each.

"You all have a gift, one that is extreamley useful, I will show it to you."


He motioned that they should pick up their sticks and hold it out in front of them, he then bound their eyes with cloth and told them to relax and, trust.
Thinking this very unusual they all complied, and soon found themselves in the dark and surrounded by the noise of the forest.

[The Trio]

The fabric of force streched taught and with an 'audable' groan snapped back to normalcy, before the force (drawn into him with practiced ease) dissipated, the hermit had flown at the three, staff raised, ready to swipe three heads from three necks.

As one, with mechanical action, guided by a power unknown to the three, they raised their sticks and turned the blow.

The effect of this was immediate, although the blow was intercepted the suprise caused by the attack knocked all of them off their feet.

They rolled to their feet and peered cautiosly out from under their bindings, expecting another attack.

"See, look at the evidence of you're gift." Chuckled the old man. "But this is only the beginning."


The year that followed was one filled with early mornings and late nights, each moment was filled with tutoring, and the hunger for knowledge was finally being fed. Some weeks the hermit would give drilling in his own fighting tecnique, the boys skill with the stick grew, they could fight the images projected by their father with incteasing success, they eventually learnt how to manipulate objects and their own environment with their minds, thier skills improved, and were honed to an edge of sorts.

To mark the end of a year of training the happy and now completly exhausted group of four sat to eat their first real hot meal for close to eight months, the conversation was at a minimum...almost a silence when the hermit sopke.

"You have all learnt alot over the past year, and i am so proud of you, but the things I have taught you are nothing to anyone undergoing serious training, you all have great skill, as a whole and alone, but to one undergoing training you are chaff to be winnowed through. You're potential should not...will not be wasted." The hermit stopped, realising he was in mid-rant. He looked down, then with a bright smile on his face continued.

"I have been in contact with a young friend of mine, he has agreed to take you all to undergo....more, extensive training in you're gifts," raising his arms to fend off impending argument. "It is all arranged, you will meet him shortly, and then you will depart, that is final."


The mixed messages flashing between the brothers were astounding; Dunad was all for going, Quranav was all for saying with their father and Harsi was in between, desperate to learn and bound by his personal morality to keep their father free from labour and hardship.


The months, then a year passed, the seasons turned and the training continued. It was on their collective thirteenth birthday that a stranger came to the hermits glade.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Finding the planet had been easy. With the use of a loaned transport from the Order, Dasquian had been able to travel from the base upon Yavin to reach the marshlands. He had originally sensed the virgance in the Force during his meditations in the living quarters, and had at first thought nothing of it. However after repeatedly experience a Siren-like calling from the particular signature, the Padawan eventually decided to follow it up.

With Navaria's permission he had found the location with one day. It was simple.

Dasquian dismounted the cockpit and jumped down into the soggy land below. A terrible stench filled the air - the feces of a million animals excreting every day. He grimaced slightly and began walking, removing the hilt of his lightsaber from his belt as he prepared himself for anything that might come forward.

Some distance before him he could see the thickets that once surrounded him thinning out, the leaves and branches braking away to leave a clear passage into what looked like an open field. A small spiral of smoke swirled above the tree tops; a signification that life was present in the area.

He jogged forward, entering the area. A smile came to his face as he looked around. The force presence that had become apparent to him was evidently of the lightside.

"Hello?"