Alpha: Coming to terms

[Shade Magus]

Shade walked down the desolete road of the planet Tatooine, sand flying up and into his face with every step. Soon a storm would roll in and would force him into shelter, quite unfortunate since shelter was nowhere to be seen. He gave a weak smile as he continued onwards into the desert. In an hour or so he would be coming up upon some rocks that would provide him enough shelter should a sandstorm actually arise, but even as he thought it the winds changed ever so slightly.

Maybe not today afterall, he thought as continued onwards. He really had no reason for being on this desolate planet, but he was still here.After more than three years he was retunring to his father's resting ground. For what he still could not answer.

Soon he would be passing the rocks near the house he was born in and stayed until his father's death and they had been forced to move to Eden with their freind's the Dawnstriders. He ran his hands over the rocks that he had come to love as he and his brother had played on them when they were younger and life was so much simpler. There had not been talk of Jedi or Sith and the mention of the Force was nothing like it was now. Then it was talked about with revernce and respect. Now it was treated as a tool. Shade himself was guilty of this himself and detested himself for it. To him it was like turning his back on his father and all the late Jedi had stood for,

As he thought about this, time continued to go by as the count of his footsteps increased. After what had seemed like mere moments, but had actually been nearly three hours of walking fromt the nearest settlement, he was standing outside of his childhood house. If he stretched out with the Force he could still feel his family's happiness they had shared some many years ago.

My how time has gone by father. Only yesterday I was sitting in your lap, and now today I am a Jedi Knight as you were. But I must know if you saw the outcome. Did you know what Yurza and I would become and be destined to do? Is that why you steered us away from the path of the Jedi and led us to belive that we were destined for simple lives? You had the gift of foresight. Tell me is that what you saw? Shade pleadeed with his father's presence. He had heard many times before that the spirits of dead Jedi would sometimes come back to those they were close to give last minute advice. It appeared now, however that he would not be so lucky in his quest for answers.

He walked over to the door and pushed it open. Inside the small hut was as he remembered it, only that the things inside were not as dusty as they should have been. IT seemed like someone had been here recently and had cleaned up a bit, but how could it have been? He decided he would wait on them to come back, to see who they were and what they wanted with his family's old homestead.

He went to a small chair and sat down, closing his eyes and letting the Force rush through him. All at once a flurry of emotions ran through his senses and as he sorted through them, he noticed he was not only feeling his own past, but someone else's feelings as well.

[Shade Magus]

After an hour of waiting, Shade managed to doze off or to be more accurate go into a deep meditation. He was fully aware of the events happening around him, therefore it was hardly any trouble for him to wake when he felt someone approach from the southern side of the hut.

He opened his eyes, and walked outside to investigate. What he found shocked him. It was a group of small children. The oldest couldn't have been more than seventeen, only five years younger than he himself. He couldn't help but grin looking at the rag tag bunch.

Who...who are you?" One of the younger boys asked him.

"I'm a freind. My name is Shade Magus. I used to live here before I went off to become a Jedi."

"You're a Jedi? You came here to make us leave didn't you? Please don't make us go back to the city." The little boy said.

"Why would you want to stay here? There isn't anything out here but sand and rocks. Why don't you go home to your parents?"

"Our parents don't love us. They threw us out when we were very young. We weren't very good." An older boy said.

Shade nodded, understanding. They were orphans and this was the only place they could live in peace and not have to worry about being abandoned by someone again.

He noticed one of the boys staring at him, waiting on him to tell them to leave or something of that nature. He tried to give his best smile to reassure them that he was their freind. "Don't worry, I won't make you leave. In fact I'll help you if you'd like."

Now the oldest boy stepped up. "Why should we believe you? What makes you any different from any of the other adults that lied to us and then abandoned us?"

"You're right you have no reason to believe me. The only thing you could do is take a leap of faith."

[Shade Magus]

Shade waited patiently for the children to decide wether or not they would believe him. Finally the oldest nodded. "Fine. I guess you're ok for now, but you have to help us build this place up into a fort so the sand people and anyone else can't hurt us."

The Jedi smiled and nodded. "Very well then. Let's get to work."

He took off his outer robe and picked up a few things, carrying them inside. The hours seemed to pass like minutes for the children as Shade helped them build their fort. Being a little older than them helped to, as he could show them little tricks they wouldn't had thought of.

By night fall, a bulk of the work was done and most of the smaller children were already inside going to sleep. Only a few of the older children remained outside with him. For a long time they sat in silence, letting to desert wind blow across them, feeling soothing after a long days work.

"Why did you come here?"

"Huh?"

"You are a Jedi and I thought they were supposed to be taken as children and never know their parents. So why are you here?"

The Knight smiled as he looked at the boy. "The Jedi aren't like that anymore. Now we open our doors to anyone who has the potential and desire to become a Jedi be trained. We don't want to choose other's destinies for them."

Another long silence came as the boy thought about Shade's reply. Finally he spoke again. "Are you going to tell the adults that we are here?"

For a moment Shade did not answer because he knew what the boy was asking. If he told anyone that they were here, then they would come and take this new home away from them. If he didn't tell them that they were here, then if anything happened in the town, who would know to tell the children. After a lon silence he spoke. "Yes..."

He saw them begin to stir, but he held up his hand. "I will tell them that you are here under the orders of a Jedi Knight of the New Republic and if they try to harm you or do not give you aid that I will personally return to deal with the problem. On the same note though, I am giving you a lot of room here and I don't want you to abuse it. Is that understood?"

They all nodded. "Good. Now go rest. You'll need your strength to finish building tomorrow."

He waited till everyone was inside before standing up and putting on his cloak. He had a long walk and wanted to make it back to the town before sunrise. He turned to leave when he felt a tug on his cloak. He looked down and there stood one of the younger children who were supposed to be sleeping.

He bent down and picked the little girl up. "I thought you were sleeping? You know it is past your bedtime."

"You're leaving aren't you?"

"...yes. I have to go back to my home now, but I'll come back and visit I promise."

The little girl held something up in her hand and Shade took it. He looked at it and was shocked. It was an old photograph of his family.

"Where did you get this?"

"I found it inside a few days ago adn when I saw you I thought you looked like him," she said pointing to him in the picture.

"Very good. That is me."

"Who is that?" She asked pointing at his brother.

"That...that is my brother."

"Where is he?"

"I don't know."

"You don't like him very much do you?"

"Now what makes you say that?"

"The way you said that. It is almost like you don't care, but you should. He is your brother afterall. He's the only family you have left and both of you should love one another. It takes to much energy to hate and that is why you feel tired."

Shade put the girl down and took the picture from her hand as she held it up to him.

"How did you get to be so smart?" He sighed. "I really wish I could stop hating him, but....hey! Where'd you go?" He looked around for the little girl, but didn't find her. One of the older boys came out to see what was going on, but when Shade described her, the boy told him there was no one like that here. Mystified, he sent the boy back inside before looking around once more and leaving.

Shade soon came back to the town, when everything was opening up. As he promised he went to the guy in charge of the city and told him about the children and what would happen if they were harmed. He then went back to a foodstore and bought enough food for them to last long enough for them to get on their feet.

Finally, the Jedi Knight went back to the docking bays and as he was going up the ramp, he thought he saw the little girl again, but when he took a second glance he didn't see anyone. Who ever you are, you have given me a lot tothink about and for that I thank you.