"Please, spare some credits. Anything, please!" Lormana reached out to the passing creatures, big and small. Most shunned her away, but some took pity on her, giving her few credits, or even food. Lormana thanked the people who help, then went back to work. Lormana was a beggar in the very, VERY busy streets of Coruscant. Lormana, everyday, went out there to beg, since no one would employ her, a run-away, supposedly orphaned girl, which was her own choice. That makes her look very disobedient.
As the sun set in the horizon, Lormana gathered up her belongings and headed to the dark, damp alley she called home. She sat down in a doorway of a night club, after scaring some aliens trying to take her turf with a blaster, and closed her eyes.
I wish I was home, she thought. My old home. Lormana tried remembering her mother and her father. She had been only 4 years old when she ran away.
She remembered her mother, with brown hair, golden-streaked brown eyes, that looked down at her and smiled. She remembered how her mother laughed, it sounded like the wind through the woods. Her mother had always sang to her when she was going to sleep.
Then, she remember her father. Brown hair, grayish green eyes. He had always swung Lormana in the air, laughing as they spun around together. Then, he would tell her of stories of him fighting off evil, settling conflicts, and much more. Lormana remembered that he was a Jedi. He had always said that she would become a great Jedi herself.
Then, her mother became sick. She remembered seeing her face, pale and cold. She could not see her mother as much as she needed to, for she was already staying at the Temple, already being pulled away from her family. Even her father, who was a Jedi, she couldn't see, always gone, always in a rush.
Then it had happened. Lormana was studying when she received a datapad. Her mother had died. Lormana just stood there, frozen. Her father, gone on a mission, herself, in a small room, billions of miles from her home world, where her mother is. Her mother had died alone, she realized. No one was there with her, except the medic droid. She could not stay there.
She gathered up the only belongings she had; a few credits and a locket she received for her first birthday, with a picture of her mother, father, and herself were in, then left.
She said she was going for a walk to the guard at the door. Then, she escaped into the night. She had always been told how good she was at hiding and blending into the crowd. Even her own father said so. Now, she could use that gift.
Lormana sighed. She could not dwell on the past. But as she drifted off to sleep, she wished her father was there to tell her a story.
Qui-Gon layed on his sleep couch, eyes wide opened, mind busy at thinking. His apprentice, Obi-Wan, asleep besides him. Yana Tarseb, a passenger that they have befriended was hopefully asleep in the other room. They would be landing on Coruscant tomorrow. Or was is today? Qui-Gon didn't know what time it was. Going to Coruscant always brought back the memory of his daughter.
Losing her the way Qui-Gon did was a tragic way to lose anyone. She was not kidnapped, nor was she killed by a gambler or anyone of that sort, though it would hurt much less. His daughter had run away, away from the life that she loved. Ran away from her father.
Qui-Gon sighed. If he had just called a few minutes earlier. If he hadn't grieved so much and called her on her comlink, everything would've been ok. If she had known that he was there, with her mother, sending for his daughter to come, he knew she wouldn't have left. Oh, why didn't he suspect anything when a friend of his daughter answered the comlink. Now Qui-Gon, he thought, you did know something was wrong. Why did you leave to go to Coruscant if you didn't expect anything?
Qui-Gon sighed. He couldn't let his feelings take control of him. Oh, but how his life crumbled when he heard that night that his daughter had left -- no, not left, ran away, from the Temple. She had not been back to the Temple and it was well past sleep hours when he had arrived.
Qui-Gon sighed. You have a Padawan to worry about now. You can't let that affect you. he argued with himself. Yes, how can I know I will be successful with him, unlike Xanantos and Lormana? He countered.
"Master?" Obi-Wan looked at his Master in the dark and looked at him worriedly. "Master, are you alright?" Qui-Gon's eyes darted from left to right. Why didn't Qui-Gon think of it? His raging emotions awoke his Padawan, since they are so close together in the Force. Does he know what was on his mind?
"Nothing Obi-Wan. I am just thinking. Go back to bed. I am sorry I woke you." Obi-Wan knew better than to ask what Qui-Gon's thoughts were about, but the question still swam in his mind. Obi-Wan sighed.
"Yes Master. Good-night. And," Obi-Wan added, "I hope that you will solve whatever is bothering you. You always do." Obi-Wan smiled, though Qui-Gon couldn't see, and layed back in bed.
Qui-Gon let out a silent sigh of relief. Obi-Wan didn't know what was wrong. But, was that a good thing, or a bad thing? Qui-Gon wondered. My apprentice may be able to help me. But on the other hand, things may get even messier. Qui-Gon shook his head.
No more arguing today, he thought. We must rest for the trip to the Temple. Yoda wanted him, Obi-Wan, and, surprisingly to Qui-Gon, Yana to meet the Counsel tomorrow. We can't have Yoda and Mace Windu sensing your stress.
Qui-Gon closed his eyes. His last thoughts before he drifted off to sleep were: I still love you Lormana.
"How do I look?" Yana twirled around for Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan to see her. To both of the Jedi standing in front of her, she looked exactly the same with the other 3 clothes, necklaces, and hair dos that she had on previously.
Yana had woken up early so she could get ready for her meeting with the Jedi Council. She bugged the two about how plain they looked, until they said that's what all Jedi wear. She looked at herself with the very fancy dress she had bought on Anteewa and her hair do that took her 2 hours to finish and ran down the hall.
About an hour later, Yana came back with a plain tunic and her hair tied up in a bun. She wore no bracelets, no nothing. Unfortunately, Yana was in such a rush, she never heard Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan say that it's alright to look fancy and that she doesn't have to look like the Jedi. So, Yana let out a huge sigh and headed back to her room. The two Jedi couldn't help but smiled and laughed at how picky Yana was being.
About 45 minutes later, she came back with here hair done in a cute sort of way, and a light purple sleeveless shirt, and a slanted skirt. This was before she realized that her skirt and shirt were just a shade, and I mean 1 shade, different and that with very tall shoes on, she was taller than Obi-Wan. So, she had to go back to the drawing board.
She now wore a nice, blue long sleeved shirt, which had slits on both sides, and a skirt that had the exact color that reached her ankles, and shoes, well, shoes that didn't make her very tall. Her hair, put back in a bun, but with two little pieces of hair hanging down in the front.
"Now, before you run off, I would like to say that you look very pretty and that we must leave now." Qui-Gon shook his head slightly, but smiling.
"That's all I wanted to here. Come on! I don't wanna be late." Obi-Wan couldn't believe how excited Yana was. It wasn't like you never saw a Jedi before.
The trio took a taxi to the Jedi Temple.
DISCLAIMER: The same as always: I do not own Obi-Wan or Qui-Gon. I do own Lormana Jinn and Yana (and NO I didn't take the name from the Jedi Apprentice series girl. I had that name for 2 years!!) I don't own any other Star Wars references thingy ma-bobs.