Chapter 11

“ Can I sleep for a couple more minutes?” Padme rolled over and pulled the covers over her head.

“ I would love to tell you yes, but you still have to get cleaned up, dressed and head down to the dining hall for breakfast.All of this has to be done before class. Come on, let’s get moving and I promise after class, you can come back here but instead of meditating, you all can take a nap.” Nyckol went to her bed and sat down so she could put on her shoes.

“ Ok, fine. What are we going to do after our naps? Yes, you are going to lay down too.” Padme sat up, rubbed her eyes and then stretched out her muscles. Looking over to Nyckol and saw a surprised look on her face.

“ Um . . . well, it will be lunch time, so I thought maybe we could go out and get something to eat. How did you know that I was going to do that, when you got back from your class?” Nyckol looked at Padme with a very surprised look on her face, and then she got up from her bed and went over to the small dresser, grabbed her hair brush and began brushing her hair.

“ Well, for starters, I can read minds. I am surprised Master Yoda did not tell you about my special abilities as a Jedi. I will be back in about five minutes.” Padme got up from her bed, went over to her trunk and grabbed a towel and toiletries, before leaving the room.

Padme walked out of the room and started walking down the hallway, when she felt a presence. She smiled because she knew who it was that was rushing down the hallway towards her.

“ Good morning, Anakin.” Padme looked at the person, who finally caught up with her and was now walking beside her.

“ Good morning, Padme. Darn, I cannot even sneak up to you. I keep forgetting that you can read and feel people or things coming up beside you.” Anakin looked down at Padme and gave her a smile.

“ I can tell that you somewhat look surprised that I can feel you through the Force. I can also read your thoughts too. You are a very bad boy for the thoughts that you have in your mind.” Padme laughed a small laugh, as he had this look that he had forgot all about her powers that she has used, as she read the dirty little thoughts that he had about her.

“ Sorry, I did not want you to know what I wanted to do with you. Yes, I will admit that I did forget about that power that you have. Well, I will see you at breakfast then.” Anakin stopped at the boys/men’s refresher.

“ It is ok, because I think of the same thing about you too. Ok, I will see you soon then. Bye.” Padme nodded her head, before she continue to head down the hallway to the girls/ladies refresher.

She came to the door of the refresher, opened the door and walked into the room.

“ Padme, hey. So, are you ready for today?” Luna looked up from the sink as she brushed her teeth.

“ Are you going to lunch with anyone today?” Gwyn asked as she spit out the tooth paste from her mouth.

“ Hey, Luna, Gwyn. Yes, I am ready for today, and I think Nyckol has something planned for us today, after my classes. I better hurry up and get into the shower, so I will see you guys in class.” Padme headed for one of the shower stalls, in the other room.

The other two girls finished cleaning up, before leaving the refresher. Padme got undressed, stepped into the shower and had the hot water cascade down her body, before grabbing the soap and began washing herself. Then, she began washing her hair. After her shower, Padme went over to the sinks and brushed her teeth, put some gel stuff in her hair, so that way, it would not frizz up on her. When she was done with all the stuff, she does in the morning, then she headed out of the refresher and went back to her quarters.

“ Oh, hello, Master Obi-Wan, Anakin. It is so nice to see you this morning.” Padme looked at the two people standing in the room with Nyckol, as she walked into the room.

“ Morning, Padme. Please call me Obi-Wan, that is when we are not around the other Padawans or Masters.” Obi-Wan turned around and looked at the young girl.

“ Ok. Well, let me put my stuff up and then we can head out to the dining the hall for breakfast.” Padme looked at the two Jedi Masters, before heading over to her trunk and put the stuff that she was carrying back into the trunk and then shut its lid.

“ Sure. I do not see any problems with you both going out for lunch.Ddo you see any problems with them going to get something to eat?” Nyckol looked over to Obi-Wan and gave him a smile and he gave her a short nod, as if it was some kind of code that was just between them.

“ No, I do not see any problems with that.” Obi-Wan returned that short none and had a smile on his face too.

“ Great. Then, we will head out for lunch, while you two have fun in your so called meetings.” Padme looked over to Anakin and just shook her head and gave him this smile, as she was going to believe them, about their so called meeting.

“Before we can think about lunch, we do have to have breakfast first. So, let us go eat.” Obi-Wan motion for the door.

Everyone nodded, before they headed out of the door and down to the dining hall. Thirty minutes later, Anakin and Padme left the dining hall and headed off for their first class and for Padme, it is her first class as a full fledge Jedi Padawan Learner. Walking into the classroom and looking around, she was very glad to see all her ex-clan mates, expect for Ryan, who did not make it as a Padawan. He is one of the Jedi Service Corps.

“ Good morning and I want to welcome you all to your first day as a Padawan Learner. I am Master Gal-Stod Stragistrough from the Agricorps. Please find your seats and I will began to tell you all about the Reassignment Council.” Master Stragistrough looked at the new faces of the Padawans that will be in his class.

“ Good morning, Master Stragistrough.” Everyone greeted the Jedi Master as they finally settled into their seats.

“ Ok. Everybody thinks they know what a Jedi is and that we all serve in the Army of Light and fight the Sith Lords, or that we all use lightsabers then later in life we can be Battle Masters and Star Fighters Ace. Well that is not so, we all serve the Republic in many different ways, and in one of those ways is call the Jedi Service Corps. I would like to tell you guys that is a very honorable alternative for any graduating Initiates, and that they should be very proud to serve among its ranks. You all are the lucky one who have been paired up with Masters and now you will began your Padawan Apprenticeships. And for those who did not become a Padawan Learners on the first time around they will get a second chance at becoming a Padawan next season, and it is then that the Temple Instructors will tell you that you have ran out of chances after the second time around, this is when the Reassignment Council will step into and it is them who will decide the young one’s fate.” the Master looked at the class and saw that one hand come up into the air and he nodded to that person.

“ Um . . . so what you are saying is that if a person did not pass the Trails this time around, then they could have a second chance in becoming a Padawan?” Gwyn looked at the empty desk next to her before looking at the Jedi Master.

“ Yes, they can have a second chance. Ok, now, the Jedi Service Corps consists of four branches: the first one is the Agricultural Corps, which is where I work in, then the second one is the Medical Corps, followed by the Educational Corps, and the last one is the Exploration Corps., and with your Masters with you we will be spending two weeks with each Service Corps, and when we will have tests on Fridays.” the Jedi Master looked at all his students.

“ Um . . . Master, how does one enter these Corps and even get out of them, when it is time for the Trials to become a Padawan?” a Padawan that came from another Jedi Initiate Clan other than Padme’s Clan.

“ There are two ways that a person can still become a Padawan Learner, and have a Master and they can even still be in the Corps. The first way is the Reassignment Council, which assigns the candidates to one of these four branches and even manages the careers of the Jedi once they have been placed into these Corps. And like I said before not every member of the Jedi Service Corps failed to become a Padawan Learners, there are many Jedi Knights, Masters and Padawan Learners who chose to work with the Corps because of their special talents.” the Master looked at each student and noticed two of them nodded to what he was saying to them.

Padme looked over to Gwyn and they both nodded to each other, because they were both thinking about Ryan, who was of those people he was talking about.He did not pass and they learned that he was with the Medical Corps.

“ Ok, the first Corps that we will go to is the largest branch of the Jedi Service Corps: the Agriculture Corps or the AgriCorps. They use the Force to nurture and car for green and growing things, because of this we are affiliated with the Republic Agricultural Administration but and I will repeat that we are Jedi, not Bureaucrats, and there are times that you will have to remind your peers of that fact.” Master Stragistrough went over to a tray of soil and moved his hand over it and the seedlings began to sprout upwards towards the light, and everyone in the room was in total awe over the sprouting plants.

“ The principle behind the Agri-Corps is that the Living Forces exists in all things and responds to your will. Then, the AgriCorps is headed by a Council Jedi Masters with a special affinity for this line of work.” the Master went back to the middle of the front of the room and sat down on the edge of the desk.

“ My Master once told me that there are specialty branches of AgriCorps.” Anakin looked up from his notes that he was taking.

“ Yes, you are correct, Padawan Skywalker. Master Kenobi has taught you well. Yes, there is a specialty branch and it is the Jedi Geologists. They study the composition of planetary crusts on unfamiliar worlds. The second and third Corps are the Medical and Educational Corps. These two branches are the smallest in membership, that is because healing and scholarships are already widely practiced by many Knights and Master so there is not much need for Specialists. Ok do you remember the different parts of the pillars of the Jedi?” the Master looked around the room and saw two hands shoot up quickly while the others thought for a moment before lifting their hands into the air.

“ There are three: the Force, Knowledge and Self-Discipline.” Padme answered after the Jedi Master nodded for her to answer his question.

“ Very good. What part of the pillar can the Medical Corps be found in, Padawan Skywalker?” Master Stragistrough nodded for him to answer the question, as he noticed Anakin’s hand up in the air.

“ The Medical Corps is based right here in the Temple’s First Knowledge Quarter, and is also part of the Halls of Healing. Our Infirmary is one of the most advance facilities in the Republic and is connected to the Galactic City Medical Center that has a private high-speed transport.” Anakin answer the question that he was given.

“ You are correct and also not all of the patients are Jedi. The critical cases are sometimes brought here for the MedCorps to ministrations particularly to the Circle of Jedi Healers, who report directly to the Reassignment Council. The next Corps is the Education Corps or EduCorps. This is where you will find the scholars, teachers and the Archivists. All Jedi are expected to be teachers to some degree. They work under the supervision of the Temple’s Chief Librarian and they will spend most of their days cataloging and translating.” the Master looked up and saw Luna with her hand up and nodded for her to ask her question.

“ Is this where we would find the Jedi Holocrons and are they written or recorded by the EduCorps?” Luna asked her question.

“ Yes, this Corps is responsible for the Holocrons. Now, to the last Corps and that is the Exploration Corps. This is the only one that is most far flung, that is because this Corps is considered the whole galaxy its territory, and its members are rarely found in the Jedi Temple (save for the ranking Masters, who reports to the Reassignment Council.) The small ExplorCorps out posts can be found in practically every Republic Ordinance or Regional Depots (ORD). Their missions of the ExplorCorps are to uncover new planets, artifacts, species, creatures and hyper routes, and to assist any innocents they may find in the course of their adventures. And lastly you can see that the ExplorCorps are affiliated with both Republic Survey Corps and the Intergalactic Zoological Society, and the Academy of Jedi Archaeology is also affiliated with the ExplorCorps, and the artifacts and inscriptions that they find they must turn them over to the Educational Corps for translation. Ok tomorrow we will start studying each Corps most closely one by one.” Master Stragistrough passed out the packet that has questions at the end that will be answer over the weeks’ time.

The lunch bell rang and the class was dismissed. Anakin and Padme headed over to Dex’s, where they had lunch and also studied for a test that they were going to have at the end of the week.

“ Do you think there is something going on with Obi-Wan and Nyckol? Did you see the sexual codes that they were giving each other?” Padme sipped her juice before going back to the section of the Pillars of the Jedi.

“ Yes, I believe that there is something going on with them. Oh man, we need to get back to the Temple, I have Combat practice with Obi-Wan.” Anakin realized that he had twenty minutes to get back to the Temple and to his practice with Obi-Wan.

“ Yeah, I have to go too, because I need to look up a few things in the Archives.” Padme shut off her tablet and finished up her fries.

Both Anakin and Padme headed back to the Temple and as they stopped in front of the quarters, Anakin surprised Padme by pulling her into his arms and began kissing her very slowly and passionately. Before anything else could happen, they let go over each other and went their separate ways. For the rest of the day, they also spent the rest of the day with their Masters.

Author's Note *(pages 54-60 of the book of The Jedi Path; the text and annotations written by Daniel Wallace)