The Burden of Strength

[0.5] Introducing: Vera Hayes

    The glow of street lights bend around the cloaked figures that were silently intimidating the locals. Jedi Mace Windu and Qui-Gon Jinn walked stiffly up the porch steps of a government facility, seeking knowledge. The drizzle of rain landed on the tin roof over the porch making peaceful little 'thit's wherever they landed. The noise itself was quite relaxing, but when paired with the whirring of speeder traffic above them, the rain was only a little pleasing.

    The dark-skinned Jedi brought his fist up to the door, his cloak sleeve slipping down to reveal thick off-white robes. He wrapped three times on the door, the knocking splitting the blanket of sound the rain had made around them. No answer. Windu brought his hand up to the door once again and knocked, the duo waited longer this time. Again, no answer.

    Just as Windu went to open the door, a voice rung out.

    "Nobody's in there."

    The Jedi whipped around quickly, Windu's hand had found it's way to his belt where his lightsaber sat latched onto the leather. After all, it was rather hard to sneak up on a fully trained Jedi without any sort of training yourself. Windu's hand left his waist when he and Qui-Gon saw a little girl standing at the bottom of the porch. The light drizzle of rain tangling her hair while she crossed her arms and stared pointedly up at the duo.

    The Masters shared a look, this child couldn't have been over the age of four. Her clothes were baggy and tattered as they hung off of her small frame. She shifted from one foot to another under their curious eyes, the look in her eyes screamed 'authority issues'. "Who are you?"

    Her tone of voice proved the previous assumption. Qui-Gon smiled small in amusement and exchanged a glance with Mace before focusing back on the girl. "We are Jedi, here to find a youngling." Qui-Gon stated, "I am Qui-Gon Jinn, and this is my friend Mace Windu."

    The girl's un-easy blue eyes shifted from analyzing Qui-Gon to analyzing Windu. Something about the man unsettled her further, her instincts told her to avoid the man which was quite obviously not an option at the moment.

    "A youngling?" The girl's brows pulled together as she stared back at Qui-Gon in question.

    The man's smile widened slightly, "A force-sensitive child."

    The little girl seemed to forget about any red-flag that had went off in her head as she was analyzing the men when she raced up the stairs to them, "The force? I've heard of that."

    Qui-Gon laughed through his nose as he watched the girl run up the stairs, "And what have you to say of the force young one?"

    She stood between them now, looking up at Qui-Gon. She put a hand on her chin and looked away like she were thinking, but her little grin proved it was just for comedic effect, "It's in everyone, and it is all around us."

    "And it sometimes lets people do cool things with it." She tripped over her words near the end because she was speaking so fast.

    Windu smirked at the simple explanation of the force, at that age he would've said something along those lines as well. "That's true, but the force is also so much more."

    The little girl looked from Qui-Gon to Windu, listening intently. "The force is an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and binds everything in the galaxy together." Windu took a moment to see if the little girl was understanding anything he was saying, but she looked just as interested as she was in the beginning. "The force is what gives a Jedi their power."

    The girl broke out into a dorky grin, "So everyone has powers?" She was mostly excited for herself, she would love to have been special enough to use powers.

    Qui-Gon was soaking up this little girl's curiosity, basking in it, he wished his Padawan would ask him questions like this again. Instead, he reads. "Well not exactly...a being has to have a certain amount of the force in them...otherwise they will not wield such powers."

    The girl seemed a bit bummed at the answer, but moved on quickly, "So how are you going to find the youngling?" She looked at the building and then back at the two Jedi, "You were going to ask for help right?"

    Windu was beginning to get annoyed with all the questions, it was his belief that a child should listen. It was good to be curious, but disrespectful to question everything. He also wanted to get this mission over with, he never liked the rain. "You sure ask a lot of questions."

    The girl seemed to feel the change in tone and she stepped away from Windu and closer to Qui-Gon as she replied, "And I know a lot of things."

    Qui-Gon held back an audible laugh at the girls words, Windu was quite un-impressed with the girl's statement and rolled his eyes. He looked up at Qui-Gon who ignored him and answered the girl. "Well since you know everything." Qui-Gon teased as he crouched to her level, "Do you happen to know someone named Vera Hayes?"

    The girl's eyes lit up and she crossed her arms again, the smug expression from when she stood at the bottom of the stairs came back over her face. "Why yes, I do actually."

    Qui-Gon looked up at Windu as if to say, 'Suck on that.' He turned back to the girl, "Do you know where she is?"

    The little girl nodded, "Yessir, I do."

    Qui-Gon noticed the manners and wondered why she hadn't used them before? He wasn't upset or anything he had just assumed she wasn't taught manners growing up. So apparently that wasn't the case. He wondered what her home life was like? What had made her so standoffish? He shook it off and focused on the mission, "Could you take us to her?"

   The girl smirked and turned as if she were going to run down the porch before she turned back around again. "We're here." Her voice had raised in her own amusement, "I'm Vera Hayes, nice to meet you."

    Qui-Gon laughed out loud this time. Windu's mouth twitched as he gazed down at the girl. This was the youngling they were looking for, and boy was she a hassle.

    Qui-Gon's satisfaction with the youngling was infectious and Windu found himself smiling down at the girl as well.

Vera Hayes had been found.

••••••••

hey everyone!

   this is my first star wars fic ever, im really excited about this oc and her story. i hope you like it, and im completely open or constructive criticism on my writing.