Rise of a Legend

Chapter 34

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you guys had fun and relaxed over the holidays. Here is the next chapter of RoaL to kick off the new year! Also an important update to the story that I should address at the end of this chapter

"Do you know if Mandalorian dinners are formal at all?" Ezra whispered in a panic to Jeffrey as they walked to the dining hall later that day.

"How am I supposed to know? It's not like I've had a Mandalorian friend for the last 2 years. Or should I say secret crush?" Jeffrey whispered back with a grin lighting his face.

Ezra elbowed him and started fixing all his clothes and tried to flatten a strand of hair on his head that wasn't there.

"Why are you trying to flatten your hair? It's short now." Jeffrey asked while maintaining his grin.

"Old habits die hard?" Ezra laughed weakly.

"Yeah right, you are totally nervous. Don't worry I will try remember to make you look good in front of Sabine's mother." Jeffrey's grin somehow managed to grow after he saw Ezra's horrified expression.

"Your version of making someone look good is very different from mine." Ezra said.

"Ok then you make yourself look good." Jeffrey laughed as Ezra realized he had fallen into the trap.

"Hurry up back there! My toes are turning into toesicles." Kanan complained.

As the three Jedi walked to the dining hall Jeffrey recapped on his day. After they had defeated Gar Saxon they returned to the Phantom to call base, meditated for a couple hours (Jeffrey really hated that part), and finally prepared to go join the leader of Clan Wren at dinner.

Jeffrey stared at the ornate door for a moment before pushing it open. He heard Ezra let out a light sigh of relief when he saw Sabine, Fenn Rau, and the Countess in their armor and acting very casual. The only formal thing in the room was the table. The Mandalorians looked up at the Jedi and smiled good-naturedly.

"Welcome friends, please take a seat." The Countess gestured to the seats around the table.

"I hope we aren't late." Jeffrey sheepishly took a seat.

"Not at all, the food is still warm." The Countess replied.

After a moment of silence the Countess decided to propose a toast. "To the return of my daughter and the forming of a new alliance!" She cheered and everyone else drank to it except Jeffrey and Ezra.

"What's wrong?" Sabine asked.

"Well um, is this, y'know," Ezra fumbled with his words.

Sabine instantly knew why they were so uncomfortable and started laughing. "Don't worry it's alcohol free." 

Jeffrey and Ezra laughed along at hearing that and quickly downed the drink. Once they finished  with that everyone dug into the food.

After the meal everyone sat back and relaxed for a moment before the Countess cleared her throat.

"Now that dinner is out of the way I think we can get down to business. May I see your mask?" The Countess asked as Jeffrey unclipped it from his waist.

"Fascinating." She murmured while everyone else watched her study it. 

"You claimed to have a reason for breaking one of the most sacred rules of our culture. Would you care to embellish?" She questioned.

"Of course." Jeffrey responded. "I was given this mask by someone I'm sure you have heard of in legends, the Jedi Revan. He was one of the largest reasons that the Jedi won the war with Mandalore and he took this mask from a fallen Mandalorian. I believe he won the right to don this mask by beating Mandalore the Ultimate in fair combat. He gave it to me and I had no idea that I needed to win it as well. I apologize for breaking the rule and I would like to make up for that by winning the right to wear it." Jeffrey finished his tale with fire in his eyes and determination in his voice.

The Countess' eyes were wide as were Rau's when he uttered the name Revan. They quickly regained composure after Jeffrey's story ended and Rau was the first to speak. "This definitely complicates things, wouldn't you agree." 

"Indeed, your story is very interesting and I believe you. However winning the right to wear a mask is very difficult especially since that isn't just any ordinary mask but if you believe that you can do it then the commitment begins now. This is your final opportunity, do you still wish to continue down this path?" The Countess asked him seriously.

Jeffrey firmly nodded his head. "I do." 

"Then let it be known that from this point forth you are now under trial and as a start you must sacrifice all your weapons immediately." As soon as she said this Jeffrey removed his lightsabers from his waist and quickly turned then over to one of the guards in the room.

"These will be kept safe and will only be returned to you by my command." The Countess said. "Now I suggest that we all retire to our quarters for some rest, tomorrow will be an important day." She continued and after Jeffrey, Kanan, and Ezra thanked her for dinner, everyone left the room.

Alright so I know that these are some big changes and if you started reading this after 01/02/22 then you can skip this.

1. I aged Jeffrey up a little and he is now a few months younger than Ezra. I felt like that considering the way they interact with each other plus Jeffrey's strength in the Force it made more sense. The actual age of Jeffrey I will put in the Author's note at the beginning of the story.

2. I did my first (almost full) edit of the story and fixed a few typos and expanded very slightly on some parts that needed to be better explained or needed more depth.

3. I am super happy that we have crossed 4K reads!🎉🥳 Thanks again guys!!!

4: I apologize to any recent readers of previous chapters, a few of the chapters got mixed up somehow and the order was messed up. I just noticed and have fixed it. Again sorry to any of you that were confused by the odd order of the chapters.

5. After this arc I have one more planned before I wrap this story up. After this story is done I plan on getting another story started soon after. I might make a sequel to this if you guys really want one so comment below if you would want a sequel and remember these are just plans. Plans are constantly changing and mine are no exception so this might happen in a totally different order.

6. As always constructive criticism is appreciated and if you have any ideas or suggestions to make the story better I would love to hear them! Feel free to comment! 

Until next time, Lunch Kid out.