A New Beginning

Chapter 2- On the Doorstep

Sighing, Noelle leaned her head against the window of the train as she stared glumly outside at the passing woods and farmland. She certainly wasn't going to be shaking off the knot of hopelessness that had settled in the pit of her stomach as soon as she had stepped onto the SEPTA train.

I'm really doing this.

After she had bought more appropriate clothes, shoes, and a bag for her meager belongings (mainly her lightsabers), Noelle had bought some food and then a train ticket to Woodstown, her home in North Pennsylvania. The train ride was only about forty-five minutes from New York City.

Noelle couldn't shake the apprehension gnawing at her stomach. She couldn't believe she was really going home, and she wondered if this was a terrible mistake. It was a hasty decision she had made out of the realization that she had no other choice.

Trying to calm the shaking in her hands, she repeated over and over the words of the code she had made for herself. It was similar to the Jedi Code, but one she had designed especially for her.

I do not serve the Force, nor does the Force serve me. Rather I am part of the Force as it is part of me.

"I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me," she finished in a whisper.

She didn't know exactly who she was, or what exactly she was trying to embody, but this was close enough. She remembered the concept of the Force that she had always believed before she joined the Jedi. There was more to It than Light and Dark.

"The Jedi wield the Ashla, and the Sith the Bogan, but I am the Bendu, the one in the Middle," she remembered Bendu saying.

The Force is One, and I am one with the Force.

Just thinking the truthfulness of the words calmed her. Even if she felt alone, the Force would always be with her.

~~~~~~

The train station was only about five miles away from Noelle's old house. Even though it wasn't far, she had no choice but to walk as she had no phone to call a taxi. Some quiet time alone to breathe and to think would do her good. This was the first time she had been really alone since Lothal.

Now all she had to do was hope her family still lived at the same address.

Slinging her bag over her shoulder, she started down the long road home. There were so many fond memories she had of these woods. It was like a trip down memory lane. This was where she had spent hours practicing archery and swordsmanship, and had long talks with Gandalf whenever he came to visit her. Years of secrecy and her parents knew none of it.

She even passed the horse farm where she had first learned to ride. That was the only part her parents had known about.

She had disappeared into the woods just about every day. As she grew older, she had to spend more time focusing on school. Although Gandalf had seemed to somewhat disapprove of it, he never chastised her or discouraged her from school. After all, choosing to allow him to train her all those years had been her choice. The wizard had never forced her into anything. But since the day she first met him, something about him had immediately made her trust him.

Musing over the past as she walked down the street around the woods where she had grown up was like going back in time. She could see herself shooting an arrow at that tree and clashing swords with Gandalf closer to that green clearing over there.

She sighed. She wished life could go back to being as simple as it had been back then.

But now I have to hide who I really am.