Trust in the Force | Obi-Wan Kenobi

The Library

{ Nineteen Years Earlier }

A distinct chatter overcame the room, younglings big and small stemming from several different species found in the galaxy alike, whispering amongst themselves at her dismay.

She had dropped the training saber in the middle of training, embarrassingly loud it had fallen to the floor with a hard clatter not assisted by the marble flooring on which they were standing. It had gone remarkably well up until then, it was a simple lesson in blocking attacks. Their eleventh lesson thus far on the subject, so much so they were now facing one another and defending each other's blows, instead of the innocent fire of a training droid.

But just soon as she had felt the overbearing emotion of jealousy, envy, of anger soar suddenly into her being. Felt it as her own, Lyra had stood stunned. With wild eyes and a heartbeat faster than suited someone motionless.

Her training partner for that day, Greedo, a young red headed boy who had started off his introductions rather rudely the first time they met, remained watching her in her state of panic. One eyebrow raised and arms crossing over his chest.

"Unsettled you something has, young one?" Master Yoda noted sensing the sudden tension the moment it had appeared in her mind.

Every pair of eyes in the room were on her, she felt them stare into her and with it came a barrage of emotions threatening to split her open. Curiosity, worry, confusion, amusement, annoyance, fear...the last one perhaps was her own, but it was hard to tell them all apart with how easily they slipped into her. For as distracting and painful they were to bare, Lyra would have plead for them to drown out the whispers in the room that followed so that she might not hear them. But it wasn't to be, she heard them all.

"What's wrong with her?" One whispered to their friend.

"She's scaring me, she looks like she's seen a Sith" another mumbled.

"I think she's doing it to receive Master Yoda's attention"

"She's faking it"

"I don't like her, she looks odd"

"Can't we continue the lesson, this is boring, can't she freak out somewhere else"

"She isn't even any good as a training partner if she can't hold a lightsaber, how could she ever be a Jedi"

Greedo's thoughts hit her in their finality, the words twisting into her amongst the whispers from the other youngling's heads until she backed up towards the doorway. She hadn't seen his lips move when his voice entered her mind and Lyra was sure she must've imagined them, there could be no other explanation.

"Now, now, settle we must, nothing wrong there is with dropping your saber" Yoda tried to calm the room with a wave of his small hand, taking slow steps towards his distressed student who looked like she was about to bolt from the room.

And bolt she did. A crescendo of loud footsteps carrying her out into the hallways and down the stone steps to seek the solace of silence in every form it possessed. She wanted nothing more to be away from the weapon, from the judging eyes and thoughts of the other's in training, and away from the pitying eyes of the other Jedi Master's who would surely lecture her on her behaviour and disorder with more words.

In the end she found the library, or maybe it found her. By complete coincidence, she only realised where she was when her eyes lifted from the floor at her feet and came across the endless high shelves of blue and turquoise. They were beautiful to behold. It had been a rare occurrence for younglings to be allowed near to any of the databanks, only a hand full of times had she convinced Mater Plo or Master Yoda to accompany her to retrieve one of the books she craved the knowledge of.

Slumping herself in between a randomly selected line of shelves Lyra took her head into her hands and let the emotions she had just unintentionally absorbed and experienced pass through her in the form of tears. Let them leak from her eyes unaided until the Force lead her into calming hiccups and softer breaths which concealed behind them silent sobs.

"The texts that bad?"

Not expecting to find another soul amongst the shelves she'd hidden behind, the presence of a quiet voice startled her into lifting her head in it's direction. A tall boy stood little ways down the array of data files, sporting a short buzz cut and a light coloured tunic that suited his bright blue eyes. He looked older than her, fifteen, sixteen maybe.

Remembering her compromising position, Lyra sniffled and quickly wiped her eyes free of tears, hoping the blond boy hadn't spotted them as he slid himself into a sitting position at her side.

"N-No..." She mumbled averting her eyes.

"We both know no one except the Jedi Masters are allowed access to the library" The blond boy said while he looked around the space as if to emphasise the point that there was nobody else present "So why are you here?" He asked.

"I didn't mean to end up here" Lyra felt oddly familiar in the boy's presence even though she was certain she'd never met him before. He exuded a calm, comforting aura in his presence and she sensed no deeper lying intend beyond offering his company.
"It just sort of...happened..." she confessed, hoping her explanation made a semblance of sense to him.

"The Force can guide us in strange ways" He hummed in thought "then why are you crying, if not for the unattainable knowledge around us?"

The youngling gulped, rubbing the wetness from her cheeks again while she shifted her legs up in order to hug her knees for comfort, maybe if she just hoped strongly enough she could shrink back into one of the shelves and disappear "I dropped my training saber today..." She began barely above a whisper.

"Scandalous" The blue eyed boy joked, resulting in a twitch at her lips for a second before she let out a breath though her nose.

"I-I don't know why, it just...I felt something, and it scared me...I can't describe it, and then everybody was laughing at me, at least i think they were. It was confusing"

"What's your name?" He asked suddenly, interrupting her train of thought enough to make her lift her head and stare at him.

"L-Lyra, Lyra Din-So" She offered shyly.

"I'm Obi-Wan Kenobi, it's nice to meet you Lyra Din-So" He smiled, offering his hand to shake which she took after a moment of simply staring at it. No one had shaken her hand before, and the warmth that overcame her when their fingers brushed made her smile in turn.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with making mistakes Lyra, especially not when you're training" Obi-Wan stated confidently "Whatever happened, the best you can do is learn from it. Prove them all wrong, I'll help you if you like"

Her eyes brightened at the offer, beyond the Master's in the temple, no one had ever offered her their selfless aid before and even though Obi-Wan was older than her by a few years she felt a kind of kinship with him, they were in the same situation in the temple. All younglings were.

"R-Really?!" Lyra gashed, sitting herself up on her knees to be at his eye-level.

"Of course! I'd like to think I'm pretty good with a blade, and Master Jinn told me he believes I'll become a great Jedi someday" he boasted smile turning to a prideful grin that made her giggle.

"Wait, Obi-Wan why did you come to the library?" He hadn't told her, she noticed, and it certainly couldn't have been because of her.

"Oh" he cleared his throat, remembering the whole reason he was here in the first place and stood quickly "Master Jinn told me to retrieve a certain holocron for him, I'm afraid I failed to find it".

"I can help!" Lyra perked up at the realisation that she could offer help and stood as well "I've been here so many times, I can find anything, I know where all the titles are!" She grinned bouncing on her heels. The pale blond girl knew she wasn't allowed in the library normally, but felt that Obi-Wan wouldn't rat her out regardless.

"Alright" The older boy chuckled before pulling forth a small holo projector clicking it on to reveal the shape of a holocron with it's name hovering below, "Lead the way, little Lyra" he teased and she rolled her eyes at the nickname before scurrying off in the direction she knew the item would be located.