Amends

Title: Amends
Author: Saydria Wolfe
Fandom: Star Wars
Genre: Fix-It, AU
Relationships: Yoda&Bruck Chun, Dooku&Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mind-Healing/Qui-Gon Jinn
Content Rating: PG
Warnings: Discussion Off-screen Minor Character Death
Author’s Notes: 1.) In relationships the & is [Master]&[Apprentice] because it amused me to do it that way. 2.) I tried to give Bruck an “oh no, he’s hot,” moment. Hopefully it worked.
Beta: Eff_Dragonkiller
Word Count:2,650
Summary: Sometimes you hurt someone so thoroughly that forgiveness must be earned. When that happens, all you can do is make amends.

 

 

“Go away!” Bruck rolled away from the door and its kriffing chime. He was tired of the outpouring of concern.

Even Oafy-Wan had expressed concern for him. That was just embarrassing.

The door slid open.

Bruck shot a glare over his shoulder only to see no one there. But the door was open, someone had to be there. There was a tap. Of a stick. On the floor. He spun into a seated position. Yoda.

Master Yoda.

Grand Master of the Order, Yoda had come to see him.

Bruck swallowed in shock. Yoda had never had time for him before.

Master Yoda tapped his way over to the bed and grunted dramatically as he climbed up onto the desk chair by the head of the bed.

“Uh,” Yoda grunted one more time as he settled into the chair. “Initiate Chun. Told, I have been, that problems, you are having?”

“I don’t know,” Bruck sighed. He couldn’t refuse to answer Master Yoda as he had everyone else. “I’ve lost something. Someone. They mean…everything to me. But I don’t know who they are!” He was not going to cry. He was a Jedi. He would be a Padawan one day soon. And then he would be a Knight. Eventually he would be a Master. He would not cry.

“Hmm,” Yoda’s entire body rocked as he nodded. “Violence on Telos IV, broken out has. Safe, your family is. A position, your father has taken. In the Lothal Jedi Temple. Chief Engineer, he is. Medical training, your mother has chosen. Living on Lothal, your family is.”

“My family is safe.” Bruck realized.

“Safe, they are,” Yoda agreed.

“So…who?” Bruck was lost. Why was he so… Telos IV was beautiful, what he could remember of it, but his family leaving there wasn’t a loss for him. He had certainly lost someone, a person. He knew it.

“A loss for the Order, on Telos IV there was.” Yoda sighed. “My fault, it was.”

“Master?”

“Dangerous, pride is. With more power, more dangerous pride becomes.”

Bruck had no idea what…that was supposed to mean. His father always said pride was a sign of strength. How could strength be dangerous? He didn’t understand.

“In my lineage, great pride, I take,” Yoda explained. “Master Qui-Gon Jinn, my grandapadawan, he is. Determined to knight the youngest padawan in one thousand years, he was. His pride, my pride was. Looked deeper, I should have. Evaluated his padawan personally, I should have.” Yoda was quiet for a time. “I did not.

“Set Padawan duCrion, the most difficult final trial, I did.”

“He failed,” Bruck realized.

“He died,” Master Yoda corrected. “Fell to the Dark, he did. Tempted to his doom, by his own father, he was. Executed by Master Jinn, he was. When capture him for healing, Master Jinn failed to.”

“Is Master Jinn alright?” Bruck wondered. Was it Master Jinn that he lost? Was Master Jinn fated to be his master and now he was dead.

“Alive, Master Jinn is, but wounded, his soul is. On leave, he is. Healing, he needs. Destroy himself, he did, when kill his padawan, he did.”

Well, then. Not him? Probably. “Padawan duCrion?”

“Xanatos duCrion.” Yoda sighed again, settling more firmly in his seat. “Visions, I had, of a brilliant future. For him. For my line. A student, he would take. Shadows, they would be. Save the Order—the entire Galaxy—they would. Nearly gone, that future is.”

“Because the student still lives,” Bruck said. The Force prodded him. “Because I still live.”

“Because you live.” Yoda confirms. “But a master, you will need, if your full potential, you will reach.”

“Master Jinn?” Bruck asked. Certainly, the man that trained his intended master would be able to train him. Better than anyone other than his Master-that-should-have-been. Right?

“Uncertain, it is, if another student, Master Jinn will take.” Yoda finally looked at him, directly meeting his gaze with his own slightly shining green eyes. “But. If take a master that has already failed you, you will, to be your master, I would be honored.”

Bruck nearly fell backwards and had to use both hands to keep himself upright.

“You—” he couldn’t believe it. “You want to teach…me?” Bruck shook his head. “But. You swore you wouldn’t take any more students!”

Everyone knew that Yoda had made that oath.

And the entire creche knew that Master Yoda favored Oafy-Wan. Certainly, if Yoda was going to break his own oath it would be for Kenobi, not him.

Not with how he’s treated Kenobi since nearly the moment they met.

“Pride, in many forms, comes,” Yoda said. As if that explained anything. “To earn your trust, I wish. Prove myself, how must I?”

Yoda wanted to…prove himself to him? To him? “Can you talk like a normal person?”

“Normal is relative,” Yoda said. Bruck could hear the smile he couldn’t make out on that ancient green face. “But yes, I can use standard Basic grammar. It is difficult. It is not how I think, but to earn the right to teach you, I will learn.”

“Why?” Bruck had to know.

Yoda considered his answer for several moments.

“I have several reasons for this decision,” Yoda eventually admitted. “First of all, a teacher learns from their student, sometimes more than their student learns from them. Recent events have shown me that I have more lessons to learn. I think you and I can learn our lessons well, together.

“Second, my choices, my pride, have cost you and the Order a great deal. When I was young, I was taught that forgiveness is not guaranteed. If you want forgiveness, you must earn in. You have to acknowledge that you have failed and make amends. I am doing that for the Order by stepping down as Grand Master of the Order, by seeking a mind healer, and by seeking training in areas I am lacking. I do this for you by giving you what my pride cost you—by learning to be a Shadow and being your teacher.”

“Okay,” Bruck agreed. Mostly because he wanted this talk of amends to end but also because there was no way in the Sith Hells he would say no to being taught by the most sought teacher in the entire Order. “When do we start?”

“You are too young for me to take as a student at this time and I have my own healing and learning to do. When you are twelve, I will return to the Temple and take you as my student.”

“Okay,” Bruck agreed, what else could he say? He was seven. He had taken Introduction to Writing Reports. He knew the kind of nonsense Jedi got up to—and Jedi Shadows no doubt got into even more ridiculous situations. No one in their right mind would put a seven-year-old in those sort of situations.

As Master Yoda’s future student, he would need to be an example. Not that he knew how to do that. He’d have to stop… to start being nicer to Obi-Wan Kenobi, probably.

“Master T’ra Saa is the new Grand Master of the Order,” Master Yoda said slowly, clearly struggling with his grammar. Bruck almost told him he could go back to his previous speech pattern but he couldn’t imagine learning from someone he just could not understand so he didn’t say anything. “She is currently resetting the High Council and will be instituting several policies of her own.”

“Like what?”

Yoda hummed. “Master Saa has chosen a Jedi from the Corellian Temple for Head of the Order, what do you think that means?”

“Corellia is part of the Republic,” Bruck said slowly as he thought quickly. “But they…are very independent. Wayward. They only give the High Council and the Senate a bare necessity of respect.”

“What does this tell you?”

“Master Saa wants to bring the Corellian and Coruscanti Temples together?”

“I agree,” Master Yoda nodded. “Anything else?”

It seemed impossible—heresy, really—but, “She wants to separate the Order? from the Senate?”

“Possibly,” Yoda agreed again. “She has also appointed a Senior Mind Healer to the High Council.”

Bruck blinked. Did that mean…?

“Which means every Jedi will be required to attend Mind Healing,” Yoda explained without waiting for him to supply any information. “This is a good thing, in my opinion.

“I did not always believe in the benefits of Mind Healers,” Yoda admitted. “I have recently changed my mind.”

“Why?” Bruck wanted to know.

“Because if Padawan duCrion had had a relationship with a Mind Healer, he might not have Fallen and died. If Master Jinn had had a relationship with a Mind Healer, he would not be struggling to trust one now that he needs one. I, myself, am working to establish a relationship with a Mind Healer for my own benefit.”

“Then I will, too,” Bruck decided. Yoda might not be the Grand Master of the Order any more but he was Grand Master of the Order at one point. He would always be a symbol within the Order of what a Jedi should be. That meant he and his student drew focus. They always would. That meant he had to lead by example.

“Good.”

-*-

Eight Years Later

 

“No!” Bruck snatched his Master’s gimer stick before Yoda could victimize his shins. Again. “We will not be serving Swamp Stew!”

Yoda cackled, the lunatic. “My soup is good! Do you not like my soup? Hmm?”

“It’s good for you,” Bruck countered. “And a small pot will be available for you on the table but humans need different food!”

It was the first lineage dinner Bruck had ever had and he was not going to let that get ruined by awful food! He had organized—with the help of a number of dining establishments, since his Master rarely touched his stipends—a multi-course meal on the theme of pocket breads. Bothan nerf and Nubian vegetable curryans with culturally appropriate pocket breads, Alderaanian yyral with their pocket breads, Rylothi tapans which were various meats and vegetables served cool, in pocket breads. Even Chilandran sapons—sweet pockets coated in sweet spices with either honey or cream for dessert.

“Go, you pest! Check on our guests!” Bruck ordered.

Yoda just cackled as he climbed into his hover chair and zoomed out the door. The lunatic just cackled harder when someone yelped and dove noisily out of his way.

“Knight Feemor!” Bruck cried, helping the staring knight back to his feet. “Are you alright?”

“Well enough, I suppose,” Feemor offered. The knight glanced the direction Yoda went. “He seems to be in high spirits.”

“He’s a pain in the ass, you mean.”

Feemor choked. “Should you… we’re in public!”

Bruck took pity on him and hauled the knight into their chambers. “He’s my master, I can talk about him however I want.”

Feemor still felt half a step away from a heart attack in the Force. Time for a change of subject. “How was your time as a Watchman?”

“Uneventful, thank the Force.”

“How long will you be in the Temple?”

“Six months.” Feemor made a face but continued without Bruck having to prompt him. “I’ve been selected for the pre-Mastery child care classes. I told them that I have no desire to ever take a student but T’ra Saa is difficult to argue with.”

Bruck snorted. She certainly was. “The Will of the Force argument?”

“Yeah. You’d think I would be immune to it after living with Qui-Gon for so long but apparently not.” Feemor sighed. “Have you heard anything about him? Master Jinn, I mean?”

“He has officially joined the AgriCorps and still speaks to his Mind-Healer at least twice a week from what I’ve heard.” Bruck said. Feemor nodded but didn’t look satisfied with that information. “He nearly put our lineage in a feud with Master Tholme’s by crashing, literally, into one of the anti-Slavery Campaigns in Hutt Space that everyone knows the Jedi Order would never do and certainly never talk about.”

“Oh, no.”

“Oh, yes,” Bruck grinned. “My crechemate, Quinlan, was quite gleeful that he was the one to rescue the legendary Master Jinn. And he got Jinn out with a woman and her son to boot.”

Feemor groaned.

Bruck felt nothing but sympathy for the man. “Yeah, he brought home another Chosen One. But, hey, he won’t be teaching this one unless the boy joins the AgriCorps.”

“That is something,” Feemor allowed. “And the others?”

“Dooku and Kenobi just returned from a mission to Stewjon, to explore Kenobi’s heritage. Did not find a warm welcome, but managed to take out the terrorist cell that’s been destabilizing Mandalorian Space? One that the InterGalactic Banking Clans have apparently been funding so that will have fun long-term ramifications.

“No kidding,” Feemor muttered. “Did Kenobi learn anything about his people?”

“We’ll have to ask him when he gets here.”

“Fair enough.”

“Help me set the table,” Bruck ordered and Feemor complied easily enough.

As they finished, the door chime rang. Bruck opened the door and came face to face with the single most attractive person he had ever met. Copper hair, bright blue eyes, a Padawan braid, a lovely face…there was something familiar about him that Bruck just couldn’t place.

“May we enter, Padawan Chun?” the deep voice of actual nightmares asked, sounding amused.

Bruck stopped staring to turn his gaze on Master Dooku. Master Dooku had a possessive or perhaps protective hand on the padawan’s shoulder.

…had he just found Obi-Wan Kenobi attractive? He glanced at the padawan again and, yup, he had to admit to himself that he had. He was, indeed, attracted to Obi-Wan Kenobi. Kriff.

Bruck stepped back. “Please, come in and be welcome. Master Yoda is retrieving Master Jinn from the High Council Chambers.”

“Smart,” Obi-Wan offered him a little grin. “Do we have room for four more?”

“Four more?” Bruck asked as two fully-armored beings—Madalorians, he would bet—followed the master-padawan pair into the flat.

“Ranyna and Dendara are Stewjoni,” Obi-Wan explained. “They have agreed to teach me our heritage since I can’t get that sort of instruction on planet. They’ll be with us for a year.”

“And the other two?”

“My former padawan will be bringing the boy and his mother from Tatooine with him to dinner,” Master Dooku explained.

“Sounds good.”

Bruck did his best to chat intelligently with Obi-Wan and his master while they waited for the rest of their party to arrive. He had the feeling the Mandalorians were laughing at him but he couldn’t help it! Who went on a run of missions for a solid year and came back looking like that? No one.

No one except Obi-Wan Kenobi, apparently!

“Quinlan was telling me all about how he rescued Master Jinn,” Obi-Wan said, rolling his eyes. “He was so furious about his wrecked mission I’m almost convinced he was being honest.”

Bruck laughed.

The front door opened again and Yoda zoomed through with a small child on the seat beside him. The boy was…maybe five? Just at the cut off to join the creche, if that was what the Force had in store for them.

“Hello,” Master Jinn nodded to them all—entirely too awkward for a man that was supposed to be an accomplished diplomat. “Everyone, this is Shmi Skywalker. With Master Yoda is her son, Anakin. Lady Skywalker, may I present—”

“Mine!” Anakin shouted.

“Ani?” Lady Skywalker frowned.

“Mine!!” The boy stood up, making Yoda’s hoverchair wobble.

Bruck moved with Lady Skywalker to investigate the situation when—impossibly—the child Force Jumped from the hoverchair right onto Knight Feemor’s lap.

There was no mistaking the snap of a training bond clicking into place between the two.

Or the pure joy on Anakin Skywalkers face.

Or the surprised terror on Knight Feemor’s face.

Master Yoda cackled in delight.

“Welcome to the family,” Obi-Wan said, smiling gently, “Anakin Skywalker.”

 

 

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