Chapter Four: Padawan Learner

Star Wars + Harry Potter Crossover

A/N: Chap 3 review responses are in my forums like normally. I can't say I was entirely pleased with this chapter, but it was necessary.

Chapter Four: Padawan Learner

The dark side will consume you, but Kyle will kill you.

Ansaki Taan, Harry learned, was thirteen years old. She began her Jedi training when she was identified by a Jedi on her home world of Shili when she was five. Rather than separate her from her mother (her father died when she was still an infant), her mother travelled to Ossus with her and worked with the Agriculture Corp in their ongoing attempts to re-terraform the planet. Once upon a time children were taken from their families for training by the Jedi, but now that was no longer the case. Jedi like Kyle did not even begin their training until they were already an adult, and so if parents did not want to be separated from their child, the Jedi just waited until the family was ready.

Still, there were many children in the Praxeum, and Harry got to meet a lot of them. There were a lot of humans, but there were also a lot of near humans and humanoids. He especially liked the Wookiees—they reminded him of giant teddy bears.

He and Ansaki explored the whole Praxeum, even going out into the hot, arid surface to explore the miles-long greenhouses where Ansaki's mother worked to produce natural, breathable atmosphere and food for the Jedi. Her mother, a stunning woman with head tails that hung down her back and shoulders to her waist, explained that green houses like this one were all over the planet, while drones flew high in the stratosphere releasing ozone.

"Still, it goes slowly," Alalai Taan said. "The Yuuzhan Vong could remake a world in weeks. I sometimes wonder what they could do if we invited them to come help."

"Mother!" Ansaki said, aghast.

Harry knew enough from Kyle about the Vong to understand Ansaki's reaction. The extra-galactic invaders came perilously close to destroying the whole galaxy and wiped out whole species numbering in the tens of trillions.

Eventually, Ansaki showed Harry her favorite meditation place—a hard-to-reach alcove high above the gardens that lined the inside of the East Wing of the Praxeum. It was not really even an official spot. Instead, they had to climb an energy conduit to a support beam and cross the beam over a hundred foot expanse until they settled into. The alcove even had cushioned mats and a small cooler where she stored snacks.

Harry realized that this was a special place for her. As they sat on the edge of a hundred foot drop with their legs dangling, the two talked. The acoustics of the room were such that their voices never made it down to the floor below. She told him about her training, and how she did not really like Master Shasuu very much, but that none of the other masters could take another padawan. The woman was very strict, almost to the point of idiocy, and did not let Ansaki do anything on her own.

"I see the other padawans swimming, or playing with each other all the time, but I can never go with them. After my lessons I must practice all the time, or meditate. Never play," she said mournfully.

"Kyle lets me play on Sundays," Harry said. "But before he came, I did not get to play or have fun either."

It seemed a shock to Harry that, on the other side of the galaxy, he found a kindred spirit. For the first time in his life, the ten-year-old boy found himself laying his soul bare before another person as he talked about how horrible his childhood was; how the way the Dursleys talked to him was a thousand times worse than the beatings and abuse.

By the end, Ansaki was holding his hand, and that singular act of kindness was more than Harry had ever known from a peer.

~~Katarn~~

That night, when Ansaki reached the room she shared with Master Shansuu, she came to a stop when she saw Master Katarn standing in front of the door. "Master," she said with a bow.

"Call me Kyle," he said. His voice sounded old and rough, just like he looked. Kyle Katarn was a legend to inspire both awe and fear—what the man had been through, and more importantly what he had done, was amazing. The fact that he still lived, while all the others of his generation of Jedi had died—even Luke Skywalker—spoke of the man's true strength. "Walk with me."

Like with his name, the phrase was not a request, simply a statement of how things would be, and she obeyed instinctively as the two walked through the dimly lit halls of the dormitories. "You questioned yourself after your duels today," he said.

Ansaki shrugged. "I was older, stronger and more experienced, but he still won."

"Do you think that makes Harry a better Jedi?"

"I'm not sure, Ma…Kyle."

Kyle scratched absently at his scraggly beard. "My padawan was born under a prophecy that said he's going to face the dark lord that murdered his parents, and he's either going to kill that dark lord, or die at the man's hands. Not Sith, but their native power is strong enough that I think even Luke would have been hard pressed to deal with him. I've encountered their Dark Siders myself and they nearly beat me. So I am training Harry to be a warrior knight first and foremost."

"I see."

"What do you know of the old Order?"

"We studied it extensively, Kyle."

"So you know of Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi?"

"Yes."

"Who was the greater warrior?"

"Well, I would have to say Anakin. But…oh, I see. Anakin was the better warrior, but Obi-Wan was the greater Jedi."

Kyle nodded, though if he smiled she could not tell. "Precisely. You were not a match for Harry in the salle because his life will depend on his fighting skills and so I have pushed his native talent to fighting beyond anything else. But Ansaki, how you guided and comforted him after your duels tells me that you will be a very, very good Jedi someday."

The young Togruta could not help but feel a happy flush of pride at the great man's praise.

"And how your master responded tells me that she is an idiot," Kyle continued.

The happy flush faded a little as she realized where he was leading her. The door opened, and Grand Master Ben Skywalker stepped out and smiled at her. "Padawan Taan, Master Shansuu and I had a discussion today about you. She has been unhappy here for some time for her own, personal reasons and wished to return to the field. I was wondering if you would consider joining me as my padawan instead."

Ansaki tried to hide her trembling. "That would be a great honor, Master Skywalker."

Ben chuckled. "You say that now. Please gather your things—you'll stay with us in a guest room for now. Master Shansuu has already left for her new assignment."

"Thank you, Masters!" She turned and virtually skipped up the hall.

Ben looked at Kyle before shaking his head. "Did you really have to kick Shansuu in the head, Kyle? Really?"

"Hey, it got my point across."

~~Katarn~~

Harry's first two years with Kyle Katarn at Knott-End-On-Sea were memorable to say the least. While Kyle was a hard man, he was never cruel. On rare occasions, like that last birthday on Earth, he could be astoundingly generous and kind. However, Harry was still deeply, profoundly lonely. Being schooled exclusively by Kyle meant he did not have friends to play with.

Being trained in mystical arts from another world meant that when he was around other kids, he didn't have anything to talk about—nothing in common at all. Compounding the issue was the nature of his upbringing. Harry was taught as a young child that everyone hated him. Kyle went a long way in fixing that, but instead of teaching Harry that the whole world despised him; the Jedi taught that emotion should be controlled and constrained.

Unlike the old Order, the New Jedi Order did not forbid romantic entanglements nor emotion. In fact, given the high incidence of multigenerational Jedi in the New Order, most acknowledged that not having Jedi marry and breed was a bad thing, reducing and weakening the number of Jedi as a whole. However, the New Jedi also taught that before one could know love, one had to learn to control their own emotions, and those were the lessons Kyle concentrated on.

So, for those two years, even when Harry was around his peers, he appeared to other kids as aloof or distant. He wasn't, at least not in his mind, but that is how he appeared to others.

As the weeks rolled into months on Ossus, however, Harry found himself surrounded by his true peers for the very first time. These were padawans like himself with similar training and philosophies. Most were as smart or smarter than he was, with years more training and schooling. His first class with the padawans was an amazing, even joyful experience not because of the subject matter, but because he was back in a class with kids who did not hate him, and some who even looked up to him because of who his master was!

His best friend, though, remained Ansaki Taan. Though she was older, they still found themselves in many classes together, and because of her master's many responsibilities to the Order, quite often she found herself training with Harry for the day. She told him that Ben's wife was often away, for months at a time, in the Empire.

He learned as much talking politics with her as he did from his reading, for the galaxy's politics in the past century were tumultuous as best. The galaxy was currently at relative peace, and had been for the past thirty years. The two main galactic governments were the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances, known more informally as the Alliance, and the Imperial Remnant—the last vestiges of the original Empire created by Palpatine from the ashes of the Old Republic.

The Imperial Remnant was a remnant no longer, but a healthy and growing government adding new worlds every year not through subjugation, but through diplomacy. At its head was Allana Solo Fel, the daughter of the fallen Jedi Jacen Solo and Tenel Ka Chume'Ta Djo, Queen Mother of the Hapes Consortium. Being a grandchild of Princess Leia Organa Solo of Alderaan and the great granddaughter of Darth Vader and Queen Amidala of Naboo, while also being the direct offspring of the Hapes Queen made her royal to begin with, and leant a stamp of credibility to her rule the Empire and its neighbors respected.

When the legendary Han and Leia Solo died, Allana's aunt Jaina and her husband, Emperor Jagged Fel, formally adopted her into the Fel Dynasty. To further ensure her role in the succession, given their own failure to procure an heir, Jaina and Jagged Fel encouraged her to marry Jagged's younger brother.

Now, Allana's only son Anakin Solo Fel was a young Emperor-to-be, while his mother as Regent engineered the greatest period of growth and prosperity the Imperial Remnant had ever seen. Harry found himself studying holoimages of the Jedi-trained regent closely—she was a startlingly beautiful woman with loosely curled red hair and freckles that made her seem friendly despite her overwhelming authority.

"When I look at her, I sometimes wish I had hair like a human," Ansaki admitted one day after classes and training were over. The two of them lounged in her secret place while studying flimsiplasts for a test the next day.

Harry looked up at her lekku and montrails, and then shook his head. "I think you're pretty just the way you are," he assured her.

He did not understand what it meant when the tips of her lekku darkened to a light violet color, but she smiled brilliantly at him and he knew at least he did not upset her. "Harry, you're my friend, right?"

Harry looked back at her and nodded, wondering where she was going. "I am. The past year here has been great because of you."

She smiled again, and once more her lekku tinted darkly. "I'm…I'm ready to build my own saber. Most are around my age when they do. But, well…there's a ritual we go through. At least, since we returned to Ossus. We're to travel to the ruins of the great Jedi Library, where Master Skywalker keeps all the available crystals, and kilns if we choose to make a synth crystal."

"That doesn't sound too bad," Harry said.

"We travel on foot. It's a forty day journey, and we are only allowed to take ten days of water. We must rely on the Force to guide us and provide for us. Not everyone makes it. One of the older padawans has done the test three times and he still has not passed."

Harry took her hand and smiled. "You'll pass on your first try, I know you will. The Force is with you."

"I'm not as good a fighter as you."

"But you always win the fleeing and evade games," Harry pointed out. "Your pre-cog is so good even Master Kyle was impressed, and I overheard Master Skywalker saying that you have an uncommon connection to the Force. That's why I know you'll do well."

She smiled at him, before leaning over and kissing his cheek. "Thank you for saying that, Harry. I just…I just want you to promise to be my friend, even if I fail."

Harry stared at her, genuinely confused. "Why would your success or failure have anything to do with my being your friend? I'm your friend because I like you, and you're super nice to me."

She beamed and kissed his cheek once more, before the two settled back and enjoyed a holovid with the last of their free time.

~~Katarn~~

Two days after Ansaki's fourteenth birthday, she walked out into the blasted deserts of Ossus with food and water rations for ten days. Harry threw himself into his studies in a desperate attempt not to think of her alone out there, burning under the bright sun.

He ran the obstacle course with the other padawans twice a day—harnessing the Force to jump impossible heights or to speed his steps. He practiced his telekinesis, which even Master Skywalker admitted was astounding for a padawan his age, as well as some of the more esoteric skills of the Jedi.

Harry showed an uncommon skill with Force absorption, a general ability under the title of Tutaminis. When properly attuned with the Force, Harry could absorb the stun bolts from the practice drones to the point that Harry could bat away stun bolts with his bare hands.

During Ansaki's thirtieth day in the desert, Harry was practicing against battle droids while Kyle, Ben and another Jedi master, a Kel-Dor named Daan Delsani, watched. Delsani made a deep sound of surprise when Harry used his saber against one droid while batting away and absorbing stun blasts from two others.

"Has the boy tried that skill against a live blaster?" the Kel-Dor asked.

"Not yet," Kyle said. "He's only twelve, I didn't want to risk it."

"I think he could do it," the Kel-Dor said.

"I agree," Ben said.

Kyle studied his apprentice, before he shrugged, pulled his trusty Brynar pistol and fired off a single shot from the observation lounge. Harry caught the bolt in his hand without pause and continued his training exercise, as if completely unaware of where it came from. "I'll be damned," the old Jedi said. "Boy's better than even I thought."

"How is he at Curato salva?" Delsani asked.

"Better than me, and the Force has kept me alive for over a century," Kyle said.

"It doesn't always work," Ben said sadly.

Kyle smiled and put a hand on the younger man's shoulder. "Ben, you know Luke loved you, but he always wanted to be with Mara. He didn't die because he didn't care, but because he was ready to rejoin her in the Force."

To the Kel-Dor, Kyle said, "Harry has yet to master the three components of Control, but he has gained a passable knowledge and skill with them. He has learned how to enter a healing trance, his energy absorption is phenomenal, and he can sink into the Force so deeply even I have difficulty finding him. However, I suspect much of this may be native talent. His people have their own powers with Force energy unlike anything I've ever seen. Just wait until you see him teleport."

Both Jedi masters stared at him as if he were daft. "Teleport?" Ben said.

"Wizards on his world pop round as if it is nothing. Before we left, eleven dark siders teleported directly into our home without tripping any of the external security systems. We barely escaped alive, and it was that which convinced me he was in too much danger there. So we came here so I could train him in the safety of the Academy."

"Do you think he can do those things now, after having been trained as a Jedi?"

"Let's find out," Kyle said. He touched the salle control panel. "Program off."

The droids came to a standstill. Harry sank down into a kneeling position to refresh his muscles with the Force, doing so with the ease of a student much more advanced than his years. "Harry," Kyle said. "Do you remember the dark siders who attacked us last year?"

"Yes Kyle," Harry called back up.

"Do you remember how they arrived?"

"They teleported, like Dumbledore did."

"Do you think you could do that?"

Harry blinked in surprise. "I don't know," he admitted. "If it is something common to my people, then I suppose I should be able to. Do you want me to try, Kyle?"

"If you feel you can, but only if."

Harry nodded and closed his eyes in concentration.

"So tell me more of these natives," Delsani said. "Do they…Force preserve us!"

Harry appeared in the middle of the observation balcony with a loud thunderclap of displaced air. Almost immediately he sagged further to the floor, drenched in sweat. Kyle leaned down to assist. "Are you alright?"

"That was painful," Harry gasped. "I think…I don't think I was ready for that, Kyle. My body felt wrong doing it."

"Then we won't do it again," Kyle said firmly. "However, it's good to know the option is available to you if you ever need it."

He helped the shaking boy to his feet, only to catch him when he collapsed again. "Sorry, Master," he muttered.

"It's okay, Harry. I should not have pushed you so hard. Come on, let's get you back to our rooms."

"Master Skywalker, have we heard from Ansaki?"

"The Force tells me she is doing well, Harry," Ben assured the young man.

Harry smiled before his eyes rolled up into his head and he passed out.

Ansaki did eventually return, thinner than he'd ever seen her and a dark, burnt orange color from the sun. Her lips were terribly chapped, as were the tips of her lekku and montrals, but she had succeeded and obtained a green adagan crystal for her new lightsaber.

Most importantly, though, she allowed Harry to help her apply the bacta cream to her lekku. Harry was only twelve, but he knew that such acceptance was a rare and wonderful thing from a Togruta to let anyone touch their lekku. He still did not understand the darkening color at the tips as he gently applied the bacta, only that doing so meant that he really was her friend.

Last Chapter Next Chapter