The Boy Who Lived

[Abarai Loki]

"A moment of doubt? You are irrational and unpredictable. I was in half a mind to leave with those soldiers back there."

He glanced down and saw that the tall stranger's hefty feet were both firmly on the ground and that he showed no outward signs of discomfort, so he unclipped his own seatbelt and stood. His face was hard and his young voice burdened with a gravity beyond his years.

"And I'd appreciate it if you didn't refer to me as your 'young friend'. My name is Abarai Loki."

[Acacius Blade]

Acacius leaned back and chuckled smugly.

"Well now. If you'd told me your name when I asked for it earlier, I'd have used it. Your stubbornness brought the label upon yourself, there's no used crying about it. And as for unpredictable - what use is it if your enemies know your every move? And furthermore, just because you can't personally rationalise another beings behaviour doesn't automatically render it irrational..."

He clasped his hands together and wiggled his head a little.

"Now then - would you like some hot chocolate, Abarai?"

[Abarai Loki]

"Abarai Loki."

His mouth had hung open, teetering on the precipice of speech while Acacius spoke, his small frame was tense and his tone irritable.

"And secondly," he paused, his eyes met those of his cheerful companion, "Yes, a hot drink would be appreciated."

[Acacius Blade]

"I couldn't agree more. You know, it's funny, I never took the Empire for chocolate lovers. It's too sweet, their dictatorial regime doesn't suit it. I'd have paired them up with something more savoury - pie perhaps."

He continued to mutter as he left the command cabin through the door behind the command crews' seats. In the small junction there were two doors either side of the sealed ramp - one lead to a VIP cabin quarters to the right while the other led to the escorts quarters on the left. Acacius entered the left doorway and approached the long white surface with assortted cupboards and compartments above and below it. The lumbering man began faffing through drawers until he found two silver sachets. Grabbing a pair of beakers, he emptied the sachets' contents into them and began to heat a small kettle on the stove. As the water boiled,Acacius took in the rest of the cabin. On the opposite wall was a large weapons rack covered with sliding glass panels. Inside was a large cache of blasters large and small - blaster rifles, repeating blasters, disruptor rifles, even a trio of E-web Heavy Repeating Blasters with their mounts folded up and mounted on the cabinets back panel beneath them.

After a moment or so,the kettle began to beep. He poured the boiling water and began to stir the hot chocolate quickly.

[Abarai Loki]

Loki sat near a narrow viewscreen which ran the length of the room, it was tainted to filter the brightness of hyperspace. He stared at his hands, there was dirt under his nails and blood dried into the lines in his palms like small maps of repulsorail networks. His fingers interlaced.

"So they were soldiers of the Empire. And this is an Imperial vessel."

He glanced at his surroundings with faltering interest. Acacius crossed the room and handed him a steaming cup of hot chocolate. He cradled it in his hands and regarded it for a moment, it had a rich aroma.

"We were told they would come one day but we didn't expect them to have Jedi warriors at their command. And I didn't expect to meet someone like you. How did you get mixed up in this?"

[Acacius Blade]

"Make no mistake, Abarai Loki - those men in the hanger were not Jedi."

Acacius stirred his hot chocolate with a small spoon, adding a little brown sugar as he did so.

"As for me - well, lets just say that since the Empire's inception, I've tried to cause as much aggravation as I can. I was there when it all started - the Jedi Purge; white plasteel-armoured soldiers marching on the temple, killing anyone who stood in there way, the... slaughter of the younglings inside the temple by Skywalker. And the reports that came in from all over the galaxy of troops turning on their Jedi commanders..."

He took a loud sip from the beaker, cautious of it's temperature.

"Order sixty-six."

[Abarai Loki]

"Forgive me my ignorance, but there is very little I know of the Empire or its history. I was trained to look to the future rather than dwell on the past. I'm sure they were trying times, Acacius Blade, but how did they bring you to me?"

He raised the cup to his mouth and drank slowly, his eyes not once leaving the face of the man opposite him.

[Acacius Blade]

"If you believe in Fate, I suppose you could put it down to that. Or maybe it was just blind luck that brought me to that hangar at that particular moment."

He paused to take a quick, cautious sip of the piping hot chocolate.

"I simply journey to wherever it feels right to journey to at the time. I'd actually been tracking down one of those fools after they attacked a governor in Coronet on Corellia. They had somehow merged with that Imperial Battalion, posing as agents of some sort. They went ahead of the small fleet, so I followed on one of the escort cruisers and snuck on board a shuttle to the surface. Shortly after that was when I first saw you in that hanger..."

Another sip, this time a bit more courageous.

"Would you rather I hadn't shown up?"

[Abarai Loki]

He took some time to think before answering the question. Their eyes were locked; wide glimmering eyes filled with deep green and playful patience scrutinised by eyes narrowed, curious, calculating, cyan. There was no tension in the silence between them, no conflict in the gazes fixed through whisps of slithering white steam, and still, his apprehension remained.

"Acacius Blade, I will be frank," he said, placing his cup on the table with a neat thud.

"The concept of fate holds no bearing on me. If the Force has a will, I don't believe we are bent to it but instead have the freedom to choose. Your choices curry favour with me today and I am grateful for your actions. Had you not intervened, I may have died, but I didn't and now I am a fugitive crossing the galaxy with you. And this is where I have my reservations.

You possess the skill of a master but appear to have all the discipline of a fledgling padawan. From the moment I could stand, I was taught rigorously the importance of discipline and order, and twelve years later, my life is thrown into chaos and my future uncertain. Whenever I thought about life after my apprenticeship, I envisioned myself an exemplary Jedi, like my master, a beacon of light for the lost and a fearless defender of justice and peace. It was a promise I made everyday and now I intend to honour it, that is who I am, the Jedi I will become.

So my question to you, Acacius Blade, is what kind of Jedi are you?"

[Acacius Blade]

Acacius planted the hot chocolate down next to Loki's with a better thud. He smiled at this, before putting on an extravagantly stern, grumpy face. But he couldn't hold it in. He burst into a playful fit of laughter. There was no malice or mockery within it, just the jovial sound of a carefree man laughing at himself. The ha-ha's soon grew quiet and so Acacius once more picked up the cup, certain he would no longer accidentally spill any of the contents.

"There are no kinds of Jedi, Abarai Loki, just the person behind the curtain. A Jedi is a label - something you refer to; a name given to a being trained in the ways of the Force - or at least one name. But more important than that label...is the person who carries it."

Taking a full-blown drink now, Acacius sat down on the stool near the worktop, maintaining eye contact as he did so.

"Being a Jedi certainly doesn't define what kind of a person you should or shouldn't be - it's a much too absolute mentality. Rather, the type of person you are should shape and influence the Jedi you aspire to be. A person has to become a Jedi, my friend - not the other way around, it's impossible. Don't pick the mould and jump right on in - you'll be confined with no room to grow - pre-determined by artificiality. Ridig and unchanging. But if you're free to shift and adapt, then you have the choice every step of the way to become what you aspire to be. You're not stuck in that archetype, reading from a script, following a pre-determined régime of do's and don'ts. You're free to take your own actions. And it is your actions that will define the Jedi inside you. And only you can take those actions.

So...my question to you, Abarai Loki, is who are you?"

The corner of his mouth curled into a quiet smile.

[Abarai Loki]

"I am the sole surviver of a small Jedi hub. We were betrayed by one of our own. He believed in such liberties; he bent the rules until one day they broke. Everyone I know is dead. That is the price we pay in the absence of discipline and order."

He placed his palms flat against the table and leaned forward, his bruised lips were pressed tight and his eyes burned with conviction.

"I am a Jedi. That is not an occupation. Bestowed upon me is great power and with it comes responsibility. I am a tool for good and cannot afford petty desires. I am a Jedi. I am proud to bear this mantle and will do so until the end of my days."

He stood abruptly, his body stiff and his posture perfect. His eyes stared into space somewhere behind Acacius's head.

"Good night," he uttered.

[Acacius Blade]

Acacius arched an eyebrow. It was the closest thing he ever came to a frown. He let out a sign, himself beat from the events that had led to this point. He finished off his hot chocolate. before placing the empty beaker into the basin. He stretched as he moved towards the doorway.

"Good night, Jedi Abarai Loki. Oh, and because I'm older, I get the comfy VIP bed in the next room - sweet dree-eeams!"

And with that, Acacius disappeared into the land of Nod.