Jedi Academy

"... Don't be afraid of getting dirt on your hands," the Thisspiasian master muttered in his mustache while one of his clawed hands stroked the rather lustruous white beard. "One of the joys of working with plants is getting to feel with your own hands the nourishing soil that plants live in. Feel the life in the earth, young ones. Life is more than just us."

A group of younglings were cringing a bit as they put their bare hands in the earth that had been made ready for a batch of plants that were ready to move from small pots to bigger trays. In addition to the younglings, there were others there too; some guardians enjoying the peace of the greenhouse and Master Reikiss' lessons while off-duty, an aged librarian, and even Master Jaric Kaedan was there.

For as long as she could remember, Eir had been on Coruscant, and some of that time she’d spent on the lower levels where the only things that grew were slimy molds. She was not afraid of a little dirt, but she was intrigued by the resilience and silent stoicism of plant life.

Kneeling next to one of the younger kids, Eir plunged her claw-tipped fingers into the rich, black soil, “it’s okay, it doesn’t bite,” she encouraged, lifting up a scoop of dirt, “here, put your hand out. She crumbled the soil into the waiting palm.

The child, a zabrak who had yet to begin sprouting his horns, viewed the dirt with some scepticism as Eir help to crumble it into his open palms.

"...it feels nice," he said shyly, seeming surprised at its texture. "The dirt where I was used to feel hard. Not like this."

“Yeah? I bet stuff didn’t grow too well, either,” she suggested. “Dirt is like much of life, you have to give before you can take back. Water and nutrients make the dirt soft and bountiful.” Seems the gardening lessons had been sticking.

"Not much, no. Water was bad too." He wasn't the first to find a better life in the temple. Impoverished backgrounds weren't unusual for the Jedi, after all.

Though there were also the more privilieged ones. One of those, a handsome young lad with an Alderaanian accent and platinum-blonde hair, let out a shriek as he discovered one of the "lifeforms" in dirt.

A dreaded earth-worm!

"Aiieee! It's a bug!"

Eir nudged the zabrak and indicated to the distressed youngling. “Want to see something cool?” her tone was amused. She got up, not bothering to brush the dirt from her knees, “what have you got?” she crossed to the Alderaanian boy and peered at the soil.

“That’s not a bug, look,” she carefully picked up the worm and placed it in her palm so anyone who was interested could see.

A couple of other younglings joined in too, some to nudge the Alderaanian shrieker for being such a drama-queen.

"That's a worm!" one of them say proudly.



"An annelid, yes," Reikiss murmured approvingly at the scene, but did not miss a chance to make it into a teaching moment for everyone. "Maybe young Eir can enlighten further?"

As Reikiss’ attention fell on her, Eir stiffened. Now that he was listening, everything she knew about worms seemed to fly right out of her head.

Get a grip, Eir, it’s a worm. “Well, first of all, it has no legs,” the creature squirmed idly on her palm, “If it was a bug or a spider, it would have legs.”

"Yes, yes," the bearded snake nodded approvingly, one hand stroking the beard calmly. He seemed to like doing that. "Worms do indeed not have legs."

"You don't have any legs either, master!" the zabrak piped up.

The master chuckled. "Indeed I do not. But - am I a worm? The world is a little bit more complex than that, youngling. What other creatures can you think of that don't have legs?"

The children hmm-ed a bit.

"Snakes don't have legs. Are you a snake?" another child asked.

"He's not a snake," the Alderaanian boy interjected. "He's a This... ippi... si... sisiasi..."

As the Master turned his attention away, Eir could relax a little. She bent down and set the worm in a small divot where the younglings had been turning the soil, nudging a little of the dirt loosely over the creature.

"Thisspiasian" Silas offered helpfully from his place digging in the dirt.

"Is there anything else you can think of without legs though?" He asked, continuing the line of inquiry the Master had started.

The Alderaanian boy struggled a few more times with the difficult word. At least the master did not seem to mind. He might have at some point, maybe a hundred years ago, but life had been too long for him to be bothered by such from children.

"Let's see... uhm... do butterflies have legs?" one asked.
"I think they do... hmmm... but what about fish? Fish don't have legs." The mention of aquatic life elicited many replies of various sealife; octopus, jellyfish, starfish, seals.

"Oho, very good, very good," Reikiss nodded.

"See lots of things have no legs." Silas offered with a grin. "Now Pixie, do you think you can tell them how a worm moves with no legs?"

Eir didn't realise at first that Silas was addressing her. There was a long pause as she slowly realised that people were looking to her for the answer. Glaring daggers at him, she stiffly replied, "I would be delighted." Taking a breath to compose herself, "worms' bodies are made up of lots of segments. When they want to move, they stretch out their body, making themselves long and thin. Then, they pull their body up behind them until it's fat again."

Unclipping her training saber, Eir held it horizontally. "It's a bit like a lightsaber. The worm stretches like igniting the blade." The half-arkanian didn't actually extend the training blade, but held her hand out where the imaginary tip would be. "Then, they contract," she wiggled the saber hilt towards her extended hand.

Silas didn't seem to mind the glare, and he returned it with a happy smile. The girl was pretty smart after all, and surprisingly good with kids. "That's not like how fish or snakes move though is it?" He asked to the kids after Eir finished her explanation.

"So even creatures with no legs use different means to travel. Pretty neat isn't it?"

"Fish do like this," one of the children said while mimicing fish-like movements with his hands. "And their fins go like this." Cue small flaps of his hands.

As if on cue, Master Reikiss slithered over to Silas in a demonstration of how snakes move.



"Very good, younglings," he murmured approvingly, before placing a clawed hand on Silas' shoulder. "It seems you're more productive like this than when you're lifting apples from the trees after dark, young Silas Myles Pearson."

Eir returned her saber to her belt and looked around to see which children she might have the attention of. "Worms are very good for the soil, and you should be glad to find them, because it means the ground has enough water and nutrients for things to grow."

Silas offered a grin. "I suppose so." He replied a little sheepishly. "But those apples, I looked at them and just knew they wanted to be eaten, so I felt I should oblige. You know, help them fulfill their role. I even saved the seeds!" That was important right? He could of tossed the seeds in the trash.

"Is that so? Well then, what are you going to do with the seeds?" inquired the old master.

Some of the children were watching the interaction with Silas and Reikiss, but the Alderaanian boy and the zabrak both looked to Eir. "Did you grow up on a farm?" inquired the Alderaanian child.

“No, I didn’t. The first time I saw a garden was here at the temple.” She smiled at the kids, “I guess that’s why I find it so interesting.”