(This is the story that I have been writing on Wattpad. It the backstory of Nova from the Darkness on the Rise RP, and I thought that I might as well post it here as well. It is 6 chapters long, but here they are all combined. Now that I’m done with this, I’m going to start working on Miranda’s backstory. The cover is at the bottom. I used the characters of Firesong and Skysun in this story, and one of Windfeather’s characters is mentioned but not named. I wrote the poem in the last chapter by myself. Enjoy!)
Nova held out her finger, watching as the clone trooper pricked it with the needle. The trooper collected the few drops of blood that fell off her finger into a small plastic vial.
“There, all done.” The trooper pulled the vial away, labeled it, and put it in the box with all the others. “Next please.”
Nova filed into the line with the other 5 year old students at the school as she waited for everyone to get tested. She found her eyes drawn towards the Jedi that were watching, and saw one of them look back at her.
Please, let me be one. Please. I have to get out of here.
She broke eye contact with the Jedi Master, and watched as the line of students waited to get tested slowly trickled through the row of clone troopers.
One of her so called ‘friends’ fell into step beside her. His name, was Jerrie. “I’m sure that I have the force!” Jerrie boasted. “Wealth runs in my family. My blood should pass the test.”
Nova rolled her eyes. “Maybe you will have golden blood, but I doubt that you will be force sensitive. Hardly anyone is.”
Jerrie sneered, and jauntily walked past her. “Just you wait.” His loyal friend Sylvan glared at Nova for a minute, then stepped beside Jerrie. His meaning was clear. He did not want anyone to burst his friend’s bubble.
Nova turned back to the line, and saw that the last person had just been tested. The clone troopers carried the box that contained the vials away. The Jedi Master that had made eye contact with Nova earlier walked onto a small stage.
“Thank you, everyone for participating.” The Jedi Master smiled. “My name is Torni, and we all hope that some of you will be able to join our ranks. As you know, most people don’t pass the test, but a few do.” Her eyes settled on Nova’s. “You will have your results in about a week. Good luck to you all.”
Nova rubbed her bracelet for good luck. She had found it the day before, but it already felt like it had been there her whole life long. The silver glow of the paw gem was calming.
As she and the others walked back to class, Jedi Master Torni, the other Jedi , and the clone troopers left, carrying the futures of the school in their hands.
~
Nova opened the door of the small apartment, flinging her bag down on the sofa. She wandered over to the counter, and picked up the note that had been laid out for her.
“I’ll be busy tonight, but I’ll be back in time for dinner. See you soon.” She read aloud.
Of course Mother is going to be late. She always is working, but she never ever tells me what she is working on. I can’t help but wonder…
Nova took out some paper out of her bag and began to work on her homework.
~
A few hours passed, and finally Fotarah came home. She didn’t say much, but it was clear that she was tired.
“So...how was school today?” Fotarah asked as Nova swirled her soup aimlessly.
“It was fine.” Nova muttered. “They did the Jedi test today. We should get the results in about a week. Maybe I...”
Fotarah’s eyes flashed angrily and she interrupted. “Don’t hope for anything, Nova. The force doesn’t run in our blood, and it never will.”
“What do you have against Jedi anyway?” Nova asked, biting her lip. She knew when she had gone too far.
Fotarah stood up, seething. “What do I have against Jedi?!? The universe should be ruled by people who actually understand, and...” She trailed off. “You are too young to understand.”
Nova set down her spoon and stood up. She had gone too far already, and she might as well go farther. “It has something to do about my father, doesn’t it? He was a Jedi, wasn’t he?”
“Never ask about your father, you hear me?!?” Fotarah yelled. “He doesn’t matter, and he never will.”
Fear visible in her eyes, Nova slunk towards the door of her room. Fotarah grabbed her arm and pushed back the sleeve.
“What is this?” Her mother thundered, tearing the bracelet off Nova’s arm. She recognized it instantly, having seen Hayes wearing it.
“It’s just...just something I found at school.” Nova said quickly, a lie. She had found it while exploring in the apartment. It had been in a box in dusty drawer that had been hidden behind a bed.
Fotarah’s eyes narrowed. She knew that it was a lie. She walked over to the garbage chute and threw the bracelet in. “This shouldn’t belong to you.” She left and went to her room without a word.
Nova ran over to the garbage chute and fished the bracelet out. It was a bit dirty, but she would be able to clean that off. She could keep it...but she would have to hide it from her mother. Slipping the bracelet into her pocket, she couldn’t help but wonder why Fotarah had hated it so much. What had she recognized it from?
“Who was he?” Nova muttered as she stared at the ceiling. “And who am I?”
~
It was about a week later, and the school was buzzing in excitement. It was all everyone could talk about, the possibility of becoming a Jedi.
Nova leaned forward over her schoolwork, trying to get the thoughts of Jedi out of her mind. I should listen to my mother and forget all about it. But...why does she hate Jedi so much? Was it because of my father? Was he a Jedi?
She was just finishing a difficult math problem when the announcement came over the speakers. “Nova Donar and Haydi Kist to the principal’s office please.”
Nova stood up and pushed away her chair as she heard the whispers following her.
“Oooo! Someone must have gotten in trouble!” Jerrie whispered to Sylvan, a smirk stretching across his face.
“Maybe she cheated on a test?” Sylvan whispered back, giddy at the prospect of taking Nova down.
Nova walked out of the room, keeping her eyes on the floor. I didn’t do anything wrong, I swear!
~
The halls were mostly quiet, as nearly all the students were in class. The clip clop of Nova’s boots hitting the floor was strangely comforting.
I wonder what they want. I’ve tried to be the best student I could be...my grades aren’t the best, but they are higher then most. I didn’t do anything wrong.
She didn’t even know Haydi that well. He was two years older than her at the age of seven, and took higher classes. The only time she had ever really seen him was at recess, and that was because of his legendary skills at hide and seek. Everyone always called him ‘The Hunter’ because of his talent at tracking others down.
Nova stopped, having arrived at the principal’s office. She peeked her head in and saw that Haydi was already there, and so was the principal...and the Jedi.
“Ah, Nova.” Jedi Master Torni stood up from where she had been sitting. “Take a seat. We have many things to discuss.”
Nova took the seat next to Haydi, feeling a bit more comfortable in his presence, although her skin was prickling as she saw the papers he was staring at.
“Why am I here?” Nova’s voice quivered slightly.
Torni smiled, and placed a similar paper to the one Haydi was looking at in front of her. “You are here because you are force-sensitive.”
“Force-sensitive? Me?” Nova gasped, her eyes scanning the papers. “There must be some mistake.”
“There is no mistake. I can sense it in you.” Torni’s eyes shimmered. “If your parents agree to let you train, you will become a very powerful Jedi indeed.”
Nova flipped through the papers, finally arriving at the one at the end. A small line was on the last page, and next to it was two dreaded words. ‘Parent Signature’.
How am I ever going to get Mother to sign this? She hates Jedi!
~
It was only a few hours later, but Nova was no closer to solving her problem. She had wanted to be a Jedi so badly...and now, even though she could, she wouldn’t be able to.
Nova entered the apartment and found Fotarah was already inside. She crossed her fingers and allowed herself to hope, just a little bit, then placed the papers in front of her mother and waited.
Fotarah’s eyes scanned over the papers, and the silence was deafening. Slowly she stood, her eyes meeting Nova’s, betraying nothing.
“Can I?” Nova’s words shattered the silence. Maybe her mother could just accept the fact that she was force sensitive, and let her train. But her mother despised the Jedi! And yet…wouldn’t she want her daughter to be happy?
Fotarah looked at the papers one last time, then threw them across the room. “No. No you will not. No child of mine will become one of them.”
“But, mother…” Nova fiddled with the hidden bracelet in her pocket.
“Pack your things.” Fotarah turned away. “We leave tomorrow morning.”
Nova’s eyes filled with tears. She didn’t want to move from their apartment on Coruscant. They hadn’t been there long, they always moved, but she liked here the best. At least she was ignored at school rather than being picked on because of her mysterious father. And was Fotarah really going to throw away the chance to have her only daughter be one of the Peacekeepers of the galaxy?
“But…why?” Nova tried to stifle her tears, knowing her mother didn’t like to see anyone cry, it was a show of weakness. Still, she couldn’t hold back all of her tears.
“They know too much about you now.” Fotarah left the room, her eyes cold and steely.
Nova stood frozen in place a few minutes, then she walked over to the papers and picked them up. A few tears hit the page, and the ink smudged slightly.
“How can she expect me to give all of this up?” Nova whispered to the air. “My whole future…my everything.”
She slid the bracelet out of her pocket. Since being force-sensitive was usually passed down through the generations, that meant that her earlier assumption was most likely correct. Her father, or at least someone on her father’s side, had the force.
“Why would mother not want me to follow my father’s path?” Nova sniffled, rubbing the gem on the bracelet. She looked at the wall and chuckled slightly. “I’d bet that Haydi isn’t facing this problem…”
Nova would have to pick between her mother and the Jedi. She couldn’t live with a foot in both worlds. She would have to pick one, and she wouldn’t be able to have the other. The dark truth had been revealed.
~
Nova lay on her bed, her indecision growing with each passing minute. All of her things were neatly packed and waiting at the foot of her bed.
“Should I stay or should I go now?” She sang softly. “I don’t know what to do.”
In front of her, she had set the bracket and a music box. The music box had been a gift from Fotarah when she was four, about a year ago, and it was a particularly close memory of hers. She could remember it now, even though she had been so young.
~
“I have a special gift for you, today.” Fotarah smiled, pulling something out from behind her. Nova leaned forward inquisitively.
“What is it, mommy?” Nova gasped as Fotarah set the music box onto her lap. “I’ve never seen anything like this!”
Fotarah picked the music box up in her hands. “It’s called a music box. It is very old, maybe even the last of its kind.” She turned it over. “And when you turn this crank, here, it plays you a beautiful song.”
Nova took the music box from her mother and turned the crank a half turn. She closed her eyes and listened to the song. It was a haunting melody, one that she was sure having heard before. It sounded like…Fotarah. Like home.
She ran her fingers over the wood. It was engraved with sketches. A lone wolf, separated from the pack. A ship lost a sea. A world changed in a single moment.
“I love you, mommy!” Nova hugged her mother, the sweet melody filling her ears.
~
It was a choice between her mother and her father. But when had Fotarah ever truly cared? And what if her father was still alive? What if he was waiting for her at the Jedi Temple?
It was that last thought that finally made up her mind. If her father was still alive, she would find him. But she knew that she would never get the chance if she stayed with her mother.
I have to go.
Nova took a deep breath, then backed away from her bed, taking her things with her. The only thing that she left was an old music box. A memory of the past. She wouldn’t need it where she was going.
~
Nova slipped out of the house at dawn, not carrying much other than a small backpack with a few necessities; food, a change of clothes, and some credits. All she had to do was reach the Jedi Temple. Then they would have to let her in.
She pulled out the papers from which she had treated with care. They would allow her access into the temple, if all worked right. She was ready. Somehow, she was going to get to the temple, and nothing was going to stop her.
Nova could imagine her life there already. Maybe she would learn more about Haydi, and maybe even Torni would be her mentor. No one would know about her parents, so she would have friends, and would not be the outcast of the school, the lone wolf. It would be her home.
~
Her mother’s signature; forged. That hadn’t been too hard, since her mother had left out a formal document. It wasn’t great, but it would have to work.
Route to the Jedi Temple; secured. That had been surprisingly easy as well. Nova had traveled to the dock, and while there she had overheard a conversation between Mae Florey and Flint Leyzrac, the owners of a small ship. They were taking a shipment of blasters to the Jedi Temple.
While they weren’t looking, Nova snuck onboard. She quietly headed to the back, but saw no obvious hiding places. She ran back to the front of the ship, quickly scanning for anywhere to hide.
“That’s so sad.” Mae’s voice carried over to Nova from directly outside the ship. “A child, gone missing?”
A gruff voice joined the conversation, it was one of the clones in charge of the dock. “I know. And only five years old, as well. Her mother is very distraught.”
Nova froze and looked down slightly, her eyes brimming with tears. She didn’t want to make her mother upset. Maybe this was the wrong choice, but she had run out of time. If she was caught here, she would be put onto charges for trespassing. Fotarah would not like that. Maybe in the flight she could reevaluate her mistakes.
“We’ll look for her.” Flint promised, starting to open the door. Nova sprang into action, diving inside one of the crates of blasters. She had just pulled the cover back over the crate when Mae and Flint stepped into the cabin of the ship.
Nova tried to control her breathing, hoping that the blasters were unloaded. The crate was pitch black, and she couldn’t even see her hand when she moved it around. She tried to stay calm and gather as much information as she could.
Flint started up the engine, and started to fly the ship away from the dock. “Doomsday, here we come.” Mae muttered quietly, her gaze traveling over the crate that Nova was hidden in.
Nova shivered, but she was smiling. She was going to the Jedi Temple. She was fulfilling her dream, finally. But all was not as it seemed…
~
Nova moved her right foot an inch to the right, freezing as a blaster hit against the sides of the crate. It had been a few hours, and she was itching to move. There wasn’t much room in the crate to start with, and most of it was filled with blasters. She was small…but she was not that small.
She had packed food and water in her backpack, but she couldn’t reach it without making noise. She had to be content to watch the seconds roll by and to listen to Mae and Flint talk. So far, she had learned that they were a married couple, but their son had been killed in a spaceship accident.
“Do you think that it will work?” Mae asked. From what Nova could tell through the crate, the woman was worked up about something. She couldn’t stop pacing.
“It has to.” Flint said gruffly, his attention fixed on the ship’s computer. “Because if it doesn’t work, we are as good as dead.”
“Flint!” Mae said sharply. “Don’t say that. This isn’t a suicide run.”
Flint turned away from the computer. “It is, and you know it. Even if it is successful, they are Jedi. They will be able to squash us flat. What is important is the cause. What we are dying for.”
Nova’s mind scrambled as she tried to figure out what was going wrong. Mae and Flint were planning something…something dangerous. And it was something that would make the Jedi very angry…
And I am a Jedi, or at least I will be. Should I do something? I can’t let them get away with whatever they are doing. Imagine what the consequences might be!
She decided to wait and listen for more. There was no need to jump to any conclusions.
“I’ve checked and rechecked everything.” Mae complained. “There isn’t anything left to do other than to worry.”
“Are the bombs all set?” Flint asked.
“Check that off the list. I checked a billion times.” Mae shot back.
Nova stifled her gasp. Bombs? They are going to try to blow something up, something that would make the Jedi angry! I need to stop them! I’m the only Jedi who knows!
She grabbed two blasters, one for each hand, and retracted her earlier wish. She desperately hoped now that they were loaded. She would only have one shot, literally. She needed to make it count.
Nova took a deep breath and pushed away the cover at the crate while at the same time jumping out. She fired both blasters, finding it easy to take a quick aim.
But no gunfire echoed from the guns. They hadn’t been loaded. And now Mae and Flint were staring at her, and they looked surprised, and a little worried, but that was quickly replaced by anger.
~
“Let me go!” Nova cried desperately as Mae ties her hands together with rope. But no one was there to come and help her.
Flint walked back and worth, his eyes dark. “Little Nova Donar…I hear that your mother misses you.”
Nova looked back between the duo, her eyes large and frightened. In that moment, all she wanted was to be home. To listen to the music box, and to see her mother.
“Too bad that you can’t see her again.” Mae slid a knife out from her belt. “You know far too much.”
Flint held Nova’s shoulders back so she couldn’t struggle. “Say good bye.” Mae touched her blade to Nova’s neck, sharing a look with Flint, who got up from his chair and started peering into the dark corners of the ship.
The glint of the steel reflected in Nova’s eyes, and for a second she saw clarity. She saw the force. She saw how its threads linked everything. All she had to do was give a thread a tug, if she knew how.
It came to her instinctively. The knife that was pressing against her neck changed direction and impaled itself in a different body, but she didn’t know that she had done it. It happened so fast.
Mae gasped as her own dagger impaled itself into her chest. Flint turned to his wife, and ran over to her, horrified.
“Mae!” He shook her slightly. “Answer me! Please!” Worries filled his mind. This wasn’t supposed to happen, at least not yet. They still had a mission to accomplish, but most of all, they still had children to raise together.
Nova struggled to her feet and pressed at a button on the computer screen, forced to do it with her back turned as her hands were tied. Mae grimaced and pulled the dagger out of her wound. It wasn’t deep at all. It was only a flesh wound.
Nova ran towards the exit, not even sure what she was doing. She wasn’t sure what button she had pushed. All she hoped was that she could escape the ship.
~
Mae and Flint chased after their escaping prisoner, but Flint skidded to a halt and grabbed Mae, his face horrified.
“She can’t escape without jumping off the ship, there are no escape pods. Either way, she’s going to die.” Flint knew the ship like he knew the back of his hand.
“We can’t just let her die!” Mae took Flint’s hand.
“But what about the listening device? They will know that we aren’t on their side!” Flint looked around nervously, but he couldn’t see the listening device. He knew it was there.
“Screw that! You just revealed it to them anyway! That identity is dead!” Mae looked back at the ship’s computer, and her face paled. A red light on the dashboard was blinking. "No..."
~
Nova ran towards the dock, her breath coming in quick gasps. Her hands trembled, and she had no idea what had just happened. One second, the knife had been digging into her neck. The next, it was impaled in Mae.
She skidded to a halt. There were no escape pods. There was only one way out, and that was to jump. The ship was in Coruscant’s atmosphere, so at least she would be able to breathe. But there was so far to fall.
Nova opened the docking bay door and stepped gingerly to the edge. She could never survive that height.
“I can’t do it.” She gulped. “It’s too far. I’m only five, I don’t know what I’m doing.”
Nova looked back once at the ship, and then the ground was shaking beneath her feet. The ship was coming apart! She leaned forward to grab for something to hold onto, but the ground disappeared from under her feet.
She was falling.
~
Wind roared in Nova’s ears, and she heard herself screaming. The world spun as she spiraled towards ground.
She reached out her hands, desperate to do anything to stop her fall, to call on the force, but it was too late. No one was there to help. No one was there to save the lone wolf as she fell. Fotarah, Haydi, Jerrie, Sylvan, Torni, where they there? No. She was alone.
Darkness.
~
The ship exploded, and Mae and Flint held onto each other within the temporary force field that they had quickly set up. They fell, but landed rather unscathed. The shield flickered and vanished.
Flint helped Mae out of the debris. “Well, that was a bust.” He commented. “Too bad that we didn’t get to learn more about that strange organization.”
“I know…” Mae muttered. It had all been a guise. They had been spying on this organization for the rebels, trying to learn more about what they were after.
The strangest thing was that Fotarah was one of the members…and yet it was her own daughter they had had to pretend to hurt. They hadn’t really meant it, of course. Flint had been searching for the listening device when the knife had mysteriously turned.
“Do you see her anywhere?” Flint asked, shading his eyes with one hand.
Mae looked up and shook her head. “She was probably killed when the ship came apart.” She was still rather astonished that the girl had even set up the self destruct.
“So much for Flint & Mae Leyzrac.” Flint joked. “You have to admit though, it was a good cover.”
Mae cracked a smile. “Who would have guessed that we were really Fintan and Mayella Clayzer?”
“It was a good cover.” Flint, really Fintan commented. “And the fake grave that we made really stopped them from looking too closely at our identities.”
Both of them could picture the fake grave on Zeffo. It had been for their fake son, Ahss Leyzrac, really the name of one their real sons, Sash Clayzer, mixed around. As the Leyzracs, they had pretended that their only son Ahss had been killed, but they had buried an empty grave.
“And now we can return to Sash and Remy.” Mayella whispered, looking around one last time. She didn’t see Nova anywhere.
At least with pretending to be Mae Leyzrac, the heartache had all been fake. Now she knew that some other parent would have to feel that, now that Nova had been killed.
~
“Who are you?” The woman muttered as she looked at the girl in the hospital bed. The gentle beeping of the machinery did nothing to answer her question.
The girl was breathing, shallowly, but still breathing. Her arm was in a cast, and a bandage wrapped around her cheek. Her face was very pale. She was asleep, and had been for a while.
The woman’s name was Maya, and she was the mother of Haydi. She lived in a nearby apartment with her husband Orac, her son Shadow, and than her son Haydi. They were thinking about moving soon, but that wasn’t important.
Maya had been cooking inside of the house when she had heard the scream, the thud, and then the bang. Everything had already happened by the time she had reached the window. The ship had blown up, and the girl was lying unconscious on the balcony of the apartment, bleeding into the pavement.
Maya had called for help right away, and the girl had been brought to the hospital. And now here she was, almost blending in with the white sheets of her bed.
“I did all I could.” Maya whispered, heading towards the door. Suddenly, something caught her eye. There were some crumpled papers sticking out of the girl’s pocket.
Maya took the papers and skimmed them. She remembered these. She had gotten a set a few days prior when Haydi had come back with the news. She hadn’t known how to feel at the time. She was never especially fond of the Jedi, and it felt strange knowing that her son might become one at some point.
There was a name on the papers, and that name was of someone who had run away from home.
“So you are the Nova Donar that I’ve been hearing about?” Maya looked at the girl. “How did you ever end up falling from the sky?” Nova didn’t answer, of course.
Maya waited for a second, then left.
~
Nova was dreaming, but it was in flashes. Shards of her future.
A purple lightsaber. A glowing helmet. A shattered gravestone. A crystal shard. A wedding ring. And the girl.
The girl ran along the path of stars, her laughter reaching her ears. She wanted Nova to follow, and she did, chasing after her. But the girl was always too fast, like she was more a spirit then anything else.
“Wait up!” Nova cried, nearly touching her arm, but her hand met empty air as the girl ran ahead. “Where are you taking me?”
The girl stopped abruptly and turned to look at her. “To your destiny.” Her voice filled Nova’s mind.
“Who are you?” Nova reached the girl. Something felt so familiar about her…
“I am Miriya, your future.” Her brown hair streamed behind her. “But for me to be your future, you need to do something for me.”
Nova eyed the girl curiously. “What do I have to do?”
“You must forget completely about what you have seen with the people you believed to be named Flint and Mae Leyzrac.” Miriya whispered.
“But…they are criminals! They nearly killed me, and they wanted to hurt the Jedi!” Nova protested.
“Not everything is as it seems.” Miriya told Nova. “They were not criminals, they were spies. And if you tell everyone about them, they were be arrested even though they did no harm. If they are arrested, their sons are given over to the orphanage, and then our whole storyline is destroyed.
Nova’s eyes were wide. “How can I forget? I already have the memory, I can’t erase it!”
“Just touch me.” Miriya extended her hand, and Nova took it.
Nova shuddered as a shock raved through her and she felt herself falling into the darkness.
~
Nova woke up with a jolt in the hospital bed. She grabbed at the sheets, her eyes wide, then flinched as the pain rolled over her.
“W-where…?” She squeaked, glancing around at the hospital. She had been in the dock one second, looking for a ship to board in order to reach the Jedi Temple, and in the next, she was here.
“It’s fine, Nova.” One of the nurses walked over. “You are safe here.”
Here? How did I even get here? And where exactly is here? And how do they know my name? I was on the run, wasn’t I?
~
The doctor watched Fotarah pace back and forth in the small conference room. As soon as they had found out the identity of the girl, they had called her mother.
“So you are saying that she FELL from the SKY?!?” Fotarah hissed, looking like she hadn’t slept in days.
“Yes, ma’am, that’s what the person who found her told us. They heard a scream, and then saw her on their balcony.” The doctor rubbed his cheek, where Fotarah had slapped him earlier. He didn’t want to mess with her.
“And does anyone know from what? Has she been able to tell you?” Fotarah’s voice took on an almost deadly tone.
The doctor straightened, at least he knew the answer this time. “She fell from a ship. We found the remains only a street over from the balcony where she landed. The patient was only up once, for a few minutes, and she didn’t answer any of our questions.”
“Any other survivors?” Fotarah stopped pacing, her eyes hard and shadowed.
“No, just her.” The doctor responded, glancing towards the door.
“Will she be alright?” Fotarah asked, keeping her feelings hidden.
“She will be able to leave in about a week.” The doctor nodded. “Her arm will have to be in a cast for a while, but it will heal. The scratch on her cheek will heal as well, but it will leave a scar. Her other scrapes are fairy minor. I’m just surprised that she was able to get out with so little injuries.” The doctor leaned on the wall next to the door, wanting to get out.
“My daughter has her ways.” Fotarah was fairly sure that she knew how Nova had survived. “Can I see her?”
“Of course.” The doctor opened the door and showed Fotarah through the hospital.
~
The next time Nova woke up, her mother was in the chair next to her bed. Nova kept her eyes closed, not wanting Fotarah to know that she was awake. She took stock of her surroundings, but it was hard when her eye were closed.
Nova felt a warm hand on her shoulder, and nearly flinched, but realized that it was her mother. She stayed quiet.
Fotarah began to sing, softly. It was to the tune of the song that the music box played. Did she realize that Nova was awake? Perhaps she did, perhaps she did not.
“The lone wolf hunts at dusk,
She find it easier that way
For when she is down on her luck,
Their help wouldn’t have worked anyway
“But sometimes she grows weary of her wandering
She longs for someone that she can be together with
But as she is turned down yet again, her hopes are squandering,
Her heart cut into pieces with a scythe
“And then she meets the mate of her dreams,
All upon a winter’s night
He loves her too, at least it seems,
He says that she is his only light
“But then he tells her something that pierces her heart,
He decides to leave, saying that he doesn’t love her anymore
She turns away, towards the dusk, her eyes filled with hurt,
A lone wolf she will be, forevermore”
Slowly, Nova opened her eyes and looked towards her mother. Were Fotarah’s eyes wet, or was that just her imagination?
“Mother…” Nova whispered. “I don’t want to be the lone wolf. I want to be with people that are like me.”
Her mother looked away. “And I’m not enough?”
“We hunt at dusk, mother. We are hiding away from other people so that they don’t know the truth.” Nova sat up in her bed. “I don’t want to hunt at dusk. I want to hunt at dawn.”
“We hide and move so that people don’t go after you.” Fotarah’s eyes were hard. “Did you think that I hadn’t gotten you tested before? You were just a child then, but you still had your force powers.”
“I-I don’t understand.” Her mother had known? How?
“You were only two years old.” Fotarah’s eyes grew wistful. “I couldn’t find you anywhere in the house. You weren’t in the crib, where I had placed you. I looked up, and there you were. Sleeping on thin air.”
Nova’s eyes grew large. “Why did you hide it? How did I not realize?”
“A few months later, I was on Kamino, looking at their progress on cloning.” Fotarah continued. “One of the scientists saw you levitating above your crib and attempted to drown you in the ocean surrounding it. One of the new clones saw you, he was about your age, and he cried for his sister. She came and stopped the scientist, and you were saved. Never again did you use the force. I thought that it had passed, but I was wrong.”
Nova fiddled with the hidden bracelet in her pocket. “I can’t hide who I am, mother…”
“It’s a simple yet complicated choice.” Fotarah stood up from her chair. “A life in hiding with me, or a live with them, but without me.”
Nova took a sharp intake of breath. “Mother…I…” She didn’t want to have to pick. While her mother could be harsh sometimes, she still cared. That much was clear. But a life with her mother was living alone. It was hiding her secret, wasting her talent. “I can’t. I can’t just hide and waste this opportunity to make the world a better place.”
“Good bye, Nova.” Fotarah dipped her head. “You are no daughter of mine.”
Fotarah’s words stung Nova’s heart, and she laid back down on the bed. She watched her mother leave. The next time that they met would be thirteen years from now…and many things would have changed by then.
Nova pulled the bracelet out of her pocket with her good arm. She rubbed the paw stone, tears flowing down her cheeks. “Mother…mother…mother…” She sobbed quietly.
~
A few weeks passed, and Nova was released from the hospital. Her arm had healed correctly and was out of its cast, but the scratch on her cheek left a scar that would never go away. She didn’t remember how she had survived the crash, only that she had. It was locked away, until something triggered it to open.
Nova held hands with Jedi Master Torni, taking her first steps into the Jedi Temple. The lone wolf wasn’t alone any longer. She was home.
Cast of Characters
Nova Donar: Five year old girl with pale skin, long and straight black hair and blue green eyes. Wears black leggings with a dark purple shirt, and a bracelet with a black band swirled with teal, and a silver paw shaped gem.
Jerrie: Five year old boy with pale skin, short blonde hair, and icy blue eyes. Mainly wears black and tan clothing.
Sylvan: Five year old boy with light brown skin, curly brown hair, and dark brown eyes. Mainly wears green and gray clothing.
Haydi: Tall seven year old boy with black hair and hazel eyes. (Character of Firesong)
Torni: Older woman with tan skin, brown hair, and inquisitive dark brown eyes. Wears traditional Jedi clothing. Experienced Jedi Knight.
Fotarah Donar: Tall and slim woman with black hair, pale skin, and dark eyes. (Character of Skysun)
Flint Leyzrac (Fintan Clayzer): Undaunted man with light brown hair, lightly tanned skin, brown eyes, and a thin scar across his arm. Wears mostly black clothing.
Mae Florey (Mayella Clayzer): Risk taking woman with curly dark brown hair, pale skin, freckles, and hazel eyes. Wears mostly grey and black clothing with black combat boots.
Maya Kist: Tall and menacing woman with short brown hair that looks nearly black, brown eyes, and a scar running through one eyebrow.
The Mysterious Girl (Miriya): Young girl with long dark brown hair, bangs, pale skin, and blue green eyes.
COOL
I LOVE the cover for the MIranda book!!!!
I am... now sad. And Chex who saved her by calling for Kara.... I have one question though.
"Since being force-sensitive was usually passed down through the generations, that meant that her earlier assumption was most likely correct. Her father, or at least someone on her father’s side, had the force." I don't think this is correct. Jedi aren't allowed to marry, so it usually isn't genetic, but it can be.