Ezell Ohi's Story

Jei couldn't stop the yelp that came out of him when Dessel smacked him over the shoulder. Still, he let out a laugh and smiled towards him.

Dessel's words hit him close. "T-Thanks," Jei said and rubbed his neck shyly. "That's actually really nice to hear. It's kinda' hard for me to get into my training, but you sayin' that makes me feel a bit better."

It clearly did help.

"I'm just struggling to be a good Jedi, ya'know?" He shrugged with a small grimace.

“You are fighting to preserve the union of the senate. You're all important. All of us are,” the soldier, or Dessel, said to Jei.

Ezell pursed her lips as she watched them. She hardly agreed with the sentiment, but she knew that with this crew, she would likely be the only dissenting opinion.

"I'm just struggling to be a good Jedi, ya'know?" Jei said.

Something about him reminded Ezell of the kids she knew back home on Coruscant. Always doubting themselves or putting themselves down. She always tried her best to knock some sense into them when she could. The life they all lived; they couldn’t let themselves get dragged down by self-doubt if they wanted to make it.

Especially when it came to meeting some useless standard.

"Not tryin’ to step on any toes or anything,” she started. “But I've spent a little while with the Jedi, and honestly they just seem like a bunch of self-important snobs who sit around all day doing nothing.”

“...I've spent a little while with the Jedi, and honestly they just seem like a bunch of self-important snobs who sit around all day doing nothing,” Ezell said.

Jei's face made a variety of different expressions, only in a few moments, ranging from offense, to confusion, to an awkward smile. "Oh, ha...ha," he made a forced laugh. "Yeah, I guess it might seem like that, but I think they do good."

"You... think?" Ezell asked, unimpressed.

Jei placed a hand over his chest, "Yeah! I mean, they've never helped me personally, but I've heard they help out other people."

"Oh!" Jei let out, slightly startled by Boe's sudden appearance. "Hi there, uh... Sir!" He said with a smile. "Dessel was showing off his battle scars!" Jei clenched his fists and waved them around as a talked. "I think they're really cool!"

The irony was not lost on Jei, a self identified coward, that he found himself impressed and excited by the idea of battle-ready soldiers.

"Have you seen a lot of action too?" He asked Boe.

Dessel grimaced under his helmet at the remark about the Jedi, silently agreeing.

"I'll go get her," He volunteers, then stands up and walks over to her room, knocking on the door when he arrives.

"Time to roll," He says. "We're here."

Jei snickered to himself, "Time sure flies, huh." He said aloud.

He nudged Ezell next to him with his elbow. "You excited to go?" He said with a smile.

Ezell scoffed, "Oh yeah," she deadpanned. "I'm bouncing up and down in excitement."

Jei laughed, "Aw, it's not going to be that bad. I like goin' to new places, it's kinda' fun, for me at least." He stretched his arms behind him and took a breath. "Come on," he gestured toward the hall with his head, "Let's meet with Ahala."


With the soldiers and the Jedi students standing together in the bridge, Ahala gave her announcement.

“Okay so, after this I’m heading to the Outer Rim. Your welcome to stay or go with me,” she said. She seemed pretty dead-set on this, if her voice was any sign. But even if her language was clear and confident, something about her vibe felt off.

He knew that others considered it invasive of him to constantly sense how people were feeling, but he couldn't help it. It was normal to Miralukas, and he certainly didn't know how to stop doing it.

Ahala continued, "Let’s just hope we can get what we need, and that they have it.”

Ezell raised her hand, "Question! What're we looking for again?"

"Yeah," Jei added, "I thought we were going to a planet?"

Jei nodded as Ahala explained. He listened politely as she gestured at the star-map. That was one of the down sides to being with non-Miralukas, they always used holograms, which he couldn't sense.

He nudged Ezell next to him with his elbow, and leaned closer to her. "What planets are by it?" He whispered to her as Boe and Ahala spoke to each other.

Ezell shrugged. "As if I know," she whispered back to him.


"So!" Jei clapped his hands together once Ahala and Boe were finished speaking. "Are we headin' out?" he asked with a smile.

"So! Are we headin' out?" Jei asked.

"Yeah, what's the hold-up, Leader?" Ezell asked Ahala, and leaned on Jei's shoulder with her elbow. "I wanna' check out this station before we see your planet."

If she was being honest, she just couldn't wait to get off this blasted ship and finally be around something more familiar to her. Sure, a space outpost would hardly be like home, but it would have people and streets, and it'd have fresh food. She also couldn't deny the feeling that once they reached Ahala's planet, there would be no more opportunities to take a break.

Ezell loved this place already. After being stuck in a cramped ship for all that time, it felt good to finally be somewhere that reminded her of home.

Ezell laughed as she tapped on Jei's shoulder.

"Hang in there, farm boy," she said, and held her arm out for him to take. "Can't have you tripping over your own feet. It'll make me look bad."

"Guess this is a lot different from that little temple of yours, huh?"

Jei put his hand around Ezell's arm, just above her elbow.

He smiled, "It's a lot different from anywhere I'm used to. For one, there's actually people here!" He laughed. "You'd have to take a speeder pretty far to run into anyone out in the farms."

He nudged her slightly, still smiling, "Hey, describe the place. I wanna' know what it's like."

The two of them walked together, with Ezell carefully leading the two of them so that her companion wouldn't get squished.

"Hey, describe the place. I wanna' know what it's like," Jei asked.

Ezell hummed aloud as she thought.

"I guess it's big. Coruscant is way more crowded than this place, though. Back home, everyone's packed in together," she laughed. There's a lot of rodians, and zabraks, some devaronians, and a whole lot of Twi'leks."

Jei and Ezell had been exploring the packed station, purchasing supplies and whatever else seemed interesting, when Jei's holo-communicator started to buzz and beep in his pocket. He pulled it out, then ran his fingers over the mechanical name identification. "It's Ahala!" He shouted to Ezell next to him.

Her messaged played out, "When you get this, we all have been called to a meeting with a Jedi emissary here on the ship. Get back with me when you can."

The communicator blipped off and Jei shoved it back into his pocket. He sighed. "I guess that means the fun's over, right?"

Ezell barely paid any attention to the message.

"I guess that means the fun's over, right?" Jei said with a sigh.

Ezell laughed. "Says who? She didn't say we needed to hurry, right?"

Sorry, Ahala. This was the most fun she'd had in weeks, she wasn't about to let it end so soon.

"C'mon, you ever had roast gorak?" She asked with a grin, and dragged him over to one of the street food vendors. Jei didn't seem to know much about anything, so she knew the best place to start was with food.

"I'll try anything once!"

Jei leaned over the flaming spit and took in the scent of the roasted meat. He couldn't make out what the food looked like but the spices in the air were enough to entice him. The alien manning the food stall, probably an Ithorian, didn't pay him or Ezell much thought.

“I need one of everything,” Jei shouted out, a grin on his face.

Ezell said something to the vendor in what sounded like Huttese, and the Ithorian responded back cheerfully.

Jei could hear the beeping and buzzing electronic music of a street performer not far from them, a person at a control panel controlling several musically attuned droids.

“You sure know how to get ‘round places like this,” Jei said to Ezell. “You’re like a expert!”

Ezell made a face at Jei as she paid the Ithorian for the food.

"Uh- not really? It's pretty basic," she said. "Haven't you been in the city?"

He did say he was from a middle-of-nowhere farm, if she remembered correctly, but he was living on Corsucant, wasn't he?

"Don't tell me you're trapped in the temple, too," she said with a snicker.

Jei cringed and let out a short groan. "I guess you could say that."

Trapped seemed like a strong word for his situation. It was more like he was an unwilling participant.

Ezell turned to face him, "No kidding? Whatcha' do, huh?" She sounded amused.

"What did I do!? I didn't do anything! I-I I enrolled!" He stammered through his response. She made it seem like he was being punished or something. And while it wasn't his choice, his parent's decision to send him to train at the temple was apparently in his best interests. Not that he saw it that way.

Enrolled? That couldn't have been more boring.

She grabbed the food she'd ordered and passed it all over to Jei. Her face fell into a deadpan as she started walking to one of the other vendors.

"Oh, well, I'm actually here on probation," she said to Jei, before she turned away to pick out some food for herself.

There was a variety of little meat rolls wrapped in colorful leafy vegetables. She pointed to one of them, "'Think I should get the red one or the purple one?" She asked him.

"Definitely the purple one," said a new voice from over her shoulder.

Ezell looked over at the stranger. She was a nautolan with freckled teal skin and shiny purple eyes; from her dull robes, Ezell thought she looked like a jedi.

The Nautolan smiled at her, "Trust me, don't get the red one. Your stomach will thank you," she said.

Jei turned his attention to the stranger. Instantly, he could sense the power within her. She was clearly attuned with the Force. She was a woman taller than him, with multiple head-tresses hanging softly at her shoulders.

He could also feel the energy radiating from her. It was warm and welcoming.

"You're a Jedi!" Jei blurted out.

Fifteen Days. It had been fifteen days since Ness Mevarr had lost contact with Master Leev.

Ness was used to staying in unfamiliar locations, and travelling wherever her Master took her. Over the past years, she had been all over the galaxy, learning, training, and solving whatever problem the Jedi Council wanted solved.

Though, this current problem was beginning to seem far bigger than either she or Master Leev initially realized. She knew that the last thing her master would want her to do was worry, so she went about staying relaxed in the best way she knew.

As Ness walked through one of the many markets in Tei'orn Station, she enjoyed the feeling of the cacophony of emotions that washed through her. She could feel joy, frustration, hunger, excitement, impatience, too many feelings for her to even name them all. Master Leev would never forget to voice how much he disapproved of the way Ness chose to relax, but she found it far more effective than sitting in a quiet room trying-- and failing-- to meditate.

It was then that she saw two young people, a twi'lek and a miraluka, standing at one of the vendors. Ness remembered seeing their pictures listed on a recent landing statement; these two had come from the capital.

"'Think I should get the red one or the purple one?" The Twi'lek asked her companion.

Ness couldn't help herself. "Definitely the purple one," she said with a gentle smile. "Trust me, don't get the red one. Your stomach will thank you."

The two of them turned to her as the Miraluka shouted out, "You're a Jedi!"

Ness giggled.

"Yes, I am!" She beamed. "And you are too, right?"

A young togruta came up to the three of them, and Ness recognized her immediately. Ahala Saas, she believed her name was.

"Hey, you two. Who's your new friend?" Ahala asked.

"I'm just an acquaintance right now, but my name's Ness. I'm glad I could finally speak with you, Ahala," she said.

"You two know each other, or something?" The Twi'lek asked Ahala, bored, as he flipped one of her blue lekku over her shoulder.

Jei sat down with the rest of them, at the public table and bench just off to the side of the vendor.

"Is this about that message we got? From that weird ship?" He asked, his voice steady, unlike how it normally was when he was forced to interact with any of the Jedi. There was something about this woman that stuck out to him, but he was struggling to figure out what. It didn't seem like it was anything bad, but it was still confusing to him.

"They asked for our help, and we said no, ya'know?"