Life is a journey, a path on itself...

It took more than a week before the physicians of the medical center decided that the boy was healthy enough to leave bed. He had been in a bactatank too and was much better afterwards. Yet he was not fully healed again and the mind needed a lot time more. The six arrested students were convicted in that time, their time at the academy had ended and they were sent off to a penal colony, where they could sit out the next five years. The rest of that class could continue their education, but most got a yellow alert that they remained suspects. I was thanked for my assistance and returned to my classes. The accident was kept silent and none was allowed to speak about it.
The last few days that Macey was inside the borders of the Empire I spent at her side. With a Lambda shuttle I flew to Bastion and showed her the real side of Imperial civilization and that wasn’t very different from inside the Republic. It was a human colony, little other species were around. People lived here freely who felt home here. People who didn’t feel comfortable in a multiracial civilization. It had nothing to do with ideas. People from Duro had their own cities in the form of flying hardships in the air. So the Twi’leks had their tribal cities on Ryloth. Here inside the Empire was the same life style developed over the last century. Immigration was a little more common than emigration, but it took place sometimes. The local authorities had to give permission for immigration, but it was not so hard to get clearance. With Macey I went shopping and we came along a lot of stores, mostly full of clothes with cool designs on the dummies in the windows. I knew to tempt Macey to try some designs and see how it fitted her all. From a dull looking Jedi in her robes she changed to a beautiful woman and I said that to her. The amazing on her face was amusing for me and I tempted her to try more. So a couple of fine hours went by. Also I tried some new fashion and it changed me to important civilian. Or a person in that area. I grinned to Macey who apparently hadn’t seen a man dress like me before. It felt good this shopping tour and I bought pretty much. Also Macey’s purchases I took for my account. She protested, but I didn’t want to hear more about it. Afterwards we went to an expensive diner and ordered there a four gang menu. We talked a long time about the planet Sullust in the southern areas of the galaxy, a planet I had never been before in my life. Our purchases were also a subject.

In the diner we were left alone. And that was fine with me. We were served by a waiter, not a droid. It came here with the service and it was excellent. We both took a fine wine from old Coruscant, a strong one. I had no concerns about the alcohol in it, but Macey became a bit affected by it. I taught her a technique so the effects vanished. We laughed. The menu was from local bottom, but exotic still because it had come with humanity who had long ago immigrated to Bastion. Original the planet’s name had been Sartinaynian. Never the planet had had original species; it was just one of the colonies that the human species had established in the galaxy. With the dessert ice was served and it felt kind of cold on my stomach. In the end it was very good. What I had to pay was very high, but worth the evening. Anyway it would be my great-grandfather who paid now, not me. We spent the night in a hired apartment.
Nights over Bastion with the sun standing low were beautiful as anywhere in the galaxy, the colours turned to usual red and purple. A half hour I spent on the balcony watched the dusk. Macey was not quite so interested and had settled behind the present terminal to check upon updates and other news. There was a message from the Jedi Council how her trip was going; if she had any news? I didn’t check, my comlink was on and if the admiral had news he could always reach me that way. My thoughts whirled mostly around Macey and I wondered what she could really mean to me in the future. Bound to the Jedi she had obligations; and a devotion I didn’t understand. It was not a job like normal people had, men and women like me. In comparison to Macey I made lesser use of the Force to ease life. I felt it when she used it, tiny little waves on a calm sea. Most children with Force potential became aware of it, soon they learned about its existence and the use of it. For me it had always been there, feeding me semi conscious with information, as it did still when I didn’t made use of it. The Force was breath and food for me. Otherwise I couldn’t describe it.

But now another sort of feeling rose up and I didn’t know if it was really I or it was the Force. Perhaps a connection between both. I had noticed the secretive looks of Macey toward me and felt at the same time a whirl of emotions. But when she looked away, those feelings vanished again, if they were restrained somehow. But for what? There were no rules in this universe about love, or hate? It was a natural thing to human beings. So why fight against it? What was wrong about affection? My parents had loved each other and with that love I had grown up, understanding that affection and love were important to everyone. Only though, that the human species existed still and hadn’t died out eons ago. I tried to picture Macey as mother, but somehow the image was blurred. For myself I had no trouble to picture a child of me in my arms. Something that was truly mine. A boy or a girl didn’t matter to me; either of them would be welcome. But before it would be a reality, a long way had to be walked yet. And who the mother would be, was still a mystery to me.