Before - Legends 112 - Mothers of the Disappeared Challenge Response - Yoda - vignette

Title: 112
Characters: Master Yoda, OC
Summary: What happens when a Jedi dies in the line of duty?
Notes: Written for the "Mothers of the Disappeared" Challenge, which you can find here



112


Some might think he would have lost count long ago of how many such letters he had written. But as he prepared to write this one, he knew without having to refer to any records that he had written precisely one hundred eleven such letters in the past. This one made one hundred twelve.

Each of them was engraved on his memory.

Those letters were a well kept secret, and in his inner most heart, Yoda sometimes wondered if, by their very existence, they were a violation of the Code. He always comforted himself with the thought that though attachments were forbidden for a Jedi, they were not forbidden for their families.

And those families had a right to know when one they loved, and had given into the care of the Order, had died. Some rights could not be taken away with the child.

It was simple duty as he saw it, and he had never been one to shirk his duty.

A heavy weight settled over Yoda as he wrote, and he felt the burden of the responsibility that was his. He had been the one to send young Migrili on the mission that had taken her life. Yes, it was the will of the Force that the thread of her life be cut then and there, but he could not escape the thought that somehow, it has been his choice to send her there.

What would her mother think when she got the news?

Every family was different, he knew. Some families dealt with the loss of their child by pretending that the child had never existed. Every holo was packed away; their names were not spoken except in hushed whispers and then only rarely. They dealt with their pain by pretending it was not there. They found solace in their hiding.

Other families made much of their pride in having a child who was training to be a Jedi. They spoke openly and often of their son or daughter, boasting about their supposed deeds, though to be honest, much of what a Jedi did was never know by those outside the Order. Still, they had their dreams of glory and service and those comforted them. They had lost a child to a cause greater than themselves, and they bore their loss with a proud dignity.

And there were those who openly mourned, never letting that wound heal completely, perhaps unable to do so. Their lives were forever marked by that loss, their sacrifice and what came after was merely a pale reflection of what had been before.

He felt sorrow for every family that had given a young one to the Jedi, but the Order was his life, and to it he gave his heart and soul. So he trained the young ones who had been given into their care and did his best to teach them well, bring them up to be servants of the Force.

Like any leader, however, he had learned to accept that he could not save everyone. The life of a Jedi was not without dangers and death was more common that he would have liked.

Yoda served the Force first and foremost, and the letters did not seem to go against the will of the Force, and as long as that was true, he would write them.

Now, for the one hundred and twelfth time, he would tell a family that the Order had failed to protect the precious life that had been entrusted to them.

When the news had come, Yoda had retreated to his meditation chamber. It was his way when they had lost one of their own ? not to mourn, for the passing into the Force was to be celebrated. He withdrew so that he could examine his own actions, remind himself of the fragility of life, the inscrutability of the will of the Force, and to prepare for the task which faced him.

Migrili Donoro had been an only child, the daughter of a woman who was widowed during her pregnancy. The Jedi who had tested the baby girl had not truly expected the woman to give up her only link to her lost husband, but the woman had done so with a full and loving heart.

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So sad, but excellent!

 

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww I do think that's one of the saddest vigs I've ever read.

 

That was so sad. The poor woman mourned all those years and then it became a reality.

Great job.

 

Amazing. Great challenge response. I am going off to cry now.

azizah

 

NiobeAsha Thank you!

Layren Thank you...I think.

dianethx It was a really sad challenge.

azizah Thanks for reading!

 

Aww, what a truly sad vignette! I enjoyed it.

 

DarthBerryStraw Thank you so much for reading!

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love how Yoda empathized with the families & secretly sent them letters. That just shows how caring he really is.

Wonderful!!

 

Alasse_Earfalas Thank you. I don't write Yoda very often, so he's a challenge for me!