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Saga - ST Beyond the Saga Jedi Is as Jedi Does (fic-gift for TheRynJedi; Finn, Rey, post-ROS; humor, fluff)

Discussion in 'Fan Fiction- Before, Saga, and Beyond' started by Findswoman , Dec 24, 2020.

  1. Findswoman

    Findswoman Fanfic and Pancakes and Waffles Mod (in Pink) star 5 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Feb 27, 2014
    Author: Findswoman
    Title: Jedi Is as Jedi Does
    Era: Saga—ST; Beyond the Saga
    Characters: Finn, Rey
    Genre: Humor, fluff, a little Jedi philosophy
    Summary: At some point after the events of The Rise of Skywalker, on Tatooine, Finn visits Rey with deep, serious questions about the nature of the Jedi. Will her answers be just as deep and serious?
    Notes: Written for the excellent and very talented @TheRynJedi as part of the 14th Annual Non-Denominational Winter Holiday Fic-Gift Exchange. I’m thrilled to have been able to gift a story to an awesome friend and fellow writer! Here were the two wishes she provided, and it was not easy to choose between them:
    Movie-based idea: Sequels, post Rise of Skywalker. The new LEGO Holiday special made me want to see more of Rey and Finn figuring out what Jedi are supposed to be, or what shenanigans the heroes from the ST are up to.

    Rebels story idea: post-Rebels, Hera getting enough of a break from being a General to spend some time with Jacen, maybe for Life Day?
    I hope I’ve done this one justice! Once again, I thank @Raissa Baiard for beta-reading. @};-


    The twin suns lolled in a late-afternoon sky as Finn, carrying a thick, ancient tome under his arm, approached the front door of the white-walled homestead and rang the door-chime.

    “M’yes? Who’s there?” came a voice from inside.

    “It’s me,” Finn said.

    “Ah! Do come in!”

    He did. Rey, still wearing her reading glasses, rose from her desk in her combined study-sitting-room-entrance-hall to greet him with a friendly hug. He did the best to hug back with the heavy book still in hand.

    “So good to see you!”

    “Likewise!”

    “Do sit down.” She gestured to him to come over and be seated in one of the armchairs next to her expansive bookcase. Its shelves were crammed with books both ancient and modern, though one—the one closest to her chair—was full of handmade, mostly humanoid cloth dolls. “So, tell me, how are things going with the Rammahgon?”

    “Enh, just fine.” He set the book down beside him on the chair, which was spacious and cushy. “I mean, the Sith Wayfinder stuff in Precept Three is kinda weird, but—”

    “Oh, yeah, don’t even bother with any of that.” She waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. “But did it answer any of your questions?”

    “Well, see, now…” Finn paused and bit his lip. “Look, honestly, Rey, no, it didn’t. I mean, I’ve been through all five Precepts, plus both volumes of the Aionomica—”

    “Both? Wow, you’re more hardcore than I am!” Rey laughed.

    “—okay, but I just don’t see anyone giving a straight answer about what a Jedi actually is and how we’re really supposed to relate to the Force and all that. Like, we’re supposed to be able to control the Force and use it to do things? But we’re also supposed to obey the will of the Force? Which is it?”

    “Okay—”

    “And we’re supposed to love all things and all beings, but not get too attached? How does that work?”

    “Okay, Finn—”

    “And don’t even get me started on the whole Guardian-Consular-Sentinel business. I still have no idea which one I am, if you’re wondering. So yeah, no, I don’t think it answered any of my questions.”

    “Hmm.” Rey knit her brow in thought for several moments. Finn sat and watched her expectantly, as he always did when she got like this. It usually meant that some kind of interesting insight was not far off.

    And then she said the words he had been dreading: “Let me tell you a story.”

    “Aw, here we go again…”

    “I know, I know… but just listen.” Rey took three cloth dolls from the shelf, one dressed in blue, one in green, and one in yellow. “Once, there were three Jedi Knights. “One was a Guardian”—she held up the blue doll—“one a Consular”—she held up the green doll—“and one a Sentinel”—the yellow doll. “They were friends and study partners, as we are. But there was one thing they could never agree on: what a Jedi was, and what they were supposed to do with the Force.”

    “Aw, Rey…”

    She simply continued. “The Guardian would say, ‘The Jedi’s task is to use the Force actively, to defend others and defeat evil.’” She held up the blue doll and wiggled it slightly, to make it look as though it was uttering those words. “The Consular would say, ‘No, you are wrong. The Jedi’s task is to study and contemplate the Force.’” She did the same with the green doll. “And the Sentinel would say, ‘No, you are both wrong. The Jedi uses the Force according to the needs of the situation, to accomplish their goals by any means necessary.’

    “So one day they decided they would journey to a wise, old Master far away in Wild Space to ask for her advice and hopefully put the matter to rest for once and for all.” Rey took all three dolls in one hand and began to walk them along the shelf.

    “It was a long journey of several days in hyperspace, and they encountered many difficulties. First, they ran into some minions of the Sith Empire, who tried to kidnap them.” She took a faceless gray and black doll from the shelf and waved it menacingly at the other three. “But the Guardian fought valiantly against them and defeated them all”—here she had the blue doll dropkick the gray doll in the head, sending it flying across the room—“and only then could the Jedi continue on their journey.”

    “Okay, and then what?”

    “Next, they ran into pirates, who stole all their spare parts and fuel.” Rey took a dark brown doll with a top-knot and jaw-tusks from the shelf. “The Sentinel had to sneak on board their ship to steal them back”—here she made the yellow doll walk tiptoe-style across the shelf, then threw the brown doll across the room— “and only then they could the three Jedi continue on their journey.”

    “Cool, then what?”

    “Then, as if that weren’t enough, they ran into a pod of purrgil who got in the way of their last and biggest hyperspace jump.” Rey produced from her shelf a small, improbably fluffy plush purrgil with stubby tentacles and waved it menacingly at the three other dolls. “It took the Consular several hours of negotiations with the pod leader to get them to get out of their way and let them pass.” She threw the purrgil across the room, as well. “And only then—”

    “—could the three Jedi continue on their journey,” Finn chimed in. “Yeah, yeah, got it, got it. So, then what?”

    “Well, once they finally arrived on the planet, to get to the hut where the wise, old Master lived, they had to hike across a huge desert that was scorching hot by day and freezing cold by night.” She walked the dolls slowly, arduously, from one side of their bookshelf to the other.

    Finn glanced out a nearby window at Tatooine’s desert landscape. “Heh, sounds familiar.”

    “During the day, they had to ration their water and food, and at night they had to take turns overheating their sabers’ kyber crystals to keep them all warm. To pass the time they told stories and sang songs and chatted and sledded down the sand dunes.”

    “Okay, okay, okay. And then?

    “Well, after ten long days of hiking, they finally reached the old Master’s hut. They knocked at the door”—Rey whapped the three dolls against the wooden side of the bookcase—“and the Master came out to greet them.”

    The doll she picked up next represented a short, green, frog-like being with long, pointed ears that stuck out on either side of its head. It was much shorter than the other dolls—roughly half as tall—and clad in white robes.

    “And the Master asked, ‘What can I do for you, O travelers?’ And they said, ‘O wise one, we have come to ask you a question.’ And she said, ‘What is that?’ And they said, ‘Please tell us, what is the true path of the Jedi? What does the Force want of us? Valorous action? Or studious contemplation? Or resourceful determination? Or—something else?”

    Rey closed her eyes and gestured grandly with the four dolls—the three travelers in one hand and the small green Master in the other—as she continued. “And the old Master reached out to the fabric of the Force surrounding the three travelers, to feel the weave of their actions from the start of their journey through their arrival at her door. She saw their adventures with the Sith and pirates and purrgil, she saw their long trek through the desert and all the tribulations and privations they had gone through just to make it to her hut and ask her this question.

    “And, finally, she opened her eyes”—Rey did so—”and said to them: ‘The path of the Jedi? Why, you know it already, O travelers.’”

    “And let me guess what happened next,” Finn interposed. “The three travelers swore and stomped their feet and tore their hair and yelled, ‘We came all this way just for that?!’”

    “Now, now, now!” Rey winked as she waved the Master doll admonishingly at Finn. “Emotion, yet peace!”

    “Oh, don’t get me started on that one, either.”

    “Anyway, they did nothing of the sort,” Rey replied. “They thought it over and realized she was right.”

    “Okay…?”

    “They thought of how each of them had used their own talents and abilities to overcome the troubles that had befallen them on their journey: the Guardian in fighting the Sith, the Sentinel in retrieving their cargo from the pirates, the Consular in negotiating with the purrgil. If they had not all been there together, each using their differing gifts, they never would have made it to the Master’s planet at all.”

    Finn nodded. “True, very true.”

    “But even more, they thought of the long trek through the desert, how careful they had been about sharing their water and food and warmth. And they thought of the stories they had told and the songs they had sung, and even of how they had sledded down the sand dunes to pass the time.” Rey set the dolls back on the shelf one by one as she spoke, starting with the Master and continuing with the blue, green, and yellow travelers. “And they realized that was what the Force had really called them to do as Jedi: to be there for each other, support each other, and use their unique talents to help each other in times of trouble.”

    “And to sled down sand dunes,” put in Finn.

    “Well yes. That, too.”

    There was silence for several moments as Finn thought this over, looking now at the shelf full of dolls, now at the book beside him, and now out the window. The whole Jedi thing made a lot more sense now to him than they had before. And it was not because he had picked over the Rammahgon and Aionomica and other ancient texts with the proverbial ultra-micron scanner. It was because he had gone to a friend, one of his best friends, to talk it over. Jedi helping Jedi, just like in the story. That said…

    He looked back at Rey. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” he said.

    “Yes, probably so,” she replied.

    And only minutes later, Finn and Rey were speeding down Hett’s Hill outside Anchorhead on a large, square piece of scrap metal, tumbling into a pile at the bottom, rolling and frolicking in the sand—and then climbing back to the top and beginning it all over again, yelling and laughing and cheering all the way.

    the end
    Rey has that cloth pilot doll in The Force Awakens, so I could see her having made many more such dolls by the time she’s settled into the old Lars homestead.

    The Rammahgon and the Aionomica are two of the ancient Jedi texts that Rey takes with her from Ahch-To in The Last Jedi.

    I mashed up Legends and NuCanon lore a bit by bringing in the Jedi paths of Guardian, Consular, and Sentinel, which I first encountered in Knights of the Old Republic (but which I think have come up in some newer canon material, too).

    The story Rey tells Finn is based very loosely on God in Between by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, a nonsectarian children’s book about two people searching who go on a journey to search for God but instead find God in themselves and their relationship to each other. I always thought it might be similar for Jedi and the Force!

    And, of course, anyone who has made it to the end of The Rise of Skywalker will recognize Rey’s sled! Hett’s Hill is completely fanon, however.
     
    Last edited: Dec 27, 2020
  2. devilinthedetails

    devilinthedetails Fiendish Fanfic & SWTV Manager, Interim Tech Admin star 6 Staff Member Administrator

    Registered:
    Jun 19, 2019
    One of my favorite developments in TROS was a Force-Sensitive Finn, and after the ST, I am interested in stories about Rey and Finn discovering together more about what it means to be a Jedi, so this story ended up feeling like a holiday treat to me too.

    Finn's confusion and frustration about what it means to be a Jedi and how Jedi philosophy can seem to contradict itself at the beginning was well-written. I could really hear how he is struggling to understand what seems to be so incomprehensible in his lines here:

    “—okay, but I just don’t see anyone giving a straight answer about what a Jedi actually is and how we’re really supposed to relate to the Force and all that. Like, we’re supposed to be able to control the Force and use it to do things? But we’re also supposed to obey the will of the Force? Which is it?”

    “Okay—”

    “And we’re supposed to love all things and all beings, but not get too attached? How does that work?”

    “Okay, Finn—”

    “And don’t even get me started on the whole Guardian-Consular-Sentinel business. I still have no idea which one I am, if you’re wondering. So yeah, no, I don’t think it answered any of my questions.”


    I could really imagine Rey telling Finn this story with the dolls as props, and I really enjoyed it and saw the deeper lesson it was building like a parable to even as I found the humor in Finn's impatient interruptions as he longs for straightforward answers at last. This part especially drew a chuckle from me:

    “And, finally, she opened her eyes”—Rey did so—”and said to them: ‘The path of the Jedi? Why, you know it already, O travelers.’”

    “And let me guess what happened next,” Finn interposed. “The three travelers swore and stomped their feet and tore their hair and yelled, ‘We came all this way just for that?!’”

    “Now, now, now!” Rey winked as she waved the Master doll admonishingly at Finn. “Emotion, yet peace!”

    “Oh, don’t get me started on that one, either.”


    And the final moral of the story was, of course, awesome and resonant:

    Rey set the dolls back on the shelf one by one as she spoke, starting with the Master and continuing with the blue, green, and yellow travelers. “And they realized that was what the Force had really called them to do as Jedi: to use their talents to help each other, to be there for each other, support each other, and use their unique talents to help each other in times of trouble.”

    “And to sled down sand dunes,” put in Finn.

    Thank you for this story with its story within a story. It was a delight to read:)
     
  3. TheRynJedi

    TheRynJedi Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Jun 20, 2018
    Thank you so much @Findswoman! This was such a fun story! I loved Rey's tale, and the wonderful lesson it taught. I can just imagine her telling that story to future Jedi youngling initiates, too.
     
  4. WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

    WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Aug 31, 2004
    What a wonderful story and a unique awesome way to tell it! Love the frolic at the end!! =D=
     
  5. juicepouch

    juicepouch Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Dec 13, 2020
    This was really sweet and fun. I love the idea of the Jedi having these little fables to teach younglings with. Thank you for sharing!
     
  6. brodiew

    brodiew Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 11, 2005
    This was fun, @Findswoman! I loved Rey's relaxed attitude toward Finn's real frustrations. The use of the dolls was genius. It was also a delight to see Finn frustrated, initially with Rey's storytelling, but being drawn in and ultimately learning something. Well done!
     
  7. Oddly_Salacious

    Oddly_Salacious Jedi Grand Master star 1

    Registered:
    Dec 5, 2005
    I should like to see a solid thread regarding Jedi philosophy and the association of our faiths and traditions. This story should be a direct reference in that thread because of its distinctive and clear allegory.

    Your spoiler reference recalled to mind the Christian Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts. Jedi-Is makes me want to approach you in future for a joint authorship ( @Findswoman: she's not just for Beta reading anymore ) along some tangent.

    To that note, I've felt that the Blue/ Yellow/ Green was the construct for video game character trait defaults while struggling to pin down what a Jedi is in the ever-adapting Star Wars universe: a Jedi might be more than one archetype given a set of circumstances. I have also wondered about Light Sith as opposed to the canonical Dark Jedi. Perhaps we could write The Good Sith.
     
  8. Findswoman

    Findswoman Fanfic and Pancakes and Waffles Mod (in Pink) star 5 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Feb 27, 2014
    Thank you all so much for reading and commenting! :)

    Thanks, devil, I am so glad you enjoyed this so much, too! I too enjoyed the little hints at Finn’s Force-sensitivity in ROS and am all for the idea of him and Rey becoming Jedi study partners, of sorts, so it was fun to get this assignment and be able to explore that a little!

    The seemingly contradictory things I have Finn point out are also things that I personally have long wondered about, too, so I was partly putting my own questions into words there! :D

    Thanks—I’m glad you enjoy the way the story was told! I wanted it to both get across an important point about the nature of the Jedi but also be presented in a lighthearted and humorous way, because Rey and Finn both have that side to their personalities, and as we know from RL, a touch of humor often helps things stick better than they would otherwise. And I knew I wanted dolls in there, because Rey’s cute pilot doll was one of the cute little touches I recalled from TFA—one of the first instances where her lighthearted, playful side comes through. (Also, Finn’s perplexity with the “emotion yet peace” thing very much echoes my own! :p )

    You know, when I first saw you quote this, I realized I repeated myself a bit there about using talents to help each other, so I went back and fixed it in the story text—thanks for the heads up there! :D I’m glad the moral came through well; in a way, I think it’s a lesson the multiple parts of SW have shown us, in one way or another. And if you can throw in a little fun and frolic, all the better!

    You are so welcome, and thank you so much for reading and enjoying—glad it could bring a smile to your face, too! :)

    I am so glad you enjoyed this, Ryn—thank you so much! :) And thank you for this fun and thought-provoking prompt; I really enjoyed writing it (and I have to say it really was difficult to choose between the two—both were great). I too can see her telling the story to Jedi younglings down the line, too—it’s a valuable lesson for adults and younglings alike!

    Thank you so much! There’s nothing like a bit of humor and fun to help reinforce a lesson, I say, and it just seemed to fit with these two and the fun, playful sides of their personalities. The scene of Rey sledding in the sand at the end of ROS was part of the inspiration here, and it occurred to me that the only thing better would be going with another fun-loving Jedi pal!

    Oh, thank you! So glad to have you here. :) Yes, I absolutely agree that it’s stories like this that are some of the most effective means of teaching pretty much anything, both for young and old. I too can see both Rey and Finn keeping this one in mind for their future youngling students down the line.

    Thank you so much, Brodie, really glad to see you here and enjoying this! :) That is exactly what a good story will do, as Finn is finding out: it will inevitably draw out questions (and even a few frustrations), but in a way that ultimately is productive and meaningful and that teaches something. He and Rey are learning together, and are realizing how fun it is to learn together.

    Thanks so much for reading and commenting, Oddly, good to see you here! Wow, yes, that would make for a very interesting and thought-provoking thread indeed, and I am honored that you feel this story would be such a good example! :)

    Interesting, what do you have in mind? I will have to see how things go in the year ahead, because I have a number of other projects coming up, but I can surely keep it under consideration.

    Ah, indeed, that was always so! ;)

    Well, yes, admittedly, that is indeed how the blue/yellow/green business felt like in KOTOR felt to me, too, but I also felt that it did at very least get the ball rolling on tackling some of those issues, as well as help make a believable place in canon for all the different things we see Jedi do and ways they behave. It was fun to revisit that and riff on it a bit in the course of writing this story, and I do agree that probably a lot of Jedi have elements of more than one or all three. The idea of a “Good Sith” definitely sounds intriguing, and I could see there being such a thing, given that “Dark Jedi” do exist. On that topic, you may enjoy checking out @darthhelinith ’s wonderfully fun Why Sith Are No Longer Allowed to Go Drinking, whose protagonist is a happy, fun-loving Sith with a sense of humor.

    Thank you all once again for being here, and all best greetings of the coming New Year to all! :)
     
    Last edited: Dec 26, 2020
  9. gizkaspice

    gizkaspice Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 27, 2013
    Can I just say I love the image of Rey in reading glasses and her obvious love of books---genius! Also using 'dolls' to explain Jedi fables to Finn....Yes! [face_laugh] Especially Finn's childlike exclamations " okay and then!?!" Also, I think Force-sensitive Finn is awesome and I can totally see these two having these types of conversations after all that crazy TROS stuff that happened.
     
  10. Findswoman

    Findswoman Fanfic and Pancakes and Waffles Mod (in Pink) star 5 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Feb 27, 2014
    Thanks so much! I'm so glad you came by to read and comment and that you enjoyed this. :) I'm right with you: I love the idea of Finn having Force sensitivity (in a way, I feel that was the impression of him we were supposed to have all along, though they didn't do much with it), and I too can totally imagine Rey wanting to hole up on that Tatooine homestead with lots of books for a while--she deserves some peace and quiet after all the crazy stuff that went down in ROS, I agree! And I just had to have the dolls in there--I loved Rey's pilot doll in TFA, that was a sweet and fun little touch. It was fun to give these two that kind of happy ending, and I'm thrilled that you enjoyed the result--many thanks again! :)
     
    Last edited: Dec 29, 2020
  11. AzureAngel2

    AzureAngel2 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 14, 2005
    Thanks for the totally new look into the character of Rey. I liked that very, very much! @};-
     
  12. Findswoman

    Findswoman Fanfic and Pancakes and Waffles Mod (in Pink) star 5 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Feb 27, 2014
    You are so welcome, Azure! This was one of my first times really writing her, and she was a super fun character to write. I enjoyed bringing out her humorous side. Thank you so much for coming by to read and comment! :)