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Force Academy Fan Fiction: Untitled, Chapter III

Chapter Three

Kir-wan poked her head into Sapharin's office, dubbed "Sapharin's Sanctuary." She had had it painted in several shades of blue that started off in dark hues at the baseboards and ascended into a sky blue by the time it reached the ceiling. It could not be questioned whether or not Sapharin like the color.

"Hey, you got a minute?"

Saph looked up from her datapad and smiled broadly. "Hello there, Kir! Sure, c'mon in!"

Kir grinned almost uncertainly in reply, but entered and sat down in the small office, across from Sapharin.

"How are you doing?"

Saph shrugged. "I'm good, thanks. Adjusting slowly to this life as a Jedi Knight and Councilor. Funny to have an office down the hall from you now!"

"Indeed it is. Just look at you: all grown up!" Kir joked.

Sapharin chuckled. She was Kir-wan's senior by a few years, so the remark came with its own level of irony. "How are you doing?"

"Oh, I am great! I am very busy with things, but loving life."

"Sounds great, Kir. So what brings you down the hall today?"

She fumbled a bit, picking at her tunic before finally speaking again. "I have an odd set of questions to ask you."

Sapharin sat straighter in her chair and waited. "Okay. What's up?"

"There's something strange with... with my... Padawan," Kir-wan began.

"I was just looking at the instructors' remarks about her progress. What a coincidence!" Saph said. She nodded toward her datapad. "Some exceptional skills there. Cath seems to be a very quick learner."

"That's actually what concerns me, Saph. Well, wait. Let me back up." Kir paused. "Have you had much interaction with Catherine to date?"

"Just passing her in the hall or when we've been in the meditation room at the same time really." Saph frowned slightly. "Why?"

"Umm... okay. Well, you know how everyone mistook her for Spark when Cath suddenly arrived here a few months ago."

Saph nodded. "Yeah, it is still hard to look at her now and then. All I can see is Spark and I get back to wondering how she is and where she is."

"Cath still gets very defensive when people will see her and think she's Spark. There was an... incident the other day where Tommy Courneyea saw her in the courtyard and mistook her for Spark." Kir shook her head. "Anycow... Cath and I talked about it later along with her habitual lateness to morning lectures and there's a lot of resentment in her about Spark because of her... more troubled moments."

"Spark's more troubled moments, you're saying, bother Catherine?"

"Right. Because-"

"-because she thinks people are seeing her and judging her based on her physical similarities to Master Vallen," Saph finished.

"Right." She hesitated again. "But it's not just that, Saph. Cath will mention things... things she cannot possibly know. Things that Spark knew."

"Things like what?"

"Like Spark's waking meditation exercise, for instance. I know we haven't started teaching that. And yet, Cath was expecting me to lecture her about it because of her tardiness!"

Sapharin looked back to her datapad. She searched through her student files and found Catherine's entrance interview to the academy. Skimming over the transcript, she said, "But in her interview, she said that she'd neither met nor heard of Spark Vallen. So how would she know any of that?"

"Dunno," Kir-wan said with a frown. "There's something else though, beyond what she knows-"

"Before you say that," Saph interrupted, looking back to her datapad, "Have you given any thought to just how well she grasps the concepts of being we teach?"

"Yeah. We talked about that too. I've had feedback from... well, everybody... and they keep saying what a natural Cath is."

"You don't sound happy about that exactly." She winked.

Kir-wan shrugged. "Well, it ties into what I was going to say. When you've been around her, have you ever noticed her Force energy signature?"

"You mean the fact that it feels just like Spark's did?"

"So you have noticed."

She nodded. "Everyone has, Kir. What does this lead you to think?"

"I don't know, really. I mean... I've heard that we all have a 'clone' so to speak. A person who will look and act just like us, and we are unrelated. Have you heard that before?"

"Yeah."

"Even though all signs would indicate that Catherine is Spark, maybe it's that weird connection?"

Sapharin raised a dark eyebrow. "That sounds almost further fetched than to suggest she is Spark. But if she is Spark and has returned, there are some discontinuities. For instance, the fact that she doesn't recognize anyone... The fact that while she does exceptionally in her courses, there are still areas where she struggles. There is that anger in her especially where it concerns mention of the name, Spark Vallen. I don't know, Kir. None of it makes sense."

Kir-wan sighed heavily.

"Don't fret, Master Queren," Saph said with a grin, "All of this will sort itself when it's supposed to. For now, just enjoy the experiencing of working with such a bright Jedi-becoming."

"Yeah. If she doesn't start running circles around me in the meantime."