Summary: Master Yoda finds a "Rain Sprite" cavorting in the Temple Garden.
Rated: G
Archive: Yes to 'The Master’s Pathway' @ http://www.geocities.com/jinnaraq/index.html
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Quietly, slowly, the thunderclap rolled in from the west, rumbling it's way across the sky to echo fadingly off the few tall buildings. Large wet splotches began appearing on the ground. First slowly, then more so, then quicker and faster and with splattering force. In moments it was a torrential downpour broken only by another flash of brilliant lightning and the louder roll of more thunder. It was indeed an enormous spring storm that was sweeping the city!
In the open-air garden, the few adults had begun to head for the protected indoor area at the first suggestion of the earlier thunder. The children however, especially the older ones had stayed until the very last moment only to run shrieking and laughing through the door just moments after the downpour started. Their hair was already nearly plastered to their heads with large damp spots on their tunics as they chattered and shoved against one another good-naturedly.
Alone, the most ancient one of the Jedi Masters stood closely beside the trunk of the enormous tree, his hands resting easily on the gimmer stick before him. The thick foliage loomed only inches above his head, the tree being a very gnarled and low to the ground variety. The lack of height under the tree prevented it from being a choice of cover for the children who had by now all fled the garden, but the thickness of the leaves allowed only an occasional drop or two to penetrate the natural canopy over his head.
Just beyond the edge of his shelter, the raindrops came even harder and faster still - making a soft roar all their own. It grew impossible to make out the not far away building due to the gray downpour that now bounced and danced over the paved places and stone. Thick bushes shed old leaves as the rain pelted mercilessly. Flowers and plants bent their heads to the onslaught. Even the old tree that the ancient one stood under gave a soft shudder of it's wide reaching branches.
Mist seemed to rise from the ground even as the drenching continued. The smell of damp earth and moisture, the soft roar of the rain and now the rising mists all served to hide away the modern structures and busy life of the day to day world. Yoda slit his eyes nearly closed and let out a long, deep sigh, feeling himself settle heavily as he opened himself to the force presence of the living things in the garden. Once more the soft growl of thunder rolled softly over the temple.
Open now more fully than usual to the Living Force, Yoda started as he sensed a small brightness of aura in the garden, on the other side - moving! Slowly the diminutive Master made his way around the tree to where his gaze swept across the grassy expanse that covered a slight slope beyond. It was there that he saw a small child, smaller than he was tall even. // How old?…. No more than 3 years… an escapee from the crèche group obviously- // he thought to himself and sighed softly.
The child was barefoot; apparently having shed his boots somewhere. His brown hair was plastered thickly to his head, water running in rivulets from the stray ends that hung over his collar. Pants mud splattered from the thighs down gave evidence of the child's having found several deep puddles to play in already, with the rest of his outfit being as soaked as if he had been dunked in a pond.
Even now as Yoda watched, the child appeared to study a spot on the ground for a moment. Then he backed up a few steps, ran quickly towards it - jumped at the end - and came down with a resounding splash that sent a wave of muddy water up his pants and outwards for several feet around him.
Yoda smiled as he watched the small boy stomp his feet several times in what remained of the puddle, jump up and down a few times as if testing the depth of the water, and finally stop with a satisfied look. Then, he put his head back as far as he could as if to consider the sky from whence this water came.
The ancient Jedi Master watched as the completely drenched child slowly turned around and around and around as now he came down the slope, his head flung back, eyes closed and arms out wide, palms up, and mouth open as if to drink of the rain straight from the sky. As he was twirling, the young boy slipped on the wet grass of the slope, landing on the thick green carpet of it where now he lay looking up at the weeping sky and Yoda heard his deeply amused laughter. The Jedi Master shook his head mildly as now the little one stretched out completely as if he were daydreaming on a warm summer day, reaching up as if to touch the clouds with one hand.
Eventually the child rolled over in the drenched grass, apparently finding something that interested him there. In the child's mind, Yoda caught the picture of a large fat earthworm squirming in a small hand that held it so gently, careful not to injure the fragile creature. In a few moments he saw the little one gently release the creature back into the grass and roll away from it a little ways.
After several long minutes the child sat up and pushed the wet strands of dark hair out of his eyes, then pulled up his pants legs half way to rub his muddy bare feet back and forth in the slippery grass with a thoroughly delighted look to his small features. Yoda heard the little one giggling now, as he tasted the rain that fell still furiously, trying to catch it on his lips and tongue.
When the child had tired of that, now he considered the slope he sat near the top of, then seemed to consider the angle of descent before him. Yoda could already see what was being pictured in the young boy's mind. Quickly the little one scooted around, lay down, and grabbed his shoulders with his arms…. And suddenly came rolling down the grassy hill like a log, childish laughter pealing forth all the distance. Once at the bottom of the hill the child sat up with a brilliant grin, then crawled on his hands and knees back up the slope to repeat the rolling process several more times.
The ancient one could not help but smile mildly as he felt the dizziness in the child as finally he lay on his back in the mushy longish grass at the bottom of the slope, his arms and legs outstretched. After a few moments Yoda startled to realize the young child had calmed and was now reaching out with a sure, swift and powerful connection directly to the Living Force itself and was using it to cure himself of the dizziness his adventure had caused him. He could feel the little one using the very roots of the grass beneath him to anchor himself and banish the whirling inside his head.
The ancient one raised one eyebrow sharply as suddenly the small boy sat up, seemed to look directly over at him, and then laughed softly as if to himself, even as he met the ancient one's gaze. Before Yoda could say anything though, suddenly the little one was up and now cavorting across the grass…. Now spinning and whirling, now jumping and stomping and skipping - almost as if he were caught up in some primitive and private celebration of the rain storm that he alone played so happily in. //One would almost think him a figment of the imagination - a "Rain Sprite" of some sort, he seemed so caught up by the display of natural phenomenon.// Yoda thought to himself with a soft laugh.
The ancient Jedi Master caught a strong sensation of the small child's base emotions; love of the moment, enjoyment of the element, joy in the connection to the life in the garden, his sense of awe at the majesty of the storm with it's rolling thunder, and he had to smile. For a child of the Living Force, as this most obviously was, a warm spring storm could indeed be a wondrous event! Ahhh… but for the times when even a simple spring rainstorm seemed like a mystical, magical, mysterious event - one to be reveled in - as indeed the child in the garden was doing with carefree abandon.
Finally, as spring storms are wont to do, gradually the rain slowed to a mere shower, then more to a mild drizzle and eventually the sun broke strongly through the clouds casting bright light over all. In the sky above there blossomed an enormous bow of many colors that stretched over the temple and garden areas from horizon to horizon. Yoda smiled as he peeked out from beneath his shelter to see the small child gazing up at it with a look of sheer amazement and joy.
"Hi there Master Rainbow! I'm Jinny - I mean, I'm Qui-Gon Jinn - I've been waiting for you!' he called loudly up to it, then went running up the slope as if to meet the brilliant arc somewhere beyond the small hill. As he watched the child disappear into up over the hill Yoda had to smile to himself. Perhaps this child would indeed find his rainbow waiting for him somewhere beyond - if not here - then perhaps elsewhere in life… he certainly hoped so.
The End