Shield of the Jedi

"Shield of the Jedi" is an short story written by George Mann as part of the anthology The High Republic: Tales of Light and Life. The story was published on September 5, 2023.
==Plot summary==
Rooper Nitani is uneasy at the temple on Batuu. While meditating in the temple and trying to gain clarity, she was interrupted by her Jedi Master Silandra Sho, accompanied by the droid P3-7A. Rooper tells her master about the unease that she's been feeling, as if something important is about to happen, and Master Sho reveals that Rooper's senses were right, and she was picking up on her impending trials to become a Jedi Knight. The task that Master Sho set for her Padawan was to retrieve the shield that Master Sho usually carried with her at all times. Initially, Rooper was skeptical that the task was significant enough for her trials, but Master Sho assured her it was a fitting challenge for her.
Rooper set out from the Jedi temple along with P3-7A to look for the shield, with Master Sho telling her to follow her instincts. Her initial search led her to a tree her master often used for meditation. Unable to find the shield, and without clues from the Force, she went to the nearby Peka village, where she met Jerlyn, who was expecting a Jedi from the temple. Realizing that her master must have spoken to Jerlyn earlier, she discovered that Master Sho had left her shield in a nearby tree, but it had been taken by the Salmaca that had been raiding the village and causing trouble for the villagers. Jerlyn told Rooper how he had forgotten to lock his family's farm at night, and the salmaca had taken his family's droid, Dee-Twelve. Rooper agreed to rescue the droid, and travelled to the cave where the salmaca was living, along with several of the villagers, including Kaxx, who wished revenge for his friend Tuntis, who had been killed by the beast.
At the cave, Rooper discovered that although the salmaca had become a nuisance for the villagers, it was likely preventing an even larger problem, a gant spider infestation. As she slowly crept through the cave, she found Dee-Twelve trapped in the salmaca's "treasure hoard," which mostly consisted of anything shiny. She used the Force to influence the salmaca into rolling over, freeing Dee-Twelve from the creature's nest. She sent the droid out with P3, but just as she started looking for the shield, the villagers, whom she had left outside, began firing upon the cave and the salmaca inside. In the chaos, Rooper found her master's shield and used it to block all of the incoming blaster fire. She ordered the villagers to leave, and calmed the salmaca down enough that it was able to return to sleep and she was able to take the shield and leave.
When she returned to the vilage and returned Dee Twelve to Jerlyn, she informed them all of the protective role that the salmaca was playing, keeping them safe from the worse threat, the gant spiders. Rooper was able to convince them to leave out junk each night for the salmaca so that it would no longer need to raid their homes. Rooper returned back to the temple with the shield, and her master confided in her that the purpose of the test she had laid out was not to convince herself that Rooper was ready to become a Jedi Knight, but was instead to convince Rooper herself that she was ready, and should trust herself. She attempted to return the shield to her master, but Master Sho told her that it belonged to Rooper, having previously been passed to her by her master, and in turn by his master. Sho explained it was tradition for the shield to be passed down from master to apprentice after passing their Trials. Touched, Rooper promised to make her Master proud of her.
==Continuity==
At New York Comic Con, it was established that the story takes place after Phase II of Star Wars: The High Republic.
==Appearances==
==Sources==
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==Notes and references==
Category:The High Republic: Tales of Light and Life