Yyn Zet Ari

The chime of the bell reverberated down the stone corridors.

The young girls eyes fluttered as the sound reached her, gently luring her out of her daydream. Placing the crayon down beside the scattered pieces of flimsi, Yyn stood up and collected her shawl from her sleeping pallet. As she had done everyday since she could walk she left her room and followed the sound of the ringing bell. Her footsteps echoed off of the stone walls and eventually mixed with the sounds of others in adjourning corridors. All following the source of the bell.

Stepping into the nave of the Chruch, her eyes turned up towards the ceiling. Painted like the night sky. Yyn had only seen the real night sky twice in her short life, most recently on her 7th birthday. Her parents Zet and Ari had allowed Yen to visit the surface of the planet, leaving the protection of the mountain in which their home resided in the heart of. She hadn’t be able to see much, the ice sphere that encased the planet limited her view of the stars but still she was captivated.

The bell stopped ringing.

The congregation offered their silent prayers to Bel Lyv Vna, the protector of Belovia and after several hymns and readings the mass was ended and those in attendance returned to their work within the caves of Lao Rem. Originally just a church it had expanded to accommodate the need of sheltering the Belovians who had risked all to remain on Belovia when most of the planet had been evacuated to other planets in the Ombakond sector at the beginning of the current Ice Age.

Climbing up the stone steps and entering a door just off of to the side of the altar, Yyn took her usual seat at the morning school ran by several priests. Mid-way through a discussion of the importance of the colour purple there was a knock of the door.

As all the childrens heads turned to face the high priest, her head poking through the door, she uttered one word “returner”. The class scrambled to their feet and charged out of the room, Yyn slowly following behind. Sat in a pew towards the back of the aisles sat an older Belovian, his teeth chattering against the cold. It was obvious the man was exhausted, a single black hand showed the onset of frost bite where he had lost a glove in the trek to return.

To return to Belovia was dangerous. Many attempted but were unable to traverse the arctic span without succumbing to the cold and even if successful, there was still the matter of climbing the mountain that housed Lao Rem. However, a returner was a course for celebration, another able body to serve Bel Lyv Vna.

As Yyn returned to her room she tidied up her drawings from that morning. Whilst picking her favourite to pin on her bedroom wall, she paused. One of the drawings was of a man, sat in the pew of the church, the painted night sky above him, one hand black, the other fine.

Great excitement flooded the mountain city as the news of a gifted child traveled. An almost certain future High Priestess, a divine gift from Bel Lyv Vna. As preparations were made to begin training Yyn, an older Belovian scientist, educated in the core and not as devout in their worship of their deity proposed Yyn be turned over to the Jedi for training.

The decision was given to Yyn and her parents. The decision to remain at Lao Rem or fly into the night time stars proved an easy one for Yyn. Much was risked to get Yyn to the nearby Yutan and from their contact was made with the Jedi Order and her training began on Dantooine.