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Creche Master Sion Dolphe started his day the same way he always did; with a big cup of caf. The sun was yet to rise and the Cerulian master enjoyed the peace and quiet he had before his day was ultimately filled with the orderly chaos only younglings could provide.
After his cup was drained, he slowly made his way to the door that separated his room from that of the creche he had been put in charge of. He had been very blessed with his assignment; the other masters might argue otherwise, but he knew his clan was the most behaved set of younglings in the temple.
“Heeeelp!!”
Master Dolphe raced towards the sound of the scream. That was never a good way to start the morning. He could tell the shout had already woken several of the children. Young Lidan in particular appeared scared to tears.
He ended his sprint at the bed of Tima Neespi; a quiet and generally well-behaved Mon-Calamari of 19 months.
“Tima, what’s…” He started to say before his eyes caught up with his brain. It was really quite obvious what the matter was. Seated next to young Tima was a child who was chewing on her finger. Green, with long and pointy ears and big soft eyes. It was like looking at a de-aged Master Yoda.
No one seemed to have any idea where the baby had come from. There had been no record of anyone having brought the child into the creche and all of the other Masters swore they had never seen the child before.
The Finders had all seemed particularly confused. Klo Ploon, the Order’s most notable Finder, had actually laughed and dubbed it a ‘most worthy mystery.’
Since no one had any idea what to do with the child, it was decided that he would stay where he was found until someone could come up with a better option.
Master Dolphe’s creche accepted this with all the seriousness of a sibling given responsibility of a younger child and soon they had come to see him as one of their own, although Tima Neespi was sure to never be near him.
Barriss Offee was the most serious 12 year old you would ever meet. She was rarely seen playing with the other younglings and only a lucky few had ever heard her laugh. She always completed her class work on time and could often be found bombarding the teachers with questions.
Today, Barriss was studying in the archives. She had an exam approaching in astro-navigation. It was one of the classes she found more difficult and she really wanted to ace it.
She had just started a new chapter on her holopad when she felt something tapping her leg. Startled, Barriss looked down. There was a tiny child next to her chair. It looked up at her with the biggest green eyes she had ever seen and a large grin on it’s face.
“How’d you get all the way up here by yourself? We’d better take you back home.” Barriss put down her ‘pad, stood, and scooped up the child. He (or at least she thought it was a he) squirmed for a minute, but Barriss cooed at him and he quieted after a moment.
At the creche, she was directed to one Master Sion Dolphe’s clan. She found the group in chaos; children crawling and shouting across the room as if they were looking for something.
“Little Green, where’d ya go?”
“Come out, come out MIni-Yoda!”
And on and on the shouts went. There was an older Cerulian Jedi standing at the front of the room, talking furiously on his comm. Barriss figured this was Master Dolphe and so she marched up to him and waited patiently for him to see her.
He looked up momentarily and did a double take when he saw what she was holding. “Oh! You found him! We’ve been worried sick. Where was he?” He took the child from her arms and relief washed over his face.
Barris felt a little sad to see the little one go. “In the archives. He’s a slippery one isn’t he?”
The Master chuckled but it seemed forced. “You have no idea, little one. Thank you for bringing him here.”
Barriss smiled, then turned to head back to the archives. She’d never pass that test if she didn’t study!
Soon, the rumors started. The baby’s species was so rare that a name for them wasn’t even known and the Order had only seen two of its kind in recent memory, both of whom were on the High Council. There was only one reasonable conclusion to make.
“Did you hear that Masters Yoda and Yaddle had a baby together? I hear he’s in the creche right now.” An initiate could often be heard telling their friends.
“I heard that Master Yoda wanted to leave the Order and raise the baby by himself but Master Yaddle threatened to leave the baby stranded on Hoth if he did!”
That’s ridiculous! Master Yoda would never leave. Besides, I heard that the baby was really a clone of Master Yoda made to preserve his dying species!”
That’s even more ridiculous! Cloning is illegal!”
“Yeah, so? Yoda’s a Jedi Master! He can do whatever he wants.”
He still has to obey the rules you gundark! Obviously the baby’s just Master Yaddle’s long lost nephew.”
“You’re all wrong. It’s gotta be a time traveling Yoda from when he was a baby. He’ll go back to his own time when he’s prevented the Coruscant apocalypse.”
When Master Yoda heard the rumors, he chuckled fiercely and turned to Master Yaddle in the middle of a council session. “Have surprise for me, Master Yaddle, do you?”
Master Yaddle was not amused.
The matter of a name was never really resolved. Many of the initiates had taken to calling him ‘Baby Yoda’ which caught on with a few of the Masters as well.
The child’s clan had taken to calling him ‘little terror’ and Initiate Barriss Offee could be heard calling him ‘lost one.’
Whenever Master Yoda visited, he took delight in calling him ‘My Son,’ just to watch the younglings get excited.
Phrases that might as well have been the child’s name for all that they were said to him so often included - but were not limited to - ‘no, don’t eat that!’ ‘give that back,’ ‘get back here! How does someone who walks like you move so fast?’ and ‘wait, you’re gonna trip on Yoda’s kid.’
‘Baby Yoda’ stayed for two and a half months before disappearing seemingly overnight. Master Dolphe sent the entire temple on high alert, but nothing could be found. There was no sign of a break in and no trace that the baby had even been there at all.
When the matter was brought before Master Yoda, all he had said was, “Home, he has gone. A mystery it is. The Will of the Force that brought him here, it was, and sent him away it did.”
The temple seemed eerily subdued after the departure of it’s strange little friend but soon it was business like normal.
For a long time after, Master Dolphe’s clan kept an empty crib in their room. The younger children would often ask when their friend, Little Terror, was coming back. Little Tima Neespi could often be found staying up and watchful at night, as if waiting to find someone in her bed.
A week after the child’s disappearance from the temple, Knight Kenobi and Padawan Skywalker returned home from a three month long mission.
After his first day back at classes, Anakin Skywalker flew into the rooms he shared with his master. “Did you know Master Yoda had a kid? We miss all the good stuff!”