Cerasi was a Human female who was one of the leaders of the Young, a youth organization that brought a halt to the civil war between the Melida and the Daan on the planet Melida/Daan. Her father was Wehutti, a Melida leader. She also had a brother, who was sent to work in a munitions factory and whom she had not heard from since.
During the civil war, Cerasi met a Daan youth, Nield, and together, the two decided to unite the Daan and the Melida orphans. They created an organization which would fight for peace, and were known as the Young. During the war, the group helped the Jedi, Qui-Gon Jinn, and his Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi, to rescue their fellow Jedi, Tahl. Later, Kenobi chose to stay and fight with the Young. Cerasi became very close friends with Kenobi during his stay on Melida/Daan; Kenobi would later say to Bant Eerin that he had loved her.
Under Nield and Cerasi's leadership, the group won the war and formed a government. Nield was elected as Melida/Daan's Governor, and established a new history squad that began to tear-down the Halls of Evidence. Cerasi and Kenobi began to doubt the wisdom of destroying Melida/Daan's history, and moved to stop the destruction. Nield felt they had turned against him. The tension came to a peak when the elders and Nield's followers, both armed, converged on the halls of evidence. Kenobi and Cerasi arrived to try and stop the violence, but Cerasi, who was unarmed, was shot and killed by one of Mawat's sharpshooters positioned on a nearby roof.
When Deila, Obi-Wan, Cerasi and another Young warrior went to round up Wehutti (who was in fact Cerasi's father) and some Elders who wouldn't give away their weapons, Cerasi was told to wait outside. Deila, who was the Young's bomb expert, blasted away the door and the Young surged in, evenly matched with the Elders. Fortunately Cerasi had climbed up the side of the house and ambushed them from behind, earning the Young a victory.
Both Nield and Obi-Wan Kenobi were deeply disturbed by Cerasi's death. Soon after, Qui-Gon Jinn returned to Melida/Daan and together with Kenobi, they investigated Cerasi's murder. The duo discovered that a member of the Young, named Mawat, had armed both sides, and placed sharpshooters at the scene, who had killed Cerasi. When Obi-Wan informed Nield of this, they left to try and stop the war being waged in Cerasi's name, although they were unable to halt the violence. Qui-Gon subsequently arrived and produced a hologram of Cerasi speaking of peace. Cerasi had made the recording on her datapad shortly before her death. Qui-Gon was able to negotiate a cease-fire, and Nield was made one of the three planetary leaders.
Cerasi was named after former LucasBooks editor Chris Cerasi.
- The Official Star Wars Fact File10
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
- The Essential Reader's Companion