Rooper Nitani's Jedi Trials

Around 379 BBY, a salmaca—an enormous lizard-like creature—began raiding homes in Peka village on the world Batuu at night for valuables and junk to line its nest. The raids contiuned for several weeks, and during one raid, the villager Tuntis was killed when he tried to fight back. When Jedi Master Silandra Sho of the Jedi Order visited Peka, she learned of the salmaca raids. After leaving her shield in a tree, she reassured the villagers that help would arrive the next day and returned to the Batuu Jedi temple. That night, the salmaca raided the village again, taking both the shield and the droid Dee-Twelve.

The next day, Sho's Padawan, Rooper Nitani meditated in the temple's meditation chamber in an attempt to shake a feeling of anticipation. After failing to do so, she was about to seek counsel from her Master when Sho entered the chamber. Sho told Nitani that the sense of anticipation she was feeling was actually her own, and that she was feeling that way because it was time for Nitani to undergo her Jedi Trials. Sho tasked Nitani with locating her shield, and told her to bring the church droid P3-7A with her, although the droid knew nothing about the shield's location. Nitani then left the temple to begin searching.

Believing that Sho would not hide the shield nearby, Nitani left the temple grounds and walked through the edge of a forest, where she attempted to sense the shield's location with the Force. After being unable to do so, she decided to search Sho's favorite places on Batuu and ran to a tall tree that was one of Sho's favored meditation spots. She then climbed into the canopy while avoiding forrians, a type of small furry mammal with sharp claws. After climbing to the top, Nitani saw another of her Master's favorite spots, a vantage point on an outcropping several kilometers away. Having not found found the shield in the tree, Nitani descended and traveled to the vantage point.

After arriving, she searched the vantage point for the shield, but did not find it, although she had not expected to. Instead, she hoped visiting the vantage point would allow her to think in the same way as Sho. While considering her Master's perspective, Nitani realized that Sho considered the purpose of the shield to be protecting people. When she saw Peka from the vantage point, she realized that she would find people there and decided to head to the village.

When Nitani arrived in Peka, she saw the villager Jerlyn, whose family owned Dee-Twelve. Sensing his distress, she approached him, accidentally startling him. After Jerlyn apologized for his reaction and the two introduced each other, he asked if Nitani had been sent to help. She was confused by this, so Jerlyn told her about the salmaca raids, his stolen droid, and her Master's visit the previous day. Nitani was surprised to learn about the salmaca, as she had believed they only existed in legends, but she agreed to help the village with their problem and recover Dee-Twelve. After asking about the shield, she learned it had also been taken by the salmaca. The Weequay Kaxx, who had been a friend of Tuntis and was preparing to head to the salmaca's cave with three other villagers, overheard their conversation and offered to show Nitani the way there.

When they arrived at the cave, Nitani convinced the villagers to wait outside and guard the entrance, as she had sensed Kaxx's anger and desire for revenge and realized that he would be a danger to himself and others. Nitani and P3-7A entered the cave, and crept though a dark tunnel until they reached an immense chamber, where they found the salmaca sleeping in its nest, as well as a makeshift larder containing the corpses of several enormous gant spiders, a type of poisonus arachnid. When Nitani saw the gant spiders, she realized that they would have posed a threat to Peka if they had been allowed to breed, and that by preying on them, the salmaca was protecting the village. She also learned that the salmaca had taken mostly junk, instead of the valuables she had been told it was taking. Nitani then searched the chamber, and located Dee-Twelve, who was trapped beneath the salmaca's paw. Nitani used the Force to influence the salmaca into rolling over, and freed Dee-Twelve, who she then sent out of the cave with P3-7A.

Nitani then saw the shield, but before she could take it, the villagers, who had entered the cavern, began shooting at the salmaca in an attempt to kill it. Calling on the Force again, Nitani used the shield to deflect the villagers' blaster shots. The salmaca then charged Kaxx, and Nitani used the shield again to disorient it before ordering the villagers to leave. After they fled, the salmaca approached Nitani, who sensed its anger and sent it calming thoughts. The salmaca realized she was not a threat and returned to sleep. Nitani then picked up the shield and carefully left the cavern.

Outside the cave, Nitani saw Jerlyn, who thanked her for helping. Nitani told him about how the salmaca was protecting the village by preying on the gant spiders and keeping their population in check. When they returned to Peka, Jeryln explained about the spiders to the other villagers, who then agreed to leave out scrap and junk at night for the salmaca to take so that it would no longer raid their homes.

Nitani returned to the Jedi temple, where Sho was still waiting in the meditation chamber. She told her Master about how she had solved the village's problem and Sho agreed that Nitani had come up with a perfect solution. When Nitani asked if she had proved to Sho that she was ready to a Knight, Sho responded that she already knew Nitani was ready, and that the purpose of the trial was for Nitani to prove it to herself. After they agreed to talk to the Jedi Council the next day, Sho began to leave. As she did, Nitani attempted to return the shield, but Sho told her to keep it, explaining that she wanted to honor the tradition of Masters passing the shield to their Padawans after the completion of their trials. Later, Nitani was knighted.

Rooper Nitani's Jedi Trials appeared in the short story "Shield of the Jedi," written by George Mann and published in the 2023 young-adult anthology The High Republic: Tales of Light and Life as a part of the Star Wars: The High Republic multimedia project.

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