Rohanna in Kindergarten

Larysa closed the office door and thought that she did need not even look at her watch to know that it was almost 8am. The level of noise emerging from the playroom told her that most of the kids had arrived. She smiled wryly at herself. She could probably make a chart of how to tell the time by the amount of noise kids made. Except that she had no way of measuring the noise. It was also not only the decibels that mattered but what kind of noise it was…
Oh! Larysa was stopped in her tracks when she looked out of the one window in the hallway.
The very tall figure, clad helmet to boots in black, the black cape swirling behind him as he walked, was a sight that always set her heart racing, made the level of adrenaline shoot up to no doubt unhealthy levels, and almost stopped her breath in her throat.
She stared as Darth Vader walked towards the gate of the Kindergarten’s garden. I should be used to this sight by now, Larysa told herself, but two decades of seeing Darth Vader as the enemy and epitome of evil, the scariest of the Emperor’s scary henchmen could not be simply wiped out by a couple of weeks of occasional encounters with Darth Vader the caring grandfather. Plus, the few years between the end of the Empire and Rohanna’s appearance at the kindergarten.
Larysa took a deep breath, only now spotting the little, dark-haired girl that literally ran rings around her grandfather. This little girl, Rohanna Skywalker, was of course the reason why her workplace was now graced with visit from the former Dark Lord of the Sith on an almost daily basis.
Calm, she told herself and forced herself to breath in an out slowly. Closing her eyes for a few moments, she told herself that everything was alright, there was no need to worry, Darth Vader had never done anything even slightly worrying while he was on the premises.
The front door opened, and Larysa could not stop her body automatically flinch when the huge figure of Darth Vader stepped through the door.
For a moment he just stood in the door and looked at her. Or at least faced her, as the mask meant she had no idea in which direction he looked.
The next moment, Rohanna squeezed past her grandfather and ran into the hallway. When she spotted Larysa, she turned sharply and ran straight into the playroom.
Taking another deep breath, Larysa turned back to Darth Vader. Now she had overcome her first shock, she wondered what had brought him here.
He knew full well that his presence disturbed and scared many if not all of the employees and quite a large percentage of the parents, so he generally brought his granddaughter to the door but did not enter.
Larysa wished she could see through Darth Vader’s mask. She had the impression he was scrutinising her, but that was pure conjecture.
Say something, she chided herself. Don’t just stand there like a pillock. - But what? Her brain seemed to have emptied itself of all sensible thought.
“Interesting,” Darth Vader stated.
What? Larysa stared fruitlessly at the black mask.
“You are not worried about what my granddaughter is doing right now,” he continued. “I was told that there was a problem with her use of the Force. Now it seems you have not the slightest worry in that respect.”
Oh damn, Larysa sighed inwardly. Naran had seriously complained to Darth Vader about that small, negligible incident. Well, he was young and probably wanted to proof to himself he was not afraid of any of the kids’ parents or grandparents, even if said grandparent was Darth Vader.
“It was nothing serious,” Larysa said. “One moment, I’ll get the teacher who knows all about it.”
Larysa walked to the door of the playroom and surveyed the scene before her. The children were all over the place, all busy playing and frolicking around. Rohanna had joined a group of five other children. They were all busy building a huge tower out of interconnecting bricks. Naran and Sephané were observing from the sidelines, ready to intervene if anything got out of hand.
“Naran, there is somebody here to see you,” Larysa announced.
Naran nodded and headed her way. Larysa could see the exact moment he spotted Darth Vader in the hallway. His steps faltered and his mouth made a big O. But he got a grip on himself quickly and walked on.
“Would you please tell Lord Vader about the little problem we had,” Larysa told him as he walked past her.
Little Rohanna looked up from her building and stared at Larysa. Then she jumped up and ran straight past her into the hallway to join her grandfather and hid under his cape.
Larysa wondered whether she had heard his name spoken or if it was some strange effect of the Force.
“Lord Vader.” Larysa was impressed that Naran had his voice completely under control. “Your granddaughter refused to approach a task we set all the children in the way we asked her to.”
“What kind of task?” Darth Vader asked.
“Tying shoelaces,” Naran explained. “With her hands. She used the Force instead.”
Darth Vader looked around until he spotted his granddaughter crouching behind him. Larysa could not suppress a smile at the sight. It was just such a bizarre picture: the Dark Lord of the Sith and the little girl who hid behind him as if he were some kind of guardian angel.
“Did she accomplish the task?” he asked.
“Yes,” Naran replied. “But…”
“That’s pretty impressive for one as young as she is,” Darth Vader interrupted him. He sounded proud, and Larysa felt certain he was smiling.
“It’s not only about this specific task,” she intervened. “Nor is it about the fact that Rohanna did not follow our instructions, my Lord. No doubt tying shoelaces with your mind is good exercise for her control of the Force, but she also needs to learn to control her fingers in the same way. It is absolutely necessary for her to practise her fine motor skills. If she does not learn this now, she will probably never learn them. It is at this age that the relevant sections of the brain have to be developed.” Darth Vader had turned to her and seemed to stare critically. “And forgive me if that is not the right terminology. I am a Kindergarten teacher not a neurologist.”
Darth Vader nodded. “Thank you. I had not thought about it this way. In fact, I had had no idea that this could be important.” He looked down to where his granddaughter was now peeking out between his knees. “You hear that, Rohanna?” he asked.
The little girl just pouted.
Darth Vader turned back to Larysa and Naran. “And there really is no need to call me ‘my Lord’. Those days are over. Thankfully.”
Naran looked flabbergasted, and Larysa was sure her face clearly showed her surprise as well. She had always thought that Darth Vader looked back at the time when he wielded almost unlimited power as the good old times.
If only she could see his face, Larysa thought once more. Was he angry at their reaction or amused by it? And if he was grateful that these days were over, why was his still Darth Vader? Why had he not reclaimed his old name Anakin Skywalker, to distance himself from the feared Dark Lord of the Sith and to announce his relationship to his children and grandchildren? Why did he still show the same face or rather mask to the world that for so many people, herself included, had been the evil face of the Empire? He could have changed the style of his outfit and mask at least. - And why was it again that only one of his two children bore the same surname as Darth Vader’s previous incarnation? If that was the right word.
Stop wool-gathering, she told herself. She would never get answers to these questions, because she would never dare ask them. Moreover, it was none of her business.
“Rohanna, come out,” Darth Vader told his granddaughter, but she crouched down under his cape and hid her face behind her hands.
Larysa wondered if the little girl was so upset that she was hiding from the world or just stubborn. But before she had the chance to ask, Darth Vader’s cape flew up in the air and with it the little girl.
Larysa gaped, open-mouthed she realised, wondering how she could interfere. Then she realised that the high-pitched sound Rohanna made was a delighted squeal, not a terrified scream. Larysa watched in awe as the little girl twirled around the air a couple of times and then was deposited on the floor in front of the looming dark figure of Darth Vader. She immediately bounced up and flew into her grandfather’s arms.
Larysa thought she had seen him jerk minutely before he caught the little girl, as if he had not expected that. As if that impossible high jump had been not his idea.
“Me too - me too - me too!” a chorus of children’s voices chanted, and it seemed the entire groups streamed out of the playroom and surged around Darth Vader.
“Oops,” Darth Vader said.
Larysa felt at the verge of panic. By the looks on their faces Naran and Sephané who was now standing in the door her fellow teachers felt the same.
Little hands groped the legs and cape of Darth Vader as the children continued to demand that they wanted to be twirled through the air as well. He just stood there, stock-still, as if he too had no idea what to do.
These kids did not see the black, wheezing giant as a threat, Larysa realised, but as something akin to a funfair attraction. And he had no idea how to react to that. How utterly bizarre.
The thought snapped her out of her paralysis. Putting thumb and forefinger in her mouth, Larysa whistle sharply and shouted. “Calm down, boys and girls. Leave Rohanna’s grandfather alone!”
The shrill whistle had the desired effect. The children were startled enough to turn around to her and leave the poor man alone. At least for a moment. Though Larysa saw that several still held on to bits of the cape and trousers, including, of course, Be’at, Sanya and Tonio.
Rohanna sat on her grandfather’s arm, her left arm slung around his neck and beamed at the children staring up at her and her grandfather.
Was she really proudly thinking ‘my grandfather can do things yours cannot’, or was that just Larysa’s overactive imagination?
She was wool-gathering again. First of all, they had to get the children away from Darth Vader, who would never agree to juggle a bunch of children in the air. That he did juggle his granddaughter was certainly an exception to the rule.
“Off you go, back to play,” she told the assembled children. A few of them followed her instruction at once, but most either pouted or grumbled, whined or moaned. A lot of ‘But I want to…’ could be heard.
Larysa nodded at her colleagues who started rounding up the children, chiding and guiding the reluctant ones back to the playroom. It took a while, but after ten minutes or so almost all the children were back where they belonged. Only Sanya refused stubbornly to let go of Darth Vader’s cape.
Before Larysa had time to really start wondering how to move the girl, Darth Vader intervened. He put his granddaughter down on her feet and said, “Off you go.”
Rohanna grabbed Sanya’s hand and dragged her away from her grandfather. At first Sanya clung on to Darth Vader’s cape, pulling it along as if she wanted to drag him into the playroom with her. Larysa started to worry that she might tear a bit off the cape but when Darth Vader did not move even when the collar of the cape must have cut into his neck, Sanya let go.
Sephané closed the door behind the two girls.
“I am sorry,” Darth Vader told Larysa. “I should have known that the other children would want to be doing a bit of flying if they saw their playmate sail through the air. But I think that their parents would be less than delighted if they heard about such shenanigans. Health and safety surely also forbids floating children around for fun.”
Larysa nodded, surprised that he actually must have considered doing just that. “No doubt.”
After a few moments, Darth Vader added, “I will talk to Rohanna later about how she needs to do what you tell her to do, and I will keep in mind that she needs to practice her fine motor skills as well.”
“Thank you,” Larysa told him. “I think if she uses the force less, she will integrate better with the group. None of whom can do what she does. Some admire her, no doubt, but some just find her weird and too different. Not least because some of the parents have prejudices against force users.”
Darth Vader nodded. “That is right. But you are wrong to say that none of the other children have Rohanna’s capabilities. Well, none of them is as gifted as she is, but Sanya and that boy Be’at are force-sensitive as well. I can feel it.” He paused, then added. “It’s fortunate this came up. They as well as all the other kids will no doubt try to emulate what Rohanna does, as kids do. Be’at and Sanya may not achieve anything yet, but it is possible that they will develop enough connection to the force for simple tricks, like floating toys. It’s probably good if you are aware of this possibility.”
“Indeed,” Larysa said. “We would otherwise also think that Rohanna is behind all odd things that happen. - Would you…”
“Yes, if you have any questions, give me a buzz, I advise you if there are any problems,” Darth Vader answered before she could complete the sentence. “I must be off now, I have an appointment, and I am already late.”
Without further ado, Darth Vader turned and left the premises.
Larysa watched through the window as he walked away. This is bizarre, she could not help thinking yet again. Here she was, a lowly kindergarten teacher, having a conversation with the Dark Lord of the Sith, the caring grandfather. She smiled to herself. She was really looking forward to telling Nellie this evening. Just imagining the stunned look on her partner’s face cheered her up. Moments like these were more than enough compensation for those moments of existential horror at the sight of Rohanna’s grandfather.
A rumble followed by a roar ripped her out of her happy thoughts. What is it now? Panic overcame her. She ran to the door to the playroom and tore it open, her mouth dropping open when she saw what was going on.
The door to the garden was completely filled with the huge form of Sephané’s pet notrox. Though how anybody could call a beast of this size a pet was beyond Larysa. Its head almost brushed the doorframe, its folded wings trailed on the ground and its sturdy legs ended in huge, sharp claws. It opened its giant beak and let out another roar. The whole children’s group stared in awe at the creature.
Sephané stood in front of it and smiled beatifically up at its face. “Nasha,” she addressed her ‘pet’. “Give claw.”
The notrox looked down on Sephané and laboriously pulled one of its wings into the building, without a scale once touching the doorframe Larysa noted with surprise and extended it to its full immense length. At the ‘elbow’ was a single hooked claw that it now held out to Sephané who took it in her own hand and gave it a light shake.
“Don’t chide her,” Naran whispered into Larysa’s ear, having sidled up to her. “We know you forbade her to introduce Nasha to the kids, but it was the only way… We tried but they insisted that they wanted to have their airborne fun. In the end Sephané called in her pet as a distraction and it works perfectly.”
“It definitely does,” Larysa replied. Seeing Sephané’s interaction with her pet she could believe for the first time that the notrox was really a harmless beast, never mind how scary it looked. - A bit like Darth Vader himself.

THE END