"Youngling Tashe, please send this to Grandmaster Yoda with uttermost urgency," the quartermaster stated, holding out the data chip to the shaking Youngling.

-----

"Grandmaster Yoda?" The youngling asked, only just managing not to stutter.

"Watch where you are going, Youngling!" She heard a voice reprimand her.

That was when she took in that there were thousands of eyes on her. There where the ghosts of thousands of Jedi Masters and the living Jedi Council-

-Oh, Force, she had walked through a lot of ghosts to get to the living Council without realising. She was going to be kicked from the order now!

"Fear not, young one, you are not the first to walk through us before," one of the ghosts soothed.

"Young one, your message, what is?" Yoda stated.

"The Quartermaster stated," the Youngling coughed before continuing, "how many?" She was started as the whole room burst into laughter.

"Fell into a trap, you have," Yoda stated once he stopped laughing, "old victim, they were."

"It's an old tradition passed down through the Quartermasters to trick younglings into walking through ghosts in Council meetings," a ghost explained, "your future is bright if they chose you."

The Youngling stuttered her thanks before fleeing the scene.

"How many more?" A ghost asked.

"That was the tenth one this hour," another ghost stated.

"To come, plenty more."

That groan echoed everywhere, causing the Jedi Masters to laugh at the annual tricking of the Younglings.

241