Jedi Vs. The Force of a Mother’s Love
Ludi’s Mom’s Sobs on Essence
PHELAR, ERIADU – Four times during last night’s transmission of Essence, Jonava Billane broke down into tears, pleading with the Jedi Council for the release of her 14-month old toddler, Ludi.
“Not a day goes by that I don’t think of her,” she said on the popular Eriadu-based talk show. “When I was lying in that hospital bed, unable to move, the only thing that kept me going, the thing that made me better, was knowing she was out there, somewhere, asking for her mother.”
Seven months ago, when ground quakes devastated Domitree, the capital of Ord Thoden, Jonava and Ludi were separated. While Jonava convalesced in an outskirt town, the baby girl was found by Jedi rescue workers and discovered to have Force potential. Assuming her birth mother to be dead, the Jedi took the child to their temple on Coruscant.
When Jonava recovered and learned of her daughter’s kidnapping, she used her meager funds to travel to Coruscant and formally petition the Jedi Council to return her child. The Council refused, citing Ludi’s beginning of Jedi training as far too late to return the girl, who was now named Aris-Del Wari.
“They said it was dangerous,” she said, choking back tears. “I’ll never understand, in a million years, how my daughter can be a danger. They’re guardians of peace and justice. Well, how is letting me see her again a threat to peace and justice? Who is the monster? Is it me? Is it her? I don’t think so.”
Since her petition’s refusal eight weeks ago, the Baby Ludi case has drawn a lot of public and media attention. The Essence holoprogram recapped notable events, such as the proliferation of trillions of Baby Ludi images on the Coruscant student data network, the Mothers United March on Alsakan, and the star-packed fund-raising mediathon held in the Minos Cluster.
“I want to thank everyone who’s supported me,” said Billane. “Your messages and holos and credit advances have meant so much. It’s nice to know that we still do live in a galaxy of compassion.”
Perhaps the highest profile development is the authorization of a feature-length holo of the drama, to be delivered by Kailio Entertainments for the fall season. The currently untitled Baby Ludi feature is estimated to be a deal worth over 100 million credits, though Billane refused to elaborate.
“I’ve been told not to discuss that here,” she said “but a significant portion of that money has gone to charitable ventures and agencies willing to help me in my fight.”
At that point, Essence turned the cameras on Thrynka Padaunete, Billane’s appearance manager and leader of the populist People’s Inquest movement, a Jedi accountability watch group.
“Let’s look at it this way. Say I were to tell you about a group of mystics on some planet who routinely snatch children away from their mothers, their fathers, tearing apart families. They take these children into their care, strip them of their identity, and maybe even give them new names. They then cut their hair to all look the same and make them wear the same clothes, and live by an impossibly strict code that only serves to further their order. Sounds like a cult, doesn’t it? Well, it’s a cult that we as taxpayers subsidize. A cult that we empower to determine who’s right and who’s wrong in this galaxy. And according to them, a mother’s love is wrong,” said Padaunete.
The Jonava Billane program is believed to have been watched by over 25 billion viewers. It will be retransmitted on the 18th and is available for permanent storage from Eriadu’s HoloNet Node for 24.99, with some of the proceeds benefiting the People’s Inquest.
