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19 years ago
A small steel freighter screamed through space at lightspeed, on its way towards the Menkor system, home to the new jedi temple.
11 year old Ben Solo sat on the bench hunched over his nervously fidgeting fingers. In his hands was a small crystal, jagged in shape, but smooth to the touch, its color opaque with a hint of violet.
His thick black hair was parted on the side and swept over his ears causally. Ben's face was pale as a ghost and his empty stomach churned in nervousness and occasional dread.
The only other passenger in the narrow seating area was a young girl Ben's age. Her shoulder length crimson red hair was bobbed down on both sides of her face, beset by dark brown eyes.
"Hi, I'm Emmelyn!" the young red haired girl said brightly. "But you can call me Em for short. What's your name?" Em asked, smiling warmly.
Ben looked up in surprise and stared at her with nervous wide eyes. "um…I'm Ben…"
"Nice to meet you Ben!" she exclaimed shaking his hand excitedly.
Ben continued to stare at her, his innards squirming uncomfortably. He was not an outgoing or confident person like his father. At the moment he did not feel like talking at all.
"I'm so excited we get to be trained under Luke Skywalker!" Em exclaimed happily. "I could barely sleep all last night! I just can't wait to see what we learn first!" Em said bubbling with excitement.
Ben's body now felt even more weighted and fearful, the excitement of this new acquaintance dragging his feelings down.
His skin prickled with goosebumps as he recalled his uncle's words from years ago, "Whenever you want to start your training, you let me know. You will be a great jedi Ben." Ben remembered the warm smile and the twinkle in Luke's eyes as he ruffled his hair playfully. He watched in ardent admiration as Luke shook hands and thanked the politicians with whom he had spoken with. Ben watched in awe as Luke then escorted his group of 3 young jedi apprentices aboard the starship. With a final smile and wave back to the crowd, he entered the ship's interior and disappeared from sight.
Ben desperately wanted to be one of those apprentices; to own a lightsaber, to valiantly defend people from the evil of the galaxy, to move things with the force! A whole world of possibilities and opportunities were out there when becoming a jedi. And it looked awesome!
But now that Ben was on his way to begin his training, a sense of dread overwhelmed his body. Luke was his favorite friend in the whole galaxy. Consciously he knew he didn't want to disappoint. And the idea that everyone knew he would be a great jedi made him very nervous.
Ben's stomach growled and grumbled, a sharp pain signaling his empty stomach. To his annoyance, Em heard this. "You sound hungry," she said with a chuckle. "Here have some." She said reaching into her bag and offering him a packaged granola bar.
"Oh...no I'm okay thanks." Ben said quickly averting his eyes.
"It's okay, I've got plenty of extras." She said tossing one into his lap.
"oh…um…thanks…" Ben mumbled continuing to avoid her gaze.
Em opened one for herself and took a bite out of one. "I can't wait to build our lightsabers, I've always wanted a purple one. How about you? What color would you want?"
Ben's heart leapt for a second as he knew that the kyber crystal he held in his hands was one that could create a purple lightsaber. But this was not something he wanted this girl to know.
"Um…I—I don't really care" Ben mumbled bashfully still averting his eyes.
"What was that?" Em said leaning closer.
"I—I don't really mind…" Ben said quietly glancing up at her briefly.
Em cocked her head, her dazzling red hair swishing around her shoulders. "You aren't very talkative are you?"
Ben blushed, his cheeks burning a bright red.
"It's ok" she said upbeat with a smile. "My mum and dad aren't very talkative either," she said taking another bite out of her bar. "It was my grandfather who was the talkative one. We would always go out exploring in the woods and jumping in the river…" Em said with a jovial, nostalgic look on her face, "…and then tell stories under the starlight."
Ben managed a weak smile.
"So what planet are you from Ben?" she asked in an upbeat tone, her eyes shining with excitement.
Ben's nerves jangled his stomach, his mind going blank.
"Umm…" Ben gulped grasping for words, "…I'm from Hosnian…Hosnian Prime," Ben said meekly.
"How about you?" Ben asked quickly wanting to avoid talking about himself.
"Really?" Em asked intriguingly over Ben's question. "Wow you're so lucky, I've always wanted to visit the capitol, what was it like there?"
Ben grimaced as his empty stomach gurgled painfully.
"Um…well it's crowded… and busy with lots of different people," He said quickly.
Em looked at him enviously. "That's so cool…" she said her thoughts trailing off in awe. There was a pause and Ben resumed nervously fidgeting with his kyber crystal.
"Well I'm from Avastapor." Em said casually. "It's a quiet place, but there are beautiful landscapes and valleys."
"That sounds nice." Ben said forcedly trying not to appear disinterested.
"Yeah…it—" Em paused noticing the crystal in his hands. "What's that you have there?" she asked quizzically.
Ben's heart leapt to his throat, "Oh it's nothing…just something my mother gave me," Ben lied averting his eyes. He desperately didn't want to reveal to her that it was Luke whom had given it to him.
Em's face was alight in interest, "Can I see?" she asked innocently.
Oh no. Ben's stomach dropped. "I—" Ben hesitated, his unwillingness to share his secrets distracting him. "I...sorry not right now" Ben finished, fumbling to put the crystal in his knapsack.
"Oh…that's ok." Em said in some disappointment. "I didn't mean to intrude."
"I—I…um…I'm going to take a nap," Ben said hastily wanting to avoid further conversation.
"oh ok," Em said, a hint of disappointment in her voice.
Ben curled up towards the window opposite Em, closing his eyes tightly. His mind continued to race with worry and fear.
5 years later
THWAP! "You're just bad at this!" a 15 year old Em said with a triumphant smirk as she recoiled her bamboo practice saber in a swift maneuver from Ben's arm. Her flaming red hair swished above her shoulders, the color blending with the sky's faded sunset. The tree lined hill on which they stood was covered in varying green grasses sprinkled with bright purple bellflowers. A stream babbled away from their view deep in the heart of the now darkened forest.
Off in the distance, the white marble dome of the jedi temple peeked above the willowy, wispy trees.
Ben grimaced in frustration, rubbing his now bruised upper arm. His long black hair was the same it had always been, but his soft cheeks were shallower and his jaw was now more defined.
"Alright…that's it!" Ben whipped his saber around his body in a flash of skill and grace. He slashed at Em's midsection but Em quickly parried the saber with a graceful upward sweep. She stepped forward to stab towards Ben's chest, but Ben brushed it aside easily and went on the offensive. Blow by blow he stepped forward quickly swirling his sword efficiently and powerfully. Determination gripped his eyes and the smirk on Em's face was replaced with an intense focus. She paced backwards deflecting Ben's blows with increasing difficulty, the fervor of Ben's strikes taking her off balance.
Em dodged a stab and then parried a vigourous slash. Ben swooped his saber in an elliptical motion and smacked Em's saber towards the ground forcefully.
Em frantically flailed her out of control weapon in a desperate slash, but Ben swiftly outmaneuvered her, whipping his saber around Em's, striking her hard in the ribs. THWACK!
"AH!" Em yelled in surprise as she fell to the soft grassy ground.
"Gotcha." Ben said proudly with a smirk of his own. Em winced in some pain as he pointed his saber at her chin. "Not so bad now am I?" Ben teased. Em pursed her lips in annoyance.
"Go on say I'm the better swordsman."
Em rolled her eyes. Suddenly she extended out her hand forcing a wall of air towards Ben's legs.
"Wha-!" Ben exclaimed as he fell sideways onto the ground. UPFH! Ben rolled down the hill settling face up on his back.
"Mind your surroundings young one!" Em mused with a smirk, her flaming red hair now frayed and out of place.
Ben lay still his mouth agape and his eyes closed. Em walked up to his still body, her smirk dissolving. "Ben?"
Em snorted. "You'd be a complete sissy if that was all it took—"
Ben suddenly opened his eyes and reached out with his open palm. Em's face turned to surprise as her right ankle was swept out from under her and pulled towards Ben's hand.
"OMPHF!" Em groaned as she fell to the ground tumbling into Ben's side.
"Now we're square," Ben said with a grin. Em narrowed her eyes at him with annoyance.
He rolled over next to Em their faces now inches from each other. "Go on…say I bested you" Ben said with a grin.
"Ha ha," Em said sarcastically. "You were just lucky." Em defiantly crossed her arms and rolled away from him onto to her back. "Besides…I struck you first."
Ben laughed. "Please…you only got my left arm. I would have survived."
Em burst into a short laugh, "oh suuuuure…whatever you say," she said smirking.
Ben laughed, his insides squirming with a warm happiness.
They both looked up at the now darkened, clear night sky. Two baby blue moons were glowing brightly amongst the winking stars, appearing like small coin sized balls.
Ben could feel a few strands of Em's splayed hair tickling his neck. A euphoric sense of calm and happiness ebbed through his body. His thoughts wandered, yearning to be closer, yearning to just brush against her skin.
"This place…it's so peaceful." Ben said softly still looking upwards.
Em glanced over towards him with a warm smile. Ben's stomach swooped wildly with warmth. Em's face glowed a pale blue in the moonlight, her red hair flowing over her shoulders.
"Yeah…I love it here…" She said quietly still gazing at the stars. "It's like…like I'm back home," Em said, a fond reminiscent look on her face.
Ben smiled, a churning heat expanding from his stomach.
"We should get back…" Em said softly still staring out at the night sky. A few crickets chirped noisily while they both stared upwards with gentle smiles.
"Let's stay a while…" Ben said slowly, his hand brushing Em's arm. Em and Ben turned to each other their faces in toxically close. An intense tingling of sparks and warmth washed over Ben's body as he slowly intertwined his fingers into Em's.
Ben felt Em tremble slightly, her breath shortening. Ben and Em gazed into each other's eyes, a frond of Em's frazzled crimson hair covering her cheek. Ben slowly reached forward and brushed it out of her face with an affectionate smile. He could feel her warm breath on his face, her familiar flowery scent enveloping his senses.
A euphoric flushing cascaded through his body as he leaned forward softly pressing his lips against hers.
He lightly ran his fingers through her soft silky hair, slowly caressing her cheek as their lips parted.
Ben's heart thumped rapidly, waves of intense heat and bliss flowed through his body.
Em nuzzled her head lovingly under his chin as they both lay on the softly cushioned grass.
Ben let out a deep blissful exhale slowly stroking Em's silky hair. He watched as a few moths fluttered in the moonlight, flapping around each other as if in a dance.
"Do you remember when we first met?" Em said tenderly with a small exhale.
"You said I wasn't very talkative." Ben said with a fond smile. Em blushed, her cheeks turning a slight pink.
"Sorry…" she said bashfully.
"Don't be," Ben said soothingly, "I was nervous that day…and yeah I'm still not very talkative." Ben said with a small laugh. Em giggled quietly.
A few moments passed as they continued to bask in the warmth of each other.
"Whatever happened to that thing you had. The one your mother gave you." Ben cricked his head at her.
"Oh…you mean this." Ben reached into his robes pulling out the small jagged crystal. The moonlight cast a sparkling violet glow on their faces as the light shone through it.
"Wow…" Em said softly her eyes alight, "Is that…"
"yeah," Ben said with a nod, placing the kyber crystal in her fingers. She examined it with thoughtful fondness.
Ben chuckled. "Oh that's right…you wanted a purple lightsaber," Ben said with a smile.
Em smiled, turning to gaze at him warmly, "You remembered."
"How could I forget…" Ben said trailing off as she offered the crystal back.
"Keep it." Ben said affectionately pushing her hand away. Em continued to hold her hand out now looking at him with surprise.
"No..." Em said slowly, a look of confusion on her face.
"I want you to have it." Ben said calmly gazing into her deep brown eyes.
Em slowly shook her head uncertainly.
"No—I—I can't take it…this is…it's…it's yours, your mother gave it to you," She said timidly, her eyes tearing up.
"It is mine to give…keep it." Ben said with softly. He reached out and gently stroked her cheek embracing her in passionate kiss.
Two glistening tears dripped down her cheek as Ben caressed her face tenderly.