118 ABY
A seven year old girl with brown eyes and brown hair with white streaks sits on a chair next to a seventy year old man with brown eyes and white hair. Both have fair skin and wear rich clothing. The girl is working with the older man on her homework on which she can barely focus. Her mother is giving birth to her new sibling and she can't wait to meet them.
"Grandpa, when will my new sibling be born?" the girl asks excited while looking to her right where her grandfather is sitting next to her. The girl hopes that she will get a baby sister as she finds it nicer to play with girls than with boys. As she learned from experience boys prefer to play different games than girls do.
"I don't know when your new sibling will be born, Siah. We will have to wait until we are told that your new sibling is born" the man tells the girl now identified as Siah. To keep her mind of the impending birth of her new sibling and to get her attention back to her homework the man says "Let's finish your homework and then we can play a game while waiting for news on when we can meet your new sibling"
Fifteen minutes later the homework is finished and Siah looks expectantly up at her grandfather. Laughing he says
"Go ahead, Sia. Chose a game for us to play from the dresser"
Siah runs happily to the dresser which stands on the left side of the office. Looking over the games Siah can't chose between two of the games available so she takes them both out of the dresser. Walking back to her grandfather's desk she places both games on it.
"Grandpa, you choose which of these two games we will play. I can't chose because I like them both" Siah says while looking expectantly at her grandfather.
"Alright. Let's see. Mhhh" Siah's grandfather carefully looks over the games she brought with her. After a few minutes he point to the left game and says
"We will play this game"
"Grandpa, you are funny" Siah says laughingly while taking the other game back to the dresser to put it away. She could tell from his first reaction that he was playing with her. She likes it that he wants to play with her even if he has a lot of duties as an emperor which he has to see to. After putting the game back in the dresser she walks back to the desk. Once there she sits back on the chair she sat at previously and they spend the next hours playing until a woman wearing crimson and black armor enters the room. The woman has brown eyes, brown hair and a fair skin.
"My lord, princess Elliah has given birth to a boy. The prince asked for you and princess Marasiah to come meet the prince" the knight says and princess Marasiah gets out of her chair quickly only to be halted by her grandfather.
"Not so fast, Siah. First we clear our game away and then we will go meet your new baby brother. He won't get away Sia, if we first clean our game away" Marasiah's grandfather says and Marasiah cleans the game away sulking. She wants to meet her new baby brother and can't wait. She is a bit sad that she didn't get a baby sister but is more than happy with her baby brother. She still plant to play with him when he is older. Both her parents and her grandfather had told her before that she has to wait some time before she can play with her baby sibling.
When she has finished cleaning the game away her grandfather holds out his hand to her and she quickly takes it. The woman who informed them has been waiting outside the office for them to exit and leads them together with another man in similar clothing to the room princess Elliah is residing in.
"Shmi, what can you tell me about my new grandson" Marasiah's grandfather asks the woman.
"Not much, my lord. Prince Roan requested of me not to tell you much as he wants to tell you himself. All I can tell you is that your grandson is strong in the force. At the time I came to get you the medics were checking his health. From what I could tell he appeared to be healthy" Shmi answers and they soon arrive at their destination. Outside of the room two men in similar clothing guarding the room. Before the door Skywalker says
"I will leave you alone with your family now, my lord"
"Of course" Marasiah's grandfather says and opens the door so that he and Marasiah can enter the room. In the middle of the room stands a bed and a black haired woman lies on it. She holds a bundle in her arms and man with blue eyes and black hair with white streaks sits on the left of the woman on the bed. He has his arms around the woman's shoulders and they both look adoringly at the bundle.
"Mommy! Daddy!" Marasiah calls while letting her grandfather's hand loose and runs to the bed. Quickly jumping on the bed on the opposite side of her father she crawls towards her mother's side and looks at the bundle.
"He is so small" Marasiah says and hears laughter around her. Scowling she looks to her father and grandfather.
"Of course he is small. All newborn babies are small. You were also so small when you were born" Elliah, Marasiahs mother says attempting to calm her daughter down and stop her father in-law from teasing her daughter. This is something he enjoys immensely to the horror of Marasiah.
"Don't you want to know your brother's name?" Roan asks when both are calmed down. Marasiah nods enthusiastically.
"His name is Anakin" Roan says and sees the surprise on his father's face.
"Hello Anakin. I'm your big sister Marasiah. We will have fun playing together when you are older" Marasiah says looking at her brother in her mother's arms. The last part she added to avoid another lecture on why she cannot play with him just yet.
"You named him after mother's youngest brother?" Marasiah's grandfather asks curiously. He is surprised that they choose a name from a deceased family member.
"Yes we did, Felian. We thought it would be a good way to honor your mother's family and to keep their memory alive in this family and the empire" Elliah tells father in-law.
"It is. I remember precious he was to mother. It is good you choose this name as it doesn't have such a negative memory as the name Jacen carries" Felian says smiling before asking
"May I hold him?"
"Of course, Felian" Elliah says and gives her son to Felian. Felian carefully takes his new grandson in his arms before sitting down on one of the chairs that stand around the bed.
"What is it that you didn't want Master Skywalker to tell me?"Felian asks a bit worried. Looking to Elliah he sees that Marasiah is cuddling into her mother's side and he has to smile at the antics of his granddaughter.
"I saw danger in his future, father. From what I saw it has to do with a force-sensitive but I didn't get many details" Roan says worriedly. He doesn't want his son in danger because he is still so young and to think that he may be in danger in the future is also painful to him.
"Do you know when there will be danger in his future? This time is relatively safe and here on Bastion there are imperial knights who we both know will protect him with their lives" Felian says.
"I'm not sure when, father, but I believe it will be at least five and not more than ten years from now as he was still a child in the vision I saw. As to why the Force warned me I don't know" Roan explains.
"That means we have time to prepare for the danger the Force warned you about. I will inform Master Skywalker about it so that she can be on the look-out for the danger you saw" Felian says before walking to the cradle to let Anakin sleep. After putting his grandson in his cradle he turns to his family and says
"Now, I believe Marasiah's tutoring will start in a few minutes and we have duties to attend to. While we do that Elliah and Anakin can rest. Later tonight we will discuss the public announcement we will make on his birth"
"Of course, father" Roan answers and stands up.
"Can't I spend time with mommy and Anakin?" Marasiah asks with pleading eyes while cuddling deeper in her mother's side.
"No, Siah. You need to go to tutoring. Later you can come back here when your mother is awake" Roan tells his daughter. Marasiah groans in answer but follow him and her grandfather outside of the bedroom.
Later in the evening Roan and Felian join Elliah in the bedroom after Roan got Marasiah to sleep. He suspects that she will be up early in the morning to look at her brother. Marasiah is fascinated by Anakin as he is the first newborn baby she has seen in her life and also her first and last sibling. Roan and Elliah have decided that they will not have any more children.
"Elliah, if you are up to it we want you to accompany us when we show Anakin to the imperial knights in a few hours' time so that they will get familiar with his Force presence. They have already been informed about his birth by Shmi" Felian says and this wakes Roan from his musing.
"I'm sure I can do that, but that is not the reason why you are here. When do you intend to inform the Moffs and the public?" Elliah asks as she knows that that is the reason why Felian wants to talk to them. After Marasiah was born the imperial knights were also informed firstly before the Moff council and the imperial citizens.
"I will inform the moffs tomorrow morning and intend to inform the public about Anakin's birth in the afternoon. I would like for you to be there then together with Anakin so that everyone can see him then" Felian says and Elliah and Roan agree to do this.
"I'll leave you then so that you can get ready" Felian says and leaves the room. Roan then helps Elliah out of the bed and lets her ready herself. He doesn't help her if she doesn't ask for it so that she will not feel smothered by his concern. He knows that the servants will assist her with almost everything for the next two months as they do every time after a birth or if someone from the imperial family has gotten injured.
A few hours later Elliah is ready and takes Anakin out of his cradle before walking towards Roan who is waiting for her near their bedroom door. Together they leave the bedroom and walk towards the throne room to allow the imperial knights to meet Anakin for the first time. The trip takes them five minutes and when they enter the throne room through the back door they see Felian already waiting for them.
"The knights will arrive in a few minutes. Elliah, you can sit down on my throne if you want. I'm not sure that you will be able to stand as it might take a few hours" Felian says gently and Elliah, taking him up on his offer, sits down on the throne. Roan moves to stand on her right side behind the chair and Felian on the other side. Both are looking adoringly at a sleeping Anakin.
A few minutes later the first people enter the room. Among them is Shmi who wears the same armor she wore this afternoon. The other people who enter the room wear the same as she does. These are the imperial knights and they move into line. This is done every time when more than four knights are present and awaiting orders from their emperor or an speech. Roan can feel the knights carefully checking Anakin's Force presence and can feel Anakin's dislike of it. When he looks down to his son he sees Anakin movement around in his mother's arms. This shows that he can already feel the knights using the Force. Five minutes later all the knights have arrived and Felian moves forward and says
"Welcome, my knights. You have been told by Master Skywalker that my daughter-in-law, princess Elliah, has given birth to a son named Anakin, your new prince. You are called here so that you can meet him and get used to his Force presence. This will make it easier for you to protect him, as we know you are well aware of. I ask of you to greet him in small groups of no more than four people at one time. This to avoid to stress him"
During the speech Anakin has fallen asleep as the presence in the room was calm. Soon after emperor Felian finishes his speech small groups of knights come forward to greet their new prince who sleeps through most of it even if he fusses a bit when a knight feels his presence. Elliah gives Anakin to his father after an hour so that she can rest her arms a bit. Anakin feels this and moves around a bit in his father's arms before settling after having turned towards his father's chest. The greeting lasts till eleven o'clock when emperor Fell calls an end to it as he can feel that daughter-in-law is getting incredibly tired. He assists her back to her bedroom where Roan helps his wife get ready for bed after putting Anakin in his cradle. The imperial family sleeps soundly this night.
The next morning Roan walks towards the Moff council room with Anakin in his arms while be accompanied by a knight. Elliah has decided to spend the morning with Marasiah as it is a free day from school for her. Looking down to his son Roan has to smile at his sleeping face. Anakin is sleeping peacefully in his arms based on his expression and Force presence. They arrive at the council room in a few minutes and silently enter. The moffs are already present and Roan can hear them discussing what they believe to be the reason for them being here now. Normally the council would only meet once a week and as they have already met two days earlier it isn't normal. Some believe that they are called here to hear the announcement of the child the princess gave birth to yesterday. Other think that there is trouble somewhere and that they will discuss ways to deal with it. Roan feels displeased that some Moffs are looking for conflict. Because of this Roan decides to stay in the shadows and waits till his father arrives just as they had decided. When Felian and a company of knights arrive the Moffs rise in a show of respect as is expected of them.
"Good morning, Moffs. I'm sure that you want to know why I called this additional meeting" emperor Fell says after sitting down on his chair. The knight's move to stand on either side of his chair.
"Yes, your majesty. We do want to know why you called us here though we do have some theories about that" Moff Yage says confidently. Then Felian waves his son forwards and they can see the surprise on the faces of the moffs as the crown prince is rarely present at these meetings and surely never hidden in the shadows. Both Roan and Felian can read their thoughts about trying to find the secret areas so that they can be certain that no one will spy on their meetings and so that they can spy on each other and the imperial family.
"I'm sure you are aware that princess Elliah has given birth to a child yesterday. She has given birth to a healthy boy whose name is Anakin. I called you here so that you are informed of my grandson's birth before the public and you won't be surprised by the announcement we will make to the public this afternoon. I ask you to keep quiet about my grandson until after the announcement" Felian says and the moffs reluctantly agree as they can see the benefit in it. The moffs then walk up to Roan to have a look at their prince before leaving the room. When all the moffs have left Roan sits down in the chair next to his father.
"You are aware that they will be gossiping for a while now. Knowing some of them from what you told me they will be adapting their plans to include Anakin" Roan says and Felian has to laugh and says
"Let them. If they are scheming then we will catch them when they do something illegal. Also it is better that we know that they are scheming so that we can look for what they are planning. Besides they will all be watching their own backs now and some will be watched by our knights or intelligence agents"
Not much later they both leave the room and spend some time on doing their representatively duties before they and Elliah meet in a backroom from the throne room. The press has already gathered in the throne room to hear the news about the birth of their new prince or princess. They enter the throne room ten minutes later to give the press enough time to set everything up. Four knights accompany them into the room and move to stand around the imperial family for their protecting. The cameras all turn towards them to get a good look at the imperial family and the cameras in particular try to get a glimpse of the baby in princess Elliahs arms. When they stand on the dias the entire press starts to asks questions at the same time something which Anakin doesn't like and he shows it by crying. Elliah tries to sooth him while Roan sends calming feelings along the Force bond all Force-sensitive parents have with their Force-sensitive children.
"Silence!" Felian calls and the press is silent in seconds. The throne room is completely silent except for the noise of people moving and the occasional whimper from Anakin who is now calming down since the noise has disappeared and the Force feels calmer.
"Now that you are all silent we start with the press conference. You are all aware that princess Elliah has given birth to a boy yesterday. He will be called Anakin. In the package you will be given when you leave you will find the information we have released about my grandson. The package includes a holo about him. If you have any questions I ask you to lift your hand and not ask all at once as Anakin doesn't like the noise. Also it is difficult for us to answer questions when we can't understand the questions asked" Felian says and the press jumps the chance to ask questions about their new prince. After thirty minutes Elliah leaves the room to feed Anakin and rest a bit. Felian and Roan stay for another hour and a half when the conference is ended and the press leave the room to report what they learned to the public.