Chapter 1

A World of Their Own

A/N- My beloved readers,

I have once again branched, this time to pay homage (in my own way) to one of my favorite animated films of all time. I am even listening to the soundtrack right now. =)

As per the usual when I branch, I like to leave an introduction in the author's note to let everyone know who I am and what the writing experience will be like. So without further ado, let me introduce myself and the story you are about to read.

My username is QuixoticQuest but I mostly go by Don because it's easier to remember. I joined FFN nearly two years ago and I've been a steadfast reader and writer here since then. I primarily write Star Wars fan fiction, but I've written for other fandoms over the time I've been on the site. My stories tend to be AU or at least ones that take liberties from the original pieces to play with them.

With this particular story, I am continuing just days after the film ends and it will focus on a new kind of adventure featuring Jen and Kira.

I am a pretty open minded writer, so I accept critique and feedback as long as it's balanced and not straight up flames. If you're not sure what the difference is, here's an example of a flame: Your work sucks. Vs. I don't know if the part with _ worked and here's why. See the difference? If you don't like what I'm doing, that's fine, but please don't be rude about it.

Well, without further ado, here is the first chapter of "Kingdom of the Light." The title of course came from the last line of the film "Make your world in its light." This whole story was inspired off of that line really.

Enjoy,

-Don "QuixoticQuest" ^_^

The ground crunched as Jen made his way through the charred wreckage of what used to be Augre's home. What was unbelievable wasn't so much that the entire prophecy had been fulfilled, it was that after it was all over that he wasn't sure what he should be doing now that he was supposed to build a whole new life and world. The mystics had raised him and taught him what he thought was everything he needed to know at the time, but as it turned out there were things that even they didn't know anything about.

He stopped at the small outcropping overlooking the woods below. Such a short time ago he'd leapt through a window and rolled down the hill to save himself from being capture and now he could return to the site without fear or concern.

Yet he wasn't comforted by the fact. It wasn't in his nature not to fear the world around him. He stepped again and lost his footing for a second at feeling something hard under his boot. It had dug into the fabric, causing him to look down. The light glinted off of the object, reflected in each of the tiny sections of rich blue glass-like crystal. He stooped to pick it up, holding it at a distance and with a glance over his shoulder at the ruins he started back down the hill once more.

When the door to the tiny Podling hut opened, Kira's head turned abruptly from the conversation she was having with her mother. "Ah, Yen," Her mother said and in the Podling tongue welcomed him home before excusing herself from the room.

Kira's eyes narrowed at him as he stood in the doorway. "You could have said something if you were going out."

"I'm sorry, I would have," Jen said, setting down his sack, "But you were sleeping when I got up." Her frown of what might have been irritation turned to concern.

"How early were you up?" He shrugged. In the aftermath of the healing of the Dark Crystal, Kira had taken to sleeping long hours and Jen had difficulty letting himself relax enough to fall asleep most of the time. He was also up helping the Podlings repair their village most days and talking to Augre about something. What he was talking about may not have been her business, but Kira couldn't help but feel apprehensive when he became so withdrawn or secretive.

"I found something," He said finally, bending over to loosen the ropes that pulled the sack closed. He then held out the small blue crystal and she hesitated a second before she examined it.

"This isn't-?" She asked, but he shook his head.

"No, it's from something else. The shard from the Dark Crystal was a different color," He made his way over to the table and sat down on one of the stools. "What I don't understand is why Augre would have so many other crystal shards when they weren't the right ones to heal the Dark Crystal."

Kira sat down across from him, mulling over the words for a second before she said, "You found this at Augre's?" He nodded. "I wonder. You chose the crystal shard out of the others, right? I wonder if the crystal just didn't need the others."

Jen looked down at the blue shard. "If that's true, then why didn't it turn white like the rest of the crystal?" She opened her mouth and then closed it slowly. It was true that the Dark Crystal had changed from its purple hue to an almost clear pearl white color. It still remained that way days after the Great Conjunction and Jen had a feeling it was going to stay that way as its previous masters had also turned white when they merged. They hadn't exactly left him with instructions on how to build his new world and he found that Augre was even less help in giving him advice. In fact, the wise shard keeper had been scarce in the past days and when Jen had seen her, she hadn't said anything to him.

"Maybe you should try talking to her." He turned to see Kira staring at him. "Augre."

He nodded despite his misgivings. "I doubt I'll be able to find her."

"I could go with you," She said, "Two sets of eyes see better than one." He thought for a moment and then shook his head.

"No, it's okay, I think I need to talk to her on my own," Jen rose from the table then.

"You're going now?" She said, her tone bordering on incredulity. He sealed his sack without another word and with a nod in her direction, exited the building.

Only her mother's voice tore her attention from the empty doorway. "He left." She answered in the Podling tongue. Her mother frowned at that and then placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"He will come around," Her mother said.

"I'm worried," She said quietly, "He's been so reclusive since…" Her head jerked up then. How had she missed that he'd been deeply affected by the whole event. After all, he'd watched her be killed by the skecsis. It probably wasn't something he'd get over. Jen wasn't particularly good at handling his insecurities without anger. She'd learned that right away when they'd run away from the Podling village to escape the raid.

"I'm going to find him," Kira said, standing up. Her mother watched as Kira disappeared into the darkness of the night, shaking her head.

A/N- It's a short one, but I'm just getting warmed up, so don't go away! I'll see if I can't have the next one up by the time the weekend's over, but we'll see. I have a lot of homework to do. Thanks for reading! =)

Don-Out.