Title: Day Break
Author: Ashen
E-mail: TheFinalGirl01@aol.com
Rating: G
Spoilers: um...no
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine and no money made.
Summary: The Solo kids have an impromptu "sibling ceremony."
Author's note: I hope it's not too sentimental.
Dawn was nothing but a soft rosy glow on the Yavin 4 horizon when Jaina Solo finally shut down her computer. After the conclusion of the ceremony honoring her, her brothers and her friends the night before, her thoughts had been in a knotted jumble. As a Jedi, she had been taught to seek peace through contemplation, but tranquility had eluded her even in the deepest meditation.
Something seemed unsettled, despite the recent defeat of the Black Sun crime organization. Jaina hesitated to call it a premonition from her Jedi senses, because it was somehow separate from the Force. She felt an emptiness. A blank hole where she felt there should be something...
Maybe it's just nerves, she thought when she powered up her computer for some idle Holonet surfing. After all, her formal education at Luke Skywalker's Jedi Academy was over, the future ahead was a complete and infuriating question mark. Her lifelong Jedi education was not in vain, because she did realize that if she could not find the answer she sought through deep Jedi meditation, it was highly unlikely that she would find it floating around the galaxy's information highway. Still, it was a slightly educational way to pass sleepless hours, and definitely worth a shot.
At dawn, Jaina shut down her computer, with a feeling of anticipation, nurturing an idea that she hoped would placate her feeling of emptiness. She left her room, clad in a camisole and sleep shorts, and pattered down the hall in bare feet to wake her brothers.
She found Jacen sitting up in bed, wide awake. Something I should have known, she thought sheepishly. He looked at her indignantly, because if she had trouble sleeping, it usually caused him sympathy insomnia. It was the price they paid for being twins.
"Why didn't you come be the sensitive twin brother and see what my problem was?" she asked, leaning against the doorframe with crossed arms, feigning resentment.
"Because I was too tired," he said, yawning for dramatic effect.
"Well, come on," she said, tossing her shoulder length hair and waving a flimsiplast printout in his direction. "I found something that will help ease my mind."
Jacen looked at her curiously, but climbed out of bed without question.
"Should I get-"
"Dressed?" Jaina finished for him, spreading her arms to show her pajama-clad self. "No, we don't have time, we've got to get Anakin and get outside before the sun comes up." She turned on back into the hall with Jacen on her heels.
"You're waking Anakin before dawn?" he asked incredulously. "That's how you want to die?"
Minutes later, a cranky, sleepy eyed Anakin Solo was jogging down the hall with his brother and sister towards the main entrance of the Massassi temple that housed the academy.
"Jaina, can you please tell us exactly what we're doing out here?" Anakin asked as they trotted across the dew coated grass to the banks of the small lagoon created by a widening of the Great River. The flushed glow had intensified to a vibrant red, circling the rim of their line of sight like a gigantic curving lightsaber. The three Solo children stood silently for a minute, Anakin's question forgotten by all as they absorbed the beauty around them, feeling the vivid life force of the jungle ebb and flow around them.
"A big part of our lives has just come to a close," Jaina said, the huskiness and serenity of her voice surprising her brothers. The voice belonged to a woman much older than Jaina's sixteen years. "I have this feeling of uncertainty now, because all three of us have different paths set before us. I can't even get a sense of the future, just a sense of blank-ness. At the moment, the future is unreadable."
The boys were silent, taking in Jaina's formal speech.
"I spent the night on the Holonet," she said, sounding more like her normal self, looking at the printout in her hand. "And I came across an ancient Massassi sibling ceremony that supposedly eased this feeling of teenage angst."
"Sibling ceremony?" Jacen questioned.
"It's specially for siblings," Jaina supplied. "It promotes unity, strength, and courage against the unknown." She smiled at her brothers. "And it wouldn't hurt to toss in a Jedi twist."
"Sounds appropriate," Jacen agreed. "And if it will help you sleep, it'll help me sleep so I'm all for it."
"What do we have to do?" Anakin asked.
Silently, Jaina stepped forward into the lagoon, the sandy bottom squishing between her toes, and walked towards the center where the water came to her waist. The water immediately soaked through her shorts, but she ignored it. She looked to see her brothers joining her, a bit reluctantly.
"Kinda early for a swim," Anakin muttered as he approached.
"Now what?" Jacen questioned.
"We don't have to hold hands and chant, do we?" Anakin asked suspiciously.
"Just be quiet and wait for the water to calm," Jaina explained. "Close your eyes and concentrate on the life around us."
They stood in a triad, facing each other, listening as the jungle around them awakened. The harmonious songs of birds and insects was all-encompassing, and the moist humidity rested on them like a second skin. The Force flowed through them, present in every fiber, cell and molecule.
"Okay," Jaina whispered. "Open your eyes."
The dawn was a dazzling inferno of reds, oranges and yellows, painting the sky with light. They blinked against the sudden burst of luminance, each releasing a breathless sigh as they stared in awe at the beauty surrounding them. The undisturbed water of the lagoon reflected the sunrise with such intensity, that Jaina felt as the water and the light were no longer separate entities. They had been engulfed by thick, pure light, and the golden glow was so tangible, Jaina imagined she could feel it slipping through her fingers like water.
Suddenly, the basic translation of the Massassi ceremonial words she had memorized sounded stuffy and wooden, completely inappropriate and fatal to the delicate moment. She looked into her brother's eyes and felt the need for words fade away. Somehow, voicing her emotions right now felt entirely destructive to the serenity their surroundings had created.
Silently, she dipped her right hand into the water, sending ripples through the golden water. Turning to Jacen, she raised her hand and traced her thumb down his forehead in three vertical lines. Instead of the elaborate Massassi speech, she simply explained the significance of the lines.
"Each line represents one of us, and also the three virtues we value as Jedi. Peace, honor, and strength," she explained quietly, as she did the same to Anakin. Jacen immediately repeated her actions, followed in suit by Anakin. As the water trickled down Jaina's face, she felt the pulsing life forces of her brothers, and found the peace she had been seeking.
The three Jedi stood dauntlessly in the bright water as the carnassial heat and warmth of Yavin 4's rising sun washed over them. The glowing orb rose above the tree line, chasing away the last of the night's shadows. Jaina smiled. It was going to be a beautiful day.