A FORCIBLE NUISANCE
Hello:)
This is another Astrid fic. It's a prequel to "Astrid" and I'm writing it because Astrid's character appealed to me so much and I thought her time as a teenager should be covered although I skipped it in the original fic.
Please R & R!
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CHAPTER ONE
Astrid sat at her desk and chewed on her datapad stylus absently. Everyone else was busily taking notes as the teacher lectured them on political history. Astrid, however, already knew far more about political history than she wanted to, and as if that weren't enough it also happened to be a somewhat embarrassing topic.
"…and the Iriquinian Dispute was solved by"
" – Lord Vader," Astrid muttered.
"…Lord Vader," continued Mr Parsons, oblivious to Astrid's remark, "through the use of"
" – a lightsaber."
"… diplomatic relations and persuasive reasoning."
Next to her Cassandra snorted with laughter. She was well-used to Astrid's "translations" of political history and of media reports, but nonetheless continued to be amused by them. Astrid just looked at the teacher sourly as he began teaching about earlier history, the Changeover.
Astrid had undergone another growth spurt recently, Cassandra noticed. The previously small girl had suddenly exploded in height earlier in the year, much to everyone's surprise, and was now a little taller than average. While her height had increased, however, her width had not, making Astrid look like "a scarecrow" as she disgruntledly phrased it. Cassandra had grown a little as well, but only marginally; she was still the smallest person in their grade. She was acutely conscious of the disparity in height between herself and her friends.
Astrid suddenly sighed, gustily. The teacher was used to her various reactions to the material he presented and so took no notice, but the girl on the other side of Astrid gave her an irritated look. She was a new girl, and Cassandra decided that she mustn't know who Astrid was. Or rather, who Astrid's father was.
Astrid looked sideways at the girl who had just looked annoyed. Her datapad entries were neat and detailed. Astrid wished that she could write like that. Her own handwriting was depressingly messy.
"Stop looking at my notes!" the girl hissed. "Just because you aren't paying attention doesn't mean I'll let you copy mine!"
Astrid gazed at her in surprise. Everyone knew that she already knew everything in the ninth level history course, on account of her father. The girl misinterpreted the reason for her surprise.
"From a noble and august family, are you?" she asked nastily. "Well I'm not going to let you do whatever you want, so get that into your head and read somebody else's notes." She turned a shoulder on Astrid.
Astrid stared at her in astonished indignation. Cassandra had to stifle her giggles. Cross, Astrid decided to answer the next question Mr Parsons asked just to prove that she had no need to copy anyone else's notes. She didn't have to wait long.
"And now, who can name the foremost members of the Jedi Council at the time that their plot was discovered?"
Astrid immediately stuck her hand up in the air. Mr Parsons looked surprised.
"Miss Skywalker?"
"The most respected… man… on the Jedi Council at the beginning of changeover was Master Yoda, who was nine hundred years old and the most skilled lightsaber duellist of the time. He was also generally regarded as the wisest of the Jedi. Master Windu was also greatly respected. He was one of the major voices in the Jedi Council, and was unique in that he was seen to be balanced – uh, morally – between Light and Dark, rather than being entirely Light. In representation of this his lightsaber blade was the color purple rather than the usual blue or green – it was a symbolic combination of the Light color blue and the Dark color red."
Astrid sat back, allowing a slight look of self-satisfaction to come over her face. That last little snippet about Light and Dark was unknown to most and wasn't covered in the school syllabus.
"Thank you, Astrid," said Mr Parsons, almost reproachfully. He went back to teaching.
Astrid, out of the corner of her eye, could see the girl looking at her in angry astonishment. She smirked.
"I don't take notes," she whispered, still staring straight ahead but making sure that the girl heard every word, "because I don't need to."
The girl glared.
Cassandra and Astrid were sitting together at "their" table eating lunch when the girl marched over.
"How come you knew all that stuff?" she demanded. Astrid gave her a disdainful look, eyebrows slightly raised.
"I beg your pardon?" The intonation was cold, and reminiscent of Vader.
The girl, unusually, wasn't daunted.
"You heard me. That stuff isn't in the syllabus or in any of the books I've read about the Jedi. You made it up!"
Astrid surged to her feet, glaring. "I did nothing of the kind!"
Cassandra stood too, also glaring. "Astrid knows what she knows because she's important," she hissed. The girl was scornful.
"There's no Skywalkers in the Empire government that I ever heard of," she said angrily, convinced that Astrid was both a cheat and a liar and that Cassandra was involved in the lies. "I bet you're just some kid from a foster-family or something trying to be bett–"
SMASH! The glass closest to Astrid exploded. Cassandra and their opponent stared at it in astonishment, while Astrid looked supremely disconcerted. Then, before the other two had recovered, she drew herself up and summoned all her dignity and command.
"I," she announced, loudly enough that people from other tables whose attention had been caught by the sound of the glass breaking, were able to hear, "am Astrid Skywalker, the daughter and sole heir of Lord Vader."
Her eyes were burning with furious anger. Unbeknownst to her, she was so angry that she looked quite formidable. Involuntarily her antagonist stepped backwards. Astrid took a step forward, leaning aggressively into the other's space. At that the other girl rallied and pushed Astrid violently away.
Astrid staggered back, then charged forward, knocking the other girl to the floor. The girl retaliated by pulling Astrid over backwards.
After that, it wasn't clear what exactly was going on. Cassandra bravely dived into the fray so that there were three people rolling about on the floor, pulling each others hair, kicking each others legs, or hitting each other in the face. It only ended when, abruptly, three separate pairs of hands grabbed a girl each and hauled them off each other.
"This is disgraceful!" Mr Parsons bellowed in Astrid's ear. Her anger vanished in sudden shock and she became aware that the fight had become the centre of a circle of interested students. Cassandra was being similarly berated, looking frightened, while the girl that they had been fighting was glaring and looking sulky.
"She accused me of making stuff up in class!" Astrid protested. "But I didn't! My father told me!"
At the words my father some of the students moved back uneasily. Mr Parsons sighed exasperatedly.
"Let it be known," he said, raising his voice so that it carried, "that Miss Skywalker 'a', never makes things up in class, and 'b', is, indeed, Lord Vader's daughter."
He turned back to Astrid. "But that is no excuse for brawling in the refectory and causing a disruption!"
The three girls were treated in the school med-bay before being sent off to class. That afternoon Astrid arrived home with an interestingly-purple bruise around one eye, hoping fervently that her father was still off on a diplomatic mission.
No such luck. Astrid ran into Vader in the hall.
"Hi," she said, turning her head slightly to remove her eye from his field of vision and trying to sneak past.
A large hand clamped on her shoulder, effectively stopping her form doing so.
"What," asked the Dark Lord, his voice filled with disapproval, "happened to your eye?"
Astrid sighed as he turned her head to the light to inspect her black eye better.
"I got into a fight," she explained.
"I see." Astrid winced at the note in his voice.
"It was a matter of honour!" she protested. "It was a new girl who accused me of cheating and making things up in class!"
Vader appeared exasperated.
"You are supposed," he boomed, "to act with becoming dignity. If you are insulted, you are mean to negotiate the problem."
Astrid smirked.
"I was negotiating," she assured him, grinning. "They were, ah, 'aggressive negotiations,' that's all."
Vader appeared to struggle with himself. Astrid watched warily. Finally he sighed.
"You are difficult and troublesome," he told her resignedly.
Astrid looked up at him gravely. "Proof of paternity."
Vader made an indescribable, strangled sound while Astrid watched him solemnly. Vader decided to ignore that remark.
"I will arrange to see your teachers tomorrow," he said sternly, "to discuss this with them." He strode off to his quarters.