Road to Kinship—

By Knight Mara

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters, the setting, nor any thing else that George Lucas has created. I'm only playing with them. I promise that I'll put them back later. :)

As the door to the Solo apartment opened, peals of mischievous laughter drifted outward, escaping on the midmorning breeze. The twins, the visitor thought with a wry grin. Four year-old, Force-sensitive menaces. He shook his head sympathetically as he brushed past the ever-present and perpetually irritating protocol droid that greeted him in the foyer.

"Greetings, master—" the droid began in his prissy voice before the visitor interrupted him unceremoniously.

"Is Han here?"

If possible, the droid seemed somewhat miffed, but replied, "I'm afraid not, sir. He and Mistress Leia have gone to meet Master Luke this morning. The children are in the care of Chewbacca and myself, although I am beginning to wonder about the wisdom of such a decision. I fear that Master Jacen and Mistress Jaina are rather—"

Again the fretful droid was cut off as the two topics of discussion came barreling into him at an inhuman speed, laughing uproariously as his shiny metal body toppled headlong onto the polished floor. The combination of childish laughter, clanging metal, and the droid's mechanical wails of "Oh my!" was deafening, and the visitor staggered under the acoustic barrage.

"Merciful Force," he groaned, his hands pressed against his ears as he watched the two children pick themselves up from on top of their fallen "nanny."

Two pairs of brown eyes looked up to meet his own, and a smile spread across both of their faces. They were almost identical, but for the long tangled braids that drooped from behind the ears of the one child who stood quickly and eagerly, clapping her tiny hands together.

"Did you see that?" she exclaimed, breathless from laughing, but apparently not at all winded from their dash into the foyer. "Did you see how fast we went?"

Before he could reply, a mountain of fur emerged behind them. The youngest Solo child sat giggling in the furry arms as Chewbacca growled what was apparently a reprimand directed at the two children.

"We used the Force," the second twin explained, ignoring the Wookiee and helping the droid to its feet. "Uncle Luke told us a story about how the Force made this guy run really fast without getting tired, and we wanted to try it! It worked!"

"Jacen," the visitor said, bending over and resting his hands on his black-clad knees so that he was eye-level with the boy, "I think Chewie is trying to tell you something."

"But you saw us," the other continued, his brown eyes suddenly pleading. "Didn't you, Uncle Kyp?"

Kyp Durron sighed and looked toward the other twin who was sucking in her bottom lip pensively even as her eyes regarded him as eagerly as her brother's had. "Yes, I saw you," he said gently. As the twins relaxed and exchanged pleased glances with each other, he added, "And I'm impressed, but you shouldn't be using the Force when there's no one here to guide you, remember?" For a moment, his eyes darted to the Wookiee, who stood shaking his head in exasperation. "I mean, look what you did to Threepio. Look how upset you made Chewie."

The twins' pleased looks abruptly evaporated as they turned to look at the Wookiee behind them. Through the Force, Kyp could tell that they had not been truly deflated, but they appeared convincingly contrite as they said in unison, "We're sorry."

In response, little Anakin blew his siblings a rather wet raspberry before giggling and waving his tiny hand toward Kyp. The boy's blue eyes twinkled, eerily reminiscent of the eyes of Kyp's master.

"So can we practice using the Force now?"

Jacen's unexpected question brought Kyp's gaze back downward. "Jacen, I thought I told you that you are not supposed to."

"But you're here now," Jaina argued, as though this was the obvious answer to their predicament.

Kyp gave a mirthless chuckle and knelt beside the two children, looking from one to the other. "Jaina, Jacen, I'm sorry, but you cannot practice without your mommy or your uncle here to watch you."

"But you're a Jedi," the little girl pressed, her brows now furrowed in confusion.

"But I'm not a master," Kyp tried to explain.

Jacen lifted his chin haughtily, and for a moment he looked just like his mother. "Neither is mommy," he said, as if that made Kyp's whole argument baseless.

Again, Kyp sighed, trying to find a way to explain to the children why he should not be the one to supervise them. Jaina spoke first.

"And you will be a master some day," she said plainly.

Kyp stared at the little girl, feeling an odd pang at her words. He wanted to believe them, wished with all of his might that the Solo child might be speaking the truth; but he knew it was not to be. He was lucky enough to have been allowed to continue his training as a knight; for many, he knew, felt that he shouldn't have been permitted even that much. No, Master Skywalker would never allow him to become a master. The idea was preposterous. He looked up at Chewbacca, searching for a way to explain to Jaina that it just wasn't possible, when he met Anakin's eyes once again. He shuddered slightly as the boy's Skywalker gaze held his, and he suddenly felt the urge to escape. He had come to pay a visit to Han on one of his rare excursions to Coruscant, but now he wanted nothing more than to run back to Yavin, to immerse himself in the Force that had so benevolently welcomed him back in spite of the Darkness he had once carried.

He stood abruptly, turning to leave, when the door of the apartment rushed open. Kyp stood frozen as Han Solo, his wife, and Master Skywalker entered the apartment, engaged in some amusing conversation. Han was laughing as his eyes fell on Kyp.

"Hey, kid!" the Corellian greeted him enthusiastically. "When did you get here?"

Kyp shrugged uncomfortably, his eyes involuntarily darting toward Master Skywalker as he replied, "Uh, about five minutes ago, maybe less."

Skywalker's eyes were surveying the room as he asked, "What happened here?"

Leave it to Skywalker to raise the level of Kyp's discomfort. "Well, I was just giving the twins here a lecture on not using the Force without supervision," he explained timidly, again trying to keep his gaze on Solo. "They nearly destroyed your droid using Force-enhanced speed as they tore into the room."

"We wanted Kyp to teach us, but he wouldn't," Jaina added, reaching up and grabbing her mother's hand.

Chewie growled something that Kyp didn't understand and Han nodded. "Well, no harm done, unfortunately," Han said with a wink toward the perplexed droid trotting off into the kitchen. To the two children he said, "And your Uncle Luke is here now, so maybe he can find something for you to do that will keep you busy for a while."

Kyp caught Skywalker's wry grin as the Jedi Master muttered, "Thanks, Han."

"Any time, kid."

Jacen pushed forward. "Can Uncle Kyp stay, too?"

Kyp frowned, his face paling from the boy's reference to him as "Uncle Kyp." He looked at the floor, avoiding everyone's eyes. "Uh, Jacen, your real uncle's here now, and you should spend some time together as a family," he stammered in excuse.

"But you're family," the boy countered, reaching up and taking his hand. "And you can teach one of us while Uncle Luke teaches one of us. That way we each have a master."

Kyp shivered, suddenly feeling cold and claustrophobic. Pulling his hand out of the boy's grasp he spoke rapidly, "Jacen, I already told you, I'm not—"

"You could be Jaina's master, first," the boy continued, not allowing him to finish.

Kyp's eyes fell on the small form of Jaina Solo staring expectantly up at him, and he knew he had to escape. Backing toward the door, he hastily apologized, "I'm sorry, I should go." His hand found the opening mechanism, and before he knew it he was backing out of the apartment, looking everywhere but at the people who were undoubtedly watching him with confused expressions. "I'll see you around, Han."

And with that, he was heading away from the Solos, away from Master Skywalker, away from the Jedi children who wanted him to be something he wasn't. Away from the closest thing to a family that he had.

"Twin Suns Two, you alive back there?"

Kyp shook his head as he was thrust back into the present by the voice that crackled loudly across the open channel. He and Twin Suns Leader had just exited hyperspace near the Maw, on their way to a brief stopover at Shelter. It would be his last flight as Twin Suns Two, for it had been decided that Kyp would resume command of the newly reformed Dozen. Just days ago, Fel had departed Borleias for the Hydian Way, and soon only Jaina Solo would remain.

"Can't have you flying into a black hole before loads of Jedi younglings get a chance to torture you properly," Jaina quipped in a falsely chipper voice.

"Wouldn't dream of it, Goddess," Kyp responded in kind, sensing through the force the shadow that had begun to loom in her mind since Fel's departure. He knew that she was doing an admirable job of hiding it from everyone else, but it did not go unnoticed through their bond. And if he didn't know any better, he would venture to add that he sensed a growing apprehension toward his own departure. Not nearly as poignant as Fel's, but it was there all the same.

"Thinking hard about the mission?"

Jaina's question startled him. "Huh?"

"Your Force sense," she replied. "It's all . . . daydreamy."

Kyp shifted a bit in the cockpit, feeling an embarrassed warmth creep into his cheeks which he quickly suppressed. Very un-Jedi-Master-like. "Well, you know, it is a rather complex mission agenda," he said dryly. "Check on the progress of the students first hand, report back to Master Skywalker on my findings, be the perfect little Jedi, wish I was somewhere else . . .." He heard her chuckle. "Oops, did I say that last part out loud? Guess I need work on my perfect Jedi Master façade before I meet with your uncle."

"Now you're being childish."

"Ah, childish," he echoed distantly. "That's something I haven't been called in a while." He paused. "Actually, I was reminiscing."

"Aw, about the good old days when you didn't have to take orders from your apprentice and you were free to wreak havoc on the galaxy all by yourself?"

Kyp gave an audible wince. "Ouch, Goddess."

There was silence.

"So really, what were you reminiscing about?"

Sighing, Kyp looked out through the transparisteel of the cockpit at Jaina's ship and replied, "Oh, nothing. Just a couple of force-sensitive terrors I used to know. Kinda' like the ones we're about to visit. Thinking about how one of them grew up to become my commanding officer, and how time flies and all of that."

There was a sadness in Jaina's responding laugh, and Kyp had a brief image of Jacen and Anakin flash through his mind, with the thought, And the two that didn't get to grow up at all. "Stars, Kyp," she said at length, "you sound so old when you talk that way. Like some nostalgic relative at a family reunion."

Kyp grinned and gave his best imitation of an elderly voice, teasing, "There was a time, young lady, when you respected and listened to your Uncle Kyp, you whippersnapper, you!"

A sudden burst of truly surprised giggles burst over his comm as Jaina remarked, "Gods, I did call you that, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did," Kyp answered softly before a beeping noise at the controls alerted him to their proximity to the Maw. Quickly shifting modes and opening himself to the Force, he ventured, "You ready for this?"

"Have you forgotten who beat your record at the Belt?" she retorted, even as Kyp felt her own Force essence merge with his as they navigated in tandem through the Maw.

In silent concentration, they flew together along the dangerous path that the Force revealed to them. So immersed were they in the steady flow of energy that surrounded them, it did not come as a surprise to Kyp when images of a past that was not his flashed through his mind. He saw himself as a brash teenager, viewed through the eyes of an adoring child. He saw a young boy with brilliant green eyes, and felt the pangs of betrayal as the boy succumbed to the dark. He witnessed the rebirth of hope and the joys and sorrows of first love. There was grief, and the intense anger of betrayal as images of Serpindal came to mind. There was hatred toward him, the crushing despair of loss that so painfully echoed his own experiences, and the darkness that had been so near, so tempting. Again, he saw himself through another's eyes, the eyes of one who had given up all hope, and with disbelief he watched himself become a guiding light, an anchor that she was afraid to release. And there was gratitude, and love. Not the love that came in the form of another young man with dark hair and green eyes, but the love that could only be described by one word, a word that Kyp had spent a lifetime trying to achieve.

And then Kyp's eyes opened, and he was staring at the affectionately named Shelter, wiping the sweat from his brow and shaking himself free of the lingering effects of such a deep immersion into the Force. He briefly wondered how it had happened that Jaina's thoughts and memories had so easily flooded his mind. And if her mind had been open to him, had his mind been as open to hers?

With a crackle of static, Jaina's voice came back to him, "We're clear. Say hello to Shelter."

"Setting docking coordinates now, Goddess," Kyp responded, still unsure of what had just happened between them.

"Copy that," Jaina's voice returned. "Oh, and Kyp?"

"Yes?"

"You are family."

Drawing an unsteady breath, he realized that she had seen his thoughts, and her words rippled through him. In a voice that lacked its usual confidence, he asked, "I thought you said we were just partners?"

"We are," she answered him. "But remember how I said I was still trying to figure it all out?"

Kyp sent out a mental nod.

"Well, I just did."

A sense of warmth rose in him, and Kyp could only smile. "An honorary Solo, huh?"

"Sounds fair to me," she said, adding teasingly, "Uncle Kyp."

Shaking his head, Kyp chuckled. In his mind's eye, he saw the tiny child with the warm brown eyes smiling at him, the child who had grown into the young woman who now smiled that same smile through her canopy window. He was suddenly aware of how much he was going to miss flying with her, but the thought that he would always be family was reassuring. And if being "Uncle Kyp" was what it took, so be it.

"Thanks, little terror," he replied, feeling her own warm blush through their bond. "I mean Goddess," he quickly ammended.

And together they headed toward Shelter, and the future of the Jedi.

A/N: I had to repost this because the formatting got a bit weird since it was posted ages ago. Hope you all have enjoyed it.