Two small children sat off in the distance on a small hill. They were talking about their future, what things they wanted to accomplish when they got older. The young boy knew that he wanted to go off and learn how to master the force. He wanted to be a Jedi and be the best of them that there was. The young girl did not have exactly the same thoughts about this.
"Who cares about the Force? Everyone wants to be a Jedi," the young girl rolled her eyes slightly.
"What do you want to spend the rest of your life doing, then? Uncle says that we should not let our abilities go untrained."
It had been one of the main things that she and her brother had been told all of their lives. They had to learn the focus their power and manage themselves. Learning to control the force had never been one of the things that she had spent her nights dreaming about. She wanted to roam the Galaxy and see as much of it as she could. The young girl wanted to explore and find things that other people had never even dreamed of seeing.
Her brother laughed a little at the slightly distant look on her face. Ben knew exactly what it was that she wanted to do with her life. She wanted to be just like their father, something that their mother would have been less than excited about; which was why their parents did not know that this was a goal of hers. "You should do it. Run off. Find the highest and lowest points of our fine galaxy. Once I've finished training I'll go with you. Someone will have to protect you."
"You sound like Father and Uncle-" she was cut off by C3-PO approaching from behind Ben.
"Ben. Padme'. Your mother has sent me to find you. Evidently the both of you were meant to be back at home some time ago." C3-PO turned away from the two of them and began to walk back down the hill. "Your father has returned with your uncle."
Somewhat reluctantly Ben stood up and offered a hand to his smaller sister that was sat in front of him. The two twelve year old children looked like polar opposites of each other. Ben had quickly grown much taller then her in their short years together. He had black hair with small curls, while Padme' had blond straight hair. She had deep blue eyes that looked close to his dark brown ones unless you were looking closely.
Pademe' placed her hand into his and he pulled her to her feet. She ran her hands down the back of her loose fitting pants and started on her way down the hill, following after the shiny golden droid. Ben followed after her once she was halfway down. The both of them knew what this was going to be about. Their uncle was coming to see if they were ready to go with him and study the Force. Ben and Pademe' both knew what the other was to do. Ben would go with him, Ben wanted to be the best Jedi. Padme' would say that she had no interest in learning to control the Force, that she didn't know what she wanted to do.
C3-PO turned around abruptly stopped as they approached the bottom of the hill, causing Pademe' to almost bump right into him. Ben held in a laugh as he walked up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Oh, I was meant to ask if you wanted to go retrieve your father and uncle. I suppose we could go back if you wanted to."
A small giggle left Padme's lips and she shook her head, "That would be rather pointless now, wouldn't it? They've gotten to the palace already."
The three them looked to the palace that was several hundred feet away from them. They could see the Millennium Falcon dropping into the landing pad that was beside it. "Oh, I suppose you are right. Well, I have other things to attend to now," with that C3-PO walked away towards the palace leaving them to begin the short trip to the landing pad that had been put it specifically for the Falcon.
Ben kept his hands on her shoulders and began to push her in the right direction. His sister seemed fairly tense as they made their way. He could see a look on her face that said she would rather of stayed on the top of the hill by their home, rather than head into the conversation that they had both known was coming. Ben moved from behind her to her side, one of his arms around her shoulders. They continued along the whole way to the landing pad, in a comfortable silence, both of them thinking about the best possible outcome. Young Ben knew that the perfect outcome would be him going off the begin his Jedi training, and his equally young sister would be left with their mother (and on occasion father), to have time to decide what she wanted if becoming a Galactic Space Smuggler didn't work out for the daughter of a princess.
As the twins reached made their way towards the small building beside the landing pad they heard a very distinctive growl beside them. Padme' turned quickly towards the sound and a large smile broke out over her face. "Chewie," she shouted and took off running towards him, jumping into his arms.
Han and Luke walked into the small hanger before Ben and Padme' could reach them and Chewbacca, leaving their friend behind to distract them for a little bit so that they could have a talk with Leia. She knew how he felt about this whole thing. His children were just that: children. They weren't even teenagers and she wanted to send them both off with her brother to learn about these powers that they didn't even have yet. If there was something that his children wanted, there wasn't a criminal in the galaxy or a government that he wouldn't cross to get it for them, but Han wasn't about to send them away just because it was what their mother wanted.
Leia was waiting for them against the far wall with her arms crossed against her chest with an expectant look on her face. "Luke, good to see you again. I hope your trip here was alright."
"Of course. Are Ben and Padme' on there way here?"
Han walked past Luke briskly to a wall to Leia's right and Luke made his way to the wall at Leia's left. "They'll be here, don't you worry about that, Luke. Look. The both of you know how I feel about this whole thing. I don't like the idea of shipping our kids off to go play Jedi Soldier with your brother. Twelve isn't-"
"Han, it's not about shipping them away," his wife interrupted him, shaking her head and looking at him, willing him to understand. "It's about making sure they understand-"
"Understand what, Leia? Just because you think that they might lose control don't mean they will. Ben, Me'. They're good kids. If they don't wanna go, I'm not gonna stand aside and let you try and convince them otherwise."
It was Luke's turn to intervene from his point across from Han, "I know you are concerned about Ben and Padme', Han. But they have to learn to control this power that is inside of them. If they do n-"
"I don't care if they don't learn to control it, Luke. I care if they want to go or not." Luke and Leia both dropped their heads slightly as Han continued to virtually chastise them. As he went on Padme' and Ben entered the hanger, as prepared for the impending conversation as was possible. "Padme' doesn't want to go, and I don't care what either of you has to say about her control over the Force. I'm not gonna stand here and have you try and convince her otherwise. She can make her own choices. Ben: fine. You wanna let Luke take your son, Lei, fine."
"I'll go wait to be taken off, then," Ben stated looking at his parents and uncle, with a blank look on his face. His sister was behind him with her head hung staring intently at her hands, which she was playing with in front of her hips. The three adults turned their heads to look at the two children that stood in the doorway. The parents looked as though they were trying hard to figure out the right thing to say in attempts to fix the damage that was just caused.
"Look," Han began to say, and he turned to approach his son and daughter. Before he got more than a step in their direction, Ben turned and shoved passed Padme'. A sigh escapes Hans lips and he opened his mouth to talk again, but before he could say a word his daughter took off in the same direction as his son. "Great. Well, that went well."
Padme' took off after her brother. He and their father had always had a strained relationship. Ben felt that the father should stay with them and their mother on Alderaan, in stead of running off all over the galaxy, continuing to pursue his career in smuggling and backstabbing. Padme' didn't exactly disagree, but she more felt that their mother needed to reevaluate the way in which she pursued her career. She spent many days building up her military goals that Padme' felt that their mother put that over either of her children and her husband.
She found Ben where she usually did, slightly into the forest, in a very small clearing. He was sitting near the far side of the clearing, and Padme' slowly approached him since he was facing the other way. When he didn't turn around as she approached, she walked a little more quickly and dropped to the ground to his right. Ben turned to look at her, and she looked straight ahead of herself. Neither of them said anything as Padme' leaned over and dropped her head on Ben's shoulder.
