The day after, the daily routine shifted back into place. When Tallie got up, Grandma Scout and Jaina were having breakfast in their little area in the screened back porch. Tallie had never been invited to go in there with them, but she had snuck in every once in a while. She knew what was in the strange glowing holocron— a warning from Obi-Wan Kenobi— and that the datapad of books Grandma Scout kept in there were incredibly dull.
She knew it wasn't Jaina's fault that everyone preferred her over Tallie. Jaina was special, able to do miracles. How could the ordinary Tallie ever measure against that?
Ever since Jaina was born, Grandma Scout could sense that Jaina was like her— a future Jedi. She was the first one to hold Jaina, and the bond maintained, especially after Jayce died. Quickly, Aunt Deila and many of the other aunts and uncles and cousins Tallie had on her father's side cooed over Jaina's every observation and action.
To be fair, it wasn't like Jaina acted too spoiled, despite being showered with praise and gifts. She was quiet, and sweet, always observing. She had an unblinking blue-eyed stare that pierced into Tallie's soul. Her face was strangely inexpressive, and she had that way of tilting her head to the side ever-so-slightly, as she listened to others, as if she were pondering a problem.
She could pick up small details and make conclusions that Tallie could never. And if Tallie asked how she knew to look for such clues, she would just shrug.
"I just do," Jaina always said.
Tallie was lucky to have gotten up before Aunt Deila, so she could be spared of the lectures she was sure that Deila prepared about the new tattoo.
She headed out to the fields, and into the barn where Doran kept his old RZ-fighter, now used as a crop-duster. She hauled open the doors and then turned on the old starfighter.
The hum of the engines was like a lullaby, and was the oldest one Tallie knew. Her love for flying was completely unmatched by all else. Her long, nimble fingers glided across the switches, flipping them on and off in the start-up sequence she knew by heart.
"Red Nine, standing by," Tallie murmured. It was her mother's old number during the war.
She thrust forward the joystick, and soared into the pink-spattered golden morning sky. The house grew tiny from there, and the fields of the Lintra homestead seemed to stretch on forever.
Pippip 3 was more beautiful from above. It was so easy to be caught in the mundanity of it all when she was on the ground, living in it. Only above, did Tallie realize how much she could love her home.
After a small eternity, Tallie set down in the barn.
Just in time, she thought as she saw her father's lone figure start down the dirt path to the barn. She hooked up a refueling pump, and waved to her father as he approached.
"Been up in the air again, Starshine?" Doran asked, a smile spreading across his face.
"Of course," Tallie said, flipping her long blonde hair over her shoulders. "Gotta keep up my practice if I wanna be as good as you one day."
Doran smiled, but there was something that faltered in his eyes. He bit his lip.
"What?"
"You should go hang out with Jaina," Doran said. "She leaves tomorrow for the Jedi Academy."
Tallie rolled her eyes. "Isn't Luke Skywalker himself coming?"
"Yes, but that's not the point," Doran said. "I know things are sometimes rough between you two, because of how Mom and Deila treat her, but that's not Jaina's fault."
"Right," Tallie mumbled. "It's too much to ask that that she try to get me included."
"Those things just don't come to her because she's never had to think about a younger sibling like you have," Doran said. "It's not her fault what's happening. She's just a child."
Tallie bit her lip, just like her father did.
Doran put his hand on his eldest daughter's shoulder. "I know it's not fair, Starshine. But if it makes you feel better, I know Gav, Nom, and Danni are coming to see Jaina off."
A bit unwillingly, a smile flickered on Tallie's lips. "They never come around anymore."
"Because of Nom and Danni's fancy jobs on Hosnian Prime, and Gav's been busy running with Han Solo's new shipping company," Doran said. "But they wanted to make sure that they came to see your sister off, and see your new tattoo."
Tallie's flickering smile grew to the smirking grin that belonged to her mother. "I bet I look more like her every day."
"Just as beautiful," Doran agreed. "Except the eyes. You've got my dreamer's eyes, as my own father used to say."
"I guess I'll go talk to Jaina," Tallie said. "I'll help her pack."
"Atta girl," Doran said. "Maybe this evening we can look at our star charts, while Deila goes over Jaina's packed things."
"Yeah," Tallie agreed. "Love you, Dad."
"I love you too."
The second floor of the Lintra Homestead in the central building had slanted walls, because Tallie's grandfather had built it in a pyramid shape. The attic was the part with the pointy roof, but that wasn't the only challenge of living in a triangular house.
Corners of the house were difficult to clean. But somehow Tallie managed to keep her room neat and dust-free. Jaina, for all her wisdom, was not so blessed.
"This is a real sty," Tallie muttered as she picked up clothing off of the floor. "How long has it been since you vacuumed your room?"
"Five weeks." Jaina's eye twitched, her only sign of guilt.
"Don't worry, I'll help you," Tallie promised. She threw the shirt into the laundry chute in the wall. It would tumble into the laundry room on the first floor, where Sera, Tallie, and her other cousins would assist Aunt Deila with sorting and folding.
"Thanks," Jaina said. She looked to her open suitcase on her bed, with her sheets and blankets tossed about. "I have no idea what I'd even pack. I've never been away from home before."
"I know, we'll miss you so much, Wise Child," Tallie said.
Jaina's lip went pouty at the nickname she disliked so. She twisted the golden bracelet she'd received for her last birthday around her wrist. Stars and planets dangled off of it, with a golden rectangular block reading Little Comet.
Jayce had coined the name for her youngest daughter. The Jaina Comet was famous to all Corellians for being visible once every seven years in a distinctive arc. It was the most popular name on Corellia for that reason.
It was only natural to name their daughter, who was just as miraculous and wonderful, after the comet.
Doran called Jaina that, too, just like he called Tallie Starshine.
"You're thinking about our nicknames, aren't you?" Jaina's eyes were to the holos on the wall of two blonde giggling girls playing with their equally-blonde mother.
"Yeah." Tallie learned long ago to never lie about what she knew Jaina saw. "Dad had a nickname like that for Mom, too. She was Stargirl, I'm Starshine, and you're the Little Comet."
"Do you think she would think it was a good idea for me to go?" Jaina asked.
"Absolutely," Tallie said. "She wanted to follow her dreams, and she thought the same for us. She wouldn't have wanted either of us to be unhappy."
Tallie frowned. "Is everything okay? Are you getting nervous?"
Jaina's fragile, birdlike features remained emotionless, her eyes somewhere far away. "A little, I suppose."
Tallie waited, but Jaina said nothing. She scanned the room as she realized that Jaina would say no more.
"We should look for clothes, first, probably some practical stuff," Tallie said. "You'll hopefully be practicing with using a lightsaber in no time."
"Yeah."
The slightest of sounds would have drowned out Jaina's breathy voice.
Tallie hugged her before flinging open the closet doors. Moving through a checklist, she and Jaina worked together, and ended up having Tallie sit on the suitcase as Jaina struggled to zip it closed.
"May I come in?"
Grandma Scout stood in the doorway, watching the spectacle unfold.
Jaina brightened immediately. "Of course, Grandma Scout."
"I have something I would like to give to you," Grandma Scout said. She held an ornately-carved wooden box in her hand. "May I sit down? I am not as young as I used to be."
"Of course." Jaina immediately cleared a spot as Tallie scrambled off the bed to make room for the old woman. Even in wrinkled, pale old age, Grandma Scout resembled Jaina immensely. Except that Grandma Scout, back in the day, had red hair to her waist, rather than mid-neck length white-blonde waves.
Jaina sat down next to Grandma Scout, perched like a bird about to take off into the skies.
"You didn't have to give me anything," Jaina said. "You've done enough, teaching me about the Force."
"Yes, well, I think it is time that you have something I am far too old to use," Grandma Scout said. "Jedi Training was much different in my day. I don't remember my family, but they had made a sacrifice to the greater good by giving me to the Jedi Temple. When I was your age, I went to Illium with Master Tachi. There, I made the greatest weapon I would ever wield."
Tallie gasped as Jaina opened the box, revealing Grandma Scout's old lightsaber.
"I am far too old to fight," Grandma Scout said. "But your fight is only just beginning. You have a long road ahead of you, Little Comet. This weapon is a reminder of a far more civilized age. Guard it as if it were your life."
Jaina nodded, her expression grave as she held the metal cylinder in her hands. She examined it for a moment. Then she pointed the end upward, and turned it on. The room was bathed in the teal light emanating from the saber blade. An otherworldly hum filled the room.
Jaina turned it off, and the moment was gone. Tallie didn't understand what she felt when her sister had turned off the saber. She wouldn't understand for many more years.