A.N: This chapter was actually partially written before porting to FF, thus why it got uploaded so quickly. Just to let you know, the next chapter is also partially written already, so it might come quickly too.
10 Years Later: Lake County, Naboo
The Naboo sun rose above the lush, forested hills, and reflected off the calm waters of the lakes. Birds flew in the atmosphere, and fauna roamed in the underlying foliage. Wherever life appeared, the Force emanated from it and maintained it like stitches binding the galaxy together. In the serene scene, a bronze-plated H-type Nubian yacht descended towards a small landing pad beside a lavish stone house overlooking a lake. With gentle maneuvers, the yacht settled onto on the landing pad, and the landing hatch lowered to form a boarding ramp.
The Naberrie couple exited their yacht while three brunette girls followed close behind. The yacht hatch soon automatically closed with a click. Sola, the taller of the three girls, wore a ocean blue dress with her hair woven back in a bun. The other two were Padmé and her friend Sabé, who Padmé met during a visit by the Pelare House members. Although both closely resembled each other in physical appearance, they contrasted in personality. Sabé saw her friend as a reasonable, compassionate, yet overly idealistic person. Padmé saw her friend blaze with a natural rebellious and mischievous streak from her family; it was typical for Pelare House members. Even with the occasional Force pranks, Sabé clearly cared for her friends.
"The Lake Country is an significantly vibrant and scenic place to be in. That's why our ancestors chose this location for our estate: the diverse plant life and wildlife makes the Lake County very Force-attuned. So, this region of Naboo is excellent for training, meditation, and swimming," Ruwee said with a wink towards his younger daughter Padmé, who enjoyed swimming as a pastime.
The Naberries, alongside Sabé Pelare, continued along the cobblestone path towards the lake estate which sat silently along the shore as if waiting for its occupants to return. When they arrived at the gate of the tall duracrete wall surrounding the retreat grounds, an accented male voice answered the entrance comm.
"Identification?"
Ruwee put his hand on a identification scanner, which flashed green. Next, he placed the Naberrie family amulet onto a smaller scanner, which also flashed green. A hum sounded as the gate field disengaged.
"Welcome back Sir Naberrie, looks like you're the real deal." the revealed suited blonde man greeted.
"Sir Arias, it's great to see you again, friend," Ruwee said as he gave his friend and estate guard a hug.
Bestowed the "Shiro" Duty which was named after the armored Naboo creature, Arias took upon the role as the Naberrie House bodyguard with his niece Eirtaé next in line. Arias, or uncle Arias, found himself as the only candidate since his brother and sister-in-law died in a landing disaster six standard years earlier. As a result, his niece lived alone with him in Theed, and often kept silent unless she met close friends such as the Naberrie children during days like this one.
The Shiro Guard and friend-colleague led the Naberries into the stucco covered stone house, and led them into the foyer. The foyer and main hall were exquisitely decorated: multiple portraits of all prominent Naberries hung along the walls, and the floor was covered in sky-blue and purple carpeting. Holopics replayed each one of their prime achievements below each portrait. At the end of the hall, a newly placed portrait of an elderly woman with flowing curly gray hair hung. Ruwee and Jobal went with Arias toward the kitchen to prepare a meal for family and friends.
"We'll be preparing the morning delicacy, just call us if any of you have preferences," Arias said before leaving the Naberrie sisters and Sabé to their conversations.
Both Naberrie siblings and the Pelare heir recognized the painted picture as one of Elder Winama Naberrie, a prominent Holocron keeper in the Force-sensitive Nubian society, and Head of Text Keepers in the Circle of Elders. Alongside the portrait stood a tall, blond girl dressed in a flame orange dress with leather slippers.
"Eirtaé!" Padmé greeted while her sister and other friend Sabé waved hello towards Eirtaé before walking to the guest room to unpack their luggage.
"Hello Padmé." Eirtaé said.
"I'm glad to see you, and it's nice to see you passing last year without a scratch. Summer is going to be fantastic," Eirtaé added.
"I'm also happy to see you too Eirtaé. How have you been lately?" Padmé asked her friend.
"Alright, I've completed my first year at the Youth Legislative Program in Theed University, and I'm very interested to becoming Queen of Naboo later on, " said the fourteen year-old blonde.
"Nice to hear that, Eire."
"Besides that, not much..." Eirtaé said with a stiffer expression than before.
"...went on," she continued.
A quick reach into the Force bond to her friend indicated to Padmé that her friend remained somewhat sad and lonely over the loss of her parents, betraying the neutral expression on her pale face.
"Sorry about your par-"
"I feel it's better to not mention them at this moment, maybe later," Eirtaé said with an pained gaze with ice-blue irises.
"My bad. How about we enjoy some shurra fruit fusion smoothies before training? My mother brought them earlier today for all of us," Padmé hesitantly agreed, keeping in mind that her friend had tendencies of moodiness when faced with her departed parents, despite the yearning to console her friend.
"Alright, perhaps I need a smoothie now," Eirtaé said with slightly watery eyes.
Soon, Sabé soon returned from the guest bedroom after unpacking her belongings from her suitcase and saw Padmé putting her arm over Eirtaé, leading her towards the dining room. Meanwhile, Sola stood in front of the guest room mirror, untangling her hair, as her brown eyes staring back into dark pupils. Those brown eyes reminded Sola of her grand mother Ryoo, kind and understanding. She wondered what had caused the surge of anguish only a moment earlier, despite hearing nothing beyond the door to the guest room. The possibility of an argument among the close triple of friends was unlikely. Yet her intuition told her that Eirtaé remained troubled after her parents death despite the passage of six years. After taking a few minutes undoing her hair, Sola exited the room towards dining room where her parents were preparing the morning refreshments and snacks.
"Looks like you're ready for those smoothies Sola. We are almost ready with the meal, hope you enjoy it," Arias said.
"Thanks, Shiro Arias," Sola said, smelling the aroma of Nubian pastries.
The dining room's chair cushions was decorated with floral patterns of red, orange, and royal purple. Tapestries of the greatest "Kereires del Nubia" Society members hung from the walls, marble busts of Naboo poets rested at the corners, and the oval table of Endor wood was edged with silver. On the east side of the room, a transparent glass door faced the Varykino lake in all of its splendor. Sola gazed upon her friend Eirtaé comforted by Padmé about her deceased parents. Although Eirtaé initially refused to mention her parents, Padmé had managed to slowly drag her friend into a conversation about her parents. A cracked glass cup rested on the table surface next to them. Sola realized that emotions were a natural part of people, why would one abstain from them like the Jedi? On the other hand, why let them rage like a burst dam like the Sith permitted? Instead, the key was to feel and act moderately in the Force and other matters, and remain patient in understanding others, an ideal that fit the considerate personality of Sola.
"It took you an awfully long time to get here, Sola, you just missed the greatest story of her father's combat in the Naboo-Gungan Conflicts."
"Let's send those Motha' Gungas back to the swamps!" Eirtaé imitated in a gruff voice with a Southern Nubian accent.
The three girls giggled at the imitation of Sir Eiche Arias, the great-grandfather of Eirtaé. A moment later, Jobal placed plates of Nubian pastries alongside glasses of shurra smoothies on the table.
"Here they are, I just decided to use your grandmother Ryoo's recipe, Padmé always likes these with berry jam. Hope you all enjoy it," said Jobal.
"Thank you Miss Naberrie," Sabé said, and Eirtaé nodded in approval of the cooking skills of Jobal.
"Thanks, Mom," said Padmé.
The brunch passed with calmness and happiness, as the Naberries had some interesting tall tales about the wartime heroes that their ancestors made. One of them was the siege of the Deeja Peak temple of the Karieros de Nubia. Sabé listened with interest and Eirtaé gaped in awe.
"And he died saving his fellow Nubians, although his body was never found. I guess that it makes a happy ending for a recollection like this," Ruwee said.
"Yes, my husband would always rant about ideals of honor and discipline with these tales of our long history. He is a serious, strong-willed man and a great paladin," commented Jobal.
"Well I haven't seen action for a standard decade, since I teach politics and history nowadays. I might be rusty. Looks like it depends on how potent you think I am in combat and the Force now," said Ruwee with his hands at the back of his head while laying back in his chair.
"Still a great story, it's very inspiring," said Eirtaé, who then drank the remainder of her smoothie.
"Trust me, I hear those inspiring tales a lot, Dad enjoys telling them to anybody coming over, maybe a bit too much," said Padmé.
"I can't imagine that," said Eirtaé.
"Pad, let's not gossip about your father in front of guests, it's rude," said Jobal. Sola smirked at her sister, who simply looked away.
"Yes, Mom."
Soon afterwards, Ruwee Naberrie and Arias walked the girls out to commence their lightsaber training of their children and their friends. The cobblestone path twisted through hillsides and the caves in the mountains, but at least its underground parts were well lit with electronic lighting and marked with signs for directions. Jobal still remained in the retreat, her smooth, chromium lightsaber in a tight grip. A wisp of nervousness and fear floated around the retreat, triggering the Force empathy hunch that Jobal had. Suspicious, Jobal cautiously walked outside near the house entrance.
"Who the hell has any business trespassing on my family's grounds?" Jobal said in a stern voice, her lightsaber ready to confront the unknown presence.
A few moments passed, as Jobal studied the surroundings intently, her hard gaze of brown eyes as sharp as a targeting laser. She picked out a large bush cluster near the wall and slowly walked towards it. Immediately, the faint emotion that Jobal had earlier sensed just disappeared. The cloaked figure, hiding in the bushes along the duracrete wall managed to empty his thoughts in time. Jobal, on the other hand, was confused and reached into the Force, feeling nothing. With a puzzled look, Jobal sighed and walked back into the estate, where Sola waited for her mother.
"What happened Mother? I could feel your anxiety as you went outside, did something bad happen?" asked Sola.
"Not a problem, dear, I might have been a little jumpy from the sugary smoothies. Just focus on your meditations, Sola," said Jobal.
Outside the Naberrie Lake Estate
"King Veruna, I have gathered the current report on the Naberries," a cloaked figure nervously whispered into a wrist comlink, as he hid in the foliage a few dozen meters farther outside the wall.
"Excellent work, Agent NABSA-6B. I have a special plan for those pesky few, especially the youngest one. They stir up a significant amount of dissenters, some of whom act quite violent. Now report back to the palace within four hours."
"But in order to carry out your plan, you must consider that they have abilities beyond the average Force insensitive human," the agent said.
"I have that in mind already, as I am Force sensitive too. Just deliver the information to me and forget about this close call, " King Veruna said, glimpsing into the mind of the agent from far away.
"Yes, Your Highness," the agent answered.
The agent slipped away from the estate grounds toward a Nubian stealth speeder, the chromium body marked with streamlined gray, red, and blue markings. Looking around the craft to ensure he wasn't followed, the agent entered the cockpit. NABSA-6B pressed a few buttons, as he heard the engine start up with a low bass hum.
Soon after, the agent departed in his speeder at nearly full speed, paying little attention to the beautiful landscape below, paying attention to only the orders of the King of Naboo.
The Naberrie Lake Retreat Meadow: Training Platforms
The bright green meadow was surrounded by a river in a "n" shape, which was fed by multiple streams on a weathered ridge. This formed the meadow into a peninsula. Upon the peninsula sat two middle aged men, one blond and one dark-haired. In front of the men sat three students who meditated, sparred and practiced other unique Force abilities they inherited.
Ruwee faintly smiled as he observed his daughter spar with her closest friend Sabé with the precise, fluid sweeps, stabs, and parries of the Makashi form. Sabé and Padmé, their necks moist with sweat, both unleashed streams of elegant strikes with clever feints against each other.
"Remember to adjust your feet, Pad, Makashi relies heavily on that. Coordination of your arms, legs, and footing is key, not just feeling the Force," Ruwee lectured, staring carefully at the two developing duelists.
"You will not beat me this time, Abe," Padmé slyly promised as the signature Naberrie determination burned in her eyes.
"You're on, Pad," Sabé said.
Sabé quickly realized that Padmé was slowly gaining dominance in the match, so she quickly switched styles to Djem So to catch Padmé by surprise. The relentless, strong strikes upon Padmé forced her to abandon offensive acutely angled attacks and revert to Soresu, a purely defensive lightsaber form developed by the Jedi. Briefly, the two duelists faced each other in silence as the grunts of shaaks echoed from afar.
"You've gotten better Pad, but don't get cocky."
"I never get cocky Sabé, I'm as cautious as a lawyer."
"You have the heart of a diplomat, Pad. I think that you will make a great Queen someday."
"Well, it's awfully soon to know that Sabé, let's just see in the meantime who wins. May the Force be with us."
Padmé began to feel tired from wasting her energy upon the iron-hard defensive form of Sabé, so she used a last resort move: the "Naberrie Pinprick". The motion was to pretend to fall backwards, and acutely swipe diagonally upward towards the abdomen in an extreme angle once the opponent went in for the kill. Surprisingly, the old move succeeded, and Sabé yelped when Padmé stuck her, thus resulting in a mild burn on the abdomen. Padmé could not help grinning when Sabé, rubbing her new burn, wore a annoyed expression. Persistence, or stubbornness paid off, although her classmates disliked it.
"Nice trick there, looks like my trickster streak is rubbing off on you," said Sabé.
On the other platform, "Shiro" Fierro Arias watched his daughter practice her force shielding against a training remote, as the plasma blasts spattered harmlessly off her dome of energy.
"Look like you got the hang of it, "Eire", you might make it as a royal handmaiden," Shiro Sir Arias said, which lit up a smile on the face of his student who usually found happiness in training with her uncle.
"Thanks, Uncle, is there anything else to improve on?"
"Not really, Eirtaé. Come and have a drink, it seems that you've perspired an awful lot," said Sir Arias, motioning for Eirtaé to sit on the stone bench.
After the lightsaber sparring, Eirtaé, Sabé, and Padmé all sat together on the stone bench while watching the Naboo sun hide behind a large cloud, as their bodies felt cooler under the dimmed sunlight. Their training lightsabers gave a faint glow in the shadow of the cloud. They then interlocked their arms together and sung a Nabooian song of hope, and the men sat in peace. Despite the darkness, light always prevailed, as the darkness is merely an absence of light. Despite the evil of Veruna and secretly Palpatine, good still existed in the galaxy somewhere...
The Arias family and Naberries eventually reunited back at the Varykino lake estate an hour afterward. All the girls were tired, yet satisfied with their training performance, and happy that they got to know each other slightly deeper than before.