Disclaimer Notes and Warnings available on prologue.

A Time of Celebration

Zekk

Part Three of Seven

"So what's the Ossus academy like?" Thion asked as he set in the copilot's seat. Zekk glanced over at his apprentice. "I mean is it similar to the one on Dathomir?" Zekk frowned, he'd only been based at the Dathomir praxeum for a few months and it was easy to forget how few dathomiri ever left their home world. This would be his new apprentice's first time off world.

"It's similar but a lot more diverse." Zekk said carefully to the young dark-haired teenager. "You will see species from all over the galaxy there." He could feel Thion's nervousness increase. He could sort of understand it since all the human natives of Dathomir were force sensitive the academy student body was completely human. The teaching staff contained quite a few aliens but it was still something of a culture shock for the Dathomir students when they were exposed to the wider galaxy.

Zekk once again wondered briefly if he should have left Thion back on Dathomir he was worried he'd brought him along just to have something to distract him from the fact Jaina was getting marred to someone else. It wasn't exactly appropriately Jedi of him to do so but the boy did need to see some more of the galaxy.

"We should be leaving hyperspace soon." Thion said drawing Zekk's attention to the counter that appeared as the Navicomputer counted down the time to exit hyperspace at the edge of the Ossus system. He pulled the level back as the counter reached zero and they arrived in the system. "Wow." Zekk had to smile at Thion's reaction to seeing all the ships orbiting the planet.

"Lay in a course toward Ossus and request landing clearance at the academy." Zekk said as he got up. "I need to visit the refresher." He left the still slightly nervous Thion to handle the piloting as he left the room. He could have waited but Thion needed the practice flying force sensitivity compensated for a lot but to truly be good at something you still had to practice.

Once he was alone in the refresher he allowed himself to relax a bit of the control and think about the fact that Jaina was getting married to someone else. He and Jaina had never had good timing when she had been interested in him he'd been dealing with the baggage from his days as Darkest Knight of the shadow academy. When he'd finally gotten through that and been ready for a relationship with her she'd met Jagged Fel and his chance was gone.

He was just finishing up in the refresher when he heard his com beep. "Yes, what is it?" He asked wondering why Thion was contacting him instead of waiting for him to get back.

"There's someone asking to talk to you from one of the other ships." Zekk quickly finished up and headed back to the cockpit. He found Thion looking slightly nervous in the pilot seat. He ignored his apprentice and set down turning on the Holocom.

He smiled when the image of a Bith female appeared. "Balia, it's good to see you." He saw her nod in response. "Balia, this is Thion my new apprentice." Then to the young dathomiri. "Thion, this is Balia Zarmer my previous apprentice."

"Master Zekk, I was about to leave the system on a mission when I recognized your ship." She said in a completely formal tone. "I thought it would be proper to exchange a quick greeting before I left." Zekk could tell Thion was a bit thrown by her completely formal manner but Zekk had gotten used to it and could tell there was more emotion present than you'd think in the young bith.

"Well then you may consider greetings exchanged and allow me to wish you well on your mission." Balia thanked him in the same formal tone and ended the communication. He glanced over at the still slightly shocked Thion and smiled. "She's really very friendly once you get to know her, just very formal."

Zekk could tell that his apprentice wasn't completely convinced but he was too timid to say otherwise. Zekk was glad that he had brought Thion even if it wasn't for completely selfless reasons the boy needed to get away from Dathomir for a bit and be treated as an equal for a change. He had noticed that while a lot of Dathomiri students were adapting well to the Jedi view of equality for all there were still some students male and female alike who were having trouble letting go of their cultural view of how to behave toward each other.

Once they finally landed and had stowed their baggage in guest quarters he took Thion on a tour of the Academy. He watched with some amusement at how Thion kept looking around in awe at the academy. It was easy to forget sometimes that at there were places in the galaxy where you wouldn't see dozens of different species in any one location.

"Hey Zekk." A voice said and he turned to see Tahiri Solo running up to him a diminutive woman following her. He guessed she was the bimm that Tahiri had taken as an apprentice a few years ago. "I heard you had arrived Jaina is in the memorial garden if you want to see her." His confusion at how she knew that must have shown on his face. "We passed through there on our way back from celebrating Sephi's knighting."

Zekk congratulated Tahiri's former apprentice and then sighed. "I would but I'm giving Thion the grand tour and the memorial gardens are going to be at the end of it." He wanted his apprentice to have a bit more enjoyment before he showed him physical reminders that being a Jedi meant risking your life.

Tahiri smiled and said. "If you want Sephi and I could give him the grand tour and meet you in the garden afterwards." She looked down at the Bimm who nodded and they turned toward Thion. "You don't mind us showing you around do you?"

Zekk started to refuse as Thion nervously said that he didn't mind. Zekk knew his standard response was to feel intimidated by women but Zekk figured it might do him some good Tahiri was friendly and out going so he'd give it a shot. "All right Thion, Master Solo will show you around, and I'll meet you in the memorial gardens in a bit."

As he walked away, he heard Tahiri saying "None of this Master Solo stuff you can call me Tahiri." He smiled in response feeling confident that he'd made the right decision in letting Tahiri take over the tour.

As he approached the memorial garden, he ran into Anakin Solo and Ganner Rhysode. "I saw your wife earlier; she's giving my apprentice a tour." He said to Anakin who nodded. "She said Jaina was in the garden?"

"Yes, she's over by Lowie's marker." Anakin said with a gesture toward the area where his marker was. Zekk thanked him and took his leave he'd never got along too well with Anakin despite his siblings being his best friend growing up. He'd just thought of him as their odd dreamy younger brother. Once he'd begun learning to use and sense the force he'd found being around Anakin slightly unnerving the youngest Solo shown brighter than nearly anyone else. It was intimidating to be around even for someone considered strong in the force like himself.

Jaina and the rest of her family occasionally shown like that but it wasn't all the time. He smiled as he thought of how Jaina lit up the force when she was flying. Anakin almost didn't seem to be able to help outshining everyone around him. He had noticed during the war that it drew some folks to Anakin and others seemed almost turned off by the boys inherent grasp of things and looked at him with envy. Zekk wondered if naturally being that gifted was why Anakin was such a loner despite often being surrounded by other Jedi he really spoke to anyone but his family and a few close friends.

He lost his train of thought as he arrived at his destination and saw Jaina sitting with Raynar Thul and Tenel Ka by Lowie's grave. He wasn't surprised to find them there as excluding himself and Jacen they were all that was left of their old gang at the original praxeum. Jaina got up when she saw him and headed over. "Zekk, I didn't expect to see you so early." She said brightly. "I thought you wouldn't be here until the day of the ceremony?"

"I decided to come a few days early and let Thion get some experience away from Dathomir." He smiled at her. "He's off with your sister-in-law." He said and then asked a question he would prefer not to have to ask. "Is Jag here yet?" He asked forcing a smile. "I wanted to congratulate you both." He wondered if she could tell how hard it was for him to be sincere about that.

"No, he's been delayed dealing with his family." Jaina said with a frown. "He's due in tomorrow though and Jacen should be here on the day of the wedding." Zekk nodded and soon found himself reminiscing with Jaina and the other two. Though he noticed that Tenel Ka looked tired and didn't talk much. He noticed her female bodyguards standing a short distance away watching them all with suspicious eyes. He laughed as Jaina began to tell a story about the time Jacen's crystal snake had bitten Raynar. He glanced at Jaina's smiling face and felt a pang but he was glad she was happy.

To be continued...