Atris was jolted from troubling visions by the bell, the wake-up one, she presumed. She rolled out of the bed and sprang to her feet with the grace provided by her Jedi reflexes and Echani heritage-well, not so much her Echani heritage, anymore. Not when they had the luck of being human-passing and had to hide everything in order to dodge Imperial discrimination.
Pushing this thought to the back of her mind, Atris then opened the trunk that had been set there during the feast by someone. Inside were endless stacks of robes-not the warm brown of the Jedi, but an unforgiving black, the blackness that she stood out against so well. Of course, there were other things underneath, like skirts and pants and sweaters, but Atris couldn't help but fixate on the robes.
They just felt wrong. Maybe it was the Force. Maybe it was some long-lost instinct. Either way, Atris ignored it as she threw on the minimal amount of clothing required, just the dark grey pants, the white button-down, and the blue and bronze tie. Who cared if she looked a little underdressed compared to the others?
She couldn't help but smile-her train of thought was oh-so-similar to Kiera's. After six years, the three of them thought all-too-similarly. While they could easily distinguish where one began and the other ended, they still were aware of the glaring similarities that tied them together stronger than most apprentices that were multiples.
Atris finger-combed her hair as she ran down the stairs to the common room-then back up to fetch her lightsabers. She clipped them onto her belt, then ran back down and out to the Great Hall for breakfast.
She burst in, the last one of the Ravenclaws. She saw that Harry was already there, chattering with Hermione and her redhead boyfriend merrily.
Hey, she pushed out, but with no response. Slightly hurt, she peeked over her shoulder to see Kiera staring at her sympathetically. Atris shrugged and sat down. She ate the cereal-Force it was nice to have something other than rations for once!-and scrambled to her feet. She continued out to the commons area outside in the compound, and waited for the other two.
Kiera was the first to come out, with her datapad. She shot a glance at the others milling about, and huddled in with Atris.
"Master Korr has contacted us," she said in a worried voice. "He says we need to get back or he'll come find us himself. And he'll bring Master Jade-Skywalker with him!"
"Don't respond," Atris said quickly. "We need to let them figure it out. Harry wanted us to do this alone, so we will. Besides, think, we could become Jedi Knights for handling this on our own!"
"Not me," Kiera said softly.
"Maybe training with these Force-Users will help you," Atris said. "Maybe you'll get better if you're in the field more."
"Maybe," Kiera agreed reluctantly, drawing her knees to her chest and letting her long brown hair flutter around her face.
"What's wrong?" Atris asked.
"Dumbledore," she immediately whispered. "I hate that he made me feel-like I have to be great, powerful, special-"
"Did you know?" Atris asked.
"Know what?"
"That you were Revan's final descendant?"
"Oh," Kiera said. "Yes. My family was so proud-my real family, not the Outlanders. And look where it got them. A disappearance in Imperial prison. They still had a good grip on some of the Outer Rim territories-where my birth parents lived-Dromand Kaas, I think."
She laughed bitterly.
"I know how that is," Atris said. "Some of my family were the same way. They told me how the few family members left that showed off their heritage ended up dead, lynched by some Imperials on Coruscant. Things are getting easier, and we were lucky enough to be able to hide what we were. But I can see why groups like the Diversity Alliance came up. You can't actively parade it around when you're not completely human. Zabrak, Twi'lek, Togruta, Echani, and so many others. . ."
"Hullo, are you ready to go?"
The two girls looked up to see Hermione's red-haired boyfriend, and Harry and Hermione themselves.
"Where to?" Atris asked as she got to her feet, then helped Kiera up.
"First to Ollivander's, he should have wands that will work for you," Hermione said. "It'll help you refine your magic-"
"You mean the Force?"
Hermione cocked her head inquisitively at Atris. "I guess."
"Well, let's get going then," Harry said, and they continued to a room with endless stacks of small, skinny boxes with an old man sitting behind the counter.
"Hello, Mr. Ollivander," Hermione said as she strolled in.
"Ah, Hermione Granger," he said. "Vine and dragon heartstring, quite rigid, if I remember correctly. Didn't it light up when you walked through the door?"
"It did, Mr. Ollivander," Hermione said respectfully. "Sir, we need to get wands for-"
"Mr. Jade, Ms. Outlander, Ms. Rand, I understand," Mr. Ollivander said as he stood abruptly. "Well, let's first measure you, shall we?"
He clapped his hands, and sets of measuring tapes hovered in the air and began measuring the length of Atris, Harry, and Kiera's arms and such.
"So tell me, which arm is your wand arm?" Mr. Ollivander asked.
"Right," Kiera and Harry chorused.
Atris shrugged. "Either works for me."
"Oh, you're-what's the muggle word-ambidextrous!" Ollivander cried. "Excellent. I suppose you should know that wands are for channeling your magic-back in my day, they called it the Force. It will help you control it, use it. We'll have to try a few, you see."
The three nodded obediently.
"Ollivander wands are unique in that no two phoenixes, unicorns, or dragons are the same," he continued. "The three types of cores are important. No other wand in this world has these types of cores."
"Let's get to it, then," Atris said eagerly, enthusiastic about learning this type of Force-use.
About an hour of trying on wands passed before Atris found her wand.
"Cherry and dragon heartstring, nine inches, quite rigid," Mr. Ollivander said, handing her the wand. Atris turned over the light wand in her hand and noticed the strange flowers carved into the handle. She lifted the wand and flicked it.
A wind emanated from the wand, making her white hair blow behind her dramatically, like in the old holos.
"Congratulations, Miss Rand," Mr. Ollivander said. "Mr. Potter, try holly, Phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."
As soon as Harry touched it, red sparks came from the tip.
"Well, congratulations, Mr. Potter," Mr. Ollivander said, surprised at the quickness.
Kiera waved her wand frantically, trying to figure out what was wrong with her-she was never all that strong with the Force, and now she couldn't figure out how to use the damn wands-it was enough to make her want to cry.
"Try one more," Mr. Ollivander recommended. "Yew and phoenix feather, thirteen and a quarter, unyielding."
Kiera nodded, and swished the wand. The result was so powerful, it knocked her over.
"There is a dark power in this, Kiera," Mr. Ollivander warned. "Use it, but be careful."
"I will," Kiera lied, secretly excited as she immediately replayed the sensation of power in her fingertips. "Thank you, sir."
"Thank you, Mr. Ollivander, now we really must be going," Hermione said quickly.
"Mr. Jade-know that you and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named are more similar than you know-it is in the cores," Mr. Ollivander explained.
"Err, what do you mean?" Harry asked.
"Mr. Jade, your wand has a core from one phoenix who only donated two feathers," Mr. Ollivander told him. "The other is in the wand that gave you that scar."
Harry's hand unconsciously reached for the lightning scar on his forehead. For once since they were eleven, Atris and Kiera got a good look at it. Harry usually covered it with his jet-black bangs, and they were so used to seeing it anyway, that they'd forgotten how jolting it was.
"This is how I know you will go onto great things," Ollivander whispered. "After all, You-Know-Who did great things. Terrible, yes. But great."