this is a disclaimer.

AN: outtakes from the swallows and amazons verse.

of rainbow gold and moving house (luke, the solos, chewie, and a change)

Their first afternoon on Yavin IV, it rains.

Well, it's not their first afternoon, obviously, cause they've been here before, loads of times, but this is the first afternoon they've been here and known they didn't have to leave again soon.

Or, in fact, ever.

Mom and Dad and Chewie are still unpacking and bickering cheerfully about how to put the shelves together, so of course they had to sneak off. They didn't even want to talk to Uncle Luke; this is their First Day.

Later on, after they've stopped being intrepid adventurers on the hunt for hidden gold in the upper levels of the Temple, they start being hungry kids just long enough to eat their pilfered sandwiches on a window-sill where they can see the rain still falling, although it's all much more cheerful now because the sun's out too, and the world is lit up in warm golds and reds and gray-blues. Heavy clouds hang low over the Jedi Academy, sweeping across the sky like the hangings on the ceiling of the ballroom of the palace on Coruscant. The raindrops sparkle in the rich, heavy glow of the early evening sun, and a rainbow is forming over the treetops.

Jacen takes a thoughtful bite of his sandwich. "Dad says that on Selonia, if you follow a rainbow back to the end you'll find a pot of gold," he says round a mouthful of ham and cheese.

Jaina swallows in a hurry, instant enthusiasm. "Let's go look! Quick!"

But Anakin frowns, sandwich crumbs spilling down his front. He's been making his way around his sandwich with methodical thoroughness, eliminating the crusts before getting to the good bit, and there's a bit of butter at the corner of his mouth. Jaina feels very grown up when she leans over and wipes it away with her thumb like Mom does. "Are we allowed to go alone?" he asks. "Maybe we should take Dad."

"Maybe we should take Dad and Mom and Uncle Luke and Chewie," Jacen says. "We're not really tall enough to carry pots of gold."

Jaina brushes her hands off with a sigh. "Fine. But I'm Head Explorer!"

"No way!" Anakin says. "I saw the rainbow first!"

"Little brothers don't get to be Head Explorers. I knew about the gold," Jacen says indignantly.

"Well, you're a little brother too, nerf," Jaina says. "I'm oldest. I'm in charge!"

"But –"

"Don't start, Anakin," Jacen says. "Mom can choose a Head Explorer 'fore we go."

Anakin pouts and Jaina looks irritated, but they both agree.


Leia wakes him up the morning after she and Han and the kids move in to their new apartment by perching on the side of his bed and waving a cup of caf under his nose tantalisingly.

Luke reaches for it blindly and sits up.

"Our Mother's name was Padmé," his sister says, handing it to him.

Silence at first; Luke gulps down half the cup before he answers.

"Padmé. It's – it's pretty."

"It makes me think," Leia says thoughtfully, "that she liked to dance."

Luke gives a snort. "Picture Father waltzing."

Leia laughs.

"We could look for her," Luke suggests at last, softly. "She might have been a Jedi – Tionne's just got permission to extend her work at the Temple on Coruscant for another three years."

Leia considers this for a moment, turning it over in her mind.

"Do you want to?"

Luke shrugs. "I don't know," he says. "On the one hand, yes. On the other hand..."

"Things are good," Leia says.

"Things are good," Luke agrees.

They've worked hard to find this equilibrium. They can stand to wait a while before they unbalance it again.


"And if there's anything else her Worship'll have to go fetch it herself," Han says, dropping the last box on the table with a clatter from inside it and a sigh of relief.

Chewie doesn't believe him. Han snorts, but he's not about to admit he's probably right.

He drops into a chair and props his feet up on the box he's just carried up from the Falcon and lets his head fall back so he's looking up at the ceiling: it's a nice ceiling, plain and unadorned, which is more than can be said for the elaborately-carved ceilings in their old apartments in the Palace on Coruscant – not that they've actually gotten rid of said apartments. They're just locked up with all the blinds drawn and covered in dust sheets.

Han turns his head and looks over at his friend.

Let me know if you ever start feeling useless.

"Why would I start feeling useless? How would I start feeling useless? There's all this to do." He waves a hand languidly at the unpacked apartment. "And the kids. And I'm technically still a General in the NRA, you know."

Chewbacca looks amused.

Han shrugs. "That was a long time ago."

A very long time.

Han smiles faintly. "Yeah."

The apartment door slides open and Jacen barrels in with his hands full of empty sandwich boxes: "Dad! Dad, quick. We're conscripting you and Chewie on an exp'dition to find rainbow gold!"

Han sits up straight and gives Chewie a look. "Useless," he scoffs.

Not likely.