Chapter 2: Questions

Ben Skywalker was looking out of the window, in his home on Coruscant, down on the lights below him. He thought they were beautiful. It was amazing to him that a planet could be a whole city. There was one natural lake, and a few man made ones, but that was it. No forest, desserts, or big oceans. That was about to change.

At the end of this week, he will be leaving to live on Yavin Four. There he will train to be a Jedi Knight. He thought he would be doing that in six years. Does this mean he will have to end his child hood now? Maybe he will find out in the weeks to come. Until then, he will have fun with his friends before he would leave. His mom and dad had the whole week planned out. They already had what he was taking packed. They said they would spend today and tomorrow giving him the test he needed to take, the next four days he will play with his friends, and on the seventh day, he will leave for the Academy with his parents. He finished the tests he had already taken today. Soon he will go to bed, and rest up for tomorrow's test.

Behind him he heard his door open. Without looking behind him, he could tell that it was his mother. He could feel her and his father's presence anywhere, within a mile's distance. "Ben, you should be in bed. Tomorrow, you have to take some more test." He turned around, and smiled, "I know, Mom. I just wanted to look at the city a little longer." She chuckled a little and shook her head. "Son, your not leaving until the end of the week. You can look at it until then." He smiled again. "Okay Mom."

"All right. Now come and get into bed."

"Okay.'

He left his window lookout and crawled into bed. His mother came up to him and pulled the covers over him.

"Mom?"

"Yeah."

"Will I ever get to come back to see you, dad, and everyone else?"

Mara sighed. She knew that this talk would come. She just wished that it was when Luke was with her, but he was busy talking to Borsk Fey'lya about some trouble that was flaring up in the new colonies in the Unknown Regions. Here we go, she thought to herself. "Of course, Ben. You will get to come back. Yavin Four isn't going to be your permanent home. And we will come and see you."

"Everyone?"

"Yes. Everyone."

"Even my friends?"

"I said everyone."

"Sorry."

"That's all right." She saw and felt all of the tension drain from his face. "Good," he replied.

The door to his room opened, and Luke walked in. He walked right up to Ben's bed and sat down beside Mara. "You should be sleeping, little man." Ben smiled, "I'm just nervous." "Don't worry. You'll do fine." He bent down and kissed Ben on his forehead. "Just get some rest." He stood up. "Good night Ben." Mara bent down and kissed him to.

"Night."

"Night Dad, Mom."

He nestled down into his covers and started to drift off to sleep. Luke put his arm around Mara's waist and headed out of Ben's room.

When they exited the room, Luke turned to Mara. "So how did the talk go?" Mara glared her eyes at him. "You knew he was asking, yet you didn't come in? You better have a good reason, Skywalker."

He smiled, and said, "you sounded like you were doing such a good job, that you didn't need me. Am I right?" She chuckled and shook her head. "Yes. You are right. Don't get to happy that I said that. You won't be hearing that all the time." He smiled, and kissed her. She kissed him back.

***

Ben had finished his test, and he was waiting for the results outside the Council Chambers. On his way in all of his friends were cheering him on. He hoped that the results would come back soon. All this waiting is killing him.

Suddenly, the doors opened, and Kyle Katarn stepped out. "Ben, we are ready for you." Ben nodded and entered the chamber. The other Council members were sitting in their chairs that went around the room. His father waited until he was in the middle of the room before he spoke. "Ben, we have reviewed all of your scores and, after some discussion, have decided that you have qualified to attend the Academy." Ben had tried to keep his excitement to a minimal, but the Council must have sensed his excitement. All of them had smiles on their faces.

"You will leave for the Academy in five days. You are free until then. Good-bye for now. And may the Force be with you." Ben bowed and ran out of the room. "Very energetic child, isn't he?" stated Ganner. "All of you, don't worry. Ben will turn out just fine," said Cilghal. "Yeah. We know," Kyp replied.