Jaina walked quickly down the deserted hallway, her bare feet slapping the
cold floor, as she rubbed a towel vigorously through her damp hair. Her
lightsaber hung at her waist, swinging back and forth with the rhythm of
her steps. Jaina mentally itemized the things she needed to accomplish that
day:
One, Clean my lightsaber, which was looking really grimy during practice,
Two, I need to have measurements taken for a new flightsuit. This one is about to fall apart.
Three, Find Jag.
Four, Send a message to Kyp about Jacen coming home. That ought to be an interesting show...
Five, Kiss Jag.
Six, I think Mom wanted me to pick up some wine for dinner tonight. I wonder what kind...
Seven, Kiss Jag again.
Jaina's mouth tugged upward into a satisfied smile as she continued down the corridor, quite satisfied that she would be able to accomplish all of the items on her list.
But suddenly, in mid-step, she faltered, stopped walking and turned in a slow circle, trying to identify the source of the tickling that she had just felt in the Force, as if someone was following her. But the hallway was still deserted. She frowned, but didn't waste the energy of a perfoming a full scan of the area. It was probably just Jacen nearby; she still wasn't used to having him home.
Lifting the towel to her head again, she walked backwards for a few steps, watching to be certain that no one appeared in the hallway to trail her. Seeing nothing, she started to turn around to continue walking, but instead watched as the towel flew out of her hands and the walls tilted as she tripped over a foot that had appeared out of a seemingly innocuous conference room.
She had time to emit a small, undignified squeak before she landed hard, splayed out across the hallway. Looking up, she followed the foot to where it attatched to a leg and a body, to see a shock of black hair atop a head that was shaking with laughter and emerald eyes that were shining with mirth.
"I thought you Jedi had that whole constant vigilance thing going on?"
Even as she glared wrathfully, her traitorous mind could not help but wonder at the jeweled perfection of those green eyes.
"This is not a good way to get me to like you."
"Fortunately, I'm not worried about that," said Jagged Fel, standing with his hands on his hips, grinning smugly down at her. "You already like me."
Jaina's voice turned deadly serious, "There are those who say it is not wise to anger a Jedi."
"Really," he said, rubbing his chin in mock thoughfullness, "because I've never heard anyone say that."
Suddenly, Jag found himself being propelled through the door of the conference room to hit hard against the opposite wall. He landed with his palms flat against the wall, arms extended straight down, feet shoulder width apart. He found that he was unable to move from this pose, as if some kind of superglue was holding him fast against the wall.
He looked up to see that Jaina had lifted herself off the floor and walked into the dimly lit conference room. As she turned around to close the door, cutting the room off from the hallway, she spoke in a conversational tone. "There's a reason you've never heard anyone say that."
She walked slowly over to where Jag was pinned against the wall, looking at him from under heavy lids. In the low light, it seemed to Jag that Jaina was floating towards him. His eyes glittered as he followed her movement.
When she reached him, she raised her hands and placed them on either side of his head and slowly leaned forward to kiss him. Jag closed his eyes as he felt her breath on his lips. But at the last moment, Jaina tilted her head smoothly to the left and tipped her mouth up towards his ear, to tell him, in a sultry whisper, "Because those who anger Jedi do not live to tell the tale."
He suddenly felt the invisible bonds release his body and he grabbed Jaina around the waist and kissed her fiercely. As she wove her fingers through his thick hair, she though smugly, That's three things I can cross off my list.
-----------------------
Jacen lay on his back, hands linked behind his head, staring at the gray ceiling. His pillow and blankets lay forgotten on the floor next to his bed. While at first, the presence of a mattress, synthfeather pillow, and woven sheets seemed a luxury akin to floating blissfully on the clouds, Jacen had become accustomed to sleeping on a hard ground, and the unfamiliar softness made his uncomfortable. So he lay simply on the lumpy, standard-issue military mattress, staring at the ceiling, and, as he was wont to do, thinking.
He thought first of his parents, his aunt and uncle, and little Ben. It seemed that every time his heart beat, a pulse of happines shot through him with the thought that he was home. The fact that he was able to see each of them every day was a pleasure unlike any he had experiened. He then thought of his sister. She had most certainly changed in his absence, but, unexpectedly, for the better. He had been worried, terrified really, that he would return to find only a shell of the twin he used to know, gutted by Anakin's death. Yet something had saved her from that fate. Her presence in the Force was one of muted joy, that flared into a full symphony when Jagged Fel was around.
Jagged Fel.
Jacen knew the man by reputation only, and from what he had heard, Fel was a superior pilot and an excellent commander, if somewhat remote in person. Jacen didn't know any more about him, but he didn't care. He made Jaina unaccountably happy, and that was all that mattered. He also had a deep respect for any man that could handle his sister. His thoughts drifted away from his family, and to the Force.
He allowed his lids to sink halfway down over his eyes, and the images and distractions of the day float upwards, higher and higher, until they were lost to his inner eye, and his mind was left blessedly clear, a deep, empty void, like the black vaccuum of space, but vacant, even, of any such thing as "black". His spirit, his soul, the small piece of the Force that he produced, whatever it was that was the essense of his being, labels were irrelevant, expanded and swelled.
It grew outward, from the middle, until Jacen's body could no longer contain it, and it burst free of earthly ties. It floated upward, a wave of pure energy, out of the barracks, up through the atmosphere of the planet, out of that system, out of that galaxy, to a place he had often visited in the past year. A place that was both outside the universe and an integral part of it. Many images, words, emotions, and thoughts passed through Jacen when he was in this place, yet vision, hearing, and feeling were not the right words, they were insufficient to describe the experience.
He was sucked into the whirling, churning, endless circle of time. Images flashed passed him, images from the past, present, and future, images that had happened, would happen, might happen, never happened. He rushed past the beginning of time and its end, which were indistinguishable, because time was an ever-moving ring, every part identical yet every part unique. The metered, strict, inflexible divisions of minutes, hours, days, and years that were usually used to describe time had no meaning in this place, because to the universe, time was not something that could be studied, named, categorized, processed, and packaged. Time was existence, and existence time, both inseperable parts of the gleaming light that was life.
Jacen was pulled out of the spinning ring toward its center, to the glowing, pulsing light that shone with all colors. He was absorbed by the joyous light, merged and became part of it. He was no longer Jacen, no longer a distinguishable, seperate entity, for he had become part of the burning light. And yet he was more himself than he had ever been.
Questions had long disappeard, he simply was. And the light shone brighter.
---------------------------------
Leia looked around the table in complete satisfaction. For the third time in the last four days, her family was together at the table for an evening meal. Although their number could never again be complete in this lifetime, this knowledge did not temper the joy that Leia felt.
She watched as her husband regaled Jacen with an off-color tale of an experience at one of the many shady establishments he had frequented in his younger days. Mara's eyes were alight with excitement as she described to Jaina the newest features on an exotic and deadly weapon she had recently added to her ever-growing collection. Luke was using the Force to spin the colored drinking glasses in front of the candles on the table, so that a rainbow of lights played over Ben's face as he laughed and reached out to try to grasp the beams of color.
Leia's smile broaded as she passed around a dish of kraal's meat that she had instructed the chef droid to specially prepare for Han. As she turned to speak to Mara, however, she caught a look of deep-seated apprehension on Jacen's face.
"Is there something wrong?" she questioned him worriedly.
"What," he asked, pointed to the pan of shellfish that Han had begun to heap liberally on his plate, "is that?"
"Bouillabaisse," said Leia.
"Bless you," said Jacen.
She shot him a stern look. "It's Alderaanian," she said, and then imploringly, "I made it myself."
She watched as Luke blanched, Jaina's fork froze halfway to her mouth, Mara choked, and Han's hand changed course in midair to direct the serving spoon back away from his plate. Even little Ben seemed to whimper in fear.
Leia grinned mischeviously. "Just kidding."
All present seemed to suck in a relieved breath, as if they had just escaped death by a milimeter.
"Leia honey, you're gonna give me gray hairs if you keep doin' that. I don't want people to think I'm gettin' old!" Han said plaintively.
"Really Mom, my life flashed before my eyes," agreed Jacen.
"That must have been pretty dull," smirked Jaina. As Jacen stuck his tounge out imperiously at Jaina, Leia shot them a repressive look.
She turned to Han. "Well I almost made it. I mean, I had to give the chef droid special instructions and everything," said Leia smugly.
"That's my girl!" Han grinned rougishly as he gave her a loud kiss on the cheek.
Later that evening, when the apartment was quiet, Leia felt a whisper of her maternal instincts return to her as she programmed the food synthesizer for breakfast, instructed the service droid to tidy the kitchen, and gave the housekeeping droid Han's socks to darn.
When she checked her comm messages, and a voice began screaming at her in an alien tounge about the unjust misallotment of funds and supplies in refugee camps, Leia smiled contentedly.
Ah, yes. Home sweet home.
------------------------------
I stole a quote from Harry Potter, as I'm sure someone noticed. And by the way, this story is much, much farther along at theforce.net. If anyone wants to read it there, just go to theforce.net main page, go to the sidebar and click on Discussion Forums, then Fan Activities, then Fanfiction stories, and I'm in there somewhere! My fic is usually on the first eight pages or so.. And thanks to whomever is reading!
One, Clean my lightsaber, which was looking really grimy during practice,
Two, I need to have measurements taken for a new flightsuit. This one is about to fall apart.
Three, Find Jag.
Four, Send a message to Kyp about Jacen coming home. That ought to be an interesting show...
Five, Kiss Jag.
Six, I think Mom wanted me to pick up some wine for dinner tonight. I wonder what kind...
Seven, Kiss Jag again.
Jaina's mouth tugged upward into a satisfied smile as she continued down the corridor, quite satisfied that she would be able to accomplish all of the items on her list.
But suddenly, in mid-step, she faltered, stopped walking and turned in a slow circle, trying to identify the source of the tickling that she had just felt in the Force, as if someone was following her. But the hallway was still deserted. She frowned, but didn't waste the energy of a perfoming a full scan of the area. It was probably just Jacen nearby; she still wasn't used to having him home.
Lifting the towel to her head again, she walked backwards for a few steps, watching to be certain that no one appeared in the hallway to trail her. Seeing nothing, she started to turn around to continue walking, but instead watched as the towel flew out of her hands and the walls tilted as she tripped over a foot that had appeared out of a seemingly innocuous conference room.
She had time to emit a small, undignified squeak before she landed hard, splayed out across the hallway. Looking up, she followed the foot to where it attatched to a leg and a body, to see a shock of black hair atop a head that was shaking with laughter and emerald eyes that were shining with mirth.
"I thought you Jedi had that whole constant vigilance thing going on?"
Even as she glared wrathfully, her traitorous mind could not help but wonder at the jeweled perfection of those green eyes.
"This is not a good way to get me to like you."
"Fortunately, I'm not worried about that," said Jagged Fel, standing with his hands on his hips, grinning smugly down at her. "You already like me."
Jaina's voice turned deadly serious, "There are those who say it is not wise to anger a Jedi."
"Really," he said, rubbing his chin in mock thoughfullness, "because I've never heard anyone say that."
Suddenly, Jag found himself being propelled through the door of the conference room to hit hard against the opposite wall. He landed with his palms flat against the wall, arms extended straight down, feet shoulder width apart. He found that he was unable to move from this pose, as if some kind of superglue was holding him fast against the wall.
He looked up to see that Jaina had lifted herself off the floor and walked into the dimly lit conference room. As she turned around to close the door, cutting the room off from the hallway, she spoke in a conversational tone. "There's a reason you've never heard anyone say that."
She walked slowly over to where Jag was pinned against the wall, looking at him from under heavy lids. In the low light, it seemed to Jag that Jaina was floating towards him. His eyes glittered as he followed her movement.
When she reached him, she raised her hands and placed them on either side of his head and slowly leaned forward to kiss him. Jag closed his eyes as he felt her breath on his lips. But at the last moment, Jaina tilted her head smoothly to the left and tipped her mouth up towards his ear, to tell him, in a sultry whisper, "Because those who anger Jedi do not live to tell the tale."
He suddenly felt the invisible bonds release his body and he grabbed Jaina around the waist and kissed her fiercely. As she wove her fingers through his thick hair, she though smugly, That's three things I can cross off my list.
-----------------------
Jacen lay on his back, hands linked behind his head, staring at the gray ceiling. His pillow and blankets lay forgotten on the floor next to his bed. While at first, the presence of a mattress, synthfeather pillow, and woven sheets seemed a luxury akin to floating blissfully on the clouds, Jacen had become accustomed to sleeping on a hard ground, and the unfamiliar softness made his uncomfortable. So he lay simply on the lumpy, standard-issue military mattress, staring at the ceiling, and, as he was wont to do, thinking.
He thought first of his parents, his aunt and uncle, and little Ben. It seemed that every time his heart beat, a pulse of happines shot through him with the thought that he was home. The fact that he was able to see each of them every day was a pleasure unlike any he had experiened. He then thought of his sister. She had most certainly changed in his absence, but, unexpectedly, for the better. He had been worried, terrified really, that he would return to find only a shell of the twin he used to know, gutted by Anakin's death. Yet something had saved her from that fate. Her presence in the Force was one of muted joy, that flared into a full symphony when Jagged Fel was around.
Jagged Fel.
Jacen knew the man by reputation only, and from what he had heard, Fel was a superior pilot and an excellent commander, if somewhat remote in person. Jacen didn't know any more about him, but he didn't care. He made Jaina unaccountably happy, and that was all that mattered. He also had a deep respect for any man that could handle his sister. His thoughts drifted away from his family, and to the Force.
He allowed his lids to sink halfway down over his eyes, and the images and distractions of the day float upwards, higher and higher, until they were lost to his inner eye, and his mind was left blessedly clear, a deep, empty void, like the black vaccuum of space, but vacant, even, of any such thing as "black". His spirit, his soul, the small piece of the Force that he produced, whatever it was that was the essense of his being, labels were irrelevant, expanded and swelled.
It grew outward, from the middle, until Jacen's body could no longer contain it, and it burst free of earthly ties. It floated upward, a wave of pure energy, out of the barracks, up through the atmosphere of the planet, out of that system, out of that galaxy, to a place he had often visited in the past year. A place that was both outside the universe and an integral part of it. Many images, words, emotions, and thoughts passed through Jacen when he was in this place, yet vision, hearing, and feeling were not the right words, they were insufficient to describe the experience.
He was sucked into the whirling, churning, endless circle of time. Images flashed passed him, images from the past, present, and future, images that had happened, would happen, might happen, never happened. He rushed past the beginning of time and its end, which were indistinguishable, because time was an ever-moving ring, every part identical yet every part unique. The metered, strict, inflexible divisions of minutes, hours, days, and years that were usually used to describe time had no meaning in this place, because to the universe, time was not something that could be studied, named, categorized, processed, and packaged. Time was existence, and existence time, both inseperable parts of the gleaming light that was life.
Jacen was pulled out of the spinning ring toward its center, to the glowing, pulsing light that shone with all colors. He was absorbed by the joyous light, merged and became part of it. He was no longer Jacen, no longer a distinguishable, seperate entity, for he had become part of the burning light. And yet he was more himself than he had ever been.
Questions had long disappeard, he simply was. And the light shone brighter.
---------------------------------
Leia looked around the table in complete satisfaction. For the third time in the last four days, her family was together at the table for an evening meal. Although their number could never again be complete in this lifetime, this knowledge did not temper the joy that Leia felt.
She watched as her husband regaled Jacen with an off-color tale of an experience at one of the many shady establishments he had frequented in his younger days. Mara's eyes were alight with excitement as she described to Jaina the newest features on an exotic and deadly weapon she had recently added to her ever-growing collection. Luke was using the Force to spin the colored drinking glasses in front of the candles on the table, so that a rainbow of lights played over Ben's face as he laughed and reached out to try to grasp the beams of color.
Leia's smile broaded as she passed around a dish of kraal's meat that she had instructed the chef droid to specially prepare for Han. As she turned to speak to Mara, however, she caught a look of deep-seated apprehension on Jacen's face.
"Is there something wrong?" she questioned him worriedly.
"What," he asked, pointed to the pan of shellfish that Han had begun to heap liberally on his plate, "is that?"
"Bouillabaisse," said Leia.
"Bless you," said Jacen.
She shot him a stern look. "It's Alderaanian," she said, and then imploringly, "I made it myself."
She watched as Luke blanched, Jaina's fork froze halfway to her mouth, Mara choked, and Han's hand changed course in midair to direct the serving spoon back away from his plate. Even little Ben seemed to whimper in fear.
Leia grinned mischeviously. "Just kidding."
All present seemed to suck in a relieved breath, as if they had just escaped death by a milimeter.
"Leia honey, you're gonna give me gray hairs if you keep doin' that. I don't want people to think I'm gettin' old!" Han said plaintively.
"Really Mom, my life flashed before my eyes," agreed Jacen.
"That must have been pretty dull," smirked Jaina. As Jacen stuck his tounge out imperiously at Jaina, Leia shot them a repressive look.
She turned to Han. "Well I almost made it. I mean, I had to give the chef droid special instructions and everything," said Leia smugly.
"That's my girl!" Han grinned rougishly as he gave her a loud kiss on the cheek.
Later that evening, when the apartment was quiet, Leia felt a whisper of her maternal instincts return to her as she programmed the food synthesizer for breakfast, instructed the service droid to tidy the kitchen, and gave the housekeeping droid Han's socks to darn.
When she checked her comm messages, and a voice began screaming at her in an alien tounge about the unjust misallotment of funds and supplies in refugee camps, Leia smiled contentedly.
Ah, yes. Home sweet home.
------------------------------
I stole a quote from Harry Potter, as I'm sure someone noticed. And by the way, this story is much, much farther along at theforce.net. If anyone wants to read it there, just go to theforce.net main page, go to the sidebar and click on Discussion Forums, then Fan Activities, then Fanfiction stories, and I'm in there somewhere! My fic is usually on the first eight pages or so.. And thanks to whomever is reading!