When Lexi turned the corner, she grinned inwardly. The guy of her dreams was headed in her direction. He was tall, lean, athletic, blonde, and was practically seeping with beautiful energy. She knew from years of being at the Jedi Temple with him that he was intelligent, with one minor fault- a huge ego. Most of her friends decided that she was absolutely crazy, because he was such a jerk. His name was Ben Skywalker, and he was the first son of Masters Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker. Most people allowed Ben to be so arrogant, because of his family and all of that. Lexi didn't know what it was, but she was just attracted to Ben. However, she just couldn't enjoy the moment, no, her friend Griffin had to just keep talking.
"..So if something in our DNA is controlling our abilities to use the Force, then yes, it is quite possible for the clones like Dorsk 81 was to be Force-sensitive," Griffin noticed Lexi had not been paying attention to him. "Lexi, quit staring at my brother."
Lexi shook her head quickly, bringing herself out of a trance. "I was not staring at Ben... I was just taking in what you were saying."
"You are so transparent," Griffin said.
"Am not," Lexi retorted. "Plus, if I had been staring at Ben, I would have been doing that sighing thing."
"You were doing 'that sighing thing,'" Griffin laughed, "you just didn't notice it." Lexi and Griffin had stopped walking, and Ben had glanced in their direction. Ben and Griffin looked very different in some ways, yet strikingly similar in others. In comparison to Ben, Griffin's defined features seemed dull... because Ben had very very strong cheekbones and a jawbone to match them. Griffin, however defined he seemed, just wasn't a match for Ben. They both had the same intelligent aqua eyes and tanned skin, but their hair was just as different as day and night. Ben's hair was spiky and blonde and never out of place. Griffin's hair, on the other hand, was extremely dark brown and it was unkempt, with a little bit of shag going on, with some curl at the end.
When Ben looked at the pair, he looked over the fact that Lexi was there, but he shot a nasty look at Griffin. Griffin, in return, faked a smile and turned. "On second thought, Lexi, let's just go to our dorms. We don't need to get anything from the vending machines."
"What, afraid of your big bad brother?" Lexi absent-mindedly said. She wasn't exactly paying attention to her own joke as it was. She was disgusted with Ben's actions and was upset that she did like him. It can't be forgotten, though, that she couldn't explain why she liked him, she just did. She sensed a little contempt from Griffin. He was upset that his brother was so rude, in addition to his disbelief in how his friend could like Ben.
As they walked, Lexi began to question Griffin. "How does your brother get away with all of this?! I mean, you could be a lot less lucky and have not Force-sensitive parents, but your parents are Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade Skywalker!! They should know when there's some sort of anger or bullying going on between their own children."
"Our parents think that it's normal. And Aunt Leia and Uncle Han agree. They think we should be treated like normal kids, so they kind of ignore the small stuff," Griffin uttered.
"That sucks a lot. Your sister has been kind of odd these days too," Lexi added.
"Nara's not too bad. It's just that we used to be a lot closer," Griffin said woefully.
"We've gotta just accept it. We've been brought into the Jedi knighthood. We have a job now. Nara has a year or so to go. I don't blame her if she feels a little alienated from the rest of us," Lexi tried to make Griffin feel better. Nara was his sister, younger only by a year. Ben was older than Griffin by four years, so it was natural for the younger two, Griffin and Nara, to be much closer. Nara looked a lot like their older brother- blonde, built, and very defined. She didn't help Griffin much in his quest to seem more like the rest of his family, but unlike Ben and their father, she didn't care much about her appearance, and wasn't ever much worried about her hair or her clothes. Her studies of the Force seemed to be going slower, much slower, than her siblings' had, and that was due in part to two things: her lack of interest and her strange inability to tap the Force as well as the rest of her family. The only explanation for that that her father could come up with was that perhaps she just didn't have as strong of a presence in the Force. Thus, Griffin was a black sheep in his appearance, Nara was a black sheep in her abilities- and this made Ben look near-perfect.
Ben had been born during the Yuuzahn-Vong Invasion, and the other two had born after the end of the Invasion. Contempt for the Jedi had arisen during the Invasion, because there had been a division among the Jedi, and the younger ones had become arrogant and rude to the general population. In an attempt to improve the Jedi's appearance, Jaina Solo (Griffin's much older cousin) had gone into politics just as her mother had, as a representative of the Jedi, as a nation or a system. After much debate, commercialization of the Jedi began, and the image of the Jedi slowly improved. Teenage Jedi and influential Jedi were made famous. Especially the good-looking ones or the ones related to the top honchos, like Luke, Mara, Gavin, and Kyp were put into ads and publicized. Naturally, Ben was a perfect choice- he was the golden child son of the great Skywalkers. He was smart, young, extremely talented, but most of all, good-looking. He had a very large following, and when sent on missions, they had to be kept secret, because of his celebrity and popularity among girls. Griffin had a very small following of girls, but none that sent fan mail or presents. Quite recently, Luke Skywalker had decided that enough was enough, that they had a duty to carry out, not social lives. He created a new act, that Jedi were only to be publicized with the consent of the Jedi Council.
The celebrity still seemed to have gotten to Ben a little bit, though. He hung out with a very good-looking crowd, and it was the first time that cliques had been easily identified at the Academy. Griffin was invited to hang out with them plenty of times, but after a small confrontation and a Corellian sausage thrown in Ben's face in the mess hall, it became very clear that Griffin wanted nothing to do with his callous brother. That's not to say that Ben was a bad guy. No, in fact, Ben was known to be quite benevolent- to people he didn't know. Griffin thought that Ben was a sellout.
Lexi, sadly enough, was into Ben's good looks, wit, and charm. She knew, however, that she'd never end up with him. She was only now, after many years, becoming comfortable with herself. She had long, light brown hair and cheery, yet tired green eyes. She felt herself to be very plain- not ugly, but not very stunning. Her father had been Force-sensitive, but he had died when she was young during the Invasion. Her mother had been a physician living on Coruscant, aiding the infamous Solo family when they were in need, but she was no Jedi. Lexi was only moderately Force-sensitive, but until she had started her training at the Jedi Academy, she had been the best at everything she had ever done in school at home. Alexandrea Noelani felt the need to prove herself, and would not allow herself to only be seen as just another Jedi. She had left home to prove herself to all of her friends, family, and daresay, her adversaries in school.
Lexi had a younger sister, named Caribda, but everyone called her Cara. She, too, was interested in becoming a Jedi, but she was nowhere near as thirsty for self-empowerment as Lexi had ever been. Their mother, Ariss, had married another Jedi, named Bair. He had two children from another marriage, and their mother had not been Force-sensitive either. Ariss and Bair had met through the children, actually. Collin was a couple years older than Lexi, and a mediocre student, so she didn't know him very well at first. His younger sister, Ahmee, was a good friend of Nara's, and thus, a good friend of Lexi and Griffin's. Ahmee and Collin clicked very well with Lexi (and eventually, Cara), and at a Jedi function of some sort going on at the Temple, they introduced their parents, who, well, "clicked" too. Lexi's family was all very supportive in her studies- she was very interested in the biology of those empowered by the Force.
She and Griffin worked extra hard to finish their Jedi training as soon as possible, and they finished almost a year earlier than expected. Nara had originally been interested in the same things as the other two, and had been rushing to pass onto knighthood as soon as possible too, but something happened. They weren't sure what, but Lexi fully intended on finding out someday why Nara gave up on something she had believed in so much. Nara and Ahmee began to slack off, with a few of their friends, quite suddenly and unexplainably. Collin, while also part of the group that they hung out with, tried to keep up with Lexi and Griffin, because while he was not actually the best student or Jedi out there, he was able to recognize who had their priorities in the right places.
Life as a student at the Academy, believe it or not, had been very sleepy. There was a lot of meditation, study, and exercise involved in living there as a student. Becoming a Knight was a wake-up call for Lexi and Griffin, but they became very accustomed to it quickly and fell into the swing of things comfortably. They were really the first Jedi Biologists enlisted by the New Jedi Order, so they headed all experiments and research about the Jedi body. Of course, not only were they the first Jedi biologists, but they were the only Jedi biologists. They had their work cut out for them. Luckily, there wasn't a great deal of demand for information on how a Jedi's body worked, since most Jedi relied on their intuition to save themselves anyway, not doctors. Somehow, they managed to lead fast-paced, but enjoyable lives as seventeen-year-olds (like I said, they were pretty young to be accepted as Knights).
Anyway, the two reached their living spaces, which were across the hallway from one another. They found that a congregation of their friends had been created within the space between their rooms, because there were chairs and tables set up throughout all of the hallways, for the use of socialization between young Jedi. This had been set up by a previous class of Jedi, ten to twenty years earlier, by Griffin's cousins, Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin Solo. Anakin was revered as one of the greatest young Jedi of his time-- he had been killed by the Yuuzhan-Vong, having previously been thought of as Luke Skywalker's successor as the leader of the Jedi. Griffin had never known this cousin, but never seemed very perturbed by it. Not outwardly, at least.
Having walked in silence to their dorm area, they were surprised when they heard the sudden rapturous laughter of their friends, who had been laughing at a joke that their friend Lehra had made. "Ah, what's goin' on here?" Lexi asked, trying to get out of being so contemplative.
"Just sitting around," Lehra answered.
"Duh," Noelle teased. Lexi was very used to hanging out with her large group of friends quite often, but only a few others had reached Knighthood when Lexi and Griffin had. Noelle was one of them, as well as Noah, her twin brother. In addition, their friends Feebee and Dendan were racing to catch up. Feebee was Lexi's best friend in the sense that they told each other everything and spent way too much time obsessing over dumb stuff together. It could be explained here why most of these people were her best friends, but the point being made is simply that she had a special relationship with each one, singularly different from the next. If she had been asked to, she could have gone around the whole area, rattling off every single person's name: Griffin Skywalker, Nara Skywalker, Collin Noelani, Ahmee Noelani, Lehra Hardy, Noelle Avery, Noah Avery, Feebee Weinberg, Dendan Crick, Layn Elneese, Alicia Fondara, and Clark Crohe. Next to her studies, these people were Lexi's life. She'd risk that life for any of them.
"Well, have I missed any good jokes while I was gone?" Lexi asked.
"You'd miss them even if you had been here," Clark laughed.
"Yeah, you never get jokes anyway!" Layn roared with laughter at Clark's joke.
"Ha... ha..." Lexi faked a laugh. "You guys are hilarious!... NOT."
"Make any important discoveries, you guys?" Alicia, another trainee doing as well as Ahmee and Nara had been doing, asked. Lexi, Griffin, Noelle, and Noah each gave each other exasperated looks.
"No, we didn't," Noelle quietly said.
"As you guys know, we're trying to figure out what causes some organisms to be able to touch the Force, and other to not be able to do it. By logic, we have basically decided that it really has to do with the Jedi possessing something that others lack within their bodies," Noah began to explain.
"One thing that has become very difficult for us, especially in the eyes of our mathematician here, Noah, is that we don't have enough data and statistics to compare results. Our range to prove things within is quite small," Griffin had tried to take over. By this point, the mood of the group had become very serious, because this was something that all of them had been interested in.
"Yeah, there are a lot of problems in getting people to cooperate with us. The older Jedi, not including Luke, Mara, and Gavin- who've been very interested in helping us- are very resistant in being studied, or in their words, 'poked and prodded in the name of science, the very thing that makes belief in the Force so very difficult for those not directly connected to it.' Ironically, the more rebellious Jedi feel the same way as the old ones. And, of course, most people that are not Force-sensitive don't like being surveyed on why they don't really have a strong connection with the Force," Lexi explained, rather diplomatically.
"Wow, you guys are looking pretty S.O.L.," Layn said bluntly.
"Wow, thanks, that's so nice of you to say," Lexi snorted.
"You guys are the ones who basically said it," Layn was not actually being very helpful.
"Heh heh, she's got a point," Clark chortled.
"Shut up, Clark!" More than one person snapped. Clark and Layn were notoriously uncaring about very serious subjects.
"A lot of help you are to us," Lexi said bitterly.
"Oh come on, you know you need me. I'm too smart, too great of an asset for you to not like anymore," Clark teased.
"Yeah, you love us too much, too," Layn tried to joke.
"Love you as much as we might, there are plenty of geniuses out there willing to help us," Griffin stated.
"So, are you guys coming to my party?" Feebee asked Lexi, Griffin, Noelle, and Noah. "Everyone else says they're coming." The four looked at each other.
"Uh, when was it again?" Noah sputtered.
"In five days," Lehra butted in.
"Er... no! We can't!" Lexi and Noelle cried.
"What now?!" Feebee visibly got pinker.
"We have to go present our first report of progress to the Jedi Council and the head honchos of the New Republic. We have to do it or our funding stops, since it's privately funded and funded by the Government," Noah explained.
"You guys! This'll be my last birthday as a trainee!" Feebee cried.
"Yeah, it's not like you even have that much to report," Layn said, hard-hittingly.
"But it will be the first time we've done it, so there will be press coverage, especially since Griffin Skywalker will be there- no offense, Griffin-" Noah began.
"None taken," Griffin quipped.
"So, we have to please the press. In addition, how bad of a first impression would that be if we tried to reschedule?" Noah finished.
"Sorry, I can't go either," Collin apologized, "I've been assigned to pilot them there." Feebee slumped in disappointment. Lexi's heart sank as she saw Feebee's reaction. Truth be told, she remembered exactly what day the party was... she'd been dreading telling Feebee the news.
Later that night after her evening meditation, Lexi found herself looking through old holos while sitting on her bed, cross-legged. Her room was one of the largest ones in the Temple, for two reasons- Lexi, as an official Jedi Knight, was now entitled to better living quarters. The other reason was because her assigned roommate was Nara, the daughter of the headmaster at the school. Typically, her father Luke was not into the favoritism thing, but her mother Mara had become doting enough over the years to get her a little special treatment. Anyway, her room was very large, so she put curtains around her bed, so as not to bother her roommate if she had a light on, or in tonight's case, some holograms up. Lexi was feeling terrible about not being able to go to Feebee's birthday party. She accessed a holo of Feebee. Using the Force, she reached out to her to feel what was going on with her. She sensed utter sadness. Being a Knight and not a student, she was free to go out at any time she wanted to, so she decided to go see Feebee.
Lexi knocked on the door. Lehra, Feebee's roommate, answered it joking, "I blame this on you."
"Blame what on me? And how'd you know it was me? Wait, that second question was a dumb one," Lexi said in reference to Jedi skills.
"Well, Feebs hasn't spoken all night," Lehra said.
"Sounds about like her," Lexi uttered. She walked over to the farthest corner of the room and sat down across from Feebee upon her bed.
"I'm not sure you realize just how important this birthday is to me, Lexi," said Feebee coldly.
"She speaks!" Lehra interjected, which Lexi and Feebee disregarded. They were staring each other down.
"Can't you have it some other time?" Lexi asked.
"No, Lexi, I can't. End-of-term exams are coming, I have a saber-sparring competition coming up, and to add to that, I am only going through my Jedi trials in four weeks! I'm too busy preparing for all of that. My real birthday was two weeks ago, there's no way I'm cutting into preparation or waiting for another four weeks to have my party," Feebee was adamant.
"Well if you can't compromise, then learn to live without me at your party!" Lexi's tone was raised a level.
"Me compromise? What about you? You're the one leaving!" Feebee's voice did the same as Lexi's.
"If you've forgotten, my reason for leaving is not only Jedi business, but governmental business! MY reason for not compromising is because I have to support myself with the funding that I receive from the Jedi and the government!" Lexi retorted.
"Support yourself?! PLEASE! Your parents-" Feebee started.
"FEEBS! LEX!!" Lehra yelled. Both sets of eyes darted from each other to Lehra. "Heh... heh.. you guys nee to chill out! Maybe you could both compromise a little."
"What's more," Feebee slumped down onto her bed and moaned, "is that you're taking Collin with you!" Lehra and Lexi's jaws dropped and they exchanged looks.
"You guys didn't know?! I thought you'd have sensed it through the Force! Oh, why did I say anything?!" Feebee cried. Lexi sat down slowly next to Feebee.
"Your abilities to hide your feelings are becoming superior," Lexi half-joked. "You--- like my brother?"
"Yeah," Feebee admitted, "but he'd never like me back... which is why I just like his presence."
"You mean, that's why you settle for his presence," Lehra constructively criticized.
"Well, you know, I may just have an idea..." the gears behind Lexi's eyes began to turn.
"Oh my gosh!" gasped Noelle. "Collin?" She whispered.
"Yeah, don't spread it, she'd be mortified if too many people found out," Lexi whispered back. Noelle nodded. If anyone knew how to keep a secret, it was Noelle. "So do you agree? Should we ask the guys? You're the only one I've told this idea, I even withheld it from Feebs last night. She just about killed me."
Noelle laughed. "Yes, tha'ts a great idea. I don't know if Noah will be up to it, but I don't think Griffin will care."
"Of course he won't! I know this guy," Lexi said cockily.
"I won't what?" Griffin came into the room.
"You won't care if, for Feebee's birthday-" Noah walked into the lab and Lexi kind of gulped, "we take all of our friends with us to Coruscant."
Noah cleared his throat, "Uhm, for Feebee? I don't know..." he grinned at his position of power.
"Noah!" Noelle snapped at Noah. He's not a very domineering guy normally, he just didn't want his social life to interfere with his professional one. The twins shared a look, staring at each other. "Come on, Noah, you know you wanna do it for Feebs." Noah's face softened, which Lexi took mental note of. She wished she knew the meaning behind that. She turned quizzically to Griffin, who only offered a shrug and a smile.
"Well, you were right, I don't care," Griffin pushed Noah further toward his decision.
"Oh, alright," Noah sighed.
Lexi shook as she sat before Master Luke Skywalker. He was pretty intimidating, or at least his past exploits proved him to be so. However, his appearance was quite soft and gentle for a man in his late fifties. Her fellow scientists with her seemed just fine with their position. Noah and Noelle were never very intimidated by great people- they were of logical minds and saw no point in hero worship. Griffin, well, how is he supposed to be very intimidated by his own dad?
"Master Skywalker, we know that you'd rather just keep them here--" Noah started.
"Where they could study for end of term exams and such--" Noelle began to finish.
"But they're smart kids too, and know a lot already, which would back them up in their studying," Noah finally finished. Luke seemed amused as he looked from one twin to the next. His own twin was systems away, vacationing with her husband.
"Jaina could help us out while we're there!" Griffin became urgent sounding.
"Griffin, you can't always depend on your cousin to help take care of you while you're on Coruscant! She's got her own life! She can't be taking a headcount of all of you when she's supposed to be representing the Jedi's best interests in the Senate," Luke said coolly to his son.
"Jacen could come with us! Then Jaina'd want to hang out with us just so that she could be with her brother!" Griffin tried again.
"Jacen has some important stuff to do here at the Temple," Master Skywalker said.
"Like what?" said Jacen Solo as he walked through the office door.
"That's not the point, I need you here, especially around this time of the term," Master Skywalker seemed to be getting grumpy. This was definitely not characteristic of him.
"But if they can't go-" Griffin started, in referral to all of their friends that were not on the biology team.
"Hey, I never said that people couldn't go..." Luke said.
"I'll go! Who're we taking?" Jacen dove right in.
"I didn't say that you could go," Luke started.
"Too bad! I'm a Knight now, not just a trainee," Jacen joked at his grumpy uncle.
"Fine...," said Luke.
"Yay!" Lexi practically jumped out of her seat. Master Skywalker looked fairly alarmed for a moment. For the majority of the time, she was very quiet and he knew that she was a bit afraid of him. This outburst seemed quite uncharacteristic of her, but who was he to be saying anything at the time?
"..So if something in our DNA is controlling our abilities to use the Force, then yes, it is quite possible for the clones like Dorsk 81 was to be Force-sensitive," Griffin noticed Lexi had not been paying attention to him. "Lexi, quit staring at my brother."
Lexi shook her head quickly, bringing herself out of a trance. "I was not staring at Ben... I was just taking in what you were saying."
"You are so transparent," Griffin said.
"Am not," Lexi retorted. "Plus, if I had been staring at Ben, I would have been doing that sighing thing."
"You were doing 'that sighing thing,'" Griffin laughed, "you just didn't notice it." Lexi and Griffin had stopped walking, and Ben had glanced in their direction. Ben and Griffin looked very different in some ways, yet strikingly similar in others. In comparison to Ben, Griffin's defined features seemed dull... because Ben had very very strong cheekbones and a jawbone to match them. Griffin, however defined he seemed, just wasn't a match for Ben. They both had the same intelligent aqua eyes and tanned skin, but their hair was just as different as day and night. Ben's hair was spiky and blonde and never out of place. Griffin's hair, on the other hand, was extremely dark brown and it was unkempt, with a little bit of shag going on, with some curl at the end.
When Ben looked at the pair, he looked over the fact that Lexi was there, but he shot a nasty look at Griffin. Griffin, in return, faked a smile and turned. "On second thought, Lexi, let's just go to our dorms. We don't need to get anything from the vending machines."
"What, afraid of your big bad brother?" Lexi absent-mindedly said. She wasn't exactly paying attention to her own joke as it was. She was disgusted with Ben's actions and was upset that she did like him. It can't be forgotten, though, that she couldn't explain why she liked him, she just did. She sensed a little contempt from Griffin. He was upset that his brother was so rude, in addition to his disbelief in how his friend could like Ben.
As they walked, Lexi began to question Griffin. "How does your brother get away with all of this?! I mean, you could be a lot less lucky and have not Force-sensitive parents, but your parents are Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade Skywalker!! They should know when there's some sort of anger or bullying going on between their own children."
"Our parents think that it's normal. And Aunt Leia and Uncle Han agree. They think we should be treated like normal kids, so they kind of ignore the small stuff," Griffin uttered.
"That sucks a lot. Your sister has been kind of odd these days too," Lexi added.
"Nara's not too bad. It's just that we used to be a lot closer," Griffin said woefully.
"We've gotta just accept it. We've been brought into the Jedi knighthood. We have a job now. Nara has a year or so to go. I don't blame her if she feels a little alienated from the rest of us," Lexi tried to make Griffin feel better. Nara was his sister, younger only by a year. Ben was older than Griffin by four years, so it was natural for the younger two, Griffin and Nara, to be much closer. Nara looked a lot like their older brother- blonde, built, and very defined. She didn't help Griffin much in his quest to seem more like the rest of his family, but unlike Ben and their father, she didn't care much about her appearance, and wasn't ever much worried about her hair or her clothes. Her studies of the Force seemed to be going slower, much slower, than her siblings' had, and that was due in part to two things: her lack of interest and her strange inability to tap the Force as well as the rest of her family. The only explanation for that that her father could come up with was that perhaps she just didn't have as strong of a presence in the Force. Thus, Griffin was a black sheep in his appearance, Nara was a black sheep in her abilities- and this made Ben look near-perfect.
Ben had been born during the Yuuzahn-Vong Invasion, and the other two had born after the end of the Invasion. Contempt for the Jedi had arisen during the Invasion, because there had been a division among the Jedi, and the younger ones had become arrogant and rude to the general population. In an attempt to improve the Jedi's appearance, Jaina Solo (Griffin's much older cousin) had gone into politics just as her mother had, as a representative of the Jedi, as a nation or a system. After much debate, commercialization of the Jedi began, and the image of the Jedi slowly improved. Teenage Jedi and influential Jedi were made famous. Especially the good-looking ones or the ones related to the top honchos, like Luke, Mara, Gavin, and Kyp were put into ads and publicized. Naturally, Ben was a perfect choice- he was the golden child son of the great Skywalkers. He was smart, young, extremely talented, but most of all, good-looking. He had a very large following, and when sent on missions, they had to be kept secret, because of his celebrity and popularity among girls. Griffin had a very small following of girls, but none that sent fan mail or presents. Quite recently, Luke Skywalker had decided that enough was enough, that they had a duty to carry out, not social lives. He created a new act, that Jedi were only to be publicized with the consent of the Jedi Council.
The celebrity still seemed to have gotten to Ben a little bit, though. He hung out with a very good-looking crowd, and it was the first time that cliques had been easily identified at the Academy. Griffin was invited to hang out with them plenty of times, but after a small confrontation and a Corellian sausage thrown in Ben's face in the mess hall, it became very clear that Griffin wanted nothing to do with his callous brother. That's not to say that Ben was a bad guy. No, in fact, Ben was known to be quite benevolent- to people he didn't know. Griffin thought that Ben was a sellout.
Lexi, sadly enough, was into Ben's good looks, wit, and charm. She knew, however, that she'd never end up with him. She was only now, after many years, becoming comfortable with herself. She had long, light brown hair and cheery, yet tired green eyes. She felt herself to be very plain- not ugly, but not very stunning. Her father had been Force-sensitive, but he had died when she was young during the Invasion. Her mother had been a physician living on Coruscant, aiding the infamous Solo family when they were in need, but she was no Jedi. Lexi was only moderately Force-sensitive, but until she had started her training at the Jedi Academy, she had been the best at everything she had ever done in school at home. Alexandrea Noelani felt the need to prove herself, and would not allow herself to only be seen as just another Jedi. She had left home to prove herself to all of her friends, family, and daresay, her adversaries in school.
Lexi had a younger sister, named Caribda, but everyone called her Cara. She, too, was interested in becoming a Jedi, but she was nowhere near as thirsty for self-empowerment as Lexi had ever been. Their mother, Ariss, had married another Jedi, named Bair. He had two children from another marriage, and their mother had not been Force-sensitive either. Ariss and Bair had met through the children, actually. Collin was a couple years older than Lexi, and a mediocre student, so she didn't know him very well at first. His younger sister, Ahmee, was a good friend of Nara's, and thus, a good friend of Lexi and Griffin's. Ahmee and Collin clicked very well with Lexi (and eventually, Cara), and at a Jedi function of some sort going on at the Temple, they introduced their parents, who, well, "clicked" too. Lexi's family was all very supportive in her studies- she was very interested in the biology of those empowered by the Force.
She and Griffin worked extra hard to finish their Jedi training as soon as possible, and they finished almost a year earlier than expected. Nara had originally been interested in the same things as the other two, and had been rushing to pass onto knighthood as soon as possible too, but something happened. They weren't sure what, but Lexi fully intended on finding out someday why Nara gave up on something she had believed in so much. Nara and Ahmee began to slack off, with a few of their friends, quite suddenly and unexplainably. Collin, while also part of the group that they hung out with, tried to keep up with Lexi and Griffin, because while he was not actually the best student or Jedi out there, he was able to recognize who had their priorities in the right places.
Life as a student at the Academy, believe it or not, had been very sleepy. There was a lot of meditation, study, and exercise involved in living there as a student. Becoming a Knight was a wake-up call for Lexi and Griffin, but they became very accustomed to it quickly and fell into the swing of things comfortably. They were really the first Jedi Biologists enlisted by the New Jedi Order, so they headed all experiments and research about the Jedi body. Of course, not only were they the first Jedi biologists, but they were the only Jedi biologists. They had their work cut out for them. Luckily, there wasn't a great deal of demand for information on how a Jedi's body worked, since most Jedi relied on their intuition to save themselves anyway, not doctors. Somehow, they managed to lead fast-paced, but enjoyable lives as seventeen-year-olds (like I said, they were pretty young to be accepted as Knights).
Anyway, the two reached their living spaces, which were across the hallway from one another. They found that a congregation of their friends had been created within the space between their rooms, because there were chairs and tables set up throughout all of the hallways, for the use of socialization between young Jedi. This had been set up by a previous class of Jedi, ten to twenty years earlier, by Griffin's cousins, Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin Solo. Anakin was revered as one of the greatest young Jedi of his time-- he had been killed by the Yuuzhan-Vong, having previously been thought of as Luke Skywalker's successor as the leader of the Jedi. Griffin had never known this cousin, but never seemed very perturbed by it. Not outwardly, at least.
Having walked in silence to their dorm area, they were surprised when they heard the sudden rapturous laughter of their friends, who had been laughing at a joke that their friend Lehra had made. "Ah, what's goin' on here?" Lexi asked, trying to get out of being so contemplative.
"Just sitting around," Lehra answered.
"Duh," Noelle teased. Lexi was very used to hanging out with her large group of friends quite often, but only a few others had reached Knighthood when Lexi and Griffin had. Noelle was one of them, as well as Noah, her twin brother. In addition, their friends Feebee and Dendan were racing to catch up. Feebee was Lexi's best friend in the sense that they told each other everything and spent way too much time obsessing over dumb stuff together. It could be explained here why most of these people were her best friends, but the point being made is simply that she had a special relationship with each one, singularly different from the next. If she had been asked to, she could have gone around the whole area, rattling off every single person's name: Griffin Skywalker, Nara Skywalker, Collin Noelani, Ahmee Noelani, Lehra Hardy, Noelle Avery, Noah Avery, Feebee Weinberg, Dendan Crick, Layn Elneese, Alicia Fondara, and Clark Crohe. Next to her studies, these people were Lexi's life. She'd risk that life for any of them.
"Well, have I missed any good jokes while I was gone?" Lexi asked.
"You'd miss them even if you had been here," Clark laughed.
"Yeah, you never get jokes anyway!" Layn roared with laughter at Clark's joke.
"Ha... ha..." Lexi faked a laugh. "You guys are hilarious!... NOT."
"Make any important discoveries, you guys?" Alicia, another trainee doing as well as Ahmee and Nara had been doing, asked. Lexi, Griffin, Noelle, and Noah each gave each other exasperated looks.
"No, we didn't," Noelle quietly said.
"As you guys know, we're trying to figure out what causes some organisms to be able to touch the Force, and other to not be able to do it. By logic, we have basically decided that it really has to do with the Jedi possessing something that others lack within their bodies," Noah began to explain.
"One thing that has become very difficult for us, especially in the eyes of our mathematician here, Noah, is that we don't have enough data and statistics to compare results. Our range to prove things within is quite small," Griffin had tried to take over. By this point, the mood of the group had become very serious, because this was something that all of them had been interested in.
"Yeah, there are a lot of problems in getting people to cooperate with us. The older Jedi, not including Luke, Mara, and Gavin- who've been very interested in helping us- are very resistant in being studied, or in their words, 'poked and prodded in the name of science, the very thing that makes belief in the Force so very difficult for those not directly connected to it.' Ironically, the more rebellious Jedi feel the same way as the old ones. And, of course, most people that are not Force-sensitive don't like being surveyed on why they don't really have a strong connection with the Force," Lexi explained, rather diplomatically.
"Wow, you guys are looking pretty S.O.L.," Layn said bluntly.
"Wow, thanks, that's so nice of you to say," Lexi snorted.
"You guys are the ones who basically said it," Layn was not actually being very helpful.
"Heh heh, she's got a point," Clark chortled.
"Shut up, Clark!" More than one person snapped. Clark and Layn were notoriously uncaring about very serious subjects.
"A lot of help you are to us," Lexi said bitterly.
"Oh come on, you know you need me. I'm too smart, too great of an asset for you to not like anymore," Clark teased.
"Yeah, you love us too much, too," Layn tried to joke.
"Love you as much as we might, there are plenty of geniuses out there willing to help us," Griffin stated.
"So, are you guys coming to my party?" Feebee asked Lexi, Griffin, Noelle, and Noah. "Everyone else says they're coming." The four looked at each other.
"Uh, when was it again?" Noah sputtered.
"In five days," Lehra butted in.
"Er... no! We can't!" Lexi and Noelle cried.
"What now?!" Feebee visibly got pinker.
"We have to go present our first report of progress to the Jedi Council and the head honchos of the New Republic. We have to do it or our funding stops, since it's privately funded and funded by the Government," Noah explained.
"You guys! This'll be my last birthday as a trainee!" Feebee cried.
"Yeah, it's not like you even have that much to report," Layn said, hard-hittingly.
"But it will be the first time we've done it, so there will be press coverage, especially since Griffin Skywalker will be there- no offense, Griffin-" Noah began.
"None taken," Griffin quipped.
"So, we have to please the press. In addition, how bad of a first impression would that be if we tried to reschedule?" Noah finished.
"Sorry, I can't go either," Collin apologized, "I've been assigned to pilot them there." Feebee slumped in disappointment. Lexi's heart sank as she saw Feebee's reaction. Truth be told, she remembered exactly what day the party was... she'd been dreading telling Feebee the news.
Later that night after her evening meditation, Lexi found herself looking through old holos while sitting on her bed, cross-legged. Her room was one of the largest ones in the Temple, for two reasons- Lexi, as an official Jedi Knight, was now entitled to better living quarters. The other reason was because her assigned roommate was Nara, the daughter of the headmaster at the school. Typically, her father Luke was not into the favoritism thing, but her mother Mara had become doting enough over the years to get her a little special treatment. Anyway, her room was very large, so she put curtains around her bed, so as not to bother her roommate if she had a light on, or in tonight's case, some holograms up. Lexi was feeling terrible about not being able to go to Feebee's birthday party. She accessed a holo of Feebee. Using the Force, she reached out to her to feel what was going on with her. She sensed utter sadness. Being a Knight and not a student, she was free to go out at any time she wanted to, so she decided to go see Feebee.
Lexi knocked on the door. Lehra, Feebee's roommate, answered it joking, "I blame this on you."
"Blame what on me? And how'd you know it was me? Wait, that second question was a dumb one," Lexi said in reference to Jedi skills.
"Well, Feebs hasn't spoken all night," Lehra said.
"Sounds about like her," Lexi uttered. She walked over to the farthest corner of the room and sat down across from Feebee upon her bed.
"I'm not sure you realize just how important this birthday is to me, Lexi," said Feebee coldly.
"She speaks!" Lehra interjected, which Lexi and Feebee disregarded. They were staring each other down.
"Can't you have it some other time?" Lexi asked.
"No, Lexi, I can't. End-of-term exams are coming, I have a saber-sparring competition coming up, and to add to that, I am only going through my Jedi trials in four weeks! I'm too busy preparing for all of that. My real birthday was two weeks ago, there's no way I'm cutting into preparation or waiting for another four weeks to have my party," Feebee was adamant.
"Well if you can't compromise, then learn to live without me at your party!" Lexi's tone was raised a level.
"Me compromise? What about you? You're the one leaving!" Feebee's voice did the same as Lexi's.
"If you've forgotten, my reason for leaving is not only Jedi business, but governmental business! MY reason for not compromising is because I have to support myself with the funding that I receive from the Jedi and the government!" Lexi retorted.
"Support yourself?! PLEASE! Your parents-" Feebee started.
"FEEBS! LEX!!" Lehra yelled. Both sets of eyes darted from each other to Lehra. "Heh... heh.. you guys nee to chill out! Maybe you could both compromise a little."
"What's more," Feebee slumped down onto her bed and moaned, "is that you're taking Collin with you!" Lehra and Lexi's jaws dropped and they exchanged looks.
"You guys didn't know?! I thought you'd have sensed it through the Force! Oh, why did I say anything?!" Feebee cried. Lexi sat down slowly next to Feebee.
"Your abilities to hide your feelings are becoming superior," Lexi half-joked. "You--- like my brother?"
"Yeah," Feebee admitted, "but he'd never like me back... which is why I just like his presence."
"You mean, that's why you settle for his presence," Lehra constructively criticized.
"Well, you know, I may just have an idea..." the gears behind Lexi's eyes began to turn.
"Oh my gosh!" gasped Noelle. "Collin?" She whispered.
"Yeah, don't spread it, she'd be mortified if too many people found out," Lexi whispered back. Noelle nodded. If anyone knew how to keep a secret, it was Noelle. "So do you agree? Should we ask the guys? You're the only one I've told this idea, I even withheld it from Feebs last night. She just about killed me."
Noelle laughed. "Yes, tha'ts a great idea. I don't know if Noah will be up to it, but I don't think Griffin will care."
"Of course he won't! I know this guy," Lexi said cockily.
"I won't what?" Griffin came into the room.
"You won't care if, for Feebee's birthday-" Noah walked into the lab and Lexi kind of gulped, "we take all of our friends with us to Coruscant."
Noah cleared his throat, "Uhm, for Feebee? I don't know..." he grinned at his position of power.
"Noah!" Noelle snapped at Noah. He's not a very domineering guy normally, he just didn't want his social life to interfere with his professional one. The twins shared a look, staring at each other. "Come on, Noah, you know you wanna do it for Feebs." Noah's face softened, which Lexi took mental note of. She wished she knew the meaning behind that. She turned quizzically to Griffin, who only offered a shrug and a smile.
"Well, you were right, I don't care," Griffin pushed Noah further toward his decision.
"Oh, alright," Noah sighed.
Lexi shook as she sat before Master Luke Skywalker. He was pretty intimidating, or at least his past exploits proved him to be so. However, his appearance was quite soft and gentle for a man in his late fifties. Her fellow scientists with her seemed just fine with their position. Noah and Noelle were never very intimidated by great people- they were of logical minds and saw no point in hero worship. Griffin, well, how is he supposed to be very intimidated by his own dad?
"Master Skywalker, we know that you'd rather just keep them here--" Noah started.
"Where they could study for end of term exams and such--" Noelle began to finish.
"But they're smart kids too, and know a lot already, which would back them up in their studying," Noah finally finished. Luke seemed amused as he looked from one twin to the next. His own twin was systems away, vacationing with her husband.
"Jaina could help us out while we're there!" Griffin became urgent sounding.
"Griffin, you can't always depend on your cousin to help take care of you while you're on Coruscant! She's got her own life! She can't be taking a headcount of all of you when she's supposed to be representing the Jedi's best interests in the Senate," Luke said coolly to his son.
"Jacen could come with us! Then Jaina'd want to hang out with us just so that she could be with her brother!" Griffin tried again.
"Jacen has some important stuff to do here at the Temple," Master Skywalker said.
"Like what?" said Jacen Solo as he walked through the office door.
"That's not the point, I need you here, especially around this time of the term," Master Skywalker seemed to be getting grumpy. This was definitely not characteristic of him.
"But if they can't go-" Griffin started, in referral to all of their friends that were not on the biology team.
"Hey, I never said that people couldn't go..." Luke said.
"I'll go! Who're we taking?" Jacen dove right in.
"I didn't say that you could go," Luke started.
"Too bad! I'm a Knight now, not just a trainee," Jacen joked at his grumpy uncle.
"Fine...," said Luke.
"Yay!" Lexi practically jumped out of her seat. Master Skywalker looked fairly alarmed for a moment. For the majority of the time, she was very quiet and he knew that she was a bit afraid of him. This outburst seemed quite uncharacteristic of her, but who was he to be saying anything at the time?