AN: THIS IS MY FIRST FULL-LENGTH STAR WARS FIC SO PLEASE BE NICE. REVIEWS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED AND I USE FLAMES TO BURN MY INCENCSE SO I LIKE THAT AS WELL.
DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT GEORGE LUCAS, I NEVER WAS GEORGE LUCAS AND ANY ATTEMPTS TO SUE ME ARE IN VAIN AS I AM PERMANANTLY BROKE.
SUMMARY: BEN SKYWALKER IS EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD AND HAS RECENTLY RETURNED TO CORUSCANT AFTER ATTAINING HIS KNIGHTHOOD. TWO TEENS HAVE WON THE PRIZE OFFERED TO PUPILS OF HIS SCHOOL TO SPEND A MONTH WITH THE SKYWALKER FAMILY. HE FINDS HIMSELF TRAVELLING ROUND THE GALAXY ON BUSINESS THAT HIS PARENTS HAVE BEEN SENT ON WITH THESE TWO AND EVENTUALLY FINDING A CONTRAVERTIAL ATTACHMENT. THIS STORY DOES NOT ACCEPT THE NEW JEDI ORDER SERIES BUT INCLUDES SOME OF THE CHARACTERS FROM IT.
Chapter 1
The air taxi pulled up outside of the Imperial Palace and the two teenagers stepped out onto the landing platform. They paid the driver and then turned towards the huge building that they had only seen on the holonet or from a distance before. They stood in awe for a moment before the girl nudged the boy and said something to him in a low tone. The boy turned to look for the person that his companion had remarked upon and gasped. There, standing by a fountain was Leia Organa-Solo, the former Chief of State of the new republic and the sister of Luke Skywalker, rebel hero and jedi master. The two teens had difficulty believing that this was the person that they had been told to meet, but she was standing in the exact spot where they had been told to arrive. The girl, whose name was Karin Veers, nudged her companion, who was called Daemon Crashna, and bravely started to walk towards the fountain. Daemon soon followed her and the two hesitantly approached the Princess of Aldaraan.
When they were a few meters away from her, Leia turned towards them and asked,
"Are you Karin and Daemon? The two kids who are here to visit Luke and Mara?"
Karin spoke for them both,
"Yes we are, madam."
Leia laughed softly at their nervousness and said gently,
"Please call me Leia, madam makes me feel so old."
Karin and Daemon exchanged a look before Daemon answered,
"Thank you mada- er Leia that is."
Leia smiled again before standing up and saying,
"Shall I take you to see my troublesome brother now?"
And without waiting for an answer she walked calmly towards the entrance of the Imperial palace. The two kids exchanged another look before following behind the charismatic politician.
Leia led the two into the lobby and past the queues of lower level inhabitants and tourists towards the elevator. She pressed the switch to call the elevator and stood impatiently waiting for it to arrive. When it finally arrived, the three entered the bourgeois chamber and Leia pressed the button for the top floor. A bleep sounded and she typed in a code into a panel that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. The elevator rose slowly and the two children examined the panorama of the Coruscant skyline from the gigantic glass panels.
When the lift doors opened onto the wide corridors of the VIP level, Leia quickly led the two down a maze of twisting passages, only stooping occasionally to acknowledge the greetings of senators who she knew.
The group finally halted at a non-descript door with a small com panel by the side of it. Leia pressed this and waited for a moment before another voice answered at the other end.
"Skywalker residence, how may I help you?"
Leia smiled and replied,
"Lovely to see you too, Ben. How's my favourite nephew today?"
The two teens exchanged a glance, when they had entered the competition to spend a month with the Skywalkers; they had not counted upon living with Ben Skywalker, the famous couple's eighteen-year-old son. They were now even more nervous because there was a difference between living with a celebrity and his notorious wife and living with this couple and their son, who was two years older than they were. Before they could muse on this any longer, the voice on the other end replied to his aunt's teasing with banter of it's own.
"I'm your only nephew, Aunt L. Are you here with the two kids, cos' now is not a good time?"
Leia smiled and asked,
"Let me guess, your mum wants to kill a member of the paparazzi and Luke says that that would be of the dark side and therefore she is not allowed to kill them and they are making up from the ensuing argument."
Karin and Daemon blushed from the innuendo but the voice on the other end seemed entirely unfazed by it and laughed,
"Got it in one, but you have been spending waaay too much time with Uncle Han again."
Leia smiled and replied,
"Well I do happen to be married to him."
Ben chuckled and said,
"As lovely as it is to talk to you, mum would skin me alive if I left you standing on the step and the dad would make me do five extra hours of meditation tonight. So, I'm going to let you guys in now and you two are way too tense."
This last comment was addressed Karin and Daemon, who were even more freaked out by this comment than they had been by being met by the former chief of state.
"Stop showing off squirt and let us in." Leia said, though a hint of pride could be detected in her voice.
The door slid open and the three went inside. The two teens looked around in barely concealed awe. They were actually in Luke Skywalker's apartment. The room they had entered was obviously a reception room; the walls were bare, with only a few holos of some views of different planets on the walls. Three black couches were placed in the centre of the room, around a low glass table. The floor was covered in elegant dark wood planks and there was an air of elegance in the whole room that was a welcome respite from the over done decoration of the rest of the palace. Doors led of the room in different directions and one wall was made entirely of glass, showing a magnificent view of Coruscant. A young man was standing in one corner of the room, his back to them, he was tall, with long red gold hair tied at the nape of his neck with a leather thong. He wore black pants and a black tunic and carried himself with an air of authority. Slowly he turned to face them.
(duh duh duh duh da duh duh da duh)
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Ben Skywalker turned to face his aunt and the two teens that were to be his parents' guests for a month. He saw his aunt standing by the door with a young boy and girl, who were staring round the austere living room with a look akin to worship on their faces. He inspected the boy first. The boy, Daemon he was called, was of medium height and build, with green eyes and brown hair. He was rather average looking over all. It was his companion, Karin, who caught Ben's attention. Karin was petite, with long platinum hair that fell in many thin braids to her waist. Her skin was pale and her brown eyes were twinkling with laughter. She had an elegant bone structure and a ski jump nose, slightly sprinkled with a few freckles.
Karin felt the scrutiny that she was under and turned slightly pink. She lifted her eyes from the dark boards and looked straight into Ben Skywalker's grey orbs. She was lost in them, with no escape in sight. She lifted her hand to reach out and touch him and then let it drop back to her side. She felt very self-conscious in her white tee and black pants started to fidget, fiddling with one of her braids. She tried to look at everywhere except at Ben and an uncomfortable silence developed. She mentally berated herself, what was she thinking, Ben Skywalker would never go for a girl like her, she was unattractive, force-blind, a nobody and even worse, her grandfather was an Imperial General before he died. Ben was the most attractive person that she had ever met, a Jedi knight, famous and the son of Luke Skywalker.
Ben remembered the manners that his aunt had attempted to drill into his skull when he was younger and offered his guests seats. The four sat on the huge leather sofas, and the two teens gawked at the ginormous holovid and music system. He then continued his job as a host by standing and asking,
"Does anyone want anything to drink?"
Leia smiled at her nephew's unusual nervousness and answered for herself, prompting the other two to reply as well,
"I'll have a very large glass of you-know-what."
Karin said,
"I'll have a hot chocolate, if you don't mind.
Daemon said,
"Just caf would be fine for me."
Ben smiled and walked through one of the side doors entered the kitchen. The other three remained in the lounge until Ben came back. When he did reenter the room the two teens and Leia could not help but laugh at the sight that greeted them. Ben was wearing a maid's skirt around his waist and was balancing the tray of drinks on top of his head. He handed Karin her hot chocolate and Daemon his caf before bowing low to his aunt and handing her a heavy crystal glass of something that looked like Old Republic Correlian Brandy. He picked up his own glass of abrax cognac and saluted the company with it.
Luke and Mara chose that moment to enter the room, looking disgustingly satisfied. Luke turned a mock hurt look on his sister and asked in a voice that would have made Wes Janson proud,
"Leia, we had agreed that we were saving that for special occasions when everyone but me and Mara were a long way away."
Mara simply snorted at her husband's antics and went into the kitchen to get herself and him a drink. When she re-emerged with two crystal flutes of green champagne, Luke stopped teasing his sister and went to grab one off of her. He failed and Mara held them just above his reach. He then turned to her and asked,
"Mara, dearest, would you be so kind as to hand me one of those glasses of champagne that you have so kindly brought."
"Never" she declared and Luke pouted for a moment before both glasses rose out of her hands and into his. He then smirked at her and drained them both. Karin and Daemon gawped openly, this was probably the most respected figure in the new republic and his wife, who was gradually gaining respect as well for her status as his wife and a Jedi master. They were behaving like children, like teenagers. They had always somehow imagined that the Skywalker family was comprised entirely of some sort of super-human beings that never had human weaknesses or fights. This also suggested to them that whatever conversation the Skywalker family had was of some significant moral importance to the force or saving the galaxy. This hypothetical clan would never do something as human as drinking or giving in to emotions and being petty. The two teens realised that over the next month that they would probably have many of their deep ingrained beliefs radically changed.
Mara's noticing of her son's ridiculous attire interrupted the inner debates of Karin and Daemon. She had finally finished sulking over the loss of her green champagne and looked up at her eldest and only progeny. She snorted. She snorted again. She finally lost what composure she had regained and burst into deep choking laughs that proved to be highly infectious. Luke smiled and went back into the kitchen and came out holding a basket of freshly baked bread. Ben looked at this and smirked,
"I take it it's mum's turn to cook tonight?"
Mara emitted another snort,
"No way, it's either Skywalker or the droids cooking, unless you are volunteering"
Ben shook his head,
"Sith, no. I inherited your cooking skills and I wouldn't want to poison the guests."
Mara scowled at this but Luke snorted and Leia shook her head at the antics of her brother and his wife, obviously used to this kind of behaviour. Having discovered that he would not be poisoned by the evening meal, Ben asked,
"So dad, if mum's not cooking, why have you got bread out?"
Luke shook his head in mock dismay at his son's ignorance,
"It's polite to offer your guests food, didn't your aunt teach you anything?"
Ben raised an eyebrow,
"Dad, I was eight, my main missions in life were to deactivate threepio and go joyriding in your x-wing. I was not particularly interested in proper etiquette. Anyway, my lessons with aunt Leia were always first thing in the morning, I was never exactly awake for them."
Luke sighed and turned to his wife for support but she backed away,
"No way, Skywalker. I learned how to kill people, dance and pretend to be a concubine when I was young. I know about as much about etiquette as you did before you met Leia."
Luke gave up on this particular argument and turned to his laughing twin,
"Do you and Han want to join us for dinner?"
Leia shook her head,
"We'd love to normally but Jacen and Tenel Ka are arriving for a visit this evening and the four of us are going out to dinner."
Luke nodded and smiled,
"Okay, give the kids our love, now go home and talk to your abandoned husband."
Leia smiled back at him,
"You're trying to get rid of me?" she asked in a mock accusatory tone.
Luke smirked and answered,
"Guilty as charged, now go home and send our love to Han. If you see Anakin and Tahiri in the next couple of days, tell them that Tionne and Kam have sent me some new holos of Ami and Wedge for them."
Leia nodded, hugged her brother, nephew and sister-in-law and sashayed out of the apartment, leaving the two teens alone with Luke, Mara and Ben Skywalker.
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After a moment, Luke turned to his son and said,
"Your mother and I are going to spar for a bit before supper, could you show Karin and Daemon around and give them the ground-rules. We'll be back as soon as possible."
Not giving his bemused son a chance to question this decision, Luke left the apartment, Mara soon following him. Smiling slightly at his parents' antics, Ben turned to his two gobsmacked guests and began to speak,
"Okay, here are the rules:
If you've only ever seen it on the holonet, don't touch it.
If my mother owns it, it probably has some dangerous weapon concealed in it.
Don't interrupt anyone if they are meditating.
If you value your sanity, never start a conversation with threepio.
If you value your health, don't eat any cooking unless my dad or one of the cooking droids made it.
Don't go into my room or my parents room unless you have had permission.
Don't mess with artoo.
Don't touch my astromech droid either.
Feel free to use any of the gadgets around the house unless they comply with rule one.
Your rooms are your rooms and they are private to you so you can stop people from coming in if you don't want them to.
Got all that? Good, let me take your bags to your room."
And without waiting for a reply, Ben shouldered the two bags, which the driver had brought up to the apartment after the teens. He went over to the door on the far right and opened it. The two teens exchanged another glance and followed him through the door.
They found themselves walking down an elegantly appointed corridor with doors leading off of it at regular intervals. Ben stopped them outside of two doors, which Ben told them led into their rooms. He opened the first one and ushered Daemon in, handing him a data pad. He then showed Karin to her room and gave her a similar data pad to the one that he had given Daemon.
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Karin found herself in her own small sitting room, complete with leather sofas and a large holovid. There were two doors leading off of this room, the first she opened showed her a bedroom with a large bed in the centre of the black carpet. The bed sheets were black satin and the walls were fitted with large wardrobes that she discovered were filled with clothes made of materials that made her gasp.
The other room turned out to be a beautifully appointed 'fresher. The whole room was sculpted out of black marble and was fitted with a pool-sized bath and matching sink and fresher unit. Black fluffy towels hung from silver towel rails around the room and there was a wide range of different bath salts and creams, all of the type of range that made Karin shocked at the price range.
Karin finished inspecting her new quarters and lay on the luxurious black leather sofa, reading the data pad that Ben had given her. It turned out that the pad contained an itinerary for the next month. Ben had left a note at the beginning explaining that he had compiled this thinking that they would find it helpful to know the things that would be going on.
It read:
June:
1st: Wedge Antilles for dinner
2nd: Jaina and Jagged Fel for lunch
Rogue Squadron reunion in the evening
3rd: Dinner with Han and Leia
4th: Council meeting: free day for you guys
5th: Trip to see Lando and discover exactly what the old pirate is up to this time
Dinner with Lando and Tendra
6th: Depart for Tattoine
8th: Arrive on Tattoine
15th: Leave Tattoine for Naboo
16th: Arrive on Naboo
17th: Spend a day with Anakin and Tahiri
18th: Leave Naboo for the Hapes Cluster
20th: Arrive in Hapes
21st: Meet Jacen and Tenel Ka
25th: Leave Hapes for Coruscant
27th: Arrive back on Coruscant
28th: Luke and Leia's birthday
29th: Party with everyone
30th: Leaving party
To say Karin was amazed by this itinerary would have been an understatement. This was the kind of itinerary that was common in bad stories where two ordinary people were sent to live with a celebrity family for a month!
She checked her wrist chronometer and discovered that it was an hour until dinner was scheduled to begin. She decided that she would make a good first impression on the people whom she would be living with for a month's duration. She stripped off, leaving her clothes in a pile on the floor of the sitting room, and went into the 'fresher. She drew a long hot bath and added in an abundance of lavender bath salts.
These salts caused an alluring steam to rise from the water, drifting through the air of the 'fresher and out into the living room. Karin slipped into the tub, her toes curling upwards in appreciation of the warmth of the water. She luxuriated in the huge tub, scrubbing her skin to a rosy pink and dousing her whole frame in the warm depths. She rubbed soapy shampoo into her long braids, creating a frothy white aureole of foam around her head. She ducked her hair under the surface of the water, rinsing the foam out of her hair.
She stepped out of the tub, wrapping her hair in a black towel that hung on one of the rails nearest the large tub. She ensconced her body in a larger towel and walked out of the 'fresher into the adjacent bedroom. She violently rubbed the soft cloth up and down her body, rapidly drying her long limbs. She repeated this process on her long braids, and they fell to hang at her sides like long curling snakes. Eventually she was dry and stood naked in front of her closet, trying to decide what would be appropriate attire for dining with the famous family and their famous guest.
Before this afternoon Karin would have probably have had to spend a day in the most expensive boutiques in Coruscant before having an outfit suitable for dinner with the Skywalker family, let alone the other famous guest, but now she had actually met the family, she knew that wearing ridiculously over-priced clothes would not help her standing in their eyes. She eventually decided to make use of the closet that had been provided for her. After a few more minutes of contemplation she picked out and outfit and put it on.
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Ben Skywalker sat in the lounge, drawing, as was his wont when he found himself unable to meditate. He usually found no trouble meditating, but today was different. He found his attention unendingly diverted towards the girl living down the corridor, Karin, which was her name. He paused for a minute, pencil poised over the pad on which he was drawing. He had found that every drawing he had done in the last hour had been related to her and was trying to use his self-control to find a different inspiration. It wasn't working. Drawing was his way of letting go of what was on his mind and it seemed that at that moment all he could think about was she.
Ben put down his pad in disgust, angry with himself for not being able to let go of his passion. He quickly quashed his anger and diverted his attention by turning on the holovid and channel hopping. He was on the twentieth channel when he heard the doors behind him swing open and the soft footsteps of Karin enter the room. He turned around in slight apprehension, dreading to think what she might be wearing. He had been introduced to far too many socialites in his life to not be able to guess what she would probably be wearing. It would be short and revealing, and over-priced.
He was pleasantly surprised when he saw that Karin was not wearing any of the above things. Instead, she was wearing a blue ankle-length skirt and a cropped t-shirt. The shirt was black with white writing on it, declaring 'You Say Bitch Like It's A Bad Thing'. The overall affect was a refined sense of laid-backness. She seemed slightly apprehensive but she gained confidence as she walked further into the room.
She flopped down onto the couch opposite him and turned her gaze to the holovid. He had unknowingly continued flipping through the channels and she smiled,
"One of the rules for life, it doesn't matter how big it is, it still shows the same crap as the other screens."
Ben laughed at her cynical appraisal and decided that he agreed with her. Something about her light comment had broken the uncomfortable silence that had developed between the two. They began to talk quietly together and eventually ended up sitting together on the same sofa, her feet in his lap, his in hers.
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Luke walked up the stairs with Mara, trying to ignore the scandalous looks he was receiving from the older members of the population for walking around in public without his shirt on. He turned to his wife and whispered,
"I think it was a mistake to cut my shirt off darling. I think we will be getting complaints from other members of the building later."
Mara smirked at how easy it was for her husband to become unbalanced in public,
"They never complained the last fifty odd times it happened darling."
Luke playfully swatted at her as they finally reached the door to their rooms. To his surprise he heard the low sound of a woman's laughter coming from inside. He and Mara exchanged a surprised look as they opened the door. They were even more surprised at the sight that greeted them when they entered the room.
Their son was sitting on the same sofa as a girl. Their son, Ben. The same son as who couldn't so much as look at a girl without blushing a humorous shade of maroon. The same son was sitting on a sofa with a laughing girl's feet in his lap, smiling and joking with her. His feet were in this girl's lap and he showed none of his normal signs of self-consciousness, even as his parents entered the room.
Mara decided that maybe this girl was good enough for her little boy (snicker). Any body who could undermine a Skywalker's defences, without the Force, was somebody different and it seemed as though this particular girl enjoyed Ben's company, as well as being good for him. She also noted that the girl was dressed in comfortable relaxed clothes, not the dressy garments that Mara had been expecting. Things were looking even better. Luke speaking disrupted her internal monologue,
"I'm just going to shower and change, Wedge should be here soon. Mara, do you want to use the 'fresher after me?"
Mara shook her head at his offer,
"No, I really need to get cleaned up know so I'll use Karin's shower, if she doesn't mind."
Karin shook her head, no she didn't mind.
Luke accepted this arrangement and went off down another corridor to take a shower. Mara went soon after, going down a different corridor to Karin's room. The two on the sofa looked at each other for a moment and shrugged and went back to their discussion about the latest fighter. Ben argued that nothing would ever replace the x-wing. Karin argued that whilst the x-wing would be the best in it's league, different types of fighter would be much better for different tasks and as the new ship was somewhat of a collaboration of styles, it would be a brilliant multi-purpose fighter.
Luke and Mara got ready for dinner at an almost unnatural speed and Mara was soon sitting in the lounge with her son and his new friend, whilst Luke put the last finishing touches on dinner. Mara was surprised to find herself drawn into the discussion that Karin and Ben were having, it had somehow moved on from fighters to whether manipulation was a sign of power or weakness. Mara was inclined to agree with Karin, people who were forced to manipulate others to do what they wanted obviously didn't have the power to do it themselves. However, she could understand her son's argument that weak people couldn't manipulate others as well as strong people could.
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Luke bustled around the kitchen, making the finishing preparations for dinner that evening. He had received a com call from Wedge that evening saying that they would be expecting another guest for dinner that night. He had tried to ascertain the surprise guest's identity but Wedge had been very close mouthed about the whole thing and Luke had long ago decided never to use the Force on his friends. He had decided to prepare a spicy stew, which he had created by accident many years before. He took six soypro cutlets and char-grilled them under a high heat. He then diced the meat and placed it in a large wok on top of the stove. He poured oil and melted butter in and the pan sizzled violently. Next he added a mixture of sliced charbote root, goat grass, boonta spice, ithorian saffron and noodles. He put the lid on the pan and left it to cook as he went into the lounge to join his family to wait for Wedge and the mystery guest.
When he emerged into the sitting room, he found his son still sitting curled up on a sofa with Karin and his wife was sitting in one of the large chairs, laughing softly at some joke that had been made before he entered the room. The boy, Daemon, stood slightly to one side, seeming a bit uncomfortable about the company he was in. He smiled and walked into the centre of the room, sliding easily into a chair,
"Talking about me behind my back again darling?"
Mara smirked at her husband and answered,
"Only about how you were a Vagnerian fish wife in a previous life, dear."
Luke smirked back, not missing a beat as he quipped smoothly,
"Was this in the same life as you were Borsk Fey L'ya's concubine?"
Mara fumed and didn't answer, furious that Luke had beaten her. Luke picked up on his wife's brooding thoughts and mockingly scolded her,
"Now, now, anger is of the dark side Mara."
Mara was practically steaming now,
"Skywalker, say one more word and I will finish you off like old yellow eyes wanted me to."
The company laughed and continued their friendly banter for a while, until the conversation was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell ringing. Luke reached out with the force to open the lock and Wedge walked in. The group turned to see who the mystery guest was, but no one seemed to recognise them until Luke gasped,
"No, you can't be here, I saw you die, I was there when it happened."
TBC
CLIFFHANGER!!!!!
VOTE FOR WHO YOU WANT THE MYSTERY GUEST TO BE?
BIGGS DARKLIGHTER
UNCLE OWEN AND AUNT BERU
OBI-WAN KENOBI
ANAKIN Skywalker
ONE OF Luke's OLD GIRLFRIENDS
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