From Scratch
Chapter 41
Jacen awoke early the next morning to the sound of a faint knock on the bedroom door. He reluctantly rolled from Tenel Ka's embrace, pulling his pants from the chair next to the bed with one hand as he shook the cobwebs from his mind.
The knocking remained. He glanced back to make sure Tenel Ka was still sleeping before heading to the door, pausing only to pull his trousers on. "Who is it?"
The knocking stopped but no one answered.
He frowned, reaching out with the Force to find no ill intentions and a bit of a surprise, before cracking the door open a little. The astromech droid, R2D2, with an armed guard, stood on the other side. He stepped into the other room, closing the bedroom door behind him. "Artoo? What brings you here?"
Artoo beeped at him, his grasping arm coming out to present Jacen with a data disk.
Jacen accepted the disk, waving the guard away. Tenel Ka's personal guards didn't resent him, or respect him much, yet but they listened, withdrawing from the room. Jacen crouched in front of Artoo and inserted the disk, playing the message from his Uncle Luke.
"Hello Jacen. I need to speak with you and Tenel Ka this morning as soon as you're able. I'm afraid I have some troubling news. Please see me at the Jedi enclave when you're able."
The hologram faded away and Jacen sat back on his heels. Artoo beeped inquiringly but Jacen shook his head. "No Artoo, it's nothing. Thanks, if you want to wait I'll wake Tenel Ka and we'll all go see Uncle Luke."
Artoo beeped an affirmative, moving away, his sensors following Jacen back to the bedroom before whistling softly, almost mournfully, as he disappeared. For Artoo knew what Luke would be telling Jacen, he just couldn't pass it along.
Jacen, Tenel Ka and Artoo found Luke Skywalker in the compound the Calamari had set aside for the Jedi. He was sitting near the sea, the wind coming in across the water tugging the blonde hair that was beginning to sliver ever so slightly.
Luke didn't turn until Artoo whistled, and even then he only tilted his head. "Welcome."
Jacen and Tenel Ka stopped as the Jedi Master got to his feet, waiting until he faced them with his welcoming smile. "I do believe this is your first visit to the Jedi's new home."
Jacen nodded. "It is, for me anyway. How are you, Uncle?"
Luke looked weary, the strain lines around his eyes and mouth more pronounced then the last few years. "Ben is keeping me awake at night."
Jacen chuckled, moving forward to embrace his Uncle. "But you wouldn't change him for anything. I hope some day I'll know what that feels like."
"You will." Luke's voice held a note of certainty. "Sooner than you think according to Mara. But we're not here to discuss your future children. Leia told me you have something you want to show me that could alter the way we look at our family."
"I do."
"Have you looked at it completely?"
Jacen shook his head. "Once I had determined what it was, I shut it off. It's not my place when your quest has been to find what I stumbled upon."
Luke turned away. "How do you know what it holds?"
Jacen produced the projector, glancing at Artoo. "I asked the hologram of 3P0."
Luke jerked slightly, caught off guard. "C-3P0?"
Jacen nodded. "Yes sir. It would appear, from what I saw, that 3P0 was built by Anakin Skywalker and Artoo used to belong to his wife."
Luke's gaze went to his mechanical friend. "All this time..." He murmured softly, the thought left unspoken. "We can't watch that holo."
"Why not?"
Luke turned sad eyes to his nephew. "What we find on there could change the very foundation of the Jedi. I had a vision..."
Jacen smiled faintly. "I had a vision Tenel Ka choose another man while I was in Yuuzhan Vong hands, Uncle Luke. Visions are only possibilities. You know that. What we choose to do with the information we find on that tape, if anything, is what could change the foundations."
Tenel Ka nodded. "Jacen is correct, Master Skywalker. The information may help. We will not know if we do not look."
Luke looked from one to the other, smiling. "I see the two of you have gained a wisdom I only hoped to have at your age.
"We've had some good teachers." Jacen's reply was wry, holding a note of dry humor that was mostly directed at himself. "Vergere's most common rhetoric was choose and act. The catch is that once you choose, you choose to accept the consequences, good and bad, as a result of your actions."
Luke chuckled softly. "I take it that's how you two ended up on Yuuzhan'tar then?"
"Something like that." Jacen squeezed his wife's hand. "I chose and acted. She just needed a little convincing."
"Fact."
The two men shared a laugh, Tenel Ka settling for a ghost of a smile playing about her lips. "Will you look at the information, Master Skywalker?"
"Yes, Tenel Ka, I will. But I'd like the whole family to be with us. That includes you two."
"We cannot stay long, Master Skywalker," Tenel Ka warned. "We have been avoiding our duty to my-"
"Our" Jacen corrected.
She shot him a look but amended what she'd been saying. "-to our people for too long."
"I understand. Maybe if we work fast, we can get everyone together this morning."
"It's worth a shot." Jacen tugged on Tenel Ka's hand. "Shall we go give my parents the good news?"
She arched an eyebrow at him, as if asking for an explanation.
He winked at her. "The family reunion. Come on."
"I will wait here," she pulled her hand from his. "I have something I wish to discuss with Master Skywalker."
Jacen looked from his wife to his uncle before looking at her again. "Alright. I guess I'll go drag Jaina from Jag in the wee hours of the morning all by myself. Don't tell me I didn't warn you when I come back sporting claw marks."
Luke chuckled. "Same Jacen."
Jacen flashed a grin reminiscent of his old self. "Hardly, but I'll take that in the spirit it's meant. See you in about an hour."
They watched as he strode away, Tenel Ka's gaze lingering on the firm curve of his posterior as he disappeared from view.
"Was there something you wished to speak with me about, Tenel Ka?"
She turned, almost reluctantly, and met the Jedi Master's gaze. "Mas-" she cut herself off, remembering their previous conversation. "Luke, I have always felt to be a part of your family. Jacen has made it so. Now that it is fact..." she trailed off uncharacteristically, as if lost.
Luke motioned for her to walk with him and she was grateful for the outlet. "I think I understand."
"You have always had a large family." Tenel Ka stated skeptically, "I do not think you can."
Luke chuckled. "I'm going to tell you a little story about my past, Tenel Ka. Back before I was a Jedi, before I'd even met Leia or Han or Chewbacca. Before I had 3P0 or Artoo. Before I knew Mara or that Darth Vader was my father."
Luke was silent for a long moment, gathering his thoughts.
"I lived on Tattooine until I was 18. I live with an older couple I considered my Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen. I don't know if I was actually related to them in any way, but they were good to me." his smile was wistful with memories.
"It was just the three of us. I had no siblings, no real parents and my best friends had a habit of moving away from the planet to participate in the growing rebellion against the Empire. Biggs Darklighter was the closets thing I ever had to a brother and he was killed in the assault on the first Death Star, keeping Darth Vader away from me so that I could try and destroy the space station."
Tenel Ka listened intently as the Jedi Master spoke of friends long departed, of a time when he'd known only solitude and loneliness, before he'd met his sister and the droids. Before he'd met Obi-Wan Kenobi. His tone told her more than his words, about the pain of growing up so far from people his own age, of being treated like he was a secret, and yet never understanding why.
Finally Luke finished his story, turning to look at the young Hapan Queen. "I was not always a Jedi Master with a large family, Tenel Ka. Admittedly I was never an heir to a throne, but I do understand isolation and loneliness. I can only offer you this advice. You have always acted as if you were a part of the Solo and Skywalker family. Now that it's true; embrace it. We've accepted you as you are and that acceptance is something to be cherished."
"I understand. Thank you for sharing your past with me."
He chuckled. "Know what? Sometimes it feels like it happened to someone else entirely. Come on, let's go wake Mara and Ben. I get the feeling you and Mara share more of the same feelings towards my family than you'd like to admit."
Tenel Ka was silent as they walked back to the Jedi Master's quarters. Much of what he'd told her was documented, however, the way he explained it said much. He'd given her a lot to think about.
Chapter 41
Jacen awoke early the next morning to the sound of a faint knock on the bedroom door. He reluctantly rolled from Tenel Ka's embrace, pulling his pants from the chair next to the bed with one hand as he shook the cobwebs from his mind.
The knocking remained. He glanced back to make sure Tenel Ka was still sleeping before heading to the door, pausing only to pull his trousers on. "Who is it?"
The knocking stopped but no one answered.
He frowned, reaching out with the Force to find no ill intentions and a bit of a surprise, before cracking the door open a little. The astromech droid, R2D2, with an armed guard, stood on the other side. He stepped into the other room, closing the bedroom door behind him. "Artoo? What brings you here?"
Artoo beeped at him, his grasping arm coming out to present Jacen with a data disk.
Jacen accepted the disk, waving the guard away. Tenel Ka's personal guards didn't resent him, or respect him much, yet but they listened, withdrawing from the room. Jacen crouched in front of Artoo and inserted the disk, playing the message from his Uncle Luke.
"Hello Jacen. I need to speak with you and Tenel Ka this morning as soon as you're able. I'm afraid I have some troubling news. Please see me at the Jedi enclave when you're able."
The hologram faded away and Jacen sat back on his heels. Artoo beeped inquiringly but Jacen shook his head. "No Artoo, it's nothing. Thanks, if you want to wait I'll wake Tenel Ka and we'll all go see Uncle Luke."
Artoo beeped an affirmative, moving away, his sensors following Jacen back to the bedroom before whistling softly, almost mournfully, as he disappeared. For Artoo knew what Luke would be telling Jacen, he just couldn't pass it along.
Jacen, Tenel Ka and Artoo found Luke Skywalker in the compound the Calamari had set aside for the Jedi. He was sitting near the sea, the wind coming in across the water tugging the blonde hair that was beginning to sliver ever so slightly.
Luke didn't turn until Artoo whistled, and even then he only tilted his head. "Welcome."
Jacen and Tenel Ka stopped as the Jedi Master got to his feet, waiting until he faced them with his welcoming smile. "I do believe this is your first visit to the Jedi's new home."
Jacen nodded. "It is, for me anyway. How are you, Uncle?"
Luke looked weary, the strain lines around his eyes and mouth more pronounced then the last few years. "Ben is keeping me awake at night."
Jacen chuckled, moving forward to embrace his Uncle. "But you wouldn't change him for anything. I hope some day I'll know what that feels like."
"You will." Luke's voice held a note of certainty. "Sooner than you think according to Mara. But we're not here to discuss your future children. Leia told me you have something you want to show me that could alter the way we look at our family."
"I do."
"Have you looked at it completely?"
Jacen shook his head. "Once I had determined what it was, I shut it off. It's not my place when your quest has been to find what I stumbled upon."
Luke turned away. "How do you know what it holds?"
Jacen produced the projector, glancing at Artoo. "I asked the hologram of 3P0."
Luke jerked slightly, caught off guard. "C-3P0?"
Jacen nodded. "Yes sir. It would appear, from what I saw, that 3P0 was built by Anakin Skywalker and Artoo used to belong to his wife."
Luke's gaze went to his mechanical friend. "All this time..." He murmured softly, the thought left unspoken. "We can't watch that holo."
"Why not?"
Luke turned sad eyes to his nephew. "What we find on there could change the very foundation of the Jedi. I had a vision..."
Jacen smiled faintly. "I had a vision Tenel Ka choose another man while I was in Yuuzhan Vong hands, Uncle Luke. Visions are only possibilities. You know that. What we choose to do with the information we find on that tape, if anything, is what could change the foundations."
Tenel Ka nodded. "Jacen is correct, Master Skywalker. The information may help. We will not know if we do not look."
Luke looked from one to the other, smiling. "I see the two of you have gained a wisdom I only hoped to have at your age.
"We've had some good teachers." Jacen's reply was wry, holding a note of dry humor that was mostly directed at himself. "Vergere's most common rhetoric was choose and act. The catch is that once you choose, you choose to accept the consequences, good and bad, as a result of your actions."
Luke chuckled softly. "I take it that's how you two ended up on Yuuzhan'tar then?"
"Something like that." Jacen squeezed his wife's hand. "I chose and acted. She just needed a little convincing."
"Fact."
The two men shared a laugh, Tenel Ka settling for a ghost of a smile playing about her lips. "Will you look at the information, Master Skywalker?"
"Yes, Tenel Ka, I will. But I'd like the whole family to be with us. That includes you two."
"We cannot stay long, Master Skywalker," Tenel Ka warned. "We have been avoiding our duty to my-"
"Our" Jacen corrected.
She shot him a look but amended what she'd been saying. "-to our people for too long."
"I understand. Maybe if we work fast, we can get everyone together this morning."
"It's worth a shot." Jacen tugged on Tenel Ka's hand. "Shall we go give my parents the good news?"
She arched an eyebrow at him, as if asking for an explanation.
He winked at her. "The family reunion. Come on."
"I will wait here," she pulled her hand from his. "I have something I wish to discuss with Master Skywalker."
Jacen looked from his wife to his uncle before looking at her again. "Alright. I guess I'll go drag Jaina from Jag in the wee hours of the morning all by myself. Don't tell me I didn't warn you when I come back sporting claw marks."
Luke chuckled. "Same Jacen."
Jacen flashed a grin reminiscent of his old self. "Hardly, but I'll take that in the spirit it's meant. See you in about an hour."
They watched as he strode away, Tenel Ka's gaze lingering on the firm curve of his posterior as he disappeared from view.
"Was there something you wished to speak with me about, Tenel Ka?"
She turned, almost reluctantly, and met the Jedi Master's gaze. "Mas-" she cut herself off, remembering their previous conversation. "Luke, I have always felt to be a part of your family. Jacen has made it so. Now that it is fact..." she trailed off uncharacteristically, as if lost.
Luke motioned for her to walk with him and she was grateful for the outlet. "I think I understand."
"You have always had a large family." Tenel Ka stated skeptically, "I do not think you can."
Luke chuckled. "I'm going to tell you a little story about my past, Tenel Ka. Back before I was a Jedi, before I'd even met Leia or Han or Chewbacca. Before I had 3P0 or Artoo. Before I knew Mara or that Darth Vader was my father."
Luke was silent for a long moment, gathering his thoughts.
"I lived on Tattooine until I was 18. I live with an older couple I considered my Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen. I don't know if I was actually related to them in any way, but they were good to me." his smile was wistful with memories.
"It was just the three of us. I had no siblings, no real parents and my best friends had a habit of moving away from the planet to participate in the growing rebellion against the Empire. Biggs Darklighter was the closets thing I ever had to a brother and he was killed in the assault on the first Death Star, keeping Darth Vader away from me so that I could try and destroy the space station."
Tenel Ka listened intently as the Jedi Master spoke of friends long departed, of a time when he'd known only solitude and loneliness, before he'd met his sister and the droids. Before he'd met Obi-Wan Kenobi. His tone told her more than his words, about the pain of growing up so far from people his own age, of being treated like he was a secret, and yet never understanding why.
Finally Luke finished his story, turning to look at the young Hapan Queen. "I was not always a Jedi Master with a large family, Tenel Ka. Admittedly I was never an heir to a throne, but I do understand isolation and loneliness. I can only offer you this advice. You have always acted as if you were a part of the Solo and Skywalker family. Now that it's true; embrace it. We've accepted you as you are and that acceptance is something to be cherished."
"I understand. Thank you for sharing your past with me."
He chuckled. "Know what? Sometimes it feels like it happened to someone else entirely. Come on, let's go wake Mara and Ben. I get the feeling you and Mara share more of the same feelings towards my family than you'd like to admit."
Tenel Ka was silent as they walked back to the Jedi Master's quarters. Much of what he'd told her was documented, however, the way he explained it said much. He'd given her a lot to think about.