…Sure you can do this?"
"Yes." Jacen Solo nodded, steepling his hands on the desk in front of him, eerily reminiscent of his uncle.
'Wonderful. You may tell Master Skywalker we are very eager for him to begin training Esivan, and we will see you in a week."
Jacen nodded with a smile. "We will look forward to it."
The comm silenced and Jacen sighed. Between the comm going off and the students playing outside the door, he wasn't likely to get any more work done.
He set the datapad in his hand on the desk with another sigh and pressed the call button on the desk comm.
He waited as it connected, stacking papers on the corner of the desk so he would have room to work tomorrow.
"He'o?"
Jacen looked up with a smile. "Hi, Ben, how are you?"
The three-year-old grinned happily. "I fine, Jacen."
"Where are your mom and dad?" Jacen had a hard time believing the Skywalkers had willingly allowed the little boy to answer the comm on his own.
Ben held up a finger. "Shhh."
Jacen suddenly caught on. "Oh, is Mommy asleep?"
Ben nodded solemnly. "Umm-hmm."
"Ok. Shh." He repeated the gesture. "Is your dad home?"
Ben nodded again, vigorously this time.
"Can I talk to him?"
Ben suddenly looked as if Jacen had put him in a terrible predicament.
Jacen saw the problem. "Don't worry, I won't tell him that you were talking to me." He assured the younger boy.
Ben nodded once with a smile and disappeared.
Jacen tapped the desk thoughtfully as he waited.
"Hello?" Luke Skywalker appeared. "Oh, hi, Jacen."
"HI, Uncle Luke. I just talked to the Leukin family."
His uncle shifted, crossing his arms. "What did you find out?"
Jacen twirled a stylus in his hands absently. "They're eager for their son to come to the Academy; they think he's very gifted."
"Wonderful." Luke broke in, rolling his eyes "Just what we need. Another student whose parents think he can be the next savior of the galaxy if we just pay him enough attention."
Jacen grinned. "My parents were like that once, if I recall correctly."
Luke laughed. 'Maybe. But not to the extreme that some of our parents carry it to."
"True. I think, though, that the Leukins are just proud parents."
"Well, let's hope so." Luke muttered.
"They did, however, ask that their son not be placed in a crèche family." Jacen set the stylus down on the desk and leaned back in his chair.
Luke blinked. "And he's what, three?"
"Four." Jacen grimaced. "I tried reasoning with her, but she was adamant."
"Here we go." Luke sighed. "I knew there was a catch."
"You know, Skywalker, you're starting to sound like me." Mara appeared behind her husband.
Jacen grinned. "I was about to point out the same thing."
"It shouldn't surprise you that after all the years we've been married, I've picked up on some of your cynicism."
"Realism." Mara corrected automatically.
Luke rolled his eyes with a smile. "Whatever you say."
Jacen had missed the entire exchange, staring thoughtfully out the viewport beside his desk.
Luke and Mara finally noticed.
"Jacen?" Luke frowned.
"I think I need to go." Jacen said slowly.
"All right." Luke had learned long ago that it was better to just not ask. "We'll talk to you later, then."
Jacen pressed the disconnect control on the comm, his forehead creasing slightly.
He checked his pager, but it was silent. He tapped his chin lightly. The ripples in the Force felt odd. Not like danger or darkness, only strange.
After another moment of deliberation, he stood, shutting the computer terminal off and keying the lights down.
He shut the office door and looked around.
The ripples were getting stronger now, and they were leading him down the hallway.
.
Yavin 4.
There was no other place in the galaxy that had stronger grasp on life.
It was the one place in all the known regions of the universe that held the teeming life equal to five worlds on the surface of one small moon.
The only place in the galaxy that could be resilient enough to survive every war the galaxy had faced, and still be unchanging.
And it was the only place she had ever called home.
The tall Massassi trees stretched to the sky in a familiar greeting as she guided her ship toward the Great Temple.
The single river that split the moon's surface sparkled, bringing a smile to her face, remembering a few escapades of the younger academy students involving that river.
Even some of the older students had made the river their center of mischief.
The Great Temple was visible on the horizon now, growing larger every second.
Her eyes burned strangely as she stared at the stone structure. She had so many memories here…
All of it had nearly been destroyed.
She closed her eyes momentarily, breathing words of thanks for the chance to return.
There were still craters in the jungle where the plasma from the Yuuzhan Vong warships had fallen, raining down terror and death. Still times when the wind would carry wails and weeping from long ago. When it rained, the smell of blood hung in the air for hours.
The Great Temple had been rebuilt, nearly from the ground up.
When they'd first returned two years ago, there had bee almost nothing left. They'd had to stay in the temple of Blue Leaf Cluster while they put the pieces back together.
Like they had put their broken lives back together.
She was glad they had rebuilt it as it had been. There was something oddly comforting in seeing something that at least looked like what you had known.
Even if it all ended up being nothing like what it had been, she still had her memories.
She looked up at the mountain range looming behind the temple, and was thrown back into her memories.
She switched to low sublight as she eased her ship into the docking bay and cut the sublights to just repulsorlifts.
The ship settled on the stone deck gently, and she reached over to cut the engine.
She checked the log to make sure nothing had come loose on the flight, and then shut everything down.
She wasn't leaving this time.
She turned around and left the cockpit, picking her lightsaber up off the galley area table as she walked by and clipping it to her belt.
She keyed the lights and life support to power-down before pressing the hatch controls.
She walked down the short ramp to the bay deck, nodding to the maintenance droid that whistled a greeting.
She smiled warmly when she saw the figure leaning against a stone pillar on the other side of the bay, waiting for her.
"Jacen." Her smile grew.
He grinned back. "I thought it was you."
She nodded, her eyes sparkling happily. "I am home."