Title: A New Order

Author: Jedikma

Jedi Knight Padme: Thanks so much for the review, this chapter is for you. :)

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Chapter 3

Small voices and laughter caressed Siri's ears the moment she entered the Jedi Gardens. It was wonderful to hear such sounds again in the Temple. For some time the presence of children was so lacking that it was a sad existence. Siri could remember when there was so much noise from the young generation that caretakers had to force several periods of silence as part of the daily routine just to establish some kind of order and discipline. The populace was so small now that the volume levels never reached the same intensity as when she was young.

Siri followed the sounds to the children's play area. It was Parent's Day at the Temple and lessons and routine were suspended so that the parents could visit the children they had given to the Jedi to raise and train in the Jedi way of life. Although Siri was a Jedi herself and could acquire access to her children at anytime, she stuck to the policies laid out by the Council and visited her children only on the days set aside for the parents. She didn't want her children singled out as special or to focus on their differences from the others. She didn't want them to think they might receive special privileges just because their mother was a knight and their father was a member of the Council.

As she rounded a large hedge the younglings came into view. Some other parents were already present chatting and laughing with their offspring. Children were dragging mothers or fathers by the hand proudly showing them the new things that they could do. Caretakers were also available answering questions and giving progress reports.

"Master! Master!" A four-year-old boy came running towards her. He looked so much like his father, with his ginger colored hair and cleft in his chin. A two-year-old followed in the older boy's footsteps. His hair was blonder like his mother's, but he had his father's blue-gray eyes. "Mama," issued forth from the younger child.

"No, Reeft. She wants you to call her 'Master'," the older child corrected, placing a strong emphasis on the word 'master'.

"Master mama," the toddler corrected himself as he threw his short little arms around one of Siri's legs. The older boy just rolled his eyes.

"I try, Master," he said to Siri in exasperation.

"Don't worry, Garen. It's okay," Siri said as she crouched down to give her oldest son a brief hug and to untangle the smaller one from her leg.

She groaned slightly as she picked up Reeft into her arms. Her current size made it difficult for her to hold him, but she couldn't resist his compelling eyes and smile.

Immediately Garen began telling his mother of all the things he had been doing lately. He held out a model ship he was holding in his hands and threw back his shoulders in a proud gesture and announced what he had planned for the future. "…And I just know I want to be a pilot! Luke Skywalker, he's my best friend, says his father is the best pilot the Jedi has ever had and I want to be his apprentice. Do you think I can be, Master?"

"Garen, that is for the Force to decide. If being a pilot is right for you then the Force will guide you and that guidance could very possibly mean that Master Skywalker would be your master."

A puzzled look crossed Garen's face. "But does that mean, yes?"

Siri smiled. She remembered the days when she and others wanted to pick his or her own master, but it usually didn't work out that way. "It means, maybe, Garen."

Siri turned her attention to her younger child. She looked him straight in his large eyes. He had his thumb in his mouth, with his fingers splayed in a direction away from his face. When he caught his mother's gaze he pulled out his thumb making a popping sound. "I'm hundry, Master mama," he said in a small voice, mispronouncing words.

Siri laughed and ruffled the boy's hair. "Of course you are, Reeft."

A petite woman with dark hair and brown eyes suddenly interrupted Siri's reunion with her sons. "I think it is awful that you make your children call you 'master'. You are their mother and they should address you as such!"

Siri looked incredulously at the woman and immediately took offense, but she tried to approach the subject with calm. "I have them call me 'master' because I am part of their larger Jedi family. They must understand that, while I may be their mother, I am not their primary caretaker."

The woman took a stronger stance and launched a verbal attack at the blonde Jedi master. "Their father is the one on the Council, is he not? And you two are not in a union? I find it offensive that the Jedi pretend to be leaders of virtue and yet you are living in an illicit relationship, producing children. Are you producing them solely to increase the Jedi population? I can't see that is any better than the army the Jedi cloned!"

The words were harsh and Reeft stuck his thumb in his mouth and buried his head into his mother's neck. Garen backed up behind his mother.

Siri was feeling the weight of her son on her body and the woman's words were like a slap across her face. She reddened and was prepared to return the verbal assault when Padme Skywalker, her four children gathered around her, stepped into the foray and spoke diplomatically.

"Lady Jade. You know that the Jedi did not commission the cloned army. They were not responsible for so much of the destruction during the war. You are also jumping to conclusions that you have no right to make. Obviously, you have some respect for the Jedi or you would not have allowed your daughter to be taken in by them."

"Interesting that you should say that, because I am seriously considering removing Mara from their tutelage."

Padme gave the woman a disbelieving glance. "I'm sure your husband, the Governor of Naboo, would have a comment about that. I think you should be careful with your idle threats."

"I do not make idle threats! The Jedi would have a real problem without my husband's support and the support of his colleagues. You would be wise not to underestimate the influence I have on my husband!" Lady Jade's anger was palatable at this point and Padme continued with her diplomatic tones to try to calm the woman down.

Siri was going to speak her piece when a Dresselian woman touched her on the arm and drew her attention away from the others. The woman appeared to be close to Siri's age and she held the hand of a little Dresselian girl. "I'm so sorry to interrupt, but did I hear you call your son 'Reeft'?"

At the sound of his name the little boy raised his head from his mother's neck and looked down. He again pulled his thumb out of his mouth and smiled at the little girl looking up at him.

Siri smiled. "Yes, his name is Reeft. He is named after a friend and a great Jedi."

A happy smile spread across the woman's face. "My name is Rella. Reeft was my older brother. I don't remember him, but my mother always talked about him and was so proud that he was growing up to be a Jedi. When we found out my daughter, Dru, was Force sensitive, my mother insisted I bring her to the Jedi."

Siri felt a rise of emotion within. "I'm happy to meet you. Your brother was a good friend. I'm sorry, but we lost him during the war."

With a sudden shift, Reeft leaned away from his mother, a signal that he wished to be let down. Siri gratefully released him and he reached for Dru's hand. Together they headed off to play. Garen, too, had gained the attention of his friend, Luke, and the two had become scarce.

Siri put a hand under her oversized belly and let out a deep breath. She and Rella moved away from the disagreeing women and continued to talk.

"I know Reeft is gone," Rella replied. "I don't know that we would have much to talk about if he met me anyway, but my mother never forgot him, nor would she let any of the family forget."

"You brought your daughter to the Jedi, though."

"Yes, I knew with her Force sensitivity that she would need special training, I just didn't know if I could let her go. I watched my mother miss Reeft so much. But a lot has changed with the Jedi and now I can come to see Dru and she can see me, too. It may be selfish, but I know she will know me and remember me."

Siri felt the conflict of being a Jedi and being a mother. She couldn't remember her own family and didn't know if she would find any connection to them if she did meet them. Then she looked at her own children. She gave her children to the Jedi to raise, but they were always in close proximity to her. She knew them and they knew her. She never had to consider completely letting them go.

She looked at Rella and saw that the Dresselian was grateful that the Jedi had changed the family policies, but Siri still understood why they Jedi had the old policies and she worried about the complications the new might bring. It was something she tried to let the Council worry about. As was more and more her habit, she pushed the conflict of the old and the new to the back of her mind as she spoke once again to Rella. "You must meet Obi-Wan. He would love to meet you and tell you more about your brother."