End of last chapter: The door opened and a woman appeared, a small boy peering out from behind her back. The woman could only be Mara, Luke's wife, and the boy Ben Skywalker, Luke's son.
Mara's face broke into a welcoming smile. "You must be Ariela! Welcome to Coruscant! It's a pleasure to meet you."
"And you as well, Master Skywalker. Thank you for inviting me here." Ariela bowed. Mara seemed very kind.
"Oh please, call me Mara. None of this Master Skywalker stuff for me or Luke either. You'll be living here for a year as part of the family. There is no need to be formal. Come in."
Ben was watching Ariela as she stepped over the threshold and into the room.
"Are you really from light-years away? Are you really a Jedi? Can I see your lightsaber?" He asked in a rush of words.
"Ben!" Mara chided gently. "Slow down. Ariela will be here for a whole year. You'll have plenty of time to ask questions."
"It's all right, ma'am. I don't mind. How old are you Ben?"
"Nine."
"I have a sister back home who is just your age." The trio had reached a living room equipped with comfortable chairs and two couches with a table between them. "You're welcome to sit down, Ariela."
Ariela sat on one of the couches. "Ben, why don't you have Ariela answer all your questions while I go get your Father."
"Okay Mama." Mara turned and left the room. Ben looked at Ariela for a moment and then said, "Well? Will you answer my questions?"
Ariela laughed. He was so much like Tani; curious and always asking questions. "Of course. Let's see. Yes I really am from light-years away. I live on a planet called Earth."
Ben wrinkled his nose. "It's such a plain name. Not at all interesting like Coruscant or Kashyyyk, or Corellia, or Tatooine. That's where Dad was born."
Ariela grinned again. "Yes, well we didn't have a great imagination when we came up with the name. Now hmm… I suppose I am really a Jedi. I am not a Jedi Knight yet, though. You wanted to see my lightsaber?"
"Oh yes please!" Ben gushed excitedly. At that moment the door opened again and Jedi Master Luke Skywalker walked in, followed by an astromech droid that could only be R2-D2, and Mara. Ariela stood up and bowed respectfully.
"Welcome, Jedi Ariela." Luke's demeanor was calm, and relaxed. His presence in the Force was also calm and focused. Ariela could see why in the books Jaina had referred to Luke as 'maelstrom of Force energy, so calm and focused that he was unstoppable.' "It is great to have you here with us."
"It's great to be here Master Skywalker," she said, awed. Even though Mara had told her to forget the Master Skywalker stuff, Ariela thought that meeting the greatest Jedi Master in the galaxy warranted for some respect. Besides, Ariela couldn't see addressing her favorite hero as "Luke", at least not on first meeting him!
Luke turned to Ben and said, "Ben, can you go with your mother while I talk to Ariela?"
"But Dad, she was going to show me her lightsaber. And I had more questions to ask her."
Luke chuckled and replied, "She can show you her lightsaber now and you can ask questions later; during dinner. Okay? I need to talk to her right now."
"Okay," Ben said sadly. He turned to Ariela. "Can you show me?"
In answer Ariela stepped back a couple feet and pressed the switch. A pale green blade of energy whooshed from the handle, illuminating the room even brighter than it was. Ariela moved it slightly and the blade hummed. Ben was watching with wide eyes and an open mouth. Luke smiled, a pleased look on his face, and reached out a hand towards the handle. Ariela handed the activated lightsaber to Luke as Mara ushered Ben out of the room. Luke turned it this way and that, examining it in hidden ways Ariela was unsure of.
Finally, Luke deactivated the lightsaber and handed it back to her. "Very good. It has been constructed well. Later I will test your skills with it. Please sit back down."
Ariela sat back in her seat on the couch as Luke settled onto the couch across from her. Artoo bleeped impatiently and both Ariela and Luke turned to look at him. Ariela furrowed her brow and concentrated.
"I believe he said you had forgotten to introduce him. I'm not sure if I'm right though. He sounds a bit different from the recordings."
"You're right." Luke said. "I see my friend Master Roy has taught you well." To Artoo he said, "I'm sorry Artoo. I didn't mean to forget you. This is Ariela."
"It's a pleasure to meet you Artoo. I've read lots about you."
I hope you didn't hear it from Threepio, Artoo bleeped. Ariela laughed. "No I didn't hear it from Threepio. I saw you in a movie." Artoo beeped questioningly.
"It's sort of like a holo film, Artoo." Luke answered. "In her world they made a holo film of our adventures. You know when you first met me and Obi-Wan. How far have they gotten? I've lost track."
"Well in movies they've gone from the time when your father was nine years old, up to the celebration after the Battle of Endor. Then other people have written stories as far back as thirty-three years before A New Hope, that's when you guys first met, all the way up to about six months ago when you defeated Lomi Plo, Alema Rar, and the Dark Nest. That book's called The Swarm War."
"I see." Luke said. "It feels odd knowing your world knows our stories but not that we actually exist. Now I was wondering if you could tell me about the battle droids appearance in your school back home. When Master Roy contacted me he gave me a briefing but he says he wasn't there when they arrived and that you called him."
"He's right. We were in a big room practicing for a play and all of a sudden these battle droids materialized in the aisles. I had my lightsaber in my pack and I called it with the Force and started deflecting laser bolts. Then I called Master Roy through the Force bond. He arrived minutes later and we destroyed the droids." Ariela answered. "That's all really."
"Interesting," Luke said thoughtfully. "Perhaps when Master Roy sends the symbol of who made the droids, we will find out more."
"Master Skywalker, sir? Do you know why someone would send battle droids to our world? What threat are we to them?"
"I have some ideas, but none of them are very likely. I think the most likely is someone heard about Jedi living there and wanted to eliminate them. The two of you could be very useful if we needed you. It is possible that someone is planning an attack and wants the Jedi out of the way. What doesn't make sense though is if that is the truth, why no one has attacked any Jedi here. It would make more sense to eliminate the ones that would be an immediate threat to whatever they are imposing."
Ariela was scared. Was someone planning an attack on the Jedi? Or were they just testing new droids? She didn't know what was going on and what scared her the most was that Luke Skywalker didn't know either. Ariela forced herself to breathe slowly and calmly; to use Jedi relaxation techniques to hide her fear.
Luke Skywalker and Ariela continued to talk for an hour. Luke asked her about everything from her Jedi training, to her regular studies at school. Then they heard a buzz from the door and a few seconds later Ben came bounding into the room squealing, "Daddy! Uncle Han and Aunt Leia and Jacen and Jaina and Threepio are here! Come on!" He rushed up to Luke and grabbed his hand pulling him up. Then he reached for Ariela and tugged on her hand as well. "Come on! I want you to meet them." Luke was grinning as he followed Ben out the door. In the dining room were the visitors. Leia looked up when the door opened and dashed into her brother's arms. She hugged him hard and said, "Luke I've missed you so much," before standing back and turning to Ariela.
"You must be Ariela." She held out her hand. Ariela took it and they shook hands. "It's a pleasure to meet you." Leia pointed at Han and said, "This is my husband Han Solo and my two children, Jaina and Jacen." For a moment her face darkened and Ariela remembered that Anakin, her younger son, had been killed. Luke put a gentle hand on her shoulder and Leia's face slowly cleared.
Ariela bowed to her fellow Jedi, Jaina and Jacen, and shook hands with Han. "It is really great to meet you all."
All of a sudden a metallic, worried voice sounded out. "Mistress Leia! You have forgotten to introduce me. Have I done something wrong?" Leia looked at the golden figure standing in the corner and began to chuckle. "Oh no Threepio, you've done nothing! I'm so sorry; I didn't mean to forget you."
"If only." Han muttered under his breath.
"Well then," Threepio said happily, turning to Ariela who was hiding a smile. "I am C-3PO, human-cyborg relations. I am fluent in over six million forms of communication." Everyone in the room stifled grins or laughs and Artoo bleeped a smart remark.
"Artoo, how rude!" Threepio said in the sternest voice a droid could muster. Artoo replied with a series of sounds that sent them all into fits of laughter.
Mara came into the room a few minutes later and remarked grinning, "Threepio, if you are going to serve us dinner you had better get into the kitchen." Threepio nodded smartly and tottered off muttering something about impudent astromech droids. Mara turned to the others and told them to make themselves comfortable. Luke sat at the head of the table with Leia on one side and Mara on the other. Next to Leia sat Han and next to Mara was Ben. Then were Jaina next to Han and Jacen next to Ben. Finally, Ariela sat at the foot of the table.
C-3PO came in, a wheeled cart in front of him. He went around the table as each person served themselves. At first there was only silence, broken only by contented chewing. As eating dwindled down, Jaina turned to Ariela, "Uncle Luke tells me that I'm to teach you to fly a X-wing."
Ariela turned, surprised to Luke. He nodded. "Yes, I thought if you were going to stay with us then you'd better learn to fly."
"Thank you so much, Master."
"Have you ever flown before?" Jaina asked.
"No. We don't have space transportation. We only travel on land and water." Ariela could feel Jacen listening in on the conversation.
"It'll be really great to teach you. We have this practice X-wing that is exactly like a regular X-wing, except for the fact that it has space for two in the cockpit. I'll sit with you and we'll go out together." Jaina smiled at Ariela. "And then of course, we'll have to find you an astromech droid."
Ariela smiled back. "Thanks, Jedi Solo."
"Please call me Jaina. We're going to be friends I hope."
"Of course, Jaina. In return you can call me Ariela."
Jacen turned away from his food and looked at Ariela. "I'm Jacen." He was serious and Ariela could only feel his presence in the Force slightly and only if she payed close attention. It was unnerving to realize that Jacen could probably sneak up on her if he wanted and she wouldn't notice.
"Nice to meet you."
The three continued to talk, Jaina describing the battles she'd been in and some of her experiences as a child. Jacen stayed quiet only adding details when he saw fit. At the end of dinner Ariela decided to go back to her quarters with Jaina. Jacen declined saying he wanted to speak with a friend. Ariela guessed it was Tenal Ka, the Hapes queen who was his friend and who he had a child with; though she doubted anyone but herself knew this. They said good-bye to Luke, Mara, Ben, and Han and Leia who were going to stay and talk with Luke and Mara, and left. The trio took the lift downstairs and then separated at the bottom, Jacen going to his quarters and Jaina and Ariela to hers.
As Jacen walked away, Ariela noticed the people in the corridors giving them a wide berth. She mentioned this to Jaina. "Is it because we are Jedi?"
"Yes I believe so. Many are scared of me and Jacen and you're new so they don't know what to expect. Once some of them get to know you they won't be so scared."
Ariela and Jaina reached her door. Ariela pressed her thumb to the pad on the door and it hissed open. Jaina looked around and snorted. "They gave you this!" She asked shocked. "A Jedi? Why didn't you mention this to Uncle Luke? This is a minor fighters cabin or something, not a Jedi's." The room was very small now that Ariela looked at it.
"I didn't know."
"Here, get your stuff and I'll take you to my hallway. There's an empty room next to mine."
Ariela obliged and gathered her stuff, packing it into her bag. Jaina led her outside and up a flight of stairs. She walked up to a door that was next to the one marked Jaina.
"Here you can use this room. It's a proper Jedi room."
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