Seth stood at the top of the temple, standing completely straight with his hands clasped behind his back. He took deep, even breaths as he tried to open himself to the Force and allow it to flow through him unimpeded, but the harder he tried, the more his thoughts drifted to the events of the previous night. He knew that he would need to talk to Ben about this to fully put it to rest, but he was desperately searching for some alternative.

As things tended to go when seeking guidance from the Force, no easier alternative came to him.

I'll have to face him eventually. It's not like my relationship with Jaina will be ending anytime soon.

Hopefully.

"Don't try so hard," he heard a voice behind him that disturbed his fruitless attempts at meditating. He had been so absorbed in his own thoughts that he hadn't sensed a new presence join him on top of the temple. "Do you remember one of the first things I taught you?"

"Touching the Force is second nature," Seth responded without turning to face him. "You don't need to try."

"Exactly."

"Easier said than done."

"I seem to recall you saying that exact thing to me five years ago when I told you the same thing. On this same roof, actually," he heard the smile in the Jedi Master's voice. "Anyways, am I interrupting?"

"A little," Seth turned to face him, knowing that the question was merely a formality.

"I won't be long, then," he smiled. "I'm planning to change some things up around here in the near future."

Oh, great.

Seth nodded for the Jedi Master to proceed.

"To start, you'll be training Jaina. Effective immediately."

"Really?" Seth was visibly taken aback. "Don't you think our being romantically involved could be a problem?"

"Not necessarily. I trained Mara myself and she turned out fine. It's also a valuable bonding experience that you'll come to appreciate with time," he added. "She should be ready to branch out on her own within a week or two anyways, so just get her started."

"If I'll be training her exclusively, then what about the other students I've been overseeing?"

"Ben will be taking a more active role."

"What about you?"

"I'll be traveling a bit more in the near future. Alone, this time," he added, and something in Seth told him not to ask why he would want to go alone or what he may be searching for.

"When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow. I'm not sure how long I'll be gone, but you guys can handle it. I shouldn't be too long.

Seth wanted to ask why he would leave his daughter alone, but he knew that no good could come from asking a question like that.

"I've never directly trained someone before," Seth abruptly changed the subject. "How will I know what to do? How do I know if I'm doing something right or wrong?"

"Seek guidance from the Force and you'll find all the answers you need." He walked over to the edge of the temple and began to climb down.

"I'm not sure why I bother asking anymore."

Master Skywalker smiled at him as he disappeared over the side of the temple.

Seth sighed and turned back around to attempt to resume his meditation, but his mind began to wander once more.

I hardly have confidence in my own powers as a Master, how can I train someone else who knows little to nothing about the Force? What should I even do? Where do I start?

What if I fail and lose her to the Dark Side?

He had been pondering this for hardly more than thirty seconds when he felt a pair of arms slowly snake around his waist and something press into his upper back.

He really does love to interfere.

He smiled and placed his hands over Jaina's clasped hands, not opening his eyes.

"Sleep well last night?" Seth slipped out of her grip and turned around and gave her a quick kiss on the top of her head.

"Eventually," she smiled. "Ben had me pretty riled up for a while. I really laid into him about everything he's done and how he's acted over the past few days, and Uncle Luke almost had to pull us apart. I doubt he'll ever be truly happy with what we have going here, but he should be keeping his thoughts to himself from now on."

"I can't say I condone what you did, but I'd be lying if I said I was angry."

She smiled and stood up on the tips of her toes and kissed him on the lips.

"Lecture me later," she took a few steps back and sat cross-legged on the roof of the temple. "Uncle Luke said you'd be teaching me."

"That's right," he nodded and settled down across from her.

"So I guess that means I have to call you Master…" her voice trailed off. "What's your last name?"

"Sleep with me without knowing my last name?" Seth raised an eyebrow in mock sternness.

"The less I know about you the easier you are to forget," she winked at him, "but I'd say we have plenty of time to learn."

"Fair enough," Seth smiled. "My last name is Brennan."

"So, Master Brennan, then?"

"I'd prefer it if you didn't, but I'm sure you will anyway. Especially now that you know I don't like it."

"See?" she smiled. "We already know each other pretty well."

"So we do," Seth returned her smile.

"So where are we gonna start?"

Seth thought about this for a moment then jumped to his feet. "Into the forest, I know a place." He reached out a hand which she took and pulled her to her feet. They both started for the edge of the temple roof.

Jaina and Seth sat at the edge of a clearing a good distance away from the temple in the shade of a large tree. Seth leaned against the tree with his legs straightened out and crossed in front of him and Jaina lay directly across from him on her side, her head supported by her right hand.

"The Force flows through all things. It surrounds us and binds us together into one being, no matter the species, planet of origin, or social status. Any being can have the ability to use the Force, and they can use it however they please. Some use it to gain power and wealth and to destroy their enemies, but these are the ways of the Dark Side. A Jedi uses the Force to seek wisdom and guidance, and never as a weapon unless absolutely forced to do so."

Jaina had most likely heard this from her uncle on several occasions in her twenty years, but nevertheless she listened intently. Or at least was very good at pretending to.

"I can't force you down one path or the other, you have to make that choice every day when you wake up. The Dark Side is tempting. It's easier, more seductive, and offers you exactly what you want in life, but it only leads to destruction. It gives you more power than you can imagine, but you lose yourself and everything you love in the process. Many Jedi have fallen, but very few have returned to the Light.

"Your grandfather was one of these Jedi. The most hated man in the galaxy who was responsible for the extinction of the Jedi returned to the Light before he died to save his son, your uncle. Darth Vader was thought to be the epitome of evil, but he was redeemed by his love for his son. Nobody is ever truly gone."

"I've heard the stories growing up," Jaina responded. "My uncle doesn't like to take credit for what happened, though."

"No, he doesn't," Seth smiled. "The only man in the galaxy with every right to be arrogant is one of the most humble. There's a reason people hold him in such high regard."

"Is affinity for the Dark Side genetic?" This question had likely been bothering her for some time.

"Not necessarily. Affinity for the Force can be passed down through generations, but embracing the Dark Side is a choice you make. You're already powerful by blood alone, but how you use that power is a choice only you can make."

"So based off of blood alone I'm destined to be a powerful Jedi?"

"You could be, but you're not necessarily destined to be. You're the daughter of two heroes of the Rebellion and niece of Luke Skywalker. Great things have been expected of you since before you were born."

"Sounds more like pressure than expectations."

"In a way," Seth nodded, "but some people will be disappointed no matter what you do. If you become the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy, people will say you should have followed in your mother's footsteps and become a politician. If you go into politics, some will say you're wasting your potential as a Jedi. If you choose neither and just want to settle down on some planet and live a quiet life, then some will say you squandered a chance at greatness anyone else would have killed to have. If you learn nothing else, you need to learn that you'll never be good enough to please everyone. The sooner you let go of your reservations and your desperation to please everyone but yourself, the easier your training will be. You can't fully open yourself to the Force if you're too busy looking to others for validation."

She considered this for a few seconds, then rolled over onto her back and stared up into the weaving branches of the Massassi trees and the sky above. "I don't think I could settle down, or at least no time soon. My dad held me back for so long that I missed out on a lot growing up. There's so much to see in the galaxy and I've seen so little of it."

"How many planets have you been to?" Seth asked, embracing the abrupt change of subject that had interrupted their first lesson.

She shifted to crawl over to him and lay down perpendicular to him, resting her head just above his crossed ankles and staring back into the treetops. "A fair amount. We've been to Corellia a few times and Ben remembers going to Kashyyyk when we were younger, but I don't. We've been to Bespin to visit a friend of my dad's, my mom had some business on Mon Calamari, and I vaguely recall visiting Kuat for some reason. When I was younger Uncle Luke and Mara would take me away to travel with them occasionally and we'd visit different planets and star systems, mostly to show me how life was different outside of Coruscant. They knew my dad kept me too close, so they took every chance they could to get me off of Coruscant to experience new things and be a normal girl for a few days, but when my uncle started his new Academy that stopped," her voice trailed off.

"I'm sure a lot of things stopped when that happened."

"No kidding," Jaina gave a small smile, but he sensed more than a hint of sadness in her. "Did you ever travel with him like Ben did?"

"No," Seth shook his head, "by the time I met him he had already chosen a planet for the Academy and was just recruiting students. He trained me here for about a month and then spent the next six or so months traveling throughout the galaxy searching for other students."

"Did you ever think that within five years you'd be a Master?"

"Never," Seth smiled. "Even today I have trouble believing it. Luke Skywalker deeming you a Jedi Master is pretty significant."

"Pretty attractive too," Jaina turned her head and smiled up at him.

"Why do you think I trained so hard for it?"

"Well, rest assured, it was time well spent," she winked at him and turned her head back to stare up into the trees. "Are you stronger than Ben?" she asked after a short silence.

"Strange question."

"Not really," she shrugged her shoulders against his legs. "Gonna answer?"

Seth leaned his head back against the tree and stared thoughtfully across the meadow.

"We're both powerful, but in diff-"

"You're as bad as my uncle at answering simple questions," she cut him off with mock frustration.

"Like I said the night we met," he began reluctantly and carefully, "there's a fine line between power and strength. Power is the ability to use the Force, but strength is knowing when to. True strength comes from control."

"So judging from what happened last night, it sounds like you are?"

"By that definition, I guess I am," he conceded, though he hated comparing himself to Ben. "Ben is exceptionally powerful, but he lets his emotions guide his life and dictate his actions. He's a time bomb of raw power and lacks the ability to properly control it. When you give your emotions that much power you lose the ability to think rationally. Anger breeds hate, which leads to suffering in the end. These things are of the Dark Side."

"So the Dark Side is more powerful, then?"

"Not necessarily. Like I said, it's easier and more seductive. It promises you what you want most in life and unspeakable power to go with it, but you lose yourself searching for it. By the time you think you've found it, it's already consumed you."

"What is it you want?" she asked thoughtfully after a few seconds of silence.

"What do you mean?"

"What is it you want in life? Do you want to be a Jedi Master?"

Now that's a question.

"It's the life I've chosen."

"But is it the one you want?"

"Of course," he answered, probably more quickly than he should have.

"Okay," she smiled, not acknowledging his hasty answer though she undoubtedly picked up on it. "Just curious. Being a Jedi seems like a tough life."

"It can be, but Master Skywalker is much more lenient than the Jedi of the Old Republic."

"How?"

"To start, they prohibited romantic relationships. They believed that completely rejecting emotion and attachment was the best course of action to adhere to the Jedi Code. Things like love and infatuation could easily lead to jealousy and resentment, which in turn lead down a path to the Dark Side. That's also why they refused to train children over a certain age. They would take the children from a very young age before they had a chance to form strong bonds with the things they would be leaving behind."

"That doesn't really sound like anything I've ever heard about them."

"It's not surprising," Seth smiled. "The general public has more of a romanticized view of the Jedi of old and looked at them as mythical beings who did no wrong, and some people in the galaxy even believe that Master Skywalker and the Jedi in general never existed at all. I'm not denying that they did an extraordinary amount of good, but they're not perfect beings."

"What about it has he changed?"

"To start, he didn't just take children from their home, mostly because reforming the Jedi Order with children raised from a very young age would be impractical. All of the students he took on had formed attachments and bonds to people on their homeworlds and had to make a conscious choice to join him, which is another thing he wanted to emphasize. He wanted to make sure they knew what they would be taking on before they made the choice to join him, and it was very important that the students didn't feel like they were being torn away from everything they know and love. He warned them that it would be in their best interest to complete their training, but they always have the choice of leaving if they feel it's the right thing to do. He encourages feeling emotions that we're built to feel, but to learn how to control them instead of blocking them out completely.

"The Jedi were also too fixated on the future, in Master Skywalker's opinion. They constantly looked away at what was coming and not what was happening, and it led to their downfall. The Jedi fought a war with the Sith over a thousand years ago that led to the eradication of the Sith, until the rise of Darth Sidious right under the noses of the Jedi. They had spent all those years training and preparing for a war that they had already won, and the entire galaxy paid the price."

"You're definitely not wrong about that."

"I'm sure you know that better than anybody given who your parents are."

"Better than most, but not really," she replied. "By the time I was born my mom was just a senator, my dad had retired as a general, and my uncle was just Uncle Luke. I actually had a fairly normal childhood, all things considered, and my family did a good job of making sure the fame they garnered didn't negatively affect me or my brother. My dad made sure of that," she added with a small smile, "or he tried, at least."

"I've heard he can be a bit overprotective."

"The understatement of the century," she laughed. "He's been a great dad and I know he meant well, but I definitely missed out on a lot growing up, which, like I said, was one of the main reasons I wanted to come to the Academy."

"Have you ever wished for a different life?"

"To be completely honest, I have a few times," she replied after a few seconds. "My childhood was fairly normal, but my life wasn't. I never got to have all of the experiences a 'normal' girl would have. I never got to meet a boy and fall in love and bring him home to meet my parents because my dad was so protective and suspicious that every boy was trying to use me for the fame I was born into. I did have a couple of relationships, but I had to be very secretive about it. I'm almost positive that my mom knew, but if she did she never gave any indication. She grew up as a princess, so she knew what I was going through and how important some experiences are for social, mental, and emotional development."

"Would you change it if you could?"

She continued to stare up into the trees, chewing on her bottom lip. "I don't think I would. Sure, there are things I feel like I missed out on, but I don't think it's worth changing my entire life. "What about you?" she turned her head and looked up at him.

"I don't think I would either," Seth stared thoughtfully across the meadow. "I used to think I'd been cheated out of a normal upbringing due to the circumstances I was born into, but I've warmed to it over the years. I would've missed out on meeting beings from countless different species and traveled to more planets than I could count. I got to do and see so much more than I ever would have if I'd grown up in a normal environment, much less on Dathomir, and to top it all off I got to learn the ways of the Jedi from Luke Skywalker himself who deemed me a Master after just five years of training. When I was younger there were things in my life I would've changed without a second thought, but as I've grown older I've come to the conclusion that I wouldn't change anything."

"And you wouldn't have met me," Jaina added.

"Of course," Seth grinned. "That too."

A long silence followed, but it wasn't uncomfortable like a particularly long silence may be. It felt completely normal, almost comfortable. Something about Jaina seemed to put him completely at ease, even in situations that may have been awkward or uncomfortable.

"Remember when you were teaching me?" she eventually asked after what could have been seconds or hours sitting in silence.

"Vaguely."

"Is this just a philosophy lesson or are we actually going to do something?"

"You have to learn about the Force before you can use it," Seth replied matter of factly.

"I'm not asking you to teach me how to rip trees out of the ground or pull a ship out of the sky, just how to lift a rock or something," she looked up at him and Seth made the mistake of staring into her deep, brown eyes.

I can't say no to that.

"Fine," he nudged her with his leg and she sat up. He also sat up and crossed his legs as Jaina did the same straight across from him a meter away. He called a nearby small rock to him with the Force and set it gently on the ground between them. "Go ahead," he nodded at it.

"You haven't taught me how," she said slowly.

"Don't overthink it," he responded, deliberately not addressing his lack of instruction in the matter.

"Okay," she said slowly, "I'll give it a try."

"No," he replied immediately. "If you say 'I'll try,' you're admitting defeat before you even begin. Do it. As Master Skywalker used to tell me and what his own master told him, do or do not. There is no try. The Force flows through all things. Touching it is as easy as walking, but just as with walking, you have to learn."

"Okay," she repeated. She obviously didn't believe him, but regardless of this she sat up straight, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.

Ten seconds of silence passed before he could feel her desperately trying to touch the Force, and she was frustratingly close. She just lacked the confidence in her innate abilities, even though she came from a line of exceptionally powerful Force users.

"Come on," he said quietly. "You're so close."

After another twenty seconds, her shoulders slumped and she sighed heavily. "I can't do it," she pushed a hand through her dark brown hair. "It's too hard," she said, frustration creeping into her voice.

"That makes it worth doing," he replied matter-of-factly.

She shot him a glare that he was sure he had given Master Skywalker many times during his own training when he would say the same types of things. "I can feel the Force and I can see the rock moving, but it's not."

"You're trying so hard that you're failing. You're telling yourself what you're feeling. When you actually touch the Force, you'll know. It's second nature, you just have to believe in yourself."

"It's not as easy as it sounds, you know," she replied, annoyance beginning to replace frustration.

"Nothing worth doing ever is," Seth smiled.

She rolled her eyes and sat up straight and closed them again.

Seth could almost see her reaching out, as if she were standing just out of reach of a massive wall, struggling to touch it with just a fingertip. Then, suddenly and very lightly, she touched it.

He watched as the small rock flew up into the air so high that it passed the treetops and vanished. He looked back at Jaina and saw her staring in disbelief at the place on the ground that the rock had previously inhabited.

"I did that?"

"Don't sound so surprised," Seth smiled.

"I only imagined moving it a few centimeters, not throwing it like that."

"You'll learn to control yourself in time. What matters now is that you know that you can do it, which is a fantastic start so early in your training."

"Did you pick it up this quickly when you started training?"

"Not quite," Seth shook his head. "I already knew about the Force when I started, but not really how to use it. Maz taught me some fairly rudimentary things growing up, like how to meditate, but not much more. It took me days to make a rock so much as quiver, but once I was able to lift it I improved very quickly. Once you've taken the first step, the rest comes naturally."

"Does it always make you this sore and tired?" she rubbed the back of her neck and yawned.

"For a while, but it'll get easier and less taxing over time as you learn to control yourself."

"Can we call it a day, then?"

Seth shrugged his shoulders. "I don't see why not," he stood up and used the Force to lift Jaina into the air where she extended her legs from their previously crossed position and he slowly lowered her back to the ground where her feet gently touched down on the soft grass.

"Now you're just showing off," she laughed and shoved him.

"Just giving you something to look forward to," he laughed and shoved her in return.

"Were we really out here for that long?" she looked out across the darkening meadow.

"I guess so," Seth shrugged his shoulders. "The days on Yavin IV are shorter than the days on Coruscant by a few hours and the nights are a bit longer because the main planet Yavin has a fairly long orbit around the system's sun, and the moons themselves have a long orbit around the planet. We still use the standard twenty-four hour time system for the sake of consistency, though."

"Just another thing to adjust to."

"Just like everything else, you'll settle into it after a while. Longer nights means more time to sleep, and you'll learn to appreciate that as you progress through your training."

"I'm sure," she smiled and put her arm around his waist. "Wanna spend the night tonight?"

"Not tonight," he put an arm around her and squeezed her close to him. "I need to talk to Master Skywalker and Ben, and that'll probably take a good while.

"It probably will," she conceded, seemingly ignoring the fact that Seth had just said that he would be talking to her older brother about their relationship. "Tomorrow, then?"

"Sure," he nodded, "I'd love to."

"I'm sure I can wait a day, then," she looked around at the forest as they strolled through it.

"Hopefully I can too," he smiled and squeezed her shoulder again as they continued in silence back to the Jedi Academy.