Jinn clashed blades with Mina, who leapt back to get distance on him landing on a rope strung across the canyon. Jinn looked at her exasperated, "Come on! That's cheating!"

"Sorry Sky-boy, but I never said I play fair," Mina replied with a wink before dashing across the cord.

Jinn groaned in annoyance but followed his opponent, nonetheless, shakily balancing on the single rope across the very, very wide chasm. Deactivating his green sabre he stepped onto the rope, almost immediately falling into the valley below. "I am one with the Force and the Force is with me, I am one with the Force and the Force is with me, I am one with the Force," he muttered nervously, eyes closed as he tried to focus on maintaining his balance, using the Force to help do so.

"Sky-boy!" Mina called, snapping Jinn's eyes open to see the Togruta-Human hybrid holding her rose blade millimeters away from the rope.

"No," he barely whispered.

"What was that?" Mina toyed, knowing full well what he said.

"Please! Don't!"

"Please do? Okay!" Mina flicked her wrist to cut the rope Jinn was standing on as the latter screamed in terror, his flailing arms immediately grabbing onto the rope out of pure instinct and probably saving his life. Granted Mina would have saved him… probably would have saved him… okay maybe would have saved him if she felt like it… but that hardly helped the situation as he slammed into the cliffside, very nearly losing his grip. He looked up at the other cliff and saw Mina blow a kiss to him, declaring "See ya later!" and bolting off into the jungle. He really and truly hated that woman.

Finally clambering up to the top of the cliff, he felt himself being lifted with the Force, "Leia."

"Girlfriend ditch you again?" his twin asked, rolling her eyes.

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Sure she's not, that's why she always flirts with you."

"She flirts with everyone."

"It's different with you."

"Put me down." When Leia complied, he dusted himself off, "You know one of these days I'll beat her at this course."

"Sure, and I'll be on the Council tomorrow."

"Well Dad was a knight when he was on the Council. You'll get knighted soon enough."

"You know as well as I do the only reason that he wasn't a Master was Coruscant politics," Leia commented, "I mean, that's all he ever talks about half the time."

"That's not all dad ever talks about. You would do well to listen to him more."

Leia rolled her eyes and turned away from him, walking back to the Jedi complex to finish her own training course. "I'm getting tired of having to train for both of us," she muttered.

Jinn sighed and sat down at the edge of the cliff, waiting on Mina to come back. He knew she had already beaten him, again. Closing his eyes, he tried to meditate. His stepmom was significantly better at teaching him the calmer aspects of Jedi life than his father who was more proficient in combative arts, despite his aversion to violence, and like her he always excelled at it. Slowing his breathing, decreasing his heartrate to the barest minimum required for life, all physical functions slowed to a crawl. His connection to the Force became all encompassing, as the Force enveloped his levitating form. His "official" master, Barriss Offee, was always proud of how well he had done in his studies, but both his dad and Master Kenobi kept telling him he had to get better at the physical aspects of the life of a Jedi if he ever wanted to become knighted. "This is so stupid!" Luke's mind pondered, "We rarely leave the Temple and never get involved in huge fights. Hell, I planned on becoming an archivist; after I'm knighted, I'll probably never light my saber again! Why should I learn to master something I'll never use?"

Mina looked over the undergrowth she was hiding in, silent as the night. Her hunter instincts guiding her every move. Baring her teeth in a grin she listened for even the slightest indication that Jinn sensed her. He had been meditating for the past three hours and she had already come back to Master Kenobi with the text in hand, and Barriss had asked Mina to go retrieve her padawan for her. She never said she couldn't scare the crap out of him when she did though. Slinking silently through the shrubbery of the jungle floor, her montrals fine-tuned to even the slightest movements. She was only a meter behind him. Slowly, quietly standing to her feet, she held out her arms to push him towards the cliff.

"Are you quite finished?" Jinn asked, giving Mina a heart attack and causing her to stumble backwards, crashing loudly onto a pile of sticks and leaves. Much to her annoyance, he chuckled as he landed on the ground and stood to his feet.

"Not. Funny," she complained, brushing her leggings of any leaf litter stuck to her.

"It is for me. Especially after that little cutting the rope' stunt you pulled."

"You act like I didn't know you'd catch it."

"That doesn't matter! What if I didn't?!"

"You are so much like Aunt Barriss."

"Well I am her Padawan."

Mina rolled her eyes as they walked back to the complex, continuing to tease Jinn about how she always beats him. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you want to stay behind me just to get a look at my ass."

"That is not why I'm always behind you," he argued, glancing at said ass, "You're just better at acrobatics than I am. I can totally trounce you in anything academic."

"Yeah right!"

"Speaking of how much better I am than you at our studies, you still need me to come tutor you on your history? Tomorrow afternoon, right?" Jinn asked smugly, knowing full well the answer was in the affirmative.

"Ok fair enough."

Finally coming to her parents' apartment Mina looked over her shoulder to Jinn, "see you tomorrow then?"

"See you tomorrow."

Smiling she turned back to the door and walked somewhat slowly to her door. "He's totally staring."

Leia smacked him on the back of the head as she walked past, coming to report to her master on her progress. She had even made a new time. He slinked back to his own master's apartment somewhat embarrassed at having been caught, by his own sister no less. Nodding, she said "Hey Mina."

"Hey Leia," Mina replied punching in the entrance code for their lock and opening to door. On the small table their pet loth cat was napping but woke up at the sound of the door. Her collar jingled as she bounded over and leapt into Mina's arms, "Hey Spleens!" she quietly cooed while Leia scratched the animal's fluffy chin.

Ahsoka's voice could be heard in the other room, "Dammit Lux! We've been married for two decades! If you want to jerk it to my feet just ask me to take my shoes off instead of sneaking holos while I'm sleeping! Kriffing weirdo!"

"It's less fun that way!" Lux protested.

"MOM! DAD!" Mina shouted in disgusted horror while Leia stared with her mouth agape in horrified disgust.

Poking her head around the corner, montrals black in embarrassment as her child and her student were definitely not supposed to hear this conversation, Ahsoka called out to her oldest daughter "Mina! When did you get back?"

"Right when you were screaming about Dad's foot fetish. Ugh, just the words make me want to puke!"

"Sorry, Obi-Wan said you weren't supposed to come back until dinner," Ahsoka chuckled before clearing her throat, "How's Twi'leki food sound?"

"I'll let you know after I barf up my lunch right quick."

Ahsoka rolled her eyes at her daughter's dramatic nature, "Alright, Twi'leki it is. What about you Leia? You staying for dinner?"

"Can't. Fifth night."

"Oh, right. Well, happy Chanukah."

"Thanks. Erm, do you want my report or…"

"Just. Just give it to me tomorrow."

"Right. I'm going to try to forget this happened."

"Please do."

Jinn knocked on his master's door, no answer. Weird. Knocking again, a bit louder, he heard Master Offee reply, "Enter." Opening the door revealed her to be in a meditating pose, having spent the time in a similar manner to himself. Turning to face him though, she had a glare that would have killed him if she were a Sith, "Where were you!"

"I got way too far behind Mina to ever catch up, so I decided to meditate instead. I lost track of time," Jinn confessed sheepishly.

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Barriss groaned in frustration. Petro had never had this problem, quite the opposite. Thanks to her tutelage he managed to calm himself enough to truly connect with the Living Force. Jinn, Jinn's problem was one she wasn't sure if she could fix. She had selected him because of how good of a fit they were together but that was just the problem: he was too much like her for her to not sound like a complete hypocrite when she scolded him. "Do you know why Kenobi and I have you race Mina?"

"Not… really, no?"

"To try and make you push yourself. We already know she's athletic. We already know she'll get that scroll a thousand times, and she'll beat you to it 999 of those times. We're trying, desperately trying, to make you get to that one. Then that one will become two, then three, and so on. You're more than capable, you just need to see it for yourself!"

"I just don't understand why I'm even doing this! We don't get involved in conflicts, I almost never leave the Temple except to go work in Dad's garage or pick up some power converters, I doubt I'll ever even pick up my lightsaber again after I'm knighted! If I'm going to become an archivist then I'll never have to use any of the skills you're trying to drill into me lately!"

"You're right."

"What?"

"You're right. You probably won't ever have to use your lightsaber. In fact, I hope and pray you never have to use it. Because I had to. Your father had to. Aunt Ahsoka had to. We all had to."

Jinn looked down; he knew that none of the masters ever brought up the Clone War unless they absolutely had to. His histories told him enough, he even studied a few of the battles his father fought in, and how the first battle involved his mother.

Barriss placed her hand on his arm, "I just want you to be ready, in case one day you might be forced to draw your weapon."

"Yes, master."

"Go home. I'm sure Luminara is worried sick."

She most certainly was worried sick, and Jinn definitely got an earful when he came into the house. After his younger siblings came along, they had to leave the main housing structure and construct a larger private house within the complex, hardly a strange phenomenon as a lot of Jedi had large families. His youngest brother, Owen, twelve years old now, hobbled to the table. He had cerebral palsy but despite that was at roughly the same rate as the other younglings, getting some leeway in the physical requirements of course. His four sisters, Shmi (17), Zotue (16), Nespvi (14), and of course Leia (20) in various phases of snickering or eye-rolling at Jinn's tardiness.

"What did Barriss have to say about it?!"

"That you were worried sick."

"I was!"

Anakin got between them, "Lumi, let him be. I'll talk to him later. It's almost time for the candle lighting."

Sighing in annoyance, Luminara Skywalker pointed at Jinn and said, "He's the reason my hair is gray and falling out."

"Yes babe, I'm sure it has nothing to do with you being fifty-five," Anakin teased.

"Shut up and light the menorah," Luminara ordered.

Anakin smirked, kissed her on the nose and lit the shamash, and recited:

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה אֲדֹנָי אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ לְהַדְלִיק נֵר חֲנֻכָּה

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה אֲדֹנָי אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם שֶׁעָשָׂה נִסִּים לַאֲבוֹתֵינוּ בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם בִּזְּמַן הַזֶּה

Lighting the five candles, he replaced the helper candle and the family ate their dinner together.

A/N: Ok, so that's Chapter 1 done and dusted. As for the Chanukah bit, well funny story because I can actually justify that at least semi-canonically. The actress who plays Padmé, Natalie Portman aka Neta-Lee Hershlag is an Orthodox Jewish Israeli, therefore halachically her children are/would be Jewish and any potential non-Jewish spouse would have to convert, and in Empire Strikes Back we see Vader's control panel has labels written in Hebrew (ok, gibberish written with Hebrew letters but close enough). So Hebrew, the ancestral and liturgical language of the Jewish people, is canonically in Star Wars! Therefore, somewhere, there are Jews in the Star Wars galaxy! Finally, our dear princess Carrie Fischer, may her memory be a blessing, was a Reform Jew. Likewise, in Ahsoka's Twin I had made a reference to the Mirialan language (as far as I know not currently established as to what it is like Huttese or Jawaese are) by having Barriss refer to a "savtah," which is the Hebrew word for grandma. Furthermore, in the events which occurred on Earth during Dooku and Gràinne's reigns, people would have started to leave for other worlds, bringing their traditions with them. Probably going to be the last reference to that, I just thought it was cool and I'm really into the Chanukah spirit at the moment.