Jenoria opened the door to her bedroom to retire for the night, her eyes sore from all the crying she did, and met a surprising sight. R2 beeped excitedly from in front of Jenoria's bed.
"R2?" Jenoria ran over to the droid and put her hands on his domed head to make sure she wasn't hallucinating, "Is that really you?"
"General Skywalker ejected him as soon as he was caught in the flagship's tractor beam," Rex explained, "and his rank from solo missions was never officially stripped, which makes him the highest ranking officer in the 501st."
"Really? I had no idea... Shouldn't he be with the fleet?" Jenoria looked at R2 when he gave her a few whistles in response, "Mission?"
"General Arch decided it would be more beneficial for you if the Commander came down the palace instead."
"Did he? Well he clearly misread the briefing. The mission is for the Jedi to uphold their title of Peacekeepers during the negotiations. If any Republic officers, outside of those assigned as my personal guard, are seen in the palace... I can't imagine that gives off an air of neutrality. If you would please escort Commander R2 back to the ship that dropped him off and remind General Arch of the true nature of the mission, it would be greatly appreciated."
"As you wish, Your Highness."
With that, Rex and R2 left the room. As soon as the doors closed, Jenoria slumped on her bed. She didn't like talking down to others, and the 501st knew this, which was generally why they followed her orders the first time. She looked over to her closet and saw that her outfit for the banquet had already been decided. She already knew that the kingdom had awaited her return as their Warrior Princess and wasn't at all surprised that the bottom of the outfit was hemmed short and the sleeves separate from the main body to ensure that nothing restricted her. They were looking out for her despite knowing nothing about her. She found it annoying, yet somewhat ammusing. Her thoughts, or lack thereof, were interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Sir," a clone called from the other side, "a Royal Guard told me to inform you that the Queen wishes for you to join her in the bath house."
Jenoria sighed before calling back, "Send for a handmaid," then grumbled to herself, "I won't hear the end of it if I carry my own things. Even though I'm fully capable of taking care of myself."
After a while, Jenoria and a handmaid made their way through the palace, being escorted by a pair of clones named Tenner and Potshot. When Rex was originally arranging the group that would act as her personal guard, Jenoria handpicked these two personally. She made the decision primarily because they took the time to give her some basic schooling between missions, when she wasn't otherwise occupied with training, so she ad a soft spot for them. In return, they were very protective of her, though Rex outclassed them in that regard, so it didn't surprise her to see them go full mission mode with the simple task of escorting her to the bath house. For every corner they reached, Tenner moved ahead to make sure the coast was clear, while Potshot pulled back to check their flank. Once they reached the garden, one of the Royal Guard stopped them.
"Men are prohibited from entering the garden," the Guard stated.
"It's fine," Jenoria stated, seeing Potshot preparing to plow his way past, "She's one of the Elite. Wait until I return."
"Sir." The troops stood at attention to let Jenoria pass.
The Elite Guard took over the escort mission. As they made their way through the garden, the guard who stopped the clones moved closer to the Princess.
"If you don't mind my asking, Your Highness, how did you know we were Elite?" The guard asked, "We were told that you began your training at infancy."
"I did," Jenoria assured her, "but I was also allowed to study my culture. I'm well aware that standard guards wear bronze, the Elite wear silver, Special Operatives wear obsidian and those who have earned Titles, like the Captain of the Guard, wear gold."
The guard returned to her position, impressed by Jenoria's knowledge. As they moved closer to the bath house, Jenoria started to hear something. It was like a faint whisper, calling her. She stopped and looked around, trying to find the source.
"Your Highness?" Jenoria's handmaid asked.
"Who tends the garden?" Jenoria asked the guard.
"Her Majesty handles it herself," the guard explained, "she forbade us from touching anything not on the path."
Using her understanding of her mother, Jenoria deduced that her mother wouldn't forbid anything unless it had something to do with her father. She followed the whispering, stepping off the path and into the brush. No one stopped her, since being both a Jedi and the Princess gives her the authority to bypass her mother's orders. It didn't take very long for her to find something out of place. There was a thick stone slab in a ring of particularly thorny flower bushes. Jenoria used the Force to lift the slab. As soon as it separated from the ground, the whispering stopped.
"Hello child," a voice startled Jenoria, making her drop the slab, resulting in a heavy crash.
"Your Highness?" A guard called.
"It's fine," Jenoria called back.
She put more effort into lifting the slab, this time more prepared for whatever lay beneath. This time, she cleared it out of the ring before she heard the voice again.
"It would be greatly appreciated if you did not do that again," it said. Now that she had over her surprise, Jenoria recognized the voice.
"You were the one who spoke to me on the cruiser," Jenoria stated.
"Indeed. But you may want to try speaking with your mind from this point forward. You are the only one who can hear me after all."
'How come?' Jenoria thought.
"The same reason your father is the only one who can hear my sister. I was sealed within your destined Kyber Crystal."
Jenoria looked into the hole left by the slab and saw the bright red crystal nestled in the dirt. She knelt down to pick it up. The moment her fingers touched it, she was given a vision of Dalkos, in his childhood, finding his black crystal and this red one. The vision ended when her fingers closed around the crystal.
"Your father found us and left me here for safekeeping."
'Why?'
"My sister gave him enough foresight to know that a Nercolian Princess would be destined for this crystal."
'So, will you be speaking to me a lot?' Jenoria asked.
"That depends on how capable you are. Now, you were doing something, were you not?"
'Right,' Jenoria turned around to return to the path, only to find her mother standing there with her arms crossed, an irritated expression on her face.
Jenoria defensively pulled her closed hand back, which only drew more attention to it.
"Your royal weapon," Kaoni said in an authoritative tone, causing her daughter to loosen up her defensive stance and adopt a confused expression, "if you want to keep it, you'll use it to make your royal weapon, not another Jedi weapon."
"That is fair." The voice from the crystal said calmly.
"Alright," Jenoria nodded, "deal."
"Good," Kaoni's expression calmed, "I suppose I should have expected you to to inherit everything he left here."
"To be fair," Jenoria looked at the crystal, "I think this was mine to begin with."
"I certainly hope you are talking about my prison," the crystal voice sounded a bit huffy, "I belong to nobody!"
'That reminds me, who are you?'
"Unimportant. But I suppose a name would make our relationship simpler. You may refer to me as Scarlet."
'Hm, fitting.'
"I thought as much. So, when do I get my new home?"
'Tomorrow.' Jenoria looked down to see that she was covered in moist soil and dead leaves, 'I really need that bath.'
...
I already have an idea for Jenoria's new saber, but I'm open to new ones. If you have any Sith or New Order ideas, I could combine them into some devastating combinations.