Rise Of The Halcyon. Chapter 59.
Rey ran her finger through the thick dust covering the top of the Aaronian computer terminal. It had been moldering in storage since just after the birth of the twins. She frowned, hoping it would still be functional, but doubting that it would be.
Their studies had had to be put on hold after the twins came, there just plain hadn't been time to study ancient history while raising a set of twins and establishing a new galactic order. After a lifetime of emotional deprivation Rey had found her bliss in her family and she clung to them so tightly that she had barely left her daughter's presence for longer than an hour or two at a time since they'd been born. She couldn't bear to be away from them any more than she could bear to be away from her husband... but at least with Ben she could be inside his mind even when she wasn't in his presence.
The urge to dive back into researching the ancient, extinct, order of Force weilders known as Halcyon had been a constant tension inside of her since Luke's late night visit nearly two weeks ago. She knelt down and opened a small compartment on the R2 sized unit. It only took a glanced inside to find the tiny boxes that held her and Ben's visual interface lenses. She pulled hers out and placed the discs into her eyes then powered up the computer.
A quiet hum filled the air and a smell like ozone wafted up from the machine as it powered on. Rey sighed in relief when the terminal quickly displayed the list of translated manuscripts she had been studying before the birth of her daughters.
A tingle shot outward from her spine and she grinned as Ben loomed up in front of her.
He smiled.
'Just about to break for lunch.' His grin stayed in place as he told her. 'Cal is teaching us how to change our appearance.' His eyes shined with pride. 'Ani can already change her hair color.'
Rey stood and her grin shifted to a brilliant smile. "I thought the plan was for us to teach him about the Force?"
'We are, but that's no reason to stop learning all we can, where we can.' He looked away from her and his lips moved as he said, "Great job Ami!" His smile was completely smitten. "Let's go show mama what you girls learned today and then have some lunch, ok?"
"Meet you in the hall." She blew him a kiss and withdrew from the connection.
"Are you ready mummy?" Ani's elfin face was lit up with excitement.
"Oh yes, show me!" Rey grinned at her daughters across the table.
The twins exchanged a grin and waved their hands infront of their faces.
"That's brilliant!" Rey clapped her hands and exclaimed when their hair colors switched heads then asked in mock horror, "How am I supposed to know who's who from now on?"
Ami rolled her eyes and pulled a face, "You're our mummy, you have to know that." She sassed.
"Yes, mummy, you have to know that!" Ben teased then winked at his wife.
'I bet they fool you before they do me.' Rey thought to him.
'Stakes?' He leered subtly.
She sent him a mental picture that almost made him choke on his bite of toasted cheese sandwich.
'You're on!' He thought hungrily.
Though the stakes of verbal bets were always the same, a kiss, their own private bets were rarely so innocent.
I bet was a game that had quickly evolved into a family-wide phenomenon a little over a year ago, when Rey had overheard her not-quite four year olds talking while they colored a doodle of a pair of porgs that Ben had drawn for them.
"Mine is prettier!" Ani said when she'd finished messily coloring her pink porg's feet bright blue.
"Nuh-uh." Ami replied. "Mine looks realer!"
"So!" Ani said dismissively. "Mine looks prettier!"
"Mummy!" Ami had turned to Rey then, "Tell her mine is better."
"I bet she says yours is ugly!" Ani said in a loud carrying whisper.
"Well," Rey said, squatting down by her girls and wrapping an arm around each. "You lose that bet." She ruffled Ani's jet black hair. "They are both beautiful!" She kissed both crowns. "Just like you two!" Then in a slightly scolding tone she told Ani, "but that was a mean thing to sat, you should apologize to Ami for being rude and give her a kiss on the cheek."
The girls had made a game of it that had them betting on everything for days, it had been so heartmeltingly adorable that from then on, everytime someone said the words, "I bet," the loser had to kiss the winner's cheek. "I bet" had quickly become common words in the Solo household.
"Girls," Rey raised a brow at her husband and smirked. "I bet you can't trick daddy into getting you mixed up."
"Oh!" Ben grabbed his chest and shaking his head with a rueful grin he playfully accused, "That's a dirty trick."
"No such thing." She grinned and flashed her eyes at him in a way that was part challenge, part dare and part promise…
"Daddy can't change his hair!" Ami informed her mother. "We learned how faster than he did!"
Ben gave his golden haired daughter an exasperated look, "I bet I can." He smiled and waved his hand in front of his face. His hair faded to the exact blend of golds and silvers as his youngest daughter's.
"Oh!" Ami clapped and jumped out of her seat to fling herself at her dad and kissed his cheek with a resounding, and slightly sticky, "mwah!"
"You look like me now daddy!" She grinned happily and kissed his cheek again.
Ben clasped his baby girl to him briefly before setting her back on her feet with a besotted smile and a gentle admonition to finish her lunch.
He looked around the table, turning to Cal Shay last.
Cal was a quiet sort, preferring to observe rather than engage. Ben could understand that, he'd spent a fair portion of his life observing without engaging unless forced to do so. It was, he knew, a defensive mechinism to cope with feelings of insecurity and inadequacy.
"Cal," Ben said after staring at the boy for a moment. "No matter what anybody tells you, the only important things in life are the people you choose to share your life with... we're glad that you chose to share yours with us."
Cal gawked at Ben for a moment then glanced at Rey, who was smiling at him, and the twins who were also smiling. He didn't quite know what to say to that. "Uhm…" he blushed and mumbled. "Thank you."
"After your tutoring session, what do you say you and I go play in the simcaps for a while before supper?" Ben offered.
Cal's pale blue eyes shot open wide and his face lit up, "Really?" He squeaked. "You're going to teach me to fly?"
"You're big enough to reach the controls, you're old enough to understand how they work, so, yeah, I'm going to teach you to fly." Ben smiled.
Cal's happiness and excitement were a bright pulse in the Force around him that every member of the Solo family could sense.
"He's so happy!" Ami giggled.
Ani adminished her twin, "It's rude to laugh at people!"
"I'm not laughing at him!" Ami pouted. "Mummy, Ani's being mean to me."
Rey rolled her eyes. 'Here we go again.' She thought to Ben who just sipped his caf and sat back to watch the inevitable drama unfold.
