A big festival was in swing as the people of Jedi Isle celebrated in excitement. Today was the day they would see the princess get engaged once one of the suitors won her hand in the games.
Citizens of Jedi Isle were joining in all sorts of activities. Arts and crafts, pony rides, breaking open a dragon pinata, and of course having lots of tasty snacks.
And of course, the three suitors and their parents were present as it was time for the race to begin.
"Racers to your marks!" Qui-Gon announced.
The royal family's geographer Mace Windu stepped up with a map of the course and explained the rules of the race.
"In this race, you will not only parkour across a series of obstacles, but you must each hit a target in order to pass on to the next location."
The first part of the course went down the meadow, across the river, and into the woods, where the first target would be found. From there, they would head through a rocky gorge where they would find a series of higher targets, and must hit at least three of them to make it to the next round. Finally, the last part of the course would be through the mountain range, past the waterfall, and across the rickety bridge to race back to the finish line.
"Racers, ready?" Qui-Gon said.
"There's one racer missing!" said a voice.
And up to the starting line came Kara, who pulled on the skirt of her gown, to reveal a stylish golden racing outfit she had on underneath for this very occasion.
"Me, Kara Jinn, firstborn descendant of Clan Coruscant. Here today, I shall race for my own hand!"
"Kara! Get over here right now!" Shmi said angrily. "You cannot race."
"Actually, Mother. I can." Kara said, taking out a book, which she tossed to her father. "Father, would you read the highlighted portion of the rules of the Gathering, please?"
Qui-Gon looked into the book and read it out loud.
"In the Gathering of the Clans, only the firstborn offspring of each of the great leaders of the four clans may compete to be presented as champion to seek the hand of the heir of Coruscant."
"See, Kara?" said Shmi. "Only the firstborn sons of the other leaders-"
"Nuh uh. I've read the entire rule book cover to cover, word for word, and the book says the firstborn offspring of each of the great leaders of the four clans. Not necessarily the firstborn sons. And Coruscant is one of the four clans, is it not?"
The other leaders couldn't believe what was happening here and now. Kara was starting to sound more like a lawyer than a princess at the moment. Qui-Gon looked at the book again and thought about what Kara was saying. And she was right. Nothing in the book specified that only the firstborn sons of theleaders could compete. Just the firstborn offspring.
"Princess Kara is correct." Qui-Gon said. "According to the rules, as a firstborn descendant of one of the great leaders, she is allowed to compete."
At first, mainly the guys started to think the king was crazy to allow this.
"What's wrong, boys?" said Kara. "Are you afraid of losing to a girl?"
Conveniently, a chicken and some baby chicks crossed the track, passed the guys, and Kara picked one of the chicks up.
"Or are you a bunch of chickens?" she mocked, then looked at the chick in her arms. "No offense, little chick."
And she placed the cutely cheeping chick down to get back to its mother.
"This race is in the bag." said Adan, beating his fist on his chest.
So, with nothing else to say, the race was set to begin with Kara joining in. All the racers had their bows and arrows ready, and they got on their marks.
"On your marks..." began Mace. "Get set... Go!"
And Kara zipped at the speed of a bullet, surprising the other racers so much, they forgot to start running.
"Wow..." gasped Korkie.
"That is one fast princess!" said Echo.
"Guys, I said go!" Mace said, getting the guys' attention.
And the three suitors finally started running as fast as they could, running across the meadow.
Kara, meanwhile, ran easily across the meadow and jumped over the river, and jumped over and across a bunch of rocks before aiming and hitting her first target with clear precision. Of course, there was a referee and scorekeeper at each location to ensure they knew who hit the targets.
Kara looked back and saw the three suitors catching up, but not going nearly as fast as she could.
"You'll have to be a little faster if you wanna beat me." Kara teased. "See ya, slowpokes!"
Kara sped off again as the three suitors began to aim their arrows at the first targets. Korkie's hit three inches short of the middle, Adan's hit the edge of the target, but Echo's hit it almost precisely in the middle. Still, they had to catch up to Kara, and that was not gonna be easy, given that speed was her power, and unfortunately for them, nothing in the rules prevented her from using her powers.
Kara, however, decided to have a little fun with the boys and let them catch up to her at the gorge, where she parkoured across the rocks easily without even using her super speed. And she flipped across a huge crack as she shot her arrows and hit three targets at once perfectly!
"Tell you what, boys." said Kara. "I'll give you a head start on the next one. Ready? Go!"
And while Kara counted to ten, the boys rushed as fast as they could to get to the next part of the course. Down the path in the mountain range and past the waterfall, each of them went. All that was left was the rickety bridge.
The boys thought at least one of them had this in the bag as they each hit their targets and made their way to the rickety bridge... until something zipped right by them and got to the bridge first.
"Getting tired, boys?" Kara teased. "See you at the finish line!"
And Kara sped across the bridge as the guys started to fight over who got on first. But as the guys all ran at once and were about halfway across, one of the ropes at the end they'd entered from snapped! The three suitors quickly grabbed onto the bridge before they could fall to their doom. But the bridge was falling apart more!
"Someone help us!" Korkie shouted.
Kara could see the finish line in the distance, but she could also hear the cries of the guys at the bridge. As much as she wanted to continue and win the race, Kara was not the kind to leave a man behind in a dangerous situation. So, Kara raced back to the bridge and threw a rope to the guys, which she used to pull them to safety.
Naturally, the guys were relieved to be safely on the ground again.
"Thank you, Princess." Echo said.
"Are all of you okay?" Kara asked.
"Better now that we're not hanging two hundred feet from death." Korkie breathed.
"Good." Kara said. "Now... race you to the finish!"
And Kara sped off again, the guys once again running as fast as they could. Even when Kara slowed down to a humanly normal speed, she was still too fast for the boys to catch up, and across the finish line she did first as she screeched to a stop! The other racers arrived too, but all of them were worn out and sweating through their clothes.
"My legs are about to break!" Adan panted as he collapsed. "Water! I need water."
"Man, that was a workout!" Echo panted.
Korkie just guzzled down the first bucket of clean water he could find.
Kara rose victoriously as she'd officially won the games and thus won her own hand, freeing her from her stepmother's grasp. Or so she thought.
Let's just say, Shmi was not happy about Kara tricking her way into the games and embarrassing the suitors the way she did.
Kara was practically thrown into her bedroom by Shmi, who was furious by her stepdaughter's behavior earlier.
"I have had just about enough of you, young lady!" Shmi said angrily.
"I followed the rules!" Kara said.
"You embarrassed the other leaders and their children out there today with that stunt you pulled. You've embarrassed me!"
"Oh, you mean pointing out that the rules don't prevent me from competing for my own hand."
"These suitors did not come here for you to upstage them in front of the entire kingdom!"
"You're the one who wants me to-"
"You don't know what you've done!"
Kara got frustrated once again with her stepmother for not listening to her when she expressed that she didn't care about marriage or what some tradition said she had to do. But, she tried anyway.
"Just listen!" Kara yelled and pleaded.
"I am the queen, you listen to me!' Shmi said.
Kara scowled.
"You are only queen by marriage to my father. I am the princess by blood. For once in your life, listen to me!" She said angrily. "This whole thing you're trying to force me into is so unfair!"
"Unfair?!" Shmi almost laughed at that, believing Kara was just on teenage drama.
"You were never there for me. This whole marriage is what you want. But do you ever bother to ask what I want? No!" Kara picked up her lightsaber. "You only go around telling me what to do, what not to do, trying to make me be like you. Well, I'm not going to be like you."
"Agh! You're acting like a child." Shmi said.
Kara growled.
"And you are a beast. I am not even your child! And you are not my mother!"
Shmi froze and gasped as Kara said that.
"You are just my stepmother, and that's all you will ever be! You will never be my real mother, and I will never be like you." Kara ignited her lightsaber and held it near the tapestry of the royal family, very close to where Kara and Shmi were holding hands.
"Kara, stop!" Shmi begged.
"I would rather die than be like you!"
And Kara slashed the tapestry, separating the hands of the embroidered images of herself and her stepmother.
Shmi got so upset, she lost it in that moment. And she grabbed Kara's bow.
"Kara, you are a princess. I expect you to act like one!"
And Shmi angrily threw Kara's bow into the fireplace.
Kara gasped in horror as her bow burned in the flames. And tears came to her eyes.
"You're just like every stepmother in fairy tales." Kara sobbed. And she ran out of the room, crying.
"Kara...!" Shmi then heard the twang of the bow's string.
She gasped and quickly got a metal stick to pull the bow out from the fireplace, but she was too late to save it from being totally damaged. Shmi felt tears come to her eyes as she looked at the burnt piece of wood in front of her.
"Oh no... What have I done?" Shmi covered her face and sobbed into her hands.
Kara, on the other hand, ran off as fast as she could far, far away, crying after all that she'd endured in the last few minutes. She'd been in disagreements and arguments with her stepmother before. But never one this traumatic and heartbreaking.
Kara leaned against a tall rock and sat down, crying into her knees. She was totally alone now. Not even Diamond had come with her this time when she'd run away, and Kara didn't know what to do. What could she do? How would she escape this horrible mess and change her fate?