Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars and I never will. Feeling a bit depressed about that. Oh well, here's your chapter.

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Part 3: Lament of Fates

With a growing dismay, Zekk watched out of the corner of his eye as his daughter dragged in a young man. The young man in question had black hair that was styled to give the illusion that he had spent no time on it, when he most likely occupied the refresher unit for thirty minutes for just his hair. His eyes were a pale, glassy green. The young man's face struck a cord of familiarity in him. But that could be Jaina's emotion. It was difficult to figure out what belongs to who when one felt a strong desire to sulk in a corner.

Despite the familiarity and the boy's appearance – it was a long standing joke between Jaina and Zekk that their children would only be happy with partners who had dark hair with green or brown eyes – neither were the source of Zekk's growing dread. It was in the young man's eyes. The look his daughter was unknowingly receiving was like a dagger to his heart. The look harkened to the one he frequently regarded with his wife. It was one of undying love, a bantha-eyed look if there ever was one. And with that look, Zekk knew he was going to lose his daughter to this young man. It was no Force or pessimistic paternal premonition. He knew from the look.

Through their bond, Jaina gave him the Force equivalent of a "lighten up!" before excusing herself to the kitchen to reheat the meal. Ben approached him from behind – visiting for an unknown amount of time – and clapped him on the shoulder. His cousin-in-law tried and failed to cheer him up. "Don't worry about it, Zekk. There's still Ailis. And at least Maeve didn't bring home any pod racers like she threatened to do."

Then, Ben walked over to the pair, still being assaulted by a relentless Ailis, and noogied Maeve while introducing himself to their guest. A few minutes later, Maeve came over to Zekk, the boy trailing behind her hesitantly. Having a strange feeling of detachment, Zekk hugged his daughter and mumbled the usual greetings. The boy snapped a quick bow to him once he was done speaking with Maeve. Again, familiarity struck, but he still could not place the boy.

"Hello, sir, I am Loryn Fel."

Fel. Fel. Fel. Wait, as in Jagged Fel? His wife's ex-boyfriend? The ex-boyfriend that had Zekk never hoped to see again to avoid any awkwardness? As in that Fel family?

"I'm Zekk. By any chance, are you related to Jagged Fel?" he asked while shaking the young man's hand.

"Yes, he's my father. I would like to apologize for imposing on you and your family, sir," Loryn began.

"It's Zekk," he interrupted. "Just Zekk. And think nothing of it." His daughter was going to marry the son of his wife's ex-boyfriend. That was going to be one uncomfortable wedding. He still felt the almost overpowering urge to sit in a corner and sulk at how life threw unexpected curves.

From the kitchen, he could feel Jaina's amusement at his reaction. She was far too happy with this situation. It was almost as if she thought it was funny for him to be this uncomfortable. With that, he excused himself of the others and made his way into the kitchen. Once he was there, he efficiently made a nuisance of himself by getting in her way, holding her back, putting bowls where she couldn't reach, etc. The idea of being a nuisance progressed on to an agreeable activity for both them.

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She stared at her father's back as he made his way into the kitchen. Was it just her or did he feel a bit like a man approaching his doom? With a shake of her head, she physically shook off the idea. There was nothing for him to feel doomed about. If there were, then every Jedi would have felt it.

She grabbed Loryn's arm and pulled him to the couches, where she shoved him down next to Ben before sitting next to her sister. Her boots clattered to the floor as she made herself comfortable, tucking her feet beneath her. Loryn sat stiffly, his back much straighter than it had been while he was standing. His eyes flicked around the room nervously. She briefly wondered if she had made a mistake. After all, he most likely has never been away from Chiss space. Also, according to her mother, there were few humans in Chiss space so that too could have added to his discomfort.

In an effort to put him at ease, Ben turned to Loryn and gave him a friendly smile. "So, young Fel, what are you doing so far from Chiss space?"

"My father is attending some diplomatic affair here, and my mother thought it provided a good vacation for the rest of us, Master Skywalker," Loryn answered politely.

He was staring at her again. Her hand crept up to surreptitiously ruffle her hair. Ben spotted the action, shooting her a laughing grin and a wink. She made a mental note to beat his prized high score on The Path of a Jedi.

"If you want to give me a title, then it would be Knight Skywalker. But I'd prefer it if you would just call me Ben. Loosen up a little, too. You're acting like we're going to throw you to the krakana any minute," Ben said with a smirk. "Now, I can't speak for Jaina, but I assure you, the rest of us are relatively harmless."

Loryn sighed, his shoulders sagging in relief. She hadn't even noticed he was that tense. A grin that made a fuzzy feeling in her stomach spread across his face. He rubbed the heel of one military grade boot against the toe of the other as he said, "That sounds about right from what I've heard. Oh, you guys can call me Catch."

"So, Catch, how old are you?" Ailis asked.

With a frown, she noticed her twelve year old sister was giving Loryn a look normally reserved for her poster of the Jumping Womp Rats' lead singer. She would need to make sure her younger sister didn't try anything foolish.

"I have nearly reached my seventeenth lifeday," Loryn answered. Why was he addressing the answer to her? It was her sister's question. "What about you, Maeve? How many seasons do you have under your belt?"

"I'm seventeen." She suddenly noticed that the house was short one occupant. Turning slightly towards Ben, she asked, "Where's Han?"

"He's staying at a friend's tonight," her cousin answered.

When she glanced over at him, she noticed that he was staring at her again, with a slight frown on his face. "Isn't Han Solo your grandfather?"

A small chuckle escaped her. "He's also Ailis's twin brother."

"What? How does that work?" He was rather cute in a childlike way with that confused expression.

She felt Ben and Ailis's laughter. "It works because Han is named after my grandfather Han Solo."

"Oh. I knew that."

She laughed, ignoring mock-wounded look on Loryn's face.

"Well, Catch, I think you picked a good night to impose on our dinner. Han is gone, so that leaves his portion of the food to you and it's leftover night! So, I will go and see what is taking dinner so long. The service here is horrible." Her cousin stood and walked towards the kitchen.

She opened her mouth to yell a retort, but then Ben's voice came loudly from the kitchen, "Well, no wonder service is horrible. The kitchen staff is making out. Honestly! We have a dinner guest! Think how embarrassed poor Maeve is to have her parents well on their way to making another Solo when she brought home a male friend."

Immediately, she ducked behind her sister, groaning in humiliation. Warmth spread up her neck and she knew that her face was becoming dotted by splotches of red. Her sister patted her back comfortingly, but she knew that Ailis wanted to hide as well. But at least her sister didn't have the embarrassment of Ben's implications.

Loryn was going to think she liked him, or worse, her parents were going to think she liked, mention it at the next family reunion, and then there would be teasing galore. She'd also have to go through her grandfather's rather angry speech on how boys are no good, using himself as an example. It would be even worse if there were family friends, like the last one. She shuddered at the thought of Wes Jansen being present. It had only happened twice but that was enough for her.

On the other couch, she heard something that sounded suspiciously like choked back laughter. She reached out with the Force and felt amusement pouring off of him. She nudged his mind, remembering a second later that he would barely feel the telekinetic push. In a new tactic, she nudged her cousin and used the Force to toss a throw pillow at Loryn. From his laughing yell of "Not the hair!" she knew she hit her target.

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Dinner was a surprisingly smooth affair. Aside from the large shock the Solos/Skywalker received when finding out that Loryn did not intend to follow "the family business" of military service. Instead, he was going to go into acting. He applied to several schools outside of the Chiss space, one of them that had answered was the Ackbar School of Performing Arts. He said that he was leaning more towards that one. She wondered why he was staring at her when he said that, but dismissed it in favor for getting more dessert.

Although he was nearly being grilled by her curious family for most of the meal, the times when he was not answering a question, Loryn mainly pushed his food around the plate. He later admitted that he wasn't used to such food. Somewhere around her third serving of chocolate pudding, his comlink went off, nearly sending Loryn through the roof. With a sheepish smile, he excused himself and made his way back to the living room.

His voice was a low murmur, but if she concentrated then she could make out certain words. She felt a twinge of guilt at eavesdropping but knowing that the rest of her family was doing the same and only pretending to have a conversation made her feel better. She knew this because her parents and cousin were murmuring about three unrelated topics to each other. The conversation resumed in full when Loryn walked back into the dining area with a hand over his comlink.

"Ahh. . . Jaina, Zekk?" Her parents had insisted the use of first names only, which he was clearly uncomfortable with. "Would it be all right if my family came to pick me up? I got lost when I went for a walk and couldn't find my way back to the hotel."

"Is that how you met Maeve?" her mother asked.

"Yes, I ran into her."

"So she found you while you were lost?" her mother persisted.

"If you want to put it that way, then yes."

Her parents had strange reactions to this answer. Her father felt almost fatalistic while her mother was nearly the opposite. A strange gleam reflected in Jaina's eyes and the smirk on her face was nearly triumphant. Before anyone else at the table could question them, Jaina said, "Sure, that's fine. Your family is welcome to come here and pick you up. It'll be a reunion of sorts."

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It was fate. His daughter found Loryn in a similar situation in how he had met Jaina. He found her, Maeve found the Fel boy. He knew it before, his wife's jab rather painful jab through the Force was unnecessary. There was nothing he could do to prevent it. Even if he tried, fate would happen somehow.

By the time the other Fels arrived, Zekk had resigned himself to the inevitable. He shook hands with them, smiling, making nice. A rock settled into his stomach as he watched Loryn say good-bye to Maeve. The boy held one of the most bantha-eyed expressions he had ever seen; his daughter seemed almost indifferent in comparison. Someday that would change. He hated that someday.

-----TBC------

Next part coming soon. I apologize for the long time that it took me to upload this. I take full responsibility because I am a bum and do nothing about it.