Nearly two meters in height with wide shoulders and a long stride, lightsaber dangling against his left hip, he stood in a parade rest at a stair landing on the South side of the Jedi Temple. Though his robes were lighter in color than they had been and his light brown hair- just past his shoulders -tied back from his face, he still cut an impressive figure that could inspire equal awe and intimidation.

The rest of the galaxy knew him as the Hero Without Fear. He had gained fame from adolescence as a tactician, pilot, duelist, and quite possibly the most powerful- and unorthodox -Jedi Master in history.

At the moment said Jedi was feeling just a bit antsy. He had not seen his family for a full month. That had not been the plan...things had just turned out that way. It was the longest they had ever been apart. Of course even having the privilege of remaining in the Order and being able to keep his family would not have happened if certain circumstances had not forced Anakin Skywalker to take a long, hard look at himself.

It had been nearly ten years since the last Siege of Naboo. Much had changed since then. Thanks in part to Anakin's actions, the Code had been rewritten to eliminate the rule against attachment. Jedi were now allowed to fall in love, marry, and have families.

Of course there were still limitations. A Jedi had to have passed the Trials for Knighthood and proven themselves disciplined and committed enough to their partner in order to have a spouse. Both were required to sign a document stating they knew and understood the perils of being a Jedi and were willing to accept them, as well as leaving any children that resulted open to the possibility of being trained as Jedi themselves. As the changes had only been ratified in the last five years, only a handful of Jedi had undertaken such a step.

Such changes were not welcomed by all members of the Order. Some disliked them and made frequent requests for their dissolution. Some felt so strongly opposed that they had left the Order outright, forming their own splinter factions that held tightly to the old ways. Most viewed it with a sort of tolerance; attachment might have been all right for some people, but they would never endanger others by doing such a thing themselves. They would also strongly discourage their Padawans from forming attachments.

Anakin, while happy that the changes had been made, didn't like the discord that had resulted from it. At times he felt regret in shaking up the Jedi so badly. Other times, especially when he was with his family, there were no such feelings. There was only contentment.

Family was and always had been the most important thing in Anakin's life. He broke into a grin as he sensed his children rounding the corner.

"Dad! Dad!" cried Luke as he and Leia breathlessly bounded up the steps. They stopped just short of plowing into their father.

Anakin could only laugh as he dropped to one knee to wrap his arms around his children. He found his blue eyes getting misty as the twins hugged the living daylights out of him. Their love and enthusiasm could be sensed across Temple, and it warmed his heart. He wanted to pick them up as he had done when they were small, but at nearly twelve they were getting far too big for such things. They might not even want it anymore.

Leia clung to her father as if she would never let go. "Father, we missed you so much!"

Father. Anakin sighed wistfully. Up until Leia was eleven, she had called him 'Daddy'. In the last few months he had been 'Father' instead. It had the same meaning, but to Anakin it meant only that his little girl was growing up too fast.

"We missed you from one side of the galaxy to the other," Luke declared. He pulled back from the embrace to look at his father's face. "Why was it so long between comms?"

"Yes. We were getting worried," said Leia with a sad look.

"Not me!" Luke declared. At a scathing look from his sister he hunched his shoulders. "Well, kinda. Just a little."

"I know, Luke...Leia. I'm sorry to have worried you and your mother, but unfortunately we had to maintain comm silence until the operation was finished," apologized Anakin. "And I didn't expect it to take this long."

The twins smiled widely at their father, though Leia's was a bit forced. "That's okay. Being a Jedi doesn't have regular hours," Luke said, parroting one of the family's oft-spoken phrases. "We knew you were all right."

Luke was speaking of the Force-enhanced bond between them as a family. They would have sensed if their father was badly hurt or had been killed, and he knew it. Leia wasn't so sure, but didn't want her father doubting her abilities. "But we still missed you," she added.

Anakin reached out and smoothed Leia's hair and squeezed Luke's shoulder with an absent smile. "I know. I missed you, too, more than you know."

Luke gazed at his father. "So, why did you stay up here instead of coming down like you usually do?" he wanted to know.

"I was trying to surprise you," sighed Anakin. He shook his head. "Apparently it didn't work. When did you two sense me, anyway?"

"Back in the hall, outside the sparring room," answered Luke easily. "If we'd been trying, we probably could have sensed you sooner."

Anakin chuckled as he rose to his feet. "Practice, and soon you'll be able to sense each other on the other side of the planet. So, how have you been doing in your studies?" He kept his arms across Luke and Leia's shoulders as they began the walk back down the stairs.

Leia's smile faded in remembering her recent failures and kept her mouth shut. Luke spoke enough for both of them.

The boy grimaced. "Well, the Galactic History exams were last week."

Anakin lifted his eyebrows with interest. "How did you do?"

Luke shrugged. "I passed. But Leia did much better than I did," he said ruefully.

Anakin beamed at his daughter. She had always been a scholar and regularly surpassed most if not all her classmates. "What percentage were you in this time?"

Leia blushed. "Well..."

"She passed first!" blurted Luke enthusiastically. "Well, she and two others. But her score was perfect, just like Mathematics and Composition. Not a single question wrong!"

"That's my girl. You take after your mother. Maybe you could help Luke with his classwork," suggested Anakin.

"She tried. She says I'm hopeless," Luke admitted.

"Luke!" Leia frowned at her brother.

"Well, you did."

"Maybe if you'd spend less time in the hangar and more time in the Archives, you wouldn't be."

Luke made a face. "History wouldn't be so hard if it wasn't so boring. Flying is fun."

Anakin tried not to smile too much at his son's way of looking at things. My thoughts exactly. "Either way you do need to know your history. Jedi do far more than just fly across the galaxy and use a lightsaber." Here he gave both their shoulders an encouraging squeeze. When Leia winced and recoiled, Anakin stopped in his tracks. "Leia, are you all right?" Belatedly he noticed the slight pink stain on her shoulder from some sort of wound. A quick assessment with the Force told him it wasn't serious, but sensing his children in any sort of pain always pinched Anakin's heart. "What happened?"

Luke's shoulders fell. "It was my fault. I didn't want to. Honest! But Master Calon never lets the duel end until someone lands a mark of contact or surrenders. And Leia never surrenders."

Leia glared briefly. "Jedi don't surrender."

The boy hung his head. "I'm sorry."

Anakin nodded sympathetically. "I know. Sometimes I think some of the sparring rules are too harsh. At least they're only training lightsabers. That doesn't keep them from stinging, but a small burn is better than losing a limb...or worse." His tone was quiet as he rolled up Leia's sleeve.

Luke made a face. "I know, but why does Master Calon have to pair us up? I hate fighting my sister."

"He could be testing you."

"It's me he's testing." Leia kept her breathing even to focus the pain elsewhere as her father examined her shoulder. "He spoke of courage in facing up to someone you don't think you can win against. Everyone was outmatched today."

Anakin pulled away with a short sigh of relief at his vision confirming his senses. It was only a small second-degree burn; no worse than a bad sunburn. It would heal quickly with a bacta patch. But he knew how painful those types of burns could be. "You'll be fine. Want to see a healer before we get your things?"

Leia pulled away. "I'm all right. How did your mission go, Father?"

"Smugglers can be surprisingly hard to deal with," admitted Anakin, letting Leia's sleeve fall. He had been spending his last month with former apprentice Ahsoka Tano investigating a rumored spice smuggling ring working beneath what seemed to be a legitimate business operation on Nar Shadda.

"So there were smugglers," exclaimed Luke with widening eyes. "What were they smuggling?"

"Spice, and a lot of it. We found at least fifteen hundred kilos in an underground storage facility," explained Anakin.

"Greedy drug-runners," muttered Leia in disgust. She and Luke had already heard about spice and the damaging effects it had on people. "I hope you and Master Tano were able to shut them down."

"It took some doing, but eventually they agreed to come quietly. Republic Security moved in after we did and took them to court for a fair trial." Anakin tactfully left out the bits about wounding several people and lopping off a limb in an effort to subdue the crooks. He didn't enjoy dispatching people in such a way and didn't want his children to hear about it.

Luke grunted with satisfaction. "Good. I can't wait 'till we can start going on missions and exploring the galaxy."

Anakin grimaced despite himself. "There's plenty of time for that. First I think you two need to get packed so we can go home."

Leia finally found opportunity to straighten her spine. "I'm packed, but Luke isn't."

Luke bristled for a moment. "Yes, I am...mostly."

Anakin rumpled Luke's hair. "Come on, then, and let's finish." Together he and his children headed toward their shared room.

"Is Master Tano still here?" Leia wanted to know.

"She was going to speak with the Council about taking on an apprentice."

"I hope they say yes. She'd make a great teacher."

"Hey, where's Artoo?" blurted Luke, looking around.

Anakin chuckled. His children had grown up with the stubby blue astromech droid and considered him a member of the family. They had probably missed him. "He's waiting for us back at the ship. You'll see him in a minute."

Luke broke into a grin. "I can't wait to see the look on Mom's face when we walk in."

Anakin found his own grin wistful when he thought of his strong, beautiful wife. He had missed her to an almost painful degree and was looking forward to catching up on some long overdue affection. "Neither can I. Come on. Let's hurry so we can get home."