"I can't believe her," Jaina fumed. She sat with Kyp, Jacen, and Tash, as she and the former two worked on building their lightsabers. "She's always been promoting democracy, saying that we have to fight the First Order. She said she's willing to die for that cause!"
"I don't understand it either," Jacen admitted. He was adding a ringed piece to the bottom of the cylinder that had spiked fins off of the end. "The whole thing was weird."
"Kylo Ren cannot be negotiated with, he murders political opponents like my parents," Kyp said as he screwed on a guard for his hand. "The Hapans are idiots if they were fooled by him for a moment."
"Did you ever meet him?" Jaina asked, curious. She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. It curled oddly, unlike the rest of her hair.
"Twice," Kyp said. "The day my parents died, he was at the fire, acting like he'd saved me and my brother personally. But I knew better. He also oversaw my evaluation into the stormtrooper program, me and my brother's."
"What was he like?" Jacen asked.
Kyp shrugged as he added buttons to the small control panel on the side. "Quiet. Very quiet. Ominously so. He was unpredictable, too— like a raging wildfire even rain couldn't put out. He felt a little like Jaina does, in the Force."
"What?" Jaina sat up straight, alarmed.
"But not quite the same," Kyp said decidedly. "He also felt like a thunderstorm, like a torrent of rain. And your fire is a little different, Jaina. It's more. . . controlled. And it's brighter than his ever felt."
Jaina relaxed slightly, but the comparison still made her feel uneasy. Some in the Resistance were against the Gray Order because of what terrible things happened when they went dark. Jaina had feared as soon as she was old enough to understand that danger, that she would go dark like Kylo Ren or Darth Vader.
That was a large part of her dedication to learning about her history, about Darth Vader. She wanted to understand what had led to the man's fall, so she could never follow his path, and keep Jacen, if she could help it, from falling, too.
She looked over the cylinder she had developed. The wiring, the mechanics, all of it was placed together perfectly and instinctively. It would be easy and intuitive to use, Jaina could tell with her design. She just had to add one thing— her crystal.
She pulled it out of her pocket, and placed it into the cylinder. It clicked into place, and Jaina hit the button to turn it on. A blade of pure light appeared. Jaina stared at it, mesmerized. She couldn't quite decide if it was blue or violet— it was some shade of indigo, in-between.
Tash clapped.
Show-off, Jacen thought at her. Jaina stuck her tongue out at him. He rolled his eyes.
"Very mature," Tash said.
"Oh, come on, I've seen you with Zak," Jaina said, referring to Tash's little brother. "You act the exact same way!"
"Actually, I haven't for quite some time," Tash said, flattening her bangs. They looked like the tall grasses Jaina had seen in holos of Dantooine. "We've both grown up. We have to. It won't be long before either of us can fight in this war as Jedi Knights."
"That's the only good thing about this armistice," Kyp grunted. "If it goes through, no one will have to fight anymore."
Tash shrugged. "Not for us Jedi. There's always problems in the galaxy we'll have to solve."
"I suppose that's true," Kyp said.
"Just a sec, I think I've got it—" Jacen stood, lifting his new lightsaber. An emerald-green blade emerged, looking nearly identical to Luke Skywalker's. That was an heirloom that Rey kept in her room, with other things she had stolen from Ahch-To after Luke Skywalker died.
"Nice," Jaina said. "We can now duel Mum, and be Jedi."
Just like we've always wanted.
Naturally, that was when they heard the lightsaber sound behind them. Jacen, Jaina, and Tash turned to see Kyp activate his own purple lightsaber.
"Why is it so long?" Tash asked.
Kyp shrugged. "I think the crystal was bigger than most."
"It's not that long," Jaina said with a frown. "Besides, we need to go meet Mum."
"Fine." Kyp turned off his lightsaber.
Rey was waiting in the training room, with her saber-staff strapped to her back. She wore her gray training pants with the padded knees, a black tank top, and no bindings on her arms, revealing their muscles. Her hair was tied back into three buns, a familiar hairstyle to Jaina. She wore it herself when she was really little.
"I see you made your lightsabers," Rey said as she pulled the old metal staff off of her back. "I'm interested to learn what your instinctive fighting styles are. Although I'll admit, I'm not going to make winning easy for you, just because you're my children."
"Fair enough," Jaina said. She'd been watching duels with awe her whole life, reenacting them with brooms or long sticks or even wrenches against hapless punching bags or the air, or even her brother.
"Ready when you are," Jacen called out as he stepped into the ring. He threw off his jacket and bag. Jaina untied the jacket tied around her wrist, and unzipped her old jumpsuit to reveal her tank top, tying the sleeves to keep her jumpsuit from slipping further, and tied her hair back in a loose ponytail.
She was proud to notice that Kyp was staring at her bare shoulders and muscular arms. Then she turned to Jacen, making eye contact. He understood without a word or neat thought, just an emotional impulse. Their bond already felt so much more open, like they were one.
In sync, they raised their lightsabers and flicked them on. Rey turned on the dual blue blades and spun her staff as a warm-up, then held it out.
"You did put those on training mode, right?" Rey called out.
"Yes, Mum," Jacen said as Jaina rolled her eyes.
"Good, I don't want anyone getting killed," Rey said.
Then she strode forward, and twirled her blade in a wide arc so both Jacen and Jaina had to hit it, locking the blades. With one sweep, Jaina ducked and rolled, and raised her saber to strike from behind as Rey pushed Jacen to his feet with the Force. Rey then whirled around, striking with her saber.
Tapping into their bond and the Force, Jaina jumped inhumanly high, over the two whirling blades. Jacen got up, and blocked a strike headed his way. Jaina's landing was a little unsteady, and she had to duck beneath the blades, feeling the heat just in front of her nose.
Jacen then fell back, and Jaina turned off her saber. She then summoned her brother's lightsaber and her own, causing them to fly through the air, blocking Rey's blows in successive loops before returning to their owners hands.
In perfect sync, tapping into their bond with one another in the Force, they struck with such force that the saber-staff went flying out of Rey's hands. It landed on the floor on the button that turned off the blade, rolling and displaying some new scuff marks and a new dent on the once-shiny metal.
Rey clapped as Jacen and Jaina deactivated their sabers. Jaina stood there a moment, overwhelmed by the clarity and endorphins caused by the adrenaline pumping through her veins.
She wanted to feel like this forever.
Jacen then hugged her, and she hugged him back.
Rey embraced them both. "I'm so proud of you! You're working together so well!"
"Will we be Jedi?" Jacen asked.
"A promise is a promise," Rey said.
Jacen and Jaina shared only one thought, one feeling, as their eyes met— triumph.