Author Note: At the request of a reader, I am including a very fluffy chapter post Chapter 5, from that timeline. Also, I think that Chapter 5 didn't show up in the fanfiction feed properly, so make sure you've read it first before reading this one.
Varykino
Naboo
18 years later
"Speech! Speech!"
Master Yoda, Grandmaster of the Order, lifted a placating hand and tottered over to a nearby stage, which he climbed with grim determination. He was so tired.
He looked out over the crowd and smiled slightly to himself. It was a fine crowd filling the lavish lawn of Varykino consisting of ...
"Jedi!" he began.
There was a roar from the assembled Jedi, who raised their glasses in honor of their Grandmaster.
"Others!" Yoda continued, gesturing to the groups of individuals who had left the Order to marry (gack) and have children. Reluctantly, the Old One admitted that the change had been good for everyone. There were numerous young ones being born with Force abilities, and no one had lost his or her mind in the last 20 years due to unrequited love for a romantic partner.
"Senators and families!"
Another cry of enthusiasm.
"Miners!"
Kyber crystals were being carefully dug up in a previously unknown mine here on Naboo.
"Gungans!"
Hysterical cheers along with a muttering of bad Basic, so bad that Yoda's speech patterns seemed downright reasonable.
"And Naberries!"
The crowd rose to their feet, clapping enthusiastically for the Naberries who nobly hosted this annual fete at their beloved Varykino.
"Today my 896th birthday it is!" Yoda exclaimed.
More cheers.
"Spend with noble folks 896 years is not enough."
There were frowns of confusion from some, smiles from others.
"You well I know not half. Other half, too tall. Some half as short."
Now everyone looked confused.
Yoda sighed. He was tired, so very very tired.
"Too exhausted I am. Leave you in good hands I do. Friends, the end this is. Farewell."
The old Jedi smiled gently, leaned on his stick, and abruptly vanished, his faded clothes falling to the ground as the crowd cried out in shock.
Ten minutes later, 15 year old Leia Skywalker elbowed her brother in the side and sat up, "Winter, over here!"
"She's freaked out," she muttered to her twin even as she twisted her long, dark hair into a hasty bun and piled it on her head. Even in the shade of her favorite tree, it was warm today.
"I see that," Luke agreed, popping the rest of his dweezel stick into his mouth.
"Hi," Winter Organa murmured nervously. "Um, can you tell me about what just happened?"
"Sit down, Winter, sit down!" Leia replied graciously, gesturing to the grass beside her. "Luke, care to explain?"
Luke brushed off his fingers and sat up, "I'm sure that looked very odd."
"Very," Winter replied, blowing her breath out lowly. "Very weird. He just seemed to disappear! Was it some kind of trick?"
"No, no," Luke replied cheerfully. "No, Jedi and Others will sometimes disappear when they die."
"He's really dead?" Winter asked, her eyes wide. "Yoda, the Grandmaster of the Order is dead? My parents will be upset."
Leia shrugged and patted her friend on the arm, "He was really old, Winter. 896 is a lot of years. And truthfully, the last 20 years have been tough on him. Even he reluctantly admitted that the creation of the Order of the Others has been good, but it's hard for old brains to learn new ways. He was stressed out. Obviously, he knew it was time to go."
"Did you know him that well?" Winter inquired in a surprised tone. "My parents said that Master Yoda was a rather remote person."
"Not well, exactly," Luke replied, lifting his hand toward a distant refreshment table. A moment later, 3 bottles of water began dancing their way through the crowd to them. Luke grabbed one bottle and handed the other two over to his companions. "Father and Master Yoda aren't each other's favorite people. In fact, Yoda tossed him from the Jedi Order."
"And then your dad started the Others?" Winter asked curiously.
"No, Kenobi started the Others," Leia chimed in, taking a sip of water. "He fell in love with Duchess Satine and decided he wanted to leave the Jedi as well. Father has many skills, but diplomacy isn't one of them. Besides, when it was just the Skywalker clan, the Jedi were moderately mellow. Once Kenobi left, and Ahsoka, and then a dozen others, and then three dozen, Yoda and Master Windu bowed to the inevitable and began negotiations. This was all when we were pretty young, though I seem to remember Leia was in on some of the early meetings."
"I was," Leia agreed, her eyes sparkling with enthusiasm. "You should have heard Mother, Winter. She just laid into Master Yoda one day, telling him that if he was going to be such a stick in the swamp that she'd just plant him and see if he'd grow. Something like that. It was a great insult. He yelled back in that weird Basic of his and they argued for a while and an hour later things were mostly settled. I was pretty little, but I'll never forget it. Mom is amazing!"
"She is," Winter agreed, smiling. "My father says her political abilities are exceptional, and he's not one for false compliments."
"Ok," Luke said in a distracted voice, leaping to his feet and marching toward the house. "See you later, Winter."
"What?" Winter asked Leia in a puzzled tone.
"Dad just asked Luke to come help with the twins. Grandma Shmi is taking them out by the lake and Dad doesn't want one of them falling in."
"So you can hear his voice in your head?"
"Yes," Leia said, a trifle uncomfortably. Winter was a dear friend, and she was afraid of making her nervous. Though anxiety wasn't in her Force sense.
"I envy you, you know," Winter murmured aloud.
"Everyone has gifts," Leia said quickly. "We have Force Sensitivity but you have ..."
"No, not the Force stuff," Winter interrupted. "Your family. I love my parents tremendously but I don't have any siblings or cousins. It's lonely. You have your twin brother and small twin siblings. Though that must be a little odd, huh? They are only 5 standard years old?"
"4. They will be 5 next month. Yes, it was quite a surprise to us when Mom announced the pregnancy when we were 10. But they are wonderful in a crazy way. Alixa is calming down a little; she'll play plushies with me for twenty whole minutes now. Ace would prefer to climb trees, and fall off of them, rather than play with plushies, though the twins have a tremendous bond, just like me and Luke. But yes, you are right, we are truly blessed. It isn't just Mom and Dad and the sibs; it is my grandparents and uncles and aunts. We are very happy. I'm so glad my parents decided to leave the Jedi. We could have been sent off to the Jedi Temple as infants and we never would have known ..."
Leia trailed away and shook her head. It was hard to imagine such a terrible fate.
"Leia!" her little brother squealed, running up to her and knocking her over with enthusiasm. "Leia! Grandma Shmi makes the best blue milk pudding in the galaxy!"
Leia rolled to her feet and smiled at Ace, even as her gaze fixed on Grandma Shmi. Shmi, in turn, could hardly take her eyes off of her elder granddaughter. It had been 18 years since the time traveling Luke and Leia had appeared and rescued her from the Tusken Raiders, but she still remembered their faces vividly. Every year, her Luke and Leia looked more and more like her saviors from long ago.
It was truly a miracle.
"Princess Winter, Leia," Shmi said with fond smile, "would you care to join us down by the lake? Owen and Beru just arrived and their kids are eager to dash around, but we might need some more accomplished swimmers if the children fall in."
"By all means," Leia replied, hooking her arm in Winter's and drawing her toward the beach. "It will be our pleasure."
Author Note: Fluffy enough for ya?
