All characters that have been seen before in any Star Wars movie or written work are property of Lucasfilm, Ltd. All characters that have never been seen in any Star Wars movie or work are property of the author. Do not repost anywhere without the permission of the author!
Jedi Headquarters, Imperial City, Coruscant
The class was breaking up, leaving their practice sabers with Jacen and Nadia. Anakin had smiled when he heard Jacen volunteer to put them away, knowing it was less of an impulse to be helpful and more of a desire to be alone with Nadia. Nadia was necessarily spending a lot of time with Mara, as Mara was training her. Jacen would soon be leaving the academy to continue his training as a healer by studying conventional medicine, something suggested by their uncle. Once Julie reached Jacen's level, she would probably do the same.
Anakin glanced around and found his cousin, in the back of the line of students waiting to hand in their practice sabers. She was with Nic, predictably enough.
The two had bonded remarkably quickly, able to find similarities despite their differences in backgrounds. Julie seemed to have a remarkable gift for friendship, but her relationship with Nic still surprised him, perhaps because Anakin could see that there was more under the surface, if either of them would look past the "just friends" attitude imposed on them by their age difference.
But for now, they seemed to be content with their friendship. Or rather, Julie did. In Nic she had found a suitable and willing punching bag. Usually Nic deserved it, from what Anakin had seen. Now as they waited in line, he heard Julie yell, "Nic! Honestly!" She followed it up by a swift move of the practice saber in her hand, whacking him soundly in the shin. He cried out in pain, but like a gentleman, he did nothing to retaliate, and remained there with her in line.
Once they had turned in their equipment, she left Nic for a moment and came over to Anakin. "Nice job in that duel," she began with a smile.
"You know, she could have beaten me to a pulp in thirty seconds and it wouldn't have been half as embarrassing as that was," he answered, a little doleful.
"Yes, but you have to admit that it was amusing."
"From the spectator's point of view, yes. But not from mine." Anakin sighed. "And now she's off with Jacen to a dark closet... Wonder what they'll be doing in there."
Julie smiled prettily. "You don't know that for certain, Anakin. Though I suspect you're right," she added with a friendly wink. "It would be amusing to see someone lock them in that closet for a while."
"Hmm, that gives me an idea," Anakin replied. "Why don't you do it?"
"Are you kidding? Nadia would kill me!"
"True... Do it anyway."
Julie stared at him in disbelief for a moment, but her expression changed quickly to the mischievous one he had become so used to. "Stay here. I have an idea."
His relatively few past experiences with Obi-Wan Kenobi's granddaughter had made Anakin wonder if the Jedi had a sense of humor at Julie's age. He could barely contain his laughter as Julie walked up to Nadia and offered to help. She took a bundle of the practice sabers, almost as tall as she was, and followed Jacen and Nadia to the storage closet. When they reached the door, Nadia took the practice sabers from Julie and followed Jacen inside.
Then Julie hit the controls next to the door, closing it and locking it.
Anakin knew that Jacen and Nadia would both try to kill him and Julie when they managed to find a way out, but listening to them made the impending doom worth it. He and Julie could hardly stop laughing at the exchange within the closet.
"Jacen, I swear to you by your grandfather's lightsaber, if that streak of meanness in your cousin came from your side of the family, I want nothing to do with bearing your children!"
"Don't worry, Nadia. It's the Kenobi blood in her."
***
After an hour in the closet, Nadia and Jacen had given up on calling threats or calling for help, having sensed Anakin and Julie leave long ago. Both of them had managed to forget their comlinks, so they were going to have to wait around for Corran's advanced combat class, in which Nadia and Mara were supposed to be giving a demonstration, to arrive for them to get out of the closet.
That class wasn't scheduled to begin for another three hours.
It was dark but they managed to find crates they could sit on. Then they talked for most of the three hours. Jacen was almost glad that this had happened, since it gave him time to have a peaceful conversation with Nadia, and one that would likely be his last before an eighteen-month internship at the University of Corellia Hospital. After a while, Nadia was comfortably in his arms, with her head on his chest, and they just resumed talking.
Finally, Nadia stood up. Jacen joined her, welcoming the chance to stretch his muscles. He found her hand with his, ran it up her arm, and slipped his hand under Nadia's thick hair to touch the back of her neck. "I'm going to miss you, you know."
She turned, and Jacen could sense her smile. "I know you will, and I'm going to miss you too."
As she snaked her arms around his neck, Jacen drew her into a tight embrace. After a few minutes, he relaxed his grip on her, and she touched her forehead to his. A moment later, Jacen kissed her, indulging himself in her presence. This, her presence in the Force so unified with his own, was what he was going to miss most.
Long before they were finished, the door opened.
Whoever it was at the door waited for them patiently. When they turned to see who had unlocked the closet, Jacen felt Nadia stiffen in his arms.
"There you are, Nadia. I thought I was going to have to find a new partner," Mara said, with a barely perceptible smirk on her face.
***
"I was not!" Jysella’s high-pitched voice called out from behind the door, causing Corran to stop in his stride to let out a long breath. His children were fighting again, wonderful.
"You were too!" Corran heard Valin retort, then his tone grew quite smug. "You’re only too young to remember."
Corran opened the door then, stepping into his not so meticulously clean living room. "Too young to remember what?"
"Um, nothing Dad," Valin replied, sheepishly.
Jsyella pounced. "Daddy! Valin says that I was once a glass of water that you and Mommy wished into a little girl, and that he could unscrew my head and drink me up!"
Corran shook his head. "Wasn’t she a mutated nerf that your mother and I took pity on last week?"
Jysella’s green eyes widened with horror. "You said that wasn’t true, Dad!"
"It’s not." Corran assured his daughter, ruffling her hair. "And you were never a glass of water either." He shot Valin a warning look. "However, you’ll both be skinned nerfs is your mother comes home and sees this mess."
"It’s Valin’s fault!"
"It’s Jysella’s toys!"
Corran held his hands up. "I don’t care who made it. I only care that it is picked up. Blame it on wild banthas if you like."
"But Daadddyy!" Jysella whined, poking out her bottom lip.
"But Jyseeeellllaa," Corran mimicked her. "The sooner you get started, the faster you’ll be finished."
Jysella harumphed and stomped after her brother, who was already picking up his school books that he’d left strewn all over the floor. Corran went over to the com station and ordered in pasta, just as Mirax emerged through the back door. Her dark hair that had been pulled back into a tight braid this morning, had loosened considerably from the stress of the day. Stray hairs curled around her face, adding to the natural quality of her beauty. Corran finished repeating his order to the droid operator, turned off the com and rushed to the door to greet his wife.
"Sorry I’m late," Mirax said, slipping out of her jacket. "The NRI finally released the artifacts confiscated from Lainey’s abductors for identification purposes. I’ve spent the better part of four hours working with specialists on them."
"Anything interesting?" Corran asked, wrapping his arms around her slim waist.
"It’s all interesting," Mirax replied. "Most of it we’ve never seen before." She sighed and stepped forward into his arms, giving him a hug. "The only things I could positively identify were the lightsabers."
Corran tightened his arms around her and pressed his face against hers, taking in the flowery smell of her perfume. "Sounds like you’ve had a tough day."
"Just busy." She turned her head so their faces were mere centimeters apart. "At least it wasn’t boring." She cocked her head. "Where are the kids?"
"I’ve got them cleaning the living room," Corran replied. "They’re probably returning their stuff to their rooms."
Mirax arched an eyebrow. "And dinner?"
"On its way from The Hovering Gardens."
Mirax grinned, and raised on her tiptoes to plant a sweet kiss on his lips. "You’re cute when you’re domestic."
"Ewww!" Jysella exclaimed as she snuck up behind them.
"What’s ‘ewww’?" Corran teased her. "Kissing your mom?"
"No." Jysella scrunched her little nose. "Kissing her mouth, that’s just gross, Dad." Unable to stand still for more than few seconds, Jysella shoved her hands in her pockets and rocked forward on her heels.
"It’s not gross when you’re married, Jys," Corran informed her. He released Mirax to drop an arm around his daughter’s shoulders. "Daddy’s little girl won’t be doing any of that yucky stuff till she’s married, right?"
Jysella bobbed her head. "Right, and I’m not marrying till I’m 45 either!"
"That’s right." Corran grinned, winking at Mirax.
Mirax just shook her head and mouthed ‘good luck’ to him.
"Anyway." Corran cleared his throat. "I’ve already eaten in the mess hall..."
"What?" Mirax demanded, "Why?"
Corran looked at his wrist chrono. "Because the mall closes in two hours."
Mirax raised a slim eyebrow. "You’re going to the mall?" she asked, shocked. "For what?"
"Lainey needs a dress for the State Dinner, and I thought I might surprise her with one." He shrugged his shoulders. "I thought it would be nice."
"It is." Mirax assured him, patting his arm. "Do you want me to go with you?"
Corran shook his head. "No, I’ll be alright." He gave her a brave smile.
"Corran." Mirax gripped his arm. "What do you know about dress shopping?"
"Nothing," Corran admitted. "But it just has to be pretty..."
"Corran-," Mirax tried to warn him, but he cupped her cheeks in his hands.
"Trust me, Mirax." He gently kissed her lips. "I know beauty when I see it."
***
This isn’t so hard, Corran Horn thought to himself as he browsed through Alyysees dress shop. From off a rack, he pulled a sleek blue dress with sparkly purple flowers embroidered across the bodice, and white ruffles lining the sleeves and hem. This is nice...
"I don’t think that would fit you, dear," a low pitched cheerful voice informed him. "Your shoulders are far too broad."
Corran turned to find a petite woman in her mid-thirties smiling pleasantly at him. "This isn’t for me," he told her quickly. "It’s for my-"
"Holy mother of all that is good and evil in the galaxy!" Her mouth dropped. "You’re Corran Horn!"
Corran fought the urge to roll his eyes. "Yes..."
"Corran Horn is shopping for a dress at my work!" Her light brown eyes grew wide. "I can’t believe this!" She paused to give him an appraising look. "I didn’t think you were the type to wear dresses..."
"It’s not for me," Corran said, growing annoyed. "It’s for my apprentice," he said emphatically, then added, "who is a girl."
"Oh, how sweet," the saleslady said, then looked at him out of corner of her eye. "I bet you brought your wife with you?"
"She’s at home with the kids." Corran lifted the dress so the saleslady could see it better. "What do you think of this?"
"It’s um..." The saleslady pursed her lips. "A dress."
"You don’t like it," Corran stated. He frowned slightly. "What’s wrong with it?"
"Um." She fingered the material. "Just how old is your apprentice?"
Corran hesitated; he had no idea. "Sixteen," he guessed.
"Ah." The saleslady flipped through the dresses, picking out a sleek light pink dress with a low-cut back and no sleeves. "How about this one?"
Corran replaced the dress he had picked out and studied the one she was displaying for him. "Isn’t it a little... immodest?"
"Not at all. She’ll just need matching shoes, a backless-strapless bra..."
"Wait a minute." Corran held his hands up. "I draw the line at bra shopping. How about something with sleeves?"
"Sure." She began flipping through the rack once more. "Just what size is she anyway?"
"Size?" Corran thought for a moment. "I’m not sure, but she’s kind of short, skinny." He held his hands a short distance apart. "That’s about her waist length, I think."
The saleslady clucked her tongue. "You know, a strong, rebel hero such as yourself doesn’t belong in a dress shop." She trailed her fingers up his arm. "I’ve waited a long time to meet you, you know..."
Corran removed her fingers from his arm, and stepped back. "You know, I don’t think I’m going to find what I’m looking for here," he said, then hurried out of the store.
***
"I want something in red," Julie Daris commented to Nadia Montaigne as they flipped through the dresses at Caremen’s Bridal. "Mom never allowed me to wear it."
Nadia grinned in response, pulling a sleek black dress with silver sparkles glittering across the soft material off the rack. "So a little black dress is out of the question?"
"Oh." Julie fingered the material. "It is pretty but... I don’t know."
"It is a little short," Nadia said, raising it up to get a better look. "Might just show off your legs. What a shame that would be if Nic happened to notice."
Julie raised an eyebrow. "And prove he has a pulse?"
"Hm." Nadia pursed her lips. "Might be more than he can take." She replaced the dress. "Let’s keep looking."
"'Kay," Julie said, pulling a dark blue gown with a flowing poofy skirt off the rack for inspection. Deciding that while it was pretty, it would be a nightmare to sit in, she replaced it on the rack. Her dark eyes wandered briefly over to another section of the store, where she thought she saw Corran Horn. "Nadia," she said softly, elbowing her friend. "Is that Corran Horn?"
Nadia turned, following Julie’s line of sight. "I think so," she said watching as he inspected a sleek red dress that would be "okay" if it didn’t have poofy feather sleeves.
"What is he doing here?" Julie wondered aloud.
"Shopping for a dress," Nadia replied, then added with a smirk, "or a fashion consultant’s worst nightmare."
Julie grinned in response. "Perhaps we should help him? He’s probably shopping for Lainey or his wife."
"I don’t know," Nadia mused, watching as he moved onto another dress that would be semi decent without the sequined hearts and horrible purplish green color. "I want to see if he can pick out something nice on his own."
"You think that’s possible?" Julie asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Maybe," Nadia said thoughtfully. "No." She gave Julie a sideways glance. "It’s amusing to watch though, isn’t it?"
Julie shook her head. "You’re terrible."
Nadia nodded. "Yes, but I’d never think of locking a certain someone with Nic in an equipment locker."
Julie snickered, then frowned. "Only because nothing would happen."
"You never know," Nadia commented. "It just might give him the right incentive." She lowered her tone. "To make his move."
"No way." Julie sighed. "He’d probably fall asleep, or talk about aerospace dynamics until I did."
Nadia’s eyes widened. "He can’t be that oblivious."
"But he is," Julie complained. "He’s only touched me once- and it was on accident. He backed up so fast, like he’d been stung."
Nadia laughed. "Then we’re going to have to work on your feminine charms."
"If I get any more charming, he’ll run screaming." Julie sighed. "We really should go help Master Horn."
"Right," Nadia agreed. "He’s coming over here anyway."
Julie looked back at Corran, who was now approaching their section of the store. He paused in his steps when he caught sight of her, and then smiled when he recognized her. Julie smiled in return, stepping forward to meet him. "Hello, Master Horn."
"Apprentices Julya Daris and Nadia Montaigne," Corran greeted them both. "Imagine meeting you two here- together."
"What do you mean?" Nadia asked smoothly, though she got the feeling she knew exactly what he had meant by that.
"You were late to my class, Nadia," he said sternly, then winked at her. "I had to inquire why." His green eyes sparkled. "The next time Jacen volunteers you both to help carry equipment back to the closet, I’m sending a chaperone." Julie laughed, causing Corran to jab his thumb at her. "Same goes for you and Nicholai, Julya."
"Julie," she corrected him, blushing at his insight. "And trust me, we wouldn’t need one."
"I’ll believe that when he stops getting color in his cheeks whenever you get too close to him," Corran said calmly. "And vice versa."
Julie’s blush deepened, and Nadia cocked her head, then said, "You’re pretty perceptive aren’t you, Master Horn?"
"A fine quality in a teacher, don’t you think?" Corran teased her. "Actually, I’ve never been blind to the obvious."
"Anyway," Julie said, longing to change the subject. "What are you doing in a Bridal shop, Master Horn?"
"Trying to find Lainey a dress for the State Dinner," Corran replied. "It’s a little harder than I thought it would be."
"I bet," Julie said, casting a knowing smile to Nadia. "Why didn’t you bring Lainey with you?"
"I wanted to surprise her," Corran replied, fingering another fashion disaster.
"You’ll certainly surprise her with that," Nadia said. "But she won’t be too happy."
"You don’t think so?" Corran asked, stroking his chin. "What would you suggest?"
Julie grinned at that, pulling a dress off of the rack. "This."
***
"So, what is this we’re watching?" Lainey asked, looking up from her history assignment.
"Emerlitian," Miranda responded from her spot on the dormroom floor.
"You should come watch it, Lainey," Pam sighed. "It’s my favorite fairytale."
Lainey turned her datapad off. "What’s it about?"
"The Kingdom of Emerlitian," Miranda replied. "It takes place a long time ago, before interstellar travel! Anyway, the people of Emerlitan are unhappy with certain Governmental decisions, but unfortunately no one dares tell the King which ones. So he sends his son, the Prince, to talk with the people in disguise, so they can fix the problem. In his wanderings, he meets a beautiful waitress, who has the best opinions on how to change the Government for the better."
"And they fall in love and live happily ever after?" Lainey interjected, leaving her bed for a spot on the floor by Miranda.
"Right," Miranda grinned. "You should join us too, Karina. It can be roomate-holo-romance night!"
"I can’t!" Karina said, her voice muffled by digging in the closet. "I have to leave for Turaso in the morning, and I’m not even packed yet!"
"Turaso?" Pam asked, slightly confused. "Where’s that at?"
"Right by Mantooine," Karina replied, emerging from the closet with an armful of clothes. "My Master and I have been assigned to serve at a refugee camp out there for a month."
"I’d forgotten about that!" Miranda exclaimed. "That means you can’t come to the State Dinner tomorrow!" She elbowed Lainey. "Are you going to come?"
"I don’t think so," Lainey replied, her eyes glued to the holoscreen. The vid seemed familiar, she could have sworn she’d seen it before.
"Why not?" Pam gaped. "It’s in honor of us, the Jedi!" Her eyes sparkled. "And we get to get all dressed up."
"That’s the problem." Lainey turned her attention to her friend. "I have nothing to wear."
"You can borrow something of mine," Karina said, sitting on her bed and carefully folding her clothes. "Mom made sure I packed formal wear."
Lainey shook her head. "Thanks, but anything of yours would be too big," she said, then noticing the eyebrow Karina raised at her implied insult, quickly added: "You know... in the chest area." Lainey flushed. "Any guy I danced with would probably be able to see down my dress."
"Then you’ll have to dance pretty close," Miranda said slyly, waggling her eyebrows at Lainey. "So he can’t."
Lainey wrinkled her nose. "But what if the only guy I dance with is Master Horn?"
Miranda shrugged. "I’m sure we could pin it or something."
"No, it’s okay," Lainey sighed. "I’ll just stay here and finish my history homework or something. It’s due after the weekend."
Copyright 2002 by Luney.
Continue on to Chapter Eighteen.
Back to Chapter Sixteen.
Back to Luney's vault.
Back to Corran Fanfiction page.