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Jedi Headquarters, Imperial City, Coruscant
Luke Skywalker stumbled into Ben’s nursery, rubbing sleep from his eyes. Ben had not only gone to sleep late, he had woken up four times during the night, and now at 0500 hours. "Lights," Luke called out over Ben’s screaming. Blinding lights assaulted Luke’s sleep sensitive eyes and succeeded in making Ben cry even louder. Blinking colored spots from his eyes, Luke stumbled across the floor and leaned over Ben’s crib to pick him up.
"Good morning, Ben," Luke greeted his infant son as he lifted him into his arms. "Sleep well?" Luke asked, pressing him against his shoulder.
Ben shrieked in response, clutching Luke’s tunic and biting his shoulder.
"I know, I know," Luke said softly, exiting the nursery and patting Ben’s back. "You’ve got a mean, nasty tooth coming in."
Ben whimpered as he sucked furiously on Luke’s shoulder. Luke rubbed Ben’s back soothingly and pressed his cheek against Ben’s head. "Are you hungry?" Luke asked as they entered the kitchen. "Daddy has a bottle already made for you." Luke shifted Ben to the crook of his arm, wincing at the automatic scream moving him entailed. Luke quickly removed the bottle from its warmer, checked it, and gently touched the nipple to Ben’s lips. Ben sucked fervently, holding Luke’s hand with both of his own, his little face forming a very serious expression.
For all of two minutes.
Eyes filling up with tears, Ben let out a loud wail, releasing Luke’s hands in favor of balling his own into tiny fists. Luke tried to get him to take the bottle again, then placed it on the counter with a sigh. Ben grabbed Luke’s free hand and brought it to his mouth. Luke felt the small bump that would have to be Ben’s offending tooth, and stroked Ben’s cheek with his thumb. Gently bouncing him, Luke stepped into the living room. Ben started squirming in his arms, whimpering as he rubbed at his ear. Anticipating another screaming fit, Luke lifted Ben to his shoulder once more and started pacing back and forth across the room while patting and rubbing Ben’s back, cooing softly in his ear.
While he paced, Luke’s thoughts turned to the events that had transpired over the past few days. Kyp Durron had proclaimed himself to be the Chosen One, and showed Luke the prophecy the day afterwards. While it was obvious that half the prophecy was missing, Luke could think of little else to discredit Kyp’s claim. Tionne had mentioned something about a book of prophecies that was written entirely in Jedi Cyrillic. The prophecy Kyp had shown him was written in Basic. If Luke had that book he could at least prove that Kyp’s version was probably a copy...assuming he, or Threepio could translate Jedi Cyrillic.
Luke saw Mara exit their bedroom and walked forward to meet her. "Morning Mara," Luke said, stepping closer to kiss her. Mara’s eyes met his, her face turned pale, and she rushed into the refresher. Luke frowned even as Ben started to whimper again. "Mara," he called outside the refresher door. "This is the third day in a row you’ve been sick. I want you to see Cilghal."
Ben started to cry as Luke waited for an answer. Finally, Mara spoke up again. "Skywalker, didn’t you see the Hoth Rings in the Refrigeration unit?"
"What?" Luke asked, startled as he tried to soothe Ben.
"For Ben," Mara replied impatiently. "They’re frozen teething toys, they help numb his gums."
"I’ll get them," Luke assured her. "But you’re seeing Cilghal today," he said, walking quickly away before he could hear her protest.
***
It had been five days since Kyp’s proclamation, and the nightmares that followed plagued the edge of Lainey’s awareness, making her glad her classes hadn’t been particularly stressful. Master Horn had moved her to advanced Lightsaber Combat, but she enjoyed the challenge of duels, and really only had to fight one every two days. Miranda was still having problems in beginning combat, so Lainey had offered to tutor her during their free time after classes.
The training room was full of initiates and padawans, practicing either lightsaber or hand to hand combat techniques. There was an air of competition between the duelists, and the desire to impress Master Skywalker, who sat watching them with his son Ben in his lap. Miranda glanced at Master Skywalker, then back at Lainey, shifting her weight nervously. "Why does he have to be here?" She flashed Master Skywalker a brilliant smile, then turned back to Lainey. "I don’t want the Head Master to see me failing at something."
Lainey shrugged her shoulders. "Then the answer to your problem is simple: don’t fail."
"Easy enough for you to say." Miranda frowned at her practice saber. "You know, all I really want to do is beat Jariath, just once."
"What is your strategy for doing that?" Lainey asked, studying her friend’s face.
"Yours," Miranda replied. "Well, the way you fought Master Horn anyway. I tried some of your fancy hand movements, only I don’t think I got them right."
Blinking, Lainey asked, "Is that all you’ve tried?"
Miranda nodded. "Well, it seemed to work for you."
"You’re going to have to change your method." Lainey pursed her lips. "To KISS."
"What?!" Miranda demanded, her mouth gaping open. "He’s attractive but I wouldn’t-"
Lainey smiled. "Keep It Simple Stupid."
"Oh," Miranda flushed. "Where did you hear that?"
"I don’t know," Lainey replied. "I’m going to take you through some Simple Attack exercises." She extended her practice saber towards Miranda. "Attack me."
Miranda lunged her saber forward, taking a step towards Lainey. Lainey waited until Miranda’s blade nearly touched her before swatting it away. Miranda struck again, this time towards Lainey’s stomach. Lainey immediately counterattacked, then stepped back, allowing Miranda to strike again. Miranda thrust her blade towards Lainey’s shoulder, causing Lainey to parry early, and step back once again to let Miranda attack.
Lainey had just finished taking Miranda through the saved lunge with undetermined destination drill, when a familiar voice interrupted them.
Hey Lainey, Miranda," Master Horn said, resting his hand on Lainey’s shoulder. "Mind if I interrupt?"
"No," Lainey said, letting her practice saber hang at her side.
"What’s up?" Miranda asked, sitting down on the mat.
"I just want to work with my Padawan for a bit," Corran replied, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "I’ll return her in a few minutes." He winked at Miranda.
"In one piece?" Miranda teased, grinning at Lainey.
"Depends on how well she does," Corran said, squeezing Lainey’s shoulders. Lainey just shook her head, allowing Corran to lead her to the center mat. After they bowed to each other, and their practice sabers engaged, the duel began. Corran at first seemed to be leading Lainey into a simple beat attack, but he kept trying to force her to defend in the inner ring. Lainey jumped back just in time, moved forward to attack, only to be thrown over Corran’s hip. Dazed, Lainey swatted Corran’s saber back just in time to prevent him from earning a kill point, and jumped to her feet. She feinted to the right, stabbed at Corran’s left side, causing him to block late. Lainey thrust her saber at him before giving him the chance to counterattack, only to catch Corran’s elbow in her breast bone not hard enough to hurt, but to shock her into allowing him to hook his right leg behind hers, and drop her to the ground.
Finding herself laying once more on her back, Lainey decided to rethink her battle plan. If Master Horn wanted to inject hand to hand combat skills into their duel, then she would have to use them, too. Lainey watched her Master circle her for a bit, obviously waiting for her to get on her feet again. Lainey seized the opportunity to open herself fully to the Force, before slowly rising to her feet. Closing her thoughts to her Master, Lainey pretended to tire, letting Corran force her to defend in the inner ring. Close proximity fighting was the most dangerous, but Lainey chose to use it to her advantage. Lainey swept her saber down into an arc, as though aiming for Corran’s shins. Corran bent down to block it, and Lainey moved underneath him, using his momentum to throw him over her back. Corran managed to grab Lainey’s wrist as he fell, taking her down with him.
"Nice work, Padawan," he breathed, staring up at the ceiling.
"You mean we’re done?" Lainey asked, propping herself up on her elbows. "I could take a few more drops to the floor."
Corran laughed, then held up a hand when his comlink beeped. "Horn here."
Lainey half listened to her Master’s one-sided conversation as she slowly rose to her feet, carrying her practice saber. Lainey waited until he shut his comlink down before pressing her saber to his neck. "Killpoint," she informed him, lifting her chin.
Corran grabbed hold of her saber, using it to help pull himself up. "Cheater."
"You allowed yourself to be distracted," Lainey said soberly. "A Jedi Master should know better than to keep his comlink on in the middle of a duel!"
"Hey," Corran held his hands up. "It was an important comm." He winked at her.
Lainey placed her hands on her hip. "More important than throwing your own Padawan around, Master?"
"Oh, trust me, Lainey." Corran grabbed her neck. "No comm call could be more important than that."
"Nice to see you have your priorities straight, Master." Lainey grinned.
"Do you remember Taren Lunceford from the State Dinner, Lainey?" Corran asked casually.
Lainey nodded, remembering how she could have sworn she’d met him somewhere before, when he was much younger. How could she forget the first person ever to stir the shadows of her memory? "Yes, why?"
"He mentioned a letter his family received from his Jedi sister. He just commed to tell me he had found it, but doesn’t have the time right now to bring it over," Corran explained. "Did you want to go?"
Pausing, Lainey considered her Master’s request. She wouldn’t mind seeing Taren again, he had been nice enough, not to mention she felt somehow connected to him. Going in that area of town also meant she might run into Armand again, whom she hadn’t seen for almost three days. Armand was her great escape from reality, and she got the feeling she was his too. "I’d be happy to go, Master," she responded. "I’ll see if Miranda wants to come, too."
Raising an eyebrow, Corran bent down and looked from Miranda to Lainey, shaking his head.
"What?" Lainey asked, wondering what he was doing.
Looking up, Corran grinned. "Just making sure you two aren’t joined at the hip."
Corran approached Luke as the girls left, and rubbed Ben’s head. "You look tired, Master," he observed as Luke let out a big yawn. "Long night?"
"That, is an understatement." Luke sighed, subconsciously rubbing his son’s back. "Ben’s teething."
"Oh." Corran winced, tickling Ben’s cheek and winning a smile. "He’s pretty calm now."
Of course, we’re well into the waking hours now." Luke felt Ben bury his face into his chest, then look back at Corran. Luke smiled, then cocked his head. "It’s amazing how well Lainey is suited for you as an apprentice. She even fights like you."
"Today, yes, though she was a bit slow on the uptake today." Corran shook his head. "She usually tends to fight fancy and fast, barely giving some of her opponents time to blink." He sighed. "I don’t think she’s been herself lately though, ever since Kyp made his announcement anyway. She’s scared."
Luke raised an eyebrow. "You think she knows something we don’t?"
"Knew, maybe." Corran stroked his goatee. "I actually get that feeling a lot, not only that she knows something I don’t, but that she expects me to know it."
***
Lainey paused outside of Taren Lunceford’s office to glance at Miranda. "You ready?"
Miranda shook her head, her eyes sparkling. "Very, why are you stopping, Lainey?"
"Armand’s in there," Lainey replied, closing her eyes for a moment. She’d sensed Armand the moment they reached the door, she could pick his presence out in a crowd of a thousand people. The fact he was in there made her nervous, excited, and happy that he was not sensitive to the Force.
"Oh, Armand," Miranda teased. "So, what are we waiting for?" she asked, tossing her hair over her shoulder and knocking on the door.
It was soon answered by Taren, who gave Lainey a warm smile. "Lainey, I take it Corran Horn sent you?"
Lainey nodded. "This is Miranda Sierr."
Taren momentarily clasped Miranda’s hand, then stepped aside. "Come on in, ladies, I have the letter on my desk." He gestured to the dark haired young man standing next to the window. "Have you met Armand?"
Lainey flushed, and smiled at Armand who came to meet her from the window. "We’ve met," Armand answered, winking at Lainey.
Taren raised an eyebrow, removing a yellowing envelope from his desk. "You want to read it?" He handed it to Lainey.
Lainey nodded, a strange feeling forming in the pit of her stomach. Fighting to keep her fingers from shaking, Lainey removed the folded piece of flimsy from the envelope and opened it.
Dear Family:
Sincerely,
Helaine Trillium
***
Jedi Headquarters, Imperial City, Coruscant
Julya Daris stood in the Jedi Headquarters courtyard, studying the ruins of the Old Jedi Temple. She’d seen a couple of people enter it a few minutes ago, causing her to frown. The New Republic investigation crew had declared the building "unsafe," saying that they would need to do a major cleanup job before anyone without proper training could enter the building. The people who had entered it wore Jedi robes and carried equipment bags. They also entered through a back doorway.
Soft footsteps announced the presence of Anakin Solo, who stepped up close to Julie. "Hey, what are you up to?"
Julie pointed to the Old temple. "I just saw some people enter there... I think they were Jedi."
Anakin glanced at the temple, then turned back to Julie, pursing his lips. "I don’t think Uncle Luke has sent anyone there. It’s too dangerous."
"So President Fey’lya said to Master Skywalker," Julie said, her disbelief evident in her tone. "Maybe they are Kyp Durron’s Jedi."
"Did you see him?" Anakin asked, raising an eyebrow.
Julie shook her head. "Not that I know him well enough to recognize him from a distance. Though just the way he walks gives him a certain presence...no, it wasn’t him." She sighed. "It doesn’t matter though, if that’s the old Jedi Temple, I think we have every right to explore it." She held up a hand before Anakin could interrupt her. "And don’t tell me it’s too dangerous. The group that went in there didn’t even carry equipment."
Anakin closed his eyes for a moment, considering her words. Finally, he opened them, giving Julie a serious look. "You know, I think you may be right."
"Great!" Julie exclaimed, grabbing his arm. "Let’s go."
"Wait," Anakin grabbed her arm, pulling her towards the Jedi Headquarters’ building. "We need to at least get some glowrods first."
***
Lainey stared at the letter, not only was it familiar, she could almost remember writing it. She vaguely remembered the tournament, giving her the opportunity to write home to her family. And Valin Halcyon...he had been a tall, muscular young man, with hazel eyes and a face vaguely reminiscent of Master Horn’s. Or, judging by the assumed age of the letter, Master Horn vaguely resembled him. The name Helaine Trillium was the most familiar to her. She’d heard it being called in dreams, and had reacted to it when Taren mentioned the letter being from her. She’d reacted because she had recognized it as her name, but she’d had similar recognition when Master Horn suggested Lainey... Valin had called her that.
"Lainey," Miranda said, interrupting Lainey’s train of thought. "Is it that long?"
Blinking, Lainey looked up from the sheet of flimsy. "Is what that long?"
"The letter," Miranda replied. "You’ve been staring at it for twenty minutes now."
"Oh," Lainey blushed. "No... it’s not that long." She caught sight of the old Jedi Temple from the office’s window, and felt a sudden, gentle Force prodding. If she really was Helaine Trillium, then that would be the best, maybe only place to get her memory back. She turned to Miranda. "Can you deliver the letter to Master Horn yourself?"
"Uh, sure." Miranda replied, taking the letter from Lainey with an odd look on her face. "Where are you going?"
"Later," Lainey said seriously. She looked at Taren, her possible older brother, and felt a chill run up her spine. "Thank you for giving us this letter. I have something I really need to do right now, otherwise I would stay to chat. Goodbye." She waved to Armand and exited the office. She didn’t make it halfway down the hall, when she heard Armand call her name.
"Lainey," he said, holding up his hand and striding quickly to catch up with her. Even in a hurry, he managed to look dignified. Lainey slowed her steps, allowing him to catch up with her. He took her arm. "Do you mind if I walk with you for a moment?"
"Not at all," Lainey replied, giving him a warm smile. She never minded having him around, though his presence tended to have an intoxicating effect on her. "Why?"
"There is something I need to talk to you about," he said, checking to make sure they were alone in the hallway. "But first, may I ask where you are going in such a hurry, and why you didn’t want Miranda to know?"
Lainey sighed. She hadn’t wanted Miranda to know at the risk that Master Horn might find out, and not want her to go. Or he’d want to talk it out with her, and she’d lose her nerve. No, she had to go now. She looked at Armand, knowing she could trust him, and that he really had no authority to tell her no. He might insist on coming... which really wouldn’t be bad at all. "I am going to the Old Temple, which is off limits due to supposed danger. I don’t want Miranda to know, because I don’t want Master Horn to."
"Why?" Armand asked gently, studying her eyes.
She could tell he was preparing himself to reason her out of it, so she decided to be straightforward with him. "I have to go. Do you want to know why I took so long to read that letter?" Lainey asked, then answered the question for him. "Because I remembered writing it." She paused to make sure they were still alone, and lowered her voice. "I don’t come from Master Skywalker’s or Kyp Durron’s Jedi, and I was found in a block of carbonite. The greatest thing I can associate with the order I come from," she hesitated, tears stinging her eyes. "Is death." She rubbed her eyes with her free hand. "Makes sense, doesn’t it?" she asked, half hoping it wouldn’t.
She sensed, rather than saw Armand nod. "It does, but you realize what you are saying, don’t you?"
"I do," Lainey said. "That’s the problem, actually. I’d almost rather have been a part of Kyp’s Jedi... the expectation is less. I can’t even compare to Master Yoda."
"I don’t think you would be expected to," Armand reassured her, his arm finding her shoulders. "You have to tell Master Horn, you know."
"I know," Lainey agreed. "After I go to the temple."
"Why?" Armand persisted as they entered the hotel’s lobby.
Lainey raised an eyebrow. "You’re going to make me reason this out, aren’t you?"
Armand smiled. "It’s the diplomatic thing to do."
"I guess," Lainey said, moving closer to him to avoid eavesdroppers. He leaned his head down to hear her better, while she gathered her thoughts. "I fear that seeing Master Horn will endanger my desire to go. I think he would probably encourage me to, provided he came along, but I wouldn’t want to." Before Armand could question this, Lainey plunged on. "I have liked the way my life is going over the past couple of weeks, and have loved having Corran Horn for a Master. Because he took me on so quickly, I have barely felt the pain of losing my former Master.
"The fact that I could barely remember her enabled Master Horn to fill the void nearly completely. I recognized him as my Master, and followed him with complete devotion. I fear that if I remember Master Caine any better, she will take his place and reopen the void, and I will not accept Master Horn so readily." She looked up at Armand to see if he was following, then continued. "To be honest, I want nothing more than to just be known as Luke Skywalker’s Jedi, and Corran Horn’s apprentice. But the Force is guiding me to reclaim my past, and I have never failed to recognize its authority."
"Eloquently put," Armand commented as they stepped outside of the hotel. "You’ve made your point. Because of the inherent dangers of an old, unstable building, I think it would be best if I accompanied you."
"Certainly," Lainey agreed, a small smile forming on her lips. "It will give us time to discuss what is on your mind."
They started to walk across the street. Armand let out a long breath. "I have a confession to make." Lainey gave him a questioning look, but remained silent, allowing him to continue. "I’ve only been working as a spaceport supervisor for a week." He paused to look into her eyes. "Do you remember when we met outside the ballroom during the State Dinner, and you assumed the role of the Knight in Shining Armor, and I, the Handsome Prince?" She nodded. "I was only half jesting." He took a deep breath. "I am Armand Naberrie, Prince of the Naboo."
Copyright 2002 by Luney.
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