Jaina Solo is holding out for a hero (jainasolo) wrote in thegalaxy, @ 2016-05-24 21:37:00 |
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Jaina popped the canopy on her x-wing and stood up. It hadn’t been a long trip from D’Qar to Dermos but she had to stretch for a moment before she climbed down the ladder. After asking someone where she could put her things, she found a locket and sttripped off her flight suit, put her helmet on a shelf and shook out her hair. She was wearing a pair of cargo pants and a white t-shirt underneath and she was glad she hadn’t dressed warmly. The humidity seemed to be a living thing here. She smiled as she thought of Yavin IV. History repeating itself perhaps? She’d come here to talk to her uncle or actually to meet her uncle. Regardless of the two timelines, he was still Luke and she couldn’t think of him any other way even if she was a stranger to him. They’d talked on the network and he seemed very much like the uncle she knew and loved although he was older and had been through a great deal. It wasn’t hard to find him, all she had to do was ask and she was pointed in the direction of a building site. Luke was talking to one of the workers and Jaina made her way over to where they were standing, waiting until they’d finished speaking before saying anything. “Hi,” she said when Luke turned around. “I’m Jaina. I’m your niece or I will be if you decide you want to claim me. I promise I’m not so bad.” For some reason she felt a bit nervous, she wasn’t sure what to say so she did as she always did and said the first thing that came to mind. Luke’s eyes went unerringly to Jaina’s as soon as he turned, and he smiled, kindly. “You made it,” he replied, clearly pleased. “And I think that you qualify as my niece whether I make that claim or not. Your parents would have my head if I did not.” For all that he joked back with her, there was a lingering sadness in his eyes when he looked at her. “Jaina….am I pronouncing that correctly? I haven’t been able to practice...or do much of anything that isn’t related to building,” he added, with a gesture around the clearing. “Did you just get here?” “You are. You probably know this already but it was my grandmother’s name. Dad’s mom I mean,” she smiled back at him. His smile was the same but he felt different in the Force, still though he was Uncle Luke, no doubt about that. “I did just get here. I asked them where you were and they sent me here. Looks like you’ve gotten quite a bit done.” “I’ve seen a lot get done, but it’s not the same,” he answered, with feigned gruffness, glancing about at the buildings with a resigned affection. “I’m afraid I am second-guessing myself still, as yet.” Dismissing that, he said, “Why don’t we get you something to eat and drink then? I’m not going to let family go hungry. And I have a lot to ask of you,” he warned. “A lot of questions, if you are up for it.” “I am hungry so that sounds great,” Jaina replied with a smile. “And of course I don’t mind answering questions. I know there’s a lot about my timeline that you don’t know.” With a contemplative sigh, Luke nodded as he led her to the main building. “There is an endless font of things I do not know, and I don’t expect that it will ever lessen,” he pointed out, amused. “But your...existence here, it actually brings a lot of my concerns to the fore, and has made me….reevaulate what I am planning here.” Once inside, he led her to what constituted the main eating area for the base itself, where meals could be prepped for everyone at set times. Since it was midafternoon, there was little activity, but he was clearly adept at foraging on his own, as he had two mugs of steaming kaf made in short order, along with two plates of food, mostly local fruit. “You could say that you have altered all my plans, but I think family usually accomplishes that.” Jaina smiled. “I would say so since my parents only had one child in your world,” she still found that hard to believe yet it was the truth. Jacen had spoken of his visit with the Leia that this man knew and just as she’d come to the conclusion that she was indeed their mother although with differences, Jaina already could sense the same about Luke. “What questions do you have for me?” she took a sip of the caf and looked at him. “I can already guess that one of them has to do with the Order and their feelings about family and attachment. I read the network, you seemed surprised to know that in our world, you’re married and have a child.” “Yes, that is certainly part of it.” Luke’s answering smile reached his eyes, as he looked fondly at this woman who was such a blend of his sister and his best friend. “If Mara exists in this world, I have never met her, to my knowledge. Instead...there is another whom I cared about and would have married, if she’d agreed to that. We separated some years ago.” He cradled his own drink in his hands. “I believed at the time that perhaps the Council in the past had been wise to enact this ruling, to avoid romantic entanglements, but I was only strict with myself after that. I was more lenient with my students. It was not a factor in the fall of my academy, but emotions played a significant part.” He sipped the warm drink, contemplative. “What are your thoughts on that, Jaina?” Jaina sat thoughtfully for a moment, taking a bite of fruit as she listened to her uncle’s words. “I don’t believe that that the old rules forbidding attachment were smart. If they hadn’t existed, both your world and mine would have been very different. If my grandfather and grandmother had been allowed to be openly married, had raised you and my mom together, maybe there wouldn’t have been an Empire,” she shook her head. “It’s a question that we’ve all debated a million times but there’s no way to know. The truth is that it is what it is but I can tell you that there were several Masters at the Academy I attended that were married, I studied with their children.They weren’t allowed to take their own children as Padawans or apprentices of course but it didn’t extend to other family members. My aunt was my first master for example..Mara.” She was curious about this woman that Luke mentioned, wondering if she was anything like her aunt. Even though Jaina wasn’t one to mince words, she didn’t feel that she knew him well enough to ask that question. “I can tell you that your other self was happy. It was a good marriage, a real partnership, the kind of thing that I want someday. My parents too even though my mother never completed training as a Jedi. I won’t say it was always easy but it worked. To be a Jedi, you don’t have to deny yourself completely. That’s the way I believe. You’re still human and you deserve to be happy, a Jedi isn’t an all powerful super being even though I’ve met a few who think they are.” “Fascinating.” Luke listened intently, his attention only diverted temporarily as he took a bite of food. “I think it’s important to note that I wasn’t unhappy on my own,” he replied. “And I did not deny myself a partner, but instead respected her wishes. Of course I was deeply sad when the choice was made, but life isn’t simply the sum of one other person in your life.” Luke did have cause to reflect, recently, that Morganna had not been able to say the same. Had he known that at the time, he may have made different choices. He certainly would have, he clarified. Leaving her in that situation would have been unacceptable. “Having my students, my sister and my friend, and the academy, it was all fulfilling in a different sense. But I think that there is merit in how it evolved in your time. It’s something to be discussed with the other Masters.” “No, you’re right, who we choose to be with is not all of who we are. There’s someone in my life at home. He’s not a Jedi, he’s not Force sensitive at all, he’s a pilot and I care deeply for him but we met in the middle of a war, we haven’t spent nearly as much time together as we’d like because of that. Whether or not it will stand the test of life without a war when we’re together more often, I don’t know.” Jaina shrugged. “And now I’m here although from what I understand, we also don’t leave the place we come from so I’m there too. I have answered one question though and that’s that I can’t sit still. I’m happiest when I’m flying, when I’m doing something for a cause. I’m proud to be a Jedi but my heart is in my x-wing.” she smiled. “But I’m very glad that you’re doing what you’re doing here and I’m excited to be able to help. This is a good thing.” “It’s….humbling to be around so many diverse Jedi now,” Luke admitted. “It is a new time, at least for me. I am sure it feels very familiar for you. That said, what do you think we should try and accomplish here?” He paused to sip the kaf once more, glad for the mild stimulation. “Master Kenobi has suggested, quite rightly, that we should form a Council once more. There’s a lot we need to discuss….about the old Code, about how we wish to teach, how we will reach out to newcomers who are Force-sensitive…” He paused, before adding, “What our role will be in this impending war. There are those here now who have firsthand memories of the previous wars in which the Jedi did not survive well.” “In my time, my uncle Luke was trying to reform the Council. He felt as you do, that it was something that was needed. There was a lot of division among the Jedi and it was difficult to get anything done,” she paused to take a bite, the fruit was really good, she’d have to take some back with her, she thought. “But we have something here that we didn’t have at home and that is Jedi from other points in time with different experiences. I think that will make the difference, everyone can contribute and then put together something that works. If I may offer my opinion,” she looked at him before she continued. “I think a council is a good thing but it shouldn’t be all powerful, not like the council of old. The Jedi should be allowed to make choices, not be completely bound by the code. Don’t get me wrong, there needs to be some kind of Code to guide us but it shouldn’t be restrictive, it should leave some room.” “Why was there division?” Luke tilted his head slightly as he looked at her, his concern genuine. “What were their concerns at the time?” This could all be very relevant to what he would try and do here, despite the differences in timelines. Ideologies were always tricky. “And I would like to know what choices you think are vital. Was a newer code enacted where you are from?” “There was a group that believed the Jedi should be soldiers, more military in nature. More as they were in the days of the Clone Wars. Uncle Luke believed that they should advocate peace, be the guardians of that peace and fight only when it was absolutely necessary. Not be passive, not at all but not looking for trouble either.” she took another bite and thought about that time, about Kyp about the young Twi’lek that Anakin had made friends with who went out seeking revenge for her people and had paid the price. “There were some who believed that being a Jedi gave them a license to pursue those who had hurt them and make them pay for it. Which is not What a Jedi is. I struggled with that when my younger brother died, I wanted to make the Yuuzhan Vong pay and I nearly fell but I didn’t, I fought my way back but I understand how easy it is to give in when you’re hurting.” and she’d been hurting. Anakin’s death had changed he and in some ways it had helped her grow but the pain was still there. “No, there was never really a new code. Uncle Luke didn’t want to be so restrictive. We had guidelines, he taught us what a Jedi was and what he believed they should be. It was more being a Jedi but using those powers to help. Like me. I think of myself as a pilot who is also a Jedi. I’m a pilot first and foremost and I use the skills I have as a Jedi to help me be a better pilot. Yes I’ve killed a lot of people in battle but I didn’t go out searching for that.” Luke pondered her words, carefully sifting through the many insights. Finally, he said, “I believe there is more than one way to be a Jedi. It’s true I still feel that we are meant to be guardians, as you said. Not just for what we can accomplish, but also for what we represent. This generation,” he looked out over the compound a moment, seeing past the walls to the people he could sense, “did not grow up with the stories and the legends, like I did….and possibly like you did as well.” He looked back to Jaina. “We aren’t just here to find more like us and create a new, insular, cohesive group. We have to demonstrate to the galaxy that we can better it, and can be much more than just generals in a battle, or monks in a temple. Perhaps….both of those things, and more.” She smiled at her uncle because that was exactly who he was, timelines and alternate universes be damned. This conversation sounded so much like things she had heard Luke say to her brothers back in her world. “I do know the stories. I’ve heard them all and I have a few of my own now. I think it’s important for this generation to know them. From what i understand so much of the history of the Rebellion didn’t live on, I’ve talked to people my own age here that don’t believe it really happened. No, I wasn’t alive when it happened either but my parents and you, you fought in it, you know it was real and you did a great thing.” She paused for a minute and took a sip of her tea. “I think that in order to grow the Jedi do need to be a mix of things and not just one thing. We need to be open to new ideas and a council would be a good place to start. They can study what others suggest, make suggestions of their own. From what I know, the old Council form my grandfather’s time mostly sat in judgement on the Order and didn’t act when they should have. I think that the Council needs to act, not as absolute rules but as a guiding body.” “A Council is also inspiration,” Luke added, gently. “I think it represents wisdom, rather than judgement. There are many who want to learn to be Jedi, or learn from Jedi, but need those to look up to.” As if remembering he had tea, he brought the cup to his lips, using the motion to pause and take stock of his own words. “And I believe the others have suggested some good ideas as well. There’s no reason a Council needs to sit in a room and keep to themselves. We can communicate over vast distances, and we have great pilots to take us places.” His blue eyes winked at her. “We must be out in these worlds, seeing firsthand what others see, so we can learn what is needed the most.” Jaina nodded. “I agree. To know what people need, you have to be among them. I have a unique perspective I suppose, being a Jedi but also being a pilot, I have seen places that some others might not have had the chance to see. I can definitely say that I’m very proud to be both.” While flying was and always would be her first love, Jaina was proud of her Jedi heritage and wanted to share it with others. “I know that I haven’t really known you for that long but you’re still family to me. When I first got here, you were gone and it seemed so strange that no one knew much about you. I’m really glad you came back and really happy that you’re doing this,” she looked around the compound. “I’m sure it wasn’t an easy decision to make, to come back to all this.” As strange as it seemed, sitting here talking to this man who was her uncle yet was also someone else entirely, Jaina was happy. He still felt like family, he was family and it made this new world feel a little bit more like home. She couldn’t wait to hear his answer and to learn more about his life. It was nice to have something to look forward to. |