#lightspeeding

“i’m not jacen, grandpa. i know you’re scared about me leaving & following a jedi path, but you knew this time would come. it’s that time. you know you’re welcome to hapes whenever you need a visit & i’m always a com away. — trust me.”

                             patiently, the young woman awaited the telltale rock of the cabin that signalled a safe landing, her hand gripping the stable bar next to the exit door. SAFE ----- the simple concept had quickly become complicated. in the past eighteen hours, it was as if her whole world had been turned upside down, made her surroundings as unfamiliar as a STRANGER. she’d awoken that morning ( with the dawn, as per usual ) in her small quarters at the praxeum in their typical pristine display blissfully ignorant. it was not until she stepped outside of her secure location that she knew what occurred in the night while she was sleeping. the academy IN RUINS, bodies of her fellows still clutching their weapons, embers still smoldering around her bare feet...

                             the flames of which had still been smoking in her mind as she loaded the shuttle with the scarce belongings she had. contact with luke had been brief, he was in a neighboring system & would be there shortly ---- she conversed in one-word sentences & refused an escort. her throat was RAW from calling out for her friends, for HER BROTHER, burning with every corpse she uncovered. the cries echoed unanswered from empty halls.

                            the shuttle door opens & she is half-surprised by the little crowd on the landing pad. but jaina, a jedi just shy of knighthood, finds her placid expression effortless. it’s certainly a welcome change from the tears that streaked through the ashes on her face only hours ago. her carob-colored eyes searched the platform blandly, standing there in her robes motionless. until her gaze landed on an UNEXPECTED but much needed face. normally, she would have anticipated her mother’s small form to wrest her way to the front, but her father’s timing could not have been better.

                             legs that had felt like heavy STONE moments ago move to carry her quickly towards him. she stretches up on tiptoe & flings her arms around his shoulders. she could not remember the last time she had embraced anyone, let alone her own father, though she could hardly even remember a time when she needed to MORE. her fingers clutch at his jacket, almost losing the strength in her lower extremities to keep her from COLLAPSING. tears brimming in her eyes & it was as though they still burning from the smoke. her voice sounds hoarse to her own ears, full of FEAR & a hopelessness she’d never known ----

                  ❛ you’ve got about as much charm as a dead slug ! ❜

I’LL PAY MONEY