The following morning, the freighter was in good enough shape to make it to Naboo in one piece after Iennyr had spent half the night finishing the most pressing repairs, too excited to sleep anyway. With the help of EB-43, the job didn’t take as long, and the company was greatly appreciated. 

The lightsaber in question had remained on board since the evacuation of D’Qar, wrapped and stored under the small onboard bed. Uncovering it again brought back a host of memories she’d forever try to forget, the metal cool to the touch as she traced each dip and curve with her fingertips. It was undeniably beautiful, more than anything. 

“EB, plot a course for Naboo,” Iennyr instructed the astromech, “and send the journey data forward to Taku Romeri, please?” The droid burbled in response, telling Iennyr when she was done. It pushed her to wrap the lightsaber in the fabric it had been stored in, this time taking it to the cockpit with her. EB-43 was already waiting, rocking back and forth impatiently, her dome swivelling to the doorway when she detected Iennyr’s footsteps. “Come on then.”

The empty copilot seat didn’t bother her so much when her droid occupied the space beside her feet. The engines came to life under Iennyr’s hands as she prepared for takeoff.

“Yen!” Elidamo yelled from the doorway, running out across their front garden to hug her. He’d grown significantly since she’d last seen him, closer to being nearly three quarters of her height now, and strong enough to nearly knock her off her feet. 

“Let her breathe,” Taku laughed from the doorway, walking out to join them both, and taking his turn to pull her into a tight, warm hug. “It’s so good to see you again, Iennyr.”

“You too,” she smiled, letting go only after a solid minute of enjoying feeling cared for again. 

“I think Ziren said she’d make another batch of that beebleberry ice cream today,” Taku said as the three of them walked inside, Iennyr’s face lighting up at the mention. She’d never once asked for it, but it was always welcome. 

Their Naboo home was cosy and spacious, mostly open plan, and she was quickly pulled by the hand by Elidamo to their main room, only able to briefly greet Ziren who was in the middle of folding fresh laundry at their dining table. 

“Stay here, I want to show you the model ship I built,” Eli told her, before running off up the stairs. 

“Remind me, I’ve made you a pot of that ice cream to take back with you,” Ziren smiled as Iennyr beamed, “your freighter has a refrigeration unit, right?”

“It does,” she confirmed. “Thank you so much.”

“Of course,” Ziren warmly replied, “are you staying for dinner?”

“I think I’ll have to head back, I’m stopped by to deliver this.” Iennyr took the lightsaber from the inner pocket of her jacket, sitting on another one of their chairs and unwrapping it to show her.

“I told her it would be a good gift for Eli, if he chose to go and train,” Taku explained, taking any potentially negative response away from Iennyr, and blaming himself. 

“What would be a good gift?” Eli asked from the bottom of the stairs, clutching a small model Y-Wing in both hands. He approached the table slowly, curiously, forgetting why he’d come back downstairs in the first place as he put the Y-Wing on the table. Iennyr looked to Taku, who looked to his wife, and the nod she gave him was passed back to Iennyr. Go ahead.

“Eli, have your parents told you about the force?” she asked, considering it the best place to start. She was the last person qualified to teach him about it all. 

“Yeah, they said I can be a Jedi one day if I want,” he explained, far further in the truth than she expected. It had her reconsidering her whole speech.

“Okay, well when I was… travelling, a few years ago,” she started, trying to stray away from any kind of graphic detail that surrounded how she’d found the lightsaber in the first place, “I came across this.” She lowered the saber, letting him look at the bright silver metal.

“A lightsaber,” Elidamo breathed in awe, reaching out to touch it before drawing his hand back in uncertainty, and just staring instead. Whether he was still paying attention or not, Iennyr continued. 

“That’s right. I found it, and it was very useful for a while, but now it isn’t useful for me at all,” she explained. Forgetting just how useful it had been would be impossible. It had saved her life, but now it was a tool at best, and a burden that haunted her at worst. “But I thought that it might be useful one day for you, if you do want to become a Jedi. So I’d like to give it to you, if you’ll accept it?” Eli looked up at her, eyes wide with surprise.

“Really?” he asked quietly. Iennyr nodded, holding the lightsaber out to him. Elidamo took it in both hands gently, cradling it as he stared at his own distorted reflection in the metal. 

“You’ll have to be very careful, and listen to your parents and teachers, but I believe you’re the right person to have it.”

“I’ll be careful, I promise,” he said softly, running his outstretched index finger over the divots in the hilt just as Iennyr had developed a habit of. It confirmed her instincts, he was the perfect person to have it. 

As the sun dipped in the sky, Iennyr had to make the difficult decision to leave the cosy home, where she was surrounded by starship models as Eli told her things she already knew about them, three portions of beebleberry ice cream down. Ziren handed her a large container of the stuff, with the unspoken agreement that it could be returned to the family, cleaned and emptied, whenever she next visited, because there would certainly be a next time. 

Standing at the bottom of her ship’s ramp, the last conversations slowly faded into goodbyes.

“Make sure you keep me updated on your Jedi training,” Iennyr warmly smiled, Elidamo nodding enthusiastically. “I’ll see you all soon.”

“Keep us updated Yen,” Taku smiled, engulfing her in another hug. 

“I will,” she promised, waving as they stepped back away from the ramp, before turning around and returning to the cockpit. 

The Romeri family watched from their doorstep as she lifted the Nysillin Horizon into the sky, waving her off. The cockpit was too quiet now she was alone again, EB-43 asking if she wanted a course back.