Blah, blah, blah. Jedi Code this, dark side that. I know this stuff, why tell me again? Jaina was at this point beyond boredom. Why did he always tell them the same force crud again and again? The least he can do is vary it, Jaina thought.

Perhaps Jaina was being too hard on her dear old uncle. After all, if he hadn’t drilled the knowledge into her, she wouldn’t, well, know anything. But she’d had all of the major principles down by her first year. And most of the minor ones by her second year, all by her third. Now she could recite most of the lectures verbatim. He really needed to reword the stuff, she thought.

“And that’s it for this morning, I hope to see you all back later today.” Master Skywalker finished. Jaina would of left then, but her uncle’s voice called her back. “And if I could see all students who have been here four years or more for few minutes, please.”

Groaning inwardly, Jaina went to stand with the others who’d been called to the front of the room. It was only a small fraction of the usual multitude off trainees, but still around thirty or so were gathered. Jaina idly wondered if her brother and Tenel Ka would be missed. Probably not.

“I think you all know why you’re here.” Luke said, smiling at his students.

If they don’t you’ll make them stay for another four years, thought Jaina. She already knew what he was going to say, and Jaina was more than impatient to leave.

“You are the ‘seniors’ of the Jedi Academy, if such a thing can be defined by time. Some were ready to be full fledged Jedi after only a year; others are still beginning to understand the force, and their own potential. Which means that I know some of you are not prepared to leave my instruction yet.” Luke looked over the trainees, gauging their responses. “Those whom feel they would be more comfortable staying an extra year, you don’t have to wait out the rest of my speech.”

A few of the students left, including Raynar, Jaina noted, as she tried not to laugh. How typical of him to want to stay with Lusa, as she’d arrived a year later than he had.

After they had left, Luke continued: “You will not have the traditional graduation; there is no big ceremony, party, or anything like that. You will be free to go relatively soon, as soon as you manage to find an transport off planet, and after you have completed one final test. This is to ensure that those who aren’t ready to leave, but want to leave, stay.” As he said this, Luke’s eyes settled on Jaina. She unflinchingly returned his gaze. Just because she wanted to leave didn’t mean she wasn’t proficient in the force.

“I will meet with each of you, mainly on my own time but if you want to have an appointment then let me know. Also, you don’t have to come to anymore lectures if you don’t want to. Some of you could probably say them better than I could.”

Got that right, thought Jaina. No more lectures, it was a dream come true. Never again would she have to sit through an endless monologue about something she already knew. Such a blissful thought...

“And that’s about all I need to tell you now. Feel free to spend the rest of the day sleeping, it’s up to you now.” Smiling as he watched his students leave, Luke motion to Jaina to stay a while longer.

Jaina walked back to him, feeling wary. She knew there was a fairly good chance that her uncle had only wanted for her to relay his speech to her brother and Tenel Ka. However, there was also a fairly good chance that he wanted her to stay at the Academy longer than she intended.

“Jaina, I’ve been meaning to speak with you about some things.”

How delightful. He wanted her to stay at the Academy. “Really?”

“Yes,” Luke hadn’t missed her scornful tone, but decided it would be better to ignore it. “You seem to be more...depressed lately. Do you want to talk about it? You know I can’t let you leave if you’re having problems.”

“I am not depressed.” Jaina kept her temper admirably. She really wasn’t ‘depressed’ per say, just keeping to herself more than she used to. But it was extremely annoying to have people accuse her of depression all the time.

“Then why the sudden change in behavior? Why do you avoid your friends?”

“None of my behavioral changes have been sudden. I avoid them because I prefer solitude.” Calling Jaina’s withdrawal from her friends sudden was like calling the process of becoming a Jedi instantaneous; she had slowly grown away from them.

“I’m not blind, Jaina. I can see the rings under your eyes, you haven’t been sleeping well lately. Inability to sleep is a sign for depression.”

Jaina fought to stay in control of her temper. Why didn’t anyone believe her when she said she wasn’t depressed? “It’s also a sign saying that I shouldn’t spend all night working on projects. How many times must I say it? I’m not depressed!”

Taken slightly aback by her outburst, Luke didn’t fail to notice her lie. She hadn’t worked on any machinery in weeks, and he knew it. “But you haven’t worked on anything new in a while. Why haven’t you slept? Why do you avoid your brother? If you aren’t depressed, then what are you?”

Tried of listening to your ridiculous questions, Jaina thought. “I avoid him because he annoys me, he knows this, but he continues to bother me. I’ve merely decided to spend more time by myself, that is all.”

“You didn’t answer my question. Why haven’t you slept?”

Oh, I’ve slept. It’s just that when I fall asleep, this idiot seems to take control of my astral body, as it were, and I don’t actually sleep, Jaina thought. “I’ve had a lot on my mind lately.”

“Such as?”

I really have to get out of here, Jaina thought. “Such as Tenel Ka’s impending marriage. You’ve heard of it, I presume?” Judging by his expression, he had not.

“Marriage? Since when has Tenel Ka been engaged?”

“Engaged? She’s not engaged to anyone yet, it’s just in the planning stages. But if he’s smart about it, my brother may be the lucky guy she marries.”

“Is that where those two are?”

He seems suitably distracted, I can probably leave pretty soon, Jaina thought. “I think so. Do you want me to tell them about our upcoming ‘graduation’?”

“Yes, please do. We’re not done with your problems yet, but you may leave.” Luke waved his hand, as if it would make her disappear.

“Yeah, whatever. Bye.” Jaina practically ran from the hall, lest he change his mind. She couldn’t wait to find out what her brother and Tenel Ka were doing, she hated being in the dark about such things.

Tenel Ka watched Jacen lock the door in confusion. What good could that possibly do to keep her from leaving, if she so desired? It locked from the inside, so it couldn’t keep her in. Or he could be trying to keep others out, but who would bother to interrupt?

“Well? What’d she tell you?” Jacen asked.

“She told me many things, some of which I doubt the legitimacy of.” Tenel Ka spoke slowly, careful not to give anything away.

Jacen walked the few meters to where she stood, and looked her in the eye. “But what exactly did she tell you?”

Tenel Ka sighed. “What exactly do you want to know? What she told me about you?”

“Yes.”

Tenel Ka looked up at him. It annoyed her to no end that ever since last year, when he’d gained a few more centimeters in height, he stood taller than she did. Only by two, maybe three centimeters, but she hated being looked down on. Especially when she used to tower over him. “She basically said that you have had a crush on me for some time, but never told me because you didn’t think you were ‘good enough’ for me. I did not believe she was speaking the truth, but if she was, I want you to tell me.”

Jacen resisted the strong temptation to exam his shoes. He had to tell her sometime, didn’t he? “It’s true. Probably all of what she said was true.”

“Why didn’t you ever say anything?”

“Because....because....I’m not good enough, you would never go for someone like me, I didn’t want to wreck our friendship. There’s thousands of reasons why I didn’t tell you.”

“And even more reasons why you should of told me.” Tenel Ka reached out and took his hand, afraid he might run from her.

“Are there really?” Jacen laughed bitterly. “So I could be rejected? At least the way things were, we were friends. Now, I won’t be surprised when you tell me you don’t want me hanging around you anymore.” He ran his other hand through his unruly hair, and blinked back the rapidly approaching tears, using the force to hold them at bay. “I understand, you know, really I do. I can see how I might make you uncomfortable, I can see why I should leave.”

He tried to pry his hand from her grasp, but she only tightened her grip. “No, you don’t understand.” She gave his hand a small squeeze. “I guess I know what Jaina meant when she called us oblivious,” she mumbled.

“Huh?” Jacen said.

“Nothing.” She stared into his eyes. Eyes she could get lost in, if she ever let herself. Then, in one fluid motion, Tenel Ka pulled him to her, and moved her hand to the back of his neck before kissing him gently on the lips.

He pulled away almost instantly, but she retained her hold on him. “Why do I deserve that?”

“You don’t.” Tenel Ka answered simply. “But you owe me.”

“O-owe you what?” Jacen fought to keep his now lowered voice from trembling.

She spoke in a husky whisper. “For almost four years you have felt this way. And you didn’t tell me anything, I had to go to your sister to find out how you felt. Don’t you think you owe me this much?” She kissed him again, and he returned it a little before pulling away.

“I didn’t think you’d-”

“Did you ever ask?” This time when she kissed him, she gave him a moment to pull away beforehand. He let her kiss him anyway.

He broke away again, asking her: “But what about your family? And the marriage? An-”

“I’ll take care of it.” But before she could kiss him, he kissed her. Easily recovering from her initial surprise, she deepened the kiss. Miracle of miracles, he didn’t pull away this time.

Hmmm, would anybody be terribly upset if I decided to stick Tenel Ka with a prince instead of Jacen?