Family Found: Chapter Four

Kor Res'sal scratched at the black spot in the tan fur at her neck as she watched her master, Thann Mithric. The Falleen Jedi Knight twisted and turned, his blade slicing and probing, testing the defenses of Kolir Hu'lya – a Bothan Jedi Knight who was not related to Kor, though she was related distantly to the former Chief of State of the New Republic, Borsk Fe'lya.

She watched the two Knights, admiring the form of both her master and his opponent.

The clean concise movements of Thann's Form III combat versus the aggressive attacks of Kolir's Form IV.

Kor scratched at the nap of her neck, wondering which lightsaber form she should adopt. She sighed, and looked off to the side as the door opened. She could feel a smile coming to her face as she saw the two blondes stepping into the training room, instantly recognizing one of them as her friend Noelani.

With a quick glance towards her Master, she flipped her feet over the bench she was sitting on and stood up rushing over towards Noelani.

She launched herself at her friend, tackling her in a large hug and laughing as she did so.

Then to Kor's surprise, she found herself on her back, a forearm pressed tight against her neck, and the cool touch of a metal pommel against her forehead. After a second, she focused on the face that was a few centimeters from hers, and recognized Noelani's features. Even as those same features seemed alien, different, to her.

"Noelani?"

Noelani shook her head as Kor spoke, and then climbed off of her, a blush coming to her cheeks. "Sorry, Kor. You kind of caught me off guard."

Kor frowned slightly. "If that was you off-guard, I'd hate to see what you do when you're ready for action."

Noelani laughed slightly, tugging at a lock of her hair. "Yeah. I guess I have changed a bit."

Kor watched as Noelani glanced towards her Master, and then faced her again. "Well, you can tell me all about it. I've just gone on a single, stupid supply run with Master Thann. What have you been doing since you left?"

Noelani's smile was a bit wider this time. "Well, I was kidnapped and tortured by some rogue Yuuzhan Vong. Met a cute guy named Chase and then got arrested by Wookiees. Stopped an assignation attempt designed to bring the Wookiees in on the Corellian side of the war. And then we found a cache of holocrons on Rhen Var. Oh, and I met Ben Skywalker."

Kor could feel her mouth as it dropped open slightly. "You've been busy. Kind of makes me jealous. But Ben's been here for a few weeks now; he's a bit of old news. In fact he's taking a couple of the advance classes, so if you join any of them, you'd probably be in one with him."

Noelani blushed slightly. "Oh. I hadn't realized all that."

Kor catched the slight blush, and began to grin. "Noelani Darklighter! You have a crush on him!"

Anger and embarrassment flashed in her eyes. "Hush, Kor. Someone will hear you. And no I do not have a crush on him."

Kor giggled lightly. "Keep telling yourself that 'Lani."

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Ben Skywalker sat on one of the low wooden benches scattered throughout the meditation gardens which were spread around the outskirts of the Jedi Temple. Supposedly they were places where one could go to find serenity and peace for meditation and focusing on the Force.

For Ben Skywalker they have become a place to get away from the stares of his peers.

He felt like he was an outsider here. He was no longer a mere trainee. He had been out in the wider galaxy doing things. Running operations with Jacen. Going on raids with the soldiers in GAG. He had been shot at numerous times, nearly stabbed twice and almost blown up once.

This life of safe, secure lightsaber training and boring classes was enough to drive him insane.

He sighed, wondering when his dad would let him go back to Jacen and the Guard. Then a Force presence filled his awareness. He glanced up to find Poll Syth dropping onto the seat beside him. Poll was born during the Yuuzhan Vong war around the same time as Ben, and had been in training on Ossus since the end of the War when his father reopened the Academy on Ossus.

During the times when Ben was on Ossus, Poll had often been his playmate, and as he watched Poll settle onto the bench next to him, he realized that he was probably the closest thing to a friend that Ben had on Ossus.

He grinned at his friend, giving a terse nod of his head in greeting.

"Ah, the great Ben Skywalker comes back to visit, and doesn't even make time to come see his old, forgotten friend."

Ben laughed slightly. "I'm sure there's an airlock around here somewhere you can shove it out of."

Poll grinned at him. "Ah, now that's the Ben Skywalker I know. Loud and annoying not this pouting mass of bored flesh that has been moping around here for the past few weeks."

Ben lifted one of his eyebrows as he looked at his friend. "You've expanded your vocabulary while I was away. You insulted me without a single expletive. I'm impressed."

"Yeah, I guess this education your dad is shoving down my throat is sticking. So tell me what crawled up your bum and died?"

Ben shook his head. "Just bored is all."

"Well, let's go do something?"

"What?" As he said that, he could feel Poll's amusement and excitement, and almost regretted asking the question.

"Well, I always wanted to go explore some of the ruins. Why don't you ask your dad if we can go? I'm sure he'll give you permission."

Ben nodded his head, considering the request. "Sounds like a good idea. I wonder if Noelani would want to go."

"The cute blonde that doesn't shut up? When did you notice her?"

Ben frowned slightly. "I…uhm…I met her the other day. Why? And what do you mean 'doesn't shut up?'"

He could hear the amusement in Poll's voice, and began to regret telling him about Noelani.

"Don't worry, Ben. Your secret's safe with me. But if you want to ask Noelani to join us, you'd probably want to invite Kor as well."

"Kor?"

"Yeah, Kor. Bothan fem. Tan fur, black spot on the neck, kind of cute in a furry sort of way. Our age. I think she was in lightsaber tactics with us a couple of years ago. Before they got paired up with Masters, they spent almost all of their free time with one another."

Ben rolled his shoulders in a shrug. "I'll ask them both. This should be a bit of fun. How about we go to the old Jedi Library?"

"Sounds great."

Ben stood up, a grin touching his face for the first time since his lunch with Noelani the previous day. He waved over his shoulder. "I'll go ask my dad to see if we can go tomorrow, I'll see you at class in the morning."

Without waiting for a response, Ben walked towards the entrance to the Temple, and the quarters he shared with his parents.

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Tahiri settled down at her console, the device coming on as she did so. She plugged in a second, smaller device into the side of the machine, watching as a light came on on the small device.

Within a few moments, an image resolved on Tahiri's console, displaying Princess Leia's smiling face.

"Hey, Tahiri. How did things go when you got back to Ossus?"

"That stuff Noelani found was great distraction, and I've been asked to go get another load of it. Is there anything else you need that I can bring you when I make my run out to Rhen Var?"

"No, Tahiri. You've done enough. We don't want you to get in trouble with Luke."

Tahiri smiled and shook her head slightly. "Leia, you and Han are the only family I have left. The only parents I ever really knew. Don't worry about any trouble I might have or get into. You're family. That's more important."