Memories - Epilogue

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Anakin was strapped into the crash couch of his X-Wing, the swirls of hyperspace hypnotic before him. He stretched as much as possible in the cramp cockpit trying to work out the kinks in his shoulders. He glanced down at the console, and noted that the last leg of his trip was over; after two weeks on Obra-Skai he was finally returning to the Jedi Academy on Yavin.

Grinning, he pushed the levers forward as Fiver, his astromech, told him that it was time to leave hyperspace. The swirling tunnel collapsed and the Yavin IV hung before him a blue and green jewel, in front of the larger orange and brown sphere of Yavin itself.

He activated his com and got clearance to land, once that was taken care of he called up his apartment.

His Aunt Mara answered, "About time you should back up, Solo."

He chuckled, long used to her acerbic personality, "I blame Uncle Luke for sending me on these things."

"Well, we've been waiting, and everyone's here, but you should have a package to pick up at the landing field."

The grin still on his lips, he nodded his head, "I understand Aunt Mara, and I'll see you soon, and there should probably be some canapes around."

"Copy that, Solo," she replied with a chuckle and then the circuit shut down.

Still grinning, he dove into the atmosphere, ignoring the squak of concern that came from traffic control. Speeding up, he dropped low, riding just a few meters above the massive trees which covered most of the area. Flowers and leaves blew up in the air, disturbed by the wake of his passage.

Within minutes he was within sight of the Jedi Temple, and traffic control was getting frantic at his speed and the fact that he was ignoring the customary approach patterns. With a flick of his wrist he turned off the comm unit entirely as he circled the Temple itself.

Leveling out, he flashed over the landing area, causing an explosion of colored petals to shower the area. He simultaneously pulled up on his stick and throttled his speed back down effectively flipping his craft over and shedding all its forward momentum.

Righting himself, he once more closed on the landing area at a more sedate pace. Arriving at his designated plot, he gently lowered the fighter to the ground. Pulling off his flight helmet, he looked at the stone bench set beside the landing area.

It wasn't that long ago that he sat there waiting for Jaina to come pick him up. For a moment, he wondered what his life would have been like if he hadn't came back to Yavin.

Even as he thought that, he focused on the person sitting on the bench. She was a slip of a girl in an orange jumpsuit, and had a piece of cloth tied over her hair. As he realized that she was without shoes as usual, he found that his grin had widened into a full smile; and he knew that his life would not be nearly as complete if he hadn't returned.

Pushing open the canopy, he jumped out and used the Force to slow his drop to the ground. The smell of flowers hung heavily on the air and the petals themselves were nearly everywhere; placed there by the aggressiveness of his approach. A strong wind would occasionally gust through them, sending a rainbow's worth of colors fluttering on the breeze.


He closed the distance between them, as he walked, he noticed that she shifted the cloth on top of her head as the wind tried to snatch it away.

Finally he was standing before her, and tossed her a half-hearted grin and a wave. "Hey suspicious person."

She raised her head, a frown on her own lips. "You're late. Way late."

"Sorry that I was a little late," he replied, ignoring her. "But then again, I'm not the suspicious person here."

"I'm not a suspicious person!" She exclaimed as her green eyes wavered between anger and amusement.

He laughed and knelt down in front of her. "What? Sorry, but no matter how you look at it, you're a suspicious person."

"How?"

"It's just everything," he replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

Her eyes narrowed slightly, and a pout touched her lips. "That's not true."

He patted the cloth. "What's with this, anyways?"

She sighed, and gripped the cloth tighter to her head. "Promise not to laugh?"

"I won't," he said, standing back up.

"You really, really promise not to laugh?"

"I swear that I won't, no matter what happens."

She frowned slightly. "That sounds made up, but it's a promise."

"I do keep my promises," he replied.

She nodded her head, and then sighed. "Well... I went to the barber and asked for a haircut. Then..." She pulled the cloth off, revealing that her long hair had been almost entirely hacked off into a short bob that ended just beneath her ears. "Then I kind of got a lot cut off. He was new, and a Chadra-fan... I don't think he knew that I was a girl."

He couldn't help it, Anakin burst out laughing.

She threw the cloth at him as she pouted. "You said you wouldn't laugh."

His laughing tapered off, and still grinning, he responded, "Well, it's just that with that haircut, you do look kind of like a boy. Next time, take Jaina or Nelani with you."

She sighed and nodded her head. "Yeah, I'll do that."

He held his hands out towards her. "Well come on then, let's go."

She reached up and grabbed his hands, and he pulled her to a standing position. "I commed Aunt Mara on my way down, and she said she'd make you some canapes. Also, Jaina, Tenel Ka, Eyrl, Kiori and Nelani are going to be there. They're all there waiting for us."

She grinned up at him, the smile lighting up her eyes as the wind once again tossed flowers around them. "Then we've got to hurry."

As they began to walk towards the apartments in the distance, he smiled down at her and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "No Tahiri, we've got all the time in the world."

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The time that had stopped slowly starts moving...

... all while holding on to a small fragment of a miracle.

I don't know how long it will take...

But... there's plenty of time.