DISCLAIMER: Star Wars and all publicly recognisable characters, names and references, etc are the sole property of George Lucas, Lucasfilm Ltd, Lucasarts Inc, 20th Century Fox, Timothy Zahn, Barbara Hambly, YKW and the other writers of the expanded Star Wars Universe. This fan fiction was created solely for entertainment and no money was made from it. Also, no copyright or trademark infringement was intended. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. Any other characters, the storyline and the actual story are the property of the author.
Derrin was going to be here today.
Vaiya had to keep herself from jumping with excitement at the breakfast table. Her father was gone already. He had taken the Solo twins that morning off on some Jedi adventure. They were going to come back a step closer to being Jedi Knights. Big deal, she thought dryly, gulping down the pale blue milk to wash away the residue of her mother's slightly-burned bisquits on her throat. Being a Jedi Knight was overrated. She could read people's minds, manipulate their thoughts sometimes, even lift things bigger than herself. But what had it gotten her? Nothing worthwhile. Certainly not Derrin's attention. Not how she wanted it, anyway.
Okay, so he was ten years older than her. Big deal. She only had to wait three more years. Surely he could wait for her that long. Besides, her Jedi skills far surpassed his. Surely that counted for something.
Mother came into the dining room, her cheeks slightly flushed. "Done yet?" she asked.
Vaiya shrugged away the slight probe of her mind. Sometimes Mother could smother, but if Vaiya reacted just right, her mother would give her a respectful distance. Besides, she had to be nice to her mother today, extra nice. Her mother was training Derrin.
Oddly enough, it had been Mother's idea. It briefly came to mind that Mother was trying to get Derrin's attention, which riled Vaiya in more ways than one, until she overheard part of the exchange between her mother and father before Father left.
*...good idea?*
*Needs to learn....*
*Don't....too hard.*
*Who, me?*
Then they got all sappy sweet on each other, to which Vaiya, watching it all from the dining table, snapped, "Do you have to do that in front of me? I'm eating here, for Yoda's sake!"
They just exchanged looks, kissed one more time (probably just out of spite, Vaiya thought, but seeing them like that always made her feel secure in a way she could never understand) and Father had left.
Mother dumped some sweetener onto a half of a bright green fruit and proceeded to dig her spoon into it. "So what's the thought for the day, Vai?"
Vaiya just grumbled. She could feel her mother sigh in frustration, and then assure herself it was only Vaiya's age.
"Derrin should be here soon," Mother said carefully. "Are you going to be grumpy like this for him?"
Vaiya looked at her mother carefully. "If I could go with you, I would be a lot nicer."
Mother smiled at her--it was a smile she'd never seen another mother wear. There were times that it made Vaiya wonder if her mother wasn't someone entirely different than the person she knew throughout her childhood. Quite frankly, it was at times like this when Vaiya liked her mother best.
"Would you?" Mother carefully at the fruit, and none of the juice dared to drip on her. "Why? You seem to have lost interest in your Force training. I can't remember the last time you practiced with your lightsaber."
"Surprised you noticed," Vaiya grumbled.
Mother's green eyes were slightly sharp. "I notice everything," she said, and then sighed again. "Let me tell you, kid, I know what you're going through. I went through it myself a bit. But you have to understand something about the human heart. Sometimes it does things unexpected. I just don't want you to get hurt. I don't want you to experience the things that happened to me."
Vaiya's ears perked. The feeling of her mother's duality sharpened from the usual hum to a pointed curiosity. She had heard that her mother was an Imperial at one point, and had even worked for the Emperor, and she knew all about her father's history, but Mother never talked about her feelings about any of it.
"How did you and Daddy meet?" Vaiya whispered.
Mother leaned forward, and stretched out a young hand to her adolescent daughter. Vaiya, to her own surprise, took it.
"You know the answer to that. We were on a mission to stop the Hand of Thrawn---"
"No," Vaiya said with a shake of her head. "I mean before that. How you first met Dad."
"I was a smuggler working for Talon Karrde. We formed an alliance with the New Republic, and I wound up working with Luke---"
Vaiya slapped the open palm of her other hand on the table. "The truth, Mother! That story is so dead without detail! I mean, what happened? Why did it take all that time for you two to get together?"
"Ask me again in a few years."
"Why? Can't I understand it now? What could be so hard about it, Mom?" Vaiya yanked her hand from Mara's. "It's not fair...you tell me all these stories of war and romance, but you act like you're trying to hide some big secret from me! What could be so bad?"
To her credit, Mother didn't recoil. She stood her ground, bracing herself against the table. Old instinct probably taught her that, Vaiya sensed, and the urge to know who her parents really were was nearly overwhelming. Her Jedi Knight parents, a hero farmboy and a converted smuggler who had a checkered past they refused to expose to their only child. There were so many holes-- and there was something deep in her head filled with truths she couldn't reach, couldn't understand. If only her mother would just tell her, maybe the constant suspicion that she was not who she thought she was, and neither was anyone else in her universe, would go away.
But at that point, Derrin showed up, and all other thoughts vanished from Vaiya's mind. It occured to her about a half-hour later that her mother had actually been about to tell her something important before Derrin had arrived, but she brushed it off. What was the point, anyway? It would probably be just more fluff.