The Legend of the Jedi Queen

1. The Grandmaster

The Grandmaster of the New Jedi Order found that watching the younglings play in the meadow was one of her favorite parts of the job.

The younglings were either day-schoolers, or children of active Jedi Knights, such as the Starshine family. Unlike the wild and sullen teenagers and the serious and patient adults, the children had their own pure, creative touch with the Force. The way they interacted with each other was like the glimmerfish in the rivers and ponds of Aquilae. They swirled around each other, occasionally colliding— but merrily when so.

Rey leaned on her staff, her eyes gliding over to one of the younglings in particular: her daughter.

Despite there being other padawans her age, Nellith was by herself in the gardens, inspecting the plants with a close hazel eye. In her hands was a mechanical puzzle she was building. It had been her side project for three weeks, and Rey knew she was waiting to show it off to the younglings.

While perhaps not the most extroverted girl, Nellith did like showing off to the others. Whether it was the types of dangerous animals she played with without coming to harm, the facts she knew about plants and the night sky, or her mechanical puzzles, she liked sharing it with those younger than her.

It made the girl a leader, and well-liked, by them. And it didn't hurt that her daughter would drop everything to help a youngling.

While Nellith was all that, Rey still saw within the darkness that she had inherited from her father. Unlike in Ben, it was still within her daughter, still and buried beneath layers of pure light. She knew her daughter felt pressure from the adults to be that great leader, to be a beacon of hope, to be one of the best Jedi Knights and a future leader.

Part of it was that they thought her to be Luke's.

Most thought that because of her blonde hair— something neither Rey nor Ben had. There was also her strength in the Force, which was at least equal to both her parents' if not more. Ben's eyes in her could be dismissed, because Rey also had hazel eyes, and the big ears were often hidden by that long blonde hair.

Rey sighed. Raising a Skywalker was lonely business.

Lost in her reverie, she did not notice when one of her active Jedi Knights had approached until he spoke.

"Would you like for me to start the younglings' meditation hour?"

Rey jumped, and turned to see Kiernan Solsaur. He was a tall humanoid with pointed ears that wore orange and gold armor that hailed from his home planet, Apollara, and wielded a yellow lightsaber. Solsaur was one of the first students to come to the Praxeum on Aquilae, fifteen years ago. One of the few others to have attained the master rank in her council, Rey knew she could trust him. Especially with mundane duties such as leading the younglings.

"Please do," Rey said. "I would like to observe, if you wouldn't mind."

She looked around the other Jedi. The older students, adults and teenagers, were practicing their fencing skills. In the dueling arenas, with their lightsabers turned to the safety settings, they were practicing the various styles that had been recovered in holocrons collected by Luke and other students.

She briefly strolled by the other students, occasionally stopping to correct their grip, stance, or teach them other techniques that would be easier or more powerful in achieving whatever hit they wanted.

Rey stopped by one of her other oldest students, a light green Twi'lek named Loren Lunala, who was overseeing a match between two of the teenagers.

"Just stop, Onasi," Loren said. "You're not listening to a thing I say! You need to actually use your body. The Force can't do everything for you."

Onasi, a slightly chubby human male, glared at her.