61 years after the Battle of Yavin

"No, forget the Force," Jedi Master Jacen Solo said to his classroom, waving a hand dismissively. "You have to look beyond it."

"But, Master," one student complained. "You said the Force is in everything."

"Yes," Jacen said as he picked up a fist-sized metal sphere in one hand. "But don't think of it like the way the Jedi look at it. You have to look beyond what you know. That's why you're here, right? I mean, reach out with the Force right now. Can any of you sense how I do this?"

The sphere disappeared from one hand and appeared instantaneously in the other. By the looks of shock on the faces of his entire class, he knew none of them could identify how he did it.
"It's a trick!" one student, an excitable young Rodian exclaimed.

"That trick saved our lives several times," a voice said from the back of the class. All of the students turned to face the older blonde woman standing at the back. None of the students had sensed her enter the room and she smiled as their eyes all went wide with the realization of who had interrupted their lesson with the legendary Jedi Master Jacen Solo. Jacen smiled at her, noting that the streak of grey in her long blond hair seemed to be a bit wider than the last time he saw her, but her sharp features and brilliant green eyes were as timeless as the day he met her on Susevfi thirty-two years ago.

"Class, pair up and go meditate in the gardens for a bit about what I just showed you," Jacen suggested. "Try to use a friend to help you look deeper into the Force."

As the class filtered out, Jacen sat on the corner of his desk and smiled at his guest.

"Coming back to gloat, again?" Jacen asked her, tossing the ball across the room to her.

Eriana snatched the ball out of the air easily and laughed. She crossed the classroom and took a seat on one of the student desks directly in front of Jacen. "I can't believe that's still bugging you after all these years. You still haven't figured it out how I did it, have you?"

"No," Jacen said with forced grumpiness. "If I knew you'd withhold that from me for this long I never would've turned the ship around to pick you off of Bortras. Come on, how did you escape that explosion? I'm pretty sure it was something I taught you."

"I'll tell you… some day."

"That's what you've been saying for twenty years. If you keep this up, we'll be sharing secrets on our death beds."

"How are your classes going?" Eriana asked, deliberately changing the topic. "Selling an advanced Jedi Training facility on Naboo to the Council wasn't easy."

"So difficult they had to send the Master of the Order to check up on me after, what, a week of operation?" Jacen asked, hiding a snicker. "Admit it; it was an easy sell opening up the Skywalker-Solo academy for advanced students. We're a family library of knowledge."

"It wasn't as easy as you'd think," Eriana said. "I mean, you're an old fart whose last day in the field involved getting chopped up on Titan's command ship by shrapnel almost a quarter century ago. Your sister may have been one of the hottest pilots around, but she still hasn't gained much credibility since she went off the deep end."

"She's married with twins and has stayed sober since Tenel Ka and I rescued her," Jacen groaned. "Some people never know how to let go."

"I don't disagree," Eriana said neutrally. "I also had a struggle getting certain Jedi Masters to look past the fact that your eighty-year-old uncle is still having problems walking. You'd think they would've afforded him more respect for his contributions to the Jedi Order."

"At least we're safe," Jacen said with an air of finality and slid off his desk. He collected his case of notes and slung the strap over his shoulder, looking up at her as if to see if she would challenge him. "Retiring from active Jedi service was the best decision my family ever made."

"I can't argue with that," Eriana said, hopping off the desk and following him out of the classroom into the bright cloudless daylight. "Thankfully we haven't had a credible threat to the Republic since the Bogan Army folded and Black Sun was wiped out again."

"Twenty years of peace," Jacen said wistfully as they walked through the hedges surrounding the garden. "Who knew it would take a pirate organization joining the Republic and a rag-tag bunch of beat up old Jedi going planet to planet brokering peace to make that a possibility?"

"The government is more stable now than it ever was," Eriana agreed. They sat down on the grass facing each other and held hands, letting the Force flow between them as they had since they had begun training together half their lives ago. "I think we may just be set for a new golden age."

"Well, whatever you're doing, it's working," Jacen said, using the Force to convey an empathic smile. "I just wish you could visit more often."

"Me, too," Eriana said. "You have no idea how much I miss having you around, especially now that they've got me leading the Jedi Council. How's the family?"

"Good," Jacen said. "Really good. Anakin just passed his trials with Aunt Mara. He's considering signing up for service with the Jedi to travel and gain some experience. I think it would be good for him. Allaya is finishing up her last year at Theed University in hyperdrive engineering – much to Jaina's excitement. The Republic just opened a hyperdrive research facility in New Centrif that she got an internship with, so she'll be moving out soon. Tenel Ka is helping with my advanced combat classes – her variation of Vaapad is really something. I think you'll like the challenge."

"Excellent!"

"Thanks, I'm excited," Jacen said with a mildly embarrassed smile, somewhat guilty for succumbing to his pride as a father and husband. "Uncle Luke is, as you know, teaching some of the advanced Jedi techniques, but his spine has been giving him a hard time. He uses the Force to compensate, but you can see it's getting to him. He spends more time in a hover chair than not. Now that Aunt Mara has finished with Anakin she's looking at taking on Jaina's twins as apprentices."

"Poor Mara," Eriana said with a snicker. "What would possess her to take on two apprentices at her age?"

"She's a warrior at heart," Jacen returned her smile. "Ben and Erin's little guy is eight now."

"Eight?! They grow up so fast."

"Tell me about it. I'm dreading when Anakin or Allaya come home and say 'Surprise!'" Jacen said with a groan. "Ami is moving closer to Theed University so she can finally go back to school now that her son's old enough to start his undergrad. She had to promise her son that she'll pretend he isn't there, but she's really excited. The whole family is."

"How's your mom?"

Jacen frowned and shook his head. Eriana felt his presence darken, so she gave him the emotional equivalent to a hug. "Thanks. She's…she has her good days and her bad days. She still misses Dad. The disease seems to have recessed her memories back to when he was still alive. But she's always happy to see us when we visit. She always remembers me and Jaina, but sometimes she calls me Han."

"That's something, at least."

"So, what are you really doing here?" Jacen finally asked. "It isn't the place of the Master of the Jedi to check up on a satellite campus unexpectedly."

"Fine, you got me," Eriana admitted. "Something did come up. There's a confirmed sighting of Darth Krayt on Moraband. The mission may or may not benefit from one of the most powerful retired Jedi Masters of the current generation to help put him down. That is, if this Jedi Master isn't too rusty from sitting around here on Naboo teaching some of the biggest smartass younglings we can send him…"

A slow smile spread across Jacen's face and a twinkle came to his eye as he squeezed her hands. "I think I can convince this old Jedi Master you speak of to dust off his lightsabers for one more mission."

The End.

A/N: Thanks again to everyone who has read and enjoyed this story arc, sticking with me over the last 9+ years of sporadic postings. I've learned a lot from writing over this time, but I'm going to hang up my hat on this story arc at this time and see what the new Star Wars chronology has in store. There may be a possibility of some other stuff in this timeline, possibly in around the time right after the YV war, but no promises. I have some other projects to finish up, so I'm going to focus on that stuff for now. After that, I don't know. The sky's the limit, right? May the Force be with you!

p.s. Please be kind and review...it may be the last reviews I read for a while.