***Author's Note***

Good evening, my friends! As promised, I have a brand-new story for your reading pleasure this evening! This story picks up fifteen years after the events of For The Girl and Brotherly Bond. We're easing into this one; basically the first chapter is bringing you up to speed on who's up to what. Enjoy, my friends!

***End Note***

Rey woke slowly, Ben's right arm slung across her chest, still snoring into his pillow. Well, that's a kindness, she thought to herself. She slid gently out from under his arm and got out of bed, dressing quickly in a pale silver nightgown that flapped playfully around her ankles. The morning chill still hung in the air, so she slipped into a matching cashmere dressing-gown. It had been a gift from the children for her birthday four years ago – they'd worked together to make it, and as a result, one sleeve was a bit longer than the other and the hems were uneven, but in Rey's eyes, that made it all the more special. Besides, all she had to do was roll the sleeves into cuffs and no one would be any the wiser. Walking to the window, Rey sighed with happiness as she looked out over the mountain-academy that they had created together with Finn and Twila. It had been fifteen years since the Battle of Kashyyk; Rey couldn't quite reconcile that fact. Fifteen years. I can hardly believe it's been that long. If it weren't for the growth of the children, I'd think I'd gone quite mad. Rey shook her head and smiled to herself, We've been married fifteen years now, too. Now that is hard to imagine. I'm just as happy now as I was the day I married him; maybe even more.

As Rey looked out over the Academy, the sun began to rise, sparkling through the morning mist. She knew that once the sun rose, she'd just be able to catch a glimpse of the land surrounding the mountain that the Neutral Order now called home. A village had sprung up at the foot of the mountain, which supplied them with most of their supplies; their robes were proudly crafted from the finest wool in that village. There was a similar village at the foot of the mountain that the Jedi Order called home. About six months after the end of the First Order, Finn, Twila, Luke, Ben, and Rey had come to Takodana and asked Maz Kanata if they could buy some land to found a pair of schools. Rey smiled as she remembered the conversation with the older woman.

The group walked into Maz Kanata's bar, glancing around for her. She appeared suddenly at Ben's elbow, saying, "So. You've come to me at last. I was sorry to hear about your father, Ben. Now; it comes to mind for me to wonder what it is that five talented Force-Users such as yourselves would be wanting here with me." She gazed up at them, her beady eyes magnified by the goggles she incessantly wore.

Rey smiled, "We have a piece of business we'd like to discuss with you, Maz. Is there somewhere private we could talk?" Maz returned Rey's smile and gestured for the small group to follow her.

She led them to what Rey could only assume was Maz's personal office. To say that the space was "eclectic" would be a gross understatement. There was a massive mahogany desk that instantly dwarfed the little yellow creature, behind which stood a comfortable-looking armchair that seemed to have been made especially for Maz. On the walls, there hung a collection of paintings so diverse that it boggled Rey's mind. There was one in particular that caught Rey's eyes. It was a picture of a beautiful young woman in exceptionally elaborate dress with an equally elaborate headdress. Her face was painted white and her lips the exact red of the eyes looked oddly familiar to Rey. Ben leaned in close and whispered in her ear, "That's my Grandmother, Padme. This painting was done back when she was still the Queen of Naboo." On the shelves resided a collection of knickknacks that captured the imagination. Rey could only think that this room detailed the one thousand years that Maz had experienced throughout her lifetime.

"Now; what is it that you needed of me?"
Rey's lips twitched as she responded, "We were hoping that we could buy some land off of you, Maz. It would need to be enough for two academies; one for the Jedi Order, one for the Neutral Order."

Luke cleared his throat and put in, "My sister has promised us as many credits as we need for such a project, including the costs of building the schools, so you have no fear that we won't be able to match your price."

Maz chuckled at them, "After a thousand years, I have found that, at their center, people are all the same. They are always predictable, which is how I knew you'd come to me eventually for land to establish your schools on. That is why I started building a couple of suitable establishments years ago; they're nearly castles, really. I've also put the word out for cooks, cleaning staff, and so on. You should have your non-Force-Sensitive staff by the end of the month. The schools are nearly completed; I hope you like them. I designed one with the Jedi Order in mind, and the other, I made more...Well, more Neutral. They are ready for use immediately, there's really just a bit of aesthetics left at this point. You should be able to bring in the students by the end of the week." Maz chuckled again as every jaw in the room went slack with surprise except Luke's, "Now; as far as price goes...I should think that three million credits should do it. That's total, not each. It comes to one and a half million credits per building. And don't you worry about me losing money; the way I see it, I'll make the money back in droves once your schools gain some notoriety. They're going to be quite the tourist attraction."

Luke smiled and shook his head, "Somehow, I'm not surprised that you saw us coming, old woman."

Maz's eyes sparkled with amusement as she responded, "And you see nothing at all, old man. And yet you perceive more than ever." The rest of the meeting consisted of logistics and coordinating. A price was quickly decided on to arrange for the supplies that they would need to at least get the academy off the ground. All in all, the meeting was over within the hour, which was one-third the time that Rey had expected.

Rey chuckled quietly to herself; yes, it was incredibly difficult to believe that it had been fifteen years since Kashyyk. It had taken poor Twila nearly two years to get used to her partially missing lek'ku, but she was fine now, and thriving. Finn said she still had phantom pains sometimes, but that was fairly normal in someone who'd lost a limb. Now, though, they had two children, thanks to the genetic alterations that Twila had gotten done. Even so, it had taken them five years of trying to conceive their first child and another three for their second. Both were boys – T'arla, who was nine, and Jar'lek, who was five. As much as those mischief makers drove their parents mad, they were the pride and joy of both Finn and Twila.

Poe had never married, but his adopted daughter, Lilia, had flourished under his care. Finn and Poe had hunted down every bit of information they could find regarding her birth parent, including service records, love letters, holo-discs, and so on. Lilia knew all they could find about her parents, and had grown up being incredibly grateful for the knowledge. She was a full Master now, and had adopted an ambidextrous two-handed fighting style so that she could honor her birth parents by using both of their light-sabers at once. Poe had slaved like mad to find them and bring them to Takodana in time for her induction into the Order as a full Master. She had accepted them joyfully and humbly, choosing to pass the light-saber she had crafted for herself as a part of her training to the next Apprentice that had felt drawn to it. Lilia was now on of the teachers of the two-handed style at the Academy, and she flourished in the role.

As for the twins, well...they were...a handful, but then they were fifteen, so that was to be expected. Finn and Padme had begun to show the same type of connection that Ben and his twin had shared from an extremely early age, but they had been prepared and on constant watch this time. Ben and Rey had been blessed with three more children, Anakin who was thirteen, Leia who was eight, and Han who was four, and already showing the same ability to get himself into trouble that his grandfather had. Han Sr. still showed up now and again, though these days it was more fatherly advice, and less Good of the Galaxy advice. Finn and Padme had chosen to follow their parents into the Neutral Order, and were well on their way to becoming Masters, themselves – if they could manage to stay out of trouble for a full week. Just a few days ago, they had taken a forbidden overnight trip through the hidden mountain pass that led to the Jedi Academy to go and peak at some of the female Apprentices that had caught their eye. Needless to say, Luke had caught them immediately and returned them with sore backsides, escorted by two of the largest male students he had. Anakin had chosen the way of the Jedi, and had quickly become Luke's personal Apprentice, along with three other especially promising students. Leia was showing a great aptitude for healing, and had yet to decide whether she would go to the Neutral Academy or the Jedi, and therefore split her time evenly between the two. Han was Rey's youngest, and therefore had a special place in her heart. He was an incredibly well-behaved little boy, and seemed to know what Rey wanted him to do before she asked him to do it. He always did things as well as he could, but always managed somehow to wind up in the very worst sort of trouble imaginable, though he also managed to find his way out, somehow. He had started levitating small rocks three months ago, just before his fourth birthday, because he thought it was fun.

Chewie had decided to stay with Ben and Rey, acting as a sort of "mother hen" for the younglings. He had been irreplaceable when the Academy had first started, given how many orphans of Kashyyk and D'Qar that had shown Force-Sensitivity – the oldest of these was now nearing thirty. When they had first arrived, they had understandably been disoriented, depressed and in the case of some of teenagers, they had grown extremely confrontational. Chewbacca had appeared to them as the ultimate protector; they knew, somehow, that he would never harm them, nor allow any harm to come to them. Through Chewie, Ben, Rey, Finn, Luke, Twila, and Poe had finally managed to get through to the children.

Poe, though not Force-Sensitive, had become a professor, himself. He taught the history of the Force at both the Neutral and Jedi Academies. It had been Luke's idea, originally; he thought it an excellent idea to have a "normal" person teach that particular course so that the students could fully comprehend that their actions had an effect on the "normal" people, too. It also showed that, while Poe and others like him did not have any Force abilities, had proven to be irreplaceable assets. His story had been told again and again, as well as his personal experience with what happens to the un-gifted when the Force is used the wrong way. Poe's loss of his wife and unborn child were nearly legend among the students, and they held him in such high esteem that they called him "Master" though they knew he was neither Jedi nor Neutral Master.

Finn and Twila's friends Thamian and Huur had kept a continuous relationship. Thamian dropped in every few weeks, always carrying some new interesting thing that inevitably got a number of the more mischievous students in heaps of trouble (most notably Finn and Padme) but his visits were always well received by all. He brought goods for trade with the Force Villages, as they had come to be known over the last fifteen years, and gifts for his friends. Ben and Thamian had struck up quite the friendship over the years, and when the great bear of a man was on Tokodana, they could often be spied in Maz's bar sharing a pint of some concoction or other. Huur had become the leader of Togoria mere weeks after Kashyyk, his Grandfather, Yara, claiming that he desired to spend the last few decades of his lifetime in relaxation, though Finn thought it was more that he was weary of the arguing Council members, and less that he desired the option of laziness; the ancient Togorian had often made excursions to Takodana to visit with the founders of the Academies. His visits were also well-received; he was a legend among the peoples of the Force Villages; most of them rarely got a glimpse of a Togorian, and many were curious. Through Huur, however, the Neutral Order had received its first Togorian student – his youngest daughter, Hrii. She was only seventeen – a child by Togorian standards, and Luke thought she might be the first Togorian in history to be have been accepted into an Academy to be trained in the use of the Force.

Tuk-Tuk was still very much alive and well, and was considered by all to be the sweetest creature on all of Takodana. Maz often came to the mountain just to visit with him. His vocabulary had improved somewhat, and he still had as much energy as he'd ever had, though Ben had noticed that Tuk-Tuk's joints seemed to pain him slightly and that his fur had begun to go silver-white in places. Ben and Rey figured the little Pri'ka had lived long past his natural lifespan due to his bond with Ben and Rey. He had gained some small amount of Force ability, himself, though he would never be as capable as the vast majority of the students, he still enjoyed using the Force to play with the youngest of the Younglings.

Rey sighed happily and felt Ben wind his arms around her waist, burying his face in her chestnut hair, "What's got you so happy this morning, my Light?"

Rey shrugged and turned into his embrace, "Nothing, really. I was just thinking about how far we've come since Kashyyk. Do you remember what a struggle this place was when we first opened it to the students? The housework and maintenance alone were a nightmare! At least, until we got the brilliant idea to make it a part of the students' training, doing it without the Force. Whose idea was that, anyway?"

Ben chuckled at the memory as he considered, "It was Poe, if I recall correctly. As the only un-gifted person on these mountains, he was tired of constantly doing all the 'heavy lifting', if memory serves. I believe his motives may have been initially selfish, but you can't argue with the results, can you?"

Rey laughed heartily and stretched onto the very tips of her toes to kiss her husband, "Come on, you heathen. Let's see where the children are; it was Finn and Twila's turn to get up early today." Just then, there was an "oof" followed by the rolling giggle of a child. Rey put a finger to her lips and grinned, sneaking silently to the door and sliding it quickly open, surprising young Han so that he toppled over, landing squarely on his bottom. Rey laughed again at the sight of him and swept him up into the air, settling him easily onto her hip. "Come on, little mischief maker! Let's find your brother and sister." To her husband, she thought, Let's hope they haven't gotten into too much trouble yet this morning.

***Author's Note***

I truly cannot wait for you to see where this one is going! I have a lot of twists and turns in store for you! I hope you enjoyed, and thanks for reading, as ever. Please leave a review, if you'd like!