Chapter 9: Order of Skywalker

Little 8-year-old Emily Solo came up the steps leading out of her and her parents' hut, smiling as she briefly squinted up at the twin suns orbiting around Tatooine. She lived a simple life here, on the moisture farm compound that also housed the Training Temple for the Order of Skywalker.

Her parents were Ben and Rey Solo, descended down from some of the most renowned Jedi and Sith the galaxy had ever seen. Once upon a time, they had fallen in love, and her mommy had brought her daddy back to the light side of the Force. At the same time, however, Rey and Ben had wanted to build something new, in re-introducing a new generation of Force users back into the galaxy. And so, to honor the memory of Emily's great-uncle - the famed Jedi Master Luke Skywalker - her parents had taken his name to title their new Order.

The Skywalkers, as they were known, were no longer just one bloodline in the Force. They were the embodiment of the Force's balance, the dark side and the light, similar to the smattering of Grey Jedi that had existed in the days of the Original Republic.

Approaching the Training Temple, Emily could see Zorri Bliss Dameron, her maternal grandmother, coming out of the hut she shared with her husband, Poe. Technically, Poe was Emily's step-grandfather (a point he and Rey tried not to acknowledge, and when they did, awkwardly. Poe always said it made him feel old before his time).

"Hi Mum-Mum!" Emily chirped, her tooth-gapped smile spreading wider, accentuating the adorable dimples in her cheeks. "Have you seen Mommy and Daddy?"

Zorri smiled and kissed her little granddaughter's head. "They're in the temple, probably just finishing up a demonstration."

"Thanks!" Emily tottered on ahead. Passing a small cliff face, she spied an old man sitting in what little shade it provided. She waved. "Hi Grandpa Jack!"

Jack Braidy was 98 years young and showed no signs of slowing down. Emily was the grandchild he never got to experience. He grinned at her warmly. "Hi, sweetheart! Just came back from running drills. Your mother's just inside."

Emily entered the Temple. Gym mats covered most of the floor, and in front of her, she could observe close to 40 Skywalkers dueling it out in pairs with lightsabers. Among them, she blushed when she picked out Temiri Blagg, a handsome youth of 19 and her mother's first successful apprentice. On a bleacher off to one side, Emily finally caught sight of her parents, happily and openly kissing.

"Yuck!" Emily made a face. "Daddy! Mommy! Stop it!" She ran over to them and tried to pull them apart, which only resulted in her father casting her playfully over his shoulder and peppering her mother's face with more kisses.

Rey beamed with playful love. "Emily Leia Padme Solo! Don't interrupt!" she chided with amusement. Rey positively adored her daughter - her "little miracle," she called her. She had arrived on a sweltering Tatooine night, emerging screaming into the world after putting Rey through nineteen hours of childbirth. But every single hour had been worth it, all of it, to see Ben hold their daughter for the first time with abject wonder.

Emily just grinned impishly. "Yes, Mama."

Mama... never would Rey tire of hearing that word. In the arms of her husband, and with the embodiment of their love - their child - within her sights, Rey knew she had finally found the family she had always wanted.