Grandpa

By JalendaviLady

Part 3

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Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars. I mean no harm or profit in my random and not-so-random fanfic experiments and adventures.

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It was strange to be returning to Coruscant.

Sure, he'd run into his family more than once in his travels. Sure, with all the places he'd been it ought to be just another planet, New Republic type, Force-use majority Jedi.

But that didn't take into account the cargo he was carrying.

"Ben, are you sure we're allowed to jump out of hyperspace this close?"

"Jump in, drop out, Marnila. And yes, I'm sure."

R2 whistled something and Ben turned on the comm.

"Coruscant Space Authority to Lady's Wings. The usual berth is open."

"I hear you, Coruscant. Thanks." He flicked the audio transmitter off.

"They know you that well?"

"And they know this ship this well." Didn't I tell her I was a Skywalker... uh oh. Common last name everywhere but in the New Republic, Empire, and Jedi. Ok, how do I deal with this before Mom and Dad find out I've brought a girl of marriageable age onplanet?

He almost panicked, trying to think of a way to tell her.

That's it. "Mind if we go someplace before you meet my family?"

She looked at him, light green eyes wide with puzzlement. "I don't know why not..."

...

An hour later, they were alone. Ben had told R2 to go home and let his family know he was onplanet and nothing more.

It was a quiet, private garden, nestled in the Manarai mountain range. Ben knew Marnila would recognize the overall style of the place; the concept of small memorial gardens for remembering the honored dead had come from her people, after all, particularly the bit about changing the design and contents to reflect the one being remembered.

Marnila picked up on the clues in the design, sure enough. "This... This is the garden for a turnback, isn't it?"

Ben nodded, waiting for the outburst that would surely leave him alone again.

"Ben... whose garden is this?"

"My grandfather's private one."

"But who could rank two... You are of that branch of Skywalkers?" Panic and fear were in her eyes.

He nodded. "I thought you already knew." Any moment now, she'll tell me she doesn't want to be married to the grandson of a Sith Lord.

"But... my family is a minor branch of the lowest of tribes! We have no authority among the people and our honor carries little weight!"

Well, this certainly isn't what I was expecting... "I don't care, and neither will my family. My aunt married a smuggler and my father married a former assassin. Grandpa gave his blessings to both."

"Ben, just give me a few minutes alone to think."

"Whatever you need, Marnila." He bowed his head respectfully and moved deeper into the garden.

...

Ben heard familiar footsteps coming near, along with a Force-presence he knew very well. "Uh, hi, Dad."

"Ben." He was suddenly enveloped in a warm hug. "They told me you were onplanet. I was just coming to do some weeding..."

...which means it's that time of year again. Dad only weeds when he really misses Grandpa. "I needed to come here before I went home."

"I understand."

You don't know the half of it.

...

Marnila walked slowly, poking her head around every corner as she thought.

They will say I aimed my sights too high, that I am an uppity woman who thinks honor can be married rather than earned. The gossip mongers will twitter my name in the deep tunnels and I shall be infamous in the bars of Calica Fair. She knew well enough what happened to those who stepped too far beyond their rank.

But isn't the Rajan kin to them? Wouldn't the leader of my people stand up for the fiancé of his blood-relative? His wife was of family honor only a bit higher than mine, wasn't she?

But what if Rajan Kennet does not help?

Ben's worth the risk.

Something caught her eye in a flowerbed. They would cultivate THAT in a memory garden?

...

A quarter timepart later, father and son were weeding and talking about all the places Ben had been and all the family events that had occurred since Ben had made contact.

"Anna's going to be given full Jedi rank in another season."

"And that'll be the last of us out of the apartment."

"Unless you move back in."

"Maybe."

Light footsteps nearby. "Did he who is remembered here choose the flowers?"

Luke responded, "He who is remembered chose the flowers and the trees to remind others of what he wished to tell those he left behind him."

Marnila? Are we still intended?

Would I have returned if we were not? There are ways back to the tunnels from Coruscant, you know.

"Ben, do you need to introduce me to someone?" Luke asked, getting ready to stand.

"Marnila, this is my father. Father, this is Marnila. Do you and Mom know anything about planning weddings?"

A moment of silence, and then the world was hugs and crying.

...

Marnila, what made you choose? a voice in the Force broke the night-silence of the room.

She slightly opened one eye, smiling in an impish wonder. If this family could find value in a flower my people consider a worthless weed, then they can certainly find value in me.

I know my grandson has.

We never would have met, if not for you.

I know. I am glad you found each other.

Quiet, Honored Departed One, for those living in the world of the Made are trying to sleep!

He was still laughing in her mind when she drifted into warm dreams of the future.

...

One generation plants the trees under which another takes its ease. Chinese proverb