𝕃𝕖𝕘𝕒𝕔𝕪 - 𝔸 𝕊𝕋𝔸ℝ𝕎𝔸ℝ𝕊 𝕊𝕋𝕆ℝ𝕐

1 - FLOWER

(Song: Flower Of The Universe - Sade)

Mae's wild hair flew behind her as she ran down the steps of the Naboo home. She was playing "Tag" with her blue Twi'lek best friend, Tobias. The young children laughed and played in the garden. Mae was fast and light on her feet. She jumped on the edge of a water fountain and ran along with it. Tobias tried to keep up and balance himself the same way but fell to the ground with an "ouch." Mae turned around and cartwheeled off the fountain, a cheeky grin on her face. The blue twinkled in her eyes.

"Show off." The boy glared up at Mae from the ground.

"Am not! You're just slow." She reaches out a hand. "Here, I'll help you up."

He takes it. "How did you do that jumpy flippy thing?"

"Oh, I don't know. I just did it."

"Can you teach me?"

A woman's voice shouts from inside the house, "Mae-flower! It's dinner time! Tobias needs to go home!"

"Awe! Maybe next time?" Tobias starts to jog towards the gate out of the garden.

"Okay, bye Toby." She waves as he closes the gate.

"See ya later, Mae!" He starts running down the street, going home.

Mae runs toward the door to the house, opening it and bolting towards a familiar cloaked man sitting in the living room.

"Daddy!" She runs and jumps on him just after Luke moves the hood cloak to reveal his smile. They embrace in a tight hug. It's been many months since Luke had come to see her. He was on a mission to find any surviving Empire fanatics but instead, he had found more survivors of the Jedi purge. Important survivors.

He took a minute to look at her and see how much she'd grown. She had his eyes. A beautiful shade of blue; Kind and curious. She was missing her front tooth and freckles on her sun-kissed nose. Her hair was wild and curly like her red-head mother's but the colour was special strawberry blonde. He looks at his daughter like she was a reflection of him when he was a boy on Tatooine.

"Look I lost my tooth, I think it's my last baby one!" She beams, pulling up her lip and showing him her gap.

"Look at you, my little flower's growing up so fast." It's a sad but proud feeling he gets. Has he missed out on too much of her life?

Mara interrupts their moment, "Luke, need to have a word with you. Mae, can you set the table for dinner please my dear?"

"Okay, mommy."

Luke gets up and walks over to Mara.

"What is it, Mara? Is everything okay?" He asks, feeling her mixed of emotions.

"No and yes." She scratches the top of her head and looks at Mae. He feels her energy. She doesn't feel fear from her, just stress.

"She's using it, already. I don't know how."

Luke knew what she was saying, he could sense it from Mae. The Force radiates off of her like the heat of a star. They watch Mae not set the table for dinner. Instead, she was climbing on R2D2 and chasing him around. Artoo was beeping and shuffling, while she giggled and hugged him tightly.

Mara continued, "The other day, she wanted me to read her a Jedi bedtime story like I normally do, right? Told her it was too late and she got upset. She didn't realize it but objects around her bed started to shake just a little, but enough to stress me out."

"I was hoping this wouldn't happen so soon. I was much much older." Luke sighs.

"I know, me too." Mara looks at Mae with sad eyes. She didn't Mae to leave her. "I've also noticed her dreams are becoming stranger too. I hear her whimper and talk in the night. I must be reading too many of your bedtime 'stories' to her." Mara chuckles a little, then leaves Luke with his thoughts. She pulls Mae off Artoo and tells her that Artoo isn't a toy. Mae pouts then sits down in front of Artoo.

Luke thinks to himself, as his hand caresses his chin. Ben had tapped into the Force when he was 13 years old. After the incident, Leia had sent Ben to train and travel with Luke. She wanted Ben to learn to control his abilities and emotions while staying away from Admiral Snoke. Snoke was an old man with a strong dark presence in the Force. He had become a bigger part of Ben's life than she wanted. Now, Ben was 17, and ready to take on some independence.

Maybe it was time Luke settled down and started teaching. A new Jedi Order, for a new time in the Republic. He could find open the doors of a new Jedi temple for all Force-sensitives who wished to learn the Jedi ways.  Luke could finally rebuild somewhere secret and protected. It was time to teach Mae. It was time, and with the help of his new friends, it was time for the Jedi to rise again.