Coming up very soon was a very important day. A coronation day. And not just any coronation. The coronation of Kara Jinn, the soon-to-be crown princess of Solaris, and the rightful heir to the throne after Qui-Gon, as she was the firstborn child.
Despite her birthday being months away, the royal family saw fit to give Kara her crown sooner than later. Kara was the last of Qui-Gon's children to be introduced, and pretty much the newest official addition after Omega came around.
Kara might not have gotten to let her nieces and nephews know she was their aunt when they were younger, but she inherited her father's defiance and kind heart and chose to make up for lost time with the children and her brothers.
Kara Tahl Jinn was a very skilled woman as both a Jedi and a princess. She was beautiful, high-spirited, and courageous too. Her magical power? Super speed. She could dash all around an entire planet within mere minutes. And getting chores done quickly was no problem for her.
As a child, whenever no one was looking, whenever she had chores to do, she would secretly practice using her super speed to get everything done so fast that everything around her was going in slow motion.
Under the old Jedi Code, after Qui-Gon's death, even after she found the note from her father explaining their relation, she didn't say anything to anyone else for three reasons.
1. To keep any other family members she didn't know about safe
2. The Code forbid her from seeking power or forming any attachments
3. She needed to figure out her powers on her own in order to honor her father's last wish.
And now, she was going to be officially made crown princess of Solaris. The first heir to the throne after her father, which placed Anakin, whom everyone originally thought was first in line seeing as he was the older twin by three minutes, second in line for the throne.
It was a lot of pressure now.
Kara had learned everything she could about being a princess since she was a child. Even though she didn't think she would become a princess, much less a queen someday, she decided it wouldn't hurt to learn how to behave like royalty.
Kara walked out of a store with her sister-in-law Padme and her three oldest nieces Omega, Gabby, and Lamenta, as well as the baby twins Luke and Leia as a couple of reporters came by, flashing a camera and having some questions.
Omega rubbed her eyes as the camera's flash had gotten into them.
"I think I've gone blind!" Omega said.
"Omega, don't be dramatic." Padme said. "Teenagers."
"Princess Kara," said a reporter. "Tell us how it feels that you are the true heir to the throne."
"Does your half-brother Anakin show any jealousy towards you for it?" asked another.
"Of course not." Kara said. "It does feel nice that my family believes in me to be queen someday, but I feel my brother would do just as good a job. Despite us growing up in separate homes, our coming together to finally be a family together is our true crown jewel."
"Have you given any thought to finding a suitor for your hand?" asked a reporter.
"What is this, the first century?" Gabby said. "Princesses don't always need a big strong man to rescue them. Trust me when I say, royal life is a lot harder than it looks in fairytales."
Kara got the kids to come along as it was time to head home.
"Princess Kara, one more question..." said a reporter.
The babies, however, started crying, scared of the bright cameras' flashing. Padme immediately started to gently move their stroller back and forth to comfort them.
"No more questions." Kara said. "Got somewhere to be."
"Oh, but Princess-"
And that was when Carousella stepped up.
"You heard the lady. She said no more questions." Carousella said.
The guards held off the paparazzi as Kara and the children boarded their speeder and rode back to the palace.
Meanwhile, in the palace, Anakin and the rest of the family were going over the plans for Kara's party.
Shmi, for one, put in probably even more effort than everyone else while helping Caroline plan the event. Kara was technically Qui-Gon's child, not hers, but once Shmi and Qui-Gon were married, she would become Kara's stepmother. She'd experienced that before, but now, her stepson continued to run his late father's moisture farm.
Not everyone who was part of the family by birth, adoption, or marriage wanted to be involved in something full of magic or royals living in luxury.
But nevertheless, Shmi hoped she could be a good motherly figure to Kara despite her being all grown up now. Especially since Kara was having a little trouble adjusting.
Kara liked Shmi just fine. In fact, she was glad to see that she and her father made each other so happy. But, knowing that her biological mother passed when she was too young to remember made her wonder so much like how she took after her.
Qui-Gon told Kara that she inherited the gold stripes in her eyes from her mother, as well as her witty sense of humor, and her silver tongue. And it was already pretty clear to others and Kara herself that she inherited her defiance and showoff streak from her father, which made it less of a surprise that she and Anakin were related.
Getting used to calling someone else 'Mom' was not so easy for Kara. She had very faint memories of her mother. All she could remember was that she was beautiful, and in the Force surrounding her, it screamed that Tahl was a strong and smart woman.
But, for the sake of the family now, Kara did her best to get used to the thought of having a stepmom. As you can probably imagine, it wasn't an easy path. It didn't help either when she walked to her father's bedroom and accidentally walked in on him and Shmi during what they referred to in front of the younger kids as their 'grownup bonding time.'
Boba and Omega were already old enough to learn about that in health class at school. All they could tell Gabby and Lamenta was that nothing could prepare them for that talk.
Even though Kara was an adult, it did not stop her from needing to get that image out of her head.
"Alright, everyone." said Caroline as the others gathered around. "Are we all clear on our jobs to make this party perfect?"
"I know all the flowers and all the right colors to grow." Anakin said. "Wysteria and her group are in Solaris getting some poisunna flowers too."
"Padme and I triple checked the guest list with Kara." Sapphire said. "We have a great estimate of the turnout for the festivities. And I've ensured Kara's tiara is under the best security we could get."
"Roya and I are working together to finish the final touches on her coronation gown." Carmine said. "And I've been working on a little song for her at the party."
"Are you sure you wanna risk it, Carmine?" Anakin said.
Anakin knew as well as the rest of the family that any super devoted Count Crescendo fan with excellent hearing and listening skills would be able to recognize his voice with or without the hair covering his face.
"Don't worry. As far as anyone else knows, I've been getting singing lessons to improve my voice. But in truth, I've mastered the art of throwing my voice. That way, no one recognizes the singer behind it. Besides, this is for our sister. I took the risk for Gabby's coronation. I'm willing to do the same for any other family member if they ask me to sing at their party."
That was when the other ladies of the family finally arrived home.
"Here's the lady of the hour." Qui-Gon smiled, greeting his daughter with a hug.
"Hello, Daddy." Kara said. "We got here as soon as we could to continue with preparations."
"Not all of us have her super speed though." Padme chuckled. "Or any magic at all."
The babies were babbling as usual.
Qui-Gon chuckled and greeted his youngest grandchildren. Leia gripped his finger and Luke started reaching out to him.
"How were my little ones today?" Qui-Gon cooed. "Have a good time with your mommy and the girls?"
Qui-Gon picked little Luke up from the stroller and nuzzled the baby, while Padme picked up Leia and gave the baby her pacifier.
"I hope it wasn't too boring being the only man among the girls while they were shopping." Qui-Gon joked, holding his littlest grandson.
"On the contrary," said Lamenta. "I'm sure he enjoyed it. He kept grabbing at so many shoes when we were searching for the right pair for Aunt Kara."
"And Leia kept trying to eat my necklace." said Omega.
"She's a baby." Gabby said. "They chew things. Just wait until she and Luke start teething."
Kara looked at the babies and all the kids. She started to think about those reporters' questions about whether she'd seek out a suitor. While she didn't believe that she needed a man to take care of her, nor was she required to marry in order to become queen, the idea of having a man who was loving and devoted to her and wanted to raise a family with her sounded lovely.
But, she knew for a fact that finding true love as a princess was far from simple. True, finding trus love was hard for anyone, royal or not. But, when you're royalty or a big time celebrity, finding who your friends truly are is not an easy or emotionally kind path. You may need to place tests in order to discover who was a genuine friend and who was a gold digger.
For now, Kara knew exactly who her real friends were. She had many great friends among the Jedi, and most importantly, she had a family who loved her as she loved them. And her coronation day was coming up fast. Kara would've just done the setting up herself. She could do it in five minutes, literally. But, the family insisted she let them do it because it was her big day and they were going to make it extra special for her.
Meanwhile, every Jedi who'd been invited to Kara's coronation was going through their robes and newer outfits. After Mirabel took the temporary job of being a seamstress for the Jedi, many Jedi, including the Jedi Council, had lots of great new outfits with amazing embroidery patterns in them.
But choosing the right outfit was a challenge. A lot of the male Jedi needed to go to some of the girls or even Carmine for advice on what outfit was most appropriate for various occasions. Or else, they'd end up with outfits that were too formal or not formal enough, or the colors completely clashed with their wearers' complexion.
For the horses, they were getting their saddles fixed up.
Comedia dug through the box of her belongings still left since she moved in with Master Mundi and managed to find her old tiara to put on. Just because she thought the royal life was posh and boring because of her experience with her family didn't mean she didn't want to look her best for the coronation.
"Remember, Comedia. Best behavior." said Ki-Adi as Comedia looked through various mane styles.
"Hey, I was just being a kid before." Comedia said. "I've grown up a lot in the last week."
Inconveniently, Comedia sat on a horn and it let out a loud, squeaky honk!
"Ahh!" Comedia jumped up, spreading her wings. But she laughed when she saw what made the noise. "Oh, I was wondering where that went."
She picked up the trinket with her mouth and put it away with her other pranks.
"Zipp, hold still!" said Eeth, trying to get Zipp to sit still. "Zipp!"
"Come and get it!" Zipp teased, holding a tie Eeth had been trying on and running away with it, zipping by Comedia and Ki-Adi really fast.
"Sorry, Master Mundi!"
"Come back here!" Eeth said, chasing Zipp all around the Temple.
"You'll have to catch me first!"
Comedia giggled and said, "I guess Zipp's real purpose was to help Master Koth get more exercise."
In another hall, Mace was walking between Master Yoda and Strawberry Sundae, when suddenly...
"Incoming!" Zipp exclaimed.
The two Jedi got against the wall, and Strawberry flew up out of the way right in the nick of time.
Eeth stopped to catch his breath for a moment.
"Phew! I need to catch up on my morning workouts." Eeth breathed before going after Zipp again.
"Looks like not all the horses have grown accustomed to the no running indoors rule." said Strawberry.
"Hmm. Exciting since the horses arrived, the Temple has been." Yoda chuckled.
Mace pet Strawberry's muzzle and looked at Yoda. "Just wait until you have to look after one of your own. Hopefully he or she will be a calmer equine."