The beginning

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"Grandpa, please tell us a story!" yelled little Ikril.

"It's past your bedtime," replied Ole Ive. "Your mother will not be happy with me."

"Your secret's safe with us pa," protested little Ievin.

"I suppose you are old enough to hear this story. How old did you turn again? My memory is leaving me. Six was it?"

"We're 11!" both children said giggling.

"Ah yes, of course. Very well then," Ole Ive said as he tucked the children into bed. He sat on a chair between the children's beds.

"Have I ever told you the story about Lera Neacon?"

"No!" The kids answered eagerly.

"Then I think you're going to like this one. Once upon a time there lived a happy family: The Neacons. Two parents and two daughters who worked together on a lush farm on an even luscious planet. One day, Lera Neacon's sister Salix had been taken by the Jedi to be trained because she was Force sensitive. She trained under Jedi Knight Lunaria Illex. Salix grew up alongside many Padawans, including the legendary Anakin Skywalker."

"Wooow!" the children gasped in disbelief.

"I heard Anakin Skywalker was the greatest Jedi in the Clone Wars," Ikril said.

"Did you ever meet him grandpa?" asked Ievin?

Ole Ive took a deep breath. "I did. I met him once, briefly."

"Tell us more!" the two kids exclaimed in unison.

"Perhaps another time. Tonight's story about the Neacon family. Where was I? Oh yes, Salix was knighted as a Jedi early in the Clone Wars. She would often send correspondence to her family, telling them about her feats and defeats and how excited she was to become a Jedi Knight. Then one day, Lera started having nightmares about her sister dying."

Ikril hid themselves under the cover, but Ievin was looking at their grandpa with wide eyes.

"Lera didn't think much of it, she shrugged it off as worry, knowing her sister was fighting a war. Then, something strange happened. Lera used the Force to prevent a runaway boulder from killing her father. She had sensed it was going to happen and without thinking about it, held out her hand and levitated the boulder like it was second nature to her."

"Lera was Force sensitive?" asked Ievin.

"She wasn't until that moment," Ole Ive explained. "I'm still not sure how the whole Force thing works, even after all these years." He stared into space.

"Well, what happened next?" Ikril asked, no longer hiding under the covers.

"This is what happened next..."

⊚⊚⊚

"By the force! I thought only your sister had the gift!" Exclaimed father Neacon as Lera had prevented the boulder from falling on his head.

"I- I've been feeling strange these last couple of days," expressed Lera. "I can't explain it."

"This is most unusual," he said. "We need to tell mother."

The two rushed home. Once they got to the top of the hill, they saw a Republic ship parked near their house. Maybe Salix is visiting, thought Lera.

Mother, still as a statue, was looking at the ship, holding something that looked like a box. The door of the ship was open, and a person was going in. The red montrals of a Togruta floated above a long Jedi robe. What is going on? Lera thought anxiously.

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