Within two Destinies (Star Wars fanfiction) Book I½

Preface

No one in almost all of New Jersey could remember a day this fine. The sun shone, but its rays did not blister the skin. The wind blew, but it was a gentle wind that did not bring choking dust and dirt. The normally bitter climate had loosened its grip. Most of the city's residents didn't have the time or energy to look up from their hard lives to notice it.

Eleven-year-old Ashlyn Cordell did. When her older brother, Carlos, or rather Charlie as everyone called him, opened the windows at dawn, the two of them stood breathing in the fresh air with wonder. For the first time in a long while, Ashlyn considered herself lucky. Today the weather was good, and she had her first free afternoon.

Day after day she was cooped up in school before going to Sammy's cousin's mechanic shop. She was too young to be working anywhere, but Sammy's cousin, Chris, had made an exception, but not without putting boundaries: Sammy and Ashlyn were to help clean up whenever he was done for the day, and he would pay them five dollars each, each time they did. Other than that, the only things they could do was learn how to build and repair, but not practice any of it, of course, until they'd be old enough. The only trouble was, to go to work, she had to go behind her father's back, a man whose temper and greed constantly surprised Ashlyn, growing worse by the day.

Ashlyn crammed her breakfast in her mouth as she hurried through the crowded streets of Union City to school with her brother. As soon as she arrived, she broke into a run, escaping easily the eyes of the vulture teachers gazing around, ready to give out detention to just about anyone. Today Mr. Walsh was away on paternity leave. From what she had heard, the Mrs. Walsh had triplets. Everyone found that adorable and wished him luck, but inside they were more happy of this ridding them of him. Ashlyn personally had nothing against the teacher. He was strict and quite breath smelling, but he was a good teacher all the same. No one, however, shared her opinion; no one really liked Mr. Walsh.

To say Ashlyn wasn't relieved he was gone, however, would be a lie. She would finally get to have a break in school for once. Not only that, the substitute teacher was a nice young lady who let them have fun all day. Plus, at lunch, she suggested they all go for a picnic in the park; had Ashlyn not been a girl, she would've swooned by now.

She found it rather comical when Miss Nishemura gaped at her students in surprise as she watched them help her set the picnic. No one could blame her; their class had a reputation for being rebellious kids who never listened, but that was mostly Mr. Walsh's fault. Ashlyn walked alongside Miss Nishemura and helped pick out the food in the school's cafeteria, along with her best friends, Magdalena and Zackary Rosales, who were both cousins.

"I've never been on a picnic," said the blonde girl. "Mom always said she used to go on them when she was a girl."

"I used to go on many of them when my mom was around."

Zack smiled; he had been to some of those picnics. "I remember."

Ashlyn smiled back before turning to the teacher. "Hey, Miss Nishemura?"

"Yes?"

"I know just the spot for the picnic," Ashlyn told her.

After the food was picked out, Ashlyn led the way through the crowded lanes and streets of the city. There were even more people packed in the streets today. Ashlyn, Magdalena and Zackary had learned how to move through the streets almost invisibly, avoiding the fierce tempers of busy business-people, drinkers, and smugglers.

Ashlyn knew exactly where they should share their picnic. It brought a small ache to her heart as the spot was where she and her family use to have their week-end picnics, but it was just too beautiful to not share.

It wasn't so far from the school; on a hill in the central park of the city. It was a gorgeous green spot that laid under a willow tree arched just enough to cover a group of fifteen people, only a few traitorous rays of sunshine piercing through the leaves, giving the overshadowed spot a beautiful glow.