The Children of the Stars

Binary Sunset

Allana ducked into the cockpit as the Falcon jumped out of hyperspace. They'd have to refuel soon— good thing that with the advent of the Jedi making their Praxeum on Tatooine, there were plenty of refueling stations around Mos Eisley.

She thought her heart might skip a beat as she watched the desert she'd grown up in come into view.

"Home, sweet home."

Allana looked to see Nellith entering beside her.

"Hold onto something," Ben ordered. "Should be a smooth landing."

And indeed it was.

The Milennium Falcon was the first of the Jedi ships to return to the Praxeum. All of the other ships were taking a necessary detour to refuel and drop off the rescued civilians on Chandrila. Finn and Rose would know how to help them.

It was just a pity, Allana thought, that they couldn't save more.

Then again, she thought as she looked to Nellith beside her and Jacen in front, she had retrieved what was left of her family. Even the droids and the Wookiee were back together.

And yet, D-0 and Rey were still missing.

Allana sighed. But from what Nellith had told her in the cargo hold, Rey was still alive— and on a mission of some sort.

Hopefully they could find her, soon.

Allana was the first of the Jedi to step foot on Tatooine after the Second Purge. The feeling of the sand beneath her feet and the sound of a desert coming to life with the sunset made her feel as if she were fourteen years old again.

The twin suns were starting their descent in the distance, turning the sky shades of periwinkle and violet.

While Ben and Chewbacca finished the landing sequences, Kyp, Nellith, Zekk, Jacen, and Tahiri exited the Falcon. Threepio and Artoo dawdled behind them, soon to join the Jedi outside the ruins of the Skywalker homestead.

Before Allana was born, the ruins looked like this. That was what Rey told her, once. For a long time, Rey was alone, and she had to rebuild the Jedi out of this.

But this time, they didn't have to work alone. They had each other.

An echo from another time, another place, found its way into Allana's ear.

"We have all we need."

Allana smiled at the familiar voice. It was true.

There would be the matter of getting lightsabers for her and Jacen— and finishing her training. But she would become a Jedi Knight. She had to.

And she would do whatever it took to assume her great destiny.

Whatever it meant, to sit on the throne of balance.

The rest of the galaxy might not have cared about the Jedi in their time of need, but now they had hope. They'd found it in themselves.

And as the darkness fell, Allana could spot translucent blue figures watching them.

There was a woman wearing rags that Allana recognized as Shmi from the old holos. Next to her was a young man that could only be Anakin Skywalker, his arm around Padme Amidala. The queen still dressed flamboyantly, even in death.

Obi-Wan, with his distinctive beard, nodded his approval at the Jedi. As did Luke and Leia, restored to the youth of their Yavin days.

Han's ghost smirked at his grandchildren, and he gave a joking salute.

Jaina rolled her eyes and smiled.

And then, Anakin shuffled forward.

The gasps from the other Jedi told her that they saw him too. She fought to keep back tears.

There were so many things she wanted to tell him. That they loved him. That she wished she could have saved him. That she was sorry.

He just met her with a calm hazel gaze and nodded. There was melancholy and yearning there. But the message was understood.

The other Jedi would come soon, and there would be work to do. The future would have to come, relentless as it does.

But for that moment, the past was alive in the quiet. It was enough.