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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 2192628" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 202: Home at LastIt was so much like the Palace that, if he didn’t look up and see the darkening sky above, Jyren would have believed he was still in the endless corridors. But this city was not one gigantic building. It was hundreds, constructed in much the same way, but with streets instead of hallways. There were no alleyways between the buildings, and though some were of different construction than those adjacent, they all flowed from one shape to the next. Near the middle of one of the long rows, Navik stopped and the door irised open to reveal a short entrance way.    Jyren followed his father in, and was soon given a small tour of the home. There were still traces of a family all throughout. If not directly like the small table with two extra places, but indirectly in the overall feel of the building. When Navik showed him his study, Jyren only noticed one thing. Or rather, three things.    Resting on top of the single desk in the room were three holos. Navik had started to lead Jyren out when he had noticed them, and Jyren slowly walked over and stared at them. The first showed two adult humans, male and female, and a small child. Right away, Jyren recognized the male as his father, looking almost exactly the same as he did now, only without the lines and weight of time along his face. The child, held by both of the adults, was obviously himself probably not even a year old, but smiling happily at something out of view. But it was the young woman who had Jyren’s attention. She was probably only a few years older than he was in that holo, with soft features and a warm smile. Two bright ice blue eyes had the same warmth to them, though Jyren could see a strength and even a dangerous edge within them. But, ironically enough, it was the woman’s hair that caught the most of his attention. Shoulder length, straight brown hair, the fringe of it hanging off in front of her face on the right side, touching just above the nose.    He grinned at that, glancing through his own hair, even if it was a metallic blue in front of his eyes, to see such a similar look in his mother. She was so young, there...    Next to that holo was another of a child, probably around a couple years old then. He sat on patch of grass with a small toy of some animal that Jyren didn’t recognize in his hands. Again, there was a smile on his face. One thing that Jyren could see in it that he couldn’t see in the other was in the child’s eyes. It wasn’t something that couldn’t be put into words, but it was him.    And then the last of the three holos, he found himself reaching over and picking up the small projection device to hold it close. It was of his mother. She wasn’t much older than in the first image, but Jyren was more focused on just how she looked. The way she stood there, looking forward with a smile. He couldn’t help but see himself there, and it was haunting in a way...but only for a moment. And when that moment had gone, a smile found its way onto Jyren’s face.    He felt his father’s hand resting on his shoulder then, and turned to look at the older Alraxian. Quietly, Jyren said, “I wish I could have known her.”    Navik looked over his son’s shoulder to the holo in his hand and nodded, “So do I.”    There was a short silence between them, and then Jyren turned to place the holo back on its place. But as he reached, his father grabbed his hand and said, “No. You keep that.”    “I can’t keep this,” Jyren whispered softly, turning around and instead handing it back to his father.    But Navik wouldn’t take it, and shook his head, “Yes, you can. You need something to remember her by.”    The odd tension suddenly faded when Jyren smiled broadly, and Navik couldn’t help but see the similarity to the boy’s mother. Again, Jyren handed the holo to his father with one hand, the other reaching down and taking the lightsaber off of his belt, “I already have that...and she’s saved my life a thousand times.”    His father smiled, too, though Jyren could see tears in the old Alraxian’s eyes as he nodded and took the holo. After it was placed back on the desk, Navik turned and led his son to the last room in the home. Somewhat nervously, he opened the door to reveal something completely different than the rest of the building.    In contrast to the soft, cream coloured walls of the rest of the home, this small room was a bright red. The floor was a brilliant shade of blue and there were multicolored toys of every sort all around. In one corner, was a bed, with bright red sheets and a small toy that Jyren recognized from the holo sitting on the pillow. Very carefully, almost as if he had to push through an invisible barrier, Jyren stepped into the room.    Behind him, his father said quietly, “I...I never moved anything...I’m sorry its so...childish, you can have my bed if you’d like and I’ll find a spot in my study. I usually sleep in there anyway...”    “No,” Jyren shook his head walking over to the bed and picked up the small, palm sized toy. It was a most similar to a dragon, green, with bright red wings, and a short stubby tail. It was soft...calmingly soft, which didn’t even make sense. But it was. Somewhat distractedly, he said over his shoulder, “No, I’d like to...to stay in here.”    “But the bed’s so small...” his father mumbled, obviously embarrassed at having kept the room this way for nearly twenty years.    But Jyren just smiled and turned to look to his father again, “I don’t mind.”    Slowly, his father seemed to accept it and nodded, “I’ll get you some blankets later. Come...its about meal time, and this isn’t the Palace. If you aren’t there to eat, you’ll just have to starve.”    Still smiling, Jyren nodded and followed his father out of the room. Before they left for the meal, though, his father stopped and took a deep breath, “If you...if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to announce to the Clan that you are my son.”    When Jyren fidgeted and looked ready to object, Navik laughed, “So much like your mother. She was the same way with the formalities. But, please, I would be...I would be even more honoured than I already am to tell my Clan mates that my son has returned, a Jedi Knight, and the Emperor to be.”    For a split second, Jyren nearly shook his head. He nearly started to say that he wasn’t anything close to a Jedi Knight. He nearly told his father that he had no idea what was going on with the political end of things. He nearly said a thousand other things that, in the end, really didn’t matter. But he didn’t. Slowly, Jyren nodded and said as calmly as he could, “I would be more honoured just to be seen as your son.”</blockquote>

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