Star Wars - Jacen/Tenel Ka - "When Morning Comes"

[driftinginnines]

Title: When Morning Comes
Fandom: Star Wars: Expanded Universe, post-New Jedi Order
Characters: Jacen Solo, Tenel Ka, Zekk, Lowbacca
Word Count: 2392
Date Finished: January 7, 2005
Author's Notes: This story is named after a Dishwalla song. Also, Jacen/Nature = OTP. XD


When Morning Comes

A charred landscape sprawled out across the horizon ahead of him as he stood on the dry crest, his right hand shielding his eyes from the harsh light the sun emitted. Without all of the lush vegetation and plant life, Ithor's sun had seemed different. Maybe because he and his companions were the only living things it hit.

"Jacen," a voice called out from his right.

Moving his hand from his forehead, he turned, his brandy-brown eyes squinting a bit. It was Zekk. "Hey, Zekk."

"I take it you haven't found anything, Solo?"

"No, I... I haven't." Jacen couldn't help it, but a thin trail of depression seeped into his voice, his sentiments for the planet echoing loudly through the Force.

Ithor truly was a beautiful place, before the war with the Yuuzhan Vong. They had come and stolen it, destroying all its life and replacing it with the bio-technology they revolved their existences around. It had all died out by now, with no Yuuzhan Vong there to tend to it - and Ithor was left with a dead landscape. Empty plains, gnarled trees...

Jacen's heart felt as dead as the planet when he stared out to his surroundings.

Life is too short for things like this.

"Uh... looks like a storm is coming soon." Zekk was at a loss for words - he could see the sadness creasing Jacen's boyish features. He clapped Solo on the shoulder, before slowly backing away from him and turning to rejoin the group at the camp. "I'm sure we'll find something, Jacen."

Nodding slowly, Jacen turned his head back towards the black soil, his watery eyes drifting over the empty patches of earth. He could see the storm clouds in the distance, the ones Zekk had mentioned. They were moving fast, but they wouldn't get there for awhile.

He and a few of his companions had been sent to Ithor to do a little investigative research. They were told to bring back any form of living being that still had at least a little spark of energy left in it. Scientists from the Galactic Alliance were going to attempt to rebuild life from Ithor and revive the planet. It was a daunting task, but something they felt had to be done.

Jacen Solo was sent for his affinity with the living. The energy and vigor his aura carried seemed to calm the team and seemingly the whole planet around them as well. He was excited about the mission, his only complaint being the slight pain and emptiness he would feel when he saw the destroyed and ravaged planetside.

Zekk and Lowbacca were along with the group as support, physically and mentally. If there were any Yuuzhan Vong resistance cells still on the planet, the two were ready to weed them out and take care of them. They were usually the ones to scout ahead when the group would pick up camp and move.

Traipsing back to the camp, Jacen sat himself on the ground near his pack of supplies, putting the large hood on his jumpsuit over his head, to shield himself from the harsh breeze that rolled over the hilly terrain. Trailing up over the center of their encampment, his eyes landed on a female, her copper hair pulled back into a loose piece of leather. Strands of it flew across her tan cheeks as she studied a datapad that sat perched on her knees.

The coarse dirt that was carried around by the breeze, and even the breeze itself didn't seem to bother this woman at all. She looked comfortable even, relaxed against a tall rock, clad in a worn outfit of lizard-hide armor. Jacen couldn't help but grin.

Tenel Ka. He admitted wholeheartedly that she looked absolutely stunning in her gowns and jewels, her hair done up and her crown on her head... but there was just something about her when she wore that damn armor...

It reminded Jacen of their adventures as teenagers, when they didn't have a care in the galaxy. When they would be caught in a tight space, hiding together and his hand would brush against her stomach or over her shoulder, his fingertips feeling the smooth surface of the scales that covered the armor. And all the times they got caught, they knew they could get out of it because they were invincible.

Then the war began.

His head tilted a little, as his eyes continued to gaze upon her, the Queen Mother of sixty-three worlds. The friendship that had been slowly stepping into odd stages during the war was slowly being mended to something like it used to be, with Jacen joking towards her the whole way to Ithor.

He almost had her grinning at one point.

Some of Hapes' best scientists, who were currently out taking soil samples, were on this mission with the Jedi that were sent, and Tenel Ka had used it as an excuse to tag along. Which had been Jacen's idea. There were some things he had to clarify with her. And although he hadn't worked up the nerve to do it yet, he was planning on it.

...at some point...

Breaking out of his reverie, Jacen's eyes widened as they locked with Tenel Ka's. She had noticed him staring at her and she now looked back at him with a quizzical expression.

"Whatcha doing?" It was the first thing he thought to say, shifting the hood further over his head to hide the slight flush his cheeks had suddenly produced.

Without answering his question, she stood and rounded the camp to him, datapad in hand. She sat down and was about to show him whatever she was looking at, when Lowbacca howled a statement.

Zekk glanced up from the food he was shoveling into his mouth. "You found something?!" He had exclaimed, through bites of sliced fruit.

Nodding quickly, the Wookiee peered back through his electrobinoculars.

A smile spread across Jacen's face as he looked back to Tenel Ka, whose eyes had brightened considerably.

"Go on," she whispered.

Jumping up from his spot, he jogged over to where Lowie stood. The Wookiee grumbled a few words before handing the electrobinoculars over to Jacen, who instantly put them on highest magnification and pressed them to his eyes.

Far across the plain, Jacen could see a line of black trees, where the forest started. Scanning that line with the electrobinoculars, Jacen saw it - there was a patch of green in that forest. It stood out like a stormtrooper in a sea of ewoks. Quickly handing the device back to Lowbacca, Jacen turned his head back to the camp.

"I'm gonna go check it out."

Before any of them could respond, he was off, soaring across the dry, packed ground - his lightsaber smacking his thigh as he went. His arms pumped on either side of him and his hood flew off of his head, messy brown hair blowing in opposite directions. One way because of his direction, the other because of the wind that pushed him faster from behind.

He practically leaped into the dark forest, over a log that was lying in his path, his feet crunching on a bed of dry leaves on the way. The branches that hung over his head, although bare, joined together like fingers grabbing for one another - blocking out a lot of the sunlight. Jacen could finally stop squinting.

Slowing his pace to a walk, he could see the green ahead of him, the rich emerald that seemed to shine in the death that plagued his surroundings. He stopped just outside of the crooked circle of lush vegetation.

"How did this survive?" The murmur escaped his pursed lips as his right hand absently reached out to press on a branch above him. His head rested against his outstretched arm and he just stared. It was hypnotizing, beautiful - they had found something.

It was a spot of the forest, seemingly untouched by anything. Tall trees, full of leaves and fruit hung above the green grass; vines reaching up, wrapping around the trunks of the trees. The sunlight penetrated the canopy of branches here, giving the sanctuary a soft glow.

Inhaling deeply, Jacen stepped towards the grove of light, his hand drifting off of the dead branch as he did - and even though he thought it couldn't anymore, the flora in the lit area seemed to perk up, reacting to Jacen's nature.

He couldn't help it, he just started chuckling, which turned into a rich, energetic laugh. It stirred something in that grove - and as he spun around, arms stretched out to his sides.

The vines reacted to his Force signature, moving from their spots on the trees and along the ground. Still laughing and absently turning, Jacen instantly stopped when he felt a light brush of something on his neck. Craning his neck behind him, he carefully turned - only to see a green vine, hanging in the air behind him. His laugh and grin vanished in a heartbeat.

No, floating.

The end was most definitely hovering in the air ahead of him.

His eyebrows furrowed as he studied it for a moment. And then without even thinking, he brought his hand up in front of it - he didn't touch it. He just kept his hand in front of it. Staring at the length of the vine, he noted how beautiful it was, how full of life. A thin strand of jade, with bright turquoise flowers dotting it at random intervals, black seeds sat in the center of the flowers and another fiberwire-thin strand of a slightly different green loosely twisted around the whole thing -- all Jacen could do was stare. Moving his hand slightly, the vine seemed to move with it, reacting to the affinity he shared with all living things.

Eyes widening, a lopsided grin suddenly broke out on his face.

He began to move his hand slowly, back and forth, the vine following him. He realized he was concentrating a bit, focusing on it. Stretching out his other hand, he stirred another vine, which rose up towards his palm.

Another laugh. He felt like a kid again, fiddling with nature, drowning happily in the calming sense of it all. Jacen moved his hands back and forth, up and down - he was sweating now, the bright sun beating down on him. Twisting around, the vines circled around him, causing him to break out in another fit of laughter. He was about to comm the others, but as he spun in another circle, the vines twisting even higher, he halted.

The vines fell as his concentration broke, petals crashing to the ground, falling off of the emerald strand.

Tenel Ka was there, watching him. Jacen had no idea how long she had been there, but he could feel his cheeks flushing again, as he stood there amid a pile of loose petals.

"I take it you are enjoying yourself, friend Jacen?"

With a nervous chuckle, Jacen nodded. "I guess I'm just... excited to see this still here."

Tenel Ka's lips upturned a bit in response.

"I just hope to see all of Ithor like this again."

"We will get it back, Jacen. All it needs is a little energy, care, love." Nodding, she continued, "We will have Ithor back."

Smiling, Jacen held his left hand out to her. She hesitated for a moment before reaching out and sliding her fingers into his, stepping towards him, being careful not to step on the vines.

"We'll get everything back," he whispered.

Life is too short for things like this...

Life was too short for waiting.

He repeated it over and over in his head as he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. He didn't know what else to say to her, how to tell her how he felt. He had been stalling and putting it off and trying to find excuses -- he had used them all up.

Much to his surprise she pressed against him, her right hand escaping his grasp and reaching up to rest on his cheek, her fingers then trailing down his jawline as she deepened the kiss.

Jacen's Force signature was wide open around him, his connection to Tenel Ka, his connection to the planet below his feet. The vines he had been toying with were moving again, snaking out to the forest of the dead around them, pushed by Jacen's sudden burst of energy. The petals scattered around his feet that had fallen from the flowers when the vines collapsed, were now moving upwards, around Jacen and Tenel Ka in a whirlwind of turquoise, surrounding them and then floating off to other parts of the black forest - where they would plant their seeds and start new life.

Pulling back from Jacen, Tenel Ka squinted against the wind whipping around them, looking upwards. He had his arms around her now, hands resting at the small of her back and she was leaning back against his touch. He watched her face as she looked around, pushing hair from her face.

Tenel Ka knew he was the one causing all of this. His rush of energy, his crooked grin - nature seemed to react to Jacen Solo and his qualities in the Force and his mind.

Smiling widely, Tenel Ka leaned back in and placed her lips to his ear, so she could be heard over the wind and the petals flapping upwards around them. "I love you, Jacen."

And after all the petals had fluttered off to spots around the forest and the wind Jacen's energy had created died down, he stared into her stone gaze and returned the serene smile she was currently wearing. His voice was soft, gentle, as if none of that had ever happened. "I love you too, Tenel Ka."

They stood there for a few moments, just basking in each other's presence - that secret that had been kept for years, finally out, with just one sentence each and an action that spoke louder than any words could.

Jacen leaned in and kissed the tip of Tenel Ka's nose, before speaking, "We should get back to camp before it starts ra--"

A drop of water hit his head... and seconds later it began pouring rain.

He scowled at his bad timing.

And for the first time in years, Jacen heard Tenel Ka laugh.