The Tafanda Bay, Wednesday afternoon Fandom time

[solo_sword]

The nice thing about Fandom was that Jaina never had to worry about anyone's expectations of her. She could fit in easily. No one treated her any differently than they did anyone else. Even those she was related to didn't know her. It was so much easier to be herself.

And the nice thing about Fandom was what she was beginning to resent about her own world. She didn't especially mind formal functions. She'd been to more than she cared to count. She knew how to behave, mostly from watching her mother at these sort of events. And that meant she acting like it didn't matter to her that her presence here was more or less for show. She hadn't been invited as a member of Rogue Squadron. She was here because she was a Jedi, and because she was Jaina Solo.

And that was irritating.

She mingled as much as she wanted to, spent some time talking to Ganner Rhysode about current conditions and his mission to Garqi and managed not to get hit on, and as she was explaining to him her bad habit of getting killed by the Chiss leader in the sim and not so subtly looking for said leader, she was interrupted by the arrival of some people she hadn't had a chance to see yet. Namely, her aunt and uncle.

"Excuse me," she told Ganner, and once Luke and Mara were free of the initial welcomes by people they probably didn't actually want to be talking to, she greeted them with a smile and a bright, "Hi!" that was completely out of place at one of these things.

"Congratulations, Lieutenant," Luke greeted her with a smile.

She'd heard it a lot already. However, even if it was a little weird to see her uncle when she was now used to seeing a different her uncle, hearing that from him still made her gleeful. The Rogues had been his, after all. "Thank you," she said. "I'm still getting used to it."

"Enough of niceties, I need to check in with my niece," Mara said, taking Jaina by the arm.

"You're already leaving me to deal with this?" Luke asked her, not seeing too upset.

"Something tells me you'll survive," Mara said, and led Jaina to a far corner of the ballroom to take a seat so they could talk in private.

Mara looked better, though Jaina knew better than to comment on it. Still, it was a good thing. "I've heard some of what's been happening," she said.

"It's been a mess," Mara said frankly. "But I'm not going to talk about that here. We're going to be doing that all night."

"I already have," Jaina told her, and noting the entrance of the Chiss, including their very human squadron leader, out of the corner of her eye. Huh. But any meetings could wait. This was more important.

"So you know what I mean. You seem to be doing pretty well in Fandom, from what I've heard," Mara said, leading into what she really wanted to talk about.

Jaina shrugged. "It's different. I'm definitely getting a change of scenery." At Mara's eyebrow raise, she continued, "I'm developing a friendship with a friend's horse. And I'm working."

The eyebrows continued to arch. "You have a job?"

"As a bartender."

"...Why?"

With a little smile, she said, "I kind of got roped into it. It gives me an excuse to meet people. It's not bad."

Mara watched her with just the tiniest ghost of a smile. "I'm glad to see you're settling in."

Jaina paused, chewing her lip for a moment. "I know you knew it was weird going in," she said slowly, trying to lead into it.

"I don't know of many places where troll invasions are normal, no," Mara said, matching her tone and speed.

"Um." She leaned forward, resting her forearms on her knees so she could lean closer and drop her voice. "There's something with, I don't know, the time-space continuum, or something. There are people from a few different realities there."

"Different realities," she repeated. "Okay, pretend I'm very dumb. What are you talking about?"

"There are people there from this universe, but not like I know them," Jaina told her. "Colonel Darklighter's there. He's a student. He was in my cabin and I'm pretty sure he's got a thing going with my roommate, which is weird."

Mara wasn't saying a word.

"There's a Jedi there from the old order," she went on. "I haven't told him that he's got to be dead by now in my reality."

"Vader did miss a few," Mara said wryly.

Oh, she was getting to that. "There's an Uncle Luke there, too. As a teenager."

Her sense revealed nothing, and Jaina wasn't sure what the reaction was. Then there was a very careful, "You're not joking."

"No," she said, shaking her head. "Artoo's there, too. I didn't realize until recently that he has no idea who I am because I haven't been born yet."

"That's a strange sentence to hear."

"It's strange to say."

Mara was studying her intently, maybe to suss out Jaina's reaction to all of this. "How does this happen? I guarantee it wasn't revealed in any of my sources."

"Alternate realities, different timelines... It's apparently pretty normal there," Jaina answered, and paused. "Vader's there."

And that time Jaina felt the reaction. "What?"

"He's not Vader anymore," she went on hurriedly, not sure why she was automatically trying to defend him from the wrath of a mostly-sickly woman a galaxy and a whole other timeline away. "He and Uncle Luke already fought on the second Death Star. He died, and came back in the form of a twenty-five-year-old clone."

Mara looked hard at her. "You'd better not be messing with me. I know you're not that good yet."

"I'm not, I promise," she said, holding up both hands as if in surrender. "He taught my Flight and Flying workshop. Set wholly impossible records to beat." And despite her better judgment, added, "He offered to train me when we first met."

"I will kill him again myself," she said immediately. "No, he does not get his hands on you."

"I turned him down." Which was a lie, actually. She said she would think about it, but she also hadn't said yes. In Jaina's book, that counted.

Mara mulled this over, coming over to sit beside her. "Look, Jaina, if you want to come back after that, arrangements can definitely be made. I know that can't be comfortable. Deal fulfilled."

She hadn't expected that, and to her utter shock, she didn't immediately jump at that. "I don't know," she said, eliciting an eyebrow raise from the older woman. "It is threatening to break my brain, but at the same time... I am learning," she explained. "I'm flying better after seven weeks of classes. I even beat Uncle Luke one week. And honestly, I never expected to not be the only Jedi there. There's so much I can learn."

"From Vader?"

Maybe. "No," she said. "But there are several generations of us in one place. Maybe I can even learn some things that will make Uncle Luke's job easier. My grandfather keeps going on about the way things used to be. If I'm going to get an explanation, it would be wrong to not take something from that."

If Mara noticed how Jaina addressed him that time, she didn't bring it up. "And it might shut Jacen and Anakin up?"

"And it might shut Jacen and Anakin up," Jaina agreed immediately.

"I'm not especially thrilled about this," Mara admitted. "Just be careful."

"I am."

"No, you're not."

"I will be about this," she said, conceding the point. "I want to help, not add to the problems."

Apparently this was all right for now, and after she and her aunt had finished their conversation, Jaina was a little surprised that she felt okay with this decision.