Jacen reached out from where he sat on Tenel Ka’s bed, and brushed a lock of hair from her eyes. She looked up, and they locked eyes for a long moment. Then, books falling on the floor, studying forgotten, Jacen kissed her.

Her arms went around his neck, and she returned his kiss with much of the passion she felt whenever she was near Jacen. Exploring his mouth with her own, all track of time was lost, and when the young couple finally surfaced, the mutual feeling that the kisses were not enough was overwhelming.

Jacen laid himself gently over her, and kissed her. Tenel Ka did not protest. They lay this way, fully clothed, for long moments. Then Jacen pulled back, and sat up.

“Jacen, why did you do that?”

“Tenel, we’ve had this conversation before. We can’t do this. You’re the virgin princess, everyone will have to know if we lose our virginity.”

“Who cares. The robes and veils are only more of the Hapan ceremonies that I despise. It was out of fear that I refused you before. But I am ready, now.”

Jacen’s eyes locked with hers, and her certainty flowed through him. That was all the assurance of her sincerity that he needed.

Somehow managing the clasps on her armor while still not breaking the kiss, Jacen watched as the form-fitting lizard-skin armor fell from her lithe body. She kicked off the rancor-hide boots, and reached for him again.

After unzipping his brown flight suit, Tenel Ka stood as Jacen pulled it off. Clad only in their underwear now, they faced each other. Jacen pulled her close, and Tenel Ka willed her heart still. Simply holding each other for a moment, Jacen undid the braids that adorned her waist-length, wavy red hair.

When her silken hair was rippling down her back, wild and free, Jacen pulled away, and looked into her eyes. “Last chance to pull out, Tenel Ka.”

Tenel Ka shook her head slowly, but firmly, and Jacen asked no more questions. “Oh, Tenel, you are beautiful. I love you, with all of my heart.”

Tenel Ka melted under his caress, and pulled at the last of their remaining clothes. Quietly shedding them, they fell back on her bed, lovers at last.

* * *

A week later, Tenel Ka entered the reception of her eighteenth birthday party, wearing the blue robes of an adult woman, having shed the pale pink of childhood with that wondrous night she had shared with Jacen. She wore no veil, and she stood tall. Her clothing caused a gasp among the crowd, and her parents and Ta’a Chume quickly surrounded her, trying to lead her from the room.

Tenel Ka slipped from their grasp, and made her way to the microphone on a stage. The whispers quieted as she spoke.

“Let it be known to all, that I wear these robes as my rightful sign of adulthood. Not because I turned eighteen. Not because of the pressures upon my shoulders, as heir to this system. But because I have shared all that there is to be shared of myself, and, in that, have shed the feeling of isolation that crowds us all during the time of privacy.

“During our childhood, we share readily of ourselves, by mouth, but it is not until we share of ourselves physically, that we are marked as adults. This should not be right. But it is tradition, and I will abide by it. Therefore, I formally shed the robes of pink and the veil of white, and, along with it, my girlhood.”

Her parents stood, shocked, in the corner. This was the first time anyone as famous as she was had dared to do what Tenel Ka had. Usually, a woman would be married, and, on the day after her wedding, shed the pink robes and veil. Nothing would be said, little would be thought. But Tenel Ka, as always, had chosen different.

Tenel Ka could see Jacen grinning at her from the back of the room. Jaina was giving him a disbelieving stare, and Zekk slapped him on the back. They all knew that they would have heard had Jacen and Tenel Ka broken up, so, correctly, they assumed that Jacen was the ‘lucky guy’ as she had once heard the phrase used in a cantina.

Behind Jacen, Leia’s look was one of shock, and Han’s mouth was slowly tightening as it dawned upon him. Not because he disapproved, exactly, Tenel Ka knew, but because he simply wasn’t prepared to deal with it regarding his son.

Luke’s expression wore a hint of a smile, and Mara’s was a full-fledged grin. Mara was one of their biggest supporters, they owed her a lot for distracting people long enough to let Jacen slip away after the nights he spent in her room.

Finishing her speech, Tenel Ka knew that people were already gossiping. But, for once in her life, she didn’t mind. She and Jacen were right together, and as long as they let no one tell them otherwise, they were safe from the pressures to conform. For once in her emotionally sheltered life, Tenel Ka truly did not care what the others thought.

Leaving the stage, she ran for Jacen, who kissed her soundly. News reporters snapped holo after holo of them, but she ignored them. Running from the room, Tenel Ka bounced girlishly, and her laughter sang with joy. She had found her soul mate.