Beyond - Legends May the Road Rise Up to Meet You (AU; Ben/Senna [OC])

Author's Note: Another Betsyverse tale - the origin of Senna Harbin, an old friend of Ben's ... and more, since, oh, Chapter 24 or so of The Shifting Tides took place ...

Senna became Alema's Padawan in The Indigo Path:

http://boards.theforce.net/beyond_the_saga/b10477/30009440/r30009453/

And this story is set following Interlude: Mourning and Knight:

http://boards.theforce.net/beyond_the_saga/b10477/30325597/p1

DISCLAIMER: LFL's are LFL's. Marvel's are Marvel's. OCs are their own. This is a work of fiction. No money is being made off of this. Please don't sue.

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40.4 ABY: Jedi Temple, Coruscant:
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So what do Padawans do when they've got free time after a funeral?

Senna Harbin hadn't known Nelani Dinn well, but the Lorrdian girl had always been kind when they'd crossed paths, and Nelani had been old enough to remind Senna of her big sister, Shaena. And the death of any Jedi was awful ...

especially when her killer was my Master's last Padawan ...

Senna didn't blame Master Rar for Jysella Horn's mistakes - Horn, the schutta, had made her OWN choices, Vader's holocron or not, and "Jys" had already been a thug even before joining that silly "Anti-Skrull Guard."

And she threatened Ben. Witch, Senna thought bitterly, taking off her outer cloak and maybe throwing it at a chair when she could've dropped it.

Senna blushed as she entered her bedroom; Ben had a way of affecting her - he always had, ever since they'd met back at the Ossus Academy when they were 6.

I hit Bard Rodan often enough when we were kids when Bard shot his mouth off at Ben. And now I want to protect Ben from ... other things, Senna admitted, glad her Master was out of their quarters.

Master Rar was out with Knight Horn - no matter how hard she tried, Senna couldn't keep from calling him Knight, even if he was kind enough to say she could call him "Valin."

Respect. I learned it early, Senna considered, looking at herself in her room's mirror as she finished changing from her formal robes to a lightweight brown jumpsuit - she'd always been modest, and some of the exercise gear the other Padawans wore was ... eye-opening, for a girl from Ossus.

I'm getting taller, at least, Senna thought - she'd thought herself plain, with simple brown hair in a ponytail, focused brown eyes, pinkish skin tanned a little from the Ossan sun, a little more muscled than last year. Being 13 had changed a lot about ... everything.

She'd learned a lot, since becoming Master Rar's - Alema's - Padawan just weeks ago; she'd said Senna could call her Alema, but Senna was even more respectful toward her Jedi Master than she was to Knights.

Well, unless they're obsessive thuggish fascist Sith witches ...

"OK, Harbin. Deep breath. Horn left, the Sith-skank. She never showed any creepy interest in Ben. So why are you so worked up?" Senna asked herself.

I'm scared. Scared I'll lose someone else.

She sat on her bed; the realization was that heavy on her mind, and she wiped tears away.

I didn't know Nelani well, but she was kind - and her death reminded me of ...

It hurt all over again, all these years later. Part of the fear was fear of loss.

Part of it was fear of abandonment.

That was when she heard it - a Force-nudge, a gentle, worried call, polite and welcoming -

Senna found herself at the front door of the apartment, almost laughing, and in his arms as she let him hold her in the doorway.

"So much for the strong and silent image," she laughed before she cried, holding onto Ben Skywalker as he just ... was there for her.

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Ben had wanted to tell Senna what was going on - he was going to leave for Earth soon, with the rest of his famil