Even thought it had come up more than once in the past as a possibility, Jaina had never really imagined herself as a teacher. It just wasn't her style, and she really didn't think being given an apprentice with the kinds of things she did was best for anyone. Being Sword of the Jedi didn't really lend itself to kid-friendly activities. However, when the opportunity came to take Ben on, she'd probably surprised a few people by actually saying yes. It was Ben. And she knew from Fandom what happened to Ben when Jacen got a hold of him. She still wasn't sold on the fact that her version of her brother was going to turn Sith and need to be killed, but that didn't mean she wasn't taking precautions to maybe prevent it while he was off traveling the galaxy. If that meant training Ben so he could do without Jacen, well. Besides, it was a welcome distraction after she and Jag broke up, and it kept her from slipping further away from everyone like she feared she was doing.

This didn't mean there weren't problems, and though Jaina gave it plenty of time, she finally had to search Luke out when she returned to the Academy, greeting him with, "Hi, I think we need to talk."

Luke immediately set aside the report he'd been reading and gave her his full attention. "What's the matter?"

This was definitely a closed door kind of conversation, so Jaina made sure that was done before turning back to him and saying, "I think maybe it's too early for me to have Ben."

"How so?" Luke asked, forehead furrowing. "He's already years behind in training."

She sighed, feeling really bad about all of this. "He's still really closed off, Uncle Luke, and I'm not exactly the galaxy's most patient person," she said in a gross understatement. "If he's not open to it, I'm afraid I'm pushing him too hard, and I don't want to make it even worse for him."

His eyes clouded with worry. "That's what Mara and I have been trying to avoid as well," he admitted. "I was hoping that your time in Fandom might have given you some additional insight why he's afraid of touching the Force."

"Not why, though I know he gets better with that," she said quickly. Granted, she'd seen Ben disappear from the Force completely once or twice, but she didn't think that would help make him feel better. "My insight all has to do with what happens later."

"Is that why the door is closed?" Luke asked.

"Yeah," she said, and bit her lip. "I know a little something about things that might possibly happen, so after some time, if Ben's open to it, I'd be willing to try again in order to avoid those things." Way to be really, really vague.

It took Luke a minute to parse that. "The future is always in motion," he said finally, "but if it will help to tell me about some things that might possibly happen so that we can help Ben, I'm happy to listen."

There was a reason for the vagueness. Jaina had kept Jacen's possible future a secret from everyone here but Jacen till now. It was his future, his path to take and he'd better take the right one, but sharing that with others hadn't ever seemed right. But if she wasn't able to get through to Ben... "Okay," she began. "In Fandom, that Ben had been trained by his Jacen. Who went dark. Sith, in fact." It never got easier saying it.

Luke's blue eyes went wide for a second--even in a possible future the word "Sith" hit like a punch to the solar plexus--before he regained control. "Oh. Is that Ben all right?"

Jaina's mouth quirked into the tiniest little smile for the briefest of seconds, just because he asked that. "Last I knew, he was doing better. He's still on the right path, no worries there. But there are a few issues that come from that, to put it lightly. It's not something I want to see him go through."

"Me either," Luke said before focusing back on Jaina. "How long have you been carrying this around? Are you all right?"

That was Luke for you, and Jaina appreciated it. "I'm okay. I've known for... well, years," she admitted, a little sheepishly. "Since before Jacen came back with Vergere. But I don't sense anything dark in him, and just because it happened in one reality doesn't mean it has to happen here." She paused, adding, "He knows about this already. Well, about what he turns into. Not about Ben."

"How does Ben figure into it?" Luke said, rapidly running through scenarios in his head. He didn't like how any of them turned out.

"Like I said, I know Jacen was training him. I don't know how far anything got, and Ben wasn't always that willing to share information." Plus there was the added stuff about Tahiri's role with Jacen, but she really didn't know how that all fit together. "I know the basics, but hopefully that's enough."

"So that aspect of his personality doesn't change," Luke said with a sad little smile. "Did you agree to teach Ben because even though you don't find it likely that our Jacen would follow this same path, you wanted things to be different from the beginning?"

"Yeah. On this sort of thing, I'd rather err on the side of caution. No need to check my head for bumps, I just... I don't want to see what happened there happen here," she explained.

"And yet you're willing to stop working with Ben this soon," he replied.

"I don't want to push him," Jaina said. "If he's not ready yet, he's not ready. I can't make him ready, and I don't want to make him resent me for trying so hard. And who knows, maybe I'm not ready yet, either, and I don't want to mess things up for him."

Luke was quiet for a moment. "I think he's more comfortable with you than he is with either Mara or me, in terms of training at least. It doesn't have to be anything official--I don't expect him to be wielding a lightsaber by the end of the month--but maybe letting him get a different perspective on what a Jedi can do, one that isn't linked with being the Grand Master, might be good for him." He met her eyes. "If you want to look at it as spending time with your cousin as less as being his Master..."

"That I can do," Jaina agreed. "I have no intentions of abandoning him, but if we just keep things light for now, I can work with that. I wouldn't mind taking on some of my more usual missions again-" Meaning ones she wouldn't dream to bringing Ben along on. "-so it doesn't feel to him like he has to be learning from me all the time, too."

"He's a little big these days to fit into an X-Wing with you," Luke said with a little smile. "We'll keep this fluid for now and revisit in a few months to see if Ben's ready for additional training." He tapped his fingers on his desk. "Jacen became a Sith?" he asked softly. "Really?"

"Really," she said with a heavy sigh. "I don't know why, or what happened, but he did. I still don't think I've adjusted to that idea." Well, she had, but it was largely overshadowed by the possibility that she would have to be the one to kill him.

"Ben was light on details there too?" Luke guessed, then sighed. So many of his Jedi, and he himself, had fallen to the dark side, even if only for a short time. He was beginning to wonder if he was missing some essential part of their training in order to prevent that from happening.

"‘Light' would be a word for it," Jaina agreed. "So unless there's a way back for details, I'm afraid there's not much to do at the moment but hope for the best." And prepare for the heartbreaking worst.

[NFB, NFI, OOC okay. Hey, some things have to get tweaked a bit thanks to years in Fandom. Much thanks to sith_happened for Lukeing it up for me!]