"Oh, Artoo!" C3P0 cried as he tried to drag his little friend across the vast tan desert of Tatooine. 3P0 set R2-D2 upright on his three wheels, which were stuck. "We're doomed! Why, if nobody finds us soon, we'll surely not survive! When the sandstorms come, we'll be buried alive and spend our t-" R2-D2 cut C3P0 off with a series of excited beeps. He was telling 3P0 that he detected a landspeeder was headed their way. There was a familiar life-form in the driver's seat. C3P0 understood, and he bagan to panic. "We're saved! Oh, finally! We-" he paused, growing fearful, "we may be doomed! They may not take us back to Master Luke! But, what if it is him?" C3P0 glinted in the sun as the golden protocol droid paced back and forth. "How close is it, Artoo?" the protocol droid wondered.
R2-D2 turned slightly and whistled. When C-3P0 looked in the direction that R2 was facing, he saw something he was beginning to think he'd never see. It was a tiny speck, growing larger by the second. As it approached, the two friends could make out a very familiar speeder with a very familiar- Wookie!- at the wheel. The speeder slid into a stop next to C3P0 and little R2-D2.
"Chewbacca! Oh, Chewie! R2's wheels won't budge! Please help us!" C3P0 cried as he ran gleefully up to Chewbacca.
Chewbacca, Chewie for short, was the best friend of Han Solo, a former galactic smuggler for the late Jabba the Hut. Han could be considered the boyfriend of Leia Skywalker-Organa. Leia was born to Padme and Anakin Skywalker and adopted by Bail Organa when Padme died and Anakin turned evil. Anakin was a great Jedi who turned to the Dark Side of the Force. Padme's other child, Luke Skywalker, was raised by the late Owen and Beru. They were friends of the late Obi-Wan Kenobi. Obi-Wan introduced him to Leia, Han, and Chewie, and most of them to each other.
Anyways, Chewie loaded Luke's droids into the speeder and let out a "let's go" growl. With that, he started up the speeder and they zoomed off.
As they pulled up to Ti Yana's farm, Luke ran up to the speeder. Ti Yana was a window who lived near where Luke's home used to stand. Luke's expression was one of both concern and relief. He sighed as he approached the orange vehicle. "I sent you two out hours ago for Parn's toolkit! Where'd you find them, Chewie?" Luke inquired as he shook his blonde-topped head.
Chewbacca shot a glance at C3P0 and then at R2-D2. He then pulled out a map of the area and pointed to a spot far from civilization. One slight wrong turn had led them out in the completely wrong direction.
"Oh, Artoo!" Luke scolded. He was obviously disappointed.
R2-D2 let out a series of beeps and whistles of apology.
"Artoo Deetoo apologizes and claims that R2 units make mistakes, too, Master Luke," C3P0 interpreted.
Luke took a deep breath, letting go of any anger and hostility within himself. "It's okay, Threepio. Artoo, I'd like to have a look at you. I'm starting to think you have a pinched wire or two inside your blue and white exterior," Luke said, rubbing R2-D2 on the top of his dome. As he looked at his metal friends, he wondered what would've happened to them had Chewie not found them. He thought about what might've happened if Owen had never bought the droids in the first place.
As he thought of this, his heart fell in sorrow. How would life treat him? He couldn't imagine how lonely he would've been without Leia, Han, Chewie, Ben, and C3P0 and R2-D2. Leia, his loving, caring, intelligent sister; Han and Chewie, his faithful and handy companions; Ben, his gift of a Jedi master and friend; R2-D2 and C3P0, his loyal droids. If they hadn't come around? – Luke dared not think of that. C3P0 interpreted for R2-D2 when he brought "Princess" Leia's message to Tatooine. Obi-Wan (Ben) introduced Luke to the Force and its ways, and to Han and Chewie, who took them to rescue Leia. Luke introduced himself to Leia and –well- here they were!
Chewie growled curiously at Luke and brought him back to reality. Chewie scratched his brown, hairy head as Luke smiled warmly at him.
"Master Luke! Are you feeling all right?" C3P0 tilted his head, hobbled up to Luke and lay a shiny hand on his shoulder.
"Just fine," Luke grinned, patting C3P0 on the back. He turned and headed towards the house- if it could be called that. The rock-like dome was what many a Tatooine inhabitant would call home. Luke turned around and informed his three friends, "Han and Leia are on their way with our toolkit. Come on in." He then proceeded to enter the dome, followed by C3P0 and Chewbacca, who carried disabled R2-D2.
Inside the dome's kitchen, a short, black-haired woman was preparing some blue milk in a small cup for her small daughter. She put the milk away in the freezebox and handed the child the cup. The toddler eagerly took it and brought the it up to her smiling lips. She drank it up, careful not to spill a drop anywhere but her mouth. As she handed the cup back to her mother, she caught sight of Luke standing in the entryway, watching her.
"Hi, there!" Luke greeted her.
"Noogk!!" the little girl responded, grabbing her shoulder-length light blonde hair. She ran towards him.
"Kia!" Luke grabbed the girl up in a hug. "I see you're up from your nap," he told her.
"Ga," Kia agreed, nodding her head.
"Well, Ti, we found them," Luke let Ti Yana know.
"Good," responded the black-haired lady, "but what happened?"
"They were several miles out the wrong way! I'm going to have a look, but something might be wrong with R2's navigation system," Luke set squirmy Kia down.
"Hello!" called a familiar voice.
Luke turned to see Leia standing in the doorway. "Hey, Leia! This is Ti Yana. Ti Yana, Leia," Luke introduced them, pointing to the women in turn.
Ti Yana walked over to Leia, and they shook hands. "So nice to meet you, Leia! I've heard so much about you! Come on in!" she led a happy Luke and Leia to her large kitchen table. "Take a seat," she said, and they did. Luke and Leia took seats across the table from each other. Kia stood, wide-eyed, in the middle of the kitchen. Ti almost tripped over her as she walked. Picking her up, Ti explained, "This is my 20-month-old, Kia."
"Hi, Kia," Leia waved. "I'm Leia!"
Kia smiled. "Nay? " she asked.
Ti looked down at her reassuringly. "Yes, Leia," she praised Kia. "Nice Leia."
Hearing Leia described as nice, Kia's face lit up. She ran up and hugged Leia's leg. "Nay!" She then ran over to Luke and hugged his leg. "Noogk!"
Luke bent down and told her quietly, "Leia's my twin sister!"
Somehow Kia understood the complex reality of their relationship and smiled up at Leia. Her smile seemed to reach from one ear to the other. "Noogk, Nay!" she said slowly, looking first at Luke, then at Leia.
Luke smiled and Leia's jaw dropped, surprised that a child so young could be so intelligent. She and Luke knew that, although Kia had only said their names, she understood their connection.
"Does she have any siblings?" Leia asked Ti.
Kia's mother frowned and shook her head thoughtfully. "No," she responded," she doesn't. She's an only child." She, too, was surprised. "Oh! While I'm thinking of it, anyone for blue milk?"
"No, thanks," Leia turned it down.
"I'm fine," Luke declined.
"No!" Kia answered quickly. She grinned innocently and let Leia pick her up and put the child on her lap. She started playing joyfully with a toy bantha that was sitting on the table.
"Han's out fixing your equipment right now," Leia informed the others.
Luke looked relieved. "Chewie went out to help him." He stood up from the table, hearing several impatient beeps from R2-D2 in a bedroom down the hall. "Hang on, guys. I'd better go look at Artoo," he announced as he hurried out of the kitchen.
"Ah-too! Ah-too! Noogk!" Kia called impatiently down the hall. She ran after Luke.
Ti grabbed Kia and picked her up. "No, Kia. Luke has to work. You can play with him when he's done," she instructed her daughter. She placed Kia in a high-chair and began putting away dishes she had just finished cleaning. She let out an exhausted sigh.
Leia felt badly for Ti; Ti had lost her husband and much of her spare time. Leia wanted to help however she could, so she offered to take Kia off Ti's hands and outside to check on Han.
"Outiy?" Kia's disappointed expression faded into a small smile.
"Sure, you can. If Han gets done and he wants to, or if you want to, you or he can take Kia for a ride on the old speeder. Just make sure Kia is on a lap or in a booster seat and strapped in, and don't go too far," Ti offered.
"Thank you," Leia nodded, picking Kia up out of her seat.
"My pleasure," Ti responded graciously.
Leia carried Kia out the door. "You're lucky to have a mom like yours," she told the little toddler. "So kind, and beautiful, but sad." Leia stopped short, realizing what she had just said. That was the exact definition she had recently given her own birthmother. "Your father was gone before you ever got to meet him, too, wasn't he? Died of excitement and a weakened heart. Almost like my father. He 'left' before I could know him, only it was my mother who died from our existence when Luke and I were born. My father was tricked into evil, and it overtook him. He was desperate. He believed the lies that he could save my mother from death in childbirth, but he ended up killing her. Or did he?" Leia was thinking aloud now. She shook her head. "He wouldn't kill her, his true love! It must be something else! She couldn't have lost the will to live. She knew she had twins. Kia, your mommy hasn't lost the will to live, has she?" she asked Kia.
"No," Kia shook her head confidently.
"That's what I thought," Leia continued. "I know what I've heard about mothers' love, and this doesn't seem to match up. "Anakin couldn't have killed Padme; I can't imagine she would've lost the will to live. Something else must've taken her life, but what?" she sighed, frustrated.
Kia shrugged, assuming the question was directed at her. "Nuddo know," she said guiltily.
Leia resumed walking and smiled at Kia. "I don't either, and I suppose it doesn't matter now. What's done is done, and things turned out pretty well, right, Kia?"
Kia smiled and tilted her head back when she heard the joy return to Leia's voice. "Ga," she answered happily. She grew even more excited when she was told that she was about to meet a real, live wookie. She had seen them in books, movies, and from a distance, but Kia had never met one. She was eager to meet Chewie, that is, until Leia and Kia approached him. Chewie perked up when he saw Leia holding Kia, and growled a happy greeting to the two. This scared Kia, though, and she buried her face in Leia's shoulder, whimpering.
Leia almost laughed at the Kia's reaction, and started petting Chewie's shoulder to show her that Chewie wasn't mean. "Nice Chewie. Nice wookie. Pet the wookie. Soft wookie," Leia said softly.
Kia heard this and slowly turned to look at Chewbacca. She saw that he was just standing there, harmless and unarmed, as he was pet. The little girl slowly reached out and touched the wookie. She gradually started stroking him, and a smile crept across her face. When Chewie gave a final growl and retreated to the garage, it didn't even frighten the smile off of the two girls' faces.
Just then, Han Solo ambled out from behind the house. "Well, that's that. Everything's fixed up, at least for now," he grumbled to himself. Han looked up, and his face brightened up when he saw his favorite young woman holding his favorite 20-month-old. "Hey, Leia! Kia! Kid, I haven't seen you since I brought you supplies last month!" He came up and kissed each one on the cheek.
"Hi!" Kia exclaimed.
"Hey," Leia cocked her head. "if you want, you can take Kia on a speeder ride. Ti's fine with it if you don't go too far and she's on your lap."
Han liked the idea. "What about it, kid?" he asked Kia. Kia giggled, and Han took her from Leia. "You coming?" he asked Leia.
"No," she responded reluctantly. "I'd better help Luke."
"All right, we'll be back in a while," the hardy man announced.
"Okay," Leia approved. As Han loaded himself and Kia into the speeder, Leia turned and headed back to the house. "Be careful, Han," she warned the eager man, pausing a moment. "That's a toddler you're taking."
Han smiled, slightly annoyed, at Leia. "I know. I will. I think I can take care of a kid for a while," he responded.
Leia nodded and continued around to the front of the house after the speeder was out of sight and well on its way to town. She didn't get too far, though, before Luke came sprinting out the door toward her. They both stopped, just short of colliding, and Leia grabbed his shoulders to keep Luke from toppling over backward. She worriedly looked her brother in the eye, sensing that something was wrong. "What is it? What's wrong?" Leia asked, seeing the concern on the face in front of her.
Luke shook his head. "I don't know." He sunk to the ground to a sitting position, resting his back against the wall of Ti's home. "Something isn't right. It seems like something bad is about to happen. Don't you feel it?"
Leia did feel that something was wrong, but shrugged it off for a false insecurity that she shared with her sibling. "Isn't that always true," was all that she could find to say.
Luke looked at Leia, who was now kneeling down to his level. He wasn't so sure he agreed with her. "Not in this way, I don't think," Luke sighed. "This is big, not just a small crime. There's a disturbance in the Force. It can't be good."
Leia had been told of the Force by Luke and how it would grow to affect her feelings like it did his. She figured that this impending darkness she felt inside was what he meant by "a disturbance in the Force." She looked at her brother knowingly, and as she did, she felt something different. She could tell it was through the Force, but she couldn't feel it enough to know if it was good or bad. Luke would know. "Luke," Leia asked him, "do you feel something else?"
Luke had been thinking pretty deeply, and this brought him back to reality. He pondered Leia's question for a moment, then searched his feelings. He did feel something different, but even he couldn't decide if it was positive or negative. "I doubt it's big enough to need taken care of, especially compared to this coming darkness," Luke shrugged.
Leia could tell he was troubled by this bad feeling. She was slightly troubled by it, too. "It can't be too bad," she concluded. "Your fath- I mean- our father, Anakin, balanced out the Force in his last hour. It'd be impossible for the Sith to rise back up now. They ought to still be in shock from the big blow, what with their big leaders being killed and all." Leia didn't completely believe all that she had just said, but hoped that Luke would agree and tell her it was true. Unfortunately, that is not what she was told.
"Leia!" Luke looked fairly surprised. "As long as there are Sith out there, there will be opposition to the Jedi. When they bounce back, they'll be infuriated! Surely they'll rise up with a new and more powerful leader and wipe out the Jedi for good! Now, if ever, we need more Jedi." Luke felt awful. He feared for the future of the entire galaxy, and was sure he was going to fail everyone, including himself.
Leia could tell that Luke felt horrible, and wanted to help him. She wished she could be a Jedi. Then, she'd know just what to do and would be able to help fight off the Sith when they attacked. Just then, something caught her eye. Leia looked up, and she gasped at what she saw. There, in the sand, walking towards them, was a respectable man she recognized as Obi Wan Kenobi. Alongside him walked a man she had never seen, bald and a few years Obi Wan's junior. From deep down within her came the knowledge that this man, in fact, was her father- Anakin Skywalker. They were both surrounded by a blue glow.
Luke heard Leia's gasp and looked up to see the two, who had recently passed away but learned the path to immortality. He stood, bringing his sister up with him. He no longer doubted that she had the Force flowing through her strong, petite body. Luke knew that it was these two true men that Leia had gasped at and now stared at. Only today was she strong enough with the Force to really see the ghosts. With this knowledge, and the surprise at their appearance, he momentarily forgot his dismay. As a matter of fact, Luke almost jumped for joy to see Obi-Wan and Anakin, but he managed to keep his composure. "Ben! Father!" he addressed them as they stopped. They nodded a greeting to Luke.
Leia, shocked as she was, was able to blurt out a greeting. "Obi-Wan," she nodded to the gray old Jedi. Then, she turned to her father. "Anakin," she greeted him.
Anakin smiled and addressed both Leia and Luke, "You can call me 'Dad.'" He seemed as happy as he had ever been. He knew that his twins were, too.
Luke and Leia smiled. The warm, happy moment shared between the three of them compensated for what would have been an awkward group hug.
Obi-Wan was growing impatient. "Luke," he timidly interrupted.
Luke regained a more serious composure and turned to his mentor. "Yes, Ben?" he answered.
Obi-Wan looked somewhat concerned. Nodding to Luke, he explained, "You know, as do several others, that there are still Sith in the Galaxy. Judging by your intelligence, you probably have figured out that these Sith are quite perturbed."
Anakin continued, "Luke, you may have helped me balance out the Force. Balance, though, means there is equal weight, or power, on each side. That means there are still a considerable amount of Sith just waiting to get back at us. They are preparing to attack even as we speak."
Obi-Wan went on, "The remaining Sith have devised a plan. They have scattered minor smugglers and decoys all over the galaxy, but the majority of them are congregating in the Horuset system."
Leia was curious. "Korriban? What, are they just using strategic location or do they have a reason? I mean, if people found out that they were in the Horuset system, everybody would find out that they were on the one planet in the system.
Anakin was eager to answer. "It's partly strategic location, being on the outskirts of the Galaxy, but mostly, it's another reason that draws them there. You see, in 100,005 years ago, the Sith civilization began to develop on Korriban. It is the home of the Valley of the Dark Lords, and even more importantly, the Sith Temple. We fear they're organizing a militia, appointing generals, and attempting to bring to power a Dark Lord like Palpatine." Anakin paused to sigh. "Just be on the lookout."
Obi-Wan wrinkled his brow. "We're going to need more Jedi. Luke, do you know of anyone who would like to become a Jedi that isn't already?"
"I must know someone who does," Luke sounded a little doubtful and hopeful at the same time.
After a short pause, Leia smiled ever so slightly. "Luke," she put her hand on his shoulder, and he looked down at her. "I want to become a Jedi." Luke's eyes grew wide with surprise and concern. Leia emphasized, "I want to know how to use the Force, like you do. To be able to help defend the Galaxy, our rights. I'll never be as good as you, of course, but I can't just sit here practically defenseless any more! I want to go along, to know what's going on and help you when you need it. Maybe you could train me!" Leia was growing more excited by the second, and she saw that her brother was, too.
Luke took a deep breath. "Leia, that's great! I can train you." he smiled. He turned to Obi-Wan. "I can train her, can't I, Obi-Wan?" Luke inquired.
Obi-Wan and Anakin smiled. "Only you hold the true answer to that question. I cannot answer for you. If it be your will, you shall train your sister in the ways of the Force. It is your decision, Luke," Obi-Wan assured the young Jedi.
Luke looked to Anakin for approval, and he got it. Luke then turned to Obi-Wan and put his arm around Leia's shoulders. "It looks like I have my first trainee," he smiled.