"I have urged her to that course," said Ackbar. "But she is protecting the children—they still do not know what has happened to their father."

"That can't last much longer."

"She is determined not to burden them with the truth," said Ackbar, shaking his head. "Leia has told them that Han is on a secret mission for her, that they are not to believe anything they hear anywhere else. And Winter is keeping them away from anyone and anything that might contradict Leia's version."

"Children aren't stupid," said Drayson. "Particularly not those children. I expect that they already know quite a bit more than she realizes."

- Black Fleet Crisis 3: Tyrant's Test by Michael P. Kube McDowell

Children Aren't Stupid

Anakin Solo was a quiet little boy, which didn't mean he wasn't curious. He liked to observe the big world around him and the Force gave him another, extraordinary sense that he used to learn everything he could. In some ways, the Force was like a second pair of eyes and ears, allowing him to peer at and listen to things invisible and inaudible to those without the same talent.

Lately, his Dad had left on a top secret mission for Mom. She didn't say what it was, but Anakin and his siblings knew it had to do something with these scary aliens from the Koornacht Cluster. Anakin didn't like them because when their king had visited, he'd made Mom unhappy. He'd talked with her almost every day and taken her time, then he'd left and killed people in the Koornacht Cluster. Anakin thought that she could have been playing with them – Anakin and Jaina and Jacen – instead of talking to the mean king. So Anakin didn't like him at all.

Now Dad was missing and Mom was very worried, but she pretended that she wasn't. When he'd asked her about it, she'd told him Dad would come back soon. Anakin wanted to believe her, but the bad feeling in his tummy worsened. It was evening, after Winter had put him and the twins to bed and kissed them all goodnight, but he couldn't sleep. His tummy ached and his heart raced and the Force was jittery around him. Something was wrong and it was connected to Dad.

Anakin threw off his covers and slid out of the bed. He went on tiptoes to the adjacent bedroom where the twins slept.

"Jaina? Jacen? Are you asleep?" he whispered from the doorway into the shadowed room.

"I'm trying. But you're not helping," Jacen groused.

"What's up, Anakin?" Jaina asked, raising herself on her elbows to look at him. Her hair was tousled from the pillow. Anakin came to her.

"I can't sleep. My tummy is aching."

"You want a pill?" Jaina asked.

Anakin chewed on his lip as he thought it over. "No. It hurts because the Force is warning me."

The twins exchanged a look as they always did when they thought the same thing.

Jaina pulled up her covers and scooted over to make place. "Come here." Anakin quickly slipped in beside her, relieved that she didn't send him back to his room. Jaina hugged him and Jacen came over too and sat on the edge the bed. They were all together and that made Anakin feel a bit better.

"The Force warns you?" Jacen asked.

Anakin nodded.

"It's like with Hethrir?"

A shake. No.

"How does it feel?"

"Scary. Like a voice from far away. I'm afraid to listen," Anakin told them. Jaina tensed behind him. He sucked in a breath. "I... I think something bad is happening to Dad."

There was a short silence as they all pondered it.

"He's going to be alright," Jaina said, but the slight tremble in her tone suggested she wasn't as sure as she wanted to appear.

"Is he?" Jacen asked.

"Of course, he's Dad," she replied more confidently. "He was in trouble so many times and he always came back okay."

"But he had Mom, Chewie, Uncle Luke and Uncle Lando to help," Jacen countered with irrefutable logic. "Mom is here. Chewie is on Kashyyyk. Uncle Luke and Uncle Lando are somewhere away and didn't contact us in a long time. Maybe they don't even know Dad's in danger."

Anakin trembled and folded his knees up to his body, pressing closer into Jaina's embrace, while she shot an irritated glare towards her twin. He was supposed to help calm their little brother, not make things worse!

"Well, for all we know maybe our Uncles are away on a mission to rescue Dad," she argued. It seemed to work as Anakin relaxed a fraction in her embrace.

"Yeah, that's possible," Jacen agreed with a slight frown, like he wasn't really convinced.

"I want to help Dad," Anakin said, peeking out from under the covers.

"We both want to help too, but we can't do anything. We're just kids," Jaina said sensibly.

"No," Jacen opposed her. Jaina and Anakin looked at him with surprise. "We can do something."

"Like what?" Jaina asked impatiently.

"We can use the Force," he replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Try to reach him."

Jaina cocked her head. "Will it work? We don't even know where he is."

Jacen shook his head. "It doesn't matter. With the Force, everything's possible. We should give it a try."

Anakin felt a burst of hope ignite in his chest. He'd believed his brother would figure out something smart, but their sister was still doubtful. He gave her a pleading gaze. He wanted to try this idea so much!

"Alright," Jaina relented."Let's try this. How do we contact Dad?" Once the decision was made, she was quick to put it into action.

"I think we should all just touch the Force and think about him very, very hard," Jacen said.

His siblings nodded. There was some shuffling as they all sat cross-legged on Jaina's bed, facing each other like in some of their meditation lessons with Mom. Then all three children began their first attempt in earnest. Touching the Force came to them as easy as breathing, but it was the concentrating part that was often a problem. Jacen recalled the image of his Dad, the way he smiled and the way he scolded, but then the boy's focus drifted away as he wondered what had happened. He supposed Dad was stranded somewhere with a broken hyperdrive. If the enemy had shot him down, he could be on some deserted planet, hiding and waiting for the rescue team.

Jacen realized this wasn't working, so he opened his eyes to check how the others were doing. Jaina was frowning heavily, looking troubled. Anakin's eyes were screwed shut, as were his fists and mouth, and he was concentrating so hard that he was turning red in the face from the effort. Was he even breathing?

"Hey," Jacen spoke up and to his relief Anakin finally took a breath. "Did any of you get anything?"

Jaina shook her head. "Nothing. You?"

Jacen shrugged. "Same. Anakin?" he asked.

"That voice from before..." the youngest said slowly. "I think I heard it. But it's too weak." Frustration leaked out from him forming a dark cloud of gloom above his head.

"Don't give up so soon," Jaina said encouragingly. "At least you've got something."

"I have an idea," Jacen announced.

"Another one?" His sister raised a brow at him.

"Come on, it's a good one. Give me your hand. You too, Anakin," Jacen instructed. Without his saying Jaina also took their brother's hand, so they all made a circle.

"Now what?" Jaina prompted her twin.

"Anakin, try to hear that voice again and think of Dad. Show us what you hear. This will work only if we all put our strength together."

It was easier said than done, but the siblings didn't give up so easily. Connecting with each other wasn't so difficult but keeping it up for long enough to follow the echo Anakin had found was impossible. They were tired and out of synch, the mental link weakening and strengthening frequently. Despite that, the twins caught snippets of the voice. It felt fuzzy and crackling like a faulty transmission, however the feelings it carried were nothing good. There was some powerful fear mixed with righteous anger, and the impression of a terrible pain, more than anything the children could imagine.

Jaina pulled out suddenly, breaking the connection between them.

"That's enough," she said, visibly shaken.

"Why did you stop? We were close," Jacen protested, but he looked faint with the strain too.

"No, we were not," she replied sharply. She wiped her eyes which were tearing up all on their own. What they'd sensed made them uneasy—and very scared. "We're all tired. Let's get some rest, then we can try again in the morning."

"Can I sleep here? Just this once?" Anakin asked in a small voice, looking down as he played with the edge of his shirt.

"Sure. I could use a teddy bear," Jaina teased, getting a hesitant smile out of him. They laid down next to each other like before.

Jacen made a motion to get up.

"You stay, too." Jaina stopped him.

"We won't all fit," he pointed out. "I'll better go to my own bed."

He sounded reasonable, but Jaina still had her twin powers and sensed Jacen's disappointment with himself. He blamed himself that his idea didn't work and now he tried to pull away from them. She wasn't going to let him do this. She wouldn't allow any of them to be alone, not right now.

"Jacen," she said firmly. "Stay."

"It'll be uncomfortable."

"No, it won't."

"I'll be on the edge and fall out."

Jaina rolled her eyes at the stupid excuse. "We won't push you out."

"Jacen, please stay with us?" Anakin asked. Seeing as both of the elder siblings put so much effort into making him feel better, Jacen didn't have a good enough reason to refuse.

"You sure?"

"Yeah." His little brother patted the empty spot next to him.

"Yes, now lay down and let's go to sleep," Jaina said with exasperation. Her twin could be so dumb sometimes.

"Okay." Jacen gave up on resistance and joined his siblings.

"Finally," Jaina huffed.

The three of them moved around, rearranging the position of their many limbs to the most comfortable configuration. Sleepovers like this were getting rare as they were growing up. Maybe this one would be the last.

"Goodnight," Anakin whispered.

"G'night."

"Goodnight."

Taking comfort in the proximity of the twins guarding him from both sides as well as from their presence in the Force surrounding him like a warm blanket, Anakin was quickly lulled to sleep. Soon, Jaina and Jacen followed him to the dreamland, tired from the eventful day and the additional use of the Force.

In the morning they would try to reach Dad again.

.

Next day, Leia was forced by the public release of the Yevethan blackmail recording to tell her children that their father was imprisoned and tortured by Nil Spaar.

.

.

AN: Please review and let me know what you think :)