Life-Day Gift
(This story takes place approximately one year after the Battle of Yavin, and in no way alters the 'canon' Starwars storyline. Only the scenario belongs to me, the rest remain the property of Mr Lucas)
Sola Naberrie (Janren) celebrated her fiftieth life day that year. She had a good life. Hers was a comfortable home on the peaceful (subdued) Imperial Planet Naboo. Her loyal and loving husband provided well for the family with his career as an architect, but he'd made time for them and raised his two daughters well.
She had two grandchildren by her elder daughter Ryoo, who had followed stoutly in her mother's traditional footsteps. Her younger daughter had been forced into teaching at the University in Theed when Emperor Palpatine disbanded the Imperial Senate a year earlier. Sola was relieved to have her second child back in the safety of the family fold before some dreadful fate could befall her. Pooja was a 'discreet' rebel sympathizer, but kept company with some who were much more blatant in their defiance. Princess Leia Organa came immediately to mind, as did the fate of Alderaan. Senator Naberrie was closer in ideology to her friends and her Aunt Padme than her constituents realized.
Sola sighed. She still missed her sister, especially on life-days. However dangerous or hectic things became, Padme had remembered her family's life-days, and she would com, or a special delivery would arrive. One had even come after….. Sola shut out the thought. Padme was long dead, along with the niece or nephew of Sola's that she'd been about to bear at the time. Sola sublimated her pain with fussing over her husband, taking his favorite drink and extra slices of cake and joined him lounging in front of the holovid.
He was watching the day's Galactic News headlines as usual. There was a story breaking that warranted the interruption of all else. The terrorist (rebel) pilot who destroyed the Empire's premier mining facility (killing everyone on board) had finally been identified. His holo then occupied the viewing space, with the caption 'Luke Skywalker: Empire's Most Wanted'.
'The sentient is a post-adolescent human male, 1.76 meters tall, blond haired, blue eyed, caucasoid and originally from Tatooine. Do not be misled by appearances. This incorrigible youth is guilty of many terrorist acts against the peace and stability of our beloved Empire. He is the deadliest, most destructive man in the galaxy, and is to be considered armed and dangerous. He should only be approached by trained professionals. A reward of 500000 credits has been posted for information leading to his apprehension, dead or alive…..'
The reporter continued speaking, but Sola did not hear her. She had lost the ability to move, speak or process sound at the sight of a face so similar to one she had not seen in over twenty years. In a long-ago discussion Padme had confided that her Jedi Protector (Sola insisted he was more) was an orphaned only child from Hutt-controlled Tatooine. Any extended family ties had disintegrated when his mother was enslaved during her own childhood. The galaxy was a big place and there had to be other Skywalkers, but to have achieved the piloting feat he had at such a young age, and wear that face as well as carry the Home Planet and the Name…. This boy must be related to Anakin. He looked young enough to be the Jedi's son; just about the age Padme's baby would have been…..
Anger and bitterness welled up in Sola's soul. They dared not speak of it, but her family always suspected that her sister's death had been part of the Jedi Purge, her lover and unborn force-sensitive child being the assassin's true targets.
'Padme died for him, and he wasn't even faithful to her!!!' she snarled at the image when she could speak again.
Darred could not initially contradict what the circumstances implied. Anakin had been a handsome icon for the Republic's Cause in the midst of a cataclysmic war. The generosity of gratitude and hero worship, combined with the loneliness of his nomadic lifestyle and the hormones of his youth…. It was unlikely indeed that Padme had been the only one to share his bed, and who could blame him? None of those observations would be a comfort to his wife now, though, so Darred simply stroked her arm and hair while she sobbed into his chest.
On the holovid the image changed several times to show the young man in profile and at full height. The Empire was intent on imprinting its citizens to the point that the boy could not set foot on any Imperial world without being recognized. Changing the channels only altered the voice of the announcer, not the spiel or the images flashing above the projector. 'Luke' was much shorter than one would expect for a son of Skywalker, but then Anakin obviously held a preference for small women. The head shot was flashing again. Darred wondered to himself whether it was a posed holo. There was a small smile playing on the boy's lips, and one of his eyebrows was slightly raised, as if inviting the viewer to seek him out. The shot may have been chosen to incite the ire of the Galaxy's grieving citizens, but it pierced Darred's heart. He'd seen that smile on the faces around him enough to recognize it on this stranger. His mildly arthritic fingers trembled and forgot how to work, and he had to wait and hope until they ran the sequence again before he could catch and pause it.
'Sola…..'
She looked up sharply at the pained urgency of his tone. He was gesturing at the holovid. All she saw was the image from earlier. Blond hair, intense sky-blue eyes.
'What?'
Darred gestured again. The boy seemed to be mocking the spy photographer with that eerily knowing smile. Whatever her husband was seeing was eluding her, and even in their own home it was unsafe to say more than he had to. She turned back to the image shimmering before her.
'You are a wise and loving woman my wife. I have found by years of experience that your very first assessment of any situation is usually the correct one.' He lowered his lips to the nape of her neck and nuzzled gently. He was sweet to try and cheer her up. She smiled through her tears, leaned towards his kiss.
'Flatterer,'
'Perhaps, or maybe I just wanted to see your smile.' He held the remote up to the projector a moment longer than he had to, knowing his wife's eyes would follow his pointing hand. He offed the transmission when he felt her go rigid with recognition.
'Oh Force! Darred……'
Darred Janren crushed his shocked wife against him. 'Shhh….. Shhh… it's alright, my love, it's alright….' He could feel her fighting his embrace.
She wanted to howl and rage in protest or streak off into the galaxy chasing what could have been.
'Sola.' It was his voice of command, a tone he rarely used with her. 'It's as right as it can be…..'
She began to weep in earnest.
Sola Naberrie (Janren) knew. Her nephew would not have been safe with her family, or anyone else on Naboo, and knowledge of his survival would have brought swift death to them all. What had been done was best for everyone. And now more than ever it was safest that none of it be undone. Logic did not assuage her grief for what was lost, though it now mingled with the joy, comfort and worry of what had been found. She continued to sob into her husband's chest.
Perhaps one day, if she lived long enough, when the war was over, if the rebels won, if Palpatine and Vader were dead and Naboo was free, the opportunity might come to know him. Until then she resolved to love in secret and from afar.