Three
--
I open my eyes and look into the rising sun. It's not so blinding yet, so I can look. Today is the day. Today I'm three years old.
I go on a walk, alone, my parents know I'll be safe even if I leave the mountains and reach the desert, and they know I'll find the way back. I always do. The sun tells me which way to go.
When I return, my father finds my in our little garden. He watches my eyes, their green matching grass, plants and trees and the gold matching sun reflexes in the leaves, and thoughts that in a few more years my eyes would be all gold because of the sun. It burns all the colour away, my mother always says.
Father seats me on his lap and tells me today is a special day for me, for I turned three. It's a special moment in a child's life on Noori, at least outside the city, among mountains and deserts. At three you've seen a thousand suns. Around three hundred thirty three days a years, plus about a month of rain altogether, and of course you don't see the sun on rainy days. So now I'm A Thousand Suns. My father calls me that name, and tells me I am the most important today. I am his little princess.
Mother comes out of our house, laughing and calling me a warrior rather than a princess. Then she takes me in her arms and lifts me up, and calls me A Thousand Suns, her most perfect Suns.
I recall all this when I use a mnemotechnique. What I remember is I was happy. I was truly happy. I was loved, I was in my place in the world, the perfect place. And I had my two suns, the brightest in my life except for only one more, equally bright. I was at home.
Later, in the afternoon, the stranger who came to our sietch yesterday tells my parents that the Force is strong in me and I can be a Jedi. And my parents are proud, so proud. And happy, although I can see my mother wiping away a tear. But mother tells me it's a good life, difficult, but good. And my father calls me A Thousand Splendid Suns, their Thousand Splendid Suns. And I feel splendid. I feel happy. I don't know yet it will require me to leave my home, my parents, and all I love, so I am happy, because my parents' eyes are bright with love and pride.
--
I remember how it was, that happy, spring day so many years ago, I remember all the love, and I no longer feel the darkness around me.