xxxx
"You are awfully quiet Ben." Mara said as she filled her plate with a salad.
"Earlier Ahsoka and I were helping each other remember things and well she had a blank spot in her memories but it was as if the memories didn't exist." Ben explained.
"What was she helping you remember?" Luke asked cautiously.
"I had a vague memory of visiting the Hapes Cluster so she volunteered her abilities to help me remember." Ben said.
"And?" Mara prompted.
"Jacen has a daughter with the Queen of the Hapes Cluster." Ben blurted out.
xxxx
Ahsoka sat reworking part of a comm station; her thoughts on the memory that Ben had uncovered of her Master telling her not to die because there was no one to help him bring her back.
Does it have anything to do with what happened on Mortis? She wondered. Or was he being figurative?
Ahsoka shook her head and set the part aside and headed for the kitchen area for supper.
xxxx
"Dad? Have you ever heard of people returning from the dead and I don't mean as Force Ghosts." Ben asked.
Luke chewed his food and looked thoughtful.
"There are medical cases where hearts have stopped and the medics got it going again, but there was still brain activity." Luke answered. "Why?" "Ahsoka apparently died and was brought back." Ben announced.
Luke and Mara exchanged looks.
"What caused you to draw that conclusion?" Mara asked.
"While I was in her mind searching for the missing time I found a memory of grandfather telling her not to die on him because their wasn't anyone to help him bring her back." Ben explained.
"Could he have been figurative?" Luke asked Mara. Mara shrugged. "He was rarely figurative, he was usually blunt and to the point." Mara recalled.
Luke nodded, it fit with the little he knew about his father.
xxxx
Leia paced the quarters that Luke had given her in the Temple. She didn't want to be in her and Han's apartment.
Luke had asked her earlier if she felt ready to take on a student. He said that he would understand if she said no.
Truth be told Leia would have loved to take on a Padawan but now she was uncertain if she could instill in them the right qualities. After all she had been unable to convince Han that it was a bad idea to join the Corellian Rebellion. It smelled too much of the beginning of The Clone Wars for her liking.
xxxxx
Luke sat in front of Tionne.
"Master, have you found anything alluding to a Jedi bringing someone back from the dead?" Luke asked the Historian.
Tionne stared at the ceiling, lost in thought for several minutes. Finally she looked down and right into Luke's eyes. "No Master Skywalker." She responded.
xxxx
Jacen stood before his Aunt Mara and Uncle Luke; neither of them looked particularity happy. Jacen swallowed.
"Jacen, it has come to our attention that you have lied to us." Luke said simply. "What do you have to say?"
"I haven't lied to you." Jacen said, feeling fear.
"Jacen, we know that you have a child and that the mother is Tenel Ka." Mara said flatly.
How do they know that? Jacen wondered.
"It appears that you have been unjedi like the past few years Jacen. Is this because you don't believe in the Dark Side?" Luke asked.
"There is no Dark Side." Jacen replied automatically.
Luke and Mara stared right into Jacen's eyes. "So your grandfather wasn't corrupted by the Dark Side when he choked your grandmother into unconsciousness? Or that I wasn't influenced by it when I attacked my own father and cut off his hand?" Luke asked.
Jacen lowered his gaze.
"The Force isn't a toy Jacen; it's a gift that must be treated with respect. Our emotions can influence us and if we are feeling Dark emotions or deny that people have Darkness in them then we stand to lose ourselves to Darkness." Mara said.
There was silence for several heartbeats.
"Now tell us about the cyborg that you met on Rangosa." Luke commanded.
xxxx
Luke and Mara listened as Jacen explained his meeting with Lumiya and after some prodding admitted that he wanted to learn from her; because there was no Dark Side.
Luke sighed. "Jacen, many Jedi of old fell to the Dark Side because they thirsted for knowledge." He began.
"I'm not like them." Jacen said, cutting Luke off.
"That's what all of them said Jacen." Mara said. "'I am different.' 'It can't happen to me because I am too smart for that.'"
Jacen cringed.
"You are not different than them Jacen. You could Fall just as easily as any of us." Luke said simply. "You are not special."
More silence.
"Now go tell your mother that she is a grandmother. She deserves to know." Mara commanded.
xxxx