Disclaimer: I have not made any money off of this.

Chapter 5: Cryptic Revelations

The more Ennelei learned about the Civil War, the more she appreciated what it had truly stood for. She didn't yet have all the details, but she understood the basic principles behind it. She admired the freedom fighters that had started out as a ragtag militia but eventually made their name in history as the Rebel Alliance that fought against the tyrant who had overthrown the government and crowned himself Emperor.

One hero in particular stood out in Ennelei's mind, and that was Luke Skywalker. Not only had he established the New Jedi Order, but evidence suggested that he defeated the Emperor almost single-handedly. Yet, there was something else that compelled her to further study this extraordinary historical figurehead, though she had no clue as to what that something else was.

Soon, she found herself on a vessel outbound for Coruscant, and her final destination was the Jedi Temple. Her mission was to find out all she could about Luke, via the Jedi Archives.

She knew it didn't pertain directly to the research assigned by Tabretta Solo, and that she had probably exceeded the boundaries of her limited authority in convincing her superiors to let her do this. Ennelei had always been quite a powerful persuading force, and this instance was no exception.

Though she would not admit it aloud, her primary reason for taking this quest was to find out about Luke Skywalker, although she did not need to know more to complete her assignment. She had told her superiors that she could possibly find out something peripherally pertaining to the assignment if she read the archives, and that she planned on making contact with Master Solo while she was there, to give her an update on the latest research findings.

This is it, Ennelei thought excitedly as she alighted, Coruscant. The Capital City of the Republic was, and always had been, the glittering jewel of galactic civilization. It was considered a great privilege to be on this world, especially if one had been born and raised in the Outer Rim. Ennelei never imagined that she would have this unique opportunity, and she stood for a few minutes in complete awe, just observing the planet. Part of her didn't believe she was actually here. Another small part experienced a minute pang of guilt, because by rights she shouldn't have been there. Still another silent voice urged her forwards, telling her that she had come here because it was the right thing to do. She couldn't justify the truthfulness of the latter statement, but still it stuck with her.

Thrusting aside the conflicting sentiments, she focused on her mission as the Jedi Temple came into view. It was the single most impressive edifice that Ennelei had ever seen in her life. Granted, she had seen countless holos of it throughout the years, but she saw that no picture could do it justice or capture the full extent of its glory. It was in the shape of a large rectangle, wide at the bottom and narrowing slightly towards the top. The main structure towered over everything else around it, and five spires added to its majestic height. The top of the tallest one, Ennelei knew from her studies, was where the Jedi Council convened. That room was her ultimate destination.

After conferring with the gate master and informing him that she was expected by Master Solo, she traversed the spacious corridors, marveling as she stepped. One could get lost in here, not because the hallways were an intricate labyrinth, but really because the inside of the Temple was just as striking as the façade. She also knew from her studies that this structure had been meticulously refurbished after the Civil War, by none other than the revered Luke Skywalker himself. The painstaking efforts of those who had aided them showed clearly; this Temple was solid proof against the thought that a building could not be a work of art.

As instructed, she waited outside the Council Chamber for the current session to adjourn. During the elapsed time, Tabretta Solo was contacted and notified of the one who had requested her presence.

Ennelei greeted her with a traditional Jedi bow, which the Jedi Master promptly returned. Ennelei then requested to be led down to the Jedi Archives, and Solo promptly complied. It was an expansive room, equipped with bookshelves several stories high, each having a comprehensive set of books. At the ends of the shelves were busts of long-deceased Jedi, some of the greatest of all time, to Ennelei's best conjecture. Studying them closely, the statues nevertheless seemed foreign to her, like faces of casual passersby that she might encounter on the streets – save one. Even from afar, it stood out like a beacon. Though it was lifeless as the floor beneath her, the bust seemed to become animated before her very eyes. The deep brown atop the head lightened into a sandy yellow, giving the figure golden blonde locks. The eyes transformed into sky blue, and the corners of the mouth turned upwards, as if cryptically but benevolently smiling down upon her.

"Here you are," Master Solo's voice snapped Ennelei out of her odd hallucination. She shook her head to clear out the bizarre fancies before sitting in the chair Tabretta indicated. However, before she turned her to the holoterminal in front of her, she glanced back at the statue, which had now reverted to its former sable tone. It must have been sheer imagination... Get a grip on yourself, Ennelei.

When she opened Luke Skywalker's file in the Archive, however, she read something that rendered her more startled than she would have been if the bust had come to life and started walking towards her. She simply stared at the screen for a few minutes, completely amazed by what she had discovered. Luke Skywalker. Homeworld: Tatooine.

By the Stars… who would have thought? As she read through the rest of the Jedi Master's file, something else caught her eye. Another, single sentence at the end of his biography rouse more questions in her mind: Married to Tenyalla Faaldrin of the destroyed world Alderaan.

She turned to Master Solo, who had been waiting patiently. "He was married?" she asked incredulously. She knew that it was forbidden for a Jedi. It seemed all the more strange that the founder of the New Order would go against this fundamental interdiction. Tabretta nodded affirmatively as she brought up a headshot of a young lady. She looked even younger than Master Solo herself. Curly locks cascaded down her shoulders, and slight shoulders suggested a petite frame. The most striking thing about her was a set of beautiful, large eyes that looked dark, although it was impossible to determine the exact shade from the old blue-and-white holo. Ennelei thought she saw a sad expression in those eyes, although the rest of the woman's face was the absolute epitome of Jedi serenity. Striking young wife of the renowned Luke Skywalker…

Solo spoke up again, hindering Ennelei from reading the rest of the mysterious lady's biography. "Legend has it that the earlier Jedi married between themselves in order to expedite the reconstruction of the Order after the old one was obliterated during the Civil War. Later generations, of course, decided against allowing marriage once there was a good number of Jedi in the galaxy. Which is why," she reached over Ennelei as she continued, her deft hands keying in yet another code that brought up a third entry. "The Skywalker dynasty is never spoken of, even though Luke did have a daughter."

Ennelei blinked in surprise at the heading, Lanya Skywalker, and the corresponding holograph of a young woman who looked like she could have been her mother's clone. True to the era, this holo was also blue-and-white, and the young woman depicted held an activated lightsaber, posing in an unconventional defensive stance. "This is not the type of history one learns about at the Academy," Ennelei remarked.

"No, it's not," the other agreed. "Since, by the time Lanya was old enough to marry, attachment had unofficially become taboo. Historians feel that this is a kind of trivial detail unworthy of mention"

Ennelei began to think that the professionals in her field had made an error in overlooking this allegedly 'trivial detail,' and part of her said that there was more to this story than even the Archives told.

Before she had time to voice her suspicions, Solo spoke again. "There is something else I think you might like to see." She started walking in another direction, towards the room's exit, and beckoned. Ennelei followed eagerly, but not without stealing one last glance at the holo-terminal that had been the source of such cryptic revelations.

She has led into a wing of the Temple that had obviously been added onto the main structure. Its marble halls and high vaulted ceilings indicated that it had been built during a time of flourishing culture. Though she was no architectural expert, Ennelei placed the probable date of construction as sometime during Lanya Skywalker's lifetime. Looking around, she promptly gathered that it was a museum of Jedi artifacts, mainly lightsabers, from recent to archaic. Tabretta gestured to one in particular, and Ennelei froze immediately when she saw it. The weapon was relatively nondescript – she would not have picked it out above any of the others had it not been called to her attention. Yet, something screamed inside her, for reasons she could not explain, and somehow, she knew to whom the weapon had belonged before the information was divulged. "Luke Skywalker fought with this weapon." It was said as a statement, not a question, and Ennelei was stunned at the certainty in her voice.

Apparently, Tabretta was equally shocked. She gazed sharply at Ennelei and commented, "Yes, that's right. I'm surprised that you would know that." Ennelei laughed inwardly. So am I.

>

Ennelei was spending only one night on this glorious center of galactic civilization, so she wanted to take in as much as possible during that timeframe. She walked along Coruscant's ritzy avenues, feeling out of place among the people dressed in the galaxy's finest materials, but nonetheless all too pleased to be here, observing the ways of the very cultured people of the galaxy as well as the planet itself. She had always believed that one could learn so much by observing, and the longer she lived, the more she was amazed at how true the belief was.

Ennelei walked thus a few minutes longer, until something caught her eyes. Two young men had cornered a youth against a wall of a nearby building, and were towering over the latter antagonistically. She slowed almost to a halt, as many others were doing, but she soon realized that, while she was doing so out of horror, the others in the crowd were stopping out of mere curiosity. Then the others turned away once their curiosity had been satisfied, and casually went about their business. Their blasé attitude enraged Ennelei all the more. She determined that she would do something.

She approached the two older boys and the youth as discreetly as possible, taking advantage of the cover that the crowded streets generally provided. She stood close, observing from the shadows, as she was so good at doing. From a closer point of view, Ennelei could see that the youth was a young boy with a flat, wide face, and a prominent widow's peak. It was a humanoid, then, a species she didn't recognize. Knowing that made Ennelei less surprised that he was pleading for his life. Humans tended to discriminate against aliens a great deal.

"…didn't mean any trouble. I just wanted—"

"Tell him what he wants," one of the young men spoke to the other.

I'll let you both know what you're asking for. Ennelei furtively fiddled with the settings on the blaster that she always kept on her in case of an emergency.

The young man who had been addressed spoke up. "If you beg us for credits," he paused to flex his hands, "then that means you're asking for a knuckle sandwich."

Ennelei found this the perfect time to interject. As she stepped forward and spoke up, the three turned around and noticed her presence for the first time. "Or maybe you two would like something worse."

They turned to each other and laughed. "Oh," one said mockingly, "the lady wants us to be peaceful."

As they approached her, still laughing, she drew her blaster, and blue shots made them hit the ground before they knew what was going on.

The young humanoid came to her then, somewhat apprehensively. "Lady," he put forth timidly, "are they—"

"Dead? No, just unconscious." She found the child's innocence endearing. "I stunned them. I wouldn't kill anyone. But at least you're safe now."

He grinned. "Thank you, lady."

He bowed and turned to leave, but Ennelei caught him by the arm. "Wait." She pulled out a credit chip. It didn't have much on it, but to a beggar's family, it would mean the galaxy. "I want you to have this."

The boy's eyes widened. "Wait until Daddy sees this! He'll be able to buy a new speeder. Ours broke down two month ago."

Ennelei was so surprised to hear this that she could not think of anything to say in response. Speeders were a thing of the past, even on Atillah. They had been replaced over 200 years ago by AT-ATs, all terrain automatic transports. And on Coruscant, Ennelei could see by merely glancing around that something even more high tech had developed. If not, it was such an advanced model of an AT-AT that it didn't resemble its cousin in the slightest. Ennelei hadn't heard the word speeder since she'd lived on Tatooine, and was surprised such a thing still existed in the Core Worlds.

"Daddy's been trying to get a job ever since we came here, but he can't," the boy continued. "He thinks it's because he's an alien."

"Coruscant is full of off-worlders, though… it's like a melting pot. There are more aliens than humans, probably."

"Yea, but out homeworld Dantooine is in the Outer Rim. It's different."

Oh, that explains it... though it doesn't justify the treatment. "I see. Hold on to that chip very tightly and quickly run home to your family. And stay out of trouble." Ennelei didn't even have the chance to finish her sentence before the young Dantari had run off with his small treasure.

>

Ennelei's flight back to Atillah gave her plenty of time to reflect upon what had transpired on Coruscant, but so much had happened so quickly that she nevertheless felt as if the time allotted was insufficient. Some of her questions had been answered, but for each one of those, at least two new ones rose in its place that had yet to find a response. The uncertainties hovered and whirled about in her mind, drawing her into a vortex of doubt. Why was so much of this history lost? Why is the Skywalker family never spoken of? Most disconcerting was the discovery of Luke's weapon. How in the galaxy was I able to guess that the saber was his? Ennelei was used to her intuition giving her information that the average person wasn't privy to. But her feelings always told her important facts, not mundane things that would not impact her in some way. Why do I not believe that the ancestry ended with Lanya Skywalker?

Her thoughts then drifted then to the incident that she had witnessed the previous night. Unequal treatment of alien races seemed so prevalent in the Core Worlds, and Outer Rim inhabitants or former inhabitants were treated as if they weren't part of the same galaxy. Before this enlightening visit, Ennelei hadn't known the situation was so bad. Why was it like this? When would it stop? Or would it ever? Will I ever not have unanswered questions like these? Ironically, the latter was the only question to which Ennelei knew she had a response.

A/N: I'm sorry to any Luke/Mara fans whom I have now lost (especially if you have been really liking this story up till now), but I was never a fan of Mara Jade, so I paired Luke up with an OC. Please don't kill me. (Hopefully I haven't disappointed anyone too much?...)