As far as a disclaimer, you know the drill.
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Leia watched as everything just seemed to unfold. It seemed that all she could do was watch.
It wasn't a very pleasant feeling.
"So, where are we going?" Obi-Wan's voice was carefully controlled, he probably didn't want to set Luke off. Well, if she knew her brother half as well as she would have said she did yesterday, he wouldn't like being talked to as a fragile doll.
Today.. Well, Leia wasn't so sure she did know him as well as she had but that would change. Soon.
"To the transport. Look, I can sense the other's nearby it and we need to get them out of there before the Emporer recovers and comes after them. I still have some friends on Tatooine who'll take them in. I hope." Luke gave a small smile.
"So we just send them off?" Leia raised an eyebrow though she took all the smugness out of her voice.
Qui-Gon spoke up, patronizing in the extreme. "Leia, it might be best in you stayed behind. After all--"
"After all, I'm just a leader in the Rebellion. After all, I'm just someone the Empire has on their Most Wanted List because I'm helping to win the war. After all, I'm just someone who was elected as Senator to Alderaan at eighteen. After all, it's only my twin brother who needs help. Is that it?"
I am so tired of being pushed around and not being taken seriously. I spent these last few months getting pushed around in the hopes that I could save Han! Now that he's free, I still don't get the respect I deserve!
"Leia--"
Obi-Wan interrupted his Master softly. "Master, I think it would be best if she went."
"Thank you, Obi-Wan." Leia sent a smile his way and with that, she started leading the group to the transport.
After all, you never got anywhere by just watching. It was about time that she remembered that.
------------------
Anakin looked at Amidala covertly as they shifted to help Rabé stand better. He didn't want Amidala to think he was a, ya know, a stalker or something.
But still... Amidala being the Queen? Wow! I'm friends with a Queen!
He knew what mattered most was that Amidala was a nice person, very caring and brave. But still... She was a Queen! How wizard!
"Look! The ship!" Amidala's voice broke into his thoughts sharply. He looked up and saw it was the transport. Plus, arriving at the ship from the opposite side was Captain Calrissian and the Other-Queen.
Ani adverted his eyes quickly. It was the same thing Leia had been in earlier and he hadn't liked seeing it on her either.
Softly, the girl that Jar Jar was carrying, Eirtaé he thought, spoke up. "Poor Sabé. Having to wear that must be awful.."
Okay. Sabé. I really should learn everyone's name... Maybe everyone can sit down and do a little 'name game' thing like Wald said they did at school?
"Wesa should justa be big-happy that she's alive!" Jar Jar nodded emphatically but made sure not to bounce Eirtaé around.
Amidala's voice was just a little annoyed. "You were tortu--" Then she threw a glance towards him and abruptly switched words. "Hurt by Palpatine and you feel bad because Sabé's in a shiny gold outfit?"
Rabé coughed a little. "Queen, what would you have us to do? Complain that we were hurt badly?"
"As we are on that subject, can we walk a little faster? I could really use some bacta pads." Eirtaé was trying to defuse the subject, it was the same tone Mom used when she was trying to stop a fight.
Mom...
After that, they walked a little faster and met up with Pseudo Queen Sabé and the Captain at the ship in a few minutes.
Sabé's eyes suddenly widened as she jogged over, handing a bunch of cool-looking parts to the Captain. "By the Gods... Eirtaé, Rabé, what happened?!"
Amidala broke in smoothly with, "Palpatine. Now what's that you were carrying, Sabé?"
"The missing parts for the ship." Sabé paused. "They know?"
Random but... Rabé. Sabé. Eirtaé. Padmé. The Naboo have a thing for fancy e's.
"They know. The whole point of the secret was pretty much ruined." Amidala tried to smile but it faltered after a few seconds.
Lando came up and spoke slowly. "Maybe it's just me but shouldn't we be getting the injured people inside? Here."
With that, Lando picked up Rabé and motioned for Jar Jar to follow him up the open ramp. They all followed them and Sabé and Anakin toward the back of the group.
Anakin couldn't help grinning as he heard Sabé mumble, "Is it just me or does the universe have it out for us?"
------------------
Amidala sent Sabé to the wardrobe room to change as soon as they were all on board the ship. Ric Olie and Captain Panaka had apparently gathered most of her party.
"Into what?"
"It doesn't particularly matter at this point. We are nowhere that such distinctions count."
"And are we returning?"
"We will. But I believe we will circumvent Coruscant."
Sabé raised her eyebrows. "Then you don't plan to confront Palpatine?"
"With what evidence? A trip to the future?"
"Ah. I was beginning to wonder who I was dealing with here. I had the oddest thought that you meant to attack. Physically."
"I haven't discounted the possibility." Amidala glanced over her shoulder, to where Ani was helping Lando and Jar Jar tend to the other handmaidens. "Palpatine will steal far more from me than I am willing to part with. I will stop him. Somehow. But if it can be done without an explosive confrontation, then it will be better. A war will cost us dearly in the end."
Sabé was shaking her head. "Your Majesty, we may not be able to avoid it. If he plans to take the galaxy..."
"To do it as he planned would require our continued acquiesence for the next few years, I believe. I will not cooperate with him. I will sign no treaties and I will not... "
She blinked. "I need to ask Leia what I originally did on Coruscant."
"Surely, you're not planning to bring her with us?"
"Sabé, we need to install the parts you and Lando have gotten us. We'll still need to find another safe haven to do so. Tatooine is no longer that haven. We do not know ourselves what the shape of the galaxy is now. We will still need their help to avoid flying straight into an Imperial fortress."
She nodded. "'Padmé''s battle uniform is still available. As your current disguise is perfectly functional, I would greatly appreciate the loan."
"Take it."
"Thank you."
Sabé disappeared into the changing room, and Amidala went to join the others.
Rabé was sitting up already, looking tired and ill-used, but all right. Ani and Jar Jar
were bandaging a burn on her arm.
Eirtaé was still lying down, and Lando was shining a light in her eyes.
"How is she?" Amidala asked.
Lando stood. "She'll be okay. But let her rest for awhile."
"Of course."
"Panaka?" Lando said into his comm-link.
The Captain's voice came back, covered with static, because the communications systems didn't sync up precisely. "Yes?"
"Head into orbit. We'll rendevouz with Han and lock the hulls. We can tow you into hyperspace if we decide we need to go."
------------------
Han sighed as he turned off his commlink. One of the Jedi must have had one and contacted him from outside his ship. He guessed his surveillance scanners were broken, probably from the neglect the Falcon had suffered recently.
Lando had been taking care of the Falcon since Bespin. And of all people who could've gotten it, Lando wasn't even on the top 100.
He tore away himself away from the thoughts of his ship and grudgingly let the door down.
Han's personal slogan about Jedi was, 'You want trouble, find a bunch of Jedi.'
He remembered enough about Corellia as a kid to know that much.
"Hey Han." Han's head jerked up at the voice.
"Leia! I didn't know you were with that bunch! Where ya--"
Before Han could finish, Luke entered the cockpit slowly, holding his leg. "Hey, Han, do you think that we could set a course for Dagobah? Please?"
"Why would you want..." Han trailed off as Leia shot a look his way. It wasn't one of her 'You are so annoying' glares or anything else he'd seen on her.
It was begging.
She's begging for Luke's sake. The proud little princess is pleading for Luke.
"Sure kid. That is, if you know the coordinates, I've never heard of it. What is it, some long lost planet where Jedi lived?" Not hesitating for a second, Han cracked a smile and moved over for the kid to sit.
Luke began punching in numbers. He looked completely zoned out for a few minutes so when he spoke up, it was a shock. "No, that's Coruscant."
Han mock-sighed, trying to cover up how worried he really was. By the look on Leia's face, it wasn't just him.
"I think I'll go get a med-pack for my leg. Obi-Wan has a few scratches, he can probably use something too." Luke stood up, winced and left holding his leg.
"Leia, you're going to tell me what's up." Han held up a hand before any outburst could start. "But first, I have to call the others, make sure everything's all right."
Leia tried to smile and failed miserably. "See if my mother's safe, will you?"
"Your mother? The Queen, err, Sabé, whatever her name is and Lando didn't mention you had a mother! Well, I knew you had a mother but not down there... Oh, you get it." Han was getting confused here. What was next, was Obi-Wan her father?
"The Queen's name is Amidala, Han. As for my mother, her name is Padmé. She's one of her handmaidens. I forgot you didn't know." Leia managed a shrug at the end but Han barely saw it.
Lando and Sabé had managed to say a few things after the truth was let out. One little tidbit was that the real Queen Amidala was pretending to be Padmé.
"Padmé is Queen Amidala, Leia. Your mother is the Queen of Naboo!" Huh. It didn't sound quite as calm as it had in his head.
"She's the what?!" Leia's eyes were practically glowing and her every motion screamed 'take that back'. At least he wasn't the only one shocked out of his mind.
Not only is she the last Princess of Alderaan, she's the last Princess of Naboo!
At that point his thoughts started swirling, not becoming concise until, I'm dating a double-Princess... came along."Our lives are such a soap opera." With that said, Leia sank into her seat, covered her eyes with her left hand and motioned for Han to call the others with her right.
Turning on the communication system, Han had to agree.
------------------
The ships blasted into orbit simultaneously -- Amidala hoped that they weren't being tracked -- then Olie followed Solo's lead, heading into a part of the binary system that was in the planet's "shadow," as far as the sensors went.
Ani came and stood beside her as the two ships performed the mechancial lock that would allow deep space passage between them. The hulls were locked in several ways; the corridor stretched between the engine room at the base of the Nubian and the top hatch of the mongrel ship that Solo was flying. Ani was watching with interest on a viewscreen, and tried to tell her what all the gadgets attached to Solo's ship were for, but she couldn't concentrate, and after awhile he stopped talking and just took her hand, as he had yesterday when he was leading her out of the storm.
It's no big deal. That's how it works, isn't it? He just takes my hand, and I take his hand, and we both feel a little bit better for it.
Leia came up the ladder first. She looked like she might put her arms out for an embrace, then she held back. "Are you... is everyone all right?"
"We're all fine, Leia. Where is Luke?"
"His leg was hurt. And Ben -- Obi-Wan, that is -- has a few scratches. But they'll be fine. Luke wants to go to a world called Dagobah."
Amidala shrugged; she'd never heard of it.
"Yeah," someone cracked from the opening in the floor, "I think it sounds kind of fishy, too." Han Solo pulled himself the rest of the way in. "I got the rest of the coordinates, but we all better sit down and have a long talk before we decide where we're going. I don't know if you folks want to go to this mystery planet with us. And, maybe it's me, your Highness -- " he used the title pointedly, looking straight at Amidala " -- but I'd at least like to know who's really who around here."
"Is it true?" Leia asked. "Are you really the Queen?"
Amidala nodded. "Yes. There's little point in disguising myself here. I had simply... not found the right time to break my disguise."
"Great," Solo said, rolling his eyes and kissing Leia's cheek. "I thought she was bossy when she was only royal from one side." He kissed her again; obviously, her
"bossiness" was a running joke between them. Beside Amidala, Ani was squirming at the display, but he remained silent. He seemed to be picking up on a strong current of feeling from Leia -- Amidala herself could almost pick up on it -- that she would prefer it if she could simply pretend he wasn't there. Amidala would have to correct that, but right now, it was time to come up to the surface, and let things be for awhile.
She shook her head. "Alas, the bossiness is inborn. It doesn't come with the title, though it might lead to it." Solo looked puzzled. Amidala explained patiently; she'd had to do so many times. "Naboo royalty was hereditary long, long ago. But for centuries, the monarchy has been elected. My parents were farmers. My children, had they been raised on Naboo, would find their own places in society." She smiled at Leia. "Though you might have made a magnificent Princess of Theed. If I can get this fixed, would you like me to help you run?"
Leia laughed, then stopped, as if remembering that she wasn't supposed to enjoy herself, and said, "I prefer the Senate."
"Then the Senate it shall be."
"Mother... " Leia bit her lip. "Mother, if you 'fix this,' as you put it, it's possible that I won't be born at all. Or Luke."
Solo, who had been absently holding her, stood back as if struck. "What?"
Leia didn't answer him. Her question had been to Amidala, and Amidala had to answer it. She looked at Ani, who had been looking up at her, but looked away quickly, then looked back at Leia. "I will not allow that to happen," she said. "Some things are not an option."
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Anakin rubbed his eyes. It was almost time for a new day to start and he was still up. Mom would be mad.
He brushed off that thought, it wasn't time to get homesick. He had to stay by Amidala and make sure she was okay. When she went to bed, he'd have to make sure she wasn't having nightmares. He was used to getting by on a couple hours of sleep, Watto made him do it when he needed extra help for stuff.
"So, your Queenliness, what's with the disguise anyway?" Han grinned, keeping an arm around Leia from where he was sitting on the floor. It was just Anakin, Amidala, Leia and Han, everyone else was sleeping or watching over those in the med-center.
They had gotten less serious a little while ago and Anakin thought they were just talking to talk.
"Protection. Back home, the Trade Federation wanted me to sign a treaty legalizing the destruction of my planet. They actually thought I would let them come in, boss my people around and ruin the environment." Amidala's voice was mocking but she squeezed his hand a little to make up for it.
Leia rolled her eyes. "At least they tried to make it legal, Mother. Plenty don't."
Amidala smiled. It wasn't just a smile, it was a beam of sunlight bursting into clouds.
"I like the sound of that."
"Of what?" Han drawled it out, he was a typical pilot. Anakin really wanted to talk to him later and find out more about the ship.
"The word 'mother,' of course," Ami's eyes danced. "Do you actually think that I like the idea of people barging in and doing whatever they feel like to Naboo?"
"Why wouldn't I call you Mother? Luke calls him Father, after all." Him was pronounced with carefully controlled anger. Things were easy for Leia. She just didn't like him because of the Other.
Han noticed it too and spoke up quickly, "Luke didn't have parents, Leia. He just had a foster aunt and uncle. You on the other hand, had--"
"A very busy foster king. Running a whole planet and managing good public relations takes time, you know." Leia's tone was wry but there was a little sadness in it too.
She was his daughter. He wanted her to have had a happy childhood, and she was radiating loneliness, to him at least.
"So, do you guys think Vader will come after us?" Han was changing the subject but not to a better one. Leia's eyes glazed over and Amidala's hands were shaking.
Anakin knew it was up to him to talk, the others couldn't. "He's dead. Really, really dead. So's the other Sith. Plus, the Emperor's unconscious."
"Nice summary. Why can't you all be so helpful?" Han playfully glared at the girls until it sunk in. "Dead?"
"One with the Force." Anakin nodded and decided to ask a question that had been bugging him a little. "Are you a smuggler? 'Cause this is a super-cool, way wizard smuggler ship."
Han smirked. "I'm an ex-smuggler. I'm with the Rebellion now and with Leia there, it'll stay that way."
"This is a smuggler ship?" Amidala just didn't have the appreciation he had for the Falcon, Anakin supposed.
"I'll think I'll be going to bed now. 'Night Leia. Sleep well on the smuggler ship, your Majesty. You too, Kid." With that Han scrambled down the ladder and Anakin giggled slightly at his expression.
"I'll be getting some sleep now, too. Good night Mother, Anakin." She left more sedately that Han, leaving Amidala and Anakin alone.
After a few seconds, Amidala squeezed Anakin's hand and scooted over closer. They just sat there for a while as they looked out at the stars.
------------------
When Amidala was very small, her grandmother, Winama, had told her a story about two little children, a brother and sister, wandering lost in the swamps. It had been the only story that she'd ever had nightmares about. They had battle opee sea killers and nasty land animals, but those fights never scared Amidala. They had won them. They had run across an old witch, but Amidala shrugged the witch off. The nightmares came from the middle of the story, when the children were lost and alone, and it was night time. They huddled together and held on to each other, and that was how they got through. For months after hearing the story, Amidala would wake up in the dark, drawing her blankets up around her, but unable to get warm. She would reach out, one arm braving the world away from the blanket, grasping at empty air for something she couldn't identify.
Now, truly lost in the dark and cold of space, she reached out, and there was the other, and that was good. He was a brother now, as the boy in the story had been.
They could protect each other.
He snugged his arm a little tighter around her. "I'm very cold," he explained, a little embarrassed.
She nodded, adjusting her position to shelter him a little better. "Space is cold."
"You can go to sleep if you want. I'll keep watch."
"I don't think we need to keep watch, Ani. We're among friends."
"Family."
"Yes. Family." Amidala spotted a tattered old tan blanket beside a chess table, and reached for it, dragging it to them. "Here," she said, handing him one end, and wrapping it around both of them. "That'll be better."
"You don't have to take care of me." Amidala didn't say anything. Ani moved his arm under the blanket, then drew out his fist. A leather string trailed from it. "I made this for you," he said. "I guess lots of stuff is going to keep us together and everything, so maybe I can get you something better someday instead, and I understand if you think maybe a queen should only wear better stuff..."
He opened his hand, a bit of pale wood dangled down from the string. Amidala took it, held it in her hand. It was lightweight, and arcane, mysterious symbols had been burned into it. Somewhere, in the middle of everything, he'd taken time to polish it to a shine. "It's beautiful," she said, and put it around her neck before he had a chance to say anything else. "Ani, things are... intense right now. Whatever happens in the future, you need to remember that it's the future. Right now, I'm just... "
"It's okay. I get it. I -- the other I -- did something nice for you, so you're being nice to me to say thank you for something I haven't done yet."
"No, you don't get it. I... Oh, never mind. I don't even know how to explain it."
They sat together without speaking for several minutes, just huddling under the blanket, looking across the gray room. Finally, from the corner of her eye, Amidala saw his head dip down. When he spoke, his eyes were directed at the floor. "I'm really sorry," he said.
"What?"
"I mean, about the stuff I'm going to do. And... well, that you have to stick with me, on account of the twins. I'm really sorry I wasn't someone, you know, better."
From anyone else, it would have sounded like a plea for attention. But Ani said it in an even, slow tone. He'd been thinking it. Really thinking it. And Amidala wouldn't have it.
She moved and turned him so that they were facing each other, the blanket pulled taught between them. "You listen to me, Ani. The future is the future. I am not resigned to it. I am not consigning myself to you in order avoid endangering the twins. Someday, we will love each other and we will be happy."
"But I'm going to -- "
"Why should you?" She sighed. "Ani, I'll watch over you. And I'll count on you to watch over me. And between us and the Force and whatever mercy there is in the galaxy, we'll stop... that from happening. But even if we can't, even if there's no mercy for us, I don't want to give up whatever it is we're going to have. When you -- the other you -- spoke to me, I heard so much... Ani, I am looking forward to our future. I hate how it's going to end, but I won't let that take the happiness we will be allowed."
He blinked slowly. On some level, he understood what she'd said. On another, he was a nine-year-old boy, and he was squirming away from the whole idea, and Amidala knew that she needed to back away now.
She reached up and pinched his nose. "In the meantime," she said, "you're not getting rid of me as the most annoying, overprotective big sister you ever had nightmares about."
Suddenly, he grinned, and the whole room seemed to brighten. "I can live with that," he said.
"Good. Now go to sleep. I'll be here."
He mumbled something about not needing to sleep, but she felt him shift under her arm, and a moment later, his breathing was soft and even, and his grip on her hand relaxed.
She kissed his forehead, and waited in the dark, to guard against whatever monsters might come up from the deeps.
------------------
Leia didn't end up getting much sleep.
First, there was the awkwardness of not knowing exactly where to sleep -- she'd been in Han's bunk for the last six months, but now he was there, and she wasn't quite sure she was ready for that just now. Before he'd been gone, she'd been in another cabin, but that had been taken over by some Naboo refugees before she'd thought to say anything about it. Maybe if she'd spent more time with him today, instead of being with...
Pointless. She had thought the excursion into town would be a short one, and she had the rest of her life with Han, and besides...
She was scared out of her mind. She had no idea what was supposed to happen next, or how this was supposed to work out. She wasn't even sure that he planned to stay with the Rebellion, and when she'd said she loved him, all he'd answered was "I know." She'd sacrificed everything to get him back to the land of the living. Now, the questions she'd left in abeyance during the crisis would have to be answered.
At long last, she had settled in beside him, and was glad that he was as nervous as she was. He finally drifted off to sleep, his arms comfortably around her, and she held his hand, hoping that she could do the same, but sleep only settled in occasional fits and spurts, and finally, she'd given up on it and slipped out into the quiet corridor.
She could hear voices in the cockpit -- Luke's certainly, probably Kenobi's. Jinn's? Panaka's? She just wasn't sorting them out too well yet. One voice was a woman's voice. She headed toward them.
As she passed the checkerboard, she looked down at the two small forms huddled together, both asleep beneath a blanket. Anakin Skywalker was clutching Mother's arm, holding it like a stuffed toy. Mother's head had dropped toward her chest, her chin coming to rest on Anakin's hair.
Leia loved them.
It came to her with no fanfare whatsoever, with no morbid turns of the mind, and with no conflict about Anakin -- Father -- in her heart. It was just a dull ache inside her heart that felt as if it had always been there, and she supposed it always had. It was the same ache that had flared up painfully on Coruscant, the day Vader had begged her not to join the Rebellion, the day he had almost embraced her.
I love my parents and I miss them, and for some reason, I miss them the most when they're right with me.
She went on to the cockpit.
It was crowded. All three Jedi were there, as well as Captain Panaka and Lando. One of the two injured handmaidens was propped carefully into Han's seat, Chewie was sitting at navigation, and the decoy queen -- Mother's bodyguard, Sabé -- was sitting on the floor at the handmaiden's feet. All were keeping their voices low, but there was apparently some kind of argument going on.
"What is it?" Leia asked.
"The Jedi are determined to go to Dagobah," Panaka said. "But Lando believes it might be safer to remain Tatooine with friends of his."
"And you?"
"My personal preference is to return to whatever remains of Naboo."
Leia shook her head. "It's deserted, but it's watched. Constantly. It would be a bad idea to go there."
"Have you been?" the injured handmaiden asked.
Leia mentally went through the list of the names of the other handmaidens. Her foster mother, Sache, had once been among them. This was the one with the accent, from far up country. Rabé. "Once. My... my foster mother's funeral was held there." Leia stopped short of mentioning why. She didn't want to upset them any more. "The Empire was present at all times."
"All right," Panaka said. "I suppose it was too much to hope for."
Chewie barked out a few syllables, and Leia was catching enough to know that his recommendation was to rendevouz with the Rebel fleet near Sullust. She shook her head. "It's a target, Chewie. I don't want to suddenly find ourselves in battle."
"The queen should be involved in this decision," Panaka insisted.
And that, apparently, was the true cause of the argument. The Jedi simply stayed out of it, and Leia had the distinct impression that they were planning to just head out to Dagobah no matter what the decision was. But Sabé's eyes flashed. "Her Majesty hasn't slept properly since the invasion. I won't wake her now to discuss
travel plans."
Rabé laughed quietly, then winced, and Leia remembered that she'd suffered a cracked rib. "Sabé," she said, "if you don't wake her, and we end up going without her permission, you will get a royal scolding."
"Clearly," Sabé said, "I'll survive it."
"Survive what?" a sleepy voice said at the door.
"Moot point," Lando commented, as Mother leaned in. Her eyes were bleary, and her arms were crossed against the cold after being under the blanket.
The situation was explained.
She considered it, the sleep falling away in stages and the adult weariness settling back into her face. "If we choose to remain on Tatooine, I believe Kitster will allow us to go back to Sanctuary. I got the impression that he is largely left alone. And yet, it would be helpful for the Jedi to have counsel on this matter from their own ranks. I'm afraid that my advice on this matter is not unequivocal."
Leia sighed. It was going to be a long argument.
------------------
Lando made a face at the Jedi unconsciously. They wouldn't say anything and they were the reason this debate was taking place. All they did was raise eyebrows and look all-knowing.
"Why don't we just split up?" Leia was rubbing her temples in an attempt to ward off a headache. The Princess was sitting next to him and had been steadily getting more annoyed as time went on.
Rabé spoke up in a soft but 'I better get my way or else' manner. "That would work. We'll just send the Jedi can go to Dagobah with whoever chooses to fly them and Amidala can stay back. Along with everyone else who chooses to do so, of course."
That's to easy to work. Way, way too easy.
Chewie grumbled out a reply. "Han and I can fly the Jedi to Dagobah. It is better then being here."
Obi-Wan crinkled his nose, the first sign of annoyance that had come from the Jedi. "I do know how to fly a ship." Glancing at everyone's mild looks of surprise he received, Obi-Wan quirked his lips. "I speak a little Wookiee."
"What is it that they teach in that Jedi Temple?" Sabé looked amused as she propped up her head on her hand. The girl was sitting with her legs folded on the floor, probably not very comfortable.
"That's top secret information," Qui-Gon paused. "I have no problem with you being our pilots. Anyone else wish to go?"
Lando threw a look Leia's way and noticed that she was obviously thinking it out. He leaned over and whispered, "Just go. I'll make sure your Mother's fine, Leia."
Besides, I'm outnumbered here. No one wants to be safe on Tatooine.
"I'm going." Leia's voice was sleepy but firm. She didn't want any arguing, she was going to watch over her twin. Or at least Lando thought Luke was he twin, gossip was getting a little out of hand on this ship.
It was a known fact that pilots liked to spread rumors. Out of boredom, thinking it was funny, whatever. The Naboo pilot refugees weren't exceptions to the rule.
Some of the funnier things being spread around involved Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon secretly in love, Luke being Palpatine's new second, and Chewie being pregnant with Leia's love child.
Amidala played with her long chocolate colored hair distractedly she spoke up. "Fine. You can fly off with the Falcon in the morning and the Naboo ship will remain here for repairs. I'm sure Ani will help. Lando?"
His head jerked up. "Sure, your Majesty." He looked around the room with a grin. "Right now though, I'm going to bed. I suggest you guys do the same. 'Night!"
With that Lando walked out, his head already starting to feel a little better.
------------------
Padmé -- Amidala -- had needed to wake Anakin up in order to get up and go listen to everyone, and he was sort of embarrassed to find out that he'd been holding on to her arm that tightly in his sleep. He watched he go, thinking that he'd like to listen to what everyone was saying, too, but not wanting to look like he was following her around.
The cold came back fast, though, and he couldn't seem to wrap the blanket tight enough to get warm. And it was kind of boring to just sit here, and the only good place to go was where everyone was talking. So after ten minutes or so, he changed his mind and followed her anyway.
The voices were low, but there were lots of them, including the Wookiee. Anakin had never met a Wookiee up close before and he was interested to see one, but he guessed it probably wasn't the time to ask questions (and besides, he'd lost track of where future-Threepio was, and he didn't speak Wookiee at all). Leia looked like she wasn't feeling very good, and someone had just let her sit down over by the naviputer. The fake queen looked mad at someone. Padmé looked like Queen Amidala.
Anakin didn't know where that thought came from -- she was dressed the same as before and she wasn't saying anything, and she was just leaning over a display, but she sure looked like she was the one calling the shots.
Luke held up one hand, and everyone stopped talking.
"Hi," Anakin said. "I couldn't sleep. What are we talking about?"
"We're talking about where we go from here," Padmé said. "The Jedi want to visit -- "
Luke touched her arm. "We want to have a council with a remaining Jedi on another world. The rest of you... I think maybe Lando and Mother are right. You should remain on Tatooine and fix the ship."
"But I want to go with you." Anakin winced. He sounded like he was whining. He hated it when he sounded like that. But he'd never get to know Luke later, and this was the only chance he'd get, and he couldn't understand why they should split up the group unless... He lowered his eyes. "I'm not supposed to find out who's alive and where he is, right?"
A large hand fell on his shoulder, and Qui-Gon said, "Look up, Ani."
Anakin tried, but couldn't keep his eyes all the way up. Qui-Gon turned his face up gently. "Ani," he said, "you are blameless right now, and have no reason to lower your eyes. But we must think practically."
"Yes, sir."
"Ani, I mean it. You are blameless now. And it hurts me to take this precaution. I do not wish it."
"Thank you, sir."
"Besides," Padmé said, "I need you to help Capatin Olie fix my ship." She sighed. "I will say, I dislike splitting the group at all. If we need to leave suddenly... "
"We can set a rendevouz point."
The Wookiee grumbled something, and Leia shook her head. "No," she said. "That's another place I'd just as soon keep secure. If you need to take off suddenly, go to..." She turned away. "Go to Alderaan's coordinates. We'll find you there."
"Is there someplace you want us to land?" Sabé asked. "I'm not terribly familiar with -- "
Luke was shaking his head rapidly to get her to stop, but it was too late. Leia looked like she'd been stabbed right through. But she stayed cool. Somehow, she stayed cool, even though she said, "There is no longer a place to land, Sabé. Alderaan no longer exists."
Dead silence.
Anakin felt like someone should do something, but no one seemed to be, so he went to her, stood behind her, and put one hand on her shoulder.
Her back went stiff and straight, and she brushed his hand away like it was a creepy-crawler that had dropped on her from the roof of a cave.
He stepped back. He'd forgotten that she hated him. When he'd first come in, she hadn't said anything at all and --
Her hand came out, fingers wrapping around his wrist. She put his hand back on her shoulder, and covered it with her own.
He didn't know exactly what it meant, except that she was going to let him try to comfort her, and that was good, so he left his hand where she put it, and squeezed her shoulder a little bit, like Mom did when she stood behind him while Watto scolded him for something. She still looked like she was thinking of
(no you can't, alderaan is peaceful, we have no weapons... )
something else, some other time when his hand was on her shoulder, when it hadn't been for comfort, but she was a good person, and she
(loved)
was going to be nice to him anyway.
"Okay," Padmé said, getting over the shock of it first. "Probably nothing will happen. You three go and talk to your associate. We'll get the ship fixed here. I think Kitster's place is probably the safest, and I know we can trust him, though I will hear Baron Calrissian's suggestions when we reach the surface as well."
------------------
Luke had little to do while the ships prepared to separate, and for once, he was glad of it. He stood beside Leia, facing their parents at the base of the ladder between present and past. None of them had gotten much sleep, and Mother's attempt to freshen up by changing into an orange and red dress like the handmaidens didn't have any noticeable effect on how tired she looked.
This would be the last connection undone, and Han and Lando had agreed to do all the navigational programming first, to give the family some time together. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon Jinn had made excuses about studying the charts, and Mother's entourage had already settled themselves back into the Nubian.
No one was talking. Luke couldn't think of anything to say. In all likelihood, it was the last time they would be together, the last time they could say anything. But what?
He supposed he should have guessed that Father would break the silence, but the soft, high voice still surprised him.
Father opened his arms. "Can I... could I... I'm never going to get to hug you guys when you're little. I guess maybe you won't want me to. But could I...?"
To Luke's surprise, Leia answered by kneeling before him, placing her head on his shoulder, and wrapping her arms around him. "Please," she said.
Father's arms moved slowly, in a kind of wonderment, as he crossed them behind her head, and petted her hair with his small hand. Luke could see a kind of light behind his face, a serenity that was beyond his years.
He felt a hand on his own, and turned to find Mother beside him. She was not offering an embrace, but she leaned heavily on his arm, and he pulled her to his side. Father reached out one hand, and Luke took it. Leia grasped for Mother's hand and found it.
Luke didn't know how long they stayed like that, the four of them, just holding on to one another. But it ended. Leia drew away first, and stood up. Her eyes were dry, her face calm and peaceful. "Thank you," she said, looking at each of the others.
Father squeezed her hand. "I kind of wish I thought we'd never see each other again..."
Leia shook her head. "This is probably my last memory of you. I'm glad it's a better one. I hope that it ... that it's your face I'll remember."
"Stop it!" Mother let go of Luke's hand and stood at the base of the ladder, brown eyes flashing. "I won't hear about this never seeing one another again business. Both of you listen: we're going to fix this. And we'll all be together. For a long time."
Luke kissed her cheek. "Goodbye, Mother. Just in case. I'm glad that I'll finally remember you."
She pushed him away in irritation at the sentiment, then pulled him fiercely to her, her arms around his neck. Luke thought she might say something, but she didn't.
Behind them, Lando cleared his throat to announce his presence. "We need to separate," he said.
Mother pulled away, nodding, and wiped her eyes. "Yes, Baron Calrissian, of course. And perhaps all this was for nothing. Perhaps we'll see you when you return from -- " She almost slipped. " -- from your conference." She took Luke's hands, mechanical and real, and kissed them both, then did the same with Leia. "I will see you again," she said. "At least in my time. And I will give you as many kisses as I'm allowed."
Lando came by, and touched her shoulder. "We need to get moving, Your Highness."
Mother nodded, but didn't move. Father touched Luke's face, then Leia's, then said, "I'm really, really sorry." He turned without saying anything else, and scampered up the ladder. Lando followed him.
Mother stood there for a moment longer, then smiled softly at both Luke and Leia. There was no challenge, no fierce defense. Just beauty and love. "My children," she whispered, and the smile broadened. "I'm really proud to be your mother."
She turned and started up the ladder, and Luke thought that she planned to say nothing further... but just as she was about to cross into her own ship, she stopped and looked down, a cool, intellectual curiosity on her face. "Leia... you said you knew me before I died?"
"Yes..."
"How did I die?"
"I was very young. First you were there, then you weren't there. Later, my -- well, my foster mother -- told me that you jumped from a landing platform on Coruscant."
The distanct, puzzled look deepened. "I don't think I would," she said firmly, but, Luke thought, mostly to herself. "I really don't think so."
"Mother?"
"The last thing your father said to me was 'You're still here.' Does that make sense to either of you?"
It didn't.
Mother shook her head, and pulled the hood of her gown up over her hair. Luke could see only her chin and mouth. "I need to go," she said. "But I'll always be with you. I promise."
At the top of the ladder, she leaned over the hatch, her half-hooded face remaining visible until the airlock separated them.
Luke turned to his sister, not knowing what to expect at all... and expecting what he got least of all. Leia's face mirrored Mother's, the look of analytical confusion cooling the depths of her eyes. She left the room without saying anything.
Luke stood between them as deep space filled the void between the ships, and wondered what mystery they were pondering.
------------------
Tatooine, just before dawn.
Dritali had fallen asleep on vigil, curling up on the ground beside Vader's body like a cat. Kit had tried to tell her to go inside to sleep, but she wouldn't have it.
How does he inspire that kind of loyalty, even now?
But Kit had no answer. He was, after all, still here as well, waiting for the light of the suns to touch Anakin for the first time. He had taken the stone from Padmé's belt and placed it Anakin's hands, and when the vigil was over, he planned to free Anakin of the wretched suit, then clean him and see to a funeral pyre. Compared to that, the girl's choice to sleep outside was normal. But he couldn't think what else there was to do.
Inside Sanctuary, he heard the children beginning to wake up as the first sun rose. Vertash, as always, was up first; apparently, the night's work had not made him sleep any longer than was his habit. He announced himself to the day by leaning out his window and singing a few phrases in a language Kit didn't recognize; Vertash refused to comment on the ritual or explain it, but he had a pleasant voice, and the other children didn't seem to mind waking to it.
The song was about halfway through when Vertash stopped singing. Kit heard footsteps thundering down the stairway, and was already standing up when Vertash burst out into the garden. He averted his eyes from the body. "Kit, I'm sorry to, you know, bust in, but there's a lot of people coming through the desert. And that girl from before is with them, the one who was talking to... " He gestured at the body. "You know."
"Stay here with Dritali," Kit told him. "I don't want her to wake up alone here."
Vertash nodded, and took a post beside Dritali. When push came to shove, Vertash -- like Anakin -- was a caretaker, taken to sometimes absurd extremes. If Dritali awoke upset, he would be able to calm her.
Kit went out to meet his guests.
They were approaching from the Nubian, which had landed in the shadow of a rock face. Amidala came first, walking beside a man about Kit's own age, dressed in the uniform of Jabba's guard. Behind them...
Oh, the faces. Their beautiful faces. Sabé, Eirtaé, Rabé, Panaka, Olie... Kit smiled, and ran forward, heedless of the arthritis that had started paining him a few years back. Most of them didn't know him yet, but he knew them, and seeing them made his heart light again.
"Kitster?"
Kit blinked. Anakin Skywalker stood before him, a dusty slave child with a scrape on his arm. "Anakin," he said, then amended it to "Ani."
"Hi."
"Hi." Kit sighed. "I... welcome back to Sanctuary, Amidala. You and your friends are welcome. Go on inside. The children are waking up, and Kerea will help you. I need to talk to Ani for a minute. And Amidala? Don't go outside yet."
She nodded, and led the group inside.
"What is it, Kitster?"
Kit smiled. "I've been Kit so long that I'll forget to answer to that."
"Okay. Kit, then. What is it?"
"Ani, I don't know how much you know about what's been happening here..."
"I know I'm the bad guy, if that's what you mean."
"It isn't. Did Amidala tell you that you're... "
"Dead?"
"Yes."
"Mm-hmm. I'm okay with that."
"This is a very strange conversation." Kit looked over his shoulder, toward the main door. Through the hall, he could see the door to the rock garden, slightly askew. "Ani, last night, three of the children who live here helped me... bring you back here. I didn't want you to discover that by accident."
Kit waited for Anakin to either shrug and go inside or beg to be shown his body, because it would be wizard to see something like that. The latter seemed the more likely reaction. But instead, Anakin just looked at him steadily, and said, "You did that for me? Carried me back through the desert?"
"Yes. With Kerea and Vertash and Dritali. But you mustn't tell them -- particularly Dritali -- who you are."
"Can you say thank you to them for me? I mean, later? That's... a really, really nice thing to do."
"I'll tell them when they're ready to know. Come, welcome to Sanctuary, Ani. You'll be here again." Kit turned and started walking, expecting Anakin to follow.
"Kit?"
He turned. Anakin had not started walking yet. "Yes?"
"Thank you. I really mean it. Thanks. That's way past the top."
Kit couldn't think of anything to say except, "You're welcome."
Anakin brushed past him, and disappeared into Sanctuary.
