Leia regarded the game table that was in pieces in the Falcon's lounge for a long moment before turning and looking at sheepish husband. "Was it broken?"

"Not really… Felt like tinkering." Han shrugged, glad that Chewie had volunteered to entertain the kids outside while they talked.

"Ah…"

"What was bothering you?" Han asked curiously. "Something about Luke?"

Leia shook her head. "It's nothing."

"Didn't sound like nothing, Leia."

Leia turned back and considered the dismantled game table again, thinking it through… "It was a face."

"Whose?"

She glanced at him. "You remember that portrait? The one you thought was of me?"

Han nodded slowly. "Yes. What about it?"

"I keep seeing her eyes... But older... scared... and warm." Leia shrugged. "But that doesn't make any sense."

"Why?" It wasn't making any sense to him, either.

"Because I've never met her... and Luke's presence is so strong every time I see her."

Han nodded slowly, thinking about it. It made sense that she'd asked what she'd asked earlier.

Leia turned and looked around the lounge, frowning as she caught sight of an out of place article of clothing. She reached over and picked the flowered garment up off the chair. "What is this?"

"That's Mara's," Han said by way of explanation. "Doesn't seem like her, does it?"

"No..." Leia set the garment back on the chair and smirked to herself. Somehow, she didn't think Mara had been wearing a floral utility vest that was three sizes too big.

Han heard a sound that seemed out of place on the Falcon and glanced down. As he'd suspected, there was Dark Star sniffing at the dismantled game table parts. That was odd... he hadn't noticed Leia bring her aboard. "Leia?"

Leia smiled. "I couldn't leave her in the board and care facility... Remember how she acted when Luke did that?"

Han nodded, then bent and picked Dark Star up to keep her away from the game table. It just wouldn't do to have Mara's pet hurt because he'd taken something apart and not put it back together yet. "I do... Nice to see ya, kitty." He looked at Leia. "You can leave the kids here."

"How about I leave you with the twins? You can let Jaina get dirty all she pleases, helping you put the game table back together..."

Han snorted at that one. "Right... Funny."

"Thought it was." She smiled at him. "Sure you want to keep Dark Star here, too?"

"From what Luke told me when he was here yesterday for whatever reason, I think they have enough craziness without adding the furry one to it."

Leia studied him silently for a moment, then nodded. "All right..."

~*~*~*~*~

On the spirit plane and out of view, Temaru Jaden was glaring at his granddaughter, who was pouting cutely. "I didn't do anything wrong, Grandpa. Why are you staring at me like that?"

"You said it wrong."

The little girl blinked up at him in sudden understanding. "I did?"

"Yes... This is why you don't give hints like that, little one."

She winced. "Sorry, Grandpa."

~*~*~*~

Torath entered the bedroom to find Alena shaking her head and smiling. "What's so funny?"

"Not that funny, really. Had an interesting visit with someone. Learned some things."

And that's when Torath saw the translucent and glowing feline curled up next to Alena that felt really familiar to him. "Uh..."

"You father was here, along with a little girl. I didn't see him, but saw her... and she left a friend."

"Oh."

"Could you go get Mara for me?" Torath nodded slowly, then turned and left the room. Alena watched him go with a frown. What had thrown him so badly?

~*~*~*~

Mara was still sitting in the kitchen with Luke when Torath entered, appearing to be somewhat more than stunned. She hadn't been around him very much in the day or so that they'd been here, but this didn't seem right for him. "Torath?"

Luke glanced up from staring at his hands and frowned. The young man had seemed fine before, but now he didn't...

"Mara..." Torath began, but stopped when he became uncertain of what else to say.

"Yes?" Now she knew something was off. The only other time she'd seen anyone that stunned, Elsie had started singing a campfire song repeatedly. In rounds.

"Alena... wanted to talk to you. Wants to talk to you."

Mara considered that statement, not discounting his apparent mental state, and stood up. "All right." She motioned to her chair. "Sit, Torath."

"But..."

"Sit," Mara told him, her flat tone of voice making no room for argument as she glared at him. Torath sat down. "Good. Luke, watch him for a bit while I go see what Alena wants."

Luke nodded, hiding a smirk, as Mara left the room.

~*~*~*~

"Alena? What has Torath so stunned that..." Mara began to ask as she entered the room, then she had to pause at the sight of the spectral animal curled up on the bed. She blinked, then sat down on the edge of the bed to get a closer look. Hadn't they left Dark Star with Leia? "Oh... So that's why he seemed so stunned. Never seen a ghost of any sort, had he?"

Alena stared at her. "You mean this happens a lot? A girl showing up out of thin air is normal?"

"Not a lot, but frequently enough... and less often since Ben was born. She's not allowed to appear in front of him." Mara frowned, trying to see past the faint blue glow... was that a faint brindle pattern she was seeing?

"Who was she?"

"The girl?"

"Yes."

Mara looked at Alena for a long, silent moment, then she took a deep breath. "Her name is Neesta. It's a long story, but basically... let's just say that she's been a ghost her entire 'life' and leave it at that."

"Complicated?"

"Very."

Alena saw the shadows of regret in Mara's eyes and had to look away. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It wasn't your fault, and, well... at least she visits on occasion when she's allowed to. She shouldn't have gone visible on you, though."

Alena laughed. "Actually, I'm glad she did. Thanks to her, I know that Temaru was here to see us as well."

Mara smiled. "That's good."

Alena looked at Mara slyly. "And she wanted me to tell you something."

"Which was?"

"'I liked Daddy in the flowers.' You really made him wear flowers?"

"Yes... I wonder if I should tell Luke that?"

"Yes!" an excited young voice suddenly yelled from nowhere. "Tell Daddy!"

Mara watched as Alena startled, then smiled again. "All right, Neesta. I'll tell him... But don't shout like that again. You scared Alena, and I don't think she needs any more excitement right now."

"Sorry, Momma."

Mara sighed as she looked at Alena. Something was nagging her about the cat, but she couldn't figure out what it was... "I can explain. She's excitable and likes to be seen."

"Just like any child."

"Except that most children aren't usually invisible."

"True." Alena glanced down at the cat, who was now looking up at them. "She seemed to think this one was yours."

Mara slowly shook her head as the cat looked at her, and blinked when she realized that she knew, or thought she knew, who this was.

Marani held a piece of string out in front of the kitten and giggled as the kitten chased it and caught the string in its teeth. She waved to her parents as they watched her from the back door. "Likes to chase!"

Her father laughed, and her mother smiled, and Marani returned her attention to the kitten. String keep-away just wasn't getting old.

"Bindle," Mara said softly as she shook the memory away and looked down at the cat with new eyes.

"Mara?"

"I had a kitten," Mara said slowly. "Or I think I did."

Alena's eyes widened. "Well, no wonder Torath was startled so badly."

"What do you mean?" Mara took in the wry expression and frowned. Hadn't Widia said something about the house being ransacked or destroyed? "He remembers having a pet?"

"He was three, and their cover was blown... I assume Widia told you some of this?"

"She did." Mara glanced at the cat again. "That makes sense. He'd have been old enough to remember a pet at the very least." She looked at Alena again. "And speaking of that... I'm not the only one with new-found family ties."

Alena nodded slowly, then blinked and looked at Mara funny. "Huh?"

"Think about it... Jaelle said what when she came in here?"

Alena thought about it as she looked down at her child, working through it in her mind. "That they should have done an investigation..."

"And why should they have, do you think?"

Alena raised her head and made eye contact with Mara. "You can't mean..."

"Sure I can... and hold that thought until later. Leia's coming, and then we can talk about it."

~*~*~*~

"What did Alena want?" Luke asked when Mara returned to the kitchen.

Mara motioned to her feet. "Just to tell me something... and be very glad that I put Ben down for a nap."

Luke followed her motion and frowned when he saw the unfamiliar feline. "Did that one happen to come with someone?"

"Yes... Seems Neesta liked your lovely floral outfit."

Luke snorted. "She would. I think everyone liked it but me."

"Would you wear it again, though?"

"No, not even if she begged."

Mara sat down and smiled her best smile at him. "How about if I begged?"

"Mara..."

"What?" She followed his gesture and had to chuckle at Torath, who was staring at them with wide eyes. "Oh... breathe, Torath."

Torath blinked. "Is the cat yours?"

"Well... no," Mara started to say as the cat in question leapt into Torath's lap. "Do you remember having a pet named Bindle?"

Torath stared at the cat in his lap. As it looked up at him, he did feel like he should know who it was. "Bindle?"

"Mara, mom wants to know..." Jaelle started to say as she entered the kitchen, and had to stop in her tracks when she saw the translucent animal on Torath's lap. "Oh. So that's why she seemed weirded out." She went over to stand next to Torath and looked down at the feline. "Oh, wow. I didn't ever think I'd see Bindle again."

"So its name is really Bindle?" Mara wondered. "I thought I was just pulling names out of thin air."

Jaelle nodded. "Yes." She reached down and tried to scratch Bindle behind the ears... and her eyes widened at the contact. "It's been a long time, but I remember him. Hiya, Bindle." Under her hand, she felt him begin to purr.

Mara glanced at Luke and nudged his arm with a smile. Luke returned her smile as Jaelle and Torath reconnected with a lost part of their childhood.

~*~*~*~

On the face of it, the house appeared normal as Leia helped Anakin out of his seat in the rented speeder that she'd parked behind the other one that was already there. On the face of it, as she climbed the steps to the door, she saw no reason for Han to say there was craziness. On the face of it, at least... under the surface was most likely another matter entirely.

As she knocked on the door, Anakin pulled at her hand. "Momma?"

"Yes, Anakin?"

"Uncle Luke and Aunt Mara and Ben are here!"

Leia smiled down at him. "Yes, they are." Then the door opened and she had to blink. There, on the other side of the threshold, was an older woman with dark red hair shot through with gray that reminded her of Mara... who was staring right back at her. "Hello?"

The other woman blinked a few times. "Madame Chief of State Organa-Solo?"

"Yes..."

The woman stood there, blinking in shock for another moment, and then she stepped aside, motioning for them to enter. "Would you please come in?"

Leia nodded and entered the house. She'd been right... normal on the face of things, but not so much under the surface, if that reaction was anything to go on.

~*~*~*~

Luke felt a sudden, familiar presence and frowned at Mara. "What's Leia doing here?"

"That's why I stopped you from making that comm. Han called earlier, saying she was here."

"Oh... shall we leave these three alone and go to greet her?"

Mara smiled. "We shall."

~*~*~*~

Widia waited for the woman and her son to sit down in a chair, and then sat down herself. "So..."

"I know this has got to be strange for you," Leia said carefully. "If it makes you feel any better, this is odd for me, too."

Widia smiled at that admission. "Right."

"Are you related to Mara? Han said that she and Luke were visiting her family, but..."

Widia held up a hand to forestall her. "I'm her mother."

Leia sat back and really looked at the other woman. After a moment, she nodded slowly. "She looks like you."

Just then, Mara and Luke entered the living room, holding hands. Mara smiled as she saw Leia sitting there with Anakin on her lap. "Well, now... Leia, good to see you. Now's your chance to ask your brother about that feeling of yours."

Widia blinked, staring first at Luke, then at Leia. Then she looked at Mara. "That was what the comm was about, wasn't it?"

"Yes." Mara pushed Luke in the shoulder. "Well? Now is your chance."

Luke turned to look at her. "Is that why you stopped me?"

"Yes, Luke. That, and I wanted you to think about the reality of what had been laid out... And now, with all the subtlety of a bomb going off, I am going to usher my mother and dear Anakin down the hallway to see Alena..." She smiled at him as he stared at her in near-stupefication. "Take your time."

Leia stared at her brother after Mara had practically pushed Widia and Anakin out of the room with somewhat of a smirk. "What was that about?"

"Mara wants us to talk about something private," Luke muttered as he sat down on the couch and patted the seat next to him. "She stopped me from comming you earlier, and..." Momentarily, Mara returned and wordlessly handed him the datapad, and then left again. Luke watched her go, looked at the datapad in his hand, and nodded in silent agreement with his wife. Some things were just easier with visual aids.

"Luke," Leia prompted as she felt the urge to blink again. "I've been having this... nudge. Since we dropped out of hyperspace into the system."

Luke turned to look at Leia. She didn't normally get Force nudges... not often, anyway. "What kind of nudge?"

"I keep seeing a woman's face. I've never met her before, and I don't know who she is. She reminds me of that woman in the portrait at home, though..." Leia shrugged, unsure of how to continue.

Luke stared at her for a minute, so startled that he forgot to blink. "Really?"

"Yes." Leia studied him intently. He seemed shocked to her... "Luke?"

"What?"

"Breathe."

Luke continued to stare at her, then laughed at the oddness of it all. Here he'd been looking for answers, and the answers had been right in front of them the whole time. "Thanks... It's just odd that you would have that kind of a vision today. Especially today." He concentrated on the datapad for a moment, finding the information he wanted, and then handed it to Leia. "Is that the woman?"

Leia took the datapad from him and read the entry, staring hard at the holo displayed there. There were minor differences, but there, in stunning clarity, was the face of the woman she'd been seeing in her mind's eye for the past several hours. She was younger in the holo, but the eyes were the same. "Yes. Yes, she is... but..."

"Why are you getting nudges?"

"Exactly that."

Luke paused, uncertain of how to explain it. He himself was still kind of reeling from confirmation, and to explain it... "Because I asked Mara's sister to do a DNA test. The woman in that holo? Her name was Padme Naberrie... and..."

Leia heard the hitch in his voice and looked up from the datapad to find him biting his lip. "Luke?"

He looked away, trying to compose himself, but Leia's hand on his arm forced him to look at her. "The test revealed that she is our mother."

"What?" Leia looked down at the datapad with new understanding. It explained why she'd been getting nudged like that...

~*~*~*~

Renna was sitting on her bed in her room and staring at the walls. Everything, from actually eating with everyone for the first time in way too long, to finding out that her nightmares hadn't been nightmares but reality, to the old lady who was sleeping again in the chair beside her bed, to the sister she'd suddenly gained... all of that was just plain overwhelming. It was all so much...

"You're missing all the fun," Mara said from the doorway, making Renna jump at the suddeness of the intrusion. "The wall cannot be that interesting."

"It's quiet in here." Renna looked up to find her mother standing behind Mara.

"But everyone else is not in here with you," Mara noted with a chuckle as she entered and sat down on the bed beside Renna. Widia stayed in the doorway. "Overwhelming, isn't it?"

"How did you..."

"You'd be surprised." Mara beckoned Widia to enter, really glad that they'd let Anakin stay to look at the baby with Alena. "It was a while before I could really do crowds... and even then, not very well."

"I'd like to hear more about that," Widia said as she sat down to join them. "You told us before, but...

"There's not much to say about it, really." Mara shook her head, and realized something... she had a golden opportunity, right here, if she wanted to take it. "First your pet, and then my husband's family... and if you really want to know..."

"What?"

"Forgive me for this, but... Neesta, if you're still here, come on out."

~*~*~*~

Neesta glanced up at her grandfather. "Can I?"

Temaru smiled. "Now that you have permission, yes." Neesta beamed up at him with a huge smile.

~*~*~*~

Widia frowned at her. "Who?" For a moment, she thought she felt a kind of static and had to blink at the sensation. She'd felt that before on numerous occasions...

Mara smiled as Neesta faded into view. "There you are... Widia Jaden, meet your granddaughter, Little Needle in a Haystack Skywalker. We call her Neesta. Neesta, this is your grandmother and your aunt." Mara glanced at Renna, not surprised to find her staring at the translucent little girl in shock.

Widia stared at the translucent little girl in facination, then she stood up and moved to get a closer look at her. "This... why didn't you say anything about this little one?"

"I did," Mara said firmly. "This is one of those reasons that Renna had nightmares she doesn't understand."

"What?" Renna suddenly asked, her voice tight and emotional.

Mara got Renna to look at her. "Sometimes the answers are hard, Renna. This is one of those... Is he still here, kiddo?"

Neesta glanced to her right in question, then nodded. "Yes."

"Good."

"He who?" Widia wondered as Mara stood up slowly.

Neesta smiled at her. "Wait for it."

"Neesta and I are going to leave the two of you to have a chat with someone who made his presence known earlier... and Renna?"

Renna yawned. "What?" She couldn't help but stare at the little girl... and now she felt even more overwhelmed than she had.

"Breathe." Mara smiled when Renna looked at her with wide eyes, then turned to Neesta. "Well? He can come on out, too."

Widia was about to ask again when a man's form solidified and he put a hand on Neesta's shoulder. She stared at him in utter shock, knowing it should have been impossible, but... here he was, translucent and glowing and smiling at her.

If it were possible, Renna's eyes went even wider. "Dad?"

Mara nodded to her mother and quietly left the room with Neesta behind her. For once, she'd gotten to spring a surprised on someone. And this time, it was a good surprise. Stopping in the hallway, she turned and looked at Neesta. "You did good."

"I did?"

"Yes, sweetie. You really did... But what was the big idea with going visible in front of Alena?"

"I wanted to see the baby, Momma." As Mara glared at her, she winced again. "That was wrong?"

"No, Neesta. It wasn't wrong..."

"But you're upset."

"Yes."

"Can I stay?"

Mara looked at her as she pleaded silently with her eyes, and sighed. "Yes, Neesta. You can stay... but remember the rules."

"No scaring Ben?"

"Exactly that... Or Anakin, for that matter."

Neesta glanced down the hallway to where she could still see her father and his sister talking in the living room. "Can I go and listen to them?"

"No, that's a private moment."

"But I already know what they're talking about!"

Mara frowned at that admission. "What?" Neesta suddenly realized what she'd said and disappeared without a word. Mara was left to glare at the spot where Neesta had been standing. They'd have to talk about that later, because now she was curious. Neesta had known all this time and kept silent?

Shaking her head, Mara joined Alena and Anakin in the bedroom. There would be time enough to sort all that out...