Chapter 10
Disclaimer – Apart from story line and a few OCs, Star Wars is obviously, though sadly, not mine. Rights to Lucas, also there are references to a movie named Dinotopia and also to Harry Potter. I cannot quite remember where in the story they are so I'll just add it every chapter. It talks about the code they have for life on Dinotopia, and I blatantly quote Hermione at some point.
It's been three years since Arl became a councillor, sometimes everyone hated Micah for naming her his successor, including Mace. When told so, Micah would simply look at them, smile and tell them that the best was still to come. It did not reassure anyone.
Things had gotten rather tense between Obi-Wan and Arlie since she found out Xanatos was still alive, that he'd lied to them all using the stress, crashing adrenaline and fear to cover the lie in the force.
She doesn't think she'll ever forget the moment she found out the truth.
"Xanatos is alive."
"Jesus Christ Obi-Wan." Arlie said knowing it to be true but still unable to believe it. It was exactly what she hated the council, specifically the troll, for doing, so she resolutely accepted the information and chose to move forward with it. "Tell me what happened, please I need to know." She asked as the anger drained from her entire being.
"We were on the catwalks, Qui-Gon was unconscious and Xanatos began walking backwards, dropped his lightsaber, his eyes went blue and he was muttering to himself as you know. He told me to tell Qui-Gon that he was sorry then he turned about to step off of the catwalk into the acid below when I called out to him."
[Flashback in a flashback…
"XANATOS WAIT!" Obi-Wan called stopping his brother-padawan just before it was too late. "Arlie needs you. Qui-Gon needs you, it's not too late. You can come home." Xan scoffs at him.
"My dear Brother-Padawan, I am almost genuinely sorry to say that it is far too late for that. I can't ever make up for what I've done, but I can make sure that I never hurt them again."
"You don't have to die to do that!"
"GODS OBI-WAN DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND!? I TRIED TO KILL HIM! MY MASTER! MY OWN DAMN MASTER! I THREATENED TO KILL THE GIRL I BROUGHT IN, SHE WAS MY RESPONSIBILITY! I WAS HER SAVIOUR AND I BETRAYED HER! I BETRAYED EVERYONE WHO HAS EVER CARED FOR ME!"
"YOU THINK DYING AND RUNNING FROM YOUR MISTAKES WILL CHANGE THAT!? ALL IT DOES IS MAKE YOU A COWARD!" Obi yells breathing heavily. "So, you can jump in the force damned tank if you really want, but don't think it is anything other than your own cowardice driving you to do so. If you really want to help them then live, keep them safe even if you can't go home." Xanatos looks at him, looking as drained and wary as Obi feels.
"How?"
"You walk away, run, hide for a while. I'll tell them you jumped in, stay off of their radar and help out how you can. You owe Qui-Gon that, you owe Arleia more than that. She looked up to you, you were her safe place, her rock, and you took that all from her. You owe her the chance to forgive you, owe her your attempt to earn it even if she doesn't ever know." Xanatos and Obi-Wan stare at each other in a disbelieving silence for a while.
"If they ever find out you lied about this, you will be kicked out of the order or, at the very least, severely punished." Obi-Wan smiles at him, the kind of warm smile reserved for those considered family, which made no sense since Obi-Wan hadn't known Xanatos in any kind of real way even when he was a Jedi.
"I will tell them that the dark-Jedi died here, so long as you swear that he has."
"Why?"
"Qui-Gon believed in you. That's enough for me to give you a choice. But if you betray me, I will make sure that I am the one to put you down." Xanatos thinks for a moment before glancing at Qui-Gon on the ground, he goes over and kisses his former Master on the forehead whispering a quiet apology.
"If you need me, I'll be there." Was all Xanatos said before walking off, Obi-Wan wasn't sure if he meant Obi or Qui but he got the feeling that it meant the same either way.
…End of flashback in flashback]
"How could you not tell me?" Arlie asks after a few tense moments of silence.
"I didn't even tell my Master, that was the way it had to be if Xanatos had any hope of survival!" Arl couldn't argue against that. "Now listen, we can't ever talk about this again, and you both have to pretend you don't know. If the truth is ever found out I will not have you two punished for a decision I made." Arlie and Anakin both nodded though neither appeared happy about it.
"One more thing, have you seen him since?"
"No, no contact. Haven't seen him around but I wouldn't be surprised if today was not the first time he'd helped us."
"Ani, how did he seem?" Arl asks her brother, Anakin looks quite uncomfortable.
"You ever see Mum when she talks about my father, or rather, avoids talking about him?" Anakin asks, she nods slowly, "He looks like that." Arlie feels herself beginning to cry as she leans against the wall bending forward, hands on her knees.
She had thought she was over what happened with Xanatos until that moment, now she knew she never would be. Three years and only silence, by the gods she missed him.
"Hey, I thought we agreed no more brooding?" Bellan reminds her girlfriend as she walks into Mace's apartment. Arlie had moved out and in with Bellan year before hand, but they spent a lot of time in her former Master's quarters anyway. Tonight, the group was having dinner together to celebrate Mace and Micah's anniversary and the anniversary of Arlie becoming both a Master and a councillor, she didn't think that particular thing was worth celebrating but she was overruled.
"I'm not brooding." Arlie denies lamely earning her an incredulous look from both her girlfriend and her best friend who was just walking through the permanently open door. "Why is that door even there?"
"Force knows, now stop changing the subject. That is your brooding face, what's wrong?" Bellan asks in concern as she wraps her arms around her beloved.
"It's nothing love, just thinking about somethings that I thought would have bitten me in the ass by now and haven't." Bellan rolls her eyes at her in an adoring way.
"Stop looking for trouble where there is none, everything is okay right now, worry about stuff when something happens to warrant it." Mace comes rushing into the room at that moment, not at all surprised to find people already here even though neither he nor Micah were home. Micah had moved in with Mace leaving Garen with his old apartment which Reeft had soon been invited to move into, an invitation that was happily accepted.
"Arl, something's happened."
"You jinxed that, you know that right?" Garen asks Bellan who nods grimacing as Arlie lets loose a long-suffering sigh.
"What's happened?"
"A failed attempted assassination on Senator Amidala's life on the diplomatic landing pad ten minutes ago." He says, people that didn't know him well would have seen an impartial Jedi master, unfortunately everyone in the room knew him well and could all see clear as day how scared the mere thought of it had him, though only Arlie knew why. "We've called an emergency council meeting."
"Dinner's going to have to wait until later guys." Arl says before leaving with her former Master, the two immediately head to the council room.
"The Senator has requested our assistance, we should send a small Jedi contingent to protect her." Master Gallia suggests after they had all been briefed.
"The Jedi are supposed to be a neutral body Master Gallia, we cannot be seen as allying ourselves with the Naboo." Master Poof reminds her harshly, Arlie looks at him like he's an idiot leading Mace to utter a sigh even before his dear former Padawan had even begun talking.
"Master Poof we are the Naboo's allies. That's what the Republic is, an alliance. We are supposed to keep the peace, whoever did this broke the law which means protecting her isn't breaking neutrality it's protecting the Republic as we are supposed to." Arl tells him, the past three years had taught her a lot, how to deal with Yarael Poof was not one of those things.
"We are peacekeepers of the galaxy, not judicial, it's not our job to uphold the law Master Aa, it's our job to protect the Republic as a whole." Every member of the council mutually and silently decided to just sit back and let Arlie deal with him, she was the only one who could ever make him see reason and it was better just to let her go.
"If we let this go it sets a bad precedent that the Jedi do not care. That we will allow our most sacred laws, those that protect life, to be broken and we will ignore a plea for help. It is every citizens job to uphold the law, that's how a law works. Just as it is every Jedi's job to uphold the Jedi Code. You want us to protect the Republic? Start with her. She's a major political player right now, if a Senator is assassinated after asking the Jedi for help, do you really believe people will continue to think the Jedi can protect them?" Yarael looks increasingly uncomfortable as she talks, knowing he had already lost.
"Then who do you suggest we send?" That was the best they would get out of him and they all knew it, he wouldn't vocally back down but he was no longer disagreeing.
"I would suggest sending Jedi she is familiar with. It may have been ten years but the last Jedi she worked with were Knight Kenobi and Padawan Skywalker." Arlie suggests, she'd have preferred putting Garen on the task, he would have kept her well informed but the aforementioned padawanship made more sense, her brother would be more than willing to tell her everything anyway.
"I agree with Master Aa's proposal, if the Jedi are to protect her then we should send people that will make Senator Amidala feel safe and are competent enough to keep her so." Master Mundi tells them all, several murmurs of agreement went around and soon the decision was official.
"Inform them you should." Yoda says looking to Master Aa, "Be there within the hour they must."
When Mace and Arlie get home they see everyone sitting around the coffee table on the floor, Arlie seriously questions why there is even a couch, or a door, seriously why do they never close it?
"Welcome home! Yell at anyone today, Arl?" Bant asks happily, clearly someone had let her drink way too much caff again, sadly it appeared Garen had as well.
"Thankfully no, she did however get Yarael to agree with the rest of us." Mace tells them when Arlie spaces out, they were used to this now though she will never explain what it means.
"Arlie, Arlliieee, ARL!" Micah calls snapping his fingers in front of her face.
"I'm present, and I didn't get him to agree with us so much as forcibly removed his head from his ass." She tells them all, she had a remarkable gift of being able to follow the conversation when she wasn't fully present in the room. She also had a habit of using sayings and words from Earth that weren't used around here when she first snaps back to reality, only her Masters, Garen, and Bellan knew of Earth but the others always attributed it to pirates or outer-rim talk.
"I'm going to go ahead and assume that means he was being an idiot and say good job love." Bellan tells her, they'd all gotten pretty adept at understanding what she meant though they were still finding things she'd never heard of even though she'd been on Coruscant for sixteen years now. When she was half asleep or drunk they often played a game of who could work out what the hell she was talking about the quickest because she'd forget to use language from Coruscant instead of Earth. Garen always thought it amusing that people on Earth often found themselves doing the same when talking to the people of her country as well, though why Australians had all these separate sayings he had no idea. Then again, the concept of countries and how they worked on Earth was still foreign to him.
"Anyway, Obi-Wan, Anakin you have a mission and you need to leave immediately." Mace tells them bringing the conversation back to topic.
"What is it Masters?" Obi asks snapping into 'Knight Mode' as Anakin called it.
"You're being sent to protect Senator Amidala of Naboo." Arlie says after a moments hesitation, neither would take the news of the assassination attempt well but they had to know. "She's okay for now but someone attempted to assassinate her. Until they are apprehended the two of you will be her guards."
"Someone tried to kill Padmè?!" Anakin squeaks sounding horrified.
"Anakin." Obi says in a warning tone. Arlie often didn't agree with how Obi-Wan was training and raising Anakin, but seeing as she didn't believe in her ability to take a Padawan she hardly thought it fair to interfere in someone else's padawanship.
"I apologise Master, that was unprofessional of me." He replies looking thoroughly chastised, she has to give Obi-Wan credit, his methods certainly seem to be working.
Soon after, the two departed for their mission. Once gone, the others decided to have a late dinner since they were all there anyway.
"So, how's life as a councillor going? We never seem to talk about it much." Tahl asks both Mace and Arlie, she had been the least surprised of everyone when she found out about Arlie's acceptance onto the council and subsequent mastery.
"That's because it mostly consists of Arlie yelling at people and poking fun at Yoda." Mace says with a glare that makes Arlie chuckle while looking jokingly offended.
"Oh come on! I've mocked him once in the past three years, everything else the Troll has started. And I don't yell at people unless they are being unreasonable. Meanwhile since I joined, how much better is the council at making decisions? How much more efficient is the temple with everything? How much easier is it for Padawans, Knight and Masters to be heard by the council? Simply by my refusal to ignore the things going on in temple as well as without. If someone had put their foot down a long time ago we may not have gotten to this point." Arlie tells her former Master who smiles at her proudly.
"All very true, except that last bit, you're still wrong about that."
"What do you mean 'this point'? And what is she wrong about?" Bant asks smiling still from watching the two bantering. It's not often the two discuss council matters outside the chamber so none of them really knew how often they agreed and disagreed or such, this was an interesting opportunity not to be passed up.
"Arl seems to think that we should be devoting more resources to understanding the dark side of the force…" Mace begins to say.
"And by more he means any." Arlie interjects earning herself a glare.
"…and teaching the younglings about it as more than something to just avoid. I keep reminding her that the only two people to ever want to research the dark side are her and Dooku, neither of which are stunning examples of sanity, but she's being extremely obstinate about it." He finishes, she rolls her eyes.
"As I have said before, Master Dooku was researching the Sith, not the 'dark side' of the force…" She begins to say.
"They're the same thing!" Mace says as though he was sick of repeating himself.
"No they aren't! That's like saying all those that use the 'light side' of the force are Jedi."
"They are!"
"I was using the force long before I became a Jedi."
"But you don't specifically use the light side you just haven't been taught the dark."
"Technically Force-Magic is not of the light side. Or the dark side, it's use died out when the force-users first began separating the two, even though there is not separation, it's just a…"
"…construct created by those who feared the more aggressive uses of the force and those that thought they were stupid." Mace says clearly quoting her words, she narrows her eyes at him as the rest of the group watch them with varying looks of amusement and intrigue. The discussion had been going on to a lesser extent years ago, they just had no idea that neither party had let it go nor that it had been brought to the council.
"It's really annoying when you do that Winni." Arlie tells him.
"You know by that definition you've fallen to the dark side." Terza points out, everyone just kind of looks between her and Arlie waiting to see what happens next when Garen started snickering.
"Healer Terza when using that definition there is no falling, she was never on the light side. But what she means is that her use of the force is a neutral, neither light nor dark. See the concept of light and dark has changed, it used to be those that feared vs those that thought them stupid, now it's those that follow the Jedi code vs those that don't, which seems hypocritical given that we are supposed to be a neutral body but anyway. The Sith weren't technically evil, they had differing views on the Jedi which is why war broke out but there was more to the Sith than killing off the Jedi, they had a code they lived by as well and Master Dooku's research has shown that a lot of the Sith didn't even go on random murdering sprees they just got a bad reputation, it could have easily gone the other way and we could be having the opposite discussion right now if people had thought the Jedi struck first. To be honest though they could have, we have no real way of knowing. All we do know is that they use the force in a way some people disagreed with, which is basically how we decide if someone has 'gone dark' or not." Garen tells them all, they look at him completely shocked. "What? I listen!" He defends looking mildly offended.
"So wait, you're telling me that the Sith weren't evil?" Reeft asks sounding confused as everything he'd been taught since the crèche was put into question.
"What I'm saying is that long ago there were no Jedi, nor were there Sith. Just a bunch of people that knew how to use the force. Eventually they began having disagreements over what the force should be used for, some were afraid of its destructive capabilities while others thought it safe so long as it's used wisely. However, as people tend to do, there were some assholes that decided to use the force to hurt people, swaying a lot of force users to the side against the aggressive techniques. Over time these two opposing opinions each developed a code, became like a religion worshipping the same god in different and incompatible ways, these became the Sith and the Jedi. Now one day, they started seeing each other as a dangerous enemy who needed to be wiped out, god knows how that happened but it did, the great Sith war began and despite what we are taught, we don't actually know which side started the war, we only know who finished it. What the Jedi called 'protecting the universe from the Sith' could also be looked at as religion based genocide." Arlie tells them all happily noticing that for once when laying out what she had found, people were listening to her instead of dismissing her. "My point is that the dark side is simply what the Jedi call things they don't agree with and they kill them for it, modern Jedi don't even realise that's what they're doing because of how they were raised to think, I know of only three people that came to this realisation on their own and the only reason I did was because I wasn't raised here from crèche up and I don't give in to other people's opinions without research which is what led me here."
"Well damn." Micah says dumbly making Garen snicker, having been her best friend for years he had heard this many times in different ways as she discovered more and more lost parts of history.
"So how are the Sith and the dark side different?" Bellan asks confused, it was a lot of information and while she had known they were different before Arlie started talking, she got lost along the way and now had no idea what was happening.
"Dark-Side users are anyone who uses the force in a way the council doesn't agree with. The Sith are a people that follow a specific code like we do only with opposing views, supposedly." Arl explains simply, Bellan nods thoughtfully as she processed what she'd been told.
"What do you mean supposedly?" Tahl asks, she was a researcher, this is what she did, yet somehow, she did not know of any of this, she vowed to look into it more as she was not willing to stand idly by while people were killed for something that may not be as evil as she thought.
"Just before Master Dooku left he was researching the Sith code specifically, the last time I spoke to him about it, which was several weeks before he left, he said he found a lead to an older version of it but he never told me what turned up or what the lead was. He started looking into it because some of his research into the Sith had him questioning how different the two actually were."
"I think I've found my next project." Tahl remarks, Arlie smiles while Mace drops his head into his hands in exasperation.
"Okay Winni, I'll bite, why are you so opposed to hearing any of this let alone have us believe it?" Garen asks his former Master.
"Because the last person to agree with Dooku about such things went crazy, tried to kill the people he had cared for most before jumping into a tank of acid." Mace says matter-of-factly, the group looked suitably wary for him to look at Arlie and say what he had been trying to for years. "I know you miss him Arleia, I do too, but doing this now will not bring him back, it just risks us losing you too." Arlie contemplates for a moment before deciding on the words to convey her meaning.
"On my eighth birthday the four of us went to the market. I went to the bathroom at one point and discovered Xan in an alleyway." Arlie begins, based on her Masters' and Garen's faces, they had not known of this before which made the others in attendance uneasy. "We talked for a few minutes. In those few minutes he threatened to kill me and I disowned him entirely, I turned my back on him and literally walked away." She was a Jedi Master on the high council of the Jedi Order but if she ever said she weren't fighting back tears in this moment her nose would've grown as long as Qui-Gon had once been tall. "Master, Xanatos has been gone a long time, I do miss him but I also know that he is not coming back, that even if he were alive, he wouldn't be coming back. I accepted that a long time ago, but if I can save someone else in his name, maybe it can set him free, maybe I won't have failed him entirely. Maybe he could be someone's saviour even if he failed at being mine." Bellan put her arm around Arlie's shoulders earning her a teary-eyed smile from the other girl. Silence fell as everyone thought everything that had been discussed over.
"Yes, I see why you don't discuss council matters often." Tahl remarks, everyone chuckles at her words grateful for the levity returning to the table. "But listen, this has been mentioned to me before by a few council members, I'll offer to research it. It gets it off the agenda for the council for a while which Yarael, Saesee, and Yoda should be happy about and whatever I do find they will probably take better from me than you anyway. They trust my research and my ability to be impartial. If you'll show me what you've found I can use your research as a starting point and go from there."
"Your biggest problem is going to be getting the council to not view it as a waste of resources." Bellan tells them.
"I have the vote of five councillors, we can sway two more I'm sure." Tahl tells them all. "And if that doesn't work, Chancellor Palpatine has shown an interest into the history of the Jedi and asked if I might teach him about it sometime, I'm sure I could get him to put in a request to the council." As soon as the words left her mouth, Mace stood up and stormed out of the room bumping the table on the way and spilling some food onto the carpet. Everyone was shocked at the outburst, everyone it seemed, except Arlie.
"Why do I get the feeling that was about more than differing views on history?" Bant asks looking between the three people who knew him best.
"Because it was." Arlie replies with fury clouding her eyes mixed with an unhealthy dose of sadness, then she did something she almost never does and releases her emotions into the force allowing her to think clearly. "I don't think he'll be back anytime soon."
"Right, well I think that's enough emotional discomfort for one night, also new rule, no forcing council talk out of you two over dinner." Terza says as she stands up, everyone begins to shuffle out until it's just Micah, Arlie, Bellan, Garen and Reeft remaining. So really only Tahl, Bant and Terza left…and of course Mace.
"Would you mind if Arl and I stayed here tonight Master Mic?" Bellan asks calling him by the friendly name they all called him when not interacting in an official capacity.
"Not at all Bellan." He replies with a kind smile only slightly overshadowed by the worry in his eyes.
"We better be heading off I think, Arl can you let me know when Mace gets back?" Garen asks pointing to his head to show he means through the bond, she nods.
"Sure thing G." There's a weird moment between Garen and Arlie, Bellan and Reeft share an exasperated look. They were used to this, they both knew that their partners were in love with each other but for whatever reason they had decided to be with them instead so they didn't mind. Reeft and Bellan had had many conversations about the weird dynamic but in the end both had decided that so long as Arl and Garen were happy as they were it didn't matter how they felt about each other, they would never act on it so long as they are with them. Micah seemed to find the interaction between the four of them confusing and amusing, Mace never picked up on anything at all, for a usually observant man, he could be rather dense at times.
"Well, I think I'll retire until I get some call telling me to come get a drunken Mace Windu from some club named after an arbitrary letter of the alphabet." Micah says with a joking smile, Arl smiles back though she's worried there may be more truth than joke in the statement. 'The Drunken Mace Incident' as they called it had been ten years ago, it had taken five of those years and a lot of digging in both news feeds, general gossip, and little things Mace let slip for Arl to put together the reason for the incident. Here were the facts,
Fact the first: Obi-Wan had shut himself in his room for the day before and after the Drunken Mace Incident.
Fact the second: Mace was offworld on that date every year for the last twenty-nine years.
Fact the third: Obi-Wan never spoke to anyone over those two days in the entire time he'd been at the temple.
Fact the fourth: It was two weeks after Palpatine became Chancellor which made it different from other years, that, and he wasn't able to leave the temple because of the whole Naboo incident, things were still far too tense.
Fact the fifth: It was one week before Padmè Naberrie is first announced to the public.
Conclusion: It was the anniversary of Obi-Wan's mother being killed and Mace had been unable to leave as he usually would have.
Palpatine was the only thing that set him off like this, she didn't particularly want a repeat but it seemed unavoidable at this point.
Arlie decided to wait on the couch until either her Master came home, or she had to go get him. Bellan wanted to wait with her but ended up falling asleep with her head on Arl's lap looking, in her girlfriend's opinion, far too adorable to not have a holo of it.
It was fifteen minutes past 3rd hour when Micah came out of his and Mace's room and looked at her with worried eyes.
"I jinxed it." He says simply, she smiles knowingly at him before waking her girlfriend, telling her they were going to get Mace and suggesting she go into the Padawan room to sleep and also promising to join her after they got back.
"Okay, where is he?" Arlie asks once they've left the room, not having to worry about closing the door quietly because they never friggin close it. It annoyed her to no end yet she's fairly certain she started it, lord knows why.
"A bar on the other side of town, it's called 'Norman's'."
"Alright, I've told Garen, he's going to meet us at the temple entrance."
Fifteen minutes later had the three of them walking into the bar looking very unimpressed when they see Mace sitting with his face down on the bar.
"You Mic?" The bartender asks, Micah nods and walks over to him, former Padawans in tow. "He fell asleep a few minutes after I spoke to you, been tryin not to wake him. I don't know what's going on and it's none of my business, but if I were you I'd keep an eye on your friend there, seems like he's got troubles and drinkin ain't the way to deal with it."
"Blasted idiot." Garen mutters before announcing he'll wait with the transport. Micah goes over to Mace to wake him up.
"You may want this, took it off your friend after he became too drunk to notice, didn't want it either getting stolen or him accidentally or drunkenly using it." The bartender says handing Arl Mace's lightsaber.
"He's not my friend, he's my father. One of them at least." She says looking at Micah who has managed to get Mace upright and on his feet.
"Well, I hope you all sort whatever this is out, awfully nice of your boyfriend to come help out your old man." He continues, Arlie thinks she should be surprised by the assessment but they tend to get that a lot.
"Actually, he's my foster brother, they're his Dad's too." Arlie says a small smile on her face when she realises she isn't just translating the relationship between the Jedi into more common terms but actually speaking of what they all are.
"Arlie," Micah calls, "Help. He's heavy."
"That's because you two never work out since I moved out."
"Oh we work out all the time." He says with a disturbingly devilish smile.
"I so did not need to know that, let's just get him home okay?! Thank you, Mister…" Arlie begins as she turns pointedly from her disgusting and scarring Master and back to the bartender.
"Cliegg, Cliegg Lars." He says holding out his hand for her to shake which she accepts, they get Mace into the transport before she makes the connection and walks back into the bar.
"As in Obi-Wan Kenobi's father?" She asks as she remembers the name Mace once told her.
"Yeah, you know my boy? Thought the temple was bigger than that."
"You'd be surprised, actually he's a good friend of mine, his Padawan also happens to be my little brother." She says with a fond smile. "Arl Aa." She introduces.
"Ah, yes Obi has mentioned you, actually I'd heard of you anyway. Shmi talks about you a lot." She looks shocked at his words.
"You know my Mother?" She asks, he nods smiling brightly.
"Yes, didn't know you were a Jedi, neither does she. Your little brother is apparently quite adept at keeping secrets. The name change probably helped with that too."
"I used to use my birth name but I changed it after I was knighted, I knew Ani was gonna be there one day and figured there couldn't be two Master Skywalkers running around." She says with a smile. "So how do you know her?"
"Actually, we're married. Have been for about a year now. Shmi wanted to be closer to her sons, as did I, so we decided to move to Coruscant. Didn't want to tell Anakin or Ben until we'd found a place and settled down a bit, got my Owen into a school and such. Do me a favour? Don't tell them?" He requests with a grimace, he clearly wants to see his sons but for whatever reason it was important to him that he and his wife have a stable set up beforehand.
"I won't so long as you don't tell your wife about me." He looks uncertain.
"Why?" He asks looking rather concerned at the thought of hiding something like this from his wife.
"I don't know how to face her." She says looking downcast. He smiles at her kindly.
"She's your mother Arl." He tells her, she looks up at him sadly.
"That's the thing though, I've had a mother, one that raised me as her own for many years, I have my Master's, I don't I mean I…" She trails off not sure how to put it into words.
"You think she will be hurt that you found kin and it didn't necessarily include her." Arlie blushes slightly knowing it seemed ridiculous.
"Arlie she will be glad you found people who love you, more importantly, she'll be glad to see you. Even just knowing you are alive is more than she has right now. Just think about it okay?" He says as he writes down several things on a napkin before sliding it over, "I think you'd better go after your father." She smiles and runs out.
"Finally Arlie, come on!" Garen says impatiently as they finally leave.
"Sorry, turns out I just ran into my step-father."
"What?!" Micah and Garen both ask, Mace had promptly passed out on Mic's lap when they had gotten into the transport.
"I'll explain later."
Once Mace was safely in bed, Garen passed out on the couch and Micah made tea. Arlie contemplated what to do for a while, she looked at the napkin. It had two addresses and two comm numbers. The first address was marked 'home' and the other was 'Shmi's work' the comm numbers were marked 'Shmi' and 'Me' respectively. It was Cliegg's offering of family, giving her the option to reach out or not. Arlie realised there was only one place she wanted to be right now and went into her old room to snuggle up with her sleeping girlfriend who immediately moved over as much as possible in the single bed before wrapping herself around Arlie and going back to sleep. Arlie smiled into her hair before deciding not to think about anything for a while and went to sleep feeling safe and loved.