This, rather abruptly - sorry about that - is our last episode of this little story. I hope you have all enjoyed the ride and I would like to assure you all a final time that I claim no ownership nor intend any copyright infringement of any recognisable parts of this material, and that this story is merely intended for fun.

TapTap

They were seventeen years old, the twins, when they finally found out. It was amazing, really, that they had managed to keep the rumours from the children for that long; and for that matter that no friends of theirs had ever spoken of it.

In Luke's case, as he had grown up to enter the Jedi ranks, it wasn't really seen as a very relevant topic of conversation. In his generation, anyway. It might have been interesting to ask his father, maybe, but considering how terrifying that experience had been, no one had wanted to even try with the son. Besides, everyone knew that the royal Skywalker children didn't know that story. That piece of news had long leaked from the palace.

As far as Leia was concerned, she was mostly surrounded by the daughters of Naboo's nobles and they were far too well bred to dare defy all convention and ask her about it. Well, at first. Then they simply forgot all about it. Because it was something interesting to their parents, and therefore inherently boring.

Perhaps more surprisingly, Leia's other friend - the young pilot called Han Solo - hadn't brought it up either; but then again, he was a street-smart youngling and could probably tell it wouldn't be a good idea. Not that he necessarily minded bad ideas, as a general rule. Which was really rather what Leia liked about him.

In the end it was a completely random occurrence which gave it away after all those years. Just a visiting party of diplomats and a seemingly harmless conversation.

Leia; who had grown up to be quite the diplomat with age - not that she hadn't been savvy enough at the ripe old age of four to be able to save her father that time - was cool-headed enough not to start a scene in the middle of a political dinner.

It was the next morning; only family in attendance, including her two brothers, that Leia in a surprisingly steady voice confronted her mother. She had managed to draw out the rest of the story from her old nurse earlier in the morning, so she knew what the people said.

With this preparation, the accusation she finally threw at her mother was properly expressed and well-informed, and it was filled with undertones of the deep betrayal the teenage daughter now felt looking at her apparently loving, united parents with the sudden knowledge that things like that very image; things she had believed her entire life, were questioned by everyone but herself and by all accounts was mostly made up by lies.

"Leia," Padme responded in a pleading voice, trying to calm her daughter. "I don't want to hear it!" Leia was not normally a very loud nor difficult teenager, but she did have a rather good excuse at this occasion.

"You lied to us! Not even that, he," she pointed at the startled, and obviously upset and hurt Anakin," isn't even our father! And you let us take his name!"

"Leia," Qui-Gon's voice was soft and calming, a great effort at calming the situation down which yet did not work. At this point, more than one servant had heard the uproar and there was a small but growing audience to their conversation.

Quiwan cut in at this point, his voice somehow both silent and yet echoing in the great space. "Who is my father?" The boy, only eleven years old, sounded defeated, his voice hollow. "I am!" Anakin's voice was sure and almost too loud in the tense atmosphere of the hall.

Quiwan looked at his two siblings with deep shock, and his voice was a devastated whisper. "Then, you and I are not really…" But his silent plea, as that was really what it was, was drowned by his brother's harsh words to their father.

"Because you killed our father and took his place!" Luke had joined in the shouting now, looking more distraught than actually angry; but he was clearly building up to it, nevertheless. Without a doubt, he would have shaken his grief and become furious before long if uninterrupted.

"Luke," tried both Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon, "Anakin did not kill your father!" The boy paused, not detecting any lie, just as Anakin drew his attention, his voice almost sharp with the force of his argument. "Luke, I am your father!"

Luke faltered at that, his two siblings staring in silence with him for a moment, before Obi-Wan pre-empted more shouting by explaining, his voice soft, considerate, trying to help.

"I was with them, when your father and I originally got the task to protect your mother. The first time. I was also with them as they fell in love, and I… I was there to advise them against it. I am glad I was wrong. Nobody could be more thrilled for you and for the family they managed to build; against the odds."

"Anakin confided in me early on," Qui-Gon continued securely, his gentle voice calming the three children down effectively this time, "and I was there when they married in secret. They tossed him out," he joked, nodding to his former pupil, making Obi-Wan snort.

"I was with them as Master Windu and I manipulated members of the senate into pushing the stupid plan of making them marry, and what I told you when you were small is true. They did wed because of politics, but they were very happy to do so."

"We were both there, along with Yoda, when they wed after your mother's coronation, back when you both," Obi-Wan continued, nodding towards Luke and Leia, "were just toddlers. That was why it was a private ceremony; they could not marry again, after all."

"It was a cover-up of sorts," Carriel broke in from the door, privately thinking afterwards that she had chosen quite an opportune moment to arrive at Naboo, "but as I told your mother, it was well worth it. It was not ideal this way, but your father got to see you grow up, and they got to be together. I know it must seem like we all lied to you, but really, it was the exact opposite. We didn't mention it, because we did lie, and we didn't want to lie to you three."

"I never wanted to tell you anything but that I was your father, and it didn't feel right that you should share in this burden," Anakin stated softly, "so we forbade the palace staff to talk about it and hoped… well, just hoped."

"This was not the ideal way for us to have this discussion, but Yoda would tell you it was inevitable that we would, eventually, have it." Qui-Gon settled finally.

Leia's eyes widened, as she took in their audience and realised for the first time what an incredibly public, in many ways, place she had chosen to have this argument.

Qui-Gon followed her huge, startled eyes and he smiled. "I think it is a little late for anybody to do anything about this now," he assured her. "The truth does have a way of coming forwards eventually, and it was likely for the best that it finally did."

"And isn't it rather lovely," Padme stated with a sudden beaming smile, as the realisation sunk in. Anakin laughed. Carriel smirked and noted with a chuckle, winking at her brother, "I look forward to the next time you set foot in headquarters. That'll be some conversation; they're all convinced you used a laser sword to 'divide' the mystery lover into at least a few dozen pieces, these days."

"Well, I seem to recall you retelling the rumour that they decided they'd never find the body," Anakin quipped back, winking at his children. "I always thought that rather insightful, at the end of the day."

"Because there's no body to find," Padme spoke almost disbelievingly. "Details!" Rather surprisingly, it was Quiwan who broke in, chuckling now.

Rolling her eyes, Leia went back to being rational. "So, we are all…" she sought confirmation, without being able to find the words to ask.

"Yes," Padme promised her daughter, meeting her eyes with nothing but honesty. "You are all Skywalkers; all Anakin's - and my - children. We have loved each other for twenty years, and we have been so blessed to get to raise you all together. For a long time, we thought we'd never be able to." Her voice, though she did not know it, was a raw appeal for understanding. Anakin nodded with her words.

It was the same evening, the whole family gathered before the fire in the lounge of the royal apartments, as the adults took turns to tell the children the whole story, without diversions, of what had happened in those very early years of their lives; before Quiwan was born.

"Your grandmother, grandpa Lars and your aunts and cousins know," Anakin assured his children, "they did not at first, but mother was concerned that I might have killed somebody, and that… well, that you might become estranged from your 'real' family, as it might be. I told her first, and with time we told the rest of the family."

"Yoda was told early on; I insisted on it," Qui-Gon elaborated, "and Windu knows, though he was never thrilled about it. Too untidy for his sensibilities..." Obi-Wan snorted audibly.

"I want to hear what the rumours say now, amongst the Jedi," Quiwan snorted and shook his head, making his brother and father chuckle with him. Like his brother, Quiwan had been drawn into the circles his father had come from, but he was a lot less conventional about it than his brother. Padme thought privately that her eldest son took after Obi-Wan, while her youngest took after Qui-Gon.

"I will relay every single one to you," Carriel promised, making Obi-Wan cringe visibly. "We should schedule a trip soon, Padme decided, giving up on being an adult for the time being and just going along with the silliness, leaning against Anakin's side in a room full of their closest friends and family, in a land full of her people, in a palace from which the truth was already flooding like water.

She knew, that by the time they all sat there together, everybody finally knew the truth. She could let go of the excuses and the mysterious smiles as people commented on their amicable relationship or family. The truth was out. At last.