**
Dear Tam,
It's been a couple days so I wanted to tell you how Pay-pa was doing. Uncle Kay said that Pay-pa could come home in a few days! There have been so many people who want to come and see Pay-pa, that Uncle Kay has told them that they can only come at certain times (except us family of course!) and only 'by invitation'. There are always a lot of people waiting, and sometimes I think Pay-pa gets worn out by all those people.
Ma-mere spends almost all her time at the Healer's center, so Gra-mere and Auntie Leibé take turns staying with me and Ben unless Ma-mere need to feed him, and then Ben stays with her next to Pay-pa. I get to be there almost as much as I want, but Pay-pa wants me to do as much of a 'normal' life a I can. This means boring old lessons!
I have a new teacher who is really different from Miss Vassor (the Shaak cow). Ma-mere said he was from a place called 'Mon Calamari' and is even older than Gra-mere! His name is 'Master Vissen' and he has only one eye (but it's HUGE!) . The first thing Master Vissen did was ask us what we knew about our families. I told him about Ma-mere and her Pay-pa, (and how he died) and Gra-mere and Auntie Leibé, and how I didn't know my Pay-pa's Gra-mere and then I went kinda quiet when it came to Pay-pa and his Pay-pa, because I didn't want to hear him say horrible things like Miss Vassor had said.
Master Vissen said that he had known Grey-pa (Schurke) when he was a little boy (and then he laughed a bit – one of those adult laughs that says 'I'm not going to tell you some things'!) and that he had also known Grey-pa Skywalker briefly. (It seems that Master Vissen knows a lot about all of us and our families anyway!) He told me that Grey-pa Skywalker had been 'like a sponge' when it came to knowledge, and was always asking questions. He also said that Grey-pa Skywalker had a real 'stubborn streak' (and he laughed a bit here) and 'a real sense of Justice. He told everyone a little something different (something good) about one of their family members, and said he hoped that we would 'find those qualities in ourselves'.
I like Master Vissen, and I wanted to ask him about what Miss Vassor had said, especially after last night, but then it was time for things like maths, and star charts, and some (had to look it up) 'Philosophy of the Force'.
After last meal with Gra-mere and Auntie Leibé, I get to go sit with Pay-pa (he only eats little meals like Ben and he takes ages) Sometimes Auntie Leia or Uncle Han and Chewie will be there, and I can sit next to him (Pay-pa) and he'll put his arm around me (they've fixed his hand so he has two again) while Ma-mere sleeps in the other bed. Sometimes Ben is with us (I'm trying to teach him to say 'Pay-pa' but all he does is giggle and blow nasty spitty bubbles) and we'll have very quiet talks. He won't tell me how he got hurt, but only that there are some very bad people in the Galaxy. He also teases me about how big I'm getting, and calls me 'his little big light'.
I want to talk to him about the bad dream I had, but I don't want him to not want to see me (Uncle Kay says we can't worry Pay-pa, so I'm not going to). It was really scary though. I dreamed that Pay-pa was fighting with a guy who was all in black and I couldn't see his face, and Miss Vassor was there calling them 'killers' and started cutting them up with a red lightsaber, and then my Pay-pa had no legs or arms, but my Pay-pa was also the man in all black and he started killing everybody! Ma-mere, Grey-pa, Uncle Han and Auntie Leia and everybody, and when he came after me, I tried to scream but I couldn't breathe because all the wires were coming after me and I finally woke up. I couldn't tell Ma-mere what it was about so she thought it was because of how Pay-pa looked that night he came home.
Ma-mere offered to give me some sleepy tea, but I asked her if I could just sleep in her bed instead, and that was much better than any sleepy tea, so I dreamed about flying star ships instead.
I like that a lot better.
Love,
Pem