Chapter 26 -- Demon Revealed
Skywalker couldn't stay his trembling as he ignited his lightsaber and deliver his challenge to the Black One, couldn't keep the breathless excitement and terror out of his voice. This was it -- he would avenge his father's and master's death, all in one fell swoop. He would rid his tribe of the dangers of the Black One and save his sisters and friends. And when Vader had atoned for his crimes in blood, he would slay the Emperor... and rid the galaxy of his stain forever.
Something pulsed frantically in the back of his mind, shrilling fiercely that this was wrong, but he pushed it aside. He couldn't have doubts now, not when victory was so close!
"I'm going to make you pay for all you have done," he declared, stepping forward into the space conveniently cleared as the tribe pulled back to give the combatants room to maneuver.
"Skywalker, you don't know what you are doing," Vader intoned, raising his own weapon in what he recognized as a defensive stance.
"I know well what I do, Black One," he replied. "I avenge my father. And I rescue my people from your cruelty." And he charged, belting out a battle cry and thrusting with his saber.
Vader barely moved from his position, only swatted the thrust aside as easily as if he were chasing away an annoying insect. Skywalker staggered, snarling in frustration, and whirled to face the Black One again.
"Skywalker, you do not understand the truth," Vader told him. "Your father lives."
"He lies," the Emperor sneered, and Skywalker could feel the truth ringing from the old man's words. "Your father no longer exists. Vader destroyed him. Destroyed him and your mother both!"
With another roar Skywalker hacked at Vader, his sapphire blade ringing against Vader's ruby saber. Vader blocked and parried, his movements slow, almost gentle, as he defended himself. He made no move to go on the offensive -- even though Skywalker felt that he could easily overpower and slay him if given the chance. Somehow, that only angered him more. This monster was toying with him!
"Skywalker, hear the truth, and hear it now," urged Vader, sidestepping another strike. "I did not kill your father. I AM your father."
Break...
Wind-Dancer did not resist as the foul servants of the Sons of the Suns dragged her and her companions out of the community tent, though Leia cursed and the Rogues fought and struggled valiantly. Outwardly it might have appeared that she had surrendered herself to her fate, but in reality she was considering how to work herself and her brother out of this quandry. The battle between Skywalker and the Black One was not hers to fight -- her brother had to face his demons alone. Her energy was better spent in aiding her people than in fretting over something she could not affect.
"You can treat a Daughter of the Moon with more respect," she said sharply to the warrior who held her right arm as he stepped on her robes, making her stumble.
The warrior barked a laugh. "Respect a Daughter of the Moon? Your tribe is indeed backward! In our tribe the women know their true place -- they serve us, they bear our sons, they attend to our needs. The Daughters pay their respects to the Sons rather than grinding them under their heels. And you, too, shall learn to respect us as you rightfully should." This last was said with a leer and a chuckle.
Wind-Dancer did not honor his insult with a reply. Instead, she leaned slightly to her left, forcing the guard holding her left arm to change his direction slightly... enough to take her closer to Leia.
"Sister," she whispered in the outsider language, "when you hear me shout, imitate me as best you can. Pass this on to the others."
"Quiet!" bellowed her captor, kneeing her in the back.
His command was too late, of course. Leia whispered to Wedge, who in turn passed the message on to Biggs and Hobbie. Wind-Dancer waited until their passage took them past the last tent on the outskirts of the camp, then flung her head back and howled a command, a command that was echoed by her companions, albeit rather badly -- though not bad for outsiders, she supposed.
"What the..." was all the guard on her left had time to get out.
A cacophany of barks and howls filled her ears, and she jerked loose from her captors and sprinted away just as a pair of the Redrock Tribe's massifs sprang for their throats. The Serpent Tribe guards went down screaming under a stampede of heavy paws and a rain of teeth and claws, overwhelmed by sheer animal strength. Leia, Wedge, and Hobbie broke away easily and followed Wind-Dancer to safety, but Biggs didn't get away in time and paid for his delay with a savage bite to his arm. Cradling the wounded limb, he joined the others as they made their escape.
"It's not bad, it's not bad," he insisted as Wind-Dancer grabbed his arm to inspect the wound.
"I thought those things were drugged!" Wedge protested, watching the massif frenzy with horrified awe.
"I do not doubt that they were," Wind-Dancer replied as she tore open Biggs' sleeve to survey the extent of the damage, "but the Daughters of the Moons have never been very trusting. We have spent many moon-cycles dusting the massifs' meat rations with Demon's Fist -- just a dusting, but enough to let them build an immunity to it."
Leia smiled, impressed. "Smart thinking."
"Nice, but what are we gonna do now?" Hobbie demanded. "While we stand here gabbing, Skywalker's probably getting slaughtered..."
"Vader won't kill him," Biggs replied, wincing as Wind-Dancer bound his arm tightly with strips torn from her own sleeve. "Remember, he wants Skywalker for himself."
"Damned if you do, damned if you don't, huh?" Wedge groused. "If he kills Vader, he kills his own father and the Emperor makes a Sith out of him. If he doesn't kill Vader, Vader still makes a Sith out of him. Either way... we lose."
"There is nothing we can do," Wind-Dancer replied, "except have faith in Skywalker and his abilities." She gestured in the direction the guards had been taking them. "That way."
"Why?" Hobbie demanded. "That's where they were taking us in the first place."
"And doubtless my sisters among the Daughters of the Moons are there," she retorted. "I must know if they are all right."
Leia squeezed her arm. "I'll go with you."
"Me too," Wedge added, clasping her shoulder.
"Count me in," Biggs chimed.
Hobbie rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll go too. Nothing else to do..."
"Very good," Wind-Dancer replied. "Come!"
Break...
Skywalker felt every muscle and nerve in his body freeze in stunned horror at Vader's announcement. His mind struggled to wrap itself around what had just come out of that skullish mask. He couldn't have just said that, could he?
The Emperor gave a cold, clotted laugh. "He lies, Skywalker. You heard the truth from Obi-wan, did you not? This man murdered your father... and must pay for his crimes."
Those words prodded him back into action, and with a hoarse cry he lunged again. Vader batted the attack aside, causing him to stumble and fall to his knees. He seethed in fury as he scrambled back to his feet. Why didn't he take the opportunity to strike then? Did he see fit to toy with both his mind and his body?
"Skywalker, I speak the truth," Vader insisted. "I was once Anakin Skywalker... but I took on the name of Darth Vader when I became a Sith. Search your feelings, you know it to be true..."
"Lies," hissed the Emperor. "He lies! Strike him down, Skywalker! He can only atone for his crimes with his own blood!"
Under normal circumstances, Skywalker might have questioned why the Emperor was suddenly taking his side in this matter, so quick to turn his back on his servant. But rage and battle-lust clouded his mind, and with another warrior's cry he charged the Black One, sapphire ringing against ruby as their blades met again and again in thunderous crashes.
Help me, Obi-wan! he pleaded. Help me avenge you and my father! I can't do this alone!
Break...
Just outside the tent, Chewbacca lifted a flap of hide just enough for a man in the scarlet robes of an Imperial Guard to wriggle out. Even in the sleek robes and armor, Han Solo managed to exude an aura of all-around scruffiness, though the sand and dirt liberally dusting the front of his robes didn't really help matters.
"Thought I'd never get out of there," he grumbled. "Lucky everyone seems occupied with that fight. C'mon Chewie, we've got to set up a distraction!"
Chewie barked his agreement and gestured toward the banthas.
"They're drugged, remember?" Han snapped. "Don't see how a bunch of stoned banthas are going to help us..."
Chewie growled.
"Huh? Well... I guess it's worth a shot, isn't it?"
Man and Wookie went to the closest of the beasts and began shoving and kicking at it, struggling to get it moving. The beast snorted languidly but otherwise didn't budge. Han treated the creature to a rather virulent string of curse words for good measure, which only earned a rather dubious look from one glazed eye.
"Stang it, Chewie, this isn't working."
Something just behind Han grunted, and he whirled to see Skywalker's bantha eyeing him curiously. Upon realizing he had the human's attention, Cyclone butted him -- not hard, but hard enough to push him onto his backside.
"Not now, stupid," Han grumbled.
Chewie's eyes lit up with a sudden epiphany, and he reached down and grabbed Han's force pike.
"Chewie?"
The Wookie barked.
"Herd mentality? What's that got to do with anything?"
In response Chewie grabbed Han's arm and dragged him around behind Cyclone, out of the beast's path. Then he raised the force pike and jabbed it hard into the beast's rump.
With a bugling cry of shock and pain Cyclone lurched forward in what could loosely be termed a gallop, knocking Han and Chewie over in his panic. The rest of the herd seemed to spring to life at that moment -- confused, startled, but terrified of whatever threat Cyclone was sounding the alarm over, they staggered and tripped over one another in their haste to flee. Chewie and Han barely made it out of the bedlam without injury.
"Whew!" Han gasped, watching a young calf lope past with a bawl. "Nice job, Chewie. Think it'll work?"
Chewie shrugged with a growl.
"I sure hope you're right."
Break...
Leia expected the worst when they finally found the cavern where the Daughters of the Moons were being held captive -- and so was startled to find the entrance to the cavern completely unguarded. A line of banthas had been tethered close to the cave's entrance, but of guards themselves there was no sign. Leia wondered if this was to be taken as a good sign or a bad omen. The Rogues were similarly uneasy, but Wind-Dancer seemed unconcerned.
"It's quiet," Wedge said nervously. "Could it be a trap?"
"No," Wind-Dancer replied. "It is safe. I would sense it if there was danger here." And she cupped her hands around her veil in the general vicinity of her mouth and gave an eerie, piercing call.
A petite young Tusken woman emerged from the cavern, her priestess robes gray with dust. She gave a startled cry upon seeing Wind-Dancer and rushed out to meet her. Wind-Dancer accepted the embrace, laughing softly.
"You're alive!" the young Daughter of the Moon exclaimed. "We feared we had lost you..."
"The trouble with men, young Moon-Shadow, is that they constantly underestimate the Daughters because they are women," Wind-Dancer replied. "How are the others?"
"Well and good," Moon-Shadow replied. "Storm-Chaser's son grows strong. Blue-Dragon has been leading us since Palpatine slew Star-Thief, but..."
"But what?" prompted Wind-Dancer. "Blue-Dragon is an excellent leader. She will make a good Eldest Daughter..."
"But she wishes you to lead now," Moon-Shadow finished.
Leia couldn't be sure, as Wind-Dancer's veils obscured her face, but from the way her head reared back she certainly appeared to be gaping. "What?"
"You are the wisest of us," Moon-Shadow insisted. "You know much about the outsiders -- you even speak their tongue! Please, lead us as the Eldest Daughter. Lead us to victory against this Palpatine and the Sons of the Suns."
Wind-Dancer struggled to reply.
"Wind-Dancer," Leia told her, struggling to find the right words in the Tusken language so that Moon-Shadow could understand her as well, "I haven't known you long. But you're a smart woman, and you care for the tribe very much. You'll be a good leader."
She hesitated, then nodded. "I will." She regarded the banthas now. "Where are the guards?"
"Drugged and bound in the cave," Moon-Shadow replied, a defiant smile clearly evident in her voice. "They think we're weak and stupid because we're women. We showed them, didn't we?"
Wind-Dancer laughed. "Indeed you did. Take their weapons, then find staffs, sharp stones, anything you can use as a weapon. We will fight Palpatine and the warriors of the Serpent Tribe."
"What are they saying?" asked Biggs.
"They're going to attack the Emperor and his allies," Leia translated.
"But that's suicide!" Hobbie protested.
"If you'd rather stand and watch, be my guest," Leia retorted. "Just stay out of the way so we can do our job."
"Count me in," Wedge offered, unholstering his blaster. "I don't know much about the Tuskens, but if they're anything like Skywalker, then they deserve our help."
"Me too," Biggs added. "They're a lot more than the monsters I used to see them as. Skywalker's proven that. And even with a bum arm I'm sure I can help."
"Thank you," Wind-Dancer told them gratefully. "Help me arm my sisters, then we'll strike."
Hobbie huffed and followed behind as their party retreated into the cavern. "I'm going to regret this."
Break...
Palpatine didn't bother to hide an exultant grin as he watched Vader and Skywalker duel, red and blue light flashing upon ebony and blood-red armor, sparks falling like a glowing rain as their weapons impacted again and again. Skywalker's rage poured off of him in almost visible waves, practically bleeding from every pore of his body. His hatred for Vader fed power into his veins... and at the same time it bound him more surely than any chains or restraints invented by mortal hands. Very soon the final link of the chain would be forged... and the lock would snap shut the moment his blade struck home and Vader fell at his own son's hands.
You will have your desire soon, Skywalker, he laughed silently. And as your father did before you, you will learn too late to be very careful what you wish for.
A distorted cry brought gasps and cheers from the Tuskens as the tip of Skywalker's blade glanced off Vader's upper right arm, sparks spitting from the smoking rift that exposed gleaming metal and twisted wires. Triumph, joy, bloodlust... the emotions of the tribe radiated throughout the tent like heat waves from the desert sands, and all unknowingly they fed Skywalker's own rage and thirst for vengeance. Skywalker had come to rescue his tribe... and his tribe would work to bring about his fall from grace.
How ironic... but the Emperor delighted in irony, so all was well.
"Good," he chuckled as Skywalker forced Vader back a pace, then another. "Good. Weaken him... keep fighting him..."
"No!" Vader hissed, sidestepping another jab of Skywalker's weapon. "Skywalker, listen to me..."
"No, Skywalker, listen to ME," the Emperor cut in, his normally harsh rasp of a voice becoming a soothing purr. "Vader destroyed your father, destroyed your mother, left you an orphan. He will be your doom now, as he was the doom of so many others. Kill him now, before he has that chance."
Vader hesitated, and the Emperor's grin widened like a fissure opening in the earth. Keep denying it, fool. The more you protest, the more your son will resist you.
Skywalker shifted his weight from one foot to the other, saber held at the ready, awaiting an opening to strike. The tribe watched in hushed wonder, tension vibrating in every body. Vader was as still as a mountain, silent save the electronic whoosh of his respirator. The Emperor watched, a thrill of pleasure coursing through his twisted body. Now was the moment... now everything would proceed as he had forseen...
"I will not deny it," Vader said at last, lowering his weapon. "I destroyed your family, Skywalker. I as good as killed them."
The Emperor jerked as if struck by lightning. This wasn't what he had forseen!
Skywalker cocked his head to one side, almost animal-like, as he advanced forward a wary step. "Then tell me how they died."
"By the power of the dark side." His voice was lower than usual, heavy with grief. "Your mother and I were very much in love... a love forbidden by the Jedi Order. When I had a vision of her dying in childbirth, I sought to help her. But I could not go to the Jedi -- they would have expelled me from the Order had they discovered our bond. And their only counsel was to accept what was coming, to not fear the loss I sensed." His weapon-arm hung loosely at his side. "I could not do it. I could not bear to lose her. I had to save her... and the Emperor promised that the power of the Sith could save her from death."
"Skywalker, strike him down!" cried the Emperor, the thrill flooding his body now one of terror. "He's only distracting you!"
"No," Skywalker insisted. "Let him finish."
"Your mother came to me on the fire world of Mustafar," Vader continued. "She begged me to turn from the path I had taken. In my rage, thinking she had sided with the Jedi, my new enemies, I attacked her." Silence, and had the Emperor not known any better he would have thought Vader was collecting himself before proceeding. "The moment she died... the Jedi I had once been died with her. In that moment, I destroyed Anakin Skywalker and became Darth Vader."
Skywalker stared, his weapon wavering.
"You see?" the Emperor said shrilly, jumping at the chance to salvage the situation. "He admits it! He killed your mother and destroyed your father! For that he deserves death! Kill him now!"
Skywalker's gaze moved from Vader to the Emperor, then back to Vader. Then he lowered his blade to the side.
"No," he told the Sith Master. "I see the truth now. I feel the truth now. And I won't kill him. I will not shed the blood of my family. It isn't the Tusken way."
"Chaos take the Tusken way!" Palpatine swore. "You are not Tusken!"
Too late the Emperor realized he'd made a serious error. For Skywalker bristled at that accusation.
"Not Tusken by blood," he said coolly, "but Tusken by heart and soul. These will always be my people. You cannot change that."
Palpatine's face twisted in a savage snarl, and lightning flared in his palm. Fools! Fools the pair of them! He had sought to cast Vader aside in favor of his son, and in the process lost both. For Vader would never return to his side now, not having suffered this betrayal. His only hope now was to kill both of them, set the tribes upon them and eliminate them before they turned upon him. Perhaps with Skywalker's sister, the princess, he would have better luck...
The packed earth beneath his feet trembled, and briefly he wondered if Tatooine was prone to groundquakes. An instant later that possibility was dispelled... by a bawling, wild-eyed bantha charging through the tent wall, tearing through the hide and scattering Tuskens before it. Another wall of the tent collapsed entirely before a bantha that had snagged the flap of the tent door in its horns, and still another bantha plowed doggedly forward until it had crashed through the firepit, making its own hair blaze briefly. The tension of before gave way to panic and confusion as Tusken and Imperial alike fought their way free from the bedlam of stampeding beasts and the collapsing tent.
A female voice rang loud and clear over the chaos, commanding, challenging, full of authority. And with a moment of startling clarity the Emperor recognized it.
Well, Princess, you certainly are a woman of many talents, he thought as his guards encircled him and escorted him away.
Break...
"People of the Redrock Tribe, you've been tricked!" Leia spoke in the Tusken language, and though her words were oddly stilted as she struggled with some of the more unfamiliar words, they still rang with emotion. "The Emperor and the Sons of the Suns of both your tribe and the Serpent Tribe have joined forces to take power from you. They've held your tribe under their spell, they've sought to destroy your Daughters of the Moons... and now they seek to destroy Skywalker, your hero! Will you let them?"
Skywalker felt his heart nearly burst with pride as the Tuskens bellowed in response, fury lacing their cries as they realized the depths of the Emperor's treachery. Now he saw why so many looked up to Leia as a leader.
Someone grabbed his arm and dragged him outside just as the community tent came crashing down. The folds of hide jerked and writhed as those who had been trapped inside struggled to get out. All around the camp, blaster fire whined as the Imperials engaged the Tuskens, but despite their superior armor and firepower they were badly outnumbered. The Serpent Tribe's warriors, likewise, struck back, and Skywalker was startled to see the Serpent Tribe's Sons of the Suns among them, armed and doing battle. But despite their ferocity and prowess in battle, they were no match for the righteous anger of the Redrock Tribe.
"You all right?" asked Wedge, letting go of Skywalker's arm.
"I am all right," he assured him. "Are you?"
"Great now that we've found you!" Wedge exclaimed. "You gave us all a scare..."
Someone screamed a war cry, and Skywalker whirled in time to see Weed charging Vader, gaderffi raised. Vader, in turn, lifted his saber to defend himself.
"Weed, Father, no!"
Weed skidded to a halt, barely avoiding skewering himself on Vader's lightsaber. Vader hesitated, then lowered the weapon.
"THAT'S your father?" gaped Weed. "I thought he was a night-demon!"
"He's not a demon," Skywalker explained. "Long story."
"Can't wait to hear it," Weed replied. "By the way, name's no longer Weed. I had my adulthood ceremony while you were gone -- it's Star-Killer now."
"A friend of yours, Skywalker?" inquired Vader.
"Yes," Skywalker answered, then fell silent. He'd thought of Vader as his mortal foe for so long... and suddenly thinking of him as not just an ally, but as family, was so strange...
He should have been angry, he supposed. Angry at Obi-wan and Wind-Dancer for letting him believe Vader had murdered Anakin Skywalker, angry at the spirits... the Force... whoever ruled his life for giving him the Emperor's right-hand man as a father. But he was surprised to find he felt no anger, not now that the shock had died down. He felt only a sense of acceptance -- not calm exactly, but acceptance.
"Skywalker, Palpatine is getting away!" shouted Wind-Dancer.
He whirled. The Emperor's collection of scarlet-robed guards were helping him into a nearby landspeeder, doubtless the one Vader and Leia had used to reach the tribe. Palpatine... a creature of vilest darkness, even darker than Vader...
He's the true Dark One, he realized. He's the one I am to destroy. Not Vader.
A black-gloved hand clamped onto his shoulder, startling him.
"We take him together," Vader snarled. "He is strong in the dark side. Only together can we defeat him."
He nodded. "Right."
The Emperor had just climbed into the passenger seat of the landspeeder when Skywalker's battle-cry alerted him, and he whirled to face the young Jedi as he charged. Snarling, Palpatine lifted one hand as if to cast a spell...
...and white-hot pain filled Skywalker, mind and body, as blue lightning bridged the gap between them.
"Die, Skywalker," Palpatine snarled. "Die as your mother did when I deceived your father into selling his soul to me. Die as you should have eighteen years ago on the moment of your birth!"
"NO!"
That last cry came from Vader, a wild howl of anger and deseperation more frightening than any Tusken battle call. There was a flash of scarlet, a rasping screech of agony... and a blessed calm as the lightning ceased as quickly as it had begun. Skywalker found himself lying in the sand without any memory of how he'd gotten there, and he struggled to sit up, smoke drifting off of his robes and armor.
Gasps and whispers filled his ears, and he realized that the fighting among the Tuskens had all but ceased. Every masked face now turned to the Emperor, who clutched his right arm just below the wrist with his left hand. Above that wrist was only a smoking stump, seared black by Vader's glowing blade. Vader himself was on his knees near the 'speeder, clutching his shoulder where a guard had rammed his pike between the plates of armor and into his collarbone. Blood glistened in a thin stream on his armor, steady but not spurting, which meant that the blow at least hadn't hit an artery...
"No blood," someone behind Skywalker murmured, and the phrase carried throughout the assembly. Skywalker was about to protest when he realized they weren't talking about Vader, but about the Emperor. For though his hand had been severed from his body, he didn't bleed a drop.
And the tribe believed that night-demons didn't bleed.
"Kill him!" cried Stone-Shadow, raising his gaderffi high. "Destroy the demon! Destroy him!"
The Emperor's eyes went wide as he realized the danger he was in, and he lunged for the controls of the landspeeder. His attempt at escape came too late -- both the Redrock and the Serpent Tribes descended upon him with the savage ferocity of crazed krayt dragons. Lightning flared and force pikes flashed as he and his guards tried to defend themselves, but for every Tusken that fell ten more took his place.
Vader staggered away from the bedlam, his shoulder still bleeding and a freshly bleeding slash glistening over his ribs, as his master met his gruesome, but not undeserved, fate.
Someone grabbed Skywalker in a tight hug, and it took him a second to realize it was Leia.
"Luke, I'm so glad to see you again," Leia murmured.
"Leia..." He held her tightly, relief flooding him. "You're all right."
A hand clapped his shoulder, and he turned to see Han grinning at him. "Hey kid, how about a word of warning next time you try something stupid?"
Chewie swept all three of them up in a bone-crushing hug, growling happily.
"Sky-Walker!"
He turned as best he could in Chewie's grip to see two figures running toward them -- Red-Dragon and Moon-Blossom. Red-Dragon's arm bled freely from a wound, but he seemed not to notice it. With a rush of joy Skywalker wriggled free of Chewie's grip and ran toward them.
"Sky-Walker, you have grown," Red-Dragon rumbled, grabbing him by the shoulders and looking him up and down. "I don't know how, but you've grown. I see it in the way you carry yourself."
"I have grown," he admitted. "In many ways. I'll have to tell you about them."
Moon-Blossom pulled him close and embraced him, less roughly than Chewie but no less enthusiastically. "I thought I had lost you, son..."
"Mother," he complained, feeling his cheeks heat up.
A vague unease settled into his shoulderblades, as if he were sensing someone else's gaze upon him, and he turned to see Vader regarding their reunion. A bit flustered, he broke away from Red-Dragon and Moon-Blossom and motioned for his father to come join them. The Tuskens shrank back a little at his approach, but Vader made no move to threaten them but only stood silently at Skywalker's side.
"Father... this is Red-Dragon and Moon-Blossom," he introduced. "They raised me as their son." To his foster parents he said "This is my father, Darth Vader... once known as Anakin Skywalker."
Vader only nodded in reply. Red-Dragon returned the nod solemnly.
"Tell him he should be proud of you, Sky-Walker," Red-Dragon told him. "You have fulfilled your destiny, young one, and the prophecy of the Sons of the Suns. You are a worthy son in all respects."
Skywalker blushed beneath the helmet that still covered his face. "Red-Dragon says... you should be proud of me," he said by way of translation.
Vader nodded again. "I am, Skywalker. I truly am. For you have become a better man than I can hope to be."
Skywalker had nothing to say in reply to that statement.
"Why are we still standing around like idiots?" demanded Star-Killer, intruding on the moment. "We've won a great victory today! We should celebrate!"
Skywalker couldn't agree more.
Break...
By the time night laid its cold, dark claim upon the land, many of the events set into motion that day found themselves drawn to a close. The last remnants of the Serpent Tribe had been sent back to their encampment, with a promise from Black-Massif that he would keep his priests under control from here on out. The Redrock Tribe's own Sons of the Suns were now under the direct supervision of Chief Stone-Shadow and would remain so until they could prove themselves free from treachery and corruption; White-Serpent was outraged at this but was powerless to argue. The damages and mess inflicted upon the camp by the battle and stampede were cleaned up, bodies buried, banthas calmed down, and Imperial captives turned over to Leia and the Rogues to be dealt with as they saw fit. The body of the Emperor was burned with proper rites from the Daughters of the Moons to prevent his spirit from returning to haunt the tribe -- Skywalker had advised the Rebels and Vader that it wouldn't be wise to interfere with the ritual.
And as for the hopeless tangle that was Skywalker's family... it resolved itself despite his fears.
The victory bonfires of the tribe's celebration were still blazing strongly when Skywalker slipped away from the revels and ran for the outskirts of camp, threading his way between the shaggy bodies of the dozing banthas to find the landspeeder. Vader was loading it with supplies, carefully eyeing each pack as if trying to determine what was most necessary for survival and what was just dead weight.
"Father?"
Vader turned. "Do not try to stop me, Skywalker. I must go. I'm not welcome here."
"Why, though? I had not finished speaking to you." He stepped forward, one hand raised as if hoping to hold him back. "There is so much more I must know. I thought I had lost you, and I don't want to lose you again."
Vader regarded Skywalker for a long moment. "I searched for you and your sister for years, Skywalker. I intended to reclaim you and rule the galaxy with you at my side. But when you and Leia faced the Emperor... I saw something of myself there, a part of myself that belonged to a younger man... who wanted only to free slaves, to help others, to fight evil. A part of myself that died long ago." He slung the bag he was holding into the back of the speeder. "I cannot force my children to join me. I see that now. I cannot twist them as the Emperor twisted me. I refuse to do so. And because of that, we must now part company."
"But Father..."
"Skywalker, I am not your father. We share blood, but your heritage lies with your people." He nodded at the encampment. "You said so yourself -- you are Tusken. And you will always be so, despite what anyone else says."
"You can remain with us," Skywalker insisted. "You can..."
"No, Skywalker. Your life is taking you down a path I cannot travel. It is too late for me... but not too late for you." He scrutinized his load, seemed to judge it to be enough, and climbed into the pilot's seat. "Return to your Jedi Master and finish your training, then reinstate the Jedi Order. Repair the damage a misguided fool wrought. Be the man I failed to be."
Skywalker opened his mouth to protest, but the words died on his lips. Finally he blurted "Where will you go?"
"To the spaceport," Vader replied. "News of the Emperor's death will not be spread until Leia and the Rogues leave the planet; I will be able to secure transport and be away from Tatooine before the Empire begins to crumble. From there... wherever the Force takes me, I suppose."
On a whim Skywalker reached up and grabbed the crescent-moon amulet Wind-Dancer had given him long ago. Pulling it over his head, he hurried toward the speeder and thrust the trinket toward Vader.
"It's from our priestesses," he explained. "It has no protective charms... but it will be something to remember me by."
Vader accepted the amulet. "I will not forget, Skywalker. May the Force be with you... always."
"And with you, Father."
The speeder thrummed to life, then lurched forward, over the next dune and out of sight.
"Skywalker?"
He turned to see Leia and Wind-Dancer watching him, silver moonlight and amber firelight illuminating their robes and faces. His sisters... the two sides of his heritage, the two worlds he called his own...
"I thought I could bring him back," Skywalker murmured. "I thought I could convince him to stay."
"He has to choose his own path," Leia said softly, embracing him. "No one can choose it for him."
"You will see him again," Wind-Dancer assured him. "I am sure of it."
"Thank you," he told his sisters. "For everything."
The three of them enjoyed a moment of solitude together before turning back to the camp to rejoin the victory celebration.