As always I really need to offer Sethnakht all the thanks there is to give for being both an incredible beta and friend.

Some of the lines in this chapter were borrowed from Forces of Destiny Season 2 Episode 7 "The Path Ahead."


There were two Royal Libraries of Alderaan.

One of those libraries was located in the royal family's personal apartments in the palace, and was an intimate place full of datacrons, comfortable chairs, and a cheerful spherical fireplace that cast warm friendly light and shadows across the room, catching on the constellation globes and various personal nicknacks collected over the many generations of the Organa family's rule. An entire shelf in that library was even full of ancient paper books, rare and precious beyond belief. It was where the royal family spent most of their time together, when they were not preoccupied with ruling the planet.

The second Royal Library of Alderaan was a massive structure open to all citizens. When she was little Leia had thought that every datacron in all of existence was stored there, all the secrets of the universe hidden on those twinkling blue shelves.

The Royal Library of Alderaan was miniscule in comparison to the Jedi Archives.

At first Leia had not been that impressed. She and Anakin had entered into a fairly standard library, two stories in height with countless shelves of datacrons lined by severe looking busts. Had that been the entirety of the Archives, they would have been sufficient, but not extraordinary .

Yet Anakin had led her through the library, past the youths browsing the shelves as various robe-clad individuals tended to the datacrons, and down winding staircase after winding staircase. Each shelf-lined level they visited had high multi-story ceilings, and was illuminated by both the sun shining through the massive windows, and by the familiar blue glow of the datacrons themselves. With each level they descended there were more and more paper texts mixed in with the datacrons, and fewer and fewer people browsing through the stacks, until eventually the two of them seemed to be entirely alone.

About four levels down the windows vanished, replaced by elaborate light fixtures, and the two of them were approached by an ornately decorated droid. Anakin stopped to stand in front of it, and Leia hovered by his side.

"Hello," the droid said. "Bioscans indicate match to Jedi Master Anakin Skywalker. Your presence on this level is authorized." Anakin nodded his acknowledgement of the droid's scan as it turned its attention to Leia.

She held her breath as it performed its scan of her, unsure what would happen when the droid identified her as an outsider to the Order entering a clearly restricted space. Finally the droid moved, processors lighting up as it spoke. "Bioscans indicate match to Jedi Padawan Leia Skywalker. Your presence on this level is authorized."

Anakin rested one of his hands on her shoulder, grin lighting up his face. "Guess those security measures weren't calibrated with your situation in mind, huh?"

After that they were stopped on every level by a new droid, each one granting them permission to be there.

"This is a lot of security for a library," Leia mused as they made their way down what must have been their tenth staircase so far. This was absurd. Leia hadn't dealt with so many stairs since the Massassi temple on Yavin IV. Her legs were really starting to feel the strain of this, and she dreaded the inevitable trip back up the steps.

As if that was not enough, the faint sense of discomfort Leia had felt every time she had been in the Temple so far was only increasing the further into the Temple's bowels she went.

Anakin laughed, gesturing for her to follow him through the stacks of one of the levels, rather than continue to climb further and further down into the Archives.

"There is a lot of dangerous stuff stored in the Archives," he explained. "The collection here includes artefacts from all sort of Force-worshiping cults and sects, including a whole lot that once belonged to the Sith."

"So this is to prevent theft? Do people really attempt to steal from the Jedi Order?"

"No, not theft. It's to keep people safe."

"Safe? From ancient relics?"

Anakin chuckled. "Anything that once belonged to a Sith is… well dangerous is putting it lightly. They tend to perform all kinds of dark rituals over their belongings, sick stuff like coating their masks in the ashes of people they killed, and well… it gets to a point where their things become so full of their evil that even people who aren't particularly sensitive to the Force will be consumed by the Dark Side if they get close enough to them."

That raised several frightening questions. Mainly, if the Jedi were gone, and Palpatine resided within this structure, then what was he doing with the artifacts gathered here?

Consumed with pondering the implications of Palpatine's possession of all the Jedi had been guarding, Leia remained silent for the rest of her and Anakin's walk.

The labyrinth of datacron shelves gave way to a large and imposing high security door. Anakin punched a code into the panel next to it, causing it to open with a slow and high pitched hiss.

Yet another droid stepped forward to scan them before they entered the room.

Inside, the room was small and claustrophobic, lined with paper books and scattered objects in glass cases positioned through the meager space.

Barriss Offee sat at the lone table within, carefully examining a larger paper tome. She had been in the process of turning one of the pages with white gloved hands when they entered, and now her hand hovered above the text, page in hand.

"Master Skywalker," she said, voice soft and calm, "how did you get her past all the security droids?"

He laughed, the sound so much louder than Barriss' muted tones it seemed to boom through the near silent room. "Well, it seems that the security measures simply recognize her as my daughter."

"I see," she said, casting Leia a resigned glance.

Leia eyed the security droid standing by the door. "Why have all these security measures anyway, if an apprentice like the other Leia can access this all?"

Barriss sighed. "Normally a Padawan would not be permitted this deep into the archives, no. However Leia…" she trailed off, and a burst of dark green flared up under her diamond tattoos. "Leia is apprenticed to my wife, and it seemed prudent to enable her to have access to much of my workplace. Not only in case she needed to fetch me in the case of an emergency, but because I often assist with her training."

Leia had to admit, being able to do research with access to this enormous catalogue of texts did sound like an appealing prospect. Far more appealing than meditation in any case.

Barriss was still watching her, a curious expression on her face. "I suppose now that you are here you can answer some questions for me directly."

"Wait, can't you answer some of mine first?"

"I'll probably be able to answer whatever questions you have better once I've heard what you have to say."

"Right."

Barriss set the page she was holding down, and placed a thin rectangle of cloth on the page before she opened the book to a part in the middle, seemingly at random. Rather than say anything to Leia, she moved towards one of the shelves, grabbing another massive tome and setting it on the table, opening it as she did. Then she moved to pick up a third text and laid it with the others.

Once all three books were settled and opened to the pages Barriss desired, she gestured for Leia to come and examine them. "Please tell me if there is anything here that is in any way of interest."

The first book had fragments of text in a proto-Huttese, alongside a translation of what was written in an archaic form of Outer Rim Basic. Even once one got past the strange spelling and grammar, the letters themselves were near incomprehensible, several of them fully unrecognizable. Leia found the proto-Huttese easier to make sense of than the translation into Basic.

What she could understand of what it described was similarly opaque. Something about floods, dams, overflow, and surface runoff? Why was Barriss having her read an antique text about irrigation systems?

The next text was written in the same form of Outer Rim Basic as the other, although there was a liberal amount of Bogolan mixed in. Around the text itself were faded handwritten notes in Futhark, crammed tight into the margins. Leia was nowhere near familiar enough with either Grizzmaltian or Naboo culture make any sense of what the Futhark said. She probably wouldn't have been able to understand it even if it had been written in the far more common and recent Futhork script instead.

It took her some time, but Leia was able to parse a passage about holes in nets and… wait, something about a tunnel? That might be promising.

The third text she looked at, the one Barriss had been reading when Leia and Anakin had entered the room, didn't have any writing for Leia to decipher. Instead it simply had a picture splayed across its two open pages. Three drastically different figures, two who appeared male and one who appeared female, stood together surrounded by various animals. Leia knew her eyes were strained from reading the previous books, because for a moment she could have sworn the convor resting on the woman's shoulder turned its head to look directly at her, but after she rubbed at her eyes it had returned to facing the woman.

Leia gestured to the image, careful not to touch the pages with her bare hand. She knew how delicate physical texts could be, and how possible it was to damage them with the oils on one's skin. She had studied calligraphy when she was younger, after all. "Is it supposed to do that?"

"Do what?" Anakin stepped closer, brushing against Leia and almost knocking her onto the delicate texts. She managed to balance herself before she touched any of them, shooting Barriss an apologetic glance.

The Mirialan woman seemed to appreciate the gesture, smiling warmly at Leia.

Anakin goggled at the book. "Hey Barriss, this one is new. Well not new, I mean it's ancient, but like… you weren't looking at Mortis stuff yesterday."

"I know," Barriss said. "But something Ahsoka said to me last night made me wonder if perhaps it might be connected."

"Huh? What'd she say?"

"Morai had been on Horox III just after Leia vanished."

"So? Morai always follows Ahsoka around."

"When important things are happening in the Force around her."

"Yeah. I think it is safe to say that my daughter's disappearance, and the arrival of Leia here of course, counts as something major going on with the Force."

"Still, I felt it was an avenue worth exploring. The three of you barely recall anything about your time there, and we know so little about Mortis from the texts themselves..."

Leia waited to see if Barriss would resume her thought, but she seemed preoccupied with staring at the picture in the book. It was probably safe for her to speak without worrying about interrupting.

"First of all, who is Morai, and what is Mortis? If you are going to discuss matters that may be relevant to my situation in front of me, at least do me the courtesy of providing me with the proper context to understand you. Secondly, you should probably know that I thought I saw the convor in that picture move just now. I am pretty sure that doesn't ever happen with things recorded on paper."

Barriss frowned. "You're right. That should be impossible."

As soon as she finished speaking Anakin blurted, "Morai's the convor."

"What convor?" This conversation was going in circles.

"The one in the picture," Anakin said, "the one you thought you saw move?"

Brow furrowing, Leia scoffed. "Convorees live for what, half a century? That book must be thousands of years old. There is no way that the bird pictured there could still be living."

"She isn't a normal convor, Leia."

"Oh, so you expect me to believe this Morai of yours is an immortal bird who is so magical images of her can come to life?"

Anakin at least had the decency to look embarrassed. "When you put it that way it sounds… well like pure krayt spit, but… you're not wrong."

Leia fixed him with her best glare. The one that never failed to make hardened soldiers break down mid-report. "You've got to be kidding me."

"The Force works in mysterious ways, Leia. Morai's far from the strangest thing I've ever heard of."

"What, pray tell, could be weirder than that?"

Both Barriss and Anakin responded at the same time. Barriss sighing the name Leia had heard before, Mortis, but Anakin… Anakin's response was far more perplexing.

"My birth."

Leia laughed, loud and full throated. It was ridiculous, and very much not what Leia expected to hear. "Please tell me you know where Human babies come from," Leia choked out around her laughter. "I think my own birth would be a rather pitiful event otherwise."

"What? Hey!" His cheeks flushed, "That is not what I meant."

Eyebrow raised, Leia asked, "Then what did you mean?"

"Well…" Anakin flushed, "I don't have a father."

"That's not exactly uncommon," she snorted, "you're going to have to do better than that."

"No," he groaned, frustrated, "I meant that I literally don't have a father, just a mother."

Why was he drawing this out? Nothing about this was interesting. So his mom hadn't had a partner. So? "I am failing to understand what you find strange about having a single parent." She dismissed the topic, turning to face Barriss instead. "Why don't you tell me more about this… Mortis was it?"

"No, that's not what I'm saying! My mother, she wasn't just a single parent - she was literally my only biological parent. As in she didn't procreate with anyone."

Leia rolled her eyes, turning towards Anakin. He seemed almost as aggravated as she was. "That's impossible. I'm sorry, but that must have been a story she told you, to prevent you from asking questions about your birth father."

"I'm sure I would have sensed it if she was lying." Anakin smiled at her, although it didn't reach his eyes. He was acting as if he had definitively proved his point, had made it so this banthacrap was actually reasonable.

"Maybe she wasn't lying, maybe she just didn't remember," Leia said, "There are many different reasons why someone might suppress the memory of-"

"No, Leia, listen to me." Stepping closer to her, so close he was in her personal space, his voice dropped into a serious tone, "This is important, ok? I was conceived by the Midi-chlorians themselves. That means that a quarter of you, a full quarter, comes purely from the Force."

She shoved him away, trying to move as far from him she could in the confined room. "That doesn't make any sense! For one thing, if that was true and your mother was the sole being contributing to your genetics, wouldn't you be identical to her?"

"Look I don't get how it worked, ok? I just know what I know!"

Leia scoffed. "What you are describing is nonsense!"

"The same way people crossing between alternate universes is nonsense? Or perhaps it is impossible like moving images in a paper book? Or for a convor to be immortal and follow my wife everywhere across the galaxy?" Barriss cut in, voice firm. "The Force is a very mysterious thing. Even those of us who have spent our whole lives studying it do not fully understand it."

Leia gaped, unable to respond. Barriss certainly had a point. She had witnessed so many impossible things, what was one more to add to the list?

No.

No.

She knew why this one was different. They weren't asking her to accept that the universe was made up of strange phenomena. They were telling her that she was the product of mystical claptrap. That it was a fairly significant part of her very being. Leia couldn't accept that. Would never accept that.

She had to draw a line somewhere.

"Maybe you aren't actually fully Human. There are plenty of species that reproduce asexually. While I am not aware of any Near-Human species that-"

"We're fully Human, Leia. At least according to every blood scan I've ever had."

She swallowed, gathering her thoughts. "The Jedi Council, they believe this story of yours?" There was no way the a group of beings so wise and all knowing could approve of this absurd tale. None.

"Yeah, of course they believe it," Anakin sounded bitter, or perhaps Leia only read that into his voice because she could feel his thick and cloying resentment ooze through the room. "It's the only reason anyone wanted me to be a Jedi in the first place."

"I fail to see how those two things would be connected."

He let out a short caustic laugh. "Yeah, a lot of things about the Order make no sense."

"Anakin," Barriss' voice was firm and chiding, "what do you mean by that?"

A flash of surprise cut through the heavy atmosphere, and Anakin's head swiveled towards Barriss. In any other situation Leia might have found his reaction humorous, he had clearly forgotten she was in the room with them.

"Nothing!" he sputtered, and glanced through the tiny room. Leia could practically feel the gears in his head turning as he came up with an explanation for what he had been saying. She wondered if she would learn what he really been trying to communicate, or if this version would be the only one she'd get to hear. "Just that my being the Chosen One is the whole reason they let me in the Order, that's all."

Even his excuses made no sense.

Of course nothing in this dimension really did, why should this be any different.

"You mentioned that title before, on my first day here. Didn't you say that it identified you as the person who killed Palpatine in this universe?"

"No, that's what Snips said when you asked about it. I didn't say anything."

"Well, then what does it mean?"

Barriss perked up, and started to move towards one of the bookcases. She didn't get very far before Anakin waved a hand, stopping her. "She doesn't need to see the whole history of it, Barriss, ok?"

Actually, that sounded pretty helpful.

"It's… well it's what we were just talking about Leia. There was a prophecy, it said that one day there would be someone who brought balance to the Force. That that individual would be conceived by the Midi-chlorians themselves."

"Bring balance? What does that mean?"

Anakin let out a shaky laugh, "well, it depends on who you ask." He took a step back, and to Leia's surprise gestured at the illustration she had been looking at earlier. "Closest thing I ever got to a confirmation that any of that prophecy stuff was real, it was from them."

"So it is connected to what is in the book?"

"No, I mean… I meant they told me that. Well, the Father did anyway."

"Told you, as in you met them?"

He looked up and at her, and Leia was again struck by the oddity of eyes shaped like hers, the same shade of blue of Luke's. They were full of turmoil, those eyes. She wan't sure if she was picking up on his emotions in the Force, or from his body language and expression, but she knew he wanted this conversation to be over just as much as she did. That he was struggling to hold it together. It was strangely important to him, for her to accept his impossible story. "I just… Leia, you gotta understand, our family? It's tied up in the Force. It's strange and impossible and downrightabsurd, but it's literally part of who we are. So when you say there are limits to what you will and will not believe, or call things impossible it... " He shook his head. "You don't have a grandfather on my side, Leia, just the Force. How can a person with a background as messed up as that dismiss things on the grounds of them being too weird?"

Barris interjected, calm and steady. "If you find it hard to believe Leia, perhaps view it as a story for now." She smiled, slight and gentle. "That way we can keep on discussing the things that need to be discussed, things that you may find even more ridiculous and absurd than the circumstances surrounding Anakin's birth."

Leia nodded, willing to accept that if she wanted to understand what had been researched about her situation, she'd have to at least listen to whatever nonsense these people had to say. She focused on the books on the table, on the illustration of the three strange figures, reminding herself that mythology and storytelling had always been crucial parts of how people came to understand the world around them.

What difference did it really make if the person convincing themself of impossible things was her birth father, and not some distant ancient figure who couldn't possibly know any better?

She didn't quite sell herself on that excuse for Anakin's bizarre story, but it eased the lump of tension at the back of her throat and that was good enough for the moment.


Leia was finishing up telling Luke about how their Aunt 'Soka came to be their father's Padawan when Master Yoda decided they had spent enough time sitting and talking together.

Well, that Luke had spent enough time, in any case.

"A return to physical training, Luke must have." Yoda said. "This time watch your surroundings! Aware of them you must be."

Luke groaned, and Leia laughed. Compared to the sort of exercises initiates at the Temple were put through daily, the climbing Luke had done earlier was nothing. He really had nothing to complain about!

Yoda hmmmed and tapped Luke with his stick. "To the top of the canopy you will climb. Once there, find a path to the new hut without touching the ground, you will."

Luke sighed, and shoulders hunched with resignation he began to climb. Again.

Leia moved to Yoda's side, watching Luke make his way up the tree.

After Luke vanished into the canopy of vines and branches and leaves, Leia was able to track his movement thanks to the rustling, distinct from the noises the animals caused. Leia focused her senses on him, internally cheering as he successfully moved from the tree he had started at to the one beside it, and then to the next.

Her sense of him in the Force expanded, as he let the swamp around him into his senses, letting go of his own sense of self. But then, suddenly, his presence snapped back in, fast and sharp.

"Master Yoda, Leia, I think I've got it!" He called, and Leia was not surprised when the exclamation was followed by a flare of panic, and then he was falling again, shouting the entire way down.

She wanted to help him, but Yoda shook his head in disapproval, causing her to back away from where Luke had landed "No, no," Yoda said. "Concentrate you must."

"I was concentrating," Luke said with a massive grin, "for a moment I could see a path through the trees!"

"And then?"

"And then I -" his expression fell. "Well, I didn't want either of you to miss it."

Leia understood the impulse. She had spent most of her early childhood sharing her every triumph with her brother through the Force. It was habit she had learned to abandon early on in her training, before it could have caused too much of a distraction.

"Miss it? Miss the branch you did!" Yoda laughed. "Your mind, ahead of your body it was."

Leia expected Luke to ask Master Yoda to allow them to stop, to put an end to the lessons for the day. He didn't.

Instead he said, "all right, I'll go again." He seemed determined to get things right, to learn the lesson Yoda had set out to teach him. Leia was proud of him for that.

"Yes. This time, go with you I will," Yoda said with a sigh. Leia had not been expecting that. She had of course seen Master Yoda perform all sorts of fetes over the years, but that was back home in her dimension, where he was filled with more vitality than his counterpart in this universe. This Master Yoda had an infirm quality to him, that caused her to worry over him engaging in strenuous activity.

"Really?" Luke let out a surprised laugh. "Great!" His voice dropped, embarrassed. "This'll be easier if I could follow you."

"No, not follow." Yoda glanced around the clearing where they had been sitting, pointing to Luke's rucksack full of roots. "Carry me, you will!"

"Carry you?" Luke scoffed. "But Master Yoda, I can barely look out for myself up there!" Luke glanced between the frail old Master the tree canopy with concern.

"Hmmmm," Yoda looked contemplative, stopping to ponder Luke's concern. "Then concentrate you must, or fall we will." He laughed. "Worse for me then you, I think." He kept laughing, the amount of high pitched laugher disproportionate to how amusing his statement actually had been.

"What of the roots we came here to retrieve?" Leia asked.

"Transport them you shall, while the boy trains."

"You want me to carry all of them by myself?"

"Resourceful, you are. Smart. A method of transport you will find."

"Of course Master, but-"

"Reflect on what we will speak of when talking later tonight. Hmmmmm?"

"We're going to return to talking about father later?" Luke asked.

"Hmmmm, not a part of this conversation, you will be. Private it is."

"Aw, come on, what is so important I can't know about it? I came all the way here to learn stuff, not be left out!"

Leia turned to examine the roots in their baskets and bags, rather than allow Luke to see her wince. He really had no idea just how much he was being left out of.

"An inquisitive mind, the boy has," Yoda said, drawing Leia's attention back to the conversation.

Luke scratched at the back of his head. "Isn't that a good thing?"

"Often. Often yes, yes it can be," Yoda nodded. "Still. Learn to know when it is time not to ask... Serve you well, that would."

Yoda shuffled over to the root filled pack and prodded it with his stick. "Hmmm." He glanced to the side, spotting a basket that was not yet full. "Ah! Can these roots fit in there, hmm?" He grabbed an armful of the roots - not very many really when considered the span of his arms, and moved them over to the basket instead. He seemed pretty satisfied with how they fit, nodding with contentment, returning to the pack to grab more. When he ran out of room in the baskets to place roots within, he merely piled the rest on the ground, giving Leia a strange glance as he did. When the backpack was empty, he picked it up, grinning at Luke. "Come. Much to do. Daylight not last forever."

"But how will Leia find the other hut without you there to guide her? She's only made the trip there once."

"And then once more back here, no? Almost fully trained, the girl is. Able to find her path on her own, she should be." He spun, facing Luke and shaking his stick at him. "All her life the girl has trained. Unlike you!"

"I don't understand. If it is such a bad thing that I am only starting my training now, then why didn't Ben try to teach me when I was younger?"

"Hmmmmm. A good question this is. A good question indeed."

Obi-Wan's voice floated in the air, startling Leia. "I did want to teach you, Luke. Had plans to do so when I first brought you to Tatooine. Unfortunately an incident that occured when you were just two years old led to your Uncle banning me from doing so."

It was different from when one used the Force to communicate directly with another's mind, as Leia was clearly hearing Obi-Wan with her ears and not in her head. Overall she found it pretty creepy, and she wished he would just manifest in his ghost form instead, even if it was only to speak briefly and then vanish.

"You're the one who brought me to Tatooine?" Luke's eyes grew wide. "Why?"

"Ah. Now there is a story for a later day."

"Seems like everything is for a later time," Luke huffed.

"You must learn to have patience, Luke," Obi-Wan soothed.

"Which is it that you want? Me to have patience and wait for things to happen in the future, or to focus on the here and now and live in the moment? Because I feel like I'm getting really contradictory advice here from the two of you."

"Mutually exclusive, these things are not."

"Huh? Of course they are! They are two separate things!"

Yoda sighed, stepping into the backpack. "Begin your training, we should."

"Begin? I thought we already started! I mean what was all of that earlier if not-"

"Always talking, this one is. No appreciation for silence, for listening!" Yoda drew the last word out, each syllable almost becoming its own word.

Yoda pulled the sides of the backpack up, so that only the very top of his chest and his head were still visible. It was strange seeing the venerated Master inside a bag. Leia could barely take him seriously in there. As if to emphasize the ridiculous picture, Yoda lifted his arms in the air towards Luke, like an infant trying to get their parents attention. "Come, come. Up we go now."

Leia helped Luke get the bag onto his back, and watched as Luke made his way up the tree, Yoda's arms wrapped around his shoulders, muttering to him as they went.

She did not envy Luke's position in the least. Just the thought of Master Yoda whispering in her ear… Uck. It gave her shivers.

Once the two of them had vanished into the canopy she glanced about, half expecting to see Obi-Wan's ghost. He didn't materialize, and he said nothing to her, so she set about trying to figure out how she was supposed to get all the roots to the other hut.

Looking at them now, really trying to figure out how she could transport them, Leia realised that even if both Luke and Master Yoda had been helping her, there were enough roots gathered here to warrant multiple trips.

Yet somehow she was supposed to transport them all by herself?

There were far too many of them for to carry in arms so maybe she was supposed to drag them or…. Oh.

Oh!

That…. That was a lot of things to levitate all at once, especially when she was going to need to be hiking across a still unfamiliar planet, focused on finding her way back to the hut.

Leia had never lifted so many things before all at once, but she supposed it wouldn't hurt to try. One big and heavy thing, sure, that was easy, but having to focus on so many things all at once? She had always found ways to avoid doing that.

Shutting her eyes she reached out, extending her senses out towards the various overly full baskets. She'd have to be careful, any sort of jostle and roots would tople out and to the ground.

When she opened her eyes, every root that had been piled into the various containers was cheerfully floating at her eye level. It took no strain at all to simply lift them, but maintaining her focus on so many small objects all at once for an entire hike?

No. She wouldn't allow herself to doubt her ability. The moment she stopped thinking she could carry out this task, she would have failed.

Reaching out even further, Leia felt for the best path through the bog to where she wanted to go. Opening herself up fully to the swamp, she allowed the Force to rush in and….

Bad idea!

Baaaaaad idea!

She had in the process of letting the wetlands in allowed a crack to form in her shields. Just enough for him to pry his way through.

His breathing rang in her ears, heavy and regular. Everything about that sound was wrong. Right down to the fact that she knew, just knew, that his form was a reflection of how he perceived himself.

She had been dwelling on it ever since their last meeting, ever since she had heard him, for just a moment, take on the familiar welcome tones of her father's voice.

How twisted had things gotten, for him to visualize himself in his own mind within that armor. To be unable to escape his prison of gleaming plasteel and metal even in his thoughts.

"Leia," the all too wrong baritone boomed, "we speak again at last."

The roots dipped as Leia's grip on them slackened. She did not let them fall, tightening her hold and defiantly starting her trek, refusing to give him the attention he craved.

Unfortunately it seemed this was not a conversation she could simply walk away from. The mechanical breathing followed her as stepped out of the clearing and into the tree line. The volume of it consistent and even to her side. Still she did not look his way, focusing instead on her task, and getting comfortable enough with it that she might work on rebuilding her shields all at the same time.

"Suppose what you told me is true," Vader said, "and you indeed are from a world where… your mother survived childbirth..." He drew silent, his turbulent emotions swelling in the Force, washing up and over Leia's hold on the roots she was trying to transport, causing them to wobble.

Great. Just great. She had to engage with him, because if she didn't he was going to make her drop everything.

"Well? What are you asking after? Because that is exactly where I am from."

"Padmé," he said, and Leia could not tell if it was simply desperate hope that caused her to hear the love that suffused the way he said that name.

She waited for him to keep speaking, but he didn't. He just breathed.

"What about mom?" Leia finally prompted.

"I am asking after her."

"Yes. What do you want to know, specifically? I mean something tells me you don't wanna know where she goes to get her hair dyed, and thinks no one knows about."

There was a sharp sound, almost like someone choking, and with a start Leia realised it was an abortive laugh. How long it had been since he had properly laughed? Just what sort of existence was he subjecting himself to? Why would he chose this half-life of his, when there was another way? Even death seemed preferable to this suffering.

Still, as pitiable as he was, this was a promising start.

"You laugh, but I made the mistake once of pointing out a grey strand that was visible, which ok - I was being rude - but she wouldn't stop wearing wigs for like a week inside our apartment after that. She never wears those things at home, only for work!"

He didn't respond. If it wasn't for his breathing she would have thought he'd left.

They covered a good distance this way. Her half-ignoring him, and him breathing.

It was irritating in ways she didn't count on, that breathing.

She almost wished he'd speak more, just so she'd have something to listen to other than that rhythmic hissing wheeze.

Still walking through the bog, she turned to look at him, not that the sight of him revealed anything. His mask was as placid and blank as ever, unnaturalness emphasized by how the light dappling through the trees didn't reflect off it, didn't influence it in any way. Instead it shone with the reflection of the florescent lights of whatever ship he was on. Her eyes met the dark lenses that covered his eyes.

She wished she could see his actual face, even as she feared his eyes would be all wrong. She would have some indication of what he was thinking then, her father's face was so expressive that even her mother, who was about as Force-sensitive as a droid, could accurately predict what he was thinking.

"You have been well supplied with information," Vader finally spoke. "If I did not know such things to be impossible, I might have believed in the farce you keep trying to convince me is real."

Farce? Seriously? She almost stumbled over a root before she responded. "How are you so sure my life is a story I am making up?"

"As I told you before, there was no other path through the events of the Empire's rise than the one I took. It was my destiny."

Oh great, more destiny nonsense. "Is it really that hard for you to admit you might have been wrong? Really?"

"There were no other choices to be made. I did what I had to do." He declared it as a fact, without hesitation or pause.

It was as if he needed to pretend his decisions were not his own, so he didn't have to take responsibility for them!

…Wait, as far as explanations went, that actually made sense.

"With time you will come to understand," Vader continued, "you are merely confused because of the lies Organa told you."

"Yeah uh, how many times do I have to explain this to you?" Leia rolled her eyes, seriously it felt like every time she was forced to deal with the being her father had become in this world, she had to go over the basics of her situation all over again. "I was not raised by the Organa family, I was raised by mom and you ." She paused, not wanting to link him and her father so directly, it felt too much like saying that the man she knew in her own dimension was the same as this Sith. "Well not you, but by the Anakin Skywalker of my universe. My dad."

"Impossible."

"In my experience, the Force tends to make the impossible, possible. Besides, do you sense me lying to you?"

"All that tells me is that you have deluded yourself into believing this farce."

"Oh, and the memories I shared with you before, I suppose you think those are an elaborate fabrication as well?"

"It is the only explanation."

"And why, may I ask, do you think I'd construct such an elaborate fantasy?"

"Your desire to be with your real family has motivated you to retreat into this illusion. There is no need for this. I assure you that you may join me. Together we will crush the Emperor and-"

"Oh please, save your Dark Side song and dance for someone who wants to hear it… which by the way is nobody. Literally nobody wants to hear it, because going to the Dark Side is a terrible idea."

"Perhaps if you will not join me, your brother will."

Leia laughed, the roots jostling and almost falling. Huh. She had almost forgotten about them, focused so hard on the conversation she was having as she walked. Strange that they were still levitating at all, really.

She turned to look at him again. His black mask tilted slightly to the side, she supposed with confusion. "Have you ever actually met Luke?"

She hoped he couldn't feel her worry. Luke's display yesterday in the training room had shown her how vulnerable he was to falling. If Vader really wanted to tempt him to the side of evil… no.

She couldn't allow herself to think about this with Vader around.

"We have met on the field of combat," Vader declared. It seemed he hadn't picked up on any of her concern about Luke. Good.

Wait, did he just say he and Luke had fought with each other? Luke was good, but nowhere near good enough to face Vader. At least not yet. That was another thing she didn't want Vader to know, how he'd easily be able to take Luke down.

Her confusion must have been written across her face, or leaked into the Force, or something, because Vader addressed her unspoken question."It was a short engagement, nothing more."

"Right." So the two of them had barely even met.

She wondered if his contact with the other Leia was restricted to torturing her.

How sad would that be, him only ever knowing his son from times when they were actively fighting each other, and his daughter from torturing her.

She hoped for the sake of this universe's Luke and Leia that they could have more than that from him some day. If not, she feared he'd be a terrible specter looming over their memories for the rest of their lives.

Karabast, what were they even talking about? Thankfully she didn't think he'd said anything since she had gotten lost in her thoughts, but still, she had to refocus...

Vader interrupted her thoughts. "It is inevitable that both you and your brother will take your rightful place at my side."

"So, from that one short meeting, you think you'd be able to get him to join you?"

"It is the rational thing to do."

"No, no, it really really isn't."

"With time you will come to think differently."

"I doubt that."

There was a beeping noise, loud and intrusive. It almost startled Leia enough for her to lose sight of the path she needed to follow. It couldn't have come from the marsh she was in, could it?

Vader was pressing at buttons on his chest, and raised his arm to stare at something on his wrist. His shoulders heaved, and that impossible to read mask turned its gaze back on her. "I must leave for now, daughter, but know I will return as soon as I am able."

Before she could respond he was gone, the swampland strangely quiet in the absence of his breathing.

Frowning, it occurred to Leia that he had acted far calmer than he had during any of their other encounters. Were their conversations making a difference?