After lunch, Anakin went out into the dessert to meditate. Lyra opened her datapad and scanned the news. "Nothing right now about Vader and still nothing about me, which is good. The Conversationist," Lyra nodded towards her mother and grandmother, "is still off-line."

Leia turned as she was drying the plate Luke had handed her. "We're trying to establish contact. They're apparently in hiding on Coruscant. Someone must have figured out who they are."

Lyra, Jael, and Amera looked at each other in amazement. "Who they are?" they said in unison.

Luke dried his hands. "Who?"

"The Conversationist. A gossip site that specializes in the who's-who of Coruscant high society, particularly Imperial officials. It's a real site, but we recruited them, and they sent coded messages for the Rebellion. We learned a lot about you that way," Leia nodded toward Lyra. "That and we had spies in every high-end establishment from clothing designers to hairdressers. People apparently talk a lot to salespeople and hairdressers."

"So the Rebel Alliance was interested in me? I guess that makes sense seeing whom I was married to, but they must have found me dreadfully dull."

Leia laughed. "No, not dull. We found that you do have excellent taste in gowns. Over time, we were able to establish who you are and who you two are," Leia noted to Jael and Amera. "We also found no evidence of crimes on your part. So, Lady Vader has nothing to worry about."

"That's good," Lyra noted. "What about Vanee, our majordomo? I don't suppose he was spying for the Rebellion."

"No, we thought about trying to make contact, but in the end, he was deemed too high of a risk. Too loyal, in fact anyone who was that close to Vader or the Emperor, voluntarily, was deemed too loyal. It's amazing how much the disgraced officials talked, though."

"I do need to check in with Vanee and let him know I'm okay, except he thinks I'm on Esfir."

"Hold off a while in case someone with the Empire might trace the call. Just in case," Leia advised.

"Agreed," Lyra said.

For the rest of the afternoon, Luke performed maintenance on the vaporators around Kenobi's hut while Leia wandered back to the Falcon to help Han with the never-ending repairs. Lyra, Jael, and Amera took chairs out to Lyra's favorite spot looking out over the valley.

"Thank you for filling us in about Padme Amidala," Amera said. "I could see there was a story there, but I wasn't comfortable asking about her."

Jael shook her head. "Terrible, just terrible. Yes, Anakin did a great wrong, but the Jedi rules helped to lead to that tragedy." Lyra nodded in response.

"So, have you had time to think about the future?" Amera said, squinting in the sun at Lyra.

"Well," Lyra sighed, "A little bit, but I'm still undecided. Am I needed here? And I know this sounds crazy, but when Anakin talks about Padme, I feel a bit...I don't know if jealous is the right word, but maybe left out? I'm Lady Vader, I'm the wife...oh my gosh!" Lyra suddenly sat up straight. "We're not married! I was married to Darth Vader, who for all practical purposes is legally dead. I am not married to Anakin Skywalker."

"And there must be no connection between Anakin Skywalker and Vader." Jael raised a hand to shield her eyes, "So my dear, you are free. I'm sure Anakin will let you keep some of the money. You can go where you want. We'll always need a good administrator at the school - and who knows, you might make a good priestess," she teased.

Lyra dropped her head in her hands and moaned.

A ways away, motionless on a boulder, the hooded figure listened and considered as the acoustics with a tad bit of Force carried the women's words to him.

That evening, Han declined Lyra's invitation to dinner but surprisingly, at least to Lyra, offered the remaining two bunks on the Falcon to Jael and Amera for the night. Leia was still understandably awkward around Anakin, but did walk back to the house with Lyra and helped her set the table for dinner.

Amera savored her cheese souffle, "My dear, I don't know where you got your cooking skills from. Not from me, that's for certain."

Lyra laughed and reached for the souffle dish for a second helping when the night calm was shattered by the shrill alarms of the security system.

"That's not Han; he's got the code-" Leia rose right as the house went dark.

Luke moved to a window and cautiously peered out. "The power's been cut. Father, Sand People!"

Anakin turned to Lyra. "Stay here. Get down. Luke, I'll take the back." As Anakin moved silently out the back door, Luke and Leia quietly moved out the front and crouched behind the chairs of the sitting area. Presently, the quiet was shattered by the guttural battle cries of the raiders and the sound of shots from the raiders' cycler rifles.

"What should we do? Do we try to help?" Amera asked as she squeezed in with Lyra and Jael under the table.

Lyra shook her head. "No, we don't have any experience; we'll just get in the way, but…" Lyra looked around and crawled quickly over to her pack by the sofa. Pulling out a blaster, she scooted back under the table.

"Luke gave this to me. Here, we can defend the inside."

"Have you ever fired that?" Jael asked.

"A few times when Luke gave me lessons. If any raiders get through the door, I'm pretty sure I can hit them."

Right then, they heard Luke softly call, "Father!"

"Lyra, no!" Before her mother or grandmother could stop her, Lyra moved out from under the table and raised up to peer at the screen of the security system monitor. Looking out into the yard, she saw Anakin standing in the middle of the yard, motionless, his legs slightly spread and one hand resting on his lightsaber. Shots fired all around him, but Anakin didn't move. Luke activated his lightsaber, but before he could step out, Anakin sprang into action. Moving in a blur, Anakin blocked each shot and struck down each of the raiders, six in all. When it was over, Anakin then looked around, slightly out of breath and deactivated his lightsaber.

"Uh, good job," Luke said jogging over. "I was just about to step in and help."

Right then, Leia ran over and the three ladies hesitantly stepped out of the hut.

"Hey!" Han and Chewie ran up the hill, blasters out. "We were coming to help," Han looked over to Anakin in amazement. "You just stood there out in the open in the gun fire."

"I was gathering the light to me. That's why," Anakin looked over to Luke, "I had to do this myself. I had to fend off the attack, but without anger, and kill but without revenge. Unfortunately, with a Tuskin raiding party like this, you have to kill. They wouldn't have backed off."

"So you did," Leia asked, "fight without anger and kill without revenge."

Anakin smiled slightly. "I did, my thoughts were only to protect."

Leia nodded, "Yes."

Anakin turned to Luke, "Sorry Luke, I'll leave you some bad guys to deal with next time."

"There had better not be a next time," Lyra said as she walked up to the group.

With nervous laughter that comes from the crash after an adrenaline surge, Han, Leia, Luke, and Anakin gathered the bodies and rolled them off the cliff.

"There," Luke said brushing his hands together to get the sand off, "in Tuskin culture, this will mark our victory and will warn other raiders away."

Lyra looked over to Luke and Anakin. "So is it safe for everyone to go back to the Falcon, or should they stay up here tonight? I need to reset the security system."

Both Anakin and Luke nodded. "It's safe," Luke replied. "They're gone. They won't bother us again for quite a while, if ever."

With murmurs of relief, the group split up with Han and Leia escorting Jael and Amera down the long drive to the Falcon. Before the group left, Han looked over to Anakin and nodded. Anakin nodded in return. Lyra watched the exchange with relief.

"Mother, I don't know if Leia has the time to hear all about your Force philosophy."

"It's okay; I asked since we seem to have the same Force talent."

"See my dear, someone values our input." Amera noted, beaming.

"Oh for heaven's sake." Lyra moved off, leaving them to their droning on. As she passed the front window, Lyra saw Anakin in her usual spot near the cliff overlooking the valley. He stood still looking out, his cloak and hood moving slightly in the light breeze. Normally, Lyra would have left him to his meditations, but now, a strange mixture of curiosity and desire drew her to him. Leaving the ladies to their philosophizing, Lyra left the hut and walked towards the cliff. She paused a few yards from Anakin.

"I was hoping you'd come."

"I was curious. I've never seen you in this spot before." Lyra moved to stand by Anakin. "What a contrast to the view from the promenade back on Coruscant. I know it's not much to look at here, but the sparseness is peaceful."

"I never thought I'd be back here, in fact I swore I'd never come back. And here we are."

Lyra smiled. "This planet does tend to come up quite a bit in your life story."

Anakin nodded as he looked out over the valley. "I've wondered about that. There's a reason why I keep coming back here. There are planets that hold dark side relics; I wonder if this planet has any light side relics. I've never heard of any legends around light side relics here, but it's possible."

Both were silent as they looked out over the valley. Presently Anankin spoke, "Are your mother and grandmother still planning on leaving tomorrow?"

"Yes, they said they don't want to overstay their welcome. Did you know Leia is leaving tomorrow too? She and Han offered Jael and Amera a ride. They're taking them all the way to Esfir, which is nice of them."

"And you?"

"And me?"

"Are you going with them?" Anakin turned to look at Lyra. "I overhead you yesterday. Would it make any difference if I asked you to stay? I'd like for you to stay. We do make a good team."

"Can you handle the real me, the me who voices her opinions?"

"We've both survived it so far."

"You wouldn't be my master anymore."

"Your partner, and husband, in time?"

"It's possible, in time."

The next morning, Lyra was up bright and early to cook a big going-away breakfast. Anakin attempted to help, but after burning a batch of eggs, Lyra reassigned him to observer and table-setter. As the group arrived, Lyra was pleased to see that it included Han, even if he did take a place at the other end of the table away from Anakin. Luke and Anakin had set the table up outside in the sitting area, and to Lyra's amusement, had attempted to decorate it with her potted plants.

"Here you go, just for you." Lyra smiled and handed Chewbacca his own large platter of eggs and bacon. Chewie roared his thanks and sat down to dig in.

While the group settled down to eat, Leia looked around. "Well, everything is in motion now. Yesterday, I contacted the Alliance and informed them of what Luke has been doing and his plans for the future. I told them that he and I had found out through an old friend about our being twins and that he had come to Tatooine to find our biological father, Anakin Skywalker. There was more than a little excitement when I announced that General Skywalker was alive here on Tatooine. There are several veterans of the Clone Wars who are eager to talk to you," she directed to Anakin. "Oh, and Luke, the Alliance is very supportive of your and Anakin's restarting the Jedi academy. Mon Mothma herself suggested using the old temple on Yavin 4 as your headquarters. Much of the infrastructure from when it was the rebel headquarters might still be there."

"That's great!" Luke replied while Anakin shook his head.

"I'd be living a lie."

"Nonsense," Luke asserted. "You are the General Skywalker who fought in the Clone Wars. There's no lie about that. As for your time on Tatooine, stick to the truth as much as possible. You did come here to recover; you did lie low for a time. That's all true."

Lyra paused and set her pastry down. "Anakin, to give you time to get used to everything, we can put off meeting with anyone for a while and say that you're undergoing reconstructive work now that it's safe for you to come out of hiding. There's an excellent facility on Hosnian Prime. Lady Vader can more than afford it."

"Excellent idea," said Jael.

Anakin looked around and sighed. "Well, I guess it's decided." Several heads nodded.

After breakfast, the group walked out to the Falcon in the valley below. As everyone said their goodbyes, Amera took Luke's hand. "Contact us when you're ready, and we'll do what we can to help."

Leia walked up to Anakin. "Thank you for the information on our mother. The Naberries want to meet Luke and me soon, and you when you're ready."

Anakin smiled. "One day. Good luck with your work with the Alliance. You would make your mother very proud - and you do make me proud."

Leia smiled, unexpectedly shy, nodded her head and turned to walk up the ramp.

Anakin turned towards Lyra and stopped short. Jael stood close in his path, both hands resting on top of her walking stick.

"Jedi," she said sternly, "the Force has given you a second chance. Don't screw it up."