Chapter 16 – Three Blades
Luke's hands were covered in mud and his fingernails were completely sanded away, but he kept digging. Sweat poured down the bridge of his nose and plummeted down into the hole which he had produced. Grimacing with exertion, Luke moved handful after handful of dirt until he was finally satisfied. Taking a deep breath, he brushed off his hands and stood upright.
He was standing in the center of his once-proud Jedi temple. The wooden structure had been destroyed by the fire, but the epicenter still remained. In the center of the atrium had been a serene circular reflection pool. The formerly-clear water had turned black with soot and large chunks of debris now protruded from its shallow depths.
It was on this spot in front of the pool where Luke had taught his students the art of meditation. Closing his eyes, he pictured each of their faces as they had been in this spot – eyes closed and features relaxed in a state of absolute tranquility.
"Goodbye, my children," he said softly.
He had never married nor fallen in love like his sister had. He had seen how quickly her relationship with Han had disintegrated, and Luke had feared repeating Leia's fate should he decide to start a family with someone. The decision had not been an easy one for him to make for Luke who had always wanted children. His students, however, had filled that void in his heart. They were effectively his children, having raised most of them since infancy. They had all seen him as their father as well, in a way, considering the fact that they were all orphans or were otherwise abandoned by their birth parents. Now they were all gone, stolen from him by Sidious along with nearly everyone else he had ever loved.
Opening his eyes, Luke reached down to his belt and produced his lightsaber. Turning the weapon over in his grimy hands, Luke thought back to the day he had constructed it. During the first years of his training with Leia, he had used Obi-Wan's lightsaber. He had wielded that blade proudly, so proudly in fact that he had been averse to the idea of constructing his own. Leia had made him do it, however. She had insisted that in order to truly be a Jedi, one needed to forge their own weapon.
He was glad she had made him do it. While he had loved Obi-Wan's lightsaber, it had never truly belonged to him. He hadn't truly realized that until he had inserted the green kyber crystal into the hilt and activated his lightsaber for the first time.
Pressing the trigger, Luke now activated the weapon for the last time. It pained him to do it, but he knew he had to. He was done with all things Jedi, and that included his lightsaber. Contemplating the humming emerald blade for a few moments, Luke finally deactivated the blade and got down onto his knees once more. Carefully depositing the hilt into the hole he had dug, Luke looked at it one last time before filling in the hole with his hands. He could have used the Force to dig the hole and bury it, but he was done with that. He would close himself off from the Force now. What use was that power in his hands if he couldn't even save the ones he loved?
The hole was almost completely filled when Luke was startled by a familiar noise. Looking up sharply, his eyes widened as he saw an old friend approaching.
"R2!" he exclaimed. "You're alive!"
R2 beeped happily as he rolled around the soiled pond toward him. Smiling thinly, Luke pushed the rest of the dirt into the hole and sat upright on his knees.
"I'm sorry I didn't come looking for you," Luke apologized as he placed his hand on the astromech droid's dome. "I just figured you hadn't made it." R2 shook his dome and made an indignant sound, causing Luke to laugh feebly. "That was dumb of me," he conceded. "I should never underestimate a droid, especially not this one."
At this, Luke's smile faded as he retracted his hand from R2. Sitting down, he pulled his knees into his chest and sighed.
"I'm done with it all, R2," he explained when the droid beeped at him. "I'm done with the Jedi."
R2 didn't respond to this, yet Luke could tell that the droid was clearly disenchanted with him. Luke bowed his head, not wanting to have to explain himself. As he did this, however, a sudden voice prompted him to look back up sharply.
"Hello, Obi-Wan."
Luke's mouth fell open as he laid eyes on the recording R2 had produced from his memory banks. It was his mother. She was thirty years younger and oh so beautiful – her countenance smooth and free of the blights of old age. Leaning forward, Luke felt his eyes water up as he watched the recording, utterly enraptured.
"Bail and I have been searching for you for the past nineteen years. Bail recently informed me that he obtained sources which told him that you are on Tatooine. I was on my way to meet you when my ship was stopped by the Empire. I have placed information vital to the survival of the Rebellion into the memory systems of my R2 unit. Bail will know how to retrieve it. You must see this droid safely delivered to him on Alderaan. If my son in with you, I ask you to bring him with you. Bail will provide for him even if I am unable to. This is our most desperate hour. Help me, Obi-Wan. You are my only hope."
Once she finished this speech, the recording replayed itself and Luke stayed there watching without really listening. He remembered the first time seeing this message back in Obi-Wan's sandy abode on Tatooine all those years ago. That had been the first time he had seen or heard his mother. Obi-Wan had been stunned, having been convinced that she had been killed by the Emperor twenty years prior.
Do you know what she was talking about? he remembered asking, having been completely ignorant about his esteemed ancestry at the time. About her son? Do you know him too?
Oh yes, I know him, the old Jedi Master had said, smiling wryly.
Who is he?
He's you.
"I can't believe she's gone, R2," Luke whispered as he finally looked away from his mother's projection. "It's so unfair." R2 made a sympathetic beep and Luke looked away for a moment. Suddenly, an idea struck him. "Do you still have that map?" he asked. R2 at once whistled his affirmation. "Good," Luke said. "I'm going to need it."
"Mom? Hey, Mom? We… we should go."
Leia exhaled loudly as she opened her eyes. She was seated cross-legged atop her bed in the guest room of the Millennium Falcon. Standing in the doorway was her son, his expression solicitous and his tone gentle. He looked so much like his father…
"Okay," she mumbled, her voice barely audible even to herself as she spoke down to her lap. "I'll be right out."
Ben hesitated a moment longer before nodding and closing the door behind him. Taking a shaky breath, Leia rubbed her eyes wearily before getting up off the bed. Shivering slightly when her bare feet touched the metal floor, Leia turned around and grabbed the thin blanket off the surface of the bed. Wrapping it around her shoulders gingerly, she sighed one last time as she contemplated what her brother had said the morning prior.
What's the point? he had asked. It will only end in ruin. It always does. And Sidious will return no matter what we do. We killed him once, and he just came back!
Leia had never seen her brother so broken and hopeless. Luke had always been the optimistic one, the positive thinker, the supportive friend. Luke had been her rock ever since they had met each other thirty years ago. Of all the people, he had been the one who had most fervently believed in her no matter the circumstance.
But now that man was gone, replaced by a cynical and depressed husk of his former self. Seeing her brother crack before her eyes had been tragic. Her poor brother had lost everything, or so he thought. The loss of their mother – while of course terrible for her – had been exponentially worse for Luke who had always been closer with Padmé than she had been. It made sense. Leia had grown up having a loving, albeit twisted and deranged parent at her side in Vader. Luke, however, had been raised by his aunt and uncle who, while by no means neglectful, hadn't been parents for him in the true sense of the word. He had therefore cherished Padmé in the purest and most absolute way when they had finally been reunited.
Without her, Luke no longer knew what he had to fight for. For Leia, the situation was far different. She still had her father by her side and she also had her two children to defend. Luke had neither of those things. So while his decision had saddened her immensely, she could at least understand why he had made it. In time, however, she would need Luke back at her side if she was going to defeat Sidious again. She was stronger with him at her side, and she would need all the strength she could muster if she was going to emerge victorious for a second round. Hopefully Luke would come around on his own, but if not, she would have to find a way to bring him back by force.
Stepping out of the guest room, Leia's feet pattered softly against the hallway floor as she slowly made her way to the main hold where she knew her two children to be. Reaching the entrance, she came to a stop when she saw them. They were leaning down with their backs faced to her. It seemed they had found some soldering equipment and were attempting to reconstruct Ben's droid.
"Hand me that wrench, would you?" she heard Ania ask. Leia pursed her lips and watched in silence as her children worked in complete harmony. Physically, they were so different from one another; Ben's large, hulking figure contrasted starkly with Ania's petite yet sturdy one. Closing her eyes, however, Leia cold barely distinguish between them through the Force. They were intimately intertwined – their Force presences wrapped together like vines around a tree – and the strength of their bond rivaled that of her own with Luke. They were siblings, after all. Through the Force, there could be no stronger bond.
Leia could scarcely imagine a more beautiful thing than seeing her two children together. She knew that she hadn't been a good parent – especially for Ania, but also for Ben. She had neglected him horribly after Han had left. As a consequence, she had allowed her own mother to assume a maternal role in her son's life. She had been jealous, but she had never been able to reverse that change. Quite simply, she hadn't been strong enough. Being Ben's mother had been painful for her. Every time she looked at him, she thought of his father or she thought of his brother who had died or of his sister who she thought had died as well…
Now she would amend that wrong. Leia wouldn't allow herself to retreat from her parental obligations. While she knew Ben was strong and he did not need her in the way he once did, she knew that Ania did. Ania needed Leia to be her mother, and that's what she was going to do. She would not disappoint her children any longer. From here on out, she would always be there for them.
"Hey, you two?" she said, prompting Ben and Ania to spin around toward her voice. She hesitated, seeing the eager, and in Ania's case, almost reverent looks in their eyes. "Could you join me in the cockpit?" she asked. "I need one of you to be my copilot."
"I'll do it," Ania said quickly. Leia's mouth twitched, amused by her enthusiasm. The half-smile faded in an instant, however, when she remembered what that girl had done…
She couldn't help but feel uncomfortable in her daughter's presence. Just because she had forgiven her didn't mean she could forget what had happened. Every time she looked at her, she saw her thrusting a red blade into Han's chest and every time she looked at her, she saw a lifeless newborn who was refusing to take her first breath. Unbearable guilt and pain bombarded her conscience whenever she laid eyes on her daughter.
"Ben, you come too," she said therefore, not wanting to be alone with Ania in the cockpit. She needed to talk to them both, anyway.
Setting down their respective tools, Ben and Ania stood up and obediently followed after her. Reaching the cockpit, Leia sat down in the pilot's seat and began prepping for takeoff. She briefly glanced at Ania when she sat down in the seat next to her before returning her attention to the control panel.
You ever flown before, General?
Of course I have. And you don't have to call me that, you know.
Oh yeah, why's that?
Because you know my name, Han.
Okay… Leia.
Shaking her head, Leia purged the bittersweet memory out of her mind as she finished the ignition sequence. Hand hovering over the throttle, she hesitated as she thought of her brother.
"Goodbye, Luke," she said out loud. "May our paths cross again."
With that, Leia activated the thrusters and launched the Falcon off the ground and into the air. Ascending into the atmosphere of Yavin 4, she guided the ship through the dense cloud layer and eventually into space.
"Ania, begin the burn sequence," Leia ordered without looking at her copilot.
"Okay… Mom."
Inhaling sharply, Leia stared determinedly ahead as Ania began the process of getting the ship out of the orbit of both the moon itself and the surrounding celestial bodies. A few minutes later, Ania cut the engines and allowed the ship to drift in the open space.
"Come on," Leia said, unbuckling her seatbelt and standing up. "Follow me."
"Shouldn't we be going back to Chandrila?" Ben asked from the observer's seat behind Ania. "Why aren't we going into hyperdrive?"
"I want to take our time returning to the capital," she explained as she marched out of the cockpit. "I'm assuming you're behind me," she added as she took a turn in to the main hold.
Spinning around abruptly in the middle of the room, she saw that they were indeed behind her, looking visibly bemused by the turn of events which had led them here. "Take a seat," she instructed with a flourish of her hand.
Ben quirked an eyebrow. "Where?" he asked.
Leia snorted in amusement as she locked eyes with Ania who had sat down on the floor without objection. "Follow your sister's example, why don't you?" she suggested.
Blinking once, Ben complied and got down onto the floor by Ania's side. Crossing his legs, he looked up at her expectantly. "What's going on?" he asked.
"The time has come to begin your training," she said, smiling faintly when Ben's eyes widened. She had known that her son had always wanted to follow in her footsteps, but until now she had steadfastly denied him of this. She had been too afraid of what could happen if she allowed Luke to train her son. He had an innate darkness within him, having inherited it from his mother and from his grandfather before her. Now, however, the exigence of the conflict demanded that he be trained. Under her close guidance, neither of her children would succumb to the darkness which had afflicted her for the first eighteen years of her life.
"Ania's already been trained though, hasn't she?" Ben asked.
"Ania's training can barely even be considered as rudimentary," she said. "Snoke didn't even teach you how to use the Force, did he?"
Ania shook her head. "No," she said. "He didn't think it was necessary."
Leia laughed humorlessly at this. "How ridiculous," she said, her lip curling in distaste for the Sith who had abducted her daughter. "The Force is what gives a Jedi her power. Without it, we are no different than a common soldier."
"Yeah, but we have lightsabers," Ben pointed out. "That must count for something, right?"
"A lightsaber in and of itself is not a special weapon," Leia told him. "In fact, a blaster is superior in almost every way." Aghast by this assessment, both Ben and Ania opened their mouths to object but Leia prevented them from doing so with a raise of her hand. "In the hands of a trained Force-wielder, however, it transforms from an unwieldy weapon without range into a lethal and invaluable tool."
"I don't understand," Ania said suddenly. "What's so important about the Force?"
Leia smiled thinly as she began to pace with her hands held behind her back. "A Jedi uses the Force in every action they perform," she said, circling her two children. "In combat, a Jedi relies on the Force to anticipate his attackers moves and to enhance his own." She came to a stop and looked at the back of Ben and Ania's heads. "I will teach you the ways of the Force," she said. "But be warned, this will not be easy. I will teach you in the only way I know how: as my master taught me."
"Sidious?" Ben asked, his voice high with fright.
"Rest easy, my son," Leia said, attempting to infuse some levity into her tone as she walked back around to face them directly. "I don't intend on torturing you like he tortured me. I will challenge you, however. Physically, mentally, and emotionally, I will challenge you."
With that ominous declaration, she peered down at her children's faces to gauge their reactions. Ben looked especially nervous as he chewed on his bottom lip. Ania, on the other hand, was looking back at her with a look of sheer determination. After her experiences on Tatooine and with Snoke, Leia was sure Ania thought this would be easy for her. She thought wrong, however; this would not be easy, even for her.
There was a reason Leia had chosen not to train the younglings and had instead elected for Luke to assume that responsibility alone. Training under her would be grueling, unpleasant, and demanding to the extreme. She would gain results from her pupils far faster than Luke would, but they would not like her for that. She could only hope that her children were up to the task. She could be fairly certain that Ania would be, but she was far less confident about Ben. Sure, he wanted this desperately, but she also knew that the boy was soft, and not just in the physical sense. He had been coddled most of his life by his grandmother. He would have to be hardened if he was going to survive this training.
"Produce your weapons," she demanded after this long moment of contemplation. "Place them in front of you." Ben and Ania both did as she asked, obedient as always. She first looked to the blade which had once belonged to her, or rather, to Vitrius. Summoning the familiar hilt to her hand, she inspected it with the utmost fascination. "How did you come by this blade?" she asked Ania.
"The Knights found it in the Death Star ruins on Hoth," Ania told her.
"Knights?" Leia asked. She recalled Ania mentioning them to her, but she hadn't asked her who they were at the time.
"The Knights of Ren," Ben said unexpectedly.
Leia arched an eyebrow at her son. "How do you know about this?" she asked.
"They were the ones who destroyed Luke's temple," Ben told her. "And they were the ones who took Rey," he added glumly.
"They serve Snoke," Ania explained. "Or at least they did."
Leia nodded pensively. "I must say I am surprised this blade survived that explosion," she said, looking down at the hilt once more with a melancholy smile. "I constructed this weapon when I was four years old. My father helped me design it." Another moment passed before she looked up from her long-lost lightsaber. "It belongs to you now, Ben," she said, throwing the hilt toward him.
Ben caught it with two hands, his eyes widening a bit as he internalized this statement. "To me?" he repeated. "But it's yours!"
"I already have a blade," she said, patting the blue lightsaber which was dangling from her belt. "I have no need of another. It will serve you well until the time comes for you to construct your own." Turning her attention away from Ben and toward Ania, her eyes narrowed as she inspected the hilt rested in front of the girl. "You did not construct this blade," she stated, knowing it to be true without having to ask.
"I didn't," Ania confirmed. "Snoke gave it to me."
Once more, Leia summoned the hilt to her hand, but this time she didn't catch it. She left it suspended in the air a few feet from her outstretched hand. "Curious," she mused as she saw her own distorted reflection in the lustrous material. Unlike her own blade – and unlike any other Jedi blade she had ever seen, for that matter – this hilt was entirely smooth and devoid of grooves. It was made of a shiny gold and silver metal which sparkled in the bright lights of the main hold. No Jedi would ever use such an ostentatious and expensive material for their lightsaber.
"What's curious?" Ben asked.
Leia glanced away from the hilt momentarily toward her son. "I am familiar with this blade as well," she told him. "Very familiar."
"Why?" Ania asked.
Pushing her hand out, Leia returned the lightsaber back to the ground in front of her daughter. "Because," she said, frowning subtly as she glowered down at the blade. "That blade belonged to Darth Sidious."
Horrified, Ania scooted away from the lightsaber hastily. "That's Sidious'?" she asked, aghast. Next to her, Ben looked similarly appalled – his mouth hanging open and his eyes comedically wide.
"It did," Leia said. "Now, it belongs to you."
"No!" Ania exclaimed, shaking her head vigorously. "I don't want it."
"You committed a heinous act with that blade," Leia said coldly. "It is your responsibility to rectify the wrong you inflicted upon it."
Ania's expression froze as she stared back at the dreaded lightsaber at her feet. "But that lightsaber is evil!" Ben protested on her behalf. "She didn't wrong it!"
"A lightsaber cannot be evil, Ben," Leia said sternly. "He who wields it can be, but the blade itself is innocent."
"But it's red," Ben pointed out. "Only the Sith use red lightsabers, right?"
"This is true," Leia conceded. "But there are ways to change this."
"Change the color you mean?" Ben asked.
Leia nodded. "A blade turns red when its crystal is wounded," she explained. "The Sith have no regard for the sanctity of kyber, but we Jedi are less inconsiderate. I will teach you both how to purify the crystal inside each of these hilts."
"Purify?" Ania repeated, finally looking up from Sidious' blade to meet her mother's gaze. "But why not just make new ones?"
"You are not ready for that endeavor," Leia said. "Only after you have restored the integrity of that blade and have completed your training will I permit you to construct a new one." Ania frowned as she looked back down at the blade before her with ambivalence.
Leia contemplated her for a moment as she considered the wisdom of forcing Ania to use Sidious' blade. It was punishment, in a way. But did she not deserve punishment? She had killed her father with that blade. While Leia could sympathize with the girl in light of their similar backgrounds, she couldn't simply forget that barbaric act. No, Ania would have to prove herself to her. She would have to redeem both herself and that blade.
"Rise, both of you," Leia ordered after a moment's silence. "Pick up your weapons," she added when Ania made to leave Sidious' lightsaber on the ground. "For your first lesson, I will teach you the basic forms of lightsaber combat."
She knew Luke would have started with the art of meditation and manipulation of the Force, but Luke wasn't here right now. She would begin with what she was most comfortable: lightsaber combat. Sidious had emphasized lightsaber training with her from a very early age, and as a result her skills with a blade were unparalleled. Vader alone could rival her skills, and even he had been more or less defeated when they had dueled on the Death Star.
"Let us begin with Form I," she said, unclipping her own lightsaber from her belt and activating the blue blade by her side. "Follow my example," she instructed, bending her knees and assuming the classic Shii-Cho position.
And thus the training began. The blood of Skywalker was now being fully mobilized to confront the evil of the Sith once more. But without Luke at her side, would it truly be enough?
