Chapter XXXVIII: After The Fact
The room was black, her eyes, once bright, could not manage to see a thing. The whole world was painted black it seemed.
"I swear," Mara gasped through white lips, "I… don't know where the prince has gone."
The officer sighed and turned to see the torture device. "Don't be so stubborn, Lady Jade. The Emperor will be here at any moment. I have to have something new to tell him. And you haven't given me anything at all."
"If he wants to know where the prince is… he can ask himself!" Mara said, her anger possessing her.
"Yeah, you want to tell him that? Speak plainly, young lady. You are still beautiful and it pains me to hurt you."
Mara rolled her eyes.
Why couldn't they just kill her already? It was obvious she wouldn't betray Luke—she didn't have anything to betray him with! What could she possibly still live for then?
She thought of her prince, away in the distance. She was content knowing he would succeed in all his dreamy, revolutionary ways. May the Force be with you, always, Luke. She would put an end to it, if the officer refused. There were several knives on the table, the smaller one would suffice. She had been denied of the opportunity to learn how to use the Force, but there had been the random occasion in which Luke tried to show her how.
She reached deep into the Force, trying to find some connection. She closed her eyes and imagined the knife was in her hand, she thought she might've succeeded—when she heard the officer gasp and cry out. But she had been wrong; the knife had plunged into the officer's chest.
"Oh no!" she screamed.
The doors opened, and the Emperor walked in. Mara looked away.
"I knew it," he said. He pulled the knife from the officer, who in turn groaned in pain. "Leave us." The man went away, bleeding, and practically crawling.
"What'd you know, Your Majesty?" Mara said, still unable to face him.
Vader in turn could stand, head high. "Palpatine would have made you useful. I would have you killed. My wife said you were but a baby, harmless despite your Force sensibility. I knew I was right."
"Your Majesty, I don't know how to use the Force."
"No? Should I assume my officer simply stabbed himself?"
"I wasn't trying to hurt him. I was…"
"Don't lie to me, Jade. I am sick and tired of your lies!"
"I never lie!" she screamed, years of pent up painful anger in her shaky voice.
He slapped her.
She realized there wasn't anything else he could do to her.
He would torture or kill her regardless of the tone she employed. She could now be careless with her words. The days in which fake respect prompted mercy were far behind. And she loved it.
"You may hit me till I go crazy in the head, you may search my mind for answers: you will still find no useful knowledge, sir. Everything I know, you know already."
His yellow eyes would have once terrified her. The blade in his hand once meant death. If it still did, it also meant freedom.
"It would give me no pleasure to kill you now, Jade. So let go of that dream."
Oh how long would she endure him in her head? Gods, I hope Luke kills him…
"My son would never hurt his own family—"
"Get out of my head!" Mara screamed. The pounding was unbearable. "And wasn't there a time you thought he'd never turn to the Light? Didn't you believe he'd help you bring down the rebels?"
"Shut up!"
It seemed Vader couldn't yet accept the truth about his son. This gave Mara reason enough to smile amidst her hell.
"That I can tell you, sir. He will not top until the war is over, and he has no intention of turning sides." Mara expected to be slapped again. The Emperor seemed deep in thought.
"Your Majesty," a guard knocked several times. "Queen Amidala is here, and she wants to see Lady Jade."
"Deny her!"
The Queen walked in anyway. She glared at the emperor for a moment, then she ran to Mara.
"Oh my dear," she sighed. "Anakin remove those chains, they must hurt her so. Oh no, Mara, she needs a doctor."
"I would sooner call a mortician for her. I don't care Padmé, this girl is as good as dead."
"You'd have to kill me first! I am taking her to Naboo right now!"
"You are not. Leave of your own accord. My love, I don't want to use the Force against you again."
"You will not. I will not forgive another aggression. Anakin, at your peril you try to stop me."
Mara was genuinely curious to see who would win in a tug of war between the powerful spouses. If memory was any help, she expected the queen to be cast aside. Yet she surprisingly saw the emperor vacillate.
Interrupting the tense scene, the officer from before reappeared and she never found out.
"Goodness, man, are you alright?" Padmé asked.
"I am fine, Your Majesty. Pardon, sir, I just wanted to say that it wasn't Lady Jade's intention to kill me."
"And for that you come back?" the Emperor was astonished. "You should be tending to your wound."
"The bleeding has stopped, and I could come to tell you, Majesty."
"You are an honest man, thank you officer." The queen smiled at him through her sadness.
He bowed and left.
"Common men are fools," the Emperor sighed.
"Young men usually are when they're close to pretty girls," the queen remarked through a mean grin.
He looked lost for a moment, then he glanced at Mara, as if he were seeing someone else and for the first time.
Of course, His Majesty hated her so much he never repaired her gracious looks. Mara was aware of the effect she caused in most men thanks to her beauty; she had come to think that perhaps all the Skywalkers were immune to it, though.
"I suppose she is young and beautiful," he smiled a wicked smile. Mara did not like it at all. The emperor called the officer again. "See Lady Mara Jade to the bacta tank," he commanded.
"What are you planning?" the Queen asked, suspiciously. Mara was taken away and she never heard what he answered.
Leia took several deep breaths; she hesitated for a long time, till at last, she took off all of her clothes. The room had a heating system yet still she couldn't help but to tremble in her naked state. She quickly got into the tub; the water was hot which swiftly eased her.
She lingered there for a long time, fearing the moment she'd have to stand again to the brutal Hoth cold.
The clothes the rebels provided her with were a privilege. They kept her warm and were not uncomfortable.
A few days passed in which they rested, they ate and gain flesh and strength again.
It seemed like the time to go had come, she knew they couldn't stay under the rebels' protection without siding with them. She tried to account their good deeds on Luke alone. Yet she knew the rebels felt in debt for how she helped them in the battle of Kashyyyk.
"Luke," she asked to speak with her brother in private. "It's time to go."
"I know, dear sister."
"Han and Chewie are ready."
"Yes."
"Please… You are coming with me, aren't you?"
He sighed, as if tired of her. "You know I am not."
Leia couldn't help the tears that fell down her face.
"Oh Leia, you weren't really expecting me to go with you?"
"Of course I was! You stupid boy, you can't abandon me!"
"I have a war to fight."
"You've done enough for them…"
"Is the galaxy yet free? No, Leia. I will give my last breath to restore freedom and peace. I will not rest also until the Jedi are returned."
At the mention of the Jedi, Leia flinched with hate.
"I want to speak with them," she said.
Luke's brow furrowed. "About?"
"I'm not sure. Will they be willing?"
"Oh yes. But you have to promise you won't disrespect them, Leia. Not only are they Jedi Masters, but also war veterans. You know well, sister, war is not a light easy thing." Leia's eyes burned. "They've been through enough. And for all that you love: do not mock the Force! The Light Side. I might take your comments with a shrug… I don't know about them."
"I'm not afraid of them."
"Neither should you. But keep it in mind."
The Jedi masters had General Chambers in the secret rebel base of Hoth, although only the old man Kenobi was an actual general in the war. Leia was hurt to find them here. She was even more injured at Luke's great happiness upon finding them.
The princess was shocked to see the chamber the rebels had given her to be better. Although of course her chamber was also Luke's, and they were in great need of him.
"Princess Leia," General Kenobi said when he saw her. "What a surprise."
"Master Kenobi," Luke said. "She wants to talk to you and Master Yoda."
"Does she? Well, Master Yoda will not rise today. Oh lose that frightened look, boy. He's old now and we can't blame him. Come, twins, we can speak in his bedchamber.
They found the aged Jedi Master as Kenobi had said he'll be. He seemed peaceful, too peaceful in his sleep, especially for someone living in a secret military base.
"Master Yoda," Kenobi patted his shoulder. The older Jedi opened his eyes, he made no attempt to rise. He worded his annoyance at being disturbed, but when he saw Leia he opened his eyes so wide the princess felt intimidated.
"Your Highness, aware you are of what you'll hear?" the high-pitched voice of the small, old alien master said.
Leia nodded. "You were like the emperor of the Jedi during times of the Republic, sir?" she begun but he cut her intentions to dance around the information she wanted short.
The master groaned as if very displeased with her. "The truth you want lies not with me. Princess, what you want to know, ask you can."
Leia was more scared than angry. "What can you tell of my father's time as a Jedi?"
He turned to look at Kenobi. Before he could say anything, Leia snapped—
"I do not trust anything you might say… general," this being the only respectful name she could give him. "You tried to kill both my parents. You abducted my brother and I when we were just babies."
"I see you have Vader's way of distorting the truth to your convenience, Your Highness," the Jedi seemed unbothered to the point of insult. "You have heard the facts, is that really how you choose to interpret them?"
Leia wanted to tell him to shut up.
"You mutilated my mother! You are the reason she wears a prosthetic arm… would you deny that?"
Kenobi sighed, sadly and regretfully. "No. I take full blame for that. Does she hold a grudge against me because of it?"
Leia remembered the way her mother's eyes brightened when she learned Kenobi was still alive, and she felt like screaming.
"I do." She limited to say.
"I see your sweet looks are all you got from Padmé. This poor child is all Vader…"
"Master Kenobi," Luke interrupted for the first time. "My sister is passionate in her anger, but she is not bad. You heard the way she helped the Alliance in Kashyyyk. And how she saved Jule from being left stranded in Yavin after the great battle. Like myself, she was indoctrinated from birth. They convinced her that the Skywalker name and a title made her more important than others. She grew up believing lies about the fall of the Jedi and the Republic. She's learning all too suddenly many hard truths. Please don't blame her for being so bitter."
"I don't need your pity, Jedi," Leia snapped, she glared at Kenobi.
"But you have needed that of the rebels?" he grinned, though still his anger showed. "You speak mighty when in the right position, but like everyone else, when death is present you take whatever hand is near for help, to not fall into its pit."
"My father was right: all the Jedi know how to do is lecture and manipulate!"
"Are his Sith teachings any different, Princess?"
Leia caressed the hilt of her lightsaber. "You will never win. You are all prolonging a war, ignoring its unavoidable end! Stop it. The Dark Side is too strong. My father has all the power in the world. How long do we have to endure the massacre? Jedi claimed to be keepers of the peace, yet you were on every war of recent history."
"Right she is," the older master frowned. "On that, I mean."
"Master-" Luke was silenced by Yoda's impatient hand.
"There the true downfall of the Jedi was. Not our war it was. Not in our place to meddle. Yet stand and watch, we could not. Glory and pride did scorn us."
So this one wasn't blind to his faults.
"Anakin did contribute a lot, though," Kenobi wouldn't let go of it.
"What was my mother to you, general Kenobi? Why—" she didn't care, she needed to know. "Why does she love you?"
Kenobi looked down, he considered his answer for a long time.
"Love was always part of her nature. And nowhere was it more present than at the birth of her children. Though you might hate to hear it, Princess Leia, I was there. Aided by those wonderful rebels you know, then mere children, helped saving you and your mother."
"That's why my father hates you," Leia whispered to herself. "He's a jealous man."
"His reasons to hate me go beyond that."
"You were also his master… I cannot imagine my father ever obeying any authority."
"You don't have to, he didn't exactly obey, actually," the shadow of a smile crept on his old face.
"Yoda," Leia suddenly said.
"Master," Luke corrected.
She decided to be correct. She might hate the Jedi… still. She might denounce them… but there was something in the older master she respected.
"Master Yoda," she said, "I have been trained since infancy. You trained more generations of Force users than I could count—including the man that trained my own father, from whom I learned everything. So tell me, please, what is the difference between the Light and the Dark side of the Force? Between Jedi and Sith?"
She noticed even Luke and Kenobi were eager to hear the answer.
"Mmhh Princess. A question often asked, yet never truly cleared. Between Jedi and Sith, but a decision."
"In the Force?"
"Ah, there is the Light, which a Jedi always follows. The good, the righteous..."
"Not the powerful."
"Mmh, depends what power you think of."
Leia felt her muscles tightened. "Can't you give me a straight forward answer?!"
"Good luck with that," Luke muttered.
"Princess, the right path I cannot point, for you to discover it is."
"And if I choose wrong?"
"Let the Force guide you. The Light you will find."
I'm scared. Leia thought. What if I fall into the Darkness… only to find the wrong power?
And though she dared not give voice to these doubts, she heard Yoda answer, "Hear not your fears, to the Dark Side they lead. Obi-Wan right is… Princess, not your mother, not your father, are you… Their mistakes avoid you can. Accept them, so from them, learn you may."
"Master!" Luke cried. "Are you alright?"
Leia watched him, Yoda seemed tired and older somehow. She felt disturbing his sleep had been wrong. It seemed like she should apologize.
"Let him be, Luke," Kenobi said, serenely if a little gravely.
Luke panicked. "I'll go get a doctor."
"No… no." Yoda shook his head. "Skywalker children, hither. Luke, Soon will I rest. Yes, forever sleep. Earned it, I have."
Luke neared his master. Leia felt she couldn't help but do the same.
"Master Yoda, you can't die," Luke though quiet was stubborn.
Leia disagreed, just looking at the master, it was plain to her he would die. She wasn't sure how she felt about it.
"Young Skywalker, already know you that which you need." His big eyes struggled to remain open as they gazed upon Luke's.
"Then I am a Jedi?"
"Ohhh. Not yet. One thing remains: Your sister."
Leia did a double take. Though summoned, she hadn't expected the ancient master to mention her in his final words.
"Remember, a Jedi's strength flows from the Force. But beware. Anger, fear, aggression. The dark side are they. In the princess are they." He must've been really weak now, and so Leia was all the more astonished as the green hand grabbed and pulled her. "Inside you they are—but in your heart not. Beware, Princess, once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Know that you do, that is why ask questions, you always do. Obi-Wan," he fell back and freed Leia's arm. The other Jedi, who looked very white, approached the scene.
"When I am gone, the last of the Jedi will you be. Guide the twins, you must, Obi-Wan." He stopped, a series of coughs plaguing him. "Do not...Do not underestimate the powers of the Emperor, or suffer your father's fate, you will." He was again looking at Leia. "Trust in you, I do…" he stopped to cough; his voice was practically a whisper now. Through strained efforts, he spoke again. "There… is still… hope for… Skywalker."
Leia and Luke both gasped, watching the ancient master disappear. They stared at each other, then both turned to Obi-Wan, as if hoping he would answer what just happened. "May the Force be with you, Master," he smiled.
"Who," Leia said, her voice low, "Who was he talking to at the end?"
Moreover, which Skywalker he meant?