That decided Leia, she too had
wanted to know who her mother was. Leia and Luke did a three-way call to
General Dadonna and Mon Mothma "We think at least the two of you know who
our mother was, and what she was like, can you please tell us." Luke said,
bluntly.
Mon Mothma did a wistful smile.
"Yes, there is a story there, and I will tell it to you. I would've told
you earlier, but if you want me to be blunt, 2 things, one , the deathbed
promise Ami extracted from me, two Leia, I wasn't sure if your reaction would
be the one Ami feared."
Leia, blanched, "since we are
being blunt, what is meant by that."
"I had already seen your
reaction when you found out who your father was, understandable, but you were,
unlike your brother, unable to let go. I thought if your reactions where unlike
the one Ami had feared, I could justify it, but...if it was what Ami had feared
I could never live with myself."
"You guys, this is really Mon
Mothma's story, I will fill my portion in after Mon Mothma is done talking to
you. Hey, General Solo, did you hear about the new posting, I heard rumors its
going to be the two of us. Want to discuss it, we could meet up at my
place." General Dadonna said.
Han got the hint. "Sure."
Leia's cousins also got the hint,
"We'll do our party afterwards, we will make it a big one at the embassy.
We will go and get the hall ready."
After everyone else had left Mon
Mothma continued. "Hey, you guys, this is not a story that should be told
over Holo vid. Would you like to meet me at my place, this way I can also show
you the Holo's."
"Sure."
The media followed Leia to Mon
Mothma's. When the twins got to Mon Mothma's, she quickly opened the door, let
them in. Then she did the greetings, Luke wondered at this, briefly, until he
saw that she was not looking like her usual self.
Mon Mothma wringed her hands for a
moment, "As you can tell this is not an easy tale. Amidala, your mother,
was my best friend. She was the Queen of Naibu (Naboo). If you want to see what
Ami was like, she was the female Bail Organa, basically. Ami was the reason
Bail and I founded the Rebel Alliance, and the Rebellion. Oh, you may think as
you like, we founded it for some great, noble reason, but those reasons where
actually secondary to the real reason-AMI." Mon Mothma paused.
"You see,"
she continued, "your father was at one time, a great and honorable person.
A hero of the Old Republic, having helped Ami, Obi-Wan, and Qui-Gonn turn back
a 'trade federation' which we found out later, well into the Rebellion was lead
by Palpatine, invasion. Ironically, it was him who blew up one big ship that
Palpatine was using to try to invade Naibu. So it came as a great shock to your
mother, when she came home from a hard day in the Senate to discover that
Anakin was gone, she could not FEEL him. She feared he was dead, until she
extended her slight force abilities, and felt the dark side whirling in her
apartments." Mon Motha paused, and Leia and Luke saw from the contortion
of her face, that this was a painful memory.
"She staggered, thinking your
father had been killed by a dark side entity. She called Obi-Wan, Bail, and me.
She said, come quick, something has happened to Anakin. I can't FEEL his
presence, and there is a swirl of dark side presence in our apartments. I fear
he has been killed." Mon Mothma paused again, allowing a painful smile to
come to her face. "Oh, death was so preferrable to what had actually
happened. See, Obi-wan entered first, Amidala, are you okay. He had said. She told
him she was fine, just worried. Obi-wan had taken a force reading of the place.
I still remember the expression on his face when the force reading was
finished. Oh, Leia, Luke, the expression was of a grown man admitting defeat,
but it wasn't half as heart-wrenching as Ami's when she found out that her
beloved was working at Palpatine's side. Obi-wan had taken Amidala's hands and
said, Amidala, you must react to this news as a Queen of Naibu, I fear, I fear,
Anakin is not dead, but at a faith worse then death. Amidala, had still been
naive, what, she had asked, kidnapped. No, Obi-wan had said, he has been
seduced, by the dark side. NOOOOOOO, Amidala had cried." Mon Mothma said,
her voice breaking. Leia and Luke saw tears in her eyes.
"Bail and I
were also shaken by the news. I remember, I went up to her and grabbed her
shoulders, and Bail took Ami's hands. I remember thinking, well, maybe Obi-Wan
can bring him back. Amidala had the same thought, Obi-Wan, can you please try
to talk to him. Obi-Wan had tracked him down, and I think Obi-Wan told you the
story of what happened, so I'll skip that. Obi-Wan came back, his face haggard.
Amidala jumped up, Obi-Wan, she'd asked, what happened. He is lost, Obi-Wan had
intoned, lost forever. Amidala had gone out of it then, she had put her face in
her hands and cried."
"You must remember that
Palpatine was CRUEL, he taunted Amidala with this at every possible turn. You
know when Palpatine declared himself emperor he did it in front of the whole
senate, but before then he had somehow gotten some information which, he, as a
minor senator, couldn't have had. It was information usually only reserved for
the Chief of State and cabinet. But Amidala had been so respected in the Old
Republic that she had the access codes to it too, and Ami had those codes
written in her private drawers. But when Anakin became Darth Vader, he had used
dark powers to open her drawers get those access codes and give it to
Palpatine. When Palpatine presented some of this information to the Senate,
this was after starting to gather more power, he threw Amidala a mocking
glance, and Amidala was puzzled, and unraveled by it. She ran home afterwards
and saw her drawer, which only four people in the whole galaxy knew about,
herself, me, Bail...and Anakin, open, and the access codes gone. Amidala then,
who had been in denial, said all right he has gone to the dark side, but not
realized to what extent, was completely unraveled. She lost it." Mon
Mothma paused, Leia and Luke could tell she was getting to the part of the
story that had haunted her for years.
"You don't know how naive I had
been. I should have realized earlier how Palpatine was getting his information,
advocated a change of those codes, because then Amidala wouldn't have had to
blame herself for what happened." Mon Mothma said, almost to herself. She
shook herself out of her reverie, "Anyways, Amidala lay on her bed, just
crying for awhile, then she got up and ran, just ran, not caring that her
braids were undone, or anything, she just ran to where Bail and I where having
a meeting with leaders of the Jedi council to see what could be done, it was
Master Yoda, and two others." Mon Mothma gave them a slight smile in
return for there shocked looks, "Don't look so surprised. You are Amidala's
kids, I had to keep an eye out. Yes, young Luke, we-Beru, Bail, Obi-wan and I
have been watching the two of you since you were born. Obi-wan filled me in on
your training. All right, back to the story. Amidala had the door guard tell us
it was an emergency. We went to a seperate room and had the door guard, who
hadn't recognized her so hadn't told us who it was, send her in. Amidala was in
pieces, she was sobbing. It was that image, that image of betrayal sparked by
Palpatine and Vader that brought us...and Garm to start the Alliance and
Rebellion."
Luke noticed the subtle change in
Mon Mothma using Vader instead of Anakin. "It was that picture that made
me ignore all Palpatine's propaganda. Oh yes, propaganda something Palpatine
was good at. He was doing this for the good of the galaxy. The republic was
falling apart, this was the only way to salvage justice. It was this propaganda
that made it hard, in the first half of the first decade of the Empire to rouse
up a rebellion. It was that image that made me realize how cruel Palpatine
really was, how he used people and betrayed them. I shudder to think what
Anakin's mother would have said had she known. Luckily, for her, she died one
year before the Old Republic officially did. You see, Anakin's mother believed in
HELPING people. There is a story behind that and Anakin. Did you know Anakin
was born a slave on Tatooine." Mon Mothma gave another bitter smile,"
Ironic isn't it. Oh, I feel no sympathy for Vader, Anakin...maybe, but not
Vader, because I think of Amidala how she spent the rest of her days on
Alderaan, especially after she realized she was pregnant." Mon Mothma
laughed a true laugh, this time, "You two had your destiny planned before
you were born, everyone who had realized Palpatine's treachery, said when they
saw Ami's stomach, the children who shall rid us of this evil. We made sure, on
Obi-wan's bidding that none of the people who had seen Amidala's stomach went
to the Emperor, and none of them were caught, we wanted to be sure that her
pregnancy would be kept a secret."
"Wondrous." Leia said,
"Wonder if we disappointed any of them."
"We were lucky, Amidala had
been born with a rare gift, the gift of being able to withstand any sort of
torture without either going insane, dying, or releasing the information, and
the gift of never being able to be traced, other than using eyes, by people she
didn't want tracing her. So that was how Amidala remained concealed. DId you
know, that you two were the reason Amidala kept herself alive for as long as
she did. She had no reason or desire to live after Anakin betrayed her, and
especially, used her access codes. But she knew she must give birth to her
kids. When Amidala gave birth to both of you, she had to choose, she could only
pass on her gift to one of you. She decided, since Leia was going to be going
into the public eye, that she was to get the gifts. That was one reason I sent
you on the dangerous, and visible missions, why do you think you had time to
hide the information in R2-D2 because Vader couldn't search for you with the
force, he should've been able, but couldn't. Why do you think you came out of
the torturing sane? Most people only get half of it, and they still are shaken,
but you...survived all of it. THen when you saw the Death Star pointed at Alderaan
and were asked where is the base, you said Dantooine, and truly believed it for
a moment, why?"
It all made sense to
Leia, then. "You don't know how much it pained Amidala to seperate the two
of you. She told me it felt like she was separating her heart and soul. But,
she knew, as Obi-wan had told her, if you two developed the 'twin-connection'
before you understood what was going on you would both be killed. Amidala
called it sacrificing her heart on soul for justice. She knew, as Luke wasn't
equipped with the 'gift' he endangered Leia, so after one final kiss, she gave
Luke to Obi-wan, who promised he would take Luke to a safe haven, he said
people there may be slightly hostile, but because of Luke's roots they wouldn't
betray him, plus, the Empire hadn't reached Tatooine yet. Leia, you remained
with your mother until she died. On her deathbed she said, "Mon Mothma,
Bail, Garm promise me you won't tell the twins who their mother was, or their
father,so they won't have to bow their heads. It is better to feel like an
orphan then kids of traitors."
It took Mon Mothma a while to
squeeze the last part out, it was clear why, she didn't believe, and Leia and
Luke agreed, the Amidala was a traitor, for she had done nothing wrong, instead
had saved the old republic as best as she could.
Oh, Luke and Leia, I also have a happier tale to tell you. This is the one in
which your mother, father, Obi-wan, and Qui-Gonn turned back an invasion of
Naibu on their own. See, there was a trade federation, we found out later was
run by Palpatine, he was smart, only his most loyal henchmen knew who he was,
and they never told us. We caught him because he communicated with these
henchmen through Holo's we saw the holos. Alright, so Naibu was invaded, the
invaders kidnapped your mother. Well, Obi-wan and Qui-gonn were around the
corner, they were walking, they rescued Ami." Then Mon Mothma proceeded to
tell them how Amidala had made it safely to Coruscant, the capital of the Old
Republic, asked the Senate for aid and when discovered the Chief of State, who
used to be one of Ami's most ardent supporters was on the Trade Federation's
payroll started a no-confidence vote, had her viceroy take care of that while
she went back and rescued her people.
In the meantime Han, Saty, Stephaine,
Chewie, and Alizabeth had snuck in, unnoticed. See, Obi-Wan Kenobi had decided
that it would be better if Han et al. heard it firsthand, but let Mon Mothma
bleed off some of HER poison. See, Mon Mothma had also been holding this inside
of her for a VERY long time. So, Obi-Wan had told Han in front of General
Dadonna, after calling Saty, Stephaine, and Alizabeth.
Mon Mothma gave a wan smile,
"Oh, Leia, how much you remind me of Amidala when she was your age, and
older, you grew up faster then she did, though both of you grew up fast. She
was the leader of Naibu at age 16, which was also when she dealt with the
invasion."
Obi-Wan gave a snort, "You can
sat that again, they even look like almost twins. I am going to pull up,
through the force, holo's of the two of you, manipulating only your hairstyles,
because what was popular then, in hairstyles isn't now."
Obi-Wan pulled up two holo's.
"Wow." Saty breathed, "they DO look alike."
"Now, General Solo."
Obi-Wan said, "tell me which one is Leia, and which one is Amidala."
Han stared at both holo's hard.
"I am sorry, I can't tell."
"All right," Obi-Wan said, he did everyone in the room, except for Luke, no one else could tell.
"All right, Luke. Lets try you."
Luke looked at the Holo's. After three minutes, "THe one on the left is Leia." P "Good job, young Jedi." Obi-Wan said.
"Thats no fair." Leia, pouted, "I mean its ME and I couldn't tell."
"Every Jedi has some extra special power(s), Luke's is insight, and healing from Dark Side to Light Side. Leia yours are diplomacy, and sincerity, and decision-making. Plus, you also have the Amidala Gift, as its called." Obi-Wan said.
"Oh, I remember how hard it was
for Amidala to make the decision of who to give the Gift to. Then she decided
that since Leia was going to be in the public eye, as it had already been
decided that Leia was going to Alderaan, she should get the gift." Mon
Mothma said.
They stood there for a moment, reveling in the things they
had just learnt. "Well, we take your leave." Luke said.
"One more thing." Obi-Wan
and Mon Mothma said at the same time. They grinned at each other, and Mon
Mothma took up the story.
"Leia and her mother don't just
look alike they THINK alike as well." Mon Mothma said, "You will see
that they both have made some speeches that are very alike." then her face
sobered, "both made choices and sacrifices, both have lost innocence and
childhood for others."
It took about another 30 min. when
Obi-Wan pulled up holo's of speeches that had been made, actions that had been
done by the two. Both were alike, except some of the words, based on
circumstances, were different.
"You know, maybe we should call
Amidala so you can talk to her yourself." Obi-Wan said, "thats one
thing about being with the Force, if the Jedi council wishes it, and the Force
does as well, you have no choice, wait here for about 5 minutes." Obi-Wan
dissapeared from view.
Luke was a little nervous, I mean,
most kids would know their mother, and what to say, but Leia and him... He
touched Leia's familiar presence, felt her touch on his presence, and found she
was thinking the same thing. 5 minutes later Obi-Wan appeared with another
apparition. One that looked like an older version of Leia. "Oh my
gosh." the aparition said, looking at Leia and Luke. "Oh my gosh. My
kids..." Obi-Wan motioned for Mon Mothma, Han, Saty, Stephaine, and
Alizabeth to let Leia and Luke do this reunion without them around. "Oh, I
hope you can forgive me."
"Forgive you for what."
Leia said, always the blunt one. "You have done nothing
wrong...mother."
Amidala closed her eyes, then she
opened them and rasped, "I have wanted to hear that, for decades, someone
call me mother. No matter what you say, it was my fault that the access codes
were used." Her voice broke, "My fault that my husband got seduced.
Most wives are able to keep their husbands away from the Dark Side."
"Mother," Luke said,
"it wasn't your fault, everyone is the maker of their own destiny. It was
not your fault. It was not Obi-Wan's fault, it was the fault of the
seduced."
Amidala made a face, "You sound
like a philosopher, but of course, you were trained as a Jedi by the best of
them, Master Yoda and Obi-Wan."
"Where did you hide from the
Empire after you left Alderaan."
"How did you know I left Alderaan."
Amidala asked, curious, and wanting to test her son.
"Simple deduction, I mean, if
it was common knowledge that you and Bail Organa were friends, then having you
stay at Alderaan to long would be dangerous because if they realized that you
had kids they would go for where your friends were or you visited too often, or
you stayed for a long time. Another thing, Bail Organa was deeply involved in
the Court, it was a double game, so it would have been the matter of time
before Palpatine visited, and you probably wouldn't have wanted to see
him."
Amidala shook her head with a smile
on her face, "All correct." She said, "now I see why you make a
good Jedi." then she gave a mischevious smile, "though I hear you
were very hard to train." Luke blushed.
"Listen," Obi-Wan stepped
in, "I think you all would love to get a look at Amidala's hiding spot,
and the artifacts in them. So Ami, now that I see you see that your kids don't
hold anything against you, and they see you love them A LOT why don't you give
them the coordinates."
But Amidala, Luke, and Leia were not
listening any more, they were staring at each other in a familial connection,
basking in the feeling of not being orphaned any more, or having family members
who were strangers. Life's little necessities that had been missing for Luke,
and Leia. And the ridding of the guilt by Amidala. "I love the two of
you." Amidala said, softly, then she chuckled, "the Jedi Council had
been watching the two of you day and night. It was funny, I didn't have the force
powers to watch you without coming down, i could be invisible and watch but
that gets tiring, so all I had to do was go to the Jedi Council's room. See,
they all knew that if the Skywalker twins didn't defeat Vader and the Emperor
it would be a long while, as, I know this will sound conceited, but only
someone from the Skywalker line could defeat the Emperor."
"Luke, you didn't know it, but
Leia and yourself had every single member of the Jedi council behind you."
Obi-Wan said, softly, "as well as the Alliance. You don't know how much
panicking there was when Luke made his Mistake."
"Mistake, what mistake."
Han, who had been spying, said.
"General Solo, eavesdropping is
a despicable habit, and ask my son at a later time, AND DON'T PESTER HIM, IF HE
DOESN'T WANT TO TELL YOU, LEAVE IT." Amidala said.
Han stared at her, she had said it
almost the exact way that Leia would've, slight scolding, yet not enough to
take offense at. "Boy, you sounded exactly like Leia."
"Well," Obi-Wan said,
dryly, "that is because she is Leia's mother, and Leia inherited the
family trait."
Obi-Wan could see the connection
forming between Leia, Luke, and Amidala, the connection that had been coveted
by the three of them. "Leia, Luke, I have been watching the two of you for
your entire lives, though from far, I am the luckiest mother to ever walk on
the face of this universe." Amidala said, staring fondly at her children,
then she turned to Mon Mothma, and Jan Dadonna, "And I have some of the
bestest friends, that have been seen on the face of this universe. Thank you
for giving my children the chance to show their worth."