CHAPTER THREE: DENIAL
Luke waited until everyone had vacated the apartment before he pulled Tahiri into his office and spoke to her. She did not look nearly as uncomfortable as she used to when they first started meeting in his study. In the beginning, she had been too humiliated at the thought that she needed counseling to say much of anything. Granted, she had probably been more than a little intimidated at the thought of having to share her most personal thoughts and feelings with her Jedi Master. Luke had felt the only way for them to get passed that hurtle was for him to share with her some of his more painful memories: seeing his Aunt and Uncle burnt to skeletons; losing his best friend, Biggs all those years ago; finding out Darth Vader was his father; joining the dark side to secretly destroy the clone Emperor; and even losing Callista. Sharing his past mistakes and sorrows had given Tahiri the confidence to share her pain with him and had led them to build a relationship based on trust, and that none of what was said by either of them would leave that room. Unfortunately, he had a feeling that his months of progress with Tahiri would deteriorate once he told her what he had to say.
"I know you're still worried about me, Master Skywalker. But I'm doing a lot better. Honest,"
He had asked her to call him Luke for their sessions, but she had insisted on sticking with 'Master Skywalker'. It would have made things way too weird otherwise, she had told him.
"I know that, Tahiri. I can see you've come a long way, but there's something else I needed to talk to you about tonight,"
Puzzled, she sat in silence, waiting for him to continue.
"I've already decided to follow up on what Lex has told me. Jaina, Zekk and Ganner will be accompanying her to Borleais to investigate these experiments. I had something else in mind for you and the others, but I wanted to be fair and give you a choice first,"
"I don't understand. Why would I want a choice?"
Luke picked up a data pad off the desk and started scrolling through it. "Trianaa is a planet that was uninhabited until about a month ago when a large number of refugees were given it to make their new homes on. As of now, there are only three hundred or so refugees living there, but the Senate is hoping to triple that number shortly. The only reason more refugees have not been brought there is because a series of violent attacks within the last couple of weeks has made the military anxious that something was missed when they took their initial survey of the planet. Because of the over crowding numbers of refugees straining the resources of other worlds, the Council wants to start sending more refugees to Trianaa despite the military's adamant protests against it. Since the Council outranks the military, they've given the soldiers stationed there one week to solve the problem before more refugees begin arriving."
"What a bunch of idiots," Tahiri remarked.
"Idiots or not, something must be done to prevent more lives from being lost. I've contacted Captain Baxter on Trianaa and told him I would be sending in a team to help deal with the situation. I took the liberty of gathering some information about the planet and making a list of the colonists to aid you in your investigation there," Luke said, holding out the data pad to her. "I didn't discover this until a few days ago, but I think you should take a look at it,"
Tahiri looked at him curiously, but took the data pad from him regardless. She let her eyes travel down the names of colonists until they landed on a name Luke had highlighted: Erik Veila.
"I honestly don't know what it means, Tahiri. I couldn't find a whole lot about him in the archives except a birth date and some classified medical records about injuries he sustained in a Yuuzhan Vong attack six months back. I know I should have asked your permission first, but I had Cilghal run his DNA against yours… they match," he informed her. Looking at her seriously, he said, "the birth date supports the evidence that he's old enough to be your father,"
"Well, he's not," Tahiri said, roughly shoving the data pad back into the Jedi Master's hand. "My father died when I was four. I saw him and my mother die. I may have only been a child but I remember it clearly. Besides, I told you when I died I saw my parents. I was with my father. This guy – DNA match or no DNA match – is not my father,"
"Tahiri, like you said, you were very young when your parents died," Luke said gently. "You don't even remember what their names were and that didn't change after you died and saw them. What I'm saying is maybe you saw someone else,"
"I know who my parents are," she insisted stubbornly. "Cilghal should run her tests again because there wrong,"
"It is possible," Luke conceded, though he did not sound at all convinced that Cilghal had made a mistake. "I still thought you should know before I sent you there. I'll understand if you would rather not go. I could put Jaina in your place instead. But I really think you should go and find out who this Erik Veila is. You may spend the rest of your life regretting it if you don't,"
"No, I won't, but that's not the point. I'll go because you asked me to and that's all. Is there anything else?"
"No, that's all. I'll see you back here in the morning to give you the full details of your mission,"
Without another word, Tahiri exited the room and left the apartment. She didn't want to hear anything else Master Skywalker had to say. She was torn between the fact that that Cilghal's tests had come back positive and the fact that she knew in her heart her father was dead. Even so, that did little to help rid her mind of the name Erik Veila.
It was after midnight when Tahiri strolled up to the door leading into the Solo residence. She had tried sleeping, but two hours of tossing and turning were enough. She needed to talk to someone and it couldn't wait until morning.
She didn't want to wake everyone else up, so she silently called to Anakin. A groggy response of acknowledgement was what she received.
Two minutes later, the apartment door opened, revealing a sleepy looking Anakin, scratching the back of his head.
"Tahiri, it's almost one in the morning, what are you doing here?"
"I needed to talk to you,"
"And it couldn't have waited until we're supposed to be awake?"
She had never noticed before how much of a grouch he could be when he was tired. She supposed she would be the same way if someone had interrupted her normal sleeping hours.
"Can I come in? It's important,"
He gestured for her to come inside and shut the door behind her. She was about to speak when he whispered, "not here,"
He led her to his bedroom and closed the door behind them. No one should be able to hear them now.
When they sat down together on his bed, even being half asleep, Anakin became conscious of the extremely short pajama shorts and top she was wearing. She had a jacket on over top but that didn't cover her legs. He realized they hadn't been alone in his room together since they had started dating.
"What?" She said, when she caught him staring at her.
"Nice pajamas, Tahiri," he told her.
He couldn't see her face in the dark, but he could imagine how red it must be turning. She shifted uncomfortably and pulled her jacket tighter around herself.
"What's going on?" He asked her. It wasn't normal for her to come knocking on his door in the late hours of the night.
It was on the tip of her tongue, waiting to come out. That's what she had been waiting for; to tell someone about what Master Skywalker had told her. But it all seemed so unreal she wasn't sure how to say the words.
"My dad might still be alive," she blurted out.
Anakin took the news a lot better than she thought he would. "How is that possible?"
"I don't know," Tahiri said, getting up and starting to pace, while explaining to Anakin the data pad his uncle had showed her and telling him about the DNA match Cilghal had run. "But so what if they match? Maybe he's some long lost uncle or something? Or maybe Cilghal messed up the tests?"
Of course, the chances were nil to zero that Cilghal had messed up, but Tahiri was reaching for any explanation she could get that would prove that man wasn't her father.
"Have you even considered the possibility that maybe he is?" Anakin said after some time.
She wanted to yell at him. He was the one person who was supposed to be on her side. "But he isn't," she insisted, though with not as much force as she would have liked. "It's impossible. I saw my dad being murdered, and if that's not enough, I saw my dad when I died. He is dead," she insisted, sitting back down beside him.
"Maybe the man who you thought was your father isn't your father. It is possible, Tahiri. You've told me yourself dozens of times how few memories you have of your parents,"
She hated to even consider it, but what if Anakin was right? What if that stranger on the data pad was her real father? If that were true, was the woman she had seen die even her real mother?
She became aware of Anakin pulling her into a hug and she let him. They stayed like that for some time, just letting Anakin hold her, until he broke the silence, saying, "We'll figure this thing out," he promised her. "In the morning, I'll see if I can find any more information on Erik Veila. But for now, you should get some sleep. I'll walk you out,"
"Can't I stay here, with you?"
Anakin hesitated. "Tahiri, that's not a good idea. Remember what happened the last time we fell asleep together," he reminded her, referring to the time a few months back they had stayed out all night, and had been grounded from seeing each other. "If my parents woke up and found you in here…"
"I'll be gone long before that happens," she promised him. "Please?"
He caved like she had known he would. "We can't make a habit out of this, you know," he said as they laid back on the covers. She snuggled up close to him and closed her eyes.
"We won't. It's just a one time thing, I promise,"
Unlike before, she was fast asleep, safe in the confinements of Anakin's arms.
It was almost five in the morning when Tahiri quietly crept out of Anakin's room, making sure to close the door behind her. She wanted to stay but she was well aware of the consequences they would both face if she were found there.
She made it past the kitchen when she saw a shadow moving in the dark. She held her breath. Someone was awake. Slowly, she crept forward, hoping to make it to the door or at least somewhere she could hide until it was safe to leave – when she felt someone behind her. She whirled around just as a hand clamped shut over her mouth.
"Tahiri, it's only me," the shadow said as she struggled to break free.
The hand was removed from her mouth and her eyes adjusted to the dark, allowing her to make out the form of Jacen.
"What are you doing here?" She hissed.
"I live here. What's your excuse?"
He saw her cast a glance back in the direction of Anakin's bedroom and shook his head. "Never mind. I don't want to know,"
"What? No, it's not like that," she tried to convince him. "I needed to talk to him,"
"And you came over here barefoot and dressed like that?"
Feeling self conscious at his comment, she pulled her jacket tighter around herself. "You're not going to say anything to anyone are you?"
"As long as you don't mention my coming home slightly before dawn,"
She looked at his clothes. He was indeed just getting home. "Where have you been? Everyone was looking for you earlier,"
"I was around,"
That wasn't much of an answer, but it would have to do. Right now, getting out of there before anyone else noticed her was her top priority.
"I better get going," she said.
"See you in a few hours,"
She had only gone a few steps when his voice stopped her.
"Tahiri?"
"Yeah?"
"Nice pajamas,"