Chapter Thirteen
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The landspeeder stopped, Luke and Han climbed out first. Anakin felt his son stretch out with the force looking for trouble, and Han was searching the dark alleys. Luke gave the all clear sign, the rest piled out.
Tiree Captison was standing beside her husband, "Awe there you are. Welcome." She walked down the stairs and over to Padme, "So this is your husband you told us about. Anakin Skywalker." Anakin extended his hand and she shook it. "Nice to meet you Madame Captison." She looked at the black mask wondering how it happened. "Like wise" Tiree replied.
Padme nodded as she threw her children an apologetic expression. "These are the twins I told you about. Luke and Leia Skywalker."
Tiree shook hands with Luke and with a bewildered Leia. "This must be very awkward for you, dear don't worry." Tiree told Leia. Tiree spotted Chewie. "Well, who this might be?"
Han supplied the name, "This is Chewbacca, my co-pilot."
Tiree and Chewie shook hands, hers looked so small engulfed in his. "Nice to meet you. Shall we go in? Everything is almost ready." She took Chewies arm, as Leia went and took Yeorgs offered arm.
Han bristled. Luke felt jealousy come from Han. "Easy friend, its just politics. Show em your charm."
Han looked over, "Charm? Right."
Anakin and Padme followed them in arm in arm. Anakin was beginning to feel real nervous, he felt completely out of place. Padme gave his hand a squeeze for reassurance.
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Leia breathed, "You have a beautiful home."
Tiree replied, "Why thank you dear."
Yeorg told Leia, "This house was built from the city's founder, Captain Arden. Wait until you see the table my grandfather added."
Indoor trees surrounded the dinning room entrance, and vines covered the white stone. In the center Luke spotted a table that was blunted with extra seating. He looked down to see blue green water ripple beneath the rooms transparent flooring. There was a light to reflect fish, and a snake like figure that swam by from time to time. Finally his eyes landed on a miniature mountain range, carved from translucent mineral and lit from the inside like rain pillars. Tiny blue rivulets traveled down its side.
Out of habit, he reached out with the force for hostilities. He felt her down near the end of the table. Her sense for some reason electrified him.
Tiree nodded to an older man, "Just past him dear." Chewie lightly chuckled. Luke smiled, dear was not a word he would apply to a wookiee. Leia took a seat near Senior Senator Beldon and Han sat down beside her. Anakin and Padme sat where Tiree indicated.
Han spoke up, "Look out Madame Captison, Wookiees make friends for life.
Madame Captison replied, "I am honored."
Beldon turned to Luke, "Nice work. I did not get a chance to thank you, we were ready to run for the hills right before you showed up." He turned his gaze on Vader, "I am surprised to see you with the Alliance."
Vader nodded, " I have my reasons." Padme reached for his hand and gave another squeeze. Anakin was grateful for his wifes support.
Beldon looked a little confused by the way Padme was acting towards Vader. Something was going on between the two.
Beldon asked, "Padme, is there a reason why you are holding Lord Vaders Hand?"
Padme was startled, she only told the Captisons about her husband. Couldn't hurt since so many people knew about it already. She glanced at Anakin, he squeezed her hand, telling her that it was ok. She took a deep breath, "Senator Beldon, may I present my husband, Anakin Skywalker." Gaeriel looked over startled, as well as Beldon.
Beldon shook his head, "Are you serious? Is this some kind of joke?"
Padme shook her head, "No, no joke." Luke and Leia both glanced over, sooner or later the whole truth was going to come out.
Beldon saw the way Luke and Leia reacted, they did not looked surprised at all. They knew, and there was something else deeper going on then met the eye. Beldon glanced at Vader, "So, you are married, and your real name is Anakin Skywalker. This is a surprise."
Anakin nodded as Leia stood up and said, "There is something else."
Luke glared, "Leia sit back down, I am not so sure that Gaeriel knows."
Leia ignored him, "Might as well get this over with." She looked at her parents, "Senator Beldon and Gaeriel, there is something else that I think you should know."
Luke cursed, "Leia don't." She looked over and saw encouragement from her mother, she was wondering if her father had the same look on his face. He nodded, for her to continue.
Leia continued, ignoring Luke's pleading stare. "Luke and I are twins, Padme and Anakin are our parents."
She sat back down as shock poured off of Beldon and Gaeriel. Well this is a shocking piece of news. Beldon observed that most at the table was not so shocked, except for him and Gaeriel. "So Anakin, you have two children as well."
Beldon was shocked, so that is why he defected over. Hmm. Most interesting.
Gaeriel was horrified, she glanced at her Aunt and Uncle, so that is what they were hiding. She glanced over at Luke, he did not look too happy. Not that she could blame him, a secret like that was not an easy one to take, especially knowing who your biological father was.
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The only seat left was beside Gaeriel. Luke sat down beside her; he glanced at her embarrassed. She looked over, "How do you do commander."
Luke replied, "Been a long day." Luke noticed that she had one green eye and one gray eye. He damped down his force sense, to keep from being distracted. He could not say anything else as Governor Nereus strode in flanked by two troopers in formal dress ware. His guards stepped in behind him, and stood at alert parade rest. Nereus looked over at Vader and Padme. He saw the way there they were holding hands. He sat down.
Anakin looked over at Nereus as he greeted everyone at the table. "So, I guess you all know by now that Padme's husband is Vader."
Luke shook his head, how much did the Governor overhear that conversation. "How long have you been standing there?" Luke asked.
Nereus replied, "Long enough, so Vader" He turned his stare on Anakin, " Luke and Leia are your twin children."
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Luke starred at his father, this is the wrong man to be hearing this. //Are there any techniques to make him forget that conversation? Luke asked.
His father smiled. //Just one. But it uses a lot of the force.
Luke told him, //Great do it.
Anakin smiled as he tapped into the force, and altered Nereus's mind so he would not remember that conversation for at least a couple of years.
//It's done, he will not remember what he heard a few minutes ago for at least a couple of years. Nereus suddenly had a confused look on his face. Leia glanced at Luke, "What just happened?"
Luke smiled, "I will tell you later." Leia returned the smile, what ever their father did had to do with the fact with the confused expression on Nereus face.
Leia continued on as if this was the conversation at hand. "So Governor, has anything been decided yet?" Nereus shook his head overcoming his confusion. "No, not yet, we were hoping to talk some more about it, before anything gets decided." Leia nodded in understanding.
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Gaeriel glanced at Luke, "What happened? Why did he have a confused look on his face." Luke smiled as he leaned over and whispered in her ear what his father did. She did not look too pleased, but considering the situation at hand, she could not blame him either. She wanted to talk to Luke about when and how he found out that Vader was his father.
The help came out with the food, everyone was too busy to be talking, well almost everyone. His father just politely wave it away, he could not eat through this blasted mask. He sighed as he leaned back. I shouldn't have come he thought. This is way too awkward. Luke looked over with some concern. Anakin met his sons gaze and slightly shook his head. Luke dropped it.
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When Padme was done, she noticed that Anakin was lightly tapping his fingers on the table, a habit she knew that he had when he was uncomfortable and nervous. She caught his glance, "Is there something wrong Ani?" She whispered. Padme knew what he had done to Nereus, she had seen that expression on other faces as Anakin altered minds on people.
Anakin shook his head. She glanced at everyone, "Could you excuse us for a few minutes?"
Tiree nodded, as everyone else did. Anakin stood up and followed his wife out of the room.
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When they found a private room, Padme closed the door, she turned to face her husband. "What is it?" She asked all concerned.
Anakin shook his head as he explained on how he felt. Padme nodded in understanding. She enfolded her husband in a hug, "Please don't, I know you must be feeling really awkward, but know this. I will never leave you, and I know that I can forgive you. I love you so much Ani."
Anakin stood there in a hug, as he said, "I know, I love you so much sweet angel." Oh how he wished that his mask was not on, he wanted to kiss her so bad, just to feel her petal soft lips on his again. Anakin pulled away, "We better get back before anything else goes wrong tonight." Padme agreed, they walked to the table. She looked over at Luke who was in a deep conversation with Gaeriel, she could tell that her son was developing a crush on the young senator.
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Luke looked over as he felt some hostility intent.
Nereus said, "I am not accustomed to eating with aliens." Chewie growled something as he crossed his arms and gave a look of; I am not going anywhere. Han smiled at the centerpiece.
Han translated, "He says that he is not leaving."
Luke watched the scene, Chewie was keeping his anger under control. He knew the wookiee could up end the table just as a warm up.
He glanced over as his parents walked back into the room.
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The rest of the evening went really well, someone came in and tapped the governors shoulder, Nereus stood up and followed his aide out. Luke was wondering what that was all about, he had a pretty good idea. Gaeriel poured him a glass of liquor, she asked him to try it. He did, his cheeks began to heat up, he studied the effects, there was an after taste like flowers in his mouth, he suddenly felt good. His eyes flew back open. Gaeriel could not help notice the reaction, she smiled, "Most people do not know they feel good, they do not even know why."
Luke nodded as he took a sip of water to cool his burning mouth. Gareiel poured him another glass, as well as herself. "There is likely to be a toast soon." Luke nodded, he could not think about drinking that stuff again.
Nereus came back in all white faced. Han noticed as he asked, "Is there anything wrong Governor?"
Nereus nodded as he shot Vader an expression of betrayal. "That was Captain Pellaeon, the fleet is regrouping near Annaj, they claim that these rebels have blown up the second death star. The emperor is dead," he glanced over at Vader again, "apparently you killed him yourself. Why?"
Anakin got his fear together, "He was killing Luke, what was I suppose to do, besides the emperor was a sith master, that's right you heard me, a sith, you wonder why all of those crusades happened? Was because the Emperor was feeding off of everyone's fear." He sat back after his outburst, everyone was starring at him.
Padme glanced at her husband, she could not even begin to fathom on what he had gone through as he lived as a sith lord for twenty-four years. She enfolded his hands; she knew what was coming next. Her husband killed the emperor because he was killing their son, and most likely father intuition took over to protect Luke. She was glad he did it, but also afraid. You can get executed for a crime like that.
Nereus shook his head in wonderment. "Lord Vader you are now known as a traitor to the Empire, and is now considered in rebel sympathies. He looked over at Leia, "If you're forces are willing to work with mine, then we are under a truce." He extended his hand and she took it and smiled. This was more than she could hope for.
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Han said something and Leia got up and left infuriated. Luke watched, Gaeriel asked, "Is that man her consort?"
Luke shook his head; they need to work out their differences if they were to make this relation ship work. "Just another tiff, no, but sometimes they act like it. They have the chemistry." Gaeriel nodded in understanding. She looked at Luke, then she glanced at his father, she could not believe it. Vader was married and had two children. She wondered what Padme saw in him before all of this happened.
Everyone was saying their farewells. Luke turned to Gaeriel, he was determined to finish their conversation. He raised her hand to his lips and before his nerve could fail him, he smashed his lips on her knuckles, then he walked away feeling his mothers amusement stare on him.
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The landspeeder stopped, Luke and Han climbed out first. Anakin felt his son stretch out with the force looking for trouble, and Han was searching the dark alleys. Luke gave the all clear sign, the rest piled out.
Tiree Captison was standing beside her husband, "Awe there you are. Welcome." She walked down the stairs and over to Padme, "So this is your husband you told us about. Anakin Skywalker." Anakin extended his hand and she shook it. "Nice to meet you Madame Captison." She looked at the black mask wondering how it happened. "Like wise" Tiree replied.
Padme nodded as she threw her children an apologetic expression. "These are the twins I told you about. Luke and Leia Skywalker."
Tiree shook hands with Luke and with a bewildered Leia. "This must be very awkward for you, dear don't worry." Tiree told Leia. Tiree spotted Chewie. "Well, who this might be?"
Han supplied the name, "This is Chewbacca, my co-pilot."
Tiree and Chewie shook hands, hers looked so small engulfed in his. "Nice to meet you. Shall we go in? Everything is almost ready." She took Chewies arm, as Leia went and took Yeorgs offered arm.
Han bristled. Luke felt jealousy come from Han. "Easy friend, its just politics. Show em your charm."
Han looked over, "Charm? Right."
Anakin and Padme followed them in arm in arm. Anakin was beginning to feel real nervous, he felt completely out of place. Padme gave his hand a squeeze for reassurance.
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Leia breathed, "You have a beautiful home."
Tiree replied, "Why thank you dear."
Yeorg told Leia, "This house was built from the city's founder, Captain Arden. Wait until you see the table my grandfather added."
Indoor trees surrounded the dinning room entrance, and vines covered the white stone. In the center Luke spotted a table that was blunted with extra seating. He looked down to see blue green water ripple beneath the rooms transparent flooring. There was a light to reflect fish, and a snake like figure that swam by from time to time. Finally his eyes landed on a miniature mountain range, carved from translucent mineral and lit from the inside like rain pillars. Tiny blue rivulets traveled down its side.
Out of habit, he reached out with the force for hostilities. He felt her down near the end of the table. Her sense for some reason electrified him.
Tiree nodded to an older man, "Just past him dear." Chewie lightly chuckled. Luke smiled, dear was not a word he would apply to a wookiee. Leia took a seat near Senior Senator Beldon and Han sat down beside her. Anakin and Padme sat where Tiree indicated.
Han spoke up, "Look out Madame Captison, Wookiees make friends for life.
Madame Captison replied, "I am honored."
Beldon turned to Luke, "Nice work. I did not get a chance to thank you, we were ready to run for the hills right before you showed up." He turned his gaze on Vader, "I am surprised to see you with the Alliance."
Vader nodded, " I have my reasons." Padme reached for his hand and gave another squeeze. Anakin was grateful for his wifes support.
Beldon looked a little confused by the way Padme was acting towards Vader. Something was going on between the two.
Beldon asked, "Padme, is there a reason why you are holding Lord Vaders Hand?"
Padme was startled, she only told the Captisons about her husband. Couldn't hurt since so many people knew about it already. She glanced at Anakin, he squeezed her hand, telling her that it was ok. She took a deep breath, "Senator Beldon, may I present my husband, Anakin Skywalker." Gaeriel looked over startled, as well as Beldon.
Beldon shook his head, "Are you serious? Is this some kind of joke?"
Padme shook her head, "No, no joke." Luke and Leia both glanced over, sooner or later the whole truth was going to come out.
Beldon saw the way Luke and Leia reacted, they did not looked surprised at all. They knew, and there was something else deeper going on then met the eye. Beldon glanced at Vader, "So, you are married, and your real name is Anakin Skywalker. This is a surprise."
Anakin nodded as Leia stood up and said, "There is something else."
Luke glared, "Leia sit back down, I am not so sure that Gaeriel knows."
Leia ignored him, "Might as well get this over with." She looked at her parents, "Senator Beldon and Gaeriel, there is something else that I think you should know."
Luke cursed, "Leia don't." She looked over and saw encouragement from her mother, she was wondering if her father had the same look on his face. He nodded, for her to continue.
Leia continued, ignoring Luke's pleading stare. "Luke and I are twins, Padme and Anakin are our parents."
She sat back down as shock poured off of Beldon and Gaeriel. Well this is a shocking piece of news. Beldon observed that most at the table was not so shocked, except for him and Gaeriel. "So Anakin, you have two children as well."
Beldon was shocked, so that is why he defected over. Hmm. Most interesting.
Gaeriel was horrified, she glanced at her Aunt and Uncle, so that is what they were hiding. She glanced over at Luke, he did not look too happy. Not that she could blame him, a secret like that was not an easy one to take, especially knowing who your biological father was.
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The only seat left was beside Gaeriel. Luke sat down beside her; he glanced at her embarrassed. She looked over, "How do you do commander."
Luke replied, "Been a long day." Luke noticed that she had one green eye and one gray eye. He damped down his force sense, to keep from being distracted. He could not say anything else as Governor Nereus strode in flanked by two troopers in formal dress ware. His guards stepped in behind him, and stood at alert parade rest. Nereus looked over at Vader and Padme. He saw the way there they were holding hands. He sat down.
Anakin looked over at Nereus as he greeted everyone at the table. "So, I guess you all know by now that Padme's husband is Vader."
Luke shook his head, how much did the Governor overhear that conversation. "How long have you been standing there?" Luke asked.
Nereus replied, "Long enough, so Vader" He turned his stare on Anakin, " Luke and Leia are your twin children."
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Luke starred at his father, this is the wrong man to be hearing this. //Are there any techniques to make him forget that conversation? Luke asked.
His father smiled. //Just one. But it uses a lot of the force.
Luke told him, //Great do it.
Anakin smiled as he tapped into the force, and altered Nereus's mind so he would not remember that conversation for at least a couple of years.
//It's done, he will not remember what he heard a few minutes ago for at least a couple of years. Nereus suddenly had a confused look on his face. Leia glanced at Luke, "What just happened?"
Luke smiled, "I will tell you later." Leia returned the smile, what ever their father did had to do with the fact with the confused expression on Nereus face.
Leia continued on as if this was the conversation at hand. "So Governor, has anything been decided yet?" Nereus shook his head overcoming his confusion. "No, not yet, we were hoping to talk some more about it, before anything gets decided." Leia nodded in understanding.
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Gaeriel glanced at Luke, "What happened? Why did he have a confused look on his face." Luke smiled as he leaned over and whispered in her ear what his father did. She did not look too pleased, but considering the situation at hand, she could not blame him either. She wanted to talk to Luke about when and how he found out that Vader was his father.
The help came out with the food, everyone was too busy to be talking, well almost everyone. His father just politely wave it away, he could not eat through this blasted mask. He sighed as he leaned back. I shouldn't have come he thought. This is way too awkward. Luke looked over with some concern. Anakin met his sons gaze and slightly shook his head. Luke dropped it.
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When Padme was done, she noticed that Anakin was lightly tapping his fingers on the table, a habit she knew that he had when he was uncomfortable and nervous. She caught his glance, "Is there something wrong Ani?" She whispered. Padme knew what he had done to Nereus, she had seen that expression on other faces as Anakin altered minds on people.
Anakin shook his head. She glanced at everyone, "Could you excuse us for a few minutes?"
Tiree nodded, as everyone else did. Anakin stood up and followed his wife out of the room.
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When they found a private room, Padme closed the door, she turned to face her husband. "What is it?" She asked all concerned.
Anakin shook his head as he explained on how he felt. Padme nodded in understanding. She enfolded her husband in a hug, "Please don't, I know you must be feeling really awkward, but know this. I will never leave you, and I know that I can forgive you. I love you so much Ani."
Anakin stood there in a hug, as he said, "I know, I love you so much sweet angel." Oh how he wished that his mask was not on, he wanted to kiss her so bad, just to feel her petal soft lips on his again. Anakin pulled away, "We better get back before anything else goes wrong tonight." Padme agreed, they walked to the table. She looked over at Luke who was in a deep conversation with Gaeriel, she could tell that her son was developing a crush on the young senator.
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Luke looked over as he felt some hostility intent.
Nereus said, "I am not accustomed to eating with aliens." Chewie growled something as he crossed his arms and gave a look of; I am not going anywhere. Han smiled at the centerpiece.
Han translated, "He says that he is not leaving."
Luke watched the scene, Chewie was keeping his anger under control. He knew the wookiee could up end the table just as a warm up.
He glanced over as his parents walked back into the room.
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The rest of the evening went really well, someone came in and tapped the governors shoulder, Nereus stood up and followed his aide out. Luke was wondering what that was all about, he had a pretty good idea. Gaeriel poured him a glass of liquor, she asked him to try it. He did, his cheeks began to heat up, he studied the effects, there was an after taste like flowers in his mouth, he suddenly felt good. His eyes flew back open. Gaeriel could not help notice the reaction, she smiled, "Most people do not know they feel good, they do not even know why."
Luke nodded as he took a sip of water to cool his burning mouth. Gareiel poured him another glass, as well as herself. "There is likely to be a toast soon." Luke nodded, he could not think about drinking that stuff again.
Nereus came back in all white faced. Han noticed as he asked, "Is there anything wrong Governor?"
Nereus nodded as he shot Vader an expression of betrayal. "That was Captain Pellaeon, the fleet is regrouping near Annaj, they claim that these rebels have blown up the second death star. The emperor is dead," he glanced over at Vader again, "apparently you killed him yourself. Why?"
Anakin got his fear together, "He was killing Luke, what was I suppose to do, besides the emperor was a sith master, that's right you heard me, a sith, you wonder why all of those crusades happened? Was because the Emperor was feeding off of everyone's fear." He sat back after his outburst, everyone was starring at him.
Padme glanced at her husband, she could not even begin to fathom on what he had gone through as he lived as a sith lord for twenty-four years. She enfolded his hands; she knew what was coming next. Her husband killed the emperor because he was killing their son, and most likely father intuition took over to protect Luke. She was glad he did it, but also afraid. You can get executed for a crime like that.
Nereus shook his head in wonderment. "Lord Vader you are now known as a traitor to the Empire, and is now considered in rebel sympathies. He looked over at Leia, "If you're forces are willing to work with mine, then we are under a truce." He extended his hand and she took it and smiled. This was more than she could hope for.
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Han said something and Leia got up and left infuriated. Luke watched, Gaeriel asked, "Is that man her consort?"
Luke shook his head; they need to work out their differences if they were to make this relation ship work. "Just another tiff, no, but sometimes they act like it. They have the chemistry." Gaeriel nodded in understanding. She looked at Luke, then she glanced at his father, she could not believe it. Vader was married and had two children. She wondered what Padme saw in him before all of this happened.
Everyone was saying their farewells. Luke turned to Gaeriel, he was determined to finish their conversation. He raised her hand to his lips and before his nerve could fail him, he smashed his lips on her knuckles, then he walked away feeling his mothers amusement stare on him.
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