We were going to Bakura.  Luke was leading the mission and I was going as an ambassador.  Father was coming with us.  I was unsure about Father coming with us, but I had no choice.  Nobody but Luke trusted him.  Han didn't say anything to me during the trip to Bakura.  I had nothing to say to him, really.  I was still a little baffled that Mother was alive.

I didn't know that Luke had asked her along until we were welcomed on the surface of the planet.  We didn't speak, Mother and me.  Not that first day or the second.  I was avoiding her.  I'm sure she was avoiding me too.

Luke came and talked to me the second night we were on Bakura.  He was telling me that I should talk to our parents.  I told him I'd speak to them later.  I just had to sort out the information in my mind first.  Luke understood.

Going back to the negotiations the next day, to my surprise, Mother joined me.

I had no choice but to talk to her after the session.  "Mother."

"Leia," she replied crisply back to me.  "You've grown.

"What do you expect?" I demanded.  "I was four, Mother.  I believed that you had gone.  That you had died."

"I'm so sorry, Leia.  I thought…"

"Yes, you thought!  Mother, I was left with the feeling that I'd never see you again."

"Please, Leia.  I wanted to protect you."

"From Father?  He didn't know I existed until the battle a few weeks ago, Mother.  It was because of me that Father came back."

"How do you know that, Leia?"

"Because I trust Luke.  He was there.  And he was injured," I told her.  I did trust Luke.  And I was beginning to trust Father.  "If you will excuse me, Mother, I have work to do."

I left her there and went to Father's room.  He was there, waiting for some reason.

"Father?" I called.  That was the first time I had called him father to his face.

"Leia?" he asked back to me."

"It's me," I returned.  He appeared and I laid eyes on his face for the first time since he removed the mask.

"This is a surprise," he said.

"Not really, Father.  I'm confused about why Mother is still alive.  I'm hurt about her hiding for all these years."  I didn't know why I was telling Father all that, but I had to tell someone.  Luke, I was sure, wouldn't understand.

"So am I, Leia.  I thought that I had lost her.  She was dead in my mind but still alive in my heart.  But my heart was where I was imprisoned."

I sighed as Father did.  "I'm so…" I swallowed a lump in my throat.  "I'm sorry, Father.  I mean that."

Father came up to me and embraced me.  He knew I was finding that time difficult.  "Me too, Leia.  Me too."  He pulled away from me and sat on the couch.  Indicating to me to sit, Father looked at me like it was the first time he had laid eyes on me.  "You look so much like Padmé."

Bowing my head, I nodded slowly.  I knew.  "I never knew Mother had another name.  I only knew her as Padmé."

"She was known as Padmé by her close friends and peers," Father explained.  "I didn't know Padmé was pregnant again with you and Luke.  We were not on the best of terms with each other during her second pregnancy."

"Second pregnancy?" I interrupted.

Father nodded.  "Our first child was born during the Clone Wars.  She died soon after the wars finished.  I turned just after that."

"What was she like?"

"She was beautiful.  We named her Shmi, after my mother.  Shmi was a very cheerful baby but she was very sick.  I couldn't save her.  I had failed another person I loved.  But that time, I had failed my Padmé, and I failed Shmi.  Most of all, I felt that I had failed myself and I was angry."

"I'm so sorry, Father.  I wish I knew her."

"She would have enjoyed knowing you and Luke."

"Thank you for telling me, Father."

Father stood as I did.  "Thank you for coming to see me.  I know this is hard for you."

I nodded.  "It is.  I'll see you tomorrow, Father."

He smiled.  "Thank you.  Until then."