CHAPTER TWENTY

"Oh, my life is changing everyday, in every possible way.
And oh, my dreams, it's never quiet as it seems.
I know I've felt like this before but now I'm feeling it even more,
Because it came from you.
And then I open up and see the person falling here is me, a different way to be.

And now I tell you openly, you have my heart so don't hurt me.
You're what I couldn't find. A totally amazing mind, so understanding and so kind;
You're everything to me."

- Cranberries, Dreams

Anakin sat around the fire with the others and watched the feast. Han and Luke were sharing stories of the final battle that had destroyed the Death Stars and the Emperor. Padme and Leia were catching up on over fifteen years of history. The Ewoks were eating and dancing to their music.

He had not seriously thought of what the next step was now that Sidious was gone and he was no longer his slave. One thing was for sure, he had no intention of being a Sith Master. He would not take on an apprentice. The Sith knowledge of the Dark Side of the Force would die with him one day.

He got up and slipped away into the dark shadows of the night forest. He couldn't eat with his mask on anyway so it was just as well that he wasn't hungry. He paced the walkways of the Ewok village lit with just flaming torches as he contemplated his future.

In the half shadows he saw something shining. He frowned and peered into the gloom. To his amazement, he could see Obi Wan and Yoda shimmering like light on water in the murkiness. They were smiling at him, pleased.

"I felt your death, Master Yoda," Anakin said sadly. The ripple in the Force at Yoda's passing had been a considerable one.

"To reestablish the Jedi Order, time it is," Yoda said sagely, nodding his small head. "The running of the Galaxy, leave safely with Padme you can."

"Yes Anakin, it's more important for you to pass your Jedi knowledge onto Leia and Luke, and eventually their children too. Leave the politics to the politicians," Obi Wan advised.

Tears came to Anakin's eyes. "I'm so sorry I failed you," he said, his voice wavering slightly. He felt heartbroken at his failures, seeing his old masters now. His treachery and betrayal sat heavily on his heart.

"Fulfilled the prophecy, you did," Yoda said. "Back into balance, you have bought the Force. By killing Sidious, the Sith are no more."

Anakin looked at them both suddenly feeling light-headed and odd. Yoda was right! In a way that he had never imagined, he had fulfilled the prophecy after all. Perhaps he never would have been able to destroy the Sith Master without becoming a Sith himself. Who knew? The Force had used his weaknesses to its own purpose, after all.

"I don't know if I can re-establish the Jedi to be as strong as they once were. I'm not you, Yoda. I've never picked and trained Younglings. I've never even had a Padawan," Anakin said with unusual self-doubt.

"Doubts you have," Yoda observed approvingly. "Good this is. More open to the leading of the Force it will make you. Arrogance your problem always was. Perhaps gone it now is."

"We will help you, Anakin," Obi Wan said readily.

Anakin felt better. For all that Obi Wan had never understood him, he still had the ability to make Anakin believe that everything would work out in the end.

"Anytime you need us, we will be there," Obi Wan reassured.

"How will I know who to choose for the Youngling School?" Anakin asked. "Sidious said the new crop of Younglings was weak. So far, only Luke and Leia have come to light in his generation. Is it likely those of Youngling age would be any better than Luke's generation?"

"Plenty of talent there was even in Luke's generation. Carefully hid, these children were. Hunted by Sidious and Vader, their parents knew they would be. Protected by the Force too, they were," Yoda explained seriously.

"How do I find them?" Anakin asked.

"Guide you, the Force will," Yoda said simply.

- - -

By the time Anakin wondered back to the party, the fire was burning low. Leia and Padme were sitting by each other looking very peaceful, watching the embers. Luke had joined them. Han had disappeared, probably to bed.

Padme watched him as he approached her face difficult to read. "Are you ready to go back to the Command Ship now?" she asked quietly as he joined her.

"Yes, I think we both need some rest after the events of the past couple of days," he said. "We will come back tomorrow or Luke and Leia and their friends can join us on the Command Ship for a few days. There are plans I want to discuss with them."

Luke and Leia exchanged a glance. "I'll come if Han is invited," Leia said with a touch of defiance.

"If Han wants to come, he is welcome," Anakin said mildly. He was still not enamoured of the idea of his children being friends with a pirate but he knew that Han had saved their lives on more than one occasion. Anakin had reason to be grateful to him.

"I'll come, father. I think we might spend the rest of the night on Endor and say good-bye to the Ewoks and then join you early in the day tomorrow," Luke said, glancing at Leia for her agreement. Leia nodded but said nothing.

Luke and Leia waved their parents off as they got into their small transport and took off. "I need to learn how to fly again," Padme sighed. "I've lost a lot of my confidence. It's a good thing I did so much work in the simulators over the years. At least I've kept up with the technology."

"Did Luke and Leia tell you their stories?" Anakin asked, directing the transport towards the Command Ship.

"Yes and they will tell you too when they get the chance. They are both amazing people, I'm so proud of them. You were gone a long time," Padme added, looking at him questioningly. "Are you alright?"

"I saw Yoda and Obi Wan," Anakin said softly.

Tears came to Padme's eyes. "What did they say?" she asked quietly.

"They said I was to concentrate now on reestablishing the Jedi Order and you were to take over the running of the Empire," he replied, his thoughts still far away with Yoda and Obi Wan.

"I wouldn't run the Empire," Padme said flatly. "I'd abolish it and re-establish the democracy we used to have."

"I know," Anakin said. "That's what they wanted."

"What do you want?" Padme asked him with a keen look.

"More than anything else, I want to reestablish the Jedi Order. I don't want to be bothered with the Empire or politics anymore. I've had enough," he said simply.

In her seat next to him, Padme smiled and relaxed. She felt more peaceful than she had in over two decades. Anakin felt it and was content.

- - -

The next morning over breakfast and before their children arrived, Anakin looked at Padme and said, "Leia is still angry with me, isn't she?"

"Do you blame her?" Padme replied flatly.

"No but it will be hard to work with her if she holds on to her resentment," Anakin acknowledged.

"You'll have to put up with it until you can undo the damage," Padme said matter-of-factly.

"She rubs me up the wrong way," Anakin complained sulkily.

"That's because she's very much like you," Padme said bluntly.

Anakin gave her a very unimpressed look. "It's true," Padme said blithely.

"Luke is just like you," Anakin said, his gaze turned inward remembering their final duel. "When he put away his weapon and refused to fight, I was reminded so strongly of you." He was silent for a few moments. "It made me think of all the things you had said to me over the years about choices and power and love," he said finally.

Tears came to Padme's eyes. Had anything she said made an impression after all? Had it saved Luke's life in the end? Who knew?

"You saved Luke because you love him," Padme said gently, touching his arm across the table.

"I saved Luke because I suddenly realized that the only way to be free was to sacrifice my own life for those that I loved. Killing Sidious would set not only Luke free and his sister but you too. I felt there was no hope left for my life after all the bad choices I had made but Luke had a chance - and Leia and you," he said. "I was amazed to wake up in my medical niche," he said with the ghost of a smile.

Padme looked at him carefully. "Were you glad to wake up?" she asked softly.

"Once I realized you hadn't run away, yes," he replied honestly.

"I knew my Anakin was still there somewhere," she said, her brown eyes caressing his face. "What a Jedi Knight you've become," she added with a smile.

"I took the longest road possible," Anakin said wryly, "And the hardest way to learn my lessons."

"I don't think it ever would have been an easy road for you, Anakin. Not with the start in life that you had," Padme said seriously.

"I can't blame my actions and bad choices on that forever," Anakin said, his lips thinning.

"You didn't. You started to make right choices," Padme said reassuringly.

"Finally," Anakin said, almost scornfully.

"Finally," Padme agreed with a smile.

- - -

Luke, Leia, Han and Chewbacca arrived on the Command Ship just before lunchtime. "Huh, nice place the Emperor had here," Han commented as they were led to the old throne room. Anakin had moved a table in there where the throne had once been.

Padme had hugged each of the visitors enthusiastically before they all sat down. Luke had run over to his father and done the same. Leia, Han and Chewie simply watched Anakin with suspicion. He looked very different in his Jedi uniform and transparent mask. They did not feel like they were holding and audience with Darth Vader but they were all wary just the same.

Luke sat on one side of his father. Padme was on his other side and Leia sat next to her. Han and Chewie sat next to each other on Luke's other side.

"I want to discuss our plans for the Empire with all of you. I will need the help of everyone at this table," Anakin began.

Han and Leia exchanged glances but said nothing. Luke nodded seriously and for a moment, Padme saw the Jedi in her son.

"I am withdrawing from political life and handing the Empire over to Padme. She will reestablish the democracy that was in place before Palpatine overturned the Senate," Anakin said.

"With your help," Han said sarcastically.

"With my help," Anakin acceded. He wasn't going to start a fight over something that stupid. Besides, it was only the truth.

"Leia, I would like you to help Padme with this task. I understand you have the very best diplomatic training," Anakin said.

"I learned from the very best teacher," Leia said, smiling at her mother. She knew that her mother had written the training units that she had completed so young.

Anakin intercepted the look. "I don't understand," he said with a frown.

"I wrote the diplomatic training units that Leia completed. I also wrote all the military training units that the Rebel Alliance were using to train their soldiers and spies," Padme finally told Anakin. "I wrote the units before… before you brought me here all those years ago." She hesitated to say, 'before you re-captured me'. There were some things her children did not need to know.

Suddenly Anakin understood why the Rebel Alliance had always been so sophisticated. All the time that Padme had been shut in their suite of rooms, she had effectively been working against him and the Empire. It was not surprising that the Alliance had grown sophisticated and skilled enough to make those attacks on the Death Stars. He realized that in the end, Padme had prevailed in a sense. Her spirit shining through his son had made him decide to kill Sidious and her knowledge had trained his enemies while she herself was within his power.

There were times that he acknowledged that he could know Padme his whole life and still never fully comprehend everything that she was.

"That explains a great deal," was all Anakin said. Padme smiled to herself.

"In the meantime, I would like Luke to join me in reestablishing the Jedi Order," Anakin continued.

Luke's eyes widened. He could think of nothing he would like better.

"Geez Luke, more delusions of grandeur," Han said, rolling his eyes but grinning at his buddy.

Luke grinned back.

"I would like you both to act as protectors for my wife and Leia," Anakin said to Han and Chewie. "The pay will be very good," he added.

"Hey, I would expect it," Han said. "Don't think I don't know that keeping these two women safe would not be an easy job," he added.

Leia smiled at Han and he grinned back.

"I will need to train you in the Jedi Arts, Leia," her father said quietly. "The Galaxy needs all the talented Jedi it can get. You and your brother will easily be the most powerful Jedi of your generation."

"Hey, I'm not being bodyguard to a Jedi!" Han protested. "If I do something she doesn't like, I'm not arguing at the end of a light sabre."

"You should be used to doing a lot of things I don't like by now, Han," Leia replied sarcastically with a sickly sweet smile.

"Oh you love it, baby. You know you do," he teased with an easy grin.

"Enough of that!" Anakin said. He did not want to see his beautiful daughter flirting with a pirate right under his nose. "We have serious plans to make."

Padme tried to hide a smile.

"I will also need to complete your training Luke. I know Yoda said you were a fully fledged Jedi now but there are things that Obi Wan did not get the opportunity to show you," Anakin continued.

Luke nodded earnestly. He knew there was more and he was hungry for it as his father had once been.

"I will need to spend a great deal of time with your mother and Leia over the next few weeks informing both of them of where things stand in the Empire at present but after that, you and I will need to be visiting many systems looking for Younglings to train as well as some talented adults of your generation that may still be worth training," Anakin said to his son. "It will be difficult as there are only two of us to train them. Leia may be able to join us by having a Padawan herself one day if she so wishes but at present, her energies will be taken up with her own training and helping her mother dismantle the Empire and set up a new Senate."

This time when Leia and Han exchanged looks, the suspicion in their expression had turned to satisfaction. They now knew that the Rebel Alliance could take its place in helping establish a new democracy.

"What are we going to tell the Emperor's men?" Padme asked the group. "They know Darth Sidious is dead. Do we let them believe Darth Vader is dead too?"

"I fear that we may lose control of the Empire's resources if they believe Darth Vader is dead too," Anakin said. "It will bring enemies from every corner of the Galaxy at a time when we need peace to establish the new democracy."

"I agree, father," Luke said gravely.

"I can see what you mean," Leia said with a nod.

"Perhaps Darth Vader needs to live on until the new Senate is well established. Then the hand over of the Empire's resources to the Senate will be much smoother when it happens," Padme said in agreement. She had no desire for more war if ambitious systems felt there was no central power in the Galaxy. "You will have to continue to play the part of the new Sith Lord," Padme said to Anakin.

"If you are handling the day-to-day administration of the transference of powers from the Empire to the Senate then I can be absent supposedly on 'Empire business' when I am really rebuilding the might of the Jedi. We will need a strong Jedi Council once the new Senate is in place. There will be those who will try and take advantage of the transitional period to attempt to take control," Anakin replied. "If so, they will be less likely to attempt it if they believe a Sith Lord is still behind it all."

"How long will all this take and when will Darth Vader finally fade from the Galaxy?" Leia asked.

Padme and Anakin exchanged looks. "It will take longer than any of us like but it's achievable within our lifetime," Anakin replied.

"Because of the amount of diplomacy involved and the setting up of new legislation – both transitional and once the new Senate is in place, I predict it will take at least five to ten years," Padme said frankly.

"But even once the new Senate is in place, it will be vulnerable particularly with only a young Jedi Order to protect it," Anakin said seriously. "As for Darth Vader, we'll have to kill him off at some point when the Senate is still very young. A simple rumour that he was killed in some far flung corner of the Galaxy by one of the new Jedi will take care of his legacy," he added without regret.