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Chapter Three:

A Name from the Past

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The Jedi stood on the balcony, deep in his morning meditations. The sun was rising over the land beyond him but he did not see it. He was looking beyond the beauty of the sunrise, past the veil of the Force to where his visions led. His hands were clasped behind his back so tightly that the knuckles were white with the force of his grip. The meditation was supposed to bring peace to a Jedi's mind but his soul was filled with conflict. He did not embrace the morning as a Jedi should, instead he seemed to stand up against it as if he could conquer it if it challenged him.

This was how she found him when she stepped out onto the balcony. A silhouette of a man against the sunrise. A chill ran over her flesh as she looked at him, the shape of his body against the sun was dark and almost faceless. It was as if the darkness clung to him. For the briefest moment, she saw a dark mask over his beautiful face. She turned then to walk away from him, away from the unnerving sight of his darkness. His voice stopped her in his tracks.

"Don't go," it was a whispered plea that sounded so much like the little boy she had once known.

"I don't want to disturb you," she spoke cautiously as she turned back to him. He stood still in the position he had adopted, feet planted firmly upon the ground. His eyes were closed against the light in the horizon.

"Your presence is soothing," he murmured. The emotions that welled up within him at her very presence was often anything but soothing but at this moment just knowing she was near brought him peace.

She was silent for a long moment as she studied him. "You had a nightmare again last night."

"Jedi don't have nightmares," he whispered. She didn't believe that for a second however.

"I heard you," it was her only response. She could not admit that she had not been able to sleep after how close they had come to giving into temptation the night before. She could not tell him how hard it had been for her to resist the urge to climb into bed with him and soothe away the nightmares.

He opened his eyes, those blue eyes as clear as the sky beyond, and looked at her. His gaze always seemed to look into her very soul and uncover any secret she might be hiding. She resisted the urge to shift uneasily beneath that piercing gaze.

"I saw my mother," he told her. A flash of pain darkened the brightness of his eyes and she felt his pain as if it were her own. "I saw her as clearly as I see you now. She is suffering Padmé. They are killing her!" A flash of anger erupted from deep within his heart at the certain knowledge. He had promised his mother that he would free her, that he would take her away from Tatooine and let her live in peace somewhere. He had failed her. He had failed. The knowledge of that failure resounded within him until he knew nothing else.

Taking a deep breath, he faced the woman he loved so dearly and spoke with a grim determination. "I know that I am disobeying my mandate to protect you, Senator but I must go. I have to help her." The desperation in his voice struck a chord within her. She remembered the little boy she had befriended so many years earlier. A slave newly freed, with sand still in his hair and a childish enthusiasm that he had never lost. They had both been alone in the galaxy then, and now here they were again. This time they only had each other.

Her mind made up, Padmé spoke into the silence that followed his statement. "If you must go then I will go with you," she knew that he would try to discourage her if he could but she did not let him. She applied her logic to the situation and knew he could not deny it. "That way you can continue to protect me and you won't be disobeying your mandate."

Anakin frowned slightly at the logic but could not deny it. He had only one card left to play, "What about Master Obi-Wan?"

Padmé smiled and stepped closer, taking his hand. "I guess we won't tell him, will we?"

Anakin Skywalker felt his heart skip a beat at that smile, and when it resumed beating once more it was twice as fast as before. She had always had this effect on him.

He smiled back and brought her hand to his lips. The gesture seemed to steal Padmé's breath away, her heart pounded in her chest. He saw the light in her eyes and recognized it, she licked her lips nervously and that broke the last of Anakin's will. He lowered his lips to hers, damning the consequences.

The moment stood frozen in time. The two of them embracing in the light of the dawn, when everything had begun. The vision was unfolding through his eyes, he could see into the hearts of both so clearly. Damn the consequences, Anakin had thought and indeed, he certainly had damned Luke and Leia. Yet the glow of the light pervaded Luke's soul as his parents embraced. He felt himself being drawn into them, back into the memories that were etched in his blood.

The horizon seemed to grow brighter and suddenly he was back on Tatooine. The familiar feel of the wind whipping through his robes and the warm glow of the suns setting on his face. There was a fury in his heart that could not be abated, he had only one purpose. He had to destroy the creatures that had taken his mother, had hurt her, raped her soul.

He felt his mind growing dark and struggled to hold the shadows at bay. The familiar land beneath him was unseen to his eyes, he followed her Force call. The bond he had with her as a child had faded beneath the bond that he held with Obi-Wan but it had sparked up fiercely within the past few weeks. The thought of his Master sent a flush of shame through his body. He loved Obi-Wan so fiercely that sometimes he hated it. He was the only family Anakin had ever known after he had left Tatooine. He had followed Obi-Wan for so many years and he knew his Master would not approve of what he was doing at this moment.

He could hear his Master's voice in his mind. Anger leads to hate, Anakin. You are much too angry. Allow the Force to guide you, do not battle with it.

The camp rose up before him all too quickly and he stopped thinking of Obi-Wan and Padmé and the Jedi Order. All he knew was his purpose that had driven him here, it filled him with the Force and pushed him forward along his path.

He slipped into the camp silently, another shadow flickering on the edges of the light. He could feel his mother's pain pulling him toward her, it echoed through the Force and he followed silently. A small hut appeared in the darkness, two guards stationed at the entrance. Anakin glared at them momentarily before a fresh wave of pain struck him. She was inside the hut, he could feel it.

Easing around the back, he ignited his lightsaber. The flickering blue light of the blade illuminated his grim face as he cut a hole into the wall. Squeezing into the small room, Anakin stood to his full height and faced his mother.

A shaft of moonlight fell in from an opening in the roof, its silvery light mingling with the fiery glow of a dozen candles. Shmi Skywalker hung suspended from a wooden frame in the middle of the hut. The ropes cut into her flesh, her head hung low, face bruised and swollen.

Anakin felt the tears sting his eyes as he cut her loose, enfolding her into his arms as she had always done for him. She was the small one now, shrunken in upon herself and he struggled to ease her pain through the Force. Blood caked her face, matted the long dark hair and her eyes did not open. Anakin swallowed the stone in his throat and called to her gently.

"Mom..." His voice cracked on the word but she responded to his voice. Her eyes struggled to open beneath the blood that had crusted over them. He could see the dark slits of her eyes beneath that veil as they tried to focus on him.

"Ani... Is that you?" Her voice was no more than a whisper and Anakin choked on a sob as she reached out for him.

"I'm here, Mom." He grasped her hand firmly, "You're safe now, I'm going to get you out of here." An odd echo of his own voice seemed to reverberate through the Force at his words. For a moment, his mother's face wavered and he saw the indistinct face of a man so like his own.

Shmi squeezed his hand and the vision vanished like smoke on the wind. She was smiling up at him with clear eyes now. "Ani, you're so handsome. My son... my Anakin. I'm so proud of you, Ani... I missed you so much," every word was a struggle as she gasped for breath. "Now... I am complete."

Anakin felt fear rise up within him as he saw her light begin to fade, "Just stay with me, Mom," she was blurry beneath the tears that burned his eyes. "I'm going to make you well again." Even as he spoke the words, he knew that she was beyond his power. He could not stop death.

Shmi smiled lovingly up at her son and reached out to touch his face, Anakin felt the tears begin to stream down his cheeks and over her fingers. She drew her last breath and spoke to him, "I love you..."

The light faded and her words vanished into the darkness. A guttural sob was torn from the throat of the young Jedi as he gathered his mother's lifeless form against his breast. Gently he rocked her as if she were a child, weeping quietly as her presence faded and Shmi Skywalker became one with the Force.

The image was frozen in time. Frozen before the anger could rise up in the young Jedi. The vision held itself still, that last lingering image of a child cradling his dead mother. It burned into the mind of Anakin's children, seared the heart.

-

The room was cloaked in darkness when Leia Organa Solo awoke from the dream. Her breath was caught in her chest and tears burned her eyes. That had been no ordinary dream, she could feel it deep in her heart. What she had seen had been a vision of the past.

Slipping quietly out of the bed, Leia disentangled herself from her husband's sleeping form. Han shifted slightly as she pulled away and mumbled in his sleep. Leaning over to place a soft kiss against his forehead, Leia waited until he was still before she moved away.

Crossing the room silently, she drew her robe around her shivering flesh. The night was still around her and the darkness seemed to choke her. Oppressed by the weight of the vision, the darkness of the room, Leia slipped out through the door quietly and into the kitchen.

The tears had dried on her face but the images still haunted her mind. The sight of her father cradling his mother in his arms had been too much. Leia felt the overwhelming need to check in on her own children, safe in their beds. She had taken two steps toward their rooms until she remembered that all three of her children were at the Jedi temple on Yavin.

She stopped herself in mid-stride and let out a low sigh. Closing her eyes against the dim light of the room, Leia reached out through the Force to touch her children. It was morning on Yavin, all three of them were awake and concentrating hard. In the middle of lessons, Leia decided. Jacen and Jaina were both deeply involved in whatever they were doing. They did not seem to feel her light touch through the Force. For a moment, they brightened and then faded slightly from her mind. Anakin felt her touch clearly however. Far away on Yavin IV, he smiled in his morning meditations. He could feel her touch clearly, as if her familiar hand had grasped his. He glowed brightly in her mind and reached back to touch her through their bond. She could not hear whatever words he might have spoken, but the love was clearer than glass.

Leia's mind was instantly soothed, she released a wave of love and gratitude to her youngest son through the Force. He accepted it gratefully and then his star faded as he turned his mind back to his meditations. She was happy to feel them all there however, three minds connected to her own. She wondered at how she had ever taken the Force for granted.

The Force had shown her this vision tonight. Leia's mind returned to it with a renewed clarity. She could almost hear her brother's voice in the back of her mind. Concentrate, Leia. The Force had shown her this vision for a reason.

Luke. She could feel him in the back of her mind as well. He had been her first connection through the Force. While her children's presences were stronger, he was the most familiar to her mind. Their connection had been forged in the womb, long before they had been separated by fate.

She did not reach out to Luke however. She could feel him far away, his presence growing brighter gradually as if he had also just woken. She wondered what he had dreamt of. She could not help but feel as though he had been there beside her in the dream, watching the visions unfold. She could not be sure, but something was making her anxious about the whole thing. Something seemed off.

Slowly, Leia went through the ritual of making herself a cup of tea as she mulled over the dream. Her vision had been twofold, and as the sorrow of the last image faded from her mind, the first was slowly taking precedence. Anakin had been standing beside a small woman, one whose presence had seemed so familiar to her.

With a start, Leia dropped the cup in her hand. It shattered on the kitchen floor in a thousand pieces. She did not notice.

"Padmé..." Leia spoke the name aloud, a soft whisper in the silence of the night. It was her mother's name, she knew that now. Instantly her thoughts turned to her twin, Luke would want to know. But she had no way to contact him. Leia was alone with her knowledge.

The familiar presence that approached her then proved the lie in her thoughts. She was never alone when Han was around. Her husband appeared in the doorway, yawning sleepily as he gazed at her through blurry eyes.

"What's wrong, princess?" His eyes narrowed as soon as they focused on her. She was disheveled, her hair tousled beautifully but her face was pale. The glittering shards of the cup on the ground and her evident unawareness of them proved something was wrong.

Leia's gaze wandered up to meet his eyes and with a sudden rush of movement, she enfolded herself in his arms. Han accepted her willingly, fitting her body against his as easily as it always had. He stroked her long hair softly, putting aside the confusion that raced through him.

"Leia?" His voice was hesitant as he hugged her closer and she shivered in his arms.

"I had a vision..." Her words were muffled by his chest but he heard them all the same. Han's arms tightened around his wife protectively. As the one non Force sensitive member of his family, he had come to respect the Force but he was still wary of it at times.

"Is Luke all right? The kids?" There was concern in his voice and Leia shook her head.

"No, they're all right. It wasn't that kind of vision," Leia was still trying to puzzle out exactly what kind of vision it had been. Not for the first time, she wondered if it wasn't time for her to head out to Yavin and begin training as a Jedi.

Han frowned and rested his chin on her head as she curled closer into him. "What kind of vision was it then?"

"A vision of the past..." Leia whispered. In her mind's eyes, she could still see her parents embracing, her father weeping. "I saw my parents... My real parents, Anakin and Padmé..." Leia shook her head, almost in disbelief. "They loved each other so much, Han."

Her husband was silent for a long moment, simply holding her until her trembling had passed. Leia was not a frail woman, she was strong and fierce and that was part of why Han Solo loved her. Not much could shake this woman but when something did, he made sure that he was there to hold her until it had passed.

"It was the past, sweetheart. Whatever you saw, it's over now." Han reassured her, one hand rubbing the small of her back gently.

"No..." Leia whispered. Her eyes were far away, as if seeing something in the distance that Han could not. He studied her carefully, in all the years he had known her he had never seen her like this.

"It's not over, Han. The Force is trying to tell me something here, but I can't see what it is." Her dark eyes turned to meet his and he felt as though he could lose himself in those depths. "A storm is coming, Han. I have to get to Luke."

"I thought you said the vision wasn't about Luke," Han was growing slightly alarmed now. It wasn't like Leia to dash off upon the whim of the Force.

"He wasn't in the vision but I could sense his presence with me. As if he were there, watching the events unfold beside me," Leia shook her head. "I just can't help feeling that I need to get to him right away." Her dark eyes turned up to him and she bit her lip, silently pleading with him. He couldn't say no to that face even if he wanted to.

Han grinned at her then, that roguish grin that had won her heart so many years ago. "Whether the kid is in danger or not, I suppose a trip to Tatooine can't hurt us too much."

Leia groaned, remembering the last time they had taken a trip to Luke's home planet. For an instant she saw her father again, flying through the desert of Tatooine at sunset. A chill washed over her and she wrapped her arms around her as Han drew away. "I forgot they were on Tatooine," she whispered. Something in the Force seemed to push at her suddenly, as if reinforcing the importance of this forgotten fact. A piece of the puzzle seemed to click into place. "We have to go."

Han seemed to positively glow with energy as he smiled at her, "I'll go ready the Falcon."

Leia stood alone in the kitchen, struggling to gather her thoughts. The Force was pushing her along this path and she did not know why. Yet she could feel it moving her forward like a hand on her back. She shivered at the idea and moved out of the kitchen to follow her husband.

-

When Luke awoke, it was as if rising suddenly from underwater. He shot up in bed, gasping for breath, eyes darting wildly around the room. The visions had overwhelmed him with their intensity. He had been able to sense every thought, every emotion, every detail of what had happened. The sleep had been unreal, as if he had been living the moments in the past. Images still hovered in his mind's eye, his father as a young man and a Jedi. This was the Anakin Skywalker that Ben had first spoken of, the pilot and the Jedi, the good friend. And the woman, so like Leia. He had a name now, that had to be something, his mother's name. Padmé.

Mara stirred beside him, propping herself up on one arm to look up at her lover. Luke stood from the bed, his bare feet hitting the cold floor. The wind seemed to be rushing outside and the world seemed darker than normal for an early Tatooine morning. As long as it had been since he experienced one, Luke knew that sound.

"Luke?" Mara's voice was husky with sleep as she called out to him. She yawned sleepily, covering her mouth with the back of her hand. "Come back to bed, love."

"There is a storm brewing, Mara." His agitation was too great to be contained. He began to pace the length of the small room, shaking his head and muttering to himself.

Mara frowned at him and sat up fully, studying him quietly. "Force or sand?"

"Both, I think." Luke shot a glance at her and ceased his pacing. Her red-gold hair was tousled and draped loosely around bare shoulders. The sheet was wrapped around her for warmth but he could see the curves beneath that he had memorized already. Her green eyes were dark in the morning, hazy with sleep. They were clearing even as she looked at him, reverting back to bright jade.

"You had another vision." She could see the ghosts that still lingered in his eyes, they crowded close around him. His sleep had been troubled and now she knew why.

"Can't put anything past you," Luke murmured. His eyes were still fixed on her and slowly he sat down on the hard packed dirt floor and folded his legs beneath him. She recognized the pose and wondered if he thought he could escape her questions through meditation.

"What did you see, Luke?" Mara stood up from the bed and realized, too late, that she was still naked. The cold air wrapped around her flesh, chilling her to the bone and Luke shot to his feet, wrapping his cloak around her.

"As much as I love you wearing nothing but your own skin," he smiled softly. "You'll catch your death in this desert if you keep that habit up." His arms folded around her with the cloak and she basked in his sudden warmth.

"It just seems like so much effort to stay clothed around you when I know the garments will eventually just be torn off." Mara shot a glance toward her clothes that she had been wearing the day before. They did seem to be ripped in several places where Luke had been too eager to expose the flesh beneath.

He chuckled softly and the vibrations rumbled through her skin, "I'll be more careful next time."

"Please don't," Mara turned her face up to kiss him on the lips. "I wouldn't have you any other way, Farmboy."

They stood together for a long time, wrapped up in the warmth of each other. Breathing each other in and listening to the sound of the wind roaring outside.

"I saw my parents together this time," Luke whispered. "I saw Anakin and Padmé."

"Padmé?" Mara shifted in his arms to turn and face him. "Your mother?"

"Yes," Luke's eyes were not on her but looking within to his vision. "He loved her so much, Mara. I could feel it. When he spoke her name, I knew." He smiled sadly, "Leia looks so much like her. Both small and dark, the same grace with which they carry themselves, the same authoritative way of speaking."

"Padmé..." Mara frowned to herself, the name seemed to stir some recognition deep inside of her. "Where have I heard that name before?"

Luke stiffened, his arms around her suddenly tense. "You knew her?" The excitement in his voice was evident and Mara hated to destroy it.

"No..." She spoke slowly, searching her memories for that tingle of knowledge. "But Palpatine did. I think... Naboo!"

"What?" Luke was puzzled by the word she had exclaimed, it sounded like nonsense to his ears but he knew that there was something more here. "What is Naboo?"

"It's a planet," the excitement was in Mara's voice now as she looked up at him. "It was Palpatine's home world, the planet that he was Senator of before he became Emperor. Padmé Amidala was the Queen who reigned on Naboo during the Federation War. I learned about her in my history courses, Palpatine considered her a traitor which naturally meant she was on the right side all along," Luke smiled at this and Mara was glad to see the sorrow fade from his eyes.

"When I was the Emperor's Hand, I saw holos of her and you're right, she does look like Leia. I never connected it before." Mara's eyes suddenly darkened as something occurred to her. Luke was watching her silently, absorbing the information she was giving him.

"What is odd is where I saw those Holo pictures..." Mara's eyes were turned inward, focused on the memories of her old life. "I saw them in Vader's home, they were the only photos hanging on the wall. I thought at the time that it was odd for him to keep photos of a woman who was known to be one of the founders of the Rebel Alliance. At the time, I thought that perhaps the photos were a reminder that the Senate could not be trusted. But now..."

"He never stopped loving her," Luke whispered. "I can't imagine how he didn't recognize her features in Leia. All those years Leia was hidden right under his nose and he didn't recognize her as his own daughter."

"Who can know when it comes to Vader?" Mara shook her head, "Are you going to tell Leia about your mother?"

"Of course," Luke could sense Leia's presence distantly. Her presence shone constantly in his mind like a star brighter than all the rest. He could sense his niece and nephews more distantly, Jaina, Jacen and young Anakin all hard at work at their training on Yavin IV. Mara's presence eclipsed them all, shining around him at that moment like a sun giving off warmth. He knew that if he stretched out, he could touch them all and speak to them through the Force. Leia seemed to grow brighter as he thought of her. Something in her energy seemed troubled, pensive and he wondered at her thoughts.

"When we return to Coruscant, I will tell her all that I have found. I will show her the visions I have seen and what knowledge I have uncovered. But my work here is far from done, Mara. This is only the first step of the journey." Even as he spoke the words, Luke did not know where the journey would take them. He still did not know what he was looking for, he had found what he had thought he was searching for, his mother's identity. But there was something more, something deeper hidden here that the Force was leading him towards.

"Today we'll go to my home," Luke said. The Force was pulling at him, making this decision. He saw his father again for a moment, flickering in his mind as he cradled his mothers lifeless body. Anakin had been spurred by a vision to return to Tatooine. Visions within visions leading him down yet another path that the Force had chosen for him.

Mara looked up at the ceiling. The hut was shaking beneath the force of the wind but it would not fall. They would be safe here until the storm had passed. "Luke, the storm is getting stronger."

"It's not far," he insisted. There was a fierce brightness in his eyes that she was intimately familiar with. There was no talking him out of this.

Mara stepped away from him and started pulling on her clothes, "Just across the Jundland Waste and through Beggar's Canyon in the middle of a sandstorm?" She looked him to meet his gaze almost defiantly and found him smiling happily at her.

"Mara!" He exclaimed, "You have been paying attention to my stories!"

She rolled her eyes but smiled at his obvious delight, "I'm kind of stuck here with you, Skywalker. There's no one else to talk to."

Luke pouted and an expression of mock hurt crossed his face. Mara stepped closer to him and kissed him on the cheek. "You forget that I came to Tatooine to kill you years ago, Skywalker. I had to learn the landscape."

Luke colored slightly and his face fell. Mara shook her head and let out a long sigh. "Can you at least tell me why we are going?"

He frowned at the question and bit his lip, "My father came back to Tatooine to save his mother's life," his eyes grew dark as he remembered the last part of the vision. "My grandmother died here on Tatooine. Her grave is at my old home." There was a depth of sadness in his voice now that Mara knew well.

"I never knew my grandmother, never knew who lay in the grave behind my old farm. My father buried her there. He hated that he did not have the power to save her." Luke seemed lost suddenly, his gaze fixed on something in the distance beyond Mara. "I watched her die," he whispered. "Watched my father weep over her body. I wanted to reach out, reach back in time and save her but I couldn't. Neither of us could." He sighed then and his gaze returned to her.

"There are four graves behind that farm now. My grandmother and her husband and my aunt and uncle. They all died here, all buried in the sand."

Mara bit her lip as she stepped closer to Luke and laid one hand on his chest. His heart pulsed steadily beneath her palm and she cherished the resonance. He wrapped his arms around her, drawing strength from her warmth and waited for her response.

Mara sighed softly and relented. It was crazy to do this but then most days with Luke Skywalker always retained a level of insanity. "Okay we can go, but you'll have to wait to pay your respects until after the storm has died out."

"Come on, the farm is deserted now. We can take shelter inside," his blue eyes twinkled suddenly. "I'll show you my old bedroom."

Mara's laughter reverberated through the hut, almost drowning the roar of the wind outside. "Skywalker, you are too much," she shook her head and wrapped her scarf around her face. "Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's hit the sand."

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Coming in chapter four. The plot begins to reveal itself. :evil sith laughter:

please let me know what you think