Author Note: Oh Wow! I'm so glad you like this! I'm not really sure where I'm going with it for a moment, I got loads of ideas...hmmm...we'll see...but anyway, thanks so much for the sweet reviews AnakinVanhelsingLegolaSkywalker92 and Rhyza. I'm glad to hear that you like my work...
oOo
Naboo was like no other planet any of them had ever visited. Leia had always thought Alderaan was beautiful, but this place put it to shame.
The great City of Theed was in many ways the same as Coruscant, with freighters and shuttles coming down from teh skies in lines. Unlike Coruscnat, however, this city was soft in appearance, with few towering, imposing skyscrapers of hard metal and shining transparisteel. The buildings here were made of stone and other materials, with rounded rooflines and delicate, pastel colours. Vines of all sorts were everywhere, crawling up the sides of buildings, adding vibrancy and scents. Adding comfort. Every now and then they would shower a passer by in soft, coloured petals.
The great palace ahead shimmered in the sunlight, and the air smelt sweatly of flowers. In the distance was the soft sound of waterfalls.
"This place is so beautiful," Leia gasped as she took in the breathtaking sights. They were all walking down the main street.
Han and Luke were a little way ahead, talking about some repairs that the Falcon needed, whilst Leia was walking with Chewie and the droids.
Artoo let out a long, drawn out whistle and everyone turned round, staring at him in confusion. They waited for Threepio to translate.
"He says that he loved this place, and always wished he could come back here some day...I don't know what he's on about sir. I've certainly never been here, and I've never gone anywhere without Artoo, for as long as I can remember."
Artoo beeped and the others turned to Threepio for another translation.
"He says that he was going to come back here with Master Anakin and Mistress Padme after the Clone Wars were over...but that never happened."
"Why not?" Luke asked excitedly. Hearing his mother and father had spurred him on and increased the urge to find out what happened to them so many years ago.
"Because he says that...oh my! That can't be..."
"What?" Luke cried. He felt like he was about to burst with excitement.
"He says that she was murdered...well not murdered, but killed by your father...I wouldn't take any notice Master Luke. I never belonged to anyone called Miss Padme or Master Anakin, so I don't know where Artoo got those dellusions from."
Luke felt like someone had just stuck a pin in his side, making him rapidly deflate...his father had killed his mother? Why? How? Now he had to find out as soon as he could.
The little group carried on down the street, with the two droids arguing bitterly about what Artoo had said.
"Enough!" Han cried at last, and both droids shut up immediately. Han sighed, enjoying the silence, which was no doubt going to be short lived.
Luke rounded a corner and saw a beautiful lake that stretched for miles. Tiny boats sailed up and down the lake, ferrying passengers and cargo from one place to another. Luke noticed that all of them had to sail around a structure in the middle of the lake that had a long bridge attaching it to the mainland. It wasn't exactly huge, but it was still pretty impressive.
It was made of stone and covered in ivy just like every other building, but something told Luke that this structure was special.
It was round, with no walls, just pillars and a dommed roof. Flaming torches sat in hooks on each of the pillars and in the very centre of the structure was a large stone box.
Reaching out with the force, he sensed a slight trace of someone...familiar...like a cross between Leia and their father. He knew he had found it.
"Come on!" he cried, the excitement building again. He ran across the bridge like a little boy, his excitement growing and growing. Leia, however, was becoming more and more upset and aggitated. At last she stopped in the middle of the bridge and refused to go any further.
"I'm sorry Luke. You go on," she sobbed, and Han wrapped his strong arm around her protectively. He led her back towards the main land, soothing her and trying his best to comfort her. Luke felt guilty that he was causing her so much distress, but she hadn't had to agree to accompany him. He could have come on his own.
Luke came to the end of the bridge and climbed the few steps up to what he was now certain was his mothers tomb. He saw that it had been well cared for, and it was easy to read the gold inscription engraved into the marble.
Padme Naberrie Amidala Skywalker
Queen and Senator of Naboo
The most popular ruler this planet has ever seen.
She will be sorely missed by us all.
"So this is where she was laid to rest," Luke muttered to himself, running a hand over the cold stone and feeling, once again, that faint trace of his mother.
He looked around and admired the view. From every angle, there was something beautiful to look at, and this was certainly the perfect place to bury a Queen.
"I wish I'd known you," he said to the tomb with a heavy sigh.
"Known who?" a voice answered and Luke spun round so fast that he made himself dizzy and had to grab the tomb to keep himself upright. He had been so busy feeling his mother through the force, that he hadn't felt this person approaching.
Obi-Wan would be very grumpy if he'd found out! Luke thought to himself with a slight smile.
"Forgive me for startling you...I meant you no harm," the woman appologised as she climbed the last few steps. She was in her fifties, yet she still moved like she was a teenager. She was surprisingly agile for her age.
Luke looked directly into her eyes and saw that they were a familiar deep brown. So familiar, yet he couldn't place where he'd seen them before.
"It's alright. I just didn't expect anyone else to come up here, thats all." He sighed.
"I come up here all the time," the woman sighed, leaning against the tomb to give herself a little rest. "You're a Jedi aren't you. I thought the Jedi were extinct?" the woman said, surprised. But she wasn't nearly as surprised as Luke.
"How...How do you...How?" he stuttered
"How do I know you're a Jedi?" she smiled, then pointed to his belt. His lightsaber was clearly visible, hanging from his belt, under his travelling cloak.
"Oh," Luke laughed, feeling ambarrased. "Yes I am. Like my father before me."
"Yes, you look like him," she replied, studying Luke's face. "You have the same vivid blue eyes."
"You knew my father?"
"And your mother. They were good people. What happened between them was truly awful. I don't think I've ever gotten over it, myself."
"What happened?" Luke asked the question that he was dying to know the answer to.
"I...I'd rather not say here. Why don't you come back to my place with your friends. You can stay the night, and I can tell you everything in the morning, when I've had a chance to think about how best to word it. It's a very hard tale to tell without thinking for a long time first."
Luke thought this was a fair deal, so he followed the woman back down and across the bridge. Halfway across it struck him that he didn't even know this woman and was trusting a stranger.
"Excuse me, but who are you?" he asked, hoping he didn't sound too rude.
"Oh silly me!" the woman laughed. "I forgot to tell you who I was...I'm getting rather forgetful these days. I'm Sola Ramone."
"I'm Luke Skywalker, and that is my sister Leia, and her husband Han Solo..." Luke pointed out the two who were waiting for them at the end of the bridge.
"That's Chewbacca. And that's C-3PO, the protocol droid...oh, and that little astro-droid is R2-D2..." he motioned toward the Wookie and two droids who had joined Leia and Han. A huge grin split across Sola's face as Artoo cried out merrily to her.
"Hello Artoo! Hope you've been behaving yourself!" she called playfully and Artoo beeped a cheeky reply which caused her to chuckle.
"You know Artoo?" Han asked curiously.
"Of course I do. Padme used to bring him round whenever she had a spare moment. My children loved to play with him. Mind you, they were only four and six at the time. Now they're young ladies, and I can't get over how quickly time has gone by."
Luke explained to the others about Sola's kind offer, and as he was doing so, Sola couldn't help but notice that Leia was continually staring at her...as though she didn't trust her, it seemed.
Indeed Leia didn't trust this woman...or was it just that she felt that she knew this woman?
How can someone be familiar to me, and yet I've never met them in my life? she told herself. I know that I know her, but I can't think where...
"Hey, you commin or what?" Han called, breaking her thoughts. He was a little way off down the street. The others had all left and he was waiting behind for her. She shook all thoughts from her mind and hurried to catch up with the group, although the uneasy feeling never left her.