Disclaimer: I don't own anything (except a few original characters) and I'm not making any money off of this.

Author's Note: Sorry about any confusion, but Airiana was not Frodo in a past life or anything like that. In this story she was one of the fellowship, alongside Frodo.

Ch 8: The Family Tree

The next morning Airiana was the first to awake. The vision was lingering in her mind and weighed her down. Feeling stifled in the small cabin, she fled outside and took a few deep breaths of the morning air. As she looked around she saw the sun sneaking out from behind the last of the dark clouds making her feel a little lighter.

On a whim Airiana leaped up into the tree, grabbing hold of a branch and swinging herself onto it. She looked up and saw that the branches were nestled close together and that climbing would be fairly easy; she climbed until she could no longer see the cabin, then sat down on a branch, swung her legs on either side of it, leaned back on the trunk, and closed her eyes.

Airiana felt the trees around her, more than she had ever felt them anywhere else; they seemed more alive here. She saw the branches slowly stretching their way to the sky and the roots lazily drink up the water from the ground then painstakingly suck and pull it up the length of the trunk all the way to the tip of the tallest branch. She almost heard the slow and steady breaths as the leaves took in the carbon dioxide from the air and let out the oxygen. Airiana also heard the trees talk; whispering to each other with every passing breeze, every turn of the leaf, or bend of the branch. They talked slowly in a language accustomed to the slow movement of time. Each had its own voice, its own story to tell, and its own wisdom to give.

Airiana listened to the slow, steady murmurings of the forest and thought of Treebeard and the Ents, finally understanding them. She could have stayed there forever and simply listened to the trees talking, but was rudely torn away from them by the sound of a different voice wondering where she was and telling her that it was soon time to leave. Opening her eyes, Airiana took one last, longing look at the ancient trees then began to regretfully climb down. Skipping the last few branches, Airiana landed stealthily behind Obi-wan.

"There you are," he said turning around. "Feeling better?"

"I am," answered Airiana with a slight smile.

"Good. Are you ready to leave?"

"Yeah, I'll go get my things." And she turned to go inside.

An hour later the three Jedi were in a cruiser heading back to Coruscant; Anakin was in the cockpit chatting with the pilot and Airiana was meditating. Obi-wan was attempting to work on the mission report, but with little success. His thoughts kept returning to the night before. He couldn't figure out what would have thrown Airiana into such an emotional fit; she didn't seem like the type of person to react so emotionally to simple nightmares and the like. Whatever had caused it must have been very unnerving. He knew he needed to talk to her about it and since he probably wouldn't be able to get anything done until he did, he figured now was as good a time as any. Obi-wan put the report down and made his way to Airiana's cabin.

Obi-wan knocked lightly on the door; no one answered. He knocked louder, but still, Airiana didn't answer. Beginning to be slightly worried, he opened the door and walked in. He gave a sigh of relief; Airiana was sitting on the floor, deep in meditation. Not wanting to interrupt her, Obi-wan quietly turned to leave.

"Don't go – your presence is comforting," Airiana said in almost a whisper.

"I didn't mean to disturb you," replied Obi-wan just as quietly.

Airiana opened her eyes and stood up, "You came to talk to me about last night, didn't you?"

"Yes, I did."

Airiana paused. Now would be the perfect time to tell Obi-wan the truth about herself, but should she? Yoda had told her not to, but she wanted to tell Obi-wan so badly. But she wasn't sure how he'd react or what the consequences would be; that's what she had been meditating on. While meditating the Force had been of little help, revealing almost nothing to her; she would have to make the decision herself. What would happen if she told him? Would it change things for the better or for the worse? She knew the future was painful and violent, but she couldn't possibly live with herself if it ended up being worse because of what she did now. She made her decision; there was too much she didn't know, now wasn't the time.

"What do you want to know?"

"What upset you so much last night?"

Airiana took a deep breath, "A couple of years ago I was involved in a war. The enemy we fought against was a dark lord with great powers. He was destroyed for what we thought was all time. Last night I had a vision. The Dark Lord has been reborn and although he may not be as powerful as he once was, he is still more powerful than anyone can imagine. I know what I saw was a vision and not a nightmare – finding out he's back…it just shocked me, brought back horrible memories I've been trying to forget. I suppose I haven't gotten over the things I've seen as much as I thought I had."

"That's understandable, of course," he paused then added, "If you'd ever like to talk about it, I'm here."

"Thanks."

Obi-wan left feeling more disturbed than he had before. The feeling that Airiana was hiding something had never gone away, he had just gotten used to it. It now came back stronger than ever. There had to be more than she was letting on to, he just had to find out what it was. She said about a war and a dark lord. Well, there was always some kind of war going on somewhere; the galaxy was very large, after all. And a dark lord? Impossible. Try as he might Obi-wan couldn't find a way into Airiana's past.

Two days later Airiana officially became a Jedi Knight. The Council had reviewed the mission report from Taroga and had listened to Obi-wan's recommendation. After a little debate, they had finally agreed to name her a Jedi Knight.

Obi-wan had mentioned nothing about Airiana's vision in the report he gave the Council and she was thankful for that. So far she had not spoken to Master Yoda about it and she didn't think she was going to. She just didn't see the point; he hadn't taken her very seriously when she told him about Dooku, so what would make him take her seriously when it came to Palpatine? And besides, even if he did there was nothing they could do at the moment. The only thing he would have to go on was her word and that wouldn't be enough in any kind of court or even for the public, for that matter. Most people still denied the existence of the Sith. Before Airiana could do anything she needed hard proof that Palpatine was, in fact, a Sith Lord, so she put it in the back of her mind.

Airiana quickly found out that being a Jedi Knight in this time was completely different from what both Master Yoda and Ben had led her to believe. She was away from the Temple more than she was at it and she didn't have much free time. Most of the missions were strictly diplomatic – no action of any kind and very boring. Thankfully, some not always went as planned. She did these kinds of missions with a fairly high success rate for about three months before getting sick of them and requesting more exciting missions. The Council was a little concerned about Airiana's eagerness to seek danger, but they could find no other reason to deny her request.

It was after a few minor injuries after her last mission five months later one that Airiana was talking to Obi-wan in his common room. Anakin had just left to go sparring with a friend of his and Airiana was trying to convince Obi-wan to go out to eat somewhere.

"C'mon, I've been cooped-up in the healer's wing for a week; I need to get outta this place for a little bit. Please?" she said making a puppy face.

"Alright, fine; we'll go somewhere. Just stop making that ridiculous face," he said with a smile as he got up to get some money from his bedroom, since he knew he'd be paying for supper.

Airiana got up and followed him. She was about to come back with a smart ass comment, but the photos in his room caught her attention. He only had a few and they were mostly of him, his friends, and his master. One in particular caught her attention. It was of a thirteen year-old Obi-wan and Bant, their masters standing behind them. It was the first time she had seen what Obi-wan's master had looked like and she studied him, along with the youngest version of Obi-wan she had seen yet.

Noticing what she was looking at, Obi-wan came over and stood behind her, also looking at the picture, "That was taken a few weeks after I became Qui-gon's apprentice and only a few days after Bant became Master Tahl's."

"Master…Tahl?" Airiana asked, thinking she hadn't heard him right.

"Yes, Master Tahl Peredhil."

Airiana stared wide-eyed at the woman in the picture; she had long brown hair, dark eyes, and pointed ears. There was no doubt in her mind that this was her mother. She could see the resemblance not only to herself, but also to her grandfather, Elrond, her uncles, and especially her aunt, Arwen.

"Is something wrong?" Obi-wan asked at seeing Airiana's intense look.

Airiana smiled, "No, everything's fine; I just never saw a picture of my mother before." At Obi-wan's confused stare she pointed to the picture and said, "That's my mother. Tahl Peredhil was my mother."

"You're positive she's your mother?" asked Obi-wan, still confused.

"Yes, I'm positive; that's my mother."

"Airiana," Obi-wan said gently, not wanting to disappoint her, "Tahl can't be your mother. She died about three years before you were even born."

But instead of the crestfallen face, angry denial, and/or downpour of tears he expected, Obi-wan was completely taken aback when Airiana started giggling uncontrollably as if she had just heard some sort of reference to an inside joke that only she knew.

"Is there something I missed?" Obi-wan asked, half amused and half annoyed.

Catching her breath, Airiana answered, "If you only knew."

Obi-wan left the subject drop for the time being. Airiana had turned her attention away from the picture and back to supper.

The ride to the restaurant they went to was a quiet one; after leaving the Temple, Airiana had become subdued; she was planning on how to extract information about her mother from Obi-wan. By the time they reached the restaurant she had her plan. She waited until after ordering their meals before speaking.

"So, how well did you know my mother?"

Obi-wan frowned a bit, "Airiana, Tahl wasn't your mother."

"Yeah she was," Airiana replied confidently then, "Look, I know it seems impossible, but it is possible and she is my mother. You have to trust me on this," she finished with an imploring look.

Obi-wan stared at her intensely for a few seconds then sighed and said, "I do trust you and I feel the truth in what you say, but…I don't understand it."

"I don't expect you to. But can you tell me about my mother anyway?"

"Of course," answered Obi-wan smiling.

For the rest of the dinner Obi-wan talked about everything he could remember about Tahl; his own experiences with her, stories Qui-gon had told him about the two of the them as initiates, padawans, and Knights, and things Bant had told him about the brief time she had been apprenticed to her. He had even spoken about Tahl's death, though reluctantly; it was painful memory for him and he wasn't sure how Airiana would take it, but he had gotten through it and Airiana had taken it well.

By the time Obi-wan and Airiana got back to the Temple it was late; the halls were quiet and the lights had been dimmed. Neither of them were very tired though and Airiana wanted to hear more about her mother so she went back to Obi-wan and Anakin's rooms; the lights were off and Anakin was already fast asleep in his room.

They passed a few moments in comfortable silence, taking a few sips from the drinks Obi-wan had gotten them. While sipping her water Airiana was debating if she wanted to ask Obi-wan a question that had been at the back of her mind all night. She finally made up her mind, figuring it would be easier to ask now and if she didn't she'd probably regret it.

"Obi-wan," she said quietly, "do you have any idea who my father might be?"

Obi-wan sighed heavily and looked down at his glass. He stayed that way for some time. Beginning to think he hadn't heard her, Airiana repeated his name. He sighed again, straightened out, and looked her in the eyes.

"Airiana…"

"You know who he is, don't you?"

"Since you told me that Tahl was your mother I have had an idea who your father may be, but I was hoping you wouldn't ask."

"I'd really appreciate it if you told me."

"Very well," he sighed again, took a few moments to collect himself then said, "I think your father was Qui-gon."