Chapter 5
"So, Ms. Nomi, tell us what it was like back on Tatooine. Uncle Luke doesn't tell us much about when he was little." Jacen said.
"Well your Uncle was quite the adventurous little boy. When we were younger, he and my older brother, Biggs, would go out into a very dangerous territory called the Jundland Wastes. They would go out there and watch for sand people. It always made your Uncle Luke's Uncle very mad. When they got older and learned to drive land speeders and T-16's, they would race. That scared his Aunt. When I was younger I was the tag along but I learned a lot from them. My father felt there were some things boys did that girls shouldn't. They always taught me what I wanted to know though. When my brother left for the academy, I took his place. You're Uncle Luke and I would race land speeders, we tried T-16's but after I got into an accident Luke wouldn't race me anymore. Around there, Luke was the best. So racing anyone else felt like a waste of time."
"Wow! That sounds so cool." Anakin exclaimed. "Uncle Luke never told us about that. He always told us that he lived on a moisture farm."
"Luke that is all you told them? I can't believe that. Well I guess if you wanted to have a good influence that would be all you told them."
Luke almost choked on his juice. He truly didn't want her bringing up his mischievous past now. He was saved when there was a knock at the door. Jaina jumped up and ran to the door. "Wait, let me come with you. Don't open that door yet." This was a perfect chance to get away from the table.
"It's Mara! It's Mara! Come on Uncle Luke, pick up the pace." Jaina was jumping up and down impatiently beside him.
"I'm coming. You can go ahead and answer it." Luke could sense Mara and knew it was safe for her to answer the door. She had the door open by the time Luke reached the door. "Hi Talon, Hi Mara."
"Hi Mara!" Jaina gave Mara a hug. Usually Mara would have tensed or tried to pull away. Over the past couple of years, though, she had gotten use to Jaina's hugs and perkiness.
"Hi Jaina! It's good to see." She looked up, "Hi Luke. I guess I should have expected to see you here."
"Nice to see you, too. Why don't you all come in?" Luke was trying to be polite.
"We can only stay for a little while. Tendra is waiting back aboard the Wild Karrde. We need to get going as soon as possible." Karrde was clearly ready to go.
"We'll be ready in just a minute." Luke assured him. Luke saw everyone leaving the table and heading their way. He suddenly became kind of nervous. He couldn't figure out why. From the way Leia was smiling at him, he thought it was a good bet that she knew. Nomi walked up holding Anakin's hand.
"Hi Leia, Han." Mara noticed Nomi coming around the corner. "I'm sorry; we didn't know you had a guest. We can wait outside."
"No need. Nomi may I introduce Mara Jade and Talon Karrde. This is an old friend of mind Nomica Darklighter." Luke thought it only polite to do the introductions.
"It's nice to meet you Nomica." Mara shook Nomi's hand. Talon did the same.
"It's nice to meet you both as well." Nomi said feeling just a little uncomfortable. She had felt Luke's mood change. Could this be the new woman in his life? It could explain why he wanted us to meet.
"Come on Luke lets go and get our stuff," Han suggested from behind. "We really need to get going." They both headed to the other room. Luke had brought some of his things up to the apartment so he wouldn't have to go back down to his.
"Would you excuse me?" Nomi asked. She pulled Anakin's hand away and headed to the room in which Luke and Han had just gone into.
"Han, do you mind if I talk to Luke?" Nomi had unsteadiness in her voice. Luke wondered why she sounded so. Han left the room and just smiled as he left. Neither Luke nor Nomi wanted to her one of Han's smart comments.
"What's wrong Nomi?" He was a little worried.
"Luke, is there something you want to tell me?"
"Like what?" Luke knew he was just hoping he was wrong.
"Luke! Your mood changed when she came into the room. I could tell. Why didn't you tell me? I could have left and made things so much more comfortable." Nomi's voice was beginning to break. "I thought that you wanted me to stay here. I hoped we had a chance to pick up where we left off. Or at least if we didn't you would tell me."
"Nomi, I have no feelings for Mara. She is my friend, believe me, she is nothing else to me. I want you to stay. I want you to be here when I get back. Mara is a friend of Leia's too and since she is on Corusant the two of them would have wanted to get together."
"Why did your mood change?" Nomi had wanted to know desperately. He had avoided answering the question when she asked it before.
"Nomi, you knew me when I was a wide-eyed farm boy without a hope of anything more. Leia met me when my life and training were just beginning. Mara met me when I was no longer the student but the teacher. The three of you in the same room, you all see me differently. I guess I found it a little strange."
Nomi could tell he wasn't lying. She felt silly now for the way she acted. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have reacted like that. I guess it was like we were in school again on Tatooine."
Luke couldn't help but chuckle. "Well at least you didn't start a fight. That would have been awkward." He gave her a hug. "I guess I should have given you more of a warning."
"No, I shouldn't have over reacted." She sighed. "I really wish you didn't have to leave."
"I wish I didn't have to go. Lando needs me though. When I get back things will be much better."
"You promise." She lifted her head off his shoulder to look into his beautiful blue eyes. She loved that shade of blue.
"I promise." He gave her a long kiss. He pulled away at the sound of a giggle. They both turned to see Jaina, Jacen, and Anakin peeking around the corner. Nomi and Luke both began to laugh. "Okay you three, quit being nosey."
They all walked to the door. Han said goodbye to Leia and the children. Luke gave Leia a hug, Mara a hand shake, and Nomi a small peck on the lips. They were then out the door.
Nomi wondered when it would be that she would see him again, soon she hoped. Until then she would find out what exactly had happened to Luke since she had last seen him.
Leia had a similar thought. She wanted to know what had happened on Tatooine. Luke never really spoke about it, maybe now she would get to know more about what had happened to him as a child.
Luke was sitting behind Han in the cockpit. He could not get his mind set on the task at hand. He, instead, wondered how long it would be before Leia and Mara got Nomi to tell them what he had been like as a child. He knew it wouldn't be long, as long as Mara agreed to help Leia. Luke peered out the cockpit and saw the star lines disappear as they entered hyperspace.
Han turned around to look at Luke. He began to laugh at the expression on Luke's face. "I can't wait until we get back."
"Why? I mean I can't wait either but I think you said that to make fun of me."
"Those Jedi powers are reading my mind. You know they are going to talk about you. I just think it's funny. But for the time being I'm going to stop making fun of you and concentrate on where Lando might have gone."
"Did Tendra say where he was at the last time they talked?"
"She told Karrde that he talked to her right before he left. He told her that he was going to Bothwui. He was supposed to send her a message when he got there. He was going to play in a sabacc game. Apparently he lost and owed a bothan a lot of money. The bothan never got the money and reported him missing. The news got to Tendra and she called us. I know Lando, he would pay his debt, he wouldn't be happy about it but he would do it."
"Well I think we need to go to Bothwui first." Luke said, stating the obvious.
"That is where we're headed. You're just a step behind today aren't you?" Han chuckled again.
"Hey, even we Jedi have an off day or two." Luke decided now would be a good time for some meditation. "I'm going into the back. Call if you need me."
"Alright," Han said. Sometimes he worried about Luke but he knew Luke didn't need him to be his keeper.
Nomi listened to Leia and Mara catch up on things. She felt as though she was a third person in a two person conversation. She sat there and began to think about Luke. It seemed she was reliving the past. Only this time, Luke was the one that had to leave. It disappointed her that he had not been more reluctant to go.
When she had left Tatooine, he stood in front of the land speeder as they had tried to leave. She understood it was one of his close friends that had gone missing, but she still wished he would have put up more of a fight. She remembers the day she left like it was yesterday. Her father made her leave. She had never forgiven him for it. To this day, even though she respected him, she still thinks he made a mistake. I wish Luke could've known why I had really left.
She brought her attention back to the conversation Mara and Leia had been having. Jaina had been sitting there next to her. She had been intently listening to Mara's adventurous stories. Nomi didn't have stories like that. All the adventures had ended with the flight off of Tatooine. Anakin was sitting on the floor next to the couch. Jacen was in his room doing his meditation. Right then, to Nomi, meditating would calm her nerves and make her more comfortable, but that might seem rude. She continued to listen as Leia began talking about the goings on with the Senate. Nomi couldn't follow well because she didn't know any of the senators like the three of them did. Jaina would add tad bits to her mother's stories. Nomi could feel herself loosing her concentration.
"I'm so sorry, Nomi. I feel like we are completely ignoring you." Leia said, just realizing that Nomi hadn't said anything in quite some time.
"Don't worry. I'm enjoying your stories." Okay, so I lied, but I did so to be polite, Nomi thought.
"Actually, I'd like to hear some of your stories." Mara said. Mara knew nothing about her, except her was Nomica and that she had known Luke for a while.
"Nomi, tell us about what Uncle Luke was like as a kid. Was he always such a stickler on rules?" Jaina asked.
"No, Luke was quite the opposite. Most of the rules he lived under he broke once, twice, maybe three times. He always tried to please Mr. and Mrs. Lars but he always had a hard time doing so."
"Luke? A rule breaker? That just sounds weird." Mara commented.
"Well to you it might seem weird. Him, being here, with all this responsibility, it surprises me. He always took his responsibilities seriously. That's why he usually tried to keep from getting them." Nomi chuckled. "That's probably why..." She cut herself off. She didn't need to tell these people that. I haven't told Luke. I can't tell them, at least not in front of the children.
"Why what?" Leia could tell whatever she was about to say she stopped herself. She saw that Nomi was thinking about what she was fixing to say. Jaina was sitting very close to Nomi, Leia could tell by the way that she had looked at Jaina whatever she was going to say should not be heard by little ears. "Jaina, you and Anakin go into your room. He can work on the droid in there."
"But, mom! Do I have to?" Jaina's face had gone sour. She had known the moment Nomi had stopped herself that she would be asked to leave the room.
"Yes, and we aren't discussing it. Now go." Leia didn't want to play that game with her, not right now.
"No she doesn't have to. I just lost my thought. I'm still a little tired from all the excitement last night." Great I'm lying to his family. She thought maybe she still had a chance to change the subject.
"What happened?" Mara asked.
Leia reluctantly began to tell Mara what had happened the night before. She knew that there was something that Nomi wasn't telling. She obviously didn't want to talk about whatever it was.
Thank goodness. That was a close one. I've got to be more careful about what I say around these two. Nomi sat back and listened as Leia told Mara the story, adding things in occasionally.
Nomi thought about what she had almost done. She had almost told them one of her most well kept secrets. Technically it was one of Luke's as well, but that was between him and her. Nomi got up and walked to where Anakin was sitting on the floor. She sat down on the floor to watch the boy work. He kept working and looked to be doing everything correctly; he hadn't looked up when Nomi sat beside him.
With all the talking, and "noise" as he called it, he moved over to the other side of the room. "I can't think," was what he mumbled during his walk over here. Nomi remembered Luke would get frustrated like this too, when he couldn't get something, he considered simple, to work right.
Anakin kept working as if he never noticed Nomi sit beside him. She recognized this simple piece of machinery and could tell that he was indeed putting everything in the right place. She was amazed at how a four year old could possibly put this together. She was watching him as intently as he was looking at the droid.
"You're a Jedi aren't you?" Anakin asked in a voice barely over a whisper.
The question took Nomi by surprise. She jumped a little; she was used to the silence. She didn't really know how to answer his question. "What would make you say that, Anakin?"
"I knew you were coming when you and Uncle Luke came last night. I could sense you walking up behind me a second ago. It wasn't the feeling I get when it's Dad or Chewie or one of the guards. It was a feeling like when Uncle Luke or Mom or Mara is coming. Except... it was a weaker feeling than when they come. That had to mean something. I just didn't know what. So am I right?"
Anakin had continued the work on the simple droid the whole time he gave his explanation. He hadn't looked up at Nomi once. Nomi realized how remarkable a child with the force, as its ally, could truly be. That had always been something that she wondered about. How would a child with the force live their life? She had just received her answer, a remarkable life and one of privilege. "I never considered myself a Jedi. An old Jedi by the name of Obi-wan Kenobi trained me but I was forced to leave before my training was complete."
"Obi-wan? He trained Uncle Luke, too. Well a little bit. He told us about it once or twice. He doesn't like to talk about Master Kenobi too much, it makes him sad." Anakin stopped talking. He didn't want to seem nosey like Jaina or seem uncaring like Jacen had a tendency of being. "Did you come so you could join Uncle Luke's academy?"
"No. I came to see Luke." She had never thought about the continuation of her training. She was a little surprised at his question, but quickly remembered that she shouldn't have been.
"You should really go there. I like it, but Uncle Luke doesn't think I'm ready to leave yet. I think he's wrong. But you could go, and since you know Uncle Luke you should be able to get in easy." Anakin said with a child's innocence.
If it were only that simple, little Anakin. You don't know all the trouble this one night has caused. Leave for the Academy and I'd never be able to return home. Only if it was that simple. Nomi sat there on the floor for a little while longer. She soon decided she would return to the couch where the "adult" conversations were being held. She felt as though she had had a rather grown up conversation with the four year old. It was advice she would have expected Luke to give her when they talked again. Nomi sat back down on the couch beside Jaina. Why would Anakin say something like that? Then it hit her, maybe it was the force that guided his question. She decided she would meditate on it at a later time. She was a guest and was beginning to feel like she wasn't a good one at that.