"What all-knowing, undead god helped you find this place?"

Ahsoka didn't miss a beat as she climbed down the glittering cavern wall, hands twisting around crystals the size of her fist. "The library."

Luke rolled his eyes while Leia snorted. "The most obscure god of all." Even Artoo gave a chirping giggle.

"Only in the south and centre," Luke mused. Even as he spoke, he was focused on the thrumming crystals under his hands, alert to which ones would hold his weight or not. He had been following Ahsoka, but a smaller one that she'd used as a foothold had fractured and fallen before he got to it, and now he was trying to forge his own path. "Parchment isn't exactly a cheap resource—"

"It lasts, though."

"Yeah." Luke eyed a crystal. It looked stable, he thought, but it had been a while since Ben taught him about crystals and their different properties; he couldn't even remember this one's name, let alone how to gauge how hard it was. Following Ahsoka's footsteps was an option, though with that foothold fallen it would be harder, but since he didn't know where to step himself it would be easier… "But papyrus isn't to be scoffed at, and it's a lot cheaper to produce. Ryloth is right next to Tatooine, they had hundreds of libraries, even without the official Jedi establishments, spectacular things—"

"Before the Empire pillaged them and burnt them down," Leia finished drily. She was at the bottom, staring up at him with an unamused expression.

Luke swallowed. Ryloth and Tatooine were lands he knew well; they'd been marked out in detail in all his work. And Vader was the one who'd conquered them…

"Yes," he said. "Before the Empire burnt them down."

He stretched to the next foothold. It was farther away from the crumbled one, and he grimaced; he couldn't stretch that far. He eyed it, glanced at a handhold just above it, checked that Ahsoka wasn't directly underneath him—she was on the ground next to Leia now—and jumped.

He grabbed the handhold, jamming his foot into the crevice. The crystal broke off and he fell.

Leia and Ahsoka reacted instinctively. The air grew thicker underneath him, slowing his descent, but when he collided with their outstretched hands it still hurt. Leia cursed.

"Idiot," she said, "why didn't you grab that other crystal? That was a solid grip."

"Which other crystal?"

"The one you were eyeing!"

"I didn't know if it was safe! You two had already used that one so it must be—"

"—safe?"

"—weakened." He pushed himself up off the floor, dusting off his front. He patted the Codex in his pack; it was fine. Only he had any bruises.

Leia accepted his hand when he held it out, then Ahsoka did as well. His sister was still glaring at him.

"I'm sorry." There was a pang in his gut. He didn't seem able to do anything right, these days. "Thank you for saving me."

"Of course, Luke." Ahsoka was looking at him more sympathetically, and he didn't like her gaze—like she could see right through him. Leia noticed her master's attention and narrowed her eyes.

"Are you alright?" Luke asked her, before she could demand the same question of him, meaning something entirely different.

"I'm fine. Are you—"

Thankfully she was cut off by Threepio plummeting down the cavern like a searing comet. He thrust out his wings and stopped himself just before he hit the floor, hopping along the rock a few times, squawking in a panic.

"Threepio! You good?" Luke knelt down next to him and offered him his wrist.

Threepio leapt up onto it gladly. "Good!"

"Do they know about where we are? Are they following us?" Leia asked. She was still looking at Luke with suspicion and a little worry, but for now she was sufficiently distracted.

Threepio cocked his head and said nothing.

"Threepio—"

Luke gestured for her to be quiet. "Are the Imperials following us, do you think? Or do you not think they know about these caverns?" he added.

"Imperials. Not. Following," Threepio confirmed, nodding his head enthusiastically. His emerald tail bobbed too with the motion, and it made Luke smile, reach up to stroke his wings. "Imperials. Do. Not. Know about these caverns."

Ahsoka breathed out a sigh of relief. Leia still looked tense. "Do you think they'll find out?"

"Find out?" Threepio asked, puzzled.

"They won't find out unless they find them themselves." Luke thought back to the twisty path Ahsoka had led them through at the back of the cave, muttering to herself the whole time. He'd been so frightened she might be wrong, that they'd be boxed in if the Imperials had noticed which cave they'd ducked into, but she knew what she was doing. "It's a miracle we found the passage ourselves. Yes, they could have followed us, but… I don't think so."

Threepio, who'd hung around at the top of the wall as a lookout in case they had, nodded again. "I don't think so!"

"The locals might know. If they extract the information from them—"

"I was nearly denied service from a local because she thought I was an Imperial mapmaker," Luke drawled, "and I saw another local throw kitchen knives at Vader. I doubt they'll cooperate."

Ahsoka nodded. "I think we'll be fine."

Leia relaxed a little, then. "Alright," she said. "So now we have to ask: why—"

"Where do these tunnels go, anyway?" He glanced back up the way they'd come. That was a hellish climb: essentially a twisting chimney that went left, right, horizontal, vertical, almost too narrow to squeeze through in some places. Now he thought about it, Vader was definitely not getting down here.

Small mercies.

But now they were at the bottom, the cavern expanded, and a tunnel about ten metres wide extended into darkness. The crystals still encrusted the walls like shiny mould—he'd known that the Corellian islands had crystal mines, but he thought they were mainly on Greater Corel. If he listened closely, he could hear a fierce pounding. If he paid even more attention, he could feel the vibrations in his feet, sense the crystals tinkle with it.

"The miners in the other islands found that the crystal beds extended under the seabed," Ahsoka said. "They dug shafts all the way along the seafloor. There's a labyrinth of them between Greater Corel and Little Corel. Some of them were poorly made, and caved in over the years, but others still stand. This shaft was abandoned because there's no easy way to access it from Little Corel, and too much hassle to get the mining equipment all the way along here." She drew a lantern out of her pack and clicked. Like her thumbs and fingers were flint, sparks flew from them, and the lantern roared to life.

Luke sucked in a breath as light flooded the chamber, caught in the multi-coloured throes of refraction. The tunnel went on and on, shimmering iridescent, bright as day from a mere candle flame.

"There will be an exit on Greater Corel, then we can get the land ferry to Naboo. Use disguises, so we don't get caught out at the Imperial checkpoint. Once we're there, maybe we can appeal for help from your mother."

"We won't get it," Luke said immediately. "She's under watch by the Empire, particularly Vader. She'd want to help us, but we'd bring accusations of treason—and Vader—right to her door."

"Anakin wouldn't execute her. He probably wouldn't even punish her. If he's chasing us and ran into her, he wouldn't—"

Luke was adamant she was wrong. But mainly, he was adamant they not find out. "I'm not making her deal with him more than necessary."

Leia gave him a side-eye. "How do you know all this?"

"I write to her."

"You write to her but not to me!?"

"I—" He shut his mouth. "I tried writing to you. I needed help, of course I tried. But it was never delivered—at least, I assumed so, I eventually figured that you weren't ignoring me."

"Of course I wasn't, but why can you send letters to her and not me?"

"I sent it by the Imperial postal network—it only operates in lands under their influence. And I wrote the letter in code. No postal service delivers between the Empire and Alderaan, but it does within it. Besides," he added, "the first time I… didn't expect her to reply."

Leia pursed her lips but didn't respond. He wasn't sure if she was more jealous of Luke for talking to their mother or jealous of their mother for talking to him.

"So we'll go through Naboo on our own. Avoid Theed and get to the foothills as it is," Ahsoka decided. "It's slower than the Imperial fleet, but no boat can get to us down here, even if they knew it existed."

"Where did you learn this place existed?" he had to ask.

"A book."

"What book?"

Ahsoka cleared her throat. "Coronet Towers: The Crystal Caper."

Leia snorted. "Aren't those the books about fancy Corellian schoolgirls who go on adventures—"

"Yes, they were coming out while your father was training me as a girl and I was a massive fan, I was rereading them for nostalgic purposes and thought I'd research to see if these tunnels were real." She took a breath to laugh. "As you can see, they are."

"They are," Luke had to agree, a smile tugging at his lips. Artoo fluttered over to land on his arm alongside Threepio, and the two lovebirds leaned against each other affectionately, staring out at the beautiful cavern.

Bearing both of them on one arm was heavy, though, so he shook it gently. "Go on. Go have your moment." Threepio squawked as if scandalised, but Artoo zoomed off without another word and Threepio followed.

Ahsoka watched them go. "It's nice to see you guys all still together. When Vader turned those two into birds I was worried. Birds have a lot of predators."

"Isn't that why he chose that form?" Luke asked bitterly. "He was trying to get to Mother, so of course anyone who was telling him no, even on her express orders to keep him away, deserved death."

"I think if Vader had wanted them dead, Luke, they would be dead."

"I know." He took a deep breath, and tried not to think about how scared he was for them, sometimes. For all of them. He admitted, "They're the only things keeping me sane some days."

He pulled out his own lantern and tried to light it. It took a few flicks—it had been a while since he learnt fire properties and didn't trust his memory—but eventually he did it. Leia's hard gaze was still on him; he felt judged. "Let's get walking, if it's gonna take a while."

Leia lit a lantern as well, then quickly put it out. With all the crystals, three flames were blinding. "Yes. Let's get walking," she said pointedly. "And since we're already talking about Vader, the birds, and Luke, why don't we cut to the chase."

Luke grimaced. "Leia…"

"Where's Ben? Why are you on your own? Why is Vader chasing you?"

That last question was easy to answer, at least. "Same reason he's always been chasing me."

"That's not useful, Luke."

"I want to know where my friend is as well," Ahsoka added.

Luke… swallowed. Nodded. His chest was tight just thinking about it. "He's gone."

"Dead?" Ahsoka looked like she'd bitten into a lemon. "Did Vader—"

"No. No, not dead. He… grew more and more spiritual, over the years. It was good, he taught me a lot… All the sciences of the world, and how to strengthen my magic with them, all the stories of gods long dead, myths and legends of saviours…"

"All the saviours are as dead as the gods," Leia said.

"You don't know that."

"I do. I was studying in that library years longer than you. Not one hero story ends with immortality or the promise of return."

"…I do know that," he admitted. "We spent a long time in the Jedi libraries in Tatooine—I don't know why. I think he was looking for something."

"Anakin came from Tatooine," Ahsoka said. Luke ignored her.

"But we travelled as well, trying to avoid the Empire—trying to keep the Codex out of their hands. If they get hold of it, and all the knowledge it has, they'll use it to conquer the whole continent. But when the Empire finally came for Rodia, right on the border with Tatooine, Ben got desperate. He wanted to find a way to make the world safer. He wanted to find a way to fight back. He went searching for mythical libraries, lands, old sources of wisdom, to find anything that would help."

Ahsoka seemed to put it together, then. "He went looking for Ahch-To."

Leia raised her eyebrows. "Ahch-To was the island of the gods, where they kept their library of the world. It's disappeared with them."

"Supposedly."

"Supposedly? Have you seen the records? There used to be hundreds of warriors sailing out there every year, returning with gifts of unrivalled knowledge, deep understanding, ways to make the world better. Now there's none, and everyone who sailed out there since never came back. Whatever happened, it's long gone. Ben shouldn't have taken the risk."

"But he did," Luke said.

Leia shut her mouth. "Luke…"

"We travelled back to Little Corel, then he bought the first ship he could afford and left me on the beach, watching him sail away. I haven't seen him since."

"How long ago was that?" Ahsoka asked.

"About a year and a half."

"Hmph." Leia side-eyed him. "So about as long as you've not been communicating with us."

"Tatooine and Ryloth fell to the Empire; I couldn't send letters from there. I wasn't in one place for very long after that."

"Why? And why come to Little Corel now—do you think Ben is coming back?"

Luke shook his head.

"Then…" It dawned on her, and Luke actually flinched back at her expression. He'd never seen his sister so furious. She… she looked almost like Vader when she bared her teeth like that. "You were going to leave for Ahch-To as well?"

Threepio chose that moment to fly overhead and land on a crystal by Luke's shoulder. "Going to leave," he confirmed sadly.

"And you were going to force the birds to come too?"

"I wasn't forcing them to do anything! I gave them the choice to come, I didn't want to drag them out there if they'd be happier in Alderaan with you—"

Artoo cheeped harshly and Threepio spoke for both of them: "Choice. Happier with you." He headbutted Luke's shoulder.

Luke blinked back tears. "Thanks, buddy."

Leia was still giving him a sour look. "And you weren't going to tell us?"

"I sent you a letter! Travelled all the way to the Alderaanian border on my way south to make sure it would get to you! I assume it just hadn't arrived yet."

"I would've liked to say goodbye in person!"

"Vader follows me everywhere I go on the continent; I wasn't about to lead him straight to you!"

Leia's furious expression dropped to a concerned one again. He wondered if this conversation was giving her whiplash. "Why does he follow you everywhere?"

"I have the Codex. I need to get it to Ahch-To, or somewhere away from this continent, or he'll get his hands on it."

"You're great at evasion!" Leia dismissed. "Why do you have to flee the continent? We tracked you all the way from the borders to Little Corel and we only caught up to you now. Why can't you shake off Vader?"

Luke paused.

Took in a breath.

Looked away.

Artoo swooped down to land on his shoulder and peck at his ear. He supposed that was his version of encouragement, even if now he just had a bleeding ear to show for it.

"Remember…" He tried again. "Remember the project I told you I was working on, when we last visited you in Alderaan?"

"That map that you were obsessed with making?" Ahsoka asked.

"You'll have to be much more specific than that," Leia bit out.

"A magical map"—Leia raised her eyebrow and gestured for him to keep talking; he scowled at her—"that shows you to what you want. It marks where it is on the continent."

Leia frowned. "That rings a bell—you had a pithier phrase last time."

Luke grimaced. "It leads you to your heart's desire?"

"That's the one. But wow, that's…" She trailed off. "That's complicated magic. Very ambitious of you. Did you succeed?"

Ahsoka looked sceptical, but when Luke nodded her jaw dropped.

"Seriously? That's the sort of thing out of one of those legends."

"Yeah." Luke shrugged. Artoo cheeped, proud of him, but he couldn't muster up any joy at the thought. "It was a lot of research and work. Spiritual stuff too, teaching the heart-map to tap into, well, the heart of the holder. Their emotions and wants. Ben's research was useful for that, at least."

"What you want is a pretty simple spell," Ahsoka observed. "It doesn't take much digging. A wise, impressive piece of magic would be what you need."

Luke cut her a look. "Thanks."

"I'm not doubting that you didn't find that piece of magic. You're a smart, wise person." Leia snorted, and even Luke mustered up some self-deprecating humour at that. "And admittedly there isn't much difference to begin with."

"I'm an idiot, amateur mage and I know what I made," Luke said.

"Amateur means you do it because you love it. It's why you and Leia are so powerful. Love and respect are the heart of magic, the more you learn about and care for the world the more it responds to you—"

"I know what I made," he insisted. "Because Vader has it, Vader wants the Codex, and he's been tracking me all across the continent with it for at least a year."

That shut them both up.

It was Leia, of course, who spoke first. "Vader has it?"

"Yes."

"Luke—"

"You think I gave it to him freely!?" he snapped. "I'm not happy he has it!"

"I know you, yes, I've seen how obsessive Ben taught you to be about keeping the Codex safe, and I know how complicated your feelings have always been about our father, so yes! I think you must have given it to him! How else would he get it!?" Her voice echoed loudly in the cavern—loud enough to shiver the crystals, to temporarily drown out the pounding of the sea and the pounding of Luke's own heart.

He stopped walking, clutching his pack tight enough his fingers went red.

"Then yes," he admitted, voice breaking. Artoo chirped sadly and brushed a wing against his neck. "I did."

Leia, unyielding a sister though she could be, knew not to be angry at that. When she looked at him, it was only with sadness.

"Oh, Luke," she said. "What happened?"

His shoulders sagged. At her gentle touch on his arm, he kept walking.

"Ben had been gone for a month or two. The birds and I were on our own—I was lonely. I'd been writing to Mother, because she was the only person I could reach, and I was on my way to Alderaan to see you two. Taking the circuitous route—up through Rodia, Tatooine, Ryloth, then entering from the north, to ensure no Imperials would be able to follow me. But one of them was.

"Vader… Father… was in the tavern in Anchorhead. This was a few weeks before the Empire took Tatooine, so perhaps he was there for that as well. My map had a lot of information about Tatooine and Ryloth on it, they're some of the lands I know best, so perhaps that helped him take them both faster."

"Why would the Empire even want Tatooine? Vader hates the place," Leia pointed out.

"Considering how hard it's been to buy papyrus since then? They wanted to seize control of the trade—and the spread of information. But…" He closed his eyes, took a breath, nearly tripped over a crystal in the uneven floor, then continued. "He came in while I was there. I was in the corner, working on the heart-map, and I didn't see him until he sat down opposite me in the booth."

"Why didn't you run? You must've recognised him."

"Of course I did," he bit out. "But… he was alone. He wasn't wearing his armour—he was wearing a local's clothes. He didn't even have a sword on him."

"Foolish, for Tatooine."

He ignored her. He knew what the stereotypes about Tatooine were, developed after the Delta Wars before he was born. It had seen a few decades of political and economic conflict when the ruling oligarchs squabbled between each other. But he wasn't interested in explaining yet again why the stereotypes were wrong. "And I'd just read one of Mother's letters where she reluctantly reminisced about what he was like when they met, as two teenagers. She included an image of him, an illustration from a history of the Battle of Naboo. He was wearing the same style of clothes."

"You are such a softie," Leia observed sadly.

Luke lowered his head. Whether he was nodding in agreement or avoiding hers and Ahsoka's sympathetic gazes was anyone's guess. "He spoke to me quietly. I didn't think he recognised me at first. I think he thought I didn't recognise him. And… I'd been feeling emotional about my father, and my father was in front of me, so when he asked to see what I was working on, I told him. I showed him. He picked it up and looked at it. There was… no expression, nothing, to suggest the moment he decided he was going to take it and use it against me."

"But he did," Ahsoka finished. Her voice was heart-breaking.

"But he did," Luke confirmed. "He seized the heart-map, dropped the act, and told me to hand over the Codex. I refused. He attacked me. The birds and I fled—they never stopped telling me it was a bad idea—with my pack. I lost half my luggage because I couldn't go back to the inn for it. But I held onto the Codex… even as he kept the map."

"And he's used it to search for you ever since," Ahsoka said, her tone distant and thoughtful.

"He wants the Codex. It's the last piece of Jedi knowledge they haven't destroyed or stolen for themselves. It could give them the continent."

"So, to stop him from claiming and abusing that power," Leia said, "you decided to sail with the Codex into the unknown and risk destroying it forever, so no one else could get it?"

"I don't want to destroy it," Luke said. "But if it comes down to it… what options do I have?"

The foolish fisherwoman had managed to scratch three lines in Vader's face before she took the boy's advice and ran, and while he was angry, he hadn't cared enough to pursue her. Instead, he was caught up in another pursuit—a pursuit that had rapidly run into a dead end.

A dead end many of the 501st had died for.

"They went into the caves?" he asked Piett, just to be sure he'd heard right.

"Yes, milord. That… that is what the team reported. They lost sight of them from there."

"If there are crawling about some filthy caves," he growled, "then why are they in the middle of the sea?"

Piett flinched—a tiny motion, but noticeable—and glanced down to where Vader jabbed his finger. Vader's quarters on the Executor were small, enough that he always had to duck his head to avoid bumping it, but there was a table large enough to lay out the boy's map and stick some pins in it. The thick red dot, like a drop of blood on the page, that revealed the location of his quarry was bobbing merrily in the waves beside an illustrated shark. Several miles off the coast of Little Corel.

"Perhaps the cave network took them elsewhere and they found a small, unofficial harbour," Piett offered. "The trips between the Corellian islands are not long; they would be able to make it in a sailing boat small enough to fit in a cove."

"Indeed." That was a sound theory. And it would explain why they were making such slow progress. "Then we will sail after them."

"Milord, there's a storm blowing in—"

"Then I want them caught before the fools lose the Codex to the waves."

Piett swallowed. "Yes, milord. I will prepare the ships."

Good. Vader waved a hand to dismiss Piett, and his loyal captain went. The Executor was one of the fastest ships in existence; they would catch up to the three Jedi forthwith, and then he could finally send all three of them to the bottom of the sea.

He wondered where Ahsoka had been hiding all these years—he had thought her dead already. But it didn't matter. He had the boy's heart-map. Her dedication to her new apprentice, and Obi-Wan's abandoned apprentice, would see her there soon.

His gaze drifted back to the heart-map, to the bloodspot that marked their location. But then it drifted east, north, until it landed on the lush green of Naboo. It was a terrible depiction of the beautiful land—several decades out of date, some placements of towns and rivers wildly inaccurate—and he could tell that the boy who drew it did not nearly have the same knowledge of that fine country as he did of Tatooine and Ryloth. If he had grown up on the run from the Empire, when Naboo was its crown jewel, that made sense. But at least the tiny periwinkle pearl marked Theed was in the right place, and it was here he drew his eye.

On the trip back to Coruscant, he could return to Padmé.

She still wouldn't want to see him. She rarely did, though he looked forward to their meetings like a drowning man did to air. The past was long dead, but its ghost clung stubbornly to their memories. Especially the ghost of their child.

The name Theed, he remembered, was indistinguishable from the Old Nab word for home.

Vader swallowed. Unconsciously, his gaze was drawn to the cabinet in the corner of the study, the glass diamonds in the doors crystalline, reflecting his scarred, ruined face back at him. He stepped forwards, drew the key out of his pocket and unlocked them with a snick, flicking the latch. There were three shelves: the bottom two were crammed with the few, largely empty codices they had recovered from fallen Jedi, texts on sailing and the Empire, battle tactics, his own notes and observations. One leather-bound notebook lay alone on the top shelf, soft from wear, no decoration indicating what it held.

When he flicked it open, old diary entries from the life of Anakin Skywalker stared back at him, along with sketches of everything he saw that fascinated him—the great waterfalls of Naboo, the wide, wide sea, mountains that threatened the sky. Padmé, as the adolescent queen she'd been then. They'd both been so young, barely into adulthood, when they met. The years had soared between them from there, and Padmé had stepped down as queen, and Anakin's ambitions for them only grew…

He flicked through the diary like a man possessed. He'd reread it far too many times over the years, some grim impulse he couldn't shake off, but it was important to remember his goals. It was important to remember what had happened, and what he was fighting for.

Control. Once he had the Codex, he would have the continent. Once he had the continent, Padmé couldn't…

He would have the power to change things, they wouldn't have to live in fear and uncertainty, they could shape the world as they wanted it…

The gods had abandoned them. If they wanted miracles, or safety, they had to make it all themselves.

What he was fighting for was sketched on the last used page of the diary, with the careless precision of a cartographer who'd tackled far harder depictions. Padmé was looking at him from the bed they'd shared in their home in Theed, smiling, her hair tumbling loose and curling around her shoulders. And in her lap was a toddler, with fair hair and eyes, had they been open, that would have been identical to their mother's. The child was snoozing against their mother, her little finger trapped in their fat fist.

He shut the book with a snap.

His child was two decades dead, never born at all. They were nothing but lost dreams and his masochistic imagination. But still they haunted him.

He'd gone to his old friend Palpatine so that he could give them everything—so that with the new Empire, he could rely on the knowledge and resources from all over the continent being shared as one, to make the world better. The wild inequality on Tatooine he'd experienced while growing up, that he'd been horrified to see in most other kingdoms as well, would be a thing of the past.

When he'd started voicing his dissatisfaction, Padmé had teased him about his sudden entrance to the politics he so despised, even if she agreed with him wholeheartedly. And it was true: he hadn't cared about the politics of the world, before he realised that it would be a world his child would have to grow up in.

He put the book back on its shelf and locked the cabinet. If only she'd agreed with his methods of achieving that. If only she'd seen that the chance to join the burgeoning Coruscanti Empire, in a union of crowns, instead of fighting it, would achieve everything they needed. No more fear of invasion from the northeast, no loss of power or autonomy over their own realm, and a combination of the art and sciences of Naboo and Coruscant would be… unstoppable. No more risk. No more danger. Their child would want for nothing.

Especially if Padmé was queen.

But she'd refused, of course. Lingering bitterness over the attempted invasion a decade before, stubbornness, protectionism, nationalism, he wasn't sure. All of the above? Or perhaps it was just her own code, that she wanted them to concern themselves with ruling themselves instead of joining an empire. Or she wanted to let the next generation rule Naboo now that she'd retired from politics. He might have lived through one war, and be adamant they avoid another, but she thought the price was too high to pay.

And when Vader produced the detailed military maps of Naboo and handed them to Emperor Palpatine so he could conquer it, on the promise that he would make his ambitions come true… the stress of the invasion had triggered a premature, fatal, childbirth.

He closed his eyes, picturing that sketch again—the dreams of a fool with no idea of the grief and loss to come.

He had betrayed his wife and killed his child. He had been banished from Naboo for his treason, denied the right to go home for years. Sometimes he wondered what had become of that home, when Padmé moved back into the Palace—had it been sold? Emptied of all its dreams and preparations and moved onto the next owners? Or did Padmé still keep it, exactly as it was, the larder stocked with the favourite foods he'd brought over from Tatooine, the dusty crib still in the child's dusty room? He had never been able to return.

Palpatine had been the only one who wanted him. And Palpatine had helped him build himself into a legend, hunting Jedi and rebellious locals alike, who could not be denied.

He would wash his hands of these Jedi soon enough—perhaps even discover their last stronghold, so they could finally liberate the knowledge they'd been hoarding for so long. With any luck, he would be able to recover it and return it to the Empire this time, before it was reduced to ashes.

And once he was done, when he returned triumphant, when he had made the world finally safe for a child he would never have… perhaps this time, at last, Padmé would understand what he had been aiming for. Perhaps this time she would let him in by choice, instead of by force.

Perhaps she would let him start to make it up to her. Together they could build the world he had wanted their child to know—even if their child would never live to see it.

They set up camp in the tunnels that night and forged onwards the next day. Luke was used it all, after years of travelling, but he could tell that his sister was finding it rough. He gave her his mat to go on top of hers and slept with just the blanket. In truth, the ground wasn't much harder than the bed in the Lonely Dove had been.

It didn't spare him from her criticism the next morning, though. "You're wearing your hair like that?"

He gave her a bemused look, lowering his hands. The loose ponytail he'd been tying it back in fell apart around his shoulders. "Yes?"

"Look, I'm glad you're going the long hair route, it's surprising but it looks great on you—"

He grimaced. "After the map incident, I didn't want to look like Vader. It was haunting me."

"—but— Oh." She grimaced in return. "Well, if it was a decision like that, no wonder you don't know how to care for it. It's all ragged at the edges."

He clutched his hair protectively. "It is?"

She nodded, then rummaged in his pack. To his horror, she pulled out a small pair of scissors. "C'mon, I can neaten it up."

That did not make him feel better. "No."

"I'm not associating with you in public if you look like that. Have you even washed it?"

"Yes! I had a bath the day before yesterday!"

"Alright, that's better than I expected. But please, let me cut it. And let me teach you what to do with it. We're expecting to get in a fight at some point; a ponytail is better than having it loose, but if it's in a bun," she gestured to the thick, braided buns that she'd slept in, but were still tight enough that they looked almost pristine, "no one can grab it or anything."

Luke winced. "Vader did yank me back by my hair yesterday."

"Ouch." She spun him around and examined the back of his scalp. He felt the warm tingle of magic in some places, but he wasn't sure what she was doing. "Yeah, that's not fun. This is why you tie it up properly. Now hold still."

He held still as she snipped the ends of his hair. It was a surprisingly soothing sound, and Artoo fluttered to stand under the gentle fall of the snippets with curiosity, cheeping and sneezing when one felt across his beak. Leia laughed.

"There we go, that wasn't so hard." She sat back and fit the scissors back in her pouch. "Now, before we start—do you know anything about plaits?"

"I… uh…" He rummaged about and pulled out the latest letter Padmé had sent him. Leia's gaze turned a little bitter, but he unrolled it to show the rough sketches. "I tried working off these, on the ship to Little Corel."

"We definitely didn't get our drawing skills from Mother," Leia commented, studying the diagrams.

Ahsoka, pulling out a few apples to snack on but otherwise listening quietly, laughed. "No, you did not."

"I'll teach you," Leia decided. "You split the hair into three chunks—"

"I don't think we have time to do it right now, you two," Ahsoka said. "Loathe as I am to break this up. Vader will still be tracking us, even if he can't find us down here. We need to keep moving." Her mouth quirked. "Maybe if we do get on that ferry to Naboo successfully, you can teach him then. But in the meantime…"

"In the meantime, I'll do it." Leia didn't wait for Luke to agree before picking up his hair again, but Luke didn't mind. She started plaiting. By the time she was done, he reached up to touch the knobbly ball of hair at the nape of his neck. It felt strange.

"Thank you." He shot her a smile.

Leia grinned back at him. Gods, he'd forgotten how much he missed her until now. It came upon him in an instant, like a small cannonball striking between his ribs.

But once they started walking, there was no time for sentiment.

"So once we get to Naboo, if we can't rely on Mother's help, where should we go?" He didn't direct the question at anyone in particular—and nor did he specify how wide his definition of we was. Speaking Alderaanian gave him that leeway. Him, Artoo and Threepio, alone together again, or all five of them. A team reunited.

"Ahsoka said yesterday. We can head into the foothills…"

"And from there, where? Vader will pursue us anywhere he can."

"We can take it back to Alderaan." Leia waved her hand, like it was obvious. "Vader and the Empire haven't breached the mountains yet, so it'll be safe there."

"For now."

"Yes, for now." She narrowed her eyes at him. "That map he's using to track you—when you made it, did you put Alderaan on it in detail? If he knows where the sanctuary is—"

"Ben and I agreed never to make maps of Alderaan, in case they fell into Imperial hands," Luke reassured her. "And the map was unfinished, anyway."

Leia let out a sigh. "Good," she said. "That was really risky—"

"I know."

"But crisis averted." She smiled. "So you and the Codex can come to Alderaan."

He winced.

"What?"

"I'm a Jedi," he said.

"Yes? So am—"

"I'm a travelling Jedi. I promised Ben when he left that I'd keep travelling around, collecting and spreading information. Help people fight back. That's my role in the war."

"And it's pretty hard to do when Vader's constantly on your tail, I imagine."

"So, leaving for Ahch-To falls under that?"

"It is, Ahsoka; thank you, Leia." He waved a hand, irritated, and picked up his pack at Ahsoka's pointed look. He shoved his feet into his boots—after the run yesterday with still-sandy socks, he had blisters, but he'd have to heal them later—and stood up. "But I promised I'd do it, and it helps."

He thought of Mara's gift of the information she'd given him, even after he explained what could be done with it if it fell into the wrong hands. How she'd wanted to share it after she noticed the waters running dry anyway. He thought of the map he'd left behind, and hoped that it was the right hands it had fallen into. It was harder to hope and trust that he'd made the right decision, nowadays.

"I can't hide in Alderaan and not do my part." Knowledge was power; he should be empowering those who needed it.

Leia looked like she wanted to say something, then bit her tongue. Sympathy flashed across her face. "I understand," she said. "We're working on it ourselves, with developing these"—she tapped the pistols she was strapping to her waist—"and other projects."

"Magic shouldn't be used for violence."

"Well, it's being used for violence," she said, "so we're using it that way to fight back."

"I know. I didn't mean to sound judgemental. But I don't want to do that. I want to travel."

Ahsoka said, "Then travel. I don't know if Vader's map is tracking the Codex or you—"

"Why would it be tracking me?"

"—but if he's after the Codex, then you should be safe so long as you're not near it. You can still make maps and move around with the birds. We can take the Codex and keep it safe in the libraries in Alderaan while you can visit to update it—"

"No!" His outburst came before he could stop himself, and he grimaced at it. "I'm sorry. No."

"Why not?"

"It… it's meant to be carried around. That's what the copying spell is for. I can take the maps and distribute them and help—"

"And are you doing that?" Ahsoka asked shrewdly. "How many maps have you given away since Vader double-crossed you?"

Luke swallowed.

"One," he admitted. "I've wanted to, but I didn't have time, and I wasn't sure if I was making the right decision—"

"I understand," she cut him off, and he shut his mouth. "But it doesn't seem like you're doing the good you want to be doing. So long as Vader's still searching for it, the Codex will be safer in Alderaan. You can return to your work once the war is over."

"That could be years. That could be decades. And if we all don't continue our counter rebellions, how do we know that the Empire won't take Alderaan as well, and we will all fall?"

Luke remembered how it had looked when they came for Ryloth. The libraries pillaged and emptied of everything the librarians had not yet destroyed to keep out of Vader's hands, then burning, catching easily in the hot northern sun. For a moment, he imagined Alderaan going the same way.

Leia looked like she was imagining the same thing. Her hands twitched for her pistols; her face twisted in anger.

"We don't know that that will happen."

"We don't know that it won't."

"Luke, I know that it's not about this, at the heart of it," Ahsoka said. "You can trust us with the Codex."

Luke felt like he'd been punched. "Ben entrusted it to me."

"He did. He knew that you would look after it as best you could and never endanger it. He knew that you would know who to trust."

"Clearly I don't!"

Leia frowned, and took his elbow gently. "We're not Vader, Luke."

"I know you're not! But…" He thought about the maps that he'd drawn, signed Luke Skywalker in his neatest cursive. He thought about his unfinished heart-map, unsigned and unnamed. Yet still it showed off how little he knew of Naboo, his mother's home; still it betrayed the secrets he kept; still it had caused Tatooine and Ryloth, the deserts he'd once called home, to burn. It was the essence of himself printed onto a page, and in Vader's hands it would kill him.

Every map in that book had the power to bring ruin, just as much as restoration.

"If you refuse to show the book to anyone," Ahsoka said bluntly, "how is that any better than the Empire hoarding their knowledge for their own gain?"

It was different. They both knew it was different, and how it was different. But the words pierced to the heart of the problem all the same, just as she'd intended them to.

"Vader will abuse it," he said.

"So many people will abuse it, Luke. How many people will abuse firearms," she gestured to Leia's pistols, "when they become more widespread? But you can't keep it in the dark. You can't take it off the continent."

"I can keep it away from Vader," he insisted. His logic was going around in circles, he knew; they'd argued him down to irrationality. But his desperation would not budge. "I can keep it safe." How he knew that so certainly, when he couldn't trust himself to give it away, he did not know. But he could. He could.

"Can you keep it safe from him forever?" Ahsoka pressed.

Luke deflated.

"Not so long as he has that heart-map."

Leia said, "Then let's take it from him."

He snapped his head to look at her, blinking.

She met his gaze head on. "If we're going to Alderaan, whether that's permanently or temporarily, the fastest way is through the Naboo foothills. There's a long history of highwaymen and other criminals ambushing travellers there. There are smugglers' routes, paths to hide in, you name it. We have weapons never seen before, magic, and eyes in the sky." She glanced up at Threepio and Artoo, preening their wings on the crystals above, and grinned. "We could launch a successful robbery."

"Vader travels with an army," Ahsoka stressed.

"Then we go in at night when they set up camp. Use the birds—well, Artoo, Threepio's too noticeable—for reconnaissance. Sneak into Vader's tent and grab the heart-map."

Ahsoka looked like she loved the idea. But she was the teacher, and the actual experienced adult, so she was obliged to say, "That is insanely dangerous. Especially if Luke refuses to part with the Codex. And it would have to be Luke going, since he's got the best chance of recognising the right map."

Luke nodded. "I would go." He would be terrified, but he would go.

"And you would take the Codex in with you?"

He supposed he could leave it with them, but they'd established he had a problem with that; he could leave it in a safe place, under a bush, but that would be even riskier.

"I would. I'd want it on me, so I knew it was safe."

"It wouldn't be safe."

He didn't want to argue about details like this. Not when he was so close to what felt like redemption. "I think it's a great plan. I don't know Naboo itself well, but the hills… I once spoke to a smuggler who ran the routes between Rodia, Coruscant and Naboo, before switching to ones up near Tatooine. An absolute scoundrel, you'd like him." That was addressed to Leia, who seemed torn between smiling and scowling. "I have a map in the Codex of some of the side paths, away from the main road."

"Which hills?"

"The southern ones, on the north side of the Chommell valley. Not the foothills of the mountains that border Alderaan. One hill, Hope Hill, is especially good for criminals. It looks perfectly safe and clear, lots of flat fields for travellers to camp on, but there's a surprising number of places to hide there." He smiled, then mentioned. "And it's only a few hours' trek away from where Ben and I had one of our safehouses. An unoccupied cave with a lot of resources hidden inside. If needed, we can look in there."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Ahsoka said. "We still need to get to Greater Corel, get off Greater Corel, then get on the ferry to Naboo without being spotted."

"But it's a good plan," Leia said.

"But it's a good plan," Ahsoka conceded. "We steal back the map. That would solve a lot of our problems, very fast. But Luke…"

He met her gaze and wondered what pained her so much to ask.

"What will you do if Vader wakes up, or something goes wrong, and you can't get out with the map?"

"Then I'll destroy it," he said immediately. He would likely die in that scenario, but it was the best one possible. "So he can't do anything else with it."

From Ahsoka's pinched lips, he knew that was exactly what she'd been afraid of hearing.