AUTHOR'S NOTE: If you're interested in seeing an illustration that goes with this chapter, see the March 17 post to my Me, Myself, and Vader blog (link available on my profile) and scroll down a little. Click on the image to enlarge. Keep in mind that I am not a professional artist (though I do enjoy a little cartooning…).

Chapter XXV – Dragon of the Blue Mountain

I do not know how long it took to ascend the Blue Mountain. Fifteen minutes, an hour, several hours, days… the passage of time was erased from my memory. The trail was long and arduous, but I hardly noticed it. It was as if my body was working on autopilot, climbing over boulders, picking out old trails, sidestepping cracks and weak areas, all without the aid of my mind. The upcoming meeting with Jasper commanded my thoughts.

All my life I had been led to believe I had no father. The Jedi had automatically assumed that the midichlorians had some role in my conception, but then, they had used the Force to describe everything away, never accepting such concepts as coincidence, luck, and unexplained miracles. I wondered if my mother had wondered about my birth…

No. Not my mother. Shmi was not my mother… but yet she was… she had raised me, she had taught me love and sacrifice… but she had not given birth to me… Talitha had carried me…

It was all very confusing – two mothers and an inhuman beast of magic for a father. I hoped speaking with Jasper could clear a few things up.

The Ky-Lin led the way, his hooves striking a sure path up the mountain. He rambled most of the time, though I recall little of what he said. It seemed he existed only to fill the silence.

Well, if he was going to talk, perhaps I should ensure his speech served a purpose…

"Ky-Lin, according to my mother's journals, you journeyed with her for a time. What was she like? What do you know of her?"

He cocked his head. "Well now, let me think…" He mulled over the question awhile. "Always a spunky sort. Adventurous, headstrong, a take-charge type of woman… not unlike yourself, Anakin. Very beautiful, too, your son has her eyes…"

Which meant I had inherited her eyes as well. Just as well – if either of us had inherited dragon's eyes, it most certainly would have raised some questions regarding our lineage…

"Did you ever see her again after… after the Dragon Council turned on her?"

The Ky-Lin shook his head, the multi-colored ruff glittering as it caught the sunlight. "There was no sign of her. Only Dickon, the Shadow's father, and Growch remained."

"Growch?"

"She had taken her dog to the cavern, hoping he would be a part of the life she and Jasper planned to build. I took him away and did my best to heal him, but he only lasted a few more months."

"How could she just vanish like that? Unless the fires consumed her…"

"Dragons have fantastic powers, Anakin," the Ky-Lin reminded me. "It would have been within Jasper's power to spirit her away if she survived. Dragons are masters of fire, of gemstones, of battle, and of flight. They can traverse vast distances with the speed and ease of starships – even the void between planets is no barrier to them. Their knowledge of plants and fungi is second only to those sorcerers who choose to study Botany. They can blur the eyes of mortals to avoid detection. They can create a gold-like substance for their monetary needs, though the material gradually disappears over the course of a few weeks – a form of robbery, of course, but when you have no recourse, it can be forgiven…"

"You almost make them sound like gods."

"Gods they are not. Their lives are lengthy, but they are still mortal. And they are still given to folly and error."

The path ended abruptly at a jagged ledge – and a gaping maw leading into the heart of the mountain. The ring burned, sensing the presence of Jasper, and the power of the dragon stirred expectantly.

"This is where we part company," the Ky-Lin said gravely. "I can go no further."

"You aren't afraid of getting eaten, are you?" I asked, only half-joking.

"It's not a matter of that, though I daresay that any dragon who attempts to devour a Ky-Lin is in for a catastrophic case of indigestion," he replied. "It's a matter of compatibility. Yin and Yang, if you will."

"I don't understand."

"Like the Force. Its light and dark sides – they are two halves of a whole. They need each other, for without the contrast of one, the other would be rendered entirely powerless. Yet they don't mix. Likewise, the powers of dragon and Ky-Lin, though they are part of a greater magic, are so separate that they cannot be combined. Like two identical poles of a magnet being pressed together, our presences naturally repel each other."

"I notice you have no problem being around me…"

"That is because you are half-human. And your humanity serves to suppress your dragon power. Remember, when you called forth your dragon power yesterday to duel the Shadow, I could not be present. And the day you faced the Vong, your dragon power retreated the moment I happened upon the scene." He nodded toward the cavern. "Jasper has the ability to take on man-form, something no other dragon has… but while he is in dragon form, as he is now, I dare not approach him."

So I would go in alone. Now was the time… and yet I hesitated. I was suddenly afraid. My own dragon powers were frightening enough. How much more terrible would the powers of Jasper, a being whose blood was undiluted by human ancestry, be when unleashed?

"Go in," the Ky-Lin ordered. "You'll be just fine."

At long last I forced my legs to move. The blackness of the cavern swallowed me, engulfing my senses, seeming to pour into me and infiltrate my muscles and cyborg components. My movements became sluggish, as if I were walking through thick mud. I could see nothing, hear nothing, feel nothing…

The ring flared to life, glowing gold like a torch and illuminating a cavern the size of an Imperial shuttle hangar. The blackness dispelled, my hesitation vanished, and I strode forward. Evidently the power of the unicorn had no such qualms about the presence of a dragon as the Ky-Lin did.

Bachelorhood had not suited Jasper well at all, it seemed. The cavern was blanketed in dust so thick it resembled grayish snow. The crushed, dry bones of former meals covered the floor, crunching sickeningly as I walked over them – they were so numerous it was impossible to take a step without treading on them. Great gouge marks from wicked claws streaked the floor and walls, and even through my mask I detected a decidedly rank odor, a combination of old blood, must, vermin, and a sour-smoke-musk smell that must have been dragon. If this was where my father lived, I could not imagine this was where he slept…

An ominous rumble filled the cavern.

I told myself not to panic – it could only be Jasper. If I explained the reasons behind my presence, he would have no reason to attack. Slowly I turned around.

The growl issued forth again from a heap of what I had first taken to be faded-black beast hides in the corner of the cavern. I raised my ring-bearing hand and stepped closer for a better look. What I had thought to be nothing more than ragged, filthy skins were, in actuality, the folded wings and age-dulled scales of an elderly dragon. His head was hidden away beneath one wing and his claws tucked beneath his body, which only heightened his similarity to a pile of trash waiting to be discarded.

No. There had to be a mistake. This could not be the proud dragon that had wooed a human woman, traversed a continent, defied the Council of Dragons by taking on a lover. This could not be my father. This was a decrepit beast, half-dead from old age…

The beast stirred restlessly, and he grated something out in his sleep.

"Nooooo…. Hnngh… Tal… Talitha." A fearsomely taloned paw emerged from beneath his belly and grabbed at the stone floor, carving out deep furrows in the solid rock. "No… no… my little love… grrrrnnnnnn…"

The nightmare abated, and he relaxed into deep sleep again.

So this WAS Jasper! But what in the galaxy had happened to him?

"Jasper," I murmured, hoping to wake him gently. "Master of Many Treasures, wake up."

A muscle twitched in his shoulder, but he was otherwise still.

"Jasper, wake up!" I ordered. "Jasper!"

No reaction. The ring pulsed with some urgency. How much longer did I have here with him? I did not consider that for long – all the time in the world would be useless if he slept through it.

"Jasper!" And I delivered a sharp kick to the ribs.

Why is it that you never consider just how stupid an action is until it is too late to stop yourself? That was exactly what crossed my mind the moment my foot touched dragon flesh. And the question presented itself again when I found myself sprawled face-up on the cave floor, a terrible set of claws pinning me to the spot. What happened in between those two events is somewhat unclear, though I do remember a great deal of noise and some spits of flame.

The claws on my chest flexed warningly, and a fearsome head as long as I was tall hovered a scant meter over me. Golden eyes, slit-pupiled like a snake's, burned with the fire of a magic creature as well as with indignant anger at being so rudely awakened. Lips curled back over stained yellow fangs as long as knives, and gleaming horns crowned his brow. He filled my entire frame of vision, wings spread, tail lashing, scales gleaming, and I wondered how I could have ever thought this creature decrepit and ugly.

"Fool," he snarled. "Fool human. All humans are fools, but your idiocy surpasses anything I have ever seen in my life. Do you have a death wish? Don't you know what I can do to you? Do you not fear me? Have you no respect for a dragon?"

It took me a moment to collect myself enough to reply. "I am Anakin Skywalker. You… you are my father, Master of Many Treasures."

The dragon stared, eyes blank for a moment. Then he gaped his jaws and belted out a barking, roaring laugh. "You call yourself my son! What a riot! A human, son of a dragon!"

"I am your son!" I insisted. "Talitha was my mother!"

"Talitha gave birth to an egg," he hissed. "Humans do not come from eggs. Only a dragon can come from a dragon's egg." The claws tightened dangerously, threatening to pierce my armor. "You dare mock me further, human?"

I had one last chance to convince him. I lifted my left hand before his eyes.

"I wear her ring. Please, Jasper, believe me."

Jasper stared long and hard at the ring. His tongue, yellow and forked, flickered from his jaws and swiped across my hand like a whip. A spark of understanding filled his eyes, and the pressure on my chest eased as he withdrew his paw.

"Anakin?" he repeated, cocking his head. "Son of the dragon?"

I stood slowly, never taking my eyes from him. Awake, he was an incredible sight to behold, a solid mass of muscle and scales. The hide that had appeared to be faded and dull before now glistened with metallic luster, as black as my own armor. Great curved horns swept back from his brow, and a ridge of smaller horns ran down his spine, from between his eyes to the spade-tip of his tail. Hard ridges protected his reptilian golden eyes, and he held his sinuous neck in a regal S as he regarded me. The great wings folded along his sides like slackened sails, and the pale scars and ragged edges of the membranes were the only sign of his advanced age.

"Father," I murmured, no longer reluctant to give him that title.

"Son," he growled.

I rested a careful hand against his muzzle. "You are more than I expected."

"Indeed." He no longer snarled, but his voice still carried an unavoidable rough undertone. "Forgive me my bluntness, but you are somewhat less than I expected."

I choked back a laugh. "Believe me, I am much less than I ever wanted to be."

"Really." He settled down on his belly again, folding his clawed limbs before him. "I am sure there is a story behind all this. After all, I doubt you came here unaided."

Many times before I had told various edited versions of my story to those who asked of it, but this time I left nothing out. I related everything to Jasper – the Shadow's terrible bargain with Lord Sidious, my upbringing as the bastard son of a slave woman, my induction and training in the ways of the Jedi, my betrayal of the Jedi and being betrayed in turn by Sidious as he laid his claim on me, the arrival of my son and my subsequent release from the Dark Lord's bondage, the journey to the Shadow's abode, our binding quests… everything. Jasper listened with interest, nodding a few times when I spoke of the Shadow but otherwise silent and unmoving.

"And then you came here," he noted once I had finished. "After everything that has happened to you, you chose to seek out your father."

"I need answers, Jasper," I told him. "I want to know what happened to my mother."

He curled his lip amusedly. "From what you told me, she died at the hands of Tusken Raiders. And don't tell me she isn't your mother. She cared for you. She is more than deserving of the title of mother. More than I am worthy to call myself your father."

To hear Jasper reaffirm what the Shadow had said so long ago must have been the deciding factor, for I no longer questioned whether Shmi was, indeed, my mother.

"Son of the dragon, I am sorry you have led a difficult life," he said regretfully. "Believe me, it pains me to know that you went through so much torment. Many times over the last few centuries I had thought to seek my child out for myself, but every time I told myself it would be a useless gesture. Surely, I thought, the egg has been destroyed by now, or the Dragon Council found it again and raised the hatchling as their own. I see now that I should have taken my own advice. Maybe, under my wing, you could have grown as you should have – as a dragon."

"How could you have known what I would go through? This isn't your fault…"

"I bear responsibility," he interrupted. "After the Dragon Council turned on your birth-mother and I, I went into hiding for a time. I believed they would forgive and forget. I was wrong." He lowered his elegant head in shame. "I was expelled from the Council and told to never return to the Blue Mountain. I wandered for decades in my human form, seeking some sort of solace, but I never found it. I returned to the Blue Mountain, to the lair of the Council, but by then they had perished, down to the last dragon."

His golden eyes met mine solemnly. "You and I, Anakin, are the last of our great race. The last of the dragons of old."

"The Shadow told me there were others…"

"If you call a few dozen feral whelps with no teaching of the dragon ways a continuation of the race," he snorted disdainfully. "Yes, there are others, the spawn of other dragons exiled by the Dragon Council, but they know nothing of their heritage." A thoughtful pause. "Perhaps, as the last of the old ones, I could have taught them, and you as well… but I chose instead to hide myself, to hole up in this mountain and sorrow over my past mistakes and losses. I have lived a mockery of a life here… and I will die here, very soon. I am old, Anakin, older than I look. And after the fires of my expulsion, I am far weaker than the average dragon. Fire has never been kind to our bloodline."

"No," I agreed, remembering Mustafar. "It has not."

He was silent a long time, as motionless as a stone carving. Every so often his forked tongue would dart from his mouth, the sole movement during his repose. I waited, unsure what to say next.

"What will you do now?"

"Excuse me?"

"I asked what will you do now?" Jasper regarded me expectantly.

"I… I don't know. I have nowhere to go. I have committed too many crimes in this galaxy to be welcome anywhere." A thought occurred to me. "Perhaps I can remain here with you…"

"Trapped in your human-and-machine body as you are? You won't last a week. These mountains are unforgiving." His eye-ridges drew together in a thoughtful scowl. "You are correct, there are few feasible options for you now. You could always stay with that Shadow woman, I suppose, she'd be more than grateful for the company…"

"I will not burden her further," I replied. "She has done so much for me already."

"You could go with your son – or any of the others. They care for you, more so than you can know."

"I will not endanger them either. I am a political criminal now. If they are found to be harboring me, they could be tried for treason."

"Hmm. There is another option…" His voice trailed off.

"What is it?"

"Your dragon heritage." Was that a smile on that fearsome muzzle? "If you elect to accept it, you can accomplish great things. You can gather the lost ones, the children of other exiles, and restore the dragons as a great power in the galaxy. You can build the Council anew."

I had not even considered this.

"If you make that decision, there can be no turning back," he warned. "The power needed for such a transformation is immense, and the spell would be irrevocable. Dragon you would be, for the rest of your life."

I nodded slowly. It was an option, however incredible, and I would consider it.

"Until you make your decision, what will you do?" he asked.

"Go back to the others, I suppose," I answered. "Help them find what they seek."

He nodded. "Wise choice. Very wise."

"Father… about Talitha. How did she die?"

"The Shadow did not tell you this?"

"No. She said it was for me to find out."

"Ah. The Shadow is an intelligent woman, more so than her fool of a father." He got to his feet, wincing and moaning as he did so. "These old bones aren't what they used to be."

"You do not look very old."

"No dragon looks his age… unless you happen upon him while he sleeps. That's why dragon slayers of old liked to attack a dragon while he slept – because the magic that protected him rested along with his body. A cowardly way to do it, in my opinion…" He pawed through the dry bones in a corner. "It's here somewhere… ah!"

He turned back to me, cupping something in one paw. It was a leather bag, beginning to disintegrate with age. I took it carefully from him.

"What is this?"

"A package I put together in the event I ever did find you," he replied. "It contains letters from your mother… and a gift from your father. Use them wisely."

I closed my hands around the precious bundle. "Thank you… father."

He nodded solemnly. "I only wish there were more I could do for you, my son. I am rather inexperienced at this father business."

"I know the feeling."

Suddenly he flinched, his entire body trembling with pain. "Go."

"What is it?"

"My time is fast approaching. You should not have to see it."

He was dying! I stepped forward, ring-hand at the ready…

"No, Anakin! Save your strength. You will need it." Abruptly his expression became serene. "The ring can only prolong the inevitable now… and I would rather welcome it. It will mean seeing Talitha again…"

"Father…"

"Go!" he snarled. "Go, my son. I love you."

"And I you, Father. I only wish I had met you sooner."

"We will meet again, son. Rest assured of that fact."

My heart aching, my eyes burning, I turned my back on Jasper and stepped out of the cavern.

The Ky-Lin did not say a word when I encountered him a short way down the trail, only nodded once and waited silently. I had no desire to leave yet, to resume the journey, so I seated myself and opened the packet Jasper had given me. The leather crumbled to pieces in my fingers, releasing two yellowed, faded letters and five flawless gemstones, each the size of a man's eye.

"In the old days, a dragon could not call himself a Master Dragon unless he possessed five perfect gemstones," the Ky-Lin explained. "Ruby, emerald, diamond, sapphire, and pearl. Your father has granted you a precious gift indeed."

I set the stones aside and opened the first letter, my first communication ever with my birth mother.

Dear young one,

It feels so strange writing this to you when you haven't even been born yet. I don't even know whether to call you son or daughter yet. But your dear father, Jasper, says you won't hatch for at least a century, if not longer, which means I will never see you. This saddens me, but it can't be helped.

I wanted to impart a few words of wisdom to you, but I don't know what to say. So many of my own journeys and adventures have relied more on luck and the wisdom of others than on my own teachings. And besides, you'll probably hear plenty of wisdom from the Dragon Council and don't need the silly, sentimental ramblings of a human woman.

There is one thing I can give you, however, and that is my love. You were created in love, young one, and tended to as an infant egg in love. Love has saved my life – and Jasper's – many times, and has kept me going when all seemed hopeless. It is the most powerful force there is, more so than any magic. And though I will never be able to put my arms around you or kiss you, I hope you still feel my love protecting you.

My deepest love,

Talitha

I folded the letter and stared at it for the longest time. Talitha, too, had given me a gift, one just as valuable, if not more so, than Jasper's gemstones. And yet… my question remained unanswered. Perhaps the second…

The second letter was written in a shaky hand, the ink smeared in places by tears. It only took reading the opening sentence to see why.

I am dying.

It is All Hallow's Eve. Winds tear the island. I hear my sweet Jasper's voice assure me that the herbs should be working and all will be well, but I know better.

I never fully recovered from the burns I suffered fifteen years ago, when Jasper and I escaped the wrath of the Dragon Council. Dickon… how could he have done this… I thought he had accepted that I would never want him, that I already had a beloved… how could I have known he would steal the egg… how could I have known the dragons would think I was in it with him…

I fear for the egg. What if it hatches in human hands? Will the hatchling survive? Will the Council rescue it, or will it become another circus freak, as Jasper was when I first found him?

Oh little one, wherever you are, be strong. Be strong for me. I wasn't strong enough to save you… but be strong enough to save yourself…

I love you, Jasper… I love you, dragon child…

The last sentence was an unintelligible scrawl that wandered off the page. The rest of the letter blurred before my eyes as they filled with emotion. Never mind that Talitha had died years and years ago. I had still lost my mother that moment.

A terrible bellow split the air the moment I finished reading, and both the Ky-Lin and I whirled to stare at the mouth of the cavern.

Flashes of fire… an explosion of light and sound… smoke and ash billowing from the entrance…

I ignored the Ky-Lin's shouts of warning and ran back. This was my father, I had to do something. I had already lost my mother and birth-mother. I could not lose my father…

By the time I reached the cavern, it was too late. All that remained of the Master of Many Treasures was a pile of still-smoking bones, already bleached and dry as if they had lain there for years.

I stared at the remains of my father for what felt like hours, my heart afire, the Ky-Lin at my side. First Talitha, then Shmi, then Jasper…

I had been orphaned all over again.

"Come," the Ky-Lin said at last. "We can do nothing more here. And the Shadow will be expecting us."