The walkways connecting the huts clustered on outlying trees to the village square were empty. Firelight glowed in a few of the more distant houses but most of the village was apparently packed into the Chief's hut behind me.

I looked up at the Death star, hanging overhead like an evil moon, but I didn't think about the Emperor or even my coming confrontation with Father. Instead I tried one more time to remember something - anything - about my mother. I had Dai-Men's stories and the image of her he'd placed in my mind, but nothing of my own. I'd never seen my mother, never touched her. I'd been taken from her the moment I was born. It was Ben's arms that had received me, not Mother's, and he'd carried me quickly out of the birthing room before her labor was finished.

I couldn't blame them. I knew they'd only done what they had to do to keep us all safe. So Ben had whisked me off to Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru on Tatooine, and Mother had taken Leia to Alderaan to give her up to the Organas. But she must have stayed for a little while afterwards for my sister had told me once that she could remember her real mother.

"Luke, what's wrong." I turned. Leia had followed me outside, as I'd known she would. She stood there, illuminated by a mix of moon and firelight, looking at me in concern.

"Leia... do you remember your mother, your real mother?"

She blinked, taken aback by the unexpected question, seemingly so remote from our immediate and urgent concerns. "Just a little bit, she died when I was very young."

"What do you remember?" I pressed.

"Just ... images really. Feelings." she faltered, her surprise growing.

"Tell me."

Bewildered but willing to humor me she struggled to dredge up the memories. "She was very beautiful. Kind, but ... sad."

Reaching out with the Force I shared the images in her mind; the lovely face Dai-Men had shown me soft with tenderness; dark eyes, like Leia's, filled with a sorrow I prayed my sister would never know; a husky voice singing a lullaby; a gentle hand stroking an infant Leia's hair...

"Why are you asking me this?" she demanded, breaking the spell.

I looked away, trying to hide my emotion. "I have no memory of my mother. I never knew her."

"Luke, tell me. What's troubling you?" It was more a command than a request, the princess coming to the fore again, but I could feel her concern as if it were my own.

There was so much to say and so little time left to say it. "Vader's here...now, on this moon."

Those lovely eyes, our mother's eyes, widened in fear. "How do you know?"

"I felt his presence." I said flatly. "He's come for me. He can feel when I'm near. That's why I have to go. As long as I stay, I'm endangering you, the group and our mission here. I have to face him."

Leia's concern was turning to alarm. "Why?"

I just said it. "He's my father."

Her face showed shock, revulsion...and pity. "Your father?"

"There's more," I hurried on before I lost my nerve. "It won't be easy for you to hear it, but you must. If I don't make it back you're the only hope for the Alliance."

"Luke don't talk that way." she interrupted, really frightened now. "You have a power I...I don't understand and could never have!"

"You're wrong, Leia." I said quietly. "You have that power too. In time you'll learn to use it as I have." I looked away from her, struggling for words. "The Force is strong in my family. My father has It...I have It..." I turned back to look steadily into those wide dark eyes. "And my sister has it."

She knew, instantly she knew. Gently I confirmed it. "Yes. It's you, Leia."

I was braced for tears, for frantic denials, even anger. But she just nodded slowly as everything fell into place; her feelings for me - and her strong if ambivalent feelings for Darth Vader. "I know." she said softly. "Somehow I've always known."

I hadn't expected that. Hadn't expected that she could have anything but hatred for our father - but she did. Mixed in with the fear and revulsion was a dark attraction, even longing, much like my own feelings for our father. It reassured me, she too had sensed the good buried deep inside of him. She would understand. "Then you know why I have to face him." I said.

But she didn't understand. "No!" she jumped up and grabbed my hand, as if trying to pull me out of danger. "Luke, run away, far away. If he can feel your presence then leave this place. I wish I could go with you."

I smiled tenderly. "No you don't. You've always been strong." Like our mother.

Strong or not she was near tears. "But why must you confront him?" she almost wailed.

"Because there is still good in him." I answered simply. "I've felt it. He won't turn me over to the Emperor." At least I hoped he wouldn't. I took my sister in my arms to comfort her and tried to make her understand. "I can save him. I can turn him back to the good side. I have to try." our father had been a good man once and I knew that man was still inside of him. I had to save him, he needed me.

Tears streamed down Leia's face but it was calm now, accepting. "I think I knew that too."

We were in close rapport now and in her mind I saw flashing, disconnected images of a young Leia, hunted and terrified, with our father at her side protecting her. They had been very close once, though briefly, and Leia had never been able to forget that closeness despite all that had come between them since. 1 She wanted to save him too, but not at the risk of losing me. I couldn't blame her, I'd have felt the same in her place.

"There will be a Teacher for you." I promised softly. "May the Force be with you my dearest Sister."

"And you too, Brother." she answered.

I let her go and moved quickly away towards the ramps leading to the ground.

It didn't take me long to find another pair of scouts to surrender to. My feelings told me they were on edge - not surprising considering the way their comrades had been disappearing - and I was careful to make plenty of noise as I approached and to emerge promptly when challenged.

They radioed in and an officer and more troops arrived shortly afterwards by walker. Our little Ewok friends had definitely been making their presence felt. My lightsaber hadn't gotten much of a reaction from the scouts but the officer clearly recognized it for what it was and treated me like unshielded anti-matter. He may not have known I was a Jedi but he definitely knew I was dangerous. The entire detachment covered the unlucky trooper who searched me and snapped a pair of restraints on my wrists. After that they all kept their distance, but there were never less than three weapons aimed at me.

The ride to the outpost was moderately interesting, I'd always wondered what an Imperial walker looked like inside. It was incredibly slow, but that was an advantage giving me plenty of time to meditate and prepare myself for the confrontation to come.

I was perfectly calm and centered when the doors opened to reveal my father, waiting for me on an open deck slung beneath the landing platform. His mask turned towards me for a moment, then he shifted his attention to the officer at my side.

I studied him, trying to see Anakin Skywalker behind that black armor. Ben had once told me my father was 'the best star pilot in the galaxy' and I remembered clearly the pride and affection in his voice as he said the words. Ben had loved my father, but he'd also been betrayed and finally murdered by him, by his own Padawan Learner. No wonder Ben couldn't believe there was anything of Anakin Skywalker left in Darth Vader. Poor Ben. And poor Father too.

The officer handed over my lightsaber and then he and his guard detachment were dismissed with orders to search for my companions. I wasn't worried. They wouldn't find them.

Father turned and began to walk slowly towards the lift at the opposite end of the deck. I fell into step beside him without being asked. "The Emperor has been expecting you." he said at last.

"I know, Father." I replied quietly - and felt the name go through him like a surge of electricity.

"So," he managed after a moment, trying to sound triumphant but not quite making it, "you have accepted the truth."

"I have accepted that you were once Anakin Skywalker, my father." I answered evenly. When Father had first told me I'd screamed it was impossible and thrown myself off a gantry to escape him. But I'd made some progress along the Way since then; I no longer denied what I knew to be true - however unwelcome the knowledge.

Father, for all he was so much my elder, clearly hadn't reached that place yet. "That name no longer has any meaning for me." he said fiercely, stopping us both in our tracks. But his very vehemence proved his old name meant a great deal to him still.

"It is the name of your true self." I told him, backing my words with all the Force I which I was capable. "You've only forgotten. I know there is good in you, the Emperor has not driven if from you fully." I wasn't trying to mindtrick him, just to make him see himself through my eyes - see the truth of himself.

"That's why you couldn't destroy me." I continued quietly, turning away from him to look out over Endor, resting my bound wrists on the railing edging the deck. "That is why you won't bring me to your Emperor now."

Or so I hoped.

I heard my lightsaber ignite behind me and tensed. I didn't really expect him to strike me down - but he'd killed Ben, his own Teacher. If he'd do that he might do anything. I couldn't be sure of him - but I had to trust my instincts, andtrust inthe Force.

The blade moved through the air not far from my back as Father examined it. "I see you have constructed your own lightsaber." he said, and extinguished it. "Your skills are complete. Indeed you are powerful, as the Emperor has foreseen."

I didn't feel powerful, I felt like a nuna batting his head against a glass wall. I turned, Father had his back to me as he stood at the opposite rail, looking out. He looked so alone, so forlorn. I could feel his emptiness and despair like an ache in my own heart. I had to save him, to get him away from the Emperor. "Come with me." I pleaded, as unreasonable as Leia. Where in all the galaxy was there for us to go? I couldn't take Father back to the Alliance, they'd destroy him as surely as the Emperor would destroy me.

"Obi-Wan once thought as you do." he said quietly, then turned to face me. "You don't know the power of the Dark Side. I must obey my master."

"I will not turn," I warned him, "and you will be forced to kill me."

"If that is your destiny." Father answered flatly. But he didn't mean it, I knew he didn't.

"Search your feelings, Father." I pleaded. "You can't do this. I feel the conflict within you. Let go of your hate!"

Hate? The word startled me. I had felt no hatred from Father only grief and black despair.

"It is too late for me, son." he said in that same flat, weary voice, beckoning some lurking stormtroopers to him.

Then I understood. It was self-hatred that held my Father to the Dark Side. He had lost faith in himself and with it the power to change. And I knew, with terror and grief, that his despair would destroy us both. He was going to do it - he was going to give me to the Emperor. I had lost.

"Then my father is truly dead." I said quietly and let the stormtroopers escort me into the lift. The door closed behind us leaving Father alone with himself - with both of his selves.

1. All this refers to a non-Canonical, unwritten bit of fanon of mine in which a very young Senator Organa and Lord Vader are both part of a diplomatic mission to a restive world. The delegation, and most of the Imperial subjects on the planet, are murdered by the insurgents and Vader and Leia are forced to make their way together across miles of hostile territory to safety.