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Chapter Eight

He was standing on the edge of the cliff, the outline of the rocks below just visible in the fading light. Padmé's cries were softer tonight, coming to him from across a great distance, perhaps coming to him across seventy years.

"Anakin!"

Her muffled plea tore through him like a knife, but he knew – in a way beyond knowing – that nothing he did would end her pain.

The tears came hard and fast, but he remained motionless on the cliff, watching the dark water below. He could feel the dragon near him, as though it was perched on his shoulder, waiting, its dead weight resting on his soul.

Jump, the voice whispered. Just let go.

The wind clawed at him, pulling him toward the edge. He tried to reach for a railing, a rock – something to keep him anchored. His fingers raked uselessly through the air.

The voice laughed. Still afraid to fall?

No! He tried to scream it, to hurl it at the dragon, but it was swatted aside by the wind.

Surely you understand by now, the dragon continued. All things die, Anakin Skywalker.

All things die.

He began to fall.

.

.

Anakin awoke to the sound of R2-D2 chirping and tweeting like a bird. It was several long seconds before he realized the droid was attempting to sing.

"Ah, come on, Artoo," he mumbled, cracking one eye open to look for the little droid. The room was dark at first, and Anakin wondered if it was still night or if the apartment's shades had malfunctioned again. "Padmé…"

A short beep.

Anakin tilted his head back to see Artoo roll into the room. He filled the width of the doorway, which looked a bit different than he remembered.

"Oh," he murmured, staring into the droid's optic sensor. Artoo didn't respond; he returned to the other room, leaving Anakin to stare numbly at the synstone walls of Obi-Wan's hut.

He rolled into a seated position, legs spread out in front of him, head cradled in his hands. He had that crushing feeling around his heart again, the same thing he'd felt last night as Ben related detail after horrible detail. The same thing he'd felt as he stood in the Council chamber, making the decision that would damn him for all time.

Anakin looked up, and Artoo was positioned once again in the doorway.

"Still not going to talk to me?"

The droid was silent. Anakin could hear the steady whir of servos as he rotated his dome a quarter turn in each direction.

Anakin sighed. "Not that I blame you." He rubbed his knees with the heels of his hands. "But you're the only friend I've got here."

Artoo made an impatient noise and wheeled away; Anakin saw him heading for the open front door. He followed him outside to where Ben was sitting on the edge of the precipice, his legs dangling over the side. The suns were just coming over the horizon.

"Did you sleep okay?" Ben asked without looking back. There was little in his tone to suggest that he actually cared how Anakin had slept.

"I think it's been days since I really slept." It felt like much longer than that. He hadn't realized until arriving here just how tired he was.

Ben looked over his shoulder and nodded. "I believe it. You looked terrible." He eyed Anakin for a moment, a small grin creeping around the corners of his lips. "Well, you still look terrible."

Anakin frowned. "Thanks."

Ben swung his legs up over the edge and stood up, dusting off his pants as he did so. "We should head back to the enclave."

"You think that datapad will be cracked soon?"

Ben shrugged. "Maybe, but mostly I don't want to miss Karanya's breakfast. She and her kids cook for everyone in the mornings."

"They don't cook dewback eggs, do they?" Anakin had eaten them only a couple of times when Watto was in a particularly good mood after a day at the races, and they remained one of his favorite foods.

"Sure, they cook them. It's not like we can just go into town and buy the regular stuff anyway."

Anakin grinned. "Well, what are we waiting for?"

They sealed up the old hut and mounted their swoops. The return journey didn't seem nearly as long as the trip the night before, and after a few short hours, Anakin and Ben arrived at the edge of the Jedi camp. Children were just starting to filter out of the tents, most of them bleary-eyed and yawning as they trudged toward Karanya's tent.

"I thought after breakfast we might have a little sparring practice," Ben said as he tied his swoop down. Anakin looked away from the children and steered his bike into the open stall next to Ben's.

"Sounds good to me—"

"Ben!"

Anakin turned in time to see Ben stagger backward from the force of two children flinging themselves at him.

"Whoa there, guys, let me breathe!" Ben laughed as he tried to disentangle himself. "You two are getting too big! Next time you do that you'll probably knock me over."

As if on cue, the two children – both boys – threw themselves into Ben's arms a second time. Contrary to his prediction, he did not fall over, but it did seem to require every ounce of balance and strength to keep himself upright. Ben set the boys back on the ground and held them at arm's length. "All right, that's enough for now. I'd like you to meet a friend of mine."

He turned the boys around, and Anakin finally got a good look at their faces. The boy to Ben's right had wavy brown hair and big brown eyes that were looking up at him in open awe. The boy standing to Ben's left had even darker brown hair and green eyes set in a face that was far too controlled for someone so young. Anakin felt his chest constrict as he stared down at them.

"These are my cousins," Ben said, hands on the shoulders of the two boys. "This is Davin," he said, nodding at the boy to his right. He turned toward the green-eyed boy. "And this is Dolan. Boys, this is Jedi Anakin."

Davin looked up at Ben, his eyes still wide. "Like Uncle Anakin?"

Anakin kneeled in the sand, putting himself at eye level with the boys. "I was named for him, actually. It's a pleasure to meet you both." They were so young, younger than he'd been when he left Tatooine.

"How come we've never met you before?" Dolan asked, studying Anakin with unnerving intensity.

Ben frowned and squeezed Dolan's shoulder. "He's been hiding, just like the rest of us. You know that."

"Okay," Dolan said, shrugging off Ben's hand.

Anakin felt an irrationally strong urge to gather the boys in his arms and hug them for as long as they would allow it. These were the children he had heard about the night before, the sons of his granddaughter Jaina. Part of him was in them, and part of Padmé, too. He thought of the last time he'd seen Padmé, how sad she had seemed. She hid it well, but he'd sensed it underneath, not only sadness, but fear and guilt as well. He thought he could fix everything because he was the Chosen One and because he loved her and they were going to have a family. The dull ache in his heart exploded with fresh pain.

Davin and Dolan looked at each other and then up at Ben. Their cousin smiled at them. "Run along, you two."

"It was nice to have met you," Davin said quickly as he and Dolan turned and ran off.

Anakin stood and watched them leave. "They're very perceptive."

Ben looked over his shoulder and stared at the path the boys had made in the sand. "It runs in the family." He turned and met Anakin with a smirk. "But to be fair, you weren't really hiding your feelings very well."

"You don't think they realized—"

"No, I doubt it. Besides, I barely believe it myself." He fixed Anakin with a pointed stare. "You'd better not go telling them."

"Of course I won't!"

"Okay, okay, just reminding you, that's all." Ben glanced over his shoulder. "So how about that breakfast?"

Meeting the twins had made him forget about food, but now that he thought about it, he was starving. He could even smell those dewback eggs. "Just show me the way."

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The cerulean-colored blade sizzled to life little more than a centimeter from Ben's throat. It shouldn't have been so close; after all, Anakin had been on the ground less than a second ago, his saber deactivated and flying out of his open hand. He shouldn't have gotten up so fast, but he did it anyway. Ben ducked to the side and planted his left hand on the soft sand while kicking out with his legs. Somehow his boots connected with Anakin's chest and sent him stumbling backward, long enough for Ben to jump to his feet and charge.

His father had once told him that Darth Vader was one of his toughest opponents, not because of his technique – which was certainly impressive, especially for a person wearing several kilos of armor – but because he kept on coming, no matter what was thrown at him. A juggernaut in the fullest sense of the word.

As Ben watched Anakin regain his footing and hurtle forward to meet him, he realized just how true that was.

Their lightsabers connected hard, the green and blue blades sparking angrily under the pressure. "I guess you're pretty hard to kill," Ben said over the noise.

Anakin leaned into his attack, using his height to force Ben's saber down. "I get that a lot." He batted Ben's blade aside and swept his own in a diagonal line from his hip. Ben took a step back and raised his lightsaber just in time to block. "But I'd rather not test that idea too thoroughly."

Ben smirked. "Am I getting too close for comfort?"

Anakin weaved his saber through a rapid series of blocks; his motions were fluid but powerful, and he batted away each of Ben's attacks as though they were mere annoyances. "You wish," his grandfather said.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ben saw Valin and a few of the children approaching the circle. He definitely did not want to lose in front of the kids. They would run off and tell Davin and Dolan, and he would never hear the end of it.

Silly as he knew it was, that was all the motivation he needed.

"Now watch, because I'm only going to show you this once." Ben swung the lightsaber from his right shoulder, and was met instantly by Anakin's blade. Without pausing, Ben deactivated his weapon, sidestepped to the left, and smiled as a bewildered Anakin pitched forward. Before his grandfather could correct, Ben tackled him to the ground, sending sand flying in every direction.

When the dust settled, Ben was sitting on Anakin's back, pinning his arms down. He was well aware of the very smug smile on his face in that moment, and he absolutely didn't care who saw it. Beneath him, Anakin grunted.

"You know, I do lose occasionally. It's not like you accomplished anything special."

Ben looked down at him. "Believe me, Anakin. I most certainly did."

"Fine, just get off already. You're crushing my lungs."

Ben stood up and waited while Anakin picked himself up. "Sorry."

Anakin coughed a few times before dusting himself off. "Stars, you're heavy."

Ben handed Anakin his lightsaber and smacked him none too gently on the back. "You're hurting my feelings, really." He looked over at the edge of the circle where the children were staring at them open-mouthed, some of them whispering in each other's ears. Ben noticed Valin's son, Savl, grinning and tugging on his father's sleeve. Ben left Anakin and jogged over to the others.

"Feel like getting your hands dirty?" he asked Valin.

"Against you? No thanks, I don't feel like embarrassing myself."

"Naw, I'm done for now. I think Anakin could go for another round, though."

Valin looked past Ben and shook his head. "I was watching, you know. He's really good."

"You're telling me you can't handle a kid fifteen years younger than you? Come on, Horn."

Valin removed his jacket and handed it to his son. The boy was flush with excitement. "Why do I get the feeling I'm going to regret this?"

"Because you're a very negative person."

"I am not."

"Quit stalling."

Valin scowled and leaned closer to Ben, eyeing the children as he did so.

"Can you at least get rid of them?" he whispered.

Ben turned to the group of children. "Don't you all have lessons to attend to? I think I hear Master Nal calling for you."

The children giggled and scampered off; only Savl Horn remained.

"That means you, Savl."

The boy waved at his father before running after his friends.

"Thanks, Ben." Valin began rolling up his sleeves. "Although I probably won't be thanking you when this is over, win or lose."

Ben pointed at the center of the ring where Anakin was waiting. "Would you just go already?" He laughed as Valin scowled and jogged over to his opponent.

"Ben Skywalker."

He bent his head and smiled to himself as Tahiri Veila joined him at the edge of the circle. "Still alive, huh?"

He didn't have to look at her to know she was smirking. "For now, it seems."

"You know, you'll probably outlive us all."

She put her hands in the pockets of her long, sandy brown trench coat. "I sincerely hope not."

There was silence after that. They watched as Valin and Anakin shook hands and started stretching.

"I thought you and your crew were supposed to be deep undercover." It was not so much a question as it was a reminder.

Ben folded his arms across his chest and kept his gaze on Valin and Anakin. They were circling one another now, lightsabers drawn. "Myri contacted me about the situation. She's been keeping tabs on us since we left."

"Please tell me you weren't the ones who invaded the Sith headquarters on Ossus."

Ben rubbed the back of his neck. "You heard about that."

"Of course we did. Myri told me everything."

Everything? Ben licked his lips and took a long breath. He had a feeling he knew where this was headed.

"Myri mentioned you had a stowaway." Tahiri jerked her chin toward Anakin, who at that moment was pushing Valin back toward the opposite side of the circle. "That wouldn't be him, would it?"

Ben didn't respond. He watched as Anakin's lightsaber slipped under Valin's and knocked it up in a high arc. Valin didn't lose his grip, but he took three steps back to regain his footing.

Tahiri sighed, and Ben was struck by how old that sigh made her sound. "Who is he, Ben?"

He wondered how much he should tell her, how much he could tell her without her thinking he was insane. Tahiri was one of the few who always knew when he was hiding something. Ben lowered his gaze to the sand. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

In the practice circle, Anakin was somersaulting to avoid a powerful swing. He landed behind Valin and reached his blade over his shoulder to block the next attack. Before Valin could finish striking, Anakin ducked and threw his hands out, knocking his opponent into the air with a wave of energy. Valin landed on the ground several meters away. Ben thought he heard him mutter, "No fair."

"You think he's your grandfather?"

"What?" It was out of his mouth before he had time to prepare an answer, and he knew – both by the shock in his voice and the look on Tahiri's face – that he had given himself away.

"Why would I think that?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because that's who he claimed to be, and instead of locking him up or dumping him somewhere in an escape pod, you brought him here and let him use a lightsaber." She stared at him expectantly. "Myri watched the tape, Ben. She told me about your interrogation." Her voice took on a slight chill. "What happened after you disconnected the camera?"

"Nothing. I just didn't want Elias's girlfriend to see me using the Force, that's all."

Tahiri nodded and looked away. "Don't see why you'd need to use the Force in the first place. At least not in any way that would be obvious."

"Okay, so I may have roughed him up a bit. But as you can see, we're all one big happy family now." Ben mentally kicked himself. He really hadn't meant it to come out that way. Thankfully, Tahiri either didn't notice the slip – unlikely – or she chose not to acknowledge it.

"I don't think you're crazy," she said after a long moment.

"Yeah? You might be the only one."

Ben thought Tahiri might try to argue with him, but instead she nodded toward the ring where Valin was once again picking himself off the ground.

"He's very powerful. Reminds me of your dad."

Ben quirked one eyebrow at her. "But not me? What are you saying, Tahiri?"

"I didn't mean it as an insult. It's just… I can't quite put my finger on it, but there's a lack of restraint, an openness about him. He has a lot of power and emotion, like your dad."

"Again, not me?"

"Come on, Ben. Do you know how hard it is to get you to talk about anything, let alone your feelings? Face it, kiddo. You take after your mom in that department."

Ben didn't say anything; in truth, he didn't know what to say when someone commented on how he resembled his parents. He'd stopped knowing what to say a long time ago.

"That's not a bad thing, you know." Tahiri's voice had lost most its edge. "I always admired that about Mara. You might say I've tried to emulate her." She returned her gaze to Anakin. "We're just different, is all. We don't wear our hearts on our sleeves. We protect ourselves."

Ben wondered if that was where Anakin had gone wrong. Maybe he hadn't guarded his heart enough. Maybe he had let everything in until he was too full to contain it anymore.

Ben was lucky, he supposed. As a baby he had naturally distanced himself from the Force. Closing off his mind or disappearing from the Force had always been less of a trick and more of a talent for him than it was for the other Jedi.

"I guess it's easier when you're born that way." He glanced at Tahiri sidelong. "Or made that way."

Tahiri made a dismissive noise. "The Yuuzhan Vong didn't make me this way, Ben. I made myself. I chose how to deal with what they did to me, just like you could choose to be more open, if you wanted."

"You're saying I should?"

"I'm saying it's your choice. I don't care whether you keep everything bottled up inside or share every single feeling you've ever experienced; just don't go blaming things on something that happened to you when you were a baby."

Ben leaned over and nudged her in the arm. "When did you get so wise?"

Tahiri gave him a wry grin. "Someone had to fill in the gap."

Inside the circle, Valin was sitting on the sand, arms wrapped around his knees. "I'm done," he called out, gasping for breath. He glared at Ben. "I'm really mad at you, Skywalker."

Ben laughed. "I'm sure you are."

"Very mature of you," Tahiri said. "Picking on your elders."

Ben tried not to roll his eyes at the word "elders" being used to describe a man who was barely middle-aged. "Hey, I've been the responsible adult for the last six months. Cut me some slack."

"Clearly we have different ideas about how responsible adults behave."

Ben made sure Anakin and Valin were looking the other way when he stuck his tongue out at Tahiri. She shook her head.

"Right, because that's so much more mature."

Valin and Anakin joined them before Ben could respond. Both were sweaty and grimy, Valin especially with half his face still coated in tiny granules of sand.

"Feeling better about yourself?" Ben asked Anakin.

"Maybe a little." His eyes traveled from Ben to Tahiri. Ben grinned.

"Anakin, this is Tahiri Veila, the one I told you about."

"Told what about?" Tahiri interjected.

"Just that I thought you two would get along."

Tahiri sighed and extended a hand to Anakin. "I'm really not as intimidating and awful as he tries to make me sound. It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too. And he didn't say you're awful."

She turned her green eyes on Ben. "Well, wasn't that sweet of him?"

Anakin hesitated a moment before releasing her hand and turning toward Ben. "You ready for round two?"

"After the beating you took earlier? I'm not sure you could handle another round. Although I think I'd prefer to keep the score where it is for now." Ben's comlink beeped, and he lifted it to his lips. "Go ahead."

"You've got an encoded message coming in."

"Thanks, Kala Di, I'll be there shortly." He put away the comlink and looked at the others. "I'd say playtime is over."

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It had been little more than a day since they'd arrived at the safe house, and Arden was already more stir-crazy than she'd been in six months on the Daybreak. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she was literally surrounded by Jedi, or that she had absolutely nothing of use to do. Ulin was working on the stolen datapad, Myri was doing something that looked important, Ames and Allana were sitting with their heads together on the couch, and Kohr was fixing everyone a late breakfast. Elias claimed that he was meditating, although Arden suspected that he had actually fallen asleep about fifteen minutes ago. That left her alone, twiddling her thumbs and trying not to stare at the others.

"Dammit!" Ulin let out a string of expletives, a few in some other language. His shouting jarred Elias out of his meditative state and earned several concerned looks from the rest of the safe house's occupants.

"Sorry," Ulin said, cheeks turning red. "Thought I had it… stupid code." He muttered something unintelligible before burying himself once again in his work.

Elias yawned and stretched his arms over his head. "That was refreshing."

"I'm sure it was," Arden replied, not quite sure if he was talking about his nap or Ulin's outburst. Elias walked over and dropped himself into the chair next to hers. He took her hand and began tracing circles along her skin with the edge of his thumb. Arden smiled.

"Food's ready!" Kohr announced cheerfully as he emerged from the kitchen. In the corner, Allana giggled and whispered something in Ames's ear before jumping out of her seat. Arden saw Elias's eyes narrow a fraction as Ames got up to follow.

"Hey," Elias said, catching Ames by the elbow. He waited until Allana went through the kitchen door. "If you want to learn seven uncommon and interesting ways the Force can be used to inflict pain, then by all means, keep it up."

Ames stared down at him, his face completely blank. Kohr appeared over his shoulder, grinning.

"What he's saying is Ben's gonna kill you."

"No, not kill. He'll…" Elias paused to give his response some thought before giving up and shrugging. "Well, he won't kill you."

Ames's face paled. "We weren't doing anything! We're just friends, I swear!"

Kohr disappeared and reappeared over Ames's other shoulder. "If by friends you mean you're in love."

Ames rounded on Kohr, but the older boy was already running to the other side of the room where he ducked behind Myri. Ames chased after him, and the two disappeared into the conference room.

Arden stared after them, eyes wide. "What was that all about?"

Elias grinned. "Ames has a crush on Allana. I like to mess with him."

"I don't get it."

"She's Ben's apprentice. More importantly, she's his cousin."

"Ah. That explains a few things." Arden looked up to see Allana standing in the doorway opposite the conference room.

"Where'd they go?" the girl asked.

Elias, Myri, and Ulin – who was still furiously typing away at his computer – all pointed toward the open doorway of the conference room. Arden heard something fall over as the two boys continued to scuffle.

Myri looked up from the datapad she was examining. "They better not break anything, that's all I'm saying." She resumed reading as though nothing had happened. Allana groaned and returned to the kitchen. Arden watched her leave.

"Why is she here?" she whispered to Elias. "If she's Ben Skywalker's apprentice, why isn't she with him?"

Elias rubbed a hand over his face. "It's complicated with them."

"Seems like everything is complicated when you're a Jedi."

Elias made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sigh. "It's even more so with them."

"I guess that means you won't tell me?"

"I'm not sure I can. It's—"

"Complicated, I know." Arden leaned back in her chair. "Maybe some other time, then. But tell me this: what are these seven ways of inflicting pain?"

Elias grinned. "No clue. Tahiri used to threaten Ben and me with it all the time when we were younger, though."

"Who's Tahiri?"

"Tahiri Veila. She was my master, sort of. Not in the traditional sense; we moved around way too much for there to be any traditional Jedi training. I learned from a lot of people, but Tahiri was the main one, the one who watched out for me."

"Will I get to meet her?"

"If you want to."

Before Arden could respond, she saw Kohr, Ames, and Allana walk out of the conference room. Kohr seemed to be nursing his left shoulder, while Ames tried to conceal a slight limp.

"Did you break anything?" Myri asked from across the room. Her eyes were still on the datapad.

"No," Ames said sourly. "Nothing in there to break."

Myri looked up, her head cocked to one side. "I'm sure I can find something."

Ames rolled his eyes and groaned. "Are we almost done here? Because I would honestly give anything to not be stuck on this moon anymore."

Myri made a clicking sound with her tongue. "Geridan Ames, I never knew you were such a whiner."

"I am not—"

"Your wait's almost over," Ulin interrupted.

The entire room went silent as Arden and the others directed their attention to the computer terminal. Ulin was holding up the stolen Ossus datapad.

"Contact Ben and the Council," he continued. "I know where they took the kids."

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