Hello again, people! So, I've decided that my updates will be weekly, on Saturdays/Sundays. Be excited!

Shout-Outs: Thanks to my-beloved-monster and ArtistsChild93 for reviewing! Reviewers get shout-outs. And cookies.

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars, or any of its characters. Only Alice is mine.


As a brief reminder for those with short memories, short attention spans or vertical growth impairments, we last left our intrepid heroine wearing a designer jumpsuit, with one leg still slightly numb, and facing an old man who looked distinctly less scary than she had originally thought him to be.

Huh.

"Hello there," Beardy Guy said.

Well, that was anticlimactic, Alice thought. She heard a beeping noise beside her, and looking down, saw that Artoo had rolled out of his hiding place to join them. Beardy Guy looked at the droid too, and with a mild smile, he beckoned to the droid, "Come over here, my little friend. Don't be afraid."

Artoo whistled, and the man looked down at Luke, "Oh, don't worry, he'll be alright."

Alice stared at him, "Hang on, sorry, are you holding a conversation with him? He's just making bird noises, how can you possibly- oh, never mind. Whatever. Just add it to the list of weirdness and I'll try and digest it later…"

The old man said nothing, just continued to smile at her.

Okay, Alice thought, feeling slightly unnerved, that's getting a bit creepy now.

The man's expression turned slightly knowing, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking. Alice felt her cheeks heat up, and knew she was blushing.

Don't be stupid, of course he can't read your thoughts. That's pushing it, even for a dream as weird as this.

Luckily at that moment, Luke began to stir at their feet, shifting groggily from side to side.

"Finally," Alice said, edging past the old man and giving him a suspicious look as she dropped down next to Luke, "are you alright?"

He grunted, gingerly touching the side of his head and wincing heroically, "Yeah, never felt better."

"Alright, tone down the sass, mister. You're not the only one who got roughed up."

"Sorry," he said, looking appropriately chastised, "are you alright?"

She subjected him to a watered down version of her mother's infamous stern glare, but relented quickly, "Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks."

"I guess going to check out those sand people wasn't a great idea after all, huh."

Alice snorted as she helped him sit up, "Perhaps not. No hard feelings, though." Some hard feelings.

"But where did they go? How did you-" He stopped short as he finally spotted the old man, a puzzled frown crossing his face, "Ben? Ben Kenobi? Boy, am I glad to see you!"

Alice wrinkled her nose, "For a boy from a completely different planet, Luke, you sound an awful lot like an American boy scout. Honestly, those screenwriters must have had such limited imaginations…can you say cliché?"

He stared at her, momentarily distracted, "Cliché?" He stumbled slightly over the unfamiliar word, "That doesn't sound like Basic, what language is that?"

"Er…French. Tell you what, don't worry about it."

Ben (apparently), smiled serenely, "It appears you've had a busy day, Luke. You're fortunate to be all in one piece. Why don't you sit down, get your bearings."

He made to offer a hand to help Luke stand up, but Alice was already there, and feeling oddly protective as she helped the boy as he got to his feet. She guided Luke over to a small rock and sat next to him as the old man continued, "Tell me Luke, what brings you out this far? And who is your companion?"

For a moment, Alice's gaze met Ben's, and she was suddenly pretty sure that the old man had been expecting to find Luke here. Her, however, he had not. She couldn't tell if this was a good thing or not.

Then he turned to Luke as the boy answered, breaking the contact. "It's this little droid," Luke said, gesturing at Artoo, who made an innocent bleeping noise in response. "I think he was searching for his former master. I've never seen such devotion in a droid before. We came out after him, and then I spotted a life-form on the scanner…" He glanced at Alice, "And that was you."

"Yup, that's me. Mysterious life-form extraordinaire. Alice Miller. Hello."

"So we stopped to pick her up."

"I see," said Ben, thoughtfully, "You say the droid was searching for his owner?"

"Yes. He claims to be the property of an Obi-Wan Kenobi. Is he a relative of yours? Do you know who he's talking about?"

Ben frowned, and sat down slowly opposite Luke and Alice, "Obi-Wan Kenobi? Obi-Wan…now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time. A long time."

Alice coughed, and resisted the urge to check an imaginary watch that she wasn't wearing – clearly whatever twist of fate had brought her here hadn't thought it a necessary part of her new ensemble. Apparently all old people enjoyed reminiscing, regardless of which planet they were on. "So who is he?"

"I think my uncle knows him," Luke remarked, his gaze a little unfocused, "He said he was dead."

"Oh, he's not dead," Ben said, shaking his beardy head in a fond sort of way, "not yet."

"So you do know him?" Alice repeated, rolling her eyes, "Come on, Ben, it's a simple question…"

Ben smiled serenely, "Well of course I know him! He's me!"

Alice blinked, "I should have seen that one coming."

Artoo bleeped in what was probably agreement.

"I haven't gone by the name Obi-Wan since, oh, since before you two were born," Ben said, wearing a nostalgic sort of smile that made him look even more like a grandfather than he already did.

"Well then," Luke said, thankfully cutting Ben off before he could use the phrase, 'Why, in my day…', "the droid is yours."

Ben cocked his head on one side, and said musingly, "Don't seem to remember ever owning a droid. Very interesting…"

A long screeching cry echoed around faintly around the canyon, and Alice tensed up, "Please tell me that isn't some new monster that wants to eat us."

"We'd better get indoors," Ben said, suddenly serious as he got to his feet again, "the sand people are easily startled, but they'll be back, and in greater numbers."

Luke and Alice stood to follow him, only to pause at a particularly insistent warble from Artoo.

"What is it?" Luke cocked his head attentively as the droid beeped some more, then very suddenly smacked himself in the forehead in epiphany, the gesture as dramatic as if they were in a silent movie from the 1920s. Alice very nearly snorted but restrained herself at the last minute.

"Ah, Threepio! I'd forgotten all about him!"

"Oh yeah," Alice said, glancing around, "I wondered why it was so quiet."

"What has happened?" Ben asked, hovering in the background.

Luke was already heading back the way the sand people had brought them, so Alice answered as she and Ben followed him, "It's his other droid. He's…a bit of a downer. Just so you're prepared."

They found the golden droid lying prone on the ground, one arm disconnected and his eyes dimmed.

Ben propped the droid up while Luke fiddled around at the back of his head. Alice, meanwhile, wandered over and picked up the droid's missing arm; the golden casing gleamed, and she wondered what it was made of. Despite the fact that it had been lying in the burning sun for a good twenty minutes, it was still cold to the touch. She gazed at it, shaking her head slightly. That's it, I've lost it. I'm holding a robot arm and I am…obviously delusional.

"Oh, where am I? I must have taken a bad step."

Alice glanced up and gestured at Threepio with his own detached arm, "Ya think?"

"Well, can you stand?" Luke asked, "We've got to get out of here before the sand people return." He was being remarkably patient, and Alice couldn't help but be impressed, not to mention grateful that if she had to be found by anyone on a strange desert planet, it was Luke Skywalker.

"I don't think I can make it," Threepio said dismally, "you go on, Master Luke. There's no sense in you risking yourself on my account. I'm done for."

Unfortunately, Alice reflected, she was nowhere near as goodhearted as Luke. They needed to get out of here – there was no way she was facing the sand people again, especially not in 'greater numbers'.

"Don't be silly, Threepio," she broke in with forced brightness, cutting Luke off as he opened his mouth to reassure the protocol droid, "everything's going to be fine! Now, come on."

It would have been an awfully long and boring trek to reach Ben's isolated house at the other side of the desert by foot, especially with a whiny droid who kept bemoaning his terrible luck, despite the fact nothing all that terrible had actually happened to him since Luke kept reassuring him that his broken arm would be easily fixed. Luckily however, this is a science-fiction story, so Ben, Luke, Alice and the two droids simply hopped into Luke's speeder and flew there. So, in much less time than it would have taken to describe the journey, they arrived at a sandstone building built on a high, rocky hill.

Alice helped Luke manoeuver Threepio out of the speeder, then turned to consider Ben's house. It seemed rather large for an old hermit living on his own in the middle of the desert.

I guess being a wise old mentor pays better than I thought.

"Please, young ones," Ben called, attracting Luke and Alice's attention with a small wave of his hand, "follow me."

He disappeared through the (large) front door, but Alice stopped Luke as he moved to follow him, "Just to clarify…you do know this guy, don't you? I mean, you're not just trusting him because he's got a beard, are you?"

Once again, she was met with a bemused stare. "You're really unusual, Alice."

And with that devastatingly enigmatic statement, Luke led Threepio away, leaving Alice alone with Artoo. She glanced down at the blue and white droid, eyebrows furrowed, "That didn't answer my question at all. Hang on, should I be insulted?"

Artoo whistled, and Alice tsked at herself, "Oh yeah. For a minute there I forgot who I was talking to. Come on, you old rustbucket. Let's go before we lose them down the rabbit hole."

"Seriously," Alice said, eyeing the surprisingly high ceilings and minimalist decor of Ben's house, throw in a fancy kitchen and an indoor swimming pool and you could go on that MTV show where all the rich American kids show off their ridiculously fancy houses and no one would even bat an eye."

"You say you found her asleep in the sun?" Ben said, turning to Luke where he sat, fixing Threepio's arm.

"Yes. She had no idea where she was, or how she got there. At first, she thought she was dreaming."

"I daresay young Miss Alice has run quite mad," Threepio said matter-of-factly, "it is not an uncommon side effect of prolonged exposure to heat."

"Hey," Alice said, pointing at Threepio, "don't start with me, I've had – am having – a very odd day. And besides," she went on with her nose in the air, "I don't think one can make disparaging allegations about the state of another's mental health when one is missing one's arm."

"Well," Threepio said, sounding affronted, "how rude."

Alice stuck out her tongue at him.

"I suspect that the strangeness of her language results from cultural difference rather than physical illness," Ben answered the droid, drily, "and it is unsurprising that someone who wakes up to find themselves somewhere other than they expect would think themselves to be dreaming."

"Thank you, Ben," Alice said, courteously, "this is also a reminder that I am in fact, still in the room."

Ben smiled vaguely, "I beg your pardon, Alice. I have heard many strange and curious tales in my time, but never one quite like yours. Tell me: though you don't remember how you came to be on Tatooine, do you have any theories as to how it could have happened?"

Alice huffed and repeated what she'd told Luke, "Well, considering I went to sleep in a bed and woke up in a desert, and I'm not exactly capable of teleportation…no, nothing springs to mind. Well…apart from alien abduction. Though for you that's probably just like…normal abduction, right? Huh."

"You think you could have been kidnapped?" Ben asked, raising his eyebrows.

Alice shrugged, "Well, yeah, I mean it's possible. But I don't know why, or by who, or why they'd bring me here."

Luke piped up from the corner, pausing in his work to frown over at Alice, "When I told you my name, you seemed surprised, like you knew me."

"Did I?" Alice asked, feigning ignorance as a nervous sweat broke out on her palms all of a sudden, "Oh, well, it's a really common name back where I come from. I think there's someone famous called that, an…an actor or something." She smiled hopefully, half-wondering if the entertainment industry even existed in whatever reality this was.

"How interesting," Ben said.

"Yes. Well." Alice coughed and glanced at Luke, "What I think is interesting…is that…er…I am really hungry."

Ben raised his eyebrows, and smiled, "There is a small food store down the hall to your left."

"I think I'll be the judge of how small it is," Alice muttered to herself as she sidled out of the room and down the corridor. She paused at the first door she came across on her left, and was confronted with a smooth metal surface with absolutely no visible doorknob; there was only a small set of buttons and a circular indent on the panel at around shin height. She glanced back down the corridor towards the open door – she could hear Luke and Ben talking quietly, and desperate though she was, she really didn't want to embarrass herself by interrupting them to ask how to open a door.

"Right," Alice muttered, staring at the door, "Um…open. Please."

Nothing happened.

"Open sesame?" It was worth a shot, right?

The door remained resolutely shut.

"Come on…" She tried poking one of the colourful buttons, then two of them, then all of them. Still nothing.

Why? Just…why? All I wanted was something to eat…oh god, I'm going to starve…

Something beeped behind her, and Artoo rolled into view. "What do you want?" Alice asked, her tone perhaps a tad aggressive. The little droid whistled and nudged her out of the way. Disgruntled but curious, she watched as the droid extend a probe which fit neatly into the panel in the doorframe, like a key into a lock. Artoo beeped and rotated the panel quickly. Two seconds later, the door slid open with a slight pneumatic hiss.

"Oh!" Alice grinned, brightening up instantly, "Thanks, kid."

She patted the droid on the head and stepped inside to inspect Obi-Wan Kenobi's pantry. Looking at the shelves of brightly coloured, neatly packaged food, she realised she had absolutely no idea what any of it was. I am taking my life in my hands here…

Reaching out, she grabbed something that looked like a cereal bar, unwrapped it, inspected it and took a bite. It had a strong, slightly nutty flavour…but it wasn't bad. Feeling satisfied, she backed out of the room, saying to Artoo, "Oh, could you close it up again? Thanks." The droid bleeped and spun the door shut, then trundled along behind her as she went to re-join Luke and Ben.

Luke was speaking as she entered – Alice just caught the end of it, with the words: "You fought in the Clone Wars?"

"Hey guys," Alice said, sitting on top of a random chest that stood in the corner of the room and curling her legs beneath her. Now she thought about it, her jumpsuit wasn't so bad after all. It was really flexible and quite comfortable. It was a bit like wearing a onesie, only without the animal theme and sock feet. "What did I miss?"

Luke gave her a small shrug, and Ben ignored her completely as he said, "Yes. I was once a Jedi Knight, the same as your father."

Alice opened her mouth to ask a question, saw the suddenly intent look on Luke's face, and went back to her cereal bar, deciding she'd probably better just listen in silence. This was obviously quite a privatediscussion – maybe she shouldn't have even come back in…

There was a slight pause, then Luke said, in a suitably poignant tone, "My father…I wish I'd known him."

"He was the best star pilot in the galaxy," Ben said, smiling, "and a cunning warrior. I understand you've become quite a good pilot yourself." Alice glanced at Luke, who smiled a sweet, abashed sort of smile, and turned back to fixing Threepio. "And he was a good friend. Which reminds me…" the old man got laboriously to his feet and crossed the room, saying, "I have something here for you. Your father wanted you to have this when you were old enough."

Luke looked up and met Alice's gaze, his head cocked questioningly to one side. She shrugged, and said, through a mouthful of cereal bar, "Don't look at me. If this were a Western he'd give you your dad's old revolver, or maybe his sheriff's star or his pocket watch or something. Somehow it's not quite the same; leaving your son your digital alarm clock."

"Your uncle wouldn't allow it," Ben said, cheerily ignoring Alice as he rummaged in a small chest for the mystery item, "he feared you'd follow old Obi-Wan on some damned idealistic crusade, like your father did."

"So, your dad was a Jedi," Alice asked, wishing she could have been transported here or whatever after she'd watched the movies, so she might actually know a little more about the story, instead of having to ask ten thousand questions and look like an idiot.

"Yeah," Luke said, putting the finishing touches on Threepio's restored arm, "his name was Anakin Skywalker. I never knew him though, he died before I was born."

Alice ducked her head awkwardly. What were you supposed to say to something like that? The best she could come up with was: "Oh. I'm sorry." Which, when she thought about it, was really quite pathetic.

He met her gaze and nodded once; an acknowledgement of a sentiment he'd probably heard hundreds of times before, "Thanks."

"Sir, if you'll not be needing me, I'll close down for a while," Threepio said.

"Yeah sure, go ahead," Luke said, distractedly, looking much more interested in the slim silver tube Ben was carrying in his hands, "What is it?"

Equally curious, Alice hopped off the chest she was sitting on to peer at the object. It looked rather innocuous – just a metal cylinder with a few buttons on. Ben waited until they were gathered around before announcing, "It's your father's lightsaber; the weapon of a Jedi Knight."

Alice's eyes widened and she backed away swiftly as Luke took it and raised it in the air, "Careful with that thing."

Ben raised his eyebrows at her, "You know of this weapon? For many of the galaxy they are now simply parts of the fairytale the Jedi Order has become. It is good to see that not all have forgotten." He turned back to Luke, who was still turning the cylinder over in his hands, "It is not as clumsy or random as a blaster-"

Alice stopped listening to Ben as Luke pressed a button, and suddenly, a bright shaft of blue light, about a yard long, snapped into view above the hilt with a musical hum. She eyed it with a mixture of alarm and awe – obviously, she'd heard of lightsabers and seen pictures of them on the internet or television, and the little plastic toys that children played with. But mere images simply couldn't compare to this: it was beautiful. The long cylinder of light appeared blue, but at its core, it was a clear, blinding white, and it hummed with energy.

Luke's face reflected Alice's wonder, and he swiped the blade through the air, as if testing its weight. As it moved, the humming noise it made deepened, so that Alice could feel it in her chest.

She had to blink as Luke released the button and the light disappeared, leaving phantom after-images on her eyes. The boy turned to Ben, who had been talking this entire time, though Alice hadn't been listening. Luke apparently had, because he sat down next to Ben, and said, "How did my father die?"

Oh…

Alice turned her face away and pretended not to be listening while she frantically blinked away the spots floating in front of her vision.

Behind her she heard Ben say grimly, "A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine until he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights. He betrayed and murdered your father."

Hang on! Alice thought, abruptly, Even I know that Darth Vader is Luke's father. Isn't Ben going to tell him that? Well, great! If he's not going to tell him, then I have to, don't I? Do I? It's a real dick move not to tell him that his father's the scourge of the galaxy…but I suppose… Well, Ben must have a reason. She looked at Luke, who appeared crushed. I just hope it's a good one…

"Now the Jedi are all but extinct. Vader was seduced by the Dark Side of the Force."

"The Force?" Luke and Alice (forgetting she was pretending not to listen) asked simultaneously.

Ben smiled at the two of them, "Such eager pupils. It reminds me of old times. The Force is what gives a Jedi his power."

"But what actually is it?" Alice said insistently – because if she boiled down all the things she didn't understand about Star Wars, at the bottom of it was the question of why some people had telekinetic powers if no one else did.

Ben raised a hand to quiet her, and she sat back, temporarily stymied, "Patience. Listen, and I will tell you."

Alice felt more than a bit indignant about being spoken to like a five year old, but kept her mouth shut and waited.

Ben quirked a smile at her as if to apologise, and went on serenely, "The Force is an energy field created by all living things; it surrounds us and penetrates us, it binds the galaxy together."

Alice snorted, "A constant, all-powerful, unseen force that maintains the universe. Now, that sounds familiar. And the Jedi are…what? Disciples? Miracle workers?"

"Perhaps to some, the way a Jedi interacts with and manipulates the Force may seem magical or even miraculous," Ben said, looking thoughtful, as if this was something he had never considered before, "however, all beings have the capacity to access it, and may do so without even realising it, albeit in small ways. Some simply have a stronger natural sensitivity to the presence of the Force around us. The Jedi Order was made up of these Force-sensitive individuals, trained to understand and control their abilities, and yes, our purpose was to serve and carry out the will of the Force."

"Hmmm," Alice said, glancing sideways at Luke. He returned the look and gave a tiny shrug.

Well, food for thought.

The lull was broken by an energetic whistle from Artoo, who all this time had been sitting patiently at Alice's feet. Now he was apparently trying to regain their attention. "What's up, Henry the Hoover?" Alice asked, rapping the droid's dome lightly with her knuckles and missing the puzzled glance between the two people in the room who didn't get the reference. He beeped eagerly, and rolled forwards slightly, towards Ben, then backwards, as if trying to indicate the old man.

Ben got up, "That's quite a determined little droid you've got there," he said, to no one in particular, "let's see if we can't figure out who he is and where he comes from."

He patted the droid, who shuffled on the spot, and suddenly shone a blue light from the top of his dome on to the table.

"What's he doing?" Alice asked curiously. The blue cone of light stuttered and shimmered, like the picture did on old TVs when there was static. Faintly, through the fuzziness, Alice could make out a figure. "Is it a recording, then? Intergalactic Facebook?" The little image of the person showed them standing upright, then bending over, then standing upright, then bending over, as if caught in a loop.

Luke leaned forward, suddenly eager, "Yeah, it's a message from someone. I saw part of it earlier-"

"I seem to have found it," Ben said. Alice watched with interest as the static faded and the figure solidified. She dropped to her knees and shuffled closer, and saw that it was a young woman, draped in white fabric, and wearing her hair in two quite spectacular buns at the side of her head.

"Well," Alice said, raising an eyebrow, "She's certainly dressed for a night out."

"Hush."

On the table, the woman had begun to talk, her voice disproportionately loud for her size and, for an American accent, exceedingly upper class. "General Kenobi, years ago, you served my father in the Clone Wars. Now he begs you to help him in his struggle against the Empire." Alice spared Ben a quick look – the old man's face was shadowed, and she felt a pang of sympathy. Wars were traumatic wherever you happened to be, and it must hurt to have those old memories brought back here and now.

The message continued, "I regret that I am unable to present my father's request to you in person, but my ship has fallen under attack and I'm afraid my mission to bring you to Alderaan has failed. I've placed information vital to the survival of the rebellion into the memory systems of this R2 unit. My father will know how to retrieve it. You must see this droid safely delivered to him on Alderaan. This is our most desperate hour. Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope."

Suddenly, the woman's image glanced over her shoulder, hearing something the three of them couldn't. Then, as before, she leaned down, her arm stretched out as if to touch something, before the image cut out completely.


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