Disclaimer: I don't own anything Star Wars. Just Adali.


Chapter 2

She Used To Be Mine

Once the two Resistance humans entered the shuttlecraft, Poe went straight to work on piloting them out of there, relieving BB-8 of his task of piloting on his own to rescue them. He had done a fantastic job, which Adali made sure to praise him on. After all, had it not been for that rollie droid, Poe and Adali may not have been there to make the journey to D'Qar with him.

BB-8 bashfully accepted the praise, and retreated into the cockpit with Poe, while Adali tried to make herself comfortable in the transport lounge. It had been a very long time since Adali had been on anything other than a single piloted vessel, or hiding out in the back of a cargo shuttle. Actually being allowed to be a passenger was something she hadn't been privy to in years.

Eventually, once they were at a safe distance out of the Coruscant system, Poe had BB-8 take over the autopilot and made his way into the back where Adali was rubbing her shoulder, and flexing her metallic hand. She was hiding the discomfort well on her face, but there was a slight glossiness to her eyes that Poe didn't disregard. She didn't look like she was about to cry, but the sting was clearly there.

"We should have some numbing spray in the first aid kit," Poe said, rummaging through a few cabinets before he finally emerged successfully with the small box. He sat down across from her, placing the box on the top of the table and started to rummage through the box. His dark brow furrowed into a scowl as he continued to dig, taking out some mandates and miscellaneous ointments that wouldn't do the woman any good. "Damn, sorry. We gotta resupply these. We've been running low on most stuff lately."

"From what I hear, it's hard to get the essentials pretty much anywhere right now with everything going on," Adali contributed, absentmindedly nodding her head. "Thank you for checking, though. It's very considerate of you."

"Well, you did injure it saving my ass," Poe said, a small smirk in place. "It's the least I could do."

"And also for taking that blaster shot," Adali went on. "You couldn't have known it was a stun. You could've died."

"Leia told me to bring you in and protect you at all costs," Poe said.

"You don't even know me."

"I didn't need to," Poe said. "Leia asked me to do it. She knows you, and clearly you're important for her to say that, so yeah, I'm gonna do whatever she told me to do."

It was perplexing to hear someone other than herself speak in such a manner. That as long as the person giving the orders was someone that you trusted beyond anything else, that you'd do just about anything. Blind trust was a hard trait to come by, and it wasn't always a good one either. It was a trait that could be taken advantage of if that trust was placed in the wrong hands. It was something that her family was known for; placing their trust in the wrong people.

"Clearly you trust her a great deal to follow her orders so blindly," Adali stated, staring at the brown eyed man. It wasn't a scrutinizing gaze. Her slightly narrowed blue eyes were more calculating, studying. She was trying to figure out the man in front of her. "Leia's lucky to have you. And you're smart to put that sort of faith in her. She wouldn't use it in any way that would come back badly on you. You're a smart man for picking her."

"Sounds like you don't trust people much," Poe said, sitting back. He crossed his arms and gave her the same look.

"The last person I trusted like that cut off my arm," Adali stated. "So I tend to be a bit more cautious now with whom I give that sort of loyalty to. Leia has always had it, and she always will."

"Glad we agree on that," Poe said, a small smirk gracing his lips.

Adali cleared her throat and made herself more comfortable by pulling her feet up under her to sit on. "I find it a little funny that the infamous Poe Dameron is flying a shuttle, of all things."

Poe shrugged. "It's easier to blend in," he explained. "My X-wing is a one man vessel. Plus, I can fly anything."

"I wasn't implying you couldn't, Flyboy," Adali chuckled. "It just seems off, is all. That doesn't mean I'm not grateful for not having to sit on your lap the whole journey to D'Qar , or for not having to hide in a cargo ship like I was on my way off of Cantonica."

"How did you manage to get a thirty thousand credit bounty on your head anyway?" Poe asked, a light chuckle rumbling from his chest. It was a pleasant sound, as was the calmer, more relaxed expression that crossed his face.

"I got into some trouble with the First Order. They caught me, sent me to Canto Bight, but one of the booking guards is secretly working for Leia, and Leia has a list of people to keep an eye out for. He happened to recognize me, and he smuggled me out. First Order found out and increased the bounty. They don't seem to like it when the enemy slips through their fingers, it seems."

"I could've told you that." Poe openly laughed, causing a small smile to form on Adali's lips. It was an infectious laugh, she found. "So, tell me more about the mysterious Adali Vara Zargot. Where are you from?"

"We traveled a lot growing up," Adali said, avoiding the actual question. "I don't really know where I was born. My parents traveled so much those first few years. I don't even think my mom knew where she was half the time." After that admittance, Adali sighed. Her right hand moved to her prosthetic, rubbing the spot on her ring finger where she'd used to wear her mother's ring. She'd always had a habit of fiddling with it, and after she'd lost it, the habit turned into wringing her hands together. "She was a slave on Tatooine until she was eighteen when my dad bought her and freed her. They grew up together and were the best of friends before they eventually became more."

"Sounds romantic," Poe said. "It is romantic, right? To fall in love with your best friend after they changed your life forever? Not the slavery part. I mean, as long as she didn't fall in love with him because he freed her."

And this is whom they call a lady's man? Adali thought to herself. She shook her head and laughed. "No, you're right. Had that been the case it would've been wrong. But I think they loved each other before they really even knew it when they were growing it. It was always just the two of them, you know?"

"Sounds like the perfect love," Poe said.

"Mom always said that the strongest marriages are formed when you marry your best friend," Adali said.

"Guess I should probably marry BeeBee-Ate then," Poe said. He received a hearty, genuine laugh in response, easing the tension that had built when the topic seemed to get a little too heavy for two individuals that had just met one another. "Did one of them teach you how to work with machines?"

Adali, still smiling, nodded her head. She pulled her feet out from under her and pulled her knees up to her chest. Her arms wrapped around them, her chin resting atop her knees. "Mom knew her way around some stuff, but it was mainly my dad. My Aunt on my mom's side, when I did see her, was a genius when it came to working on ships. Dad was better at flying them than fixing, but most of what I learned was from him. My Uncle on my dad's side is a great pilot and technician though. "

"So it runs in the family," Poe concluded.

"That it does."

"What about your broader skill set? Where'd you learn those?" Poe pressed.

"What are you trying to do, Commander Dameron? Deduce the mysteries of Adali Vara Zarkot?" Adali asked, desperate to avoid more questions. "I'm not the enemy, Poe."

"Okay, okay, I just have one more question," Poe said, leaning forward very seriously. "What is your favorite color?"

Adali laughed so hard her stomach cramped. To say he'd caught her off guard was an understatement, but it was a good thing for once. Adali couldn't remember the last time she'd laughed so much, so genuinely. It felt nice.


D'Qar had never been a location she'd managed to make her way to in all her twenty-three years of life. She'd been to many places, but the jungled moon had never been on her stop. For the most part, the planet itself was teemed with a wide variety of species, many of which were insects or nocturnal creatures.

Quiet wasn't the word Adali would use for the hidden Resistance base, however. It was primarily all underground, though there were large hangar doors emerging out from the hills for the starships to pull out before taking off. But they remained underground otherwise. There was no need, nor could they afford, to not remain discrete with their forces.

Though the above ground was still rather busy, it said nothing for the sheer organized chaos that resided below the planet's surface. The galaxy had essentially been at peace all of her childhood, and even when the First Order had started to make their presence known, they hadn't had as much forefront in her mind, or her life. But now, seeing all the carnage firsthand on the other planets she'd been on, and then seeing these forces in full effect, Adali couldn't not realize just how big all of this really was.

This was the world her parents had grown up in, fought in. This was the world her grandparents had been living through when the fall of the Republic had occurred and the Jedi had been destroyed with that dreaded Order 66. This was what they all went through to prevent her from having to go through it. A fleeting moment of thinking it was all in vain passed through her mind, but she quickly shook it away as Poe directed her towards a small hallway.

"General Organa will want to see you as soon as possible," Poe stated. He came to stop at a manual door. He knocked, hearing a faint call from the other side before opening it. He held it open for her to enter first, but he didn't expect her to hesitate.

Adali had seemed rather comfortable and calm the majority of the time they'd been together. Even during their time running and playing chicken with the bounty hunter. She'd been cool, calm, and even chuckled. It was as if she thrived in the chaos of the world of Coruscant. But standing there in the hallway as they were about to enter the chambers of General Leia Organa, Poe could see the panic and fear in the eyes of the woman before him, even though the rest of her mask clearly was trying to portray otherwise.

"Hey," Poe spoke softly, holding his hand out to gesture for her to go in. It was a sweet move. It didn't look like he was doing so out of impatience. His expression was soft, his brows furrowed together in concern, an encouraging smile on his chapped lips. "You got this."

Adali nodded, shaking herself out of whatever daze she'd seemed to find herself in and walked past Poe. He followed her in, shutting the door. The quarters were small, but much larger than Adali knew the other's had to reside in with multiple occupants. Leia's quarters have her sleeping area, a work desk, and a small lounge area, no doubt used more for work discussions than leisure.

That very space was currently occupied by a graying woman, her hair braided and wrapped around her head in a crown. It showcased her slim neck, and delicate female features. She was wearing a casual, yet professional blouse, with a flowing brown sweater to keep her warm in the underground caverns of the Resistance base. She'd been looking through the same data files on several holopads laid out on the table before her, but once her eyes landed on Poe and Adali, they were left lying forgotten.

Leia stood up quickly, her mouth slightly agape, her eyes never shifting off of the young woman. Her eyes were wide, but definitely not from surprise or anger. It was more a look of seeing a beautiful sunrise after the longest of the sunless months of winter. Adali remained still, her jaw clenched, her eyes also wide, but her's seemed to be brimming with tears.

And Poe just stood there observing the interaction. It wasn't often he found himself pushed to the side and made a wall feature in such a small ground. But this was clearly an emotional moment for reasons he didn't understand. He cleared his throat, reminding subtly that he was still present.

"Thank you, Poe," Leia finally spoke. Her eyes never shifted off of the woman though. "I'll call you back later to discuss the debrief. Adali and I need some time along."

"Yes, General," Poe replied, nodding as he turned to leave. He spared the women one final glance as he shut the door behind him.

The women remained as they were for several long moments. Neither knew who would break first, nor really where to begin once they did. Either way, this wasn't necessarily going to be the most pleasant of reunions, they knew. As happy as they were to be with each other, there was still so much left unaddressed, and addressing it was going to hurt them both in many different ways.

Leia opened her mouth to speak, but Adali beat her to it. "I'm so sorry," she apologized. "I-I didn't know what was going to happen, and I tried. Really tried to stop it, but I just wasn't str-" Before she could finish, Leia had moved around the table and pulled the girl into a tight embrace.

Her arms were strong, her hands gentle as they rubbed circles into her back. It was so warm in that embrace. So warm that Adali knew the heat would follow her long after the embrace ended. It was an emotional sort of warmth one only got when finally reuniting with one they loved so dearly. And Adali did love Leia. She loved Leia with all her being. Just as Leia loved the young woman.

"Don't you dare put this on yourself, my sweet girl," Leia ordered. "None of this is your fault."

"But I could-"

"No," Leia insisted, pulling the girl to sit. Her hands remained entwined with Adali's though. There was no way she was letting that girl out of her touch anytime soon. "I need you to tell me what happened."

It shouldn't have surprised her. But even though she knew it was coming, she was still devastatingly unprepared for the gut wrenching feeling that statement made her feel. Adali cautiously shook her head a moment before continuing with, "I don't know if you really do."

"Please."

All she could do was nod and rub her metal arm subconsciously at the woman's insistence. "It started out like any other night, really.."


The night had started just like most did. It was Ami's turn for the evening patrol to ensure the safety of the Temple, though there never really seemed to be any danger around them on their quiet little spot on their secluded secret little planet only known to members of their new little Jedi Order.

Patrols were much more of a training tool than a necessity for their safety. Not only did it teach patience and discipline, it prepared the students for their future missions to help the people of the galaxy and keep order between the light and the dark sides of the Force. For the most part, these evening strolls around the perimeter of the Jedi Academy was a soothing, almost meditative experience for Ami, for she'd been on missions where fighting, and bloodshed was required. Yes, this lesson was meant for the younger, less experienced Jedis in training; the Padawans and even some of the Younglings if they were old enough. But as everyone was treated and considered an equal Jedi Knight, Ami Norin Skywalker, was not excluded from the duties of patrol.

Stopping at the base of the cliffside overlooking the rapids below, Ami took in a deep breath of the cool evening air. It was nearly the end of the year, so the air was growing colder. The climate on their little planet was warm enough to prevent snowfall, but it had become cool enough to wear a puff of air could be seen as she exhaled her hot breath. It was a welcome change, as training sessions midday often left the Jedi students sweating and in need of a reprieve.

This was Ami's favorite time of year. No longer was it difficult to regulate body temperature throughout the day. There was only so much clothing that was deemed appropriate to remove in the presence of others, and the Jedi had an image to uphold. Cleanliness and modesty were just as much a part of the Jedi symbol of professionalism as much as the lightsaber was. Ami drew her deep brown robe tighter around herself and reveled in the warmth, a content smile gracing her pink lips.

It was simply peaceful. Everything the universe was truly meant to be. At perfect harmony.

At least, it was until something within the Force shifted. Sensing shifts within the Force had become second nature to the young woman, however, if asked to explain it to anyone that was not Force Sensitive, it would have been very difficult. Physically to any normal individual the air would've still felt exactly the same, but for Ami, it felt heavier, more electrified. And as Ami stood there contemplating what could've possibly caused such a shift in the Force when she saw a bright white and red flash in the sky, and heard the loud clap of thunder ring through the air, and the ground shake below her feet.

Spinning on her heel, Ami bolted it up the hill and made it to the platow, Her eyes landed on the Temple and the housing quarters down on the other side of the hill. Everything was engulfed in flames and smoke. With a quick glance of her blue eyes to the sky, she caught a glimpse of the stars. The night was crystal clear. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. There was absolutely no reason as to how lightning has caused all of this destruction. This all simply passed her mind in a matter of a second, for there was no time for her to ponder the disturbing situation any further.

Her boot clad feet were already taking her down the hill at her top speed. Why it had happened would be a question to figure out later. Finding survivors and putting the fire out was far more important. But as she got closer and deeper into their small commune it was becoming more and more evident that nobody had made it out of their huts. Everybody would've been asleep; Younglings to Master.

Master.

"Dad!" Ami called out, turning to go down the other side of the hill towards where her father's hut belonged. Before she managed to make it out of the center cluster of huts surrounding their domed temple she skidded to a stop on the dirt path.

Ben had fallen to his knees and was looking up at the destruction before him. Ami now stood in the center of the path. He looked fine, for the most part. Remarkable even, if one was to disregard the pained expression covering his handsome face. Even his clothes seem to be void of any soot or dirt. His gaze did not meet his cousin's, however. Ben Solo knelt there muttering to himself as Ami quickly made her way to him, just barely hearing the words he was speaking over the cracking roar of the fire.

"No! I never…" Ben muttered as Ami knelt in front of him, her left hand resting on his shoulder to make sure he stayed upright and steady. "I didn't want this."

"Ben, are you okay?" Ami asked, trying to get him to look her in the eyes. But his dark eyes wouldn't. She squeezed his shoulder a little too tightly, but it seemed to snap him out of the shock.

"Rin."

Tears spilled over the edge of her eyes as a pathetic smile graced her lips. She lunged forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, and eventually he wrapped his arms around her as well, also clinging to the back of her soot coated robe. She clung to the fabric of his tan tunic, her tears sullying it. But a sliver of relief and happiness managed to float around in her chest despite all of the confusion and pain that was trying to overtake her small figure.

"Everyone is gone," she sobbed. "I-I can't sense anybody. It's just us."

Ben nodded, but his hold on his younger cousin slowly slipped away. "It's all his fault, Rin. He just couldn't accept me, so all of this happened because of him."

"What? Who?" she asked, allowing her grip to loosen, but not release. She pulled back just enough to look up into his eyes as he tried to fill in the blanks for her.

"He attacked me, Rin. In my sleep," Ben started to say. "Luke," he explained. "Your father. He tried to kill me."

"What?" Ami gasped, her hold instantly dropping. She took a few stunned steps back. "No, that's impossible. He'd never hurt you, Ben. We're family."

"He tried to kill me because he knows how powerful I am! It's why he's always favorited you! Because he knew that if he put more effort into me I'd overpower everyone. We all knew this! He said we were all equal, but we all knew that was bantha shit. I was the prize pupil."

None of this made any sense to Ami. Ben had always been very strong with the Force. Sometimes he took the criticism from Luke a little too hard, she supposed. And yes, maybe Luke was a little hard on him sometimes, but it was because he knew Ben could handle being pushed further. He pushed him because he knew he was capable of being an incredibly strong Jedi. The two men were alpha males, so they would clash heads every so often. After all, it was not Luke's way to teach them to feel no emotions; that was the way of the old Jedi Order, what was taught in that small, single copy of the Jedi Path that was currently tucked in the pocket of her robes.

"What are you talking about, Ben? I don't understand? Where is this all coming from? Where's Dad?"

"He's dead."

Dead.

Dead.

Luke Skywalker, Jedi Master, founder of the very Jedi Temple they were standing in as it crumbled to ash around them was dead. It explained why Ami hadn't been able to Force Sense him as she scanned the wreckage for survivors. Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, son of the late Senator Padmé Amidala Naberrie, former elected Queen of Naboo and Ami's namesake and the Jedi Knight (and Sith Lord) Anakin Skywalker - Darth Vader, and brother to Senator Leia Organa-Solo, and father to Ami Norin Skywalker was dead.

"I killed him, Ami. I had to, you must understand. He was going to kill me," Ben tried to explain, as if his reasoning was justified. "Eventually, he would've done the same to you. At least now he's one with the Force, and he can be with your mother again. Now, together, we can leave. We can go! Supreme Leader Snoke will train us. And we can be-"

"Snoke?!" Ami gaped, her hands shaking. "The Dark Side? You're turning to the First Order? Ben, you know where this leads! Even our grand-"

"Darth Vader! We can finish what he began. We can do him proud," Ben went on.

"Stop! Just stop, Ben!" Ami screamed, moving closer to him. "I'm begging you, please." She grabbed his shoulders and gave him a firm shake, but he lifted his arms and pushed her back a bit. "I know you've always felt like you were different, and that you had to hide part of yourself, but turning into a Sith isn't the way. This, this," she moved her hands to cradle his face, "isn't the way to become one with yourself. I heard what you were saying when I found you. You didn't-" she said, her voice cracking, "you didn't mean for this to happen. You didn't want this. We can still make things right. There's still hope." Biting her lip in a last ditch effort to save her cousin, her best friend, Ami held out her left and held it out for him just as she had done many times before. "We can make this right, Ben. Just come with me."

But Ben didn't move. He looked at her, eyes unwavering. "You're so much like him, you know that?" he said softly, voice breaking a bit. "Too much so. I'd hoped you'd join me. I suppose that was wishful thinking."

"Just take my hand, Ben," Ami begged. "Please. Let's go home."

"You're not going to let me go," Ben said. "It's not in your nature. So now you'll have to join them in the Force."

It took all Ami's speed to reach and activate her lightsaber in time to clash against Ben's. Blue met blue in a loud zapping clash. There was so much force behind the strike that Ami stumbled back, and kept going to create a little bit of safe distance between the two in order to regain a little bit of composure; she was going to need as much composure as she could obtain if she was going to be forced to kill Ben.

The two testingly swung their swords in an attempt to strike the other into thinking they were making the first move, to make a mistake. But Ben and Ami had spared many times together. They knew their styles. They knew how the other thought, felt, and moved. But this was all together something very different. Now instead of training, they were really going to fight. They were going to fight to the death.

Ben moved first, striking from above their heads, and Ami met it with great ease. The two separated again. It was a waiting game. Neither of them wanted this fight to go on, but the longer it went, the greater the chances that perhaps, just maybe, one of them would concede and go with the other. At least, that was what they really hoped for. Ami would never give up. He'd either return to her, or die.

Ami moved second, swinging from the left, then from the right, but each swing was met with the flash and clash of Ben's lightsaber. Ben's counter was to roll his blade against her own in an attempt to loosen her grasp on the halt to disarm her. Her hold was too steady. The only way to get that blade out of her hand was to cut off her limbs.

Ben moved in again, striking the top of her saber. He used to bounce back from the strike to move in for a strike lower on the blade. The blades clashed, and instead of allowing Ben to push harder into it, she sidestepped and allowed her blade to graze against his. With each strike of their lightsabers, their feet moved through the blazed huts, and over the top of the kill from which Ami first laid her blue eyes on the inferno.

Ami stepped over the body of a young boy. Luz with the warmest of brown eyes, green hair, and a laugh that could get the most bitter of species to smile and laugh along with him. Half of his body was charred from the kindle that had trapped him, while his face rested with a cold expression. He'd never seen his death coming.

A new fire ignited, but the destruction it would cause was invisible to the naked eye. The fire was the pain and anger inside her chest, overpowering the sweet heart that was frantically pumping life through her body. Luz had just a boy of ten. He was supposed to have a full ahead of him, but instead he was betrayed by one of the very men he looked up to with his whole being. Fury was an emotion practically forgein to the young woman of twenty-one. She'd known that emotions were things to be kept in check, but they were not the undoing of everything as the old Jedi Order had taught. But now, as the poison moved through her veins corrupting her, she knew that this was exactly what they'd been trying to avoid. This feeling, the power that she could feel inching its way to her fingers was absolutely terrifying.

Fear was a great motivator, but fear led to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate led to suffering, and suffering was exactly what was happening to Ami. All of that anger and fear was so very painful. It was overwhelmingly painful. And all that pain had come from the actions of someone she cared so deeply for. Someone that was feeling the same things she was feeling, but because of Luke, and even herself.

Ben lunged forward with an attack that looked like it was going to be met with the tip of her own blade, but he changed direction mid stride to strike at the abdomen. Ami stepped back again and Ben's blade only managed to rip a tear into the front left panel of her robe, but her foot fell on top of a rock hidden from the overgrown grass atop the hill. She'd been so focused on how she was feeling, and the pain she could sense radiating off of Ben that she hadn't been paying attention to her surroundings.

Ami toppled backwards, rolling over and over even with her attempts to grab a hold of the grass to top her momentum. The saber flew out of her right hand and though this left her unprotected, she was able to finally grab a hold of grass. Just as she did so, her body flew over the side of the cliff overlapping the rapids. Her stomach sank just like when a ship entered into lightspeed. But the feeling only lasted a moment as her grip on the grass remained and caused her body to slam into the rock wall. The dirt and grass ripped out of the ground and the rock base, littering her face before it fell the rest of the thirty or so feet to the water below.

The left hand still remained. She cried out in pain, but at least she was alive and had a grip. She could've very well have nearly dislocated her shoulder, or torn some important ligaments.

Before Ami could even reach up with her right hand, her left wrist was grabbed painfully, causing her to release her hold on the grass. She did not fall, however. Ami's big eyes looked up to the man that was holding her his life in his hand. His brow was furrowed, his brown eyes never leaving the girl he once considered the closest person he's ever been with.

"Ben," Ami said, a smile starting to form on her lips. Ben grabbed a hold of her. He'd stopped her from descending to her death.

But as the smile formed, he shook his head. "Goodbye, Rin," he said. His hold remained on her wrist, but he still had his lightsaber in the other. He slashed, severing the limb at the shoulder.

In the end, Ben had taken Ami's hand, just as she'd offered it. She'd been the one to always offer him support, to pull him out of despair and darkness that he often tried to hide. He was the one to sever it off, not just at the wrist, nor the forearm, but the base of the shoulder. In a way, it showed her in those final moments before Ami fell that she'd never have the chance to offer anything with it again. He knew that if he didn't do it, if he didn't cut it off, anc cut her down, there was no guarantee that he wouldn't have accepted her love.

Ben Solo was gone, and the man that would later be known as Kylo Ren took his place as he cut off his ties when he let Ami fall to her death.


It had been two years, and recalling the events still brought the raw emotions she'd felt that day back to her. Ami Rin Skywalker was dead, not because her body was gone, but because she had to be for her own safety. At least, for the time being. There had been so much Ami still had to learn that she couldn't do so if the First Order knew she was alive, so she became Adali.

The moment she'd gotten to the part where she found the temple in ruins and ablaze, the tears were released like a broken dam. Adali hadn't been able to hold anything back. She'd cried that night, and on the anniversary of the even, but she'd otherwise refused to let herself be dictated by her grief. She'd been lucky to make it out of that situation with her life, a missing arm or otherwise. There were so many others that hadn't lived to see the sunrise, something Adali had only managed to do because of an assumption of her death by the very person that caused all of that suffering in the first place.

"I didn't doubt the truth behind your words, but hearing the whole story makes it feel so much more real," Leia stated.

"You have to have so many questions," Adali said. "And I'll do my best to tell you everything. But you have to know that I tried, I really did. And I'm not done trying. Ben, he's still here, I know it. I can feel it."

"I know, sweetheart," Leia said, placing a gentle hand on her cheek. "I know exactly how you feel. So deeply. It's a curse to feel everything so deeply. Something the Skywalker's seem to always suffer from."

"Or a blessing," Adali said, a sad smile gracing her lips. She leaned her face into the soft, aging skin of Leia's hand. God, she'd missed the woman and her tender love. "Just depends on how you look at it."

Leia smiled back at her with the same sad expression. "I do have my things I wish to clarify," she said. "But perhaps we should eat first. I suspect we'll need our strength to get through it, and I know I won't have an appetite after."

"Food sounds perfect."


Yup, so Adali is a Skywalker. Surprise...Okay, I know. Not the most original idea, but I do have a lot planned that involves trust and anonymity. I hope you stick with me and enjoy the adventure that awaits these characters! And just for the record, she will be mainly called Adali for the most part. Only times she'll be referred to as Ami is if there are scenes that take place before she adopted the new identity. That, or if a character that knew her before comes back and refers to her as Ami.

Thanks to the following for their review on the previous chapter:

Jedi Jesla777 - I'm so glad you loved it! This one is a little less action packed, but there was still fighting, plus answers, as well as emotional turmoil.