Dear Qui-Gon,

I have managed to speak to Bail Organa, although it took re-routing of the comm call over several secure channels and relayed by his ship the Tantive IV to further scramble in case he is being watched by the Emperor, as he suspects he is.

He seemed grateful to hear from me, and as I suspected little Leia's Force powers are also starting to manifest. She has such a keen intuition, or so Bail told me with some pride, almost as if she can read minds and I wonder if perhaps she can. She is highly intelligent for a four year old, although I suspect Bail may be exaggerating somewhat, having easily fallen into the role of proud father. And yet he does not fear Leia's skills as Owen and Beru fear Luke – perhaps he is more wordly, or perhaps he is simply better acquainted with the Jedi as a force for good.

Bail was always one of our greatest friends and champions, and I will never forget that when the Jedi Temple on Coruscant burned, he was the one who went to investigate, and when he discovered the horrible truth, he was the one who came looking for us.

Leia is a princess, Bail told me, and although she may be a prodigy he assures me that it will raise few eyebrows on Alderaan, a planet of high culture who expect their heir to be astounding. But it seems she can also be quite the hellion; stubborn and defiant, and there have been a few outbursts – one of her tantrums caused a power outage throughout the palace, and she once managed to mind-trick her nanny into giving her extra cake. This concerns me, and I offered to come to Alderaan to see if I can assist, but Bail assures me she has tutors and instructors of the highest calibre who will teach her control. A princess must be self-possessed and poised, and she will soon learn to discipline herself.

I am not so sure, and urged Bail to contact me if anything seems amiss.

But it is not all bad – Bail told me she has frequent dreams filled with oceans of sand, and tells Bail she's made friends with "the boy who lives in the sun." A childhood fancy, perhaps, but I am not surprised that she and Luke may be reaching out to each other somehow – they are twins after all.

However I am not displeased to stay on Tatooine for a while, now that I have made a breakthrough with Owen and Beru.

As I write this Anakin's lightsaber sits on the table before me, and my greatest hope is to one day pass it down to Luke – I will tell him only the good of his father, I have decided. I will tell him about the Anakin I remember – my dear friend who craved adventure, who was fiercely loyal, who flew a Starfighter like no one I had ever seen and who was always by my side when I needed him.

I will not tell him of how I cut off his father's legs and left him to die on those sulphur banks beside the river of fire on Mustafar, of how I stole his lightsaber while my friend burned, crying out in agony. I wish I'd had the courage to end it there, and yet I know even if I was faced with Dark Vader now I would not be able to strike. My friend is gone, and yet I know that I could not kill even the shell that remains, and I hate my own weakness. Yet I have his blade – that symbol of a Jedi. At the time I was so angry I had picked up the saber from the black sand, thinking that Anakin no longer deserved it, even facing his death. Now I have resolved to keep it for Luke, the only part of his father the boy will ever have.

But I can never tell him the truth – even if he is to become a Jedi, he can never know about his father. I admit a part of this is selfish – how can I tell the boy of how terribly I failed Anakin? How could I expect him to trust me to teach him, if he knows what I did?

I must focus on the present. The future will take care of itself, and will not come sooner by be worrying about it. I must remind myself of the victories I have had – Luke is under my protection, and I am closer than ever. Surely even Yoda must be pleased with this development!

Ben Kenobi