"Is she all right?" Han asked when Luke entered the Falcon's main hold.
Luke nodded. "She seems to be."
"Seems?" Han looked at him with an expression that was hard to read.
"Well... She'll seem perfectly fine one minute, and the next will go and do something way off the charts."
"Oh."
Luke glanced at the flowered vest that Han was wearing and chuckled. "Speaking of off the charts... that vest looks good on you."
Han sighed and rolled his eyes at his brother-in-law.
~*~*~*~*~
Mara was dancing in another part of the Falcon, her eyes closed, letting the force guide her steps.
Around and around she went, in a calming, meditative rhythm.
Images of people floated through her mind's eye. People she was close to, served, loved.
Her parents.
Luke.
Ben.
The family she'd had before, the man who took her and made her his own in every way.
The family she'd gained in all the struggle. That she had nearly lost because she had refused to believe or even trust ever again to avoid the pain of another separation.
The man she loved.
The child she cherished, and the one yet to come.
The pain of indoctrination, of evil's mask settling down upon her.
Mara spun and turned, blocked and waited. Listened.
What would have happened if she'd stayed in the house, Mara wondered.
In answer to the unspoken question, a series of events unfolded in front of her:
A man in the heat of battle, calling out orders and not seeing the blow that strikes him down. That same man lying next to a woman in bed, a menacing figure holding a knife, and lashing out. That same battle again, only this time without the man, and this time they lose.
The woman finding the man on the ground after the battle and letting out a heart-wrenching cry of grief.
A funeral. The woman laying a familiar flower on the casket. Three young people joining the woman at the graveside.
The woman standing outside in the darkness, staring up at the night sky.
The woman being presented with military honors for the dead.
As the images faded, Mara opened her eyes and considered what she had seen. She really had saved her parent's lives by going outside that night. Her father was no longer alive, but her mother was.
What was she like? Would she want to see her?
Mara sighed, not wanting to think of all the uncertainties, and went to join her husband in the main hold.
~*~*~*~*~
Far away on Naboo, Widia stared up at the night sky, wondering if her daughter was even out there.
Even after all this time, she refused to give up hope.
"Mom?"
Widia whirled around at the voice of her son and smiled. "What is it, Torath?"
"Jaelle said you'd be out here, star gazing." He glanced up at the night sky and then looked at her again. "What are you looking for?"
"There's hope out there," Widia said simply.
"For what?"
Widia sighed. She really hadn't wanted to talk to anyone about this, least of all her son. "For Marani."
"Who?"
~*~*~*~*~
On the Falcon, Luke was meditating when Mara came in and sat beside him. "Feel better?"
"Define better," Mara muttered, as she glanced toward their sleeping child.
Luke glanced at her, slightly confused. "Tell me?"
Mara looked away, biting her lip. "He used me. He took me from my parents and he used me."
Wordlessly, Luke took her in his arms. "It's okay, Love. He can't use you anymore."
"That doesn't change it," Mara whispered, barely audible.
"No, no it doesn't." He considered his next words very carefully. "But... it is in the past and it can not be undone."
A soft cry escaped her lips, and she furrowed deeper into his embrace. "I loved him as if he was my father, and he wasn't, Luke. He convinced me that he was. And all along, my parents were alive on some distant planet, fighting for their freedom. And dying." Her voice took on a bitter tinge, and Luke held her, rocking slowly back and forth in an effort to comfort. "If he weren't dead already, the betrayal alone would be worth killing him for."
Luke didn't respond in words as she began to cry in earnest. Instead, he comforted her through their bond long into the night.
~*~*~*~
When Widia didn't respond to the question, Torath grew concerned and put a hand on her shoulder. "Who is Marani, Mom?"
Widia glanced at him, then looked away again and bit her lip to keep back the tears. "It's not important, Torath. Not now."
"Sure it is. Or you wouldn't be out here looking up at the stars... Who is Marani?"
Widia sighed, and let the tears fall. "Marani was... is... your oldest sister."
"Huh?" Whatever he had expected, it wasn't that. "Come again?"
"She was kidnapped before you were born," Widia said by way of explanation. "She was... the reason your father and I joined the planetary rebellion. To fight those who took her. For her."
"How come you never said anything about her before now?"
"It hurt too much, Tor." She finally looked at him and he saw her open tears. "I went to sleep that night confident that I had tucked my daughter into bed, and the next morning... she was gone. No sign of a struggle, nothing was missing from her room like her favorite doll, just... no Marani. We searched the house, the gardens... even the green house, but..." At this, Widia was unable to hold it back any longer. She sat down and sobbed.
Torath, unsure of what to say, sat down, pulled his mother into his arms, and let her cry. They stayed that way for a long while.
~*~*~*~
Jaelle had just finished putting the dinner dishes away when Torath and Widia came back inside together. She watched for a moment as her mother smiled at Torath and then quickly left the kitchen. "Tor?"
"Not now, Jae."
Jaelle glanced at him and saw the haunted expression. "Why not? What happened?" She closed the cupboards, turned around, leaned against the counter, and waited, eyebrows raised.
"Mom let some pent-up emotion out, is all. It's been a hard month." Torath knew that was not going to satisfy his sister and took a deep breath, waiting for the push.
Jaelle nodded, and then looked at him hard. "It wasn't just about Renna, was it? If it were, your eyes wouldn't look so melancholy."
He shook his head. "No, it wasn't about Renna at all... but you'll have to ask her about that. It's the reason she always goes outside after dinner and looks at the night sky."
Jaelle stared at him for a moment, and then did some quick calculating in her head. Her birthday was coming up... in two and a half months. So that meant... "Oh. That."
"Huh?"
She said nothing in reply, just motioned for him to follow as she lead the way to what was formerly their father's study. She rooted around for a few minutes before finding the box she was looking for.
Jaelle sat down and motioned for him to sit next to her on the old couch. "These are from before I was born. Mom and Dad took them down when I was six, just after you were born." She opened the box and showed him one of the pictures. "Mom explained that this was Marani, but didn't say what happened to her."
Torath took the picture and stared at the little girl depicted there. She had red hair, green eyes, and was smiling. "This is Marani?"
"So the story goes. After the war was over, I finally got to look at some official records about her, and... Mom was seven months pregnant with me when she was taken." Jaelle paused and smoothed out her younger brother's unruly hair.
"Stop that," Torath muttered playfully, swatting her hand away.
"Not as long as you complain about it, brother darling. Do you and your wife even own a brush?"
Torath rolled his eyes at her. "Alena likes my hair in all its unruly forms."
"Spoken like a true man."
Torath took the box from Jaelle and sorted through pictures, wondering. "Mom didn't ever mention..."
"No, Tor. Not ever." Jaelle glanced off toward the back of the house, and sighed. "But now you know." She motioned for the box and he gave it to her. Jaelle put the lid back on and got up to put it away.
Torath watched her for a long moment. "What do you think about this sister we've never seen?"
Jaelle turned and looked at him, eyebrows raised. "It was a sad event, Torath... Go see if mom needs help, okay?"
Torath shook his head. "Not tonight. I promised Alena that I'd do something and I haven't done it yet."
"Like?"
"Just some preparations for the baby."
"Ah."
~*~*~*~*~
Widia entered her daughter's room and sat down quietly next to the bed.
The young woman on the bed opened her eyes at the squeek of a floor board and smiled. "Hi, mom."
Widia smiled and reached out to brush hair out of her eyes. "You missed dinner."
"Don't mention food," she whispered, and cupped her hand over her mouth.
Widia took a deep breath to steady her nerves as she waited out her daughter's dry heaves. "I'm sorry, Renna."
Renna uncupped her mouth when they ceased. She shook her head slowly. "Don't be sorry, mom. It's not your fault."
Widia leaned on the edge of the bed and ran her hand along Renna's cheek. "Feel dizzy at all?"
"If I tried to walk right now, I'd look drunk," Renna said good-naturedly. "It'll pass, though. It always does."
The frankness of that statement made Widia smile.
"Had a dream a while ago," Renna went on.
"Oh? What about?"
"A red-haired woman that I've never seen before. She was at the door, asking if it was the right house... You were so stunned that you slammed the door in her face... It didn't make any sense."
Widia thought about the dream. A red-haired woman? "What did she look like?"
Renna frowned in concentration, trying to remember the details. "Pretty, like you. Older than Jaelle. She was wearing a green jumpsuit, and had a blond man with her who was a bit taller than she was."
"Was there anything else?" Widia didn't like to probe her daughter for information, but this was getting interesting.
"She feels familiar, but I don't know why. Almost like a friend I haven't seen in years." Renna slowly focused her gaze on her mother. "Don't slam the door in her face, okay?"
Widia smiled at the earnest expression on Renna's face. "Okay. If I see a red-haired pretty woman with a blond man in tow, I won't slam the door in her face."
"Good."
~*~*~*~*~
Luke sat in the cockpit of the Falcon. It was day four of their week-long trip to Naboo, and he was bored and had too much time on his hands. "Hi," he said to Han as he entered and sat down.
"Hi yourself." Han looked out the cockpit window to see the molted expanse of hyperspace. "Never get tired of seeing that."
"It's very blue," Luke observed.
"That it is," Han returned. He glanced at Luke. "Why are you in here instead of in the main hold?"
"Mara wanted some time alone with Ben," Luke calmly explained. "They're reading a book together. Think the title was something like 'Attack of the Extraterrestial Mussels from Planet Rhubarb.'"
"Ah... You're bored, aren't you?"
Luke nodded. "Yes... how are Leia and the kids?"
"When I commed them this morning, everything was fine." Han pulled at his vest. He still didn't like it, but didn't want to upset the former imperial assassin any further by not wearing it. "The kids built a robot that nearly set the palace on fire, but nothing out of the ordinary other than that."
Luke suddenly had a feeling and turned to look at Han seriously. "Do you have any avacados in the food supplies?"
Han thought about it, and shook his head. "No, I don't think there are any. Why?"
"Just this feeling I'm having. We're gonna be at Naboo in two days, right?"
"Right... why avacados?"
Luke motioned toward the main hold where Mara was reading a book to Ben. "Food craving."
"Oh."
~*~*~*~*~
It had been an uneventful couple of days as Han sat down in the pilots seat and prepared to jump back to normal space. When the signal sounded, he pushed the lever and the ship dropped out of hyperspace.
"That's the planet?" Mara asked as she looked over Luke's shoulder. "It's pretty."
"Mara?" Han asked.
"Yes?"
"Do I have to wear the vest out there, too?"
There was a pause. "Yes."
"Then I'm staying with the ship."
~*~*~*~
Mara stared out the window as Luke piloted the land speeder toward their destination, wondering what they might find. Or who.
"Luke?"
"Yes, Mara?"
"Do you think they'll like me?"
"Mara... Of course they'll like you." Luke parked the land speeder at the curb and turned to look at her. Mara was sorting through information on a datapad. He glanced at the large house they were stopped in front of, then turned his attention back to his wife. "Well?"
"The information is strange, but we're at the right place. I think." Mara keyed up some related information and sighed. "I just want to know a little more-hey!"
Luke picked the datapad out of her hands. "We're here, Mara."
She stared at him. "I don't know enough."
He stared back at her with a raised eyebrow. "You know everything you need to know. The people in that house are your family, and you haven't seen them in forever, and..." Luke let the sentence hang there as realization slowly dawned on her face and she got out of the speeder, purpose and determination in her bearing.
Luke shook his head as he heard his son giggle from the back seat.
"Momma silly," Ben said, with a big smile.
Luke laughed. "Yes, Ben. Momma's silly... come on." He helped Ben out of his harness, and together they followed Mara to the door.
He left the datapad in the speeder.
~*~*~*~*~
Widia had just sat down to finish reading a book to Renna, when there came a knock at the door. She glanced at Renna and put the book down. "I'll be right back."
Renna smiled sleepily. "It's okay. Take your time."
She watched as her mother left the room, and suddenly had a flash of that dream again. "I hope she takes my advice."
~*~*~*~*~
Widia opened the front door to find a woman and a man standing there. She stared. The woman matched the description that Renna gave her the day before. "Can I help you?"
The woman stared at her for a really long moment before blinking and throwing an irritated glance over her shoulder at the man. "Um... is this the Jaden residence? Are you Widia Jaden?"
Widia nodded slowly, wondering what was so important that Renna would have a dream about this person. "Yes, this is the Jaden residence, and I am Widia Jaden... Can I help you with something, miss?"
The woman hesitated again, and pulled out a piece of flimsy. "I'm your daughter."
Had it not been for the warning, Widia would have slammed the door. Instead, she just stared in shock. "I'm sorry?" She took the flimsy that the woman handed to her and stared at it, then at the woman, then at the flimsy again. It was a picture of a young girl in a dark outfit. Widia's eyes went wide as she stared at the photo.
It was Marani, a few years older than she'd been when she was taken, and Widia could see the similarities in the woman standing in front of her.
Widia stared, almost lost in the memories, as the realization dawned that her hope had been fulfilled and was standing in front of her on the doorstep. Then she stepped forward, took the woman in her arms, and hugged her.
When they parted, Widia had to wipe tears of joy from her eyes as she smiled and stepped aside to allow them entry. "Would you like to come in? I would love to hear your story."
As they as passed her, Widia finally saw the small boy holding on to the man's hand. He smiled a toothy grin at her.
Widia closed the door and led them to the common room.
In her room, Renna smiled and drifted off to sleep.
