Chapter 2

On the Edge

Leia sat on the couch with Luke. Despite the fact that Luke was abnormally calmer than she was about the incident with Anakin, she could tell he was withholding what he was actually thinking. Leia knew her brother well enough to tell he had some thoughts on the subject that were less than satisfactory and possibly unpleasant. So her inviting him to come over to the Solo's home had its ulterior motives, though not necessarily hostile as often ulterior motives in their galaxy tended to be.

"Do you want some coffee?" Leia asked. Luke nodded silently, barely shifting his head otherwise. He clasped his hands in front of him.

"Leia, I think we both know why you invited me over here."

"Does that mean you're going to tell me what you're thinking?" She raised an eyebrow as she poured the coffee. Luke seemed like he was debating what to say.

"Luke, I think I've been through just as much as you have. Don't forget Darth Vader was my father too."

Luke opened his mouth then shut it. Leia had that effect on people. She was able to make arguments or at least make the other party listen even if they adamantly disagreed. It both impressed Luke and annoyed him because he knew he couldn't get a word in edgewise unless Leia wanted him to.

"So what is it that you seem to not want to tell anyone, hmm? I asked Mara and you won't even talk to her about it."

"Anakin is changing."

"I guessed that much." Leia answered. Luke gave her a harsh stare. Sometimes she reminded him of… he dropped the thought. He sat for a few moments, occasionally taking a sip of coffee, trying to figure out how to form the words he was about to say. It bothered him that at this point, explaining something or anything for that matter to his sister was still difficult.

"Not in the way we both think, Leia. He's not turning to the dark side." Luke paused to look at Leia who was now silent herself. "I think there's a point at which we as children realize how vulnerable we are as human beings and moreover, how vulnerable our friends and family are."

Leia let out a sigh. "Luke, I don't know if that's what it is."

"Isn't it?" Luke gazed at her. "Wasn't there a point where you realized that your parents, no matter how strong, were just that- people?"

"Luke, I think you're oversimplifying things."

He shook his head. "I don't. You know that I rarely give a simple answer when I could explain matters more thoroughly."

"Still, how does that relate to Anakin?"

"Just like we did our adoptive parents, Anakin has realized that you and Han aren't infallible. Only he realized that he can also be the source of that infallibility."

"Wait, you're not saying?" She trailed off as she looked at Luke who nodded. They fell silent. Leia felt herself tire from thinking about the last time she'd given much thought to how much Anakin, no, not just Anakin, all her children had grown up. Jacen and Jaina had certainly grown into two capable adults, who loved their family and friends. But they weren't dependent on their parents so much anymore. Leia didn't think much about how her youngest son would someday do the same.

"So why did he run away?"

"I believe he's just confused. He's sixteen years old, Leia. Despite all the responsibilities we give him, we tend to forget that teens are children who are trying to understand the world. It's just easier to know about the world with the force that we don't realize how much we don't know. The same goes for children, teens, and even adults."

Leia's face turned a little pale. "I hope he's alright."

"I'm sure he is. We'd have felt something if he wasn't. But Anakin needs to figure this out on his own."

"I feel a but coming." She narrowed her eyes at her brother.

"Tahiri left last night. I think we both know where." Luke fixed her with an equally serious gaze.

Leia didn't even bother to nod. She posed the question that popped into her head the moment Luke said that, "Do Kam and Tionne know?"

Luke shook his head and sighed, rubbing his temples, "I was on my way to tell them after we had our discussion. They have a right to know and to go after her. She will be easier to track than Anakin will."

Leia suddenly laughed. Luke paused and stared curiously at his sister. "What?"

"Luke, it just occurred to me that we're the ones who don't get it."

Luke had a bemused expression on his face, "Oh?"

"I'm not going to tell you, Luke. You should already know. I'll let Anakin do what he needs to." She stood up, "Thank you for the coffee. Tell Kam and Tionne I said hello." Leia made her way to the door, opened it, and turned to wink at her brother before closing it behind her. This left Luke feeling completely confused, when at the start of the conversation he thought he was the one who had a grapple on the understanding of Anakin's actions.

Anakin didn't really have any idea where he was going. To be honest, all he knew is that he wanted was to get away from his family for a while. Anakin wasn't sure how long that would be and he didn't care too much at the moment. He switched his ship into auto-pilot while he grabbed some food from his supply bag. As he ate he mulled over the recent events.

Ever since he got back from Serpindal, it was like he didn't exist to his father or to his siblings. Every time the subject of the war came up, which it was bound to since no one seemed to want to talk about anything else, he was the first to get grilled for anything and everything he'd done wrong. Anakin knew perfectly well that his father was wrong and that he shouldn't be so hard on his youngest son, but it was that fact that he couldn't talk to his father about. That for once, Anakin had to face that his father, Han Solo, had no answer to what had happened. That Chewie had died but there really wasn't a real place to put the blame, and usually there was someone there. The Empire, the local ruffians, and the Yuuzhan Vong. This time, when Han knew he couldn't simply explain off the death on the Yuuzhan Vong or anyone, he couldn't cope. Anakin hated seeing his father like that. He put aside the food bag and scanned ahead to see if anyone was in the open space.

Just as he was about to turn his attention to something else, Anakin's radar beeped. He cursed under his breath as something shook his ship. He checked his radar as five Yuuzhan Vong fighters approached him, firing at will.

"Two can play at that game." He muttered and switched to guns. Since he was in a fighter himself, he could maneuver as well as any of the enemy pilots. Anankin flipped and then rattled the enemy's "cockpits" with lasers.

"Fiver, give me a reading on them." He called into the comlink. His droid whirred and whistled several noises. Anakin cursed a second time. "Well, give me something to shoot at or we're both toast."

"Well, at least things can't get any worse," but when he checked his radar again, more dots had appeared and out of the corner of his window he could see larger ships looming behind the smaller coral skippers. Anakin sighed as he thought, Famous last words.

Tahiri had never felt more tense. Anakin had done plenty of dumb things. Since their academy days, idiocy seemed to be a trait Anakin embodied with his heart and soul. She guessed that's why she started calling him "Dummy" more often than Anakin. At this point Tahiri wasn't sure what she thought about Anakin Solo. He was also introverted and held a lot of internal secrets as well as untapped potential as a Jedi but lately she hadn't paid any attention to that.

She had noticed Anakin was more serious of late. He hadn't come by but once before he ran away and even then was enough to notice that he was no longer the boyish kid he used to be. She wasn't sure she could say the same for herself. Tahiri had always embodied energetic qualities and with that came a love for talking. Anakin never seemed to mind that, but she wondered if he actually was annoyed with her constant barrage of questions, comments, and most recently, her new love of sarcasm. She had been traveling for a while and decided to take a break.

She leaned back in her chair, trying to reach out in the force. Nothing. Anakin's presence was shrouded in a whirl of emotions and now who knew how many light-years and planets. She tried again a few more times before sighing. It wasn't like she had expected him to respond right away but the fact that she couldn't feel his presence was troubling. She knew he wasn't dead, but he just wasn't anywhere that she could reach in the force. Maybe it had to do with the distance? She shook her head and decided to keep moving through space.

When had Anakin begun to change so much? She didn't know. It was as though suddenly he had come back from fighting the Yuuzhan Vong and stood taller, his shoulders had grown out more and she even noticed that his jaw was becoming more structured. Through the force she could feel something strange going on, like she didn't recognize the emotions or thoughts emanating from her best friend. He was leaving her behind, she didn't know how to talk to him anymore. Walking with him was even harder because neither one of them knew what to do, maybe it did have to do with the fact that both of them hadn't seen each other in a long time. Small talk was all they managed before Anakin had to go help his uncle with something.

It wasn't like he hadn't done any of those things before. Anakin had always been eager to leap at any opportunity to help, he was impatient and hated waiting and doing nothing when everyone else was involved in an activity, no matter how simple it was.

Tahiri's thoughts broke as she noticed something on her radar. Dozens of little dots were beeping. Without a second thought she started up the ship again and zoomed towards the location on her radar.

Luke waited his office for the knock he had been expecting for about fifteen minutes. Not that he hadn't expected anything else. The person he was waiting for had always been late by at least an hour to all his lessons, and because of that, missed them frequently. It wasn't any different now, though Luke had hoped that some maturity had checked in. Maybe it was too much to expect of someone who had cared so little about matters outside of his own concerns. Luke was even reluctant to ask him to do the favor he had in mind. Considerably, if the person walked in now, Luke would count it as an improvement. There were pressing matters at hand and the galaxy needed all the help it could get at the moment.

Luke checked his watch then looked up as the door finally zoomed open.

"Sorry about that, too many people to talk to." the man said as he came in, "Too many people remember me, it's a little unnerving."

The man was younger than Luke, he was in his late twenties, short blonde crew cut hair with dark hair underneath flat against his head. He had brilliant green eyes and a smile like no other. It was obvious that he had no worries in his mind and was smug because he stood casually near Luke's desk.

"So," He said, looking at Luke as he sat down, "What can I do for my old Master?"