AN: So I'm so worried that the login will be down tomorrow that I'm posting this early, although, in my time zone, it is tomorrow while in California (where this site is run from) it's still yesterday… In other words, it's already April 11 for me so I'm actually on time. Not much to say about this chapter or I'm too tired to think of it one. Thanks for your responses and reviews btw. I hope you like this one/

Read, enjoy, and review!

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Chapter Fourteen

"Where are we going now Han?" Shmi asked him as she watched him plug in a few coordinates.

"I guess you could say I found a job sweetheart," he said to the girl.

"But I thought Leia left us money," Shmi said to him as she sat down near him.

"She left it to take care of you. I don't feel right using it for me kid. Need to make my own money," Han said to her.

Shmi found Han Solo to be a strange man over the last few months. She wasn't too sure what to make of him. One moment he was acting all rough and tough and the next he was gentle and cursing under his breath as he tried to comb her hair out for her (He still couldn't do that right. He always ended up brushing where her montrals would grow too hard). But despite all his oddness, he was a nice man and slowly she stopped missing her sister and mother so much, as Han had done everything he could to keep her happy. One of the things he had done came walking into the cockpit.

"What have I told you about letting that thing in here?" Han asked dryly looking at the tusk cat.

"His name is Kishan," Shmi said pointedly as she rubbed her exotic pet's head. He growled in contentment.

Han would never tell Shmi, but he had come to like the little cub that they had purchased a few months before. It was a very docile animal and Han wasn't sure, but he thought it might have something to do with Shmi's force powers. She was always claiming they had a connection and that he'd never hurt anyone. That didn't stop Han from making sure they dulled the cub's tusk so no accidents would happen. However, Kishan seemed to be very aware that he could accidentally hurt her and was careful about how he played with Shmi.

"At the rate it's growing, we're going to need a bigger ship," Han muttered to the cub that wasn't quite a cub anymore. It was now two and a half feet tall and over a meter long.

"Chewie's bigger than Kishan."

"Chewie doesn't have jaws that can snap a person in half."

Shmi looked at him insulted. "Kishan wouldn't do that!" she exclaimed resting her head on his. "Would you?"

Kishan let out an affectionate growl towards Shmi and then a more hostile one toward Han. Han slid away from him.

"Nothing personal. Just sayin'," he said nervously. That beast was too smart for its own good.

"So where are we going?" Shmi asked again.

"Dathomir," Han replied.

Shmi blinked. "Isn't that a planet full of witches?"

"Don't tell that to them," Han said to her. "But yeah. They generally like to avoid the outside world. So when I told them I had no allegiances right now, they immediately hired me for the job."

"What's an allegiance?"

"Loyalty to any of the people in charge kid," Han said simply.

Shmi nodded and filed the information away for later, something like her sister usually did Han noticed. She was certainly smart for a six year old, sometimes too smart. Han couldn't pull anything past her, but unlike Leia, she never used it to her advantage.

Han sighed a little at that. In the last few months, he hadn't had any contact with Leia or Ahsoka. Not that he really cared at all… Maybe he did miss Leia a little. But his reasons for wanting to contact them had everything to do with Shmi. She was still very playful and teasing, but her sadness had mellowed her out some, made her a more serious child and Han didn't like it as much as he thought he would. It was especially heart wrenching on her birthday a month or so ago. She had looked wistfully out the window for a while as if looking for her mother to come or to see Leia's star fighter. Then she went and locked herself in a room for a while before Han finally got fed up and took her to an amusement park on a nearby world.

Shmi looked out the window later as they came upon the planet. "It's so pretty!"

"Yeah. It is pretty by human standards," Han said.

"Much better than all those other planets we've gone to," Shmi said honestly as they approached the planet.

Chewie growled in agreement with her. The other backwater planets they had been on weren't very welcoming. Shmi had hated Affavan and Tatooine (of which she decided that she hated sand because it got everywhere). However they both changed their minds a little at the coordinates. While the planet as a whole was pretty, the place they had gone to was clouded by red clouds and the plant life was the same hue and dead looking.

Shmi tried not to complain to Han as she stuck close to Kishan who was growling at something.

"Han… Where is everyone?"

Han looked around putting his hand on his blaster. "I don't know kid. But I have a bad feeling about all this. What about you Chewie?"

The wookiee nodded.

"Well since we all seem to be a bit apprehensive about this, how about we leave this dreadful planet…" Threepio said. "It can't be safe for Miss Shmi to be here."

Shmi shook her head. "It's not dangerous…"

"What do you sense kid?" Han asked.

"Darkness," Shmi said oddly calm. "It's feels familiar."

"I'll bet," Han muttered. Her father was Darth Vader.

"The tribe is that way," Shmi said pointing ahead. "I feel people."

"Then that's the way we go kid," Han said though he still had a nice grip on his blaster just in case.

They walked in the direction and sure enough they came upon the village where a 'welcoming' party was waiting.

"Captain Solo," the leader said. "We've been expecting you."

"You already knew we were here," Shmi said suddenly to her.

"What makes you say that child?"

Shmi turned around and pointed to a seemingly random tree. A woman with a hood on and mask over her mouth came from behind it.

"Ah," the woman said and Han couldn't make out whether she was pleased or suspicious, possibly a little of both. "This one's power is strong, familiar even… Who are your parents, child?"

"With all due respect and everything Mother Talzin, we didn't come to discuss my niece's paternity," Han said to her.

"Of course," she said and gestured for them to follow her. "This way Captain Solo. We will discuss the conditions of our agreement."

Talzin led them through the village and into their temple (Shmi guessed it was the equivalent of a palace really as it appeared people lived there also). When they were inside the mother then gestured to Shmi who was looking around in wonder at the place.

"Perhaps you niece would like to spend some time with the sisters her own age or do some exploring of her own? I assure you no harm will come to her."

"What do you say kid?" Han asked her.

Shmi wasted no time running off with Kishan running behind her.

"Oh Miss Shmi. Not so fast!"

"Let her be Threepio. You'll ruin her fun. Let her do some exploring. She needs it after being cooped up on the Falcon for so long. Go find something else to do other than worry after the kid," Han said continuing to follow Talzin.

Shmi looked around the temple in awe and briefly wondered if there were any other children inside that she might be able to play with or whether she would have to go outside and see the village more to find them. Deciding that since she was in the temple it wouldn't hurt to check, she started poking her head around into different rooms.

"There has to be someone," she said making her way through the temple.

Kishan then began to growl, and Shmi narrowed her eyes looking around her before looking up. She couldn't see anything past the shadows of the statues, but she knew someone was there.

"What do you want?" she demanded.

The bald woman jumped down wearing a black version of the red mid-thigh cat suits she had seen the other women warriors wearing.

"Are you always so rude child?"

"Do you always hide in the shadows of ceilings?" Shmi shot back obviously surprising the woman with her wit.

"Didn't your parents ever tell you to respect your elders child?" the woman asked circling her.

"My mother did, but I didn't listen," Shmi said simply sensing that the woman was going to do her no harm and running her hand over her growling cub's head. "It's okay Kishan."

"Odd choice for a familiar, especially for one so young."

"You all have odd choice in clothing," Shmi pointed out in reference to the woman's outfit.

To Shmi's surprise, she sensed laughter somewhere inside the woman.

"It's been a while since I've come across a child like you… You remind me of someone," she said slowly and then said. "You're not all human are you child."

"My mother's Torgrtua," Shmi said not seeing the harm in telling that tidbit.

"Hmp… I figured as much. Your hue is a little off to be all human," she said and then started to walk past Shmi.

Shmi hesitated only for a moment before turning around to call the woman back. She stopped for a moment.

"I'm waiting for my uncle… Do you know where there are some other children?" she asked shyly.

The woman sighed in agitation before gesturing for Shmi to follow.

"Thank you."

"Better you have something to do than wrecking our temple child," she snapped, but Shmi was unfazed.

"I'm Mimi," Shmi said using the name Han told her to use to strangers. "What's your name?"

Shmi thought the woman wasn't going to reply until she finally replied, "Ventress… Asajj Ventress."

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Luke sighed as he tried in vain to meditate, and it was through no fault of his own. It was Leia… Something was bothering her, and it had been since she came out that cave six months ago when they first came to Dagobah. Since then, he couldn't say whether her training was progressing good or not. Skill wise she had definitely improved. She began to see some of the value in the Jedi technique and began to incorporate into her repertoire. However, inside she was conflicted and it was starting to rub off on him.

He got up and found his sister under the hood of his X-wing. She took out what appeared to be the hyper drive and then sat on a log to start tinkering with it.

He leaned against a tree and waited for her to address him.

"What are you doing Luke?" she asked.

"What are you doing?"

"Upgrading your X-wing's hyper drive circuitry apparently," Leia replied curtly.

Luke raised his eyebrows at her. "You know how to do that?"

"Dad taught me everything he could about mechanics. It was our thing. He would come home and we would spend hours in the garage modifying engines, personalizing speeders… He would usually leave me a project and inspect my work when he came back months later," she said sighing.

"You're bothered by something."

"How do you know?"

"It's hard to ignore through our bond. Besides, you always go find something to fix when you're bothered, even when it doesn't need fixing."

Leia smiled a little as she cut a wire on the part. "Dad always said things seem so much simpler when you're fixing something."

Luke personally thought it was his sister's way of convincing herself that she was in control when she felt like things were spiraling out of her hands. She could control whatever she was fixing. It would never get beyond her control. He knew how she felt. He spent many days messing around with alliance speeders and start fighters when he felt he wasn't in control of his life.

He sat next to her to help her do whatever she was trying to do.

"So what's on your mind?"

Leia stayed silent for a moment and then looked up at him. "What do you know about mom?"

"Our mother?" Luke asked in surprise and Leia nodded. "Why do you ask?"

"Is it so shocking?" she asked with a smile playing her lips.

"No… It's just you ask about her about as often as I ask you about dad."

"Translation: Never," Leia concluded. "Just tell me what you know."

"You know everything there is to know. She was the Queen of Naboo when she was fourteen and met dad shortly afterwards. Then she fell in love with dad and married him ten years later when she was a senator, and finally died when she had us three years later," Luke said simply.

"That's one hell of a way to condense it."

Luke laughed. "Well what do you want me to say?"

"Do you know what she was like? Her personality," Leia asked him.

"Obi-wan said she was very passionate about everything she did, believed in freedom and democracy with all her heart. She believed in the good of everyone and always had faith in the good she saw in people. The republic was her everything after dad and us," Luke said.

Leia paused her work on the hyper drive before saying, "Ahsoka told me that she died of a broken heart. That she didn't want to live anymore because she had nothing to live for."

"That's more or less what Obi-wan told me," Luke agreed.

"But I don't get it. We were alive," Leia whispered. It had never quite settled with her that her mother could die because she lost the will to live when she had two newborn babies to live for. Then she added, "Dad was still alive. He loved her with all his heart."

"I don't know about that," Luke said scowling.

"Why do you say that?"

"I made Obi-wan tell me what really happened the day we were born and he said that dad tried to kill our mother," he said bluntly.

Leia looked up at Luke in obvious surprise which in turn surprised Luke. Leia was rarely, if ever, surprised.

"You're lying," she finally said glaring at him.

"That's what Obi-wan said," Luke replied. "He said dad choked her."

Leia clenched her jaw and turned back to the hyper-drive. "It might be true, but I know for a fact that the Jedi have a way of coloring the truth to make it look like something else."

"It's still the truth," Luke said.

"Telling a half-truth is a lie," Leia snapped. "I know my dad. I know he wouldn't do that without a reason."

"He betrayed her Leia," Luke said.

"You don't know our dad. He's the most loyal person I know. I'm not saying he wasn't wrong if that's what he did. I know he has an awful temper. Daddy and Ahsoka's relationship wasn't always blumfruit and lilies. It still isn't, but there's something else missing from this story. I don't think Obi-wan and Yoda told you the whole truth," Leia replied.

"You're calling them liars."

"That's exactly what I'm calling them."

Luke groaned. "Name one instance."

Leia scoffed. "Remember this one? Darth Vader betrayed and murdered your father," she said mocking Obi-wan's accent and passiveness before saying, "Certain point of view…"

"Well then I don't know what you want me to tell you," Luke snapped. "The only other person that was there you could ask isn't here."

"Who?" Leia asked.

"Ahsoka. She was there when it happened. Something tells me she might understand it more than the Jedi do, but don't tell them I said that."

"What makes you say so?"

"Because even after all that she knew he wouldn't hurt you when she took you to him. And although force knows I don't understand why, she loves him anyway. So she must know something, see something our mother didn't," Luke said to her.

Leia paused. That was certainly in the truth. In her vision, Ahsoka had been standing next to her dad. What did that mean? She didn't dwell on it though.

"What do you think mom would have done if she had lived?" Leia asked finally. "Do you think she would have accepted him? Do you think Ahsoka would have gone to find him and tell him about us?"

"I can't say. All I know is that mom loved democracy and the republic with everything in her so when it was destroyed and dad was the one who did it, it tore her apart," Luke said.

Leia was silent for a moment again before adding, "Do you think she would have wanted us to fight for it?"

"No doubt there," Luke said to her. "Why are you asking me all this?"

"I'm trying to make sense of my vision," Leia replied. "Mother was in it, so it makes sense to find out all I can about her to understand it."

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Shmi watched the girls in front of her with wide eyes. She wished she could train with them.

"What's are they doing?" she asked Ventress.

"Child, I have better things to do than to sit here explain such things to you," Ventress said crossing her arms and cocking her hip out to the side.

"You do know I can tell when you're lying?" Shmi asked her.

"Can you?"

"Oh yeah," Shmi said looking at the children. "You just don't want to be around a spoiled brat like me."

"What makes you say that?"

"I can read minds too," Shmi said with a smirk.

"I can tell when you're lying too child."

"Fine," Shmi said. "But other people have called me that."

"Is it true?"

"My sister says I am a brat. But I'm not spoiled," Shmi said to her. "Now will you tell me what they're doing?"

Ventress sighed impatiently at the girl. "Learning to imbue their magic through an object, most of the time a weapon."

"It's like a lightsaber…" Shmi muttered.

"What do you know about lightsabers child?"

"Why do you call me child? Can't you say my name?" Shmi asked.

Ventress got the point. The girl wasn't going to tell her.

"Could I learn to do that?" Shmi asked curiously.

Ventress laughed. "As if mother would accept a stray child to learn our ways."

"I won't be stray for long. Me and my uncle will be coming back here a lot if he gets this job."

"Hmp," was all the woman said and Shmi crossed her arms. "We'll see about that. Even if you could, I doubt your Jedi mother would want you to."

"My mother's not a Jedi," Shmi said.

"I still doubt she'd like you learning of the dark side child," Ventress said.

"The force has a dark side?"

"What has your mother taught you child?"

"Mimi."

Ventress only put her hand on her hip impatiently.

"She never said the force had a dark side," Shmi finally said and was silent.

"Hey kid!"

Shmi turned to see Han coming to find her with Mother Talzin and her guards coming with him.

"Ah. I see you've met one of our best warriors," Talzin said to Shmi.

Shmi nodded and before Ventress could say anything said, "She's going to teach me how to do that?"

Shmi nodded her head to where the other girls her age were training.

"I never said such a thing child," Ventress snapped harshly to her.

Mother Talzin only laughed. "Perhaps the next time you are here child, we will show you something."

Shmi glanced at Ventress who only scowled and walked away.

Han grabbed Shmi's hand and started to leave.

"Talk about an attitude problem," Han muttered. In his opinion, they all needed an attitude check. He'd taking Leia driving him crazy any day. at least she wasn't sexist…

Shmi took one last glance back as they started to leave. "I like them."

"Coming from the daughter of Darth Vader, it's not all that surprising…" Han said trialing off. He would never understand this girl.

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AN: Nothing to say really except this chapter does play a role. I found I like the Nightsister concept and I wanted to bring Ventress into this because I liked her character and she plays into Shmi's personality development later. I was up in the air about it as it isn't really revealed what happened to Ventress and I figure I'll let the TV Show deal with that and if I'm wrong, whatever. I'd like to thin k she went back home to stay in hiding away from the empire and Darth Vader. I considered adding more to this chapter to help explain that, but it would have been pointless or simply extras that didn't fit right. Maybe later. I'll leave it up to you all to decide what you think.

Hope you enjoyed. Review Please!