Trigger Warning: This chapter touches on infertility a bit. Absolutely no graphic details, but it may be a potential emotional trigger.

Chapter 6 – An Itchy Plight

"Hello, Obi-Wan," Tel-Mac greeted him with a smile.

"Yuck," Maris Brood wailed when she saw the mud she had just stepped in had splashed onto her outfit.

"Hmm, Not a very pleasant place, I do admit. But we have a task here," said Obi-Wan.

"Alright, where did that little man leave his stuff?" Maris said.

"You mean Master Yoda." Tel-Mac corrected her.

"I mean I want to get out of here and wash all of Dagobah off me," Maris replied.

"Come on then. He said his cabin was this way." Obi Wan pointed and the others turned to follow him.


Late the night before, Yoda and Obi-Wan met to talk.

"Worried for our two youngest council members, I am. Strange to give the young so much power, it is," said Yoda.

"Yes, it is definitely new. You know I could go spend some time with them, sometime. Give them a little mentoring advice. Try to build up a rapport. Make sure they have their head on their shoulders, so to speak," Obi-Wan offered.

"Aah Yes. A good idea, this seams."

"Yes, Yes…" Obi Wan was just thinking about when he could plan on doing this.

"Tomorrow, you will go," Yoda said. Obi-Wan winced, but Yoda didn't notice. "A mission for you, I have. Belongings, I left when convinced me to leave Dagobah, you did. Send you all, I shall." Yoda walked away smiling, excited with his new idea. Obi-Wan nodded his resignation with a sigh. He'd have to go to Dagobah tomorrow after all.


Obi-Wan, Maris, and Tel-Mac walked up to a small door of a hut in the middle of the swamp. Obi-Wan made a show of opening the door and waving his hands to the other two to enter first.

"Uh, It's a little small. I don't know if I'll fit." Tel-Mac bowed his six foot frame to peer into the hut.

"Oh, what did you expect from our short green master." Maris bent over and pushed ahead of Tel-Mac and into the hut.

"At the time he was hiding here with a bunch of younglings," Obi-Wan added with a shrug.

When the last two men made it inside they found Maris pulling out and going through several, half packed boxes. "How much of this junk does he want?"

"I think he wants all of it." Obi Wan picked up a pot and threw it into one of the boxes.

Maris winced. "You and Master Yoda have one thing in common, neither of you know how to pack." Maris ran over and wrapped the pot in some paper that happened to be lying around, then placed it in a more ideal location in a different bag.

"So Maris," Obi wan started. "How has it been on Falucia. That's where you and Shaak Ti have been staying, right?"

"Yeah, It's comfortable. Well sort of. Passable, at least. Tell me this, you and Anakin are a team, right. So why'd we get stuck on this delivery duty with you?"

"Oh, ah," Obi-Wan didn't actually think he'd be asked this, so he came up with the easiest answer. "Anakin has got somewhere he has to be. A community event for wherever he's staying."

"Hm? You and Anakin aren't staying in the same location," Tel-Mac questioned.

"No, I'm actually not sure where he's staying at," admitted Obi Wan.

"It's easy to determine." Maris put down the box she was packing and pulled out a datapad from her pocket. "You said he's got a community event today."

"Is that using the HoloNet. You can't use the HoloNet, the empire is controlling it. They'll track us." Tel-Mac wrinkled his eyebrows with disdain.

"I've hacked it. Don't worry," Maris defended.

"Trust your fellow Jedi more," Obi-wan counseled. To this Tel-Mac made an expression similar to the ones Anakin made during similar counseling moments. Must be universal, Obi-Wan thought.

"Today there's an annual flight stunt event by the Zillian Flyers in the Kessel System, or a holiday known as Harvest Day on Tatooine," Maris read.

"The Zillian Flyers, that makes sense. He must be flying with them. He always did love stunt flying." Obi-Wan laughs.

"But isn't he from Tatooine?" Maris asked. "He could easily be back there."

"No, Anakin hates sand, plus the only memories he has of his home world are of being a slave. He wouldn't go back there, not with the whole Empire on his tail. No, he said he was staying here and there. That's consistent with the mobile lifestyle of the Zillian Flyers."


"Broom Broom," Anakin steared his craft in towards the hanger. Luke's mouth opened and he put the spoon of baby food inside. "Ok, now your turn Leia. Broom, Broom. Open up for daddy." Leia's mouth stayed closed. "Broom, Broom. Command control, requesting permission to land."

"Any luck?" Padme asked from behind him.

"No, I was sure if she saw her brother eating she'd wanna try some," Anakin said.

"Well, don't worry. They're only six months old. She'll try it when she's ready. I'll nurse her before we leave."

"I know, I was just hoping she'd start today. It's not like I can provide the other stuff."

"I can pump some if you wanna give it a go." Padme smiled to herself, then laughed. "Ha, I still remember your face when your mother demonstrated the thing."

"Oh, don't remind me," Anakin pleaded, hiding his face in his shirt sleeve.


Later that day, Anakin and Padme walked up to the door of the Lars Homestead. Anakin knocked and as his mother opened the door her heart immediately melted seeing her grandchildren.

"Oooh, and who do we have here, a little princess." Shmi stroked Leia's cheek while beckoning Anakin to carry her inside. "And who do we have here?" Shmi stroked Luke's face, then looked up to Padme for help.

"He was supposed to be a little prince, but somebody had an unexpected growth spurt and we had to get creative," Padme explained.

"He's a Jedi Knight. See his robes and his mini lightsaber." Anakin pointed out the small, handmade, silver item attached to Luke's outfit.

"Oh how, creative." Shmi said through a forced smile. "Well, bring him inside. Cliegg and Owen have the race going on the holo-screen downstairs. And we've been cooking and baking for three days now, so there's plenty to eat. Even for the little ones. Are they on solids yet?"

"Luke'll eat anything, as long as it's put through the chopper, but Leia hasn't started to eat yet." Anakin answered.

"Oh, she just needs her grammy's cooking, is that right little princess." Shmi took both the children into the kitchen.

Anakin and Padme went downstairs to greet Cliegg and Owen, and in Anakin's case at least, to see what the placement was in the race.

"How is Veebur Wilcox even still in this race at all. With that ship of his, I'm surprised it even starts," Anakin said.

"It's and oldie, but built well," Cliegg responded.

"Yeah, like five decades ago," said Owen.

Cliegg waved at the two. "You kids know nothing."

In a few minutes Beru walked downstairs. "Dinner is served, come get it while it's hot."

The party turned off the Holo-screen and went upstairs to the dining room. Cliegg pulled his hover-chair up to the head of the table. Anakin and Padme took seats on one side while Owen and Beru took the other. The twins were both seated in highchairs, food on both of their mouths.

"I can't believe it, you got Leia to eat." Anakin said to his mom when she carried in a hot casserole pan.

Shmi smiled, then said, "I'd like to claim Grammy magic, but that was all Beru's doing. She's got the touch."

"You definitely do. You'll be a great mom." Padme added.

Beru blushed.

"So how long till we get nieces and nephews," Anakin asked, and the mood shifted immediately.

Beru started to cry, and Owen looked up angrily at his stepbrother. Before he could say anything Beru ran from the table, and Owen got up to go after her. Anakin and Padme looked around for an explanation.

"They've been trying. Not having much luck." Cliegg explained.

"I'd been talking to Dimi about their case, and she gave them an herb to try, but it makes you a bit emotional too," Shmi added.

"Oh, Who is Dimi?" Padme asked.

"She's that Tusken Bantha Spit of a Raider. Your mom's made friends with the monsters," Cliegg scorned.

Shmi frowned at her husband. "They're not all bad."

"Come on, Mom. I remember what they did to you," Anakin said.

"I remember too." Shmi had tears in her eyes. "And I can't stop remembering. But to heal I need to forgive them. And to forgive them I need to get to know them. Besides, Dimi isn't like the others. She's one of the ones who helped deliver the Twins, actually."

This shut up both Anakin and Cliegg, who both looked down or away in shame. Padme, however, looked up and said, "Actually, I was wanting to speak to them again. I wanted to know what they thought, as to the chances of me and Anakin having another child, one day." This had Anakin's attention. Quick as lightning his head shot up.

"Are you serious? Another child? Do you have any idea the stress I was put in for having the twins? With the premonitions of you dying? I almost went to the dark side!"

"No, I didn't know! Because you never shared any of that with me!" Padme shouted back. "You never share anything with me, Ani."

Anakin side glanced at his mother and step father, then looked back at his wife. "You want to do this here."

"You're the one who started it." Padme whispered back.

"You know, twin deliveries are often higher risk, just because. I'm sure if you had another, especially under less stressful conditions, it wouldn't be as risky." Shmi said loudly. "I'll ask Dimi to see you later this week."

"Now, the boy's got a point. If there is a risk they should know that first. From the real medics in Anchorhead." Cliegg said.

"I'll do both, and we'll talk about this later." Padme said pointedly. Anakin only pouted.

"I'm really sorry guys. I don't know what came over me?" Beru appologized when she and Owen return to the room. After a few seconds of silence she spoke again. "So-oo what did I miss."

"Nothing important. Anakin, would you please pass the rolls?" said Cliegg.


Obi-Wan, Maris, and Tel-Mac flew to Yoda, who had made a temporary home on a mostly defunct space station that still orbited the planet Cala in the Ilum system. The three of them flew separately, following Obi-Wan who knew the way, with their cargo divided between them.

"Greetings, Master Yoda." Tel-Mac greeted the green Jedi who had come down to his hanger to greet his visitors.

Maris gave a curt nod to the master and proceeded to unpack the boxes from her cargo. "Help me with this, will you?" Tel-Mac did as she requested.

"Master," came the voice of a little girl from the Hallway behind Yoda.

"Jin-Jin, what is it now?" Yoda asked.

"I can't sleep." The girl said.

"Night cycle it is. Sleep you must have." The girl only pouted. Maris watched and felt something stir in her when she looked at the girl.

"Can I help?" Maris walked up to the girl. "I'll tell you a story that always helped me." she took the girl's hand and walked with her back to the girl's room.

"Master Yoda, may I ask, is the temple on Ilum still secure? Have you seen any Empire ships in this sector yet?" Tel-Mac asked him.

"No, discovered the location of Ilum, the empire has not. Kept secret it's location, the Jedi did," said Yoda.

"And how has this place been, as a Praxeum Academy?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Ah. Academy it is not. Space to properly train younglings it does not have. Strange noises, the engines make. Sleep a proper night cycle sometimes, the children cannot." Yoda responded.

Maris returned from the girl's room with a smile on her face. "Jin-Jin is asleep now. She's so-oo cute."

"You're not supposed to form attachments, or encourage them in younglings." Tel-Mac corrected her.

"I'm doing no such thing. Showing her compassion is very much a part of being a Jedi." Maris bit back.

"A-ah Yes. Find younglings cute as well, I do." the Jedi laughed and then turned to face Obi-Wan. Maris took advantage of this moment to stick her tongue out at Tel-Mac. "My belongings, where are?"

Obi-Wan moved to finish unpacking his cargo with the bags the other two had stacked up in the hanger. Yoda ran up to the pile and began looking for something. "Yoda, we can help you unpack, if you need," Obi-Wan offered.

"No, No. Necessary it is not." Yoda pulled an item proudly from the stack. It was shaped like a long stick with a curved end. He then pulled the item over his head so the curved end was against his back and he moved it up and down. "A-ah. Missed this, I did. You, I do thank."

"A back scratcher. He had us go all that way for a back scratcher." Maris mumbled under her breath as the three of them said their goodbyes and returned to their ships.


Hello again guys,

This chapter started writing itself, I hope you like it. There are a few hopefully humorous parts, but I never know if you'll get my sense of humor. So if it gives you a laugh, please leave me a review.

And I've mapped out most of the next couple years in an outline. I do intend to give the Lars's a baby to raise. It's just going to take a bit of time to get to that point. And I have plans for Tel-Mac, Maris, and Obi-Wan that I hope will surprise you all. I'm trying to keep the hints light.

The space station Yoda is on now is entirely my imagination. Though I read on wookieepedia that the Jedi did keep the route to Ilum a secret. And it stayed a secret for a while post order 66, until eventually Sidious found it and started mining it to make the death star... Which he hasn't started yet.

Until next time.