Seven

Leia was very aware that Luke thought she was crazy. She wasn't oblivious to the furtive, worried glances that he darted her way when he thought she wasn't looking. His constant anxiety rippled out through the Force. He couldn't understand her singular focus and, therefore, he recoiled from it, and fallaciously looked for someone to blame for her peculiar behavior.

But then that was the sad plight for most visionaries. Their prophetic warnings were often unappreciated until the moment that calamity struck, and they were revealed as the diviners that they truly were. Society always feared and reviled that which they did not understand. Leia recognized that she was no different. There was no glory in being the lone dissenter in a house full of fools.

Despite Leia's disappointment over that knowledge, she accepted that reality as a necessary evil. After all, the man who wore Anakin Skywalker's face was strong in the Force, and he was very cunning. For that reason, she didn't blame Luke entirely for his ignorance. When he looked at the man, he saw the father he had yearned for his entire life and not the inherent evil that he truly was. Luke had been thoroughly blinded by the enemy's lies, as had their mother. That man had them all fooled with his benevolent façade. Only she could see his true face. She was determined to make Luke see as well.

She knew that Abeloth could help open Luke's eyes, just as she had opened Leia's, but Luke would never consent to following her. He was secretly glad that the enemy had temporarily driven a wedge between her and her mentor because he believed that Abeloth was the true evil. He believed that Abeloth was the one putting the awful visions in her head, that she was manipulating Leia somehow. Because he wasn't ready to face the truth, it was easier to discount Abeloth as a liar.

He would never give himself over unless Leia could prove to him that the vision that she had seen was real, and that the imposter masquerading as Anakin Skywalker was truly the threat that she claimed. The only way to demonstrate that to Luke would be if she could access those same visions on her own without Abeloth's guidance. Then he would believe. Then he would follow.

It was so important to Leia that she help Luke to see the truth that she had spent all morning in deep meditation rather than closely surveilling her mother and the enemy as she had been doing for the past two days. He was clever enough not to let his façade drop under her watchful eye. He wasn't likely to slip up any time soon, and she could afford the time.

Besides, he was growing complacent now that he had forced her to leave Naboo. He was confident that he had crippled her by separating her from her mentor. He didn't understand that her connection with Abeloth went beyond planets and star systems. She hadn't forgotten any of Abeloth's teachings. Leia was content to let him believe that he had won for now. After all, she would need to be stronger before she took her final stand against him. She would need to have Luke at her side first, and then they could take him together. It was the only way.

But finding her way back without Abeloth beside her proved more difficult than Leia anticipated. She was perpetually distracted by the sounds around her…the faint whir of the vaporators scattered across the Lars property, the incessant back and forth between Threepio and Artoo from below deck. Even the enemy's constant tinkering from the mechanical shed and his muted conversations with his brother and his brother's wife managed to invade her senses.

The heightened senses that she had developed regarding him felt like an advantage and a curse. While her enhanced awareness made it impossible for him to catch her by surprise, it also dampened her ability to concentrate on other things. Meditation had especially become a chore. It almost felt as if she were being blocked from delving deeper into the unknown things…the beyond shadows, as if the Force itself was barring her entrance and urging her to turn back.

Leia shook away the notion. It wasn't the Force holding her back at all. It was him. It was always him.

She growled to herself in determination and concentrated harder. He was strong. But she would be stronger. Nothing short of death would keep her from unveiling his true face. Leia could not afford to fail. The fate of her entire family depended upon it.

Recalling Abeloth's admonition that she needed to give herself over completely, Leia pushed against that figurative wall again and again until it finally gave way, and she tumbled through into the beyond where her spirit and her body could separate into two. When Leia felt the first stirrings of that telltale sensation of dividing from her own body, she knew she had achieved success. And then she was hurtling again, painfully, violently through time and space and shadows until she tumbled out into a barren landscape darted with large, rocky outcroppings.

Once she had reoriented herself, Leia pushed herself into an upright position. The first thing she registered was the stinging pain caused by the gravelly dirt that bit into her tender palms. The ground beneath her was hard and rocky. Next, she noted that she was surrounded by darkness and silence. Though the place held the same dreamlike quality as the previous planet had, as if it had been bathed in ethereal shadows, there were no molten rivers, no spraying geysers of lava, no baking heat. There was only tranquil, starry night shielded behind a gossamer screen. It was hardly what she had been expecting.

Leia glanced around at her surroundings, allowing her eyes to adjust to the moonlight and illuminate her environment. There were no defining landmarks anywhere in sight. There was no way for her to orient herself or determine where she had gone. She knew she hadn't landed on the molten planet where she had gone previously but, as she sat there gathering herself, she could sense the same Force signatures that she had felt in the previous vision. The dark, sinister presence of the monster that wore the face of Anakin Skywalker and Ben. She could feel that Ben was nearby.

Consequently, when he came stumbling from behind a large boulder just beyond her, Leia wasn't startled by his appearance. This version of him was much more familiar to her, older and world weary. But there was something else about him too…he looked defeated, sad, broken, fearful. That was the thing that alarmed her the most. She had never known Obi-Wan Kenobi to be a slave to his fear and yet this version of him was practically bathed in that emotion.

He shuffled along the stark terrain, occasionally throwing quick, anxious glances over his shoulder as if he were running from something…or someone. Leia soon discerned that it was the latter. She felt him before she saw him, that malevolent Force signature heaving with pure, seething hatred. But when the incendiary glow of the crimson lightsaber suddenly ignited, illuminated in the halo of darkness, it wasn't Anakin Skywalker's face that Leia saw.

She scrambled backwards with a low scream of terror. The figure was tall and imposing, the long black cape hanging from his equally black armor billowing slightly in the subtle breeze. There was no face, only a dark, insidious mask and a deep, cadenced breathing that filled silence. Leia knew instinctively that she was staring at the shadow man who had plagued her brother's nightmares for more than two years now. He was just as Luke had described him, and every bit as terrifying had envisioned. But Luke had been wrong. The man had not been hunting Anakin Skywalker at all. He was Anakin Skywalker.

Horrified and cowering, Leia watched as Obi-Wan fell back a step at the imposing sight before him and made a feeble attempt to ignite his own lightsaber. He held the weapon in trembling hands, his breathing loud and shallow before he did the last thing Leia would have ever expected. He turned and ran. And, as the dark figure gave chase, following Obi-Wan with a slow, confident stroll, Leia followed as well, her apprehension and fear for her former master driving her forward.

Obi-Wan was frantically searching for a place to conceal himself when the man found him again. His mechanized voice was deep and resonate and filled with satisfaction when he said, "You cannot run, Obi-Wan." Leia held her breath in anticipation of Obi-Wan's response, nearly wilting in relief when he finally ignited his lightsaber and braced himself for potential attack.

But in the blue glow cast off from his blade, she could still see that he was trembling violently as he swung around, filled with dread for the moment when the evil specter would reveal himself. She could see the beads of sweat that glistened on his forehead. When the moment finally happened, the sadness and disbelief in his expression was palpable.

"What have you become?" he uttered mournfully.

"I am what you made me!"

Leia wanted Obi-Wan to challenge that declaration, to call him out for the outrageous liar that he was, but he didn't do any of those things. There was too much guilt and sadness and horror for Ben to withstand. He couldn't face what this man whom he had loved so much, this boy he had raised as his own, had become. It was far easier to run from it, as he had been running from it for years now.

This time the enemy was not so keen on letting him escape. He continued to stalk Obi-Wan, despite the older man's determination to flee and finally attacked him outright. Leia made a reflexive grab for her own lightsaber only to realize that she was without the weapon. She tried to run forward but found herself separated by an invisible shield that would not let her venture any closer. She stalked the perimeter of that transparent demarcation, riddled with helpless frustration as she realized that she was without any means to protect Obi-Wan at all. She was merely a spectator in this realm. Her old master would have to save himself.

But he wasn't a worthy opponent for this twisted version of Anakin Skywalker. He didn't exude any of the practiced confidence and finesse that he had taught her and Luke. He was too timid, too clumsy, and unsure of himself. His love for this man, his guilt made him vulnerable. The enemy was fully aware of his ineptitude, and he reveled in it as he advanced on Obi-Wan again and again.

"The years have made you weak," he scoffed.

He could have easily finished Obi-Wan if he wished, but that wasn't his aim. Leia could feel his intentions clearly as he knocked Obi-Wan back with a single Force push. He didn't want Obi-Wan dead at all. Not yet. He wanted him to suffer first. And that was exactly what he did.

"You should have killed me when you had the chance," he taunted.

With merciless intensity, he pursued Obi-Wan until there was nowhere else for the former Jedi master to run, until he finally held him aloft in a powerful Force grip before he caused the ground between them to become engulfed with flames. Leia began screaming hysterically when he began dragging Obi-Wan slowly, tortuously through the licking flames. The macabre sight spurred her into renewed action.

She beat at the invisible wall that held her back like a maddened thing as Obi-Wan's anguished cries of pain echoing in her ears. She would kill him, she thought frenetically. She would kill him before she let him hurt anyone else that she loved! When she finally shattered the wall, Leia could swear there was a moment when the enemy became aware of her presence. For an instant, it seemed as if he was looking right at her. But before she could take hold of him in a grip like the one that he had on Obi-Wan, she was abruptly slammed back into her own body, and the vision ended.

Leia was sobbing uncontrollably when she came back to herself. She was no longer in that place, but the fear and rage and hatred continued to consume her. Even in the safety of her own quarters and far away from those roaring flames and so much insidious evil, she couldn't still her violent trembling. She felt helpless and ill-equipped to interpret what she had just experienced. Was it all some metaphorical vision or was it a portentous scene from the future?

You have seen his true nature.

She gradually quieted as the whisper rolled over her like soothing rain. "Abeloth? Is that you? Help me!"

Did you truly think I would leave you, child?

"What do I do?" she wept mournfully, "If Ben couldn't stand against him then how can I?"

Because you will do what he could not. You will kill him, Leia.

"I can't stand against him on my own," Leia sniffled, "I'm not strong enough. I need Luke. I have to warn him! He doesn't understand!"

You will make him understand.

Leia shook her head. "He won't come. I can't make him believe. You have to make him see like you made me see."

Then I will show you how to open his eyes. Come to me. I will teach you. I will protect you.

"How? You're on Naboo, and I'm on Tatooine!"

Do not doubt me, Leia Skywalker. Do you really imagine that there is anywhere in the galaxy that you could go where I could not find you?

Leia nodded in understanding and scrubbed her flushed cheeks free of remaining tears. "Yes. I will come to you," she agreed softly, "Tell me how."

"What are you talking about?" Padmé grunted wearily, "What's happened with your sister now?"

"It's the old woman. She's a liar, and she has Leia totally confused."

Luke made the statement without preamble, presenting his claim as stark, cold fact. His parents, however, didn't immediately react to his bold declaration. Luke didn't know if that was because they had failed to grasp the full gravity of his declaration or if it was because they were still preoccupied with whatever he had just walked in on. He was inclined to think it was the latter. His mother was still having difficulty meeting his eyes due largely in part, Luke suspected, to her efforts to conceal the fact she had been crying. His father, on the other hand, looked as if he had taken a severe blow to the gut. He was hunched forward as if he were in physical pain and kept glancing over mournfully at Padmé. But she refused to meet his eyes.

"Did either of you hear what I just said?" Luke demanded impatiently.

The irritation and urgency in his tone seemed to snap Anakin out of his stupor. "What old woman?" he asked, "What is Leia supposedly confused about?"

"Do you remember her friend from Naboo…the old woman with no family?"

"How could I forget?" Anakin scoffed with a mirthless grunt, "Leia threw the mother of all tantrums over the prospect of leaving her behind. Just one more reason for her to hate me. Is that what this is about? Is she threatening to run away now?"

"I wish that was all it was," Luke mumbled, "But it's bad, really bad. I think that old woman did something to Leia!"

While Padmé had maintained a mostly withdrawn silence following her query at the onset, Luke's ominous pronouncement incurred a deep, but mildly incredulously frown from her. She didn't doubt that Luke was sincerely concerned about his sister's welfare, but she also knew that both her children had a penchant for dramatics. Everything with them was always a crisis. They were like their father in that regard too.

"You think she 'did something'?" she repeated carefully, "What do you mean she 'did something', Luke? Did Leia tell you that?"

"No. But I don't need her too. I know it's true. She didn't start acting this way until she met this woman!"

"That's not true," Padmé reminded him in a measured tone, "You know that Leia has been struggling with our new family dynamic for a while now."

"It's different now, Mom!" Luke insisted vehemently, "She doesn't trust anyone! And she doesn't sleep. Somehow, that woman convinced Leia that Dad is evil and that he wants to hurt us!"

For the second time in that short, five-minute stretch, Anakin and Padmé stared at Luke blankly. Although neither of them responded right away, it was clear to Luke that they were dubious of his claims but reluctant to state that outright. He watched them dart uncomfortable glances at one another before his mother finally found the temerity to speak.

Unfortunately, when she did, her well-meaning, diplomatic response did not fail to further rankle her overwrought son. "I understand that you and Leia have been at odds recently," she began carefully, "but is it possible you might be jumping to conclusions right now?"

"I'm telling you what I know," Luke maintained stubbornly, "Why don't you try listening to me for once?"

Cognizant of the escalating tension between his wife and son, Anakin made a tentative attempt to diffuse the matter before it could spiral out of hand. "Your mother has a point, Luke," he argued softly, "I know that Leia has her issues with me but believing that I'm capable of hurting her or anyone of you seems like a stretch."

"Well, she does believe that. And I know it's because that old woman has been putting ideas in her head!"

"What sort of ideas?"

"Leia had some kind of vision, and that's why she's been acting so weird."

As soon as Luke mentioned the phrase "vision," the atmosphere changed from indulgent skepticism to burgeoning concern. Padmé was already anxiously considering what possible new curse the Force had bestowed upon her daughter and growing steadily resentful over it. Anakin, on the other hand, was fearful that Leia might be suffering from the same portentous dreams that he had. He knew how easily those kinds of visions could drive someone to the brink, especially a ten-year-old child.

Consequently, the unspoken friction between Anakin and Padmé ramped up exponentially, so much so that even Luke became uncomfortably aware of it. Luke watched in disconcertion as his mother glanced over at his father with a hardened expression, her dark eyes filled with silent accusation. Luke was blaming the old woman for Leia's plight, but it was clear to him that Padmé was blaming Anakin. The thought made his stomach churn. His mother glared at him for a long, volatile moment before she finally turned her attention back to Luke.

"So…Leia is having visions now?" she asked tightly, "Since when did that begin?"

"I told you already," Luke bit out, his need to relieve the hostility he sensed between his parents making him impatient, "Since she met that old woman, and now she's convinced that everything she's seen is the truth!"

While Padmé stewed over that newest tidbit, Anakin absorbed Luke's pronouncement with a measure of wariness and guilt. "What exactly did Leia see in this vision, Luke?"

"It doesn't matter. I already know that none of it is true. Now we need to convince Leia."

His mother grunted, her tone tight with anger when she asked, "How can you possibly know that? Aren't you always saying that your visions shouldn't be discounted?"

"This one should!"

"Why?"

"Because I've done my own investigation, that's why! The people who Leia says were there at the time say that none of it ever happened, and I believe them!"

Anakin frowned as the importance of what Luke had just revealed began to slowly dawn. "The people who were there?" he queried, "I don't understand. Was this a vision of the future or does Leia think she saw something from the past?"

"Something from the past," Luke mumbled.

"So then, you need to tell us what she saw," Anakin insisted, "If this vision is the reason has convinced her that I'm 'evil' like you claim, then we need to know what we're dealing with. Maybe she's misconstruing the situation."

Truthfully, Luke didn't want to repeat what Leia had seen at all. The account sounded so twisted, so heinously evil that he couldn't imagine that his father wouldn't be devastated to discover that his own child saw him as such a repulsive creature capable of such unspeakable acts. Luke didn't want to be the one to deliver that blow. He didn't want to hurt his father that way. But he also knew that neither Anakin nor Padmé would be able to fully appreciate just how serious the situation had become if he didn't tell them the entire story.

"You might want to sit down for this," he warned them in a tremulous tone, "It's not going to be good."

Visibly shaken by their son's ominous warning, both Anakin and Padmé did as Luke asked and resumed their recently vacated seats. Once they were both situated and Luke was sure that he had their undivided attention, he began. His first statement was direct and matter-of-fact.

"Leia believes that she saw an event from your past, back when Mom was pregnant with me."

"What?" Anakin and Padmé exclaimed in unison.

Neither of them could fathom what Leia could have possibly seen to make her characterize Anakin as "evil." It was true that his initial response to Luke's conception hadn't been the greatest and that they had endured a rocky time in their marriage in the weeks that ensued. They had even briefly separated. But, by the time Padmé had entered the second trimester of her pregnancy, they had resolved things. In fact, their marriage had become even stronger following that test.

Their mutual confusion made them slow to respond to Luke's revelation, but eventually it was Anakin who asked, "Are you telling us that Leia thinks she's time traveled?"

"It's not time travel exactly. She calls it 'flow-walking,'" Luke clarified, "She described it more as 'observing the past' as opposed to traveling there. She said the old woman taught her how to do it."

After that, Anakin's questions came at him in rapid fire succession. "You mean the woman she met on Naboo?"

"Yes."

"The woman is a Force user?"

"Yes."

"How long have you known this?"

"Two days. Leia made me swear not to say anything to you."

"And you did what she asked?"

"I had no other choice!" Luke cried, "She's totally paranoid, Dad! I couldn't risk losing her trust, not if I was going to help her!"

"So, why tell us now?"

"Because I can't fix what's happening to her. I tried, but I can't."

Padmé straightened with a deepening frown. "Flow-walking?" she echoed softly, "What is that? Anakin, have you ever heard of such a thing?"

"No, I haven't," he grunted in reply, "But I'm certainly not inclined to think that sort of thing is impossible after all I've seen…and done." He glanced over at Luke. "And you say this 'friend' taught Leia this technique?" Luke nodded. "Why would Leia need to learn such a skill?"

"Because, according to Leia, she wanted to find the truth."

"The truth about what?"

"The truth about you."

That last statement hung in the air, oppressive and suffocating with the burden of implication that it brought. Suddenly, Anakin began considering the obscure possibility that the past Leia had seen might not have only been confined to the life he had been living for the past thirteen years. Was it possible that she had peered into his existence before that time? It seemed inconceivable and farfetched, especially because that life felt like such a distant memory to him, but once Anakin began to consider the theory, he found the fear difficult to shake off. He was hesitant to ask his next question, but the words tumbled from his lips unbidden. Even if he didn't want to know, he knew that he needed to know.

"And what did she see?" he prompted Luke for a third time, but this time the question was filled with undiluted dread.

"She saw you," Luke whispered in reply, "She said that you were on a planet made of lava, and that she could sense that something awful had happened…that you had done terrible things. She said that you felt twisted and dark inside and you didn't feel regret for anything you had done. She said you were filled with so much hatred that it made her feel sick."

It was torture for Luke to utter those words aloud, and he was desperate for his father's reassurance in the aftermath. He expected Anakin to scoff at the account or, at least, confirm his earlier speculation that Leia was merely misconstruing circumstances from his past, but he didn't do either one of those things. Instead, to Luke's staggered disbelief, Anakin visibly reeled at his words. His face blanched in horror, and he glanced over at Padmé, his eyes wide with an odd sort of agitated incredulity.

His mother was equally stricken. She looked as if she wanted to cry. Her earlier resentment was gone, replaced now with pure anguish for his father, who was slowly beginning to dissolve right before her eyes. "I know what you're thinking," she admonished him gently, shaking her head for emphasis, "And you're wrong. She couldn't have seen that, Anakin."

"It was foolish to think I'd be able to hide it from them indefinitely," Anakin uttered, his tone thick with sorrow, "I'm never going to escape it. I should have known better."

"No. Please, don't go there again," she whispered fervently, "It's over. It's not real. That time doesn't exist anymore."

Anakin looked back towards Luke as if she had never spoken at all. "What else did she see?" he asked in a wooden tone.

Luke was reluctant to continue, especially following his parents' bizarre and painfully devastated reactions, but he felt compelled to give them both the entire story. Still, he tried to cushion them against the truth, emphasizing to them how ridiculous he found it all. He didn't believe any of it, and he needed to make that clear to them both.

"None of it makes sense! She said that Mom showed up and…and that you two had a fight. And then Ben was suddenly there but you were angry, and you thought he was there to kill you. Then you started making all these crazy accusations against Mom and then…" Luke trailed off for a minute to fortify himself for finishing the account, "…and then she said you…you tried to hurt her…that you used the Force to choke her until she stopped moving."

Anakin stared at him with haunted eyes. "She saw all that?"

"Yes," Luke confirmed in gruff reluctance, "She saw all that. But I know it's not true! She said that Threepio and Artoo were there, and they both swore to me that you and Mom had never been to a planet like the one Leia described! I told you! That old woman has been playing games with her head!"

Anakin emitted a pained groan at the reply and lurched forward, covering his mouth with one hand as if he feared he might be sick. Padmé, who had been very reserved in her actions towards him until that moment, grabbed hold of his hand and squeezed it gently before leaning in close to cradle his bearded face and murmur assurances to him as he quietly broke down.

"Dad, I know that was hard for you to hear, but it doesn't matter!" Luke cried, rushing forward to kneel next to his father, "None of it's true! I don't believe any of it! It's just a trick, and we'll make Leia see that too! It will be alright!"

But when Anakin finally lifted his gaze to Luke's, he could see that his father was beyond devastated. It was clear from his father's expression that he didn't think that things would be "alright" ever again. Luke recoiled, a sudden uneasy fear pervading him.

"It is a trick, right?" he prompted hopefully, desperately, "None of that really happened…did it?"

Padmé looked at him squarely, her eyes remote and unblinking. "No. None of that happened, Luke," she said, "What your sister saw isn't true at all."

"Don't lie to him, Padmé," Anakin groaned.

"It's not a lie!" she hissed, "It didn't happen in my reality or theirs, so it didn't happen, Anakin!"

Luke bounced an incredulous glance between his father's deeply disgraced expression and his mother's obstinate one. "What is going on?" he asked slowly, "Are you…are you saying that what Leia saw was real?"

Still reeling and hardly in the mindset to yield to Luke's strident demands for answers, Anakin collected himself as much as he was able answered his question with a question of his own. "Where is your sister right now?"

"I don't know," Luke replied, annoyed by Anakin's evasion, "I was sure that she would be here with you."

Anakin was alarmed. Leia's absence was conspicuous and telling. As much as it had exasperated him to have her constantly lurking in his shadow and watching him with suspicious eyes, he fully understood now why she'd felt compelled to do so. If she had truly witnessed the events on Mustafar, it was little wonder she believed him to be evil. The truth was that he had been everything that she feared. And she was right too. He hadn't regretted a single thing. That wouldn't come until more than a decade later. The fact that she was suddenly missing after all that did not bode well.

"Have you spoken to her at all today?" he pressed Luke anxiously.

"Just barely. She asked me to keep an eye on you. I told her that I would." He pinned both of his parents with an impatient glower, unable to hold himself back from pressing them further. "Are either of you going to explain what's going on?"

It wasn't that Anakin didn't recognize that Luke deserved some sort of explanation but providing him with one wasn't very high on his priority list right then. He had bigger issues to address. Evidently, there was a Force user out there who knew the full extent of his ignominious past and, for reasons he didn't yet understand, they had taken it upon themselves to reveal that past in the most traumatic way possible to his young, impressionable daughter. Anakin knew very little about this mysterious old woman that Leia had befriended, but he was certain that he was going to make her pay.

"What do you know about this friend of hers?" he asked his son.

"Not much," Luke sighed, "Leia is very secretive about her. I don't even know her name." He surveyed his father with a woebegone expression and muttered under his breath, "I don't know a lot of things."

His mother nudged his shoulder. "Hush," she admonished him softly, before turning to address Anakin, "What are you thinking right now?"

Anakin shifted to his feet. "I need to talk to Leia."

"What are you going to tell her, Ani?"

"I don't know."

He knew he needed to go directly to the source, but he also knew that mere conversation wasn't going to give him the answers he needed. Leia would only respond with stony silence. She wasn't going to talk to him of her own volition. If he wanted the truth, he was going to have to take it this time.

Just as he had done so many times before in the previous days, Anakin reached out across the Force to touch his daughter's distinct signature. Her agitation was palpable. As usual, as soon as he began to prod, he butted up firmly against the mental shields that she'd erected against him. In the weeks past he'd always retreated, yielding to her insistence to keep him out but this time Anakin pushed her safeguards aside with the ease of sliding open a diaphanous curtain and stepped unencumbered into his daughter's innermost thoughts.

Immediately, he was inundated with Leia's panic and rage over his invasion, but he staunchly ignored her reverberating emotions as he winded his way through her protected, vulnerable spaces, searching for traces of her enigmatic friend. He didn't have to look for very long. As soon as he began traversing deeper into her mind, Anakin could feel Leia's agitation grow and, as it did, she visualized the very person for whom he had been searching.

The old woman wasn't what he was expecting. He had prepared himself for the visage of some witch-like old crone, but he was met with the kindly appearance of a sweet old woman, standing alone on the Nabooian beach, and bathed and rays of sunlight. From Leia's perspective, this woman had become her haven, her respite from the constant loneliness and isolation she felt. She wasn't a threat, not like her father. She was salvation.

Anakin approached the dream visage and commanded, "Reveal yourself to me."

It was a talent that Anakin didn't know he possessed until he did, the ability to connect with one Force user through the thoughts of another. He was transported beyond his daughter's mind to another place, somewhere entirely unfamiliar to him. The interior of the small room was dark and dank and shrouded in dust. In the center of the room lay the desiccated corpse of the old woman. Her gray skin was like parchment and had already begun to flake away. Her sunken eyes were left open and were completely black, as if all the light and life had been drained out of her body.

Horrified, Anakin came back to himself with a startled yelp to find his wife and son staring up at him with wide, frightened eyes.

"What did you see?" Padmé asked him in a trembling tone.

"Leia," he whispered, already rushing for the exit without a backgrounds glance, "I need to get to our daughter! Right now!"