Precipice by shadowsong26

Reunion: Chapter 2

Luke was not in his cabin.

To be fair, that wasn't exactly uncommon. He liked to wander the ship when he got bored, especially while they were in hyperspace. Most of the time, this wasn't really a problem, but right now, Padmẻ needed to talk to him.

A conversation she really should have had days ago, if not weeks, but she'd been waiting for...something. Something she couldn't really define. The right moment, maybe. But it had never really come, and now they were two hours out from Alderaan. There could be no more delays.

At least her ship wasn't a very large one—even without getting any of her staff involved, it typically took a half hour, at the most, to track her son down when he wasn't where she expected him to be.

It took even less time today. He was in the common area, perched on one of the couches and hugging his knees to his chest, watching a news alert from Imperial Center.

"The Princess was conscious and lucid when extracted from the speeder, and is now safely back at the Palace. We will continue updating you as further details on her condition are released."

The reporter's calm, near-monotone voice ran over Padmẻ like a runaway shaak herd.

No. Oh, no, this can't be happening. Especially not now.

Part of her-the calculating Rebel leader part of her-was scrambling to think of all this might mean for their plans. For this week, for the long term, all of it. We've waited so long, and we're so close now, who was behind this, how do we respond…

But, then again, she'd found out from the news, not from a covert message from Bail. If there was any immediate worry, he would have reached out by now. So she trusted that he had things under control. Somehow.

That, of course, left her mind free to worry about her son, whose best friend had just been attacked and was hurt, maybe badly. And that demanded all of her attention right now. Her-revelation could wait until she was sure he was okay.

She took a breath to make sure she had properly steadied herself, then stepped into the room, switching off the viewscreen as she did.

Luke looked up at her, pale and stricken. "We're going back, right? To the capital? Instead of Alderaan, because-because Lani's hurt, and she needs friends right now, and…"

"Oh, sweetheart," Padmẻ said. She sat next to him and held out her arms, offering a badly-needed hug.

"We have to go back," he said, his voice cracking a little.

Padmẻ closed her eyes, and shook her head. "The Emperor will have locked down all the spaceports by now. Even if we went back, we would never get clearance to land."

"But-but you could...or Aunt Sabẻ…"

"Not this time," she said. "I'm sorry, Lulu. I promise, as soon as-as soon as we get back…"

"But that'll be days from now. Can we at least try?"

"No," she said. "I'm sorry, sweetheart, but no, we can't. We have to make this trip, and...and you probably wouldn't be allowed to see her until the security threat is resolved, anyway."

He had been about to argue, but he deflated at that. He might not want to admit it, but he knew she was right. "I...I guess…" he said, glumly.

She hugged him close and stroked his hair. "What I can do is see if I can find out a little more from my contacts, all right? I can ask Uncle Bail, and have Dorme and the others start sending inquiries. We'll probably know more than the news that way." Not to mention more accurate than the news.

"Okay," he said, and buried his face in her shoulder.

For a long time, they sat there without speaking. She just held him, wishing there was more she could do to make things better. Wishing that whoever the hell had attacked Princess Lavinia-well, of course she wished they hadn't done it at all- children, no matter who their parents were, should be off limits-but especially right now.

Eventually, he pulled away. He seemed calmer now-still upset, but processing. Coping. Holding himself together.

He glanced over at the viewscreen she'd shut off.

And it wasn't-good, to shift his focus like this. To bring him from hearing some of the worst personal news he ever had to what she hoped would be some of the best.

But it was her own damn fault for waiting for the perfect moment. Not only had it failed to come, she was now stuck with pretty much the exact opposite.

But what choice do I have at this point? she thought. Lulu, sweetheart, I'm so sorry for screwing this up. You deserve better.

"I'll turn it on again in a minute," she said, before he could actually ask. "But we need to talk first. There are some...some things I need to tell you before we get to Alderaan. Important things."

"Okay," Luke said. He still seemed distracted, legs swinging back and forth a little.

And, for all the times Padmẻ had rehearsed this conversation in her head, for all the focus and attention she'd given to planning what she would say, even more than most of her floor speeches in the Senate...now that she was actually here, it all flew out of her head.

I guess even if I had the perfect moment, it wouldn't go the way I planned.

"Lulu…you've never asked me about your birth parents."

That got his attention.

He blinked, and stopped fidgeting. "…no…?"

"Have you ever wanted to?" she asked. "Been curious?"

He shook his head. "Why would I? I don't need them, I've got you."

Which was exactly the way it should be, of course.

Then he sat up a little straighter. "Wait, why—why are you asking now? What do they have to do with—I thought they were dead?" His eyes widened. "Did they—are they not dead? Are they trying to take me away?"

"What? No, no, sweetheart, of course not," Padmẻ said. "No one's going to take you away from me. Ever. I promise. Okay?"

"Okay," he said, relieved. "But…but why are you asking me about them?"

"When you were born," she said; just like she'd practiced, and she hoped it came out right. "When you were born…you were born right when the Emperor became the Emperor. And because of everything that had happened, because of the way the Clone Wars ended, that put your birth parents—your…your father, especially—in a lot of danger. And we were afraid that, because of that, you would be in danger, too."

"So…" Luke said. "Wait. I don't...I don't get it? Who's-is my father alive? What about my-did...did they give me to you? To keep me safe?"

She shook her head. "No, sweetheart," she said. "No one gave you to me. I'm your mother. Your birth mother."

He stared at her for a long moment. She could practically see him trying to make it make sense. "But...but you adopted me?"

"Yes," she said. "To protect you. And your father, and your sister."

Which was the other part she'd worried about. Luke had been to Leia's false grave at Varykino; he knew she'd had a daughter who was-gone. Padmẻ had taken him to sit with her there a few times, and he might have gone there himself.

But for him to find out that that had been a lie...it still made her feel guilty and conflicted, and Luke had no way of knowing all the pressure and danger she'd been facing when she'd made that very difficult choice.

"My-my sister's alive?" he asked. "I have a sister?"

She nodded. "A twin," she said. "Leia."

"Leia," he repeated. "Wow."

"Listen," she said, "I know this is-it's a lot to take in. And I'm sure you have all kinds of questions, and I'm sorry for not telling you all of this sooner, but-"

"Is that why I have the dreams?" Luke interrupted. "About the place with the wide-open sky? Are those-are those my sister's dreams?"

"I don't-um." That wasn't actually a question she was prepared for. She'd been ready for him to ask where they were, or who else had known, or why she hadn't told him. But not about his dreams, which might or might not be visions. "I don't know. Maybe," she finally said. "Your father could probably answer that better."

"My father," he said, and paused for a second before his eyes widened again at a sudden realization. "When...when Lord Specter died...and you were upset, 'cause...that was him?"

Padmẻ flinched a little. She tried very, very hard not to think about those awful days, when the information had come in short, unclear bursts and all she'd known was that Anakin was-was hurt, badly, and there was nothing she could do.

But she owed Luke those answers now, at least the broad strokes. She knew he'd overheard things he shouldn't have-that she'd been careless-so she wasn't...wasn't totally surprised by the question.

"Yes," she said. "That was...that was him." Realizing how that might sound, she hastened to add, "But he's all right now, so you don't need to worry about that when you meet him."

"Okay," Luke said, and glanced one more time at the viewscreen, more thoughtful now.

"Princess Lavinia will get better, too," Padmẻ said, following his train of thought.

"I know," he said, then shook his head and looked away, turning to hug her close. "Love you, Mamma."

She hugged him back. "I love you, too," she said.

He was quiet for another moment, then took a deep breath and changed the subject. "But...but about my...my dad."

And, even if part of him probably just wanted to think about anything other than his injured friend right now, he did want to know. He'd been excited for a moment, before he'd gotten distracted, full of questions about the family he'd just learned he had. He was trying, she thought, to fall back into that excited moment. He wanted to be happy about this.

For a long, long list of reasons, she was going to help him do that, however she could.

She kissed the top of his head. "Yeah?"

"Just...just...who is he?" Luke asked. "What's he like? How come he's in so much trouble with the Emperor?"

For a moment, Padmẻ considered the best way to answer it, without just upsetting Luke again.

"Your father," she finally said, "is one of the kindest, bravest men I know. His name is Anakin Skywalker, and he's a Jedi Knight…"

"Relax," Uncle Obi-Wan murmured, putting a light, reassuring hand on Dad's shoulder.

"I'm perfectly relaxed," Dad muttered back, shrugging him off.

Leia didn't actually need the Force to know he was lying. But at least now he was more excited than worried. A nice change from the last couple of days.

Well. Mostly excited, anyway.

"Still don't really like our travel plans," he admitted, in response to Uncle Obi-Wan's skeptical eyebrow. Like he'd said at least twice a day since they'd left Tatooine. "Not enough flexibility for when and how we move."

Uncle Obi-Wan gave a very tired-sounding sigh and started in on the same response he'd given every other time. "Given the resources we have-"

"I know, I know." He shook his head. "Doesn't mean I have to like it, though."

"No, it doesn't," he said. "But it's almost over. And then…"

"I know," Dad said, and smiled a little. "Ten years."

"Ten years," Obi-Wan agreed, with a very faint smile of his own.

Despite what he'd said-what they'd both been saying constantly for the last three days- Leia was pretty sure Uncle Obi-Wan didn't actually like travelling like this all that much either. He was just better at hiding it.

And, to be fair, it was kind of weird to be flying in a ship that a stranger was piloting. So Leia understood why they were a little bit tense. Sort of, anyway.

On the other hand, it was hard for her to actually feel that way herself, given where they were going and why. Plus, it was actually sort of cool, to see the galaxy from a whole new perspective than she usually did, slipping around the galaxy on the Waterfall or Aunt 'Soka's ship with just her family. And they were going into the actual Core, which had never been safe to visit before.

It probably shouldn't have been safe this time, even, except this trip had been building for ages. It had felt like something itching at the back of Leia's mind for months, while Dad and Uncle Obi-Wan and everyone planned it. She'd known something was up, of course, but when she'd tried asking, Dad had just promised he would tell her as soon as everything was in place. And then changed the subject.

Which was probably a good opportunity for her to practice patience. Or Uncle Obi-Wan would've said that, if she'd tried asking him (she hadn't; she knew if Dad wouldn't tell her, he probably wouldn't either).

Leia wasn't all that good at patience, though. And it had been a long, long time of knowing something Big was going on, but not enough to figure it out. At least she was pretty sure it was a good thing. Which made sense-good things, people usually had to plan for, and Dad and Uncle Obi-Wan were planning something. Bad things, when they were big, only the Force knew until it happened.

She'd had a lot more silver planet dreams than usual since it had started, too, and that was usually a sign that important things were about to happen. Or around her birthday, for some reason. Even there, though, there had been a sense of anticipation coloring everything, even if it was a whole lot vaguer than when she was awake.

But then, finally, last week, Dad had come home more happy than distracted for the first time in ages. And, first thing, the two of them had gone out to the canyon, but instead of lessons, he just sat down next to her on the edge for a talk.

For a few minutes, they'd just sat there, quiet. Leia took her cue from him and watched the horizon, focusing on a thin line of dust kicked up from a faraway speeder-too small to be a bantha, too fast to be an eopie. Not headed their way, and not in any trouble. Probably one of the farmers who lived on the other side of the Wastes, going into town.

Nothing she needed to worry about, but it was good to practice 'evaluating potential threats,' like Uncle Rex said.

She had just decided that when Dad broke the silence at last.

"We're going on a trip," he said. "You and me and Uncle Obi-Wan."

She looked up at him. Obviously, this was a very, very different trip than the ones they'd gone on before. Even without the building tensions over last few months, she'd probably have known that just from the way he said it.

"Okay," she said.

"I didn't tell you before," he said, "because I didn't-there were a lot of things that could've gone wrong, while we were trying to put this together. And I didn't want you to get your hopes up, if it-if we couldn't make it work."

"Okay," she said again, frowning a little. "Where are we going?"

For a minute, she thought maybe-maybe, if she was lucky-they'd found a place for her to get a crystal. Maybe she was actually going to get a lightsaber of her own. She was ten now, which was a whole year past when she was, by her count, supposed to start going on real missions. Even though Dad had apparently forgotten, and no one had brought her into anything like that yet, either.

Except...wait, no. Dad wouldn't even let her practice with his 'Sabẻr-Aunt 'Soka let her borrow hers, sometimes, but when Leia asked Dad, he just got a weird look on his face and muttered something about curious toddlers and changed the subject.

So that probably wasn't it.

"Princess," he said; then, "Leia, we're going to go see your mother."

Leia wasn't at all sure she'd heard him knew who her mom was, 'cause Dad and everyone had told her stories. And she had sort of vague memories of her, as someone warm and kind and beautiful and a little bit sad. Or maybe worried was better.

But she also knew that it wasn't safe for them, where her mom lived. Cause her mom was busy spying on the bad guys, probably, and if they ever tried to see her, they might all get caught and arrested, which meant people would get hurt. Her people, not just the bad guys.

But Dad had never ever lied to her before.

"Really?" she said.

"Really," he said, and smiled, and hugged her close. "It won't be easy," he added. "Getting there-and getting back- is going to be pretty dangerous. But I think it's worth it."

She nodded. "Definitely," she agreed. The excitement was starting to bleed into her, too-not just reflected from Dad, but...she was finally going to meet her mom.

Not that she'd ever really-she had Dad, and all her aunts and uncles. She didn't need anything else. But she wondered, sometimes. That's all.

"When are we going?" she asked. "Where are we going?"

"Alderaan," he said, answering her second question first. "And we're leaving day after tomorrow, as soon as Obi-Wan gets here."

That was a long way from home-practically in the Core, really close to Imperial Center. No one knew her face, of course, but Dad and Uncle Obi-Wan would be in a lot of danger.

But it's worth it, she said. Like Dad said. And that's probably why it took so long to set up, to make sure we'd be okay getting in and out.

He'd explained the whole plan to her, then-they were travelling under fake names, Joren and Wat and Maia Retak. To make the disguises even better, Dad and Uncle Obi-Wan had both made their hair darker, more like hers. Uncle Obi-Wan had also gotten rid of his beard, which was the weirdest thing she'd ever seen.

Aunt 'Soka and Uncle Rex had a mission, working with a friend of theirs Leia had never met, but they'd dropped them off on their way. That had been three days ago, and from that first stop, they'd boarded a crowded passenger shuttle that took them into the Mid Rim, spent a day pretending to be tourists and looking at some really boring rock formations, then caught another shuttle from there, and then two more transports before this one, their last.

And now here they were at last, dropping out of hyperspace in orbit around Alderaan.

Which was beautiful- all blue-green and swirly and welcoming. She slipped away from Dad and Uncle Obi-Wan to go to the viewport and stare down at it.

Sure, she'd seen pretty, vibrant planets before, but this one felt special. It sang in her head like the silver planet or the green place.

She felt Dad's hand on her shoulder. "Stay close, sweetheart, all right?"

"Sorry," she said.

He squeezed briefly, then let go and took her hand instead. "Come on, time to strap in, anyway. We'll be landing soon."

And then meeting some kind of contact at the spaceport, who would sneak them in through the city, and then, for the first time since she was too little to remember, she'd get to see her mom.

Original Author's Notes: So sorry for the sporadic updates lately. RL got pretty hectic for a while (and the next month or so is going to be super busy...) I'm going to try and update every two weeks through the end of March (possibly extending into/through April, depending on how things go), and then get back to regular weekly updates. ::fingers crossed, knock on wood, etc.::

Thanks again for being patient and sticking around! 3 ~shadowsong