Disclaimer: I don't own SW.

Okay, this is sort of a sequel to my version of the OT, where the twins swapped genders and names (because Padmé had chosen to name her daughter Leia and her son Luke, so if the daughter was born first she'd be Leia and the Organas' child would be Luke). You don't really need to read my OT first, just know that Leia (fem!Luke) was raised by Padmé's sister and brother-in-law as their child because Owen refused to take her and Vader wasn't forgiven, because a man who committed multiple genocides and many other war crimes doesn't deserve forgiveness just because he killed someone who was even more evil than him. Leia is the Chosen One, not Vader.

This is set in the Indentured Jedi AU from AO3, because I've recently become a bit obsessed with it, so there will be mentioned sexual assault/slavery, but no graphic details. Also, there is Obidala, because Padmé deserves better than a psycho who tried to choke her WHILE HEAVILY PREGNANT because she refused to support him taking over the galaxy and Obi-Wan deserves happiness!

Posted 4-11-2023

Read, enjoy and review!

Prologue

A Choice to Make

Tonjaieh Leia Naberrie-Solo of the New Jedi Order died peacefully, if prematurely in her family's opinion, at the age of fifty-one in her bed surrounded by her family. Her husband held her flesh hand and her brother gripped her other arm, just above her prosthetic. Her children, all three of them Knights in their own rights by now, stood beside Han, while Pooja, her wife, Neena and her niblings stood next to Luke, surrounding the large bed she'd shared with her husband since they'd built the Ahch-To Temple, all those years ago. Chewie was at the foot of the bed, sorrow radiating from him in the Force, a low moan of grief rumbling from his furry chest.

She had said her goodbyes to her former Padawans already, having named Corran as her successor to leadership of the Order.

A part of her, the part that had spent decades struggling with her loathing and anger towards the Sith, cursed them. The cause of her death was the Sith lightning she had been repeatedly exposed to over her teenage years and early twenties from the Inquisitors and Vader and Palpatine during the Battle of Endor. Her nerves and heart had been permanently damaged by it, and her active lifestyle hadn't increased her lifespan either.

But she didn't want to die angry, she wanted to die peacefully, like the Jedi she was, and so she forced herself to relinquish that bitterness and resentment into the Force. This was her fate, and she would not bemoan it. She would accept it as the Will of the Force, and die with a smile on her face, no sign of regret or pain to worsen her family's distress.

"Do not lose yourselves in grief for me," she urged them in a hoarse voice. "There is no death, there is the Force. I will always be with you, and will never stop loving and guiding you all."

"We love you, Mama," her children wept.

Han stroked the side of her face and she turned to smile softly at him.

"Thank you, my love," she murmured to him. "You have been at my side throughout everything since we met, and I have treasured every minute with you."

"And me with you, Sunshine," he replied, eyes glazed with tears. "Wait for me, okay? I'll join you when it's time."

She smiled wider and nodded. They kissed a final time and she turned to her blood brother and adoptive sister.

"Luke, Pooja, I thank the Force for giving you both to me," she said. "You are the reason I fought to stay in the Light. Don't mourn me. I will be with our lost loved ones, finally at peace."

"We can't not mourn you, Sister Mine," Pooja sniffled, squeezing Leia's leg. "But it will be a comfort to know you're not suffering anymore."

"We will be together again," Luke added, face stoic in the way that meant he was fighting to stay composed. "Death, yet the Force."

She smiled, and turned to her niblings to give them each some advice. Then, it was time. She settled back into the cushions and looked around at her family.

"It's time," she told them. Jaina's tears increased, and Jan hugged her tightly. Ben exhaled and inhaled rhythmically in a minor meditation to keep his composure and not accidentally break something.

"Never forget how much I love you all," she reminded them again. "I am one with the Force, and the Force is one with me."

They repeated the prayer back to her, as sound and sight all began blurring and disappearing.

Then, there was nothing.

"Leia Naberrie Skywalker Solo, my Chosen One," came a disembodied, female voice.

"Are you the Force?" Leia wondered, awed at the thought that the Force was speaking directly to her for the first time.

"I am the Daughter, the embodiment of the Light Side of the Force," replied the voice.

"I am dead then," Leia 'nodded', or at least that was what it felt like she should be doing. "Is this what being part of the Force is like?"

"Not quite," the Daughter responded. "I have a request for you."

"I am your servant," Leia declared immediately.

"Do not answer yet," the Daughter warned. "What I ask will be painful for you if you agree."

"I am no stranger to sorrow and pain," Leia answered.

"No," the Daughter acknowledged sadly. "You are not. But here is my request. You know of the theory of the multiverse?"

"I do," Leia confirmed, her mind racing. "It's a theory that every decision we make, the universe splits, creating a dimension where a different decision was made. Are you sending me to another universe then?"

"If you agree," the Daughter admitted. "There is one universe, where circumstances are grave indeed. The chances of the Dark triumphing are greater than any other universe save those without you or your brother. If you agree, I will send you back in time, to be a Jedi Knight in the Clone Wars. You will take Anakin Skywalker's place. You must stop Palpatine from becoming Emperor and enacting the Purges, or there will be no hope of the Jedi reviving. There is, however, a catch."

"What is it?" Leia asked. She already knew, however, that regardless of what the catch was, she would agree. She had made an oath to stand against the Dark, and she would not falter now, just because she was one with the Force.

"I will not be able to bring your consciousness," the Daughter warned. "You will have your knowledge and abilities in your soul, allowing you to relearn things quicker than others, but you will not recall this first life.

"I will do it," Leia agreed.

Leia had the vague sense that the Daughter had given a soft, if sad, smile.

"Then good luck, my Child," she replied.

Then there was nothing again.

Leia Skywalker was born a slave on Tattooine, to a mother named Shmi and an unknown father. Jaieh Qui-Gon Jinn found her while searching for ship parts to get the Queen of Naboo to Coruscant, and he became convinced she was the 'Chosen One', destined to bring balance to the Force. He gambled with her master, Watto, for her freedom, and won, just as she won the parts he needed to repair the Queen's ship. They went to Coruscant, where the Council were impressed by her thoughtful answers to their questions about her emotions and her acknowledgement of her fear and the reasons why she was afraid, as well as her determination not to be ruled by it, and they agreed to let her become an Initiate, as nine was too young for Padawanship.

First, however, Qui-Gon took her to Naboo with him and his Padawan, Obi-Wan, so they could defend the Queen as she fought to retake her planet from the Trade Federation droids who had invaded it. They succeeded in retaking the world, aided by Leia blowing up the control ship, but Qui-Gon was killed by a mysterious Sith assassin, who was in turn defeated by Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan was Knighted, and promised his Jaieh that, once she was old enough, he would take Leia as his apprentice and raise her to fulfil her destiny.

Leia flourished in the Temple, learning her lessons at an astounding rate. If they were raised differently, or Leia was less sweet and humble, her peers would have been jealous at her success, but Jedi learned to release those emotions in the Creche, and Leia was too likeable to resent. When she was twelve, Obi-Wan took her as his Padawan, and her continuing success at grasping her lessons with ease, her naturally compassionate and sweet nature, her revulsion of the Dark Side, ensured that soon everyone was convinced that Qui-Gon was right, and the sweet young blonde was indeed the Chosen One of prophecy.

When Leia was thirteen when she first began attending Senate 'events'. She was well aware of what those events involved, and what happened to the Jedi who attended them, as was any Padawan and Initiate who had left the Creche and entered the Initiate Dorms. She also knew that she should be safe, given she was not yet Marked, but the Junior Padawans had received warnings from their Seniors that some Senators tried to ignore the illegality of Requesting an underage Padawan. That was why Padawans dressed as unattractively as possible, bulky, form-hiding robes that washed them out, hair in an ugly cut, hands hidden in their robes to keep the Senators from knowing if they were fifteen or not yet, all the little tricks the Jedi had perfected over the last millennia of trying to protect their Padawans helping them blend into the background.

It was also why they were encouraged to have sex at about fourteen, so their first times wouldn't completely traumatize them. Leia had already agreed to lose her virginity to Ferus Olin, a good friend, after her fourteenth Life Day. There were also classes that helped Padawans learn how to get it over with as quickly as possible while still pleasing the Senator, and how to meditate during the event, so they wouldn't break down.

"Leia! Are you ready, Little Light?" Her Jaieh knocked and entered her bedroom on sensing her permission. Unlike the Padawans, the Masters wore skimpier robes to these events, in order to please the Senators who liked to take a look at them first and decide who they wanted to Request. Underneath the makeup she had done for him he was pale, and she could sense the worry and strain he felt in the Force. Automatically she reached out and soothed him with feelings of calmwarmsafelove and he smiled softly at her as he lost a bit of tension in the Force.

Then the chronometer caught his eye and he stiffened again, meeting her gaze. "Do you remember the Rules, Little Light?" He asked her seriously.

"Yes, Jaieh," she confirmed softly. "Stay quiet and tucked away behind you, or in a corner if you're not present. Don't meet anyone's eyes. Don't show any emotion. Only contact other Jedi through the Force. Wear the mask and make it my face." Rules that were drilled into the Jedi their whole childhood, to keep their souls safe from their masters.

He gave a small smile that failed to reach his eyes, and she felt his loveworryprotectsadnessgrief for her in the Force.

Everyone thought the Jedi were emotionless, oblivious to the constant emotions, especially love, they exchanged through the Force.

"All is as the Force wills," she reminded her teacher softly, hoping to reassure him. "This is a Trial of Spirit, a test of our commitment to the Light. I promise you, Jaieh, I will not fail you, or the Force." She felt his pridesadnesslove for her when she spoke, and it renewed her faith in the Jedi all over again.

The Masters had always commented on how easily faith in the Jedi and the Light came to her, in spite of the terror of the Senators' Requests. Unlike practically everyone else who became an Initiate and learned the truth behind the 'service' of the Jedi, Leia had never faltered in her belief that there was a reason for everything, and in time the Jedi would be free from their enslavement. Perhaps it was because her background as a slave made her so calm about it, or perhaps it was just her, but she had never lost her faith that, despite the fifty more years of the Ruusan Reformation, and the fact that some Senators were already trying to pressure them into extending their service, the Jedi would be free sooner rather than later.

"You never could," Jaieh Obi-Wan responded lovingly, leaning down to kiss the top of her head gently, before straightening and ushering her out of the room.

They met the five other Jedi Knights chosen for the night by whoever it was in the Senate that picked Jedi to act as their 'entertainment'. All of them had Padawans, Leia noted grimly. Only two of the Padawans were old enough to have the Mark, but they all knew how to hide the hands in their long robes, shielding them from sight and allowing them to feign being too young to be Requested. Aayla Secura, a good friend of Leia's and one of the two Padawans attending the party old enough to be Requested, if only barely, stood next to her Jaieh, Knight Quinlan Vos, a close friend to Jaieh Obi-Wan, and Ferus was beside his own Jaieh, Knight Siri Tachi, another of Jaieh Obi-Wan's old creche group. There was also Knight Kit Fisto, with his Padawan Nahdar Vebb, a year younger than Leia and Ferus, Jaieh Shaak Ti, a member of the Council, her Padawan Nejaa Halcyon, who, like Aayla, was old enough to be requested, and finally Knight Stass Allie and her apprentice, Rig Nema, who was only a few months shy of being Marked.

"Is everyone ready?" Jaieh Ti asked grimly, studying the group.

"Yes, Jaieh," the Padawans chorused, Aayla and Nejaa's voice shaking slightly. The Jehxahs all nodded grimly, looking like they were going to war, and not a party.

Not that it wasn't the same thing, for a Jedi.

"Then let us go," Jaieh Shaak sighed, sending feelings of warmthlovecomfortfamily to her fellow Jedi, before leading the way to the limo-speeder sent by the Senate to escort them. It was driven by a Senate Guard, his partner in the passenger seat.

Both had blasters, and lustful sneers on their faces as they shamelessly looked the Jedi up and down, especially Aayla. Jaieh Quin shifted subtly so he stood between his apprentice and the Guards' leers.

They had to be just as careful around the guards and aides as the Senators, because they were as likely to take advantage of the Jedi as the Hutts were to be crimelords. And any attempt to avoid their advances would be punished as much as avoiding a Senator.

Leia did a subtle meditation. She believed things would work out in the long run, but it didn't mean it wasn't a struggle to deal with things in the short one.

"Move it," one of the Guards demanded irritably once his sight of the young Twi'lek was cut off. "You'll make us late."

"Our apologies, Sir," Jaieh Ti murmured as the Jedi bowed to their wardens.

A Jedi's bow to an ally was respectful. Their bow to a friend was loving. Their bow to an enemy was a show of defiance. And a Jedi's bow to a Senate Guard or a Senator was humiliating, a sorrowful acknowledgment that the Jedi, for all 'Jaieh' was translated into Basic as 'Master', were slaves in everything but name.

They entered the speeder, staying silent and meek aloud, while in the Force they braced themselves and their family with feelings of love and strength.

Not for the first time since she learned the truth of her family's service, Leia made a silent vow. She would see her people freed from their enslavement and smiling to their eyes, or she would die trying. Then, she would free the Force-null slaves, like her mother.

After all, according to Qui-Gon and the Council she was the Chosen One. If anything would bring Balance to the Force and restore the Light to its dominance over the Darkness that had been growing since the start of the Request system a century ago, it would be the freedom of the Light's most faithful servants and the innocents whose despair all Darkened the Light even further.