The snow had melted considerably by the time Obi-Wan Kenobi arrived a few days later. He and Luke talked in the living room while Anakin and Padme alternated peeking out from the kitchen to try and figure out what was going on.

"Do you really think he'll be able to help?" Padme asked.

"He's the only one I know who can," Anakin answered. "If he can't come up with anything, I don't know what we're going to do."

"What're they saying?" Padme asked.

"That's not what's important, he's trying to get Luke to read his thoughts," Anakin told her.

"Is it working?"

He shook his head. "I don't think so."

Several minutes later Obi-Wan and Luke entered the kitchen.

"Well?" Luke asked.

Anakin and Padme exchanged a look.

"Hey, Luke," Anakin thought of a diversion, "it's a nice day, why don't you go outside and play?"

"Okay," Luke reached up and grabbed C-3PO's metal hand and said, "come on, Threepio."

"Oh well I really don't know about this, I don't, AHH!" the droid exclaimed as Luke walked forward, pulling him along hard enough one foot actually left the floor, "well I suppose I will."

Everybody waited until Luke was outside before anybody said anything.

"A doll?" Obi-Wan asked.

"I know it doesn't make any sense," Anakin said, "I saw it with my own eyes and I still can't believe it."

"Do you have any idea about it, Obi-Wan?" Padme asked.

"No."

"And...he doesn't have the Force, does he?"

Obi-Wan shook his head, "No...not as I know it anyway. There's something there, but just what, I can't be sure. Now I talked to Luke, and I got his version of what's been going on the last couple weeks."

"If it's not the Force, what is it?" Padme asked.

"I'm not sure, but something came to mind while we were talking." The look on his face was not hopeful as he explained, "Ancient mythology. Stories I heard when I was a boy."

"Well we're desperate," Padme told him, "what is it?"

"Well, before people knew about Force ghosts, they made up all kinds of stories about other kinds of ghosts, one recurring type were supposed to be drawn to children. They didn't harm the children, but they would wreak havoc on the entire household, things breaking, things flying through the air."

"Like what's been happening here," Anakin realized.

"Yes. They were called poltergeists, but since nobody ever knew what caused them, the children were always blamed for the occurrences."

"Just like here," Anakin dryly choked out.

"But if it's just a myth, how does that help us?" Padme asked.

"All myths are grounded in some form of reality," Obi-Wan explained, "but I'm not sure what the foundation could be for something like-"

"Evil spirits," Anakin said suddenly.

Obi-Wan turned to him, seeing his former padawan staring straight ahead but not really seeing anything. "Yes, I suppose that's one way to put it."

"Evil...spirits," Anakin repeated slowly, and blinked, and looked to his mentor, "I'm not exactly sure how...but I have a strange feeling that the chancellor Palpatine is somehow involved in all this."

"What?" Padme asked, feeling her blood turn cold at this new idea.

"Has Palpatine met the boy?" Obi-Wan inquired.

"Yeah, about a week after Luke was born."

"Born?" Obi-Wan repeated.

Anakin shrugged, "What else could you call it?"

"Fair enough."

Anakin pointed a finger at Obi-Wan as he explained, "Now since Luke came to life he has not known a single stranger, that's why we wouldn't put him in school because it'd be too easy for anyone to do something to him. But he was terrified of Palpatine the second he met the man."

"He has good instincts," Obi-Wan noted. "Did Palpatine touch the boy?"

"No...Luke wouldn't even talk to him, we left shortly afterwards."

"And when did these strange occurrences start happening?" Obi-Wan asked.

"It was..." Anakin and Padme turned to one another with wide eyes as realization set in.

"After Palpatine met Luke," Obi-Wan said as much as guessed. "Have there been anymore instances after the snowstorm?"

Anakin shook his head. "No, it's been quiet around here the last few days."

Padme's mind was still struggling to grasp all this. "You think that Palpatine..."

Anakin groaned as he brought his hands up over his face and let out a few curses he remembered from Tatooine.

Maybe Obi-Wan was assisted through the Force, or maybe he just knew his former student too well, either way he prodded, "Did Palpatine know about your...circumstances regarding children?"

"Yessss," Anakin hissed as he lowered his hands. "He even commented on it the last time I saw him before we got Luke."

Padme turned to him, eyes wide with shock, "What?"

"Palpatine has been trying to turn you towards the Dark side for years, Anakin," Obi-Wan reminded him.

"I know that," Anakin replied.

"And he knew this was a particularly sore spot for you, not having a child, not having an heir to carry on the Skywalker name," Obi-Wan said.

A new and horrifying thought occurred to Padme, "You think that Palpatine was responsible for Luke's existence?"

Obi-Wan shook his head. "If that were the case, Luke would've been nothing but trouble from the start. I don't think Palpatine knew anything about Luke until the day he actually met him, then he decided to do something about it. If not having a child wasn't enough to tempt you towards the Dark side, having a child who was responsible for things constantly going wrong, things breaking, it's just possible that..."

"What?" Anakin was about to hit the ceiling.

It was obvious from the look in Obi-Wan's eyes that it pained him to say this, "It's possible that Palpatine sought to turn you...by orchestrating you killing Luke in a fit of rage. If the events you told me about continued long enough, persistently enough, without end, just about anyone could reach a breaking point and lose their temper, lose themselves just long enough to-"

"Kill Luke?" the color drained from Padme's face at that thought.

"N-n-no, no," Anakin's voice trembled as he shook his head, "I would never harm Luke, I couldn't..."

"Anakin, I know that, but Palpatine believes he can get you to do whatever he wants you to do, under the right circumstances," Obi-Wan said. "If he's backing off now, either he's realized his plan won't work...or he's switching tactics."

"But how would he know that?" Padme asked.

Anakin's eyes widened, "The bastard must be watching us."

"In which case, by now he realizes we're onto him," Obi-Wan said.

"What about the voice that lured Luke out into the storm?" Padme asked. "Could that have been Palpatine?"

"I don't think so, but I don't know," Obi-Wan answered. "Luke doesn't have the Force, he can't communicate telepathically with anyone who is, but clearly he has some kind of bond with someone, somewhere."

"Who? How do we find out?" Padme asked.

"I've got it," Anakin declared, "we'll need Artoo, and we'll take my shuttle." He turned to his wife, "Get Luke back in here, don't tell him where we're going and don't let him out of your sight."

"What are you going to do, Anakin?" she asked.

"I'm going to find out where he was going."

The shuttle landed and the two men and the droid got out. Anakin looked around and tried to remember exactly where he'd found Luke, but it was a disorienting experience with the snow gone.

"Artoo, are you sure this is the way Luke was heading?" he asked.

The Astromech droid chirped and beeped affirmatively as it rolled along.

"In this direction?"

The droid chirped similarly.

Anakin was feeling lost. All he could see for miles was grass and trees, there were no houses, no ships, nobody lived out this way. He led Obi-Wan over to a familiar looking bush and explained, "This is where I found him."

The elder Jedi looked at the spot and asked, "And he had turned back into a doll?"

Anakin nodded.

"And that never happened since you got him?"

Anakin shook his head.

"How did he come back to life?"

"I...I don't know," Anakin answered. "I was holding him and...it just...happened." He turned to the droid and asked, "Artoo, which way were you two coming from?"

The droid chirped and whirred in answer as it rolled in the opposite direction.

The two men tried to piece it together, but something still seemed to be missing.

"So they were going in pretty much a straight line," Anakin realized.

"And if they'd continued that way, where would they have wound up?" Obi-Wan asked.

Anakin shrugged, "I don't know...this land stretches out for miles, Luke could never have reached wherever it was."

"What about past it?" Obi-Wan asked.

"I don't know, houses, buildings, places that haven't been used in years."

When he said it, something clicked in the young Jedi's mind.

"What do you think?" Anakin wanted to know.

Obi-Wan turned to him and answered, "I think you need to let Luke lead the way, if he's the only one who can hear the voice, he's the only one who can show you where it is."

"What if it's a trap?" Anakin asked.

"Then it's a trap," Obi-Wan answered. "At least we would know."

"We?" Anakin repeated.

"I have full faith in your abilities as a Jedi, Anakin, but Palpatine is no fool, he knows what he's doing," Obi-Wan pointed out. "If you wind up confronting him, I think you will need all the help you can get."

"When?" Anakin asked.

Obi-Wan dwelled on that for a moment.

"Has Luke said anymore about the voice calling him?"

"No."

"Our best chance would be to find whatever it is, wherever it is, when we know where Palpatine will be. But we may not have that option. If Luke hears the voice again, let him go to it."