Main story, chapter four : Where Shmi Skywalker and Mace Windu miscommunicate or how cultural difference need to be taken into account
Shmi Skywalker places a cup of water before him, and Mace Windu thanks her gratefully, because water is a precious enough resource on Tatooine it merits gratitude. Silently, he vows to add the reminder of his water supply in her moisture unit when it would not be seen as an offensive gesture. She had given him this cup so quickly it mays be a traditional welcome into her home.
"Is Ani settling well?" she asks and Mace supposes the water may have been payment for information, so he expends on the subject. Truthfully, her son is not as problematic Mace feared he would be. After learning of his background, Mace assigned him in the care of a retired Shadow who averted most troubles simply by knowing what to expect of a recently freed child.
"We have a few questions which may help integrating Anakin further" he finally says and Shmi makes him sign to continue : "The name Skywalker is not unknown amongst Force-sensitives. Could you says us more about your family? We have a padawan with some link with a Leia Skywalker, it mays give Anakin a confident if they are related".
"Leia is a name from the Desert. She is the daughter of the Shifter who sow and rave, who change and remain. This name was given many times amongst my foremothers." Mace Windu quickly translates the Shifter as Vader, Light then Dark Sider, and maybe Light Sider again.
"She was the sister of Luke Skywalker". Shmi raises an eyebrow and answers "Luke is the light of the stars shining upon our path. Without Leia, he cannot build, but without Luke she would build aimlessly." That one is trickier for Mace but Luke assumed the role of a teacher and guide to his sister, whom received his tutelage. She had been intended to pass down her knowledge to further generations in the Skywalker odd teaching line.
"And Luke Skywalker daughter?" Shmi seems frankly amused by this last question : "She is a ray of sun, warming the earth to which rain will bring hope". Mace nods, taking the rhythm of the conversation.
"And who are rain and hope?" Shmi smiles: "Rain is beloved in a dry land and hope bridge present and future." Rain or the man she masks under this name was her father, and hope is how she calls herself.
"And whose son is the son of hope?" For the first time, she looks perturbed but answers all the same : "Hope need only hope to bear a better future". Qui-Gon was right on this at least, but Mace wonders from where come the Skywalker line: "Who was the first Skywalker?".
"She was a woman born in time long past, in a cradle of molten metal, sky over her head, sand under her body" A shipwreck? Sky and sand, her parents? A parent arrived on Tatooine through a shipwreck, who had a daughter with a native? "And what did she do?"
"She sang along the wind, dreamt amongst the stars, danced in the sand and spoke of truth". A Force sensitive who could felt Force current, had vision, communed with the Force through moving meditation and acted as a priestess. Still, the dancing part perturbated him as it was originally a Sith practice. "When was that?"
"There were many Leia since then" answers Shmi and Mace curses in the fort of his mind because times immemorial may mean time when Sith were still a thing. "Did she have children? The first Skywalker".
"Seven daughters to bear her name: Leia who sung along the wind, Anikka of the Krayt, Beru rain-bringer, Koshré the red, Shmi sky-born, Cheni of the Rancor and Tura the dreamer". Mace closes his eyes examining and finding link in all of those names with the Sith. From the telling Red Koshré, to the ferocious animals used in battle, passing by off-worlder mention, vision, the easily-made rain through overcharging the air with lightning. But Shmi continues "And after her, her brother had thirteen daughters. Another brother had nine and the last fifteen", which is roughly when Mace decides not to backtrack genealogically the current Skywalkers to the ancient Skywalkers.
"Who are the Shifter parents?" he asks as a last try. "He has many and none for he was born of the Desert winds long past and long to come". Mace spends a moment meditating about the forty-seven most frequent family formation in the galaxy, decides it must most probably be an extensive one, ponders the meaning of time in a planet without seasons and the potential of a cyclic viewpoint, and give up. He simply does not know enough about Tatooine to do that.
"Do you remember your mother?" He asks, hoping to determine whether she was Force-sensitive. "I do, a little. I was young when she told me to run and never return because they were coming."
"Who is they?" he asks. "Desert wrath, long offended, never satiated, always seeking bloodshed". A fitting description of the Sith from Korriban, and maybe by extension of all Sith. "Who described them to you as such ?"
"My mother did, before she told me to wrap the night as a cloak around my shoulders and I felt her leaving as she grasped my hands with her last breaths." Mace quirks an eyebrow, because the first part remind him of a shielding technic, and the second of the Sith technic that came up twice in Solo tale. "Did she tell you that before or after they came?"
"After they left, leaving her to die on the red tiles under which she had hidden me". Mace can imagine what happened : Dark Siders attacked Rey and Shmi Skywalker, killed the last, were killed by the first, who then gave her life to save her daughter. Which meant the Dark Siders who plagued the Skywalkers were still around and the more-dangerous-that-his-name-seemed-to-indicate-Palpy too.
"Madam Skywalker, may I do a blood test? To compare your midichlorian count to Anakin". Shmi nods and Mace stares, unable to understand, at the result. Higher than the norm, but nowhere as exceptional as the other Skywalkers, and not even enough to enter the Jedi Order. Unless the Skywalkers had another half-forgotten technic in their repertoire.
"Pardon me, but could you tell me in detail what happened when your mother held your hands?" Shmi slowly shakes her head: "I could not. I was half-sprawled on mother and the words she spoke then I will remember all my life. But those she told after? I could not hear them at the time, I felt myself growing dizzy and it was like something snapped in me, a hole forming that nothing would ever file. Nothing until Anakin". Mace nods and he understands oh so well. A connection snapping, a hole never to be filled until she bore her Force-sensitive child. Yes, it does explain the low count, which must have been quite high before the Light Wall enclosed her, for it to still read as high today.
Shmi was young upon her mother death and without means to defend herself against Dark Siders, so Rey tried to protect her in the most cruel way, by making her blind and deaf to the Force, invisible for Force-sensitives.
Shmi watches him leave the following morning, a bit jittery by the reminder of her mother death at Tusken hands she only recounted for the sake of Anakin. But mostly amused by the Jedi who asked mythological questions and proverbs. He did well to come to her, after all, she is a Skywalker: her family has long walked along those that came with questions towards their answers.
Some Tatooine lore :
Leia: mythical female figure of endeavors and work. A many-time given name on Tatooine.
Luke: mythical figure of wisdom. Its daughter is curiosity. Rain (or Anakin) is determination. In Nabooan tradition, Luke means "light".
The Shifter: mythical figure of time.
The first Skywalker: the first priestess from whom Shmi derive her name not by ascendency but by status. Crashed on Tatooine as a child. Force-sensitive.
Leia Desert-wind: second priestess, the first Skywalker daughter with a Tusken chief. Force-sensitive.
Anikka of the Krayt: third priestess, Tusken-born of clan Krayt, wed to Leia's son.
Beru rain-bringer: fourth priestess, Tusken-born, talented in finding underground water-bodies, wed to Anikka's grandson.
Koshré the red: fifth priestess, Tusken-born, native of the Red Canyon, wed to Beru's son.
Shmi sky-born: sixth priestess, with a parent offworlder, Koshré's granddaughter.
Cheni of the Rancor: seventh priestess, Tusken-born of clan Rancor, wed to Shmi's son.
Tura the dreamer: eighth priestess, Tusken-born. A conqueror, wed to Cheni's grandson.
Thirteen, nine and fifteen daughters: other dynasties of thirteen, nine and fifteen priestesses. The last span on twenty-two generation until Shmi mother, this time amongst the slaves.