Chapter 8: Mothers

29 BBY, Coruscant

"You haven't read that yet?" Leia asked Halagad, as they watched as their luggage was carried into the Alderaanian Embassy where they would stay for the next several weeks. Ownership of the building she'd purchased needed to be finalized and the structure checked for habitability before they could move in. Leia wasn't much worried about the latter; she'd lived everywhere from mud-soaked caves to rusting barracks while leading the Resistance. A slightly dilapidated building held no fears for her, especially without the aches and pains of later middle age to fight through.

She gestured at the pad in Halagad's hands, "Read it. That was our agreement."

"I hoped to do it in private," he answered angrily.

"You had plenty of privacy on the transport. Enough hiding. Read the damned letter. NOW."

"Fine!" Halagad opened the pad. He was completely silent as he read Tia's letter. She didn't address him personally, not at all. Nor did she discuss their former relationship. The letter was a description of their son: his height, his weight, the inoculations he'd had, his favorite toy. She listed the names of his friends and which foods he refused to eat. She even included a summary of his favorite bedtime story. And that was it. No demands—or offers—to communicate. Just a summary of the life and behavior of one little boy, Nial Organa of Alderaan, aged four.

Halagad turned to Leia. "I don't understand! Why send me this? What does it mean?"

"That," Leia told him, "is your first lesson. Figure out what the letter means."

"What does that have to do with being a jedi?"

"Everything," she answered. "A jedi must know not just how to use the Force but when and with what purpose. And for that, you must understand people, their motivations and desires, their strengths and weaknesses. You cannot bring peace and justice to the galaxy if you don't understand its peoples."

"Jedi don't have children," Halagad objected.

"Don't they? Just who is raising those hundreds of younglings in the Temple? Droids?" She shook her head. "Coruscanti jedi are not supposed to form attachments because such attachments may distract them from the will of the Force or cause them to sacrifice justice to protect those whom they love. Alderaanian Jedi will not have that restriction. So how will we avoid allowing love to turn to selfishness, fear, or obsession? That letter is the beginning of your answer. When you understand it, you may explain it to me and to everyone else."

"I am not going to confess my personal failings as some form of public confession," he warned.

Leia shrugged. "Pretend you don't know the author or the recipient of the letter, if that makes it easier. The lesson is still the same."

"Here we are!" the real estate droid announced cheerfully. "A lovely cottage, very close to a city shuttle stop. But the neighborhood is almost entirely self-contained. You can see shops and restaurants, and even a bit of garden 400 meters behind you. Most of the inhabitants are recent immigrants, though there are a few long-time residents, mostly couriers and teachers and data compilers, many of whom could buy a place higher up, but, well, they have ties here."

Shmi looked around as she got out of the speeder. The droid was gesturing towards the "small cottage" where she'd been told she now lived. Small? It was at least twice the size of the home she'd lived in with Anakin in Mos Espa. She wondered if he'd paid for it. Jedi didn't accumulate wealth, did they?

"I do hope you will be happy here. Perhaps you will even be able to fix your droid. He seems a bit…volatile."

"I beg your pardon?" C3P0 objected. "Volatile! I'm sure I do my best to be of service at all times."

"You are perfect the way you are, Threepio," Shmi assured him. "Though perhaps we could get you some new coverings. I'm sure Anakin would be willing to work on that. If he has time."

"Oh, it will be gratifying to see Master Anakin again!"

"I'm afraid that will take a few days, yet, Threepio," a new voice responded. Shmi turned and saw a small, dark-haired girl in the doorway of the cottage. "Hello!" she said, moving forward. "I'm Leia, Leia Organa, and I'm afraid I'm responsible for barging in and changing your life without asking. Why don't you come in, and we can have a cup of tea while we talk. Did the agent give you're your keys?"

Shmi nodded and turned back to the real estate droid, who, having unloaded her single bag of possessions, had already sped away.

As Threepio lifted the bag, Leia gestured them both inside. "Um, feel free to look around a bit while I make tea. There are two bedrooms, through that hallway. This is the sitting room or common room? I'm not sure about terminology on Tatooine. There is a kitchen, of course, and a 'fresher. There's a charging station for Threepio right over there. And the agent called that section a 'reading room,' though I'm sure you could put it to whatever use you prefer. Your rent is paid for six months, and you have an account with enough credits to finish furnishing the place. If there's anything you don't like—I'm not sure about the sheets I chose, to be honest—it can be recycled. I'm building a…school…of sorts, and nothing will be wasted. But this is your place, and it should reflect your taste."

I'm babbling, Leia thought. I'm nervous about meeting my grandmother, and I'm babbling at her like an idiot. Tea. I can make tea.

Shmi gazed around. The walls of the cottage were a deep cream color, brighter than the sand-colored buildings she was used to. There was a sofa and a comfortable looking chair in the sitting room, both in a blue-green fabric that somehow reminded her of the sea. There was a small bookshelf, a vid screen, and a patterned rug on the floor. She followed Leia into the kitchen, which contained a square wooden table with four chairs. There were open cabinets showing very basic equipment: four plates, four bowls, four mugs, all in pale green. A few pots and pans. A kaf-maker was on the countertop, and she could see that the appliances were brand new and never used. She pulled out a chair and sat down, as the girl ceremoniously made tea, carrying water to the table in a hot server, along with honey, sugar, and some kind of citrus fruit.

"I have a green tea from Lothal here, as well as black and jasmine teas from Alderaan. I didn't really know what you would like," Leia apologized. "I can make kaf if you prefer, but where I'm from, the tea ceremony is traditional when welcoming new friends or family. I do…I mean, I did know someone from Tatooine, but the only things he ever seemed to drink were water and blue milk, so I'm not sure I'd use him as a model. I, uh, did put both in the cold box, just in case."

"The green tea would be fine," Shmi said warmly. She was oddly touched at the effort this girl was making to please her, but still wary of the situation. "Why don't you sit down and tell me why you have freed me and when I may see my son?"

Leia poured two cups of green tea, then used the Force to slide one over to Shmi as she sat down. "Well, as you can see, I'm like Anakin, and can use the Force. And that's why and how I'm here."

Unfazed, Shmi blew on the tea softly before taking a sip. "You're a jedi?"

Leia nodded. "After a fashion. This is going to be difficult to hear, but I don't want to start with lies between us. I'm not going to tell you everything, but what I do tell you will be the absolute truth. You see, I have seen the future. A future. And in that future, Anakin Skywalker makes some very bad choices. Those choices set him on a path to darkness. Eventually, he becomes an instrument of evil, causing enormous death and suffering in the galaxy."

Shmi sipped the tea. She remained calm as she objected, "Ani is one of the most selfless people I've ever known. Even living as a slave with little or nothing, he was always generous, always wanting to help other people. He could never become what you describe."

Leia sighed. "I won't argue with you about Anakin Skywalker's virtues. You're his mother, and I…I don't really know him at all. But whatever he is now, there is a future in which he becomes a monster. I would like to prevent that future. That is why you are here."

"I don't understand."

"In the future that I've seen, one of the events that sends Anakin down the wrong path is your death. According to what I can discern, just a few years from now, you are captured and killed by Tuskan Raiders. Anakin tries to save you but arrives too late. This creates a fear of loss from which he never recovers."

Shmi gazed at the girl thoughtfully, "So you have freed me from slavery and brought me to Coruscant so that Anakin will not have to face that loss. What if I'm run over by a speeder tomorrow?"

Leia smiled. "I don't know. Honestly, I don't know whether avoiding the fate I've seen for you will help or not. But, on the whole, it might help. And even if it doesn't, well, you're no longer enslaved. You'll get to see your son again and make a new life for yourself. Your transfer has been funded by Bail Organa of Alderaan through a resettlement grant often used to assist refugees. It will provide you with education, if you want or need it, as well as contacts to help you begin a new career. If you hate it here and want to go back to Tatooine or emigrate somewhere else, we will make sure you can do that. You're not being forced to stay here; I'm just giving you the opportunity."

"After removing me from my home without asking first?" Shmi pointed out.

"Yes, well, as you see, this body is twelve years old, and a twelve-year old cannot travel to the Outer Rim to try to free an enslaved woman on her own. I had to use an intermediary. And I certainly didn't want to tell him about the future I've seen. So, yes, I decided for you. I hope you will be able to forgive me for that, eventually."

"And when," Shmi asked, "can I see my son?"

"In a few days. I know you'd rather he was here, right here to greet you, but I'm using you as a surprise," Leia admitted. "I'm going to have to tell Anakin what I've seen of his future, and he is sure to react with anger, fear and denial. Even when I provide him with evidence that I'm not lying, he will probably reject what I tell him. But seeing you again, that will alleviate some of the pain I must bring him."

I am being used, Shmi thought, to manipulate Ani. "I am grateful to no longer be enslaved, but none of this seems quite fair," she told Leia.

"On that," the girl answered, "we agree. There is nothing fair about this situation at all." She leaned forward, "For some reason, the Force has put this path in front of me. It is my responsibility to try to stop the coming darkness in the galaxy. And I don't know which elements, large or small, are the most important. So I am just using my best judgment to try to make things better where I can. Saving a boy's mother is the least I would do to stop what I know may be coming."

29 BBY, Coronet City, Corellia

This, the young woman thought, is not how I thought this day would go. For a moment, she thought about crying. Just busting out and wailing in the middle of the street, shrieking her frustration and despair for the whole neighborhood to hear. She didn't, not out of any sliver of pride she had left, but because, frankly, anyone who came running at this hour would likely try to rob her, and, finding that she had nothing, less than nothing, slit her throat. And then what would become of you, she thought, shifting her sleeping toddler from one hip to the other. What's going to become of either of us now? she asked herself as she gazed at the poison-blue eviction sign attached to the brand new cyberlock on the door of the one-room space where she and her son had taken shelter for the previous three months.

She stood there, swaying a bit, at a complete loss for what to do next, where to go. She had no friends to take her in—she'd used up all that good will years ago—and her family, if they were still alive, had made it clear that she was no longer welcome in their lives. After a moment, she moved around to the side of the building, hoping for an unguarded entrance, or even a space in the refuse shed, any place to sit down with her child until dawn.

The ache in her right knee turned into a sharp pain as she shuffled towards the back steps, and as she eased down to sit on them, it started to throb in time with her heartbeat. She was nineteen years old, hungry and alone, and she knew that when morning came, she would have to take her child, the child for whom she had sacrificed everything, to an orphanage, where he would receive no love and little warmth. But there would be food, of a sort, and clean water, and a very basic state education, which was more than she could provide.

Perhaps if she'd had a plan or a friend or a job, then she wouldn't have made the choice that she made next. If she'd had any other choices at all, she would never have trusted the holographic projection glowing in the dingy alley from beneath the tiny droid floating suddenly into her space, beeping encouragingly. She wasn't stupid; she knew there were no guardian angels or selfless heroes who swept into someone's life to save them. People who told you they could help you for free sooner or later made you pay. Usually sooner.

But she didn't have a plan or a friend. So when the image of the young woman offered her a job…a job and a place to stay and even told her she could bring her child…she had no choice but to lever herself back onto tired legs and follow. "Don't worry," the girl with huge brown eyes said in the flickering light, "this isn't a trick. You may not understand yet, but in another life, I owed you a debt. This is my chance to repay you. Trust me. I know it will be hard, but please trust me. This is your only hope."

Jaina Solo didn't really believe the hologram, but what else was there? Nothing, not here anyway. So she took a deep breath, hitched her son higher in her arms and limped after the droid to meet the future.