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Chapter Text

Obi-Wan nearly made a run for the nearest canyon when he saw the ship land in the wasteland outside of his home. It was a transport of the type favored by the Rebellion, a fact which was not at all comforting as Obi-Wan watched the single pilot make his way across the dry plateau toward his house.

Obi-Wan slipped outside and stood behind one of the rocky outcroppings on the path. He waited until the man walked by without noticing him before stepping out and clearing his throat to announce his presence.

The pilot startled and spun around. "General Kenobi?"

Obi-Wan almost laughed in the man's face, but he had just enough of his dignity left to restrain himself. "What do you want with him?"

The pilot looked around in confusion like maybe General Kenobi might be standing somewhere behind Obi-Wan or under a rock nearby. "I'm sorry, I was told that I would find General Obi-Wan Kenobi here—"

Obi-Wan suppressed a sigh. "You did, he's me. Although no one's called me that in many years."

"Oh, ah, right. Good." The pilot straightened up with evident relief. "Alliance High Command needs your help. Something's happened and I was sent to retrieve you."

"Oh, dear." Obi-Wan raised his eyebrows. "It must be quite the something to require the intervention of an old man who is long past his fighting days."

The pilot hesitated. He looked behind Obi-Wan like he was still hoping a more respectable General Kenobi might emerge from the sands. "It's—uh, I was given a message to deliver to you from Senator Organa, sir."

Obi-Wan nodded and motioned for the man to proceed. He was expecting him to have a datastick with a hologram, but, instead, the pilot said, "I was told to tell you, 'the twins have come in from the cold.'"

That rocked Obi-Wan back on his heels. He was so startled that he didn't have anything clever to say in response. It served him right for playing games with the poor man.

"I see." Obi-Wan looked behind him at the door of his humble dwelling. "Let me get a few things and we can be on our way."

--

Obi-Wan had heard rumors that the Alliance had relocated to Yavin 4, but it was unsettling to discover that they'd set up their headquarters in the ruins of the Massassi Great Temple. Something about it felt ominous. It was as if the Rebellion had stumbled upon the body of a giant and built their home inside its corpse.

Bail Organa was waiting for him in the hangar when he arrived. It was night on the moon, hot and muggy in contrast to the dry heat on Tatooine. The jungle surrounding the base was loud with cryptic calls and animal sounds. Obi-Wan could sense a great multitude of life swarming out there, much of it hostile.

"It's good to see you, old friend," Bail said and clapped him on the shoulder.

"And you as well," Obi-Wan said. It was startling to see Bail's face lined with wrinkles and his hair streaked with gray. He'd become an old man, but then so had Obi-Wan. He probably looked considerably worse than Bail did after decades in the heat and sand on Tatooine. Obi-Wan wasn't sure why he'd stayed there as long as he had. Tatooine had been meant as a temporary hiding spot. He'd chosen it for its remoteness and for the cruel humor in the fact that Anakin would never think to look for him there. The joke hadn't amused Obi-Wan very much then and it didn't now, but Tatooine had served him well as a place of safety.

"Is it true?" Obi-Wan asked.

Bail nodded. "Yes."

"And they're really Padmé's children? You're certain?"

"They're hard to mistake..." Bail said. He began to tell Obi-Wan the story as he walked him through the base.

This hadn't been a planned defection. There had been no contact beforehand, no management of the twins, nor prior assessment of them as assets. They simply arrived out of nowhere 24 hours earlier and requested asylum. One of them, the boy, was severely injured and the girl had offered information in exchange for medical treatment for him. She was being inconsistently cooperative and Intelligence and Command were split on how to handle her. Was she a prisoner of war or a political refugee?

"If this is all a ploy..." Bail said. "Even if I had every soldier in the Alliance guarding them, we couldn't prevent two Sith from wreaking havoc if they wanted to."

Obi-Wan nodded and touched his hand to his chin. "Yes, it's good that you called me."

"I'm not so sure you could handle them either," Bail said wryly and Obi-Wan laughed in acknowledgment.

"No, but I can help divine their true intentions and... perhaps even what to do with them."

"There's one other thing," Bail said. "They brought something with them, information that was hidden on the ship's drive. She won't decrypt it for us, but the files look like some kind of Imperial blueprints."

"Blueprints? Hm, interesting."

"So," Bail said, cautiously. "What do you think?"

Obi-Wan shrugged. "I think I'd better go talk to her."

"You will?" Bail said. "I wasn't sure if you'd be willing to deal with them directly."

"I wouldn't have come otherwise."

--

Bail took Obi-Wan down to the brig where they were keeping the girl and gave him access to the intelligence division's data on her. It was clear from the recordings and reports that they had no idea how to manage the volatile and manipulative young woman they were holding.

Obi-Wan should have taken his time to go over all the details and form a clear picture of what he'd be facing in that room, but now that he was here, he was eager to see her for himself. He wanted to meet Anakin's daughter.

The first thing she said when Obi-Wan entered the cell where they were holding her was, "Where's my brother?"

He could sense power from her, but not much else. She was too closed off in the Force. Her mind was tightly reined in and it was as if there was a shield enclosing her, hiding her signature like she'd retreated into a protective shell. Her eyes ran over Obi-Wan's face and flicked down to take in his old robes and the sand still clinging to his boots.

"Where is my brother?" she repeated when Obi-Wan didn't answer.

"Nearby, and being tended to," Obi-Wan said. "As I'm sure you are already aware."

She was sitting up very straight with her head tipped back and her hands on the armrests as if the chair were a throne and the shackles around her wrists regalia. The restraints were a bit silly, but having them on her probably made the poor saps guarding the door feel better. In any event, it was a good sign that she was humoring them and playing along as if she couldn't break free easily.

"I want to see him," she said.

"You will," Obi-Wan said. There was a chair across from her, left by her previous visitors, and he sat down on it. "But first I have a few questions for you." He set the datapad on his knee, letting her see the words written on the screen where a report about the twin's arrival was displayed. The half-destroyed Imperial freighter had thrown the base into a furor of confusion when it had landed and the Alliance's bewilderment had only increased when they realized who was inside.

"I've answered the Rebellion's questions," she said with the tone of a sulky teenager. It wasn't surprising, she was a teenager after all. Nineteen years old, if he'd reckoned right. "Now I want to see my brother."

"Don't you want to hear what my questions are?" Obi-Wan asked. "They might be different."

She scoffed and didn't roll her eyes, but it was a near thing. She looked and sounded so much like Anakin had when he was in a snit—the set of her jaw, the anger in her eyes, the beginnings of a whine in her voice—it was uncanny. Obi-Wan couldn't stop himself from smiling at the resemblance, although naturally that only irritated her further.

"I don't care about your questions," she said. "I'm done talking."

Obi-Wan shrugged. His lower back was still tight from the long journey from Tatooine and the metal chair wasn't doing his sore muscles any favors. He stretched his shoulders and twisted them, sighing with relief as his spine cracked. "Suit yourself. Now, what shall I call you?" he asked, still stretching as he pretended at casualness. "Lady Caldera?"

That knocked the arrogant look off of her face and she dropped her eyes down to her lap. It wasn't shame, he didn't think, but something more like sadness. She shook her head. "I never much cared for my title."

"Leia then?" Obi-Wan asked. Her eyes leapt back to his face and he could feel a frisson of surprise and curiosity stirring around her.

"You know my name."

Obi-Wan smiled. "And your brother's: Luke."

"How?" Leia didn't wait for him to answer before she reached out to take it from his mind. He let her, not offering any resistance as she rifled through his surface thoughts. Her presence in the Force felt frayed and sharp at the edges like she might cut him open if she probed any deeper. She gasped when she found the answer she was seeking. "You knew our father. Knew him before."

Obi-Wan nodded. "We fought side-by-side once."

Her eyes flashed with excitement. "You're a Jedi."

"Yes."

"Luke will want to meet you!" She started to rise to her feet but the binders on her arms caught and she sat down again in frustration.

"In time," Obi-Wan promised. "First, will you tell me what happened to you? How you ended up here?"

"Didn't you read the transcripts of my other interrogations?" Leia asked and looked down at the datapad.

"There are some gaps," Obi-Wan said. "Like how exactly your brother was injured."

Leia bowed her head and closed her eyes. A deep weariness showed through that belied the straight angle of her spine. "It wasn't supposed to happen like this... everything went wrong."

"Tell me," Obi-Wan said.

Leia sighed and kept her eyes closed. Obi-Wan let the silence stretch and waited for her to fill it. Her exhaustion seemed like it might win out, but after a long moment, she opened her eyes and looked at him from under her lashes without lifting her head. "Can't you take it from me?"

Obi-Wan paused, hesitating over her phrasing. "You can show me if you like. Do you know how? Focus on the memory and open your mind—"

"I know," she snapped and, just like that, her senses swamped Obi-Wan's.

The memory closed around Obi-Wan like a hood over his head, claustrophobic and close. His first awareness was of her emotions—fear, anxiety, anger, hatred—a toxic mix of swirling tension that was as familiar to Leia as breathing oxygen.

Then he saw her twin—Luke, blond hair and bright eyes, very different from her and yet with that same spark that felt so familiar to Obi-Wan. He was injured, cradled in her lap, and there was blood on his mouth. When the explosion had happened, Luke had shielded her from the blast and then from the debris as part of the bulkhead collapsed on top of them. She'd barely managed to drag him out of the ruined cockpit and into the only compartment that could still hold a seal before they'd suffocated. She'd gotten one of the engines running again, but they wouldn't make it far, and the only thing keeping Luke alive was channeling all of his pain into raw life energy to sustain him.

Leia's terror was so intense that it distracted Obi-Wan at first from her other emotions, but beneath the fear was something else. It was a covetous love for her brother so strong that, once he sensed it, Obi-Wan felt like it might choke him. I won't let him die, she thought. It's not fair. We are going to survive this.

Seeking out the Alliance was a bad choice, an enormous risk, but she knew she could reach their base on Yavin, and she had something they would want. Something she took with them that would guarantee—

The memory skipped, jumping back in time to give Obi-Wan a narrative in momentary glimpses. He saw Luke whole and healthy as he told Leia breathlessly about some ancient ruins he'd been to and the artifacts he'd found there. A real Jedi temple, Leia! She was amused, but her worry for him ate at her. Fine, but you can't be this happy when we get back. He'll know. Luke's joyous face shattered and was replaced with another vision of him pale and in pain, lying on his back in a bed in an Imperial infirmary. I told you to be careful. Who cares about the Jedi anyway. There's a reason they're all dead.

Another memory surfaced that was more feeling than vision: her knees aching as Leia knelt and cold sweat trickled down the back of her neck. A creaking voice spoke from somewhere in front of her. It's good that you're afraid. You must learn from your brother's misadventures even if he will not. She turned her head to stare at the black shape kneeling next to her. Father. He wouldn't look at her. She was so angry that it overrode the fear momentarily. How could you do this to him? That terrible laugh came from the throne and her father still wouldn't look at her. Child, he would strike you down this instant if I told him to. Bitterness gathered inside her and lodged in her chest alongside her disappointment and the ever-present fear. She'd known all along that she and Luke could only depend on each other, but it still hurt to have it confirmed.

Obi-Wan got one last glimpse before she broke the connection. It was night and Luke's body was warm against her side as they whispered to one another through the Force. This is it. We can't stay any longer. We have to do it now.

The vision ended and Leia retreated from his mind, leaving Obi-Wan off-kilter and trying to catch his breath. "Well," he said, for lack of anything useful to say. "You were very lucky to survive that."

"Hmm." She frowned. "We thought we were being so clever, but they knew exactly where we were going. There was a detachment waiting to ambush us and after we escaped into hyperspace, the bomb went off. It wasn't one of the usual failsafes put on Imperial ships—Luke disabled those as soon as we left—so it must have been meant for us, hidden on board before we ever left."

"Where were you trying to go?"

Her eyes flicked back and forth as she examined his face. "Far away. Another one of Luke's ruins." She laughed, sounding fond despite her bitterness. "He wanted to keep searching for... I don't know. Some kind of answers. Guidance."

Obi-Wan stroked his chin. "You never meant to defect to the Rebellion?"

"Not... originally, no. I didn't," she admitted. "Luke might have."

"I see."

"But I have information," Leia said, her tone shifting toward pleading. "I already shared some of it, but there's more. There's so much you don't know. They're—building something." She put great significance on something as if it was an object too terrible to name outright.

"And you'll give this information to the Rebellion?" Obi-Wan asked. "Freely?"

Leia's lips thinned and she clenched her jaw. "I want to see my brother."

Obi-Wan looked at her for a moment and then nodded his head. "Okay," he said and got to his feet.

--

The guards watching Leia weren't wild about Obi-Wan's plan to take her on a stroll through the base. They insisted on calling their superiors, who in turn called other, higher superiors, who finally called Bail. Obi-Wan waited patiently in the cell with Leia (who was considerably less patient) until they had clearance to take her to the medcenter.

The guards removed the binders from her ankles but left her hands cuffed in front of her. Obi-Wan refrained from telling them that they were wasting their time with the restraints and let them lead the way through the labyrinth of twisting passageways that made up the bottom of the base.

Obi-Wan sensed Luke's presence as they approached. He was more open than his sister, perhaps only because he was unconscious, but there was a warm curiosity inside him that felt much different from Leia. He was aware on some level of where he was and what it meant, or what he thought it meant—Escape! Freedom! Adventure!

As they got closer, Luke reached for his sister's presence like a plant unfurling its leaves to the rising sun. His injuries were serious enough that they'd put him in intensive care, unconscious in the single bacta tank. There were beds in the ward for an additional three patients, but Luke was the only one currently in residence.

Leia rushed forward when she saw him and pressed her chained hands against the sides of the tank. "Luke," she whispered. "I'm here."

"He knows," Obi-Wan said and she threw him an irritated look over her shoulder. She clearly wanted to be left alone with her twin or at least given the illusion of being left alone, but Obi-Wan stayed where he was. Privacy wasn't an option for them right now.

Luke didn't look as bad off as Obi-Wan had anticipated based on Leia's memories. There were large patches of bruising over his ribs and burns on his left arm, but, externally at least, the injuries didn't look too terrible. He was missing several fingers on his right hand and it took a moment before Obi-Wan realized that it was actually a damaged prosthesis. He must have lost the hand in another incident. Maybe that was the memory of Luke in an Imperial infirmary that Leia had shown him.

Leia hit her palms against the tank but Luke didn't flinch, too deep in his induced coma. She leaned her forehead against the side and sighed. "I finally found you a Jedi and you're not awake to talk to him."

Obi-Wan sat down on one of the empty beds and watched as they communed. They fit together like two jagged pieces of a puzzle or two saplings that had been planted too closely together and had grown up with their branches entangled. It was worrisome. If he had encountered siblings that were this enmeshed while the Jedi Order was still active, the Council would have separated them immediately.

Leia was so focused on Luke that she seemed to forget Obi-Wan was there and also about the guards waiting for them outside the door. The twins talked, or rather Leia chattered away through their bond and shared images with him while Luke responded vaguely in the manner of someone deeply asleep.

Obi-Wan would have liked to speak to one of the doctors, but none of them were present for the late shift. The medical droid in the room monitoring Luke refused to recognize Obi-Wan's authority and wouldn't share any updates on his condition except that he was no longer on the verge of dying.

Luke was mostly caught up in his sister, but there was a stirring of interest in him toward Obi-Wan, who was more of a mythical figure come to life for him than a person. Obi-Wan sensed that the Jedi were an old obsession for Luke. Their ways were mysterious and enticing in part because he'd been forbidden from seeking out more information on them. It was a childish interest, but one that was connected to a deeper longing in him, a yearning for light in a world of darkness.

Leia was much calmer now and Obi-Wan congratulated himself on making the right decision in bringing her here. Even with Luke in his current state, he should be an ally in getting her to cooperate fully with the Alliance and share the secrets she was still holding onto.

The thought had barely left Obi-Wan's head when the head guard entered the room and knocked loudly on the doorframe. "General Kenobi," he said and nodded at Obi-Wan, although he didn't seem to be terribly impressed by him. The man was an intelligence officer, a captain, too highly ranked to be on guard duty and irritated about it.

"Time to go back," the captain announced when Leia didn't acknowledge him.

Leia turned her head to glare at him over her shoulder. "Already?"

"Yes, let's go." The man started to advance toward her, but Obi-Wan got between them before he could do something stupid like try to grab her.

"Yes, fine," Obi-Wan said. "Thank you, Captain. Come on, Leia."

He held his hand out to her, but she didn't move. Her eyes were wide, darting back and forth between Obi-Wan and the captain. Two of the other guards entered the room with the intention of helping but doing exactly the opposite.

Leia backed up until she was pressed against the bacta tank. "Why can't I stay here?"

Obi-Wan winced. He should have anticipated this. Of course, they were going to have a hard time dragging her out of here.

Before Obi-Wan could try to placate her, the captain said scornfully, "You're not staying in an unsecured room in the medcenter."

"Was the place you had me before supposed to be 'secured'?" Leia asked and laughed with an edge of panic.

"Leia," Obi-Wan said. He held his hands out in a calming motion that was meant for the captain as much as it was for her. "I promise you will see him again."

"If Command approves," the captain added.

Obi-Wan raised a hand to get him to stop talking. "Captain," he said. "May I speak to her alone for a moment?"

The man was about to refuse, but he nodded after Obi-Wan asked again and used the Force to convince him to listen. He and the other two guards retreated back outside of the door.

"Please don't make this difficult," Obi-Wan said to Leia once they were gone. "Luke is fine, you've seen him now."

"They could do anything to him here," she whispered and Obi-Wan could see the frightened child in her so clearly. Part of her was still a little girl who couldn't trust anyone but herself to watch over her brother.

"They're not going to hurt him," Obi-Wan promised, but of course she didn't believe him.

Her breath was coming faster and he could feel the emotions swirling inside her, growing more intense by the second as she worked herself up into a panic. I'll never see Luke again! They'll kill him! I can't let this happen!

In a flash, Obi-Wan saw her forming a plan—rip off the binders, drag Luke out of here, find the hangar and steal a ship—

Oh, hell. If she tried something desperate right now the Alliance would never be willing to trust them. "Leia," he tried again. "This isn't going to help."

—how to get Luke out of the tank, will the droid open it for me? If only I had my lightsaber—wait, I do have one—

"Leia," he said desperately as he sensed her reaching through the Force for his lightsaber where it was clipped to his belt. She felt for the clap and tested to see how it was attached. Obi-Wan should push her away or command her to stop, but he was afraid any action on his part would set her into motion. "Leia."

She wasn't listening to him. He might as well not have been there.

But Obi-Wan wasn't the only one in the room.

A wave of calm that was meant for her, but caught Obi-Wan as well, washed over them both. It was Luke, his presence clearer and much more cognizant than it had been a moment ago as he reached out to soothe his sister. Leia shuddered and her tentative hold on the lightsaber dropped. Obi-Wan allowed himself a sigh of relief.

The forced feeling of calm intensified, coercively strong, and Obi-Wan had to fight to keep from giving in to it. Leia wrapped her arms around herself and squeezed her eyes shut as if she was resisting the feeling as well, but after a moment her shoulders dropped and the worst of her panic faded. "I can't leave you," she said.

The answer in the Force was wry and teasing. You think I can't take care of myself?

There was a beep and a soft whir as the medical equipment registered that Luke was awake and the infusion pump gave him another dose of sedative.

His presence faded, becoming muffled and hazy again, but the point was made that he was capable of waking himself up if he needed to.

"Can we go now?" Obi-Wan asked cautiously.

There was a pregnant pause and a push of encouragement from Luke before Leia nodded.

"Thank you," Obi-Wan said softly. He wasn't entirely sure which one of them he was saying it to.

--

Back at the brig, Obi-Wan couldn't help making life difficult for the guards when they tried to put Leia into the same spartan cell where they had been holding her earlier.

"Can't you put her somewhere with a bed?" he asked. "She's been awake since she got here."

The captain gave him an incredulous look like he thought Obi-Wan was too stupid to understand intentional interrogation tactics, but Obi-Wan remained blandly uncomprehending. He was the "good" interrogator in this scenario, which meant he got to advocate for her welfare. Besides, driving her into an even more unstable state would be dangerous for everyone involved.

After some pointless back and forth, the captain gave in and put her in a long-term holding cell with a bed and a refresher. He even took the binders off of her wrists without Obi-Wan having to ask, so maybe he'd caught on to what he was doing.

The glare Leia gave Obi-Wan made it clear that she was very much aware and wasn't going to let herself be tricked into trusting him. He gave her a mild smile and seated himself in the corner of the cell to wait until she wound down. She ignored him and paced around making a show of testing every part of the walls and fixtures for weaknesses.

The calming imperative from Luke had worn off by now and Leia was back to obsessively worrying about him and running over various worst-case scenarios in her head. The fact that she could sense his presence on the other side of the base didn't seem to be helping. Just like in the medcenter, she let her darkest emotions drive her, anxiety building up as she got more and more agitated.

"Why don't you lie down?" Obi-Wan suggested and made it a gentle command in the Force, sending her an impression of how good it would feel to rest.

She threw him a dirty look, but, somewhat to his surprise, she went to the bed and lay down on her back. She refused to relax an inch, however, her muscles tight and her jaw clenched as her heart continued to race.

"Leia, can you slow your breathing?" he asked and took a long, slow breath to illustrate. Again, he wasn't really expecting her to obey, but she inhaled with him as he raised his hand and then exhaled as he lowered it.

"Good," he said. "And again but hold it this time for a count of four." He continued until he'd guided her into a four-count breathing pattern that was useful for trance work or for preparing for bed.

Her obedience was surprising from someone so naturally combative. When Obi-Wan put the slightest pressure on her in the Force, her instinct was to fold before she'd even registered what he was doing. It wasn't an innate characteristic, but something learned. Obi-Wan suspected it had been a painful lesson.

After several minutes of guided breathing, Leia's eyes closed and she fell into something resembling a relaxed state. Yet she refused to let herself fall asleep and held onto consciousness even after Obi-Wan left the room. Sleep would have done her a lot of good, but lying quietly and meditating for a few hours would be better than nothing.

--

Obi-Wan would have loved to get some rest himself, but first he went to find Bail. It was still late, and most of the base was asleep, but Bail answered when Obi-Wan found his quarters and knocked on the door.

"Well?" Bail asked after offering him a cup of caf. "How are Lady Caldera and Lord Ignis doing?"

"Settling in?" Obi-Wan hazarded. He took a sip of his drink and burned his tongue. "They haven't hurt anyone yet or themselves, so that's something."

"I've missed your pragmatic optimism," Bail said dryly. "I trust the trip to the medcenter went well?"

"That... might have been ill-advised," Obi-Wan admitted. "But we managed. I think I'm getting somewhere with her. I think she'll share the encrypted files once Luke—Ignis—is awake."

"Hm, we'll see if that happens," Bail said. "But she's talked to you for much longer than anyone else, so you must be doing something right."

"She might just have been tired," Obi-Wan said. "The others wore her down."

"Maybe. So, what's your assessment?"

Obi-Wan took another too-hot sip of caf and paused to collect his thoughts. He had no idea how to even begin explaining how complicated the situation was. "In what sense?"

"What do you think the end goal is?" Bail said. "Why are they here?"

"I don't think it's a trap," Obi-Wan said. "Or not one that they came up with themselves. They're sincere in their desire to join us and to escape the influence of the Emperor and their father."

"That is not the same thing as supporting the Rebellion." Bail said.

"No, but it's a start. As to how to handle them..." Obi-Wan sighed. "I want to say that it would be better to keep them separated. Their minds are very closely entwined... unhealthily so. And they'll be more dangerous together."

"But?" Bail prompted.

"Caldera is only here because of her brother. Without his influence, she will likely return to the Empire."

"And destroy whatever she can before returning with her new intel."

"Yes, which may be Palpatine's plan, if he planted the idea in them," Obi-Wan said. "But I think I can prevent that from happening. The boy has strong leanings toward the light, and he's nurtured the same in his sister."

"Is he the stronger of them then?" Bail asked.

Obi-Wan paused as he considered the question. "No—I wouldn't say that. Neither of them dominates the other. My sense is that... they aren't capable of singular action. All of their decisions are collective."

Bail's eyebrows climbed up his forehead.

"Like I said," Obi-Wan said. "Separation might be necessary eventually, but... not now. They'd be too unstable."

"Okay, uh." Bail shook his head. "Well, I'm going to leave you in charge, although Intel is breathing down the back of my neck about it. Do your best to get those files out of her. The sooner the better."

"Understood." Obi-Wan smiled to break the tension. "And you can tell Intelligence they can step in and take over the moment I make a mistake."

Bail laughed. "I think I'll wait for you to make that call rather than telling them that."

Obi-Wan's smile fell away. "If that happens, Bail, if I make a mistake with them... I do not think I will survive it."

--

In the dark, finally alone, Leia drew on her remaining reserve of energy and gathered it into a concentrated pool inside her chest. It wasn't much, she felt so drained and empty, but once she had enough she reached out toward Luke and nudged him through the Force.

He felt hazy and scattered, still unconscious in the bacta tank, but there was a sense of warm welcome as he opened up to her presence. She pushed the energy outward and imagined passing it to him like a ball.

It would be easier if they were closer together or if she could touch him. As it was, most of the energy dissipated and was lost even with their close connection in the Force, but it was better than nothing.

Luke perked up somewhat as the energy reached him and there was a soft whisper of his voice in her head before he fell back into unconsciousness. Leia.

I'm here, she pushed back, although she was sure he didn't catch it, not in words anyway.

--

Obi-Wan attempted to get some sleep, but it was difficult. He was restless and the bunk he was given in a borrowed officer's quarters was not very comfortable. He kept checking on Luke and Leia each time he awakened, feeling for their presence in the Force and reassuring himself that they were still in the same state he had left them in—Luke unconscious in the medcenter and Leia resentfully dozing in her cell.

It was still early morning when screaming voices woke him. The multitude crying out in unison was so loud and so clear that at first Obi-Wan was convinced it was happening inside the base. It wasn't until he was fully awake that he realized that it wasn't vocal screaming, but something he had heard through the Force. He searched for the source, but it was too distant for him to pinpoint.

The early morning shift had already started in the Command Center when Obi-Wan arrived, but the techs had no idea what he meant when he asked about news of any recent galactic disasters. He was making them nervous, so he didn't stay. His status on the base was odd. Being a former Jedi general earned him respect and free movement, but he hadn't taken a formal rank in the Alliance and no one was entirely sure how to respond to him. Were they supposed to salute him? Was he even allowed to be wandering around on his own?

Obi-Wan went outside to listen to the morning sounds of the jungle and watch the shadows shift on the high steps of the Great Temple. There was a heavy layer of mist over the canopy, but it began to burn off as the local star got higher in the sky.

He was thinking about going inside and searching for the mess hall when he sensed a local commotion. Something was agitating the base's personnel. There were rumors spreading of a terrible tragedy.

Obi-Wan returned to the Command Center and found the morning shift was now wide awake and frantically trying to verify something. He approached one of the techs he had spoken to earlier. She glanced at him over her shoulder as she flipped switches on the console in front of her.

"We received a report from a team on a mission to Jedha," she said, her headphones askew on her head. "It's like—it's gone, sir, both the moon and the planet it orbited. There's a debris field where they should be."

"Oh dear," Obi-Wan said. He had a sinking feeling that this was connected to those encrypted blueprints. They're building something, Leia had said to him.

"How—" The tech turned and looked at him like he was a spaceport soothsayer who was either uncannily accurate or pulling a scam on her. "How did you know?"

Obi-Wan shook his head. "Oh, just a bad feeling I had."

Back in the brig, he found Leia awake. She was sitting up on the bed and looked more composed than she had the night before. Her long hair had been taken down from the simple bun she had it in earlier and braided over her shoulder.

"Did you sense anything a few hours ago?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Maybe," she said. "Why?"

Her evasiveness was frustrating, but not unexpected. "It appears that an entire planet has been destroyed, presumably by the Empire."

Leia looked away from him and made a face that Obi-Wan was coming to recognize as her expression when she had information that she didn't want to share.

Obi-Wan let the silence stretch. He stroked his chin as he looked at her and thought.

"Leia," he said finally. "Where were you when you were ambushed by that Imperial detachment sent to intercept you?"

Her face twitched. "...Jedha," she admitted.

Obi-Wan tilted his head back and dropped his hand from his face.

"I don't think it was because we were there," she said quickly. "Not specifically. They probably had to shuffle the fleet and it was just—convenient."

"Hm, may I have those files now?"

"No!" She jumped to her feet. "Not while Luke is still half-dead and I'm locked in a cell."

"Leia." Obi-Wan couldn't keep the weariness out of his voice. "If you want to be treated like a defector then you need to act like one."

"I am defecting!" she yelled and her voice got so loud it made Obi-Wan wince.

He should probably back off and let her calm down, but he couldn't help pushing her. "Then give them something that will prove it. What's encrypted on the drive?"

The look she threw him was wild and piercing like he'd shown his true colors.

Obi-Wan cursed internally at the misstep and took a breath before trying again. "Leia, I am trying to help you—"

"No," she said. "Not until he's awake. Not until they've healed him."

"You don't have to barter like that," Obi-Wan said. "The Rebellion would be more convinced of your sincerity if you shared everything now while they're trying to piece together what happened at Jedha."

She shook her head and looked away from him. "It's the only card I have."

"It's not going to be of much use once the Alliance finds out about this weapon from other sources," Obi-Wan pointed out. "You want them to think you're highly valuable, not redundant."

She shook her head. "I have more than that, it's not just—" She broke off and frowned, then raised her head as if she had heard something in the distance.

Obi-Wan was about to ask what was wrong when her expression abruptly shifted. The lines on her forehead smoothed out and her eyes opened wide along with her mouth. "Luke's awake!"

Obi-Wan cast his mind towards the medcenter to confirm it. "So he is."

How very convenient.

--

The final negotiations were a bit tedious. Obi-Wan had to keep going back and forth between Bail and the brig, but eventually he got Leia to hand over the encryption key for the files. She agreed to brief Alliance High Command on their contents, but only after she got to see Luke, but that was an easy enough concession for the Alliance to give her. They would need time to review the contents and make their own assessments anyway.

Leia described the files as "plans," presumably for whatever monstrous weapon had been used to destroy Jedha. She was uninterested in discussing it further with Obi-Wan at the moment, too distracted by Luke who had been hanging over her shoulder via the Force ever since he had woken up.

When they got to the medcenter, Leia practically ran to Luke's bedside and threw her arms around his neck. "Luke!"

"I'm fine!" he said, laughing. "I didn't even lose any limbs." He was dressed in a loose medical robe and situated on one of the beds in the intensive care ward. The other two beds were still empty. He looked very young on his own in the room and dwarfed by all of the medical equipment surrounding him.

Leia climbed onto the bed next to Luke, heedless of all of the delicate tubes and wires that he was currently attached to. The medical droid in the corner grumbled a warning, but they were both too wrapped up in their reunion to notice. They didn't pay any mind to Obi-Wan either as he took a seat on one of the empty beds to observe.

Lying down next to him, Leia pressed their foreheads together and traced the stitches in a cut on Luke's cheek. One side of his face was still visibly bruised and there was a broken blood vessel in his left eye, which was somewhat surprising. It was as if the bacta hadn't had time to finish healing his less serious injuries.

Once she'd accepted that he was alive, Leia became intent on checking all of his wounds and assessing them while Luke protested.

"I'm really fine—" he said as she lifted the sheet and started poking at him in various places. He winced when she found a sore spot on his shoulder and batted at her hands. "Leia, honestly—"

"What about your ankle?" She asked and moved to the other end of the bed to look at it. She directed an image at him that was so strong that Obi-Wan picked it up as well: a momentary glimpse of Luke's broken body with his foot at a disturbing angle.

"It feels fine now—ow!" Luke pulled his leg away as she tried to rotate his ankle.

"That doesn't seem fine."

"It was until you did that!" Knock it off, you're not a doctor.

Who knows if any of these Rebellion quacks are actual doctors. They're probably all failed Imperial med students.

She moved back up the bed and tried to open the robe to look at his ribs, but Luke yanked it shut. "You're just mad and taking it out on me!"

You almost died, I'm allowed to be mad at you.

I didn't do it on purpose!

Obi-Wan was once again struck by how incredibly entwined they were in the Force. Even with Luke awake, only around half of their conversation was vocal. They switched so easily between speaking out loud and sharing images and words mentally. Their connection seemed to be open constantly, like a radio broadcast they were always tuned into. It must have been very disconcerting for anyone who wasn't Force-sensitive to watch them interact.

Leia eventually accepted Luke's protests and stopped trying to test every one of his aches and pains. She settled companionably next to him and seemed to be happy just watching him breathe. For the first time, her presence in the Force felt settled and at peace instead of frayed and agitated.

With his sister relaxed and no longer taking up all of his attention, Obi-Wan could feel Luke's scrutiny turning toward him. It wasn't long before his eagerness to meet a proper Jedi knight boiled over.

"Are you really a Jedi?" he asked. He had to twist his head and lean over Leia's shoulder to see Obi-Wan where he was seated.

"Yes," Obi-Wan said and couldn't help smiling at the way Luke lit up at the answer. Obi-Wan got up and moved closer to sit next to Luke's bedside so they could talk more comfortably.

Luke had dozens of questions swimming in his head and he started going through them rapid-fire while Obi-Wan did his best to keep up. "Did you train on Coruscant? At the Temple?"

"Yes, since I was a young boy."

"And you went through the trials?"

"Yes."

"So you're a Jedi knight?"

"Yes, and I served on the Council."

Luke's eyes opened wider. "A Jedi master!"

"And a general," Leia said, her tone only mildly insubordinate.

Luke grew even more excited, if that was possible, and Obi-Wan sighed. "Promotion was somewhat inevitable at the time."

"So you fought in the Clone Wars?" Luke said.

"Yes... and I knew your father." Leia had no doubt told him that already, but Obi-Wan felt it was important to make clear that it wasn't a taboo topic.

Luke grew more somber. "What was he like? Back then?"

There was a hard question to answer. Obi-Wan allowed himself to consider it for a moment. "Passionate. Reckless. A good friend." He sighed. "He was my pupil once. I thought we were very close."

Luke nodded and looked down at his lap. There was something he wanted to ask very badly, something that was making him nervous. He sat up straighter in the bed and gathered himself mentally for a moment before raising his eyes to meet Obi-Wan's gaze. "Will you teach me?"

The intense sincerity of the request was clear. Obi-Wan could feel his deep desire for other methods, other options. Luke's life up to this point had been a long, dark tunnel with no escape routes, and Obi-Wan looked to him like an exit.

"What makes you think you would want me as a teacher?" Obi-Wan said. "Your father discarded all my lessons."

Luke didn't hesitate. "I don't want to become our father."

It was a good answer and Obi-Wan nodded to acknowledge it. "I'm not certain that I am the teacher you need..." Luke's face fell and Obi-Wan held out a hand to soften his words. "But I will consider it."

Leia was silent beside Luke through most of this conversation, her expression dubious. She didn't share Luke's obsession with the Jedi and she was still uncertain about Obi-Wan. That might be a problem since Obi-Wan doubted he could teach Luke without Leia inevitably absorbing most of the lessons as well. Having her half-trained in Jedi techniques without the philosophical underpinnings might be more dangerous than no training at all.

Luke had more questions for him, but a messenger arrived to announce that High Command was ready for their briefing with Leia.

"I should come too," Luke said as she and Obi-Wan prepared to leave.

Obi-Wan glanced at the wall of medical equipment he was currently hooked up to. "I don't think you'll be cleared to leave this room any time soon."

"It's fine," Leia said. She reached down to touch his hand. "I can handle it."

"Okay," Luke said with a skeptical quirk of his eyebrows. "Try not to yell at anyone. We want them to like us."

Leia huffed and rolled her eyes as they left the room.

--

When the door opened, the group of rebel leaders seated at the conference table all turned their heads in unison to look at Leia. She froze. They were dressed in Alliance khaki, not Imperial grey, but for a moment she was back in front of the review board at the training academy. Her clothes were dirty, she should have changed, they'd be angry she wasn't in uniform—

You'll be fine, Luke said, distant but still keeping tabs on her from the medcenter.

She squared her shoulders and then startled at a soft touch on her elbow. It was Kenobi trying to take her arm—of course he had to notice her momentary nerves. He gave her a condescending smile and she jerked out of his grip and walked inside.

She went to the center of the room and stood at attention before she realized what she was doing. Most of the rebel officers gave her wary looks, but one man in civilian clothing nodded at her in greeting. She forced herself to relax her pose. She recognized most of them, at least vaguely. The older man in the center with a beard was General Dodonna and she was pretty sure the man who'd nodded at her was a senator.

"Sirs," she said. Did the Rebellion use "sirs"? At least she hadn't saluted them.

Kenobi came up beside her like a proud superior presenting his subordinate. "May I introduce Leia Skywalker," he said. Skywalker? She supposed it makes sense, but she'd never had a surname before now.

Introductions were made, but Leia was too tense to actually absorb any of the names.

Dodonna waved a hand and a hologram activated in the center of the table to display the station plans. The image hovered ominously above them as it rotated. "Shall we start at the beginning?" he said. "What is this monstrosity?"

"It's called the Death Star," Leia said. "It's a battle station."

A man wearing a silver badge that indicated Alliance Intelligence leaned forward and motioned at the hologram. "So we're to believe that this single station destroyed Jedha?"

"It's enormous," Leia said. "The size of a small moon. Tarkin was planning on a demonstration once it was fully operational. I'd heard that there was a shortlist of planets, but... I didn't think it would happen this fast."

"We knew something like this was coming," the senator said. "It explains a lot of the Empire's recent actions."

"Yes," Dodonna agreed. "The question is what this means for the Rebellion."

"We're finished," the man next to him said as if it should be obvious.

"Don't be so ready to turn over—"

"What other options do we have?"

They began to argue amongst themselves while occasionally throwing a question toward Leia to clarify some technical point. Dodonna and the senator wanted the Alliance to prepare to mount a defense of Yarvin, while most of the others were arguing for immediate evacuation. To her relief, Leia realized that she was there to provide data for their disagreement rather than to be scrutinized herself. She began to feel less like a specimen put on display and more like an aide who'd been called in to provide expertise in a very specific subject.

For the most part, it was impersonal, but at one point the Intelligence officer pointed at Leia and said, "They know exactly where we are. How do you think she got here? We have days if not hours."

"Yes, that's right," another person agreed. "Remaining here a moment longer is courting suicide. Surely you can see that Bail?"

The senator—Organa, she had finally realized—frowned and shook his head, but didn't seem to have an argument to counter him.

Leia cleared her throat to get their attention. "I knew there was rebel activity here, but it wasn't identified as your headquarters. The Empire may try hitting your other locations before reaching Yarvin."

"Still," Dodonna said. "It won't take long to narrow down where we are. No, we may have no choice except to prepare for evacuation and disperse the fleet."

"They want you to think it's invulnerable," Leia said. "But it's not. There are weaknesses."

"Hm, do you agree, General?" Dodonna asked, directing the question toward the far corner of the room where Kenobi had retreated earlier.

Kenobi shrugged. "Leia is better informed than I am. I would trust her assessment."

"There's no reason we can't prepare an offensive while also evacuating the majority of personnel," said an officer toward the end of the table.

"We won't be able to get snubfighters in close enough without all of the firepower we can muster—"

The argument continued and they seemed to forget about Leia for a time until one of them wanted to discuss evacuation locations and they realized that they couldn't do that with her in the room.

"Let's take a break," Organa announced. "Then we can decide on fallback positions and prepare for the vote at the council meeting."

Most of the officers got up and started to leave the room, several still arguing as they went.

Leia realized she was completely exhausted. Her knees felt weak and her head was buzzing as if she'd just finished fighting a duel instead of standing in front of a room and talking for an hour.

Kenobi came over to escort her out and smiled at her. "Well done."

"Really?" she said and winced at the earnestness in her own voice. She was tired, that was all.

Teacher's pet, Luke whispered at the back of her head.

Shut up!

Luke started to make a retort, but Leia pushed him out of her awareness because Senator Organa was coming around the table toward them.

He greeted Kenobi and then turned straight to her. "Thank you for this, Leia," he said and shook her hand with the seasoned warmth of a politician. "This information will be invaluable to the Rebellion's survival."

Leia searched for something to say in response before finally replying, "I hope you make good use of it."

"Will you make a formal commitment to the Alliance?" he asked. "You and your brother both?"

Leia hesitated. She should have been prepared for the question, but it caught her off guard. Could they seriously want them as recruits? "I—I would. Assuming you'll—have us. Luke wants to join the Rebellion very badly."

"Do you?" Organa asked.

It would be smart of Leia to lie and profess enthusiasm for the Rebellion, but for some reason she wanted to be honest with him. "I will do anything to destroy the Empire and never again be in its power."

Organa smiled like he approved of her answer. "If you join us, I can promise we will do everything to make that possible."

Leia nodded her head jerkily. This was it. She'll be a traitor now with no plausible deniability or ambiguity left about it. "Yes then. I will."

--

Out in the hallway, Obi-Wan tried to usher Leia away, but the head of Intelligence pulled her aside to speak to her. Obi-Wan had to fight the urge to stop him and watched the interaction warily. Part of the exchange for the Death Star plans had been that Leia would be treated as a willing asset instead of a captive, but this man could have her locked up again if he felt it was necessary.

"You mentioned Tarkin," he said to Leia. "How many of the high-level Imperials do you know personally?"

Leia laughed. She didn't seem the least bit intimidated by the intelligence chief. "All of them? Unfortunately." His eyebrows rose and she added quickly, "But I don't have much useful information. I'm not getting invited to their strategy meetings."

The man shook his head and raised a finger. "No, that's not what I'm getting at. I want a character sketch of everyone you have a passing acquaintance with—foibles, weaknesses, gossip, anything and everything."

"Oh, of course. Now?" Leia glanced towards Obi-Wan like she was looking for permission, but looked away again as soon as she caught herself.

Arrangements were made for Leia to go off with an Intelligence analyst and start putting together profiles right away. Obi-Wan joined them for a time, but now that Leia was feeling cooperative there wasn't much need for him to stay and keep an eye on her. She was engaged and helpful with the analyst and only too happy to provide scathing assessments of every Imperial officer she'd ever met.

Obi-Wan took the opportunity to return to the medcenter. He wanted to talk to Luke alone while Leia was distracted so he could get a clearer picture of his personality without the influence of his sister.

The privacy screen in the medcenter that usually blocked the view into the intensive care unit was open when Obi-Wan arrived. Luke was visible inside, laid up in bed alone and clearly bored. He was holding a datapad in his hands and was in the middle of reading something. Obi-Wan was surprised the Alliance would give him access to a datapad. Had he stolen it from one of the medcenter staffers?

Luke sensed he was being watched and raised his head. He broke out into a smile when he spotted Obi-Wan.

"How did the briefing go?" he asked when Obi-Wan entered the room.

"...fine," Obi-Wan said. "As I'm sure you already know."

Luke shrugged with a sheepish smile. "People act weird when one of us knows things we shouldn't." He shifted position and switched the datapad to his left hand, dropping his right one down out of sight beside him.

"Hm." Obi-Wan sat at the chair next to Luke's bedside. "How are you feeling?"

"Good," he said. "Almost back to normal."

"That's good." Obi-Wan folded one arm across his chest and rested his chin on his fist. "I was concerned you might have forcibly woken yourself up before you finished healing."

Luke shook his head and pulled an innocent face. "No, I feel great! I'm ready to start training right away."

Obi-Wan smiled at his tenacity. "Tell me, what is it that interests you so much in the Jedi? What do you know about them?"

Luke leaned toward him and said confidently, "The Jedi were able to use the Force and harness their abilities without destroying themselves. I want to learn to do that. Sith methods are all destructive. They twist your personality. I've seen it in my father."

"Jedi training will change you as well," Obi-Wan cautioned. "Is there a difference between denying the self and destroying it?"

Luke shook his head. "I'd much rather suffer in the cold than set myself on fire."

Obi-Wan couldn't help but laugh at the reference. It was a paraphrase of the moral from an old Jedi parable about a student who accidentally burned down a monastery after secreting hot coals into his bed. "Where did you hear about the Imprudent Padawan?"

"It's in The Sayings of the Great Masters. I found a copy in a library once in the Inner Rim. I've read that one and the Fourth Vessel of Higher Wisdom—but only the fourth, I couldn't find the first three. And The Sixteen Manumissions. Well, I read most of it," he amended. "That one's long."

"I'm surprised you got through any of it! The Manumissions is... very dense." Obi-Wan wondered how much Luke had actually been able to understand from such advanced texts. He might have more work to do getting Luke to forget all of those lessons than if he were starting from a blank slate.

"I've already learned so much," Luke said, a note of pleading entering his voice. He started to raise his right hand to implore Obi-Wan but caught himself and put it back down. "But reading books isn't enough. I need a teacher."

Obi-Wan nodded. "You're not wrong."

"So why won't you accept me?" he whined. "I've spent so long searching for a Jedi... I know I'm too old, but I've trained since I was a child." He gestured with the datapad, motioning to himself. "It's not like I'm starting from scratch! I have all the traits of the ideal beginner that the sages speak about."

"The ideal beginner is more of a mindset that all Jedi should cultivate than a checklist for new candidates." Luke opened his mouth to argue further, but Obi-Wan hurried to continue before he could interrupt. "But that's not important. My hesitation isn't about your age or your level of commitment, Luke. I'm afraid it might not be possible for you to unlearn what you already know."

"It's not like I'm some great master of the dark side," Luke said. "I'm not even very good at it, ask Leia!"

Obi-Wan shook his head. "Sometimes circumstances beyond our control disqualify us from things that we would otherwise be very capable of."

"But it's not my fault who my father is or how I was raised," Luke said. "I never asked to be a Sith."

"I know," Obi-Wan said. "But that's what happened."

"That's not fair." His voice hit a high whining note and he pounded the bed with a closed fist.

"It's not," Obi-Wan agreed.

Luke made a loud noise of frustration and with a single, smooth gesture he threw the datapad across the room. The screen shattered as it hit the wall.

Luke stared at the spot where the datapad had hit and then winced and closed his eyes. Obi-Wan stayed silent. Luke didn't need him to point out that ideal Jedi candidates didn't destroy things in anger.

A cleaning droid wheeled into the room, drawn by the sound of something breaking. It beeped and began sweeping up the scattered shards.

Luke sighed. "Sorry," he said without looking at Obi-Wan.

"It's all right," Obi-Wan said. "Eagerness to learn is the third trait of the beginner."

"Second." Luke risked a glance at him.

"Even better." Obi-Wan reached out and tapped his knee. "But let's leave it for now. You're tired, I shouldn't be riling you up."

"I'm not riled." He rubbed his right wrist and started picking at the edges of the tattered synthskin there.

Obi-Wan should go, let him rest, but there was something else he was curious about. "May I see your hand?" he asked.

Luke quirked an eyebrow at him and held his left hand out.

"The other one," Obi-Wan said, deadpan.

"I only have the one," Luke said and smirked, but he held out his right arm so Obi-Wan could examine the old wound and his damaged prosthetic hand.

Obi-Wan pushed back the synthskin so he could see the stump underneath. Luke's wrist terminated in a cut that was very clean, almost surgical, with little scarring. It was clearly the result of a lightsaber strike. It was fully healed which made it hard to judge how long ago it had happened—perhaps one to two years.

"Who did it?" Obi-Wan asked. Luke moved his head slightly but didn't answer. He stayed silent as Obi-Wan continued examining him.

Only two fingers and part of the thumb remained on the prosthesis. It looked like it had been crushed and the innards damaged. Obi-Wan pushed on the fingers, getting Luke to open and close them. The movements were jerky and he couldn't fully extend the fingers even when Obi-Wan pressed them back. Luke twitched like the attempt was hurting him and Obi-Wan relaxed his hold so that he was just cradling Luke's hand in his lap. He was surprised the doctors hadn't removed it completely, but perhaps it was better to leave it and not risk harming the nerves and tendons it was connected to.

When he looked up, Luke's expression was glassy. Obi-Wan was about to ask if he needed some more painkillers when he said in a flat voice, "My father."

Obi-Wan couldn't help his sharp inhale at the confirmation of his worst fears. He wanted to demand to know how it had happened, but he sensed that Luke wasn't ready to talk. Now wasn't the time to force the issue.

Instead, Obi-Wan let go of his wrist and patted Luke's shoulder. "Get some rest. You’re well taken care of here."

Luke relaxed and slumped back on the bed. On his way out of the medcenter, Obi-Wan glanced over his shoulder and saw Luke lying flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling.

--

Obi-Wan went to the base's mess hall and got himself something to eat. It was between official mealtimes and he was able to sit at a table alone and think for a time.

The truth of the matter was that while he felt strongly pulled to take on both of the twins as students, he was almost certainly the last person who should be training them. It was unfair to Luke and Leia to take this as an opportunity to redo the past and what if he simply repeated all the same mistakes he had made with their father? Obi-Wan had spent a lot of time contemplating what had gone wrong with Anakin over the years, but he'd never managed to come to any certain conclusions.

Yet, at the same time, they had very few other options. Leaving them as they were now would be immensely dangerous. Obi-Wan could take them to Master Yoda, but that would require leaving the Alliance for an extended period of time and he wasn't sure if his old friend would even agree to train them. He could ask, but Obi-Wan wasn't ready yet to hear his answer.

Obi-Wan was still debating what to do when he sensed Leia returning from her meeting with the analyst. He left the mess hall to go meet her and found that Bail had walked her back to the medcenter. He was holding a pile of clothing in his arms that looked like two sets of Alliance uniforms. Obi-Wan was surprised that Bail had time to accompany her personally given everything that was happening. That must mean that the Alliance had come to a decision.

"Normally we hold regular enlistment ceremonies for new defectors," Bail said as he set one uniform down on the bed next to Luke. "But who knows when we'll have time for another one. For now, I can administer the oath and start the process to get you assigned."

"I want to join the Starfighter Corps.," Luke said as he picked up the jacket and held it up. "I attended the Imperial flight academy."

"As a TIE pilot?"

"Yes, top of my class," he said. Leia rolled her eyes at the brag.

"Okay, good," Bail said. "We always need more fighter pilots. But don't put that on yet. It's part of the oath."

Bail turned to Leia. "This is a civilian uniform," he said and offered the second jacket to her. "Because I want you to join the Council staff as one of my aides. But the decision is yours. If you'd rather be in a military role, that's up to you."

Leia blanched and didn't take it from him. "Why? Why would you want me?"

"I think you have potential," Bail said with a gentle smile. "You handled that briefing very well."

Leia bit her lip. "I had officer training," she said like she was admitting something embarrassing.

"Oh?"

"But I didn't graduate," she added hurriedly. "I was too undisciplined. 'Not command material.'"

Bail laughed. "Not fitting into the Imperial mold is actually a plus here." He offered her the uniform again and this time she took it.

Leia looked down at the Alliance badge pinned to the collar of the jacket and traced it with her thumb. "Okay, if—I'd like that."

"Wonderful." He patted her shoulder. "You can always put in for a transfer if you decide it's not where you want to be."

Bail had them both raise their right hands and he administered the oath of allegiance to the Alliance. Both of them were very enthusiastic about the part where they promised to resist the Empire and thwart it in all its manifestations throughout the galaxy. Once they'd recited the oath, Bail had them put the jackets on and pronounced them members of the Rebellion.

"Usually we burn the old Imperial uniforms afterward and hold a party," Bail said. "But we'll have to save that for another day."

"Congratulations," Obi-Wan told them.

Luke leaned over and poked Leia in the shoulder. "Looking good, rebel." She laughed and hugged him.

It was a good moment for both of them; a symbol of their break from the past. Obi-Wan allowed himself to feel optimistic. Assuming they could successfully integrate into the Alliance, their future would be considerably brighter. Of course, integration would be easier if they had a teacher to help guide them...

When Bail left, Obi-Wan went with him and took the opportunity to speak with him privately. He had a request to make.

--

"Did the Council vote?" Obi-Wan asked as they walked through the halls.

"Yes. We've elected to stay in place and prepare our defense for when the Empire arrives," Bail said. "For now, at least."

Obi-Wan nodded. He wasn't certain it was the best decision. Things could get very awkward for him if the Alliance fell. He'd debated what he would do if it came to that—take the twins and attempt to escape probably. If the two of them ended up back in the hands of the Empire, it wouldn't take long for Palpatine to undo whatever progress Obi-Wan had made with them. But as long as Anakin's children were free, there was at least some small hope that they might have the strength to challenge Vader and the Emperor one day.

"Our base on Barkhesh was bombarded last night," Bail said.

"Oh, dear. Were there many casualties?"

"Not as bad as it could have been. We knew that site was compromised and had been shifting personnel and equipment away already while still maintaining a front of regular flight activity."

"That's good."

"It's the second location they've attacked in three days," Bail said and sighed. "They're working methodically through every known site of rebel activity to force us to retreat and regroup. The Death Star is cumbersome to move, but we estimate they'll reach Yarvin in another week."

Obi-Wan nodded gravely.

"Still," Bail said. "It's more time than we expected. The Emperor must not realize that the girl stole those plans before she left."

"Or he doesn't think it matters that you have them," Obi-Wan said.

"Or that," Bail agreed. "Although the technical analysis suggests there's at least one serious weakness we can exploit."

"Hm."

"You wanted to ask me something?" Bail said as they turned a corner.

"Uh, Yes," Obi-Wan said. "I need a place where I can work with them. A large room with open space, preferably somewhere out of the way where we won't be interrupted."

"Okay, I can arrange that," Bail said.

"And I need something else."

"Name it."

"Their lightsabers."

Bail laughed in surprise and gave him a horrified look. "Okay, that I'm not so sure I can do."

"They don't need to keep them on them," Obi-Wan said. "I can hold them while they're not training. Or put them in the armory."

"I'll ask," he said and laughed again. "But for your sake, I rather hope the answer is no."

--

"I've come to a decision," Obi-Wan announced when he returned to the medcenter and entered the intensive care ward.

Luke picked up right away what he meant and leaned forward in excitement.

"I've decided that I'm going to stay and train you both," Obi-Wan said. "I spoke with Bail about it and he agreed that it's for the best. You'll both have time to work with me as well as taking up your duties for the Alliance."

Luke's eyes lit up while Leia's nose wrinkled in disgust. "Luke's the one who wants to be a Jedi knight," she said. "Not me."

"Leia," Luke hissed. Don't ruin this for me.

"You don't have to take on any title you don't want," Obi-Wan said. "But I'm not going to train only one of you. You both have..." he struggled for a euphemism for a moment before finally saying, "problem areas that need improvement if you're going to be working with the Alliance."

Luke shot Leia a pleading look and she rolled her eyes before giving in. "Fine. I guess. You can work on my problems," she said, imitating Obi-Wan's pronunciation.

"Excellent." Obi-Wan clapped his hands together. "We'll begin now."

Leia opened her mouth to protest but stopped at another pleading look from Luke.

"Since Luke is currently unable to take on any strenuous physical activity, we'll focus on the core teachings to start with."

Luke nodded while Leia squinted at him. "Meaning...?"

"Meditation," Obi-Wan said.

Leia sighed and gave Luke another look. They had a mental exchange that passed too quickly for Obi-Wan to catch, but it made Luke stifle a laugh. Obi-Wan was going to have his hands full just keeping them focused and not spending all of their time talking to one another.

"Are we supposed to call you master?" Leia asked dubiously. The word raised all kinds of vile connotations in her mind and the oily feeling of her memories was enough to make Obi-Wan feel ill by proxy.

"It's a title for the Jedi," Luke said before Obi-Wan could respond. "It doesn't mean the same thing."

Obi-Wan held up a hand to forestall them arguing about it. "You don't have to," he said to Leia. "Obi-Wan is fine. Or Teacher, if you like. Now, take a seat."

Obi-Wan sat on the nearest empty bed and crossed his legs. They both copied his pose, Luke eagerly and Leia dragging her feet before she came to sit next to her brother.

Obi-Wan had them start with a simple breathing meditation to open up to the Force and get them both used to his presence guiding them. The exercise was one of the building blocks of Jedi training. The same basic practice had once been used by everyone from the youngest students to the most advanced, fully-fledged knights.

Luke made an effort, but just sitting upright was painful for him at the moment and he promptly got distracted by all of the physical discomfort he was in. Obi-Wan sidetracked to teach him how to sit with the pain instead of channeling it or being controlled by it. Luke was eager to learn, but his impatience for achievement was going to be a stumbling block. All of his focus was on the end goal rather than the exercise itself.

While Luke was fighting through his meditation like it was a physical battle, Leia seemed to have decided to show her contempt for Jedi techniques by performing them flawlessly. Her form was impeccable, back straight, shoulders relaxed, hands in resting position. She could have been a padawan at the Temple decades ago beginning her morning meditation.

The illusion was broken when Obi-Wan looked into her mind and found that instead of focusing on her breathing, she was centered on her own roiling emotions. While a Jedi would put their attention to the current moment and detach from passing thoughts and feelings, Leia had been trained to cultivate her darkest impulses and draw strength from them. While outwardly she sat with complete calm, inside she was agitated. She was thinking about her frustrations with Obi-Wan, her annoyance at being forced to take up Jedi training, her fears for her brother's health, and her hatred of the Emperor and her father for putting her into this situation. She stoked her own inner turmoil expertly, rousing it higher and using it as fuel for the molten core of power that sat at the center of her being.

"Leia, switch your focus outward," Obi-Wan said. "Pay attention to the space around you. What sounds do you hear?"

The command irritated her, but she dragged her attention away from her own emotions and refocused. The room was full of noise—equipment humming, a droid passing by in the hallway, voices from next door. There was a burble from the now-empty bacta tank and Leia's mind jumped to her memory of seeing Luke there. She had been so afraid that he would die and she would be left alone—

"What do you feel?" Obi-Wan said. "Concentrate on the weight of your hands, the texture of your clothing, the temperature of the room. All of it is connected. The Force flows through every sensation. Feel it."

Leia managed another few seconds or so before her mind wandered again and Obi-Wan nudged her back. Who do you sense around you?

Luke, beside her, his presence like another limb. Obi-Wan across from her, condescending and irritating. The nurse on duty in the next ward. She was tired, yawning. A technician with a minor injury waiting for the doctor to come back so he could leave. He was nervous. Someone told him Darth Vader's kids were somewhere down here and he really didn't want to run into them...

Leia's anger sparked at the technician and at her father by proxy. She hated that she and Luke had been used as propaganda. Why did they have to publicize their names and faces when they entered the academy? They could have used assumed names and stayed anonymous like when they were children. Making a big deal over them was stupid and it gave people strange expectations; they were either terrified of them or disappointed when they didn't see some impressive display of power right away.

"Leia," Obi-Wan said. "It's okay to be distracted. The mind is always churning. But when you notice it's happened, return to the current moment and the sensations around you. Let the Force guide you, not your thoughts."

Leia huffed and opened her eyes. "Ugh, this is stupid, I know how to feel the Force." She got up from the bed. "We've been meditating since we were three years old!"

"Leia—" Luke started to say.

"I didn't tell you to stop, Luke," Obi-Wan said without looking at him. To Leia, he said, "Forgive me. I know this seems basic, but you've had... an unorthodox education and it's helpful for me to know where you're starting from."

"Maybe you have nothing to teach us. Nothing but worthless Jedi tricks." She gestured angrily, making the standard motion used for the mind touch and dismissing him with a wave of her hand.

Obi-Wan was silent. He watched her as she circled around the room bristling with pent-up energy. "I'm sure you've been taught many things. Lessons taken from the Jedi and from... other sources. Some of it will serve you for the rest of your life, but some of it will not. You must decide which is which."

"Why are you making me do this?" she said. "Luke can be your student, I'm never going to be a Jedi."

"Because you're dangerous." That made Leia stop and look at him. She knew it was true, but hearing it said out loud strummed a cord of fear inside her. "It was useful to the Emperor to keep you this way," Obi-Wan explained. "Always on edge, ready to explode at any provocation, unable to harness your greatest strengths, but now you need to learn control."

Leia stared at him. All of her restlessness was gone now as she froze in place. "And if I can't?" she asked softly. "Maybe this is just how I am."

"You're underestimating yourself." Obi-Wan pointed to the spot on the bed where she had been seated earlier. "Now, sit down and begin again."

Leia glanced over at Luke. He had one eye open, but quickly closed it and pretended he'd been meditating this whole time. She sighed and went to sit next to him again, pulling her legs up and crossing them underneath her.

"Good," Obi-Wan said. "Close your eyes and focus on the space around you. What do you hear?"

--

The rebels gave Leia a room of her own and she supposed it was a nice show of trust that it was in the billet and not another cell in the brig. They put her near Kenobi's quarters, presumably so that he could keep an eye on her, although she was rarely there. She only visited her room to bathe, electing to spend her nights in the medcenter. She got feigned concern from the nurses about it ("Wouldn't you be more comfortable in your own bed, dear?"), but they didn't kick her out. Kenobi raised his eyebrows at her with a questioning look the first time he caught her there in the early morning, but everything she did worried him. She and Luke had been sharing a room since they were children and Leia has never been good at sleeping alone.

At night, they could talk somewhat in private. There were cameras in the room and microphones no doubt, but with Kenobi asleep they could speak through the Force without anyone to overhear.

I hate how much you're enjoying yourself here, Leia told him one night. She was tired and cranky and her aching body was keeping her awake. Earlier, Kenobi had made her run around the outside of the base and practice lightsaber forms empty-handed all afternoon. It should have been a relief to have something physical to occupy her, but Kenobi's condescending presence had made the whole experience irritating. He'd spent the whole time reminding her to keep calm and identifying flaws in her techniques.

Luke snorted and elbowed her as he turned over. I'm not sure I'm enjoying the forced bedrest exactly.

You are, she said. You're happy here.

Luke shrugged and she could feel the contented warmth of his mind lapping against her own. Of course I'm happy, we found a real live Jedi! I just wish I could train properly with you.

You don't, Leia said, refusing to let his good mood buoy her up. It's boring.

He laughed and shook his head. I won't find it boring.

She rolled her eyes. We're prisoners here. Don't forget that. We'll always be prisoners.

Maybe, but they're treating us well, and we were prisoners before too.

Leia didn't have a good argument against that. He was right, of course.

Besides, Luke continued. Don't you feel... relieved?

About what?

You know. He raised his hand and waved it vaguely. Not feeling his attention on you all the time. Knowing that you're being watched. And judged.

We're still being watched.

Not like that.

No, she admitted. It was a relief not to feel the presence of the Emperor, either directly or indirectly, at all times. It felt like freedom, like she could do anything she wanted without consequences. It was a dangerous thought. He's still out there. Waiting. He won't let us slip away so easily. Nor will Father. He'll find a way to send for us eventually.

Probably, Luke said. But we don't have to answer if he does.

--

Obi-Wan still had some misgivings, but it wasn't long before he was able to shift to more active training with the twins.

Luke was mending exceptionally fast, mainly because he was using Sith methods to speed his healing despite Obi-Wan's warnings against it. He was much too impatient. A lifetime of shortcuts and too-easily gained power had made Jedi techniques seem cautious and plodding to him. The seductive lure of the dark was still there, however much Luke liked the fantasy of being a noble Jedi knight.

The doctors still wanted Luke overnight in the medcenter to keep an eye on him, but he was healthy enough now that they'd decided he was ready for physical activity. Meaning Obi-Wan could start training them in earnest.

Bail had come through by then with a large, open room in one of the empty levels of the Temple for them to use as a training area. There were a few borrowed mats to cushion the floor, but otherwise, it was very spartan and empty when Obi-Wan showed it to them.

Empty, that was, except for the two lightsabers lying on the ground by the entrance, their silver hilts identical in every respect.

"Yes!" Luke said and started toward them. He leaned down to pick his up.

"Don't," Obi-Wan said. "You may have your lightsabers only when I say so. And never outside of this room."

Luke held his hands out and stepped back. "Okay, okay. Got it."

Leia was less eager than her brother. She hung in the doorway and didn't come in at first. "We know how to fight," she said.

"I will be the judge of that," Obi-Wan said. "But first, we will begin with meditation."

Leia sighed while Luke went to one of the mats and dropped down neatly to sit on the ground.

--

Luke charged at Leia, trying to use his greater strength and weight to overpower her, but she dodged around him and took a swing at his back. It very nearly connected, but he managed to drop down in time and her lightsaber swept harmlessly through the air above him.

Obi-Wan winced, but swallowed down the reprimand he wanted to give both of them. They had not been instilled with the same level of caution that Jedi padawans would have around sparring with live weapons.

Luke slashed at Leia from the ground, lashing out in frustration, but she danced away easily.

"If you can't let go of anger, let it fuel you, not rule you" Obi-Wan instructed as Luke rolled over and got back to his feet. He nodded and paused for breath, watching Leia as she circled around him.

Luke's knowledge of different lightsaber styles was wide-ranging, but shallow. He'd focused on the parts of dueling he liked—offense and fancy lightsaber tricks—and neglected the areas that he didn't care for like defensive maneuvers. His style was highly aggressive and fast, using his eclectic range of moves to wrongfoot his opponent and quickly bring a duel to an end without ever losing the upper hand. It had served him well enough up to now, but a skilled combatant who was capable of drawing out a fight could turn the tables on him and take advantage of his weakness in defense. Someone skilled who also knew his fighting style like his sister did had him at even more of a disadvantage.

Leia was more slow and deliberate, waiting for her opponent to make a mistake before striking. She'd mastered the evasive tactics and mid-battle Force maneuvers that Luke had neglected. Her defense was much tighter, but she still had a tendency to leave open gaps that made her vulnerable to attack.

Their styles made more sense once Obi-Wan saw them fight as a team. They fit together in this as they did in everything else, compensating for each other's weaknesses and using their connection to coordinate moves that would be difficult even for two Jedi who had trained together for decades. Obi-Wan had attempted to spar both of them separately and once together before he'd declared that he was too old for it.

He somewhat regretted that now. Watching them duel each other was enough to give him an ulcer. They were completely reckless, throwing themselves into the fight and using disabling strikes that would lop off limbs if they succeeded. Even with the power turned down on their lightsabers, it was dangerously incautious. They were both far too confident that the other would always be able to sense their intentions before they could land a blow.

Luke had another huge disadvantage at the moment since he was still recovering from his injuries and was being forced to fight with his nondominant hand, but he'd managed to hold his own so far. Leia certainly wasn't going easy on him. She seemed almost angry about his current weakness, like it was a personal affront to her.

Leia managed to trip him with the Force and Luke turned it into a breakfall, tumbling away from her. He got to his feet and rushed headlong at her while he was still stumbling to catch his balance.

"Center!" Obi-Wan called out. "Even in the frenzy of battle, a Jedi is calm."

Luke attempted an overhead strike, but Leia dodged and kicked high instead of parrying. Her foot connected with the hilt of his lightsaber and knocked it out of his hand. Luke recovered fast, catching the lightsaber with his right hand before she could snatch it away with the Force.

Leia came back immediately with a powerful chest-level slash. She threw her body into the strike, and as their blades clashed, she used all of her momentum to snap the lightsaber out of the weakened grasp of Luke's damaged prosthetic hand.

The lightsaber went flying and Obi-Wan barely managed to throw up his hand and stop it in midair before it could go pinwheeling into the ceiling.

Luke cursed and held his hands out in surrender. He dropped down to his knees panting while Leia held her lightsaber to his throat. "Not fair," he grumbled. "Cheater."

"There are no cheaters in dueling," she said. "Only winners."

Luke laughed, but Leia didn't sound playful.

"Get up," she hissed. She kept her lightsaber trained on him like she was expecting him to leap at her.

"No way!" Luke shook his head and sagged back on his heels. He was still breathing heavily and trying to catch his breath. "Give me a break, I'm exhausted."

"You can't just give up like that," Leia insisted. Her blade was perilously close to Luke's face. It cast a red glow across his skin as it bobbed only inches away.

"Relax," Luke said. "It's just practice."

She kicked him in the chest in response and sent Luke sprawling on his back.

"Leia!" Obi-Wan shouted.

Luke cursed her and clenched his fist, pulling it toward his body as he caught Leia's ankles with the Force and swept her legs out from under her.

"Luke!" Obi-Wan jumped up in frustration.

Leia twisted as she fell and immediately rolled back to her feet. She raised her lightsaber high behind her head like she was preparing to strike as she advanced towards Luke.

"Stop it." Obi-Wan stepped between them. He faced Leia with his hands out wide. "It's over. A sparring match ends when the opponent concedes."

Leia snarled and lifted her lightsaber higher. Obi-Wan braced for her to take a swing at him, but instead, she switched it off and threw it to the ground at his feet. She turned on her heel and stomped out of the practice room.

"Ugh, you're being ridiculous!" Luke shouted after her from where he was lying on the mat.

Obi-Wan sighed. It was going to take more than a few days of practice to get a handle on their anger.

--

Leia went up to the highest floor in the Temple—or the highest one that it was possible to reach—and sat at the edge of one of the square openings at the top of the pyramid. It was early twilight and the sun was slipping away behind the gas giant that the moon orbited. The jungle was very noisy at this hour, full of the loud shrieks and calls of unknown animals. There were also plenty of insects out and Leia was soon slapping away the bloodsucking variety and questioning the wisdom of coming up here. She didn't want to go back though. If she had to spend another minute around Kenobi and Luke, she was going to snap.

Luke was already looking for her. She could sense him walking a few levels below and trying to figure out how she got up to where she was. She didn't offer him any assistance, turning a cold shoulder to him in the Force.

Luke pulled the information out of her head anyway and located the stairs she had used. His presence drew gradually nearer and soon his footsteps were echoing in the stone room behind her.

"Yeesh, you really picked a good spot," he said, waving away the insects buzzing around his head. He looked dubiously at the lichen coating the walls.

"You didn't have to come find me."

Luke shrugged and sat down next to her. "Master Obi-Wan said that if I don't bring you back he's going to tell Alliance Security that you're making a run for it."

Leia snorted. "He didn't mean that."

"Probably not," Luke agreed and leaned back on his elbows.

They watched as a flock of nocturnal flying creatures rose out of the canopy and spiraled up into the sky. There were hundreds of them, perhaps thousands, all swirling together in a storm of small, black bodies.

"I've seen them before," Leia said. "They come out at sunset. I think they eat the insects."

"I hope so," Luke said, and slapped his upper arm, killing one with gusto. "You know..." he started to say.

"Leave it alone," Leia said.

"I'm still recovering," Luke continued, ignoring her. "It doesn't mean anything. I know you hate when we're... unevenly matched."

"I don't want to talk about it."

He shrugged. "The things you want to talk about the least are the ones that come up the most."

Leia gave him the most disdainful look she could and scoffed. "You sound like Obi-Wan."

"Thanks," Luke said.

"I didn't mean it as a compliment."

"I realize that," he said, smiling.

She sighed and looked away. He has been so insufferable lately, copying the facade of the detached Jedi knight from Kenobi. It irritated her, but it wasn't exactly new.

Luke had already been playing at being a Jedi before they even left based on the few lessons he'd found in old books. He would put on an aloof, philosophical attitude in the face of their father's threats and the Emperor's taunts, acting like he was above all of their mind games. Leia had always thought it was stupid. What Sidious wanted was the reaction itself, to see the fear and hatred he inspired in you flare up. If you gave him what he wanted, his attention moved elsewhere and the torment was short, but if you didn't, he'd just keep goading you. By pretending not to be affected by him, Luke had only prolonged his abuse.

To her relief, Luke didn't try to broach the topic again. Instead he slapped a few more insects and asked, "Aren't you hungry?"

"No."

Luke tilted his head and gave her a sidelong look. He could feel the hunger pangs his words had triggered in her stomach.

She sighed and got to her feet. The sun would be behind the planet soon anyway and those stairs would be murder in the dark. "Fine. Let's go. You know how I love having everyone stare at us in the mess hall."

--

Leia was keeping something from Obi-Wan. He could sense it as a void in her mind that she refused to look at or think about. It became more obvious when they were training, especially alone.

Now that Luke was more or less recovered, Rebel Intelligence had been holding marathon sessions with the twins and trying to get every last shred of information out of them. Mostly these sessions were held separately, which gave Obi-Wan time to work with each of them while the other was occupied. The Intelligence staff wanted to compare the twin's answers against one another for verification purposes despite such checks being functionally worthless when the two of them were so in tune with one another. Obi-Wan had warned them that if you spoke to one of the two about something, you had to assume the other one knew about it as well, but the reality of that still didn't seem to have sunk in.

Luke was off being interviewed at the moment, which left Leia with Obi-Wan, much to her clear annoyance. She'd been very begrudgingly making progress in learning to manage her emotions, but it was obvious that she much preferred the days when Bail borrowed her to help with some project. Obi-Wan had no idea what he was having her work on since she wasn't cleared for access to any sensitive information.

At the moment, Obi-Wan and Leia were both seated cross-legged on the ground in the training room. He was leading her through an exercise that was meant to help her observe her emotions as something separate from herself instead of being ruled by them. As soon as a distracting memory surfaced, she was supposed to describe what she was experiencing and observe the physical sensations it invoked.

The thing she was hiding from him was close to the surface today. It could be more information about the Empire, something she was saving in case she needed another bargaining chip with the Alliance, but he thought it was something more personal. Something she didn't want Obi-Wan to know about her.

It was odd though. Shame wasn't a characteristic emotion for Leia. So far, it hasn't even occurred to her to hide any of the other terrible things she'd experienced or inflicted on others from him.

Currently, she was back in the moment on the crippled shuttle holding Luke in her lap while his breath rattled in his chest. Her hands were slippery with his blood and her fingers slid as she took his pulse. It was still irregular and much too fast despite the fluid infusion she had given him.

The landing had been rough on him, jarring all of his injuries and making him pass out for a short time. His eyes were open now, looking up, but he was only half aware of her. Most of his attention was focused inward as he tended to the weak flame of life flickering inside him. She brushed his sweat-drenched hair back from his face and leaned down to kiss his forehead. His lips were tinged blue, but she'd already used up the last oxygen tank from the medkit.

When the Alliance soldiers came on board, she wanted to ignite her blade and stand between them, but instead she put both of their lightsabers on the floor and lay down with her hands laced behind her head. She was so afraid for him, half convinced they would finish him off, but as they dragged her out of the ship, she saw medics carrying a stretcher in behind her. Please, help him! Please!

"What are you feeling?" Obi-Wan prompted.

I'm shaking. My chest hurts. There's a burning sensation on my left side right below my heart. It's sharp like a stab wound and it gets worse when I breathe deeply. My head aches. My fingers are tingling.

"Focus on your chest for now. Let your awareness sink into the pain there."

This memory was one of Leia's primary preoccupations. She returned to it over and over again when she was upset. Obi-Wan needed to work with her on letting go of the trauma of seeing Luke so badly injured. Her fear for his life was like an open wound inside her and it would fester if it wasn't treated.

The memory had also pulled the thing that she wasn't thinking about to the forefront of her mind. Obi-Wan could just make out the edges of it, but not the substance. It was actually impressive that she was able to avoid slipping up and showing it to him. Despite all of her volatility, she was very good at subterfuge when she needed to be. But, then, she would have had to become a good liar to survive in the Emperor's service for so long.

Still, Obi-Wan sensed that if he pushed just right this particular pretense would drop. The burden of it was heavy on her. It frightened her, and she was ashamed of it, but she wanted to be relieved of its weight.

"Now step back from the memory," Obi-Wan said. "Close it off like we practiced."

Leia took a deep breath and the immediacy of the scene began to fade. She pushed it down, like the memory was taking place at the end of a long tunnel and she was backing away from it. She began to breathe steadily to a count of four without Obi-Wan needing to prompt her. Her heartbeat slowed and after a few minutes she reached a quiet state of near-trance.

"Good," Obi-Wan said. "This is your natural state, not agitation. You can return here whenever you need to. Now open your eyes."

She did so and started to get to her feet, but Obi-Wan stopped her. "We're not done."

Leia sighed and slumped back down. "Again?"

"No. Rest for a moment, I want to ask you about something."

"Ugh." She rolled her head back in irritation. She hated when "training" meant them having a conversation instead of doing something, even if that something was meditation.

Obi-Wan let her work through her frustration. Once she was centered again and settled back into resting position, he said, "I understand why Luke is here—he felt betrayed by your father and he wanted to find another path—but why are you here, Leia?"

"I showed you," she said, verging on a whine. "I hate the Emperor and after what happened to Luke, I realized Father wouldn't protect us from him."

"Was that all?"

She looked away and made an irritated noise at the back of her throat. Her fingers moved restlessly, tapping on her thighs. "Does it really matter?"

"I don't know," Obi-Wan said. "Do you think your motivations matter?"

She sighed. "Yes," she admitted. "Of course they do. It's only..." She stopped and bit her lip.

"I can't help you with it if you won't tell me," Obi-Wan said.

Leia considered for a long moment. He thought she wasn't going to answer, but then she took a long, slow breath and the empty space in her head started to come into focus.

"I had a vision," she said. "I saw us fighting Father while the Emperor watched. A real duel, not a sparring match. The Emperor was laughing and—" She hesitated and her breath caught in her throat before she could continue. "I saw what would happen, after... what he'd..." She swallowed and her eyes dropped to stare at her lap. "After Father was dead, it wouldn't stop. He would pit us against each other. Whoever struck down the other would become his heir."

Obi-Wan nodded. "I'm not surprised, that's usually how the Sith operated."

Leia lifted her head and looked him straight in the eye. "I did it."

Obi-Wan wasn't expecting that and it must be obvious because she laughed like she wanted to cry. "I saw it like it was happening, Obi-Wan. Like it was real. I was there in that moment and—" Her voice cracked and she stopped to gather herself before saying evenly. "I killed him."

Obi-Wan reached out and put his hand on her shoulder. "The Force shows us many things, Leia. They are all true, in some sense, but they aren't inevitable. It sounds like this was a warning of what might have happened if you continued down your previous path."

She shook her head. "I've never had a vision of the future that didn't come true."

"Before this, your life was controlled by the Emperor. Now your future is in your own hands."

"I guess," she said and looked away.

"Does Luke know about this vision?" Obi-Wan pressed.

She huffed like it was a silly question. "Obviously."

Right. It was unlikely that the two of them could keep secrets from one another even if they wanted to. He squeezed her shoulder lightly. "And am I correct in assuming that he was not concerned by it?"

"No... I mean, you're right," she said. "He thinks it was a projection of my fears."

Obi-Wan nodded. "Perhaps you should trust his assessment. He does know you better than anyone else possibly could."

Leia considered that for a moment and shrugged. "Luke also didn't think that Father would cut off his hand."

She shifted to get up and tried to slip out of his hold, but Obi-Wan stopped her by tightening his grip on her shoulder. "Leia, it takes great strength to turn away from the path that is laid out before you and find another way forward."

Obi-Wan should have let it go at that. He shouldn't have said what he did next. A Jedi should maintain more distance from his padawan. He was compromising his ability to be an impartial guide in her training and repeating the exact same mistakes he'd made decades ago, but he also felt so strongly that it was something she needed to hear.

"I'm very proud of you."

Leia startled like the words were a blow she wasn't expecting and had no defense against. Her face twisted up and she blinked rapidly as her eyes grew wet. He expected her to jump up and flee from him, but she stayed frozen in place as the tears spilled down her cheeks.

Obi-Wan patted her shoulder and released her as he climbed to his feet. "Thank you for telling me that, Leia."

She was too choked up to answer, but she nodded and wiped the tears from her face.

Obi-Wan left the room so she could recover herself in private.

--

"How many did you take out?" Luke asked, looking over his shoulder to where Biggs was standing on the mobile stair platform alongside the X-Wing.

Biggs shrugged. "Three, but only if you count the TIE that went down after the second one crashed into it."

"Wow," Luke said and tilted his head back in the pilot seat so he could see him better. Biggs was supposed to be going over the X-Wing's controls with him, but they'd spent most of the past hour talking about the battles Biggs had seen instead. "I hope I can get out there some day."

"You will. They won't keep you grounded forever with those test scores."

"Maybe..." At first, Luke hadn't been sure he'd get a starfighter assignment at all. Flight Command had warned him that the squadrons got to select their own recruits and there was a possibility that if none of them wanted him then he'd end up on transport duty.

But that had been before they got his training records. The rebels had a mole somewhere in the academy system and once his flight logs and test results were obtained, three different squadrons put in requests for him. The Red Squadron had priority and empty slots to fill in their X-Wing formation so they ended up getting him, which was more than fine with Luke. He still wasn't actually cleared to fly, but at least he'd gotten to meet the other pilots. The fact that they had assigned Biggs to instruct him suggested that they actually planned to use him some day.

Biggs seemed very mature to Luke, but that might just be the mustache. He wasn't that much older than him, but he was already a war hero who'd seen real combat in defense of the Rebellion.

Luke flipped a switch that he thought was for the deflector shield. When the engine stuttered, he flipped it off again before finding the correct one on the next panel over.

"It's a unitary control?" he asked.

"Yes," Biggs said and reached over his shoulder to point at one of the panels. "But you can fire the engines separately using the secondary controls here if needed."

"Got it," Luke said. "It's just like a T-4a."

"Right, but all of the weapons systems are different, see the targeting arm here?" He showed Luke how to extend the holographic screen.

"I see."

There was a lull in the conversation as Luke continued testing the various controls. He shifted his attention for a moment to check in on Leia and found that she was off talking with Organa again. It was surprising how much she'd warmed up to the former senator. Leia had never been a fan of the Imperial politicians they'd encountered in the past, but there was a comfortable, secure quality to her mind when she was around him.

"We usually fly in a modified fingertip formation," Biggs said. "Assuming you take over the Red Five spot, that means keeping on my right—"

"I know your formations," Luke said as he switched the targeting computer on and examined the settings.

Biggs paused and Luke belatedly realized that that fact was not reassuring like he'd meant it to be. He cleared his throat. "How do you open the S-foil?"

"The lever here, or you can set it to lock automatically when you engage the weapons systems."

Luke nodded and tested the control Biggs had pointed to. There was a satisfying hiss followed by a clunk as the S-foil engaged and the fighter's characteristic wings opened. "Does it make a difference in the turning radius?"

"Not noticeably. Overall, you'll have less maneuverability than you're used to, but the extra firepower more than makes up for it," Biggs said. "Plus, it's a much smoother ride."

"That makes sense with the shielding," Luke said. "The inertial compensators are better as well."

"Yeah, the Empire isn't so concerned about their pilots' survival rates."

"What was your class at the academy?" Luke kept his eyes on the control panel in case Biggs wasn't happy about the question.

Biggs paused and Luke could feel his eyes on the side of his face as he considered him. "The 41st. But I deserted to the Rebellion right after I completed my course."

"You beat me to it," Luke said. "I started two cycles later." He risked looking up and smiled.

Biggs laughed and punched him companionably on the shoulder. "It's being here now that counts, kid."

--

"...so the theory is that a group of X-Wings will be able to get through the main defenses and target this thermal exhaust port to trigger a chain reaction," Bail said and pointed to the location on the hologram.

Leia nodded rapidly. "Yes, I think you're on the right track."

Bail gave her a knowing look. "Why not say anything about it when you first got here?"

Leia looked away from him and pressed a button on the display, shifting the hologram to show a closer view. "It's not like I'm a technical specialist. It just seemed like a possible weakness that could be exploited."

"Uh huh," Bail said.

"Besides, it's a little suspicious, right?" Leia glanced at him and then away again. "Us showing up and just happening to bring these plans..."

"Or very, very lucky," Bail said.

Leia shrugged. Feeling self-conscious, she reached up to touch her braid and tugged it around to hang over her shoulder.

"You know, you're a lot like her," Bail said. He had an odd expression on his face, serious and far away at the same time.

"What?"

"Padmé, I knew her... very well actually." He looked down and closed his eyes for a moment like it was painful to speak about. "I considered her a close friend."

Leia tilted her head. "Who?"

Bail blinked and sat back at that, looking at her in surprise. "Padmé Amidala," he said. "Your mother."

Leia's heart clenched in her chest, which was strange because what he was saying didn't make any sense. The words didn't fit together. They didn't have a mother.

Bail started to back away from her and then Leia realized that she was the one who had moved. She was standing and her hand was over her mouth.

"Oh, Leia, I'm so sorry." Bail reached for her and Leia edged further away from him. He looked so sad suddenly. Leia felt bad for upsetting him. "I should have said something sooner. I shouldn't have assumed you already knew."

"What do you mean?" She must have misunderstood. Maybe he didn't mean what she thought he did by "mother." She could feel Luke's attention stirring at the back of her head as he sensed something was wrong. "We don't—"

"Did Anakin really never speak about her?"

Leia's back was at the door. "I have to find Luke," she said and escaped out into the hallway.

She reached for Luke and saw that he was in the hangar somewhere surrounded by ships. Where, she wasn't sure exactly, but he was below her so she ran to the nearest elevator. The distance down the hall wasn't very far, but her chest started to hurt and she was breathing heavily by the time she reached the elevator doors and hit the button for the lower levels. It was like something was wrong with her lungs and she couldn't get enough air. Inside the elevator was worse. It felt much too small and she swore something must have been wrong with the oxygen levels. Why couldn't she catch her breath?

When the doors opened, Luke was waiting for her on the other side.

"Leia," he said and grabbed her shoulders.

"Did you hear?" she asked. "What he—?"

"I did," he said and hugged her. It should have made her feel crowded, but it was only after she was in his arms that she could finally breathe again. She hid her face against his shoulder and gulped in deep lungfuls of air.

Luke walked her to a quiet corridor where there was no one to stare at them and held her until she stopped shaking.

"I never thought," she said. "I never..." She didn't know how to finish the thought. She never what?

"I know," Luke said. "I didn't think we'd ever know anything about her either."

"I thought there couldn't be... that they wouldn't leave any records and—and that she was so unimportant that—that we'd never..."

"Yes," Luke agreed, his hands making soothing circles on her back. "But don't you want to know now?"

Leia nodded slowly and wiped the remains of her tears from her face. "Yes, we should go and—oh!" She felt herself flush hot with embarrassment. "I just ran away from Bail. He must think I'm ridiculous."

"No, come on, let's go talk to him," Luke said. He led her by the hand back down the corridor to the elevator.

When they reached Bail's quarters, Luke opened the door without knocking. They found him still seated at his work table looking weary and a bit shellshocked. He got up as they entered and approached Leia with open arms.

She held her hand out to stop him before he could hug her. "Who was she?"

Bail dropped his hands. He hesitated and then went to sit down at the table again, motioning for them to join him. Leia sat across from him, but Luke stayed standing.

"Padmé—your mother was... a wonderful woman," he began, speaking slowly. "When I first met her, even as a very young woman, she was so accomplished. She took on great political responsibilities from a young age. She was very... dignified. Regal, intelligent, compassionate. I worked with her a great deal in the Galactic Senate and considered her a personal friend."

"She was a politician?" Leia asked.

"Yes, a Senator from Naboo."

"That's—" she didn't know what to say and ended up shaking her head in disbelief.

Bail continued, "I don't know the full story of what happened with your father, but I know... I know that she was very happy when she learned she was pregnant. That much was obvious. She loved you very much."

Leia had to put her head in her hands to hide her tears. We had a mother. She loved us.

She wiped her face and looked at Luke, but he was standing with his arms crossed and his face impassive. The news didn't seem to have hit him the way it had her. Maybe it hadn't sunk in yet.

"She met your father while he was in training to become a Jedi knight," Bail continued. "He was assigned to protect her and... they had—adventures together, you might say. There were rumors, especially after it became obvious that your mother was pregnant, but she never directly addressed who the father was. Not even with me. If it had come out that they were romantically involved, Anakin would have lost his position on the Council and probably been thrown out of the Order entirely. Since her death, I've always hoped that it was... that they were in love. But I never really knew."

"In love?" Leia repeated in disbelief. She turned to Luke. "But he said—those liars! I can't believe—how could he?"

"What were you told?" Bail asked.

Luke answered him, which was a relief. Leia didn't think she could string together a coherent sentence without sobbing. "We were told that the woman who carried us was chosen only for her genetics and that she had no interest in being a mother. She was killed shortly after the birth to spare us from ever being distracted by her existence."

"To spare us," Leia repeated and shuddered. "Was nothing we were told the truth? Was it all lies?"

"We should have realized," Luke said. "Sidious told us that, not Father."

"He could have said something," Leia snapped. "Anything. One single word about her."

Luke shrugged. "That might still be some version of the truth," he pointed out. "Father would already have been the Emperor's apprentice when they were together. Maybe he never cared for her and only used her to conceive us."

"No, no, it's true," Leia said. "It explains so much. I always thought that... that the guilt he felt was because he couldn't provide us with a woman who was worthy of raising us. But that wasn't it. We had a mother, she loved us, and he killed her."

Bail held up his hands. "I'm not sure that's what happened," he cautioned. "At the end, after the purge of the Jedi, Obi-Wan confronted your father and he saw Anakin attack Padmé, but she was still alive when he last saw her. She was taken away by the Emperor's men and it was never clear what happened to her after that. We didn't even know that the two of you survived until years later when rumors started spreading that Vader had children."

He told them more, the words spilling out of him in a swirl of confused details and stories. Leia desperately wanted to know everything about their mother, but she also felt like if she absorbed one more thing she would explode.

She made a fist and pressed it to her forehead with her eyes clenched shut. Father loved her. How could he not have told them?

Bail stopped talking and took her free hand in both of his own. Luke's hands were already on her shoulders and they were both silent as she breathed in and out, each gasp of air wet and trembling.

—

It was late by the time they left Bail's quarters, which was a relief. There were fewer rebels out in the corridors to see Leia's blotchy face.

Luke was silent as he walked beside her. He'd been silent this whole time, barely asking Bail any questions or saying much of anything at all. It was finally too much for Leia and she rounded on him at a junction between two corridors. "Why aren't you more upset?"

"I am upset," Luke said in a calm, understanding tone.

Leia wanted to punch him, but she settled for a hard push with one hand in the center of his chest. Don't pull that above-it-all detached Jedi shit. Not about our mother!

Luke sighed and his shoulders dropped. Does it really change anything? She's still dead. We'll never know her.

Yes! Yes, it changes things! She loved us! She wanted us! And not because of power or... or who we'd become or any of that.

"Okay," Luke said out loud, gently, like he was humoring her.

"Don't you remember—" I knew she loved us, I always knew it. The woman who was sad. The woman who went away. That was her, that was our mother!

Luke gave her a small smile, a slight twist of his lips. "I'm glad that you remember her."

"You could too, if you tried," she snapped and turned away from him.

She was stomping her feet, trying to put distance between them, when the corridor darkened. A shadow passed over her and Leia stopped in her tracks. Luke sensed it too. She turned to look at him and saw the dawning horror on his face.

Before they could put it into words, sirens went off and warning lights began to flash. The loud speaker crackled and an electronic voice announced, "Alert, alert, level one alert."

"Ugh," said a technician walking past them in the opposite direction. "Another drill?"

Luke shook his head and looked at Leia. The Empire is here.

And Father.

--

The base was in a flurry as every Alliance member scrambled to prepare for the coming battle. The starfighter pilots had been instructed to gather for a last briefing and Leia slipped in with Luke and Obi-Wan to listen.

As soon as he'd seen her, Obi-Wan had realized that Leia had been crying—because of course he had—but when he'd tried to say something to her about it she'd dismissed him with a short, "Not now."

They sat at the back of the room and watched as General Dodonna gave the pilots their last instructions.

"An analysis of the plans provided by our recent defectors has demonstrated a weakness in the battle station." Dodonna nodded to Luke and Leia at the mention of "defectors" and heads turned to look at them. "But the approach will not be easy."

The projected image next to Dodonna changed to display the thermal exhaust port and the pilots gasped as he explained their target. There were ripples of disbelief around the room. "Two meters? That's impossible."

Luke shrugged besides Leia and muttered, "It's not."

One of the pilots at the front called out, "What's to stop them from blowing the planet out from under us right now and then targeting the moon like they did at Jedha?"

Luke glanced at Leia. Do you think—?

No, no way. He'll wait.

There was a soft cough from beside her from Obi-Wan. "Tell them," he said, and motioned toward the front of the room. "Out loud."

"Oh? Uh—" She stood up, drawing the attention of Dodonna who pointed to her. The entire room turned their heads. She hesitated and licked her lips before saying, "No. Jedha was meant as a showy demonstration, but Tarkin's not usually wantonly destructive. He'll wait to target the base directly."

There was a murmur of uncertainty, but Dodonna nodded. "That's what we're banking on."

The pilot who'd spoken up gave Leia a searching look. "You're sure of that? Would you bet your life on it?"

Leia spoke generally, addressing the room at large. "I would bet my life on the Alliance. The Empire thinks that station is invulnerable, but they're wrong. They've underestimated the Rebellion."

"It will be their last mistake," Dodonna said, approvingly. "Now, man your ships. And may the Force be with you."

--

Luke went down to the hangar with the other pilots to watch as they boarded their starfighters. He'd put on his flight suit in hopes that he might get to fly at the last minute, but clearance never came. The Alliance was still not desperate enough to put Vader's son in a ship on the battlefield.

He'd tried to convince Dreis, the Red Squadron commander, to let him come anyway, but the older man only shook his head. "Look, Skywalker, I appreciate your eagerness to fight, but even if I could override Starfighter Command on this, which I can't, you just got out of a bacta tank. You're not in any shape for a high-g combat situation."

"I can handle it!" Luke insisted. "At least let me take one of the support craft, there's still—"

"It doesn't matter what you think you can handle," he said, not unsympathetically. "You'll give yourself a stroke."

"Maybe if I was an ordinary person, but—"

But Dreis wasn't listening. He'd already climbed the ladder to get into his ship. "Save that energy for next time," he called over his shoulder.

"If there is a next time," Luke muttered. He weaved through the ships, moving out of the way as the other pilots climbed on board and prepared to leave.

"See you on the other side, kid!" a voice called out.

Luke turned to see Biggs waving to him as the canopy of his X-Wing closed. Luke raised his hand. The X-Wings fired their engines and moments later the Red Squadron took off, leaving Luke behind.

Nearly every ship on the base was joining the attack. Soon, the only ones left in the hangar were bulky transports and the few ships awaiting repairs.

Luke tried to lend a hand to the flight crew as they moved equipment around, but they didn't really need his help. He found an out-of-the-way spot near the X-Wing staging area and sat down on an empty crate.

Leia was up in the Command Center along with Bail and Obi-Wan observing with the other civilian command staff. If she still felt any turmoil over the revelations about their mother, she'd shut it away now. Luke would think it was Obi-Wan's influence teaching her control, but Leia had always been good at turning off inconvenient emotions in the face of a crisis. For a time, at least, until they all came boiling back out of her.

Luke couldn't seem to muster up the same anger that she felt. It was as if Leia had been experiencing all of the anguish and grief for both of them while he'd just watched. None of it had seemed like a surprise to him. Of course there had been more to their birth than they'd been told. Of course they'd been lied to about their mother. Of course their father had had a hand in her death. It was all in keeping with the man their father was and the things they'd seen him do over the years. And the things that he'd done to them.

Leia poked at him through their connection, trying to get his attention, and Luke pushed down his thoughts so she wouldn't pick up on them and be distracted.

Are you—? she asked.

No, I'm in the hangar. I'm still grounded.

It's probably for the best, she said. We're far enough away that I don't think Father can get into our heads, but keep your mind closed tight.

Luke huffed at that. I can keep him out.

Leia ignored his indignation. I think we'll be fine, as long as the battle stays in orbit and there isn't a ground invasion of the base. But we may have to get out of here in a hurry if that happens. Obi-Wan is already planning for it.

"I'm not running away," Luke said. Father should be relieved he isn't going to encounter us right now.

There was a grim sense of agreement from Leia at that sentiment.

Are you sure he even knows we're here? Luke asked.

Given how angry he feels...? I think that's a given.

Luke was trying very hard not to tune into the oppressive sense of their father's presence, but she had a point. His rage felt very pointed and personal right now, rather than his usual, generic anger at the galaxy at large. What's happening? Has the battle started yet?

It's about to. They're estimating fifteen minutes until the Death Star is in range, she said. The first line of rebel starfighters is starting to engage the defenses around the station.

Did they scramble TIE fighters?

Not yet. Gold Squadron will take the first attack run.

The Y-Wings? Luke asked.

Yes, Red Squadron is providing cover. They're holding up against the laser towers so far. There haven't been any—no, wait, they just took out Red Six.

Luke shook his head. "That's Porkins."

Leia was silent for a time and each second dragged as Luke waited for her next update.

TIE fighters are engaging now... Red Four is down.

Luke kicked at a fuel hose lying discarded on the ground. He startled a repair droid passing by and it beeped at him angrily.

Gold Leader is starting the attack run.

How long until the Death Star is in range? Luke asked.

Seven minutes. Gold fighters are approaching the target.

The wait was interminable. If he concentrated, Luke could push himself into Leia's head and pick up what she was hearing in the Command Center. He could just make out the comms chatter—voices distorted into flat, electric tones that spoke seconds before Leia relayed the same details to him.

"All three destroyed, repeat, all three Gold fighters destroyed. Attack unsuccessful."

No! All of the Gold fighters were taken out before they could complete their run.

"Ugh."

Red Squadron is getting in position for another run... TIE fighters are behind them.

"Come on, guys!" Luke shouted and his voice echoed in the empty hangar.

Red Seven is down—Wait, that's it! They took the shot! Red Leader did it!

"Yes!" Luke pumped his fist.

No, no good. It impacted on the surface. Didn't go in. He was hit in the attempt and he's—Red Leader down.

"Dreis!" That's it, Luke told her. I can't just sit here and listen to this.

He started running across the hangar, heading to the corner where the few out-of-commission starfighters were sitting under dust tarps. There were three X-Wings there waiting for repairs. Luke pulled the tarp off of the closest one and quickly moved on to the next when he saw that it was missing an entire engine.

Wait for me! Leia shouted in his head. She was already on her feet and rushing out of the Command Center.

You can't come with me, he said. Go back and keep me updated on the battle.

But—

There isn't space for a passenger, go back!

I can still help you from here, she insisted.

I'm counting on it.

Luke picked the X-Wing that looked like it was in the best shape and pushed a stair platform up to the side. As he was reaching inside to power it up, a voice called out from behind him, "Kid, what are you doing?"

Luke looked over his shoulder and saw a grizzled, older man in a flight technician jumpsuit staring up at him.

"You can't—"

"They need reinforcements!" Luke shouted at him. "The second attack run just failed."

"One ship isn't going to make a difference—"

"Yes, it will!"

The man sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "There isn't even an astromech—"

"So help me get one!"

"Hell." The man threw his hands up. "Fine, but don't take that X-Wing. The shield generator is out." He pointed to the ship beside it. "This one here is in better shape. The landing gear is busted, but that won't matter once you're in the air."

The tech installed an R-series droid on the ship while Luke fueled it up. In the time it took them to finish prepping, four more X-Wings were taken out.

Luke hopped into the pilot seat and pushed the stairs off the side. The last thing he heard as the canopy closed was the tech saying, "If anyone asks, I didn't help you, okay?"

Luke? Obi-Wan's dry voice interrupted his thoughts as he did a rushed preflight check and strapped his helmet on. What in the world are you doing?

Luke blocked him out. He flipped the switch to ignite the engines and lifted into the air. When he hit the afterburners, every single one of his ribs sang out in pain. He cleared the hangar and pushed the engines as hard as they could go as he shot through the atmosphere and into space. With each increased unit of speed, he was pressed further and further back into the seat and his chest felt tighter and tighter. Luke belatedly realized that Dreis might have been right that it was too soon for him to be experiencing these kinds of g-forces.

Spots formed in front of Luke's eyes and his vision tunneled. He clenched his muscles and breathed forcefully to keep himself from passing out. Still, he kept fading, his vision getting narrower and narrower.

A burst of energy jolted him fully conscious again. It was Leia pushing strength to him through the Force. Keep it together!

Okay, okay, I am, Luke insisted. He jerked the control stick and barely managed to swerve around an Alliance command ship directly in front of him.

After swooping under the belly of the ship, he came up with a clear view of the battlefield directly ahead.

The Death Star was a dark void floating in front of him as he approached. It would have been invisible except for the red and yellow lights flashing across it as blaster fire and explosions roiled the surface.

One of the towers on the station targeted Luke as he got closer and he was forced to take evasive maneuvers. He had to hold the control stick with both hands since his right one was too weak to keep it steady. Even with the X-Wing's inertial dampeners, the sudden changes in direction made him feel every one of his recent injuries. Luke hoped he wasn't doing any permanent damage, but there were other, more dangerous things to worry about at the moment.

Like the fact that he could feel the heavy presence of his father turning towards him.

They've scrambled more TIE fighters, Leia told him.

I think Father is with them.

Darkness closed in around him. There was a familiar, heavy pressure against his throat and Luke faltered. His heartbeat pounded in his ears along with Father's voice. Your decision to join this battle was not wise. You will desist and land on the station.

The voice carried with it an overwhelming sense of command, but Luke resisted. His throat had closed up completely now and he had to fight the urge to panic. If he didn't obey, Father would kill him right here.

--

Leia's own throat constricted in sympathy with Luke's and she was suddenly, blindingly angry.

She shaped her words like a missile and put all of her rage behind them so that when they reached Father they would crash into his skull like a physical blow. Is this how you killed our mother?

Leia—? His presence clouded with confusion. He hadn't been expecting her to be able to interfere from this distance.

Leia could feel Luke's lungs burning. He was still weak from his earlier bout with unconsciousness, and his vision was already starting to fade. He was having trouble seeing the numbers on his instrument panel. He was fighting back, but he'd black out soon if she didn't do something.

Leia, Father said. Listen to me.

Will you kill Luke like you killed Padmé? she raged at him, trying desperately to rattle him enough to lose his grip on Luke.

Father's attention slipped and Luke took a single, short breath, the air a relief to his burning lungs.

Who told you—? Ah, I see. Obi-Wan Kenobi, my old master. I should have sensed his duplicity immediately.

Let go of him! Leia roared, bombarding him with her anger.

Father ignored her words and pushed back with a command to bend her mind to his will. You will return to my side. Now.

Leia shook off the creeping shackles of her father's influence. She had to do something or Luke was dead. Father was turning his focus back to him now and away from her.

Leia was only vaguely aware of the Command Center around her. At some point, her knees must have buckled because she was sitting on the floor now. Obi-Wan was next to her and he was saying something about not giving in to hatred, but it was far, far too late for that. Leia hated her father so much it was like a physical force inside her. She took that hatred and turned it into a wave, a net, a suffocating trap to ensnare him and she pushed it outward.

You'll have to kill me too, Father.

--

Luke was sinking into darkness. He was drowning, lost in the sea of poisonous anger that was his father's mind. He could feel his hands on the control stick and could still barely make out the display, but he couldn't seem to control his own body.

If it was like being in a nightmare, then the moment that Leia broke through was like waking in a cold sweat. Luke gasped and the ship jerked as his hands tightened on the controls. A cold wall had formed around him, enclosing him. The pressure around his neck and the heaviness on his chest lifted and he could finally breathe freely. Leia had done it. She was shielding him somehow, using her own presence to protect him and draw the brunt of their father's attention. Luke had the sense that she was saying something to Father, but he couldn't make out the words. It was muffled, like an argument happening in another room.

Luke shook off the sense of dread and wiped the cold sweat from his brow. There were X-Wings ahead flying over the surface of the station. He was almost there.

Do you see the trench? Leia asked. She was distracted, most of her attention still focused on blocking Father.

Are you okay?

Don't worry about me, concentrate on flying. Now do you see the trench?

I—yes, I see it! Three X-Wings swooped down past the line of fire and disappeared into the narrow opening as Luke approached. TIE fighters followed behind right on their tail.

As he got closer, his radio crackled as it picked up the X-Wings' chatter.

"We're going in full throttle, Red Two cover me."

"Fighters coming in! .3!"

"I'm hit!"

"Get clear, Wedge."

"Copy that, Red Three. Sorry!"

Luke drove into the trench after them and gunned the engines until he'd nearly caught up to the others. There were three TIE fighters ahead of him flying in tight formation behind the two remaining X-Wings. As Luke was still approaching, one of the TIEs fired and took out the second X-Wing, leaving only one lone rebel fighter. Luke was so close, he was almost in range.

The center TIE had a smaller profile than the other two and curved wings. It was a custom Advanced x1, Father's personal starfighter.

Luke's targeting system beeped as it locked on and he hesitated with his finger on the trigger. Leia's presence shielding him wavered and he was flooded with the ominous awareness that his father could see him again.

Son.

Luke pulled the trigger.

Father managed to evade the shot, but Luke's blaster fire hit one of the other TIE fighters and it clipped the Advanced x1 as it spun out. Father lost control and his ship spiraled away into the void above. The remaining two TIE fighters crashed against the walls of the station and Luke blasted through the resulting explosion.

The darkness hanging over him was gone. Father's ominous presence had been abruptly ripped away, but not forever. He wasn't dead, Luke sensed, just distracted as he struggled to gain control of his ship.

Luke let out a gasp of relief and hit the radio. "You're clear, Red Three," he said.

"Luke?" Biggs answered.

"I'm right behind you!" Luke closed his eyes and reached out mentally. He could feel the sides of the trench slipping away beside them. Ahead of them, and coming up fast, was the approaching wall with their target.

"Okay, let's do this!" Biggs said. "It'll be just like Beggar's Canyon back on Tatooine."

Fear tightened in Luke's stomach as they approached. What if they failed just like the others? But then he felt another, calming presence alongside Leia in his head. Trust your feelings, Obi-Wan told him. The Force is with you, Luke.

It was true. He could feel it flowing through him like he never had before. It was a source of strength that he didn't have to coerce or struggle for; something greater than himself that was freely given.

"Target locked," Biggs said. "Here goes nothing."

Biggs fired his proton torpedoes and Luke followed them with his mind. He directed every bit of power flowing through him outward and guided the torpedoes toward the exhaust port.

One torpedo exploded on the outside, just missing the opening. The second one entered.

Luke gasped as he let go. The X-Wing's proximity alarm blared and he pulled up at the last second and barely cleared the wall.

For a moment, he was disoriented, lost in the expanse of the stars, but then he spotted Biggs ahead of him. He turned into a controlled barrel roll and followed Biggs' X-Wing away from the battlefield.

A blinding flash of light filled the sky behind them.

Luke! That's it! It worked! Leia cried.

"Look at that!" Biggs whooped so loudly that the radio crackled and broke into static.

"Great shot!" Luke yelled back to him. "You did it!"

"Thanks to you!"

--

Luke crashed more than he landed when he got back to the base. The tech hadn't been kidding about the broken landing gear. Still, he managed to put the X-Wing down and coasted safely to a stop, and that was all that counted.

Before he opened the canopy, he closed his eyes and searched for Father, but there was no sign of his presence. Luke didn't think he had been killed in the explosion from the Death Star—he was certain he would have sensed that—so he must have gained control of the TIE fighter and escaped with the retreating Imperial forces.

When Luke climbed out of the cockpit, pilots and crew members were already crowded around Biggs' X-Wing cheering. It seemed the entire base was rushing down to greet the hero who'd destroyed the Death Star.

"Luke!" Leia rushed up to hug him so fast that she sent him stumbling into the ladder. "You did it!"

Luke lifted her and spun her around laughing. "We did it!"

A wave of well-wishers passed by and the pressure of the crowd carried them toward where Biggs was standing.

Somewhere behind him, Luke heard an older, male voice saying, "And I go, 'Kid, you can't take that one, the shield generator's busted.' And he says—"

Biggs spotted Luke and pushed through the crowd to come clap him on the shoulder. "You crazy—I can't believe you did that!"

"Amazing shot, Biggs!" Luke said.

Biggs jostled his shoulder and laughed. "I couldn't have done it without you, kid!"

--

The celebrations continued late into the night as the rebels savored their victory, but Obi-Wan didn't stay for long.

He climbed to the top of the ancient Temple and sat on the stone floor to meditate. Once he felt ready, he opened his mind and reached out in the Force to search for the distant presence he was seeking.

Master Yoda? Obi-Wan asked, and felt an answering sense of recognition. Yoda had been waiting for Obi-Wan to contact him.

Greetings, old friend, said a familiar voice.

He saw Yoda in his mind's eye, seated in front of him with his legs crossed. He was dressed in a tattered, old cloak.

You know what I need to ask of you, Obi-Wan said.

Hmm. Great darkness I sense in them. A dangerous path you have chosen.

Darkness, yes, but light as well. Will you help me train them?

Yoda was silent as he considered and Obi-Wan waited. He thought perhaps that silence was all the answer he would receive, but then—

To me, bring them. Then, decide I will.

Chapter Text

"Leave?" Leia said in disbelief. "We can't leave."

She had been busy writing coordinates on the tactical board when Luke told her Obi-Wan's proposal and he'd made her smudge one of the numbers. She erased it and rewrote it with annoyance. She was irritated that he was here interrupting her while she worked and even more irritated that he came to propose something so ridiculous.

"Not forever," Luke said, doggedly following her as she went back to the table and picked up one of the flimsy diagrams to compare against her numbers. She had commandeered a conference room to use for her planning and the entire table was taken over by contour maps of Hoth and long lists of equipment and personnel. "Just so we can train with Master Yoda."

"Why can't he come join us with the Alliance?" Leia asked and went back to the board to correct one of the coordinates.

Luke shrugged. "Master Obi-Wan says he's very old. Like nine hundred?"

"Nine hundred—!" Leia shook her head. "I can't believe you're even considering this. What about Red Squadron? They barely have enough pilots as it is. Did you know they're talking about merging some of the squadrons?"

Luke waved off her concerns. "We have a half-dozen new recruits in training that will be ready to fly soon. And, anyway, General Merrick promised I won't see the inside of an X-Wing again as long as he had anything to say about it, so..."

Leia rolled her eyes. "You know he'll change his mind the minute there are TIE fighters swarming the fleet."

"Maybe," Luke said. "But it's not like we'll be seeing action any time soon. It's all going to be escort missions until the new base is established.

Leia shook her head. "Even if they can spare you, I can't go." She motioned to the board behind her and the table piled with flimsy. "I have to help plan the relocation and then Bail needs me to organize logistics."

"Lei-ah," Luke said, using the particular whiny tone of voice that he knew got on her last nerve. "Other people can do logistics, only we can do this."

She sighed and went back to the table to pick up her datapad. She updated her notes before returning to the tactical board and adjusting one of the markers. "What does this 'Yoda' know that Obi-Wan doesn't? Why can't he finish our training himself?"

"Yoda's a grand master. He was the head of the whole Jedi Order before it fell."

Leia snorted. "Well, he didn't exactly do a great job then, did he? If he was in charge at the end?"

Luke ignored her impertinence and leaned in with a serious look on his face. "We're meant to do this, I can feel it. I knew as soon as Obi-Wan told me." He took her hand, his eyes pleading with her to understand. "Leia, I have to go do this."

She frowned and pulled away to look him up and down. "Are you going to leave without me?"

"What? No!" Luke stepped back. "Of course not. But it's important."

She sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Where is it?"

"Dagobah."

"I've never even heard of Dagobah."

"It's in the Outer Rim. A planet very strong in the Force."

She looked at the tactical board and chewed on her lip as she considered it. "I need to finish this and draw up the personnel transport plan. That'll take at least another three days."

"Of course, sure," Luke said, eager to accommodate her now that it looked like he was going to get his way. "Whatever you need."

She sighed. "I'll talk to Bail. But this Master Yoda better be something."

"He will be!" Luke promised. "You'll see."

--

It had taken Leia a stupidly long time to realize that if their mother had been a senator and an influential politician, then there would be recordings of her on the Holonet. And there were. So many of them. Hundreds and hundreds of hours of Padmé Amidala giving speeches, talking to reporters, voting in the Senate, attending formal dinners, and all of the other public events that seemed to be required of a politician. There were even more hours of news reports discussing Padmé Amidala's policy positions, her legislative proposals, her political alliances, and her fashion choices. There was, however, very little about her personal life except vague speculation and a commonly repeated refrain that she was "very private."

The last part stuck out to Leia, mainly because she'd searched obsessively for any news announcing Padmé's pregnancy. She had only found a handful of short holovids from just before the fall of the Republic which reported that the senator was expecting her first child. Child, singular. All of these news items were from the two months before she and Luke were born.

It was late. Leia had so much work to do before they left for Dagobah. She should go to bed so she would be fresh in the morning when she got up, but she couldn't drag herself away from the Holonet.

Searching for holovids from the years after the formation of the Empire, Leia found several reports speculating about Padmé's presumed death. There were surprisingly few of them, however, considering her prominence prior to the fall of the Republic. The holovids she found all noted that Padmé was pregnant when she disappeared during the turmoil after the attempted coup by the Jedi Order, but none of them made any reference to Anakin Skywalker.

Leia kept going back to the holovids of Padmé's speeches and watching them over and over again, but she didn't absorb most of what her mother was saying. She was transfixed by this face that was so familiar and yet so unknown to her. Bail had said that Leia reminded him of Padmé, but she wasn't sure why. There didn't seem to be anything of this calm, dignified woman in her. Padmé seemed so rehearsed and formal in all of the holovids. It was hard to get a sense of what the person underneath all the layers of clothing and decorum was actually like.

Leia was watching a recording from a Separatist planet early in the Clone Wars—a speech by Padmé as part of some sort of diplomatic mission—when the holocam shifted to show the audience of delegates seated listening to her. At the back of the small gathering was a young man in Jedi robes who got up and crossed behind the group. He had wavy, chin-length hair, and Leia thought fondly that Luke was starting to look very similar now that was growing his hair out and had taken to wearing a short robe as a jacket in imitation of Obi-Wan. She would have to remember to tell him later. Luke would be delighted to know that he looked like a real Jedi knight from twenty years ago.

She was about to move on to another holovid when it struck her that the resemblance might not be coincidental. The realization hit her with a cold shiver and the hair at the back of her neck stood on end. She felt a tremor of something she couldn't identify stirring in the Force. Was it possible?

Leia found herself rewinding and rewatching the moment over and over again. Padmé spoke, the delegates shuffled in their seats, and the Jedi knight got up and crossed behind them. She reversed the holovid and he moved backwards and then walked forwards again. And again. And again.

The way he walked. The set of his shoulders. Was there anything familiar there? She couldn't see it.

Finally, she went to the Holonet bibliographic directory and searched for Anakin Skywalker. A biography came up with a few images attached.

It was him.

Had Padmé been pregnant when this recording was taken? Leia checked the date, but no, it was older than that, from nearly three years before they were born. That was one question answered, but Leia had so many other ones. Were Padmé and Anakin together when this was taken? Were they already keeping their relationship a secret? Had they talked about the future? Was she hoping they would have children someday?

Leia felt a strange desire to leap into the holovid and tell Padmé not to trust Anakin. If only someone had warned her what was coming. She and Luke would never have been born, but maybe Padmé would still be alive.

It was very late by then. Luke had fallen asleep hours ago, but Leia woke him up and dragged him out of bed anyway.

"What? Are you still watching these?" he asked, bleary-eyed and annoyed as she sat him down in front of the holoprojector. "Come on, you should go to bed."

"Just watch," Leia said.

"What am I looking at?" he grumbled and rubbed his eyes.

"Him," Leia said and pointed to the Jedi knight in the background. "See?"

"What? Wait, you think that's Father?" Luke said, finally picking up on why she was so intent about this particular holovid. "Are you sure?"

"It is! I looked up old holos. That's him."

"Huh." Luke leaned in closer. "He's young. What year is this?"

"It's a few months after the Clone Wars started."

"Is there anything else?"

They combed through the Holonet search results and located a handful of other recordings of Anakin Skywalker. The longest one was some kind of ceremony from later in the Clone Wars where Anakin and a few other Jedi were being recognized for bravery in defense of the Republic.

"That's Master Obi-Wan," Luke said and pointed to a man standing behind Anakin with a short beard.

"Whoa, he looks different."

"Yeah..."

They both fell silent as the hologram's angle changed and the scene shifted, seemingly to a later time at the same event. Chancellor Palpatine had arrived to shake hands with the Jedi and give some remarks on their valuable contributions to the war effort.

As Palpatine spoke, the holocam panned across the Jedi's faces. All of them looked suitably humble and composed as they listened to the Chancellor's speech, including their father, oddly enough.

"How could they not know?" Leia wondered.

Luke shrugged. "He's a good liar. And the dark side was clouding their vision."

Leia shook her head. She skipped backward in the holovid and paused it at a moment where it was focused on Anakin. There was a slight smile on his face as he nodded at something someone else had said.

They had always been told that their father, Darth Vader, had been born on the same day they were, but here was yet more evidence that they had been lied to. How much distance was there really between Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker? Father had told them many times that before he became Vader he had been a fool who didn't know true power, but hadn't Anakin's choices made him the man he was now? Was Vader that different from the Jedi knight who secretly loved Padmé Amidala? Or were they really two separate people, linked only by the coincidence of sharing the same life?

But if that were true... then if Luke and Leia were conceived before Vader came into existence, didn't that make Anakin their real father?

"You're giving me a headache," Luke said. "Stop thinking about questions that don't have answers and let's go to bed."

Leia shook her head. "You go, I won't be able to sleep."

After he left, she switched back to the holovid of Padmé giving her speech and watched again as the ghost of her father walked through the background.

--

Bail came to say goodbye to Leia on the morning they departed for Dagobah.

She still felt guilty about leaving the Alliance. She'd put off telling Bail about their plans for days because she was afraid of how he'd react, but he had taken the news well when she finally told him. She'd been expecting him to get angry at her, to yell or ice her out for her betrayal, but instead he'd been supportive of their decision to go train with Yoda.

Bail kept repeating that he understood that there were "more important" things she and Luke needed to do. Assisting the Rebellion seemed important to Leia, but she supposed he was right. As much as everyone wanted it done, no one else was lining up to kill their father and the Emperor.

Leia couldn't shake the feeling that they were making a mistake leaving the Rebellion, but Luke was equally convinced that they were meant to go to Dagobah. Part of her worried that it might be a sign that his destiny was departing from her own. What if he felt so certain because the light side was calling him there and she felt troubled because it didn't want her?

"Do you mind if I hug you?" Bail asked as they stood on the ramp in front of the transport. They'd finished loading their supplies and Luke and Obi-Wan were already inside preparing the ship for takeoff.

"What?" Leia said. "Oh, sure."

Bail pulled her close, one hand holding the back of her head as he hugged her tightly. Usually, Leia didn't like it when anyone aside from Luke touched her, but Bail was so at ease that it kept her from tensing up. His arms were warm and comforting and she had the odd thought that nothing bad could happen as long as he was holding her. She didn't want him to let go, but then she was suddenly on the verge of tears and had to pull away.

Bail released her and smiled to ease the awkwardness of the moment. "I brought you something," he said, digging in his pocket. "I know it's probably not your style, but I didn't have anything else and I thought—well, here."

He held out a silver chain with a pendant on the end that sparkled brightly in shades of blue and green.

Leia took it from him in surprise. The twisting silver design of the pendant was very delicate and the gemstones embedded in it looked real. It must have been worth a lot. "It's beautiful."

"It's my wife's, Breha," Bail said. "She gave it to me to hang onto while we were separated and I thought you might like it." He shrugged as if he was worried that she would reject it. "The knot is an Alderaan symbol for love persisting."

"Oh," Leia said. "I—I'm not sure I can take this. If it's your wife's."

"You can hold onto it for me," Bail said quickly. "Until you get back. Just as a reminder that you have a place here. Or wherever the Alliance goes next."

Leia nodded and closed her hand around it. "Okay. Then I'll give it back to you when I see you again."

"Yes," Bail said. "Do you want to put it on?"

He stepped behind her to help her with the clasp and Leia adjusted her traveling cloak so the pendant rested on top of it. The jewels shone against the dark fabric. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever worn.

"Thank you," she said.

"Take good care of it," Bail said. "And yourself."

Leia nodded and backed away from him onto the ship. Bail waited until she was inside and waved to her as she retracted the ramp and shut the hatch.

--

They had to cross half the galaxy to reach Dagobah and it took several days of hyperspace travel interspersed with navigational stops. The Alliance had been very generous and given them a small transport ship with room for three and enough food and supplies to last for several months. Leia hoped that they wouldn't be gone for that long, but Obi-Wan had been noncommittal when she asked how much time it took to train to become a Jedi. "As long as it takes," was all he'd said.

She was in the sleeping area above the hold trying to get some rest in the last hours of their journey when the ship began to shake. She opened her eyes and blinked. Had they arrived? Before she could reach out to Luke and ask, a violent quake threw her out of her bunk and onto the ground. Tremors continued to wrack the ship and she had to crawl across the floor to get to the front of the transport.

"What's going on? Is this Dagobah?" she asked as she finally stumbled into the cockpit. They were already in the atmosphere and flying through a dense layer of gray clouds. Obi-Wan was seated behind Luke in the navigator's chair with his eyes closed as he concentrated on something.

"Yes, this is Dagobah, and I don't know!" Luke shouted at her from the pilot's seat. "I started the landing sequence, but there's some kind of interference and the scopes are all blind."

They hit turbulence and the ship bounced like a rock skipping across the surface of water. Luke struggled to steady the controls. Leia climbed past Obi-Wan to get to the co-pilot's seat next to Luke and strapped herself in.

"Can you sense anything?" Luke asked, shouting to Obi-Wan over his shoulder.

"Yes," Obi-Wan said with forced calm. "In front of us. Look for—coordinates 105 dash 23."

"Are you sure?" Leia asked. She punched in the coordinates but there didn't seem to be anything there. The sensors on the ship weren't working and the only feeling she could get from the planet outside was of a great, swirling mass of lifeforms.

"Yes," Obi-Wan said and opened his eyes. "There's safe ground to land there, but you'll have to bleed off more speed."

"Great," Luke said. He reversed the engines and the ship shook wildly as they began to slow down.

"There's a wind shear up ahead," Leia warned and pointed to a disturbance in front of them where the clouds were drawn abruptly downward as if falling over the edge of a waterfall. "We're about to fly right into it!"

"I see it, I see it," Luke said. "Hang on, this is going to be rough."

The transport dropped like a stone when they hit the wind shear and Leia clung to the armrests of her chair as her stomach flipped. Luke managed to slow their descent at the last moment and brought them to a hard stop as they slammed into the ground. The transport groaned and every loose object on the ship jumped upward before finally coming to rest.

Obi-Wan sighed. "Well done. Another happy landing."

--

When they opened the hatch, they found themselves in the middle of a swamp. Luke had brought the ship down on the only strip of ground that wasn't covered in either water or trees—a barren, sandy peninsula that was surrounded by dark pools of water. It was daylight, but you could barely tell thanks to the thick cloud cover overhead.

"There's nothing here," Leia said, looking out at the wilderness around them. Barely any light reached through the thick canopy of branches and vines. She could only see for a few meters through the trees before distinct shapes vanished into shadows and low-lying mist. "The sensors don't show a settlement or anything."

"People live here," Obi-Wan said with a smile. "They're just not very obvious about it."

"How are we supposed to find Master Yoda?" Luke asked.

"Oh, I'm sure he'll make himself apparent to us," Obi-Wan said. "When we're ready."

Leia turned to Luke in confusion. What does that mean?

I think it means we have to wait.

Great.

"Let's set up camp here," Obi-Wan said. "I think this is the least-damp location we're likely to find."

Luke and Leia started hauling out storage containers from the cargo hold while Obi-Wan walked in slow circles around the perimeter of the ship. He had his eyes closed as if he was listening for something. Leia hoped that meant he was contacting Yoda, although he didn't say anything about it if he did. She and Luke set up a canopy so they'd have some shelter from the incessant drizzle and started sorting through the equipment underneath it.

Obi-Wan went into the ship while they were assembling a portable stove and came back with his traveling pack over his shoulder.

"I have something for you," he said and pulled their lightsabers out of one of the pockets on the side of his pack.

"Nice," Luke said, taking his and passing the other to Leia.

"Oh, are we allowed to be armed now?" she asked as she clipped it to her belt.

"Yes, you may keep them," Obi-Wan said. "I think you're ready—and you may need them here. I sense there is some very dangerous wildlife in the vicinity. Keep your wits about you."

Obi-Wan slipped his pack over his shoulders and looked out at the surrounding trees. "Wait here and finish setting up," he said. "I'm going to go take a look around."

"Take a look at what?" Leia asked, but Obi-Wan didn't answer. He only raised his hand to wave goodbye and walked away down the sandy line of the peninsula toward where it met the swamp. He stepped across a shallow pool of water and ducked under a vine before disappearing into the gloom.

Is he going to look for Yoda? Leia wondered.

Luke held his hands up in confusion. Maybe?

Why is he being so mysterious? Why can't he just tell us where Yoda is?

I'm sure he has his reasons. Maybe there's some kind of Jedi test we have to pass first.

Leia rolled her eyes and started opening up the food storage boxes to sort through their rations. They might as well eat something if they were going to be sitting around in the muck for Force knows how long.

She was examining their water filtration system—they were certainly going to need it if they had to drink any of the stagnant water here—when she felt a shock of surprise from Luke. He'd gone to get something out of the hold and she heard him cry out and activate his lightsaber. He was on the other side of the transport from her and she had to run around the ramp and vault over several storage containers to get to him.

Luke was standing with his lightsaber pointed at a small, crumpled figure cowering on the ground at his feet. Leia drew her own saber and came to a stop next to him. The creature was short, probably less than a meter tall, and it had wrinkled skin the same color as the sickly green foliage all around them. It was wearing clothing and appeared to be sentient, although Leia had no idea what species it was.

"It snuck up on me," Luke said. "I think it was going to rob us."

"Away put your weapons!" the creature said in a high, wavering voice. "I mean you no harm."

Luke gave Leia a look and both of them switched their lightsabers off at once. Clearly this thing wasn't part of the "dangerous wildlife" that Obi-Wan had warned them about.

"Who are you?" Leia asked.

The creature lowered its hands from its head, revealing sharp, pointed ears that framed its wrinkled face. The ears perked upward as it looked at her. "A friend, a friend. Heard you land I did."

"A friend, huh?" Luke said, skeptically.

"Yes, yes!" The creature picked up a knobbled stick from the ground and used it to climb to its feet. It hobbled forward, leaning on the stick like a little old man. "Your friend, I am!"

"Okay, well, you better clear out, friend," Luke said. "We're busy right now."

"Busy? Oh, very busy, yes." The creature chuckled to himself. "But stay, I will. Help you, I can."

"Uh, I don't think you can help us," Leia said.

"No? Why not tell me why you are here?" The creature climbed up on one of the storage boxes with a sprightliness that was unexpected. Now that he was closer to her eye level, Leia could see white wisps of hair growing out of his ears and the sides of his head. "Very few visitors to this place."

"Yeah, I can see why," Leia said, glancing around at the swamp.

"We're only here because we're looking for someone," Luke said. "A Jedi master." Leia glared at him. Why was he humoring this creature?

"Ohhh!" The creature raised his head and opened his eyes wide. "Yoda! You seek Yoda!"

Leia startled. "You know him?" she said and winced when she heard Luke echo her almost simultaneously. They were usually better at avoiding speaking in unison like that.

The creature didn't seem to notice their slip up, too excited as he clamored down from the storage box. "Yes, yes! Help you, I can. Take you to him, I will."

With that, the creature started off into the swamp, shuffling away from the camp and waving his walking stick at them to follow.

"Wait," Luke said. "We can't go now, we have to wait for Master Obi-Wan—"

"Forget him," Leia said, hurrying after the creature. He was surprisingly fast despite his short legs and shuffling gait. "We'll find him later," she called over her shoulder. "After we see Yoda."

Luke hung back for a moment and then gave up and raced after her. Obi-Wan is going to love this, I'm sure.

Whatever. Maybe he'll already be there when we find Yoda. It'll make us look resourceful.

Luke's presence in the Force pulsed with doubt. Yeah. Resourceful.

"Where did Obi-Wan even go?" Leia wondered out loud. She couldn't sense him anywhere around them. It was like he had used some Jedi trick to vanish completely.

Luke shrugged as he caught up with her and jumped over a rock. "Maybe he had Jedi business to take care of."

The creature led them down a twisted path of stones and tree roots that was raised just above the mire surrounding them. It was unclear if it was a real path or just a ridge of higher ground that made it possible to forge their way forward through the swamp.

They continued on for a long time, picking their way through sucking mud and climbing under vines and over huge tree roots. It felt like they had walked for miles, but Leia sensed that it actually wasn't very far. The terrain here just made it incredibly difficult to travel on foot. The creature, however, was clearly made for this and continued briskly ahead of them, moving so fast that they almost lost him several times in the fog.

He finally came to a stop in front of a low hill and waved at them with his walking stick. As they caught up to him, the creature knelt down and disappeared inside a small cave. Leia realized that the "hill" was actually a building—a domed house covered in earth and vines so it blended into the landscape around it.

"Come in, come in!" the creature called as light kindled within and small windows appeared in the sides of the house. "My home this is!"

Luke shrugged and got down on his hands and knees and crawled in through the low opening.

Leia wrinkled her nose as she followed him. The ground was damp and as she knelt down cold water seeped into the fabric of her pants. Once she was inside, she sat up and immediately hit her head on the low ceiling.

After she finished cursing, she took stock of the house and found it was almost cozy inside. The inner walls were covered in a clean, white stucco and there was a stove along one wall that was already beginning to warm the small space. Leia joined Luke where he was crouched next to a table that looked like it had once been a tree stump. It felt like being inside a doll's house with small furniture all proportional to the creature.

"What about Yoda?" Leia asked. "I thought we were going to see him?"

"Soon!" the creature called from the kitchen area. "Soon you will be with him. Feed you first, I will."

"Uh, we're not hungry," Luke said but the creature scoffed and dragged a heavy metal pot over to put on the stove.

"So big you are, much nurishment you must need." He pulled dried herbs down from bundles hanging on the ceiling and started tossing them inside the pot while singing a tuneless song to himself.

Leia sighed. Maybe following him had been a bad idea. What if the creature didn't actually know Yoda and this was all a waste of time? Obi-Wan would come back to the camp and find them gone with no explanation. Why didn't they record a message for him before they left?

Leia's doubts aside, the creature did seem to have some inkling of what the Jedi Order was and he started questioning them about their intentions as he cooked. "Why wish you become Jedi?" he asked as he fetched water from a cistern by the door.

"We have to defeat our father," Luke said and helped him carry the pitcher of water back to the stove and fill the pot with it.

Leia glared at him. Don't tell him that.

"Oh! A bad man he is?" the creature asked, his ears perking up with intrigue.

"Yes," Luke said. "And very strong in the Force."

"Hmm, yes," the creature said thoughtfully, as if he knew all about the Force.

"I don't want to become a Jedi," Leia said, mainly to irritate Luke. It worked as he pulled a face at her.

The little creature laughed like this was the funniest thing he had heard in a long time. "Traveled a long way you have to learn something you don't wish to know!"

"Yes, ha ha," Luke said, not sounding amused at all.

Leia gave the creature a second look. "How do you know how far we traveled?" There was something off about him. Maybe he was a spy or something and this whole thing was a trick to get information out of them. He was so harmless looking and strange, he could probably weasel his way into all kinds of settings without anyone taking him seriously.

"Far from everywhere this place is," the creature said as he stirred the pot and laughed again. He certainly found his own jokes funny.

"It sure is," Luke agreed.

"Oh!" The creature raised his head and peered out one of the little windows above the stove. "Another visitor, we have!"

"Huh?" Leia hit her head on the ceiling as she craned her neck to look out one of the windows. She was surprised to see Obi-Wan emerging from the deep fog and approaching the house.

"Master!" Luke called, crouching down and sticking his head out of the front door.

Obi-Wan stopped dead in his tracks and put his hands on his hips. "Hello there," he said. "I seem to recall telling you to wait for me back at the ship."

"We, uh, met someone," Luke said.

"He's making us dinner," Leia called out through the window.

Obi-Wan closed his eyes for a long moment and shook his head. He got down on his hands and knees and crawled inside to join them. There was barely enough space for all three of them to crowd into the house without brushing up against the hot stove or squashing any of the creature's furniture.

The creature laughed as soon as Obi-Wan was inside and pointed at him rudely. "Your father, he is? Not so terrible, he looks."

"No," Luke said with a sigh. "He's our master, not our father." He shrugged at Obi-Wan. "He just showed up after you left and he said he knew Master Yoda so... we went with him."

He might have been lying, Leia said, projecting it so Obi-Wan could hear her as well as Luke.

"Oh, I don't know..." Obi-Wan said. "A local will know far more about the planet than our sensors or even our feelings can tell us. It was wise of you to take his counsel, although..." He paused significantly and looked at each of them in turn. "Perhaps not the part where you followed him into the wilderness alone."

"You mean you didn't find Yoda?" Leia asked. "Are you sure he's even here?"

"I didn't say that," Obi-Wan said and shifted around as he tried to find a comfortable position on the stone floor. The creature shuffled over to inspect him and Obi-Wan sat calmly and obliged the creature as he poked at him and examined his robes.

Leia felt oddly guilty for the whole escapade. What kind of Sith/Jedi were they that they let some weird, little creature trick them into following him into the swamp? What if he really was a spy and he went and reported their arrival on Dagobah back to his masters? It wasn't likely that the Empire would have an asset this far out, but he might be part of a larger intelligence network keeping an eye on the Outer Rim.

The pot on the stove started boiling over and the creature hurried to move it off the heat. "Ready, ready!" the creature announced and took down a set of small, wooden bowls from a shelf. "Rootleaf stew, eat up!"

Luke was closest to the stove and he scooted over to look into the pot uncertainly. He picked up one of the bowls and ladled some stew into it. He paused to sniff the contents and then passed the bowl to Obi-Wan, who took it without comment.

Luke filled two more bowls and moved back to sit next to Leia. She took the bowl from him and fished a leaf out to take a taste. She coughed and immediately spat it back into the bowl. The broth was horribly bitter and it had a strange, sour aftertaste. She wondered if it was drugged with something.

She looked at Obi-Wan, but he was digging in as if the stew tasted fine to him. She set her bowl aside and sighed. She wasn't hungry anyway.

"Good, yes?" the creature asked, coming back with some kind of topping for them to crumple into stew. It appeared to consist of even more leaves. Leia passed when he offered it to her.

"Eat!" he encouraged her. "Young Jedi must eat."

Leia looked over at Luke, who was chewing slowly on a bite of his stew with a look of consternation. What are we doing here?

"I don't know," Luke said out loud and put his spoon down. To Obi-Wan he said. "Do you know where Master Yoda is or not?"

"You might find that he's closer than you think," Obi-Wan said and took another bite.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Leia asked, raising her voice. She didn't intend to shout at him, but she was so tired of this mysterious nonsense.

"It means you don't need to know the answer yet," Obi-Wan said and Leia sighed deeply.

The creature hummed to himself and shook his head. "Much impatience, they have."

"They're young," Obi-Wan said. "I was the same way, if you remember."

"Hm, so was their father," the creature said dubiously. "Impatient and reckless." His voice was lower now, settling into a more serious register from the high-pitched and amused tone he had been using earlier.

"How would you know what our father—" Leia stopped and turned to look at Luke with dawning horror. He was already staring aghast at the creature, clearly in the middle of the same realization she was having.

"Yoda!?" they both said as one.

Yoda ignored them and said to Obi-Wan, "It's no good. I cannot teach them."

"I knew there'd be a test!" Luke made a loud noise of frustration and sagged backward until he collapsed onto the stone floor. "How could we have been so stupid!" He started to raise his bowl as if he was going to smash it, but caught himself and put it down with a rough clatter instead.

"What was even the point of tricking us!" Leia asked, gesturing angrily at Yoda. It was so obvious now. "I can't believe—" She cursed as she hit her head on the ceiling again.

We are idiots, she said to Luke.

We really are, Luke said miserably, lying on the floor with his hands over his face.

Yoda tutted and went to tend to the fire inside the stove.

Leia turned to Obi-Wan. "Why didn't you warn us!" she demanded.

Obi-Wan chuckled and took another bite of rootleaf stew. "You're both bright individuals, I knew you'd figure it out eventually."

"Undisciplined and calculating, they are," Yoda said, speaking to Obi-Wan as if Luke and Leia weren't there. "Mired in darkness and chained to one another. Dangerous to instruct them further. No, train them I will not."

"I can't believe we came all this way for nothing," Leia said. "The Rebellion needed us!" Bail needed her! And yet they went across the galaxy on a pointless errand only to get rejected by the Jedi grand master as soon as he met them. She wanted to leave the house and go back to the ship, but her way to the door was blocked by Obi-Wan.

"No, wait, wait." Luke sat up and shook off his despondency. "Please, Master Yoda, I know we should have recognized you, but at least hear us out!"

Obi-Wan gave him a sympathetic look and said to Yoda, "If you give them a chance to prove themselves, you might be surprised."

"Made my decision, I have," Yoda replied and turned to fuss over the stove as he grumbled under his breath. "Keep my own counsel, I will, on who is to be trained."

Luke sighed. He shuffled across the floor on his knees so he was kneeling next to him beside the stove. "Master Yoda, please, give us another chance."

"Your progress I have watched already," Yoda said. "You grow too powerful, too quickly. Made you volatile, it has, beholden to emotion, unable to let go of attachments."

"But I want to learn," Luke said. "I want to do it the right way and I've made so much progress! Obi-Wan—Master, tell him!"

"He is very determined," Obi-Wan agreed. "And he's improved a great deal in a short amount of time. They both have."

"Please, Master Yoda," Luke said. "I'm meant to be a Jedi. I've felt the call to the light my entire life."

Yoda's mouth twisted as he studied him. "Hm, you, perhaps." He narrowed his eyes. "Yes, perhaps... but train only one of you, I cannot." He turned his head to look at Leia. "A Jedi I cannot make, if one she does not wish to become."

Luke sighed in frustration and gave Leia a desperate look, but she couldn't deny it. She'd already told Yoda as much. Instead she said, "Well, why should I?"

"Wish to defeat your father, do you not? And his emperor?" Yoda asked, his ears folding back. "To destroy his hold over the galaxy?"

Leia shrugged. "Yes."

Yoda closed his eyes and Leia felt the Force stirring around her under his scrutiny. Her skin prickled with goosebumps.

"Very dark, your future is, clouded with fear and anger." Yoda opened his eyes. "If you strike your father down in hatred, you will rise up to take his place."

Leia's face twitched in anger and she had to suppress a snarl. Why was everyone so certain she would become the next Vader? The reaction probably only convinced Yoda that he was right about her. "Should we leave the Emperor in power then?" she said. "Just shrug our shoulders and move on?"

"No," Yoda said. "Defeat him you could, yes, but only with the aid of the light side of the Force may you do it and not become him."

The words had the ring of prophecy. She inhaled sharply. "Have you seen it?" she asked and leaned forward on her elbow. "Will we survive? Will Luke?"

Yoda frowned and closed his eyes. He concentrated for a long moment and then shook his head. "Impossible to say for certain. Always in motion, the future is."

"But it is possible?"

"Yes." He nodded. "It may yet be done."

She set her bowl on the floor and glanced over at Luke. He had his hands pressed together, pleading with her silently. She turned back to Yoda. "If it's possible..." She licked her lips and took a breath. "Then I will train with you."

"Hmpf!" Yoda laughed. "Easy it will not be. Far down the dark path, have you gone. Great work will it take to desist. Much struggle will it require."

"We're not afraid," Luke said and Leia nodded with him. How terrible could the light side be compared to everything they already knew about the dark?

Yoda laughed at them, his voice cruel and mocking. "You will be. You will be."

--

Training to be a Jedi was like learning to fight with both hands tied behind her back. And not just her hands, Leia wasn't allowed to use nearly any of the Force techniques that were like reflexes to her.

She wouldn't even realize she was doing anything wrong and Yoda would tut and tell her that something was based in the dark side. Even something as simple as practicing lifting rocks was a minefield. She was coming to dread the scolding tone Yoda always used when he said her name.

"Leia, let go your irritation," he said with a tap of his walking stick. "Use it not, false strength this is."

Leia groaned and dropped the single rock she was levitating. She let herself tip to the side and rolled upright. The rock tumbled across the muddy ground and came to rest at Yoda's feet.

"I'm not doing it on purpose," she said.

Next to her, Luke maintained his handstand, three stones rotating in the air in front of him as he continued to concentrate. He'd been surpassing her at every task Yoda set before them. It was a change from the past when Leia had been the star pupil and Luke was the slow learner who needed to put more work into mastering the dark side.

"On purpose, by accident, this matters not," Yoda said. "Done is done."

"But how am I supposed to know if something is allowed or not?" Leia asked.

"Practice, is how you will know," Yoda said and shuffled closer to her. "And guide you, the Force will."

"I know it can guide me, but—" she sighed and wiped sweat from her face. "How do I know which side is talking to me? If I can't tell the difference?"

"Tell you can," Yoda insisted. "To your emotions, you must look." He pointed to the center of her chest with his walking stick and poked her rather hard. "When your own feelings you know, sensing what stirs within, then will you know the Force. A Jedi has discernment."

"Discernment, sure," she said and sighed as she looked over at Luke. He had added a fourth rock while they were talking. "But what about in a high-pressure situation? I can't help how I react if I'm surprised or if my life is at risk."

"When you are centered and calm, then guide you it will, and your own reactions, you will control," Yoda said. "A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack."

"Never?" Leia said in surprise. That couldn't be right.

"Never first," Yoda clarified. "A Jedi is passive, but responsive. She is not goaded to attack out of anger or fear. Rely on aggression, she does not. Let her opponent move first, she does, and turns his strength against him."

Leia nodded and took a deep breath. What he was describing wasn't that different from her usual strategy in a fight, but she normally used the downtime during a duel to pool her inner rage and build up a reservoir of power. "Okay... it's the staying calm part I don't know if I can do. How do you turn off your emotions in a fight?"

"Not turn off," Yoda said. "Observe them. Learn from them. But dominate you? No. A Jedi has emotion, yet peace. Passion, yet serenity."

"Chaos, yet harmony," Luke said, reciting along with Yoda. He lifted a fifth stone and added it to the rocks floating in front of him. "Death, yet the Force." Leia recognized what they were saying as the inverse of the Sith mottos they had been raised with.

"Emotion, yet peace," she repeated.

Yoda nodded. "Yes, now continue," he said. He moved away from her and waved the tip of his walking stick in a circle.

She sighed and turned over, balancing on her head and pushing her feet up into a handstand. "Emotion, yet peace," she repeated and reached for a rock.

--

Training to be a Jedi under Master Yoda was everything Luke had hoped it would be. He could feel himself improving day by day, growing stronger and more advanced. Yoda pushed them physically and mentally, building up their endurance and expanding their Force abilities in ways Luke hadn't even known were possible. His lessons were puzzling and contradictory at first, but Luke gradually realized that that was part of the point. They weren't supposed to be using their minds to understand the Force, but their feelings and their intuition.

The lessons Luke had read in books and memorized without fully comprehending suddenly made much more sense. He would remember a parable or a half-forgotten saying and realize he understood what it actually meant now. Yoda often grew frustrated with all of his questions, but Luke was so excited to finally have people he could ask about all of this. It was as if he had tried to become an engineer by studying diagrams and reading repair manuals, and now for the first time he got to see an engine in real life and talk to other mechanics.

Some of Master Yoda's lessons were harder than others. He knew it was coming, but when Yoda raised the issue of attachments a few days into their training on Dagobah, Luke cringed.

Yoda was speaking in abstract terms, but he gave Luke a knowing look from his spot sitting beside him on the log. "Afraid of letting go, you are?"

"Yes," Luke admitted. He glanced over at Leia to make sure they hadn't disturbed her. She still had her eyes closed in a deep trance. He didn't think she was aware of their conversation at the moment, but he didn't want to throw off her focus by getting agitated. They'd been practicing self-levitation all morning and Luke had taken a break to get some water.

"Difficult this is, yes," Yoda said. "The greatest struggle of a Jedi's life. At all times must he be prepared for death, for loss, for change. And more than prepared. Embrace it, he must."

Luke nodded and shifted around so he was facing Yoda. "I know, I—I'm just not sure what it will mean." For us, he left unsaid. "I mean, I've read about it. That's the whole point of the Sixteen Manumissions, learning detachment from everything in life."

Yoda chuckled, as he often did when Luke mentioned his previous studies. "Then read these words, you have, 'To love something is not to possess it, but to let go of it.'"

"Yes, that's in the opening."

"Understood it, did you?" Yoda asked and laughed when Luke shrugged. "Easy to say, this is, harder to do. When loss, we accept, then also experience it, we must. Painful, this is. But in that pain, a higher love is found, not controlling or needful or desiring to possess, but a selfless acceptance of the other."

"Right," Luke said. He thought he had a selfless acceptance of Leia—certainly there was nothing about her he didn't know and love even if some things she did might annoy him—but thinking about "detaching" from her...

What would that even mean for the two of them? Would they have to stop talking all the time? Being in each other's heads? Sharing everything? His chest grew tight at the thought and he pushed it away. That was something he could deal with later in their training, when he was ready for it. When they both were.

Yoda made a low, thoughtful noise beside him, but didn't say anything out loud. They sat in silence and watched as Leia floated a few inches above the ground, her eyes shut and her face relaxed in meditation.

--

Leia moved like she was preparing a low saber strike, but Luke recognized it as a feint and stepped back into a defensive stance before she could surprise him.

She darted away and kept moving backwards, trying to get him to follow her. She always tried to lead him into a corner when they fought so she could take away the advantage he had on open ground.

Instead of taking the bait, Luke held his lightsaber on guard and stayed where he was. He let her test him, coming forward for a quick exchange of blows and then moving back again. He felt calm and centered. The Force was wrapped around him and flowing past him like a river whose gentle currents would guide his hands when necessary.

He could feel it guiding him now, nudging him to move toward the catwalk on his left. The next time Leia drew close, he backed toward it and she followed him.

It wasn't until he stepped onto the metal grating that he realized the scenery had shifted when he wasn't paying attention. Hadn't he been standing on bare earth, not smooth metal? And those vines that he was thinking of using in an attack, those were actually cables. He realized the darkness surrounding them was not a misty swamp at all, but a dimly lit room.

It was a room he recognized.

A voice spoke, creaking and cold. It seemed to come from thin air. "Do it. Finish him."

Distracted, Luke wasn't ready for Leia's next strike. His lightsaber jerked hard under the weight of the blow and the hilt slipped from his fingers. As he watched it spin away and fall to the ground, Leia took the opening and came back at him for another strike. He sensed it coming. He could see the intention in her head moments before she twisted her hands and swept her blade at his neck.

Luke snapped awake, jolting in his bedroll. He heard Leia inhale sharply beside him and sit up.

He groaned. "It's another nightmare," he said and rolled over as he pulled his blankets over his head. "Go back to sleep."

Leia was breathing heavily as she tried to get hold of herself. Luke dared to hope she would take his advice and lie back down, but a moment later she got to her feet and abruptly left their shelter.

"Don't get up," he grumbled and called after her. "You're going to keep me up!"

He squeezed his eyes closed and tried to shut her out so he could get back to sleep. Yet her agitation clawed at him, trying to get his attention and drag him into the same state of upset.

He really didn't want to get up. His bedroll was warm and it was cold and damp outside. He was not getting up. Let her sulk while he was dry and comfortable. But he could feel her turning it over and over again in her head. Why does it keep happening? Why do I keep seeing it? Why do I keep killing him?

He gave up finally and reached out to find his boots in the dark. He pulled them on and got to his feet. He kept his blanket wrapped around his shoulders, trying to hang onto the warmth of his bed as long as possible. When he stepped out of their shelter, he could see a light in the distance, further down the shore away from their camp. Leia was seated on a log with a lantern beside her, looking out at the black pools of stagnant water.

Luke walked along the edge of the water until he reached her. He sat next to her on the log and adjusted the blanket, pulling it tighter around him. "It doesn't mean anything."

"Why would the visions return and get worse here?" she said, her voice a whisper. "It doesn't make sense."

"I don't know," Luke said. "You should ask Master Yoda."

She shook her head. "Yoda will tell me they come from the dark side and I should ignore them. That's what he says about everything dark."

"I wish you would listen to him!" Luke said.

There was a rustle from the camp behind them and the sound of a tent flap being lifted. Obi-Wan's tired voice called out, "Is something wrong?"

"No!" They both said at once.

Good job, you woke up Obi-Wan, Luke said.

You were the one talking so loud.

Come on, he took her arm and tried to pull her to her feet. Let's go to sleep. You can worry about what it means in the morning.

No. Why don't you go to bed and practice ignoring me? You can pretend it's one of Yoda's exercises.

"You do realize I can still hear you?" Obi-Wan called out wearily.

"Sorry!" Luke yelled. He got up and started to head back, but stopped when Leia didn't follow.

"Go," she hissed. He hesitated and then took the blanket off of his shoulders and wrapped it around her instead. He walked back down the beach, glancing back over his shoulder as he went. She was still sitting on the log next to the lantern when he climbed into their shelter alone.

--

The path between their camp and Master Yoda's house soon became a familiar one to Luke. Most mornings all three of them would make the journey together, but occasionally Master Obi-Wan had some mysterious Jedi business to attend to and would send Luke and Leia off on their own.

Today was one of the latter days and they were running late already. The barrel that they'd been using to store clean water had sprung a leak during the night and they'd had to spend time patching it that morning and then waiting for water to drip through the filter before they could make breakfast. He and Leia were supposed to arrive at Yoda's hut in the early morning hours before the sky brightened from the deep gray of predawn to the lighter gray that represented full daybreak on Dagobah. It was already well past that point and Luke had been trying unsuccessfully to hurry Leia along.

Master Obi-Wan had no doubt warned Master Yoda that they would be late, but Luke hated to disappoint him in any way. It already felt like they were constantly struggling to stay in his good graces. Any mistake on their part might be a reason for him to question the wisdom of continuing to train them.

Luke paused under a tree and looked back, realizing Leia had fallen behind. He climbed up on some buttress roots and called out, "Come on, hurry up!"

"What's the rush?" Leia said, taking her time as she squelched through the mud toward him.

"Let's just get there," Luke said. He climbed down from the roots and onto the large boulder that marked the next stage of the path. They were about to start on a particularly tricky part where the ground became completely submerged under marshy water. They would have to hop from rock to rock to continue, jumping across distances of a meter or more. Luke had wondered a few times if the whole path was meant to be a sort of training obstacle course.

"Isn't one of the Jedi teachings that time is meaningless?" Leia asked as she climbed up on the tree roots where Luke had been earlier.

"What?" Luke squinted at her before finding the half-remembered phrase she was thinking of at the back of her head. "'There is no time in the Force, there is only now,' yes, that's true, but punctuality is still important."

"Be late, a Jedi cannot," Leia said, raising her pitch and speaking in a wavering tone in imitation of Master Yoda. "For wherever he is, Luke, that is where he is meant to be. Hm?"

"You don't even sound right," Luke said. "He would say, 'wherever a Jedi is, where he is meant to be, that is.'"

"He doesn't always talk backwards," Leia said. "He only uses it for effect or when he's trying to sound wise. Haven't you noticed?"

Luke turned around and ignored her in favor of concentrating on making the jump to the next rock.

Leia was much less interested in pleasing Master Yoda than Luke was and he felt like he had to compensate for her insolence by being as perfect and eager a student as he could be. It helped that training to be a Jedi felt natural to him in a way that none of his past training had. He could tap into the dark side and cultivate it well enough, but opening up to the light side felt like being welcomed into a space where he had always belonged. This was who he was meant to be, that much was clear. Still, he had the sense that Yoda was constantly measuring him against the Jedi he had trained in the past and the comparison was not a flattering one for Luke.

"Hey, do you feel that?" Leia said.

"Feel what?" The gap to the next rock was a long one, but Luke centered himself and made the jump smoothly.

"It feels like there's something here... an animal."

"There are animals everywhere," Luke said. The fauna of Dagobah created a constant low-level hum in the back of his head, one that he had mostly grown to ignore.

This next part of the path was actually easier to take at a run with momentum on your side, but it required very careful concentration. Luke took a deep breath and let his eyes unfocus as he prepared himself.

"No, seriously," Leia said. "I think there's—"

Luke took off, leaping to the first rock and then the next and the next. The motion felt effortless as he fell into the familiar pattern and his feet landed exactly where they were meant to. Three more rocks. Two more. One more—

A wave of water exploded in front of Luke and something slammed into his legs. He spun sideways and for a moment he was suspended in the air above the dark water of the marsh. He could see a film of algae floating on the surface and the tips of water plants climbing up from the depths. Then the water rushed toward him and with a cold shock he plunged into it.

Instantly, all light was snuffed out. It was so dark under the surface that it was like being thrown into the void of space. Luke kicked and flailed his hands, but he seemed unable to move forward. He wasn't entirely sure which direction was up. Something was tangled around his legs, slimy ropes that lashed at him painfully as he struggled against them. He could feel other debris in the water brushing past him. Then, there was a sudden sense of movement as if he'd been picked up in a current, and he was forcibly pulled backward.

Luke flipped over in the water and saw green light glimmering a few meters above him. There it was, the surface! The current carried him toward it and as his head broke through into the open air he coughed violently. Leia was on a rock nearby with her hands out as she used the Force to pull him out of the water. She pushed her hands forward and thrust him away from her and towards the nearest rock—one of the larger ones with steep sides that stuck out of the surface of the marsh. Luke managed to get one arm onto it and clung to the side. He tried to pull himself up but promptly slipped and fell back down into the water.

He laughed as he came up again and coughed. "Ugh, well so much for—"

"Luke, get out of the water!" Leia shouted. "It's coming back!"

"What's coming—" Luke looked over his shoulder and saw something moving across the surface of the water toward him. It appeared to be a floating log at first, knobbly and gnarled, but then the front part of the "log" rose higher and two reptilian, yellow eyes appeared on top. The eyes focused on Luke and then narrowed. The creature began to pick up speed, its long tail swishing behind it.

Luke scrambled up onto the rock and barely managed to get his feet out of the water before the creature exploded out of it. A narrow mouth of sharp teeth opened wide and lunged at him. Luke kicked wildly as he scrambled backwards. The rock was slanted, angled in such a way that the creature was coming at him up a slope, which slowed it down and probably saved Luke's life.

The creature hissed as it came to a stop only a few inches away from his feet. Its massive head was entirely out of the water now and its mouth was so long it could have easily bitten him in half. Two fat, scaly legs scrambled at the sides of the rock as it tried to get a grip to push itself further out of the water toward him.

A rock bounced off of the creature's head and it paused and blinked in confusion. A second rock followed and the creature hissed and turned away from Luke to look back at their source: an angry Leia who was cursing and flinging everything at it that she could pick up with either her hands or the Force.

The creature dove off of the rock and swam toward Leia with terrifying speed. It lunged at her out of the water in the same explosion of movement that had knocked Luke down earlier. The rock she was perched on was so narrow that Leia had nowhere to go to escape. She slipped and plunged backward off the other end.

Luke jumped up and raised his hands, preparing to use the Force to hold the creature back. But instead of taking the opportunity to attack, it hissed at Leia and moved away from her. It slunk down into the water so only its yellow eyes were visible at the top of its head.

Leia had started swimming when she plunged into the water and she surfaced several meters away from where she had gone in. Luke reached out to help her drag her way up onto another rock. She gagged as she climbed to safety and leaned over to spit up water. "Stu—ugh, stupid thing." She coughed and wiped a piece of marshweed off of her face.

The creature only stared at them balefully from where it was floating poised between them.

"What's your problem?" Leia yelled at it. "We've walked through here a dozen times before and you've never attacked us!"

"Maybe it wasn't here those other times," Luke said.

"No," Leia said. "This is its territory, it's angry that we're here and interfering with its—ah!"

"What?" Luke said.

"Focus on its mind!"

Luke closed his eyes. The creature's aggressive anger was easy enough to find. Leia was right, it was very upset with them for being here in this spot that it thought of as it's personal nesting ground. The larger one of them had very nearly jumped right on top of the crevice where it had hidden its eggs.

"Oh!" Luke opened his eyes. "Eggs! I almost stepped on its nest. I guess that was my fault for not paying attention."

"We got complacent," Leia said. "Obi-Wan warned us to be careful."

"We'll have to go back..." Luke said. The creature had retreated somewhat and was now floating in front of the rock that held its clutch of eggs. There was no way for them to continue down the path without getting attacked again.

"We can take the long way around," Leia said. She got to her feet and jumped to the next rock behind her.

"What long way?" Luke asked.

"Come on," she said.

--

"The long way" was a ridge of higher ground that circled around the outskirts of the marsh. The peninsula where they had landed the ship eventually rose up and merged with it. Tall trees with sharp green needles grew on the heights, much different from the leafy trees with buttress roots which preferred the waterlogged soil in the valley below. Leia had noticed the same trees with needles growing behind Yoda's hut and had guessed that if they followed the ridge then eventually they would get to where he lived.

She was correct, although it was a much longer route than the path that cut straight through the swamp. By the time they got to Yoda's hut, it was past midday and they were both streaked with drying mud and algae. There were still weeds and leaves lodged in Leia's braid, sticking out at odd angles. She had tried to pull them out on the walk, but had only succeeded in leaving her hair a tangled mess.

Yoda laughed at them when they arrived. Leia would have been annoyed, but they did look pretty ridiculous. He declared that they had already learned enough lessons for that day and fed them a meal (more sour rootleaf stew) before sending them back to Obi-Wan on the "long" path.

Back at the camp, they got cleaned up and Leia tried unsuccessfully to get the mess out of her hair. The mud had mostly dried by then and she thought she would be able to comb it out, but some property of the dirt on Dagobah had turned it into a thick, tangled mat.

She threw down her comb in disgust. "I think I'm going to have to cut it off," she said.

"Don't be ridiculous," Luke said and picked up the comb from the ground. "Let me try."

He had her face away from him and sat behind her on the log so he could examine the damage. He ran his fingers through a difficult spot and started working on it. He took his time, picking apart the strands and locating the knots before attacking them with the comb.

Leia winced as he tugged forcefully through a tangle. "Ow."

"Don't be a child," Luke said, but he adjusted his hold on her hair so he wasn't tugging on her scalp while he worked. "Do you remember when I used to braid your hair?"

"Yes," Leia said and laughed. "I can't believe you actually did that every morning. I was so spoiled."

"I didn't mind," Luke said and continued working through the knots. He paused and tugged a leaf out that Leia had missed earlier.

It had been after they'd reached an age where they no longer needed a constantly-changing group of nursemaids watching them at all times. Losing their minders had been something of a relief—their caregivers had always been more concerned with keeping the Emperor satisfied than with Luke or Leia's well-being—but it had meant that they had to take care of things that previously had all been done for them. Things like getting dressed and doing their hair in the morning. Leia had had no idea how to braid her own hair, which looking back on it was sort of ridiculous. Instead of learning to do it herself, she'd delegated the task to Luke who spent months dutifully braiding her hair every morning until Leia finally figured out how to do it.

Obi-Wan came out of his shelter and stopped when he saw them. "You might have to cut it off," he said.

"That's what I said," Leia replied.

"No," Luke said. "It's fine, it'll just take a while."

Leia rolled her eyes and gave Obi-Wan a look to make clear that she wasn't actually that concerned about her hair—she doubted vanity was a trait Jedi were supposed to have. She was exaggerating her annoyance to make a joke of it, but Obi-Wan didn't look amused. Instead he folded his arms inside his robes and watched them quietly for a moment before turning to go into the ship.

--

That night, after they ate dinner around the campfire, Obi-Wan announced that he and Yoda had come to a decision. Tomorrow, Luke and Leia would bring overnight gear with them and set up camp next to Yoda's hunt so they could sleep there and not have to make the long journey back and forth from the ship every day.

It would save them a lot of time and trouble now that the short path through the swamp was off limits and it would also mean that they would have more hours in the day for training. Leia was not especially looking forward to more time spent lifting rocks or running with Yoda strapped to her back, but she kept that to herself.

With dinner finished, they still had an hour or two before nightfall. It got incredibly dark in the swamp after sunset. The cloud cover was so constant that they almost never saw the stars or any of the satellite moons that orbited Dagobah. They usually went straight to bed to save battery power on their lanterns.

Luke opted to use the last hour of the day to meditate and Leia opted not to join him. She examined the equipment they would be bringing to Yoda's instead and made sure they had everything they would need ready to go in the morning.

When she was finished, for once, she wasn't exhausted from training and had the urge to stay up. She went into the ship and powered up the computer. She spent a few, fruitless minutes attempting to research the creature that had attacked them that morning before giving up. It didn't seem to be listed in any of the databanks saved on the computer. Instead, she opened the folder with the holovids she had downloaded before they left. She had saved several dozen recordings of Padmé, some of which she'd already watched and others that she hadn't gotten to yet.

She started playing a speech before the Galactic Senate that she had watched before without fully understanding. It was a very idealistic speech about democracy that had struck Leia as strange the first time she'd listened to it. She couldn't figure out if Padmé's rhapsodizing about the Republic was honest idealism or a political calculation. The Republic had been corrupt and bureaucratically gridlocked in its last years, which surely Padmé was aware of as a member of the Senate, but she was so effusive in her praise for the underlying system. Leia would have to remember to ask Bail about it when she got back. He'd know more about what it was like to be a politician in the old days, before the Senate became another instrument of the Emperor's will. Leia wondered if he had the same starry-eyed sentimentality about the old democratic system. Maybe it was just longing for a hypothetical version of Galactic government that actually worked.

Leia had restarted the holovid and was watching it again from the beginning when the door to the cockpit opened and Obi-Wan looked inside.

"There you are," he said and held up a lantern. "We're about to turn in and I wanted to bring this to you before we switched out the lights."

Leia held her hand out, but Obi-Wan didn't pass her the lantern. His mouth had fallen open and he was staring at the holovid playing on the control panel. Leia felt a sharp flash of pain from him—pain and guilt. His emotions had become increasingly clear to her as weeks of training forged a natural bond. It was nothing like the clarity of her connection to Luke or even the twisted, unwelcome bond she had once had to their old master, but she could often get a sense of what Obi-Wan was feeling now even when he didn't want her to.

Obi-Wan took a breath and closed his eyes, releasing his emotions into the Force. When he opened them, he was the centered, calm Jedi knight once again.

"You knew her too?" Leia said, anger quickening inside her. Of course he did. She should have realized that already, but she still felt betrayed that he hadn't said anything.

"Yes," Obi-Wan admitted. "Not as well as—but, yes."

"Why didn't you tell us about her?" She hit the controls and paused the hologram with Padmé's mouth open in mid-word. "You let me know right away that you knew Father."

Obi-Wan took a deep breath and sat down in the co-pilot's seat next to her. "I thought it would be better to wait for you to ask about your mother," he said, his words coming out slowly as if he was choosing them very carefully. "You'd both been through a lot and... I didn't want to overwhelm you."

"Or you were afraid," she said. She could feel it, or the ripples of it, still stirring down deep beneath his surface facade of calm. "Afraid of what we'd do when we knew."

Obi-Wan crossed his arms and tucked his hands away in his sleeves. "Perhaps. The truth is... I failed your mother, Leia. More so even than your father. If I had made different choices, she might still be alive."

Leia narrowed her eyes at him. "How do you mean?"

Obi-Wan leaned back in the co-pilot's seat and his eyes went distant as he considered his words. "I knew about Anakin and Padmé's relationship," he said eventually. "They never told me directly, but it was obvious what was happening between them. Anakin basically lived at her apartments when he was on Coruscant. But I never said anything. I turned a blind eye."

"They would have gotten in trouble?" Leia asked. She was still unclear about whether Jedi were allowed to have sex or not, but was somewhat afraid to ask in case she found out that she'd signed up for a life of celibacy.

"Anakin would have," Obi-Wan said. He touched his hand to his forehead like he was tired. "And, yes, Jedi can have sex, although it wasn't considered wise to do so very often. At the time, the Order's prohibitions against marriage and romantic attachments were not very strictly enforced. It was frowned on, but there were others in similar arrangements to Anakin's, and I thought that... I thought she was good for him. There were several times during his training and after his trials that Anakin considered leaving the Order, and I thought it was for the best that he had something waiting for him outside of being a Jedi knight." He shook his head at his younger self's naivety. "I assumed that after the war, when there were no more responsibilities holding him as a Jedi..." He sighed. "But that wasn't what happened."

Leia considered this, turning it over in her mind. Their father had considered resigning from the Jedi Order. Their mother was "good" for him. "If you'd spoken up," she said. "Would it have changed anything?"

"Maybe. Maybe not," Obi-Wan said. "Even if he was thrown out of the Order, Anakin would still have been under Palpatine's influence. But if he and Padmé could have been together openly, if they could have raised you and Luke, if they were happy... things might have happened differently."

It was a nice idea, but Leia could only come to one conclusion. "No, even then—as long as Sidious had influence over him, he would still have fallen."

"Perhaps. But there's more I should tell you..." He sighed heavily and stared out the windscreen at the twilight shadows of the swamp outside. "The last time I saw Anakin, when I challenged him, Padmé was there... I endangered her life by confronting him when I did. She was injured in the conflict, but I let myself be distracted fighting Anakin. If I had stayed with her... if I hadn't let him lead me away... she would not have been taken."

Leia shrugged. It didn't seem like such a terrible confession to her. "It was still Father who killed her, not you."

Obi-Wan turned to look at her. "We don't know that he killed her."

"His actions as good as did," she said. "Whether or not he did it personally."

"You could say the same about the Emperor," Obi-Wan pointed out. "Ultimately, it was his machinations that killed your mother."

"And I plan to kill him for it as well," Leia said. It mattered little in the end how exactly everything had happened. The perpetrators were still clear.

Obi-Wan frowned. "You should be careful about vengeance. Seeking it tends to destroy what we love as well as what we hate."

"Oh, you're such a hypocrite." Leia laughed, trying to be cruel. "Why are you warning me about revenge? The entire reasons we're here training with Yoda is so we can go back and murder our father!"

Obi-Wan sighed. "You're not wrong, but I would rather you manage to do it in a way that doesn't destroy you." He gave her a sidelong look. "Or transform you into a worse terror than Vader."

"Do you feel guilty?" She asked, dropping her voice. "Using Anakin's children to fight your battles?"

He did. She could feel it coming off of him in waves even as he shook his head. She leaned forward and pushed into his space so he was forced to look her in the eyes. "Don't. It's too late for that. I've already fallen."

"No," Obi-Wan said softly. "You have not. But they are going to try very hard to make it happen."

Leia tilted her head. "I thought Luke was the contingency plan for that scenario." She wanted to laugh and be callous about it, to make it seem like she didn't care, but her mouth was bone dry.

Obi-Wan gave her a hurt look, like it wounded him that she would ever assume such a thing. "That is absolutely not true. Don't even think that."

"Yoda has thought about it." She didn't actually know that for certain, but it seemed a safe assumption.

Obi-Wan shook his head. "No, he has not."

Leia narrowed her eyes and sat back in her chair. "Then you're not afraid I'm going to drag him down? Keep him from being a proper Jedi knight?"

"No!" Obi-Wan sounded genuinely surprised. "You're most of the reason he hasn't fallen himself. Without you, Luke would be much worse off."

Leia shrugged in response. He was probably telling her what she wanted to hear, but it felt good anyway. She turned back to the holovid and hit the controls so it started playing, giving Obi-Wan an out to escape. He watched the speech with her for a few minutes before getting up.

"Don't stay up too late," he said. "We'll have to get up even earlier than usual to have time to get to Master Yoda's with all of your gear."

"You mean Luke and I will have to," Leia said. "Unless you're going to be dragging the tents through the woods with us."

"Goodnight," Obi-Wan said, gracefully ignoring her insolence. "And—try not to dwell on the future. One way or another, it will come. All we can do now is prepare."

--

In the morning, Yoda brought them deep into the swamp to a crumbling rock wall that was nearly hidden beneath the spreading roots of trees. They were in an area that they had never been to before, where the trees grew nearly on top of one another and the canopy was so dense that it felt like twilight beneath it. It felt colder than usual, probably because of how dark it was, and for once Leia was eager to start training and get warmed up.

While she was stretching, Luke knelt down to examine the edges of the wall. It was less than a meter in height, a little shorter than Yoda himself, but it looked like it had been taller once. The dark stones were flecked with green moss and lichens.

"This is masonry, it's some kind of ruin," Luke said and turned to Yoda. "What did this used to be?"

"Past things," Yoda said. "Forgotten things."

Luke glanced at Leia and she shrugged. Probably he doesn't know.

Or we're not supposed to know.

They left their outerwear and the gear that they were carrying next to the wall and started their morning training routine. Yoda alway had them start with intensive physical exercise followed by even more intensive mental exercises. He would throw out the occasional cryptic piece of wisdom while they practiced, but usually his words were few and far between. Leia suspected that his methods were purposefully exhausting so they would have less energy to question him about his teachings. Once, when Luke was being particularly persistent asking him about an obscure point of Jedi lore, Yoda had rapped him on the head with his walking stick and declared, "Clear your mind of questions!"

Yoda was even less talkative than normal today. He sat hunched over below the wall while they ran through their physical exercises. He seemed to be paying more attention to the ground at his feet than them. It was making Leia feel unsettled. Or maybe it was more accurate to say that something about this spot was making her feel unsettled. She had the sense that they were being watched, but when she stretched out her mind, she found nothing unusual. She was expecting to discover another angry predator like the one that had attacked them in the marsh, but although there were plenty of small creatures hiding in the canopy or in the shadows under the trees, there was nothing obvious that could explain her apprehensive feelings.

Luke was picking up on it too. She could feel it even before he asked, Do you sense something weird about this place?

Yoda raised his head and pointed with his walking stick beyond the wall. "Through there, is what you sense. A place strong with the dark side of the Force. A domain of evil it is." He looked at each of them in turn. "In, you must go."

Leia walked over to the wall and looked in the direction Yoda had pointed. There was a break in the trees that might have been the beginning of a path, although the mist was so thick that it was hard to tell.

"What is it?" Luke asked Yoda. "Is it a test?"

"No." Yoda frowned like he was asking the wrong question. "A trial, perhaps."

Luke stood up straighter. Leia could feel his eagerness to enter now. He thought this was some new stage of their training that they had to complete. He went to pull on his jacket and collected his things from where they'd left them at the base of the wall.

When Luke started to buckle on his belt with his lightsaber attached, Yoda shook his head. "Your weapons, you will not need them."

Luke glanced at Leia and she picked up her own lightsaber and clipped it on in answer. He nodded and finished buckling on his belt. They both stepped over the wall together. There definitely appeared to be a trail that opened up on the other side of the trees. Leia found herself wondering what walked here often enough to beat a path through the swamp.

"Alone, you must go," Yoda called after them. "Always alone, you are, when facing the dark side."

They ignored that instruction as well without having to consult with one another.

They followed the path as it weaved through the trees, the mud sucking at their boots as they walked. The atmosphere was heavy and there was an even stronger sense of being watched, but they encountered nothing except for the small reptiles and many insects that were ubiquitous on Dagobah. After nearly a half-hour of walking, Leia was beginning to wonder if they had gotten lost and wandered off the path.

"Do you think—" she started to say and looked back at Luke. He wasn't behind her. Startled, she turned in a quick circle and unclipped her lightsaber, but didn't switch it on.

"Luke?" she called out. There was no answer except for a trilling noise of an animal somewhere in the dense foliage behind her.

She could still feel him somewhere nearby, but the direction was confused. It felt like he was both ahead of her on the path and behind her at the same time. She hesitated for a long moment before taking a step toward the presence she felt at her back. That was where she had last seen him. Or where she thought she had last seen him. Maybe the presence ahead of her was a trick. Or maybe she had gotten turned around and that was exactly what this place wanted her to think...

Well, there was one way to find out.

She ignited her lightsaber and held it up at the ready as she walked. The path curved sharply and long, trailing branches blocked her view as she slowly advanced toward the thing that felt like her brother. She slashed down hanging vines as she went. She had the prickling sensation that there were other people just off the sides of the path watching her, but she saw nothing under the trees but shifting shadows and the movement of leaves.

Around the next bend, a legless reptile sat lazily in the middle of the path. Leia pushed it aside with her foot before cautiously walking past. It lifted its head and hissed at her.

The path became increasingly waterlogged and she had to pick her way along carefully as she went, hopping onto rocks and tree roots to avoid sinking down into the deep mud. She didn't remember coming this way before. She was no longer on the path she had started on, but there had been no crossings or turns where she could have gotten lost.

The presence that felt like Luke was still ahead of her. It seemed to move when she did and kept pace with her so it was always just out of sight up ahead.

She was being led somewhere.

She came around another bend in the path and stopped. There was a sheer cliff in front of her rising up out of the mud to block her path. It was a wall of rock that was so high that it towered over the surrounding canopy. Moss and vines climbed up its crumbling black sides. The path continued alongside the wall for a few paces and then swerved towards it and terminated at a dark opening into the cliffside.

Leia stared into the dark mouth of the cave. She could sense Luke inside, somewhere past the entrance, but she couldn't see anything beyond the tangle of vines hanging down over the archway. The open maw beyond was a black void without any hint of what might be inside.

She took a slow breath and advanced toward the entrance. As she stepped inside, she parted the vines and held her lightsaber out in front of her so the blade would light her way forward.

Blackness swallowed her up. The red glow of her lightsaber seemed to dim as if the cave was absorbing its light. She stopped a few steps inside and waited for her eyes to adjust. Slowly, the shape of the walls began to fill in around her and she could make out stalactites hanging from the ceiling above. She was in a low, narrow tunnel that continued ahead of her into blackness.

Leia moved forward cautiously on the uneven ground. Crumbling rock debris crunched under her feet and icy water dripped down from the ceiling. Her breathing sounded very loud in her ears and she realized it was because it was completely silent inside the cave. She could no longer hear the cries of animals or the screeching insects outside.

The shadows cast by her lightsaber swayed with every step Leia took. Several times, she was startled by an approaching shape only to realize it was an illusion. As she continued deeper into the cave, the tunnel gradually widened until she entered an open cavern that was large enough to fit a small gathering inside. Or to hold a duel.

A dark shadow was waiting for her against the far wall of the cavern. She could hear the familiar sound of heavy breathing. There was a crackle as a lightsaber switched on. The blade extended with a red glow that matched Leia's own and illuminated the smooth sides of her father's helmet. He advanced toward her.

She didn't feel afraid. This was what she had expected to find at the end of her path. She was ready for him.

Leia raised her lightsaber and parried as Father swung at her. She used the Force to snatch up a rock and flung it at him before taking a swing at his head. He met her strike for strike, but his movements were slow and pained. She could defeat him, she could feel it. It was only a matter of finding the right opening.

She let him lead her toward one of the dark corners of the cavern and then used a large stalagmite as a base to pivot off of and kicked him in the stomach. It was an ineffective blow, but while he was distracted by the kick, she surprised him with a low strike that got past his guard. The hilt of her lightsaber jarred her hands as it struck true. The blade sparked off of the electronics on Father's suit and sliced deep into his side.

Father roared and clutched at the wound. His lightsaber fell to the ground and Leia didn't wait for him to recover it. Raising her blade overhead, she brought it down on his neck and cut off his head in a single, clean blow.

The head clattered across the rocky ground as she dropped to one knee. She watched it roll toward her with satisfaction. The faceplate of the helmet had been dislodged and as it rolled closer and came to a stop, she could see the face inside. A smooth, youthful face with blue eyes.

She screamed his name and scuttled backwards across the ground. Luke's blank eyes seemed to stare at her even as the darkness swallowed up the helmet.

Leia reached for him in the Force, but found only emptiness. She couldn't sense Luke anywhere, not even the false specter that had taunted her before. His presence was completely gone.

She got to her feet and began to run blindly through the cave. She meant to retreat, to flee back down the tunnel that had brought her there, but she had no real idea where she was going. She crashed into walls and tripped over rocks in the dark, crashing from one obstacle to the next until she saw light ahead and stumbled out into the loud roar of the swamp.

She fell to her knees and vomited alongside the path. She kept heaving and gasping until there was only bile left in her stomach. Was this real? Had she killed him? Did this place trick her into finally doing it?

She was still on her knees in the mud when she heard Luke calling her name. He emerged from the swamp, coming out of the trees behind her and looking exactly like he had before she lost him.

"Leia?" he repeated as he walked toward her. "Did something happen? I thought I saw you—"

She shuffled away from him and tried to raise her lightsaber, convinced for a moment that he was another vision sent to torment her, but then he caught her arm and she felt his familiar presence wash over her. He wasn't dead. It wasn't real. She hadn't killed him.

Not yet anyway.

"Are you okay?" Luke asked and picked a leaf off of her arm. "What did you see? Was it—"

Leia shook her head and struggled to her feet as Luke held her elbow to help steady her. "Let's get out of here."

--

The oppressive sense of being watched faded as they retreated down the path and away from the cave. It was evident that Luke hadn't been nearly as affected by the place as Leia had. He was soon pestering her about what she had seen while they were separated.

She couldn't describe it to him in words, but she let him get a glimpse of the vision in her head. The memory still made Leia feel cold and frightened, but Luke was dismissive.

"Typical," he said and huffed. "You're alway murdering me in visions."

"What if it was a prophecy?" Leia asked and glared at him.

Luke rolled his eyes. "Don't be ridiculous. It was messing with you! Of course it showed you that."

"What did you see?" Leia asked, eager to change the subject.

"What did I see?" Luke repeated in indignation. "Nothing! After you ran ahead of me on the path, I spent the whole time trying to catch up to you. I must have spent over an hour chasing you through the swamp. I kept almost reaching you and then you'd somehow break ahead of me."

"That wasn't me running."

"Thanks," Luke said sarcastically. "I realize that now. Toward the end, I could hear a lightsaber duel but it was like the sounds were being projected to confuse me. I'd run to a clearing where it seemed to be happening, but when I got there it would be empty and the sounds would be coming from further off."

"So it led you in circles?"

Luke shrugged. "Pretty much. What the hell am I supposed to take from that? That I'm overshadowed and will spend the rest of my life trying to catch up to you?" He threw his arms out and looked up as he shouted, "Great, thanks, dark side!"

There was a screech from nearby in response and the sound of scuttling and splashing water as hidden animals fled further into the swamp.

Leia shook her head. "I don't think that's what it meant. It's because it doesn't want you."

"Whatever, come on, let's go find Master Yoda."

Leia sighed. "I'm sure he'll have some sage wisdom for us."

Luke scrunched up his face. "We shouldn't have ignored him about going in alone."

"Do you want to go back?" Leia asked and gestured behind her.

"No, no, let's get out of here."

--

One benefit of setting up camp next to Yoda's hut was that they could eat from their own supplies rather than being forced to consume Yoda's cooking.

Yoda liked to insist that they have a hot meal for breakfast before beginning training, but they mostly managed to beg off and avoided taking more than a few bites of the mush mixed with marsh herbs that he made every morning. Today, as usual, they were crouched around the tree stump table while Yoda fussed over the stove and their appetites. It was a cold morning and the little hut felt pleasantly warm and cozy today instead of just claustrophobic.

Carrying the cooking pot under his arm, Yoda made a concerned noise when he looked in Luke's mostly-full bowl. "More?" he asked, holding out a spoonful of mush.

"No, no, I'm good," Luke insisted and hurried to block his bowl with his hand. "I already ate a ration bar when I got up."

Yoda frowned like he doubted the nutritional content of ration bars. He went back to the stove and exchanged the cooking pot for the kettle. "Tea then," he said as he filled a cup and brought it to Luke. "Energy it will give you."

"Okay, sure," Luke said and accepted the steaming wooden cup. The tea was a light green color and there were flecks of something floating in it. He blew on it and took a small, cautious sip. His left eye twitched at the intensely bitter, herbal taste.

Yoda had already filled another cup by then and he handed it to Leia without asking. She glanced at Luke as she took it uncertainly. When Yoda had his back turned, Luke shook his head at her. Don't even try it.

Back at the stove, Yoda bent down to open the hatch and tended to the fire inside. "Luke," he said, calling over his shoulder as he raked the ashes. "Return to the ship today, you will, to collect supplies and speak with Master Obi-Wan."

"Sure," Luke said then glanced at Leia. "Just me?"

"Only you," Yoda confirmed. "With me, Leia will remain."

I guess he wants to talk to you about something, Luke said to her.

Leia wrinkled up her nose in response. They both knew what it was most likely about, and Luke was somewhat relieved that he didn't have to be here for that conversation. Yoda had said nothing when they returned from their encounter with the dark side, but it was clear he had been disappointed in their performance.

Luke left his full cup of tea on the table and got down on his hands and knees to crawl out the front door. He waved goodbye through one of the little windows before fetching his canteen from their campsite and taking off at a jog into the mist.

--

Alone with Yoda, Leia was immediately on guard. "What am I supposed to do today without Luke?"

Yoda chuckled. "Continue your training, of course. Carry me today, you will."

Leia sighed, but tried to disguise it by blowing on her tea. She took a small sip and winced at its bitterness.

"Good for you, it is!" Yoda said. "Medicinal."

--

Master Obi-Wan was seated at the campfire waiting for him when Luke jogged out of the woods and onto the rocky peninsula where they had landed the ship.

"Master Yoda—sent me—" he said, breathing heavily. He leaned down and rested his hands on his knees.

"Yes, good," Obi-Wan said. "Have a seat and catch your breath. You'll be training with me today."

Luke sat on a log across from Obi-Wan and took a drink from his canteen. "Why did you want to split us up?" he asked.

"Individual attention is useful," Obi-Wan said. "You both have different needs, however similar you might feel."

It wasn't really an answer, but Luke was used to that at this point. He took another drink of water and nodded.

"You've been making great progress," Obi-Wan continued. "It's impressive how much you've advanced in only a few weeks under Master Yoda."

"I think he would prefer if it was a little less fast," Luke said.

Obi-Wan smiled. "For someone as long-lived as he is I think it can seem like the rest of us are sprinting through our lives. Why don't you run through the fighting forms this morning to start?"

"Sure." Luke got up and moved to the clear area beyond the fire pit. He unclipped his lightsaber and rolled his shoulders to loosen up his muscles before getting into the first guard stance.

Obi-Wan got up as well and walked around him, examining his posture. "Can you do it leading with your right?"

"Ah, I can try," Luke shifted the lightsaber to his other hand and adjusted his stance. "My grip isn't very good, I nearly lost control and threw it through a window the last time I practiced right-handed."

"Thankfully, there aren't any windows here," Obi-Wan said with a smile.

Luke ran through the forms, doing the basic lightsaber moves he knew by heart. For the most part, he managed to shift from one position to the next fluidly, but there was a flare of pain each time he needed to twist his wrist away from his body and up. He also had much less mobility because of the damage to his prosthesis and had to move his arm more to compensate. He'd tried opening it up recently and making some adjustments, but it kept getting worse. The machinery was continuing to degrade, no doubt helped along by the dampness in the air on Dagobah.

"That's enough," Obi-Wan said and Luke shifted into a resting pose with his lightsaber off and clasped in front of him. Obi-Wan reached down and lifted his hands, having him raise them so his lightsaber was held out in front of him. "You've been wearing this since we left," he said and motioned to the black glove on his right hand.

"I'm not hiding it." Luke shifted his grip and held up his damaged hand. Using his teeth, he ripped off the glove and revealed the bare metal of his prosthesis. "Without the synthskin, the metal gets cold and it hurts my wrist."

"The doctors took it off before you left?"

"Yeah, the damage to the outer layer was starting to give me nerve pain so they thought it was better to remove it, but it means that I lost most of the sensation." He flexed his index and middle finger, the only two he has left along with the thumb. "I can still feel pressure but it makes it harder to do things that require precision."

Obi-Wan nodded. "It's good that you've learned to fight with your left hand, but you'll need to get it repaired eventually."

"Yeah, I know," he said. "The doctors told me the Alliance medical fleet could do it. I know I'm going to have to get it replaced if I'm going to face Father."

"Hm. Still, you've adapted well," Obi-Wan says. "And you don't seem to hold any bitterness about it."

Luke dropped his hand. He looked down at it as he flexed his fingers at his side and shrugged. "That was the point. I'm supposed to be bitter about it."

Obi-Wan nodded. "It's good that you realize that."

"Honestly, it doesn't really bother me," Luke said, looking up. "I've always been a bit ambidextrous even if I favored my right. Leia was more upset about it than I was when it happened." He rolled his eyes. "The way she carried on you'd have thought it was her hand."

Obi-Wan paused and looked at him like he'd said something worrisome. "You feel she's overprotective?"

"I don't feel it, she is overprotective." Luke said. "It's like she's convinced that if she doesn't kill me personally then someone else will. Like I'm constantly on the verge of dying on her."

"And that bothers you?"

Luke gave him a sidelong glance and then looked away. "No, it's not—" He sighed, knowing a lie now wouldn't be believable. Still, it felt oddly like a betrayal to admit this to Obi-Wan. "Yes, it bothers me, but I understand why she feels that way."

"Understanding why someone does something doesn't take away the pain the behavior causes."

Luke made a noncommittal noise, but Obi-Wan didn't seem to expect an answer to that.

Instead, Obi-Wan cleared his throat and said, "Luke, there's something else I need to talk to you about. The reason Master Yoda and I wanted to speak to you and Leia separately."

--

For as small as he was, Yoda was a heavy burden to carry, especially while running. That morning, he had Leia take the looping path that meandered through the swamp before circling back around to his hut. Usually, she would have been able to switch off with Luke after each lap, but today she had to carry him alone for the entire run.

She was breathing heavily and her shoulders were aching when Yoda tapped her arm and announced, "Stop. Rest here, we will."

They were in a small clearing that was raised just high enough above the surrounding water to avoid being flooded. Leia knelt down so Yoda could climb off of her shoulders. He settled cross legged on a small boulder while she walked in circles to cool down and catch her breath.

"Troubled, your brother thinks you are," Yoda said.

Leia suppressed a sigh. "I'm not troubled."

"No?" He made a doubtful noise. "No visions, then, awaken you in the night?"

"I've talked to Obi-Wan about it before," Leia said. She realized that her shoulders had tightened up and rolled them, trying to release the tension and relax. "He told me not to be concerned. That it didn't mean... that it wasn't inevitable."

Yoda's ears perked up. "Listened to him, did you?"

"I've tried but—" She stopped walking and looked up. Above them, there was a thin sliver of gray sky visible between the branches of the surrounding trees. "I just don't understand, why do I keep seeing it again? And why here? If it's a vision of the future—the possible future—shouldn't it be less likely now? If I'm training to be a Jedi?"

Yoda hummed thoughtfully and touched his hand to his chin. "Sometimes," he said. "Poisons must be purged before healing may begin."

Leia sat down on the ground beneath the boulder so their faces were on the same level. She wrapped her arms around her legs and hugged them to her chest. "So it's like... getting it out of my system?"

"Perhaps." He shook his head. "What it may mean, if it is prediction or warning, for certain cannot be said. But dwell on this, you should not. The less it troubles you, the less it will return, and the less hold will it have on your mind. To ruminate on the dark side is to court it."

"But—how can I prepare for something if I don't pay any attention to it?" she said. "Even if I shouldn't listen to the dark side, it's messages can still be useful, can't they? Like an enemy's propaganda revealing unintended intel."

"No!" Yoda said. "To confound you is what it intends, to drive you in perverse directions. Heed it not, you must."

Leia sighed. "I just—I'm worried we won't be ready. We haven't talked about what will happen, when we actually go to face them... The Emperor used to say that he could cut someone off from the light side—that he could sever a Jedi's connection to it entirely. What if he does that to us and we don't have access to the Force or its power?"

Yoda shook his head. "Cloud one's mind he may, but cut a Jedi off completely? No. A trick this is. A Sith misinterpretation of the Force. Power, it is not, nor special abilities, nor strength itself. All life is the Force. No part of it can be cut away from any other part, nor the dark from the light. Where one dwells, the other must also. And learn to feel it, you will, even in the Emperor's presence."

Leia let out the breath she had been holding. "I hope so."

Yoda tilted his head. "Some points in time are like a fulcrum in the Force, Leia—a single point, many outcomes. Very dangerous can they be, but from them come things that might not otherwise be possible."

Leia nodded. "So it depends on what we do now?"

"Yes." He folded his hands in his lap. "And how seriously your training you take."

"I'm taking it seriously..."

Yoda made a doubtful noise. "Wish you to be freed of these visions? To be troubled by them no longer?"

"Yes," Leia said and sat up straighter. "Of course."

"Easy it will not be."

"Nothing ever is."

Yoda nodded, seemingly in approval. "Fueled by your attachment, they are. From it, break free, and trouble you no more these visions will."

"Break free?" Leia wasn't sure she wanted to know what he was getting at.

--

"What did you want to talk to us about?" Luke said.

"We have... concerns." Obi-Wan said. He returned to the campfire and sat down, waiting for Luke to join him before he continued. "Concerns that I've had from the beginning, and ones that Master Yoda shares as well."

"About us...?" Luke was beginning to feel defensive. He could sense where this was going and he already didn't like it. He wanted to check in on Leia, but he resisted the urge.

"Yes," Obi-Wan said. "We're still concerned about how entwined you are with each other."

--

"There is a Jedi saying," Yoda said. "'To love something is not to possess it—'"

"'—but to let go of it,' yes," Leia said. "I remember that one."

"Remember, do you?" Yoda asked with an odd tone in his voice, like he had caught her at something.

"Sure," she shrugged. "You said it the other day. The last time we were talking about attachments."

"Said it, I did." Yoda's eyes narrowed and his ears went back. "Correct, you are."

"What?" Leia asked. What did she do wrong now? She was proud of having remembered that. All of Yoda's Jedi aphorisms tended to run together in her head. Not like Luke, who had studied books of Jedi sayings and had most of them memorized already.

"Said that to you, I did not." Yoda said. "Told your brother, I did."

Leia held very still for a moment and then shrugged and smiled. "I guess he said it to me then. He's always repeating things like that, but honestly I barely listen..."

Yoda made a gruff, disbelieving noise. "Or tell the difference between his memories and your own, you cannot. Concerning, this is."

Leia stopped trying to play it off and dropped her smile. "Why? What does it matter? So we share information between us. Hasn't that made us faster learners? Would we be half as strong in the Force otherwise?"

"Overlapping memories, shared dreams..." Yoda shook his head. "Too close, you are. Dangerous for you both, this is. Your attachment incites your fear and makes you vulnerable. The longer together you are, the worse it will become."

"I don't get why it's such a big deal," Leia said. "So the Jedi wouldn't have raised us this way? It's what happened. What does it matter now?"

--

"It's concerning because it means that you're storing information in each other's heads," Obi-Wan explained. "Do you know sometimes you continue a conversation with me that Leia started earlier?"

Luke blinked. Did they do that?

"The fact that you don't even realize it is what's so worrying," Obi-Wan said, his voice rising. "It's like—two droids, each with one half of a shared memory core."

"So?" Luke said.

"It's not like they're two perfect copies." Obi-Wan gestured as he spoke, indicating the metaphorical droids on either side of him. "Some memories are in one location, and others are in the other. As long as both are in contact, it's fine, you might even get some improved processing power, but separate them..." He shook his head. "Then you have two non-functional droids."

"We're not non-functional," Luke said. "We can do things separately. We went to different academies. We used to go on missions alone without each other!"

Obi-Wan made an unconvinced noise. "By choice or as a punishment?"

Luke winced. He was right. Their separate missions had always been when the Emperor wanted to hurt them for some perceived failure or disappointment. When they'd been forced to attend separate Imperial academies, they had both raged and acted out for months. If they'd had their way, they would have done both programs together, the pilot academy first and officer training second.

"Why does it matter?" Luke said. "The point is, we don't have to be together all the time."

Obi-Wan tilted his head. "Luke, if you had died before you arrived on Yarvin, how do you think Leia would have reacted? Would she have been 'functional'?"

Luke looked away. He tried to keep his face blank, but Obi-Wan could no doubt feel the anger that this conversation was stirring inside him—and the fear that anger came from.

"I doubt she'd ever have been conscious again," Obi-Wan continued. "Assuming the shock of your death didn't kill her immediately. That's why we're concerned. Being like this is a liability and a danger to you both. You have to disentangle your minds."

"Fine, sure, eventually," Luke said, looking at him. "But aren't there more pressing things we need to worry about right now?"

Obi-Wan shook his head. "Don't you see, Luke? Keeping you entwined and stunted like this was intentional. It is a weakness the Emperor can exploit. With you so dependent on one another, you're easier to control, easier to predict, and easier to manage."

"Yeah, well..." Luke got up. "Maybe you don't know everything."

"We're not saying you need to separate forever," Obi-Wan said. "But the way you are now isn't healthy and we need to do something about it."

"But why do we need to do it right this second?" Luke could hear the whine in his voice but couldn't stop it. This was so unfair. "Aren't we better equipped to take on the Emperor together? We're stronger because of how closely linked we are. I understand why you're concerned, but we can learn independence later, when we have time for it."

"No, Luke." Obi-Wan shook his head. "It's not a simple matter of strength. If you go before the Emperor as you are now, he will use you against each other and you will fail. You have to let go of your attachment to her and become your own person. Both of you need to do it desperately."

Luke started to walk away and then turned back. "Have you seen that or are you guessing?"

"I'm telling you based on decades of experience and Jedi teachings," Obi-Wan said. "Centuries in Master Yoda's case."

"So no then," Luke said. "You haven't seen it." He turned and walked away. When he reached the edge of the swamp and the start of the path, he broke into a run.

--

"Wait, you're separating us?" Leia got to her feet in shock.

Yoda held out his hand in a placating gesture. "For a time, yes. Far enough apart, you must be, that communion will not be easy. Take Luke, Master Obi-Wan will, while here with me, you will stay."

Leia narrowed her eyes at him. "You want to train me?"

"Surprised, you are?" Yoda asked, his voice lifting with amusement.

"I thought that..." She shrugged. "Aren't I the dangerous one? The one that's too far gone to the dark side?"

Yoda smiled and his ears perked up. "That is why it is you I wish to train."

"Huh." She didn't know what to think of that. Maybe it was because Yoda didn't think Obi-Wan could handle her.

"Very powerful you are, Leia," Yoda said, his voice growing softer and more serious. "Strong in the Force, as your father was. Even more powerful, you may be, if control you can learn."

"If," she repeated.

"Dedication, only, is what is required," Yoda said. "A Jedi you may yet become."

"Does it have to be this way?" Leia asked. "Can't we continue together?"

"If a Jedi you wish to be? No, you may not."

Leia shook her head. She started to back away from him, moving out of the clearing toward the path. "I can't—I have to talk to Luke about this."

Yoda sighed. "Your decision this is, not his."

"I can't," she said.

Yoda lowered his head as she turned away and ran off into the trees.

When she reached for Luke and felt his agitation, Leia knew instantly that he had been having the same conversation with Obi-Wan. They had split them up on purpose to do this. Of course they had. They were hoping one of them would agree even if the other one wouldn't.

Are you—? she asked.

Yes, Luke said. I'll meet you on the path.

--

As she ran, Leia grew more and more fearful. Luke had wanted to be a Jedi for years, what if he had already agreed to the separation and only wanted to see her before he left? She couldn't really blame him for it if he wanted to split up. Why wouldn't he want to put some distance between them given her constant visions that ended in his violent death?

But what if this was how it started? What if this was the reason the vision kept repeating? What if they separated and she fell without him? That had to be it, she would never be strong enough to become a Jedi on her own. Luke was the entire reason she had left the Empire in the first place. And who would she be without him? He'd always contained all of their gentler, more compassionate impulses while she contained all of their worst ones. She couldn't let this happen. It felt like she was being dragged along to a destiny she didn't want but was helpless to prevent.

She put her head down and concentrated on her feet pounding along the ground. She would just have to talk him out of it, that was all.

She heard his footsteps in the distance as she neared the midpoint of the path and started sprinting. They were halfway between their campsite and Yoda's house now, up on the high ridge that circled the edges of the swamp. They were both running when they met and crashed right into each other, neither of them willing to slow down until they had reached the other. They stumbled and tripped as they smashed together and ended up falling to the ground in an awkward embrace.

"Are you—?" Leia said as she threw her arms around his neck. "Do you—?"

No, of course not, Luke said and hugged her. Why would you ever think that?

Leia squeezed her eyes shut and tried to swallow down her fear. I know it's important to you. Being a Jedi.

Luke pressed his face against the side of her head. Not more important than you are.

Leia let out the breath she had been holding. He wasn't leaving. They weren't going to separate. It didn't have to happen that way.

They sat on the ground and clung to one another for a long time without speaking. The ground here was covered with a thick layer of pine needles, but the cold and damp eventually started to soak through their clothes.

"You know what we have to do, right?" Leia said.

"What do you mean?" Luke asked, although surely he could already sense what she was thinking.

"We have to do it on our own, find our own path," she said and pulled away from him so they could look at each other properly. "Without their help."

Luke wouldn't meet her eyes. "I'm not sure..."

"They can't help us, Luke," she said. "Not more than they already have. We're going to have to do this ourselves."

Luke rubbed the back of his neck as he stared at the ground. "But there's so much we don't know."

"Is there?" she said, letting her doubts and frustrations rise to the surface. "What makes you think they know how to defeat the Emperor? If they did, wouldn't they have done it already? Years ago? Why would they even need us?"

Luke sighed. He put his head in his hands and tugged at his hair the way he used to when he was upset as a child. "They couldn't do it back then, they had to hide... to wait for when the time was right."

"Luke, Father slaughtered dozens of Jedi when the Order fell. You know that." She put her hands on his shoulders and had to resist the urge to shake him. "And now, twenty years later, the last surviving masters are going to teach us how to defeat him?" She shook her head. "They have no idea how to do it. They're hoping we will figure it out for them."

Luke finally raised his head. "That's not true."

"How can they help us defeat them when they don't even know Sith techniques?" Luke opened his mouth to argue but Leia continued before he could interrupt. "You can sense their ignorance just like I can. What do they always say if we bring it up?" She let go of him and began to gesture wildly, releasing the frustration that had been building up inside her. "Don't dwell on that, Leia, don't worry about it, don't even think about that. They're too terrified of the dark side to learn anything about it. Too terrified of us."

Luke turned his head and looked down the path in the direction that led to Yoda's house.

"You can always return some day," Leia said. "And finish your training if you want, but we already know everything we need to know to defeat them." He was close to agreeing with her, she could feel it. She just needed to push him a little more. "We can do this and we can do it now. All we have to do is take our destiny into our own hands."

Luke sighed, but turned to look at her. "....what are you thinking?"

"We have to kill Father first, it's the only way," she said, her voice falling to a whisper, as if he might be able to hear them plotting from thousands of lightyears away.

Luke nodded and his mouth flattened into a grim line.

"So we set up a trap," Leia continued. "We know he'll be searching for us, it won't be hard to lure him somewhere."

"And then what?"

"We kill him and take his ship," she said. It was all very simple really. "Then we can use it and his codes to get access to the Emperor."

"Oh, and we'll just kill the Emperor too then?" Luke said sarcastically. "When you put it that way, it's so easy, why haven't we tried it before?"

"Together, we can do it," Leia said. "I know we can."

"Maybe," Luke said. "But the ploy with the ship won't work. We might fool the bridge of a Star Destroyer, but Sidious will sense us coming long before we ever get on board."

"That's why it will work!" Leia insisted. "He wants us to come to him. He'll make it easy for us, Luke. He's been waiting for it."

Luke raked his hands through his hair. He got up and took a step like he was going to walk away from her, but then turned back. "Are you sure you want to rush into this? Honestly, Leia, we don't have to do this. We don't have to do any of it. What if we got in the transport and just took off? We could go hide somewhere in uncharted space, or—go anywhere, do anything. Anything we want."

"You'd do that?" she asked. "Abandon the Rebellion? Forget about becoming a Jedi? Forget all of it?"

Luke shrugged and his face scrunched up. She could feel his unhappiness and the conflict warring within him. "I don't want to, but I'd do it if it was the only way for us to survive. Together."

"I don't want to go hide, and I wouldn't ask that of you anyway." She got up and walked toward him. "I want to kill them, Luke. Both of them."

He didn't move away as she approached, letting her get in close to him so she was only inches away from his face. The only way I'll ever be free of the vision is after he is dead.

Luke stared at her. He leaned down until his forehead brushed against her own and let her feel the intensity of his fear and his hesitation. Part of him was convinced that it wasn't possible, that they would die in the attempt. Leia waited, staring into his eyes while he considered it. He was reaching out into the Force, searching for guidance, but she couldn't help him with that. The light side didn't speak to her like it did to him.

In the end, it came down to destiny, but also desire. Luke knew in his heart that they were meant to do this, but he wanted them to do it together, not as two detached Jedi knights, but as brother and sister.

He inhaled and nodded his head, bumping against her forehead. "Okay."

"Okay?"

Luke pulled away and turned to look down the path that would take them back to Obi-Wan and to the ship. She'd assumed he'd need more time to consider it, but he nodded again as if to himself. I think you're right. This is what we're supposed to do, he thought, before saying out loud, "When do you want to leave?"

Leia's relief was so intense that she couldn't speak for a moment. "Right away," she said when she could breathe again. "As soon as possible."

Luke looked up at the sky and frowned as he estimated the remaining hours of daylight. "Is there anything back at Yoda's house that you need to get?"

"No, I have my lightsaber, there's nothing else I need."

"Okay." Luke licked his lips and nodded. "I say we wait until after nightfall when Obi-Wan will be asleep. Assuming he doesn't stay up and wait for us, we should be able to get on board and take off before he realizes what we're doing."

--

The swamp that night was disturbingly loud. A chorus of nighttime creatures had begun to sing as soon as the sky darkened and the trees around them came alive with calls and soft rustling noises. Further away, in the distance, they could hear splashing as unseen animals moved in and out of the swamp's waterways.

They walked cautiously down the path and kept their senses open for any large predators who might decide they looked like a convenient meal. The journey took twice as long in the dark as it normally would, but that was good. It meant that Obi-Wan was more likely to be asleep by the time they got there.

All of the lights were off at the campsite when they arrived. Leia wasn't sure they were actually in the right spot until they stumbled over a stack of storage containers in the dark.

I don't think Master Obi-Wan's here, Luke said. I don't feel him.

Maybe he went to find Yoda, Leia suggested. She crept around the storage containers and approached the area where their tent should be with her hands held out in front of her.

Wouldn't we have run into him on the path?

I'm sure they both know other ways through the swamp that they haven't told us about. Leia's hand hit canvas and she felt along the edges of the tent until she reached the front opening. Inside, she found their lantern resting on the ground. She switched it on and winced. Even at its lowest setting, the light hurt her eyes and made her squint.

Okay, she said, shielding her face with one hand. Let's grab any supplies we need and get out of here.

I'll get some of the rations. We don't need much and we can leave the rest for Obi-Wan.

Right, I'll go see if the hatch is open.

Leia walked toward the looming, dark shape of the ship. The ground was covered in a loose layer of pebbles that crunched under her feet as she approached. As she got closer, she could make out the control panel on the side of the ship outlined in a soft, blue light. When she reached it, the beep and pneumatic hiss as she pressed the button to open the hatch sounded very loud.

She was about to go inside and power up the engines when Luke cried out in surprise behind her. "Gah!"

Leia spun around and held up the lantern, her other hand going to her lightsaber. Several meters behind her, standing like a shadow in the dark under his hood, was Obi-Wan.

"How did you do that!?" Luke demanded. There was a crunching sound as he walked toward them, before emerging from the dark with a storage container balanced on his shoulder.

Obi-Wan pushed his hood back off of his head. "You're back late," he said mildly.

Neither of them replied. Luke entered the circle of light cast by the lantern and set the storage container down on the ground before looking at Leia.

She waited a moment longer to see if Luke would say anything, but when he didn't she turned to Obi-Wan herself. "We're leaving."

Obi-Wan's calm expression didn't change. "Must you do it in the middle of the night? Why not sleep here and we can discuss it in the morning."

"There's nothing to discuss." She looked at Luke. Tell him.

Luke sighed. "I'm sorry, Obi-Wan—Master—but—" He shrugged helplessly.

"We've learned enough," Leia said. "We're done training. We're going to face them."

Obi-Wan frowned. "This is exactly the impatience that Master Yoda warned you about—"

"No. It's not impatience." Leia's anger was simmering inside her, waiting to rise to the surface, but she tamped it down and tried to keep her voice neutral. "There's nothing more you can teach us."

"Are you sure?" Obi-Wan said. "Or is there nothing more that you're willing to learn?"

"Luke, let's go," Leia said and turned to walk up the ramp.

She heard Luke pick up the storage container and take a step, but he hesitated and didn't follow her.

Leia went into the ship and stood just inside the entrance at the internal control panel with her hand on the lock. Luke was still at the end of the ramp staring at Obi-Wan.

"You are not ready for this, Luke," Obi-Wan said to him. "Master Yoda and I won't be able to help you. It will be exactly like the last time you fought your father."

"No," Leia said, calling out so she would be heard clearly. "That was different. I wasn't there."

Luke sighed. "Master, do you want us to drop you somewhere? We could take you to a spaceport so you can get back to the Rebellion."

"No," Obi-Wan said. "I will stay here with Master Yoda so you know where to find me when you decide to complete your training."

Luke sighed again. Leia could feel him wavering. He felt incredibly guilty leaving like this, but he also knew they couldn't stay.

"Luke, let's go," she said.

He raised his free hand in an apologetic gesture as he hefted the storage container in the other. "I'm sorry, Master Obi-Wan," he said and backed away from him up the ramp.

Luke brushed past Leia as he entered the ship and went straight inside to the cockpit without bothering to look back. Leia pressed the control to close the hatch.

Obi-Wan took a half-step backward as the ramp began to rise up. "The Force will be with you," he said. "Leia, try to—"

—listen to it.

Leia blocked him out as the hatch sealed shut. She closed off the bond that had formed over their weeks of training and shut away the pain and worry she could feel from Obi-Wan. She wouldn't let herself feel guilty. They were only doing what needed to be done.

Luke was in the cockpit waiting for her. He had already started the engines. He gave her a grim look when she sat next to him in the co-pilot's seat. Ready?

She nodded and he started the takeoff sequence. The ship shuddered as it rose up into the air and there was a clunk as the landing gear retracted.

"Buckle up," he said. "The sensors are still blind. This is going to be a rough ride until we can get out of the atmosphere."

Leia closed her eyes. For a moment, while the ship was still hovering above the ground, she reached out and found Yoda. He was seated in his hut with a single lamp flickering on the table in front of him.

She expected recrimination from him, but instead his last words were frantic and full of worry. Leia, mind what you have learned! Listen to your feelings and trust in the Force. Save both of you, it can.

It was almost sweet how he and Obi-Wan assumed that the light side of the Force would come to her aid. Well, she still had Luke for that. Between the two of them, they could access both the light and the dark when they needed to.

Leia felt strangely wistful suddenly. Part of her was sad that they would no longer be dragging themselves through the swamp every day sweating and covered in mud as they struggled with Yoda's teachings.

Luke paused with his hand over the switch that would launch them up into the atmosphere. Do you—?

Leia shook her head. Go.

He flipped the switch and the ship shot upward with a jerk that made Leia's stomach flip. In seconds, they passed into the thick, grey mist of the clouds and hit the heavy turbulence above.

--

They both felt a rush of excitement when they finally broke free of Dagobah's atmosphere and shot out into open space. Any worries Leia had washed away in the sudden wide-open freedom of having a ship and the ability to go wherever they wanted. It was like the day they'd escaped all over again.

Luke was still feeling guilty, but he smiled at her as he pulled up the navi computer to set a course. They argued about where to go before finally punching in a nearby planet where they could resupply and decide what to do next. Even the arguing felt familiar and comforting. They had always been happy whenever they had a mission to complete together and were out from under the Emperor's direct scrutiny.

Something about Leia's train of thought made Luke laugh. Remember...? He sent her an image of a small mining facility and then the face of an Imperial officer turning purple before he collapsed to the ground.

"Ugh, I try not to!" Leia said. Their first ever mission on their own had been a disastrous near-failure. It had all gone wrong within an hour of their arrival at the Imperial mining outpost where they had been sent to uncover a smuggling operation. The commander who was under suspicion had died of a heart attack minutes into their interrogation before they could get any details out of him about his operation or the underworld contacts he was working with.

Luke started laughing. "The look on your face when he just keeled over."

"It wasn't my fault!" Leia said. "I didn't know he had a medical condition!"

Luke laughed harder in response.

She rolled her eyes. "And then you started ripping up the floors for some reason..." She pushed over the memory of him tearing apart the commander's quarters while the remaining staff huddled together in the hallway in terror.

"I thought he'd have a secret ledger hidden somewhere!" Luke said.

Leia laughed in spite of herself. "Remember how panicked we were when we realized none of the other staff had any idea what was going on?"

"Those poor idiots." Luke wiped tears from his eyes. "Medical condition or no, the commander was very smart about the whole thing—compartmentalized."

"What a nightmare," Leia said. "I can't believe Father didn't come to get us after we spent two days tearing that entire place apart and terrorizing everyone."

"He was probably told not to, so we would have to figure it out for ourselves."

"We were so lucky that smuggling ship arrived when it did. And that they didn't realize anything was wrong before they landed." She closed her eyes and sighed at the memory. The unscheduled ship had appeared in the middle of the night and landed on the pad outside of the mining facility to pick up their usual shipment of illicit oar. Leia had almost cried from relief when they investigated the mysterious ship and realized it was the smugglers the commander was working with.

"It all worked out!" Luke said, spreading his hands wide. "And then we traced them back to that spice den. Mission successful."

"We made a hash of that too," Leia pointed out. "We should have left some of them alive."

Luke waved his hand. "Oh, it was fine, there was plenty of evidence left for the investigators when we handed it off. I'm sure they were able to piece together the whole operation."

"I can't believe we ever got to go on another mission alone again after that," Leia said and shook her head. "What a mess."

Luke raised one eyebrow in a sardonic look. "I'm sure Sheev loved all of the violence even if it wasn't very elegantly done."

Leia snorted at the use of the Emperor's given name. "We'll hash our way through this too."

"Yeah, we will," Luke said. He leaned back in the pilot's chair and folded his hands behind his head. "We always do."

--

While they were still in hyperspace, Leia went into the sleeping quarters behind the cockpit and opened the niche next to the top bunk. Inside was the small, cloth bag she had left there weeks ago when they arrived on Dagobah.

She opened the bag and took out the necklace that Bail had given her. The jewels on the pendant sparkled as she turned it over and studied its asymmetrical design. It was made in such a way that there didn't seem to be a front or a back. Both sides formed beautiful and elegant shapes; loops of precious metal twisted around themselves in an endless knot.

When he gave it to her, Bail had said that it was meant to remind her of the Alliance, but Leia thought that what he meant was that it would remind her of him. It was a nice thought, the idea that someone aside from Luke cared whether she lived or died. She did feel slightly bad about keeping it since Bail had said the pendant actually belonged to his wife, but surely she owned plenty of other jewelry if she was the wife of an important politician—albeit a defector, rebel politician.

Leia had left the pendant on the ship when they arrived on Dagobah, afraid of it getting damaged during training or lost in the swamps. She put it on now and tucked it inside her shirt. It was too expensive-looking to leave visible, but she liked the idea of wearing it. She'd never received many gifts in her life or kept many mementos. It felt special to have at least one.

Luke was seated at the small worktable at the back of the ship when Leia climbed down from the sleeping compartment. He had his prosthetic hand open to display the mechanical innards and was tinkering with something inside.

"How is it?" Leia asked, coming over to watch what he was doing.

"Not great," Luke said. "I think I got some grit in here that's making the thumb act up. That or the joint is starting to fail."

"We need to get it replaced," Leia said.

Luke nodded and sighed. He put down the tool he was using and switched it for a different one with a tiny brush on the end. "We could always try to get back to the Rebellion," he suggested as he used the brush to clean the thumb mechanics.

"It would take us days to get to Hoth from here," Leia said. "And even if we refuel, I'm not sure we'd have enough to make it."

"We could try for one of the outlier bases, some of those will still be active."

Leia considered it and then shook her head. "I don't think it's a good idea. We'll waste supplies and we might not even find them." She was also afraid of them getting sidetracked by the Alliance. If they returned, there would be other missions, different priorities, and so many excuses not to continue with this confrontation. Besides, Bail might be the only person alive who could talk her out of it. She touched the pendant hanging under her shirt. Yes, it was better not to risk seeing him again.

Luke gave her a pointed look, but didn't say anything about the direction of her thoughts. Instead, he said, "What about some place on the outskirts of the Empire where we could find a medical center that won't ask too many questions?"

"We'll need hard currency if we're going to pay for medical care," Leia said, tilting her head as she considered it. "The Alliance only gave us enough credits to buy supplies and refuel."

"We could get fake identities," Luke suggested. "Pretend to be loyal subjects of the Empire who are entitled to the best Imperial medical care. Then we wouldn't have to pay for anything."

Leia shook her head. "They'll expect documentation then, medical records from when you first lost it and the surgeries you had... we won't be able to fake all that."

"Ugh, yeah, you're probably right." He closed the hinge on his prosthetic hand and held it up. "Plus, there's a serial number on this thing that will say 'property of Darth Ignis' if they run it through a database."

Leia folded her arms and leaned against the side of the worktable. "So we either have to go somewhere outside of the Empire or find a facility that will do it under the table. Either way, we'll have to pay a lot."

Luke tapped his repaired fingers on the table. "I can still fight left-handed," he said. "It's not like I'm crippled. It might even be an advantage. My style is different now and Father won't be used to it."

"You're better with your right," Leia said, not leaving any room for argument.

Luke shot her an annoyed look. "I know that, but I'm saying I think I'm good enough with my left to manage."

"I'd rather we had every advantage we can get."

Luke shrugged. "I'd rather we had a troop of trained gundarks to take with us but sometimes good enough is the best you can do."

--

The Outer Rim planet they'd picked was a small world dotted with agricultural settlements on its single habitable continent.

There was only one spaceport, which made it easy to pick a landing site. They had enough credits to pay for a cheap berth at the public docks on the outskirts and to refuel the ship, but the small amount of currency the Alliance had given them wouldn't stretch much farther.

The port itself doubled as a vast outdoor market. It must have been harvest season as there were hundreds of carts and speeders lining the streets and every plaza was packed with farmers selling their produce and merchants hawking their wares.

"At least food is cheap here," Leia said, and ate another one of the crispy fritters she'd gotten from a street vendor. She wasn't entirely sure what they were made out of, but they tasted like a sweet root vegetable. She wondered if it was the same misshapen, purple tuber that was heaped in great piles around the market stalls. Whatever it was, it seemed to be a cash crop here.

"We'll have to get a new ship," Luke said and took one of her fritters without asking. Their Rebellion-issued transport had stood out from all of the utilitarian cargo vessels at the docks. That shouldn't be a problem on a distant planet like this where there was no Imperial presence to speak of, but it would be much harder to go unnoticed closer to the Empire.

"I guess we could sell it..." Leia said. "Or try to trade it in."

Luke made a face. "Even if we can get a decent price for that thing, there might not be any ships here we want to buy."

"So we'll hire one," Leia said.

Luke gave her a skeptical look. "Then we'll have to come up with some kind of story to explain who we are and where we're going," Deception had never been their forte. They were much better at boldly rushing into situations than finessing them.

"It doesn't have to be a good story as long as it gets us there," Leia said and popped another fritter in her mouth.

They stopped in at a small cafe with charging stations and a Holonet connection. Leia skimmed the Imperial news feeds and gathered from the lack of gloating headlines that the Rebellion's secret relocation to Hoth had been successful thus far. The destruction of the Death Star was being spun as an unfortunate military accident that the Alliance was falsely claiming to have caused. Leia wondered if anyone actually believed the propaganda channels. It all seemed so ridiculous to her, but then she'd grown up knowing most of it was outright lies.

"Hey, look at this," Luke said, and turned the datapad he was holding around to show her something. On the screen, she recognized the formatting of an Imperial warrant. Side-by-side at the top were holographs of the two of them looking sullen and uncomfortable in stiff gray uniforms. Beneath their unsmiling faces was the text "Reward for Information Leading to Capture."

Are those our academy holos? Leia grimaced. "They could have picked better images."

"Interesting that it's only for information," Luke said and turned the datapad back around. There's nothing about bringing us in alive or dead.

Probably because Father is supposed to do it himself, Leia said. How much is the reward?

10,000 credits.

Only 10,000? she scoffed. That's almost insulting.

Right? It should be way more than that. We're valuable targets!

Maybe they don't want anyone getting cocky and trying to take us in themselves. That's good for us though. It won't be hard to tip someone off to our presence and wait for Father to show up looking for us.

Luke nodded. Yeah, but we better keep our heads down for now. I doubt there are many bounty hunters or spies on a backwater like this, but we wouldn't want to get caught before we're ready.

Leia adjusted her hood so it covered more of her face. They'd swapped out their Alliance jackets for generic traveling cloaks to blend in with the other visitors at the port. Still, it would be obvious to anyone paying attention that they weren't farmers or merchants here for the harvest.

This is exactly why we can't go back to the Rebellion, Leia said. They're incredibly vulnerable right now. We can't risk the Empire tracking us and uncovering the new base.

Luke nodded, although he looked unhappy about it. Yeah, you're probably right. They wouldn't thank us for bringing Father right to their doorstep.

--

They asked around at the market for a place to find ships for hire and were directed to a series of dingy cantinas near the docks where the off-world crews tended to hang out. The first two places they visited were duds. The drinkers there were all members of cargo vessels with no room for or interest in taking on passengers.

At the third cantina, they finally spotted a likelier prospect: a Wookiee and a human man drinking in the corner who stood out from their surroundings nearly as much as Luke and Leia did. They were the wrong kind of grimy for the clientele at this port. Instead of hardscrabble shippers or small-scale merchants, they look more like pirates on the run.

They've got a ship, and they're desperate, Leia said. Can you feel it?

Luke nodded. Yeah, let's test them out.

"Can we buy you two a drink?" Luke asked as they approached the booth.

The Wookiee let out a disapproving roar and Luke backed up, his hands held out apologetically. The man swatted the Wookiee on the shoulder and the creature lowered his voice into a disapproving murmur.

"What'd you want?" the man asked, eyeing the two of them up and down. He didn't seem very impressed with Luke, but his eyes widened when he took in Leia's face under her hood. "Excuse my friend's rudeness," he said and quickly pulled out a chair for her with a rakish smile. "I'd be happy to share a table with such... pleasant companions."

Leia gave the man a dry look, but took the chair he'd offered. Luke signaled to the server to bring another round for the whole table. You talk, he told Leia. He likes you. I'll listen.

Likes me! Leia wanted to argue, but she didn't need the Force to tell her Luke was right. It was obvious in the way the man was smiling at her. She sensed that he had a weakness for women, but wasn't half as suave as he thought he was.

Once Luke had pulled over a chair from another table and sat down, Leia turned to the man. "We're looking for a ship. One that can take us to the Western Reaches. And quickly."

"Well, you picked the right table then," the man said and winked at her. "Han Solo, at your service, captain of the Millennium Falcon." He leaned back and rested his elbows on the edge of the booth behind him and gave them a wide, cocky smile.

When Luke and Leia both stared at him blankly, Solo elaborated with an undertone of annoyance. "The Falcon's the fastest ship in the Outer Territories. I once made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs."

Is that fast? Leia asked Luke.

I guess? It's a smugglers route. Spice runners use it.

Figures.

The Wookiee made a noise of complaint and Solo pointed at him with his thumb. "Oh, and this here is my first mate, Chewbacca."

Chewbacca growled at them in greeting. Neither Luke nor Leia spoke Shyriiwook, so they just nodded.

The server arrived with their drinks and put down three cups of the local ale and something in a much larger container for the Wookiee. Solo took a healthy swig from his glass and let out a satisfied sigh. Leia sniffed her ale and took a small sip. It was a bit watery and an odd purple color, but it didn't taste bad. She thought she might even come to like it.

"It's made from the tubers they grow here," Solo said to Leia, like he thought his knowledge of the local brewing techniques might impress her. "That's why it's purple."

"We don't need to make conversation," Leia said.

Solo laughed. "Fine, fine, where are you looking to go? The Western Reaches is a big place."

Leia glanced at Luke and he nodded. Tell him. He's no Imperial spy. He's too worried about the bounty on his own head.

She turned back to Solo. "Amesh."

"Amesh?" Solo repeated in a doubtful tone of voice.

"It's in the Tashtor sector. Our father's sick," Leia said, trying out the story they'd come up with earlier. "We have to get to him as quickly as possible."

He doesn't believe you, Luke said. But he also doesn't really care.

"Oh, I can get you there quickly," Solo said and smirked. "The Falcon has a zero point five class hyperdrive."

"Zero point five?" Luke sat up in shock, forgetting that he was supposed to be a silent observer for this conversation.

Solo's smile widened. "That's right."

"On a small ship?" Luke said. "That must be incredibly unstable. How often do you burn out the hyperdrive?"

"The Falcon's very stable!" Solo said, reacting as if Luke had insulted his mother. "The point is, she's twice as fast as any Imperial warship, which is speed you're going to need in the Tashtor sector. That's right at the edges of the Empire where there's a big risk of running into patrols." He raised a warning finger and pointed it at Leia like she might not realize that.

"We're aware," Leia said. "That won't be a problem? Will it?"

Solo shrugged. "No, no problem, but it is... costlier. Generally my clients are looking to avoid any, uh, Imperial entanglements."

"It would be better if we could avoid them," Leia admitted. "But patrols won't be an issue for us if it isn't for you."

"No, no." Solo smiled easily, the picture of innocence. "There are some people I might like to avoid, but I doubt any of them will be hanging out around Amesh."

He wants to stay out of Hutt space, Luke told her. He must have crossed one of the crime lords there.

Leia gave a slight nod without looking at him. We might be able to use that.

"How much?" she asked out loud.

Solo shrugged and leaned back. He looked up at the ceiling and moved his fingers as if he was calculating in his head. "Including the supplies, extra fuel for outrunning any Imperial cruisers, and a small nuisance fee, I think 12,000 should be enough."

"12,000 credits?" she said in shock.

Luke snorted. "We can find a cheaper ship than that, even here."

"Sure," Solo said. "If you don't mind riding on the back of an agricultural transport on top of a pile of tubers. That should get you out to the Western Reaches in about, oh, I don't know—half of a cycle?"

Leia gave Luke a resigned look. I hate to say it, but he's probably right.

Luke sighed. Yeah, given the lack of passenger ships at the docks, I don't think we have many options.

"12,000 is still too much," Leia said.

"Well, then I guess you're going to have to walk to Amesh," Solo said with a shrug.

String him along, Luke said. He's desperate enough.

"What if we got you five now," Leia said. "And another ten when we arrive."

"15,000?" Solo's face went blank for a moment and Leia felt a rush of genuine relief from him before he broke out in a huge smile. "Congratulations, you've got yourselves a ship!"

He held up his glass and waited until Luke and Leia lifted theirs as well. They knocked their ales together and drank to seal the deal.

--

"I'm not sure we can get 5,000 for the transport," Leia said once they were out of the cantina.

"We can, it's worth at least twice that for the parts alone, even out here."

"Anyone who buys it will know why we're eager to sell," Leia pointed out. "We're not going to get a fair price."

"We can make it work," Luke promised.

Leia wasn't nearly as confident as he felt. Her hand went to the pendant underneath her cloak, but she resisted the urge to bring it up. It was surely worth a lot, but she should save it for when they were really desperate.

We're not going to have to pawn your necklace, Luke said. There are plenty of ways for us to earn a few credits, even on a backwater like this.

I'm not picking tubers in a field, Leia said.

Luke laughed out loud. That wasn't what I was going to suggest, but I guess that's also an option.

I'm not performing Force skills and busking for coins in the market either.

"Noted," Luke said with a snort. "Come on, I want to try those junkyards on the outskirts first. I think they'll be our best bet."

The edges of the settlement were ringed by a series of gates that served as shield generators during times of unrest. Outside of the gates, the countryside mainly consisted of vast, empty fields that looked like they had been recently harvested alongside sprawling junkyards full of rusting old spaceships and broken droids.

One benefit of the Rebellion transport was that it had been designed with a very common engine model that was used in many different types of ships, making it useful to cannibalize and sell for parts. Luke and Leia approached the first junkyard they saw, but went away disappointed after receiving an offer of only a measly 3,000 credits. They circled around the edges of the settlement to the next junkyard and haggled with the owner there, who they found more amenable in part because he was eager to seal a deal that his competition had been unable to achieve. When the second junkyard owner still didn't make them a high enough offer, they went back to the first and managed to get him to double his price by playing him against the other man. Luke even imitated Obi-Wan and used a Jedi mind trick to convince him to throw in a few hundred extra credits just to keep them from going back to his rival for another round of bargaining.

"Not bad, eh?" Luke asked, patting the datastick with the credits on it in his pocket as they walked back after delivering the ship.

"I don't know how you managed to do that without him realizing he was being manipulated," Leia said. She could make someone do what she wanted, but they could always tell what was happening and hated her for it the whole time.

"You have to use a light touch," he said. "Like Master Obi-Wan. Find something they're already inclined to do and make it a suggestion that they want to follow." He made the mind trick gesture at her and she felt the slightest brush inside her head as he said, "You want to give me your extra ration bar."

She shot him an unimpressed look but handed it to him anyway.

"See, it worked!" He opened the bar and took a bite. "And you didn't even feel manipulated."

"I didn't say that." She tugged on the edge of her hood and kept her face neutral as she added mentally, We've picked up a tail. He was hanging around at the gate when we walked past.

Are we about to get jumped? Luke was careful not to look behind them, but his hand dropped down to where his lightsaber was hidden under his cloak. They were on one of the quieter streets at the edges of the spaceport. There were only a few other pedestrians and two stalls with sleepy vendors tending their wares.

No, he's been trying to get a look at our faces.

"Ah." Luke waited until they turned down a corner and glanced over his shoulder. There were several people on the street behind them, but one figure in a long robe looked particularly furtive. The man blinked rapidly and turned away when he noticed Luke glancing in his direction.

There was a fabric stall displaying colorful bolts of cloth on the next block and they walked around it to get out of the spy's line of sight.

So should we let him? Luke said. This could work to our advantage now that we have a ship chartered.

Leia wrinkled her nose. I don't love the idea of giving a payday to informer scum like that.

He won't get paid unless we're caught, Luke said. It's for information leading to capture.

Leia considered it some more and made an irritated noise. I guess so then. It's too good of an opportunity to miss now that we have a ship. If we're lucky, they'll concentrate their search out here while we're on our way to the other side of the galaxy. But we'll have to find Solo and leave quickly once we do it.

They walked to a food cart on the next corner and ordered another helping of fried tubers, pushing their hoods back to eat. The spy fumbled around with the holocamera up his sleeve as he pretended to browse the shelves at the cloth merchant's stall. He was so nervous that Leia could see him shaking from the other end of the street. He must have had some inkling of who they actually were. She hoped he'd gotten at least one clear image, otherwise the whole exercise would be a waste of time for all of them.

After a long few minutes and a dozen more holocamera snaps, the spy decided that he'd risked his neck enough. He wandered away, walking with an exaggerated air of casualness and at an excruciatingly slow pace.

Finally, Luke said once the spy disappeared into an alleyway.

Do I look, okay? Leia asked. Maybe they'll use one of those shots instead of our academy holos.

You look terrible, Luke said. Who did your hair? Me?

She threw a tuber at him.

--

They went straight to the docks and looked for the berth where the Millennium Falcon was supposed to be. They hadn't actually set a time for their departure, but Solo had said he would be ready to leave whenever Luke and Leia (and their credits) arrived.

The public docks had open berths, so they were able to walk right in and see the ships lined up. They walked past dozens of cargo vessels before finally finding the one they were looking for.

"Oh no," Luke said as soon as he saw the old Corellian light freighter. "What a piece of junk!"

There was a cough from somewhere behind the ship and Han Solo emerged from under the aft side. "She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts." He was carrying a rag and cleaning off his hands like he had been making repairs. "On top of the advanced hyperdrive, I've added a lot of special modifications myself."

Luke looked doubtfully up at the top of the ship. "Were you the one that modified the forward deflector?"

Solo tucked the rag into his belt and narrowed at his eyes. "Maybe."

"Well, I hope you did better work on the engines then."

"Listen, kid," Solo said and stepped closer to poke Luke in the chest. "Why don't you let me worry about my ship while you kick back and enjoy the trip to the Western Reaches?"

Luke was about to respond but Leia shot him a glare. Could we not antagonize him right to his face before he's supposed to fly us across the galaxy?

Luke raised his hands in a conciliatory gesture. Solo sneered at him in response before turning away and starting up the ramp to the ship.

You don't even like him! Luke pointed out

Yeah, but I also don't want him to space us and steal our money because you insulted his stupid ship.

He wants the second half of his payment, he's not going to space us.

"Well? Shall we?" Solo asked, standing at the top of the ramp and gesturing for them to come aboard. His eyes had narrowed and he studied them as they approached like he thought there was something off about them. Most people didn't pick up on the fact that they could speak to each other via the Force, but the long silences while they communicated tended to make them feel awkward or creeped out.

They went inside and Solo showed them to the small crew lounge at the center of the ship. Luke sat down on a bench seat with a built-in holochess table while Leia stayed standing with her arms folded. She felt reluctant to touch anything on board. There was a slight griminess to every surface like nothing inside the ship had been cleaned in years.

"Make yourselves comfortable," Solo said as he crossed the room and headed for a corridor at the front of the ship. "We'll take off momentarily."

Luke got up and followed him, but Solo stopped him with a hand on his chest. "You're not sitting in the cockpit, kid."

"Why not?" Luke said. "There's room for all of us, isn't there?"

"I don't like backseat pilots," Solo said.

Luke snorted. "That shouldn't matter if you're as good of a pilot as you think you are."

"I am exactly as good a pilot as I think I am," Solo said, but he moved back and waved his hands in defeat. "Whatever. Sit where you want, just keep your mouth shut."

Leia rolled her eyes at both of them and followed Luke and Solo into the cockpit. It was cramped, but there was space for four crew members to sit. Leia took the seat behind Chewbacca and strapped herself in while Luke leaned over Solo's shoulder and studied the readings on one of the instrument panels.

"The engines are running a little hot," Luke said. "Are you sure the sublight is venting okay?"

Chewbacca made an irritated grumble.

"She runs hot," Solo snapped before turning to Leia and saying, "Sweetheart, would you please tell your boyfriend to sit down before he gets knocked down?"

Behind him, Luke mouthed "boyfriend?" in the same instant that Leia said, "Sweetheart?"

Han glanced at Leia before swiveling his chair around to face forward. "What, you don't get a lot of endearments? Color me shocked."

He's a real charmer, Leia said with a look at Luke.

Boyfriend? he said again and finally sat down.

Oh, let him assume whatever he wants. It's better that way.

Solo cleared their takeoff with the port authority and started the engines. There was an unpleasant shudder as the ship achieved lift off but they managed to fly up through the atmosphere relatively smoothly.

Leia was starting to think that they were home free when multiple alarms went off and a light started flashing inside the cockpit.

"What's that?" Luke asked.

"Probably just the—whoa!" Solo stopped and leaned down to look closer at the scanner display. "Hold on, there's something big coming up on the sensors. It must have been in orbit behind the planet."

Leia reached out into the Force and gasped as she caught a sense of the huge, bulky ship approaching them. "It's a Star Destroyer."

It can't be—? Luke said. Already!?

No, I don't sense him, do you?

No, no, you're right.

"Don't be ridiculous," Solo was saying. "You don't get Star Destroyers this far out in the—" He stopped when the stark-white wedge of the Imperial ship became visible in front of them. "Oh, hell."

"They're about to scramble fighters," Luke said and jumped up. "Where are the gun batteries?"

"They won't have time to reach us," Solo said, but Chewbacca roared and motioned toward one side of the ship. Luke took off down the corridor in the direction he had pointed.

"Everybody stay calm," Solo said as he spun around and began punching coordinates into the navi computer. "I'll have us out of here in no time." To illustrate his point, he flipped a switch and gestured out the viewscreen. "And... punch it!"

Chewbacca pulled a lever. The ship made a grinding noise and failed to do anything to prove Solo's point. Chewbacca let out a long trill of frustration and slammed his fist down on the instrument panel in front of him.

"No, no, I fixed that," Solo said.

"Was that noise the hyperdrive?" Leia asked in disbelief.

"It's just the—" Solo cleared his throat and managed a quick smile at her. "The, uh, manifold must have come loose again." He got up and climbed out of his seat, elbowing past Leia. "Chewy, evasive maneuvers! Keep us out of range of their tractor beam. I'll have it fixed in a jiffy."

Chewbacca roared something at him as he ran out of the cockpit.

"In a jiffy!" Solo shouted back over his shoulder.

We should have gone with one of the agricultural transports, Leia sent to Luke before sighing and closing her eyes.

She reached out, scanning the Star Destroyer and searching for any minds she could catch hold of. The ship felt like a distant insect hive; it was full of thoughts, most of them too scattered and insubstantial for her to pick up. She searched for someone with purpose, someone with the authority of command, and finally found a mind that she could get hooks into. She knew him. It was one of the lieutenants from Father's flagship. He'd been promoted and was in charge of his own ship for the first time, The Conservator. He and several other Star Destroyers had been sent far beyond the edges of the Empire to search for Luke and Leia. The Conservator had happened to be closest when the report of their location came in and they'd jumped straight away to the planet to intercept them. The captain was tense. The ship they were chasing was surprisingly fast and they hadn't been able to get a lock on it. If they failed, this would be entirely on his shoulders. No other Imperial ship would be able to get here for another three hours.

Luke, there's only one Destroyer, Leia sent him. We just need to hold them off and escape.

The ship convulsed as they took fire to the rear deflector shield.

One is more than enough to take out this piece of junk. She sensed Luke twisting around in the swivelling seat of the gun battery and firing back at the fighters strafing them. Go see what's taking so long with the hyperdrive, will you?

Leia blinked as her eyes refocused on her surroundings. She got to her feet and left Chewbacca in the cockpit to go looking for Solo. She found him at the back of the ship hanging upside-down inside a compartment that opened up to reveal some vital part of the hyperdrive.

"Chewy, can you get me the hydrospanner?" Solo called and motioned to a toolbox sitting on the floor without looking at her.

Leia got the hydrospanner he'd indicated and held it out to him.

"Thanks—!" He did a double-take when he looked up and nearly tipped over into the compartment. "Sweetheart, you should really be strapped down somewhere."

"I don't think having my seat buckled is going to help much when we're boarded."

"We're not getting boarded!" Solo reached down and tightened a bolt with the hydrospanner. "Not again."

"Is this a recurring problem!?" Leia said. "I feel like that's the sort of thing you should disclose before taking on passengers."

Solo sat up and tossed the hydrospanner back to her. "See if you can reach that," he said, and climbed out of the compartment.

"Uh..." Leia thought he was joking at first but he ran to the opposite wall and started making adjustments on an instrument panel there. Leia climbed down where he had been hanging a moment before and tried to reach for the bolt. She got the hydrospanner in place and then promptly got knocked sideways as the ship shuddered under fire.

We're getting swarmed by TIE fighters! Luke said, his voice too loud in her head and somewhat panicked. I can't hold them off much longer!

"Luke can't hold them off for much longer," Leia shouted at Solo. "They'll have us in their tractor beam any minute now!"

"Give it a quarter turn," Solo shouted back. "That should do it."

Leia twisted her arm and managed to get the hydrospanner realigned. She gave it a twist. "There!"

There was a grinding noise as Solo did something at the control panel and then the hyperdrive beneath her roared to life. Leia climbed out of the compartment and tossed the hydrospanner into the toolbox.

"Chewy, punch it!" Solo said into his communicator. "Brace yourself," he added, pointing at her.

"On what?" Leia said.

The roar grew louder and then peaked in the high-pitched whine of a hyperspace engine achieving jump. Leia lost her balance and was thrown across the floor on her back. She slammed hard into Solo's legs. He fell over and ended up half on top of her with his arms braced on either side of her head.

Solo laughed right next to her ear. "Told you I'd have us out of here in a jiffy!"

"Ugh." She shoved him off of her and got to her feet.

--

Leia went back to the center of the ship and found Luke sitting in the lounge area next to the holochess table. "Well," he said. "At least we got away."

Leia wrinkled her nose. What if they're able to track us somehow or guess where we were going?

Unless Solo already sold us out, there's no way for them to be tracking us and there's no reason they'd expect us to head to Amesh. We picked it because it's an odd location that we have no real reason to go to.

But they'll know we're on this ship... and it's not exactly inconspicuous.

So we find a way to use that, Luke said.

There was a self-satisfied laugh from down the corridor and Solo emerged from the engine room. He threw himself down on the bench seat next to Luke and kicked his feet up on the holochess table. "Well, you can forget your troubles with those Imperial slugs. I told you I'd outrun 'em."

Leia gave him an unimpressed look and wondered if there was any scenario where he wouldn't end up congratulating himself for a job well done.

Solo seemed disappointed when Luke and Leia didn't immediately profess their deep thanks and admiration of his piloting skills. He grumbled something under his breath and got back up to look at something on an instrument panel across the room.

After checking the instruments, Solo turned back to them and said, "We should get to Amesh by oh three hundred, so make yourselves comfortable."

"Thanks." Leia dared to hope that he would go back to the cockpit and leave them alone. She was disappointed as instead Solo crossed his arms and leaned against the workbench behind him. He stared at both of them with a thoughtful, scheming expression.

"So," Solo said, seemingly having decided something. "Luke, eh?"

Luke gave him a doubtful look. "Yes... Han?"

"Pretty impressive, huh?" Solo pressed. "Not bad for an old piece of junk?"

"Sure," Luke said. "Very impressive."

Leia rolled her eyes. "Shouldn't you be flying right now?"

"Chewy's keeping an eye on things," Solo said. "And there's not much to worry about while we're in hyperspace." He pointed at Leia and added, "Now your name, I didn't get."

"Do you need it?" Leia asked.

Solo shrugged. "I guess that's up to you, sweetheart."

Leia sighed. "If I tell you, will you stop calling me that?"

"Calling you what?" Solo asked and blinked at her innocently.

"It's Leia, not sweetheart," she said with another roll of her eyes.

"Hm, Luke and Leia," Solo said and scratched his chin.

"What about it?" Leia said. There was no way their names could mean anything to him, but it made her nervous that he was acting so interested. As much as she hated their Sith titles, it was useful that their personal names weren't known by anyone outside of the Emperor's very exclusive court circle.

"Nothing," Solo said. "They're just good names is all. They go together." He pushed off of the workbench and walked past Leia on his way toward the cockpit. "I'm going to check on Chewy."

"Great," Leia said. "Glad to see you actually do something around here, Han."

As soon as he was gone she went and sat next to Luke, who gave her a concerned look. We'd better be careful with him. He'd sell us out in a Coruscanti minute.

Leia nodded. Good thing it's a short trip with that souped up hyperdrive.

--

They had several hours to kill until their arrival in the Tashtor sector. Luke stretched out on his back on the bench seat and took a nap, which left Leia without anyone to talk to. Out of sheer boredom, she ended up in the cockpit seated behind Han watching the stars streak past the viewscreen.

Han had been busy checking something on the instrument panel when she came in, but he soon shifted his attention to her.

"So what's your story, Leia?" he asked, overly casual as he glanced at her and then back out the front of the ship. "Who's dear, old dad?"

Leia thought about ignoring him. He was clearly suspicious of them and it would be better not to risk accidentally giving him any new information, but then again it was a good opportunity to run their cover story past a skeptical listener.

"He's retired," she said eventually. "Former military. He went to Amesh for his health."

Han made a thoughtful noise. "It's a shame how the Empire doesn't take care of its veterans."

Leia cleared her throat but let that pass by without comment.

"And what about you?" Han asked, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. "Didn't want to follow in dad's footsteps?"

"Something like that," Leia said.

Han chuckled. "Deserters, huh?"

That made her sit up and lean forward sharply. "What makes you say that?"

She didn't wait for an answer, diving into his mind and pulling on the thread of his thoughts. She found memories of their military bearing and Luke's tailored boots as the source of his assumptions. He'd pegged them as AWOL Imperials from the moment he saw them in the cantina.

As she probed his mind, Han's forehead creased and his eyes grew unfocused. He could feel her digging, but he didn't understand what the sensation was. To people unfamiliar with the Force, her influence usually presented as a slight headache and a disconnected feeling of violation.

When she released him, Han blinked and shook his head like he was trying to wake himself back up.

"Huh," Leia said. "You're smarter than you look."

Han opened his mouth and paused a moment before deciding to take that as a compliment. "Thanks, I hear that a lot."

"I bet you do," Leia said and got to her feet. "But I'd keep any of your other clever deductions to yourself from now on."

Han let out a breathy laugh. "Are you saying you don't like a talker? I don't have to talk."

Leia rolled her eyes. It was unfortunate how attractive he was when he smiled in that cocky, self-satisfied way.

As she turned to go, Han shouted after her, "I can be very quiet!"

Luke was awake when Leia returned to the crew lounge area at the center of the ship. He was still stretched out on the bench seat, but he lifted his head when she approached.

"Please do not sleep with him," he said.

"Ew!" Leia gave him a disgusted look.

Luke raised one eyebrow and said nothing in response.

"Look," she said, and folded her arms across her chest. "Just because he's sort of appealing in a scruffy, untrustworthy scoundrel-way doesn't mean I'm interested in slumming it."

"Okay," he said in a disbelieving tone. "I'm just saying, please remember that I am also on this ship and trapped here with you before you decide to have a quickie in the engine room."

"Ugh! I'd rather kiss the Wookiee!" She stomped off to find somewhere else to spend the remaining hours before they reached Amesh.

--

They came out of hyperspace in the Tashtor sector at 03:00 hours, just as Han had predicted. Then entered the system from the outskirts so they could scan for any Imperial ships before proceeding to Amesh. There didn't appear to be any patrols hanging around, but they approached the planet cautiously at a slow velocity.

"Where did you want to get dropped off?" Han asked as he pulled up a list of spaceports on Amesh from the ship's computer.

"Hm, that's a good question," Luke said and looked at Leia.

She shrugged and leaned down to look at the screen over Han's shoulder.

"What do you mean?" Han said. "Aren't you supposed to go meet your 'father'?"

"We're not entirely sure where he is at the moment..." Leia said.

"What?" Han looked at her in confusion. "How are you supposed to rendezvous with him?"

Luke cleared his throat. "It's more of a you-don't-find-me-I-find-you kind of deal."

Han narrowed his eyes like this seemed like nonsense to him, but then he shook his head dismissively. "Whatever, pick somewhere and I'll drop you off. It doesn't matter to me where it is as long as I get paid."

"Uh, about that..." Luke said.

Han turned his chair around slowly to face him, his expression dark. "What about it?"

Luke coughed. "Uh, so, we might need a day or two to get the money together—"

"Excuse me?" Han said. Behind him, Chewbacca growled in disapproval.

Luke held up his hands defensively. "Just a day or two!"

Chewbacca let out a long, angry trill and Han waved a hand at him. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, you don't have to say it. You told me so."

"He told you what?" Leia asked. "That we wouldn't pay you?"

Chewbacca barked something at her that didn't sound complimentary.

"Listen," Luke said. "We can work this out..."

Han ignored all of them and swiveled around in his chair to face the navi computer. He started hitting buttons with vehemence as he punched in new coordinates.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Luke said.

"Reversing coordinates," Han snapped without looking at him. "If you don't have the money then I'm not landing on Amesh."

Stop him! Leia said, waving her hands at Luke. This was your idea.

"Whoa, whoa, hold on," Luke said. He reached out and tried to turn Han's chair away from the computer console. "We can get you the money! We just need to make some arrangements."

"That was not part of the deal!" Han said. He turned around and slapped Luke's hand off of his chair, then grabbed the front of his shirt. "Payment upon arrival! As in immediately!"

"No," Leia said. "We said we'd pay you when we got here. We never specified how soon."

"The immediate was implicit!" Han shouted at her. He was still holding onto Luke's shirt and gave him a rough shake. "I'm not hanging around Amesh while you two pawn everything you own and beg dad for credits!"

"Look," Luke said, his hands held up in the air. "You want the money, don't you?"

"Yes, and I want it now!" Han shouted while Chewbacca roared.

"Okay, okay, but we don't have it now," Luke said. "But we can get it to you, just at a slight delay."

Han sputtered, but he let go of Luke's shirt in favor of waving a finger in his face. "I'm adding a late fee!"

"Late fee?" Leia said. "How much?"

"20% for every 24 hours of delay."

"20%!"

Han spun around to face her fully and switched to pointing at her as he yelled, "20% is standard!"

"Standard where?" she shouted back, leaning forward and getting right back in his face. "Among gangsters and loan sharks!?"

Chewbacca made a concerned trill and then roared, adding to the general din of raised voices.

"Whoa, whoa." Luke elbowed between Han and Leia. "It's fine, that's fine. We won't need that long. We have a plan. We can get you the money in less than 24 hours."

"A plan?" Han said. He seemed to find this extremely unlikely.

"Yes," Luke insisted and exchanged a look with Leia.

She widened her eyes. Are we really...?

Do you have a better idea?

Han looked back and forth between them. He squinted like he was getting a headache or had just figured something out. "Don't do that."

"Do what?" Leia said.

"Whatever you're..." he pointed at her and then at Luke and motioned between them. "Whatever that is. Staring at each other and... communicating. Whatever brain implant or uplink you have. Knock it off, it's rude."

Luke raised his eyebrows and looked at Leia. He's smarter than he looks!

Right?

"What did I just say!" Han shouted.

"Sorry, fine," Luke said, raising his hands. "We'll get you your money and we'll stop talking silently. Are you happy?"

"I'm never happy until I get paid," Han said with a sneer.

"You must be upset a lot then," Leia said.

--

Are you sure about this? Leia asked. Han had stayed in the cockpit to help Chewbacca land while she and Luke waited to depart at the rear hatch. What if I just convince him to drop us off and forget all about the money?

Luke snorted. He's too strong willed for Jedi mind tricks and I don't know about you, but I do not want to see how that Wookiee would respond if Han started acting out of character.

"Ugh," Leia looked over her shoulder and shuddered. I really don't want to have to try to mind control a Wookie.

Me neither. Besides, there's nothing to worry about. We left Father's fleet way out in the Outer Rim and the Imperials in Tashtor will be provincial soldiers from distant outposts, not highly trained commandos. "You'll see," Luke concluded. "It'll be easy."

Leia let out a long sigh. "I sure hope you're right."

The ship jolted and there was a series of loud clunks as they touched down on the ground.

Luke shot her a look. "Anyway, do you have another idea of how we can pay Han off and get an Imperial ship at the same time?"

"No," Leia said. "But I have a bad feeling about this."

Footsteps echoed in the corridor as Han came to join them. "Bad feeling? It's your stupid plan, sister."

"It's not my plan," Leia said. "It's his."

Han gave Luke an ironic look as he hit the controls for the hatch and it hissed open. "No offense, kid."

"You realize you don't need to come with us, right?" Luke said as they walked down the ramp and exited the ship. "It would probably be wiser not to."

"I'm not taking my eyes off of either of you until I've got my money," Han replied.

Chewbacca took off once they were a safe distance away from the Millennium Falcon. They walked up a slope to the top of a small hill and paused to take a look around. They were in the foothills of a barren, dry region below a mountain range. Amesh was not nearly as much of a backwater as the planet they had left behind, but it was still part of the frontier. Most of the planet was covered in empty wilderness interspersed with old, abandoned settlements.

The area where they'd convinced Han to land had once been a communications facility on the outskirts of a closed military post. The hills surrounding them were covered in old satellite antennas with cracked panels and peeling paint. Nearby, about half a klick away, there were several industrial buildings that looked like they'd been constructed on the cheap.

Let's go— Luke started to say silently to Leia before catching himself. "Let's go scout out those warehouses down there."

Leia nodded. "Yes, those look promising."

"What exactly are we looking for?" Han asked as he followed them warily. His hand was on his blaster, although there was no sign of anyone waiting to ambush them in the ruined facility. Based on the amount of lichen growing on the sides of the buildings and the rust all over any exposed metal, the entire site had been abandoned for years.

"We're just looking for the best location to arrange this," Leia explained. "We need an exit plan if it goes badly. The warehouses will give us places to hide if we need them."

Han nodded. "Right, well, those are old shipping containers." He motioned to some dusty crates piled up haphazardly on the ground. "They were probably storing supplies for the facility out here."

They entered the nearest warehouse through a gaping entrance by the loading bays. The service door that had once covered the opening had fallen down and was lying in a pile of broken metal.

Inside, it was dark except for a few high windows which let in beams of light. Dust danced in the air as they walked further inside.

The first floor of the warehouse was largely empty except for a few more discarded shipping containers. Above them, there were two catwalks suspended from the ceiling at different heights and running perpendicular to each other.

"Do you think those would hold our weight?" Luke wondered.

"One way to find out," Leia said. She shifted, preparing to jump, and Luke raised his hands to help her. He gave her a boost as she pushed off the ground and she soared upward toward the nearest catwalk. They overshot, but she managed to grab the railing and swung over it to land on the metal grating. The catwalk shook ominously, but the chains suspending it from the ceiling held.

"What in the—!" Han shouted from below. "Was that a gravity belt?"

"Something like that," Luke replied.

Leia walked along the catwalk, bouncing up and down a few times and shaking the railings. It swayed and groaned but seemed stable enough.

"Can you get to the second one from there?" Luke called to her.

"I think so," Leia said.

While she was preparing to jump, a beep came from below followed by a click as Han answered his communicator. "Yeah, Chewy?"

A long trill came in response.

"Already?" Han said. "Okay, hang tight where you are, I don't want them to notice the Falcon." There was a pause and then he called out, "We're about to have company!"

Leia vaulted over the catwalk's railing and dropped down to land next to where Luke and Han were standing. Han gave her a startled look, but for once he didn't have a snide comment ready.

"That was fast," she said.

"No kidding," Luke said. "Okay, let's wait here then."

Han's communicator beeped and Chewbacca said something that sounded gruffer than earlier. "Yeah?" Han said to him. "So send them my communicator's coordinates."

"Hey, Han," Luke said. "Can you ask him what kind of ships they have?"

"Uh, sure?" Han relayed the question to Chewbacca and then translated his response. "Chewy says there's one ship approaching that looks pretty slow and boxy, likely a dropship."

Luke groaned. "I guess it was too much to hope they'd have a Lambda-class shuttle."

"We can always turn the dropship into an upgrade later," Leia said.

"Upgrade?" Han said, but Leia didn't elaborate.

As they waited in the dusty warehouse, Luke and Leia were calm and focused, while Han kept pacing around in circles. It struck Leia that Jedi training had actually done her some good. She didn't feel tense at all now that a confrontation was looming. Instead of worrying about what was to come, she reached out into the Force and focused on its enveloping presence. Tremors were passing through it, swells of anticipation that had formed in the future and washed backward into the present where they broke against Leia's mind. She couldn't get a clear sense of what they foretold, only that something was about to happen.

There was a dull roar as a ship passed overhead, followed by a gust of wind as it landed. Moments later, booted feet thundered outside. The footsteps started near the front of the warehouse, but soon echoed all the way around it as the building was surrounded. Leia shifted her weight, but kept her stance loose and comfortable. Luke was equally relaxed at her side.

There was a long, pregnant pause once the perimeter was secured before shadows began moving by the loading bay. The bright light from the doorway flickered as silhouettes crossed in front of the entrance and began to filter into the warehouse. It was a group of Stormtroopers with blasters drawn. Han startled at the sight of them and backed away from where Luke and Leia were standing.

It took a moment for the Stormtroopers to notice the three of them standing at the center of the warehouse. Leia reflexively turned on her lightsaber as they approached, but Luke put his hand on her arm and coaxed her into lowering it.

"Weapons down!" one of the Stormtroopers shouted at them, his voice distorted and flattened by his helmet's vocoder. "Hands in the air!"

Luke and Leia both unclipped their lightsabers and tossed them on the ground before raising their hands over their heads.

The Stormtroopers came closer with a fidgety nervousness. They moved like a group of prey animals approaching a predator. Other Stormtroopers entered the warehouse behind them as back up. Luke and Leia were outnumbered a dozen to one, yet none of the soldiers in the lead group seemed eager to step forward and arrest them.

The Stormtrooper who had ordered them to put their hands up threw two pairs of binders on the ground and made them put them on each other. Once they were both theoretically restrained, the Stormtroopers finally came close enough to take them into custody.

Luke and Leia were quickly swamped and separated by a wall of white. One Stormtrooper started patting Leia down and found the vibroblade in her boot, which was very annoying—she'd just bought that from a merchant at the agricultural market!

When they were satisfied she was disarmed, another Stormtroopers grabbed Leia's bound hands and pulled her forward with a jerk. As she let herself be dragged toward the exit, she heard Han somewhere behind her making a commotion.

"Wait, wait, wait," he was shouting. She looked over her shoulder and saw several Stormtroopers had him surrounded and were trying to get him into binders. "Don't arrest me! I'm the one who turned them in!"

"You're scum, Solo!" Leia yelled at him without any heat.

Han stood up on his tiptoes so he could see her and smiled winningly as he winked over the heads of the Stormtroopers. "Nice doing business with you, sweetheart!"

Before she could yell any insults in response, a Stormtrooper pushed her from behind and shouted, "Keep moving!"

Leia coughed. "I am moving."

She squinted against the bright light outside as they exited the warehouse. A boxy dropship was parked nearby on an open expanse of dusty ground. Leia expected to be hustled onto the ship right away, but instead the Stormtroopers came to a stop in front of it. They formed a circle and stood guard with Luke and Leia at the center.

Luke was staring in disappointment at the dropship, which looked very outdated. It was essentially a large, metal box with two thrusters strapped to the bottom. We should let them take us all the way back to their base, he suggested. We'll have our pick of ships to steal there.

Leia ignored him as she twisted her head around and looked at the blank, white helmets of the Stormtroopers surrounding them. They were being oddly quiet. She didn't hear any radio chatter at all. Are they waiting for something? Why are they all just standing there?

Luke sensed what was coming before she did and Leia caught his fear before she understood its source.

Do you feel that? he asked with an urgent press at her mind.

She gasped as it hit her. The approaching presence felt like a blackhole rising over the horizon: a dark core of intense anger and cold darkness that sucked in everything in its path.

Father was coming to get them.

A cold sweat broke out all over Leia's body. This had been such a terrible idea.

How could he possibly have arrived so fast? Luke said. Did they know where we went?

It doesn't matter, Leia responded. We need to get out of here!

But Solo hasn't even—

Forget him! Turning ourselves in was an idiotic plan anyway.

"Well, yes," Luke admitted out loud.

"No talking!" one of the Stormtroopers nearest to him barked.

The binders on Leia's wrists clinked as she raised her hands and held them up with her palms facing out. Beside her, Luke closed his eyes and concentrated. The Stormtroopers startled as two speeding projectiles hurtled through the air above their heads. Their plastoid armor creaked as they spun around in confusion trying to track the incoming missiles.

The two lightsabers flew into Leia's hands with a satisfying smack against her palms. Luke opened his eyes at the same instant and drew his hands apart, snapping the binders off of both their wrists.

Leia ignited her blade and tossed Luke's saber to him. Several of the Stormtroopers had started shooting at them by then, but it was already too late. Leia deflected their fire easily with her lightsaber while Luke sliced through two Stormtroopers who had been foolish enough to try and rush him.

"Whoa!" Han shouted from somewhere behind them. "How about a warning before you start a commotion!"

"Han, you should get out of here," Leia shouted and twisted around to deflect another blaster bolt. As she crouched down, she caught a glimpse of Han running away behind the warehouse. The sight of his fleeing back was soon blocked by more Stormtroopers rushing up to try and recapture them.

A shadow passed overhead and an Imperial transport flew in to hover above them. Its wings began folding up as it prepared to land. It looked like Luke would get his Lamda-class shuttle after all—assuming they managed to fight their way out of this.

She felt a wave of panic as Father reached out and attempted to overwhelm her senses, but she blocked him easily. Her ability to shield and to control her own emotions had improved tremendously under Obi-Wan and Yoda's instruction. Maybe they could actually do this? Was it possible they'd already surpassed their father after only a few months of Jedi training?

Stormtroopers, Luke cut in, interrupting her thoughts. They're trying to form up—to protect the shuttle. He was blocking a barrage of blaster bolts and his words were choppy as he sent them to Leia in snatched moments of focus. If we cut through them—and get on board—that's our best chance—

We just run away then?

Yes!

She sensed an attack coming from behind and spun around with her hand extended as she pushed out with the Force. Three Stormtroopers approaching her were sent flying.

Our only chance! Luke said. Disable or distract him—get on board—take off.

But what if we can do this now? Maybe we should try and face him.

Leia got a sharp negative in response from Luke before he was distracted again. A group of Stormtroopers had exited the dropship with a heavy repeating blaster cannon and they were attempting to set it up. Probably they were meant to provide cover fire for the shuttle and its passenger, but before they could get the cannon attached to the tripod base, Luke leapt into the air and landed in their midst. His lightsaber twirled over his head in a brilliant flash of red before he cut them down with quick, economical strikes.

Leia heard the breathing first. It seemed very loud, the sound of it amplified by a Force trick or perhaps only by her own fear. For a frozen moment all she could hear was that slow inhale and exhale—that, and the rising drumbeat of her own heart. But, wait, no, this wasn't her fear. It was external. Sending terror ahead of him was one of Father's favorite tactics to unbalance his opponents.

Leia centered herself and shook off Father's influence. She strengthened her shields and envisioned a wall of ice surrounding both her and Luke.

The shuttle had kicked up dust when it landed, adding to the haze of smoke already hanging in the air from the fight. Father emerged from it like a shape out of a nightmare. At first he was only a dark shadow, his outline growing clearer as he moved closer, and finally becoming solid as he switched on his lightsaber.

The remaining Stormtroopers retreated, clearing the ground between the warehouse and the ships and leaving the three of them to face each other alone. Luke edged away from Father until he was standing next to Leia. They took the same defensive pose side-by-side with their lightsabers held on guard in front of them.

Father's steps were slow and measured. He would have appeared leisurely, except Leia knew that he used such deliberate movements to disguise the extent to which his damaged body hampered him.

Hold back, Luke said. Let him attack first.

Yes.

He'll go after me since I'm weaker, Luke added. Try and get past him to the ship while his attention is on me.

Are you sure we should—

The thought was cut short as Father raised his lightsaber and brought his free hand up in a beckoning motion. Leia was ripped off of her feet and thrown to the ground.

She scraped up both of her arms on the hard-packed earth before she was able to break free of his power. While she was sidelined, Father swept forward and attacked Luke with a series of rapid strikes. Their blades crackled as they clashed.

Back on her feet, Leia had an opening—there were only three Stormtroopers guarding the front of the dropship—but before she could rush toward them, she felt a shock of surprise from Luke. A high lightsaber strike had nearly connected with his right shoulder and when he dodged it, Father kicked him in the stomach. He went down, the breath knocked out of him, while Father raised his blade over his head to strike.

Leia sprinted toward where Father stood posed above Luke. She crossed the distance between them in an instant and slashed at his back with a wild swing. Father turned to meet her so quickly that it must have pained him. Sparks flew as their blades locked against one another and they each vied to push the other off balance. Father won the contest and forced her back with a twist of his wrist followed by a short stabbing motion. As soon as she was repelled, he turned to parry Luke, who was on his feet again and about to strike.

They continued that way for several passes, both of them trying to distract Father so the other could attack, but failing again and again as he anticipated their movements and managed to counter each of them in turn.

Leia tried a few of the new Jedi Force maneuvers she had learned, but Father was able to block all of them. He hit her with a momentary blast of pain that felt like a knife driving into her forehead. She realized that there was nothing Obi-Wan or Yoda had taught her that Father wouldn't already know. He had been trained by both of them; she couldn't surprise him with any of their tricks.

Luke was flagging by now and he disengaged from the fight to catch his breath. Leia followed his lead and both of them moved out of striking distance. Father stayed in the center of the open space and let them back away without bothering to pursue them.

As Luke wiped the sweat from his face, Leia could feel his growing frustration and the fear underlying it. This was going to be a battle of attrition and they were already worn out while Father seemed barely affected by the fight.

The dropship was still waiting behind Father, but Leia's chest tightened when she saw that the hatch was now closed. The Stormtroopers must have withdrawn inside, yet the ship still hadn't taken off. Maybe they'd been ordered to remain on the ground? That meant there was still hope they might be able to get on board and escape.

Father laughed and the booming rumble of it put Leia's teeth on edge. "You've done well, my children," he said. "But you are no Jedi."

"That's not for you to decide," Luke retorted. "We have new masters now."

Father laughed again. "Obi-Wan couldn't crush your passion or snuff out your anger any more than he could my own. Obi-Wan and—Master Yoda!" Father's helmet lifted, his head tilting back as he unearthed their memories of Dagobah and examined them. "Ah, so he survived the purge." If they could have seen his face, Leia was sure he would be smirking.

"You failed Father," she said. "The Jedi Order still lives."

"For now," Father agreed, sounding almost self-deprecating for a moment before his usual arrogance reasserted itself. "But it matters little. Even Yoda couldn't teach you to wield your true strength. No, he was too afraid of it."

"You're the one who should be afraid!" Luke shouted. In the same instance, he whispered in Leia's head, Retreat. Into the warehouse. Try to lose him there and come back for the ship.

What if the Stormtroopers take off before—

We can't go straight through him, Luke said. So we have to try to divert him. It's our only option.

They started edging backwards, sticking close to each other as they retreated toward the loading bay entrance behind them. Father seemed unconcerned as they gradually drew closer to it. He lowered his lightsaber and held it loosely at his side as if he felt no anxiety at all that they might be able to escape him.

They paused within a few meters of the yawning entrance and tension built as Father watched them. There was a tinge of dark amusement from him, as if all of their desperate plotting and stratagems were only entertainment to him.

Now! Luke said.

As one, they turned and sprinted into the dusty, darkness of the warehouse.

--

The floor of the warehouse was completely empty when Father entered. He held his lightsaber at his side, his guard open and his arms relaxed as he walked across the dusty floor and maneuvered around broken shipping containers. A clatter of metal on metal came from the rear of the building and he turned toward it.

Luke and Leia jumped down from the catwalk, descending upon him in the instant he was distracted. He grunted in surprise as he realized the trap they had sprung on him.

As soon as they landed, they attacked on either side of him and attempted to overwhelm him with a flurry of blows. Father met them strike for strike. His movements were effortless and almost languid, as if fighting both of them at once was nothing but a pleasantly challenging exercise for him.

Time for a change in venue, Luke said as he took a broad swing at Father's head.

It didn't land, of course, but while Father was busy blocking Luke, Leia leapt up toward the catwalk. She landed on the far end of the platform and steadied herself on the railing. Below, Luke darted away from Father and followed her into the air. He landed on the opposite end of the catwalk.

"I'm not here to play games with you," Father grumbled and rested one hand on his hip as he looked up at them.

"Leave us alone then!" Leia shouted at him. "Go back to your ship and tell the Emperor we escaped!"

But, of course, that wasn't an option. He came up after them. While the two of them had leapt upward with acrobatic feats of strength, Father floated. He had such command of the Force that it was as if he was able to temporarily turn off gravity. He landed at the very center of the platform, standing between the two of them.

Leia let out a frustrated cry and threw herself forward. The catwalk quaked under her feet as she rushed at him and put all of her hatred into a powerful overhead strike. It was enough to get his attention, but Father parried easily. His blade was so stable and strong that it felt as if she was swinging a wooden staff against a solid wall. Luke attempted to attack from the other side, but Father gestured with his free hand and pushed him backward before he could get close enough to strike.

Leia caught a glimpse of Luke sliding to a stop and bracing himself on the railing at the opposite end of the catwalk. He seemed to be fighting against a powerful hold which kept him pinned there.

Leia attacked Father with renewed fury. She swung haphazardly, not expecting to land a blow but trying to drive him backward toward where Luke was standing. It was like beating her fists against a concussion shield. She could not make him move and as her attacks grew more frenzied, he only grew calmer.

Finally, she disengaged and moved several steps back to catch her breath. Father raised his hand and she braced herself for his next attack. He stared straight at her as he began to lower his fingers, one folding down after the other, slowly and inexorably closing them into a fist.

Luke cried out from behind Father and Leia felt a sharp flare of pain in her right hand. It felt like every bone in her hand had been shattered by a single blow. Tears pricked in her eyes and she shifted her lightsaber to her left hand as she clutched the other to her chest. She shook her fingers, trying to resist the phantom sensation, and held onto the railing for support. Father was still standing like a wall in front of her and she had to lean far out over the railing to get a glimpse of Luke. He was on his knees, holding his wrist as he groaned and fought to gain control over the pain. It was hard to see from this distance, but it looked like Father had crushed his prosthetic hand as if it was made of flimsy.

"Your brother has received his punishment," Father said as he raised his lightsaber and pointed it at her. "Now, I will deal with you."

Leia scuttled backward as he took a step toward her. She realized in a panic that he was done toying with them.

As Father approached, he began to swing his lightsaber in long arcs, sweeping the blade back and forth just in front of where Leia was standing. She retreated, dodging each slow swipe in turn. He was going to force her off the end of the platform if she didn't do something.

On the next pass of his lightsaber, she darted forward instead of back and parried. She tried to bind their blades so she could disarm him, but he deflected her expertly and redirected her move with a powerful shove of his arm.

Leia's wrist was twisted sharply and she struggled to keep hold of her lightsaber. She felt a sharp wave of fresh pain from Luke, a horrible burning sensation that climbed up her wrist like tongues of fire. Her fingers spasmed and she lost her grip.

She gasped in horror as the hilt slipped from her grasp and her lightsaber spun up into the air in a flash of red. She tried to catch it, but it was already under Father's control. He twitched his fingers and her saber moved towards him. Father raised his own blade and struck at it with a casual slashing motion. He sliced through the hilt and her blade sparked and fizzled out as it was sundered in two.

Leia swung over the side of the catwalk in a panic, reaching out with one hand and clutching the railing with the other as the remains of her lightsaber tumbled away. She saw both pieces twisting through the air for a moment before they were swallowed up by the darkness below. She didn't even hear them land.

Out of the corner of her eye, Leia saw Father lunge toward her and barely managed to evade him. Now she had no choice but to continue to retreat.

Father never changed his pace, approaching with slow, measured steps as Leia backed away toward the end of the catwalk in a daze. In a flash, she saw what would happen next. She would fall, stumbling and dropping to her knees on the metal grating as she begged for mercy. But there would be no forgiveness. Father would raise his lightsaber and bring the blade down to cut cleanly through her right wrist. She heard Luke's agonized scream and it was so loud and clear that she couldn't tell if it was part of a memory or an actual vision of the future.

She was about to lose her hand just like she had lost her lightsaber.

At least we'll match, she thought and got only a sense of rising horror from Luke in response. Her stomach lurched and she almost laughed out loud as Father took another inexorable step forward.

"Leia!"

It took her a moment to realize that Luke was shouting for her here and now, in the present. She nearly tripped, but caught herself on the railing. Father was so close, only a few feet away. She closed her eyes in terror.

But she wasn't alone. Luke was there with her. He was in her head, urging her on. Don't stop, keep moving.

She opened her eyes and stared down at the metal grating of the catwalk as she edged backwards, keeping her eyes down. She could sense Luke's intention now.

Father was almost upon her. She held her hand up, raising it above her head as she stretched out with her mind. For a single, clear instant, she saw through Luke's eyes. His right hand was throbbing and he could barely get to his feet, but his lightsaber felt steady in his left as he pulled back his arm and hefted it. He hurled it upward and his lightsaber soared through the air in a perfect arc directly to Leia's waiting hand.

The hilt snapped into her palm and she switched on the blade an instant before Father reached her. He swung at her and the two blades hissed as they met. The hilt of Luke's lightsaber was the same weight and shape as Leia's own. She didn't even need a moment to adjust before she shifted and pushed Father's blade backward. She drew on Luke's pain and her own anger as she struck out at him repeatedly. There was no skill in it, but she hit his lightsaber over and over again as she struggled to drive him away and gain some control over the fight.

Get some height! Luke called out. Get above him.

Leia dodged Father's latest attack and climbed onto the railing to escape him. She jumped out into the open air before she had time to second guess herself. Luke was there to help her as she shot up toward the second catwalk hanging above. Her jump was awkward and for a panicked moment it seemed the distance would be too far, but with Luke's help she managed to snag the bottom edge of the platform. The whole catwalk lurched in response to her added weight and the sharp metal cut painfully into her fingers, but with Luke's encouragement she managed to pull herself up and roll onto the platform.

A black shadow passed over her as Father glided through the air. He landed at the other end of the narrow walkway with a heavy thud. The catwalk swayed under their combined weight and one of the chains holding it to the ceiling above Leia snapped. The segment that she was crouched on pitched to the side and she had to dart backwards to more stable ground. The other chains held, but the whole platform felt much shakier than the one below.

The instability gave her a slight advantage as Father was forced to edge toward her slowly. He would have to cross the segment with the broken chain before he could reach her.

Leia glanced down, confirming that Luke was still on the other catwalk below and safely out of harm's way for now. He was kneeling as if he was still in too much pain to stand, but she could no longer feel the echo of it in her own body. He must have been shielding her so she wouldn't pick up on his physical sensations.

While she was looking down, Father leapt across the unstable platform and lunged at her. She scrambled backward and got her blade up to block him. His lightsaber slashed across one of the metal railings, slicing it in half and sending up a hail of sparks.

Leia braced herself as he raised his free hand and moved it in a wide, sweeping gesture. She was expecting a Force push to throw her backward, but instead she heard the sound of metal snapping and twisting. She looked down in time to see the remaining chains on the lower catwalk break free before it dropped out of sight into the darkness below.

"Luke!"

The catwalk hit the ground with an explosion of crashing metal. Pain washed over Leia and then was immediately cut off as Luke was knocked unconscious. She hung over the railing and craned her neck as she tried to see where he had fallen. A wave of dust was rising up into the air and all she could see through the gloom was the outline of the catwalk on the ground and a dark smudge that might be Luke's body.

Father swung his blade at her, forcing her to look up as she evaded him.

"Enough," he said, his voice booming. "Surrender. This game is over. You've enjoyed your freedom, but now it is at an end."

"No, we'll never go back!" she shouted. "You'll have to kill me! I know too much to ever return to you or the Emperor."

Father laughed. It was a painful sound that seemed to tear itself out of his scorched lungs. "I'm sure Obi-Wan has told you a great many things about me. None of them true."

"You're one to talk," Leia said. "You've lied to us our entire lives!"

He stopped at that and pointed the end of his lightsaber at her. "If I lied to you, it was in your own interests."

She was at the end of the platform now and was forced to stop at the very edge. "Our interests? You only wanted to hide the truth from us! The truth that you killed our mother!"

Father let out a frustrated grunt and clenched his free hand. His power caught her by the neck, invisible fingers squeezing and holding her in place. "No, Leia, I did not kill your mother. The Emperor did that."

"Liar," she hissed, barely able to push the word out through her restricted throat.

"No," he insisted. "You don't understand what you're—"

Leia drew deep on her hatred and pushed it outward to strike at him. It was a desperate move, the flailing of a trapped animal. She'd used up her strength too quickly, too early in the fight, and now she couldn't do much more than irritate him. Still, she managed to knock him back half a step and his grip on her airways slackened.

"How could you?" she shouted. Her bruised throat and her anger combined to make the words shrill and almost incoherent. "How could you kill her!?"

It was only a momentary reprieve. Father raised his hand and was easily able to contain her in a Force hold once again. Her head was jerked back and her throat constricted as her arms stretched out stiff at her sides. She still had Luke's lightsaber, but she couldn't raise her hand to wield it.

"No, child." Father's voice was thick with emotion, almost choked with it. "I meant to save her, but I was foolish and blinded by desperation. I should have realized that the Emperor would have no use for your mother after you and your brother were born." He stopped, taking a breath and gasping in his slow, pained way. His damaged lungs were barely able to keep up with his hurried words.

"Leia," Father said in a raw, desperate tone she had never heard from him before. "Since that day, everything I have ever done was to preserve your lives."

He eased his grip on her throat and she sputtered and choked as she gulped down mouthfuls of air. "That's not true! That's what you think I want to hear."

"See for yourself." Leia was startled as he lowered the blade of his lightsaber. The restrictive hold was released and she found she could move again, but she hesitated to take advantage of the opening to attack. What did Father mean? Part of her wanted it to be true, but she knew he had never really cared for them, only for the power and the future legacy they represented. As she wavered, Father dropped his guard and his mind opened to her.

She held back, disgusted at the first brush with the squalid darkness inside his head. But her father had always been a mystery to her and the temptation to understand him was too much to resist. She plunged inside.

Leia was very familiar with the shape of her father's thoughts. She had sensed them her entire life, but this was more than she had ever seen before. Barriers came down that she had never realized were there and revealed parts of his mind that must have been hidden for years.

The overwhelming sensation that hit her wasn't hatred or anger like she was expecting, but... love. Overwhelming love. A ruthless love that left no room for anyone or anything else.

He wasn't lying. It was true. He would do anything to see his children restored to his side. More than that, he would do anything to keep them alive. He was even willing to destroy their happiness to do it and sacrifice any possibility that they would ever understand or return his affection.

In a flash, he showed her the terror he'd felt the day they'd run away. The last time they'd pulled a stunt like this, going in secret to investigate ancient Jedi ruins, the Emperor had warned him that Luke might be beyond saving. At the time, Father had been able to convince their Master that it was only the misbehavior of rebellious children and not a sign of a fatal weakness to the light side. Leia had been drawn in by her brother's enthusiasm, but she was still firmly on the right path, and all Luke needed was a suitable correction to bring him back in line. Father had thought he'd managed to stamp out their dangerous defiance, but this... joining the Rebellion and finding actual Jedi to train them might be too much for Lord Sidious to forgive.

While he had searched for them, he had come to a decision. One that had been a very long time in coming.

Father switched his lightsaber off. His shoulders had taken on a weary tilt as if years of exhaustion were showing through that he normally kept hidden. "Leia, your scheming was foolish, but you were right about one thing—the Emperor must be destroyed. But we must kill him," he said. "You and I, together."

She shook her head reflexively and raised her lightsaber in a protective stance. "No! I won't join you."

"You will, if you wish to protect your brother," Father said. There was a glint on the lenses of his helmet as if a light were glowing within. "You must leave him and come with me."

"Leave him?" she said. "But—"

"Yes, it is the only way," he insisted. He was growing frustrated with her and his anger was returning. If she wasn't careful, it would swell and this momentary lull in their fight would come to an end. She had to prolong this respite as long as she could. She needed time to find a way out. There was still a possibility of escape, if she could disable Father somehow, if she could get to Luke, if she could get them both to a ship...

Yet, she hesitated. Underneath her father's anger, inciting his turmoil, was that same furious, protective love. It was the beating heart at the center of his being, the inferno that fueled his deepest motivations and his cruelest actions.

Father inhaled and the valves in his suit clicked audibly. "Don't you see, Leia? The Emperor would use Luke's vulnerability towards the light side against him. He can't come with us. He doesn't have your strength." Father reached out, extended his hand to her. "But I cannot do it alone. I need you, Leia. Why do you think I've waited all these years? Together we can destroy him once and for all."

Leia opened her mouth, but found she couldn't speak. She looked down through the metal grating to Luke's prone form below, and then back at her father's hand extended toward her.

Her father's love was so intense. Luke's vulnerability terrified him just like it frightened her. He would do anything to protect him, anything to preserve his life, even things that Luke would hate him for later.

Just like Leia would.

"If—" She paused and looked down at Luke again before plunging onward. "You have to promise me. No—" She raised her lightsaber and held the blade to his throat. "Swear to me. He has to be left out of it."

"He will be," Father said, agreeing too quickly.

"Swear it on our mother!"

Father knelt down in front of her, lowered himself to one knee. He pressed his hand over his heart and breathed once, twice. "I swear it on your mother. In Padmé's name: he will not be harmed." She could feel his sorrow as he spoke of her. Was this the first time Father had said her name in all these years?

Leia stared at his face—that familiar mask that was both the comfort and the terror of her childhood—now pleading with her for help.

"Please, Leia. Daughter." He extended his hand to her again and this time his fingers shook. "If we don't do this now, I don't know if I will have the strength to defy him again."

She looked once more at Luke, and then she reached for her father's hand.

As Father got to his feet, rising to stand beside her, Luke stirred below. Leia could feel his mind struggling up from unconsciousness. He could sense what she had decided to do.

Leia—no! It's a trick, don't listen to him! Even in her head, his voice was weak. Leia!

She and Father floated down to the floor of the warehouse together. The dust stirred as they landed. Outside, through the yawning entrance, she could see the shuttle being prepared for their departure. The hatch was open.

"Leia!" Luke shouted from behind her.

She followed her father and she didn't look back.