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When Alee emerged from the bedroom, stretching to loosen the kinks of a night spent in one position, the journal was laying open on the lounge table and Luke was leaning over it, totally absorbed. She wandered over to the food prep station and ordered up two mugs of caf. Cupping the first mug in both hands she held it under her chin and let the aromatic steam waft up her nostrils. She took a sip, retrieved the second cup and walked over to join Luke. When she held out the hot drink, Luke glanced up with an absent grunt, took the offering and returned to his reading.
With a shrug, Alee sank into a chair and sat back to enjoy the warm brew. Her stomach growled. She rescued some fruit from a bowl on the dining table and returned to her seat. Two cups of caf later, Luke still hadn't spoken. Alee snuck her chrono out of a belt pouch and keyed it to local time. Early afternoon? How long had she slept? Maybe these short Agamar days were messing up her body rhythms.
"You do a great imitation of the strong, silent type," Alee said.
"Hm?" Luke looked up with a blank expression.
"How long do I get the silent treatment?"
Luke took a sip of his cold caf and flinched, setting the mug back down. He leaned back and sighed. "Sorry. I was going over it a second time to see if I missed anything."
Alee eyed him skeptically. "Second? Didn't you get any sleep?"
Luke responded with a small jerk of one shoulder. "I meditated to absorb chunks of information. That refreshed me."
Alee stared at him for a moment and shook her head. "What did you find out?"
"Long version or condensed?" Luke asked.
"Maybe not micro-condensed, but brief will be fine," she replied.
He studied her for a moment and shook his head. "This Jedi - you know, he never mentions his own name. It isn't written down anywhere."
"I'm sure he knew his own name, Luke," Alee interjected.
He gave her a quizzical glance. "Right. He was very upset that the Jedi Council wouldn't let him pursue a certain avenue of inquiry, so he holed up in this castle and went his own way. His anger grew through the course of the journal, until, when envoys were sent to deal with him, he destroyed them. Of course, he was delving into the Dark Side, but he was sure, right until the end, that he could control it and bend it to serve his own devices."
Luke paused thoughtfully. "He had killed a dark Jedi and inadvertently discovered an artifact hidden amongst that creature's possessions, some sort of fossil, that was naturally attuned to the Dark Side, to the point that contact with it could temporarily neutralize a Jedi's ability to connect with the Light Side. He became obsessed with it and the speculations about it the other creature had written in its own journal. The theory was, if Dark Side essence was used to unite the artifact with stabilized and compressed anti-matter, then contact with the orb would completely destroy a Jedi's ability to wield the Force."
"What did he hope to gain with such power?"
"That's it exactly. Power. He planned to destroy the Council and step into the void. Use the orb to control all the other Jedi. A delusional notion, at best."
"A weapon of utter destruction, at worst," whispered Alee.
"Yes. He certainly got more than he bargained for. The anti-matter apparently absorbs, not only the Force, but any matter that touches it. But I think he realized that at the end, and that's why he, somehow, transformed himself into a shield. In the journal he mentioned installing a security system - to keep other Jedi away from the artifact should something go wrong. Besides all those traps we discovered, the system included the layered shielding and the super-heating of the outer sandstone walls, with everything set to take effect if he didn't key a certain code into the system at a specified time each day."
Alee stared into space, struggling with the abhorrence she felt that anyone could become so twisted, so bent in their lusting for power that nothing was too high a price to pay - not even the death of a son. Icy fingers walked up her spine. Or a daughter.
"How do we destroy it?" she asked quietly.
"That's where your memory comes in." She looked into his eyes and waited for him to continue. "The boy threw himself into the orb at the moment of death, using his own Dark essence to unite the artifact with the anti-matter, thus activating it. I have to delve into it and deactivate it. Through the Force, of course. I have no intentions of physically touching the thing."
"Why you? I should do it," Alee said.
"Absolutely not. It would destroy you."
Alee narrowed her eyes. "And why is that?"
"Because the Dark Side would overwhelm you, far worse than it did when that last memory hit you - beyond anything you could imagine. I've lived with the Dark Side, been immersed in it. I don't like it, but at least I can survive its touch." Luke returned her stare. "You know it's true, Alee."
Frustration bubbled up and overflowed. Alee jumped to her feet and paced the room. She came to a sudden standstill and glowered at Luke. "And what am I supposed to do if you fail? Borrow another urn from the warehouse?" Her voice rose. "Sure. I'll just walk into the Imperial Palace, sashay up to the desk of our current Head of State and say, 'Here's what's left of your brother, Leia. So sorry. Have a nice life.'" Her volume increased another notch. "You're too important to too many people to risk yourself like this, Luke. There has to be another way."
Luke stood and clasped her shoulders and yelled, "Alee, stop it!" Quietly, he added, "There is no other way. Do you think I'd risk this if there were any other options?"
Alee flung her hands up and out, breaking Luke's grip. Loudly, she snapped, "There are always options."
"Why are you yelling, Alee?" Shanni's small voice floated across the room.
Glaring at Luke, she said, "I am not ..." She broke off, turned and lowered her voice. "I'm sorry, Shanni. I woke you up." Alee knelt as the little girl ran to her. She smoothed Shanni's wild hair out of her eyes and gave her a hug. Her forlorn gaze caught Luke's determined one.
"I'll be going now," Luke said quietly.
"I'm going with you," Alee replied.
At the wail that erupted from Shanni, Alee held the little girl at arm's length and touched her finger to her lips. "Do you still want to be a Jedi, Shanni?" The child nodded as Alee continued, "Fear has no place in a Jedi's life. You have to be brave on the outside, no matter how you feel on the inside. I promise I'll come back, and the promise of a Jedi can never be broken." Alee stood. "Where's that T-8 droid? I mean, Tate?"
Shanni sniffed. "Yesterday that soldier did a reckie-something to him."
"He was requisitioned? I'll get the droid sent right back. You can stand at the door and watch for him."
Alee closed her ears to the child's mournful sigh as she fell into step beside Luke.
Luke chuckled. "If you can tear a strip off a career man like Captain Innis while you're dressed in rags like those, you must be a fearsome sight in your Intel uniform. It was beautiful the way he snapped to attention at the mention of General Cracken's name. Can you really get the general to do any of those things?"
"I have no idea," Alee replied. "I suppose I could ask, but I don't expect I'll ever have to."
Luke held the door open for Alee to enter the portable lab. Stale air swept over them, robbing them of the desire to talk. A pall hung over the interior, casting wavering shadows where none belonged, and their footsteps gave off hollow echoes that reverberated with ominous undertones. Alee paused before the glass sculpture she had noticed the first day. Even it seemed faintly tarnished. She lengthened her stride to catch up with Luke as he marched, stiff-spined, up the aisle. He stopped a nose-length away from a guard, who tried valiantly to continue staring straight ahead, while he remained at his post by the entrance way. Luke narrowed his eyes and glared at the sentry for a full 30 seconds before speaking.
"You do not step inside this room, for any reason, unless Alee or I request it. Is that understood, soldier?" Luke barked.
The soldier swallowed hard and gave a single nod.
"Fast learner," Alee muttered as she followed Luke inside.
"Thank you," Luke replied. "You could teach me a lot more than intimidation methods, if you gave yourself the chance."
Alee peered through the window into the inner chamber where the orb pulsated darkly on its repulsor pad. Quietly she said,"I hope I get the chance."
Luke keyed in the code to unlock the inner door. He looked at Alee with a questioning expression, giving her silent permission to wait in the outer chamber. She motioned him forward and stepped through the entrance behind him. The door flashed closed.
Where the atmosphere in the open space of the portable lab had cloaked Alee like a shroud, now it pressed down, suffocating her like the inside of a coffin. The Dark Side was palpable, licking her skin with icy strokes and coating her throat with each breath to leave a putrid taste in her mouth. She reached for the Force, and the sensation that death was stalking her retreated slightly and hovered, waiting for the opportunity to strike again.
Luke settled on the floor, sitting cross-legged with his arms resting on his knees. Alee crouched and laid her hand on his shoulder. When she asked what she could do, Luke regarded her with a grave expression. After a moment he suggested that she focus on channeling the Force to him, in hopes it would shore up his mind.
"Stay out of the orb," Luke warned. "No matter what, Alee. Promise me."
Reluctantly, she nodded agreement.
Alee sat behind Luke, so she could focus on him and not be distracted by the artifact. She immediately began drawing on the Force and bouncing it toward him, like a mirror reflecting a beam of light. It flowed over, around and through her, so her mind was floating in a warm ocean of peace. A shadow nipped at her senses, sending a ripple of apprehension through her, when Luke cloaked himself in the Force and dove into the orb.
The disturbance rocked her. The flailing battle of Light against Dark battered her senses and threw her mind into storm-tossed turmoil. Alee seized her fraying link with the Force and centered herself in the Light, as if climbing into a survival raft, and hung on, continuing, as best she was able, to refocus the Force toward Luke. Alee could sense the strength of his connection to the Light Side, all the more discernible when set against a backdrop of utter blackness. He was besieged, but she did not think he would be broken.
Time became an indistinct concept, its passage unmeasured in the cosmic realm where Light and Dark strive for balance. A small stain of evil always overbalances a large portion of good, just as a child always remembers the single injustice and not the abundance of lovingly bestowed gifts - just as a single generation of Sith dominion had balanced a thousand generations of Jedi guardianship.
The only sound in the room was the shallow breathing of the two Jedi, though inside Alee's mind a discordant clamor strove in vain to break her concentration. And she knew she was subject to a mere tenth of what Luke was experiencing. His body quivered under the onslaught, as the mental strain he was under drained his energy, and she pushed waves of the Force at him in an effort to rebuild his waning strength, all the while resisting the urge to join him in battle and stand or fall together. A Jedi's promise cannot be broken. His path was not hers.
The Force blast slammed them across the room like two Jedi ragdolls. Alee's head cracked against the durasteel wall and she struggled to remain conscious, even as oblivion crashed over her.
The coppery taste of blood greeted Alee as she awakened. She pressed her fingers to her mouth, then wiped them on her sleeve. The small movement echoed through her muscles, nearly plunging her into darkness again, and, suddenly motionless, she let the nausea reel over her senses as she waited for the dizziness to subside. Cautiously, she pried her eyes open, the grey blur slowly consolidating into lab equipment and computer consoles.
It dawned on Alee that she couldn't feel her legs. She shifted her head just enough to look toward her boots and found that Luke's limp body was draped across her thighs, and had been for some time if the lack of circulation to her feet was any indication. She levered herself into a sitting position and nudged Luke. Nothing. She prodded him with the Force. Nothing. A frown lying heavy on her brow, Alee pushed the Jedi Master off her legs and winced as he flopped over, his head hitting the floor with a soft thud.
Pivoting on her backside, Alee swung around to lie beside Luke, pausing to suck oxygen into her lungs to deflect the wave of vertigo that threatened her. She touched a large bruise on his brow, searched for a pulse, and pressed her ear to his chest to listen for a heartbeat. If there were signs of life, they were so faint as to be barely discernible. She fought her revulsion at entering a mind without permission and probed gently with the Force, withdrawing in confusion, knowing he lived, but unable to sense him anywhere. If this was a type of Jedi hibernation, it far more profound and potentially more dangerous than anything she had experienced. To be buried so deep was to risk never returning to the surface.
Alee's toes began to tingle, sending needles prickling up her legs. With a gasp, she coiled into a fetal position as cramps clamped down on her legs, and clenching her teeth, she tightened the muscles until she wanted to scream. Count to ten. And again. When she relaxed, the cramps eased and she rolled onto her back, inhaling deeply.
She sat up suddenly. Something was different. The air? Relief sagged her shoulders. The brooding presence of the Dark Side was gone. Contending with her own body in order to get to her feet, Alee braced herself against the wall and stared at the spot where the orb had been. A small cone of dust floated mid-air, buoyed up by the repulsor field.
The realization that the artifact was wholly destroyed dragged her gaze back to Luke's inert form. How high a price had he paid to achieve this victory?
Immediately after directing the soldiers to the master bedroom in the Besarcs' hut where they carefully deposited Luke, Alee herded them out and stood in gloomy silence by the door. When Captain Innis started to say something, her sharp wave cuts his words off, and he regarded her with pensive eyes before turning away. For long moments she fought the despair crowding around her thoughts. A small hand grabbed hold of Alee's limp one and squeezed, but the Jedi continued to stare ahead blindly.
"Is Luke dead, like, like Mommy and Papa?" Shanni's quiet voice pierced the numb shielding surrounding Alee's inner being.
"No." Her voice was barely audible. "But I can't reach him. I've tried and tried."
"Maybe he needs to rest," Shanni suggested.
"We all need to rest." Alee turned to go inside.
The child tugged at Alee's sleeve. "What's that?"
Alee sighed with barely concealed impatience and looked to see what Shanni was referring to. She frowned. "It's an astromech droid. Where did that come from?"
Shanni pointed out the X-wing sitting a short distance beyond the gate, explaining to Alee that the ship had just landed and the soldiers had helped the robot get down, but that she hadn't seen a driver.
"Pilot," Alee automatically corrected, as she watched the droid tootle across the yard on a direct intercept course with them.
It rolled to a stop a meter away and gave an impertinent whistle, followed by several rude beeps. Alee eyed the droid for a moment. Shanni's look of childish glee at the sight of something smaller than herself tugged a reluctant smile from the Jedi. She laid her hands on the child's shoulders and stepped back, pulling her out of the droid's path. It wheeled past them and headed straight toward the bedroom where Luke was laid out, as if in preparation for a state funeral. The woman and child followed, to see that the droid had stationed itself as close to Luke's head as possible.
Pieces of the puzzle snapped into place. Alee bent over and whispered, "It's Luke's droid."
With a soft, "Oh," Shanni ran to the droid's side and patted its domed head as she solemnly explained that Luke was alive but needed to rest. The R2 unit emitted a mournful tone.
It was a tone often repeated in the two days that followed. Alee spent hour after hour at Luke's side, reaching out through the Force, trying to forge some kind, any kind, of connection. Touching his mind was like rattling around in a deserted house. Still, she kept trying. Captain Innis came to issue a report and she waved him away. Someone brought food and she let it get cold. Someone suggested sleep and she ignored him. She knew she should notify the general about Luke's condition, but still she didn't move.
Shanni crawled on to the bed and laid her head on Alee's lap. The Jedi's fingers trailed absently through the tangled locks as she stared at Luke's pale face. How much longer could he last?
"I thought you said you loved me." Shanni's voice had a sulking lilt. "You're just like my mommy and papa when they get busy and forget all about me." A heavy silence fell over the bedroom and a sniffle punctured Alee's detachment. Shanni started to cry softly. "I miss Mommy and Papa. I want them back."
Memories of her first lonely nights at the Jedi Temple without her mother flooded into Alee's mind and she pulled the child close, murmuring soothing nonsense. When Shanni had quieted, Alee propped herself against the headboard and tucked the child under her arm.
"Would you like to hear a story?" she asked.
Shanni's green eyes widened and she nodded. Alee focused on the child, giving her a reassuring smile. She started to speak, hesitating when she thought she heard the creak of a door. She sensed no danger, so she shrugged and started to weave the tale of a little girl who grew into a Jedi. The Force glimmered as she told of the Jedi Temple with its indoor lake, and Star Room, and Room of a Thousand Fountains. She related the unbridled excitement of becoming a Padawan learner, and the solemn joy of losing the learner's braid to become a Jedi Knight. The trepidation of facing the Jedi Council alone. The euphoria of love. The devastation of being ripped from time and place, and losing everything and everyone to face an uncertain future. Love rediscovered. Hope reborn.
Evening cloaked the room in velvety darkness long before Alee stopped talking. The small body nestling against her wiggled for the first time in hours.
"Is that story true?"
"It's my story, Shanni." Alee felt the child's unquestioning acceptance of the truth in her silence, and she softly added," I needed to share it with you, because there is one part of the tale I have yet to tell, and it's very important for both of us."
Alee briefly told the child of growing up without knowing her family, and never hearing from anyone, except once, when her mother asked her to rescue a sister she'd never seen from the hands of kidnappers. A feat that had nearly cost her her life.
Alee paused to let the story settle in the child's mind and then quietly added, "My sister's name was Rein."
Long moments passed before a gasp of recognition sounded.
Shanni said, "My mommy's grandmother's name was Rein. Grandmere Rein. I never met her, but Mommy told me about her. Your sister had the same name."
Alee snuggled the child a little closer. "Same name. Same person. My sister was your Grandmere Rein, Shanni."
Wonder filled the little girl's voice. "You're my tante?"
Before Alee could answer, Shanni scrambled off the bed and bounded across the room to switch on the light. Alee blinked in the overhead glare, and when she opened her eyes the child was gone. She heard her rummaging around in a closet. Shanni popped out and returned to the bed to hold out a hologram cube and reader.
"This is yours," she said excitedly. "Mommy let me view it a few times. It's Grandmere Rein telling about her life."
Alee frowned. Why would the child think a holo from Rein would be hers? Just because they were sisters? Still, the idea of learning something of her family's history tugged at something deep inside. It felt like the right time. Finally. Alee took the offering thankfully and patted the bed.
"Let's view it together," she suggested.
Green eyes flitted uncertainly to Luke and back to Alee's warm gaze.
"Don't worry," Alee said. "I'm sure Luke is listening to the story, too. He wants to hear how it ends."
Shanni scowled. "He's asleep."
"Believe me, he's heard every word. When he wakes up, he'll just have to open a door in his mind and there the story will be, waiting for him to remember it."
While Shanni digested this idea, Alee set up the viewer and activated the cube. The blue image of a woman, seen from her waist up, flickered to life, a few static lines running through the three-dimensional figure before it stabilized. Alee's eyes devoured the image of a slim figure of regal bearing, hair swept up and chin jutting out with a touch of pride. The simpering girl she'd rescued all those years ago was nowhere in sight. She closed her eyes and listened to Rein's voice, mature and confident and tinged with sadness. The words rolled over her, not really registering until Rein began speaking of her marriage, of her father welcoming Imperial rule, of the shame she brought to the family by publicly disagreeing with the Empire's actions, with only her father's influence protecting her from punishment. Of losing, first her husband, then her son, to the Imperial war machine, and of the failed expectation that their Imperial medals of honor would comfort her. The holo's tone suddenly changed and Alee opened her eyes.
With an urgent undertone, Rein's holo intoned, "The family thinks me a crazy old lady now, and they do not like me talking to the children, especially about the past. But the feeling has grown upon me in the past few years that you live, sister dear. No one believes me, not even dear Powell. If, by some miracle, you ever hear this message, then you only need speak the name of the town where you rescued me and the name of the creature that held me captive to listen to what I would tell you, sister. The Force be with you."
Alee stared at the blue image, shock blanking her mind. Rein had believed she was alive. Why, oh why, had she never tried to contact her, even when Druce had hinted and then directly suggested that very thing? She sighed softly. How could she have walked into Rein's life, looking like a daughter instead of a sister? No. The Force's timing was right.
Taking a cleansing breath, Alee said, "Mos Espa. Aurra Sing."
The image wavered and dissolved. A few seconds later it was replaced by a new image, head and shoulders only. Even the microscopic oscillating of the holo couldn't hide the intensity of the eyes that stared out from Rein's vaguely gaunt face, nor could the sound chip hide the excitement lacing her voice.
"Hello, Alee. If this image has been activated, then you truly are alive. For the longest time I only hoped that somehow, somewhere, you had escaped the Emperor's murderous rage. Then, six years ago, I was filled with ... a knowing. Maybe this Force of yours whispered the truth to me in a dream. I can remember you so clearly, sister. When you stormed into that hut to rescue me, you reminded me so much of Father, I was stunned. Oh, you looked like Mother, but your actions, your stance, your aggressiveness, your absolute surety, those were Father's. I was terribly afraid of you, but then I am sure you knew that. Looking back, I can see that I was rather pathetic. And you were very brave. How I wanted to be like you. The return trip to Tanaab, with your strange Jedi friend, showed me how fiercely devoted to justice you were, and how wrong about the Jedi our whole family was. Where I had been taught to think of the Jedi as power-hungry leeches, I found you to be to be servants of what is good and right in our galaxy. The years have erased your friend's name from my memory, but I remember mourning when his death was reported. Every time the people of Tanaab celebrated a Jedi's death I cringed inside, dreading that this time it might be you. For even when the head of the Jedi Council arrived on Tanaab, years before the purges began, with your belongings and news of your strange disappearance, I never, for a moment, believed you dead. Much to Father's disgust, your Master Yoda met with me privately in the gardens and assured me that your presence could not be sensed by the Jedi, anywhere in the galaxy, and still I did not believe."
The holo message cut off with Rein doubling over in a fit of coughing. A second later it was back.
"My time is short, sister. I did not make this message to ramble as I seem to be doing, but to thank you. When you returned me to Tanaab and left without even catching a glimpse of our parents, I made a vow, that your rescue would not be for naught, that I would seek to be a person of courage and conviction. Of course, under the withering glare of our father, I often folded. But not always. Father was furious when I named my first-born, Merilee. He knew right away that the 'lee' was in your honor. And he nearly popped a blood vessel when I refused to pledge allegiance to the Emperor. I remember thinking of how you would probably have laughed at such a sight, red face and bulging eyes, and it was very hard not to smile, which made him even angrier. Meri was heavily influenced by Father, but I spent many hours with her daughter, and Powell loved to listen to whispered tales of the Jedi and the Old Republic and the mysterious sister who rescued me. She thought it such a grand adventure. Father never lived to know that Powell followed my example and named her daughter after you - Shannilee. Which is for the best, because he probably would have exploded in anger, and he truly detested messes of any kind. Powell had fled the family's wrath when she dared to follow her heart and her dreams, and now Shanni is three years old. I have never seen her, and never will, as it turns out. I have sent this hologram to Powell for safekeeping, along with your birth stone, the argent vortex that your Master Yoda gave to me that day in the gardens. I hope you do not mind my giving it to Shanni. I never understood why he didn't give it to Father, but maybe he knew something of the future that I have yet to see.
"And now, Alee, I am dying. The family is very angry with me, and, truly, it is my own fault. My one joy, since Powell left, has been to spend my days at the medical center, helping care for the sick. Those droids are terribly impersonal, and I am firmly convinced you heal faster under a human's touch. The second epidemic in six years is sweeping over Tanaab, and it appears I have fallen victim to it from my exposure to the virus at the center. It is some genetically-mutated strain for which they have yet to develop a vaccine. Not unlike that Krytos virus that ravaged Coruscant. In caring for the sick, I have seen my own death. It will not be pleasant, but it will be swift. Do not mourn for me, sister. I gave my life in service to others. It is what a Jedi would do."
The blue image smiled faintly and disappeared. Alee stared at the spot where it had been, tears dripping from her chin and bathing her hands, laying neatly folded in her lap. A damp cloth wiped her cheeks and was pressed into her hands. Alee blinked and met Shanni's serious expression with a watery smile.
Shanni hesitated before saying, "T-Tante Alee? Grandmere Rein seemed like a very brave lady, well, not brave like you, rescuing people and everything, but ... like Princess Leia somehow, only old. I, I wish I had known her."
"I do, too, Shanni."
"Am I really named after you?"
"Apparently."
"And apparently for good reason," a voice from the doorway said. Alee lifted her head to see a young woman blocking the entrance way. "With her being Force-sensitive, like her aunt. Sorry, her tante. You weave quite a tale, Alee. Do you go by Nardo? Or Nerac?"
Alee refused to let her surprise show. She had known someone was in the next room, but how did this woman know her? Shanni crawled onto her lap as Alee studied the woman with open curiosity - pretty, thick wavy red hair, with the feline grace of a predator.
"You seem to have the advantage, knowing my name. Have we met?" Alee asked.
"Yes, we have," replied the woman. "Though you were unconscious and being held by Nardo at the time. I'm Mara Jade. A friend of Luke's."
A smile started to tug at Alee's mouth. Nuances in the way Mara said 'friend' suggested to Alee they were much more, or would be. Alee glanced at Luke's face. Was there a touch more color than when she began telling Shanni her story?
"Well, Mara, I'm surprised that you didn't just barge in when you first arrived. The droid did. Why would you slink around in the lounge area and eavesdrop?"
A smile curled up one corner of Mara's mouth. "Two reasons. The knowledge that something was wrong may have brought me winging here from Yavin, but I could sense Luke starting to respond as soon as you began your tale. He's much closer to consciousness now than he was two hours ago."
"Perhaps he's closer because of your presence, not my story," Alee suggested. "And the other reason?"
With her black bodysuit bouncing light off its sleek surface, Mara strolled across the room to stand by the foot of the bed near Luke. "Years ago, I assured Nardo I would find out who and what you were someday, and this was the day. It was a tale worth waiting to hear, by the way, though I can certainly understand why Nardo was so anxious to guard your privacy. Booster tells me he rents out a warehouse to your lifemate, and gives him a great deal. Tell me, Alee, what does a slicer want with a warehouse?"
Alee lifted one brow. "Privacy, of course. It's more than a little difficult to run through Jedi training exercises on Coruscant without raising questions."
Mara ran her index finger along the edge of the bed as she moved toward Luke's head. "So you'll continue to keep your identity a secret?"
"With the ranks of the Jedi rebuilding, there is less and less reason to as time goes by," Alee replied, sadness tinging her voice.
Mara glanced sharply at her. "You're disappointed you no longer have to hide?"
"No," Alee said softly as she wove Shanni's hair into a braid. "I am saddened that I ever had to in the first place. Why must we be forced to rebuild what should never have been destroyed?" Alee sighed. "Master Yoda said, Always more questions than answers, there are. That is painfully true of the mystery of the Jedi. I know what we were, but I do not know how or why we got to this future. At times, the not knowing haunts me."
"We all live with painful memories and regrets," Mara replied.
Alee's hazel gaze locked with Mara's green one, and a look of understanding passed between the two women, as the Force flowed around them.
Mara asked, "Why were you willing to tell Luke your story today, but not six months ago?"
Shanni whispered, "You told me, Tante Alee, not Luke."
"I told both of you, Shanni," Alee replied quietly. To Mara, she added, "Something he said reminded me of a Jedi birth day ritual that involved spending time in reflection. We were taught that, only by remembering the past are we able to learn from the present. I owe Luke much more than he will ever realize, and sharing my story with him is a small thing indeed."
"So then, aren't you going to finish the story?" a voice rasped from the bed.
The two women stared down at Luke as he blinked from one face to the other. Mara reacted first, kneeling down to cup his jaw in her palm and brush her lips across his. Shanni giggled. Alee smiled at the strength of the connection flowing between the two Jedi before her.
"Welcome back," she said.
"How long was I gone?" Luke asked, his eyes glued to Mara.
"Much longer than me, but it looks like you fared better," she replied.
He glanced at Alee and shrugged. "I heard you calling. It just took me a long time to break through the protective barrier my mind had reflexively erected. A self-inflicted holiday, you might say." With an impish grin, he added, "But I finally got to hear about your life in something other than the mico-condensed version."
Mara sat back on her heels and took Luke's hand, lacing their fingers together. Luke shot her a tender smile and turned back to Alee with a question on his face.
Alee frowned in response. "What are you looking at me for? I did finish the story."
Luke shook his head slowly, his hair fanning out on the headrest. "Nothing you said tells me how you knew Ben."
"Ben?" Confusion muddled her thoughts. "Oh, right. That's what you called Obi-Wan, isn't it?" When Luke nodded, she gave him a half smile. "You can hardly blame me for omitting the, the bantha tick of my existence."
"What's a bantha tick?" whispered Shanni.
"An ugly bug that digs its pinchers into you and burrows under your skin," was Alee's murmured reply.
Shanni wrinkled her nose and declared, "Yuck."
Luke twisted and pushed himself up to recline on one elbow. "Yuck? Ben was not yuck. He was a great man."
Alee chuckled at his offended tone. "Undoubtedly, what you say is true, Luke - about when you knew him. I knew him as the brash, headstrong Padawan of the man I loved. Qui-Gon often had to play the peacemaker between us. Obi-Wan never approved of me, you know. I think the real problem was we were too much alike."
Luke smiled. "I would have enjoyed knowing that Obi-Wan, though it's a little hard to imagine. Ben was old before his time, and wise beyond his years."
"Surviving can do that to a person," Alee replied softly.
Luke captured her gaze. "What happens next in your story, Alee?"
She shrugged. "I go home to Dru. Continue with my work. End of story, I guess."
Luke shifted and leaned against the headboard, and Mara perched on the edge of the bed beside him. Both Jedi regarded Alee for a long moment. Luke shook his head.
"No, you're wrong. The story doesn't end. It starts a new chapter," he said.
"Oh?" Alee waited for him to continue.
"You've been a Jedi Knight for long time, Alee. It's time to become a Master."
Alee stared at him like he had sprouted a second head. "Are you crazy? I already told you I'd never teach at your Jedi Academy."
"I'm not asking you to take on a class, just a single student. What did you call it? A Padawan."
Alee sputtered, "And who ...?"
"No wonder Ben got frustrated with you, if you were this thickheaded," Luke said wryly.
"He was the one who was ..." Alee trailed off and turned, with bemusement, to meet Shanni's wide-eyed gaze. She felt the Force's gentle nudge. Balance. The Force was always striving for balance. She had lost her family, and now it was being returned to her. She took in Luke's amused expression and echoed the look.
She set Shanni on her feet and knelt before the child. "Shanni, the path of a Jedi is a long and difficult one, sometimes lonely, but always rewarding. You have the ability to become a Jedi. Do you have the desire?"
Shanni looked askance at Luke, then back to meet Alee's gaze boldly. She straightened her tiny shoulders and solemnly answered, "Yes."
"If you would have me as your Master, Shanni Besarc, I will take you as my Padawan learner."
Shanni threw her arms around Alee's neck and buried her head in the Jedi's neck.
Luke chuckled. "It's settled then." Alee looked at him over the child's shoulder and mouthed a silent 'thank you'. Luke nodded and his blue eyes sparkled. "I have something else I want to discuss with you, Alee."
She cocked an eyebrow. "What now, Skywalker?"
"Now don't get touchy, Alee. There's no 'hero' stuff involved, here. The thought has occurred to me that, someday, far down the road, we might need to consider reestablishing the Jedi Council."
"And you want me to tell you how the Council was set up under Old Republic rule. Fine. I could do that," Alee replied with a small shrug.
"Actually," Luke said. "I'm thinking, that when the time comes, I will want to put your name forward to sit on the Council."
Alee stared at him in horror. "Space the thought, Luke Skywalker. Do you have any idea how often I was called to task by the Council, and now you're suggesting I sit on it?"
"You'd be perfect. You'd know just how to handle stubborn, single-minded Jedi."
Her eyes narrowed. "You forgot arrogant and thickheaded."
Luke draped his arm across Mara's shoulders and smiled. "We'll talk."
Alee stood and took Shanni's hand. "You've got that right,
hero."
