Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Luke’s barely finished knocking when the door slides open. “Hey, kid,” says Han, with a crooked smile. “Fancy seeing you here.”

“Hey,” says Luke, stepping past him. “Is Leia ready?”

“Just about.” Han leans back against the wall, arms crossed in front of him. He jerks his chin at Luke’s bag. “Do you ever take a break from the traveling?”

“Not really, I guess,” says Luke, adjusting the strap on his shoulder. “Not like I’ve got anywhere to settle, I guess. And there’s too much to do.”

“You’re not the only one saying that,” says Han. “You know you can always crash here, right?”

“Yeah, I do-- thanks, Han,” says Luke. He gives Han his best smile. “But that’s not really what being a Jedi’s all about, is it?”

Han puts up his hands. “You’d know better than me.”

On cue, the first padewan of the new Jedi order emerges from the back of the apartment, carrying her bag. “Hey, baby brother,” Leia says, coming forward to give him a hug. “It’s good to see you.” She pulls back, regards him critically. “Tell me the truth. Are you taking me to that swamp again?”

“No, no,” says Luke, laughing. “I’m not planning on it. I know you’re too royal for such common places.”

Leia rolls her eyes.

“What, am I wrong?”

“You’re not,” she tells him. “But I didn’t like your tone.”

“Okay, okay,” says Han, wedging his arm between them. “Are you guys going to be okay on your own? Or are we gonna lose two war heroes with this trip?”

Sweetly, Leia says, “Better you’re not coming, so it’s not three.”

Luke snickers. Han rolls his eyes.

“Aren’t you helping out Lando anyway?” Luke asks him. “What, is it too scary to imagine actually having a stable income?”

“Get out, both of you,” says Han. He ruffles Luke’s hair as he pushes them out the door. Then he wraps an arm around Leia’s shoulders to press his lips to her forehead. Leia’s eyes close. Luke’s heart twists to watch them.

Han pulls back. “Bye, kids,” he says, with a crooked smile. “Have a great time, yadda yadda. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Luke says, “Cool, so we’ll avoid being losers?”

Han scowls theatrically. Leia chuckles, hitting the door button. Luke grins at her as it swishes shut.

“So,” says Leia, as he leads her down and out of the Senate housing building. “Do you know where we’re going?”

Luke shrugs. “More or less.”

Leia shakes her head. “Trusting the Force?”

“Always do.” He grins at her. “Anyway, if the Force leads us into a swamp, I promise, we can cut the trip short. I didn't ask you to come because I wanted you to suffer.”

“You asked me along because it’s the Senate recess period and you and Han get worried when I don’t have enough to do,” Leia corrects him, wryly.

Luke snorts. “Han told you?”

“Not Han,” says Leia, shaking her head. “I just know you.”

Luke says, “Yeah, I guess you do.” He tries to give her a smile. “It wasn’t just because of that. I thought-- I don’t know. I thought it would be fun. I liked it when we trained together.”

Leia wrinkles her nose. He knows there’s a lot she didn’t enjoy about her training, six months after Endor: the climate on Dagobah, the introspection, the saber drills. Whatever she saw in the cave, when her turn came. But she gives him a small smile. “I had fun, too.”

Luke takes her hand and squeezes it as they arrive at the spaceport. They stop to look at the list of outgoing flights.

“Well?” asks Leia.

Luke scans down the list of destinations until he find the one that sounds right. “Got it,” he says, and turns to walk towards the ticket counter.

Leia follows him. “Which one did you pick?”

Luke shrugs. “I didn’t pick it -- I don’t know anything about it. I usually end up in the middle of nowhere with these. Sometimes I don’t even figure out why the Force wanted me there. Two adult tickets, please,” he adds to the teller. “Standard class.”

“Calculating.”

“Trust me, I’m aware we’re probably going to an uninhabited asteroid,” says Leia, “but humor me, okay? I might know something about it.”

“Plesae state your destination and desired departure time.”

“It’s Naboo,” Luke tells his sister and the teller. “Earliest flight you’ve got.”

“Dispensing.”

Leia’s staring at at him.

He frowns. “What, is it super dangerous or something?”

“You’re kidding me, right?”

“No,” says Luke, slowly. “Listen, can we skip the reminder that you got the royal education while I was repairing moisture units? What’s on Naboo?”

“It’s a Core World,” says Leia. “It’s where the Emperor was born.”

The teller reads out the price of their tickets. Luke fumbles his money out of his pocket and drops some onto the counter. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah,” says Leia, with a half-laugh.

“Oh,” says Luke. “Well. I guess we know why the Force wants us to go there.”

Leia snorts.

“Did you actually figure out I’m younger?” Luke asks her quietly, a few hours later, the rest of the starliner dozing around them.

Leia blinks. “What? No. What makes you think I did?”

“You called me baby brother.”

“Oh,” she says. “No, that was just me flicking shit. I still don’t even know where the medical center was.”

“Damn.”

She glances at him. “Obi-Wan might have a lead.”

Luke bites his lip. “Ben-- I don’t wanna bother Ben with stuff like this.” He shugs, wraps his arms tighter around himself. “I mean, we don’t even know if he knows anything. And he’s gonna think it’s stupid.”

“It’s not stupid,” says Leia. “We have a right to know.”

“I know we do.” Luke pauses.

“And maybe he doesn’t know. But it’s not like there’s anyone else we can ask.”

“I know, I know.”

Leia must see how much he hates thinking about this, because she asks, “Why are we on a starliner right now?”

He blinks at her. “Instead of what?”

She shrugs. “Your X-Wing. The Falcon. A chartered ship.”

“First off, we wouldn’t both fit in my X-Wing. Second, why the hell would I ever want to try and fly the Falcon without Han and Chewie?” Luke smiles at her, still feeling a little guilty about Obi-Wan. “I don’t know the right wall to bang when things break.”

Leia shakes her head, grinning. “It’s not hard to learn. But that doesn’t answer my question.”

“Yeah.” Luke glances around them. “It’s-- I don’t know, it’s kinda nice to travel with other people. I try to do this most of the time. I think it’s probably good for me.”

“What, are you worried about getting airs?” Leia teases.

“Yeah, actually, I guess,” Luke says. “I mean, Ben was ‘crazy old Kenobi out by the dunes’ for my whole life. And I’m not sure Yoda had talked to anyone in a hundred years when I met him.”

Leia snorts. “Try ‘listened’.”

“Exactly,” Luke says, pointing at her. “I don’t want to be like that. I don’t want to be a Jedi who parks myself in the middle of nowhere and doesn’t talk to anyone.”

“Even though you keep following the Force out to the middle of nowhere?” asks Leia, raising an eyebrow.

“See, you get it,” says Luke, grinning. He shakes his head. “Maybe it doesn’t do anything. But I still try to be around people when I can.”

Leia nods, glancing around them again.

“Have you ever done this before?” he asks, realizing suddenly it’s a relevant question.

“Gone incognito? Sure.”

“I meant using public transportation.”

Leia raises an eyebrow, her mouth curling. “You’re calling me spoiled?”

“Cut that out,” says Luke, waving it away. “You know what I’m asking.”

“Yeah, I know what you’re asking,” says Leia. “And the answer’s no. I haven’t-- you know I’ve slept in my fair share of cargo holds. But...” She trails off, glancing around them. “Standard class is honestly a first for me.”

“Hey, look at that,” says Luke, nudging her shoulder. “Learning things from me already.”

“This says nothing about who’s older,” says Leia, pointing at him. “I want that on-record.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Luke opens his eyes and knows it’s the dream again.

He’s back on Coruscant, standing on a landing pad, speeders flying past. He watches the silver-chrome ship land in front of him and knows what’s going to happen.

Sure enough: the doors open, the politician emerges down the ramp. The explosion.

He kneels down next to the fallen woman. She’s crying. Next to him, a pilot stumbles to her knees and pulls off her helmet. She says something Luke doesn’t understand. The woman on the ground replies, looking pained.

Luke knows this part. He waits until the lady’s body goes limp and then reaches out, carefully, to close her eyes.

The pilot glances at him.

That’s never happened before.

“What happened?” he asks her, slow and deliberate. It feels like he’s underwater. “Who was she?”

“She was me,” the pilot whispers, holding Luke’s gaze. “She was supposed to be me.”

“--what?”

The pilot stands up, looking around frantically. “They’re coming after me,” she tells him. “It’s him -- he’s coming after me.”

“When is this?” Luke asks, standing slowly. He can’t bring himself to move with any urgency. “What happens after this?”

The woman grabs his wrist and grips it, tight. “You can’t trust him,” she hisses. “He’ll pretend to be your friend -- he’ll make it seem like he’s on your side. But he’s not. He’s not-- oh, god,” she says, letting go of him to put her wrist to her mouth. Her face creases with fear. “Promise me you won’t trust him,” she sobs.

“I can’t promise what I don’t know,” Luke tells her. “I don’t understand.”

“Not yet,” she says, taking a shuddering breath. “You don’t understand yet. You don’t-- he took you and he took your father and he was coming for me even now--”

“Wait--” Luke interrupts, feeling the dream start to fade. “Wait, don’t go-- tell me, did you know my--”

Luke blinks himself awake to find half the starliner’s occupants standing in the aisles. He yawns. “Have we landed?”

“Yeah.” Leia’s re-braiding the left side of her hair. “Everyone else gets out before us.”

“Yeah, it kinda sucks.”

“There should be laws against this.”

Luke snorts absently. He’s trying to remember what he was dreaming about. “Man, if only we knew a senator.”

Leia flicks his ear. “You know I’m not a senator anymore.”

“Get off me!” he says, hunching his shoulders to get her away. The dream’s gone. He rolls his shoulders a few times, tries to focus on the present. “I meant Senator Aldrete, obviously. Or your friend Amilyn. I bet Amilyn would do something about this.”

“The only change Amilyn Holdo would make would be requiring a meditation instructor for each starliner to, and I quote, ‘help people pass their waiting time productively’.”

Luke snorts. “Seriously?”

Leia shrugs, pinning her braid back up. “I’d believe it. I never know what to expect out of her.” She stands as the row in front of them starts to empty and mutters, “She’s never been easy to read.”

“Yeah?” says Luke, standing up next to her, risking a glance at her face. Amilyn is the only friend Leia has from her old life. Luke envies that, sometimes. “How long have you known her?”

“Seven years. She was in my pathfinding class.”

“Cool.” They start to walk down the aisle of the starliner.

“You don’t know what pathfinding is, do you?”

He shrugs. “I’m assuming it’s Core Worlder for sand surfing.”

Leia snorts. “No. It’s...”

She trails off as they get their first glimpse of Naboo, emerging from the starliner. They’re stepping onto the most elaborate tiling Luke has ever seen. The giant landing pad -- plaza, more like -- has decorative areas scattered around, and it’s surrounded by huge, blue-domed buildings. There’s fountains everywhere.

Luke doesn’t realize they’ve stopped until they’re jostled by the next people disembarking. “Oh-- sorry, friends,” he says, and tugs on Leia’s shoulder to bring her out of the way.

“It’s always grander than I remember.”

He glances at her. “You’ve been here before?”

“Yeah, a few times.” Leia’s silent for a moment, regarding the fountain in front of them. “People liked to confuse our planets.”

“This place and Alderaan?”

“They said they were both beautiful.” Leia shakes her head. “Like that means anything. You’d think the famously pacifist society would be distinguishable from the planet so obsessed with assassinations that their politicians have to use full-time body doubles.”

“What the kriff?”

“Yeah, welcome to Naboo.” Leia takes his hand. “Let’s see if the palace is open for visitors.”

Chapter Text

The palace, it turns out, is open for visitors. Leia leads the way through gallery after gallery, all full of tourists.

“So we’re here to investigate Palpatine?”

“I guess so,” says Luke, letting Leia tug him past a room of pale statues. “I guess-- we still don’t know much about his relationship with the Jedi, do we?”

“He was a Sith Lord.”

“Yeah, but how did he become one?” Luke asks. “Who was his master? How did he turn our-- how did he turn Anakin to the Dark Side?”

Leia slows to a stop near a door marked Authorized. She says, “It wasn’t public knowledge. It still isn’t, to be honest.”

“Yeah -- I’ve been wondering if it was even possible to get answers.” He points at the door. “Are we going through there?”

“Are we supposed to?”

Luke shrugs. “Not sure. You brought us here.”

“I thought-- I don’t know if you want to meet the queen.” Leia bites her lip. “She’s nice enough. Naboo politicians are a lot quieter than they used to be, I’ve heard. But she might have some answers.”

Luke grins at her. “I’ll never say no to answers.”

“Cool.” Leia waves over a nearby bored-looking guard. “Excuse me. Would it be possible for us to have a moment of the queen’s time?”

The guard squints at them. “For what reason?”

“I’d like to discuss the preservation of emerald wine cultivars.” Leia smiles at her, sharp. “We’re here from Alderaan.”

The guard’s face drops into the familiar mix of surprise, pity, and nerves. She says, “I can make a request... Is there a name I can give? Just for, you know--”

“Organa.”

“Oh!” says the guard. She bows hastily. “My deepest apologies, princess. Of course--” She turns to unlock the door in front of them, completely ignoring Luke. “Please follow me.”

As they follow behind her, Luke mumbles, “How often does that work?”

Leia’s smile is still sharp -- brittle, even. She says, “A lot more often, these days.”

The guard leads them up several flights of stairs and into a large atrium. The queen rises from her throne to greet them, two handmaidens in identical hoods flanking her on both sides.

“Leia!” she says, coming towards them to embrace Luke’s sister. “A pleasure, as always. What brings you to visit us?”

“It’s a bit of a story,” Leia says, returning the hug. She pulls back to nod at Luke. “Have you met Luke Skywalker?”

“--no, we have not,” says the queen. “Is he from your office?”

Luke snorts. “No.”

Leia grins. “No, Luke’s an old friend from my Alliance days -- a Jedi.”

“How impressive,” says the queen, inclining her head to Luke. “We’d heard rumors of a new order of Jedi.”

“There’s only a few of us so far, but we’re hoping to keep growing.” Luke grins sideways at Leia. “Her Highness is taking a break from Coruscant to help me investigate some history, in fact.”

“We didn’t know you had an interest in Jedi history,” the queen says to Leia.

“It’s an occasional hobby.”

The queen stifles a smile. “Well,” she says to Luke. “Naboo has a rich history with the Jedi order. Several of our past queens have enjoyed close friendships with Jedi knights.”

“I’m glad to hear that, your Majesty,” says Luke. He gives her an apologetic expression. “Unfortunately, that’s not the history we’re here to learn about.”

The queen’s head tilts slightly.

Leia says, “We think there’s more to learn about the Emperor, Queen Soruna.”

“Oh.” The queen exhales, carefully. “We hope you’re aware of all the richness of Naboo history -- richness he did not manage to sully, despite his best efforts.”

“Yes, of course,” says Luke, carefully. “We don’t wish to imply-- of course he’s not representative of Naboo.” He pauses. “But there’s very few people left who could give us answers. Palpatine had more of a history with the Jedi order than I think many realize.”

“Yes,” says the queen, darkly, “well, he had his secrets, that one.”

Leia puts her hand on Luke’s shoulder. “I’m sorry to bring up such a painful topic,” she tells the queen. “You know I have no love for the Emperor.” She pauses. “If you could-- are there any sites associated with him? Did he own a home?”

The queen’s expression twists. She says, “His house was preserved as a historic site during the Imperial era. But we doubt you will find anything of significance there. The last time that man stepped foot on Naboo was before he was even Chancellor.”

Luke and Leia glance at each other. Luke asks, “Are you sure?”

“We are certain he did not visit after destroying the Republic.” The queen’s voice is low and firm. “He traded on our reputation and tricked our representatives to serve his evil purposes. We would not have welcomed him if he’d tried to return.”

There’s real anger in her voice. Luke says, “I admire your conviction. I don’t know many who would have opposed the Emperor in that way.”

The queen inclines her head. “I know our queen would have done what was within her power -- any queen would. It is the Naboo way.”

“You weren’t queen when the Empire rose?” asks Luke.

“I hadn’t been born,” the queen says. She touches her face. “This is often a surprise to outsiders, but Naboo elects young politicians. This, too, is the Naboo way.”

Leia squeezes Luke’s shoulder. “The makeup hides it, but Queen Soruna is younger than either of us.”

Luke blinks. “Seriously?”

The queen grins. “That’s one of my favorite expressions,” she confides in Leia, her voice rising into a more natural register. “I love that bit.”

Leia grins at her. “I can’t blame you.”

The handmaiden to the left clears her throat. The queen’s expression settles. She says, “Ah, we’ve lost track of time.” She squeezes Leia’s hand, nods at Luke. “Lovely to see you, Leia, as always. And it was a pleasure, Master Skywalker. The Naboo are proud to continue our long history of friendship with the Jedi.”

“As are we,” says Luke.

“And the historic site?” asks Leia.

The queen nods at her other handmaiden. “You’ll be given directions.”

“Thank you, your Majesty,” says Luke, with a deep bow.

A few hours later, they emerge from Palpatine’s childhood home.

“Well,” says Luke, blinking as he emerges into fresh sunlight. He laces his fingers together and stretches his arms out above him. “That sucked shit.”

“We probably could’ve seen this coming,” Leia agrees, shutting the door. “The queen told us he wouldn’t have left anything. He really didn’t care about this planet at all, did he?”

“I don’t get why,” says Luke. “That docent was almost as frustrating as he was.”

Leia snorts. “I’ll take your word on it, Jedi.”

Luke glances at her. “You never met the Emperor?”

“No?” Leia frowns. “Almost nobody did. He quit public appearances as soon as the Republic fell. There were constant rumors that he’d died.”

“Yeah, I know that,” says Luke. “But-- I don’t know, I figured that was just an Outer Rim thing. We didn’t get much news.”

“Oh, no, don’t worry, the Core had no clue what was going on either.” Leia rolls her eyes. “Senators didn’t need to know what was going on -- they were told what opinions to have. Being on Coruscant just made it easier for the Imperials to sniff out dissidents.”

“Like your dad?”

Leia smiles with remembered pride. “And Mon Mothma.”

Luke points at the street in front of them -- Leia nods. Together, they start to walk. “I’ve been meaning to ask,” he says, “how did your dad get away with everything he was doing? Did they know he was involved with the Alliance?”

Leia shrugs. “More or less. He and Mon were good at plausible deniability. I don’t know all the details -- my parents didn’t let me get involved until I was sixteen.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” says Leia, chuckling a little. “I think they knew how much I wanted to fight. I mean, I was ready to pick up a blaster and start shooting.”

“Oh, so you were always like this.”

“Yes, asshole, I was always like this.” She shakes her head. “But the Alliance needed me to sit quietly in Command and make the big-picture decisions.”

“And now you get the pleasure of still being in politics.”

“And now I get the pleasure of still being in politics,” Leia agrees, wry. “It’s not like it was any less dangerous. I think the ISB had my parents under constant surveillance.” Her expression twists a little. “Tarkin visited our home, a few times.”

Luke takes her hand.

“Thanks,” she says, squeezing. “Anyway-- all this to say. There were plenty of ways for the Empire to threaten people without the Emperor needing to get involved. So you’re pretty special, Master Skywalker, for getting the honor of being threatened face-to-face.”

Luke cracks a smile. “Wow. Can’t believe I’m so unique.”

“I know, I know,” says Leia. “Won’t anyone think of your ego?”

Their laughter carries them past stores and restaurants half-filled with travelers, art museums and plazas, until they slow to a stop on the outskirts of the city. There’s a gazebo overlooking a waterfall, linked to a small tower. As they both stand there, a man walks past, carrying a bouquet of flowers.

“Do you know what this is?” Luke whispers.

“No,” says Leia. “It looks--” They watch the man set the flowers onto a tall pyre within the gazebo. “It looks like a monument.”

Luke’s looking at the man’s expression. He says, “I feel like I want to talk to him.”

Leia glances at him. “Isn’t that what we’re here for?”

“Good point.” Luke steps forward, trying to muster as much politeness as he can find. “Excuse me, friend,” he says to the stranger. “What is this place?”

The man turns his head to regard Luke. He doesn’t seem surprised to see him. “It’s the tomb of the Jedi.”

“--oh.”

Leia steps forward, puts her hand on his shoulder. “What Jedi?”

“Once, Naboo was under threat,” says the man. The words sound practiced -- this is a story he’s told before. “The capitol sent a Jedi and his student to help us.”

Luke and Leia exchange a glance. Luke asks, “What happened?”

The man says, “The Jedi was killed.”

“How?”

“There was a knight of evil. The story was never told -- no one knows how, or why, or where he came from. But we know that the Jedi fell. He was honored here.”

Luke swallows. “Do you know his name?”

The man shakes his head.

“Do you-- we’re here to learn stories about the Jedi,” says Leia, carefully. “And about those who opposed them. I know this story was untold, but is there...?”

The man smiles at them both. “There’s a place,” he says, “out in the Lake District. Rumors were told of a Force user who visited there, some time before the Empire rose.”

Luke doesn’t need to look at Leia to know they’re thinking the same thing. He asks, “Can you tell us how to get there?”

“It was a private house.”

Leia nods. “We’ll ask for what permission is required.”

The man considers them both. He asks, “Do you have a personal interest in our history with the Force?”

“We’re not lucky enough to be Naboo,” says Luke, apologetically.

“We’re-- we believe we’re here to learn about evil,” Leia adds. She takes Luke’s hand. “And how it creeps into good places.”

The man purses his lips. “The villa may be of interest, then.”

Chapter Text

This time, Luke opens his eyes inside a ship. He turns his head to watch the stars streak past. The floor he’s sitting on is sharp and detailed -- he can feel the edges of the tiles.

Force visions aren’t like normal dreams. They’re sharply detailed. Sometimes they feel clearer than the waking world.

A girl is kneeling next to him, scrubbing at an R2 unit. Her flame-colored hood keeps her face in shadow. Her lips are moving -- Luke can’t understand what she’s saying.

“Hello?” he asks.

She glances at him. “It’s you again,” she says, with perfect calm.

He squints at her face. “Are you the pilot?”

“--the pilot?” she asks, wrinkling her nose.

Come to think of it, she looks younger this time, doesn’t she?

The girl glances at the R2 unit and seems to come to a conclusion, smiling softly at him. “No-- no, I’m not his co-pilot. I’m cleaning this unit for the queen.”

Luke nods. It shouldn’t surprise him to see Artoo’s serial number printed under her rag. “He’s a good droid,” he offers. “He’ll serve you well.”

She nods. “He already has.”

Artoo doesn’t move. Obviously he wouldn’t -- he’s still alive.

“How are we connected?” Luke asks the girl. “That droid -- he was my father’s.”

“Not yet,” she says, her smile widening.

“--this is before?”

“This is now,” she says earnestly. She drops her rag and takes his hand. Her palm is warm. “She asked me to clean him because she thought it would be funny. We’re so young, you know. My parents didn’t want me to be queen.”

Luke thinks about his sister. “I can imagine,” he says to the young face in front of him. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” she says, squeezing his hand. “I wanted you to be safe. I wanted to take you to the meadows and watch you run around in the grass.”

“The meadows?”

“Where I grew up,” she says. Her face softens. “Where we fell in love.”

“Who did you love?” Luke asks, bringing up his other hand to fold over hers. “Please-- I don’t know who you are. Have we ever met? Did you know the Emperor?”

She frowns, dropping his hand. “Don’t call him that,” she says. “He stole that title. He stole my life.” She glances down. “You don’t know who I am.”

“No--” Luke puts a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll figure it out. I’m trying to figure it out.”

She blinks and puts her hand over his, gripping tightly. “You’ll walk right past me,” she says, her voice grave. “You won’t even know.”

“I will,” Luke says, as her grip increases in strength. He winces. “Please-- I’ll know, I promise.”

“You won’t,” she says, releasing him. He snatches his hand back. “It’s okay,” she offers, watching him cradle it gingerly. “There’s no way you could know.”

“--how can I know you?” he asks.

“You won’t,” she says. “Not until you go home.”

Luke wakes up on the shuttle to find his sister propped against his shoulder, snoring softly.

He hasn’t seen her sleep since they rescued Han from Jabba. He misses it, though they only actually shared a room a handful of times, splitting Alliance quarters and bunking together on the Falcon. He misses the way they’d breathe in tandem.

He closes his eyes and lets it happen again. He massages his hand, which aches like someone really did try to crush it.

He spends the last half-hour of their chartered flight staring out the window at the Naboo scenery. As the pilot engages the ramp, there’s a groan to his left.

“Luke?”

“We’re here.”

Leia blinks several times, rubbing at one eye and yawning. “The Lake District?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright,” she says. “We have to ask for permission, right?”

“Yeah,” Luke repeats. “I figured we could try knocking on the door, see what happens.”

Leia considers for a moment, then presses her lips together and nods. “Yeah, that’ll probably work.”

The startled protocol droid who opens the door reminds Luke very strongly of Threepio. “Oh-- oh, dear. Visitors! What could visitors want with this place?”

“We were wondering if the estate is open to visitors,” says Luke, keeping his hands folded in front of him. “We have-- a historical interest. We’re hoping there’s something we can learn here.”

The droid stares at them. “The Senator spent less than two months here, all told.”

“We’re interested in rumors of a Force user who visited here, actually,” says Leia. “We’re trying--” She glances at Luke. “We’re investigating the history of the Emperor.”

“The Emperor?” asks the droid. “But-- that man never visited here.”

Luka frowns. Leia says, “Excuse me?”

“The Emperor never visited this estate,” says the droid, more clearly. She frowns. “Besides, the Emperor wasn’t a Jedi. If you’ll remember, he was responsible for their extinction.”

“He tried to make them extinct,” Luke corrects. The droid doesn’t react. Luke glances at Leia. “We were-- we heard this place was closely tied to Naboo’s history with the Force.”

“Oh, it is,” says the droid. “But that had nothing to do with Palpatine. A Jedi stayed here for several weeks, in order to protect Senator Amidala. She was at great risk of assassination.”

“Oh, this was Senator Amidala’s estate?” asks Leia, her eyes lighting up. “I didn’t know she’d had a Jedi bodyguard.”

“For a time, yes, while the Jedi investigated the threats to her life.”

Luke frowns. “Who’s Senator Amidala?”

The droid puts a hand to her mouth, staring at him for a long moment. “You mean you don’t know?”

“Please excuse my friend -- he’s not from around here.” Leia smiles apologetically at Luke. “She was a former queen of Naboo. She was really popular -- I didn’t know she dealt with so much danger.” She glances at the droid and says, slower: “She was an ally of... my planet, back when she served in the Senate. I think-- some of the people you met on Yavin would’ve been associated with her.”

“Ah,” says Luke, understanding what she means.

“Are there many Naboo on the planet... Yavin?” asks the droid.

“There once were, yes, when it was inhabited.” Leia smiles at the droid. “Thank you for your time. I’m sorry about our mistake -- we didn’t mean to disturb the peace here.” She frowns. “Actually--- the Senator was laid to rest in this area, wasn’t she?”

“Yes, she requested to be buried in the estate’s back fields.”

Leia glances at Luke. “I wrote-- actually, I didn’t write a report about her in school, but only because my parents didn’t let me. Do you want to come with me to visit her?”

“Would that be possible?” Luke asks the droid.

She smiles pleasantly. “The outdoor areas are certainly open to visitors -- especially those wishing to pay their respects. Please, come with me.”

The droid leads them to the senator’s grave -- an upright stone surrounded by fields of yellow flowers. Around them, large animals graze quietly in pairs.

Luke waits for the droid to leave before he asks, “Why isn’t her name on the stone?”

“It is.” Leia points at the name written above the illustration. “Amidala would’ve been her royal name, chosen when she was first elected. This is her personal name.”

Luke stares at the two words written on the grave and has to suppress a shiver.

“You okay?”

“Yeah,” he says. “I’ve never liked graves. On Tatooine it was okay, but-- it’s different when it’s a stranger. It’s not-- I guess it’s not very Jedi of me.”

Leia snorts. “It’s natural enough.”

“You’re okay?”

“Yeah, I don’t mind them.” She’s staring at the grave too. She says, “I like the idea of having a place to visit.”

Luke takes her hand.

She clears her throat. “Thanks. I’m glad we got to come. She was... I think she must’ve been involved in the Alliance somehow.”

“You think?” Luke asks, raising an eyebrow at her.

“I didn’t get the details,” says Leia. “They didn’t tell me anything for so long. And then-- and even when I was finally allowed to help, it’s not like I was spending my time asking about history.”

“Why do you think she was involved, then?”

“They would discourage me from talking about certain people. Things.” Leia pauses, shuts her eyes. “I wasn’t allowed to ask questions about the Jedi in public, or mention certain people, or admit we were close with Mon Mothma. And gods forbid the words Obi-Wan Kenobi ever came out of my mouth.”

Luke glances at her. “You knew about Obi-Wan?”

“Yeah,” says Leia. “I was kidnapped as a kid. He came to rescue me -- I don’t know the whole story.” She frowns, thinks about it. “It was an Inquisitor, actually, who stole me. I wonder why she didn’t sense me.”

“You’ve got a very quiet presence in the Force,” Luke tells her. “I don’t know where you got it. I’m told I’m impossible to miss.”

Leia gives him a faint smile. “Must’ve been my upbringing.”

“Yeah,” says Luke. He frowns. “I wonder-- your parents might have known how the Jedi worked with children. Did they spend any time in the Temple before it fell?”

“I don’t know.” Leia’s eyes are red. Luke’s startled to realize she’s upset.

“Leia?”

“Sorry,” she says, her voice shaky. “Sorry, I’m-- sometimes I remember how much I never asked them about. I’ll never get the answers, now.”

Luke could speak to Ben right now, if he wanted to. But his uncle and aunt are gone forever. He puts an arm over her shoulder and draws her close so he can give her a real hug.

“I’m fine,” she says into his shoulder. “I’m just-- I just need a moment.”

“Take your time,” he says. “We’ve got nowhere to be.”

Leia gives a wet chuckle. “And the Force isn’t going anywhere.” She lets him hold her for another moment before pulling back and quickly wiping her eyes. She glances at the grave. “Sorry, senator.”

“I’m sure she wouldn’t mind,” says Luke. He squats down to examine the etching of the stone -- it looks like a tree, half-grown. He asks, “Did she die young?”

“Not too young,” says Leia, frowning. “I’m not sure. She was Queen of Naboo during the first Separatist action-- I mean, proto-Separatist,” she corrects. “It was just the Trade Federation then. That would’ve been...” She frowns and looks up. “My mom made sure I learned this.”

Luke grins. “I changed my mind. I’m glad you’re the one with the fancy education.”

She flips him off, expression unchanging. “It was 13 BFE, which would’ve been... 32 BBY.” She shakes her head. “I voted for changing the calendar, but--”

“--it’s hard enough to keep track of dates without having to remember when Yavin happened,” Luke says. “Trust me, I’m right with you. The Imperial system was easier.”

Leia snorts. “No subtraction needed. We were born on the zero.”

Luke straightens up from squatting. “They used the old calendar on here -- the old-old one, the Republic system,” he amends, pointing at the gravestone. “I don’t know how to convert it. When did she die?”

Leia shrugs. “I’m even worse at remembering that system. Call me a bad rebel. I think it was around the fall of the Republic, but I couldn’t tell you the specific date. I know people theorized that she’d been assassinated by Palpatine.”

“No wonder your parents didn’t want you talking about her in public.” Luke frowns. “I wonder if that’s who the Jedi was protecting her from.”

Leia winces. “It probably was. The Emperor had things planned for a long time. I mean, he became Chancellor... it must’ve been around the same time as the first Trade Federation crisis, I think.” She shakes her head. “My mother better be proud of me for remembering all of this.”

Luke offers, “I’m sure she is.”

“Yeah,” says Leia, nodding sharply. “You’re probably right.” She trails off, quiet for a long moment, then clears her throat. “Where are we going next?”

“I don’t know,” Luke says. “I thought we were supposed to investigate the Emperor. But we’re here, and he was never here. So maybe we’re completely off-track.”

“I thought maybe we’d find something new back here,” Leia muses, staring at the gravestone. “She was one of his strongest political opponents before she died.”

“That would’ve made sense,” says Luke. “But this...” He gestures to the landscape around them -- the faint sounds of waterfalls, the animals grazing in the distance. The total and complete seclusion. “This is beautiful, but I don’t think it has anything to do with us.”

Leia crosses her arms. “You’re the expert at these field trips. What would you usually do here?”

“To be honest?” Luke looks at her. “I go eat.”

Leia snorts. “I’m so glad you’re rebuilding the Jedi order. Where else would we find this kind of wisdom?”

“Shut up,” says Luke, pushing her. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

Chapter Text

The droid gives them directions to the closest town, half an hour’s walk away, where they find a small restaurant serving fish.

“Do you know what you’re going to order?” Leia asks, once they’re seated and viewing the menu. “I don’t know if you’ve...”

“What kind of animal is that?” asks Luke, pointing at the mural on the wall. “They say it lives in the water, but that just doesn’t seem right.”

“Okay, okay!” Leia interrupts, putting her hands up. “Sue me! I don’t know if there’s any fish on Tatooine.”

“I’ve been off-world for a long time,” says Luke, leaning back in his chair with a grin. “I’ve been introduced to the wonderful world of seafood. Anyway, we do have fish on Tatooine. Just... not on my hemisphere.”

“So it is a reasonable concern!” says Leia, pointing at him. “And don’t think I’ve forgotten you didn’t know what snow was. I can’t believe you ever managed to get promoted on Hoth, spending half your time with your coat on backwards.”

“Hey, come on, any ‘natural tendency towards leadership’ you might have, I have too! We shared a womb.” Luke dodges the balled up napkin she throws at him. “And I did just fine on Hoth. Snowstorms aren’t that different from sandstorms.”

“Okay, okay,” says Leia, laughing.

“As I recall it, I’m not the one who kept refusing to wear the heavy-duty boots.”

“It’s not like they were letting me outside.” Leia affects a low voice. “Can’t let the princess do anything that might endanger her.”

Luke snorts. “Right. Because staying inside the base meant total safety?”

“Obviously.”

The rotating menu hologram pops up with a prompt for them to select their orders. As Luke’s entering in the last dish, Leia says, “Okay, so any ideas?”

“We haven’t even eaten yet,” says Luke. He hits the confirmation button and leans back again. “Give it some time.”

“Right, the Jedi way,” says Leia. “And let me guess -- Jedi don’t carry money.”

Luke bats his eyelashes at her.

“You’re lucky you’re related to royalty,” she tells him, pulling out her credit chip.

“Trust me, I thank the Force every day.” He puts his hand down on the table, waits until she takes it. “To answer your question... I don’t know. It’s usually easier to follow the trail. I don’t know what we’re supposed to be looking for, or where we’re supposed to go next.”

“We’ve kinda been striking out on Palpatine’s history,” admits Leia. She squeezes his hand before letting go. “I feel like the only interesting things we’ve seen are graves.”

“Tell me again about your lifelong love of violence?”

Leia looks at him, unimpressed.

“Sorry.” Luke tries to refocus on the topic at hand. “We still haven’t figured out why the Force wanted us here.”

“Maybe the Force wanted me to practice my history lessons.” Leia shrugs. “It feels like that’s most of what we’ve been doing.”

Luke frowns. Something about that sounds right. Slowly, he says, “I wonder if we’re trying to follow the wrong thread.”

Leia’s eyebrows rise. “You mean, we weren’t supposed to come to Naboo?”

“No, I mean-- we’ve learned a lot here,” says Luke. “But not much of it has been about the Emperor.”

“Sure,” says Leia. “We’ve seen firsthand the assassination rate of politicians.”

Luke waves his hand. “I meant about us. You’ve been talking more about how you grew up. I didn’t know how you met Amilyn Holdo, or that you weren’t in the Rebellion from the moment you could hold a blaster.”

“--okay,” says Leia, slowly. “I mean, we’ve been doing a lot of sitting on transports, or walking. I don’t think the Force is making us more talkative.”

“I don’t think so, either,” says Luke. “I just-- I don’t know. I feel like what we’ve really been getting on this trip is just...” He shrugs, trying to downplay it. “We’ve been getting to spend time together?”

“Luke,” says Leia, her expression softening. “We don’t need the Force to hang out. We can spend time together outside of your sacred wandering-around time.”

“I don’t know, you’re pretty busy,” says Luke. He tries to smile at her. “But I just mean-- I don’t know, maybe we should lean into it.”

“What, do you want to interview each other?”

Luke snorts. “I think you’ve sat through enough of those for the both of us.”

Leia raises her eyebrows. “Don’t you forget it.” She frowns at him. “So what does ‘leaning into it’ mean?”

“I’ve always wanted to take you to Tatooine.”

His sister blinks at him. “Seriously?”

“Why not?”

“We’ve already been there?”

“You’ve been to Jabba’s palace,” Luke corrects. “The Hutts aren’t exactly representative. For god’s sake, most of the planet would kneel to you if they knew you’re the one who killed him.”

Leia shifts her weight. “I don’t need to be anyone’s hero.”

“So they don’t need to know,” says Luke, easily. “But-- come on. I want to show you where I grew up. It’s where our family is from.”

Leia’s knuckles go white, her hand clenched in a fist on the edge of the table. She says, “My family is from Alderaan.”

“--of course,” says Luke, caught off-guard. “Of course. Sorry, I just meant--”

“I know what you meant,” Leia interrupts. She takes a deep breath. “We can go to Tatooine, if you want. But please don’t-- I don’t want it to be because it’s secretly got significance for me and my life. It’s just my brother’s home planet.” She meets his eyes. “Okay?”

Luke does his best to meet her gaze head-on. “Okay,” he says. “Got it.”

He’s sitting next to her, this time, overlooking the Senate chambers. She looks grave. Palpatine’s standing at the podium, making some sort of speech.

“You were a Senator,” Luke realizes.

The woman from his dreams nods, eyes trained on the Emperor. “This is the day it happened,” she says quietly.

There’s something familiar about this scene. Luke has seen holograms of Palpatine in these robes. They used to show them every year, just before his birthday.

“Empire Day.”

“Don’t call it that,” she snaps, glancing at him. “This is the Republic. This will always be the Republic.”

“I understand,” Luke says. “I’m-- I’m sorry.”

She’s already looking away, leaning over to say something quiet to the man sitting next to her. Luke recognizes his profile with a jolt.

His hair is black and thick, not grey and thinning like in Leia’s photos. But Bail Organa looks just as grave as ever, whispering with the woman from Luke’s dreams.

Luke says, “What’s your name?”

“Padmé,” the woman says absently, focusing back on Palpatine.

“Senator Amidala,” Luke remembers.

She nods.

He thinks back to the gravestone. “You’re about to die.”

“In a few days,” she says quietly. “Far away from here. But this-- this moment, it already felt like dying.”

“You used to own Artoo,” he says. “You-- we visited your lake home, didn’t we? I promised you I would recognize you and I didn’t.”

“You can’t,” she says, turning placidly to look at him again. “You don’t know. I could never tell you and everyone who knew is dead.”

“Tell me what?” Luke asks.

She shakes her head. “It’s too late. I couldn’t bring him back. You grew up alone -- your sister grew up so afraid.”

Luke’s stomach turns. “What do you know about my sister?”

The Senator smiles faintly at him. “Sacrifice,” she says, “and the best love that parents ever bore their children.” She blinks, her eyes shining. “Love that didn’t prevent death.”

Luke glances at Bail Organa again. He exhales, tries to get himself under control. “Yeah,” he admits.

“I want you to promise me,” the Senator says suddenly, grabbing his wrist. “Please-- if you remember me at all. Make this day a ruin.”

“This day?”

“Palpatine’s victory,” she spits, turning her head back to the center of the chamber -- where the new Emperor drones on. “Rebuild the Republic. Rebuild my life’s work.”

“--I’m not a politician,” Luke says.

Her hand tightens around his wrist. “You did what I couldn’t do,” she says lowly. “You saw the good. Don’t repeat our mistakes.”

“I’m not--”

She blinks, hard, and rolls her head to the side like she’s in pain. “You’re a Jedi,” she says, with effort. “Yes? A Jedi?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t do what they did,” she mutters. “Don’t try-- don’t kill him. There is good in him. There’s-- please, you have to believe me.” She blinks at him, her grip suddenly softening. “Please-- there’s still good.”

Luke takes her hands as gently as he can. “There is still good,” he promises. “There will be good again. The Jedi order-- we’re building something new, me and my sister and the others. We won’t make their mistakes.”

“Good,” she says, nodding. “Good, good-- oh, that’s good.” She squeezes his hands, eyes softening. “Oh-- oh, Luke.”

Luke doesn’t like the way some people say his name, like he’s the last hope all over again, like he has to kill his father for good to return to the universe.

She doesn’t say it that way. She says it like she loves him.

He squeezes her hands and doesn’t let go as the dream fades around them.

Luke wakes up to the sight of Mos Eisley from the air, rapidly approaching as the commuter ship descends.

His eyes are wet.

He wipes them before he turns away from the window. His sister is already awake next to him, rebraiding her hair. “At some point, this gets just as uncomfortable as a swamp.”

Luke swallows and tries not to think about his dreams. “What, does your neck hurt?”

“Doesn’t yours?”

“I guess,” says Luke, although he hasn’t thought about it. He’s probably spent more time sleeping on transports than on solid ground over the last six months. “You ready?”

“I’ve been here before,” she reminds him, as the starship makes a bumpy landing. “I know how hot it gets.”

Luke snorts. “No lake breezes here. And it’s not as beautiful, either.”

“Eh, I don’t know,” says Leia. “I think I prefer it to Naboo.”

He glances at her, surprised, as the row before them starts to file out. “Really? What, is it less familiar?”

“I don’t know,” Leia says. “It always feels like-- I don’t know, like something’s hiding, on Naboo. Like there’s something I should know about. I always feel off-balance.”

They start to file out. Luke says, “That might be the Force.”

“--I guess it might be,” Leia agrees. “I don’t know. I guess Naboo has had enough secrets, over the years.”

“That’s one good thing about Tatooine,” Luke says, as they step out into the bright sunlight. He puts one hand over his eyes. “People are honest about wanting to rob you.”

Leia steps out next to him and pulls out glareshades from her pack.

Luke glances at her. “Prepared for anything, huh?”

“Not everything,” says Leia, slipping on her shades. She shakes her head at him. “I just have a crazy brother.”

“I promised you no swamp!”

“Yeah, so I figured -- how long until we end up in dry heat?”

He rolls his eyes.

She says, “I’ll give you one thing, you’re dedicated. How many climates have we been through, this trip?”

“Yeah, yeah,” says Luke. “Come on, let’s sit down for a second.”

They get a table in the only cantina in town. Luke orders them two drinks and brings them back to the corner table.

“Guess who I met here?” he asks, slipping in next to Leia.

“Who?”

“Han,” he says. “This is where Ben and I chartered the Falcon.”

Leia snorts, looking out at the assembly of beings in front of them. “Seriously?”

“Yeah,” Luke says. “He was sitting at this table. I think he was hiding from Jabba at the time.”

“He spent three years being hunted by that guy,” Leia says flatly. “You’d think at some point he’d pick a place to hide that wasn’t-- what, an hour from his palace?”

“More or less,” Luke allows. “It’s hard to get back and forth. The Hutts spend more of their time in Mos Espa.”

Leia nods. “So,” she says, taking a sip of her ruby bliel. “Where do you want to show me?”

“Ben and I sold the farm before we left with Han,” says Luke, messing with the straw on his drink. “I don’t know who owns it by now -- I probably know them, but I can’t guarantee they’ll be a friend.”

“But you still want to check it out?”

“It’s worth a try.” Luke shrugs. “There’s not much else around here to look at.”

“What, you don’t want to show me your childhood school?” Leia teases.

“It wasn’t much of a school,” says Luke. He swallows. “Anyway, I don’t-- I don’t know, the grand tour doesn’t seem like much fun without Biggs.”

Leia puts a hand over his.

“Thanks,” he says, looking up at her. “It’s easy to forget-- I really don’t have anyone left here. It’s not my home anymore.”

Leia makes a sympathetic face. She says, “No cousins?”

“No,” Luke says. “Uncle Owen always said I was enough trouble by myself. He didn’t have any siblings-- and Aunt Beru was from the other side of the planet.”

“Oh,” says Leia, with interest. “So how did she end up here?”

“She was on the run,” Luke says, quietly. “She never told me outright, but-- she was so involved in the path here. She must have been involved there, too. She probably got a little too well-known.”

Leia frowns. “The path?”

Luke remembers, belatedly, that Leia’s not from Tatooine. “I’ll explain later,” he says quickly. “Not here.”

She nods, leans back. “So,” she says, at a normal volume. “What are we drinking?”

“Ruby bliel. It’s cheaper than water.”

“Cheaper?”

“We’re on Tatooine,” says Luke. “It’s not exactly an unlimited resource.”

“I guess that makes sense,” says Leia. She tilts her glass to the side, examining it. “So where does the water supply come from?”

Luke snorts. “Seriously?”

“We get ours from-- we got ours,” Leia amends, “from underground aquifers. But I guess you don’t have those here...?”

“What do you think we were farming?”

Leia raises her eyebrows. “You’re joking.”

“I’m really not,” says Luke. “The moisture farm was the reason my grandmother managed to free herself.”

“Free herself?”

Luke sets his drink down. “Okay,” he says. “We really have to go visit the farm. I’ve never told you about slavery on Tatooine?”

“I knew it existed,” says Leia. “Your -- our -- family lived under slavery?”

“Leia,” says Luke. “Anakin was born a slave.”

She blinks in surprise. “Really? How did he end up a Jedi?”

“I have no idea,” Luke tells her. “My uncle always told me he was a navigator on a spice freighter, and that was already a stretch.”

Leia bursts into surprised laughter. “Seriously?”

“Listen,” says Luke, starting to laugh along with her. “It was more believable than the truth!”

“Oh, I’m sure,” says Leia. She rubs her eyes, still chuckling. “That man. A freighter pilot. Kriffing hells.”

“Finish your drink,” Luke tells her. “We’re going to the farm.”

Chapter Text

After they leave the cantina, Luke turns them towards town.

“Is this the way?” Leia asks.

“No, but I don’t know who owns the farm right now,” Luke says. “I don’t want to get shot at. Anyone will be able to tell us how to approach. Here, let’s try this place.”

The Toydarian behind the counter glances up as they walk in, then does a double-take at the quality of their clothing. “Welcome, travelers.” She gives a pleasant smile. “What can I do for you?”

“I want to know about the Skywalker farm,” Luke says, reaching the counter. “Do you know who owns it?”

“Skywalker?” She grins, her lips curling. “You’re sure that’s the name?”

“Yes,” Luke says, letting his voice get low. “I suggest you keep the commentary to yourself.”

She shrugs. “Well, I don’t know of it. Maybe if you told me where it is?”

Luke tells her.

“Oh, that place. It’s been abandoned for a long time.” She purses her lips. “I heard it was raided by Stormtroopers. Unusable now.”

“Thanks,” says Luke, throwing her a handful of credits.

She catches them. “Pleasure doing business.”

As they close the door behind them, Leia asks, “Do you know this store?”

“Not really,” says Luke. “It’s called something like the Watta Junkyard -- or maybe it’s Watto? We never came in here when I was younger -- I think they were involved in slavery. That’s why she didn’t believe me on the name.”

Leia nods. “Your name means something?”

“It’s a slave’s name,” Luke says. “Like Darklighter. Or Whitesun. Not my uncle’s -- his family was free.”

“Was your aunt the one related to--” Leia.

“Yeah,” interrupts Luke, saving her the pain of having to say his name. “Sort of. She was adopted by my grandmother when she was around our age. She said she’d only met my father a few times.”

Leia nods. “After he’d left Tatooine?”

“I guess so,” says Luke.

They reach the end of the road. Leia asks, “So, the farm?”

Luke nods. “The farm.”

They leave their rented speeder by the outskirts of the property. Leia looks around as they’re walking. “It’s a lot of land.”

“Yeah.”

“Why would people just let this stand abandoned?”

Luke points at the wreckage of the vaporators.

“They can’t be rebuilt?”

“I guess no one’s bothered,” says Luke. They reach the front door. Years of storms have left inches of sand on the entryway. He brushes it away -- there’s still scorchmarks on the ground. His heart pangs.

Leia puts her hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“Me too,” says Luke, staring at the marks. “If we go in there,” he says, “they’ll really be gone. I can’t pretend it’s the same anymore.”

“We don’t have to.”

Luke lets out a long breath. “No,” he says, “we do. A Jedi doesn’t live in denial.”

Leia makes a doubtful noise. “I’m pretty sure a lot of them did.”

“I don’t want to be the kind of Jedi that lives in denial,” Luke amends.

Leia nods, reaches for the door handle. Luke puts his hand over hers -- and together, they open the door.

A little while later, they step back outside together. “I’m sorry,” says Leia, shutting the door behind them.

“Yeah.”

“There’s nothing that makes it better.”

“There isn’t,” Luke agrees. He knows Leia understands. “I don’t know why I didn’t-- of course it was burned. I saw the bodies.”

“It’s one thing to know it, and one thing to see it,” Leia says.

“Yeah.”

“Is there anything around here that would’ve survived?”

Luke nods. “There was-- come on, this way.” He leads her up the stairs and around to the bluff. “I used to stand there and watch the sunset,” he says, pointing at the horizon.

“Wow.” Leia stands and shades her eyes, one hand on her hip. “That’s a beautiful view.”

“It was,” Luke agrees. “But it’s not what I wanna show you. Come here.”

They make their way down the ridge. The sun-bleached gravestone is still, by the mercy of the desert, upright. Luke dusts off the surface and then steps back.

“Whose was this?” Leia asks him.

“It’s my grandmother,” he says, pulling his water bottle out of his pack.

“Oh.”

Luke dips his fingers into the water and then flicks his hand at the sand. The water lands in the sand and evaporates immediately.

Leia’s watching him. “Is that traditional?”

“More or less,” he says, screwing the cap back on. “You’re not supposed to do it if it’ll hurt you. But if you can, to honor someone...”

“It’s beautiful,” says Leia, low. She clears her throat. “We don’t do anything special. People like to leave things. Flowers, mostly. Sometimes candles.”

Luke nods.

Leia looks at his bottle. “Can I do it too?”

“Of course,” he says, handing it to her.

She copies his motion, flicking her hand twice to get all the water off. The sand accepts it just as readily.

“What was she like?”

“I never met her,” Luke says, staring at the name on the stone. “She died a long time before I was born.”

“There’s no dates.”

“They didn’t know her birth year. And it’s-- people try to avoid having the year of death by itself.”

Leia nods.

After a long moment, Luke takes a deep breath. “Grandmother,” he says, “I hope you’re at peace. We leave now, but we do not forget. You will never be forgotten.”

Leia’s watching him closely. “Shmi Skywalker, freewoman,” he says. He nudges his sister. “You, too.”

She nods and bows to the stone. “Shmi Skywalker, freewoman,” she repeats. “You will never be forgotten.”

As they make their way back to the speeder, Luke says, “I’m sorry there wasn’t more. This probably feels like a waste of a trip.”

“It wasn’t a waste,” Leia says. “I met your grandmother. That’s not nothing.”

Luke snorts. “I guess.”

“Is there anything else you want to see?”

He pauses, hands on the speeder’s handles. “...is there?” he asks.

“Are you asking the Force?” Leia asks, bemused.

“Maybe,” he says, shutting his eyes and reaching out.

The Force doesn’t usually manifest as a voice -- it doesn’t usually manifest as anything. Luke’s instincts lead him. They just tend to be more helpful than not.

This time, though, the universe speaks with a stillness that reminds him of a Senator: go to Obi-Wan.

Luke sucks in a breath, opens his eyes. “We need to go to Ben’s place.”

“Obi-Wan?” Leia frowns. “I was gonna ask about that, actually. Did he used to live around here?”

“Yes, and the Force wants us to go there,” Luke says, swinging himself up onto the speeder. He holds out his hand to pull Leia up. “Right now.”

“Are you sure?” Leia asks.

He can’t blame her for being skeptical -- they’ve spent most of this trip stumbling around, feeling for clues in the dark. But now... “I’m sure,” he tells her, engaging the ignition. “This whole trip’s been to get us here.”

“Okay,” says Leia. She puts on her helmet and pulls down the goggles. “What does this have to do with the Emperor?”

Luke shrugs. “We’re gonna find out,” he says, and hits the accelerate pedal.

It takes fifteen minutes to get from the farm to Ben Kenobi’s hut. As they both step off the speeder, Leia says, “That wasn’t long.”

“No,” Luke says, shading his eyes again. “I think we were the only neighbors he had.” He pauses. “That was definitely on purpose, wasn’t it?”

Leia shrugs. “If I had to guess.” She surveys the mound of sand in front of them. “We don’t need to ask if anyone’s bought this place, huh?”

The door is barely visible. “I’m surprised it isn’t buried completely, to be honest,” says Luke. “I don’t know if--”

He brushes sand off the doorway and takes the handle. The door swings open, smooth and soundless.

Leia says, “He left it unlocked.”

Luke says, “I think I did, actually.”

She glances at him. “You’ve been here?”

“This is where we watched your message,” he says. “By the time we went back to the farm... it was too late.”

Leia puts her hand on his shoulder and squeezes, gently. “And he never came back?”

Luke shakes his head. “We went straight to Mos Eisley, hired Han and Chewie. The rest-- you know the rest.”

“More or less,” Leia says. She glances at him. “Should we be worried about anything waiting for us inside?”

“No,” says Luke. “Can’t you feel it? Nothing has disturbed this place for a long time.”

Leia takes a deep breath. “I can’t,” she admits, “but I’ll take your word for it.”

They step through the doorway together. As Leia glances around, Luke looks for the button to raise the shades. Natural light floods the windows.

All of the furniture is still there, perfectly intact, like their owner just stepped out for an evening walk. Everything is beige.

Leia says, “This is where he lived.”

“For our entire lives,” Luke says, coming around to stand next to her. “I forgot how plain it was.”

Leia picks up a blanket, abandoned on the couch, and drops it again. “The great negotiator lived here for nineteen years and no one ever knew.”

“The great negotiator?”

“That was his title, back in the Clone Wars.” Leia looks around. “My parents didn’t want to talk about him, so I found the accounts in the library.”

“I had no idea,” Luke says. He shakes his head. “I don’t think anyone did. He was just crazy old Ben.”

“The perfect disguise,” Leia murmurs. She glances at him. “Do you think he left anything for us to find?”

“I don’t know,” he says. “He had-- my father’s lightsaber was in that chest.” He draws it over and sits on the couch. “There might be...”

Leia helps him pry open the top, but inside there’s nothing special. Several sun-bleached robes. A carved japor snippet. And, all the way at the bottom, a silky-soft blanket.

“This isn’t bantha hair,” Luke says, pulling it out. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Leia helps him unfold it, her eyebrows drawing close together. “It looks familiar,” she says, and draws her hand over it. “And-- well, it feels like nerf wool.”

“How would he have gotten this here?” Luke asks her.

“I have no idea.”

They sit for a long moment, staring at the blanket, overwhelmed by the weight of everything they’ll never understand.

Finally, Leia clears her throat and asks, “The path?”

“What?”

“You mentioned that your aunt worked on something called the path. We couldn’t talk about it in the cantina.”

“Oh,” Luke says. “The path.”

She glances at him. “Did it have something to do with the Jedi?”

Luke snorts. “The Jedi?”

“That’s-- there was a network, for Jedi on the run,” she says, shifting her weight. “I saw it-- Obi-Wan and I used it, when I had been kidnapped.”

“Oh, sure,” says Luke. “I’ve seen evidence of that all across the galaxy. No-- no, the path I was talking about was for Tatooine.” He exhales. “It’s not something we usually talk about out loud.”

Leia says, “It was for slaves.”

“It was for freedom,” Luke corrects. “But-- yeah.”

“Is that how your grandmother got out?”

“No,” says Luke, “she bought her way free. But she and Aunt Beru-- they helped others get free. It was hard. You couldn’t stay where you’d come from -- you had to pretend you’d died. But it was so much better than the alternative.”

Leia gives him a small smile. “It was hope.”

“Yeah,” says Luke. “I guess-- I guess it’s something like being raised in the Alliance.”

“Maybe,” says Leia, bumping her shoulder with his. “Is it common, for people to be involved with the path?”

Luke frowns. “It depends. I don’t know who exactly. But-- Tatooine’s set up well for it, if you know the desert, if you’re set up the right way.” He stands up. “Lots of homes are built with secrets in mind -- places to hide things, or people, or equipment.” He walks over to the carpet. “For example, if we were at the farm, we’d have a trapdoor under--”

He pulls the carpet aside.

Leia looks at him. “Like that?”

There’s a heavy stone trapdoor, stained darker by years of shelter by the rug. Luke stares at it and says, “I didn’t expect this to be here.”

“What’s under it?”

“I have no idea.”

Leia glances at him. “What’s usually under it?”

“I can’t speak for anyone else,” Luke says. “We had-- basic surgical equipment, for trackers. Clothing. Supplies to go out into the desert.”

Leia nods. She says, “Is there any reason why we shouldn’t go down there?”

“None that I can think of,” Luke says. He glances up and around. “Unless Ben thinks we shouldn’t?”

They both hold their breath for a long moment -- but there’s nothing. If Obi-Wan is watching what they’re doing, he’s keeping his opinions to himself.

“Okay,” says Leia, glancing at him. She grabs the handle. “Ready?”

Luke puts his hand over hers and says, “Ready.”

Chapter Text

Together, they lift the trapdoor, trowing up dust that sparkles in the late afternoon sunlight. Underneath is a low staircase, covered in dust.

Leia goes down first -- Luke can see her freeze as she reaches the bottom.

“What is it?” he asks, quickly descending to stand next to her.

There’s not much light following them down through the opening, but it’s enough for them to see the tables and tables of supplies. Machines, datapads, and weapons -- Luke would’ve called this a major stop on the path, if he recognized any of the technology. As it is, Luke’s never seen anything like this before.

He looks at his sister. Leia’s mouth is pressed into a thin line.

“Do you know what this is?” he asks her.

She nods tightly. “All of this is from Alderaan.”

“--oh,” says Luke.

Leia steps forward, brushing away the dust to get a closer look at the central table. “This-- this is a long-range transponder, from before we were born.” She casts her hand over the blasters on the table. “And these-- these are ours. You see how they don’t have a setting switch?”

Luke steps forward to take a look. “I thought Alderaan had a tradition of pacifism.”

“We do,” Leia says, her voice tight. “These are permanently set on stun.”

Luke puts a hand on her shoulder. “Does the transponder still work?”

“It’s old enough that I doubt it,” Leia says, but she still winds her hand around the left side and presses a button. The screen glows, briefly, then settles on a menu. There’s a red dot in the bottom corner.

“I think it’s lost connection,” Luke says, pointing at it.

“The antenna probably got damaged,” Leia says absently. She’s scrolling through the menu. “I don’t know if... yeah.” She says something in a language Luke doesn’t understand.

Luke peers over her shoulder. She’s staring at the machine’s databanks. The log only shows five transmissions, all to the same comm code. “Do you recognize it?” he asks.

“No,” says Leia, frowning at the screen.

“Could it be--”

“Sure.” Leia takes a quick step back. “Or he was keeping tabs on the Rebellion. Does this date mean anything to you? It’s the last time he made contact.”

Luke follows where her finger is pointing. “Uh-- yeah, actually,” he says. “That was-- a few months after that, we had the biggest sandstorm in a generation. That’s when the antenna must have broken.”

Leia presses the palms of her hands into her eyes.

“Hey,” says Luke, squeezing her shoulder. “You okay?”

“Sure,” she says, her voice low. “Peachy.”

Luke snorts. “Glad to hear it.” He risks a glance at her. “If you want to step out for a second--”

“No.” Leia pulls her hands down, blinking rapidly. “No, I-- I’m not gonna feel better until we’ve searched the entire room.”

Luke looks around. “Do you think we’re actually gonna find anything?”

“I don’t know,” says Leia, already stepping away towards another table. “But--” She turns and looks at him. Her expression is terrible to witness. “If there’s even a word about them here...”

Her voice breaks. Luke says, “Of course.”

After ten minutes of searching, they haven’t found anything more interesting than a couple of emergency ration kits. Leia’s still digging through the equipment left on the tables. “This is all useless junk,” she says, dropping a broken datapad and stepping back. “He probably did that on purpose.”

“What do you mean?” Luke asks. He’s kneeling, going through the crates stashed under the tables. “On purpose?”

“If anyone came in, they’d find all the broken equipment and assume there was nothing here.” She looks down at him. “If there’s anything useful here, it’ll be in those bins.”

Luke sits back on his heels. “Sure,” he says, “if your idea of ‘useful’ means basic sonic tools and a few loose sprockets.”

Leia says, “Fuck this.”

Luke looks down at the crate in front of him, then at the line of crates in front of him, sitting under the tables that line the walls of the room. He doesn’t want to go through these. He doesn’t think Ben would’ve, either.

He reaches out to touch the wall, hidden by the deep shadows cast by the tables. He starts to crawl, feeling along. Near the corner of the room he touches something metallic.

“I think I found something,” he says, putting both hands under the table.

Leia abandons her post immediately, turning and squatting down next to him. He pulls out a holoprojector and hands it to her.

She turns it over in her hands. “This isn’t one of ours,” she says, rubbing it absently with the side of her index finger. “Have you seen this model before?”

“Sure,” says Luke, taking it back to examine it closer. “It’s standard issue over here. He probably bought it at a place like Watto’s.”

“What would a Jedi in hiding store on a secret holoprojector?” Leia asks him. “One that he hid more carefully than his Alliance communicator?”

Luke says, “There’s only one way to find out.”

They both stand up. He sets it down on the central table and presses the button.

Leia sucks in a sharp breath.

“--don’t know if this is ill-advised,” the hologram is saying. “It’s certainly a last resort. I doubt you know who I am. But you deserve to know.”

Luke risks a glance at his sister. She’s barely breathing, eyes glued to the projection.

“You’ll have to forgive me for being vague, but you can never be too careful.” The hologram of Bail Organa rubs an awkward hand over his mouth. “I believe you already know your family name.” He sighs. “Your birth father-- well, he’s a long story. Our mutual friend -- the one who gives you this -- is a better person to tell it. I’d like to tell you about your birth mother.”

Luke’s stomach seizes.

“You were born on a medical asteroid, in 3634.” Bail grins ruefully. “In my experience, people your age tend to struggle with the old Republic calendar, but you already know it was two days after Empire Day.”

The hologram of Leia’s father takes a deep breath. He’s holding his hands open, in front of him; doing everything to make his body language seem welcoming. Like he’s trying to make a good first impression.

“Your birth mother was a senator on Coruscant. That’s how I knew her. She was quiet about her pregnancy. When she finally gave birth, only three of us were there -- myself, our friend, and his mentor.” Bail snorts. “You’ll meet that mentor one day.”

Luke can’t smile at the joke about Yoda, too busy remembering about a woman in the Senate chambers.

“Her husband had already... been lost. She didn’t survive labor. No one was ever told that she gave birth -- she was buried as if she was still pregnant. And then... and then there was us, with these babies.” Bail winces. “Plural, yes. I know this might come as a shock--” He shakes his head, his tone dropping. “Ben-- add that to the list. We have to make sure...”

“I’ll tell him before I show him anything,” comes a familiar voice, faint and staticky. “Just focus on what you want to share.”

Bail nods. He puts a hand over his mouth. Slowly, he continues, “As I said, there were two of you. You needed to be hidden. We realized...” He exhales, long and slow. “We decided the best thing to do was to separate you. So our friend took you to Tatooine. And the other baby...” He swallows. “The other baby was kept safe.”

Leia covers her mouth with one hand, the mirror image of her father.

“I’m saying this because you deserve to know where you come from,” Bail says. “You have grown up on your father’s planet, with your father’s family. But your mother...” He shrugs. “We kept her secret. Everyone has. It was safer, that way-- it would raise fewer suspicions. But she still deserves to be remembered. You deserve to know about her.”

Quietly, Leia says, “I didn’t even know they knew who she was.”

“Your mother’s name was Padmé Naberrie,” Bail Organa says to Luke, the holographic image of his face flickering. “Her public name was Amidala. She was a queen, and later Senator, of the planet called Naboo. She fell in love with your father when he was assigned to protect her from assassination.” He pauses. “Palpatine was behind it, of course. But we didn’t know that at the time.”

Luke remembers his dreams and can’t be surprised. Don’t trust him and don’t call him Emperor and a woman who dreamed about watching her children run in the meadows of Naboo.

“I’m sorry we separated you,” says the recording of Bail. “I’m sorry this was hidden from you for so long. I can only hope...” He sighs, gives a rueful smile. “I can only hope that you’re watching this -- you, the boy this was meant for. I pray that none of this comes as a surprise to you. That you,” his voice catches, “--and your sister-- have already been able to speak freely of this, with us, and with our friend.”

Faintly, the same familiar voice says, “We all hope that.”

Bail’s mouth curves. “But as our friend can’t see the future -- and I know too little about what’s coming...” He shrugs. “Call this a backup plan.” He stares out, straight ahead. “In case we never meet.”

Luke blinks, hard, trying to clear his vision.

“And since we’re dealing with contingencies...” Bail takes a deep breath. His entire face softens. “If you’re not the only person watching this -- if there’s someone else with you, someone very dear--”

Luke glances at his sister. Her hands are balled into tight fists.

“You are loved,” Bail tells her. “There is nothing you can do that won’t make your parents proud.” He presses his lips together into a smile. “You deserve to know the story, but that doesn’t change where you come from, or who you are.” He runs a careful hand over his short-cropped hair. “Never doubt that.”

Leia, trembling faintly, runs her own fingers over one of her braids.

Bail pauses. The room echoes with silence for a moment, save for the tandem breathing of Luke and his sister.

Then, the hologram of Bail huffs a soft laugh, rubbing a hand over his mouth. “I’m getting soft in my old age,” he says, looking down.

“I can’t blame you,” comes the other voice in the recording. “It’s been a long, dark journey, my friend.”

“It has,” Bail says. “Will you-- you’ll keep this safe?”

“As safe as I can keep anything,” says the voice of Obi-Wan. “You know I can’t guarantee it.” He pauses. “I don’t know why you think my basement will be any safer than... your home.”

Bail shrugs one shoulder. “We haven’t gotten this far by leaving things to chance.” He folds his hands in front of him. “It’s hard enough not to lose faith.”

Obi-Wan chuckles. “I’ll have enough faith for both of us.”

The holographic image of Bail freezes, still flickering in the faint light. The recording ends.

“I’d forgotten that was there,” says a voice from behind them.

Luke’s spun around with his lightsaber half-drawn before he registers who’s spoken. Next to him, Leia hasn’t moved.

“Ben,” Luke says, willing his heartbeat to slow. He re-hooks his saber into his belt and lets it fall. “I wasn’t expecting you.”

The ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi smiles sadly at him. “You’re in my house,” he says. “What did you expect?”

Luke says, “You were the one who brought me to my aunt and uncle.”

Obi-Wan’s smile fades. “Yes.”

“You separated us.”

“Yes.”

“And you never...” He glaces at Leia, still with her back turned. “You never thought we’d want to know?”

Obi-Wan says, “I told you as soon as I thought it prudent, Luke. I misrepresented what happened to Anakin, yes, but--”

“I meant about our mother.” Luke shakes his head. “Our birth. Our-- my heritage,” he amends, sensing Leia’s tense shoulders without having to see them. “Was that less important?”

Obi-Wan sighs. “No.”

“But-- I mean, gods, what if we’d never come here?”

“The Force led you here, Luke, and you know that just as well as I,” says Obi-Wan. He folds his hands in front of him. “As to your mother... you could have asked, you know.”

Luke shuts his eyes. How to explain: he didn’t know. He expected for Obi-Wan to call it childish. He still remembers being condescended to, told he wasn’t ready to face his father -- when he was. When he wasn’t the one blinded by old pain.

“Are there any more of these?” Leia asks, her voice low. She’s still facing away from both of them. Her hand is on the table.

Obi-Wan’s face creases. He says, “No. It’s a miracle we made this one at all. It was, arguably, a foolish risk to take. We were usually more sensible.”

“Your sensibility is why I know almost nothing about the work my parents spent twenty years risking their lives doing.”

Obi-Wan says, “It’s also the reason why they never got caught.”

Leia turns around, slowly. She says, “I know you’re not condescending to me about the importance of caution.”

“To an Organa?” Obi-Wan gives her his best, most apologetic smile. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Leia wraps her arms around herself. “Do we need anything else from him?” she asks Luke.

Luke eyes Obi-Wan’s face, still as careworn and grey as he died. He asks, “Did you know-- did you know Senator Amidala?”

“Padmé?” Obi-Wan nods. “She was a dear friend.”

Luke swallows. “Do you think she left anything for us?”

Obi-Wan’s face softens. He says, “I wouldn’t know. She had-- well, she had an entire retinue. I suppose one of them might know. You could--”

“We have our own connections on Naboo,” Leia interrupts.

Obi-Wan looks at her. “Leia,” he says. “I didn’t mean-- I know it must...” He takes a deep breath. “I don’t know you half as well as I wished. I know I have caused you pain, however unintentional it was.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that it happened,” Leia says. “It doesn’t-- we’re still the ones who have to figure this shit out.”

“Yes,” says Obi-Wan. “I’m sorry.”

“We’ve been on our own for so long,” says Luke. “You said you wanted to protect us, and then-- what? Tell me to kill my father? Leave us to repeat your mistakes? Put the hopes of the entire galaxy on our shoulders?” He straightens his spine. “I’m not going to be the kind of Jedi you were.”

Obi-Wan says, “That’s exactly what I’ve always hoped.”

In the shadows, where Obi-Wan can’t see, Leia takes Luke’s hand.

“We’re off,” Luke tells Obi-Wan. “Lots to see.”

“Things to do,” Leia agrees. “A Republic to rebuild. History to learn.”

Smiling, Obi-Wan says, “I’m very proud of you both.”

“That’s nice,” says Luke. “But that’s not why we’re doing it.”

Chapter Text

They emerge, blinking, into the late afternoon sunlight.

Leia reaches into her pocket and pulls out her glareshades, slipping them on again. “That really is beautiful,” she says.

The horizon is bathed in pinks and oranges -- the familiar dying blaze of a twin sunset. Luke nods. “It’s something I miss.”

Leia glances at him. “Are you okay?”

Luke shrugs one shoulder. “Yeah,” he says. “I think I am.” He nudges her shoulder. “You?”

She gives him her best smile. “I’m getting there.”

His eyes fall on her bag. “You took it, didn’t you?”

“The holoprojector?”

“Yeah.”

Leia wraps one arm around the bag. “I don’t have much else.”

“No-- no,” Luke says, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Sorry-- I think you should. I’m glad we found it. I’m glad...” He takes a deep breath. “I’m glad it mentions both of us.”

“Me, too,” Leia says, her smile deepening. “I think-- my parents would’ve liked you.”

He knows how much it means, for her to say that. “--thanks, Leia,” he says. “My aunt would’ve adored you.” He thinks about it. “Owen would’ve tried to stop us from meeting, which trust me, is its own compliment.”

Leia snorts. “That bad?”

“Oh, not really,” Luke says. “He was trying to protect me. It just turns out that a cosmic destiny is a little hard to avoid.”

“Yeah,” Leia says, her voice carefully light. “I’ve learned that much.”

They stand in silence for a long moment, watching the twin sunset over Tatooine, breathing in tandem.

“The last time I saw this, it was the day before I met you,” Luke says.

Leia glances at him. “Would you change anything?”

“Would you?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” she says, ruefully. “A few things. Not the way I was raised.”

Luke stares out over the darkening horizon of his father’s home planet. “Sometimes I regret being a Jedi.”

Leia blinks. “Seriously?”

“I don’t have a home.” Luke closes his eyes. “All of my ties to Tatooine have been cut. The Coruscanti Temple fell. We know so little about Senator Amidala-- Padmé, our mother. I guess-- for all I talk about being a different kind of Jedi, I’m the same kind of hermit they’ve always been.”

“You’re not,” Leia says. She’s staring at him. “Luke-- how can you say you don’t have a home?”

“We saw my home,” he says. “It burned down.”

“What, and mine didn’t?”

Luke flinches. “I didn’t mean--”

“I know you didn’t,” Leia interrupts. She puts her hand on his arm. “I’m just-- you have a home with us. You know that, right?”

“That’s really generous of you,” Luke says, “but it doesn’t change the fact that--”

“Yes, it’s different because Han and I are dating,” Leia says. “But-- Luke, you’re not just some Jedi we host on our couch once in awhile. Your home is with us, as long as you want it. You’re our best friend. You’re my stupid brother.”

Luke snorts wetly. “Thanks.”

“Any time,” Leia says, because she understands that sometimes he prefers being a deadbeat brother to playing the galaxy’s last hope. “Luke--” Her eyes are sympathetic. “Don’t let yourself forget that you’re more than what people hoped for you.”

Luke raises an eyebrow. “Yeah? Would you say that’s a bad thing?”

Leia rolls her eyes. “Yeah, yeah,” she says. “So what if we have the same problems? At least that means we’re in it together.”

Luke bites his lip. “There’s no one left who knew me before,” he says quietly. “You have Amilyn-- and Han has Chewie and Lando. Who’s going to remember what it was like? Who’s going to-- god, we walked past her grave and we didn’t even know her, Leia. We didn’t even know her.”

“No one told us,” Leia says firmly. “Palpatine tried to kill her legacy and he tried to kill her connection with us and you know what, Luke? He failed. He failed. We know who she was, now -- there are people we can ask and books we can read. Sure, she’s gone, but-- we’ll rebuild it together.”

Luke nods slowly.

Leia cups his face in both hands. “And we’ll remember you,” she says quietly. “I’ll remember you. I wasn’t there-- we didn’t know each other as kids. But we know each other now, Luke.” She smiles, her eyes crinkling at the corners. “I know how much you leave your stuff everywhere, and your grandmother’s name, and how bad you snore.”

He shakes his head, grinning. “Shut up.”

“Make me,” she says, unbothered. “And you know me -- not the me I used to be, but the me I am now. Who else would take me on a crazy Force road trip to make sure I don’t go crazy during the Senate recess? Han?”

Luke pictures that version of this trip -- and the subsequent wreckage of the Falcon -- and laughs. “Yeah, this really isn’t your guys’ style.”

“It’s not,” Leia agrees, smiling with him. Her hands are still on his cheeks. “You’re my brother, Luke. That doesn’t change. Nothing will ever change that. I don’t care what we know about our history, or what we don’t, or what we’ll never learn. I care that we’re trying together.”

Luke puts his hands over hers and squeezes, gently. “Yeah,” he whispers. “Me too.”

Leia’s smile turns fond. She lets go of his face and steps back, glancing west. The suns are still setting, purple and glorious red over the horizon. “What do you think?” she asks. “Do you want to head back?”

Luke looks west, too, out over the place he grew up, where his father grew up, the planet that enslaved his grandmother and great-grandparents and everyone before. A desert so totally unlike what Padmé Naberrie came from. The opposite of the planet that his sister dreams about every night.

Luke’s not going to be like the Jedi before him. He’s going to be better.

“Yeah, okay,” he says. “Let’s go home.”

(“Hold on,” says Han, two nights later. “You’re telling me you guys are royalty by blood, too?”

“By election,” Leia corrects him, sprawled out over most of the couch. “She was a Senator when we were born.”

Luke smiles into his mug. “She was the most popular queen on Naboo in two hundred years,” he tells Han. “Now you know where we get our good etiquette.”

“Yeah, sure,” says Han, rolling his eyes. “Good etiquette. God help me.”

From the corner of the room, Artoo beeps a negative. As he understood things, the Senator spent most of her time diving headfirst into the closest source of danger -- then shooting her way out the other side.

“Oh, great,” says Han, “it really is genetic.”

Luke catches Leia’s eye and, together, they burst into laughter.)