Chapter Fifteen

Leia sat on the verandah cuddling her infant daughter.  The porch swing 
swayed gently in the mid-morning breeze, occasionally getting a nudge 
of encouragement from her slippered foot.  Han sat before her on the 
railing that encircled the verandah whittling with his vibroknife at an 
object as yet unrecognizable but sure to emerge as something for the 
children.  He had taken to constructing little wooden toys for them, 
and Leia had been pleasantly surprised to learn of this new aspect of 
her husband, never dreaming that he had a creative flair for anything
except pulling off the seemingly impossible.  After all these years he 
was still amazing her with the depths of his hidden talents.

From the far side of the verandah came the sound of Luke's carefully 
modulated voice, giving the children their daily instruction in the 
teachings of the Force, patiently answering their questions, even when 
interrupted for the umpteenth time.  Anakin had drifted off to sleep in 
the nearby hammock and seemed to be resting peacefully for a change;  
his sleep patterns had been erratic since before the family fled 
Coruscant, and his frequent nightmares continued to puzzle his parents.  
When questioned about his nameless fears, Anakin refused to discuss the 
subject, and withdrew further into himself, excluding even the twins.

Leia listened with half an ear, picking up bits and pieces of her 
brother's lessons to her children while attending to the more immediate 
business of feeding Arcadia.

Luke was in the midst of reciting the canons of the Jedi Code:  
"...there is no emotion; there is peace.  There is no ignorance; there 
is knowledge.  There is no passion..."

"Right."  Leia caught the subtle shifting in Han's Sense, and looked up 
to find him watching her intently.  "That's why we have four kids," he 
muttered, reluctantly pulling his eyes from the sight of her loosened 
gown.  With a heavy sigh, he returned his attention to his carving, 
tuning out Luke's lessons with ease, his wife's Sense with somewhat 
greater difficulty.

Arcadia was now five weeks old, and Leia was growing physically 
stronger day by day.  With any luck, she would be pronounced fully 
recovered next week when she submitted herself to Emdee-five for the 
requisite postnatal medical scan.  By sheer force of will, Han put from 
his mind his fanciful thoughts of the much anticipated reunion with his 
wife, their first since Cady's mysterious blessing of Force-
transference.  It had been a hellish five weeks.  Han was rather 
looking forward to the sixth.

Leia watched her husband from beneath the thick veil of her lashes, 
reading his thoughts only too well and feeling a familiar yearning deep 
within her.  Sudden foreknowledge of the intensity of their reunion 
warmed her cheeks as well as her body, and she struggled to control her 
thoughts, knowing that Han could now read her Sense as well as she 
could read his.  Despite her efforts, Han looked back up at her, 
holding her eyes with his own in an unyielding grip, and Leia caught an 
overpowering impression of intent, gasped at its raw passion.  "Han!" 
she gently admonished.  "Stop that."

"Stop what?" he challenged, not taking his eyes from hers, increasing 
the stirring projections.

"Stop that!" she said again, shifting uncomfortably, her cheeks 
flushed, her pulse pounding.  "Luke will pick up on it!"  She lowered 
her voice even further.  "Or the children!"

"Nah," Han dismissed the notion with a low growl.  "They're much too 
into what he's saying right now to bother with us.  And, as for Luke, 
we took care of all that.  He promised me that he tunes it out.  It's 
just you and me, Princess."  His gaze lowered to her mouth, implanting 
further visual images of what he longed so desperately to do.  "Guess 
what I'm thinking?" he asked suggestively.

"I *know* what you're thinking," she assured him, the corners of her 
mouth twisting.  She returned her attention to Arcadia, adjusting her 
gown and sitting the baby upright on her lap, gently rubbing the tiny 
back.  "And, for whatever it's worth, it doesn't make things any easier 
on me."  She looked back up at him shyly, her flush deepening, feeling 
his desire as her own.

"The meat, Princess," Han reminded her, his voice heavy with innuendo, 
his eyes smoldering.  "I hope you're hungry."

"Han!"  Embarrassed, Leia stood and shifted Arcadia to her shoulder, 
moving across the verandah toward Luke and the other children, absently 
patting the baby's back as the infant relaxed against her mother, sated 
and happy.

With a supreme effort, Leia put more elemental needs from her mind, 
focusing instead on the teachings of her brother to her children, 
willing unto herself the peace her twin spoke of.  She had been 
tremendously disturbed by her failure to relate to Luke or Han the dark 
visions she had been witness to during her delirium, and was 
continually plagued by a vague sense of guilt at having been unable to 
unlock the dungeon of her mind where she had buried those secrets.  
Somehow, she had to find a way to allow Luke access to the dark 
knowledge that lay within, the same knowledge that could potentially 
make the pieces of the puzzle fit and enlighten one or all of them.  
Perhaps then they could all get on with their lives and enjoy the 
happiness they surely deserved.

"How do we know the Good Side from the Dark Side, Uncle Luke?" she 
heard Jacen ask.  Leia turned to gaze upon the twins as they sat side 
by side at Luke's feet, their long legs crossed in the lotus position, 
their large brown eyes peering up at him with reverence.

Luke smiled at his nephew, thinking it seemed only yesterday when he 
had asked that same question of Yoda.  "You will know," he assured the 
boy, "when you are calm, at peace.  This is the key to feeling the 
Force, Jacen.  When you relax your mind and your body and allow 
yourself to be passive, the Force will flow through you and guide you 
toward your Destiny."

"But what is Destiny, Uncle Luke?" Jaina asked, winding a thick lock of 
brown hair around one finger, her brow creased with her earnest effort 
to grasp the concept.

"Destiny is the predetermined course of events that shapes the life of 
each and every living creature," Luke explained to his niece.  "The 
Force guides it, allows us to see glimpses of the future if we are open 
to it."  He lifted a cautionary finger.  "We must remember, however, 
that the future is always in motion.  Although our Destiny may 
sometimes be unclear, it is up to each and every one of us to shape 
that Destiny by following the leads that are put before us.  We are 
responsible for being receptive to the signs of change, and to respect 
them for what they are."

Luke looked up at Leia as he concluded his lesson, feeling his sister's 
enlightenment with her own sense of Destiny even as he explained it to 
her children.  She had so much to learn, he thought.  Perhaps now that 
she was away from the ceaseless demands of the New Republic she could 
devote the proper amount of diligence required to learning the ways of 
the Force and realize the hidden talent that he had always detected 
simmering just beneath the surface of her consciousness.  This whole 
business with the Tree was bringing things to a head, and Luke prayed 
that he was sufficiently strong in the ways of the Force to 
successfully guide his sister through a most difficult period.

As if reading his thoughts, Leia smiled into his eyes and projected a 
grateful mental hug.  They would be fine, she told herself.  Now that 
she and her twin were reunited she felt invincible, confident that 
there was nothing the three of them couldn't handle.

Luke looked back down at the twins and lifted a hand in dismissal.  
"Enough for today," he told them, chuckling quietly to himself as they 
immediately sprang up and sprinted across the verandah to their father.

"Are you finished yet, Dad?" they asked in unison as Han put away his  
vibroknife and rubbed at the wooden shape he held, polishing it to a 
glossy sheen.  With one hand he held it up for inspection, while the 
other gathered five identical shapes completed earlier in the day from 
their resting place on the railing beside him.  "What do you, think?" 
he asked, and grinned crookedly as they gaped with pleasure at the herd 
of little wooden Banthas he had fashioned.  "I'll see what I can do 
about making a crew of Tusken Raiders if you kids want to make a wood 
run with me tomorrow."

"Thanks, Dad!" they shouted as one and, collecting their treasures, 
disappeared into the house, leaving the adults alone.  Luke and Leia 
rejoined Han at his end of the verandah and Leia leaned against her 
husband for a moment, looking up at him with shining eyes.  "You're a 
good daddy, Han," she murmured. 

Although Han squirmed with embarrassment, the Skywalker twins clearly 
sensed his concurrence as he stood up, stretching cramped muscles.  
Reaching for his infant daughter, he took her from Leia's arms and held 
her so that her face was next to his and peered into her delicate blue 
eyes.  The serious expression on her tiny face brought a lopsided grin 
to his as she returned his gaze with a directness that was startling in 
a child so young.  "What do you think, Cady-bit?  Will your daddy do?"

As if in response to his question, Arcadia gave a very unladylike burp 
and spit up all over her father's shirt front.  Leia burst into 
ungracious laughter at the sour expression on her husband's face, 
reached up and blotted the mess with the cloth she had draped over her 
shoulder.

"I'm not sure how I would take that response, Han," she told him, 
controlling her amusement with great difficulty.  "But don't worry," 
she whispered in his ear as she leaned toward him.  "Your wife thinks 
you'll do."  A wicked thought struck her and she projected the image to 
her husband, laughing huskily at the strained expression evident in his 
eyes as he caught her whimsy.  "And you'll do it exceedingly well, 
too," she added, her voice laden with intent, leaving no doubt that 
she, too, was looking forward to the end of her recovery period.

Luke cleared his throat.  "Do you want me to leave or something?" he 
asked uncomfortably.  At their simultaneous look of surprise he 
shrugged his shoulders.  "Hey, I'm doing the best I can but sometimes 
you guys...well, it's some pretty potent stuff."  He held out his arms 
to Han.  "Let me take Arcadia for a walk; I'll see if the twins want to 
come, too.  Maybe Anakin will nap for a while and give you two some 
time alone."

Han relinquished his hold on the infant, smiling his thanks.  Leia, 
fighting the color creeping into her cheeks, stroked a hand lightly 
over Arcadia's silky blonde hair as Luke took the baby in his arms.  
She leaned in to kiss the soft little head, straightening to press 
another one on her brother's cheek.  //Thank you,// she thought at him 
and watched as he disappeared into the house.

Leia turned back toward her husband and found herself in his arms, her 
mouth consumed by his before she finished turning her head.  He kissed 
her with deliberate slowness, his warm lips parting hers, drinking of 
her life-energy as if quenching a great thirst, and her pulse pounded 
in her ears.  He had not kissed her like this since before Arcadia's  
birth.  Her heightened perception of his raging passions added fuel to 
hers, and Leia swayed against him, staggered by the sudden, 
overwhelming onslaught of desire.  She clung to him, matching his 
ardor, feeling it strike him and bounce back to her, creating ever-
echoing ripples of delight. 

She felt his hands traveling up her back, reaching into her hair, 
pulling the pins from it and digging his fingers into the rich tresses 
as they spilled into his hands.  He pulled his mouth free, buried his 
face in the silky cascade for a lingering moment before pushing it 
behind her shoulders and pressing his lips behind her ear.  She 
trembled in his arms, paralyzed with pleasure.  "Oh, Han," she 
breathed.  "I'm not sure that we'll be able to bear it."

"Well, if we can't," he mumbled against her neck, "you can bet we'll 
die happy."  He kissed her again, urgently, insistently, and a groan 
escaped from deep within him, like that of a wounded bantha.  That 
sound, more than his actions, told Leia just how difficult this 
interminable waiting had been on him, though she wanted him just as 
desperately.  So had it always been with them.

"One more week," Han muttered, when their lips finally parted and he 
held his wife tightly to him, feeling her mutual longing in the way she 
pressed against him.  "One more week, Princess," he growled into her 
ear.  "Then we're gonna *cook* the meat!"

**********************
 
Luke walked along the forest path with baby Arcadia riding against his 
chest in her carrier, Jacen and Jaina leaping and prancing ahead of him 
like a pair of young bordoks, their long legs carrying them easily over 
the various traps of the trail.  The ancient forest floor was one 
gigantic maze of root systems, rising unexpectedly along the path in 
places a non-Jedi might not anticipate and be injured in a fall.

The twins, Luke noted with satisfaction, seemed to have an innate sense 
of direction, their feet instinctively reading the terrain before them, 
compensating for any object along their course with a naturalness that 
stunned the Jedi Master.  He wondered if Han realized what awesome 
pilots they both were destined to be.  Skywalker-Solo,  he mused.  The 
combination was, indeed, a force of its own to be reckoned with.

The thought brought him uneasily back to the challenge they faced with 
the ancient Tree.  He had, on several occasions since his arrival on 
Endor, followed Jacen to visit the twisted tree that now seemed to 
dominate their lives.  The twins were no longer enchanted by the 
stories it told; in fact, they were a little leery of it now that they 
could perceive the measure of discomfort it brought to the adults in 
their lives.

At his first viewing, Luke had detected a measure of the Darkness he'd 
experienced in the dungeon of the Imperial Palace, but nothing to the 
degree that he knew had possessed his sister the night she awoke to 
find herself before the tree.  He had touched that area of her 
subconscious the morning that he and Han had attempted to help her 
recall the visions to which she'd been privy during her illness.

The hidden memory so closely guarded by her protective instincts held 
the key to this mystery, of that he was certain.  How to obtain that 
knowledge, without forcing his sister into a premature acceptance of a 
vision which she was currently incapable of acknowledging, was proving 
to be a challenge to his skills as a Jedi Master.

Luke looked ahead of him as her children bounded down the path before 
them, oblivious to the trials that lay ahead.  He looked down at the 
baby riding so peacefully against his chest.  The supreme innocence of 
her tiny mind enchanted him, the Force-strength he sensed within her 
astounding in its magnitude.  This child must be protected at all 
costs, Luke thought.  Her potential was immeasurable.

They were nearing the Ewok village and Luke brought his mind back to 
the present.  Jacen and Jaina had already taken to the trees, leaping 
effortlessly to take hold of the nearest vine and hoisting themselves 
to the first level of swaying bridges that connected the village high 
in the ancient trees.  The Jedi Master needed no such assistance to 
ascend to their level; even with Arcadia firmly strapped to his torso, 
he easily levitated them both to land gently on the bridge beside the 
twins.

The Ewoks were in a flurry of activity, and Luke's quick inquiry into 
the nearest native mind informed him of the reason behind this 
industrious behavior:  the village was preparing for their most honored 
celebration, the annual Light Festival, in honor of the periodic 
rejuvenation of the Tree of Light.

Luke had often wondered at the actual details of the ceremony, had 
never even visited the Tree of Light.  Now the idea of the ritual 
intrigued him, and he resolved to speak with Wicket about attending the 
upcoming festival himself.  Perhaps it was something the entire family 
could enjoy.

He hurried to catch up with the twins.

********************

Anakin Solo groaned softly in his sleep and tossed his head 
impatiently, as if shaking away a distasteful memory.  Leia heard
his moans and disentangled herself from her husband's embrace, moved 
quickly across the veranda to stand before the hammock where the child 
lay.  "Hush, tree!" the little boy muttered.  "...told you to be 
quiet...leave me alone!"

Leia knelt beside her son, smoothed the wispy dark curls from his face 
and reached automatically for the child's mind, with the intention of 
projecting soothing thoughts.  The images she found within brought an 
inadvertent gasp of horror, and Han quickly stepped to her side, 
gripping her shoulder firmly as he watched the blood drain from her 
face.

Anakin was standing in the grip of the Tree, its twisted arms no longer 
pointing skyward, but wrapped tightly about the little boy - and in 
Anakin's arms was - Arcadia!  Both children were shrieking with terror 
as the arms of the tree tightened and a dark hole began to emerge in 
its trunk, slowly widening as the children were swept toward the 
yawning ebony opening...

//No!// Leia's mind screamed, and with a monumental effort she pulled 
herself and her son from the clutches of the vision, reaching for the 
little boy.  Their eyes opened simultaneously and Leia gathered him in 
her arms, clutching him tightly to her.  Han stood wide-eyed beside 
them, the frightened pounding of their hearts sending vicarious ripples 
of shock to him through his contact with Leia.  He dropped to his 
knees, put his arms around them both, holding them in a protective 
embrace; and he added his silent voice to Leia's as her mind cried for 
her brother:  //Luke!//

*********************

//Leia!//  Luke's reaction to the call of his twin was instantaneous, 
and he reached across the forest to accept her broadcast, wincing at 
the terror he detected in her Sense.  //Hang on!// he told her, 
projecting calm, seeking to reassure her.  //I'm on my way!//

He looked around for the twins, spotted them on the far side of the 
village square, playing with a brace of young woklings.  Chewbacca was 
standing nearby with another group of young Ewoks, and Luke motioned 
for the Wookiee to come near.  "I've got to get back to Han and Leia," 
he murmured.  "Can you keep an eye on the twins?"

Chewbacca nodded quick agreement then rumbled a question of concern.

"I don't know," Luke answered, "but I'll bet it has something to do 
with that tree."  He called a silent farewell to the twins, saw them 
turn their heads simultaneously and smile acknowledgement before 
returning to their play.  Luke patted Chewbacca's hairy arm.  "I'll be 
back as soon as I can," he said, and disappeared down the swaying 
wooden walkway, back through the trees and toward the unknown.

***************************
 
Han and Leia were waiting for him on the verandah when he reached the 
treehouse.  His feet had barely touched the floor when Leia rushed to 
him, snatching Arcadia from his arms and cradling her with desperate 
gratitude.  A few yards away on the divan, Anakin leaned into the 
shelter of his father's arm.  Luke saw Han looking at him hopefully, 
though a heavy sense of dread lingered in the air.

Something had happened.  "What is it?" Luke asked, searching Leia's 
mind and finding the memory of the vision she had shared with her son, 
and had passed along to her husband.  Luke inhaled sharply and looked 
quickly toward Anakin, Forcefully reaching for the child's Sense and 
projecting comfort.

He followed Leia as she walked back toward her husband and younger son.  
Still cuddling the infant, she took her seat beside Han, who put his 
free arm around them both.  Luke looked at the four of them as they sat 
together:  Anakin, solemn and silent; Han with an air of grim 
determination about him, the set of his jaw that of a man clearly 
primed to defend his own; baby Arcadia batting at her mother's front 
with tiny fists; at Leia herself attempting to soothe the infant while 
looking back at Luke with troubled eyes.

"Do you want me to take the children away from here?" he asked her 
quietly, hating himself for having to bring it up, but knowing in his 
heart that it was the first most logical thing to do, to protect them 
all.

"No!" she gasped, horror-struck.  She turned to Han, gauging his 
reaction to Luke's suggestion, alternately confused and comforted by 
the lack of anger in his Sense.  "This is our home, Luke," she 
continued in a calmer voice, turning back to face him.  "The children 
love it here.  We love it here.  We're finally all together.  Surely 
you aren't suggesting that we just up and leave everything we've built, 
allow ourselves to be chased away by something we know so little 
about."

Luke looked again at Han, although he knew that Leia spoke for her 
husband as well.  "No deal, kid," the older man confirmed.  "I brought 
them here to get them away from the danger you kept telling us was out 
there.  Now danger seems to have found us anyway.  But we're not about 
to turn tail and run; not when we can fight this thing." 

Leia looked up at her brother, her eyes huge, yet determined, her soft 
features hardening with a quiet resolve.  "It shall not have them," she 
spoke, and in her voice was the strength of a Jedi.  "Teach me, Luke.  
Teach me the ways of the Force."

"Yeah, kid," Han growled from beside her, looking down upon his 
children, then back up to the Jedi, his hazel eyes hard.  In a voice of 
durasteel, the cynical pirate committed himself to learning the ways of 
the religion he had once scorned.  "Teach us both," he rumbled.  "This 
tree wants our kids.  It ain't gonna have 'em."

*******************

Leia closed her eyes, reached with her Jedi senses for the feel of her 
lightsaber, and in an instant the weapon flew into her hand from its 
resting place atop the wardrobe in the Solos' sleeping chambers.  In 
one smooth motion, she activated the switch and turned to meet the 
silent attack of Luke's training remotes as they flitted around her, 
blocking their stun beams effortlessly with the dazzling ruby-red blade 
of her weapon.

Her confidence grew as she deflected the increasingly rapid charges of 
energy, and she allowed a determined smile to cross her smooth 
features.  Take her children, would it?  A stab of anger penetrated the 
cloak of Jedi calm within which she had enveloped herself.  Leia jabbed 
viciously with her blade, striking one of the remotes with such force 
that it exploded on impact, sending a small cloud of dust floating in 
the space that it had occupied only a moment before.  Luke immediately 
called the remaining remotes back to him, shaking his head at his 
sister.

"No, Leia," he gently admonished.  "Fight not in anger - nor in fear.  
Both are of the Dark Side."

Her molten eyes flashed at him and she reluctantly deactivated her 
weapon and lowered it to her side, consciously calling upon Jedi 
calming techniques to still her racing heart.  From the corner of the 
room, Han sat beside baby Arcadia, asleep in her cradle behind a 
protective barrier.  He watched in amazement as his wife assumed a 
persona he had never seen before, her protective instincts on 
overdrive, ready to do battle for her children at a moment's notice.  
She seemed to grow before his attentive eyes, her slight stature taking 
on imagined new height as she drew power from the Force.

Han felt the simultaneous rush of adrenaline in his own veins, joined 
with his wife in their mutual goal of shielding their children from 
Darkness, and he subconsciously wished for the comfort of his blaster 
against his palm.  Without warning, the holstered weapon flew of its 
own volition from its resting place on top of the wardrobe, and Han 
looked at it, stunned, as it suddenly appeared in his hand.

"How'd that happen?" he asked, shaking his head in astonishment - and 
then the sudden realization of the nature of Force-transference smacked 
him.  He may not be a born blood-Jedi, but, through Leia, had been 
grafted to the vine, growing in knowledge and strength, and, by virtue 
of Arcadia's blessing, he could feel his own measure of the Force.

Luke allowed a smile to cross his face, pleasantly surprised at Han's 
reaction to the stimulus of his Force-link with Leia.  He watched as 
Han stood and strapped the holster around his waist and above his right 
knee, loosening it just enough to ride his hip and hang comfortably 
against his thigh.  As he approached Leia at the center of the room, 
Luke twitched a finger with the barest of movements and one of the 
remotes silently zipped to a position behind the Corellian, prepared to 
attack.  Before the device could fire at its target, Han spun and drew 
his weapon with blinding speed, dispatching the remote with a rapid 
burst of laser fire that effectively obliterated it.

Surprised and enormously pleased with his newfound ability, Han turned 
his attention to a delighted Leia and favored her with a wink.  With a 
flip of his thumb against the butt of the blaster he spun the weapon in 
his hand, holstered it smartly and gave it a satisfied pat.   
//Sometimes I still amaze myself,// his Sense clearly broadcast.

Leia crossed the room to her husband and hugged him enthusiastically, 
kissed him soundly, full of pride in him.  He caught her to him as she 
tried to pull away and kissed her again, absorbing the thrill of their 
Force-connection, the charges of energy that seemed to emanate from 
their contact shooting fingers of delight down his spine.

More and more he found enjoyment in this new link with his wife.  He 
could only imagine the effect it would have on them when they were 
finally at liberty to resume the intimacy they had known before  
Arcadia's birth.  The images conjured by his thoughts crept into Leia's 
consciousness and she pressed closer to him, kissing him with a growing 
passion.

Luke, pleased with Leia's progress, and mildly disturbed at Han's 
seeming cockiness, cleared his throat and called over to the pair, 
oblivious to all but themselves.  "I guess this is as good a time as 
any to call an end to today's session."

They reluctantly separated and Han stopped the Jedi as he turned to go.  
"No need to leave, kid," Han called, and looked back at his wife, 
grinning crookedly and giving her another squeeze for good measure.  
"Just keepin' in practice."

Leia laughed her husky laugh as they turned as one to face him, and 
Luke's confidence in them grew.  When the time for confrontation came, 
he thought grimly, they would be ready for whatever Destiny held in 
store.  The Force was strong in his family.  Light would prevail.

******************

Leia sat at Anakin's bedside, smoothing the soft dark curls from his 
face, her cool fingers stroking his forehead, her Sense projecting 
soothing thoughts.  He had awakened from yet another dream about the 
omnipresent Tree, and his mental cries had summoned Leia before the 
first wail left his mouth.  She sat beside him now, nearly overcome 
with love and protectiveness for her little boy, and she strengthened 
her resolve that no harm would come to him - or any of them.

Anakin looked up at his mother with clear blue eyes, and Leia's heart 
lurched - this child was far too young to be subjected to the fear she 
sensed within him.   She bent down to press her lips against the 
softness of his cheek.  "Sleep now," she whispered.  "I'll sit with you 
for a while, if you'd like."

The child seized on the comforting thought.  "Sing me a song, Mama," he 
begged.  "The falling stars song."
 
Leia smiled, sat up and put her fingers to his lips.  He quieted 
immediately, and she began to sing:

          "The stars have fallen all around
          The land is quiet, not a sound
              Everyone has gone to sleep
              Now it is your turn
              Oh, child of mine, please do not weep
              For in my heart it burns
          "The stars have fallen all around
          The land is quiet, not a sound
              Soon the sun will rise again
              And once more you'll be free
              To roam the land and meet new friends
              But now please sleep for me
          "The stars have fallen all around
          The land is quiet, not a sound
              Now you lie in peaceful slumber
              Lost in endless dreams
              No vicious storm nor boisterous thunder
              Could wake your soundless sleep."

She gazed upon her youngest son with an aching tenderness, projecting 
warmth and reassurance into his now sleeping Sense.  Eyes closed, his 
curls rioting about his head like a dark halo, he looked the picture of 
innocence.  She leaned and kissed him, resting her cheek against his 
for a moment, reaching deeply into his Sense and absorbing all anxiety.  
Anakin sighed softly, turned onto his side, and Leia felt him plunge 
into peaceful oblivion.

She rose from the bed and turned to go, stopping short as she saw the 
shadow of her brother's form in the darkened doorway.  She felt his 
warm thoughts as she approached him, and he touched her arm as she came 
abreast of him.

"I do have faith in you, Leia," Luke said quietly as she led them into 
the hallway, the door to the children's room sliding silently shut 
behind them, "as a mother - as a Jedi mother.  No harm will come to 
your children - I have foreseen it."

She turned haunted eyes to him.  "Then why is it that I have not 
foreseen it?" she asked.  "Why is it that I see only Darkness when I 
try to remember those damnable visions?"  Luke felt her frustration, 
and searched for a way to ease her fears.

"Perhaps now is not the time for you to remember," he told her gently, 
leading her down the hall to the main living quarters.  "But you will 
remember," he assured her.  "The Force knows when is best to grant 
enlightenment.  You will know when the time is right.  Trust me."  He 
bent and brush-kissed her cheek.  "Now go to Han.  I'm beat.  I'll see 
you both in the morning."

She watched him disappear down the hall toward his room, turned and 
looked for her husband to find that he had left the living quarters, 
the opened door to the verandah giving evidence of his location.  As if 
she needed mere physical signs, she thought with a gentle smile.  These 
days she had merely to think of him, and she could sense his Presence, 
wherever he might be.

Leia stepped onto the verandah and followed her senses to the vibrant 
Force-spot that was Han.  She silently approached him where he stood by 
the railing, gazing up at the brilliant sphere of Endor's secondary 
moon, its pale, yellowish glow caressing the dark expanse of muted 
greenery surrounding the treehouse.  She eased up behind him, wrapping 
her arms and her Sense around him.

Han shifted her around to stand in front of him, his arms enfolding 
her, and she let her head fall back against his chest, felt him rest 
his chin on the top of her head.

Deeply in communion, they stood together, looking out over the forest, 
listening to the sounds of the nightbirds as they began the evening's 
serenade.  She turned her cheek into his chest and closed her eyes, 
opening her Sense to him.  Embracing his mental projections of 
devotion, confidence approaching arrogance, she drew upon that 
combination for fortification in the ordeal she felt fast approaching.

They held each other in the moonlight, drinking of each other's Sense, 
confident that they would rise above the Darkness that loomed and bring 
their family back into the Light.

[End Chapter]