Chapter Twenty

The Dark Ones were pleased with their progress.  Not only had they 
succeeded in isolating the Presence of the Jedi mother and securing 
their contact with her subconscious, they had also detected the 
unmistakable presence of an additional victim:  a human male, non-Jedi 
with an abundance of confidence - and an all-consuming passion for his 
mate.  It was a weakness that could be manipulated, and used to drive a 
wedge between the three adults.

The method of mental torture had worked so tidily before, when they had 
first broadcast their Force-driven summons and initiated the flight 
from Coruscant.  By all rights it should prove more successful with 
repetition, for evil was something that must be refined.

Darkness extended a finger of Force to one lonely Jedi on the surface 
of the sanctuary moon, and settled back to enjoy the exploitation of 
the enemy's imperfections, confident that human nature would be the 
undoing of the Jedi.

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

Leia relaxed against the back of her classically beautiful, ornate tub, 
the centerpiece of the bathing chambers that adjoined the room she 
shared with her husband.  In an effort to alleviate the stresses of the 
last two days, and to avoid the dark thoughts that plagued her waking 
hours, she had retreated to her private sanctuary and immersed herself 
in a haven of warm, scented water.

Han had put the children to bed, and for this she was grateful.  Her 
lips curved into a wistful smile as she remembered his tenderness on 
the morning after she'd emerged from her illness, felt again the 
gentleness of his hands as he had helped her to bathe.  She relished 
the sensual pleasure of having her hair washed, as he massaged her 
scalp with his long, strong fingers, enjoying the experience as much as 
she did.

She reached for his Sense, yearning for a repeat performance, with 
embellishments that had been denied them the last time he'd performed 
that intimate service.  Her every nerve tingling as she touched his 
mind, Leia sank deeper into the warm water, idly swishing the scented 
bubbles around her, projecting her fantasies to her husband.  Capturing 
the sudden vivid impression she received in return, her smile broadened 
as she embraced the approach of his Essence.

Abruptly she detected another Presence in her mind, that same maddening 
invasion of Sense that she'd felt on several other occasions over the 
last six weeks.  At first Leia had thought it the touch of her twin, 
for it had appeared only after Luke's arrival on Endor during her 
illness.  As time went on, however, she'd begun to realize that it was 
not Luke's Essence that invaded her consciousness, but some unknown 
presence, cloaked in Darkness, laden with evil intent.

Impatient with the intrusion, and more than a little fearful, Leia 
closed her eyes against the violation, shaking her head and testily 
projecting.

//Go away!//

"Go away, who?" Han asked, suddenly before her, his Sense tingling with 
both anticipation and a gnawing suspicion.  With one more powerful 
mental effort, Leia shoved the mysterious entity from her mind, turning 
her eyes and Sense to her husband, now watching her with a slight frown 
worrying his forehead.

"Everyone but you," she purred, beckoning him with outstretched, foam- 
covered arms.  "Come hither, Sir Scoundrel," she commanded.  "Your lady 
needs fortification."

******************
 
Luke walked the circuit of the verandah, trying to ignore the strange 
buzzing in his brain, and the very amoral thoughts that penetrated his 
inscrutable Jedi calm.  He looked about him, gazing off into the vast 
spectacle of trees just over the railing, wondering as he did what it 
was about this place that so forcefully reminded him that he was a man.

Why was his soul in such infernal torment at the fundamental loneliness 
of his life?  Would he ever find that mate he so desperately sought, 
the Presence that would end his self-imposed celibacy and allow him to 
experience the full breadth of love like that his sister shared with 
Han?

At the thought of his twin, Luke's Sense linked unbidden with hers, and 
he drew a quick embarrassed breath at the scene upon which he was 
intruding.  Han and Leia -- his consciousness lingered a moment despite 
the reflexive withdrawal of his subconscious, and he closed his eyes, 
longing to share that type of intimacy with a love of his own.

He felt the distracted touch of Leia's mind against his.

//Not now!//

Luke turned away, mortified at her perception of his unintentional 
eavesdropping, and covered his face with his hands, as if the motion 
could shield him from the painful reality of his solitude.  He called 
upon Jedi-calming techniques and forced his mind - and his heart - to 
erase the memory of the past few moments.

For the Jedi there is no passion, he reminded himself with a tired 
sigh. There is serenity.  Except on Endor.

Never on Endor.

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

Leia arched her neck, her dark hair heavy with the scented water, 
sighing as her husband painted her neck and shoulders with fragrant 
foam from the bath.  Han rubbed his face against the delectable spot 
behind her ear, enjoying the slick feeling of her skin against his as 
he pulled her body more closely to him.

//Not now!// her Sense suddenly cried and, surprised, Han immediately 
drew back, looking at her in confusion.

//Why not?//

Leia thanked the Force that he had misinterpreted her momentary 
distraction, and acted quickly to disguise her brief contact with her 
twin.

She leaned into her lover and kissed him deeply, increasing the 
strength of her projection to him, narrowing her field of perception so 
that no one entered its realm save the man she had married.

"Not yet, my darling," she whispered, nibbling at his lower lip.  "We 
have plenty of time," she continued, and pushed him back into the 
swirling waters of the bath.  "The children are asleep.  We have all 
night."

She purposefully put from her mind the bothersome impression of being 
watched, plunging instead into the all-consuming passion that shook her 
at her husband's touch, at the taste of his mouth against hers, the 
exquisite bonding of their Senses.

And it was a very long time before she would allow herself to consider 
the disturbing implications of her brother's violation.

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

Late the next afternoon, Anakin stood beside the cradle where his baby 
sister slept, and tried to still the insistent voice within his Sense 
that continued to urge him to bring the child before the Tree.  "Not 
yet," he mumbled.  "It's not time.  I'll know when it is."

He felt the approach of his father, and turned his head just as Han 
came up behind him and bent to his son's level.

"What's happening, pal?" Han asked, squeezing the boy's sturdy little 
shoulders, his Sense teasing.  "You and Cady making plans or 
something?"

Anakin nodded, looking back down at his infant sister with great 
seriousness.  "Or something, Daddy," he said quietly, and deftly 
changed the subject.  "She says she's wet."  He pointed at the child's 
diaper area, wrinkling his small nose.  "And maybe more," he added.

Han somehow managed to grin and frown simultaneously, reaching down to 
ruffle his son's dark curls.  "Yeah, I know," he agreed and bent to 
pluck his daughter from her cradle.  "That's why I'm here," he grunted 
as he stood up, moving to the changing area at the edge of the room.

Anakin preferred to stay where he was, looking from his father and baby 
sister to the vista of trees visible outside the picture window.  He 
looked back at his father and Arcadia across the room, wondering what 
he would do if his parents didn't decide to send them into the Tree 
soon.  He looked over his shoulder again, across the expanse of trees 
in the forest, his sharp eyes searching the heavens, honing in on the 
dark orb of Eloggi, barely visible in the just darkening sky.

Somehow he knew.  They were coming, the Dark Ones that he'd felt 
watching and waiting from the neighboring moon.  Very soon they would 
be here and they would come for all of the children, but they would 
come especially for Cady.

Anakin wished he knew what to do.  He remembered one of Uncle Luke's 
lessons about the Force:  //You will know when you are at Peace.//  
Anakin sighed, his stomach churning uneasily.  Since his mother's 
explanation of Cady's significance he was now doubly worried about his 
baby sister.  He supposed this was the reason he didn't know what to do 
yet, because he wasn't at peace.

He wondered if Uncle Luke could help him find peace.  He wondered what 
peace was.  It seemed to Anakin that he had been surrounded by conflict 
the entirety of his young life.  Though he had no actual memory of the 
near-kidnapping undergone as an infant at the hands of Ambassador 
Furgan, Anakin remembered with vivid and terrifying clarity the 
frightening experience shared with his siblings as a three-year old, 
when Hethrir had succeeded in abducting them from their mother on Munto 
Codru.

Between recovering from the ordeal of the abduction, the lack of time 
his mother was able to spend with him while Chief of State, all that 
strange business on Corellia and the family's move to Endor, Anakin's 
young life had been far from peaceful.

It stood to reason that Endor should have been a source of serenity, 
for it appeared to have that effect on his mother and siblings - at 
least in the beginning.  Anakin, however, had been troubled from the 
very start, and felt no peace on the sanctuary moon.  Only a strange, 
insistent feeling of dread.

He looked again at his father, now finished with the unpleasant cleanup 
chore, and standing with baby Cady cradled in his arms.  With a glance 
at his son and an inclination of his head toward the door leading to 
the verandah, Han turned and left the room. 

"Don't worry, Daddy," Anakin said softly to his father's retreating 
back.  "I'll take care of Cady.  I'll always take care of Cady."  
Sighing, he followed his father out onto the porch.

********************
 
Luke stood at the edge of the forest and reached again for the Presence 
of his niece within the Tree's embrace.  He came often to this site, 
today with Jacen in tow, trying to help the child find the peace of 
mind gained by mental contact with his twin.

Luke knew, from his experience with his own twin, how very painful that 
missed emotional connection could be.  During the time he had been both 
physically and psychically separated from Leia, his soul had ached 
unbearably from the estrangement.  He could now only imagine that 
Jacen's separation from Jaina would be doubly painful, given the fact 
that the parting had not been of their own choosing, as had his and 
Leia's.

He felt his sister's approach, and slowly turned to look at her as she 
emerged from behind the tall grass.  Her hair was down, trailing behind 
her in a dark cloud as she walked.  Dressed in a long cream colored 
tunic, dark brown bodice matching perfectly with her eyes, she 
positively glowed, stealing his breath with her elemental beauty.

They looked at each other for a long moment.

"We need to talk," Leia finally said quietly.

//I thought we were,// his Sense told hers.  Luke looked away, clearly 
uncomfortable with the very need for the conversation, yet 
acknowledging its inevitability.  Perhaps it would be best to get it 
out in the open, here and now.

"I didn't mean for that to happen last night," he murmured.  "I don't 
know why it did.  Or maybe I do..."  Luke ran a tired hand through his 
hair, turned his back to her, unable to meet her eyes, and Leia felt a 
sudden, acute rush of anger in his Sense.  "Damnation!" he swore.

"What is it, Luke?" she questioned softly, coming to his side and 
putting her hand on his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.  "Tell 
me.  What's troubling you so?"

He dropped his guard a measure and allowed her Sense to read him.  
"Sometimes I feel so strong, Leia," he began, his tone and Sense laced 
with anxiety.  "So in control.  But then a bitter loneliness seeps into 
my heart...my mind...every part of me."  His voice dropped to a 
whisper.  "Desolation dominates my every perception."  Luke looked up 
at her, his face and Sense the picture of sincerity.  "Leia, I am so 
very sorry for intruding."

Leia used her grip on his shoulder to turn him around so that he was 
facing her.  She took his hand and kissed it, pressing it lovingly 
against her cheek and Luke felt her Sense caress him with the same 
tenderness.  "I know how you feel," she said softly.  "I know because I 
feel that way when Han and I are forced to be apart.

"Think about it, Luke," she urged.  "Han and I have been married for 
more than eleven years, yet we've lived together less than half that 
time."  She was quiet for a moment, her eyes distant, reflecting upon 
raw memories.  "It seemed for a while there as if the whole galaxy 
conspired to keep us apart.  Though we yearned to be together, our 
presence was always required elsewhere.  More often than not, 
circumstances called for us to be separated, often light years away 
from one another, sometimes unable to communicate for weeks, even 
months at a time."

Her eyes filled with tears at the painful memories.  "I've known the 
agony of need...and the loneliness of a cold, empty bed."  Her voice  
trembled in its sincerity.  "Believe me, Luke, I know."

She looked back up at her brother, blinking her dark eyes to clear 
them.  "I've been afraid to say anything because I know how staunchly 
you strive to be an example as a Jedi Master."  She took his other hand 
and squeezed them both, emphasizing her words.  "But, Luke, it's okay 
to be real, to be human."

Struggling to maintain his composure, and more than a little uneasy 
with the feelings her emotional intimacy evoked, Luke pulled his hands 
from his sister's grip.  He turned to stare again into the distant 
trees, toward the other side of the meadow.

"But you can't know, Leia," he argued, his voice tightly controlled.  
"You can't possibly know, because your situation was entirely different 
from mine.  No matter how often you and Han were separated, you always 
knew that there was someone waiting for you, someone who loved you the 
way you loved him, and that you would eventually be reunited.  That's 
not the case for me."

He snapped his head back toward her, suddenly embarrassed at his 
admission.  "Either way, it doesn't matter now, does it?"  At her 
silence he continued.  "I haven't seen any suitable prospects roaming 
the trails of this forest moon, have you?"

Leia watched him for a moment, at a loss for words, for how could she 
comfort him over this most intimate longing?  She ached at the 
bleakness she sensed in him, worried over the conflict that raged 
within his Sense.

"Besides," he continued, in a voice laced with resignation, "there are 
too many other needs to be met right now."  He sighed and gestured 
around him, upward at the sky.  "Right here on Endor, out there among 
the cosmos, back on Coruscant..." His voice trailed off tiredly.  "Too 
many needs."

Jacen had seemed to be communicating with the Tree throughout this 
conversation, his dark eyes shining as he made mental contact with his 
twin.  Now he turned to look at Luke and Leia over his shoulder.  
"Jaina says hello," he called to his mother and uncle.  "And that 
she'll be glad when the rest of us get there."

Leia flinched at his words, and Jacen quickly strove to reassure his 
mother.  "Don't worry," he consoled.  "It will be okay.  The Tree is 
our friend, not our enemy."  He pointed at the sky toward a dark orb 
just becoming visible in the twilight of the evening.  "Our enemy is 
'way up there," he warned.  "And they're coming...very soon.  We have 
to be ready.  We must be ready...for both of them."

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

Leia was becoming more frustrated with every passing day.  She sat now 
in the main chambers, rocking Arcadia to her early afternoon nap, 
pondering the future.  Since Jacen's most recent warning three days 
ago, she had worried incessantly about shielding the children from the 
Darkness she now knew in her heart-of-hearts was surely coming.

Though initially despondent at Jaina's disappearance, Leia now found 
herself wishing for access to the Tree so that her other children could 
be shielded just as Jaina was.  If she, Leia, could not read the Sense 
of her own flesh and blood within the Tree, then perhaps the shielding 
was sufficient to protect all of her children from any dark probe that 
might be launched in search of Jedi on the surface of the sanctuary 
moon.

Somehow, Leia thought with steely determination, somehow she must find 
access to the Tree and, thus, sanctuary for her remaining children; 
this Leia knew she would do, though the when of it was still a mystery 
to her.  The method of investigation into the Tree's secrets continued
to elude her, and this lack of knowledge was a source of tremendous 
discontent.

Suddenly, as had happened before, the air before her began to shimmer 
with an eerie Force-light, and Leia found herself looking again upon a 
now familiar face.

//Mother!// her Sense immediately cried.  //Mother, please tell me:  do 
you know how to get into the Tree?  Have you come back to tell me 
how?//

The lovely vision smiled softly at her daughter, her image already 
beginning to fade, though it had only just emerged.

//For every question you have, my darling Leia, you already have the 
answer.//

And with that, she vanished from view, leaving Leia alone and shaken, 
contemplating yet another veiled message.

After a long, fruitless soul and Sense search, Leia sighed and rose 
from the rocker, bending to place tiny Arcadia in her cradle.  Tucking 
the blankets about the infant, she left the room in search of her 
husband and found him in the food preparation area, ladling a hastily 
assembled stew into bowls for their hungry sons.

Leia watched quietly as Han carried the steaming portions to the nearby 
table where Jacen and Anakin waited patiently.  Sensing her need to 
talk, Han excused himself from the boys and crossed the room to his 
wife, taking her hand in his and leading her outside onto the verandah, 
over to their customary spot on the swing.

"Okay, sweetheart, let's have it," he said without preamble.  He had 
never been one to skirt the issues.  "What's eating you?"

She shifted her body to lean against him, her head resting against his 
shoulder, and looked out over the darkening forest, forcing herself to 
consider a reality she had once deemed unthinkable.  She had the 
strangest feeling that she knew how to get the children into the Tree, 
but was, for some inexplicable reason, blocking that knowledge.  In 
spite of the fear that welled within her whenever she tried to 
remember, Leia was certain that something had been missed, some vital 
bit of information that would give them the answers they sought.

"I have to go back."  She finally spoke her thoughts aloud, and her 
link with her husband left no need for further explanation.  "I have to 
go back, not to find out how to get Jaina out of the Tree, but to learn 
how to let our other children in."  She tried unsuccessfully to 
suppress the shiver running the length of her spine.  "The Dark Ones 
are coming, Han.  I feel it.  We can't let them find our children."

She pressed closer to him, covering the arm he held snug against her 
middle with her own.  "I've got to travel back - so that we can find 
the key."  She turned her cheek against his shoulder, her Sense 
reaching.  "Will you help me?"

He pressed his lips against her hair, tightening his arms about her.  
"Always, sweetheart," he reminded her.  "You name it, it's done.  You 
know that."

"Yes, I know that," she agreed, turning in his arms and stroking his 
cheek with one hand, bringing his face down to hers and kissing him 
soundly.  "And I love you for it," she whispered against his mouth.  
"You know that."

"Me too you, Princess," he assured her, hugging her tightly.  "Me too 
all of you."

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

That evening Luke wandered the forest paths of the sanctuary moon, 
unsure of his destination, knowing only that he must put some physical 
distance between himself, his twin and her husband.  The past weeks 
had, for him, been a test of his Jedi reserve, and of his control over 
the forces that drove his mind and body.

Luke shook his head as he pondered the startling, overwhelming 
appearance of passion in his world, his Force-increased awareness of it 
between Han and Leia and, more acutely, the lack of the same in his own 
life.

Luke had been lonely for years.  In his late teens he had accidentally 
stumbled into the path of the lovely vision that was Leia, a vision 
that would obsess him to such a degree that he left his entire world to 
travel to hers and rescue her from certain death.  After it became 
apparent that Leia was in love with Han, Luke had buried his feelings 
for his then-unknown sister, and had aided her in freeing her lover 
from the ruthless Jabba the Hut.

By the time he had learned their true heritage, shortly before the
Battle of Endor, the Jedi had already resigned himself to a life 
without love, his first having proven unrequited, his youthful heart 
unable to imagine another.  He had instead attempted to channel his 
passion, reshaping it into a commitment to Leia and the cause she 
fought for.
 
For a short time Luke had felt that perhaps something might come of his 
friendship with the beautiful Bakuran Senator Gaeriel Captison, and had 
even allowed himself to dream of fathering children with her, each with 
the strange mismatched eyes of the gentle Gaeri.  But that was not 
meant to be, nor was a relationship with his lovely Callista.  Mara 
Jade, the only other woman in whom he had a vague interest, had sadly 
shown none in him.  Thus, Luke had spent the last decade devoted to the 
rise of the Jedi, while he himself grew more lonely with each passing 
year.

Luke's Jedi senses suddenly detected the approach of a number of 
beings, and he quickly took cover behind a vine-shrouded tree.  Peering 
out from behind it, he observed a procession of diminutive Ewoks, 
marching in unison.  Two by two they came, some carrying containers 
that now were empty but that shimmered with a glittery residue of their 
former contents.  Luke turned his head in the direction from which the 
creatures had come and realized his aimless wandering had carried him 
into the vicinity of the sheltering Tree.

He suddenly recalled that the natives were still in the midst of the 
Light Festival.  In the aftermath of Leia's journey into her dark 
vision, followed by Jaina's disappearance, Luke had completely 
forgotten that he had intended to observe this Ewokian custom.

A thought was forming in the back of his mind, something he had never 
considered before, yet something that now seemed completely inevitable.

He remembered hearing from Wicket how the Ewoks held the Tree of Light 
in great reverence as the sole source of protection from the Night 
Spirit, the evil entity worshipped by the malevolent Duloks, the 
tribe's lone enemy in the forest.  He had likewise learned that the 
tribe periodically traveled to the Tree to feed it the sacred dust that 
was said to rejuvenate its strength.

Luke cocked his head to one side, reaching for the nebulous thought, 
and suddenly, he had it:  the Ewoks had come from the direction of the 
twisted Tree in which his niece now nestled.

With a flicker of Force, Luke cloaked his presence from the natives, 
and came out from cover.  He moved silently through the forest, away 
from them, and toward the meadow that shielded the Tree.

His Jedi senses caught the Essence of another human, not far ahead, and 
he thought for a giddy moment that perhaps Jaina had been returned to 
them.  But as he probed deeper into the Presence that surrounded the 
vicinity of the Tree, he realized that it was not the Essence of a 
child, but that of a young woman.

As he reached the edge of the meadow and dropped to his knees behind 
the curtain of grass, Luke peered through the greenery and caught sight 
of her.

A stunningly beautiful creature with long flaxen hair that reached 
nearly to her knees, and skin the color of newly minted gold coins, she  
moved gracefully about the base of the Tree in robes of palest blue.  
Luke watched, entranced, as she gathered the offerings left by the 
Ewoks he'd just passed on the trail.  One by one she picked them up and 
placed them into a large basket she carried on one shapely hip.

The young woman turned toward him, and for one breathless moment Luke 
was afraid that he'd been seen; yet she looked not at him, but up at 
the sky, her startlingly brilliant blue eyes seeking the presence of 
some heavenly body unknown to him.  As her gaze fixed upon her quarry, 
Luke stared at her in rapt wonder, transfixed by her mystical beauty, 
reveling in the sudden recognition of her Sense.

She was here, on this lovely, magical forest moon, the haven that had 
always been such a paradise for Han and Leia.  A happy smile lit the 
Jedi Master's face and his heart filled with the joyous knowledge.

Endor had worked its magic for Han and Leia.  Now, finally, Luke had 
stumbled upon someone who would likewise share the magic with him.

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

Aura stood beneath the sacred Tree and scanned the skies above her, her 
sharp blue eyes honing in on the dark orb of Eloggi.  Hovering above 
them like some baleful eye, it watched; it waited.  Soon, Aura knew, 
They would arrive - and there were still three Jedi children that slept 
in the human aviary on the other side of the forest.

Her Sense suddenly detected the Presence of another Jedi, and Aura 
closed her eyes, reaching for the Essence of the human that knelt 
within the confines of the meadow, peering at her from behind the tall 
grass.  Her heart leapt in exaltation.

He was here, she realized, smiling to herself, her spirit jubilant.  It 
had happened just as she had always known it would.

Aura turned back into the sheltering arms of the Tree and called upon 
Jedi patience.  Now was not the time for them to meet face-to-face.  
She could bide her time.  For now, the knowledge that he was here was 
enough for her to take back to her lonely bed, deep within the cavern 
beneath the Tree.

Tonight he would fill her dreams again.  Now those dreams would be born 
of reality and what was sure to be, rather than the simple, girlish 
visions that had sustained her for so very long.  For tonight, the 
promise of tomorrow would be the comforter she wrapped about her.

Aura felt deep within that her time of exile was nearing an end.  Her 
Jedi was here, now, on this forest moon.  He had finally come.  And he 
had come for her!

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

Luke watched, entranced, as the young woman's lovely face broke into a 
heart-stopping smile before she turned to move back toward the Tree.  
He watched as she disappeared around the edge of its trunk, and waited 
patiently for her to emerge from the other side.  As long moments 
passed with no sign of her, Luke rose from his cover, moved toward the 
Tree and circled it, dismayed that she had disappeared.

He forced himself to draw deep, even breaths, consciously quelling the 
return of familiar loneliness.

//Peace,// he told himself in his best Jedi Master's mien.  //She is 
here.  She will come again.  She is your Destiny.//

[End Chapter]