Chapter Twenty-one

The Dark Twins, no longer at leisure to observe the activities of the 
Jedi, made ready for their departure from the pits of Eloggi, eager for 
the confrontation foretold by Destiny.  The cycle now complete, they 
would soon feed upon a new crop of Jedi.

And Darkness would rise again.

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

Han and Leia were waiting for Luke on the verandah when he arrived back 
at the treehouse.  He approached the swing where they sat in their 
traditional evening site.

"Hey, Junior," Han called.  "Pull up a seat and hang onto your 
lightsaber.  Your sister's got another pressure bomb to drop."

Luke turned his Sense to Leia, his eyes widening at the thought he 
plucked from her mind.  "You want to do what?" he asked incredulously.

"No, of course I don't want to," she was quick to tell him.  "It's the 
absolute last thing I would want to do, given a choice.  But Mother 
came back to see me today.  When I asked her if she'd come to give us  
some answers, she told me that for every question I have, I already 
have the answer."

Leia shook her head, her forehead creased with consternation.  "I have 
a horrible feeling that I missed something vitally important the last 
time I tried to remember."  She shuddered, prompting Han to tighten his 
arm around her shoulders.

"No, I don't want to do this," she repeated, her voice quavering for 
just a moment, her Sense worried, yet determined.  "The thought of 
reliving that nightmare absolutely terrifies me.  But I must go back, 
if we're to have any hope of gaining access to the Tree."

She looked up at Han, reached to stroke his cheek tenderly, as if her 
touch could help to convince him.  "And this time you've got to let me 
stay until I find the answers we need."

Han broke away from her earnest gaze and glanced sharply at Luke, whose 
expression clearly broadcast that he was also thinking of the last time 
they'd tried to help her remember.  It had taken all of their combined 
strength to wrest Leia from her psychic link with the hysterical mother 
of that other time and place.  And, even then, they had pulled her back 
rather quickly after her distress had become apparent.

Now they would be forced to allow her to linger in that netherworld of 
terror long enough to discover the hidden knowledge that would grant 
them access to the Tree.  Han was not looking forward to this; not one 
little bit.

//Neither am I,// Leia responded.  She pressed closer to him, taking 
such comfort as she could from the steady thumping of his heart beneath 
the fabric of his shirt as she rested her head against his chest.  
"They're coming."  She spoke now, her voice dropping to a low whisper.  
"I can feel it."

She looked again to her brother, the Jedi Master, and her unswerving 
faith in his ability to help her was unnerving.  "It mustn't find the 
children.  Please, Luke, help me go back.  Help me to remember what I 
already know."

Luke felt her terror as his own, and cradled her Sense with all the 
love he could project.  He felt her accept his gift with a grateful 
heart, while feeling also her firm resolve to do what she had to.  It 
was a feat that made his respect for her courage rise several more 
notches.

"All right," he finally agreed.  "When do you want to go?"

"Now," Leia said, her voice shaking, despite her obvious determination.  
"Arcadia and the boys are asleep, and I've already gotten Chewie's 
promise to keep an ear out for them.  The sooner we learn how to access 
the Tree, the sooner we'll be able to shield the children."

Luke looked over at Han, acknowledged his reluctant nod, and moved his 
chair to sit before his sister.  At her side, Han tightened his arm 
around her shoulders and covered her cold hands with his free one.  She 
felt his powerful essence join with hers, and turned her hands in his 
to squeeze his fingers, hungrily absorbing his unwavering strength.

Leia closed her eyes as Luke put his hands to her temples in the now-
familiar posture.  Blocking all perception from her consciousness, she 
allowed herself to drift on the waves of his psychic probe.  She felt 
his delicate blocking of their shared contact of earlier that morning, 
and appreciated his consideration of Han, hoping against hope that it 
was sufficient to keep her husband from picking up on the inadvertent
connection.

Further and further she journeyed, past the initial contact with Aura's 
mother, through the darkness that had invaded the realm of the Tree 
when the Emperor first found the woman before it.  She felt again the 
cold grasp of horror at the unspeakable visions Palpatine had projected 
into the woman's subconscious, the rage and agony and utter despair 
that consumed the woman at the moment of perception.

Finally, she was as one with the unknown mother as she lay on the 
ground, paralyzed with fear and desperation.  Leia forced herself to 
withstand the onslaught of evil as Palpatine hovered above her.  She 
denied the reflexive protest of her subconscious, the instinct for 
flight from the horror that loomed before her.

She saw rather than felt the woman's spirit leave her body, seeming to 
drift from the physical to the metaphysical plane, her final piteous 
cry surrounding and somehow becoming absorbed into the Tree.  Leia 
strained to catch the anguished plea.

//Mother!//

Suddenly the woman's Spirit reappeared as part of Leia's own, and they 
floated through the corridors of a vast cavern, dimly lit with the glow 
of hundreds of thousands of tiny lichens, pulsating with an eerie 
rhythm.  All about them was a sense of bliss, of goodness of spirit, of 
rightness with the surroundings, effectively uplifting her soul from 
the Darkness that pervaded the outer perimeter of the Tree.

Leia's Sense rode on the waves of the Force as it took her on a tour of 
seemingly endless tunnels connecting the rooms of the cavern.  Coming 
upon an area that seemed to radiate with Light, there suddenly appeared 
before her scores of children, humanoid children, in all shapes and 
sizes, of assorted ages and various stages of development.

The young ones were clustered around a young woman who sat on a roughly 
hewn wooden chair, gently bouncing a child of toddler age on her knee.  
Leia's Sense approached the girl, reaching through the Force.

Perhaps eighteen to twenty years of age, the young woman wore an 
expression of child-like wonder as she brushed delicate flaxen hair 
from her stunningly brilliant blue eyes.  She turned those eyes, now 
wide in recognition, to Leia, and her Sense greeted Leia as well.

//Princess!  At last you have come!  We have waited ever so long!//

Leia's Sense searched for an explanation.  All these children, she 
thought in wonder.  And somehow she knew them all!  This pretty girl 
before her, and the little ones who stood behind her.  She knew also 
the exotic beauty of the raven-haired young woman who stood behind the 
chair, and at some point in her existence Leia had felt around her neck 
the soft arms of the toddler that the blonde girl held on her lap.

//Who are you?// Leia's Sense projected, though, in her heart, she 
already knew the answer.

The girl smiled and gestured at the children surrounding her.   "My 
name is Aura and these are your children.  Just as you were promised."

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

Anakin Solo looked out from behind the door to his parent's chambers, 
the one left partially ajar when his Wookiee bodyguard had exited a 
quarter of an hour ago.  Five minutes before that, young Anakin had 
exercised his Jedi skills, and the watchful Chewbacca had succumbed to 
the tendril of tiredness extended by Anakin's subtle touch.  His snores 
could now be clearly heard from the room down the hall.  Leaving the 
child free to leave his bed and spy on the adults.

From his vantage point, Anakin could peer across the living quarters to 
the windows beyond, where he could see his mother sitting on the porch 
swing, his father beside her, his uncle before them.  Although he 
couldn't hear their words, the child easily perceived the Darkness in 
their Senses, particularly in that of his mother.  Frightened, he tore 
his gaze away, looked instead at the skies visible outside the 
protective awning of the verandah.

The secondary moon, last evening so clearly lit by the system's ancient 
sun, was now beginning to show the first hint of shadow at its outer 
edges.  As Anakin stood watching, its yellowish orb slowly faded to 
near non-existence, leaving a shining corona around the darkness as it 
was eclipsed by the shadow of Endor.

Anakin felt a tightening in his stomach, his fledgling Jedi senses 
broadcasting an alarm to his every nerve, and he returned his gaze to 
the group assembled on the far end of the verandah.  His parents and 
uncle were oblivious to the lunar eclipse, deeply in rapport with a 
dark vision of their own.

The child sighed, resolved to his duty and the knowledge that the
task was now upon him to take the actions he'd been urged to take for 
so long.

Anakin closed the door and padded softly across the room to the cradle 
where his baby sister slept.  Closing his eyes, he reached through the 
Force for guidance in doing what he knew must be done.

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

Luke and Han kept vigil over Leia as she made her second vision-
journey, and they were pleasantly surprised at the relative ease with 
which she was making this trip.  Though initially reticent to go beyond 
the seeming point of no return, her heart rate and respiration had 
relaxed into a more-or-less normal pattern.  They were both relieved 
that the present exercise was favoring her with a kinder route to 
revelation than the last.

The absorption of the woman's Spirit into the Tree and the subsequent 
tour of the incredible caverns beneath it filled them with wonder.  As 
Leia's Sense met with that of the young woman and the surrounding 
children, Luke's Sense received a jolt.

It was her!   She was here!  His Destiny was within the Tree, 
communicating with his twin -- and thus with him!

At the shift in her brother's Sense, Leia's own concentration was 
thrown off, and for a moment her mind drifted toward the present.  Luke 
put a quick emotional lock on his jubilant heart and projected peace 
toward his twin.  He felt the additional boost from Han's Sense, and 
again Leia relaxed into her former mode of mental travel.

Her Sense greeted the lovely young woman and the odd assortment of 
children, with the familiarity of long-lost family members come 
together for a reunion.  Somehow, in the recesses of her mind - and in 
her heart - she had always known these little ones.  She was not even 
surprised to find that she knew the names of many of them.

There was Matteas, tall and gangling in the awkward stage between 
adolescence and puberty; and little Brandyn seated on Aura's lap, 
looking up at Leia with soft violet eyes, his hair a silky mane of 
purest white.  Illiana stood behind Aura, and was the exotic opposite 
of the other young woman, with hair as black as night, and brilliant 
green eyes beneath thick black brows.  And there, shyly peering from 
behind the shelter of Illiana's skirts, was a child so like Anakin in 
appearance that Leia's heart immediately warmed at the sight of him.  
Unconsciously, her Sense drifted to the present to caress her younger 
son.

Anakin?

//Anakin!!//

Leia's consciousness screamed, catapulting her back to the here and 
now, her Sense joining with Han's as they made the simultaneous 
realization.

//Cady!!!//

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

Anakin stood in the doorway to Han and Leia's sleeping chambers, his 
tiny sister strapped against his sturdy little chest, a sleepy Jacen 
coming up behind him, rubbing his eyes with one hand, running the other 
one through his tousled dark hair.

Han, Leia and Luke froze in place at the sight of the children, and 
Anakin spoke before any of them had a chance to say anything.  His face 
the picture of innocence, Anakin looked calmly up at his parents.

"It's time," he announced, his trembling voice taking on an 
uncharacteristic urgency.  He approached his elders, unbuckling the 
straps of the infant carrier from behind his back and handing his 
burden to his mother.  Leia gathered Arcadia into her arms and peered 
down at her younger son.

The little boy looked up at his mother with the eyes of one much older 
and wiser, alternately turning his gaze to his father, to his uncle, 
projecting through the Force with all his might.

"We have to go.  We have to go now!"  His voice dropped to a quivering 
whisper.  "I've seen them!  They're on their way."

Leia reached into Anakin's Sense and extracted his knowledge as her 
own, and she immediately felt the simultaneous reactions of Han and 
Luke as they, in turn, shared her alarm.  Han instinctively projected 
calm into the mind of his tiny daughter, soothing the infant's 
reception of the anxiety that dominated the treehouse.  He felt Leia's 
Sense join with that of Luke to instill peace into the worried minds of 
the two young boys, and Han turned his own perception to link with them 
all.

The Skywalker-Solo clan formed a mighty mental chain as they huddled 
together on the verandah of their aviary, the hidden key suddenly and 
simultaneously revealed to them all.

Han looked down into Anakin's clear blue eyes and squeezed the child's 
shoulders.  "You're right, son," he told him, moving one hand to caress 
Cady's head where it rested against Leia's heart.  "It's time to go."

Drawing himself to his full height, he turned to Leia, their Senses 
intimately merged, enlightened by the course that lay before them.  
Wordlessly, he took her hand in his, and together they led their family 
across the verandah, down to the surface and through the forest to the 
Tree.

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

Luke watched as his sister and her husband bid farewell to their 
remaining children.

Jacen, anxious to be reunited with his twin, fidgeted from one foot to 
the next and back again, barely containing his excitement at the coming 
journey.  Brave, gentle Anakin stood at his father's side, one hand 
holding onto Han's pants leg, his eyes huge as they took in the 
enormity of the Tree that was to provide them shelter.

Leia had taken Arcadia to one side and sat on the ground at the edge of 
the meadow, nursing her baby one last time, pouring her love for her 
children through her Sense into theirs.

Han stood at the base of the Tree, searching its perimeter for the 
opening he knew was there, his frustration evident as the entrance 
remained barred to him.  He glanced at his wife where she sat tending 
to their child, their connection allowing him to feel her conflicting 
emotions.  He was not at all surprised to discover that they mirrored 
his own.

Though growing increasingly anxious for the children to be safely 
ensconced within the impenetrable confines of the Tree, Han was 
nonetheless dreading the reality of life in the treehouse without the 
cheerful Presence of their children.

But there was nothing cheerful about the Darkness that approached.

Leia crooned gently to her baby daughter, running her hand over the 
delicate blonde head, closing her eyes to all but the unique and heady 
sensations of nursing her child.  Feeling the pulsating rhythm of life 
with every tightening of Arcadia's mouth, every thrust of the tiny 
tongue against her breast, Leia felt her Life-force flowing into the 
infant, nourishing her with love and strength and a vow of protection, 
no matter the personal cost.

Leia shivered.  This then, she thought reverently, this is the true 
power of the Force.  Life creating life, nourishing it, making it grow, 
no matter the form.  Leia turned her eyes upward to study the imposing 
presence of the mighty Tree, and suddenly she felt the others as well; 
her other children, those already shielded.  They were calling for the 
inclusion of the Solo children in their sheltered ranks, their warm 
combined Essence exuding love and faith and confidence, and brilliant, 
brilliant Light.

Feeling the approach of her husband, she turned reluctant eyes up to 
him where he stood before her, his face a mirror of the pain she felt 
within.

"It's time, sweetheart," he said quietly.  "We can't delay any longer.  
We've got to get the kids inside, right away!"  He squatted down to her 
level, rested his hand on her shoulder.  "Let me see Cady for a 
minute," he urged, and she reluctantly removed the sated baby from her 
breast.  Handing her to Han, she poured her Sense into his, and 
together they savored the extraordinary link between the three of them.

Han stood and put the infant to his shoulder, rubbing her back until he 
got a satisfying burp, smiling as he did so, even as his heart clenched 
painfully.  He put his lips to the indescribable softness of the baby's 
head, kissed her long and lovingly.

After an expanse of time that seemed eternal, yet fleeting, he extended 
his hand to Leia, and she took it, rising gracefully to her feet.  
Together they walked resolutely to stand before their boys where they 
waited beneath the shadow of the Tree.  Leia took Arcadia from Han's 
arms and returned her to the carrier, then secured it against Jacen so 
that he held his baby sister against his chest.  As oldest of the 
remaining children, he would now serve as Arcadia's protector until 
they were safely released from the haven of the Tree.

Leia's fingers lingered against the baby's silky cheek, and she 
caressed it one last time before leaning in to embrace her elder son.

"Mind what you have learned," she said, repeating Luke's instruction, 
trying hard to keep her voice from breaking.  "Strive to be good, and 
fair.  And remember how very much I love you all," she finished in a 
whisper, choking on the last word.

She knelt to take Anakin into her arms, holding him close for a moment 
while Han said his own goodbyes to Jacen and little Cady.

"Your first command, pal," he said to Jacen, in his old general's 
voice.  "We're depending on you to take care of your brother and your 
sisters."  He clapped his son on the shoulder, and Jacen looked up at 
his father with shining eyes.

Han's hand tightened on the boy in a firm grip.  "I'm very proud of you 
son," he told Jacen, then swept his eyes over Anakin and Cady, gazing 
up at the Tree that already housed his firstborn.  "I'm very proud of 
you all," he amended, his voice catching in his throat.  He bent to 
kiss the soft little head of Arcadia one last time, closing his eyes 
against the pain of parting, his Sense lingering with that of the 
infant.

Finally, it was time to let them go.  Leia forced herself to withdraw 
from them and stood at the edge of the meadow, watching her two small 
boys and smaller daughter, bravely facing the unknown, her own future - 
and thus, theirs - uncertain.

She stood beside Han, his arm around her waist in a grip so tight it 
hurt, but still she didn't want him to let up the pressure of his hold 
upon her.  As long as she could feel - physically as well as 
psychically  - his bond with her, Leia knew she could face whatever the 
Force decided to send them.  She seized upon her link with his mind, 
their grief at parting with their children intermingled with relief 
that they would finally be in a safe place and well cared for during 
their exile.

Jacen Solo, junior Jedi, stood proudly beneath the shadow of the Tree, 
one arm protectively around his baby sister, the other gripping young 
Anakin's shoulder reassuringly.  He looked at his mother and father one 
last time, and in a gesture Leia would remember the rest of her days, 
caught his mother's eye and favored her with his own jaunty version of 
his father's cocky wink.

Leia watched through teary eyes as her eldest son raised his face to 
gaze upward through the twisted branches of the massive Tree, closed 
his eyes and with the combined Strength of them all projected into the 
Force:

//Mother!//

Slowly a shimmering opening appeared in the mammoth trunk, widening 
into a portal large enough for the children to pass through.  Sparkling 
particles of Light emanated from the orifice, extending across the 
mossy surface beneath the Tree and enveloping the three children where 
they stood, transfixed with the power of the Force, resolute in the 
Destiny that lay before them.

The Light grew in intensity as it approached the children until they 
were finally consumed by it.  It continued to grow in radiance, the 
very air around the Tree pulsating, finally bursting with a brilliance 
that made the adults shield their eyes, forced them to turn away from 
the flare that surrounded the Tree.

When Leia was finally able to see again, the space where her children 
had stood lay empty before her.  She fell back against Han, letting him 
support her completely, and his arms tightened around her, though she 
could feel his own body trembling against her back.

"All right, bring 'em on," she heard him rumble over her head.  "I 
reckon we're ready for anything now."

[End Chapter]