A Star Wars Fairy Tale: Return, Part 2

The lights subsided in front of a crude mud hut. Leia and Cecil gently carried the little goblin into one of the two rooms, laying him on his narrow pallet. Arthur and Luke followed, Luke with Yoda's green sword. “Master, I'm so sorry,” Luke was saying. “This isn't how I wanted to return to you.”

“Matter, it does not.” Yoda coughed as Luke brought him water from a clay jar. Cecil brought Leia bandages from the Falcon, which she wrapped around the little goblin's shoulder. “You are here. That is what counts.”

“Yes, but for how long?” Leia tied the bandages off. “Vader probably knows we're here, or has a good idea of it.”

“Hidden here, you are. Swamps have many powers.” The small goblin coughed again, harder and rougher this time. “This is why Vader did not find me until now.”

“Master Yoda,” Luke started cautiously, “is Lord Vader our father?”

Yoda shuddered, then turned on his side. “Rest, I need. Yes, a rest.”

“Oh, please.” Leia crossed her arms. “You're just putting off telling us.”

Yoda finally let out a soft sigh. “Your father, he is. Twins, you are.”

“Twins?” Leia sat down next to Luke. “That explains a lot. No wonder I knew where you were back on Bespin.”

The little goblin frowned. “Unexpected this discovery is, and unfortunate.”

Leia glared at him. “Unfortunate that we know the truth?”

“No,” Yoda wheezed. “Unfortunate, that incomplete was Luke's training...not ready for the burden, was he. Benjamin would have told you both years ago, had I let him.” He looked Luke in the eye. “Confront your father again, you must.”

“No!” Leia shook her head. “Why Luke? Why not you? I saw how you handled the saber back in the Woods.”

“Strong tongue you have, young Leia. Very much like your father, when he was your age.” Yoda frowned at her frustrated face. “Quick to anger, to judge. Always, you speak before you think.” The wizened creature clutched his shoulder, coughing. “I am old and frail. Much damage, this wound has done. Sick, I was. Now, it is much worse. The darkness has come to the Woods. Stop it, I cannot.” He looked up at Luke. “Stop it, you can.”

Luke shook his head. “Yoda, I need to know more. I've come back to complete my training.”

His master shook his head. “No more training do you require. Already know what you need.”

Luke looked surprised...and unconvinced. “Then I am a Jedi.”

“No.” Yoda's voice whistled when he spoke. “Face your father, you must. Restore balance to the Force. Out of balance, the Woods are. That is why the darkness has fallen.”

Leia frowned. “I'd suspected something like that. The Woods didn't act this way before. When Han and I were traveling here a few weeks ago, it was sunny and pleasant and warm. Now it feels like it's out to get us.”

“When light is gone, the darkness falls.” Yoda's voice was raspy and strained. “Luke...when gone am I, last of the Jedi will you be. Luke...” The two Skywalker siblings pulled close to him. “Luke...Leia...restore...balance...restore...l..lo...”

Yoda never finished his last words. His eyes closed before he could. Much like Sir Ben Kenobi, the moment he passed into the Force, he vanished before the eyes of the grieving quartet.

Leia put a hand on Luke's shoulder. “I'm sorry.” Luke just flung himself into her arms, tears rolling down his cheeks.

“Yoda will always be with you.” The Skywalkers and the servants all looked up at once as a tall figure surrounded by a blue light strode into the hut. He had gentle dark eyes, long, flowing gray-brown hair, and a dark mustache and beard. “You may get tired of seeing him. I wouldn't be surprised if he kept insisting on giving advice in the afterlife. He always was stubborn that way.”

Luke's face lit up, despite the tears in his eyes. “Qui-Gon Jinn? Ben told me about you. You were his master, one of the greatest Force Knights who ever lived! You taught him everything he knew. He respected you like a father.”

“And I loved him like a son.” He sighed. “But I don't entirely agree with what he told you, or his and Yoda's decision to separate the two of you. Benjamin and Yoda meant well, but they were always very strict in their teaching. They believed that the Jedi were infallible.” The ghost sat down on Yoda's bed next to Luke. “It was my decision to train your father Anakin as a Force Knight. He was living as a slave in Tatoon with his mother when we found him. I'd never seen anyone with such strong abilities.” Qui-Gon's long face lit up in a grin. “Did Ben ever tell you how your father won the Boonta Classic Carriage Race when he was only nine years old? To my knowledge, he's still the youngest person ever to accomplish that.”

Luke shook his head. “Uncle Owen never really talked about my parents. He told me Father was a merchant who was killed by bandits. He wouldn't talk about Mother at all.”

“I only remember a little about Mother,” Leia admitted. “Uncle Bail told me she lived for about a year after Father...after Father joined the Empire, but she was never really well. She died when I was a little over a year old.”

“I have no memory of Mother,” Luke whispered. “I never knew her.”

“You're like your mother in many ways, Luke.” Qui-Gon's eyes became far-away. “In looks, she favored you, Leia, petite and dark-haired and pale-skinned.” He smiled. “Looks can be deceiving. She had a will of iron...but more importantly, she had the most loving heart I ever saw. She could see the beauty in all things.”

Leia frowned. “What about me?”

Qui-Gon shook his head. “You seem to have gotten your father's side. He was a sweet child, and from what little I saw, a good man...but he had a temper, and a need to see justice, no matter what the cost. He would do anything to keep those he loved from harm, even harm others.”

“Master Jinn,” Luke began, “do you know how to lift the curse on our father? It must be some kind of a curse. I know there's good in him. I saw how he acted with Arthur. They were friends!”

Qui-Gon shook his head. “I wish I did. Your father fell years after I died in a duel with a Black Knight. I have no idea what curse was cast on him.” He nodded out back. “I do know where you can find Khyber crystals, though. If you are going to deal with your father, you'll need a weapon.”

Leia frowned. “I can't believe Father is a good man. Not after what he did to Han and me at the Kingdom of the Clouds.”

“He was a good child,” the long-gone Force Knight admitted. “I never regretted freeing him from Tatoon. He was never meant to be a slave. I didn't know him well as an adult.”

She held back as Luke went into the brush. “I want to do something for Luke.” She closed her eyes, trying to fight the tears. “I can't even restore his hand. I don't have my healing powers anymore.”

Qui-Gon made something long and flat appear in a blue light. “You can help in other ways.”

It was a knife, a knife with a long, shining steel blade and a silver handle trimmed with turquoise jewels and intricate water-like markings. “This was your mother's, one of the treasures of Naboo. It was among the few things Yoda and the remaining Jedi were able to salvage from Naberrie Castle before Palapatine vandalized it.”

“It's beautiful.” Leia drew her finger along it and winced when she saw blood. “And sharp.”

“Naboo crafted some of the sharpest steel in the entire Alliance.” Qui-Gon nodded as she sucked on her finger. “Ben could tell you more about it.” He nodded towards the edge of the mire. “You must return to his home. This is no place to forge a sword. Besides,” the ghost looked concerned, “with Yoda gone, the Swamps are no longer under his protection. My powers are limited. I can only do so much to keep the darkness at bay.”

Luke emerged at that moment. He was covered in dust, his one good hand was dirty, and the sling that held the stump of the other one was torn and streaked with some kind of noxious goo. Even so, he clutched a small pile of what appeared to be large, green, glowing stones in his palms. “Master Qui-Gon,” he gasped, grinning ear to ear, “I found them! I had to dig for them in the clay deposits, but I found them.”

“You also found a mess.” Leia wiped a streak of clay from his cheek. “I'll see if your little goblin friend left any fresh water to clean up your wound and get you some fresh bandages.”

Luke was too happy to fuss over Leia trying to mother him. His blue eyes roamed until they found the former Force Knight. “Thank you, Master Qui-Gon.”

He bowed before them. “No, thank you for watching over Yoda in his last hours. He was a cantankerous old cur, but I'm almost looking forward to seeing him again.”

“I think we'll stay here for the night.” Leia readjusted Luke's sling. “Start out fresh in the morning.”

Luke nodded, shivering. “I don't think there's anything else for us here.”

“Qui-Gon suggested,” Leia began, “that we might visit the Kingdom of Aldran. Just the fringes. Maybe your friend Ben left some material to make your sword, and there will be plenty of dry wood for a fire.”

“I like that idea.” The young man sighed. “I still miss Ben...and now, I have so many questions I wish I could ask him.”

“Oh, I'm sure he'll answer them when you arrive.” The older man finally bowed. “May the Force be with both of you.”

They both bowed for him. “You too, sir,” Luke said.

Leia raised her eyebrows as Jinn flickered out of sight. “I will never get used to that.”

“It's hard to adjust to at first,” Luke admitted. “Ben used to pop up at the most random times. He never seemed to startle Master Yoda, though.” The two siblings jumped when they heard the screech of an animal piercing the gloom. “I think we'd better tell Arthur and Cecil to come inside.”

His sister took his arm. “Right.” Another screech, this one closer to the trees Luke had emerged from, sent the duo scrambling for the safety of Yoda's hut and the Falcon.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

King Palapatine, Supreme Ruler of the Kingdom of the Empire, reclined in his gleaming obsidian throne in Bast Castle. He had once been simply Duke Sheev Palapatine, a minor nobleman and trader in Naboo. Through cunning, manipulation, and his growing dark Force magic, he had snatched the role of Prime Minister of Naboo and chairman of the Alliance of the Seven Kingdoms during the Seven Kingdoms' War. The blood spilled during the war had barely dried when he declared himself King of Naboo, now a true Empire.

He looked up as the figure in black armor knelt before his dais. “Vader,” he said. “You were to bring me your children.”

“I came very close, my master.” The yellow eyes behind the visor gazed up at him. “They are both far more powerful than we previously believed.” He clenched a fist. “Master Yoda, the oldest and wisest of all Force Knights, attacked me in the Woods. I took care of him. The children are no longer under his protection.”

Palapatine shook his head. “It is of no consequence. You will no longer try to go to your children. They...or at least, your son...will come to you.”

Vader was skeptical. “He will come to me? And what of my daughter? She's nearly as strong in the Force, and far angrier, especially after the loss of her lover. She may be easier to turn to our side.”

“I have my own plans for the fair Princess of Aldran.” Palapatine's smile was a fearful thing to behold, all sharp, pointy teeth and cruel intentions. “When your son comes to you, she will come after him...and I will take care of her.” He turned to Vader. “I want you to triple the current taxes in all of the Imperial Kingdoms. Take anything possible as payment, including jewels and other fine goods. Make sure this is spread widely.”

“For what purpose?”

Palapatine's smile made even his apprentice shiver with revulsion. “As bait. Soon, the Rebels In the Woods will be crushed. Your son will be your apprentice, and your daughter will be my wife. Everything is going according to my design.”

Vader wasn't as certain as he went to give the orders to his men. For one thing, he wanted to teach his children about the Force, not leave it to his master. But there was also something brewing inside of him. Something he hadn't felt, or allowed himself to feel, in twenty years. Seeing Arthur again stirred so many memories he thought he'd buried.

Padme... His thoughts always returned to her, to her long curling brown hair, to the wide brown eyes and laughing red mouth. She had been his light, his joy, his happiness. The two of them and Ben Kenobi side by side before and during the Seven Kingdoms' War, an inseparable trio.

He and Padme declared their love in the Woods, right before the Jedi rescued them from the evil black wizard Dooku. The Woods were beautiful that day, all green and glowing. He remembered the rickety old cart that lead them out, Queen and knight, bound and forced to fight every dark creature the Woods could spit out...

You love me? I thought we decided it would be too dangerous to fall in love.

She gazed into his eyes with her warm brown ones. That doesn't matter now. We're going to die anyway. I just wanted to let you know. You're everything to me.

She had been everything to him...but she'd died. He was a Force Knight, with the strongest powers in the kingdom, and the King of Naboo, and he couldn't keep her from dying. Not her, nor his beloved mother, who was killed by bandits in Tatoon while he was training.

He had to put them out of his mind. He had the children now. Their daughter, and the son he'd only just discovered. He wanted to train them, to show them power, but now he wondered if it was what Padme would have wanted. After seeing Arthur, he was starting to wonder if it was really what he wanted.