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If I understand this right, there could be people here I know, despite that I could swear I just talked to them at home, right? [Luke frowns, looking rather tired as he runs a hand through his hair, sitting at the console in the Welcome Center.] In that case, if anyone knows if Leia Organa or... [A pause, because does it work if the last you knew someone was frozen in carbonite and basically in coma?] Han Solo are here, please tell me. Or tell them Luke's looking for them.

[He smiles briefly, his expression brightening a little in general. Something strikes him then, though, and Luke's gaze lowers for a moment, frowning at something out of view before he looks up again.]

Aside from that, I'd like to know what sort of prosthesis are available, and the tools to repair them. Or if the tools could be adjusted for already existing ones. I don't need any of that at the moment, but you never know.

[Better be as prepared as he can, before something happens, for once. Especially in a new place. He's had his new hand not two weeks yet, and he's very, very aware of it... which is probably why this occurred to him at all.]

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You're a pilot.

[She's not at all surprised. Jedi and pilot from Tatooine. He is, without a doubt, every inch Anakin's son. But the mention of Tuskens and Hutts leaves a bad taste in her mouth.]

No, I somehow doubt very much that Obi-Wan had much to do with the Tuskens. Did your Uncle Owen ever tell you the story of what happened to his stepmother, Anakin's mother, Shmi Skywalker?

As soon as I could convince my aunt and uncle to let me into something that flew higher off the ground than your average landspeeder, yes. [Luke grins briefly before he sobers up, nodding.]

Most of it, I think, yes... They were usually more willing to talk about her than my father, really. Not a lot of details, because who doesn't know what Tusken do to captives, so it wasn't really necessary, but they always made it out as that was the only time he came back and was the one to find her.

[Looking back down to his mother, Luke frowned.]

There's more?

You sound as excited about piloting as your father. [She leans over and lowers her voice.] Master Kenobi is a horrible pilot. He hates it.

Yes, there's more. I think I'm the only person besides Anakin that knows the full extent of what happened. But it was the only time he came back to that planet. With his mother dead, what was left for him on Tatooine? He was an only child with no father. Obi-Wan and I became his family after that.

Ben mentioned he was good. [He was drawn into a smile again; if there was anything he really loved it was flying, most definitely.] Really?

[He shouldn't laugh, but he couldn't help it - muffling most of the chuckles behind one hand. It stayed there for a bit even after he'd stopped and he frowned a little.]

I feel like I should ask him about it, but I doubt he'd want to talk about it.

[He wanted to know, now that she'd said there was more, but...]

He was the best I knew. I never worried when I flew with him because I knew we'd get there safely. [She shrugs a bit.] The ship might not have been whole when we landed, but I was never harmed.

[Her humor dies as she thinks back to the conversation she had with Anakin in the Lars home.]

He wouldn't. He'd had nightmares for weeks, premonitions, about his mother in trouble and in pain. When we got to Tatooine, we'd learned that she'd been taken by Tuskens and that the search party that went out to find her had come back decimated. The next day, he left with with your uncle Owen and returned hours later with his mother's body.

After burying her, he hid in the repair room. When I found him, he told me that he'd found her but she was dying. And he'd...slaughtered the entire encampment—every man, woman and child.

[She takes a shuddery breath and sinks into a chair.]

The scary part is that that news didn't scare me. He was supposed to be a Jedi, compassionate and above it all. But Anakin has always been more human than the Council liked.

[Tucking away those tiny gems of knowledge that was a bit more... human than much of anything he had known so far (the realisation that he'd get the chance, here, to actually find out more like that settled with light warmth in his gut), Luke bit his lip as he listened, biting his lip as Padmé talked on.

He'd always wondered what more there was to the story, because most other accounts of such kidnappings usually did mention people dying.]

Mother... [It slips out before he can censor himself, but Luke shakes his head and slips close to the chair, squeezing her shoulder.]

All Jedi are human [It's muttered, but he understands, somewhat, what she means, because he's immediately thinking back on Yoda and Ben trying to make him stay on Dagobah because it would be better for the rest of the galaxy that way. Still, the next breath is a little shuddery at the thought of children. He doesn't like Tusken, but... children never deserve it.] and it's okay. You did what you could, didn't you?

[Even though years ago, the story still leaves her a little heartsore. Remembering Anakin's face as he screamed and cried after his mother's death is always the hardest part for her, as selfish as it sounds.

But she, unlike the Jedi it seemed, understood why he'd done what he done. As horrible as it was, her husband's emotions have always burned brightly.

She looks up at her son, her perfect son, and covers the hand on her shoulder with one of her own.]

Luke, I'm not sure what the Jedi are like in your time, but for as long as I can remember, they've always held themselves apart from the rest of the peoples of the galaxy, looking down on things like romantic love and familial bonds. Had...had they been around when you and your sister showed signs of being Force Sensitive, they would have tried to take you. As early as six months old.

They never would have stopped until I agreed. I heard stories of them breaking down mothers until they caved and gave up their babies before later killing themselves.

[She shakes her head, trying not to cry herself.]

The Jedi aren't the heroes you think they are. They aren't horrible beasts, but they're so flawed that I don't know where I would begin to reform the organization if I could.

[Gritting his teeth and swallowing the lump in his throat, Luke closes his eyes. That's... worse than he had imagined, even if he'd already joked, once, that 'clearly he wasn't allowed' when he'd found out that Jedi didn't have children.

Flawed... yeah. He knows that. He hadn't really known it until a few weeks ago, and he's tried not to think about it while healing and adjusting to his new prosthetic, before he ended up here but...]

I'll make it better.

[An easy promise; there is basically nothing left to reform. He'll have to start from scratch, and whatever he can find, whenever he's ready to try. If there are many (any) Jedi left aside from Yoda, he'll have to find them first.]

It doesn't really matter what they are. I'll be a Jedi and... I'll make it better.

[Opening his eyes again, Luke shrugs and smiles faintly down at his mother. He's still trying to not think too deeply on Ben's original explanation, and the desire he'd had since hearing about his father from the old Jedi to kill Darth Vader. He'd... he doesn't know. He shrugs and squeezes her shoulder.]

[Burdening him with this information hadn't been her intention, but she's always held to the philosophy of never lying to children. It always comes back to haunt you. He might not be a child anymore, but he is still hers. And just as she's never lied to her nieces, she won't start with her son.]

From what I understand, Luke, you will have to start over. Anything that you do will be better than what is currently in place during my time.

[She squeezes his hand again before smiling.]

I've changed my mind. Come with me to the kitchen. We can talk more while I cook dinner.

[Luke would much rather be told the truth rather than lied to, especially now that he's started to realise how much he has been lied to in the last few years... and growing up.]

More or less, yes. I... I'm not sure where to start. Hopefully I can find more Jedi.

[He shakes himself and sort of shakes that off as well before nodding.]

Okay. I'd like that. [Sure, neither of them was, presumably, about to just up and disappear right this moment, but he found himself rather reluctant to leave. So he certainly didn't mind going with Padmé to the kitchen.]

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