Author's Notes: I feel like I'm sending a child off for the first day of school..... I guess... I'll miss writing this, but it has to end..... Although there is a possibility in time for a continuation...I know what I want to happen, but other things need to be worked on and other stories need time to come out. Thanks for your patience and your time.
DISCLAIMER: Star Wars and all publicly recognisable characters, names and references, etc are the sole property of George Lucas, Lucasfilm Ltd, Lucasarts Inc and 20th Century Fox. This fan fiction was created solely for entertainment and no money was made from it. Also, no copyright or trademark infringement was intended. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. Any other characters, the storyline and the actual story are the property of the author.
The rising of the sun on Naboo had always been a thing to see. The rays of the star as it engaged the atmosphere was incredibly beautiful and a blessing to see. The fingers of purple and pink reached across the sky. The leaves of the trees rustled gently. A lone woman stood on the outside landing of the Grand House, her long black hair unbound and tumbling down her back. The breeze ruffled its strands making it dance. Her robe of blue silk brushed against the skin.
"Mommy?" A small, three-year-old child toddled out onto the porch and Padme turned to smile at her in the morning light.
"Yes, Albie?" Padme laughed as the girl raced into her arms. The both of them enjoyed their morning time on the porch before Padme was drawn into the demands of her ruling profession and Albie was engaged in her lessons.
"Uncle Ben says that he has to leave this morning." Albie was now forming complete sentences to the amazement of her mother and her teachers. Her dark hair tumbled similar to her adopted mother’s. And her wide brown eyes shown with an intelligence that was remarkable.
"I know, darling, I know." Padme hugged the girl before resetting her on the ground.
"He’s taking Aniakin, isn’t he?" Albie knew that Aniakin was not her brother, but loved him nonetheless.
"Yes, Albie, he is." Padme grasped the girl’s hand and moved back into the house. "He has to."
"Is he taking him to the Jedi?" Albie asked, tugging on her mother’s hand to slow her.
"Yes." Padme rounded the corner into the main room with a sigh. Ben Kenobi had remained with her for the last year, through her pregnancy and the birth of her child. He stood in front of her, holding the very young and powerful, Aniakin. The child’s midicholarians had been tested upon his birth and was found to be off scale, as might be expected by the matching of two such powerful Jedi as his parents. The child was barely six months old, but Ben knew that he had to leave with the child before either the mother or the child would be unable to part.
He approached Padme with a sigh. "I will follow the plan, Padme. They will be unable to ascertain his parentage and I will follow him. Hopefully I can take him as my padawan when he is of age."
Padme grimaced as she stroked the baby’s head, a mass of blond curls. The child’s large blue eyes opened to gaze at his mother. She nodded with a sigh. "It is as Qui-Gon would have wanted."
"I will let you know how he is and where he is, Padme." He watched as the woman continued to stroke the child’s head. "The Temple is safe, now….the Sith have been beaten back. We have a chance to regroup and grow again."
Padme nodded, "and you will become a master someday, Ben." She added. "Take him, Ben, he is yours now."
Obi-Wan nodded solemnly. "He is my master’s son. I will love him like a brother." He balanced the child in his arms and laid a hand on her cheek. "Will you be okay?"
The woman covered her friend’s hand with hers and nodded. "I will always be all right; I can feel Qui-Gon everywhere. He is truly with me all the time."
"He has visited you, hasn’t he, Padme." Ben said, gazing at her eyes.
"Yes, he has, but only momentarily. He is still recovering his aura. Someday he will be able to materialize for sometime." Padme sighed. "But I have Naboo to look after, and a daughter to raise. I will be busy. Don’t worry about me, Ben, I will be fine."
"You must come to the temple to take your trials soon, though, Padme." Obi-Wan turned to walk with Padme to the doors. He grimaced as he felt her pain at the loss of her son.
"I will, Ben, when I stop mourning the loss of Magrie and Qui-Gon. Soon, within a year. I must train again. The end of my pregnancy prevented me from finishing the last portion of it. As soon as I complete that I will come to Corsucant."
"Then I will see you again, if they have not sent me off somewhere. But regardless of where I am, Padme, I will let you know about Ani and I and how we get on." Ben stood by the doors, looking sorrowful himself.
"I will miss you, Jedi." She whispered, reaching to kiss his cheek. She leaned down to kiss her son and ruffled his hair.
"And, I, you, Padme." He answered in return. "But we will see each other again."
She nodded and opened the door. "Then…May the Force be with you, Obi-Wan. And may the winds of Naboo carry you swiftly to your destination."
He nodded and stepped through the doors, passing down the hall into the hanger with little noise or fuss. Padme watched him go with a measure of sadness. Her son and her best friend were leaving her life and she felt their loss profoundly.
"Mommy?" Albie asked, coming along side of her.
"Yes, darling?" Padme answered, leaning her cheek against the pillar where she stood. It was still scarred with the wounds of a laser battle that had occurred there four seasons earlier. Her eyes closed in pain. This was the only place in the palace where she felt Qui-Gon’s spirit the most and often came there to meditate. She could feel her daughter’s confusion at the situation.
"Will we be following them?" Albie moved to the window and the small box that was placed beside it for her. She moved to the sill and stepped up to look out at the hanger.
"Someday, Albie." Padme whispered, moving along side her child. Her heart broke as she looked to the hanger. Ben was standing in the door, his head hung low. Aniakin was grabbing at his tunic, pulling on it. As if sensing Padme in the window, he turned to look up. In the early morning light, he appeared much younger than he was. Lifting a hand, he waved solemnly, gripping the child in his other arm.
Padme allowed the tears to fall, as she heard her son cry out. She and Ben had discussed leaving Aniakin on Naboo, although the Jedi Temple was safer. They had talked of raising him and training him themselves, but it would have meant that Ben would be away from the temple for years. And the order needed him. And Padme. But her responsibility was to Naboo and to raise Albie to take the throne after her. And therefore the plan was formulated that Ben was to go to the Jedi and Padme was to remain on Naboo until she took her trials. Ani was to be ‘found’ and brought to the council for training. It was the only way, in this time of change, that the child could be trained properly.
Ben stood at the entrance watching Padme with tears in his eyes. For all intents of purpose, he was leaving his sister. Padme’s face, framed by flowing black hair was all that he could see. She had grown to be a very lovely, very mature young woman in the years he had known her and he dreading being apart from her. But his destiny lay on a separate path from hers at the moment and he was determined to be mindful of the present. He hugged the baby and waved one last time, retreating inside the building. As he stepped, he heard his master’s voice in his ear echoing across time. "That’s it, Obi-Wan. Follow your destiny and you will never be led wrong."
He nodded and climbed aboard the transport quickly with a little less heavy of a heart.
Padme leaned against the sill and sighed through her tears. Albie got down from the box and was running to her room that afforded her a better stance for watching the liftoff. The ship’s engines jumped to life and lifted off, flying out the opening into the purple sky. She raised her hand to her lips as she watched its shiny silver body disappear into the sky. She gasped for a second and then released her breath. Through her sorrow she felt the ghost of a heavy hand land on her shoulder.
"They will be fine, Padme." She heard Qui-Gon’s voice in her head. She nodded, not bothering to turn around. His aura was not properly healed yet and would not allow him to materialize. "I know, but that does not stop the pain." She answered wisely.
"Your paths will cross again." The voice was light, but was the same low reassuring tone that he used in life. "Obi-Wan and Ani’s both."
Padme nodded and sighed. "I miss you and I will miss them just as much. Ani especially, I hardly got to know him…"
"That is the way of the Jedi, Padme, but his life will be good. Hard, as you know, but good. You bore me a beautiful son, little one." He gripped her shoulder a little harder through the Force. "I can come to you soon, Padme. But it will not be the same."
"I know." She answered again, watching the sky as the purple began to fade. "I know."
The touch faded momentarily and Padme felt oddly alone. For the first time in years, she felt the weight of loneliness on her shoulders. But as the outside lightened, the woman raised her head and straightened her shoulders. There were things to be done, decisions to be made and training to be accomplished. Grief would not get her any closer to achieving her goals, nor would it make her son and Ben come back. And she had survived this long with the hole in her heart from Qui-Gon’s death. Time would only ease the pain, but never dispel it. She sighed and gripped the sill, leaning out to look into the courtyard below.
A lonely leaf flickered to life in the breeze and floated up to the window and she helped it with the Force to come to her. As it landed in her palm she smiled. Life would continue. She would be a knight soon, and her daughter would rule Naboo in peace. There was nothing that could be done about Palpatine currently and she had ceased to be viewed as a threat. Her grin widened and she moved back from the window to stroll the hall. Shmi would be waiting for her for breakfast and she needed to touch ground with another soul who would mourn the passing of their friends, but understand the need for the living.
As she passed from the room, a shadow darkened the pillar where she had stood. It was tall and broad, only lightly dusting the stone of the pillar. "I will come to you." Qui-Gon’s voice spoke in the ether. "And I will watch over our son and Obi-Wan. I can promise you that, my love. I will never be far from you." The shadow faded into air and the room remained empty. Only the sound of rustling leaves could be heard through the halls.
The top floor of the Jedi Temple was empty except for Mace Windu. He sat alone in his chair, his proud face weighed by years of anguish. A small hologram flickered to life in front of him and he lifted his gaze to see Yoda.
"Master Yoda." He intoned, lowly.
"The son of Qui-Gon, there he will be." Yoda spoke leaning on his cane.
"I know, my master, I know." Mace looked out the window. "The prophecy will come true, we are unable to stop it."
"With his heart he thought, not his head, Master Windu." Yoda grimaced.
"He loved her completely, Yoda." Mace rose from his chair to look out at the passing traffic. "The child was conceived out of love. They did no greater harm than any other beings in this Republic."
"Broke his oath, he did." Yoda resounded, but then grew solemn. "The truth you speak."
"We can still train this child, Master." Mace said, turning back. "We can try to ease the full outcome of this prophecy."
"All we can do, that is true, Master Windu. Well you must train, this boy." Yoda sighed. "With the others he must remain. Give him to Kenobi as a padawan."
Mace nodded and sighed as the hologram faded. He sat back down on the chair, leaning back to look at the ceiling. There was much to do and prepare. He folded his hands over his chest with a sigh and thought of friends long gone and times long past, and of prophecies and padawans.
'Abide in your teachings and trust in the Force. Follow your destiny and you will never be led astray. And when I too shall pass into the ether of the Force, remember that I will be with you always.'