Dramatis Personae
- Tahiri Veila – Jedi Knight (female human)
- Noelani Darklighter – Jedi Apprentice (female human)
- Luke Skywalker – Jedi Grand Master (male human)
- Mara Jade Skywalker – Jedi Master (female human)
- Ben Skywalker – Jedi Apprentice (male human)
- Kor Res'sal – Jedi Apprentice (female Bothan) (Thann Mithric's apprentice)
- Poll Syth - Jedi Apprentice (male human)
"Should I have left you two unchaperoned?"Prologue
- Corran Horn to Anakin Solo (Rebirth)
Tatooine is a harsh world. Filled with sand and dangers. From sarlacs to krayt dragons to the wild sand people. If the blistering heat and lack of water does not kill you first, the creatures who eek out a living on her surface are just as apt to do so. The landscape is filled with rolling dunes of yellow silicate sand, broken intermittently by brown limestone formations and deep canyons where water once rushed. It is a bleak, dry, desiccated world. One which humans have struggled with surviving on for millennia, always just a step away from being run off by the intense environment and unforgiving denizens.
Yet for all the bleak, sameness of this world, it is still a world of beauty. A perfect blue sky, betrays the existence of water in the atmosphere, and during the day creates a startling contrast between the endless vistas of tan sand and brown limestone and the unbroken expanse of bright blue.
When true night falls, the three moons shine down in glorious splendor, outshining the smattering of starlight which reaches this Outer Rim world.
Yet the most beautiful and breathtaking of times is when both suns are setting at the same moment. It is an occurrence which happens only once every few weeks, as Tatoo I and II must be in specific places in the sky in relation to each other and Tatooine itself. The sky erupts into oranges and reds, as if the suns themselves have kissed the sky, and set it on fire. And while that fire washes across the sky, one can almost believe that the suns would join, and become only a single entity.
It is a sight which eight year old Noelani Darklighter never misses.
Every chance she gets to see it, she is out here, at the edge of the compound, standing on the rim of the sunken Darklighter Homestead. The wind pulls and tugs at her blonde hair, a golden yellow – the same color as the flowers of the thorsa which bloom in the dark crevices of Beggar's Canyon. Her gaze is fixed towards the horizon where the tan sand joins a sky which is the exact shade of her eyes.
An intense eight year old girl, she has lived a hard life as well. When she was just a few days old, she was delivered to the Darklighter's by none other than Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, and it seems that no one knows who her parents are, or even where she was born.
Then as the sight that she is standing here and waiting to see begins, she cannot help but think about the conversation that she had just had with her father. The constant stream of questions, and pesterings trying to figure out who her true family is. Where she comes from.
She simply wants to know who she is.
As she watches the suns set, she struggles to keep her tears from falling once again. Struggles to make sense of this life that she has found herself in.
A cough from behind her, alerts her to a presence, and she glances once over her shoulder, and sees her Papa there.
He is an older man, and though his face has been lined by laughter, and amusement dances easily in his eyes, Noelani knows that he has seen his own share of heartache and pain. Pain which will appear at random times, and always on the anniversary of the Battle of Yavin. As she considers her adopted father, she sadly thinks that she will be the last of his children. That unless she has children before his death, that no child after her will hear his booming laughter.
Then she wonders if her own father was as filled with life and laughter as Huff Darklighter is.
She wonders once again, what forces could have driven them to give her up. To send her away to this place.
"Papa?"
He lays his large hand on her thin shoulder. "I am sorry, Little One. I am sorry that I do not have a valid answer for your questions. I wish I did. I wish I knew who your parents were. I wish I knew what happened to them. Where they are, or even if they have died. Luke, Master Skywalker, never told me any of that information as he just dropped you off and then had to return to the war."
"I know Papa. I just…"
Silence falls over them both, as the sun continues to burn the sky.
She considers for a moment, that this is probably the longest that she has not talked in weeks, but even that amusing fact is not enough to pull her from her melancholy.
Together they watch as the suns drop beneath the horizon, one last flash of burning color and then it is gone, purples and dark blues having claimed the sky as the fire left it. Together in the darkness they sit, watching the stars as they slowly fade into existence on the horizon.
"We should probably head in now, and shut down for the night."
"Just a bit more, please Papa?"
"Five more minutes."
She can feel his smile more than anything else, as he steps closer and wraps an arm around her shoulders. She leans against him, grateful that he does love her and is willing to take care of her.
"Thank you, Papa?"
"Whatever for, Little One?"
"Thank you for loving me."
Huff Darklighter kneels down so that he can look into her eyes, and turns her to face him. He can just make out the shape of her face, and the shine of her eyes in the dim light of the moonless sky. "You are my child, as much as any of the others were."
Noelani can feel tears welling in her eyes, and quickly brushes them away.
"I'm sorry if my questions earlier hurt you. I just…I just wanted, I want, to know where I came from. Who my parents are. I know I have a family here with you, but I want to know about my birth parents. I want to know if I have any brothers or sisters or aunts and uncles or cousins. There is so much I want to know."
Huff leans forward and kisses her forehead. "And I want you to know that, the same way that I have wanted to give you everything you have ever asked for. But for now, it is time to go inside."
"I know, Papa."
Huff grunts slightly as he stands up straight, and walks towards the small building set into the surface which contains the stairs that lead into the main house.
Noelani takes a second to once more stare out at the stars.
I know my family is out there, and one day, I will find them.
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