Family Found--Epilogue

Previous Chapter

---

Noelani leaned against the wall, just a few meters short of the door to Mara's office. She knew that Ben was in there. She could feel it in the Force and occasionally, she could hear him screaming at his mother.

Her eyes flickered towards the door for a moment, and she frowned.

It had been two days since they were rescued from the catacombs. Two days since she had kissed Ben. Two days since she had even talked to Ben. Two days since she had found out the truth. She now knew more about who she was, and where she had came from.

She just was not sure if she trusted anyone here but Tahiri and Ben.

For a moment, she wondered just what Ben was to her. What he could be to her. She looked back down at the floor, and blinked as her frown began to shift towards a scowl. This would be the first time since they had kissed that she would see him. She inhaled deeply, and then exhaled slowly, performing that simplest of breathing exercises in a futile effort to calm her nerves.

The door to Mara's office slid open, and Noelani quickly glanced up to watch as Ben walked out. Storm clouds gathered on his face.

"So," she said, pushing forward, interjecting herself into his path, and looking at him. This felt weird. Her stomach felt like it was in zero-gee "Your mom told you everything?"

"Yeah," he nodded. His blue eyes flickered over her, appraising her with the intensity of a Force-lightning charge. "She told me everything."

"Ben?" she asked. There was an odd emphasis in his voice. "I'm sorry. I mean, we didn't know."

Ben shrugged, but it wasn't the usual, easy movement of his shoulders. In the Force he seemed taut and compacted somehow.

Clenched, she thought.

"What is it?" she asked. "Ben?"

"It's nothing." He seemed to be staring at something very far away. "Look, Noelani, I, uhh...."

She frowned, and tilted her head to the side, looking at him curiously.

"You sure you don't need someone to talk to about this," she asked. She took a breath. "Uhh, cousin Ben?"

He looked at her, his eyes flashing for a moment. "Heh, yeah," he nodded.

"My Mast-... my mom, wow that still seems so weird... Tahiri, mom... she says I'm good at talking," Noelani blushed. "So, uhh...."

"So if I want someone to talk to, you're available?" Ben's eyebrow lifted, and his lips twisted into a faint smile.

"Something like that."

Ben answered with silence, his face reverting to its impassive mask.

"Hey," she said. "Come on. It could be worse. At least we're not quite as closely related as your Dad and... wow, my grandmother...."

"Yeah, that's true. Not quite. Still pretty close, though." His brow darkened for a moment, and then he shook it off. "I guess it must be pretty smart, finding out you have a Princess for a grandmother, huh?"

"Something like that," she nodded. "I'm still taking it all in. Yeah, it is. Hey, come on, dummy. Anyone would think it was you had just found out about your birth parents."

Ben shrugged.

"I just found out that a girl I was starting to like is a pretty close relative," he countered, raising his hands to stare down at his palms. "Look, I don't know if I want to talk about this right now. But...." His blue eyes looked deep into her. "But it's not about you. I think you're a great person, and I guess I... I guess I'd appreciate any help you can think of."

"Sure," she said, taking him by the shoulder. "Come on. Let's go grab a bite to eat." She smiled again. "Cousin Ben."

"Stop that," he said, but she knew that beneath his pout, he secretly wanted the comfort. So she smiled, and didn't.

"Tell me about your dad," he asked, after a moment. "Your real dad?"

"You want to know?" She looked at him. "I'd have thought you would know more than me."

"I just realized today that I never really knew my own parents," he said. He looked at her. "You know, in a way, maybe I'm jealous of you. You know who your father is... and you have people like Tahiri and... And your grandparents, to tell you all the good things."

"Now you're talking like me."

"Maybe. But it's not your immediate family that's been lying about everything since you were born. It's mine... and that's, that's not fair, on you or anyone."

"O-kay," she answered carefully. "But the person you want to talk to about Anakin, my real father, is really Mast-... Tahiri... Mom."

Ben's eyebrows lifted at that, and he gave a laugh. It didn't sound like a boy's laugh any more, but the grin that followed was Ben's old smile.

"Yeah," he said. "I might just do that."

-----------------------------------

"You know what our son said when I told him that he couldn't have a relationship with Noelani because she was his cousin?"

Luke glanced at his wife, his eyes narrowing. She was sitting on the sofa in front of the holo, her pose as relaxed and conversational as her tone.

But there was something about that casual poise that made him suspicious - and his unease was intensified when she spoke again, without waiting for him to answer.

"He pointed out that relationships between first cousins were legal on a lot of planets," she said. "He seemed to see nothing wrong with it."

"So what did you do?"

Mara's shoulders lifted, and she caught his eyes with a look that struck like a whip. "I told him Anakin was his biological father."

Luke blinked, and for a moment, he found he couldn't speak. "Mara?"

"He told me I was lying," she smirked. "But even if he half-believes it, it should keep him away from her."

"This is a joke, right. Some sort of punishment for, for...."

"It's your punishment for the mess you caused by taking Tahiri's daughter away from her, yes," Mara answered, an edge of ice in her tone. In her eyes. "Whether it's true or not...?" Her shoulders lifted. "That's something I guess you'll never know."

She leaned forward, picked up a little file from the table, and began to smooth the talons of her fingernails.

"Mara?" He looked at her, shaking his head. "This isn't funny."

"I moved your stuff into the guest bedroom," she said, without looking up at him. She laughed oddly. "It's funny, you know. I've spent more than twenty years trying to make you happy, suppressing my instincts to serve yours. I've spent more than a decade of Ben's life using him as a tool to make you feel good about yourself. And all along... you didn't deserve either of us."

"Mara." Look just stood there, stunned into numb disbelief.

Then she laughed, and smirked at him. "You know, I feel better already. Shift your stuff back into our room, and I'll fix supper."

-----------------------------------

Tahiri stepped off the ramp of the Stolen Star. The wind and snow snapped at her parka, trying to drag her hood from her head. She bent her shoulder to the wind, the way she was taught to do for a sandstorm, and trudged ahead, heading towards the landing lights she could barely see through the storm.

She reached the battered tramp freighter, and punched in a code on the keypad next to its ramp. A moment later, machinery hummed to life, and the ramp lowered. Tahiri slipped aboard, and hit the close ramp button once she got inside.

"That's far enough," Han Solo's voice sounded from behind her.

She lowered the hood of her parka and turned to face one of the few people left in her life that she actually trusted.

He grinned as he reholstered his blaster. "Tahiri! I take it this means you're apprentice is okay?"

Tahiri fought the tears, swallowing the pain. "Yeah… about that, she's fine, but… but I need to talk to you, and Leia."

Han frowned, and gestured towards the common area, as Leia walked around the corner from that direction.

Tahiri took one look at her, and ran forward, throwing her arms around Leia's neck, burying her face into Leia's shoulder; surprised as the tears began to flow once again.

Before long, they were all seated around the Dejarik board, Tahiri feeling safe and secure between Han and Leia. She gripped a warm mug of hot chocolate in her hands, allowing the steam from the drink to warm her face, as she inhaled the savory aroma.

She took a sip, the Yuuzhan Vong in her enjoying the scalding sensation as it sliced down her tongue.

She took a deep breath, and then raised her head to slowly exhale. Finally, she focused on Leia and then she began.

"I… I found out who Noelani's parents are…"