RhondaWeasley.com

Chapter 1

It happened again.

Mara held him tight, trying to stall the shiver running through him. She’d hate to admit it, but this behavior was scaring her. She’d seen him fall to the floor shivering, unable to stop for hours. It was as if he was consumed by something terribly dark. Living nightmares maybe. She remembered when got those, courtesy of the Emperor. Along with the nightmares he had been experiencing blinding headaches and uncontrollable moments where he blacked for hours at a time. Whatever was possessing him, wanted him badly.

“Someone’s calling me through the force,” he said.

“Someone evil” his wife replied.

“No, it’s from a dark place, but not necessarily from an evil being.” He sighed. “It feels so close to me, yet so far away. A place familiar, but distant.”

“Maybe you need to get checked out by the Emdee,” Mara suggested.

“It’s not a medical issue, you know that,” Luke said sliding out of bed.

“Luke,” it was an odd whisper he hadn’t felt in years.

“Leia,” he said out loud. Why was she calling him? Was she feeling it like him? Was it her voice he had actually heard? It had actually been awhile since he’d talked to her. Between the establishment of the New Republic, his beginning a new Jedi Academy, and her having diplomatic duties as well as a family, they’d grown closer only to grow distant again. Still, whatever was behind this psychological attack involved her. And only through her could he find the answer. “Whatever this is, it involves Leia. I have to contact her.”

******

“Leia,” she heard the call clear through her dreams. This was the fifth time she’d woken up hearing him. But this is the first time she’d heard her name. Something was bothering Luke, happening to him. He needed her and she wasn’t wasting another day waiting for him to come to her and make a verbal request.

“I’m going to see him.”

“Leia, go to sleep,” Han insisted groggily. “I told you, if Luke needs you he’ll say so. He’s a big boy.”

“I’m not sure he will. There’s something—-”

“Mom,” her youngest son said bursting through the hotel room door. “There’s a message from Uncle Luke.”

“Told you,” Han said searching for his shirt.

“Just for Mom,” Anakin said looking at his father. “Oh, and sorry for bursting in.”

He smiled and left the room. It was nice having all of her children together and her husband. They were taking a much needed holiday from everything and everyone in a floating resort. Located miles under the Lexmain sea on the planet of Brista, it was the ideal place to get away from it all. But the place was brand new and still hadn’t worked out a good communications system. Which was a benefit to those who truly wanted to get away from it all, because it was almost guaranteed any messages you got down there were of the utmost importance.

The older they got, the harder it was hard to get her family or her friends in a room together for an extended amount of time. When her children were babies they had to work so hard to protect them, there wasn’t much time to enjoy them, to just be a parent. And she knew more and more everyday why her mother had made the hard decision to give her and Luke up. How many times had her own children been hidden away for their own good?

Why was she thinking about her birth mother now? Her birth was so complicated an emotional issue, she’d rather not think about. She got dressed and went to the communications center to get her message.

Leia looked at the words again. ‘I heard you.’

“But he called to me,” she said to herself.”

Odd, the only person she had ever had that strong a mental connection with was Luke. Other people had channeled messages to her through the force, but there was a distinctive feeling in Luke’s call. So who could be calling both of them? Who else would have that connection? Certainly not Vader, he was dead. But Luke had heard Ben after his death. Still, Luke and Ben had been close, she had never met Anakin Skywalker. She thought back to the voice, it was certainly familiar. It wasn’t the sound that was familiar it was the feeling, a warm feeling she assumed came from her brother. But it wasn’t her brother, it was someone else. She turned back to the screen and continued to read.

‘I feel there is something unsettled somewhere inside us and it must be handled soon. I don’t know about you, but I’ve experienced black outs and headaches. Along with dreams I can’t remember, but they cause me to awake in cold shivers.’

She hadn’t experienced any cold shivers, nightmares, or headaches, but there were blackouts, moments in the day where time disappeared and she felt like she heard a distant non-verbal call through the force. Han had panicked the first time she blacked out, saying she looked as her life was snatched from her body. At first she told him it was fine, but she knew it wasn’t. And finally she told Han she thought it was Luke, but she wasn’t sure. Han then relaxed and said if Luke needed her he would let her know for sure. And here it was, a formal request for her intervention. The vacation would have to be cut short.

*******

On Yavin IV, Luke sat out amongst the stars, meditating, trying to concentrate on the mind touching him. But the mind seemed untrained, elusive, acting on instinct through some type of dark place in the force. There was such a sensation of warmth that came with the name “Luke”. It was like someone or something he’d known and forgotten. It wasn’t his father, couldn’t be. But who else could it be?

“She’s here,” said the voice of a young Jedi student behind him.

He’d known the young boy was coming, half aware of it as his mind returned to the present. He was sorry he’d broken up his sister’s vacation, ruined hard to manage and well earned time away from the duties of their demanding life, but he had to act now. Each day the call was getting more and more intense and Leia’s mind and his were trying to lock through this mysterious voice. He now knew for sure it wasn’t Leia calling him. When he felt the distinctive connection in the call “Luke” he’d thought it was her, but it wasn’t. His heart knew the mind calling him, but his mind did not.

Luke returned with the student to meet his sister. She hadn’t said much in her reply a few days ago. In fact, the only thing the message had said was. ‘I feel it too, the urgency in it and I’m coming.’ He assumed they would talk more when she arrived. But he knew no discussion held on the subject would lead to an answer, they’d have to go deeper. This was caught between their minds.

He entered the room where Mara and the Solo family were waiting for him. He and his sisters eyes met through the group, they said nothing at all to anyone else. She knew what he knew, this could only be settled by herself and her brother. She left her entourage and joined him. And they proceeded to leave without saying anything to their companions.

“Hey, where are you going?” Han yelled.

“To settle this disturbance,” Leia replied, feeling strongly connected to her brother’s mind, speaking the words he thought.

“There is nothing you can do,” Luke continued. “It involves only us.”

The two were gone before anything else could be said.

They entered a large room that locked as soon as they entered. The spacious room was empty of everything. On the floor was a painting of a star system, something one of Luke’s more artistic students had done. In the center of the floor’s room was a sun. The skylight above flooded the room with light that focus on the sun in the middle of the floor. They were both reluctant to speak. It was obvious this was going to be no ordinary mission, a mission deep into their minds.

“Do you know who’s calling us?” Luke finally asked.

“I thought for a second that maybe it was—”

“Father,” Luke finished.

“Yes, Vader. But it isn’t, it’s something closer. “

“Since you found out about our history have memories been coming back clearly. Things you were told too forget or things you didn’t lay meaning to until you found out about us.”

“Yes, a lot of little things. “

“I have a feeling that the only way to end this is to travel deep into each other’s minds. And it may be one of the most dangerous things we’ve ever done.”

“But it must be done,” Leia replied. She felt so outside of her own control, understanding instinctively what she normally would not.

Luke sat cross legged near the sun in the middle of the floor. Leia sat in front of him. They were both a little nervous. More for comfort than necessity, they joined hands. They had never done anything like this before, they very easily felt each other’s living force. They had spoken or heard each other through the force a thousand times, but never the deep probing they were going to attempt at this moment. They were trying to reach a place they’d known exclusively and instinctively at birth.

Leia was out of practice with her Jedi techniques, but the call was so strong going into deep meditation almost seemed natural. Each went into their own minds first, eliminating the world around them, sight, sound, the light above them, the floor below them, the world was completely shut out and within the limbo they reached for each other.

“Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter,” Luke heard Yoda’s voice as clear as if he were standing in the room. Leia heard it too. They reached out through the voice, trying to connect to the mind and spirit beyond the physical. For Leia, it was an amazing high. She knew the force was strong in her family, but it was the first time in her life she felt it so fully. Their was such a true peace to it’s pure form. Something so far beyond the child’s play of Lightsabers and hurling objects through the air. When Luke reached the point of inner calm, it was he who first reached for her. When she reached back out for him, they seemed to ascend into a darker place in the force.

Flashes of their lives, together and apart ran backwards in their minds mixed together so that neither knew where their own memories began and the other’s ended. The pictures had voices, but they passed so fast that they warbled together and were indistinguishable. The memories that followed these were neither of their’s, it was of a world that existed before them.

The running pictures suddenly stopped. A light blinded them both and when the smoke cleared they were in some old type of old Tatooine junk shop. The world seemed solid, but it had to be a dream. Still, they brushed the dust from their clothing as if it were real.

Leia looked around the shop than at her brother. Her breath caught in her throat. He was a little sandy haired boy. In fact his hair was long enough to fall right in front of his eyes when he looked down. “Luke, how old are you?”

“What a silly question,” he replied. It was then he heard his voice, indeed that of a boy. He looked at his sister. She was a child too, a little girl with a long ponytail who was approximately eight or nine years old. She was a few inches taller than himself. It was not unusual for non-identical twins to be of varying heights, but he still didn’t like the fact she was the tallest.

“We’re children? Why?” Luke asked.

“That’s the way she kept you,” a voice announced grabbing there attention.

“Father?” Luke replied startled.

Having never seen her biological father as anything but Vader, seeing this kindly old Ben-like Anakin Skywalker struck Leia silent.

“Are you the one who brought us here?” Luke asked

“No I have not. I’ve been waiting for you, but in the hope that I wouldn’t again have to make it the duty of the child to save the parent.” Anakin inhaled staring at his daughter. “How could I not have known? You look so much like her.” The way the man, who was almost a stranger, looked at her made her nervous. And somehow her mentality dropped to that of a little girl faced with a creepy, strange, uninvited admire.

“Father, where are we?” Luke asked more to distract his father and relieve Leia of the pressure of his stare, than for the information.

“Well it appears to be a junk shop that I worked in when I was a young boy on Tatooine.”

“You were from Tatooine?” Luke asked excited, his mentality also quickly dropping to that of a little boy.

“As a slave, but yes. But this is only for appearance sake, you’re really at the gateway, just outside the 12th circle of your mother’s realm.”

“Our mother’s what?” Leia questioned.

“Our mother has a realm?” Luke questioned

“Yes, partially due to the hand of a Sith,” Anakin replied in a low tone. “When your mother gave birth to you, she connected with your ultra sensitive, force strong immature minds. You reached out for her when you were born through the force. She sensed you very strongly and like any mother she wanted the best for you. But in that moment where she connected with you through the light side of the force, something dark sparked with it. A long dead Sith who drew on the dark side of the force. Thanks to the Emperor and myself, the dark side of the force was quite strong. Strong enough to spark against something as pure as the innocence of a newborn baby and the love of it’s mother to create a new world, not in your universe, not in your reality. Another realm, something she believed was just a long involved dream. Even before her death, she couldn’t tell which existence was real, especially since a piece of you lived here until your minds matured and you shut out the force. But when you left this world behind for your own reality, she was still here. And it was in her despair over this, the Shadow Sith took over, imprisoned her in her own creation.”

“What’s the Sith’s name?” Luke asked.

“I don’t know, no one does. From the gateway I can see into the world, but I can’t get in unless she lets me in. Of the 12 circles that have developed so far, only the first seven were created during the rule of your mother, if the world finishes developing, growing, becoming more real under the Shadow Sith, nothing will be able to save it or the essence of the woman that was once your mother. Only I can defeat the Shadow Sith, but only you can get in and travel to your mother, at the first circle, the center, but there’s a chance you could die along the way. And if you die in this world, your mind dies, and without the mind. . .”

“The body dies,” Luke finished. “I’ll go,” Luke said to his sister. “You go back to your family.”

“I can’t leave you Luke, not now.”

“You are here,” Anakin said. “And it can’t be changed. From here there’s no going back, only at the center, the first circle, is your way home.”

“What!!” Leia yelled.

“So we have no choice?” Luke asked.

“You had choice, you made that choice before you got here.”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t prepared for this,” Luke shouted. Odd, he was starting to feel like a kid, insecurities he hadn’t felt in years were flooding him.

Anakin kneeled down to him. “My son, you are a Jedi. How many times since you became one have you walked into a situation that turned out to be more than you bargained for?”

Feeling every bit a child beaming under his father’s praise, he smiled. “Plenty,” he replied proudly.

“And why did you stay with it.”

“Because it was my duty,” the boy replied proudly as his sister rolled her eyes.

Both children shook their heads trying to get a grip back on their adult minds. What was happening to them?

“You’ll get disoriented a lot here, often revert to the mental state of a child because, at least here, you are children..”

“Do we dare have the luck of being force sensitive here?” Leia replied sarcastically.

“Yes, you’ll be able to feel the force, the world surges with it. But you won’t be able to control it. It’s like starting all over again, learning all over again. It will be difficult, especially considering what you knew of this force at this age in your reality. And why did you seemed to lose your force sensitivity when you were children? Why do you think it was suddenly muted, shadowed, barely there? Your children always felt it Leia, I was raised for nine years without any training and felt it my whole life. The Shadow Sith is responsible for it. He didn’t want you coming back here, and if you felt the force as strongly as you were meant to, you would. Did you honestly think it was your will, your parents will, that stopped you from feeling it. No, it was him. This Shadow Sith, he must be stopped.”

“So we have no control over the force, were children, and we’re heading into a world filled with dangers where we may often lose touch where our adult minds,” Leia replied. “This is just great dad.”

“I wish there was another way.”

“But there isn’t,” Luke added.

“Why should we even believe him?” Leia spat at her brother angrily.

“Because he’s telling the truth,” her brother said. “You felt her call as I did. We must go Leia.”

Leia sighed, it was true. How long had they been here? It felt like she had lost and gained time all at once. He was right, they had to go through with it. Not just because the first circle was the only way home, but because their mother needed them. And also because this is what they had done for most of their adult lives, fight for justice where there was none, fighting to preventing darkness and cruelty in their own ways.

“When do we begin?” Leia finally asked.

Anakin waved a hand and his children were suddenly dressed in matching a burgundy-black tunics with lose fitting black pants and comfortable boots, a headband tied around their heads. Their weapon not a lightsaber, but a crossbow.

“We don’t get a lightsaber?” Leia asked.

“You neither have the experience nor the skill to use them. It would be better to use a crossbow or this.”

Anakin then handed them each a small sharp dagger, which they had a sheath for on their belts.

“They should be a good enough backup weapon and useful tool. Remember, you will see a great many creatures, some horrible, some magical. Don’t take things at face value. Don’t be quick to blame the beast, not everything in any of the circles are evil. Still beware of tricksters, magicians, false friends, and wizards.”

“How can we tell the good from the bad,” Leia asked.

“Learn to use the force to your advantage,” Anakin said to his daughter. “It’s a pure instinct, the one good thing I gave you.” He gently touched the side of her face, brushing a lock of hair with it. “You’re her daughter all right. I see her so clearly in your eyes.”

Leia smiled involuntarily, feeling as childish as Luke had under their father’s pleasing gaze. It was hard to hate him without that black mask. Harder to believe this was the same man. And harder still to get a grip back into her adult mind.

He stood up, took a child’s hand on each side of him and walked them to the door. From where they stood, outside seemed an empty, deserted Tatooine marketplace, but when they reached the doorway, a steel door appeared with two hand prints. Their father let go of their hands.

“May the force be with you my children,” Anakin said.

They each placed a hand on the door and were transported inside a new world. Location the twelfth circle.

***********

He didn’t need to eat, she thought as she sliced the food for him, he just enjoyed humiliating her, the servitude forced upon her, a former queen. But she knew they were here, her children had finally come. Nothing could break her now, it was only a matter of time before they rescued her.

“Don’t get your hopes up. I sense them too, you know. They’ll never get past the jungle, let alone arrive here. I don’t fear you insignificant little brats.” There was no fear in the Shadow Sith’s voice. But there should be, he was about to face the children of the man that had been one of the most powerful Sith and the most powerful Jedi in the Galaxy. And chances were they weren’t children anymore.

A black dragon sat perched at the window, ignored by them both, watching. His beady red eyes studied the scene deeply. Then it lifted it’s massive wings and jumped out of the window sill. It’s destination was the 12th Circle.

***********

The Queen’s children had in fact come. But unlike in their world, in this one they were young, very young. When they’d reached the gateway to other world, Luke had estimated their age to be either eight or nine. They really couldn’t know and the disorientation that occurred with slips into child-like consciousness made it hard to keep anything straight. And on top of that, they had to relearn their skills in the force.

They had come through the gateway prepared to save their mother. And their was no going back. When they looked back, the gateway was gone anyway. Again they’d gone through an entrance without an exit and for miles around there was nothing but jungle. And it was just a bit too quiet. Both children knew that right away. There should have been birds twittering, growling, anything but this dead silence. Luke wished he had a pair of Microbonoculars right now, just to scan the area. He had another option, reach out with the force. He wasn’t sure how accurate that would be, but this silence was making him nervous.

“Better now than later,” his sister said.

“Huh?” Luke replied, wondering what question she was responding to.

“Better to start learning to use the force now, especially to alert us to danger.”

Luke smiled, his sister actually sounded excited about this adventure. They each reached out with the force, absorbing their environment. The land around hit them hard. It was surging with the force as their father had said. However, it was so unfamiliar it hit them the way a strong spice might assail an unfamiliar nose.

“Their hiding,,” Luke began.

“I can’t tell how many there are,” Leia added. “But it’s a lot of them.”

“Our entrance shocked them,” the boy said. “To them this is reality, seeing two people appear out of thin air probably was a bit of a shock.”

Leia surveyed the area. Nothing but Jungle. There had to be a way to get a good visual survey of the area. She looked at a vine and her mind suddenly sparked with a plan.

“Luke, you figure if we climb this vine we can get a good view from the tree tops.”

“Good a plan as any,” the boy said shrugging.

Leia grabbed onto a vine and began climbing. Luke was amazed at her swiftness. She didn’t stop to think, she just jumped right into it. Very unlike the woman he knew. How mischievous had Leia been as a child? Well, she hadn’t exactly been “prissy princess” when they met.

Leia had already traveled halfway up the tree when he finished this train of thought. She didn’t even seem tired and it was a long climb to the top.

“You coming little brother?” Leia said halfway up the vine.

“Hey, that little brother business is still up for argument,” Luke replied. Though didn’t know there birth order, he was slightly shorter than her at this age therfore technically “little” wasn’t incorrect. It was a fact he didn’t find comforting.

He jumped on the vine behind her and found climbing it a little more difficult than she seemed to. His grip wasn’t as steady and he wasn’t as fast as his sister. It had to be this little body he was in now, it was throwing him off.

“Wow, I could get use to being young again,” Leia said as she reached the tree branch and sat to wait for her brother. “Come on slowpoke, your slower than a tranquilized Bantha.”

“Thanks a lot,” Luke said struggling up the vine. “I’m having trouble adjusting to this new body. Obviously your not.”

“What’s to adjust to? I haven’t felt this free in years.”

Luke looked at her in disbelief, this wasn’t the sister he knew. Maybe the disorientation of the crossover was having opposite effects on them. Where as he felt like the ground had been ripped out from under him, she felt renewed. And she was the one with a family at home. Home, they would be worried. How long would it be till they saw them again? He would have to ask Leia this question, but she was already preoccupied with scanning the area for signs of life. Suddenly a prickly sensation crept across both of their necks.

“Danger,” the children said together.

They drew their crossbows and visually covered the area. They knew danger was coming, but not from where. They could flee, but would any direction be safe?

“Violators freeze,” a voice yelled as both children were suddenly surrounded by ape-like warriors who swung quickly toward them.

Frozen in shock, they could only look wide-eyed at the group closing in on him. So much for scaring off the natives. No mission they had ever been on failed this quickly. There was no point in fighting through them, there were to many of them, and they’d be lucky to injure one. Even if they managed to injure one, they couldn’t stop the others. So they lowered their weapons and waited. A plan would come to them, it always did.

The ape people had them surrounded almost immediately. The leader landed in front of them, picked up Leia and smelled her. He then dropped her on a branch and did the same to Luke.

“Land-dweller,” he spat at them. “You have offended the Tree-dwellers with your presence. You’re trespassing, we don’t bother Land-dwellers and they don’t bother us. It is how it’s always been.”

“Sorry, we’re new here,” Leia replied putting on her best innocent smile.

“LIAR!” he yelled back. “You have broken the law. Collect them and bring them to the elder,” he yelled at his companions who carefully took the kid’s weapons and tied them up with the same type of strong vine they’d used to climb up here in the first place. Then two largest ape men hooked a child under an arm and the whole team began swinging through the trees. Luke wondered if Leia was still enjoying her new found youth.

They were both suffering from serious motion sickness when they were thrown into a jail fashioned into a tree. They laid on the floor re-adjusting to the lack of motion before either child spoke.

“What I wouldn’t give for my lightsaber right now,” Luke said, speaking first.

“Make that double,” Leia said getting up to feel the walls. “It’s just wood, we could probably cut our way through the bars.”

“But how far would we get?” Luke asked. “There’s a probably guard nearby and I don’t see us overpowering him.”

“We could use that old Jedi mind trick, how hard could it be to concentrate on one mind?”

“Very,” Luke replied. “It was hard enough adjusting our senses to this new place. I don’t think we’re ready for mind tricks.”

“Well, I’m trying it,” Leia spat back approaching the jail bars. Sure enough, a single guard stood alert there. “Excuse me,” the girl called.

The guard growled as he turned to her.

“You’ll let me go,” Leia said waving her hand in front of his face and concentrating as hard as she could. Luke watched curiously as a mark of vein appeared on his sister’s forehead.

“Yeah, right little girl,” the guard said turning away.

Despite himself, Luke burst into laughter. He knew that it would make her angry, but he couldn’t help himself. His sisters eyes began to glow with a rage he’d never seen before.

“Cut it out,” she yelled.

But her anger only made him laugh more.

“I’m so glad you find this so funny.”

“You’ll let me go,” he imitated, rolling on the floor with laughter.

Finally, the anger faded and Leia smiled. “I suppose it was pretty stupid. It will be a while before I can do that.”

Luke’s laughter slowed a little, but it took him awhile to get it under control again. He’d needed that laugh. Well, it was time for some famous escape planning. He could sure use some Millennium Falcon type luck right now.

******

They had finally given up on escape and begun to sleep when the guard came and pulled them from the cell.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Luke asked.

“Yeah,” his sister backed up groggily.

“The boss wants to see you,” the guard growled, poking the children with a spear.

He lead them over an intricate set of branches that weaved together and lead to small hut like buildings in the trees. It was slightly reminiscent of Endor, except the Ewoks hadn’t restricted themselves to the trees. It was nothing like Kashyyyk, except maybe in the winding branches and the fact the Tree-dwellers, as they called themselves, seemed to be quite happy avoiding the ground of their world. However, the trees weren’t half as tall as the grand trees of Kashyyyk. On the Wookie home world, the trees rose so far above land that you couldn’t be sure the planet they were rooted in wasn’t hostile. The Tree-dwellers could quite easily look down and see their was nothing seriously threatening on the ground below them.

They finally made it to a large hut perched high in the trees. Inside was a huge, old, Tree-dweller. Unlike the other fur covered ape creatures, who wore nothing or close to it, this one had an elaborate headdress filled with many feathers.

“You are not just Land-dwellers, are you,” the ancient voice boomed out.

“Well, technically we dwell on land,” Leia answered.

“You appeared from the air. You are here to banish the Sub-land dweller.”

“The what?” the children asked together.

“Don’t play with me,” the older creature said. “The Sub-land dweller. A serpent who pops out of the ground and gobbles up the Land-dwellers. It is said when he gets big enough he will rise up and feed on the Tree-dwellers also. It must be destroyed and you must be the ones to do it.”

“I don’t know about a Sub-land dweller. We are here to save our mother.”

“Your mother?” the elder Tree-dweller inquired.

“She’s in the first circle, she’s the rightful ruler of this world.”

“The Angel Queen?” he replied with a glow in his eyes. “We heard she died at the hands of the dark one.”

Leia was thrown off by the title ‘Angel Queen’ but she played along.

“Destroyed by the Dark One, please. She’s the ‘Angel Queen’. She’s merely been captured by him and we are the only ones who can free here.”

“You lie, the Angel Queen has no children. It is your duty to free us. Neither the Land-dwellers nor the Tree-dwellers will let you go without doing so. They saw you appear from thin air, they know you are the liberators as we do.”

“And what if we refuse,” Luke asked, more curious than anything.

“Then you receive the penalty of all Land-dweller violators, Death.”

Luke looked at Leia. She seem to be taking the threat as a reason not to help. Well it certainly didn’t make him want to help either, but even if they got out of the Tree-dwellers territory and back onto the ground, the Sub-land dweller as well as the Land-dwellers themselves would surely be a threat.

Luke sighed. “Well, how do we get to the Sub-land dweller?”

“We’ve arranged an exchange with the Land-dwellers, they know more about the beast then we do.”

This time when they found themselves swinging through the trees, they at least had control. The Tree-dwellers must have decided they weren’t a threat, because they just handed them a vine and told them to follow. One of the Tree-dwellers had their weapons in a pack slung across his back. As they moved within the trees among their Tree dweller guides, the jungle became green swirls in the distance. When the tree dwellers stopped, so did the children.

“Stay here,” the ape man with their weapons instructed.

He slid down the vine and landed softly on the ground. A small group of other furry creatures emerged from the trees. From their perch, neither Luke or Leia could really make out faces. They gathered around the Tree-dweller and he handed over the weapons. Then they chatted softly and the tree dweller came up again.

“They’re ready for you,” the tree dweller told them. Glad to be rid of them, it seems, he and his companions swung away.

“Well, lets slide on down,” Leia announced. “The ‘land dwellers’ are waiting. And we’re one of them.”

They grabbed a vine and slid down out of the trees. When they had made the long journey up, they had no idea how long the journey down would be. And when they finally got back to the ground, they didn’t know if they were better or worse off then when they had begun.

“Greetings land cousin,” the tallest of the long haired, hairy beast asked. If it wasn’t for their long snouts, they would have looked something like a Wookie.

“Greetings,” Luke said uneasily. “Perhaps here we will finally get the respect we deserve,” Luke said putting up his best front of superiority. He had taken this cue from Leia early on.

“I’d like to know, how will you small ones defeat the Sub-land serpent?” a land-dweller, who was obvious a warrior, mumbled.

“How did we appear from thin air?” Luke replied. “We are not your ordinary humans.”

“Humans? I hear you claim to be the children of the Angel Queen. You spread the rumor that she still lives, only in bondage.”

“She does,” Leia interjected, glaring at the land dweller. “And the longer you hold us here, the longer she stays that way.”

“You attempt to bring hope where there is none. Your just another of the Dark One’s tricks. If you defeat the Sub-land snake, then and only then I will believe you about the Angel Queen.”

“Well give us our weapons, we’ll kill the thing, and we can move on.”

“You are truly a fool,” the tall warrior said, “If you believe it is that simple child.”

“You keep telling us we have to do it, than you say it is impossible. Which do you believe?”

“I believe that the elders foolish and paranoid enough to employ the help of mysterious children rather than their own warriors. And the only way to prove them wrong is for you to fail child.”

Just the way he said the world child over and over again made it seem like a derogatory term. Could they have been lower in his eyes? It made the two of them all the more determined to beat this beast, this Sub-land dweller everyone decided they were suppose to get rid of. And the reason was quickly becoming less to move on from the twelfth circle than to show up the arrogant warrior.

“Follow,” the warrior said as half his company fell in front of the new prisoners and the other half fell in back.

“I can’t wait to be done with this Jungle,” Leia whispered to her brother.

And they marched into the deeply tangled bushes of the Land-dwellers territory.
*********

What amazed them most about the Land-dwellers homes was they looked just like the Tree-dwellers homes, except taken out of the tree tops. The small huts were the same size, the same shape, and even there leader had the largest of them all, and wore a fancy headdress. His wasn’t filled with feathers though, it was a crown of teeth.

“So you claim to be kin to the Angel Queen,” he said to the children.

Leia rolled her eyes, would they have to explain themselves to EVERY new being they met. This was getting annoyingly repetitive.

“For the hundredth time, yes!!!” Leia yelled in a voice that startled even her brother. “Listen, if you want us to fight this beast, stop wasting our time, give us our weapons, and point us in the right direction! We’ll either die or we’ll succeed and be able to move on from this place do what we came here to do! So please don’t take up our time giving us the same load of fodder we’ve already heard!”

They all looked at the girl in stunned silence. Luke guessed, no one had every spoke that way in front of their leader before. And Leia herself looked stunned that she had done it. Did he know this girl?

“Very well,” the leader finally said. “It attacks at night. Now unless you want to dig you way to it, it would be better to let it find us.” He turned to the warrior who had brought them here. “Grosh, take them to my wife,” he instructed. “You can clean up and wait for nightfall”

Grosh, the same warrior who had retrieved them from the Tree-dwellers, grabbed them roughly by the shoulders and led them out. Leia broke away from him. And Luke, not wanting to look weaker than his sister, broke away also.

“That wasn’t a very diplomatic way of handling the situation,” Luke whispered.

“Your right, it’s going back to this age again. When I was about seven or eight this off world visitor arrived on Alderaan, business with my father. I didn’t like the guy, so Winter and I poked around. I had a bit of a temper then and when I realized he was trying to cheat my dad, to hurt Alderaan, I burst into their meeting and told the visitor right to his face that I knew what he was doing. After my father managed to calm me down and get me out the meeting, he told me he already knew and that I ruined his chances of collecting evidence against him. The man moved on to another system, a few years later he was caught, but I ruined any chance of him being caught then.”

“What was he doing?”

“Marketing a new drug. It was suppose to be the next miracle cure, worked ten times faster than Bacta. But it was a hoax and it was addictive. It speeded up the system so much that it eventually killed off it’s users. By the time people realized what was going on, he was gone. I went on this big guilt trip after that, told my father that I was just trying to do the right thing. He told me there are better ways to handle injustice than as he put it ‘flying off the wing’. So I started to watch him, silently. Little by little I began to realize that you don’t always have to shout to be heard. There are times to yell and scream, but—”

“Sometimes silence serves you better than noise,” her brother finished

The siblings smiled at each other.

“I just forgot the lesson for awhile there,” Leia said.

“Our adult consciousness is fighting with our child consciousness. We must be careful, if we start on the dark path here, we may never recover, never return to our true form.”

“I don’t need your Jedi wisdom brother, I know how to control my anger.”

“Do you?” Luke questioned.

“Here,” Grosh said giving them their weapons. He then pointed to a small hovel with a young land dweller sitting in front. The boy stood up and saluted Grosh.

“Hello father, have you come to teach me to hunt?” the boy asked.

“No, these two will be staying here.”

“Are these the offspring of the Angel Queen?”

“We have names you know,” Leia spoke up. “He’s Luke and I’m Leia.”

“These are odd land cousins my son, take them straight to Gro-ma and don’t associate with them,” Grosh instructed his son then marched back off toward the central part of the village.

“I’m Pac,” the child said and presented his hand. “Did you really appear from the sky?”

“No, we crossed a gateway between two worlds,” Luke told him. Leia elbowed him in the side.

“What?” Luke yelled.

“He’s one of them,” Leia said.

“Is this story any more crazy than the ones already circling?”

“You guys are weird, but interesting. Come on, I’ll take it to you to Gro-ma.”

“What’s a Gro-Ma?”

“My father’s mother? My dad is the elder chief’s son. He doesn’t like Gro-fa very much.”

They guessed Gro-fa was grandfather. After that speech Pac’s father had given on the foolishness of elders, it was the only conclusion to draw. A sour faced Tree-dweller woman exited the hovel and looked at the children.

“Those men, I can’t believe they’re sending children, even if they’re not our own, after a beast. Come eat you three, it’s going to be a long night.”

The meal was actually good, some type of meat filled broth. And they had chatted with Pac, almost forgetting why they were there for a second. Afterward they went outside and Leia and Luke practiced using there crossbows. They were doing terrible and Pac was laughing at them.

“I use to be able to do this,” Leia finally said.

“Yeah right,” her brother said.

“No really, they taught me to use this thing. Now I’m use to use to a blaster. I think father was wrong, it wouldn’t have killed us to have a lightsaber, in fact nothing could have been more useful.”

“I think father knew what he was talking about.”

“Oh yeah, we should really trust Darth Vader,” Leia said aiming at the center of the target.

“Anakin Skywalker,” he brother corrected.

“Same person,” Leia mumbled. Luke didn’t bother to debate it.

Leia drew on the force before releasing her next arrow. When she let it go it hit the dead center of the target. “Well what do you know, it worked.” Leia smiled proudly. “Beat that little Jedi,” she said to her brother.

“That little stuff is going to have to stop,” Luke spat back. “I don’t like it.”

“Sorry Lucas,” she teased.

“My names not Lucas,” Luke yelled back.

“Lucas,” she teased.

“You two are silly,” Pac said. “I’m sorry your going to be dead by tomorrow.”

“How do you know that?” Leia asked

“Everyone who went after that beast died. And I’m talking great warriors and you’re just kids,” Pac explained. “You can barely get your arrow to hit the center of the target.”

Luke raised his bow and pointed it at the target. He drew on the force and hit the target dead center.

“I just didn’t want to cheat like my sister here,” Luke pointed out.

“Okay, you guys have some talent, but the Sub-land dweller will not sit there and let you think about hitting it.” Pac turned in the direction of the arriving moon. “It begins,” he said.

A yell suddenly rose from a distant house. Luke and Leia turned in it’s direction.

“Good luck,” Pac said patting them both on the back.

**************

They arrived at the central part of the village just in time to see a extremely huge and mean looking cobra raise from a large hole in the ground. It was the biggest thing they had seen in both their young and adult lives. It could have wrapped it’s tail around Jabba’s Palace and still had tail to spare. It hissed at them, picked up a nearby Land-dweller and swallowed it whole. The twins raised their bows together and fired at the huge snake. Their arrows pierced the skin, but the gargantuan snake remained unharmed. It spat venom at the two children and they quickly rolled out the way. It then fled underground.

“The only way we’re getting out of here is if that thing dies,” Leia said running after it and jumping down the hole.

“Leia,” Luke barely had time to call before she disappeared. And the hole closed magically behind her. “Leia,” her brother called again in vain.

 

************

The former Queen’s head jerked up from the spot where she was chained, she though she’d heard her name being called. “Let me in,” a voice seemed to call into her head. “Please let me in,” the voice said again. She knew that voice, she had once loved that voice. But it was no longer the property of the man she loved, but of a man who was just as much a threat to her children as the one sitting in front of her, no she wouldn’t and couldn’t let Anakin in. They had to be protected, they were here, they were coming.

And so was he, she felt his darkness sweep into the room. “She’s mine Anakin,” the Shadow Sith laughed. “Mine, you will never get in.” He looked at the Queen. “And very soon my servant will destroy that horrid little creature you call a daughter. She’s just like her mother, a little too impetuous.”

“Leia,” her heart yelled. “Be brave, be strong.”

As she said this the black dragon continued to sweep across the land.

************

Young Luke Skywalker and Pac stood staring at the ground as a group of adults muttered behind them.

“I’m sorry you lost your sister,” Pac said sympathetically.

“My twin sister. And it took me to long to find her to just let her slip through my fingers,” Luke said with a tear threatening to break through his eyes. “I’m going under and I’m not waiting for her to come to me. You know this land, what else digs.”

“I can’t help you,” Pac said.

“I’m not asking you to follow me, I’m just asking you to open the door.”

Pac exhaled and motioned for Luke to follow him. They headed deep into the forest.

“You must understand Luke, this isn’t just some predator that lives underground or a warrior would have killed it by now. It’s some type of concoction of evil magic. So I figure only magic can stop it. You and your sister know magic, don’t you. You used magic to direct those arrows. So maybe all you need is a little magic from our world to open the hole.”

Luke wondered what he was talking about. Use magic to open the hole, what magic? The force. Pac ran to a tree with a hole in it’s trunk and pulled out something wrapped in a large leaf. He laid it in Luke’s hand and the stone underneath the leaves began to glow.

“What the. . .” Luke began.

“It’s never glowed for me, only when the Sub-land snake appears. You and your sister are special, aren’t you.”

“More special together than apart.”

“I hope she’s still alive then,” Pac replied.

Luke closed his eyes and reached out with the force. He felt his sister’s living energy as strong as if they had been born yesterday.

“She’s still very much alive, lets hope she stays that way long enough for us to find her.” Luke handled the glowing stone. It must have been force sensitive, that’s why it reacted to his touch. Does the snake always come up in the same spot?”

“Yeah,” Pac said. “The hole opens and closes just like that.” Pac snapped.

“Then we’ll try to use the same door.”

Luke ran back into the village were women were gathering their children, as the warriors were going to meet with Pac’s Gro-fa. Pac’s Gro-ma was calling him home. He looked from Luke to his Gro-ma with questioning eyes.

“Go home Pac,” Luke said running to the spot where Leia disappeared. He had helped him to the door, he didn’t need Pac to risk his life.

Luke knew it was crazy to try use the force to harness some mystical trick doorway, but all he could think about was Leia. Even though he felt her life force very strongly, he was afraid that could very quickly change.

“Wait for me sis,” he whispered both verbally and through the force.

The stone in his hand began to glow brighter than it ever had. Everyone stopped to watch as the ground opened below the boy. He didn’t fall through the hole, he slowly guided himself down. Pac looked up and realized even the Tree-dwellers had noticed and were coming to watch. It was then Pac saw his opportunity to be a part of something great. Perhaps him discovering the magic stone, even if he couldn’t use it, was a sign. As Luke allowed himself to sink into the hole, Pac ran at a speed so fast no one could catch him and dropped in behind him. Luke didn’t notice at all.

By the time Luke regained his sense of time, of his surroundings, he was on a force high. It was like the first time Ben had placed that helmet on his head with the blast shield down so he couldn’t see. Forced to only feel, he had had a sudden rush, been washed over with feeling from his third eye. Being a Jedi had become such a burden in some ways, having that child like high that came with using the force was refreshing.

“Whoa,” Pac said behind him. “You really are the Angel Queen’s son.”

“Pac, what are you doing here?” Luke questioned in shock.

“Jumped in behind you. I wouldn’t have been able to stand being up there not knowing what happened to you and your sister.”

“So instead you leave your family to worry about you,” Luke replied tucking the stone in his tunic.

“Didn’t think about that,” Pac said. “So, what’s the Angel Queen like.”

“I don’t know,” Luke replied.

“But you said–”

“I never knew my mother.”

Luke reached out with the force trying to feel his sister. She was close, afraid.

“I’m coming,” Luke told her through the force. He tried to get a handle on her direction. There were at least five different passage ways down here. He let the force lead him to a tunnel and began running. Pac, who didn’t understand why he chose the tunnel he chose, just ran behind him trusting Luke knew where he was going.

****************************

“Be brave, be strong,” Leia heard in her head. Was it her mother? It had to be. Then she heard Luke, he was coming for her. She didn’t know what she was thinking when she leapt down the hole. And now she saw there was an even greater looming threat than one sub-land creature, a gigantic nest full of gargantuan eggs. As much as she wanted to get out of here, she knew if these eggs hatched, neither Land-dweller nor Tree-dwellers would survive. And even though they had both been as rude as a group could be, no whole population deserved to be eaten alive by giant snakes. The snake was asleep now, but Leia was afraid to move, afraid the slightest movement would alert the snake to her so far unnoticed presence.

It was then she saw her brother coming through the opening on the other side. Right where the Snake’s massive head lay. And was that Pac with him?

The end of the tunnel Luke followed open into a cave, whose doorway was blocked by the sleeping head of his foe. Luke’s heart nearly stopped dead when he saw the snake’s head. He shushed Pac before he let out the scream that threatened to come out when he sighted the thing. He knew Leia was in their somewhere, he could feel her, but he wanted to see her. Luke noticed bones with metal shields and swords lying at the entranceway. He’d seen pictures of these ancient weapons, read these metal swords were wielded somewhat like lightsabers, but didn’t see how they could compare. Still, he needed a stronger weapon than the one he had. He picked up the weapon and was shocked by it’s weight. Lightsabers were nowhere near this heavy. Luke didn’t have much of a choice, the arrows hadn’t worked and he doubted his little dagger would do much. Here he was, back in the Rancor pit puling at bones as a last minute defense. As he lifted the sword in the air, he missed the snake’s eye sneaking open.

“Luke,” Pac yelled beside him.

“Pac be qu–” he didn’t finish the sentence, a tail whipped out and knocked him into the cave wall, while he was knocked out, the snake prepared to attack. But Leia, common sense gone again, yelled like a mad woman and leapt from the ground onto it’s head, distracting it. Pac was shocked that Leia could jump so high through pure will. It was almost as if she had flew onto it’s head. But her ride didn’t last long, a moment later she was sliding down it’s slick body. As she rolled onto the ground, Pac grabbed a sword and ran toward the snake piercing the skin, but it hissed at him and spat out venom. Leia, back on her feet, jumped, grabbed Pac, and rolled across the ground with him with him before the venom could touch him. By then Luke had gotten up and recovered his sword. Leia could only find a spare spear. She and Pac ran to join Luke.

“Never run off without me again,” Luke said sternly.

“Sorry Dad,” Leia replied sarcastically.

They barely dogged another swing of the Snake’s tail.

“Any ideas Lucas,” Leia yelled.

“My names not Lucas,” Luke yelled back as he swung the sword at the quickly approaching snake’s tail. Part of it fell off, but it grew right back.

“It’s Dark Magic,” Pac yelled rolling to dodge the next blow. But the snake grabbed him and was now trying to squeeze the life out of him. Leia tried to beat the tail loose, but the snake ignored her concentrating on it’s new prey.

“Use light magic,” Pac struggled out.

“Magic?” Leia question.

“The force,” Luke yelled back. “Leia can you get back to me?”

Leia leapt through the air, dodged a slash of the snake’s tail, and rolled to Luke. He pulled his stone out. “It magnifies the force in us somehow, touch it quick.”

Leia didn’t argue, she touched the stone and suddenly Luke’s sword lifted in the air and cut the snake’s head off. Weirdly enough, there was no blood. The head feel off, it disintegrated and Pac was released. But then they looked at the nest of eggs twice their size and a crack began to appear in one of them.

“Oh no,” Leia said. “Let’s use that stone again.”

“No arguments here,” Luke said touching it, but this time it didn’t glow.

“Now what?” Pac asked.

The twins shrugged, “run.” The three of them choose a tunnel and ran for dear life, still carrying the weapons they’d borrowed from the long dead warriors. But they were lost in the tunnels and had to stop in a corridor that became a dead end.

“What’s the force?” Pac finally asked.

“An energy field that flows through all living things.”

“Including me?” Pac asked.

“Including you,” Luke replied.

“Than can I do what you two do?”

“The ability to communicate with the force is a gift that few have and even fewer can use,” Luke told Pac.

“Teach us oh great and wise little Jedi brother Lucas,” Leia said mocking him with a bow

“My name’s not Lucas,” Luke yelled at her.

“Let’s not start that again,” Pac interjected. “Those snakes could find us as any moment and we don’t know how to get out of here.”

“Forgive me for mocking my brother’s precious Jedi.”

“Leia?”

“Leia what? You want to get on me about never really finishing my Jedi training some more.”

“What?” Luke replied baffled.

“A gift FEW have and even FEWER can use. It wasn’t easy choosing to finish what I started with the Rebellion. I would have loved to run off like you and Han.”

“I’m confused, where’s this coming from?”

“After you thought we’d won all you cared about was your journey to find the Jedi, piece together your past and all. I was left to become the responsible one.”

“Are you saying I’m not responsible?”

“Yeah, I had to stick around for all of us. You and Han were all to happy to leave just when the hard work was beginning.”

“I’ve had plenty to do with the New Republic, how many battles. . .”

“External, when something happened you’d show up to help, but when the New Republic’s fragile base was falling apart who was there? Not hero Han, not hero Luke, Princess Leia.”

“The best thing I did for the New Republic was reestablish the Jedi.”

“Don’t you think I wanted to be a part of that, it’s my history too. But you did it all alone. You found Ben, you found Yoda, you found father, and you found me. What did I find of my past, nothing?”

“Once you got married and had kids you had your own family and a leading position in the new government, you could have cared less about the Jedi. I had no choice but to chase the past, because the only thing I had was being a Jedi. Don’t you think I would have loved to be able to stand in the moment and say this is my family, but you and Han had the family and a life that I was just a third party to it.”

“And I was just a third party to your whole Jedi world. I wanted more than anything to be able to concentrate my time on being a Jedi.”

“So why didn’t you.”

“Most of my life I’ve lived with politics, I knew my job and the New Republic needed that. And there’s Bail, I was following in his footsteps. Even though it’s not a blood tradition, it’s still a part of what I have left of him. But even knowing that, even believing that, there’s still this…”

“Gap,” Luke finished.

“You connected with father, you forgave him, you even got to see him before he died, the real him. You even have his name. Everything I got was from you. I loved Bail, he was my real father if not my biological one, but I want to feel connected to my past too.”

“You have mom,” Luke said.

“Yeah, broken images that I’m not even sure are real.”

“I would give anything for those. Even if I could leave this world right now, I wouldn’t. I get my mother and I get to do it with you at my back.”

Pac suddenly jumped up. “Guys, I don’t mean to interrupt your bonding, but do you hear something?”

Leia and Luke suddenly got quiet and they heard the hiss of the snakes. In an instant hundreds of little snakes started slithering into the tunnel.

 

Thousands of small snakes filled the tunnel and there was no way for Luke, Leia and Pac to get away from them. They just backed toward the closest wall and attempted to climb up on some rocks. The little snakes were no bigger than regular snakes, but they had these creepy red eyes that seemed to glow when they hissed. And their tongues were unnaturally long and scorched the ground where they touched it.

“We could really use a dose of Magic right now.” Pac said.

“What do you want us to do fly?” Leia asked Pac.

“Why not?” Pac asked

“Because we can’t, that’s why.” the girl yelled back.

Suddenly their was a loud rumble above them. It sounded like whole sky was about to collapse into the roof of the tunnel and cause it to cave in, but it wasn’t the sky that crashed through the roof of the tunnel, it was a black dragon. It spread it’s massive wings to shake off the dibiri and turned toward the children. All of the children stood frozen, staring wide-eyed at the Dragon. His wings were huge, he barely had enough room to turn around. His wings had to be kept at his sides. A row of long sharp teeth revealed themselves with a roar and the black dragon’s glowing red eyes seem to look through the children.

A snake hissed behind the dragon, the dragon turned it’s fierce eyes toward the snakes and snapped at them. The snakes slithered away from the dragon. Broken from their trance, the children used the fallen dibri to climb out the hole. Fire released from the Dragon’s mouth as Luke and Leia pulled their friend Pac to safety. Smoke was rising from the hole and the dragon rose up inside of it. He shot straight into the sky, the children looked after him. They couldn’t tear their eyes away from the great image above them. The wings spread wide, wider than the children had imagined in the cramped confines of the tunnel. The dragon turned and dove toward the children. There admiration of the dark magnificence ended at that moment. They turned quickly on their heals and ran as quickly as their feet would carry them away from the beast. They ran into a twisted collection of trees, hoping the Dragon wouldn’t follow them, but it swooped easily around the trees.

Luke made the mistake of looking back and tripped over a stray branch. His sister immediately slowed and came back to help her brother. The dragon began to close in on them and just as he did a puff of black smoke emerged from nowhere. A tall man with a long beard stood before them, dressed all black. The dragon landed in front of him and they studied each other. Luke and Leia were in the middle of them and Pac was nowhere to be found. Neither the man nor the dragon made a sound as they looked into each others eyes. Then the dragon lifted and flew away.

“Hello children,” the man said.

“Hello,” Luke said as he lifted to his feet, brushing his clothes off. “How did you get the dragon to go away?”

“I did nothing. The dragon does what he wishes.”

“You had to have done something to the beast.”

“Beast? The Black Dragon?” the man replied a little insulted. “He is of the Majiks.”

“The Majiks?” the twins questioned together.

The man looked puzzled by their reaction. As if immediately they should have known what a Majik was.

“Are you not, the children of the Angel Queen.”

“Yes,” Leia replied. “But I was raised, we were raised, in another world.”

“We Majiks are servants of the pixies?” the man questioned.

“Pixies?” Luke questioned.

“You cannot even see the pixies, yet you posses the power to pass through to another world.” The man focused his eyes on the children, peering down on them with beady eyes. “You definitely posses the magic, by you are severely untrained. Even Majik children can see the Pixies, it is the pixies that grant the Majiks there power.”

“We killed that big snake,” Leia grumbled.

“Oh really, that snake truly was a creation of dark magic,” the man said. “He came with the dark one.”

“The dark one, you mean the Shadow Sith.”

“He goes by many names. The dark one has affected this land and so has affected many Majiks. Those of us who are human and others.”

“Like the black dragon?” Luke asked.

The man nodded. “We Wizards live on the rim, try to keep the forest green. The Majiks at the next rim are those that fled from us. They have become worshipers of the dark magic, they believe it to be the most powerful magic in the land. If you are who you say you are, your should be able to restore the proper reign of the queen and bring something back to the light magic.”

“Okay, you know who we are, but who are you?” Leia questioned.

“I am Majus, head wizard of the 12th circle of Majiks.”

They heard a rustling behind them and turned, Pac was emerging from the shadows.

“Creature, what are you doing outside of your village?” Majus said.

“Pac’s our friend,” Leia answered for the land-dweller.

“Is he?” Majus said. “We don’t allow non-Majik’s past the borders. We have managed to heal this land and we want to keep those in it alive. You must go home.”

“I don’t know where I am, I don’t know where home is, I’ve never been this far into the woods,” Pac told the man.

“To bad,” the wizard replied.

“He’s with us and he’s staying with us,” his sister yelled.

“You sister is full of fire, isn’t she?” the wizard asked. Luke smiled knowingly. “Come with me. Among the Majiks you shall learn how to use your power.”

The wizard started to walk off and Luke and Pac followed him. Leia started to and stopped.

“Are you leading us farther away from or into the 12th circle.”

“Does it matter?” the wizard asked.

“Yes, our mother needs us. We can’t waist time on some training.”

“Waist time?” Majus asked. The wizard strolled up to the child. “Listen young Leia, you got lucky with that snake, but he is only one of the minor dangers that came with the Dark One. That Dragon may not let you off next time. So I suggest you invest time in understanding your power. If not, you are perfectly welcome to go into the dark forest and meet with monsters 100 times more fierce than that snake.” Majus then turned on his heels and continued toward his destination, this time all followed. Leia had little else to say.

***********

Luke strolled along chatting with Majus about the force and the Jedi order. Majus told him about the Majiks. Apparently, no one knew where the Majiks had come from, but they once all lived to protect the queen. The pixies were the sources of their magic. They spoke to the Majiks and guided them. You had to see them and hear them to truly master the magic inside of you. When the Majiks saw what the dark magic could do, they had no choice but to flee. The first asked the pixies for guidance and the pixies had told them that a champion would come who could match the evil of the dark one, until then they must preserve life wherever they could. So the Majiks fled into the outer circles, but as the dark magic gained power more and more of the Majiks were corrupted by it. Those who still controlled the light magic, tried to keep the land from being corrupted into darkness. It was the pixies who had told them of Luke and Leia’s arrival.

“You understand, the dark woods lie in-between this circle and the next and there are worse things beyond,” Majus said. “You friend cannot withstand it. If the dark magic were to affect him, it would consume him. Make him a creature of evil.”

“I would never–” Pac began.

“How could it happen?” Luke interuppted.

“Many ways young Luke, many ways,” Majus told him.

Leia wasn’t to happy with the buddy buddy approach Luke took to Majus. He wasn’t someone they knew, he wasn’t someone who had earned their trust. For all he knew he could be a master of Dark Magic. How had he made the Dragon go away? Leia watched Luke hand him the stone that had given them the power to defeat the huge serpent. Majus examined it closely.

“It’s not a stone,” Majus said. “It was a talisman.”

“A talisman?” Luke questioned. “You mean an object imbued with Magic?”

“Yes,” Majus answered. “It must have allowed you to concentrate the magic inside of you.” Majus suddenly stopped in front of a huge tree.

“What is it?” Luke asked

“We’re here,” Majus replied opening his arms wide. The three children turned toward the tree he was staring at. It was a monster of a tree, the bark thicker than anything they had ever seen before. Even on Kashyyyk the bark of the tree hadn’t been so wide. Majus raised his hands and said some magic words. There was a barely audible creak and a door appeared and fell open like a drawbridge. The kids stood there amazed as Majus strolled up to the door.

“Are you coming children?”

Luke and Leia looked at each other and then at Pac. The boys were the first to follow Majus. Leia lagged behind, still not trusting that Majus finding them was a coincidence. Still not trusting the friendly demeanor Luke shared with Majus.
Inside the tree was unbelievably warm and alive. There were children running around. Other wizards dressed in the same long robes that Majus wore. They ranged in age from young adults to elders. The walls, floors, ceilings, and stairs of the tree home seemed flawlessly carved.

“You made your home in a tree?” Pac asked.

“It took a long time, despite the fact we used magic. We didn’t want to kill the tree, it was as alive with the magic as we were, we could feel it. So we used the magic to reshape it, very slowly. I think it took a year to make it a livable home and much much longer to make it the complex it is now.”

Luke put his hand against the wood. He felt the life beneath it, life still growing, beating beneath the wood. “You can feel the life inside it. Touch the wall Leia.”

Leia rolled her eyes and put her hand against the wall, expecting nothing. But nothing wasn’t what she got. As clear as she felt her children when they were inside of her, she felt this tree’s life. Had they actually reshaped the tree to grow into a living home for them. Leia felt herself smile with her brother, it was a pleasing thought and an amazing accomplishment.

“A home like this requires constant care,” Majus said. “If the Majiks were to ever leave it completely, it might collapse or grow wild or die of grief.”

“Grief?” Pac asked. “I’ve been around trees all my life. I’ve never known one to experience grief.”

“This tree is not like other trees now. It needs our magical touch as much as she needs water.”

“Does she have a name?” Luke asked.

Leia looked at Luke like he was crazy. She felt the life in it, yes, it was an amazing tree, an excellent accomplishment, but a tree just the same.

“I call her Greenmoore. The gift of the magic we pass to her, she passes to the entire 12th Circle. It’s she who keeps the dark wood at bay. All would be destroyed by darkness without her, Pac’s village included.”

“I’m enjoying the history lesson,” Leia interrupted. “But there’s the matter of our mother.”

“I can’t believe you’re the daughter of as sweet a woman as the Angel Queen. Your such an impudent child. It would do you good to hold your tongue and listen.” Leia rolled her eyes in annoyance. “If you had listened to me before, you would understand that the only way your are going to get to your mother is to learn how to see your gift, to feel it and understand it. If you knew how badly I wanted the dark one to go down, how badly I wanted his reign to end, you wouldn’t be so quick to distrust me.”

Leia looked away, seemingly unmoved by Majus’ speech. Luke came over, took his sisters hand and led her away from Majus.

“We need this Leia. We’re powerless in a powerful world. We’re lucky Majus and the Majiks exist. Without Obi-Wan, all the force sensitivity in the world wouldn’t have made me a Jedi. Let him teach us how to harness the Magic.”

“I don’t trust him,” Leia told him. “I feel, no I sense this deception around him.”

“Maybe he is hiding something. But I don’t sense any intent to do us harm. Everyone hides certain personal things about themselves. We need him Leia. We were lucky with the snake, make no mistake about that.”

“I suppose your right. What are we going to do with Pac?”

“Wherever we go, he goes.”

The twins made a silent agreement and went back over to Majus.

“Majus,” Leia said. “I realize you understand the nature of the force or the magic, whatever you call it here, far more than we do. Share this knowledge with us so we can do what must be done.”

Majus came up to the kids and patted them on the back. “The first thing we must do is address the circle and then get you some food.”

When he said the words, the children’s stomach’s began to growl. They just realized that they hadn’t had a meal in awhile.

The magic circle was made up of Majik elders, of which Majus seemed to be the senior officer. They actually sat around a circle on what seemed to be raised pieces of wood that looked like stumps. The meeting room was on the top level of the tree home. The twins stood in the middle, Pac was waiting outside the circle. Majus had advised he stay downstairs, but Leia had insisted he was with them and would stay that way. Now Leia was nervous, the confidence faded with the eyes of so many experienced wizards bearing down on her. She saw a flash of a little boy standing exactly where she stood, but the room was different, instead of wizards, there were Jedi. She looked at Luke and he seemed to be sensing it to.

“We greet you children of the Angel Queen,” A seemingly ancient female wizard said. Then she and the rest of the circle said some odd word.

“Calm yourselves,” Majus told them.

“I’m calm,” Leia said.

“Me too,” Luke echoed.

“For a long time we have waited for the one who would destroy the Dark One,” Majus said.

“To say the least,” a dark haired wizard interjected, “We never imagined the children of the Angel Queen would come in the form of actual children.”

The woman who had first spoke leaned forward. “You have power, you have more raw power than most Majiks, but it’s so raw, especially with you.” She pointed to Leia. “I wonder if you have the patience or we have the time for such an endeavor.”

Luke and Leia saw the little boy again, standing in the circle of Jedi, being judged. They didn’t know where the vision came from, who the boy was or why they were even seeing a time so ancient in their mind as they stood here in this other world, dealing with an order so far removed from the Jedi.

“Patience,” Luke began, “Is difficult for the young. But we will try to save our mother, with or without your help. And I know with your help we will be all the better.”

“Why should we believe in you,” a unusually large Wizard said. “How do we know your not some trick of the Dark One.”

“Because,” Leia began. “Just as we can sense things about you. You can sense them about us. You think I’m reckless,” Leia said pointing to the woman who first spoke. “Possibly even dangerous.” Leia saw the face of Yoda staring down on her in the woman’s face.

“You are correct,” the female wizard said.

“You look at us and you see children,” Leia said to them, “But we’ve been through a war as adults. Those memories remain with us even though our skills are not what they once were. Impossible odds are not new territory for me or my brother.”

Majus stood up. “If I may speak. Like me, you sense the connection between these children and their mother. Their desperation and need to be with her, a need born in another life time. There is little question as to who they are, the question is ‘Can they fulfill their destiny?’ Look closer my friends. Look beyond their physical selves. This is only an illusion, these are warriors. Arc Angels of the Light magic. We don’t know how to fight a war against a Sith, as they call it, they do.”

“And what gives them this ability to understand the darkness of a Sith?” the female wizard asked.

“Our father was a Sith,” Luke announced with a hint of shame, a shame he had never felt before. After his initial anger, he had come to terms with who and what his father was. And like him, Leia had experienced anger and frustration over who there father was, but never shame.

Everyone looked surprised, even Majus. “How is that possible?” Majus asked.

“He was a practitioner of light magic when he was young, ” Luke began. “In our world, he was what was known as a Jedi. It was in that life he met and married our mother.”

“But, he was tempted by the dark side,” Leia continued. “I guess,” she began in the first defense of her father she had ever made, “He believed it was better for the galaxy. That the old government was corrupt and useless. He had good intentions.”

“So you agree with what he did,” the female wizard asked.

“No,” Leia stated harshly.

“No one fought harder against him than my sister,” Luke declared. “Not even me.”

“I like what I see between you two,” the female wizard said. “A strong bond. Yes, that kind of love for one another will not be corrupted easily. We will teach you how to use the magic of this world.”

Luke and Leia smiled at each other, wishing that lonely little boy had the support of a sibling the way they had each other.

“We depart in peace,” the female wizard said.

“In peace,” the circle echoed.

The woman who had given them the hardest time walked up to them.

“I am Dalia,” the woman said. “I invite you to join me for dinner.”

“Thank you,” Luke and Leia said together.

“Is Pac invited too?” Leia asked.

“Of course,” the woman said.

**********************

Leia awoke in the warm confines of a room given to she, Luke, and Pac. She had been shocked awake by the dream of the dragon as it flew over a dark castle. She climbed out from under the warm blanket Dalia had given her and depended on her memory to guide her through the many pathways of the Greenmoore. A good walk always did her good when she had had a nightmare. The Greenmore seemed unreal, as big as it was on the outside, it seemed to be another world on the inside. Bigger even on the inside than it looked from the outside.

It was then Leia saw Majus sneaking out of the tree home. She followed silently, keeping her distance. He went outside and Leia had to rush out behind him before the door closed. She was almost struck silent, standing before Majus was a dark shadow of evil, a looming cloud of darkness, the Black Dragon.

“It is done,” Majus said. “The children are taken care of.”

The Dragon hissed. “Thingsss are ssset into motionnnn, hisss time will soon end.”

“And the Majiks will be restored to their former glory?” Majus asked.

“The Majiksss will get what is dessserved of them.” the dragon looked toward the sky. “But time isss runnning ssshort. Within the week the children will have to move on.”

“But how much training can be done?” the Wizard began.

“You will accompany them on their journey and guide them toward sucessssss.”

“Yes, my master,” Majus said bowing. The dragon lifted into the sky and flew off.

So Majus had made a deal with evil, Leia thought. An evil that sought to overthrow the present evil. She would not make her father’s mistake. She would expose Majus.

“Leia,” Luke said trying to wake his sister. He shook her a bit and she sat up. “Wow, you must have really had a good sleep.”

“Sleep?” Leia questioned. She had come back to her room willing Luke to wake up, but he was comfortably asleep. She had decided to stay awake and wait for him to wake up. When had she laid her head down? She certainly didn’t remember sleeping. “Luke,” Leia said groggily. “Dragon, Majus.”

“Yeah, Majus saved us from the dragon and bought us here, now come on,” Luke told her.

Luke bounced out of the room and Leia brought herself fully awake and followed, rubbing her eyes as she exited the room. And she walked right into something, well someone. Majus, of all people she walked right into Majus. She knew she was nowhere near hiding the anger in her eyes as she looked up at him.

“Majus,” she said.

“Young Leia. Are you ready for today’s lessons with Dalia?”

“Why do you care?”

“Because, in the end I WILL be your guide. I know more than you think I know young Leia.” Majus leaned down. “And you know less, much less than you think you do.”

It sounded like a warning, a warning not to speak of the things she had seen last night. Sleep, she wondered if Majus had somehow lulled her to sleep so she wouldn’t tell her brother what she saw. If so, it only made it more important to tell her brother that Majus would betray them.

“I have to go,” Leia said fleeing the scene.

Luke and Pac were outside sitting on a blanket full of young Majiks chowing down on breakfast. Luke raised a plate of some kind of mush to her.

“It’s good,” he said with his mouth full.

She came over and sat beside him. She didn’t trust anything right now, so she played with her food instead of eating it.

“This is Jasin, Mava, and Sorin,” Luke said pointing to the two boys and the girl in front of him.

“You two sure don’t look like twins,” Mava, a red headed child said.

“Well, we’re not identical.” Leia replied

“Today is going to be great, Dalia is the best teacher,” Jasin said. He was a short, round, happy looking boy.

“I had Yoda teach me before, in the other world, only I was much older.”

“What’s a Yoda?” Pac asked.

“He was the wisest of all the Jedi.”

“What about you Leia?” Jasin asked.

“Luke taught me,” Leia replied.

“So you were the master of the magic?”

“I started a whole academy,” Luke bragged. “Well, not alone, others helped.”

“So you were like the Majus of your world?” Sorin asked.

“Come on,” Mava said. “Majus is not the top wizard here.”

“But he’s one of the best,” the boy argued.

“Your just saying that because he’s your great uncle,” Mava replied. Leia’s head popped up at the mention of the wizard’s name in connection with the boy.

“Well let’s not forget who your great Aunt is?” Mava finished.

“Who?” Leia asked interested.

“Vanassi. She’s a Dark witch in the order of Majiks in the 11th circle,” Mava said. “And she use to be Majus’ wife.”

“Really?” Luke said. “How’d he lose her?”

“The story goes Vanassi was seduced by the a Dark Beast, the Red Dragon.”

“There’s a Red Dragon?” Leia asked.

“Yes,” Mava replied. “Three Dragons, the black, the red, and the green. And together they are the most powerful creature in the world.”

‘No wonder he wanted to be their guide,’ Leia thought. He was already a servant of the Black Dragon, his wife a servant of the Red, all he needed was the Green. And there was little doubt in her mind that he had some clue about where it was.

“Children,” Dalia called. Everyone stood and followed their plates taken by one of the older Majiks.

The man who took their plates looked down at Leia’s.

“Why didn’t you eat young Angel child?”

“Wasn’t hungry,” Leia replied.

“Mental strength and physical strength are best when they’re in balance,” the man said.

“Thanks for the advice,” Leia replied.

She turned and joined the group.

The children sat in a circle around Dalia in a beautiful clearing where the grass was the greenest the kids had ever seen. The Majik children were use to it and sat quietly in a circle. Luke, Leia, and Pac were captivated by it and stood silently staring in wonder around them. Pac climbed a tree and rested on one of it’s branches. For a land dweller, he sure loved trees.

“Angel children, come sit,” Dalia said.

They sat beside the other children. Suddenly a giggle erupted from the end of the row.

“Kay, Dev, what are you doing?” Dalia asked.

“Making this seedling grow,” the small boy, Dev replied. He removed his hand from the ground in front of him and a small flower was beginning to grow.

“What did I tell you before?”

“If you rush something to life, you rush it to death,” Kay, a girl replied.

“But it isn’t pretty till it blooms,” Dev said.

“That what makes waiting for it so precious.” Dalia told them. “Life is a precious balance.”

The children smiled.

“Now,” Dalia said. “Everyone lay back, close your eyes, and feel the life beneath you.”

Everyone laid back, their palm flat on the ground. Leia saw Pac watching from the tree tops.

“Come down little one,” Dalia said.

“But I’m not a Majik,” Pac said.

“Come down,” she requested again. Pac came down and sat on the ground. “Do as the others do. You may be surprised.”

Pac smiled and laid on the ground.

“Now everyone inhale,” Dalia said and the group inhaled. “Now exhale,” she said and the group followed this direction. “First feel the life beneath you, understand it.”

Leia and Luke felt the world around them easily. More relaxed than they had first been when they entered this world, there senses welcomed the new feeling. They truly felt the force flowing through them again.

After a day full of enlightening lessons, Leia had almost forgot about dragons and shutting down evil plots. She was laughing with the Majik children Luke had introduced her too before, Jasin, Mava, and Sorin. And Pac wouldn’t shut up about feeling “the magic”. But as they returned to the Greenmoore that evening, Leia saw Majus talking with some of the others and her feelings of doom returned. Was he convincing them to follow the Black Dragon?

“Young Leia, young Luke,” Majus said with a big smile. “Just the children I was looking for. How went your lesson?”

“Great,” Luke replied. “I think I’m starting to really feel the force here. I think Leia is too.”

However, he turned to see his sister gaze had become cold. The laughing child he had entered with was gone. What had happened?

“Come with me,” the wizard said waving his hand at Luke and Leia.

“Luke, I have to tell you something,” she said turning to him.

“I’m sure it can wait,” Majus said with a cocky smile.

Leia didn’t know what to do and an outburst wouldn’t help now. The Majiks would not believe her if she told them Majus had turned to evil, to the Black Dragon. He was one of their respected leaders, she was just a visitor. Luke could suddenly sense the confusion in his sister. He looked at her perplexed.

“Something’s really wrong,” Luke said. “Leia, are you okay?”

“I have a relaxing technique that could help you,” Majus said.

‘Luke, it’s Majus,’ she thought, ‘please understand.’

“Majus,” Luke said out loud.

“What about Majus?” Jasin asked.

He looked at Leia, he understood what he must do. “Nothing,” he replied. “Nothing at all.”

Leia smiled at Luke. ‘Thanks Luke,’ she thought and he understood.

Everyone was staring at them like they were deformed monsters.

“Are you ready to come now,” Majus asked.

Luke took his sisters hand and gave her a reassuring grip. “Yeah, we’re ready,” Luke replied.

Luke and Leia followed Majus with the group staring at their back.

“Come on Pac, let’s eat,” Jasin said putting a hand on his shoulder and walking him away.
The twins found themselves alone in a room with Majus. Luke and Leia both studied him, any mental guards they had were ready to do battle. Majus could probably sense there confusion, but he said nothing.

“What have you done to Leia?” Luke asked.

“He’s done nothing to me, yet,” Leia said, “except maybe put me to sleep. I saw him, with the black dragon.”

Majus laughed.

“Do you deny it,” the girl asked.

“No,” he slowly walked behind the children and put a hand on their shoulders. “But if I told you the whole truth you wouldn’t believe me. Not now, you don’t trust me. There will be a time I can explain.”

“You called him your master.”

He suddenly pinched them.

“Ow,” they said at the exact same moment. They suddenly they were woozy. The room grew dim.

“I will tell them,” Leia said as she fell to the floor. ‘Luke’ was her last thought.

‘Leia,’ his mind responded before he drifted off too.

Leia and Luke woke up in their room, tired, alone. The door opened and Pac came in.

“You two must have been really tired. Right after your talk with Majus, you went to bed.”

“Majus,” Luke asked groggily. “We talked to Majus yesterday.”

The name unnerved Leia and she couldn’t remember why.

“If you hurry, you can catch breakfast, come on,” Pac said.

Luke and Leia slowly brought themselves fully awake and headed to breakfast.
Later that day, they sat in a circle outside the Greenmoore. Dalia asked them to get into pairs and hold hands. Again she had Pac participate.

“Luke, Leia, separate,” Dalia said to the children.

“Why?” Leia asked.

“You two, you already share the connection, now it’s time to share with others.”

Leia and Luke reluctantly picked other partners. Leia ended up with Sorin.

“You don’t like my Uncle Majus do you?” he asked.

“It’s not that I don’t like him, I don’t trust him,” Leia responded.

“Now children,” Dalia said. “Open yourself up to the person in front of you. Do not just receive their feeling, give your own.”

Leia and Sorin took hands as instructed and closed their eyes, and reached out for each other through the “magic”.

It was weird opening up for someone besides Luke, it made her feel exposed. Even with Han, there were parts of herself she kept hidden. But Luke was her other half, when he understood her emotions without her speaking the words, it was okay. Han was her love, he understood her in other ways, but she had guarded herself from him anyway, especially in the beginning, when they first met. Even after he dared to kiss her and she had melted beneath him. With Luke it was always different. She had barley thought about it when she comforted him after Obi-Wan’s death, showing him affection was so easy. But like she said, she had always somehow known who he was.

“What is Leia feeling?” Dalia asked Sorin.

“Love,” he replied.

The group giggled. Leia shot him a hostile look.

“Not for me,” Sorin told her. “Her Brother and another boy.”

“Man,” Leia replied stepping back. “My husband.”

All the memories that had been repressed in the middle of her youthful adventure suddenly came flooding back. Han, her children, were they missing her, going crazy? Sometimes she forgot she wasn’t a child, that she wasn’t free to run off on some mission. She wanted to save her mother, but there was suddenly this ache in her for home. And Luke felt it too, he walked over to his sister and hugged her. She needed it.

“I think class is over for the day,” Dalia dismissed the class and everyone left Luke and Leia alone.

“Sometimes I forget that I’m not really a kid,” Leia said.

“Me too,” Luke sighed. “We will get back to them, but mother needs us.”

“And it’s the only way home,” Leia replied. “You think Vader — Anakin — our father, was he telling the truth?”

“Even if he wasn’t, would you want to leave here without saving Mom,” Luke asked.

“No,” she replied. “I want to share something with you.”

“What?” he asked.

“My memories,” Leia said with a smile. She took her brother’s hand in hers. She reached out with her feelings. This sudden warmth washed over him. There was a woman, she was brushing his hair, no it was Leia’s hair. Leia was looking in a mirror, he could see her, she was a baby, perhaps a few months old. The humming woman made him feel so safe, secure.

There was suddenly this giggle. Luke and Leia looked up the connection broken. There was a small glow and a small voice said. “We are the source, trust in us.”

“The source of what?” Leia asked.

“We are the source, trust in us,” was repeated,. this time the voices multiplied and the glowing bug size creatures were all around them.

“The pixies,” Luke said.

“The source,” Leia smiled.

Pac came back outside. “Where all these glow bugs come from,” he asked.

“You can see them Pac?” Luke questioned.

“Yes,” Dalia said rejoining them. “He is a Majik.”

“What?” the twins asked together.

Dalia later explained that she had sensed his potential, but the others doubted her. She decided to take him home and ask his parents if his training could continue. They were instructed by someone else for the rest of the week and then Majus called on them.

“It’s time,” he said walking into their bedroom.

“Time for what?” Leia asked.

“To leave,” Majus said. “Sorin and Mava will be coming with us.”

“Great,” Luke said.

“Why?” Leia asked.

“Just in case,” Majus replied. “It will be good for them. The success of this journey means a great deal to the Majik’s.”

“But Pac isn’t back yet,” Leia said. “I wanted to say good-bye.”

“Something tells me you will see Pac again.”

“Something tells me the opposite,” Leia replied.

They were armed with new crossbows, their daggers were returned. They were given food and water for their journey. They all headed out the next day after a huge special celebration for them.

Leia, Luke, Sorin, and Mava all followed Majus away from the 12th Circle. A huge shadow passed over them. The twins looked up and saw the black dragon. There was this nagging sensation at the back of their mind for a moment. Suddenly, there was no sun. The were standing in a darkened forest with trees that looked almost black. The trees branches seemed twisted into each other and looked deformed. A shiver ran though all the children, this was indeed a Dark Place.

“Welcome to the 11th Circle,” Majus said.

 

(June 30, 2003)

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