20 Jul 1999







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Luke knew his father was nervous.  The young Jedi could sense it through

their connection, the connection forged on Bespin and forced into

maturity on the Death Star.  The shock of his father's mind on his, in

his--that first time, it had hurt, even as everything within him had

craved the contact.



The shock of that first mental touch had set him on a path he never

would have followed, and he was a different man for it--a Jedi neither

Dark nor Light.  He reached out to his father, comforting him, and then

drew Wedge outside with him, onto one of the many bridges that connected 

the village in the trees.



Wedge leaned against him and breathed the cooling air of the forest.

"Damn, I've missed you.  Where the hell did you go after Hoth?"



Luke laughed and kissed his lover softly on the mouth.  "Dagobah.  To

finish my training.  And then...spent some time healing, and then went

to the Outer Rim, to Tatooine.  Didn't Leia tell you?"



"No."



"Huh.  I don't think she approves of us."



"Screw her."



"No, thanks, lover, even if she were my type."



They were quiet, then, standing on the bridge in the darkness.  After a

few moments, Luke spoke again.  "She's my sister.  My twin sister,

and...and I never knew her."



Wedge pulled away, his eyes unreadable in the dim light, but his tone

unmistakably confused.  "She's your what?"



"My twin sister.  And that man in there, with the life monitor--that's

our father.  She hates him.  Not that I blame her."



"I thought she was Bail Organa's kid."



Luke laughed and walked over to the railing, laying his good hand on the 

rough wood and squeezing, feeling the bark under his fingers.  "She

thought she was, too.  And I thought my Uncle Owen was my father's

brother.  Both of us were wrong.  Neither Owen nor Bail were any kin to

us."  He looked down, dug a fingernail into the rail.  "Owen hated him

even more than Leia does, I think.  And yet...he raised me to love him,

and died for it."



Luke felt Wedge's hand on his shoulder, and he turned his head and

smiled at the older man.  "Go ahead.  You can ask."



"Why does Leia hate him?  What has he done?"



"How many seven foot tall men do you know?  Especially ones with life

monitors?" 



The hand dropped away.  "No."



"Oh, yes.  Darth Vader was born Anakin Skywalker.  And now he is Anakin

Skywalker again."



Wedge joined him at the railing, brushing their shoulders together.

"How long have you known?"



"Officially?  About a week.  Unofficially, about six months.  Even more

unofficially...well, let's say training to be a Jedi can give one

strange insights sometimes."  He leaned gently into Wedge's shoulder.

"There was this cave on Dagobah--and Vader, with my face.  I--" He broke 

off, and both men stared out into the warm night.



After a few minutes, Wedge laughed.  "So, that means all those times you 

pissed me off, and I called you 'Sithspawn'..."



Luke slapped him, and Wedge yelped and took off, still laughing.  Luke

chased him through the village in the trees.



Inside the central hut, Anakin Skywalker smiled and watched the two men

disappear into darkness.