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Leia Skywalker wasn’t sure why her brother’s tale bothered her as much as it did. But how could he even suggest such a thing about their father? It was impossible. Her father would have never fallen or served someone like the late Chancellor Palpatine. Luke was clearly still struggling to parse out reality from whatever Force-induced visions he’d been surrounded by for the two years he’d been gone. Yeah. She nodded. That was all it was.So why was she here? Leia tilted her head back up to scrutinize the towering domes of the newly restored Jedi Temple on Lothal. Because maybe it would provide her with some clarity into her own emotional unbalance that no amount of meditation or sparring had provided in the half a year since Luke’s return. Their whole lives his mind had been as open and crystal clear to her as if it were merely an extension of her own, but now…. It was like trying to see through a one-way sheet of transparisteel. And he didn’t even seem to realize! To him it was like their bond was as strong as it had ever been!She knew the truth. The truth? Leia frowned. The truth about what? The first time she had heard the whole story about the late Chancellor’s demise had been upon Luke’s return. But, time travel was not a thing. Well, it was a thing they were not supposed to meddle in, and yet Luke and Ahsoka, and Cal Kestis, and Ezra had been given what? A free pass? Why? Why had she not been there? If they had traveled back to save her father, then why had the other Leia not been right at Luke’s side. They were twins, but they were so much more. Where he went, so did she, and vice versus. That was how it had always been. That was how it was supposed to be! Did the Force not understand something so simple? She fumed.With a forced exhalation through her nose, Leia shoved her annoyance and frustration away from her. After all, this was precisely why she was here, on Lothal at the temple. To get some answers. Answers Luke either wouldn’t or simply couldn’t give her. Ahsoka had reluctantly mentioned the unique properties of the Lothal Temple. So Leia had taken her ship, the Truthspeaker -- a gift from her father and Luke-- and set course for Lothal. Since it’s restoration she no longer had to worry about the two Jedi rule, the Temple was already open. Steeling her shoulders she marched inside.The shabby interior was a far cry from the luxurious, simple splendor of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, Leia noted. Her eyes swept over the numerous candles, left in place of the bodies of Jedi who had failed their trials in this temple. Hm, there were quite a few. No, she shook her head. Leia knew why she was here and what she needed to see, she was not going to become trapped in the Temple. There would be no candle for her.She walked deeper into the temple but nothing changed. Leia paused, frowning around at the corridor she was in, nothing! Absolutely nothing! No visions, no starry path between alternate lives. Nothing! Was the Force mocking her! Oh, sure it did all kinds of things for Luke and her father, but for it’s own grand-daughter?She drew her saber and whacked the Temple’s wall with the hilt. A dull echoing ring resounded, steadily rising in pitch and shaking the ground on which she stood. Leia gripped her saber with both hands, eyes darting about for an invisible foe. The solid rock floor vanished and Leia tumbled into the yawning maw opened beneath her feet.When she came to it was in a cold sterile cell. Leia shot to her feet and jolted as she felt the shifting of a long skirt rubbing against her legs. A skirt? Leia never wore dresses except for visits to the Senate or to the parties her mother threw. Leggings or pants were her go-to Jedi wear and had been what she was wearing inside the Temple. The temple? The temple she was clearly no longer inside. Leia huffed. Well, the Force had decided to cooperate after all. Now, she just needed to get out of this room and find out what the heck was going on!A familiar gargling growl called her attention to an overlooked corner of the cell. “Chewbacca?” Leia blinked and then glanced down to a pile of parts which was even more familiar. Leia had known him all her life. “Threepio! What happened?”Chewie canted his shaggy head to the side and chuffed. “What?” Leia paused. Why did he sound confused? She cursed her own infuriating inability to grasp the finer points of Shyriwook like Han or Luke. “Chewie, what is going on?” Leia tried again to gain a better understanding of the situation she had found herself thrust into.The cell door hissed open and Leia whirled, dropping into a combat stance only to find herself frozen in heart-wrenching horror. “Han!” She darted forward, catching him as the armoured men callously tossed his spasming body into the cell. “Watch it!” She snarled.Chewie moaned and fussed over Han like a worried mother. Leia was hardly better. The answers he gave were incoherent and bewildering. “He didn’t ask? Who? Who didn’t?” She murmured.Confused, cold, missing the familiar weight at her side, and the absent warmth of her twin bond with Luke in her mind. A whole new reason to panic if she allowed herself to focus on it for too long. There were already enough crises for her to worry about at this moment with out freaking out about Luke’s unexplained absence. It was unlike what had occurred when he’d vanished. He’d been gone and yet she had always felt a reassurance, a lingering echo of his presence. Not this time. It was almost as if their bond had been severed….Leia firmly slammed the proverbial blast-door down on those intruding thoughts. It was only her fear talking.Han never got the opportunity to answer as Lando Calrissian, an acquaintance of Han’s, stepped into the room. Leia instantly noted the absence of his atypical swagger. He walked like a broken, or a breaking, man, his shoulders hunched and his Force signature muddied by worry and guilt. Han and Lando fought like bitter enemies and not the mutually antagonistic friends they were. Leia intervened and used a minor amount of Force-persuasion to make Lando and his crew leave before Chewbacca took it upon himself to make them leave.She allowed her thoughts to try and puzzle out what was going on, as she wiped Han’s sweat from his brow. They were clearly in a dangerous situation yet, Leia didn’t have her Light-saber, her blaster, or even her hold-out vibro-blade tucked into her boots. Matter of fact, she was not wearing her white, Bantha-hide and krayt leather boots.They had been a gift from Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen for her and Luke’s 18th birthday. Luke had a matching black pair of boots. Both contained a special pocket to conceal a knife. Fashionable yet practical, exactly what the children of a former Queen and a Jedi Master needed. Leia shook herself out of those thoughts. No, now was hardly the time to lament the loss of her favorite footwear.“Chewie, where are we?” Leia whispered as Han slept fitfully and Chewie worked to rebuild Threepio.He grunted. Her rudimentary fluency in the Wookie’s language was just adequate enough. “Bespin?” Leia wondered. What on earth were they doing on a Tibanna Gas mining world? Never mind why they were in a cell on said world?“Okay, Bespin.” She murmured. Good, she had a place. Now. “Why are we here?”Chewie paused in his tinkering to arch one furry brow at her. He chuffed, worried.“No, I did not hit my head.” She sighed. “Just… it’s a grounding exercise.” Leia fibbed.He didn’t seem fully convinced, but played along with her. She took in his explanation, having to have him slow down and repeat himself a few times before she was able to absorb his words. “A Sith? An Empire? A Trap?” It was an uncomfortably familiar tale, as if she had heard it before. She winced. Perhaps, she had, or at least heard a part of it and felt the other part through her bond with Luke.“So, I got my wish.” She grumbled.‘Careful what you wish for, the Force a sense of humor has.’ Yoda was fond of lecturing his students. The old troll was right, again. She frowned.Chewie watched her, but didn’t pry and just went back to working on Threepio. Leia sighed. Well, she would have a chance to see just how true Luke’s story was, like it or not.Was this Sith, Chewbacca mentioned, her father. Or was it some other Sith? Was she in the universe Luke had experienced or was this a whole new reality with a wholly different Sith menace? Only time would tell? And she didn’t think it would be a very long time.__________Leia struggled a bit against the faceless white-armoured men who came to escort Han, Chewie --with Threepio affixed to his back in a sling – and her from their cell. She needed to test their strength. Okay, their tight grip was nothing she could not break with a little Force-enhancement. Leia nodded, to herself, settling into the role of compliant prisoner. For now. She smirked down at the floor.They were brought into a dimly lit chamber near the city’s core, where Lando and several more of the white-armoured -- not clone -- soldiers were clearly waiting for their arrival. No. Leia frowned, as Lando and the soldiers’ attention focused on a different entrance, expectant and fearful. It was not their arrival everyone was anticipating. She shifted her focus to align with the rest of the room’s occupants as the door on the far side of the chamber opened with a hiss.Leia was not feigning horror when she jerked back against her restraints towards Han and Chewie. What was that? She gaped at the black-armoured spectre from a not so distant nightmare. No! Her mind rebelled even as Lando stepped forward to greet the man.“Lord Vader, I’ve done as you asked. But this is insane--” The Sith, for Leia could not doubt what he was, silenced Lando with a sharp gesture.“If you have done your job properly, Baron Administrator, there will be no danger.” Vader snapped. He tilted his head consideringly. “Still, I can not risk damaging the Emperor’s prize. We will test the process first.”“Test?” Lando echoed, his dark face paling as his eyes glanced towards Leia and the others.“Prepare Captain Solo for encasement in carbonite.” Vader ordered.Leia gaped. Sure she knew that carbonite freezing was nominally harmless, unless the subject was left encased in the carbonite for an extended amount of time. And sure she always had known her father and Han had never gotten along but he would never...She cut herself off.What am I even thinking? She glared, this Sith was not her father. No, Luke was mistaken. Her father would never become….he could never have become anything like this monster. It was simply impossible.Leia couldn’t help but kiss this Han, he shared so much with her own, including his obvious affection for her and his avoidance of commitments. The Nerf-herder. She thought fondly. Chewie wrapped her in his warm arms as the soldiers oversaw Han’s carbon freezing. He would be alright. She knew. No other outcome was acceptable. Han would be alright. Leia would kick the Sith’s butt and then free him. Everything was going to be alright, even without her brother around to help.Speaking of, she jerked her head to stare up at the ceiling. Where Luke’s presence had been absent before, it had suddenly sparked into existence. Across the room the Sith’s helmet turned to observe the space about them, Leia felt her blood boil even as ice settled in the pit of her stomach.“Reset the chamber. Skywalker has arrived.” The Sith commanded sweeping out of the room as the Bounty Hunter, Boba Fett -- and Leia was so ratting him out to Rex and Cody for this – took Han’s carbon frozen form, under guard towards his own ship. Leia and Chewie were to be taken to the Sith’s ship, but there was no way in all the galaxies Leia was going anywhere with him. No more than she would be going anywhere without Han or Luke.She sensed Luke and whirled around, stretching out to him through their bond even as she screamed. Her heart-rate spiked, her telepathic communication dead-ended into the void which stretched between them as if they had spent decades apart. With no recourse she called on the Force and flung her guards backwards into the pristine white walls of Cloud City. Chewie roared his confusion but wasted no time in turning on his own captors while Lando and his sudden ambush gaped at her. Threepio babbled his astonishment, as if he’d never before beheld Leia perform such a rudimentary Force-skill. She whirled back towards the door, her hand straying to the lightsaber hilt… which was not hanging from her belt as it had since she’d first constructed it at thirteen. Right. She growled, trying futilely to pry the stubborn control panel from the wall so she could hot-wire the door.Lando cleared his throat. “Not to state the obvious. But if we want to save Han, we need to go before Fett has a chance to liftoff.”She had a few choice words for this universe’s Lando who had sold out his best friend. With a snarl she cut herself off. No, now was not the time. He was right. They had to save Han. Luke would be alright. He was a Jedi the same as her, he could take care of himself. Keep him safe. She petitioned the Force and turned her back to the door.“Let’s go. Lead the way, Lando.” She nodded.“Me?” He blinked as if astonished she had decided to listen or that she had acquiesced to to follow his lead.“It’s your city,” Leia reminded, “You ought to know it better than most.” Her eyes pointedly slid to his people who’d set themselves up for an, ultimately, unnecessary ambush.“Uh, right.” He shook himself out of his confused state and barked orders to his people before guiding Leia and Chewbacca through Cloud City’s labyrinthian hallways.They were not able to grab Han. Leia glared at the Slave 1’s ion trail. Oh, Boba was so dead when she caught up with him. But there were other matters she could still do something about: like Luke facing down a Sith without help. She sprinted back into the building firing at any obstacle unwise enough to come between her and her twin brother’s flickering signature. Leia absolutely refused to think about the implications of his weakened presence. He was fine.Luke was one of the best lightsaber duelists among their age-mates. It had infuriated her when they had been younger. In time she’d accepted they simply each had different skills. She excelled at mediation and politics where Luke bumbled his way through like some awkward, Outer-rim farm-boy. Leia was a better shot with a blaster than her twin. Luke preferred a lightsaber to a blaster any day. No doubt that had been Grandpa Ben’s influence.Hold on, Luke. She thought bursting through the ruined control room in Cloud City’s reactor core. Glancing out and down through the shattered window overlooking the city’s exhaust vent, she saw Luke, battered, beaten, and minus a limb inching out onto the flimsy gantry away from the looming Sith. Yet the Sith was not striking down his weakened foe. In fact, it sort of appeared as if he were talking. Leia enhanced her hearing with the Force even as she judged the distance between herself and her twin and how big an obstacle the Sith could be potentially.“….told you about your father.” The Sith was saying.Leia frowned. Instinctively she knew she did not like where this conversation was headed.“You killed him.” Luke spat.Yes. Leia nodded fiercely. She had been right and Luke mistaken. Their father would never be a Sith but he might -- as impossible as it seemed – be bested by one.“No. I am your fa--”Leia had heard enough and threw herself out the window lengthening her jump with the Force as Luke vehemently denied the Sith’s lies. See not even Luke could truly buy such an absurd claim. She tried to fight against her own rising doubts as she rocketed past the shell-shocked Sith and down the chute after Luke. The karking moron had actually thrown himself down the chute! If the fall didn’t kill him, when she got her hands on him, he was toast! She of course had to ignore the fact she had leaped down after him. But then that was entirely different.“Luke!” She yelled.“Leia?” He gaped up at her as the chute leveled out. “What in the galaxy are you doing here?”“What am I doing, you moon-jockey!” She slugged his un-maimed side. “I came to rescue you?”“Me? What about Han?” He frowned. “I thought you and he…?”“Yeah, we are.” She said simply. What did one thing have to do with the other? “But I couldn’t help him. I could help you.”“You came back for me?” He said.“Of course I did, you’re my twin brother.” Leia said.Luke’s shrieking was drowned out by the rush of wind as the chute opened to dispose of Cloud City’s excess refuse and exhaust. Leia snagged a hold of the vane and her brother’s lapel.“Get a grip, laser-brain. Literally! You’re heavy.” She growled through clenched teeth, straining to keep herself and Luke from plunging the untold kilometers into the planet’s gaseous core.He did. It was weak and he was obviously going into shock fast. His injury must finally be settling in. That or? She peered at his face. Her Luke’s story came back to her in a sudden vivid rush. Oh. “Sorry.” She risked reaching out to lay her hand on his shoulder. “I probably shouldn’t have dumped that on you on top of everything else.”“You knew?” He mumbled, looking vaguely nauseous and disturbed. “You’ve known this whole time?”What had her Luke said? “Um, no. I just found out myself.”Kind of sort of true, depending on your point of view. Another thing their Grandpa Ben was so fond of saying.“How?” He rasped.“Is that really important right now?” She asked, glancing down meaningfully. He stared at her. “Later. We’ll talk.” Leia assured him.“Later.” He mumbled. “If there’s a later?”“Hey, what happened to that unflagging, irritating optimism of yours I’ve always loved?” She groused.Luke stared at her, his face pulling a very unique combination of nauseous shock. “Uh?”“What?”“Uh, you didn’t know about-- ” he gestured between them with his head – “while we were on Hoth, right?”“Hoth? Why does it matter if I did or didn’t know on Hoth?” Leia frowned at him.“No reason.” Luke paled further.“What is important is to find a way of getting out of here.” Leia said.Luke shook his head. “Yeah, you’re right. What’s the plan?”Leia grinned. This Luke may be infinitely different than her own Luke but in some ways they were the same. Her Luke had always left the plans up to her, and in turn she had left the inevitable improvisation to him. She scanned the clouds. First things first, they needed a ship.“Do you still have your comlink?” She asked.“Uh, yeah, I should, but it’s on my right hip.” He said, tipping his head down towards his absent hand.“Can you pull yourself any closer with your left hand?” Leia said.“I’ll try.”“Do or do not.” She chirped instinctively.Luke jerked his head up and stared at her, his eyes widening. “What did you just say?”Leia winced. Ugh. Stupid Jedi mantras. Stupid inter-dimensional travel. Stupid. She berated herself. How could she make such a dumb mistake. Twice in a row!“It’s something my dad used to say.” She fibbed.“Your dad? He used to be a Senator, right?” Luke asked, tugging himself closer to her with his left hand.Leia had to wrack her mind for the correct information her Luke had shared. Who had the other Leia’s adoptive father been? Oh, right. Uncle Bail!“Yes, he was Alderaan’s Senator. Before me.” She answered.“Did your dad ever mention having met Jedi?” Luke asked.“Yes. He knew several back during the days of the Republic.” Leia admitted. Uncle Bail knew a lot of Jedi.“Really?” Luke seemed so utterly hopeful. “Did he know An--” He cut himself off, his face shuttering as the newly revealed information about his father was recalled. About their father.“Hey, Luke?” She snagged his comlink, dangling at a precarious angle from the City’s gantry.“Huh?”“Do you...do you believe what he said?” She asked. Luke had always been an empath, they both were, but Luke he just felt things at a deeper level. Her Luke had always been her sounding board about the people she worked with in the Senate as the Jedi Order’s Representative.His jaw clenched and he glared off into the reddening sky. Leia grimaced herself as she keyed in the distress signal on Han’s preferred frequency. Hopefully, this Han had that in common with her own. Luke’s reaction was telling. Even if she could see he was trying his hardest to refute the truth. She snorted. Seems they had that common.“So it’s true. All of it.” She murmured to herself.Now, that she had her answer, what did she do? Leia frowned. She needed to talk to her father, or this Vader. Now that she knew he and Anakin were actually one she had to face him and speak her mind. She wanted to hear from his own mouth why? Why he would abandon their family? Why he would choose the Sith over the Jedi? Why he would willingly inflict harm on his own son? Why he would betray the Jedi, Mom, Luke? Why he would betray her?The Millennium Falcon swooped out of the clouds and Leia helped Lando get Luke inside the ship and into the med-bay. With a mournful howl Chewie piloted the freighter through the Empire’s blockade and escaped into hyperspace. The Falcon always pulled through in a pinch, Leia thought, gripping Luke’s shoulder as they watched the stars whirl past as they hurtled across the galaxy to who knew where. Well, Luke and Chewie likely knew where they were headed as they were actually from this universe and a part of the Rebellion. Huh? For once in her life Leia actually had something in common with Lando Calrissian apart from an ever-present irritation with Han Solo._____The appropriated yellow bladed saber tumbled to the floor of the empty storage room, thankfully deactivating before it made contact. Leia calmly returned Luke’s horrified gaze. She held her own procured lightsaber away from herself pointed diagonally above the floor.“You want to do what?” Luke roared. Ignoring the absence of soundproofing in the antiquated Mon Cala cruiser’s storage room they had received permission to use for Jedi training.“Contact him.” Leia said.It made perfect sense to her. They needed answers and the Rebellion could use some inside help if they were going to defeat the Empire. And Luke and she would certainly need help to defeat Sidious. There was only one person in the whole Galaxy who met all three requirements.“You want to comm Darth Vader!” Luke threw up his hands, his cheeks flushed red in anger.No not anger. Annoyance. Fear. Apprehension. He’s scared. Leia appraised her twin’s condition. Yes, Luke was scared. Not so much of facing their Sith dad. No. That was certainly not what scared him. He was scared to know what their father might have to say in answer to their questions and Leia’s plan. Ah. She disengaged her blade and stepped forward, halting his agitated pacing with a firm, unyielding embrace.“It’s alright, Luke.” She said.Luke was still struggling three months after learning the truth. Much like Leia he could not reconcile the truth of what his father was with the stories and dreams and ideas Luke had always had of him throughout his childhood. Hey, she got it. She’d traveled across times and universes in her own quest to reconcile the man she knew as her father with the man he could have become in any other life.“How can you be so calm?” He snapped.Leia chuckled, feeling so incredibly backwards. That was her line. This unflagging confidence was supposed to be Luke’s bit. She was pragmatic where he was always optimistic. Funny. “It doesn’t come as easy as you think.” She said, squeezing his middle even tighter. A silent apology for all the flax she’d given her brother for his bright, seemingly easy, goodness of spirit.“Leia, I can’t. I can’t face him, not yet.” He sighed.“You can.” She stepped back meeting his eyes.“How can you be so sure?” Luke asked.“Because I know how strong you are, and I believe in you. I always have. And besides,” she smirked, planting her hands on her hips, “it’s not like you’ll be doing this alone.”He huffed a small smile tugging at his lips. She grinned, pleased with a job well done. Luke shook his head, recalling the fallen saber into his left hand. Hmm. Leia scrutinized the two lightsabers they had snagged from a raid on a pirate den.“You know, before we contact the old man, I think there’s one little thing we need to do.” She said.“What’s that?” Luke said.“Have you ever heard of Ilum?” Leia grinned.________Leia scowled out of their borrowed freighter’s forward viewport. Luke glanced over from the pilot’s seat. “Hey, it was a good idea.” He offered.“Oh, shut up.” She grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest, glaring daggers at the three golan defense stations orbiting above Ilum. “Stupid Imps.”Luke, who’d not had very high hopes for this scheme, just shrugged. He input jump coordinates and pulled back on the lever sending them out of the Ilum System. Leia muttered under her breath, unsatisfied and slightly embarrassed that her scheme had failed in front of her brother. She’d not considered how efficiently the Empire might have taken control of the fallen Jedi Order’s assets. At least not that far from the Core.They reverted to real space some eight hours later. Leia arched a brow turning her gaze away from the dull brown, familiar planet towards Luke. “What are we doing here?”“Well, we need lightsabers, right?” Luke said.“Yes?” She nodded.“There you have it.” Luke said, piloting their freighter through the upper atmosphere on a course away from the main settlements and out across the vast deserts towards the Jundland Wastes.“There I have what, Laser brains?” Leia snapped. “Why are we on Tatooine?”“Ben’s house is here.” Luke said.“Ben? You mean Obi-Wan?”“Yeah, he lived out in the wastes. His hut’s likely untouched as far out as it is, so we should be able find something to help us.”“Like what Kyber crystals?” She said.“He was a Jedi.” Luke shrugged. “He’s also the one who gave me our dad’s old saber. Isn’t it worth a shot?”“I guess it’s no worse a plan than Ilum.” She pouted.“Hey, it was a good idea. You couldn’t know the Empire would keep a random Outer-Rim planet under lock and key.” He clamped his bionic hand on her shoulder, careful not to exert a lot of strength.“Thanks.” She shook her head.Luke set their ship down on the cliff abutting the derelict hut. Leia wrinkled her nose is distaste. Grandpa Obi-Wan had lived here? It was mind-boggling to imagine her pristine and polished grandfather slumming out here in the armpit of the galaxy. Grief and necessity could drive a person to incredible lengths.“Well, here we are.” Luke swept his arm out waving her inside the hut after he’d hot-wired the jammed door controls to open.Leia grimaced. Here went nothing. She squared her shoulders and stepped inside. Luke followed, fighting to get the door to reseal, locking the worst of the oppressive heat outside the sandstone domicile.“Cozy.” Leia commented, peering around the two room hut.“Not all of us grew up in a palace, Princess.” Luke rolled his eyes, gently butting her to the side on his way to a hand-carved Japor wood chest.Leia stuck out her tongue at his back. She wasn’t going to lower herself to respond to his remark. He ignored her, focused on emptying the contents of the chest out onto the floor. Intrigued she stepped forward and squatted beside him, peering over his shoulder.“Anything interesting?” She asked.Luke picked up a leather-bound journal. Leia read the Aurebesh lettering burned into the front of the volume. “For Luke Skywalker, huh? Humph, I always knew he liked you better than me.” She joked.“You knew Ben?” Luke asked.“No,” Leia recovered, “I just meant.”“Hey, this is his journal detailing his years here on Tatooine.” Luke carried on, leafing through the pages.“Fascinating.” Leia drawled.No doubt that would be a riveting read, but….“Is there anything in there about Jedi or lightsabers.” She poked him with the hilt of her temporary blade.Luke gave her a flat look and went back to skimming through the journal. Great. She rolled her eyes and stood moving around to poke her nose through the rest of Obi-Wan’s meager possessions. Nothing. They should have brought R2 instead of loaning him to the intelligence division while they went on their little quest. The little astromech could have performed a scan of the hut and discovered any hidden rooms.“Hey, Leia, come here.” Luke stood meeting her halfway, holding the journal open, his finger pointing to a diagram. A diagram of a lightsaber’s basic construction and the components needed to create one. “This looks promising.”“Yeah,” she nodded for his benefit – she already knew how to build a lightsaber, “ I don’t suppose he mentions a crystal or two hidden somewhere or a couple tucked into the back of his little book.” Her head craned to glimpse the underside of the journal. It didn’t look like there was anything concealed in the lining.“Hidden? No. But he does have a recipe.” Luke said, tapping the backside of the page that had contained the diagram.“A what?” Leia paused.“The recipe to bake your own crystals.” Luke said.“To bake?” Leia blinked, what the heck was he talking-- “He’s left you instructions on making a synthetic lightsaber crystal!” She screeched. That was practically blasphemy for a Jedi. And Obi-Wan was a Jedi’s Jedi!“If that’s what you call it then, yeah, I guess that’s precisely what he did.” Luke said.“I don’t believe it.” She gaped. Obi-Wan wanted Luke to use a synthetic crystal? What was the galaxy coming to?Oh, she was so asking her Luke when she returned if he remembered the recipe? She’d been contemplating Jar’Kai for awhile now. Leia smirked, reading the instructions over Luke’s shoulder. All of this would be worth it just to see the look on Master Ki-Adi Mundi’s face when she showed off her synthetic lightsaber crystal.“Well, these crystals aren’t going to bake themselves,” she clapped his shoulder, “let’s get cooking.”“You’re almost too excited.” Luke said, setting the book down on the table.“Oh, you have no idea.” Leia cackled._________“Lavender?” Leia was as befuddled as Luke that her blade had turned out such an obscure shade.Oh, well, her lightsaber worked perfectly so it’s color was less important. Though her’s had always tended more towards yellow or gold, and she had been through her share of lightsabers to make such a statement. She was her father’s child. The ability to constantly lose a lightsaber was an odd thing to inherit from one’s father, but hey? Luke had been the same way.Well, he’d had to make a new lightsaber fairly frequently during his training because his blade no longer worked for him. Leia used to joke he was just trying to get the full color spectrum. His blades had started out yellow much like her own and swung brownish to orange as he left Naboo to live full-time on Coruscant with his teachers at the Temple. Then they had progressed back through yellow to blue and his last had been green.“It’s better than this?” Luke held out his blade, faint horror etched across his face. “I didn’t even know this color was possible.”Leia snorted. Yeah, pink was a very uncommon color among Jedi, considering it reflected the wielders deeply rooted love and affection for others. Aunt ‘Soka had once mentioned that their father had built a lightsaber after Luke and Leia’s birth which had turned out a rosy hue, but due to it’s close proximity to red -- a color usually wielded by Sith -- he had refused to wield it and had constructed another using his older lightsaber crystals. Still, its meaning fit her brother entirely too well. Luke had always been such a soft, fluffy, sweetheart. Some things it seemed were truly universal.“It suits you.” She grinned.“I am not facing Darth Vader with a pink lightsaber!” Luke said, setting the blade aside and moving back towards their pile of ‘ingredients’.”“Whoa, there, Farm-boy,” Leia snagged his tunic’s sleeve, “we don’t have time--”Luke glared, crossing his arms petulantly. Leia sighed. He wasn’t going to budge on this was he?“Just use one of the other ones then.” She turned him loose, gesturing towards the other blades they had planned to lay to rest in their deceased Jedi’s honour here on Tatooine.“They don’t feel right.” He protested.“Yeah, I’m aware. That’s the whole reason we built these, Laser-brain.” She waved her new lightsaber hilt under his nose.“But the color is so…” his freckled nose scrunched up, “girly.”“Are you serious?” Leia stared. Her Luke had never cared about his blade’s color!“Han and the guys will never let me hear the end of this.” Luke whined.“Who cares? It’s a lightsaber it could carve any one of them like butter!” Leia said.Luke gaped. Then frowned in thought. “Hmm, you do have a point. While Jedi aren’t to use excessive violence, I don’t recall Master Yoda or Ben mentioning any restrictions on intimidation.”“Great! Here’s your lightsaber.” She snagged his black chronium hilt off the ground and tossed it into his hands. “Let’s go. We have a family reunion to plan.”“I guess there’s no real choice.” Luke grumbled, caving and affixing his new hilt on his belt.Leia rolled her eyes. Men and their egos! She missed her unassuming idiotic brother! He had never been arrogant. He’d always been infuriatingly modest. It used to drive her crazy! She was buying him all the hot chocolate he wanted once she got home._________“I can see why you never went into politics.” Leia read Luke’s draft for their transmission to Vader.“It’s honest.” He said, fiddling with the wiring in his prosthetic hand.“It’s blunt.” Leia retorted, rolling her eyes. “Honestly. We’re trying to entice our father into treason, remember. And calling him the dung-coated off-spring of a diseased Hutt and the reason some species practice ritual patricide is hardly enticing. It’s more likely to make him cry.” Leia remarked, thinking of her father who could bawl like a small child over his family at the sight of a scraped knee.Luke rolled his eyes right back at her. “I wouldn’t mind if he cried. It might actually convince me there’s still a human inside that suit.”“Trust me, there is.” At least according to her Luke there had been. Leia just hoped they’d still be able to pry Anakin Skywalker out of Darth Vader.“I do trust you, Leia. It’s that son of hu --”“Do not insult our grandmother.” Leia rebuked, reaching over to pinch his arm.“-- It’s that guy I don’t trust.” Luke amended.“Fair enough. But you don’t have to trust him right now. You just have to be able to work with him without trying to incite him to violence or verbally demoralizing him.”Luke huffed, but made no further arguments to her edits of his proposal. They needed Vader to think it was all coming from Luke, as he didn’t know about Leia’s relationship to him. And, evidently Vader and this universe’s Leia had highly unpleasant history, so he’d likely burn anything she sent him without ever glancing at the contents. Leia was just glad she’d thought to insist on checking whatever Luke wrote before allowing him to transmit.“And sent.” Leia declared, watching the data-pad’s screen clear as her transmission was pinged across the galaxy on a frequency Leia was sure Vader still used or at least had access to. It was an old frequency her mother had once told her they’d used to talk to each other back before their marriage was made public. Her father was a sentimental old softie, she could only hope this Anakin was too, or their plan was doomed from the start.“So now what?” Luke asked, sealing the panel on his wrist and shifting on his bunk to stare at her. “What’s our next step?”“Well, since we’ll likely have a bit of time before he responds, why don’t we go ahead and move forward with our plan to save Han?’ She said.“Sounds good. Chewie said Lando was already in position.” Luke agreed.“Let’s move.” She said._________All things considered this was the smoothest one of her plans had ever gone, Leia thought, mind-tricking the simple slave-minder as she tucked her lightsaber into the lining of the skimpy dance-girl outfit. Han owed her big time for this, but she’d collect later. For now there was a slimy slug to gut and friends to rescue.Luke caught her look and they leapt into action. He managed to blast her chains before Jabba dropped him into the rancor’s pit. Leia knew he’d be alright and sliced the filthy Hutt down to his true size then whirled on his sycophantic courtiers and guards. Half-were fleeing for their lives sowing even more chaos and making it nearly impossible for Jabba’s guards to reach her. She grinned and somersaulted over their heads towards Chewie and the others. Luke came out of the pit, only mildly dusty.“I told you to keep your saber on hand.” Leia smirked, picking bits of bone and other detritus out of his hair.“Yeah, yeah. I know.” Luke slapped her hand away, shaking himself off like a shaggy maned Loth-cat. “Where are R2 and 3P0?”“Have you heard an explosion?” She said. “If not? Just wait and then follow the sounds of chaos and you’ll find R2-D2. And if you find R2…”“You’ll find 3P0.” Luke chuckled as muffled rumbling issued from deep inside the palace. “But I don’t think we’ll have to find them.” He tipped his head toward the long hall.“You might be right.” Leia strained her hearing. “Everyone hit the deck.” She snagged Han’s arm and jerked him down onto the grime-coated floor. Just in time for R2’s pilfered and armoured sand-skiff to come blasting into the throne room. Everyone scattered and dove for cover as 3P0 blasted away while his counterpart steered the skiff in erratic circles.“Alright, let’s go.” Luke said, jumping up onto the skiff and helping Chewie and Lando put the blind Han into it.Once they were settled, Leia hopped up herself and reignited her lightsaber, helping Luke deflect the remaining guards blaster-fire away from their friends. Luke grinned. Leia had to grin back. This was just like old times. Well, almost._________“So is anyone gonna fill me in on what I’ve missed these past few months?” Han asked, blinking away the residual spots from his vision as he focused in on the hilt on Leia’s hip.“There will be time for all of that later.” Leia pecked his cheek as she strode past him towards the Falcon’s cockpit.Han gaped. He whipped his head around to his furry first-mate. “You saw that right?”Chewie barked, ruffling his friend’s hair as he marched past to join Leia in the cockpit. Lando just shrugged when Han’s attention again returned to him. Han rubbed his still warm cheek.“Are you all at set, Luke?” Leia hailed him and R2 in the shuttle she and Luke had taken to Tatooine.“Affirmative.” He said.“Alright, we’ll see you at the rendezvous.” She said, running through the Falcon’s pre-flight checklist.“May the Force be with you, Leia.” He returned already lifting off the sandy ground into the upper atmosphere.“Clear skies, Luke.” She signed off, finishing her own warm-up, the Millennium Falcon rose into the sky.Luke’s ion-trail winked out as he leapt to hyperspace. Leia double-checked the coordinates and sent them hurtling after him. They’d opted not to return to the fleet just yet, as to have the opportunity to bring Han and Chewie up to speed on all that had happened and Luke and Leia’s schemes. He’d likely not receive it very well, so they had selected a nice quiet and isolated world. About as isolated as it got without leaving the known galaxy. At least, that was Luke’s description of the planet. And this universe’s Luke had lived the majority of his life on the galaxy’s arm-pit, otherwise known as Tatooine.