*** Chapter Twenty-Six***

Padme's funeral was as sad as it was beautiful. Her large pregnant belly was prominently displayed in her glass casket. Nearly the entire planet turned out to watch her funeral procession, including a small contingent of Gungans who are so rarely seen planet side. Padme as well as the child still in her womb laid in state in the palace for nearly a week and the line never ended. Her grave remains a popular memorial to the Queen to this day.

The Life and Times of Amidala, the People's Queen, By: Softa Jiane, Oralist and Historian

It had been nearly a week since the House of Madden fell. The New Republic declared martial law while investigating the internal politics of Naboo, what was believed to be a stable was so obviously not. Leia has been asked to stay on as the temporary head, likely to last a few months until the government and be turned over to the people of Naboo.

The New Republic had commandeered a series of squat, industrial buildings formally vacant in order to run the government. Both the palace and the House of Madden were seen as too politically charged to act as host. The New Republic dignitaries were sent home without fanfare, this planet was not yet ready to enter the New Republic and it may not be for a very long time. Likely, the New Republic will help the planet hold a new election for a new queen and then leave once it has been determined there is no intergalactic threat.

Leia was sitting in her office when she hears a knock on the door. She looked up and surprised to see commander Erickson. "Come in." She said curtly.

"Your highness," Erickson gave a quick nod.

"Commander, what can I help you with?" Leia asked.

"I just wanted to tell you that I am resigning."

"I'm sorry to hear that, you are a good solider, even if you do have an attitude problem." Leia smiled as if she were attempting to channel her secondary school headmistress.

"Thanks, but I think it's time, working with you and Skywalker, I realized that I am here for the wrong reasons. You have given yourselves so fully to this cause. So have many people in the New Republic and they do so in a way that've I never seen or heard off. You truly believe in this cause, and while I wish you no harm, I cannot commit the way you can."

"I appreciate both your service and your honesty." Leia said as dismissal.

"Thank you."

Luke walks into the Oralist center and checked in at circulation. "I have an appointment with Palak Ramy." He stated.

The man at the circulation desks presses a small button and a moment later Palak came out. They walked toward her office together.

"What story can I tell you today?" Palak asked.

"How about the Attack on Naboo?" Luke asked.

"Really, how about one you weren't part of?' Palak smiled.

Luke smiled back; this was nice. Luke probably did not have a future with Palak, but he had made a friend on a this planet. A planet that was both his and not his all at the same time.

Luke and Leia arrived at Padme's grave at sunset. Even with the events the last few days, there were a few other people paying respects, but they were far enough away that they would not be able to hear their conversation.

Leia ran her hand over the stone marker, it's larger, taller than she is. Her breath hitches, there are a lot of emotions in this moment. She thinks about the fact that she will never be able to do this with her real parents, their resting place will always be in the cold expanse of space. But she also mourns the mother she never got a chance.

Luke looks off in the distance, something is bothering him. Leia can tell, he had always been easy to read, though maybe that ease she has always felt is just the connection they share through the force, unrealized for years.

Luke looked towards her. "Leia, there is something I need tell you. I never fully explained what happened on the second death star."

Leia looked at him tentatively, he's not talked about what transpired there. She's never pushed.

"Vader, Anakin, our father…." Luke stopped and looked at his sister to gauge her reaction. Her face was blank, she was trying hard to not show her emotion, Luke needed to tell her this and he could not let her disgust about Vader get in the way.

"He saved me, that was his final act." Luke said and then launched in the entire story on what happened on the second death star. What the emperor tried to do and what Anakin Skywalker did to save his son.

"Oh Luke, he still did so many bad things, to me, to Han, to you…" Luke involuntarily flexeed his mechanical right hand.

"Not just that," Leia reposnds to his hand, "but your Aunt and Uncle, Ben, the long, long list of friends we lost in the war, the fact you even felt you needed to go to the Death Star. Look, I'm glad he saved you, but I don't think I can forgive him."

Luke was defeated, this is exactly why he had held off telling Leia for so long, they she would not accept their father the way he was able to.

"Leia, he was good though, he died good…" Luke nearly begged her to believe.

"I know, I know, I believe you, I believe he did, I just, I don't think I can forgive him, at least not right now."

Luke nodded and then looked toward his mother's grave. Leia wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

They read the inscription on the marker, "Here lies Queen Amidala and her child. They are meant to remain together for eternity."

And for a long while they stand there, neither talking but both perhaps wondering what it would been like to know this woman, the person who gave the life.

A note on this story.

First off, holy shit, I finished it. I started this story back in September of 2018 and wrote the first 49,500 words in the course of a month, I got to the point where there was at blockade made random ships and Han made a dangerously made a jump through Hyper speed, both of these items were featured in ROS which came out nearly a year after I had written this part, so that's cool. Since no one read this pre 2020, It's my word against the obvious. The scene where a bunch of random ships turned up on ROS was not exactly appreciated by me.

Why did I stop at 49,500 words when I only had another 7,000 to go, I had to write a space battle and I had no idea how.

I am not sure how long some iteration of this story has been in my head, but it is likely dates back to the poor my reception Joiner King Where Luke and Leia get a very short snippet of their mother. It's not the Joiner King's Fault, the old legacy canon had a lot of book before they even had a mother. I attempted to write a short story where Luke and Leia just go to Naboo and find out who their mother is, but it needed more structure, so I challenged myself to write a Star Wars novel: Here are the rules if you want to give it a try:

In this novel, I made rules that seemed to apply to most Star Wars Novel. 1. The characters had to go to multiple planets, I did a lot of this work with Han's travels. 2. There had to be a space battle (Which derailed this project for a long time, I do not like writing space battlers) 3. There had to be shifting points of views, not something in all Stars Wars novels, but surely in most. 4. It had to be mostly canon, I think get pretty close to the New Canon as there is not a ton of detail as to what our original main characters are doing in this time period, but it is a bit outside of the old Legacy canon.

Also, I very much want constructive criticism. If you would prefer not to leave a review, please feel free to PM me. I understand writing a ton of well thought out criticism is a lot to ask and would just as much appreciate a rating on 1-5 on the following rating scale (allowance for desperate need of a copy editor/ Beta Appreciated)

5- If I bought this for $3 in a used book store, I would feel I got my money's worth

3- A decent fic, but you need moderate work in one or more of the following areas- Plot, Style, Dialogue, characterization, canon material, action, etc.

'1- This is essentially the Star Wars Equivalent of "My Immortal" please never write fanfiction or anything else creative ever again.

I want to thank everyone who reviewed, liked, followed and the person who added me to a community. Whenever I got one these things it truly made my day.

Finally, I want to include an acknowledgment section. No one read this before I posted, so if anyone wants to be my Beta for next one , let me know. I do want to thank people who will never read this. The first is Rainbow Rowell for writing Fangirl, I wish this book had been around when I was in college, it would have made things so much, either way, this book made my Fanfiction habit a little more legitimate. If you are on the site and have not read Fangirl, run, don't walk to your local bookstore. The second person I want to thank is Dave, I don't actually know Dave, but he wrote my favorite piece of Fanfiction of all times, It's Star Wars and it's over 20 years old. It was still kind of current when I first read it. I've probably read it a dozen times over the years and it is just as beloved as some of my favorite paper backs, here the link : s/277285/1/Blood-Relatives (Please note, the link where you can print the word portion of his stories is no longer available).One more note on Dave, I used to read a lot Fanfiction, mainly Harry Potter but that was nearly 15 years ago. I cannot tell you anything about anything I read on this site back in those days, but Dave's story forever sticks with me. Finally, I want to thank Francesca Zappia for her book Eliza and Her Monsters which I picked up while I was looking for inspiration for the final few chapters and not fully appreciate what it was about. I read it in one sitting and it may be the reason I was able to finish this fic.

Please feel free to criticize, I need it to grow.

MJetkind