Sorry for the long delay in posting this. I was stuck in a funk for awhile, then got distracted, then had a broken computer. Here is the last chapter to Shroud of the Shadow though, and I hope you all enjoy it. I sincerely thank everyone who had read this story that I have so enjoyed writing, and I am eternally grateful to all that took the time to respond and review the story. Finally, I would like to thank God, the true Force of our lives, for giving me the inspiration and the ability to start and continue to the end this tale.
Epilogue-Legends
The stars shone brightly in the dark Naboo sky. Brighter than usual, thought Padme, because they shone with the light of freedom. It was too bad though, she reasoned, that this freedom they thought they had gained was still nothing more than an illusion. Because of the existence of her, and her title. That would all change though. The Empress would see to it. A whole military had to be disarmed. Imperial Governors had to be peaceably removed. A Senate had to be reformed.
Empress Padme's most daunting challenge yet, however, had been her own allies. The Senators she especially called out to return and serve the Empires were the same ones who had risked life and limb opposing it. She was making inroads into their faith and loyalty though. Her smartest move so far was when she adroitly appointed her most vocal and credible opposition to the highest positions. Bail Organa was now the Chancellor of the Senate, and Mon Mothma held the title of Imperial Minister with the task of reaching out to and helping the thousands of worlds that had been damaged by the Empire under Palpatine. Both of them sat on the newly created Imperial Council, whose task was to hold in check the ultimate power held by the Empress. Many actions, including the declaration of war and the deployment of the military, had to be approved by the Council and not just the Empress alone.
It was not a perfect system yet, concluded Padme, but perhaps one day it will be. Padme hoped that she herself would not be a roadblock in that certain course of events.
The flames burned passionately in front of them, and as they burned Anakin felt the flames of his own heart fade into idleness. It was a lonely end to a former Emperor and Supreme Chancellor, but it was a better ceremony than most people felt that he deserved. They stood in a spot below the cliffs, and above them was a certain window in the Royal Palace of Theed. The Empress wore a simple and unadorned green dress that only dragged slightly behind her. Padme had insisted that she would never wear a physical crown, and for this occasion she let her wavy hair hang down naturally to her shoulders and beyond. Anakin, officially the Royal Consort, wore a newly tailored Nubian robe, the brightness of its blue hues almost rivaling the eyes of the one that wore it.
The royal couple stood side by side, arms around each other, and across from them on the other side of the pyre and the flames that engulfed the former Emperor stood Obi-Wan, still wearing the simple robes of the Jedi.
He never had a chance, Anakin thought. Some part of him would always hate the man that tried to make him a Sith Lord, but Anakin found it harder and harder to find his hate for a dead man. More than anything else he felt pity for something that could have been himself.
"He never had a chance." This time he said it out loud. Two heads turned.
"What do you mean," asked Obi-Wan from across the pyre.
"I'm lucky. The Force has given so much: a beautiful wife, two wonderful children, and the wisest mentor and best friend. It's given me every possible chance to look back on my life and my actions and to correct what I've done wrong." Anakin's stare melded with the fire that now consumed any traces of what used to be a human body. "But Palpatine, he never really had a choice. He was born and beaten into the shape of a Sith. He never really knew any other path."
"One cannot begin to interpret the ways of the Force, Anakin." It was appropriate, for as the words came out of his mouth Obi-Wan had to endure the relentless torment of confusion. He had not been in the Senate Chamber when Anakin stuck down the Sith Master. All he could depend on was hearsay, holo-net images, and vague tremors in the Force he felt as he pursued a meaningless mission. But even had he been at the site of the action Obi-Wan knew that the logical part of his mind would still not be able to interpret that day's extraordinary events.
There had been a great battle. He had seen that. Then Anakin's family was brought out. After that came the most troubling of all in Obi-Wan's mind. Anakin had attacked the Emperor with Sith Lightning, the most twisted of all the Dark Side techniques. But the Dark Side had not consumed Anakin. His old Padawan seemed to have shrugged the darkness off as if it were a minor inconvenience such as a slight fever. Though he puzzled over it, that paradox still held some comfort for Obi-Wan because he knew what had happened and he knew where he stood on the issue.
Now, he heard himself speak, "Perhaps the Force can even use the Dark Side as a means sometimes. That doesn't mean I approve of some of your methods, but it seemed to have worked. I would feel better though, Anakin, if we meditated on your use of the Dark Side, to truly clear our minds on the issue." To clear his mind, more than anything else. Anakin nodded respectfully towards his old matter, but Obi-Wan's mind was elsewhere.
For after the Sith Lightning everything else became a blur. The holo-net recordings showed only Anakin absorbing the lightning with no more ill effects than a gentle spring breeze would leave on a man's body. Then, nothing. Palpatine stood paralyzed, and Anakin silently approached and executed what seemed to be already a dead man.
Obi-Wan continued his words in an emotional, though not audio monotone: "But Palpatine, you seem to know more about him than I or anyone else in this galaxy could claim to know. I believe you when you tell me that he has suffered much in his life. But maybe his suffering had a purpose. Just as you used to Dark Side to fulfill your destiny, the Force used his pain and the pain he caused to purge the Galaxy once and for all of the Sith."
His words were not premeditated, but Obi-Wan had the sudden revelation that he had somehow stumbled upon the linings of a greater and more powerful truth. He still did not see the whole picture though. What the Force told him during that cryptic minute rivaled what he observed on the holo-net. Something was going on. But he surmised that even the wise Yoda would not be able to interpret whatever happened. It felt like to Obi-Wan that all the lines were blurred and all the barriers of the known universe had been shattered. It felt like the entire galaxy, the entire Force itself was gathered in a nexus point originating from a Senate chamber that he himself for some reason had been absent from. Even from the other side of the planet the Force swirled about him and howled at his ears. What truly terrified him was the lack of any boundaries. Light was dark, dark was grey, grey was light. Past, present, and future meshed together in an invisible painting in which Obi-Wan found himself trapped in and not even able to perceive the nearest horizons.
"Anakin," some part of his brain heard Padme say. "Don't worry about Palpatine. He is the past now. I pray that he will soon be a forgotten legend, existing only in the whispers of ghost stories that the fearful tell."
Obi-Wan Kenobi performed his own quiet inquisition. Why could he not perceive the Force anymore, or rather, the newer aspects of it? Was he doing something wrong? Had the Force passed him over? What did Anakin know, or feel, that Obi-Wan didn't?
"I think we'll be legends too," he heard Anakin confide to his wife.
The future seemed as uncertain as the recent present to Obi-Wan. The Jedi had always served the Senate and the Republic, that was true. It was his job to rebuild the Jedi now. That was a much more promising task than what he would have imagined even weeks ago. More and more survivors from the great purge turned up everyday as news of the great change was brought forth to their ears. They had even found some thirty Jedi Padawans in the Imperial dungeons. The young ones had suffered, but they would recover. The thought that Master Yoda was with them now reassured Obi-Wan. The wise one would certainly be able to counsel and comfort the young Jedi and help them rise above the darkness that they had just endured. The burden of the future did not rest solely on Obi-Wan's shoulders, but he found himself closest to the uncertainties. It was much better to have a benevolent Empress rather than a Dark Lord of the Sith ruling over the Galaxy, but Obi-Wan still questioned whether he, or more importantly, or any other Jedi would be able to acquaint themselves with their new role as servants of an Empire. That is, if the Empire still had any use for the sovereignty of the Jedi.
"What kind of legend do you fancy yourself as," he heard the Empress ask the Consort.
And what was Anakin these days? His old Padawan seemed determined to put to a halt the legacy of Anakin Skywalker the Jedi. Obi-Wan still could not stop caring for him as a student and a child. No matter what the circumstance, Obi-Wan told himself, he would always want the best for Anakin Skywalker. And that was his dilemma, wasn't it? Was Anakin better or worse than he had been before the recent harrowing events? Did his refusal to return to the Jedi signal a fall from grace and the light, or a transcendence into a larger world?
He heard Anakin answer a question, though regretfully, not his. "Years from now, Padme, they will speak of the Legend of Anakin Skywalker, loving husband and father."
Staring at the embracing couple through the translucent fire, Obi-Wan never felt a greater barrier between his old Padawan and himself. Perhaps the barrier was not one-sided, either. Anakin Skywalker did not seem to notice the presence of Qui-Gon Jinn staring menacingly down at Obi-Wan from the burning pyre. There was none of the warmth in the eyes of the man that Obi-Wan Kenobi had known as his old master and best friend.
"I am not Obi-Wan Kenobi," the spirit scolded with a harsh coldness that contrasted sharply with the burning flames from whence it came from. Obi-Wan then watched speechlessly his old mentor disappear into the dark night.
The End.
But not completely.
We will find out more about the reign of Empress Padme in the sequel to this story, "Purge of the Sith." Look for it on the boards here soon!