Part 24 (1/2)

Finally, Ben asked, ”Was that ...was that a Force ghost?”

Luke thought for a moment, then simply shrugged. ”I have no idea, Ben.” He turned back toward the woman in the mist and motioned for Rhondi to continue, ”But whatever it was, it was him.” him.”

Rhondi started forward again, and, despite Anakin's warning, Ben knew better than to try to convince his father to turn back. Whoever-whatever-that woman in the mist was, she was a part of what was threatening his Order, the Order that Anakin had died to protect, and Luke Skywalker was not going to turn back until she told him what she knew.

They continued onward for more than Ben had thought the distance to the woman was was-another hundred paces at least. Then his father lurched forward, his front leg suddenly dropping to the thigh in the dark water.

”Dad!” Ben grabbed him by the arm and was nearly pulled in after him, then he caught them both in the Force and lifted them back onto the path that Rhondi had chosen for them. ”Are you all right?”

Instead of answering, his father merely looked into the water. For one terrible instant, Ben feared that he hadn't been quick enough, that some part of his father's essence had already vanished into the Depths of Eternity.

Then Ben saw what his father was looking at.

When Ben had spotted Anakin's face below the surface, he had felt astonished, confused, even frightened. This time, he just hurt. ”Mom?” hurt. ”Mom?” he gasped. he gasped.

His mother's green eyes snapped open. She floated to the surface, looking neither happy nor confused, but worried. Frightened. Maybe even angry.

Her gaze snapped from Ben to Luke and back again. ”You two shouldn't be here,” here,” she said. ”What's the matter with you?” she said. ”What's the matter with you?”

Ben couldn't answer. He had a lump in his throat the size of his fist, and the words just wouldn't come. But to his astonishment, his father merely smiled and dropped back into a squat.

”h.e.l.lo, Mara,” he said. ”It's good to see you.”

Her expression softened. ”You, too, Skywalker,” she said. ”But I'm serious. You can't be-”

”We're fine,” fine,” Luke a.s.sured her. Luke a.s.sured her.

”Not if you're here, you're not.” Her mouth tightened with a sudden wave of horror. ”You're not-”

”We're alive, Mara, on a mission.” Luke glanced around the lake, then added, ”One of the strangest ones I've ever had, but we're still working it. Can you tell me what this place is, exactly?”

”I told you,” the Givin rasped from behind Ben. ”The Lake of Apparitions.”

”Not what he meant, bonehead,” Ben said, his irritation jolting him out of his shock. ”Hi, Mom. Uh ... long time, no see.”

The wisecrack finally brought back the radiant smile that Ben had been aching to see again for nearly three years now. ”Ben! You've grown ...and more than just taller.”

Ben nodded and squatted next to his father. ”In a lot of ways.”

He longed to lean down and kiss his mother's watery cheek, or at least to reach out and touch it. But she was only a reflection, and he did not dare risk it, fearing that he might shatter the moment, or send her sinking back beneath the surface.

Instead he asked, ”Mom, what can you tell us about this place? It's pretty weird.”

”You're talking to a dead woman, Ben. Of course it's weird.” She looked away for a moment, thinking, then shook her head. ”I don't know what I can tell you. It's different for everyone, I imagine.”

”And for you?” his father asked.

”For me, it's a place of reflection,” she said. ”To consider what I've done.”

Luke's brows rose, alarmed, but also in pain. ”Mara, are you suffering?”

”I've done some things that cause me anguish, yes,” she said.

Luke shook his head. ”But you didn't know better,” he said. ”Palpatine tricked you.”

Mara gave Luke a sad smile and looked as though she would have liked to touch him as much as Ben would have liked to touch her.

”I made my peace with Palpatine a long time ago. You know that.” She turned to Ben. ”But I didn't serve him my whole life, and that has been both my blessing and my curse.”

Ben frowned. ”Mom, I don't understand.”

”Jacen,” she said simply. ”I didn't go after him as a Jedi, Ben. I went after him as a hunter ... a killer.”

Ben felt like he had been stabbed in the heart. ”But he was a Sith Lord!”

”Not when I went after him,” she said. ”And you know that wasn't why I did it.”

Ben sank onto his haunches. Had his father not grabbed him by the arm, he would have fallen into the water. Because he did did know. His mother had gone after Jacen because of what Jacen was doing to know. His mother had gone after Jacen because of what Jacen was doing to him him, because Ben had been too ashamed to share the truth with his father, and he had asked his mother to keep his secret.

”Mom, I'm so sorry,” he said. ”It's all-”

”It isn't isn't, Ben, and I'm not telling you this because I need your sorrow.” She smiled up at him. ”I'm a bit beyond that now, don't you think?”

Ben forced himself to return her smile. ”Yeah, I guess.”

”I want you to learn from what I did, Ben. It's not the result that counts, but the action.” Her eyes grew hard and angry, then she said, ”Jacen's goals were n.o.ble; he acted for the good of the galaxy. But his acts were horrific, and nothing can change that. Even if he did did bring peace to the galaxy, the stain remains, and it will darken him for eternity. Do you understand that?” bring peace to the galaxy, the stain remains, and it will darken him for eternity. Do you understand that?”

The lump had returned to Ben's throat, so large and hard now that he could only barely croak a simple ”Yes.”

”It's not about the legacy you leave, it's about the life you live,” she continued. ”Remember that, live live by that.” by that.”

”I'll remember, Mom. I promise.”

”Good.” His mother's hand rose and touched the surface of the water, a prisoner trying to reach through the wall of a transparisteel cell. ”That's ”That's what I need from you, Ben. If you do that, I what I need from you, Ben. If you do that, I will will be at peace. That's my promise.” be at peace. That's my promise.”

She started to sink. ”Now go.”

”Mara,” Luke said. ”Wait.”

”You don't have time.” She stopped sinking, and only her lips remained at the surface. ”Forget her.”

Luke glanced toward the woman in the mist, but said, ”That's not what I wanted to-”

”Luke, I know,” Mara said. ”But she's one of the old ones. Leave her alone ...trust me.”

Luke shook his head. ”I can't,” he said. ”Not yet.”

”Then there's nothing I can do,” she said. ”I love you, Luke. But if you have to do this, may the Force be with you.”

With that, she closed her eyes and sank beneath the surface.