Legacy of the Force Bound (Anakin Skywalker X reader 2)

Chapter Nine

OKARIUS

(Y/n)'s pov

"Sorry I don't have more to offer the pair of you, we don't exactly get many visitors," I said as I set the trap of steaming cups on the iron-oak table. Padmr and Fives huddled on the small sofa opposite, either so close for warmth or just because our couch was that tiny. They didn't seem uncomfortable though, a welcome sign as my fingers continued to twitch at my side.
"Don't worry, this is more than enough to fend off the cold," Padme said in the cheery way I could only recall in my dreams. My shoulders relaxed a little. She hadn't changed, that was nice given everything that had happened. I can't help but think of Kira, that little girl I'd loved so much. Loved like my own. I can see the blue-green of her eyes and it clenches my heart...and blurs the corners of my eyes.
"Yeah, after trudging through the snow all the way out here, this is a great relief," Fives chuckled, the corners of his eyes wrinkling as he did. His skin has turned tawny over the years, sun-spotted in places with flecks of grey to his hair. They must've slowed his aging somehow, even Anakin has flecks of speckled grey now and-
"Angel? You good?" Anakin whispered by my ear and I tensed. His hand covered mine before I could spill my brew.
"Right, yes, sorry, zoned out;" I say quickly and offer a small smile to our old friends. "It really is wonderful to see you both, I'm sorry I'm a little flakey, tired, that's all," I say and the lie comes out so smooth I almost believed it myself. Anakin squeezed my hand and I realised for a heart clenching moment he didn't believe it. Standing and leaves his hand behind, I offered another smile.
"I'll go whip up some lunch, I hope you like fish," I chuckled and turned for the door. Anakin's eyes caught mine for a second, but I blocked him out before he could ask anything. He could worry later. In fact, I could worry later.
I still feel them. It's tricky now of course, my connection with the force isn't nearly what it once was. But I do feel them. My children, my son and daughters. I've been told they're doing incredibly, and it makes me smile to think of the people they've become. It also makes my heart clench, knowing I wasn't there to guide them.
I set the smoked fish and thistle soup on a tray and start carrying it back towards the sitting area. Then I stopped.
"...how's she doing?" Padme asked in hushed voice that made me instantly quiet down my breathing.
"She's...doing better," Anakin replied an equally as quieted voice.
"I bet, I mean...we only heard what happened, sounded like the empire did quite the number of her," Fives added and I swallowed thickly. My arms burnt and the blood in my veins stopped moving as it remembered what those days had been like. The breath hitched in the back of my throat, and I swore for a second the world spun. I braced one hand to the wall.
"Yeah...she won't even tell me everything, but I know Darth IAr kept her on force suppressors, so...
"She could see or feel anything through the force..." Padme finished with a somber air. I gripped the wall a little tighter.
"Yeah...that's about right." Anakin replied and I could picture the grimace across his face perfectly. I nearly turned back around, headed back to the kitchen to pretend nothing was wrong .
Even I can't pull off that lie though.
Anakin seems to though. He laughs and smiles like nothing ever happened. I can almost believe him when he says 'it'll be okay'. Almost, but not quite. His eyes aren't as blue as they used to be. I used to see endless skies when I looked at him, sunny days to come. Now I only see stormy seas and broken dreams. I don't think he realises my sight has returned again slowly, because he only smile when we're nose to nose. If I told him though, I don't think I'd ever see the truth of his heart.
We are both broken, but we must continue on...
"...you know why we're here yes? You go a letter too?" Padme asked, leaning her elbows to her knees and helping me serve of the scraps of food we'd survived on for years. My chest clenches as she mentions the letter. I can recall every word scrawled in the writing of my old student.
"Yes, we got one each, a partial coordinate and a date," Anakin replied with a nod. There was a rustle of paper as he retrieved said letter from his pocket. Padme sat back, her hands held out to Fives, who reached into the pocket of his heavy coat, and retrieved their two letters. As I saw them, my throat tightened.
Ari. She should never have had to die for this stupid galaxy.
I sat myself beside my husband, and kept my hands in my lap and Padme and Anakin pushed plates to the edge of the rickety table and made room for the three single sheets of paper.
"Okay...this isn't helpful, how do you know which numbers go first?" Padme mumbled, a crease between her dark eyes. As she adjusted herself though I realised the crease didn't go away. Right, we're not the bright eyed heroes we once were. I sipped my tea and watched Fives move to kneel on the floor.
"Could be a cypher? Captain Dice always talked about how Commander Shimara loved using Porg code to hide messages to her friends," he suggested picking up one of the scribbled letters. I remembered those notes, little missives asking for candy and cookies. Those were triangular marking though. The letter before us were all numbers and letters on ageing paper.
"It's not Porg code...and Ari was number one for mathematical Cyphers..." Anakin mumbled, his shadow passing over mine as he pictured up a different letter and held it up. One of the sun lamps illuminated behind the page, my eyes narrowed and I found myself leaning in just a little.
"Nah, the little commander was more into picture then-
My hand shot out and grasped round Anakin's wrist. It's probably the quickest I've moved in months. I don't even process that though, I just stare up the page as I realisation sets in.
"...Fives. You and the boys got Ari and Ahsoka invisible ink for Life Day yeah?" I asked without tearing my eyes off the page. The room remained quiet for a moment, then Fives cleared his throat with a slight chuckle.
"Uh. Yeah, the little menaces drew all over the ship, even on our helmets," he recalled rather fondly. I nodded and reached for a second sheet.
"What is it love?" Anakin asked quietly, continuing to keep his hand elevated.
"What if it's not coordinates? What if she drew a map?" I said slow, considering the improbability of my own words. It was a long shot, but you know what we say about the odds.
"Ah! Look, there's two quarters of a circle that join at the bottom halves of these pages." My eyes tracked down and sure enough as she held it up I noticed the half circle. Rambling over Anakin's knees to get a little closer, I quintet at the yellow edged pages.
"Anakin-
"On it," he replied before I needed to truly ask and handed me the paper. A moment later, the lantern unhooked itself from its hook, the light flickering as it hovered down behind the three sheets of paper. Scotches and radiant lines with angular etching I could recognise instantly.
"Star systems..." I whispered and traced the familiar lines id carved into bed-posts as a kid.
"Does anyone recconise it?" Padme asked and looked around the table as I stood and pushed the mall table aside with a rattling shove Anakin had to steady with the force.
"Rex made me study all sorts of maps when we travelled with the general, but I've never seen a system like this..." Fives replied but I barely heard. The stars and moons flowed before me, a quarter of the centre circle still missed a single quarter. I drew my eyes away from that missing page and back to the stars we could see. Their droning faded to the low tones of of the Okariun landscape beyond.
'I know these symbols' I think to myself and trace the lines. Angles and circles, orbital paths and...
"It's star script! Ari wrote the message in Star script!" I suddenly exclaimed and seemed to startle even Anakin by the way the lantern flickered in its force-held position. My heart leapt and for the first time I'd felt like it could be from joy. My mother daughter me star script - one of the lost languages of Okarius, she was one of the last people to know the language. It was never thought important enough to be remembered in the archives. As I recall that, I feel three sets of mindlessly blinking at me.
"Star-script," I said again as I turned to face them. "The ancient language of the wanderers, first language of the settlers beyond the outer rim?" I say and look from Fives, to Padme, to Anakin, then back. I sigh and ran my fingers through my hair as I figured out what to say next. I paused and thought long and hard, the question arising as to how Ari may have come to learn the language: she hated language. My chest tightened and I spluttered on my words. "It's a lost language, travellers would create maps of compiled locations, ones that didn't make logical sense but...if pull together the second letters of every pictorial, you'll find a hidden message, which here should be a location," I tapped the centre three quarters of a circle as I spoke, the third quarter burning in my pocket. I shook my head and pointed to on of the blotchy circles with a single dot to its side.
"That, doesn't it look like old dislocations of Alderran?" I pointed out and tried my best to ignore how the letters burn was spreading to my heart.
"She's right...before we converted to common star maps, the interior patterns there were used as the first classification of Alderaan, and there," padme poked another of the scattered patterns, this time from her letter, "and there; that's the original sign for the Coruscant system, back when it was part of a constellation, a planet yet to be born - and there-
"Oh my force - that's Hoth! I remember seeing it when stranded there nine months ago," Fives pointed out on his own letter. This time is was Anakin's turn to move. He tapped his finger to the edge of his letter.
"That's Tatooine," he said simply. One by one, there's eyes turns to me. The burn in my pocket intensified. I swallowed and gave the slightest of shrugged-off smiles.
"Guess it's just mine left now, huh?" I said, quieted the race of my heart. Ari's first letter had almost killed me twenty years ago, for all I knew, then one could finish me off. I reached into my pocket and just kept my eyes on the map. We needed the last piece, we needed to know where our final destination lay, we only had hours to get there. Anakin's hand wrapped over mine, giving it a light squeeze as it shook. I tried to give him a smile, and slid the letter out my pocket.
"Here we go..." I mumbled, and felt myself transported back to one of the worst days of my life.