Star Wars: Edge of Hope

Chapter Thirty One: All Together At Last...

Back on Naboo, Leia is sitting on the edge of her bed once again, she can feel the tired weariness settling in her bone. But as she gently caresses the emblem on the medal the feelings of happiness come back to her in rushing waves. A world and a lifetime away she can see them in her minds eye and feel them in her heart. She feels their presence, but also...the absence. Incomplete...as she cannot hold them in her arms, not know the sound of his voice as she holds him close and kisses his hair as she used to. Leia had always known this moment would come to her. There are limits to the allowances of the Force and places where it is not permitted to hold sway. Since the moment she'd heard Dr. Kalonia tell her the diagnosis. Since she'd been told the limits it would place on her as a leader, and of course the stretch of weeks or days she had remaining. Leia had seen this moment play out in her minds eye. But it was never the same as she saw it the first time, and now she feared she'd gotten it all wrong. Because this moment was never what she'd seen, what she'd felt as her way, as her ending, but sometimes we must accept...there are somethings that you can't fight. Something's cannot be out run or put off until a later moment when you're ready for them...some things just are...And the Balance of them is what holds onto us as we slip away into whatever awaits us next. Truth, there are no endings...only continuings...only the memories and the moments in between them where we find ourselves in awe of our story. And those whom have shared it with us. Leia sits traveling back in time and through the collection of her memories. Waiting....

Luke steps away from Padme, Shmi walks towards the archway of the Temple and takes him by the hand. They pause only momentarily lovingly gazing at their family as they fade from view into the white light beyond. Anakin comes over beside Padme as she looks on, her eyes no longer the deep brown earth, but the blue of the sweeping sea as it rushes in to caress the shore. Waiting...together...
But they aren't the only one that feels something shifting in the Force. Who senses a fading of the Light from their world, Rey continues talking among Ben and Obi-Wan, but as she looks around she can't see Luke anywhere. She can't find him...can't sense him...but she can feel her reaching out across the chasm of space to connect to them all. Rey can sense her waiting for something as it hangs in the air around her. As she lets herself fade farther and farther in the background of their conversation...Rey moves closer to Ahsoka where she sits on the edge of the mosaic. Her hands and arms are folded as if in deep concentration. She barely notices Rey standing in front of her looking a her trying to reach into her mind and see what she sees.

Ahsoka: It's very rude to go peeking into someone's head without permission or invitation. Just to be clear...

Rey: Where's Luke? He was here just a moment ago and so was...Shmi. But now they're...

Rey's voice trails off away from her. When she looks across the room into Padme's face she knew. Rey could feel herself breaking like the ice flows in the wintery seas of Ilum. She could feel the chill of death approaching stalking across Leia's body as her arms fell slack at her sides. Rey looked at Ahsoka who could only fight the quivering in her lips, the curl upwards of her chin, and return to her meditation.

Rey: It's Leia, isn't it? They left to go to Leia.

Ahsoka: Leia's responsiblity was to prepare you for the life ahead of you. Everything has its time and it's place, Rey, even death. A very wise friend of ours once told us...

"Death is a natural part of Life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them. Do not. Miss them. Do not."

As Yoda's voice fades from Rey's mind as if it had been living there the entire time just waiting for it's moment to reveal itself. She looked away to Padme and Anakin, then to Obi-Wan, and she knew what she had to do. Reunions...bringing those she loved past pains and past fears that had kept them apart. As Obi-Wan had told her....it was her gift...their gift.