Playlist:

❶ "Distant Memories"—Titanic AST

⊘ Silence

While Naluma received her second massage a few days later, Luke attended the high afternoon tea held in the formal parlor on the main deck. Dressed in formal shirt and slacks, he joined an elderly lady and a girl in her twenties. They looked so similar in appearance, Luke knew they must be related.

The elderly lady waved her fan at him. "Welcome, young man. Please join us. You appear to be all alone, and I could use some friendly company."

He sat across from her. "Thank you. My wife is having a massage, and I wanted to meet some of the other passengers."

"I would have thought a young man like you would rather be in the casino or playing one of those rough and tumble sports," the sharp woman said with a nod. She sported an angular face and gray hair with many wrinkles. Luke was not positive, but he thought he recognized scars under her wrinkles.

"I'm not much of a gambler, and I prefer conversation to sports. My job is physically demanding. I like to relax on vacation."

"I am Sabé Jamella, and this is my granddaughter Cordé," she said holding out her hand for him to kiss it formally.

Luke stood and took her hand, following the tradition. He had seen this once in an old protocol vid, but the custom had not been followed since the Galactic Republic. "Jed Darklighter. It's a pleasure to meet you both."

He sat after greeting both ladies. Cordé poured tea for Luke and gave him a plate of sweet biscuits.

Sabé said, "It's a shame you're married. My granddaughter needs a mate."

"Nana," Cordé said in admonition, embarrassed.

"I'm sorry, I'm desperately in love with my wife, and she would kill me if I took another."

"A shame," Sabé said as she took her tea. She looked at Luke carefully, seeing something. It made the hair on the back of Luke's neck stand up. "You remind me of someone ... someone from my past."

Cordé placed her delicate hand on her grandmother's wrinkled one. "Nana, don't bother Mr. Darklighter anymore. You've already embarrassed him enough."

❶ "No, I know you. I've met you before. I'm sure of it," the old lady said, pulling her hand away from her granddaughter.

"Ma'am, I've never met you before. I would remember someone as beautiful as you. Besides, I'm from a rock of a planet in the Outer Rim. You would have never been there," Luke said.

"Tatooine?"

Luke jumped. "Have you been there?"

"Once, about fifty years ago. I was only a young girl ..." The old lady trailed off.

"Nana, the doctor said to let the past be in the past. This isn't good for you," Cordé said, pressing a cookie into her Nana's hand.

As Sabé ate her cookie, Cordé leaned over and whispered to Luke, "Try not to upset her. She was captured and tortured for twenty years by the Empire for sedition. Her mind is not what it used to be."

"Nonsense, Cordé. I may not remember what I ate for breakfast this morning, but I will never forget my Padmé. As I will never forget Cordé who gave her life for our Senator."

Luke dropped his cookie and jostled his china tea cup. "Padmé?"

"Yes, Senator Padmé Amidala of Naboo," Sabé said, her eyes narrowing in on Luke's face once again. "My dear Padmé ... I was a handmaiden to Queen Padmé Naberrie Amidala and continued in her service when she became a senator, until her death," the lady said, sitting up straighter in her seat, announcing that with pride.

"Tell me about her." He wondered if this Padmé could possibly be his mother. In all of his travels, he had never heard that name before.

"She was beautiful, strong, resilient, and compassionate." She smiled at Luke, remembering something. "At the age of fourteen she was elected to her first term as Queen of Naboo. It was at that time that the Trade Federation attacked our planet, surrounding it in a blockade. Two Jedi, a master named Qui-Gonn and a Padawan named Obi-Wan came to our rescue and helped us escape from the planet." Sabé narrowed her eyes at Jed's reaction when she mentioned the Jedi.

"We took some damage to the yacht, and all but one astromech droid was destroyed as we tried to escape. That little R2 unit saved our lives." Her eyes focused beyond Luke, her memories wandering. "Since I was the queen's decoy at the time, I ordered the queen to clean him."

Artoo? My Artoo? This Padmé must have been my mother. But when did she meet my father? Many questions raced through his head.

"Even though playing the decoy meant risking my life for my queen, sometimes it was entertaining. Watching the queen clean the little droid was one of them. To tell you the truth, Padmé would have cleaned him whether she was the queen or the handmaiden. She was eternally grateful to him and kept him by her side until her death. I wonder what ever happened to that droid," Sabé mused. "Must have been destroyed by now. But he was feisty. Some of the things he would say to that protocol droid they brought back from Tatooine with them, well, they weren't repeatable."

Luke smiled, covering his mouth with his hand as he remembered some of the off-color remarks R2 barraged 3PO with, all the time. "I can only imagine," Luke said. "What did she look like? Queen Padmé."

"Why, she looked like me, or I looked like her. That was the whole point of a decoy, you know." Sabé recognized confusion in his face. "I'm younger than I look, young one. This is what happens when the Empire tortures you for twenty years. Have you ever felt Force-lightning?"

At the mere mention of the word, the ozone smell assaulted him. He hadn't had an episode in years, but he could feel it on the edge of his awareness. He nodded absently while he took a few breaths and tried to calm himself.

Sabé continued, her hands trembling. "Not much. Merely one shock per day, every day, for nearly twenty years. Accused of treason for remaining loyal to my senator, I was Palpatine's toy. Even An—Vader could not stop him, though he tried a few times."

Luke jumped at that slip. She knows who Vader was.

Sabé looked again at him, touching his cheek, running her finger over the cleft of his chin. "If I didn't know better, I would say you are her child. You have his cleft here, those are his eyes, her cheeks, his smile, her compassion, his drive." Sabé removed her hand. "But that's impossible. Padmé died before childbirth. He killed her." Sabé broke down.

"Calm yourself, Nana. This won't help you. The doctor said to let these things go. What's in the past cannot hurt you. Let them go," Cordé said.

"My sweet Cordé," Sabé said, running her hand over her granddaughter's face. "You gave your all for her. But it was for nought. He killed her. He killed her."

Cordé stood up. "If you'll excuse us. I'm so sorry."

Luke stood and assisted Cordé as she moved Sabé back into her hover chair. "I'm sorry, Cordé. I didn't mean to upset her."

As they pushed the hover chair down the corridor to Sabé's stateroom, Sabé dozed off.

"I love Nana, but she's been through so much in her life. She's not the same woman she used to be. She looks eighty, but she's only sixty two. She speaks of the Force as if it were real, and the terrors in her mind frighten me. I'm sorry if she upset you, Mr. Darklighter."

"It's perfectly fine. I've spent a few years in the company of some elderly people. Their brains can be surprising." Luke smiled as he remembered his interactions with Master Yoda.

⊘ As Luke and Naluma were dressing for dinner, they received a call on their cabin's communicator.

"Mr. Darklighter?"

"Yes, Lady Sabé."

"Call me Sabé."

"Only if you call me Jed."

"Would you join Cordé and me for dinner tonight, Jed? I've just been informed that the other couple that sits at our table has moved to the first seating."

"What about the couple coming from the first seating? Won't they need to sit at your table?"

"Of course not. They can sit at yours."

Luke thought about the arrogant couple and the computer techs contrasted with the delightful conversation with Sabé and Cordé. "If you can work it out, Cami and I would be delighted."

"See you in a few minutes. I can't wait to meet your wife," Sabé said, sounding more cheerful than when he last saw her.

Naluma came out of the refresher and asked, "Who was that, and what will I be delighted with?"

"The elderly lady I had tea with. She wants us to join her table," he said, attempting to tie his cravat.

She took the tie in her hands and redid the knot. "Anything to get away from our table. I hope you said 'yes.'"

"Of course I did."

"There's something else, isn't there?"

"Yeah, she knew my mother ... and my father."

"Does she know who you are?"

"She suspects something, but her brain tells her it's impossible."

"Maybe you shouldn't have accepted the invitation."

"It'll be all right. The Force is in this."

Did you know . . .

● Luke was referring to Yoda and Obi-Wan when he was talking about spending time with the elderly.

● Sabé's capture and imprisonment by Palpatine is entirely my own creation. [non-canon]

Tell me what you think . . .

● Why do you think the Force wanted Luke to meet Sabé?

● What do you think will happen in the future now that Luke knows her?