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After talking to Ben, Luke had decided to go to the Jedi Temple and practice some of his lightsaber forms, working off some of the energy that had built up with a full night of sleep and a healing trance besides. As well as to calm his mind, keep it focused; he had the sense that they were standing on the brink, watching the storm come swiftly in, and knew that he and the other Jedi would need to get together and work things out, checking in with all of them.

Focus. Feel the Force, let it flow through you.

His green blade sliced through the air, leaving glowing trails behind, concentrating on those first teachings Obi-Wan had given to him on the Falcon, many years ago. And gradually, Luke slipped into a sort of trance, the Force wrapping around him and supporting every simulated parry, every practiced strike.

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His son was married, to a woman he loved-- not that she loved him back, but his son was in love. He should really only be three years old, babbling while tugging at Padme's elaborate gowns and...

His thoughts went on in this direction for some time as he admired the scenery quietly.

"It is a stunning venue," he finally said, quietly. "I am glad you chose to place the event outdoors. It gives us a...connection...in that aspect."

"Well... we really had two ceremonies," Luke clarified. "One for the Jedi, and one for the rest of the galaxy." He snorted, but the expression on his face was very fond. "It was supposed to be a small ceremony."

"What business do they have, intruding on the most intimate moment of your entire life?" Vader asked, giving one tree a very poisonous look. "They had no right to any of your privacy, it belongs to you alone..."

And me he thought, if not aloud. The entire Galaxy could attend my son's wedding and I could not

"It is almost a boon Padme and I were spared that."

"Well, we didn't mind." Luke sat on a fallen log. "When she came down the aisle, she was the only thing I could see."

"And I am sure she was...a vision," Vader replied, slowly. It's clear he's no longer thinking about Mara Jade- not when he's in this good of a mood.

As if to confirm any onlooker's suspicions, an image of an elegant brunette woman in an elaborate lace gown flickered in and out behind Vader.

Luke saw the woman. She looked familiar, but she kept flickering so he couldn't get a clear look. "Who's that?"

She disappeared entirely for a moment as Vader started at the sight of his dead wife, but then- deciding his owed it to his son- brought her back, clear and solid as either of them.

"Your mother," he said, so softly it was barely audible. "Padme Amidala."

"I've only seen her in holorecordings and historical records," Luke said quietly, getting up and going over closer to the apparition of his mother. Too many emotions swirled around his chest and mind right now, and all the Jedi techniques in the world wouldn't soothe them.

"She looks like Leia," he said.

"She does, indeed," Vader said, his heart clenching. He would not think about Padme in any depth at this moment, he would resist--

--the hologram flickered again, and Padme's serene expression was replaced by angry, desperate tears. Without warning, she returned, beaming and glowing.

Luke stepped back in surprise, looking at Vader, but decided if it happened again he would ask about it. "Is this how she looked when you two got married?"

"Indeed," he replied, and reached out a hand to touch her-- but drew away before his fingers met the hologram.

"By her home on the lake, on Naboo. We were both young...it was the the eve of the Clone Wars," he added.

"Naboo..." Luke made a mental note of the planet. "Can I see it?"

No. No one may go there. It is preserved forever...

It was selfish to think in such a manner. This was his son, to whom he had sworn to give everything. Slowly, the forest around them changed into a stone patio overlooking a lake touched with the hues of a sunset- beyond the pinkish waters were waving fields of long grass, waterfalls, and unbroken sky.

"We were very young," Vader remarked, unable to take his eyes off of Padme. "Perhaps too young, at nineteen."

"Wow, this place is beautiful!" Luke turned in a circle, smiling. "I've never been here, but when we go home I'm going to come for a visit. You both were nineteen?"

"Your mother was the Queen of Naboo when we met," Vader said, wrapped in his memories. "She was older than me...twenty-four, and a Senator when we were married."

"It is for the best that the war did not touch Naboo-- the Emperor was born here, and as his home planet it was kept more or less...preserved."

Vader had not been back.

"The Emperor was from here too?" Luke rested his hands on the balustrade bordering the patio. "I didn't know that. A lot of the records about him have been scrubbed."

"Indeed," Vader answered, "though he spoke little of it to me. He lived in Theed, the capitol city, while Padme's heart was happiest among her people...and here."

Luke turned again to look at the woman who stood there, smiling benignly at them. He knew the sensoriums could only rely on the memories and will of the person conjuring things up. He wondered if this was how his mother had actually looked, or if it was some kind of romanticized approximation--the shining, perfect memory that Vader held up.

"Leia remembers her, a little. Just feelings mostly," Luke said. "I don't at all."

"That is...odd," Vader said, heavily. "Odd, and...exceptionally unfortunate. It should not be so."

He was close to going off on another tangent- he had given everything for them to be together, why was it that even know they were divided by time and by loyalties?

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