Accismus⋆౨ৎ˚⟡.• Anakin Skywalker⋆౨ৎ˚⟡.•

88.

'Obi-wan,' Sol said after some time of silence. She looked across the kitchen to the man who stood with a hand to his beard and his free arm bent to support his opposing elbow. He hadn't said much since R2's display of Padme's transmission, and Sol knew that it was from hearing that Vader was aware of their presence in the galaxy.

'Please... give some sense to this barbaric suggestion,' she pleaded, gripping Leia that little bit tighter as she spoke. Obi-wan looked at her with stormy eyes. From one stare, Sol knew that Obi-wan would be useless for her cause.

'It's what I had feared from the very beginning,' he started. 'With my power combined with your replenishing strength, we are covering our signatures for now. But this one slip up has already alerted him more than we would have liked. 

I... I have to agree with Revan and Ahsoka. Having you three together is too identifiable in the Force. Vader is strong, and he'll now be looking for the three signatures that are so unbelievably light that the Emperor might even be aware of Luke and Leia's existence.'

The Emperor. How Sol dreaded to hear that man's title. The man who had clung to her nerves and worries ever since their meeting during the Republic, and had festered his way into her life. Emperor Palpatine was the man behind Vader, the Sith who plagued the man Sol loved. He had turned the father of Sol's children against everything they stood for, and Sol couldn't think of a person that she despised more than the Emperor of the Galactic Empire. The very fear and dread that sat in Sol and Obi-wan's stomachs was for the Emperor, which had transcended onto Vader because of what he had created out of a lost, young Jedi who was failed by the Order.

'I can't believe this...' Sol said, looking from Obi-wan, to Ahsoka, and to Revan. 'How could I choose to part with them? With either of them?! You might as well drive a knife through my heart while you're at it!'

'Sol, please, we only want you to be safe,' Ahsoka stepped forward, her eyes glazed with a worry for the vulnerable mother. 'If the times were different, we would never think of asking you this. But there have been Sith who were taken from their parents as children and grew into some of the most destructive people in history. Don't make this a story that works in the favour of the dark side.'

Ahsoka had become so wise. If she hadn't been asking the impossible, Sol would have teased her about how much she had changed since leaving the Order. If only Anakin could see what his Padawan had become because of the Order's betrayal. Sol thought that he would have been proud of the one he used to called Snips.

Leia yawned and her puffy eyes peeled open. Sol's lips wobbled as she saw her baby girl wake and stare at her with the shade of eyes lighter than her own. Barely even knowing who her mother was yet, Leia lay quietly in Sol's arms. Sol looked over to Luke, who watched R2's moving arm intently while letting out mindless gurgles. They had become her everything in 24 hours, and she was about to do what a mother shouldn't never have to do; choose.

Like her heart was being pulled in two, Sol looked at the way Beru stared down at Luke. She remembered Beru's wise words about being a woman and about having the chance to create life was something to take advantage of. Sol had never asked her to elaborate, as it wasn't difficult to assume her meaning. And at the way the small faced woman stared down at baby Luke, Sol knew that any child under the care of the Lars couple, would live a good life.

'Beru...' Sol called out through the ball forming in her throat. The woman looked up from Luke, the smile still lingering on her young face.

'You would be an amazing mother...'

---

'That was an extremely difficult thing to do, Sol. You're incredibly strong.' 

Sol didn't feel strong. The only thing that kept Sol from dropping into the sand and laying in its shifting hold was the singular baby she held in her arms. Ahsoka's attempt to give Sol some solitude after making such a difficult decision was heard but did nothing to soothe the pressure on Sol's chest.