Darth Vader
leaned on the
balcony railing of Leia and Han's new house, gazing down into the
living room
at their house-warming party.
Neither Leia
nor Han were
visible. The last he'd seen of them, they'd been in the kitchen, having
sneaked
off to indulge in a quick swig of the really expensive kahy –
the bottle
they hadn't brought out with the rest of the liquor. Vader had promised
not to
betray their whereabouts.
Chewbacca was
in the living
room, showing off to Generals Dodonna and Rieekan the Pokrovsk cedar
shelving
units he'd built as his house-warming present. Another present, which
seemed
from its shape in the wrapping paper to be some variety of bowl, had
been
dropped off earlier by General Madine, who remained a few minutes
before
departing for a night on the town with his new girlfriend, one of the
Nagamasa
City Council Members. A gaggle of x-wing and TIE pilots was gathered
around the
table with the food. Moff Nevoy, Captain Ifar and Lieutenant Iddims
were
talking about something that seemed to amuse them, at least Iddims was
laughing
and trying not to choke on a canapé, Ifar was flapping his
hands in
appreciation, and Nevoy was grinning into his drink. By one of the
living room
windows, chatting and enjoying the view of Nagamasa City, were Piett,
Mon
Mothma, Luke, and Wedge Antilles.
Piett and
Mothma stood
casually close, with the relaxed ease of a couple that's been together
long
enough that they're not trying to prove anything to anyone. Vader
couldn't
remember when their baby was due, and he didn't plan on asking. They
must both
be getting very sick of it being the only subject that people wanted to
discuss
with them. She was definitely beginning to show, at any rate. Damn,
he'd have
to start coming up with ideas for appropriate baby presents. Again.
Vader glanced
at the other two
members of the conversation. He was glad to see Luke spending time with
Commander Antilles. Perhaps the older pilot would be a steadying
influence.
Tonight, Luke
seemed to be
doing well. He was smiling as he talked with the others, and when Vader
let his
mind brush against the group he felt nothing from Luke but genuine
enjoyment
and interest in the conversation. Vader wondered how long that would
last.
When they first
came back from
Coruscant, Luke had kept himself occupied. First there had been the
official
transformation of the New Alliance into the Fourth Galactic Republic,
involving
innumerable meetings with representatives of the member planets, and
the
establishment of Republic Headquarters on Nagamasa. There had been the
training
of their new pilots, which Luke had thrown himself into diligently,
though
Vader knew he still didn't really like flying without being able to
sense the
Force. Then, of course, had come the arrival of Leia and Han's twins,
and the
new uncle – not to mention the new parents and the new
grandfather -- had
more than enough to keep them busy, learning the intricacies of dealing
with
babies.
But now things
were beginning
to settle down. And for Luke, it did not seem an improvement.
The few times
that Vader knew
of in which Luke had tried to rebuild his link to the Force had ended
in
frustration, a good deal of shouting, and Luke storming off to the
nearest bar.
These days, he was going straight to the bar, without the intermediate
steps.
Leia had talked
with him about
it. Han had. Chewbacca had. Vader had, though he had serious doubts of
his right
to lecture Luke on his drinking habits, considering his own history as
a fairly
dedicated drinker. He supposed he could remind Luke of the role alcohol
had
played in Anakin's famous accident, but he did not believe that Luke
had
forgotten that. And if Luke was anything like his father –
and Vader was
beginning to suspect that in matters like this they were very alike
indeed –
that kind of reminder would only make him drink more, out of sheer
annoyance at
the warning.
Well,
the hell with it. Tonight Luke seemed fine, and Vader was going to
accept that
and let him enjoy the party, without lurking around and checking every
few
minutes to be sure the boy wasn't having a breakdown.
Vader thought, I ought to go back
down
there and mingle.
There
were things he needed to talk about with some of Leia and Han's guests.
He
should talk with Nevoy at least one more time before their negotiating
team set
out for Coruscant, to make sure they had their strategies and
priorities set
for the debate on whether Coruscant should be admitted to the Republic.
The
election of Coruscant's new Senate meant that there was finally some
kind of
centralised power to represent the planet, and the Coruscanti Senate
were all
but drooling in their eagerness to join the Republic. Of course the
Nagamasans
wanted them kept the hell out, since with Coruscant back on the
galactic scene,
Nagamasa might lose its long-coveted position as the centre of
government. And
there were other reasons to want Coruscant kept out for now, such as
the likelihood
that the former galactic power base might erupt into chaos again at any
moment.
Vader
ought to meet with Piett as well, make sure the Admiral felt prepared
and had
enough support for the meetings he would be attending here on Nagamasa
while
Vader was away.
But
it really wasn't fair, was it? Nevoy and Piett and the rest of them
barely had
any time away from work as it was. Now when they had the chance to
enjoy
themselves a little, tear their minds away from the toils of government
for a
few hours, was he really going to stride up to them and drag them back
into it?
He
would have a couple of years ago, but then a couple of years ago he
wouldn't
have been at his daughter's house-warming party.
All
right. So he ought to go down there and just chat.
Blast.
He'd
done pretty well so far tonight, he thought, but he had the feeling
that his
reserves of chatting ability were rapidly wearing out. It wasn't a
skill he'd
had to use much in the past twenty years. Though, he admitted, he
probably
couldn't blame this particular inability on his existence as Darth
Vader.
Anakin had had problems coming up with things to say, too. Hence his
habit of
standing around looking interested and, he hoped, intelligent, giving
the
impression that he was thinking deeply about the whole topic
– whatever
the topic was. When in reality he just couldn't think of one damned
thing to
say.
And
there was always the question of the effect Vader had on most people,
too. It
was peculiar. Usually, he didn't mind the surge of adrenaline and the
wisp of
fear that emanated from people's auras when he approached. Quite the
contrary,
in fact. He usually liked it; it added a certain edge and immediacy to
every
interaction, that might not have been there otherwise. Most of his
co-workers
had that instinctive reaction pretty well under control; they could
work
together, and even, so he believed, enjoy each other's company. But the
hint of
fear that would surface now and again did provide him with a little
extra
amusement.
However.
It was possible to have too much amusement. After a few days of this,
he would
start to get tired of people's fear. Little by little it would build
up, until
it started to give him a headache.
Ha, he thought. I
wonder if that's what
Obi Wan meant when he talked about fear being part of the Dark Side.
He'd
never had much of a problem with it before. Darth Vader had seldom
interacted
with people on a constant, regular enough basis for their fear to get
to the
headache stage.
Vader looked
down at his daughter's guests, and
decided that the party could get along without him for a while.
There
were, after all, at least two people in the house with whom he wouldn't
have to
worry about coming up with conversation. And who had never been afraid
of him –
and who, he hoped, never would be.
He
turned abruptly, his cape swirling as he did so, and walked along the
landing
toward Koji and Alli's room.
When
he stepped into the room he found it illuminated by the warmly-gleaming
nightlight in the image of Alderaan. In daytime the lamp, hanging over
the
babies' crib, looked like any standard depiction of the planet. Just a
placid,
blue and white ball. But at night, when the lamp was lit, light
escaping from
tiny fissures in its surface seemed to swirl around the planet like
glowing clouds.
Gods,
he had worried himself sick before finally deciding to give that lamp
to Leia,
as a present for her and the twins. It had taken him months of
frustrating
shopping attempts before he found what he was looking for, and then
when he did
find it, he nearly threw it away out of fear that Leia wouldn't be able
to
stand looking at it. She had cried when she first saw it, but then when
he
started to apologise, she told him to shut up, it was the best present
she'd
ever had.
Alderaan
was not alone, dangling over the twins' crib. They just about had an
entire
fleet. There was the mobile in the shape of the Millennium
Falcon and an x-wing squadron, and there were the
TIE-fighters on springs attached to the crib's railings, each TIE
capable of
playing a different charming lullaby. Vader thought the musical TIEs
were
rather hideous, actually. But the babies seemed to like them, so who
was he to
complain?
As
usual, he had sensed the children before he even entered the room. Koji
was
asleep, he could recognise the feeling of warmth and protection that
always
wrapped the boy when he was sleeping well. There was a little bit of
discomfort, somewhere, but it wasn't enough to darken Koji's sleep.
Alli
was awake. As usual. Although Vader had in fact seen her sleep on
occasion, it
definitely seemed to be the exception rather than the rule. She always
seemed
to find something more interesting to do than sleeping, even if it was
just
gazing at the Alderaan nightlight.
At
the moment she was occupied in closing and unclosing her fists in front
of her
face, an accomplishment that delighted her. It was, as always,
flattering to
realise that her grandfather was more interesting to her than her
fists. She
blinked a few times as he loomed over her and her brother, then she
gave a
little gurgle of welcome.
Hello,
Alli, he thought. She
giggled and kicked her feet.
And
hello to you, too, Koji, he added. He
reached down one
black-gloved hand and gently tickled the sleeping Koji's chest. Koji
didn't
quite wake up, but with one fist he took hold of his grandfather's
index finger
and manoeuvred it into his mouth. He seemed to be trying to bite it,
which was
complicated by his not having any teeth.
Ah. Vader thought
he could place the vague
discomfort he'd felt from Koji. Good gods, he thought, teething
already? Well, he supposed it probably wasn't all
that early. He tried to remember when it had hit the children of his
various
in-laws, but he didn't have much success. He'd usually been too busy
with other
things, such as fighting a war, to pay that much attention to when they
started
teething.
What
about you, Alli, he
wondered. Any tooth troubles yet? No?
Well, it's probably all that sleep your
brother gets. He probably puts all his excess energy into growing teeth.
Since
Koji was getting to chew Vader's finger, it seemed that Alli deserved a
treat
as well. Her favourite game these days was when her grandfather would
make her
float. He smiled behind his mask as the baby girl in her fuzzy blue
pyjamas
bobbed upwards and out of the crib, to the accompaniment of her
delighted
gurgles.
He
let Alli swoop around the room for a bit, but although her aura
continued to be
happy, he had the feeling she was starting to get tired. Moving her
over the
crib again he brought her to just a few inches above the mattress, and
tried
rocking her gently back and forth, using the Force as a cradle.
Koji
was drifting deeper into sleep and let Vader's finger escape. Vader
noticed
that one of the kids' stuffed toys was missing, and he looked around
for it on
the floor. There it was, one of them had probably kicked it. Or else
Alli had
already discovered the wonder of throwing things. Reserving just enough
attention to keep Alli in her floating Force cradle, he called on
another
tendril of the Force and retrieved the babies' furry Star Destroyer
pillow.
He
was placing the Star Destroyer in the crib, when he felt Leia
approaching from
down the hallway.
For an instant
he considered replacing Alli safely in
her bed before Leia came in. But, for gods' sakes, he didn't have to
feel he
was doing anything wrong. Leia had seen him do the floating trick for
Alli and
Koji countless times before. And she trusted him not to do anything
that would
harm the children.
It was one of
the realisations he treasured most, to
know that she trusted him with them.
"Hey,
Dad," she said softly, leaning against the side of the crib and
reaching
up to touch his arm. Her face was illumined by the Alderaan nightlight
as she
looked down at her babies and smiled. Then she turned her face up
toward her
father.
"You're
missing the party," she went on, her voice and her smile taking on a
teasing air. "As the hostess, you know, I can't allow that. Come back
down
soon, okay?"
He
said in a solemn tone, "I hate to break it to you, daughter. I am not a
party animal."
Leia
grinned. "Nonsense. You know you get a kick out of people's reactions
when
they bump into Darth Vader at a cocktail party. Anyway," she coaxed,
"they're
your friends down there. They'd love the chance to talk with you
outside of
work. None of us have been able to do enough of that lately. And," she
concluded with the final, unanswerable argument, "I want you to."
Ah,
family life, thought
Darth. So much for the days when my word was law throughout
the galaxy. There wasn't any point in pretending he
was annoyed, though. Leia could read him well enough to know that he
wasn't.
"All
right," he said. "I'll be down in a few minutes."
She
squeezed his arm. "Thanks, Dad." She stayed by the crib for a moment
longer to gaze at Alli and Koji, then with a last impish grin for her
father
she walked out of the room.
It
was remarkable how good the words "thanks, Dad" sounded to him.
Lord
Vader, he told himself, you
are getting too soft and cuddly. Your daughter can twist you around her
fingers
and your favourite pastime is playing with your grandchildren.
But
he didn't regret it in the least. It felt damned good to know that Leia
was
comfortable enough with him to even try wheedling him into things. And
having
the chance to be mushy about his grandkids was what grandparenthood was
all
about – well, that and being on twenty-four hour call for
babysitting
duty, and subtly getting Han and/or the kids out of the house when Leia
had a
speech to write and hadn't gotten any sleep because Koji and Alli had
her out
of bed every hour on the hour, and convincing himself that his image
could
withstand being seen in public changing two babies' nappies.
Thus
far at least some of his image seemed to have survived. No one had
laughed at
him yet – at any rate, not in his presence. The first person
who did was
going to suffer some distressing difficulty in breathing.
Hell.
It was going to feel very odd on this trip to Coruscant, not having his
family
around.
It
would probably be good for him. A little while of nothing but politics,
conflict and intrigue – just what he needed to make sure his
edge was not
dulled too badly by doting over babies.
Maybe he would
even get the chance to strangle
someone. He wondered if, after all this time, his technique was getting
rusty.
No,
it probably wasn't. It was as much good practice, after all, using the
Force to
float babies around, as it was to crush somebody's windpipe.
He
looked at Alli and thought, I'll be damned. She's fallen
asleep.
Carefully
Vader lowered his granddaughter onto the crib's mattress. She moved
around a
little, fitfully, until she ended up with her head against the Star
Destroyer
pillow. That seemed to satisfy her, and she settled down with a tiny,
baby
version of a snore.
Darth
Vader glanced at the Alderaan nightlight and nudged its light up one
level,
with a thought. Then he walked from the room.
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