Work Text:
“Aunt Beru … what happened to my parents?”
The question caught Beru off guard. It wasn’t that she hadn’t expected it to ever come, but she had hoped that it would linger just a little longer. Tonight she had just wanted to put Luke to bed and read him a story until he fell asleep. It was too late for this conversation, at the same time as it was far too early, because how can one ever really be prepared to explain to a seven year old why his parents are gone and will never return?
Beru looked at Luke with a hesitant smile. He lied in his bed and stared at her with kind, curious eyes and the cover drawn up over his chin, small fingers fiddling nervously with the edge. “Why do you ask, dear?” she said softly and moved over from her chair to sit down beside him on the bed.
“I talked to Biggs today … “ Luke slowly explained, “and … it’s not important but he just wondered why I live with you and not with my parents and I … didn’t know what to say.”
Luke avoided her gaze now, though he tried very hard to not make it obvious. Bless his little heart, Beru thought. He was always so considerate of other people’s feelings. She stopped, not for the first time, and wondered if what she knew about the boy’s father could really be true. Granted, it wasn’t a lot, only what Kenobi had told them that evening almost eight years ago, before he had arrived on Tatooine and trusted a sleeping Luke into her arms. That Luke’s father had gone dark and done things so terrible that they had been forced to kill him for it. That his mother had died in childbirth. That there were still people out there searching for Luke, monsters looking to take him from her and ruin every piece of goodness Beru and Owen so clearly could see in his heart. His whole life had fallen apart before he was even an hour old, but there was a piece of Beru that refused to believe that anything as good as Luke could have come from something that evil.
Beru knew her husband's opinions. Though Owen didn’t let it show very often, he adored Luke over everything and would do all he could to protect him, even if that meant never telling Luke the truth about his parents, but Beru was different. She loved Luke just as much, but knew that his soul was too big and his eyes too wide to be trapped in such a repetitive place as this for the rest of his life. Luke had questions about life and the universe and now his parents, and nothing good would be gained from refusing him knowledge about the world and himself. Beru had always silently promised herself that the day he dared to ask, she would be there to answer. She just hadn’t expected that day to be today.
“It’s not like I really need them.” Luke continued through the absence of her reply. “I have you and uncle Owen. I just … I’m wondering why they didn’t love me enough to keep me.”
The boy’s words chilled Beru’s heart. Is that really what he had thought all this time? That his parents had abandoned him because they didn’t love him enough? Beru thought some words that weren’t suitable to express out loud in the company of a child. Oh blast it, she really thought she had been a better mother than this.
“Luke, there is one very important thing that I always want you to remember,” Beru said firmly, “and that is that your parents only left you because they had to. I believe with all of my heart that they wanted you to be a part of their family and that they loved you more than anything in this universe.”
“Then why did they leave?” There was nothing accusatory in Luke’s words, only sadness.
Beru sighed. “I would have preferred for you to get older before we talked about this,” she said. Of course, he still wasn’t nearly old enough to hear the whole story, and Beru doubted she would ever see him as fully ready. “As you know, your father worked as a navigator.” The lie was sour in her mouth, but she forced herself to keep going. “He was very skilled from what I’ve heard but … the Clone Wars were a hard time and accidents happened. One of those took your father’s life before you were even born.”
Luke gasped a little, eyes wider and shinier than before. “And … what about … ?” he asked with a fragile voice.
Beru leaned forward and moved a lock of blonde hair away from Luke’s face in a tender motion. “Your mother died while giving birth to you,” she whispered. “She named you, but then she passed.”
Silence spread through the little room. Beru could hear Owen doing the dishes downstairs, but otherwise the world seemed to only consist of herself and the little boy she viewed as a son.
After a few moments Luke frowned. “But … if mum and dad died before I was born, how can you know that they loved me?”
This time, Beru didn’t have to hesitate before answering. Her thoughts wandered back to the night she had first held Luke in her arms and the feeling of total and overwhelming love she had felt the moment she had laid her eyes on him. The feeling that, quite certainly, would never disappear. “A parent’s love,” she said, reaching out to take Luke’s tiny hand in her own and squeeze it carefully, “is stronger than anything in this world. You don’t even need to see your child to know that you love them, that you would do anything to keep them safe. You just need to know that they exist.”
To her surprise, a big smile spread over Luke’s face. “Hey, that’s kinda like me! I don’t remember my parents, but I still love them!”
“Exactly,” Beru said and laughed a little. “Now, think of how much you love your parents and make that love as big as the galaxy. That’s how much they loved you!”
Luke frowned again and looked abstently at the ceiling. Beru could almost see his little brain work, trying to comprehend something as gigantic as the galaxy, but she herself didn't have to. She already knew what a love that size felt like.
“What did they look like?” Luke asked, opening his blue eyes, glimmering of curiosity. “My mum and dad?”
Beru smiled and looked down at her hands. “Well, I only ever met them once,” she explained, “but I remember them very clearly. Your mother was beautiful. She had clothes that exposed that she was rich, but that wasn’t what made it so hard to tear my gaze away from her. She was elegant, but most of all kind. Now when I think about it, I think you have her nose,” Beru leaned forward again and poked Luke’s nose, which made him giggle and squirm to get away, “and her smile.”
Her heart melted as Luke carefully touched the tip of his nose and smiled. “Your father,” she continued, “wasn’t here during the best of circumstances.” Beru closed her eyes and remembered the polite but angry young man that had visited their little farm, looking for his mother. He had been scared and hurt, but Beru had thought him as a kindhearted person who had just gone through a lot. After all, she didn’t think she would be able to stay calm either after losing family in that way. To imagine that he had ended up the way he did … Well Beru didn’t need to have any details to know that his life must have been a tragedy.
“He was thoughtful,” Beru said. “Very handsome and strong, just like I’m sure you will be one day.”
“I’m already strong!” Luke protested, sitting up and trying to flex his slender arms to impress his aunt. “Look!”
“Oh wow, I apologize. You must have grown so much since we wrestled the last time!”
“Next time I’ll beat you!” Luke said confidently and lied down again with a smile that flashed a big gap in his row of teeth. “Just wait! One day I’ll be just as strong as dad.”
“I’m sure you will,” Beru replied, and repeated the phrase once again under her breath, truly feeling the honesty in her words.
Luke bit his bottom lip, once again deep in thought. “What were their names?” he whispered.
“Your mother’s name was Padmé,” she answered gently, “and your father’s Anakin.”
“Padmé,” Luke repeated and closed his eyes. “It sounds … It sounds like the name of an angel. And Anakin is like … like some kind of wizard! Like the one in my book!” He opened his eyes again and pointed with overflowing excitement at the book Beru had been reading before their conversation started. It was about the great wizard Acelon, who traveled through the galaxy with his friends and saved people from danger with the help of wits and magic.
Beru laughed, amused over her nephew's imagination. “I guess you’re right, but don’t let your uncle hear you say that.”
“I won’t,” Luke solemnly answered. Beru knew that he was aware of the conversation that inevitably followed every time he asked Owen about his father. He hadn’t known Luke’s father better than Beru had, but she knew that his step brother's fate was a sour subject for him, because he was afraid that Luke was too much like his father and would leave to join the same kind of fight. The Jedi were gone, but not all of them, and ever since Luke from a young age had started to show signs of having the same kind of power as his father, Beru had known that there was a possibility that someone would want to train him. Take him from them.
She could see that Luke was tired, but also knew him well enough to be able to tell when he still had something to say. “Is there something else on your mind, dear?”
“I’m just wondering,” he said. “Why did they name me Luke?”
The disappointment in his voice was clear and Beru gently put her hand on his shoulder. “Don’t you like your name?”
“I do!” Luke assured her. “It’s just … it’s not beautiful like Padmé.”
“Do you know what your name means?” Beru asked and Luke shook his head. “The name Luke is very old. It means ‘light’, but has sometimes been translated to ‘hope’ as well.” She stopped for a moment and sighed. “You were born during a time of war and darkness, Luke. Your parents … they probably saw a future in you, a new beginning. They named you ‘light’ because you were theirs.”
“I like that,” Luke smiled.
“So do I,” Beru said. “I’m sorry that I can’t tell you more about them. I don’t know much, really, but I’m sure that there are people out there who do. When you’re older you can travel into the galaxy and try to find them.”
“When I’m older?” Luke gasped, once again wide awake. “But aunt Beru, I’m older tomorrow! Oh please please please can I go?”
Beru chuckled. “That’s right, you are older tomorrow, but I was talking about years. You don’t even know how to fly a spaceship yet, dear.”
“But one day I will!” Luke said proudly. “One day I’ll fly away from here and find out everything about them.”
“I sure hope so,” Beru said. “Never let anyone in this world suppress your determination. I … I know that you will do great things. That you one day will make your parents very proud.” You already make me proud every day.
“And one day,” Luke continued with glowing excitement, “I’ll get to meet them again, won’t I? When I’m very old … even older than you and uncle Owen! And when I do I’ll hug them both and tell them … tell them that I love them this much!” He grinned widely and spread his arms as far as he could, trying to show with his limited reach exactly how much love his gentle heart could hold.
Beru looked gently at her nephew, hoping dearly that that reunion wouldn’t come for many years yet, knowing that she would do anything in her power to make sure that Luke got the long, happy life that he deserved. “I will leave this world far earlier than you” she said softly, “and when I do I’ll make sure to tell them exactly how much you miss them.”
“Thank you, aunt Beru,” Luke whispered and yawned, voice getting more and more quiet by each word.“Tell mum that I wish I had a name as pretty as hers, but that I like Luke, too. Say that I’ll find them.”
“I promise,” Beru said and felt that she meant it more than anything. Of course she knew (or rather hoped) that she would live the length of Luke’s life many times over before she got to meet his parents again, but when she did she would tell them everything about their beautiful little son. She hoped that they would be satisfied with everything she and Owen had done for him. There was also a part of her that always thought about the kind woman that had visited their home so many years ago and wanted her to know that her son was safe with them.
Luke’s breath evened out as he fell asleep and Beru carefully stood up and walked over to the door. There she turned around and smiled at Luke, who looked even smaller than usual when he slept.
“You were their light,” she whispered so quietly that it could just as well have been a thought, “and you’re ours, too.”
Through the darkness of space she could almost feel how love flowed; stronger than any force or power, brighter than any star, and more infinite than the universe itself.