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There was a force sensitive human child in his rooms. Not a baby, but not too far off one either, maybe three or four years old, humming a lullaby in a language he didn’t recognise. The shatterpoint he had seen just before he had come in now made sense. And he was going to have to deal with it.
“Hello,” he said, waving at it, trying to bend down a little. His back ached a little, which told him he needed to stop spending so much time filling out reports compared to anything else in this life, if only this war didn’t demand that of him, and too many of his fellow Jedi.
The child looked up, their - his? - eyes filling with tears, fear leaking into the Force around them.
“It’s okay,” Mace said softly. “You’re safe here, where did you come from? Do you know?” And then he thought for a moment, “Do you understand Basic?”
“I’m freeborn,” the boy said, on the verge of tears. His tiny fists were clenched, knuckles whitening. “You can’t take me.”
Oh. Oh no. He made sure to keep a distance from him but tried to make eye contact, lifting his shields just a little bit so he could hopefully tell how sincere he was being, “No one is here to cause you harm. All will be well, I promise.”
The fear and uncertainty dissipated somewhat but he wasn’t calm either. “It’s very loud here,” he said quietly.
“Are you from the creche?” Mace asked, although he sincerely doubted it. Not only did he not recognise the child at all, although he didn’t know by heart every member of the creche currently, he made it his business to at least try as Master of the Order, and he seemed rather confused about where he was.
“I’m from Tatooine,” he said. “What’s the creche?”
“Tatooine?” he said, resisting the urge to rub his temples even though he could feel a migraine coming on. “Desert planet, two suns?”
“Yes,” he said. “Where are we?”
“This is Coruscant,” he said. “It’s a good bit away from Tatooine, I’m afraid. How did you get from there to here?”
“I was in a cave,” he said. “Uncle Owen told me to stay inside before the sandstorm came but I didn’t listen and I had to run into the cave to avoid it. It was really scary but I heard someone singing so I followed it,” he looked confused about how this had landed him in a study lightyears away, which was a point that Mace was stuck on too.
“Did you feel anything?” he asked, fumbling around for his comm. It was past time he called someone else about this probably. Which master was on duty at the creche today? “Like… a strange or unfamiliar feeling?”
“It felt nice,” the boy said. “Like home, but then my tummy hurt a lot and I closed my eyes.”
He had had his eyes shut when Mace had come in, hadn’t he? “Right,” he said slowly, running every possible question on the planet through his mind. “Right.” He thumbed in the contact for Master Wyness, and their face appeared in the comm.
“Master Windu,” they said. One of their lekku had a mysterious substance on it but that was often the way of the creche. “How may I help?”
“I’ve, ahem, found a child wandering around my quarters - not one of yours, I don’t think - but Force Sensitive and alone, could you come here?”
He could see their eyes widening but they nodded, “Of course, just let me call someone to keep an eye on the little ones here, Padawan Cahn has a fever, poor thing, so she can’t watch them.”
“Of course,” he said.
“What’s the child’s name?” they asked just as he was about to turn off the comm.
He… had not asked that, actually, “What’s your name?” He tried to smile but he wasn’t sure how convincing it was. He was too confused, and tired from a day and a half of back to back meetings, to be genuinely comforting.
“Luke,” the boy said.
“Just Luke?”
“Luke Skywalker,” Luke Skywalker amended.
“Sorry,” Master Wyness interrupted. “Did I hear that correctly?”
“I’m afraid so,” Mace said and shut off the call.
Skywalker. How common a name was that on Tatooine? What part was this child from? They were both blond and relatively pale, and human, but that didn’t mean this Skywalker was a relation of Knight Skywalker.
The Force seemed amused now. He didn’t like that. Master Wyness would be here soon though. He was happy to let them deal with all of this for now.
“Knight Skywalker, thank you for meeting with me on such short notice, I know you have many pressing things on your time.”
“Of course,” he bowed. “What can I do for you Master Windu?” He looked tired but they all were nowadays. Over a year of war was taking their toll on them all and the mandatory Temple leave time was only getting shorter and shorter as the amount of Jedi at the front grew smaller and smaller.
“This may be nothing,” he said. “But there is a new crechling from Tatooine.”
His eyebrows furrowed, “With all due respect, Master, what does that have to do with me, I mean, we’re from the same planet but why would that suggest any connection between us?”
“I would be inclined to agree with you normally,” he said. “The Order is one family, although connections may be fostered through shared experience, it would be not desirable to have that be the only reason for two people to know each other, if not for two things.”
“Which are?” he crossed his arms and uncrossed them.
“I must ask first, Master Jocasta was forced to admit it, that her records on surnaming on Tatooine were incomplete, how common is the name Skywalker?”
“It’s not… incredibly uncommon,” he said. “But it’s not really the most common either. I knew maybe one other, except my mother, when I-” he cut himself off grimacing. “Yeah.”
Talking about Tatooine made him uncomfortable, Mace noted. His body language was almost hostile and his shields were fully up now.
He looked around for shatterpoints, but sensed none. “Am I to assume he is also a Skywalker then?”
“Yes,” he said. “And the other thing is it seems the Force deposited him in my rooms.”
He could feel Skywalker’s confusion through the Force, “Sorry, what? From where? Are you sure he didn’t just wander in?”
He explained what he could, what he understood.
“So he’s afraid of slavers,” Skywalker said, his face dark. “But he insists he’s freeborn.”
“Yes,” he said.
“When all this is over,” he shook his head. “Something really needs to be done about Tatooine. Gardulla and the other Hutts have tyrannised it and so many other planets for too long.”
“I agree,” he said.
He gaped, “You do?”
“I would if we could spare the Jedi now to do it,” he shook his head. “The Jedi have been pulled into the business of the Senate, on behalf of the Senate for too long perhaps.”
He saw Skywalker’s face shift, the Force in a quiet turmoil around him, and wondered if the words he had just said would make it to the Chancellor’s ears before next Centaxday.
“Would you like to meet the younger Skywalker? He’s only in the creche temporarily, we’re trying to see if his family is on Tatooine, if we can discuss admission into the Order formally, or if they would prefer to raise him, but he’s settling in for the time being.”
“I would,” he said. “What’s his first name?”
“Luke.”