Obi-Wan and Padmé deemed it obviously unwise to have a conversation in this alley in upper Coruscant, so Obi-Wan offered to take them to his home.

"Don't be alarmed, but it is in the lower parts," he admitted as Padmé and Luke climbed into his speeder. "The area is not the prettiest, but I can assure you, it is quite safe. We needn't worry about bringing Luke there."

"No, I'm not worried," Padmé agreed. While she wasn't fond of lower Coruscant, she trusted Obi-Wan's judgment.

His house was simple, but clean and well-maintained, and he managed to keep it brightly lit despite the darkness of lower Coruscant. They let Luke play in the living room while they sat in the kitchen and Obi-Wan made tea.

"Let's start from the beginning," Padmé said. "What were you doing immediately after the Purge?"

Obi-Wan sighed and joined her at the table. "Well, Master Yoda and I were bent on discovering who was behind the attack and warning any survivors to stay away from here. We succeeded in the latter immediately, but discovering who attacked the Temple... that was a complicated mystery that led me down many false trails.

"What do you mean?"

"We could see all the clones on the security footage, and one Jedi. Or fallen Jedi, anyway. The person cleverly hid their face from the cameras. All we knew was that it was a young person, tall, wearing dark robes, wielding a blue lightsaber, full of anger and pain. For a long time... I suspected it was Anakin."

"Obi-Wan!" Padmé gasped. "I know that's not true! He was with me in my apartment that whole night." She felt her cheeks heat up as she spoke. It still felt awkward to talk openly about her relationship with Anakin.

"I know, I know, don't worry. I eventually found out that it was someone else. But back then, when Master Yoda and I didn't know any better.... We both knew that Palpatine was behind the entire thing, and we knew that he and Anakin were close friends, and that Anakin was deeply troubled at that time. I didn't want to believe it, Padmé.... But I had to examine every angle."

"How sad," she murmured. "I wish you could have just found us sooner! We would have been able to ease your mind."

Obi-Wan nodded and smiled ruefully. "Indeed. You can imagine my relief when, after wandering in the Outer Rim for months, I discovered it to be this female rogue Jedi who had been seduced by Palpatine into helping him slay all the Jedi. We had a confrontation. She had plenty of raw power, but no technique, so I brought her down fairly quickly. I couldn't bring myself to kill her, despite all the damage she did. She just seemed... lost. I gave her a second chance."

"Interesting," Padmé murmured. "So what brought you back to Coruscant? It seems rather dangerous."

Obi-Wan chuckled and retrieved the tea from the stove. "You'll be amused by this. Throughout my travels in the Outer Rim, I discovered a handful of fellow Jedi who had survived, and that put me to thinking. If we want any hope of ever reviving the Jedi Order, even if it never becomes as great as it once was, the few of us that are left need to bond together. I have made it my life's goal these past several years to form an underground network of Jedi survivors. The thing is, contrary to what the Empire thinks, they did not entirely destroy us. Yes, they put us into a reduced and disorganized state, but there are dozens of us left. Our way of life is not dead yet. I figured, where is a better place to run my network than right here under the nose of the Empire? People always miss the obvious, including them."

Padmé laughed softly. "I can see where you're coming from. But that still seems rather reckless to me."

"Maybe it is. But you know, it's been working. The Empire is not concerned with Coruscant; they know it's securely under their control. They're focusing on conquering the Outer Rim now, because they understand how many people there are trying to evade them." Obi-Wan paused, deep in thought, and shook his head. "Enough about me. How have you been keeping yourself busy?"

So she told him all about the attack from Sidious' apprentice, about the Rebel Alliance, about Luke, and about the recent battle. It felt so good to pour out her deepest and darkest feelings about that battle to someone who understood all too well. She could tell by the look in Obi-Wan's eyes that he was reliving many tragedies as she spoke.

"I can't tell you how many times I've had those exact same thoughts," he said when she was done. "Throughout the Clone Wars, I constantly struggled with doubts, whether or not we were doing the right thing. If all the death and destruction was worth it. I know Anakin felt the same way."

Padmé nodded quietly. This one battle had been so traumatic. When she thought about how many times Anakin had been through that exact same thing, she realized it was little wonder he had come out of it so damaged and disturbed. Especially since, during the Clone Wars, they had all been so young.

"Changing the subject a bit," Obi-Wan said, "this is quite convenient, because I've actually been meaning to go see the Rebel Alliance. I think it would be a great thing for my network and the Rebels to be united. Any chance I could catch a ride with you to Dantooine?"

"That would be perfect!" Padmé exclaimed. "Maybe you could give Luke an introductory lesson on the way there."

So they boarded Padmé's ship with the intent of heading back to Dantooine. But for the first couple of hours, Luke wanted to go to sleep. It was past midnight at the Rebel Base, after all. Padmé agreed that it was good to let him rest.

The ship was quiet for a while. Padmé and Obi-Wan were each silent, lost in their own thoughts, and they were startled when Luke started to scream from the back room. They exchanged alarmed glances.

"Let me go talk to him," Padmé said, getting up to go see what was going on. She found Luke huddled up in a corner, hiding his face in his knees and crying loudly.

"What's the matter?" She knelt down and used her finger to wipe the tears from his cheeks.

"It... It... It was a bad dream!" Luke looked up at her with red eyes.

Padmé's stomach knotted with dread. She knew all too well what nightmares had done to Anakin.

"What about?" she whispered, trying to hide her nervousness.

"There was... a girl. She just kept screaming and screaming for help..."

"Who was she? Have you ever seen her before?"

"No, I don't know."

"Was she a kid, like you? Or was she more of a grown-up?"

"A kid, I guess..."

"What did she look like?"

"I don't really remember... I just remember she was in a really dark room, all by herself, on a chair with lots of buttons. She was hurting and scared, and... I thought I was stuck there too."

"Well, you're not," she reassured him. "It was just a dream. It wasn't real."

"I felt like it," he mumbled.

Padmé eventually coaxed him into going back to sleep, and went back to the cockpit to tell Obi-Wan about all this.

"That is disturbing, considering his natural inclinations towards the Force," Obi-Wan murmured. "If the dream made such an impact on him, it must be important."

"But why would he dream about someone he doesn't know? Anakin always dreamed about people close to him."

"I have no idea." Obi-Wan stared thoughtfully off into the distance. "But we'll keep a close eye on him. The Force must have lead me to you at just the right time... I have the feeling that some Jedi training is exactly what Luke needs."

(Author's Note: Now Luke is having good ol' Skywalker nightmares! I'm kind of in a rush, so I'll keep this short, but thanks for reading and don't forget to comment!)