Naluma folded her sunglasses and slid them into her handbag while Luke steered her through the grand entrance of the Natural History Museum of Naboo. The multi-domed building stunned guests with its massive marble walls and flower gardens on the exterior, but the opening view to the interior stole Naluma's breath.

The gargantuan skeleton snaked around the room and almost touched the domed ceiling twenty meters above.

Luke exclaimed, "That's a krayt dragon. How did they get one here? They're not native to Naboo."

Naluma wrapped her arm around Luke's waist and pointed to the information screen nearby. She pushed the start button, which activated a sound bite of the creature's distinct howl.

Luke shuddered and stabbed the off button. "Please, Naluma, not that." He turned his head to the gigantic dragon pearl near the base of the display while Naluma pulled up the text screen instead.

"Says here that a Maar Gaskas, renowned Nabooan adventurer and philanthropist, conquered this specimen over thirty years ago on Tatooine while studying the Tusken Raiders. In gratitude for saving their village, the Tuskens gave him the pearl, but they took the hide and the flesh." Feeling the fear rise, seeing his brilliant sapphire blue of the Force-aura turn to a midnight blue, Naluma kept her tone steady and rubbed his back. "Apparently, these creatures spat acidic venom to aid its digestion. You ever see one?"

Nodding his head, he took a few steps back, ostensibly examining the skeleton of a blurrg nestled under the snaking Krayt dragon. "Wow! I didn't know blurrgs could get so big. We saw a few in primary school on the video feeds, but they were much smaller."

Naluma slipped her hand into his and sent her peace to him. He was shaking now. It had been a long time since she had seen anything unsettle him, let alone strike terror into his heart—and something long dead, no doubt.

"Looks like this guy roamed the galaxy. He caught this one on Ryloth." Luke flipped through the screens. "Tried to preserve it before bringing it back, but they ran into problems getting it on his yacht." His racing heart calmed as he talked about the blurrg.

Ignoring the fossils in cases along one wall, he ushered Naluma into the west wing. A long hall extended before them, lights dimmed, showcasing taxidermic mammals and avians in dioramas that stretched tens of meters across. In some of the displays, holographic creatures floated through the skies and trampled the landscape.

The polished concrete floor and paneled walls channeled sound to echo across the room, instilling a hush with the visitors. Jedi training never forgotten, Naluma scanned the room, looking for threats and emergency exits.

A Nabooan family stood at one end looking at the Shaak diorama in a meadow with a holoprojection of a waterfall behind it. The medium-build father carried his young daughter on his shoulders while the mother held the hand of their younger son and pointed at the animal in the display. A pang shot through Naluma's heart, sending the desire for a family of her own with Luke through her heart once more.

She jammed her lips together, biting back a threatening tear and turned to the exhibit of a lush swamp with reptavian beasts. "What are these?" she asked Luke who had been reading the display.

"Kaadu. Strong swimmers and runners. Can stay underwater for up to two hours. Native to Naboo. Primary mount of the Gungans." He flashed a tense smile, the kind stamped "pre-paid and non-refundable." "Maybe we'll see one tomorrow when we tour Otoh Gunga."

Naluma glared at him and whispered through clenched teeth, "Can we talk about that tomorrow?"

Luke's back stiffened and he withdrew his hand from hers. "Fine."

I don't want my entire li—vacation planned, Luke. The intensity of the mindspeech pummeled against his psyche.

I heard you the first time.

She walked past him to the next exhibit of grass plains with the horned ikopis—a native herbivore. The tan animal stood taller than Naluma, with its horns curving around the back of its head. Its four hooves provided traction on the uneven ground of the prairies.

Not absorbing any of the details of the diorama, Naluma stared while her mind churned. With her arms crossed, she spared a glance at Luke, who still stood at the other display, feet spread apart and arms crossed. Just wish he'd—oh, who am I fooling? We'd be fighting like this over everything. There would be precious little peace.

But her heart still melted every time she peeked at him. She felt like everything was wrong when they weren't together. Even the Force would cloud over when they fought, and she couldn't see where anything would end. I guess we should just stop fighting ... it's not like he's ever going to change his mind, and I'm only making both of us miserable wanting what we can't have.

He relaxed his arms. She caught it out of the corner of her eye—no, through the Force first. She turned to him, took a step, but he was there before she could blink. "I'm sorry, Luke. You think I'll like Otoh Gunga?"

"I know you will. Trust me."

And through the Force, Naluma felt the sparkling blue of his sapphire aura pulsing. There was no doubt. She felt it now.

"Everything I planned, I chose for you." He traced her jaw with his little finger. No one knows you better than I. He placed his lips on hers for a brief second and then touched his nose to hers. "You loved the light show last night."

Her lips upturned as she looked at him through lowered lashes. "Yes." The Force carried the emotion with that one word, making it more than one syllable, encompassing her joy, her peace, and her love from the night before.

A school tour led by a shiny protocol droid barreled into the hall, pre-adolescents disturbing the relative quiet. Luke suggested, "Shall we go look at the Hall of the Monarchs?"

Naluma took his hand once more as he led her to the chamber where paintings of each monarch for the last hundred years hung on display.

Luke stared intently at one of the first queens in the display, but Naluma could feel he wasn't as interested as he pretended. She really couldn't care less about the politicians. She taught the basic politics of the system to the Padawan in the history modules, focusing on the election of the king or queen and also of the Legislative Youth Program, how candidates devoted their lives to public service either on Naboo or representing Naboo in the Galactic Senate.

Continuing to feign interest, Luke shuffled around the different displays until they reached one of the portraits of Padmé Amidala. Naluma tried to move, but her feet remained planted to the floor in front of the stunning woman in the white make-up and grandiose headdress that all but removed the woman's individuality.

But there was something different. As she gazed into those round, chocolate eyes, she felt like she was looking at someone she knew. Naluma turned to Luke, finding him paralyzed as well.

"What's going on, Luke?"

He shook his head. "I'm not sure. I know we've taught about her in Galactic Cultures, but before, she was just a name. A disguised face in the trappings of the State. Now ..." He gulped and reached out his hand to stroke the painting. An energy field activated, sending a warning charge into his flesh. He pulled back his hand and rubbed it on his pant leg. "She's so familiar."

"It's the eyes."

Luke nodded. "It's like looking into her soul. There's love, deep love. I feel like I've seen them before." He became quiet as his own eyes glazed over. His Force-signature burned brighter as a Force-vision overtook him.

Naluma waited. Usually, the Force endowed visions of the future, but sometimes of the past. But all she could do was wait.

He came out of the trance with a start. He shook his head and then led Naluma out of the gallery.

"Luke, what was it?"

His voice was still in that dream-state. "I'm not sure. I think it was the past. She was there."

"Where are we going?" She quickened her pace to match his longer strides.

"The Gem and Mineral Hall."

And then understanding struck her like a meteor shower. She could hear it calling to them, and she couldn't believe she hadn't heard it before. The song was so loud, she was surprised the rest of the guests didn't hear it.

By the time they reached the hall in the basement of the museum, they were scurrying down the glossy cement floor. When they entered the darkened room with gems and minerals displayed in crystal cases and lit from below and above with pin lights, they were blinded by the light of the Kyber crystal in the corner of the room. It pulsed with a Force-signature brighter than either had seen before.

"Kyber crystals?" Naluma asked. "I thought the Empire took them all."

The tiny sliver was highlighted in blue but pulsed in all the colors of the rainbow.

A spry geologist sauntered behind the couple. "Too small for any use, otherwise it would be gone." He let out a dry cough. "No way we could hide anything from the Emperor. He knew what was on his home planet." He squinted his eyes at the couple. "You can hear it, can't you?"

Luke nodded. "It's beautiful. It's singing ... to us."

The bald man with round spectacles reached around the case and turned off the pin lights. He took out a pair of white gloves from a drawer under the display case and put them on. Then he turned off the security system with a flick of a switch. A locked drawer hissed as it unlatched and slid open. He pulled out a cube with blue panels and metal embellishments. "Well, if you could hear that, then you should hear this."

He dropped the sliver into the holocron. The eight corners rotated as it pulsed a bright blue as an ancient recording started. "A Jedi uses—"

Luke's heart jumped when the voice sounded. "Master Yoda?"

"—the Force for knowledge and defense. Never for attack. My ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it. Makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us."

The recording stopped and the lights dimmed but did not go out.

He reached out to touch the device but the old man tapped his hand away. "Patience, Jedi."

The lights pulsed green this time with a different voice. "Your focus determines your reality. Remember, concentrate on the moment, feel, don't think. Use your instincts."

Naluma's eyes could not move away from the pulsing, throbbing light of the crystal with the mesmerizing voices of past Jedi.

The same voice continued, "The Force binds the Jedi together through its light. It empowers. It directs. Don't ignore its leading." The holocron pulsed again and dimmed. "The light of the Force is love. Love binds the Jedi together. Love for all creatures and love for ea—" The holocron died.

Luke gasped. His hand trembled in Naluma's.

She couldn't see him very well in the darkened room. Her eyes blurred from concentrating on the bright holocron for so long. But she didn't have to see him. She felt it. The same terror he felt in the presence of the krayt dragon skeleton she perceived it now ... as the ancient Jedi master of the past spoke the words that seemed to contradict everything they had been taught.

And a tear rolled down her cheek as she realized he was afraid of ... her.