It was one of the first acts she put through after the peace celebrations, determined that none would forget what had been at stake and the lives lost. Now she laid the wreath down and stepped back, bowing in respect before rejoining her council. The Gungan King stood beside her, having placed his wreath with her. Their councils followed suit, then the soldiers and security until one side of the cenotaph was filled with flowers, shells and greenery. A moment of silence was observed, then a trio of Gungan horns signalled the last salute. With that the ceremony was over.
In the middle of the room of a thousand fountains was a cenotaph, built after the Battle of Geonosis. A ceremony was performed each year to remember the lives lost during the Clone Wars. Council members, masters, knights, padawans and younglings would lay a wreath at the base, bow in respect and observe a moment's silence. The fountains were suspended during this time, until all present ignited their lightsabers and saluted, marking the end of the ceremony. The moment survived the genocide of the Order and the Imperial Occupation. After the fall of the Empire, Master Skywalker resumed the service.
After he finished building his home and securing the area from Tusken Raiders, Obi-Wan built a cenotaph. In-between watching over Luke and the Lars, the Empire and the progress of the Rebellion, he would take time to observe a moment of silence in memory of the lives lost. He mourned friends, masters, knights, padawans, younglings, even politicians. He mourned Anakin, for his brother was lost on Mustafar, not alive in the Emperor's new masked apprentice. He mourned Padmé, cultivating her favourite Nubian flowers, salvaged from Varykino after he attended her funeral, her death perhaps felt more keenly than the rest.
After the award ceremony, the Rebel Alliance observed another, in remembrance for all those who lost their lives on Alderaan and during the Battle of Yavin. A cenotaph was erected within the grounds of the Massassi Temples. A service was performed until they had to give up the base and move to Hoth. When Master Skywalker set up the Jedi Academy, it was resumed, along with ones on Coruscant and other New Republic Worlds. Luke remembered those on the Death Stars and his father also. Leia came to mourn him too, along with their mother when they knew her name.
There was no time or place for the Rebel Alliance to mourn after escaping the Empire at Hoth. They were constantly on the move, too focused on gathering intelligence and fighting the Empire to mourn. Luke and Leia spent their time searching for Han in between their duties to the Alliance. While on Tatooine Luke found Obi-Wan's cenotaph as he built his new lightsaber and planned to rescue Han by taking down Jabba. Before he left the planet, Luke took a moment to pause before the small monument and reflect on all he and his friends had lost and gained.
When there was nothing but embers left of Anakin Skywalker, his son erected a cenotaph to mark his father's resting place. Every year Luke returned to pay his respects and remember the other lives lost in the battle to return the universe from the darkness of the Empire to the light of the New Republic. Sometimes Han, Leia and their children joined her, as she came to peace with her feelings for her father, even forgiving him, later on Mara and Ben too, along with the droids, Artoo lending a gentle and rather eloquent beeping salute to the ceremony performed.
© Danielle Harwood-Atkinson 2021. All rights reserved.
