Binary Skies

Chapter 15: A Startling Feeling

"Not so relaxing in this park. I think it best we leave," Nakari said, standing. Luke followed suit with a soft yes, and they made their way towards the rendezvous point, incinerating their disguises along the way.

Anakin, meanwhile, sat in a back corner booth with a drink in his hand, eyes on the door as he waited for the remainder of his party. The waitress was eager to take his order, but Anakin was adamant his friends would show.

Luke and Nakari kept their heads bowed low and hoods shading their face until they finally reached the restaurant. It took Nakari a moment to pick Anakin out of the crowd, though Luke spotted him almost instantly through the Force, guiding Nakari towards the back table that Anakin had taken residence at. Luke slid into a chair across from his father, Nakari taking the seat beside him. "Sorry we got delayed; we had to wait a while to use the incinerator when no one was around."

Anakin nodded, whispering to them when he caught sight of the waitress eagerly coming over.

"Order something to eat, I've been holding this table for a while now, and the waitress has been bugging me for the last thirty minutes.''

"Maybe she likes you," Luke teased with a wink.

Anakin pulled a face. "Force no...she's more than I can stand..."

As if to emphasize his point, a high-octave voice greeted them with an abundance of exuberance.

"Well hello there folks, we've been waiting a while for you now. Can I get your orders?"

Anakin, who'd had plenty of time to peruse the menu, ordered instantly, wanting to get rid of her as fast as possible.

Luke managed to constrain himself from laughing, ordering fairly quickly and waiting until the waitress was gone to snicker. He sobered once more, folding his hands on top of each other. "So...should we wait until the waitress comes back with our food to talk, or should we start now knowing she's going to keep finding an excuse to come over here anyway?"

All right...he was mostly serious.

Anakin threw Luke a sour look. "Let's get our food first; she'll give us more time after that."

Nakari nodded, leaning forward and lowering her voice. "I wanted to ask, since Luke didn't know, but that lightning you produced on Fex...why was it so oddly colored?"

Anakin grimaced. "That was an ability called Electric Judgement. It's usually green...but, ah..." Anakin tugged at his collar. "Well, Sith Lightning is blue or purple, depending on the intensity. So when I tapped into my anger and fear to get rid of those skullborers, I inadvertently used a mixture of light and dark power."

Luke looked down, glancing at Nakari to see how she would react. He had already grown accustomed to his father's darker tendencies, and made sure to learn from them instead of adopt them. He also hoped to help his father overcome those habits.

Still, they did bother Luke. He loved his father unconditionally, but when he tapped into those darker powers, it did make Luke uncomfortable and caused him to worry about Anakin. He sincerely hoped that at least that part of things wouldn't rub off on him. He didn't know if he'd be strong enough to resist those darker powers, and he didn't feel like tempting fate every day.

Nakari nodded. "Well, who wouldn't want to zap a few pests, huh?" She allowed a sly grin. "Though I think you probably could have lessened the voltage, tough-guy."

Anakin snorted into his drink, blushing as Nakari continued to lay it on.

"Cause I would never have guessed that your weakness was tiny purple creatures..."