Luke Skywalker, the Last Jedi, faces his toughest challenge yet. After taking his Jedi vows, he assumes the misbelief that love has no place in his life. As a result, he denies the love he craves in order to establish the New Jedi Order and maintain...
"But the temptation was so strong. It wasn't just losing you as my lo—my friend ... I'm not ready to take over the Order." Naluma took a breath. "If you didn't survive, neither would the Jedi."
He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her head to him. "I wasn't ready to lead the Order either when I took you as my Padawan. My father helped. So did some of the other Jedi Masters."
"Luke, if they wouldn't heal you, I was going to disband the Order. What's the point of having all this power if you can't keep those you love alive?"
"They agreed to that?"
"They had no choice. Tandolleau and Jannah threatened to leave as well."
Luke chuckled, which quickly turned into a hacking cough. When it subsided, he said, "You three bullied Master Yoda?"
"You better believe it. Your father helped. The Force-ghosts crowded this room to capacity. You should have seen it." Naluma sniffed again, wiping her tears on the back of her sleeve. "Master Yoda healed you."
"That's why Tandolleau and Jannah were wiped out."
Naluma nodded. "Yeah."
"I thought I was hallucinating. They really were here," Luke said as he tried to comprehend it all.
After a few minutes of silence while they both tried to assimilate everything that had happened in the last few hours, she asked, "So, about your mission ... should we send Jannah and Tandolleau on alone? Or wait for you to recover?"
"I don't know how much longer we can postpone this. Besides, the First Order may change their minds and just execute Frensu. Every moment is another torture for him." Luke closed his eyes as he felt the pilot's anguish through the Force. "You go with them."
"Uh, after today, I don't think anyone's going to let me near a cockpit."
Luke tilted his head at her and raised his eyebrows in question.
"We owe the Republic an X-wing."
"How bad?"
"I crashed into the secondary bay. Half the S-foils gone, nose crunched, damage to the bay," Naluma said with clenched teeth forced into a smile.
Luke sighed. "You're grounded." He kissed the side of her neck.
"Best news I've heard today. I don't ever want to fly again."
"But you're still on the mission. Jannah's almost as good of a pilot as Tandolleau."
"Yeah, but you were going on the mission for the prestige factor. I'm a nobody. It will make no difference if I am there beside Jannah."
"It will. You're our best saber fighter. If things get dicey, they'll need you." Luke nuzzled his head against hers.
"You're better."
"Not by much, and I'm out of commission for a while. You'll do fine." He ran his fingers through the wisps of her hair that had escaped her chignon tie.
Naluma sighed. "All right. I'd rather just blow in there and take him. I'm tired of all these charades."
Luke tilted his head and smirked. "So what happened on your mission? You can skip the part where you crashed the fighter into the cruiser."
"When Wedge sent me a top-secret communication, Colonel Keelu hauled me in and accused me of spying for HQ."
"Sounds like he's guilty."
"I think he's guilty of something, but I don't think it's kidnapping recruits. Maybe marketeering or something like that. Wei'ahtt figured I'd blown my cover. He helped me steal an X-wing. Doing just great until they started firing on me and closed the shields."
"Why didn't you just contact Wedge?"
"No helmet. No communications. From what Wedge said, I assume Ruusan sent out an alert about a stolen X-wing. XO followed standard operating procedure," Naluma said with a tired yawn.
"Wei'ahtt still on the mission?" Luke asked.
"Yeah. I'll have to contact Madine to report this debacle."
"He can wait. I'll report for you once you leave for Castell."
"Do you know what Madine tried to make me do?"
"No. What?"
"Take an enlistment oath. Can you believe that?" Naluma huffed. "If I were a Sith, I would have hurled him against the wall and let him hang there for a couple of hours—upside down."
"That would have been fun to see," Luke said with a smile. He pulled her head to him and kissed her on the forehead. "What am I going to do with you?"
"Love me?"
"Always."
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Did you know ...
● Originally, the Force-ghosts were not going to take part in Luke's healing. They just showed up in the last chapter and demanded to be let in. (Characters can be that way sometimes.)
● I wanted to put limitations on the Jedi. They are not above physical injury or illness. Every group goes through shock when their leader is taken out of commission, whether temporarily or permanently. It is these moments that cause them to grow and for potential leaders to step it up a notch.
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Tell me what you think ...
● If the Force-ghosts had thought Naluma ready to lead the Jedi Order would they have still saved Luke?
● How has Naluma's attachment to Luke affected her commitment to Jedi doctrine?
