Us Against the World

12

Back in reality, I felt the slight breeze blowing through my hair, the wind having picked up during the time I had been speaking with Ben. That's when I caught it, the whispers. I watched to my left to see Luke disappearing around a corner, and I felt the urge to follow him. The closer I got, the louder the whispers got, some calling my name, but most being indistinguishable murmurs.

I came to a large tree, one that looked older than Maz herself. From inside I could hear talking, Luke and Rey. Standing just outside the tree, the whispers were loud, deafening, but the moment I stepped into the tree I could hear my master and Rey only, the whispers stopping. Behind Rey, I could see the old Jedi texts, the ones that Luke had allowed me to read; the ones that I had spent hours hunched over reading, ignoring everyone.
"I will never train another generation of Jedi." Luke told Rey, "I came to this island to die."

When Luke turned around he was met by me at the door. He looked at me, his face looking at me in question.
"And why are you here?" Luke needed to know why I had come back now. He needed to understand why I hadn't just sent Rey and stayed back with Leia to help her, to keep the hope alive back there.
"I came to finish my training." I told him, but I saw him scoff, not believing me. I had come to find him so he could finally finish my training, but that wasn't the only reason. The conversation I had just had proved that my training had never been my true motive for coming here. "I need to save Ben. You're my only hope of understanding." At that moment I thought I had never sounded more like Leia. I didn't know that Luke thought the exact same thing. Instead of answering me, clearly not liking my answer, Luke left the small hut, leaving me and Rey.

The silence that followed, as I looked to the opening Luke had left through, feeling Rey's eyes on me, felt heavy. I knew Rey was begging to know who Ben was, to understand everything about my past, to allow her to comprehend the present. I turned to the girl, inhaling. She seemed to expect a similar reaction that Luke had given her, but I knew I wouldn't give her that. Rey needed training, and I could feel her fear directed to herself. She didn't know what she was or how to control what she was.

"Who's Ben?" Rey seemed to already have some idea who Ben was. The name felt foreign coming from someone else, and I almost didn't recognise who she was speaking about. I knew that whatever answer I gave her wouldn't be what she wanted. She wanted to sit down and have everything explained to her so that she was up to speed on everything. Everyone else seemed heartbroken not only about Han's death, but we were distraught with how he died.
"Someone I love very much, and I'll do everything I can to get him away from the First Order." With that, I left the tree.

By the time I had chosen to confront my old Jedi Master, deciding that meditation was bringing me no peace, he was on the falcon. Even stepping near the ship reminded me of Han, and the nearer I got and the further I walked through the ship, the more I missed the smuggler. If he were here, he'd be hauling Luke onto the falcon and flying off before he had the chance to object. We could really use that kind of persuasion now.

When I turned the corner, I smiled at the functioning R2 unit and Luke, seeing them looking at an old recording. A much younger version of Leia was being projected, dressed all in white, her hair in two buns on either side of her head. She looked like an angel.
"Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope." She said, before the blue projection was gone, leaving only the droid and Luke with a look of nostalgia on his face. Luke ducked his head, mulling over her words.

"Rey won't turn out like Ben." Luke looked up at me and I saw him visibly sigh. I took a seat beside the Jedi, not speaking at first, waiting for him to decide what to say or if he should walk away. My aim had been to convince him to train Rey, no longer caring if my training got completed or not. Rey could save us all.
"After all these years, you're still trying to save him." It was a statement, Luke already knowing the answer. He had never got the chance to address me with the fact I broke his rules, the rules of the Jedi, going against all that he taught me for a taste of pure happiness. I turned to Luke, seeing him still hunched over but now with his head turned and looking at me.
"He's my hope." I admitted.

A different look overcame Luke. He looked at R2, smiling, remembering. Whatever he was thinking of was bringing out the look of a younger Luke, somehow restoring a bit of his youth as he thought of something I knew he wouldn't have thought of in years.
"From the moment I saw you two together, fighting with sticks, you pretending to be Leia and Ben pretending to be Han, I knew I wouldn't be able to keep you apart." I vaguely remembered that day. Luke had come for dinner, and to meet the new girl that resided with his sister. Ben and I had been running around in the family garden, him trying to save me while I refused his help. We were acting out a story Han had told us the previous night, Ben playing the part of a younger Han, a smuggler, while I was being Leia, a not so defenseless princess. "I'm glad to see I was right." Luke nodded my way, referring to my ever present need to save Ben, be near him, to be with him.
"Don't blame me, blame the force." I told him, a small laugh finding its way out and into the air, breaking all tension that still remained.

For a moment more, we were silent. I was remembering the knowing look on Luke's face as he watched us play from the window, and the smug smile on Han's face at how his son was dragging me around the garden, shooting at the trees he deemed were enemies. I think even then, Han and Leia thought the same as Luke.

"I'll train the girl. 3 lessons." Luke told me. I immediately thanked him. I think Luke had expected me to ask about my own training, to beg him to teach me as well. Thinking about it now, I hadn't viewed myself as a student in a long time, and I didn't think, talking to Luke in the Falcon that day, I needed to be his student again. "You will train her in the evening, in her spare moments. When she understands the ways of the force, you will have completed your training."
"You know, 3P0 and some of the other people at the resistance base already call me Master Lowla." When I had arrived at the base, and the resistance ranks were appointed, Leia had wanted me to be a commander. After everything I had witnessed, feeling like I had failed her, the last thing I wanted was her to give me a high rank and put me in charge of other people. Instead she left it, and everyone in the base either avoided me or treated me like royalty. I could go wherever I wanted in the base, be in all important meetings. So, people took to calling me Master Lowla. I put it down to the fact it reminded them of the Jedi, it reminded them to have hope.
"Of course they do." Luke laughed, moving to exit the falcon, laughing to himself about pilots and droids. I felt like my old master had returned. I didn't know how long it would last, but I knew that for now, he was back, and he was somewhat willing to help us.