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"I gave the drugs to Chewie," Han announced. He was relieved to see Leia sitting at the window, still in one piece. This isn't the time for me to go flying off, he thought, with her liable to give birth to twins any day. "You know, I have some really exciting news."
She turned towards him. Her face was calm, beautiful. Gone were the tight lines of fear and hatred. Even the shadows of painful guilt had left her eyes in the peaceful Irfogan sundown. Leia Organa's war wounds were healing at last. Her hands on her large belly weren't protective now, but gentle and caressing. As it should be, Han sighed. Something good came from my meddling after all.
He sat on the arm of the chair, embracing her gently. "Let me give it to you straight. I've been on Kessel, talked to that Chief Evaluator Zornom, and I have his solemn promise that Luke will be okay. He didn't say when, but they're going to release him. That's one. Two, I have good reasons to think that your brother's going to be a father for the twenty-fifth time, now for real, I mean, the good old way. That psych-analyst woman, you know, she's pregnant."
"Oh, this is wonderful."
Han coughed a little. "I don't know how wonderful, actually. Leia, if all was fine, why didn't she come to us? I mean, we're family to her now. Close and clear blood."
"Maybe it's not her custom. What is she, anyway?"
"She's from Taran Five, another of the clan societies, so I guess it's pretty much expected that she'd come to you and, you know, place herself under your protection."
"Han! Clan laws are fine, as long as you don't try to impose them on people. She's a professional, she lives and works on Mord, her homeclan-laws might not mean anything to her anymore. How much are you bound by your clan, huh?"
"That is a very long story. Just watch me. I'm gonna be bound by clan laws as soon as those two little Corellians come out of there." He said as he caressed Leia's belly.
"I've always known you had it in you, scoundrel. Stars, Han, can you ever forgive me? What I've been putting you through, ever since we met? Dragging you into my Organa-Skywalker life?"
"It's sundown, Leia. I give you exactly ten minutes for torturing yourself in this here chair, then you get up and come with me to have something to eat. I love Irfogan food, don't you? Do you think Threepio can get one of those flatbreads from the kitchen, with the hard sugar topping, and maybe a coupla plum pocs?" Han studied her face carefully. "Sorry, I forgot. Go on, how was it with the guilt trip about makin' me miserable?"
Leia stood up and shook her head, her hair flying. "You are impossible."
"One of my best qualities," he grinned. "Back to the task at hand, Leia. Flatbreads, pocs, and how about a little after-dinner trip to Taran Five, to visit our new sister-in-whatever?"
Lil was halfway out of the house with her mother, to catch the transport to the nearest city, when a large rented aircar swooped down at the gate. She was stunned to see Han Solo and a very pregnant Leia Organa get out.
"We gotta talk," the Corellian said. "Do you still have the baby?"
"Who is this?" Lil's mother asked with a worried frown.
"I am your kh'ilad, Mother," Han said, grinning, "and this is my bonded mate, your kh'anora, and we have a lot of things to talk about, now that we're family." He bowed deeply.
The Mother put her hands on her hips, raised her head and faced the Corellian squarely. "Nothing of the sort, Outworlder. We don't want this child. My daughter will bond with one of her own kind."
"Before the conversation gets out of hand," Han continued undisturbed, "let's make it clear. Is your daughter carrying Skywalker's child or not?"
"She is, for about another hour, stranger. We're going to the clinic right now."
"Respected Mother," Han said, dropping his casual portside accent. He spoke Spaceint with circumstancial formality, something Leia had never heard him do. "Respected Mother, I assume you are your clan's elder..."
"That's right," the woman said stiffly.
"...as I am of mine. Skywalker's child might be unwanted in your clan, but for us, Respected Mother, that child is close kin. I claim it."
Lil moved to speak, but her mother stopped her with a look that could have killed a lesser woman.
"My daughter does not wish to carry the child. You can't force her to do so."
"I'd like to talk to your daughter, Mother. I have the right to know her reasons; after all, it's my responsibility to inform my kin that his child is not to be born."
The woman hesitated for a moment. "I'm not sure you have any right to talk to my daughter, stranger, but in this modern world, who knows? My daughter is of the new kind, she studied offworld, worked offworld, talked to many strangers... why wouldn't she talk to you?" She added: "In my presence."
"Thank you, Mother," Han bowed again.
Leia just stared at him, thinking, why couldn't he show this kind of formality just once during a state dinner?
They all went into the house, at least as far as the veranda. Han bristled at not being allowed inside. The Mother offered them seats, but no food or drink, a clear sign of hostility. Han made himself comfortable as if he'd been shown the greatest hospitality. Leia realized that in his own circles, her husband was quite the diplomat.
"So," Han said, turning to Lil. "Why? Why then, and why not now?"
"You misunderstand the situation, General Solo."
"Captain."
"Captain Solo." Lil swallowed. "I did not consent to the conception."
The breath stopped in Han's throat.
"Technically, Captain Solo, your kin raped me. Were I as old-fashioned as my Mother, I'd demand justice from your clan."
Han found his voice. "I know my kin. He wouldn't rape anyone."
"Maybe you know him..." Lil frowned. "Not in bed, I think. Captain Solo, Skywalker was not making love to me. He was making hate, hate and anger. I asked him to make love. Instead, I felt his anger... believe me, he... he frightened me! He had no permission, explicit or implicit, to make me pregnant. I even screamed 'no', and he ignored it. Have you ever felt his anger? During that last moment, that's all I felt. This is not his child I'm carrying, this is his hate! And I don't want it."
"Oh." The Corellian spread his arms. "For a moment, you felt his anger." The portside accent was back in his voice. "What do you think, how much did it cost him throughout the whole circus to be so bloody kind as not to make every accuser feel his anger and die? Do you know? You felt his anger for a moment! So what was he supposed to be, cheerful? He felt everybody's hatred! The very people he'd given his whole life to trampled on him for weeks, and he shouldn't be angry? For a moment? Ah, shit. Who am I talking to! He frightened meeee... He could have done ANYTHING to you, you stupid little... Ahh! He could make you bring his slippers in your mouth on all fours every morning and like it! You have no idea of his power. You idiots, you should all be thanking him twice every hour that he's such a sweet kid that he doesn't even think of using it! And if this witch-hunt made him angry for a couple of moments, well, tough luck, lady. You don't have to like him! Oh Gods, that you had to be the one to bed him ! He'd get more loving outta a stinking nerf!"
"Enough!" The Mother jumped up, eyes blazing. "If your kin is anything like you, stranger, then my daughter is entirely justified in her decision."
Han gritted his teeth and forced himself to sit quietly, counting to ten, but before he could speak, Leia broke the silence.
"Respected Mother of a honored clan, I am Skywalker's sister, Leia Organa-Solo. The child your daughter's carrying is my blood. If the child I carry were your close and clear blood, is there anything you wouldn't do to preserve it?"
The woman turned her back to Han and sat down to face Leia. "You have a very strange clan, Leia Organa-Solo, that you'd want a child conceived in anger."
"Yes, Mother, I have a very strange clan," Leia said, and Han was relieved to see that she was smiling. "May your clan never experience the darkness we have been forced to live with. May your daughter find a a mate for bonding, someone who carries less burdens than my brother. I understand her decision. Not so long ago, I myself would have... gone to great lengths to be free of my heritage. Even now I catch myself hoping that my children will resemble my mate, and not myself..." She touched Lil's hand softly. "I understand you... not that I've ever seen Luke angry... He's never been angry... even when he was hurt..." Leia felt Han's eyes on her and stopped in mid-sentence. "Never mind," she continued. "I understand you and beg your forgiveness for the insults of my mate. I see that we cannot resolve this problem by clan law. Were I not pregnant, I'd suggest to arrange a transfer."
The Mother nodded. "That could be done."
"However, a few months after I've given birth," Leia added, "I could carry the child. Lil, could you have that fetus frozen?"
"NO!" Lil cried. "There must not be any child."
Leia buried her face in her hands. How well I understand you... how I wished that there was no Luke in this world, I'd rather see him dead than a drop of Vader's twisted Jedi blood remain... It took me months to overcome this terror... how can I make this woman conquer it here and now?
Han saw the Mother beckoning to him. He stood up, following the woman inside the house.
"Captain Solo," the Mother started, using Han's name the first time. "We can talk a little... in private."
"Respected Mother, why aren't you offering me even a glass of water? Surely there is no warring between us?"
"No, but there can't be friendship either. You insulted my daughter, and I must stand beside her. She wants to put all this behind her. She will." The woman repeated: "She will. However, you and I can deal. I am old-fashioned. I wouldn't find it right to deny you your kin-blood. I can arrange for the fetus to be frozen and sent to you. Lil need never know. I want your oath on that, Solo."
Han almost hugged the woman then. "Takh Solo anid graal, I swear on the life of all my kinfolk that it shall remain our secret, Respected Mother." He couldn't resist winking at her. "Just don't write a return address on the package, huh?"
She shook her head disapprovingly. "You!" she said.
"Joking at a time like this." But then she smiled a little
"Are you really thirsty?" - and offered him a glass of water.
Han drank it without coming up for breath. "The child is a gift, Mother, and my clan owes you for it."
"Forget it. As if we'd never met, Solo, that's what you owe me. As if we had never met."
Han nodded.
Within the towers, Darkness breathed, tangible power, seeking a vessel to fill, a leader to follow, a mind to focus, a desire to satisfy, a master to serve, a puppet to manipulate.
For the Dark was all this, and could be more. It was without direction now, after the loss of Palpatine, waiting, surging with possibilities. In this hiatus of power, it was both more vulnerable and more threatening. On its own, without the focus of a human mind, Darkness was free to seek any form, seeping, oozing, seeking fulfillment. Whispering, it centered on the only remaining Force-user, the Jedi, who silently walked the tower rooms.
This one was young, and the Dark sensed the strength in him, resilience, potential yet to be defined. This one had tremendous capacity to put aside his own self and give himself to a cause, work for a goal.
I'll be your cause, your weapon, your lover, the Dark whispered, with me you will not fail. Remember the cave... I was there, there we met the first time. You were afraid then...
I am afraid still, Luke answered.
Take me, and there will be nothing more to fear...
I'd rather keep the fear, the Jedi thought, maybe my fears really are a blessing.
I am patient, the Darkness sang, I will wait.
The Jedi wandered around the towers, discovering their layout, searching for the computer, looking for Vader's private chambers. He was curious to see how Vader had lived, what interests and passions the rooms might betray.
He knew he'd recognize his father's quarters, and he did, as the rooms had Vader's unmistakable aura, though they looked like nothing he'd expected. In the stark, black, technical beauty of the towers, Vader's chambers were rich with warm reds and honeyed yellows, tapestry, living plants climbing from huge amber vases, silk bedding, cut glass, polished, brown wood, bronze and gold. There were instruments of music, lightplay and incense. Age-old steel swords decorated one room, shimmerglass spheres the other.
Luke felt a painful longing for the man who could probably talk about these wondrous objects with passion, who could rest on the soft bed, listening to music, maybe even playing it? Behind the black mask, there must have been a man he could have loved, admired, learned from.
Oh yes, he was wonderful, whispered the Dark, full of life and passions, thirsting for knowledge and power... and I belonged to him, and he was mine... I could be yours now... take me. I'll make you powerful. Think of what you can accomplish.
Skywalker... Vader's blood burns in your veins, you NEED this power... they betrayed you, you are imprisoned in this very moment... free yourself! I am freedom. Scatter the herd that tried to hurt you! Show them who you are! Bring your apprentices to me. Together, we can make them Gods! New masters... your sons, and Leia's, too... new Skywalker twins!
The darksong rose to a choir, deep voices assailed him from all directions like a wind. Is this what the Zornoms can hear, the "zogat", the music of all living things? Luke wondered, letting the sound wash over him. He was a rock, withstanding the tide. He was a tree, wind rushing through its branches. Touching, but not taking, bending, but not breaking.
Again. And again.
Leia was astonished to hear Threepio announce the name of the visitor. She'd thought she would never see Lil Ha Akaria again. But the psych-analyst was there, standing in the doorway of the bedroom.
She looks good, Leia thought, and suddenly she found herself wondering about her brother's love-life. What a perfectly normal peacetime idea, she smiled to herself, worrying about members of our family having affairs...Gods, what a life I had, losing a whole planet, nearly going crazy - I almost had him killed and now I'm here wondering why he couldn't get along with this lovely, intelligent, young woman.
"I brought you the embryo."
Lil's soft voice startled Leia. "What?" she asked sharply.
"I had a long talk with my Mother. She wanted this. She would have done it behind my back, anyway. I'm starting to believe that she was right. You should have it."
"Come in and sit down," Leia said. "Forgive me if I don't get up, but I gave birth this morning."
It was then that Lil noticed the two white bundles on the bed, under the lace net.
"Oh... Congratulations."
"Two boys."
Lil came closer and offered a small red medbox to Leia. "This is a female."
Leia took it. "I'll have it implanted as soon as I'm ready."
"Our doctors are sending the medical data of my bloodline to your computers," Lil said.
"That'd be very helpful."
An awkward silence hung between them for a while.
"He was not released from Kirdaal," Lil said finally.
"I know."
"I didn't want this to happen. I thought they'd release him."
Leia couldn't resist saying: "Maybe he frightened them, too."
"I'm sorry. I've been thinking about this..."
"Sit down."
Lil pulled up an ottoman and sat beside Leia's bed. "He was right about me, you know. I used him. He was... a fantasy. He excited me... No, not him, rather his legend... his ancestry, the danger, the darkness, Vader's shadow. and his beauty. I wanted it and took it, and when he. when he wanted more, I pushed him away. I used my professional integrity as a shield to keep him away. He wanted my full commitment, my unqualified support. I think he wanted my love."
Leia looked at the face of this woman, this stranger, who'd been in bed with Luke. She saw the shadows of regret and guilt in Lil's eyes, familiar shadows, because she herself had lived through the same emotions not so long ago. But she had Han to yank her out of her destructive misery. This woman is alone, Leia thought, and maybe she shouldn't be. It's not easy to touch the last Jedi without getting burned. Yet it was painfully hard to talk about such things.
"He's very young," Leia said slowly. "We don't know what he's been through."
"That's what my evaluation was supposed to determine. I guess computer tests are no good on Jedi." Lil sounded bitter. Sighing, she asked, "Is your husband still that mad at me?"
"He won't be, as soon as he learns that you've brought us the child," Leia smiled.
Again, an uneasy silence separated the two women for a long time, but neither of them felt like terminating the conversation.
"I've heard that the Irfogan king legalized the status of the clones," Lil started.
"Yes. Now the next step is to have the New Government accept them as Irfogan citizens. There is no legal way to deny this. At least Luke doesn't have to worry about this part." Leia looked towards the window and the sun-drenched garden beyond it. "They miss him."
"Could I see them?"
"Why would you want to?"
Lil shrugged. "Morbid curiosity, I think."
"I should be the last one to blame you for it. Honestly, it took me a long time to get used to them. Go to the window. They're in the garden."
Lil walked across and looked down. The twenty-four little boys were there, sitting around a large Wookiee who was patiently teaching them to peel coori fruits. It was an idyllic picture from above, and Lil couldn't understand why anyone would feel revulsion towards the angelic-looking, identical children until they looked up and noticed her. Then she cried out, instinctively raising her hands in a defensive and totally useless gesture.
The children were latching onto her mind, aggressively seeking information on Luke, reading her most intimate memories, the warmth of Luke's first kiss, the heat of his anger... Lil screamed. Her resistance frightened the boys, and now they started to cry, grabbing onto Chewie and each other for protection.
Lil staggered away from the window.
"See," Leia said, "Luke had to awaken their Jedi senses when he first started to teach them... but he didn't have the time to teach them manners. Mentally, they're no more than a year old. Other babies would pull your hair and grab your nose, these boys are after your mind. Without a Jedi Master, they're lost, no matter how much caring they get from non-sensitives. Luke sometimes reaches out to them, trying to hold a mindlink, but it's worse when he stops."
"Poor lambs," Lil sat down. "Luke tried to explain this to me, telling me why he had to be with them. I couldn't see it then. I must go to Kessel. I'll try to convince the Zornoms to let Luke go right away. This isnonsense. Those boys are tortured by his absence, and he must be going crazy knowing this!"
"Could you answer one question before you go?" Leia asked.
"Quick." Lil was at the door already.
"Were you the first for him?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"Morbid curiosity," Leia answered.
For a second, both of them smiled. "Yes, I was," Lil said then.
"Will you come back here after you've talked to the Zornoms? I'd like to know."
Lil nodded. Their eyes met. After all, Leia thought, no matter how one looks at it, through this unborn daughter of Luke, we are kin... maybe not perfect, maybe not exactly loving, definitely not traditional, but kin nevertheless... and maybe, maybe, she's not that bad... maybe she can give something to Luke that he needs... if not a mate, a lover. If not forever, for a while.
Children... my little sons, Luke called, I am here for you, I'll find my way home. He reached out to them through the overlapping waves of the Force, touching their souls gently, soothing their pain. They held onto him desperately, and he felt drawn to them, drawn so strongly that with their calling and his wish to go, a part of him could ride the shimmering planes of the Force to Irfogan. He was there, stepping lightly into their room, and saw their faces light up as they started running to him. Little Jedi as they were, the fact that their hands couldn't touch Luke's image never bothered them. His Force-presence was all that mattered, all that they needed. Soon, soon, Luke told them, all of me will be here for you.
They talked to him, both with words and mental images, about Han and Chewie and Leia, and the long-haired woman who came, the coori fruit and the Irfogan night, the singing birds in the garden and the stink of the Darkthat Luke brought with him.
"This is what I have to get rid of," he told them, "and then I'll be back."
He did not know how long he kept up this Force projection, but when his strength ebbed, he found himself on his back in the Towers, dazed and disoriented.
Accept me, purred the Darkness, feed on me, drink of me, I am your strength, your nourishment...
He got to his feet, thinking that there must be an easier way to do those grand Jedi things, as neither Kenobi, nor Yoda or Vader had ever seemed out of breath... So much to learn!
But this is where all the books and tapes are, he sighed, touching the black walls.
All knowledge, tainted with Dark.
Dramatics nothwithstanding, I have to live here for a while. I must find a place to sleep, to eat, to wash. My first sane idea in quite a while, he grinned. He was young and resilient, indeed, and the demands of his healthy body yelled louder than all the black power in the Universe.
He dismissed the Dark with a casual, impatient gesture, and turned his full attention to the task of locating a food synth. In twenty minutes, he wolfed down a bowl of Corellian stew, drank a bottle of cold ale under a hot shower, and fell asleep in a large armchair, never even bothering to wonder whether it had belonged to Palpatine or not.
He slept there naked, unguarded, dreamless, and so sated with the simple pleasures of eating and washing that the Dark just swirled around him for a while, unable to find a way to his soul.
"Madame Ha Akaria," the Zornom said, "we could talk about Skywalker on a professional level, like two indifferent evaluators, or we could talk a little more efficiently, like two sentient beings... if that doesn't go against your ingrained cultural taboos too much."
"I don't think my cultural taboos would interfere with the exchange of information between us," Lil answered stiffly.
"Splendid," the Zornom exclaimed. "So, how was he in the bed?"
Lil nearly fell off the chair. "Pardon me, but this is... Ahh! You're testing me, aren't you?"
"Evaluating the evaluator is a fine art, Madame," said the Zornom, and its round dark eyes sparkled at the end of its eyestalks. "Consider it a joke, and forgive me, but do not tell me again that your cultural taboos aren't, uhh, deeply ingrained. And forgive me for further transgessions I intend to commit."
Lil decided to tough it out. "Honored Chief Evaluator, all I want to know is where do you keep Skywalker, and why didn't you release him? Surely you can't think that he is... dangerous."
"No. Not at all. And we do not keep him. He is free to go, and he will go when he is ready. Soon, Madame. Oh, he is a fine Jedi. In the past five hundred years, I'd say, he is the finest we have met. Young, too." The Zornom pulled in several stalks at once, while extending others. "In Standard Human terms, Madame, would you say he is acceptable looking?"
"What? Yes... of course, very acceptable." Lil surveyed the Zornom suspiciously. "What are you driving at?"
"Right now, I am trying to circumnavigate your cultural taboos, Madame," said the Zornom. "And I am listening, very carefully, to the sounds of your emotions. As part of our evaluation, as you know, a few suggestions were made by the Kesselian Thirty. Kirdaal, as a rehabilitation institute, likes to present solutions rather than holding cells. One of the suggestions was to find a suitable mate for Skywalker. I am sorry to hear, I mean, see, that you do not consider yourself such."
"Skywalker and I had a serious disagreement." Lil didn't want to say more.
"Wounds heal," said the Zornom simply. Lil remained silent, and the Zornom added a second later: "Standard Humans have very short lifespans. Very short, Madame. Think about this. Yes, you've hurt Skywalker, and he hurt you back. I'd say you're about even. You might hurt him again, and he might hurt you again. Between mutual hurts, Madame, there could be days of peace, happiness, productive cooperation and lovely sex. Even a Zornom couldn't ask for more!"
Lil stared at her own hands resting on her lap. How much Skywalker had liked what her hands did for him... and how pleased she'd been to find him untouched, unspoiled... he'd been delighted like a child and so grateful for what any other man would consider just another coupling... How he'd thought that she'd stand by him on the strength of their lovemaking, as if that meant the world --- and maybe it did, for him. Yes, she thought with a wrenching pain of guilt, he wanted love.
"Guilt," the Zornom said, "I recognize the tune. Very typically a Standard Human emotion, Madame Ha Akaria, unique in its uselessness, if I may say so. If only you were able to put this aside and build your relationship on a more effective foundation!"
"Such as?" she asked.
"Lust." The Zornom sang out the word with a peculiar lilt. "Listen to your own feelings, honored female. I distinctly hear that you find him beautiful. You are full of healthy, natural, powerful cravings for his body and his bedtime ways."
"Lust is only sex," Lil protested. "Not enough for bonding."
"Only sex!" the Zornom exclaimed. "Madame, I am shocked. Isn't sex the most powerful force among organic beings? The foundation of procreation, the only assurance of our future? Our revulsion of clones, is it not based on the fact that there was no sex involved in their creation? The terror Lord Vader meant, wasn't it the fear of him being a machine, not a man? The Emperor, a creature of useless, revolting flesh and strong spirit? Again, sexless. Yes, Skywalker was right when he thought that you should vouch for him with more conviction, after you had touched. He is a Jedi, a fearsome power, maybe not quite human, but he had proven himself sexful!" The Zornom paused, rippling."I beg you to consider."
"He will not forgive me."
"Touch him, touch, don't talk. Remember, he reads you just as clearly as I do. Skywalker needs human touch, Madame. This is a large universe, inhabited by many different races, but all sentient beings have one thing common: the need for a mate. Very few are aware of the extent of Skywalker's loneliness. Weren't you the first one, the only one who dared to touch him?"
Lil smiled a little. "To tame the Krayt dragon."
"Will you meet him again?"
"I promised the Princess Leia that I'd return to Irfogan. If he'll be there..."
The Zornom made a chuckling noise. "If you stay there long enough, he'll be there. Will you?"
She nodded.
I had your father. I almost had your sister, the Dark whispered, I could get her children, your sons, and your unborn daughter... I have many choices... I want you the most, Jedi, but I could be content with less... you have many children, with great potential... your thoughts lead me to them... I will darken their dreams with velvet promises of power and safety... I shall sing to them the black songs of Vader's glory... your sons are restless and fearful now... I'll warm them with dark flames, hot ambitions... I'll teach them to hate your pale Lightsider hesitation, your virginal solitude, your pristine fears! They'll understand that you could have gone back to them if only you'd accepted my offerings of power. I'll teach them to hate you!
This was the third time he screamed: the sound tore from his soul; once, he'd screamed for his own life, as the Dark reached out to him on Bespin; again, for Leia, in the throne room over Endor; and now, for the children.
On Bespin, he'd screamed to die; over Endor, he'd screamed to kill, but now, his unearthly cry ruled. It was an order, such as the Dark could understand and obey.
The black waves trembled at the perimeters of his power, and he reached out to them, reining them with such violence that the Dark shivered in pleasure, opening its very core to him. You were right, father, he thought, I did not know the power of the Dark Side. This was an immense universe of possibilities, its tendrils reached the very fabric of matter and space.
His to take.
Ruling it. Changing it, if he so pleased. His will, coupled with this power, could be the only driving force of the universe.
Rule me, ride me, drive me, the Dark breathed to him, give me shape and form, use me, Skywalker!
He staggered at this temptation. At that moment, just one step towards this obscenely immense power, and he would own the Galaxy. Nothing could touch him or his children then, nothing would bind him anymore. Absolute freedom. Power -- yes, but then, had he no other source of strength?
Who knows the power of the Light?
Skywalker.
White-hot columns of life-strength, endless Lightsider power surging in each blade of grass, all living things, each bird, each worm... oh, no, the Dark Side is not stronger... noisier, maybe, on occasion... but the lightsong never stops...
No, he said, stepping out of the conflict within himself; stepping away from the waves of Darkness, shrugging off its power easily. No.
You will obey me, and I'll give you nothing in exchange if I so please. You are meaningless without guidance. I'll be your will, and I order you to stay away from the children. You shall serve me as I see fit. Don't bother me now. Yield, and obey your master.
Silence.
And how many times will the Dark rise, to tempt, to beg, to threaten, to seduce? How many times 'til the end? This will be a fight unending, but then, what are warriors for?
In time, there will be others. Leia, the children, and other young Jedi to be trained. I am not alone.
He smiled. Gods, he was tired.
But free.
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