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“Master Luke?”
“Just Luke,” He says. Again.
“Right. M - Luke.” Rey fidgets, rubbing her thumb across the cover of the book she’s holding - one of the Jedi texts he had given her, to understand the broader context and lessons of the Order.
“Did you find that one interesting?”
“Huh? Oh, yes, I suppose.”
“I thought it was a bit dry,” He says with a conspiratorial grin. She grins back. “So what did you think?”
“I -” She runs a finger along one of the pages. “What it says, about avoiding attachment - what does that mean? ”
“Well, that’s a very good question.” He takes a breath and sits down. “I would say it’s about not letting our actions be driven by believing that we have possession or ownership over others, and not being ruled by jealousy.”
“But - does it mean - is it just -” She changes tacks. “So - did General Leia not become a Jedi because she wouldn’t have been allowed to marry Han?”
Luke laughs. “No, no,” He says, and pats Rey on the shoulder. “Leia didn’t focus on the Jedi traditions in the same way I did because she was too busy building a new government.”
“So it doesn’t say you can’t -?” Rey waves her hand a little vaguely.
“Not in my view, no. Though I suppose I may be the wrong person to ask about it.” He says, with a laugh.
“Oh,” She fidgets with the book, looking a little worried.
“I’m aroace.” He says reassuringly, wanting her to know that she hasn’t overstepped, “Aromantic and asexual.” He adds when Rey still looks confused.
He gives her a few moments to parse the words.
“So - so you don’t feel anything romantically or - or sexually - for anyone ?” He nods. “I - I didn’t know there were words for that.”
He smiles. “I know the feeling,” he says. When Rey is quiet for a few moments, he adds, gently. “Does it sound like what you feel?”
“I don’t know what I feel.” She says quietly.
“That’s alright,” He says, and she looks at him, a little surprised. “When I first joined the rebellion, I found this whole new vocabulary, and all of these communities, stretching across a whole spectrum of experience and feeling. And if you don’t find that you need or want words for your experiences, that’s fine too. Plenty of stars, plenty of beings out there. You are never alone.”
“I -” Rey pauses. “You’re - aroace. But you still - you still have to worry about attachment?” She asks - a deliberate change of subject. He lets it go. Sometimes it takes time.
He laughs. “Yes. Yes, I do. Master Yoda would have laughed at the idea that I didn’t.” Rey looks at him curiously. “When I was first training with Yoda, I was lured into a trap by feeling the suffering of Leia and - and Han.” He looks down. It wasn’t the last time he hadn’t been able to save Han. “But for the Force and Leia I would have died there.” He looks at Rey. “Whatever your feelings, acting thoughtlessly can be dangerous.”
Rey looks down.
“But,” He adds, “I think even Master Yoda would agree that I’ve been better for having - had Han, and Leia, in my life. It was Leia’s words that called me off of Tatooine, and Han’s ship that carried me,” He looks over the side of the cliff to the Falcon. “Wedge, Chewie, Artoo, Lando - without them I wouldn’t have made it through the Rebellion. I wouldn’t have become the person that I did. Even Anakin -” He looks out into the distance.
“Anakin?”
“Darth Vader. My father. His real name was Anakin Skywalker.” He says, “It was love that brought him back to the light. Love of family.”
But it hadn’t been enough for Kylo.
Rey looks down. It seems that she’s thinking along much the same lines.
“Love - familial, romantic, platonic, anything - can motivate us to behave more compassionately. To be braver, and to be better than we thought we could be.” He looks at Rey. “It’s never too late for anyone.”
Rey looks up. “Finn,” She says. “He came looking for me on Starkiller base. He helped destroy it.”
“He sounds like a good person.”
Rey nods, smiling. They watch the sky for a few moments.
“How do you know?” Rey asks, “When - how you feel is telling you to go into a trap, and when it’s telling you to do better?”
Luke laughs. “I don’t. Not always. But I’ve gotten better.” He leans back, looks up at the sky. “It helps me to think about the connections - all of them, that we all have. Not just - feelings, personal connections. But - to a wider universe.” He smiles. “We are not just - living here, as if it were a waystation, we are - a part of this universe. The Force connects us all, every living thing, and beyond,” He reaches out, runs a finger over a blade of grass, a rock. “We are all made of the stuff of the universe. The same stuff as the stars, as the planets - as kyber crystals.” He says, running a hand along his old lightsaber. “You, me, everyone you and I know, are part of this universe, part of the Force, and every part of us will remain that way long after we die. Those connections are there, no matter where we are, no matter what we feel.”
Rey sits, thinking, watching the sky with him. “And that helps?” She says, clearly trying to keep most of the skepticism out of her voice.
He laughs. “Sometimes.” He says. “You’ll do fine, Rey. Don’t act from hate, or selfishness. That is what most of these books come to,” He says, reaching out to pat her shoulder. “You’re as connected to all of this as I am. Remember that, and your feelings will sort themselves out eventually.”
Rey smiles, sets the book to her side on the rock. He puts an arm around her shoulders, and the two Jedi watch the sky.