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She doesn’t know what leads her to the planet.
Maybe she should know. After all, the force has been leading and guiding her as long as she can remember.
But it’s a blur.
The realization of his name.
The ripples in the force that turned into tidal waves.
The hiding. The running.
Helping the rebellion. Throwing all her energy into the mission. The end goal. Nothing’s more important.
She’s Fulcrum. Then she’s not.
She’s dead.
Then she’s not.
People dying. Friends lost, years flying by.
She has to find him.
He might be all she has left.
How do more people not recognize his name?
They almost cross paths once. She’s delivering supplies under a new alias. As she exits the atmosphere, a ship flies in.
It’s wide, circular, and barely clattering along.
But she feels it. She knows he’s there.
She hasn’t felt a force presence that strong, that powerful, since . . .
If any doubt had remained in her mind, it’s gone now.
She has to find him.
But not now.
Not yet.
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Maybe it’s a mistake. Maybe the force willed it. She might never know.
He finds her.
His pointed glance at the lightsabers swinging from her belt tells her all she needs to know.
He’s curious. And rightly so.
You’re a Jedi.
So she tells him.
She tells him her story.
She’s no Jedi. She’s an agent of the force, carrying out its will. She operates alone. Makes friends and loses them, never stays in one place for long.
He tells her his story.
Where he was born, where he grew up. His teachers. His struggles, his failures, his wild ride through the galaxy with the rebellion. Encounters with his father. He has a sister.
And his father . . .
He’s okay.
He died a hero.
She cries.
Cries for her teacher. For her best friend.
She’s not ashamed of tears. She’s shed many.
She’s only ashamed that she didn’t find him sooner. That he had to go through all that on his own.
That she wasn’t there for him from the very beginning.
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She’s not sure why she follows him to the planet.
There’s work to do.
She finally has a lead. Knows where to start looking for the boy – the young Jedi – and the man who captured him.
But the school is being built and she feels a thrill in her very soul that she hasn’t allowed herself to feel in so, so long.
He’s just like his father. So much compassion. Just like his mother. So discerning. He’s cool headed and kind and everything she knew he would be.
Pride fills her chest, and she allows it for a moment.
His parents would have been so proud. So incredibly proud.
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They walk together. Sit by the lake.
Sometimes they walk in silence.
They share stories and experiences and she sees his wisdom far, far beyond his years. He tells of the wars and hardships that shaped him but didn’t destroy him.
And for that she’s grateful beyond measure.
She knows what it’s like to be ruined by war.
And to see people you love suffer the same fate.
She tells him about her upbringing. Of the temple. Her home.
She tells him about his father. About his mother. About his history – his heritage. About wise senators and kind queens and powerful Jedi and the soldiers she called brothers. She tells him about the war. About failures and triumphs, about loss and love. About the way things used to be.
She tells him about her time in the rebellion. About Fulcrum. About all the lives given to ensure the future. About the hidden Jedi.
And he listens.
Oh, he listens.
He absorbs what she says like he’s never heard a word in his life. Like he grew up listening to her stories.
(She should have found him sooner.)
He refuses to make the same mistakes.
The distrust. The apathy. Pushing people away with rules and expectations.
He wants to make the galaxy a better place, not start a cult.
She’s so proud.
She vows to help him. Promises she’ll be there, once she finds them. Ensures the boy’s safety.
But she doesn’t want to leave. It’s peaceful here, and she has so much time to make up.
She can’t help but see his father in his eyes.
Those blue, piercing eyes that are both so wise and so warm.
He has the dedicated maturity of his mother and all the fierce protectiveness of his father. He carries generations of Jedi in his step and the galaxy on his shoulders. He’s not pure in spirit but he is good. He wouldn’t have made it in the Order.
He loves too hard for the Order.
Just like his father.
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She doesn’t know what makes her leave the planet.
Will I see you again?
I hope so.
Perhaps.
And just like that, she’s gone.
She hopes. She hopes she can return. She’s been through worse and come out just fine.
But, it’s as they say.
The force works in mysterious ways.