Accismus⋆౨ৎ˚⟡.• Anakin Skywalker⋆౨ৎ˚⟡.•

113.

R2 made it into the small hut. He was about to voice more of his complaints about Dagobah's uneven terrain but resisted at the sight of Sol's old Master. He shuffled himself into a corner behind Sol and stayed silent as the woman sat with her legs crossed. While the Jedi sat next to Master Yoda's cot, R2 saw how much Master Yoda had changed since the droid had last seen him. 

At the sight of the green Master's shaking head and heavy-lidded eyes, R2 thought about how awful it was that non-droid species decayed with age. While droids eventually powered down, but could have their data transferred to another set of parts, humans and other organic species withered away. They got to a point where they couldn't be repaired, and R2 didn't like to see the small green man so frail and old.

'Barely sensed you, I did. Your signature, I do not see,' Master Yoda said to his ex-Padawan.

'I'm hiding my presence, Master... from the Empire.'

'Ah, hm, the Empire, yes.'

Master Yoda's head jerked as if to nod along with his words. Sol wondered if he talked to himself while on the swampy planet. Without someone to talk to, one could get incredibly lonely. Living in such a wasteland had to drive even the most logical of people mad.

'Master... you've been alone here for all of this time?' Sol said, her voice low and cracking.

'The quiet, I like. A simple life, I have lived,' Master Yoda hummed. His words struggled to leave his lips and the small man cleared his throat with a weak cough. Sol heard the unlatching of mucus at his splutter, and when she adjusted her place on the floor, Master Yoda lifted his head in a forced urgency.

'Leaving, are you?-'

'No, no, no, Master. I'm not leaving,' Sol rushed and leaned forward to ease his head back on to the pillow. 'Please... just rest, okay?'

Sol's heart quivered at how his long-eared head dropped as he let out a loud sigh. Every movement was painful, and Master Yoda was struggling to stay awake. But Sol could see that he was fighting the urge to sleep on her arrival, he  didn't want her to leave so soon.

It pained Sol to think of how long Master Yoda had been alone on Dagobah. She remembered how he used to hobble around the Jedi Temple with his walking stick, but to see him bed-ridden, was heart-wrenching. Sol wondered how long he had been unable to walk around. Although his house was small, it would take a great deal of strength for Master Yoda to move to the kitchen for food, and to move towards the fire for warmth. She didn't like to see her Master in pain, and she especially didn't like to think of how lonely he must have been for the six years.

'Master... Satele Shan told me to come here. She said... that you're dying,' Sol let out with a crack in her voice.

'Hm, my time has come. Become-' Master Yoda's voice strained before he cleared his throat. '-one with Force, I will. A Jedi's great power, this is. The final journey for me, it will be.'

'B-But... there's still so much I have to ask. The Emperor is terrorising the galaxy, a-and the ancient prophecy still hasn't been fulfilled,' Sol said. 'Master... I'm not the Chosen One. I-I wasn't a child of the Force.'

Master Yoda blinked sleepily. Sol half-expected him to turn to her with wide eyes and exclaim something in surprise. The Jedi Council expressed their confusion about who the Chosen One was throughout the time of the Republic, and Sol thought that by telling her ex-Master about what she had found out, that he would be shocked. But there was no croaky hum from his throat, or a thoughtful claw to his dry chin. He remained laid back against his pillow and looked up to the ceiling of his hut.

'Learnt this, I have. Learnt a lot in my lifetime, I have. Learnt about you and Skywalker, I also have.'

When Sol's eyes widened, a few tears slipped down her face. She always found herself crying, but in the presence of her dying Master, she couldn't help it. Sol was suddenly thrown back to being a Jedi Knight at the temple, where she and Anakin played off their interaction as spiteful bickering. But in reality, Sol and Anakin were hiding their relationship, and Master Yoda's admission made Sol freeze.