Star Wars: The Ancient Force

C H A P T E R . 5 -- First Post-Mission

IN THE GREY SHADOWS of evening light, Luke sits with his essence void of all emotion. Cross-legged in dusty leaves and serenely postured, he finishes meditating and looks to Terigo approaching him from a campfire seventy feet away. Her lack of expression brightens a hint when she sets down a bowl of stew before him, and she turns to walk away with her eyes only following her soft footsteps. He realizes she hadn't been giving him any eye-contact since the ship or those rare quick moments when she seemed—arrogant? or jealous? or angry? But this instance felt different. Her essence felt on the colder side of tepid, though it becomes its usual warm strength when she looks to the children at the fire.

The fire had yet to make her yellow cowl glow in its light, but it would soon enough after the nearing sunset. When she rejoins the children at the fire's stewpot, her smile glows brighter than any of the children had seen, and they bask in her giggles and undivided attention. As they eat, roughhouse, and tell stories, she and they all make as much physical contact as they possibly can, trying to absorb as much of each other as one could take with them for barren days to come. Children that had no joy but the gruff camaraderie of sweating with each other now indulge in the warm love of a momentary mother and the majestic protection of a serene father watching from afar... And...

...what they see as a playful tall dog. Chewbacca joins Terigo to try to eat while the brattier kids take turns playing with him, and he pretends to scare them in return.

Han joins Luke to eat, sitting next to him at an angle so he can switch between looking at Luke's face and Terigo. When she ignites her saber to show all ages of the children, Han mumbles a half-serious warning to Luke, "Careful with that," nodding his head towards her, "she might kill another one."

"That's why I'm peering into her emotions at every moment. And she's not going to leave my sight... But so far she hasn't had any emotions of what could be examining them—for execution—or any deceitful emotions, or intentions of pacifying them to allow her to... She seems..." Han follows Luke's focused uneasy eyes to her, seeing she seems genuinely happy, how every muscle in her face is alive with motherly bliss. He looks back to Luke and realizes he shouldn't distract him when he has such a dire focus, until Luke glances at Han and says, "Have you seen anything like this, Han?"

Han felt the question was strange, somehow, because he didn't realize this was the first time Luke had asked for advice, on a deep matter. Since the Emperor, Han had noticed Luke preferred to tackle challenges alone, head on. It always seemed to Han that Luke didn't just want to protect everyone, but that he equally thought of himself as more capable now that he was a Jedi. Yet it was still too similar to the arrogance of someone Luke's age for Han to not to be annoyed with it. So Luke asking for advice was indeed strange. Han takes a large bite of his food, hoping Luke will elaborate, but he just stares at Terigo, so Han asks, "What do you mean?"

Luke glances at Han again, "She's not the lighthearted whimsical creature we see. Not just, at least. She tried to convince me to kill that stormtrooper in cold blood."

"Good. But it's called execution ya know," with a parental smirk of a father that's long known the tough choices of the real world. Luke glances at Han again, remembering he has been known to shoot first. Then Luke looks back to the woman as Han continues, "He would have done the same to you, or worse—and worse, if he could have." He looks at Terigo and shrugs. Half serious, half sarcastic, "Maybe I'm wrong about her smiling all the time. Maybe she's got chops. I mean she doesn't look insane."

"She's not. But we're still wrong about her. We both are," Luke glances at Han, hoping that saying he's wrong too didn't offend him.

"Well, people are complicated." Han shrugs, conflicted with his own words, "...aannd simple too, in ways. Money, ego, those sorts of thing."