Temptation Of Grey

Chapter 28 - The Circle Closes

Rey and Ben froze for a moment, then both turned in perfect synchronous rotation to the source of the voice. There, not three feet away from them stood ... Luke.

He looked younger than Rey remembered, dressed in a Jedi robe and beardless. That's how he must have looked at the height of his life, she thought. He looked slightly translucent and a soft glow surrounded his figure. Rey looked her old master in the eye and could not initially classify her feelings completely. She thought she would feel joy in such a moment, but an unreasonable anger reveled in her. She was confused for a moment, but then she recognized the source of this anger; it was Ben, it was his feelings.

Ben stared at his uncle as well. He was suspicious and in a flash of rage, but could not fully relate his anger to the younger form of his old master. This Luke Skywalker was a stranger to him. Suddenly he felt a slight touch on his arm and winced slightly. It was Rey gently stroking his arm. Instantly he calmed down a bit.

Luke's eyes fell on Rey's hand on Ben's arm and he raised his eyebrows slightly. "It looks like you've largely ignored my teachings - as my nephew did before - and gone your own way to discovering the force, Rey from Jakku."

He spoke softly, without a trace of resentment and with the always typical hint of irony in his voice. He paused for a moment, folding his hands behind his back, and began to walk slowly and carefully, without taking his eyes off them.

Then, after a few moments, he continued, "And you seemingly made the impossible possible and tamed the beast, something that nobody could reach before you." His eyes fell on Ben, who stood frozen beside Rey, unable to do anything but look at his uncle's appearance.

Rey sat bolt upright at these words, she felt more anger now and she realized that this time the emotion was her own, because Ben's emotional world was now between shame, pain and resignation, which was undoubtedly because his uncle and master mistrusted him.

"Ben Solo defeated his beast himself, all he needed was someone believing in him and standing by him, something that was unfortunately missed in the past," she said calmly.

Luke stopped at these words, which served to clearly show his mistakes in the tragedy of his bloodline, and looked long and hard at her. Then, suddenly, he shrugged his shoulders and sat down on one of the rocks, folding his hands in his lap, and replied:

"This is an undeniable truth to which I can add nothing in my defense, as my master has already told me, the greatest teacher is failure," he looked at both of them, finally recognizing the strong connection between the two, and continued, "He also said that our protégés will eventually outgrow us ... obviously he is right. Now the question comes to me where that will lead us in the end."

Rey looked at him in confusion. She had expected resistance or rage and had to get used to the quiet, balanced Luke. Ben seemed similar, he was confused and at a loss. "Master Luke, are you real, did we call you to the force or is this a vision?" whispered Rey.

"I'm not a vision, but normaly just the strongest Jedi can connect with the Jedi who have gone back into the force, but usually only after long practice. The ability to summon a force spirit when they want, I've never heard of it. That means you both have very great force power yet. You must indeed have called me to you through the force, surely this will have a reason, it would be helpful if I could learn something more about it."

Since Ben still seemed unable to speak openly in the presence of his uncle, Rey began to tell the whole story since Leia's death. She tried to be complete, left nothing out; the salvation, the Jedi texts, their previous stages of development and the associated new forces and their final task.

The only thing she kept secret was the physical approach and the affection beyond the earmarked partnership that she felt for Ben and he for her. But Luke was not fooled. He could feel their strength connecting, he felt the love that burned in both, like the engine that drives all action.