The Force Awakens

Chapter 19

The twin suns of Ahch-To bathed the village in the soft gold of afternoon. But the warm light gave little comfort to the three of us seated outside the huts, especially me. The story I had begun with how I befriended Finn and Rey turned into tragedy as I revealed Kylo Ren's murder of his own father, my father.

"He may have been bad at it, but he was still my father." I said.

It was obvious Han had been a friend to Luke Skywalker, even if they hadn't seen each other in years. The Jedi Master appeared shaken. Sitting next to him, Chewbacca moaned.

Rey returned to the purpose of her visit. "Mom showed me projections of the First Order's military. It's massive, and now that the Republic is destroyed, there's nothing to stop them. They will control all the major systems within weeks. They'll destroy the Resistance, Finn, Rey, everyone I care about. Will you help us? You have to help us," I pleaded. "We need the Jedi Order back. We need Luke Skywalker."

Luke's face hid nothing. Sadness was etched across it, but also wisdom and kindness. He was not someone who could turn his back on those in danger.

"No," Luke said.

I thought I had misheard him. "What?"

He rose from the ground. "You don't need Luke Skywalker."

I jumped up, wanting to howl at him. "Did you hear a word I just said? We really, really do!"

My insistence got her nowhere with Luke. "You think, what, that I'm going to walk out with a laser sword and face down the whole First Order?" he asked. "The Jedi, if you had them back, a few dozen knights in robes, what do you think they would actually do?"

I recalled a phrase she had learned from the Jedi legends. "Restore the...balance of..."

Luke shook his head. "And what did you think was going to happen here? Do you think I don't know my friends and family are suffering, that I came to the most unfindable place in the galaxy for no reason at all?"

"Then why did you come here?" I snapped back.

Luke glanced at Chewbacca, who had remained quiet, as if he understood something about Luke that I did not. Then the Jedi bunched up his robes and headed to his hut, lifting the door back into its frame.

"I'm not leaving without you," I called after him.

The island was haunted. I was sure of it.

I stood outside Luke's hut and watched the fog roll across the village. The haze was thick and held an eerie predawn glow. I had the vague impression that something lurked within those mists. Specters whispering secrets from a long-lost time.

Stay here. I'll come back for you. I promise.

The voice startled me. Those words were the same I had heard so many times in my dreams. And looking around, I saw I stood alone.

Shortly before sunrise, the fog dissipated and Luke emerged from his hut. He strode past me as if I weren't there. Strapped to his back was a rucksack, a staff, netting, and an assortment of other items. I didn't ask where he was going. I just followed.

I trailed him up the mountain, then down the other side to the shore where a blubbery, bovine creature lounged on the rocks. Luke climbed up to it and untied an empty bottle from his back. He then took the two teats that hung beneath the creature's stomach and milked them. A green fluid oozed into the bottle.

The creature turned its leathery neck to me. Above a tubular snout, two tiny black eyes peered at me. The milking seemed to comfort it.

After filling the bottle, Luke put it to his lips and drank. Green liquid dribbled from the bottle into his beard. He didn't wipe the slime away, nor did he offer a sip of the milk to me. I wouldn't have accepted anyway.

Once refreshed, he capped the bottle and returned to his hut, closing the door behind him. I sat on a bench outside. I reached into my satchel, shifting aside the beacon that connected me to the Resistance, to take out a ration packet. After I was finished, I put on my cloak and slept.

Before dawn the next day, Luke came out, again outfitted for travel. I followed him to the edge of a cliff. The bay below was calm, though on the horizon loomed a storm.

Luke grabbed a wooden pole that rested against the ledge. Long and thin, it extended all the way down into the water. Luke tested its strength, then to my astonishment, used it as a lever to vault himself over the bay. After landing atop the cliff on the other side, he pulled the pole out of the shallows. Its end bore a sharp metal hook.

I watched as Luke surveyed the waters. Without warning, he shoved the spear back into the sea. When he lifted the pole again, a fish bigger than my body was hooked on its end.

Luke shifted the pole to the rocky beach, where the fish flapped, its mouth tendrils wiggling. He leaned the pole against the ledge and walked down a path to the beach. I found a similar trail on my side of the cliff.

By the time I reached the fish, the storm had hit. Rain pummeled me and the wind shrilled. It was so harsh I  threw on the hood of my cloak.

The inclement weather appeared to refresh Luke. He hoisted the giant fish over his shoulders and hiked up the path I had taken down. As he had before, he ignored me. But I trudged after him through the driving rain, hood up.

I stayed outside the hut that night. I was drenched, my teeth chattering from the cold. I got barely a wink of sleep. When Luke emerged from his hut that morning, I stayed on the log. My tired body wanted to keep resting.

As he walked past me, he paused. It wasn't for long, but it was enough. I found the strength to get up and stumbled after him.

My strength flagged as they climbed a crumbling staircase. Slick stone made the going treacherous. One slip, and I'd fall off the cliff to smash on the rocks below.

When we neared the top of the staircase, the whispers began to speak to me again.

The morning haze had lifted, revealing the shrubbery and moss that greened the cliffside. No wind blew. Yet the whispers grew louder. They said nothing comprehensible, no promise as before, perhaps nothing at all. Was I hearing voices in my head? I climbed a few more steps before I saw the tree.

It was a fortress of nature. Three pulpy offshoots stood guard around a gigantic central trunk. All had tops splintered like jagged crowns, and none bore foliage or branches. Only moss grew on the ashen bark. A wide gap in the trunk looked to be a portal into the tree.

I moved toward the gap. The whispers rose in volume, clearly emanating from the tree. I had seen the tree before, somewhere. Had it been in my dreams? Or in the vision that had come to me when I'd  touched Luke's lightsaber in Maz Kanata's castle? I couldn't be sure. Those memories were muddled in my mind. It was hard to remember what was real and what wasn't.

I heard Luke stop behind me, but I did not glance back at him. I ducked through the gap and entered the tree.

The interior of the trunk had been hollowed out into a chamber. Strips of bark plastered the walls in intricate designs. There was no sign of rot, despite the damp conditions outside.

A strange illumination drew my focus. In an alcove surrounded by a sunburst pattern of bark rested a shelf of dusty books. They seemed to shine with a light of their own.

The whispers became a hum—not of voices but of energy. The books called to me.

I stepped closer to them. They weren't everyday datapads or electronic binders, but leather-bound tomes of flimsy and paper, like the journals I had once kept on base. I reached for one.