Skywalker Rises

A Meeting of Ghosts

"She needs a teacher," said Luke.

"You?" said Leia. "Are you volunteering to cross over and teach her?"

"I didn't do well with her last time I tried, while alive," said Luke. "Besides, I'm still not convinced Jedi are necessary, and I'm certain future Jedi will fail, just as we did. The Force will move through the galaxy as it wills. Why must Jedi control it? And it took a lot out of me when I met her on Ahch-To. Raising that old X-Wing was harder than I remembered."

"Easier it was in the swamp," said Yoda, chuckling.

He reached out with his cane and tapped Luke on the forehead.

"Why teach her at all?" said Anakin.

"She must learn," said Leia. "She is all that's left. If we don't teach her, how will she teach others? I was pleased with her progress before I came here. With guidance, Rey will become an excellent teacher."

"The next Cala Brin, she will be," said Yoda.

Luke sighed. "So you are convinced that the best course of action is to burden her with continuing the Jedi? She deserves to be free to live her life without setting her such an impossible task."

"It was difficult for you," said Obi-Wan to Luke. "You allowed your failures to dictate your future. Rey is not like you."

"She nearly gave up and resigned herself to a hermit's life on Ahch-To, just as I did," said Luke. "She and I are more alike than I care to admit."

"She tried to destroy your old lightsaber," said Anakin.

"It was your old lightsaber, too," said Luke. "And she didn't burn it, even though she clearly wanted to."

"I approve of what she did with it," said Leia.

"She's going to have to dig those back up if she plans on training more students," said Luke. "Unless wherever she got that gold kybur crystal from has more. Ilum is gone."

Yoda shook his head. "Sad, it is. Such beautiful caves, destroyed."

Ben watched this back and forth with a mixture of exasperation and hope. They had not yet taught him how to cross back over into the living realms. He hesitated to appear too eager to learn the skill. Even though he had left Kylo Ren behind, his list of wrongs could not be so easily forgotten. How long would it take them to trust him? Even his mother seemed reluctant. He had become one with the Force and the Force had acknowledged his sacrifice. It should be enough.

Ben took great care not argue with his elders. Kylo Ren would have raged and demanded, taken and threatened. He knew now that those methods, while immediately effective, did not produce any long-term gains. So he sat, and watched, and waited.

They lived as pale imitations of their formal corporeal selves. He had no idea how he had become a ghost, and none of the others seemed to know, either. But Anakin was here, so apparently personal merit wasn't factored into the universe, or the Force, or whatever's decision. He figured it was an even toss between who had done more harm whilst alive - Darth Vader or Kylo Ren.

"I suggest Yoda teach her from the ancient texts," said Luke. "But take care. Some of that doctrine is antiquated. It needs grow if the Jedi are to flourish."

"Teach her, I will," said Yoda.

"And what of the lightsaber?" said Anakin. "Luke will not teach her, and the rest of us are sorely out of practice."

Ben held his breath and tried to look as disinterested as possible, schooling his face into a flat mask of boredom. It wasn't a stretch, considering his current circumstances. He was the best equipped to teach Rey to fight. He wasn't sure if any of them suspected his feelings for her. Leia probably did. Relationships for the Jedi were forbidden, since they could lead to feelings which allowed the dark side to flourish. Would Yoda teach Rey she wasn't allowed to have any kind of romantic relationships? The uncharitable part of his character, which had crossed over into his ghost form along with the rest of him, hoped Yoda would order her to follow the Jedi teachings exactly as written.

He shook himself, knowing he sounded like a whinging child. Rey deserved to be happy. Kylo Ren would have said, 'If I can't have her, no one can.' But he was not Kylo Ren anymore. He had made his choice, and given his life for her. But still. Would he be able to cross over and watch her with someone else? His stomach clenched. He'd deal with that when it happened.

"Ben should teach her," said Leia. "He is most experienced."

Ben's head snapped up in surprise. His mother's steady gaze was on him, weighing and measuring.

The others turned to look at him. Their scrutiny was palpable. Luke wore a frown, and Anakin's eyebrows were raised in surprise.

Obi-Wan, the next most likely candidate for the role, shrugged. "If Rey approves, I have no objections. But she must agree to be taught, and to our suggested teachers."

The rest of them nodded. Though his ghost form had no substance, Ben felt lighter than he had since his death. He would get to see her again! He would be able to talk to her. It wasn't enough, but it was something - far more than he could have hoped for.

"I will teach Ben to cross over," said Anakin.

Finally! Ben had waited for this moment. He would be free of this other-world, this world of ghosts and phantasms, and back in the gloriously colored, living world. To see color again! He liked black well enough, but the grayscale of his current existence grated on him.

Anakin stood and gestured for Ben to follow. In a blink, the others were gone. Anakin had brought him to a round, shimmering window of light.

"Step into the portal, all the while keeping the person or location you wish to appear to in mind," said Anakin. "You must concentrate. If you lose focus, you will fade from the living world. It takes immense amounts of willpower to appear to the living. It takes even more to interact with them in any real way."

"I understand," said Ben, who had to work hard to keep from fidgeting in his excitement. He was going to see her!

"Also," said Anakin, "it hurts."