[Legacy Of The Force] - 04(17)

“I will.”

Lumiya rolled over again, away from him, and was gone.





CHAPTER FIVE


CORUSCANT, THE JEDI TEMPLE, QUARTERS OF LUKE AND MARA SKYWALKER


Luke and Mara kept an apartment away from the Jedi Temple, but also quarters in the Temple itself-austere chambers for those times when late-night Council meetings or other duties made it more practical to walk a few dozen meters and fall over, rather than board a speeder and fly kilometers to do the same.

Sometimes those Temple quarters served an additional purpose-such as when the Skywalkers found themselves in command of a surly, defiant, Jedi son who was certain that “unfairness” was a Force power and his parents were its masters.

The silence and chill radiating from the boy’s room, one door down a common hallway, were formidable. Luke, pacing, was certain he could feel them like air blowing through a wampa’s meat locker. He turned in midpace to look at his wife. “How is it that I feel guilty?”

Sitting on the bed, Mara looked up from her datapad. “You’re feeling guilty-we are-because he’s unhappy. And he’s going to continue being unhappy until we stop slandering and persecuting Jacen, the perfect Jedi, hero of the people and male model for black uniforms. Or until he grows up enough to revise his thinking about his cousin.” She sighed. “Do you think we can brick him into his room until he does grow up?”

“Tempting.” Luke resumed his pacing.

“How long did it take you to stop being a headstrong kid who made as many bad decisions as good ones?”

Luke shrugged in midstride. “I don’t know. From the time Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru were murdered to the time I started calling myself Master. About four years.”

“I’ll set the timer, then. It should go off when he’s just about to turn eighteen. We can check then and see if he followed your example.”

That elicited a dry chuckle. “All right. We need to figure out what to do with him now. We’ve got him in the Temple, where dozens of Jedi eyes can keep an eye on him when we’re not around. Which is bound to make him more paranoid and angry. What do we do to make him learn?”

“Give him a project. Something relevant. Such as, write a history and analysis of his grandfather’s fall to the dark side.”

Luke stopped again to stare at his wife. “That’s complex psychology to assign to a thirteen-year-old.”

“Almost fourteen. I’m thinking that if he does his homework, he’ll recognize a similarity in the decisions made by Anakin Skywalker … and Jacen Solo.”

Luke moved over to sit beside her. “That could be helpful. But how do we make sure he does his homework? What do we use to motivate him?”

Mara took a deep breath. “We tell him that if we like his work enough to submit it to the Jedi library, we’ll let him resume his duties as Jacen’s apprentice.”

Luke whistled. “Very chancy.”

“Yes. But several things might happen by the time Ben has finished his project to our satisfaction. We might become convinced that Ben can see Jacen’s flaws, his problems. Jacen might recognize his mistakes and become a fit teacher again. Jacen might … die.”

“I could feel Jacen in the Force a few minutes ago. That’s a rare thing these days. He hides from it whenever he wants … and just now he was channeling it, very strongly. I wonder what he’s up to.”

Before Mara could reply, Luke’s comlink beeped. He pulled it out and thumbed its switch. “Yes?”

“Grand Master Skywalker, this is Apprentice Seha in the Reception Hall.” The voice was female, young, breathlessly enthusiastic. “There is a man here who wishes to see you. He won’t see any other Master.”

“What’s his name and his business with me?”

“He says his name is Twinsins Thlee. He doesn’t have any identification to corroborate that. He says his mission concerns a lightsaber with a silver blade.”

Luke and Mara exchanged a look. Luke thumbed the comlink microphone off. “Twinsins-Twin Suns Three?”

Mara nodded. “That’s what it sounds like.”

Twin Suns Squadron was an X-wing unit formed by Luke during the Yuuzhan Vong war more than a dozen years before. He had led it for a while, then turned command over to Jaina. It had been decommissioned after the war had ended, but in the years since, Luke had occasionally given the designation temporarily to ad hoc squadrons he’d commanded.

“Who was Twin Suns Three?” Mara continued.

“At various times, several different people.” Luke thought back to a recorded holocam message he’d viewed only a few days before, a message sent by Han describing his and Leia’s recent encounter on Telkur Station. “Jag Fell” he said. “Han said he was back. As for a silver lightsaber…” Silver blades were rare on lightsabers, and a woman who had once owned one of them had recently been of serious concern to Luke, though her new lightsaber had a different blade color.