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He just wanted information.
He would’ve taken a drab boring log from 4000 years ago if it game him even the slightest insight into jedi culture.
“I do not want a new master.”
“I never said that, flygirl, what you need is a vacation!”
“I’m fine, this WAS my vacation, it’s over now I’ll bring you back to Coruscant and get back to work.”
“Did I say vacation? I meant a force quest!”
Luke picked up the holocron and started back for the entrance, “A force quest, is that the real term?”
“Sure is! It’s a Jedi special, though it isn’t always the same from person to person.”
“Uh-huh, sure,” Luke muttered with all the respect THAT deserved. Why didn’t anyone understand that he was fine, he just needed to do this one thing. Then maybe he’ll get golden-red hair and gorgeous green eyes out of his head. Or maybe he’ll get cold sky blue, staring out cold and dead, to finally leave him alone.
“Look, I’ve got plenty of knowledge that you’ll want stored up but the best way to learn it is out in the galaxy, not in some meditation chamber on Coruscant. Spending some time with the sentients of this galaxy will really help the lessons stick.”
“Thought you said you weren’t going to be my master,” he said with a wry grin.
“I’m not gonna be above you in any sense but height, hotshot, I encourage this to just be a conversation with a much older soon-to-be friend! Disagree with me, it’s how you can really grow.”
The hologram was mimicking walking alongside Luke at this point despite clearly phasing through every obstacle in her wake, and she was gesticulating emphatically the whole time. Kinda like him back on Tatooine talking about modifying his T-16 before the ‘Wormie’ name eventually drowned out all his passion.
“Well then, I disagree with your suggestion, exalted one, now we’re going to try and make it back before my sister sends the New Republic Fleet to find me and drag me to family dinner.” He could already see the worry on her face if he tried to com in and tell her he was going to be wandering the galaxy for…who knows how long. And the overreaction that would follow if he just used his tried and true strategy of just disappearing on a ‘force quest’ without telling anyone.
Though maybe it’d lead him to Mara again this time…
Shoving that thought far from his mind, he continued, “Well, actually, what did you have in mind?”
Kriff
Yoda would be so disappointed.
Well, probably proud about the ‘leaving suddenly on a force training sabbatical,’ less proud of the reasons why.
She raised a clear blue eyebrow at that, “Family troubles?”
He emphatically shakes his head at that, “No,no of course not, I just thought I’d hear you out.”
The eyebrow didn’t lower, “Uh-huh, well, is the smuggler’s moon still around?”
He racked his brain for a second, “Nar Shaddaa? Yeah it’s still around, though with Jabba gone the Hutts have been playing their hands close to their chest, so from what I hear Karrde and the Smuggler’s Alliance have been trying to establish footholds on the moon to gleen any information on their activities.”
“So big Hutt died, new blood smuggler took over, the rest of the Hutts have been quiet. Got it, well how do you feel about paying it a visit?” She looked over to him expectantly, waiting for his answer.
Maybe running into Mara wouldn’t be a stick dream after all… focus laser-brain.
“I mean, it’s a bit of a politically active area right now, and any populated area I seem to visit becomes political when they recognize me and my lightsaber.” He thought back to mediating on New Cov and there’d be no Lando or lucky smuggler around this time.
Oh, force, I haven’t checked up with Lando since Wayland, hope he’s been holding up.
“Oh, trust me, that place was always like that, and frankly I was counting on it staying that way. That ecumenopolis is a place for wayward souls and always abuzz with activity, it’s perfect for my purposes.” She gave a few evil laughs that reminded Luke that this technically wasn’t a reputable source for anything about the Jedi Order given she was exiled from it.
“Maybe the old order isn’t the only option, flygirl…” Luke tripped over a bit of scrap he was climbing over but managed to stabilize in time, still caught of guard by THAT nickname and how his sabacc face is apparently worse than a wet-behind-the-ears bounty hunter seeing his sister draw her lightsaber.
“The galaxy needs the jedi, ma’m, and it needs what once was. They want the masters of old, it would go a long ways to restabilizing the New Republic and building bridges with worlds that haven’t rejoined yet.”
“Did the old order stop the Empire?”
Luke froze briefly, before continuing on, “They were betrayed, it wasn’t their fault.”
“This is just conjecture, but you said the ‘former jedi Darth Vader’ was a large part of the order’s demise. Do you know why they were ‘former?’ And after answering me that, tell me how long it took for the Republic to become the Empire after they were gone.” He could feel her artificial eyes boring into the side of his head, straight through his helmet, and he had to get his feelings under control.
“I was not…told the details of Vader’s fall, though there was still good left in him, and from what I’ve been told the day of the Jedi’s purge was also the day of the Empire’s founding.”
They were finally almost back to The Star Runner, and he was really hoping that answer would satisfy her. She considered his words briefly before saying, “I’ve had my fair dealings with ‘fallen’ jedi, and let me tell you there’s a reason the Sith Code is a blatant refutation of the Jedi one. And political structures don’t change drastically in a single day,” boy, does he know about that after the last 5 years, “unless they were already like that in everything but name.”
Luke’s mouth became as dry as a Tatooine summer, “W-what do you mean? I heard the Republic had its problems but we were fighting to restore it.”
“Is your New Republic just the Old one again, or is it different?”
He thought back to all the sleepless nights his sister has had writing policies and putting out fires.
“Is it trying to be better?”
Yes.
It was.