Luke's voice cried out again in my mind. I clutched my lightsaber more tightly and forced myself to take another step in silence when every fiber of my being wanted to cry back to him, and tell him that he would be all right.
The rebel princess seemed to have heard him too. She flinched and looked towards the pirate. I frowned. She was Force sensitive, but that sort of reaction only occurred in people with a close bond to the one in pain. My automatic assumption would have been that she and Luke were a couple, but not from the way she looked at Han.
I didn't like working with the rebels. It was not, from an imperial perspective, a worthwhile pursuit. However, the rebels clearly cared about Luke's life, something I wished I could say of the other imperials.
He cried out again, louder, and Leia began to shake. I opened myself to his pain for a moment, and agony raced through my body. I closed my eyes a moment and continued in silence. He could survive this. He had survived my accidental amputation of his right hand.
This pain is much worse, an unbidden voice in my head told me. I tried to shake it away and opened myself again, hoping that I could take some of poor Luke's pain for him.
The girl started to cry softly with the next wail. I turned back to her and the pirate, "Keep her back. I can take care of this."
Solo looked worried, "Take good care of the kid."
"I will. He is my son."
Han carefully put one arm around the now-sobbing princess and sat down with her in a space between two particularly large trees. He kept his arms around her and silently rested his cheek on her head.
Yes, they were certainly in love.
The remaining rebels followed me. I closed my eyes, still walking, and tried to comfort Luke's mind. Before I could make any contact with his tortured mind, however, it occurred to me that he might do something that would give away my position.
He cried out again, and I nearly stopped dead. He can't take this! Cried the voice that had warned me of his pain. He's only a boy! He won't survive!
I tried to force the voice away, not wanting to hear its pessimistic estimate of Luke's survival. He's a Skywalker, I thought at it, and he can, and will, survive!
I opened my eyes once more, silently leading the rebels as near as I could. Suddenly, the young princess was at my side.
"You're supposed to be waiting back with your boyfriend," I hissed at her.
"I couldn't bear to wait another moment to see Luke."
I accepted this. Besides, she had wiped away her tears and seemed ready to face whatever was waiting for us. Solo stood beside her, thankfully prepared to help.
I stopped dead in my tracks, and Leia motioned to the other rebels to listen, "We are very close to them now," I told them quietly, "When we reach them, you are to summon Luke to come to us. All those available will then take the imperials. Whoever he runs to is to keep him back, safe."
There was a general murmur of acceptance.
I took the remaining hundred meters at a near run, finally allowing my breathing to be audible. I'd kept it as muted as possible as I approached.
I forced myself to slow my pace as I entered the clearing in which the renegades had built their camp. Three of them held Luke's helpless, broken body down while another cut at his flesh with a knife, and an interrogation droid buzzed around his head.
As he became aware of our entrance, he began to struggle weakly. After a few feeble thrashes, he suddenly channeled all the energy he still had into wrenching himself upright. He took us in, standing at the edge of the clearing, weapons raised and ran towards us. He limped badly, seeming nearly to stumble every time his right foot touched the ground.
I saw the princess open her arms, and fully expected Luke to plunge into them, knowing that she was someone he trusted deeply. So certain, in fact, that when his slight mass threw itself against me, I nearly stumbled myself.
I looked down at his shaking body, which simply pressed itself more closely to me. Every part of him seemed to be quaking desperately, needing my comfort.
Why me, Luke? Why did you come running to me of all people?
Around me, the rebels were carrying out the plan as if nothing strange had happened. I watched as they rushed in, putting out the fire and capturing Luke's captors.
Then I made myself look back down at the shaking figure in my arms. He looked up into my mask, his blue eyes red-rimmed and pleading.
I put my arms around him in return, and he trustingly placed his head against me. I lifted him gently, knowing his foot was hurting him. I couldn't see or hear the battle in progression. All I knew was that he was clinging to me as though his life depended on it.
In the silence I perceived, his one word rang like a gong.
"Father," he whispered.
Of course he came to me. I'm his father, aren't I? This is how it is supposed to be. Of course he knew he could trust me to protect him.
I ran my hand through his hair and he clung ever-tighter, as though he believed that I would never put him down if he did so, though in fact, I never wanted to put him down no-matter what.
His body was still shaking as I cradled him, knowing how he needed the attention.
"You'll be all right," I promised.
He snuggled closer to me, sniffling desperately.
I rocked him gently, "I know it hurts."
He nodded.
"What did they do to you?"
He just shook harder.
"Are you too frightened to talk about it?"
He nodded, putting his head on my shoulder once again, "Please just hold me."
I did as I was asked, holding him close, wanting him to feel safe.
"Don't be frightened," I told him.
He nodded silently.
I made myself see the battle again. The rebels were just cleaning up the last of the camp. There was almost no trace of what had occurred in the clearing.
"We do this so it'll be harder for you to find us," Luke explained.
"It's effective," I answered.
The princess finished folding the last tent with a look of disgust on her face. She carried it to Han, who loaded it into one of the many packs the rebels had brought.
"It's full of blood," she told him, and he handled it with extreme caution, as though it might bite him.
On my shoulder, Luke shook.
"That's where you slept, is it?"
"When they let me."
As each rebel slung a pack on, I took one myself and pulled out a blanket, which I wrapped around Luke. He accepted it gratefully, and I formed it into something of a sling, freeing one of my arms for other uses.
The walk back to the ship, however, gave me no use for my free arm, and I was able to carry him directly onto my ship. Then I untied the sling and rested him on a bed. The princess and smuggler had followed me, sitting down beside him.
He leaned against the smuggler, seeming utterly at home. I paced in front of them.
"We have a dilemma."
All but the princess looked confused.
"We had a truce in order to save my son, but now that he has been recovered, we must go our separate ways."
Slowly, Leia and Han nodded, but Luke gave me a helpless, pleading look.
"I don't want to leave either one of you," he said.
I nodded, gently putting my hand on his head, giving him my love, "I know you don't."
"Can't it wait until he has recovered?" Han asked.
"I suppose. But once he is healthy, what will we do?"
"We'll take him back to the Alliance," Leia said.
"I should keep him," I answered, "He is my son, and besides, Sidious won't accept that I allowed all three of you to escape. Before you argue that we could go to the Alliance in the first place, I remind you that I have resources for much better care."
Han had his arm around Luke now, keeping him safe. I was glad that he cared for Luke, but somewhat hurt by the possessiveness the other man kept him close with.
They didn't believe I should be my only son's father. They thought I should just save his life and be allowed to hold him a few moments, and then they could take him away. Perhaps they thought that I simply couldn't care enough to want a son. They didn't know that I loved him, and may have believed that a single hug would be enough to make up for a lifetime's worth of affection stolen in parting.
Han shrugged, "Luke has always managed on Alliance medication."
I flinched, "He has, but he could have been far safer and more comfortable with better technology. I hear you still use med-droids from the Clone Wars?"
"The droids are secondary in the healing process," the princess retorted hotly, "A real living, breathing doctor knows more instinctively about human comfort than a droid ever could. Luke has always been in good hands when he needs help."
I looked at the child sitting between them. He seemed very small and helpless, and I didn't like the idea of him relying on the instincts of another being.
"Droids are more adept at actual procedures," I countered.
"A droid doesn't care how their treatment affects a patient in the short term, as long as they won't be permanently damaged! Why the droid that saved Luke, after you so lovingly cut off his arm suggested no use of anesthetic! It said it had dealt with Force sensitive's loss of limbs before!"
"It might have been one of the ones that saved me then," I answered, "Anesthetic dims the senses, which is very dangerous for a powerful Force sensitive."
"I—," Luke started.
"Dangerous for a powerful Force sensitive?" Leia repeated incredulously, "The amount of pain of undergoing that surgery un-sedated might have killed him!"
"Leia," Luke said.
"He's a Skywalker," I shouted, "He can take a lot of pain!"
"Hello?" Luke asked.
"He's a Skywalker?" Leia shrilled, "That's your excuse for droids? What if he hadn't been a Skywalker? It would have killed him!"
"Father?"
"If he wasn't my son, he would have been dead! I would have killed him if he weren't my child!" I saw red gathering behind my eyes and felt things about me start to float so I could throw them.
"Killed him?" Leia laughed, "You wouldn't have killed him! You would have kept him barely alive, torturing him for fun! I know what you would do to a prisoner you don't have a personal attachment to!"
"Father!" Luke had tottered to his feet unsteadily and put himself between myself and the princess, "Leia! Please don't fight about this!"
As soon as he had said it, the pain of standing on his wounded feet seemed to hit him and he crumpled helplessly to the floor, sobbing.
"See what you've done?" the princess shouted, still enraged, as I fell to my knees beside the boy and carefully propped him in a sitting position against myself.
"What I've done?"
"Please!" Luke wailed, "Please don't fight!"
I pointedly ignored her reaction, cradling him and helping him onto a different bed where I sat, rocking him and glaring over his head, daring his friends to try to take him from me. The princess glared at me, and Han gave me a look of withering irritation, as though I was a child who refused to return something I'd taken from another child.
I bristled, clinging more tightly to Luke. He was my son. He was all I had left, and they had no right to take him from me.
Luke slowly calmed and finally looked up at me with only traces of tears on his cheeks.
"Father?"
"Yes, my son?"
"Can't I decide where I'll go?"
I felt embarrassment making me blush, glad he couldn't see it, "Of course you can, Luke."
"I want to stay with you."
I felt my heart leap. I had been so afraid he would choose his friends before me. After all, they had practically raised him. But he wanted to stay with me anyway! Me!
"But I'd like it if Leia and Han would be safe in our home whenever they wish."
I didn't like the sound of that quite so much, but I agreed. It was a small price to pay for my son.
"And I don't want to train as a Sith."
"I never wanted you to, Son."
He smiled.
"Go to your ship," I directed the other two, "And I'll send you the co-ordinates of my home. You will come with me until Luke has healed."
They agreed and started to leave before it occurred to me, "Princess, would you stay and pilot my ship? I would like to stay with my son."
Luke gave us a radiant smile, "Please?"
Leia looked at me doubtfully, but accepted my request. I gave her the co-ordinates and she went ahead to the cockpit. Solo left the ship, and I felt it begin to run. The princess was an admirable pilot, I noted.
Then I sat down next to Luke and began to speak to him, wanting to comfort, but not really knowing how.