Title: The Sun Came Up
Author: DaenaBenjen42
Character: Luke
Timeframe: A day post ANH
Genre: Vignette
~*~*~*~
As he sits here on a rock watching the sun rise, all he can think, is one thing: the sun came up.
The sun came up, and here he is, sitting on a rock, alone, in the wee hours of the morning, thinking about the events that had led to this moment of quiet, somber reflection. The day before had been a celebration of the lives that had been both lost... and saved. Saved... because he had trusted an impossibly familiar voice. Saved... because a torpedo had hit the target.
Lives had been lost... too many to count. He didn't even want to think of that part of it. Because a torpedo had hit the target, lives... people he had seen not twenty-four hours earlier. Seen walking around and doing this and that on a battle station... those people were now... lost, because that same torpedo had hit the target.
Lives lost... at home, too. He hadn't had time to think about that, in the midst of all the action from there to here. His uncle and his aunt... the only parents he had ever known.
Looking away from the rising sun, he blinked at the sudden stinging in his eyes... had it really been three entire days since he had raced home to the homestead, only to find it burning and his aunt and uncle... time had gotten away from him, it seemed. It didn't feel like it had been that long. It felt like it had been just a moment ago.
He looked down at his hands and slowly shook his head. So much in so little time. So many lives saved, and so many lives lost.
A hand landed on his shoulder, and he jumped, startled at the contact.
"Woah, Kid. It's me."
He looked up to find Han standing there, concern clearly written in his eyes. "Hi."
"You all right?"
He nodded slowly. "Yes."
"Sure didn't look like it."
He sighed. "I was just... thinking."
Han glanced toward the rising sun, and nodded in understanding. "There is a lot to think about, isn't there?"
"What are you doing up this early, Han?"
Han shrugged. "Couldn't sleep."
He blinked at that simple answer, then had to stifle a chuckle. Slowly, he stood up. "Know the feeling... Think they're serving morning meal yet?"
"Probably," Han said with a slight laugh in his voice.
As the two of them walked off toward the entrance to the great temple, all Luke was think again was one thing: the sun had come up. And that, there, was a good thing.
fini