Orana could not help but stare at the man in front of her. She could not believe that it was real. It looked like an another damn vision. The woman blinked one more time but Luke was still here, an arm on Leia's shoulder.
Luke and Rey had been welcomed by thousands of eyes when they had entered the basement. No one dared to say something - the scene was too surreal to utter something. Silences had replaced the usual cheers.
They had rejoined Leia in the command room afterwards. Luke and Leia's reunion had felt surreal too. No one dared to say something to the other. They had only smiled and Luke had hugged his sister tightly for a few seconds. Leia's smile vanished in the instant Luke pulled out and both of them displayed a serious look on their faces. "The Resistance first" Orana thought. It did not even shock her - the siblings had the tendency for never showing any kind of emotions.
Orana glanced at Poe. Her friend was frowning in the opposite direction. She followed his gaze only to discover Finn chatting with Rey. The two were catching up and seemed to be in great spirits as their laughs was fulfilling the entire room. Orana bit her lips - she felt bad for Poe.
She had no time to dwell deeper on the subject though as Jessika broke the silence.
"So, what do we do now?"
No one dared to formulate an answer. People were staring either at Leia or at Luke, expecting them to make the first move. Jessika pushed one of the numerous buttons of the board panel and the image of Kylo Ren appeared.
"We have a First Order to defeat" she added.
Luke's eyes stared at the picture of his nephew, in horror. He could not detach his gaze from it. Orana could understand him - the face of Kylo Ren was frightening and it towered the whole room. His eyes were full of rage.
But Orana could not be taken by this anger flickering in the eyes of Ben. She knew him too well. There was no way he had given himself entirely to the Dark Side. She would have felt it otherwise. There was still good in him. At least, it was her deepest hope.
" If we find Ben, we find Snoke. After being defeated by Rey and Finn, Snoke probably wants to finish his training. We find the location and we destroy the place. "
Luke had made that suggestion without blinking twice. No remorse in his voice. Destroying would mean a bloodshed... The Resistance would look as bad as the First Order after that. Orana shook her head.
"But if we do this, there'll be no survivors" explained Poe.
As if Luke needed to be told that information. Orana winced - she had not missed the greatest Jedi of the galaxy or whatever shitty nicknames were given to Luke. She could see in everyone's eyes admiration and awe.
Even Poe, who ordinarily was the down-to-earth guy type was literally fanboying over the Jedi.
But contrary to most of them, Orana knew Luke Skywalker and the reality was far from being smooth. He had given up on Ben. He was the reason why Ben had left for the First Order. Ben had went to Luke's for training and never had come back. Something had happened there and that something had sparkled Ben's dark side. This was the only explanation possible.
When Orana had received Luke's video message, she had not believe him. Her eyes had shown not a single trace of emotion. She had been speechless for a few minutes, sat on a sofa. Leia had found her staring at the white opposite wall. She had looked like a fresh corpse back then."He is gone, Orana. He has turned himself to Snoke. It's over". The last word kept ringing in Orana's ears everyday . Over. Over. Luke had never fought for Ben. He had let the boy destroy his temple and kill those innocent lives. He should have done something. He should have...after all, wasn't he the best Jedi ever existed?
" I know, but we can't let Snoke destroy other planets. It's them or us. We need to put an end to this and quickly" Luke stated calmly.
Orana huffed "You should have come sooner if you wanted to solve this quickly."
Her answer made Luke sigh. Both of them always had the same repeated argument. The same argument for years. Ben.
" I was told you left for a year too, Orana."
Orana gave a quick glance at Poe, who blushed. Well, it seemed that Luke was well aware of her life. Great.
" You left him, Luke. You left him and you're responsible now for this mess" Orana grunted before adding "He trusted you and you let him fall into the darkness"
"Don't. Both of you." Leia said, tired of the bickering fights running in her family." We don't have time to rewrite what happened. It's done"
"Sorry but there was too much Vader in him." Luke mumbled.
A stiff atmosphere was still widely present. Orana's resentment towards Luke was still noticeable and the two were trying to avoid the other's eyes.
Despite their arguments, it was out of the question for Luke to not talk about the Force. He needed to know if she was back in the games or not. Rey will need other mighty allies. The girl could not defeat Snoke alone.
He exhaled and asked out loud
" Rey can't be the only Jedi you have,Leia. Snoke is stronger than the Empire. He has more trained people than we have"
Leia sighed. She knew the odds were not in their favor. She looked at her brother and shook her head.
"She is our only hope, Luke. At least for now"
Luke shook his head. He did not want to believe what her sister has just said. He rose his head and looked at his surrounding. He stared at the young man next to Rey and got stunned. The guy was Force sensitive. Slowly, he then looked at Orana. Her eyes were looking at the floor, trying to make herself as invicible as possible.
"No" he stated "There are another. Two in that room actually."
He could see Orana wincing at his words and he made him smile. As if he had forgotten her abilities. Orana was in fact powerful and if she had not stopped her training, she could have been as great as Rey. Now Luke could only feel Unstability. The young woman could fall for the Darkness at any moment. It was now or never.
"You still don't know how to control it?" Luke told Orana.
It made the woman's eyes flicker out of rage. How could he dare ask such things in front of everyone? She dismissed the question.
" I don't know what you're talking about, Luke"
" Don't play the fool with me, Orana. I can feel how conflicted you are."
People whispered and Orana bit her lips. She could feel her heartbeat quickened as her jaw tensed. But Luke did not stop here - he wanted to push her. He needed to know how angry she was.
" I suppose your two daughters have it too. I could teach them" he offered.
That was too much for Orana. Her daughters were a her striking chord and Luke knew it damn well. He was playing with her emotions just to see how she would react to his provocations. She faced Luke angrily. He wanted to show how angry she was? Well, she would show him if he didn't give up his horrendous idea.
" Leave my daughters out of this" she spat.
"Or what? You're going to kill me? You're being irresponsible. They need to learn otherwise they could end up like -"
Orana lost her temper "I told you to leave Astra and Ester out of this! " she shouted " They don't need you. It will disappear sooner or later. Besides... The Force does no good in your family."
Orana exhaled heavily. She could feel the stunned faces gazing at her, in disbelief. She turned around and left the room as quickly as she could without turning back when Luke called her name. She headed towards her room and shut the door abruptly behind her. She had fled but it had been the wisest decision. She had been on the verge of exploding in front of anyone.
Luke had wanted her to finish a proper training after Ben disappeared but she had refused to. If Luke had failed on her husband, it was pointless to try with her. She was an another lost cause. Luke had argued, saying that "there was too much Vader" in his nephew but it had been a lie. He had failed, that was all Orana needed to remember.
Besides, Orana had never wanted to be a Jedi or to control that damn thing they call "The Force". It never had done a good thing in that Galaxy. Not only it had shattered her husband, but it had also shattered Orana's own family, long before she had met Ben.
She stared at the ceiling. She could remember how the Force had been a problem during her childhood. She had been a burden to her parents and that was probably why her mother had left. But her mother had not been the only one afraid of Orana's abilities. Her father and her brother had also been the witnesses of it.
FLASHBACK
" Father, Orana had used the Force!" said a boy with ginger head.
Orana's father looked at her. He looked disappointed by her. Once again. He had forbidden her from using the Force and yet, she had failed at obeying him. She was useless to him.
" Bring the ruler, Son" he ordered, his eyes still fixed on his daughter who was on the verge of crying. After all, she was only seven years old.
The boy, slightly older than his sister, brought the object to his father a minute later. He was wearing a proud smile on his face - not because he wanted to inflict pain to her sister - but because the idea of pleasing his father was giving a great feeling of satisfaction.
The man took the small object in his hand and gestured with his hand for Orana to approach him. The little girl swallowed hard and tiptoed until she was in front of her dad. She dared not to look at him, though as she was too scared to his the disapproval - or worse, the dishonor- on his face.
" Look at me, Orana"
The little girl executed her father's wish , not without fear. She met his eyes and she could feel how disgusted he was by her abilities. She was the reason why her mum left after all. At least, that was what her dad had repeated, over and over.
" What have you done?"
" I used the Force but.. but... I didn't do it on purpose. It was an accident , I swear " Orana stammered, trying to find the right words for justifying what happened.
She had been playing with her brother when suddenly, she had used the Force unconsciously and pushed her brother thanks to it. She had felt scared and fear had led to anger and anger had led to that result.
" You're a burden, Orana. That's why your mum left. You know you have to hide it. The First Order will not be as tolerant as me if they discover who you truly are."
Orana nodded. Her dad had told her over and over that the First Order did not like people with those abilities. People like Orana were to unstable and were useless if they were not tamed by a severe and harsh training. Orana's mum had refused to let that happen to her daughter and therefore, the two parents had agreed on hiding Orana's true capacities. But since her wife had left, Orana's father had been attracted to the idea of sending his daughter to the training. After all, she was born to be useful to the First Order just like his son who will succeed him as General in a few years.
" You hands "
Orana dreaded the moment but she nevertheless obeyed her father. That was that or being sent as a guinea pig to the First Order. Mum had told her how they whitewashed kids into violent beasts. Orana did not want to be like them. Orana wanted to be as kind as her mother.
Her father struck her tiny hands with the ruler and the little girl flinched under the pain. She bit her lips and looked at her brother. He did not seem appalled by his father's behavior but when he caught her sister's face, guilt banged him. What has he done ? He nearly regretted his action.
After ten blows , Orana's father stopped. He looked satisfied and smiled at his son.
"You did well, my son. You will be useful to the First Order one day." he then turned to Orana who had not cried during her punishment. She had stopped crying since the third time he had used that ruler on her fingers. " As for you, Orana, I hope you've learnt a lesson today. You need to learn how to hide that hideous power of yours. Otherwise, I would have to break my promise to your mum. Maybe you were born to serve under Snoke after all."
Orana stayed silent. She would not go to be trained by that man. He was hideous from the inside as well from the outside. She did not like him neither what he was inflicting to his trainees. She was barely seven but it did not mean she was a fool. She knew that the First Order was not the good guys they claimed to be.
Her father asked the two siblings to leave his office. When they were out of their sight, Orana glanced at her brother.
" Why did you tell Dad ? "
"To protect you from yourself." the young boy explained.
"Liar" she said " You only wanted to please Dad. As always"
" Yes but not only. You really need to learn to control that thing . Otherwise it will consume you... Dad may be right after all - maybe your destiny is to serve the Supreme Leader. "
END OF THE FLASHBACK
It was still painful to remember those childhood memories. She had grown up in a dark atmosphere. She was born for the Darkness. Even when she had fled for the Resistance, Orana had never left this part of her away. When she had met Ben, she had the sensation she had found someone like her. They were both trying to figure out what their destinies were and who they truly were.
He had been the first one to tell her something positive about the Force. "It's a gift. Don't you get it ? You're a gift". It sounded so ironical now. He had said such things when there was too much Vader in him. Orana had naively believed him, probably because she was totally enamored of Ben. It had been love at first sight.
But now, Ben's sentence sounded hollow. Turns out that this gift was starting more and more to look like a burden.
Hello :) Thank you for still following the story so far. It means a lot. Have a great week and see you next Monday ;)
