Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Star Wars franchise and am not making any profit from this.

Aurora found herself once more sitting in a familiar spot on the edge of the swamp. The water was still under the pale moonlight, but its apparent tranquility did nothing to sooth the emotions frothing inside of her.

Certain point of view or not, her father had still lied. And he had done it in such a way that finding out the truth had been even more devastating to Luke than it might have otherwise been.

That was what she couldn't quite forgive. Because whatever Master Yoda said about protecting Luke from indecision, the way the two Jedi Masters had gone about it had been manipulative. They had an agenda, and whether they spoke the truth or not, every word they uttered was designed to nudge Luke in the direction they wanted him to go.

She didn't need him to speak to know when her father had come up behind her.

"Finished telling tales?"

"I've finished telling Luke the truth, yes."

"The truth? And from which point of view is it this time?"

Obi-Wan sighed at the venom in her voice. "Aurora, I know you're angry, but –"

"Spare me the bedtime stories, Ben. I don't need them." She rose to face him. "I understand what you did; I even - somewhat - understand why you did it. What I don't understand is the way you did it. You deliberately built Anakin Skywalker up into a hero in Luke's head. You made him worship the man. Why? Why do that if you planned to tell him the truth all along?"

"Anakin Skywalker was a hero. He saved many lives during the Clone Wars. I didn't make him into anything that he wasn't."

"No, you just deliberately left out the part where the hero turned to the dark side, abandoned his pregnant wife and became the bane of the galaxy." She fought to keep her voice steady. "You purposely manipulated Luke into idolizing his father so that he would do anything to be like him, thus ensuring that he'd turn to the ways of the Force and become a Jedi."

"Yes."

Her father's flat affirmation had Aurora stopping cold. "You're not even going to deny it?"

"No. I did everything I could to make Luke leave Tatooine and come with me. I had to go and it was too dangerous for him to stay without me. Think of what might have happened had he stayed."

Aurora thought back to that day. There had been a definitely increased Imperial presence on the planet, searching for the droids and the Death Star plans. "Someone would have turned him in. Either he would have been killed or Vader would have found him." She said quietly.

"Yes, and without any training in the Force, Luke would have turned."

Feeling sick, Aurora turned away. "It was still cruel."

"It was."

"And letting him find out the way he did – why didn't you or Yoda tell him later?"

"I believe Yoda has already told you his reasons for concealing the truth."

She dropped her head into her hands, pressing the heels into her eyes as if that would stop the thoughts whirling around in her head. What had been done was cruel, there was no denying that, but perhaps, it had been done with good intentions. Maybe that was just what it meant to be a Jedi – doing the necessary thing, no matter how hard or cruel it seemed.

She hesitated, ready to finally let go of the anger that she had been carrying around since Bespin, but she needed one more final truth.

"One last thing – if Vader hadn't revealed his identity, would you ever have told Luke?"

"I would have, eventually."

"Eventually." She repeated, her eyes narrowing. "Before or after he went after Vader?"

Obi-Wan considered her with a steady gaze. "I don't know."

RoJ

Luke turned at the sound of her soft footsteps coming down the path. When she entered the clearing, she looked as exhausted as he felt. The emotional turmoil of the day was clearly taking its toll.

"Are you all right?"

She looked up at his question. "Yes. At least – I'm not mad anymore, or not much anyway." Her shoulders moved in a heavy sigh. "I don't know. I'm still angry, but maybe they really were doing what they thought was best. Mind you, I still think they went about it poorly, but – who knows? In their places, maybe I would have done the same thing." She shook her head in frustration. "I'm just – I'm so damn tired! Not physically, really, but – " Her hands moved, searching for the right word.

"Emotionally?" Luke supplied.

"Yes." She smiled faintly. "Which, I suppose, is a really unJedi-like thing to say."

"'There is no emotion, there is peace'." Luke quoted.

Another faint smile. "Peace. Right." Aurora dropped down onto the log her father had recently been sitting on. "Remind me what that is again?"

Despite the game smile, she really did look tired. And to be honest, he wasn't feeling that much better himself. It had been a day full of emotional surprises, most of them unpleasant.

He glanced around the familiar clearing and made a swift decision.

"Let's stay here tonight."

She glanced up at him in surprise. "But I thought you were worried about what was happening back with the Alliance?"

"I am, but they weren't expecting us back right away, after all. We were supposed to be finishing our training, remember? I think they can manage without us for another day and, frankly, I think we could both use the rest. It was a long trip and it's been an…eventful day."

"To say the least." Aurora said absently, obviously considering his words.

"Come on. Let's take one night, just for us, before we have to throw ourselves back into all the shavit. One last night of being just Luke and Aurora and not Jedi Knights."

She hesitated, but Luke could tell she liked the idea.

"We've been going non-stop for months, Aurora, with very little downtime. Even Jedi have their limits."

She looked at him with no little amusement. "Isn't that my line? Aren't I usually the one trying to persuade you to relax a little?"

"Yeah, well." He shrugged. "I'm freaking tired too."

He'd known it was the right line to take. Aurora instantly looked sympathetic. "Okay, let's sleep here tonight and we'll take off in the morning. The Alliance can't miss us that much in one day."

Luke felt relieved. He wasn't quite ready to go back and face everyone yet. His knowledge of Vader's true identity, the task that Yoda and Ben had set before him, even his new relationship with Leia, all weighed heavily on him and he just wanted to set aside their burden for a few more hours.

Resolute now, Aurora pushed up from the log, brushing off her pants. "Okay, it's a little cold to be sleeping out here, which means we'll have to sleep in the house. I know it's a little disrespectful, but I can't bear trying to curl up like a pretzel again in that room. Do you think Yoda would mind if we moved his furniture so that there's room for us to stretch out?"

"I don't think so."

An hour or so later found them settled comfortably in the tiny hut. Most of the furniture had been pushed into one corner, leaving enough space for the two of them to spread out their thermal blankets in front of the fireplace.

Artoo was snuggled comfortably into his socket in Luke's X-wing, it having been determined that there wasn't quite enough space for the droid in the hut as well. He didn't seem to mind too much, as he seemed to be chittering away happily with the ship before Luke had even taken two steps.

He ducked under the low lintel of the hut to find Aurora on her hands and knees, rummaging through a cupboard.

After taking a brief moment to appreciate the view she was inadvertently presenting him with, Luke shook himself out of his reverie and closed the door behind him. He knew that the situation they were in was more than a little risky, considering the directions his thoughts usually took around her, but he was determined to maintain his vow of friendship. Which meant not checking out his friend's ass….no matter how good it looked. "What are you doing?"

"Looking for something edible."

"I grabbed some ration bars from my ship."

Aurora threw him a withering glance over her shoulder. "I said edible."

Luke snorted and sat down on the thermal bags. "Good luck with that."

After a few moments, Aurora joined him, a small cache of items in her hands.

"I found some of those roots he used to roast – those weren't too bad – and some dried nuts and berries, some of that green leafy stuff he always used to throw in the stew, and this!"

She held up a dusty bottle, covered in some kind of cloth wrapping and corked.

"What is it?" Luke asked, accepting the food she handed him.

"I don't know." Aurora pulled at the waxed cork until it popped loose with a hollow thunk and a faint odor of berries wafted out.

Aurora sniffed carefully. "Smells like some kind of wine." She took a cautious sip. "Not bad. Fruity." She took another, larger drink, and coughed. "Strong." She said hoarsely, her cheeks developing an attractive pink tinge.

Luke laughed, but he wasn't entirely certain that drinking alcohol was a good idea when they were together like this. He still wondered a little how much those couple of glasses of Corellian whisky had lowered their inhibitions that night in Ben's house. Then again, they'd been drinking together for years, both with and without the Rogues, and had never ended up together in bed any other time. He mentally shrugged and reached for the bottle.

"Give me that before you fall down."

The look she gave him was decidedly scornful. "Like I couldn't drink you under the table."

Luke snorted and took a drink. He felt the liquor burn its way down his throat and had to fight back a cough of his own. It was strong, whatever it was, and tasted like tibanna gas flavored with berries, although it kindled a pleasant warmth in his stomach.

Aurora was watching him knowingly. "Uh huh."

"What? I can handle it." He said, ignoring the way his eyes were trying to water. "I'm not the one who couldn't find her own room on Hoth after that one sabaac game."

"I found my own room." She protested, taking the back the bottle and tipping it back for another drink.

"Yeah, the next day."

"I still found it." She stated, passing him back the bottle.

He took another drink. "That doesn't count. The alcohol had already worn off by then."

"Oh, trust me. It hadn't. Why do you think I was so happy the speeders still weren't ready? The last thing I wanted to do was get up and fly."

"Why do you think I didn't bother to see if the speeders were ready?"

"Why, you sneaky, little brat."

The bottle exchanged hands again. Whatever it was, it really was strong, as Luke could already feel a tingling in the tip of his nose and a slight dizziness. He could easily banish the effects of the alcohol with the Force, but he didn't feel like it. In fact, it might be nice to sit here in the warm, firelit room, and get just a little buzzed…whether it was Jedilike or not.