"Fruit! Fresh fruit here!" One of the merchants on the Produce Level of Pau City shouts, desperate to hawk his wares. "Sir! Sir!" The male Utai calls out and though Ben refuses to meet his gaze he knows the call is directed at him. "Can I interest you in some jogan fruit, sir? Freshest this side of the galaxy."

Carefully, Ben pulls back the hood of his cloak to peek at the fruit in question – something that will spoil so quickly is certainly not the best option to spend their limited credits on, but Rey loves fruit, perhaps he could bring her back one or two? Has she tried jogan fruit before?

He scrunches his nose in disgust at the display before him. The normally vibrant, purple rind of the fruit on the merchant's cart has dulled and Ben can see how soft and overripe they are from where he stands a meter or so away. 'Freshest this side of the galaxy' – Bantha shit. He pulls his hood back to cover his face and silently raises a hand, indicating his disinterest. The trader moves on quickly, knowing when there's no sale to be made.

Ben turns his attention to the crowd beyond him, carefully picking Han and Chewie out in the shuffle. It is, unfortunately, not difficult to spot them, even wearing their own hooded cloaks as they are, the Wookie's height giving him away easily. Luckily, many others around them also hide their visages behind dark cloaks. The Outer Rim has always been a haven for those in hiding, for those who prefer to keep to the shadows.

He shoulders past the strangers in front of him, drawing closer to Han and Chewie. Utapau had been a smart choice for their covert supply run, Ben is glad that Han chose it. Pau City, though the capital of the planet, is not especially large. It is a sink hole, eleven distinct layers built into the walls of stone, held up by the ancient, fossilized bones of long-dead underground beasts. The streets here are often dark, even when the sun shines brightly in the sky. It is a good place to stay hidden.

Ben's eyes dart every which way. He feels every eye on them like a physical presence and his hand instinctually slides over where his lightsaber is strapped to his belt, hidden beneath the dark fabric of his cloak. He only hopes that he will have no cause to use his weapon, something he couldn't even imagine thinking just a month or so ago.

"You gotta relax, big guy." Han grumbles under his breath. "People are gonna look at you like you're trouble if you keep actin' like you are." Han gestures smoothly with both hands in front of him. "As far as anyone here knows we're just a few spacers looking to restock supplies – 'Cause that is all we are."

"Relax," Ben mutters. A humorless puff of air escaping his nose. "Got it."

"I know that relaxin' ain't really your thing." Han laughs, clapping one hand on Ben's back which only causes him to tense further and Han to laugh harder. "I meant what I said back on Tatooine, what you need a nice, stiff drink." With how this trip with Han has been going so far, Ben can't help but agree.

Ben manages, with the help of Chewie, to talk Han out to trying to find a bar or cantina, stressing that they really needed this mission to be a quick one, one without distraction. Han gives up the ghost of trying to get Ben to relax eventually. Likely, his real goal had been to get a drink himself, or, more dangerously, to try and secure some type of shady deal or job.

Even without the help of the Force, Ben knows how stir-crazy Han is going, stuck on Dagobah with nothing to do. Ahsoka had been right, he knows his father far better than anyone in their group outside of Chewie. He can see it in the man's eyes, the desire for a purpose, for a something to do – whether that be smuggling or racing or leading a rebellion or… well, that seems to be about the end of the list as far as Ben is aware. Han doesn't like to be tied down, to stay in one place for too long, especially if he feels he has no choice in the matter.

Han used to joke that he'd go 'planet mad' if his feet were on solid ground for too long. Ben never laughed. Eventually Han stopped laughing too. Eventually Han stopped making excuses as to why he just had to go this time, he stopped making promises about when he would be back. By the time the promises stopped, it hardly mattered, his son didn't believe him any longer.

He would always return with gifts and treats, but Ben had never wanted any of those, all he had wanted was his father – until he didn't, until the voice in his head twisted up everything he'd ever felt for his parents and the people that surrounded him until warm emotions were unrecognizable. Maybe Han's promises had been more earnest than Ben remembers. Ben doesn't know. Some of his memories don't make sense.

As Han and Chewie are bartering – arguing – with a merchant selling salted and dried meats Ben's eye is caught by something at a nearby stall. A tray of stones, none of them sparkling or precious or rare. Really, they look to be nothing more than pebbles smoothed by weather and time and polished by hand, possibly by the vendor selling them. One of the stones is a rich forest green. Ben picks it up, turning it over in his hand, inspecting it – for what, he's not sure.

"Hey!" Han's voice startles Ben, causing him to fumble with the stone in his grasp, nearly dropping it to the rocky floor below. "I didn't think we came here for pretty rocks. 'In and out, Han'." He says, his tone a clear mockery of Ben's voice.

Ben grits his teeth and sighs slowly, willing all sharp retorts to die on his tongue. He pockets the stone and flips the merchant a few credits.

"I'll assume you secured a deal with the meat vendor, then?" He asks, ignoring Han's quip.

"Yeah," Han says, nodding. "We coulda got a better deal, but Chewie here's weak, so…" He shrugs.

"Well," Ben begins, thinking over the list he and Ahsoka had compiled of necessities they were running low on. "That should be everything." He turns, pushing through the crowd. The Falcon is docked back up on the Wealth level, but Ben had made sure to not stray too far.

"Great." Han grumbles. "Back to Swamp City."

Transporting the secured supplies would be easier with the use of the Force, as just about everything is, but Ben would actually rather prefer to not draw any attention to himself or his companions, so they have to settle with moving the crates manually. This is why they made several trips from the ship to the market and back again. They'd hit the purified water vendor first and then several merchants selling freeze-dried food stuffs, things that hold up well over time. Ben even managed to secure a bit of caf, something that is definitely not a necessity, but he only feels a little bad for the wasted credits.

There's no telling how long they will be on Dagobah. If Yoda intends on completing Luke and Leia's Jedi training then it could very well be years – Ben only hopes that he and Rey aren't stuck here for that long. Credits and supplies will become a very precious resource as time goes on. Bail did supply them with a healthy sum of money, and contacting the Alliance is always an option should something catastrophic happen, but Ben would prefer to keep the amount of people that know their location to a minimum. Ben knows with spine-chilling certainty that anytime a rebel is captured in the future Vader will be searching for that specific information, likely personally. He also knows from his experience as both an interrogator and the interrogated, that everyone cracks eventually.

They make their way up to the level where the Falcon is docked without incident, but it does little to soothe Ben's quickly fraying nerves. He is so on edge and he's certain it is not just his finely trained paranoia any longer. He can feel danger, a buzz in the Force at the base of his neck. He looks around them, straying the line between suspicious and curious, his teeth grinding together.

"Oh, welcome back, sirs!" C-3PO greets them as they begin loading their cargo onto the Falcon. "I have kept a very close eye on the ship, per your instruction, and all is in order, as I promised. I even managed to…"

"Yeah, thanks a lot." Han grumbles, pushing past the golden droid on his way to one of the holds.

They load their haul quickly and finish by the time the circle of sky above has grown a warm pink-orange. Ben looks over the crates and boxes loaded into the third hold and does one last mental check to ensure they have not forgotten anything. Once he's satisfied that they will not have to return for more supplies any time soon, he makes his way to the cockpit, but finds Chewie there alone, slowly running through pre-flight checks.

"Where's Han?" Ben asks stiffly.

Chewie does not turn around but merely shrugs and rumbles a suggestion to check the refresher. Ben turns swiftly and starts off towards the ship's refresher, his stride quicker than normal. He raises one fist to knock on the door, but it slides open smoothly as he does so, revealing it to be empty. He grounds out a sigh.

"Threepio," He begins tightly, finding the droid in the lounge. "Have you seen Han?"

"Oh, yes, Master Ben, as a matter of fact I have." C-3PO responds, waddling over to stand in front of Ben. "He exited the ship not long ago, actually, and he…"

"He -" A low growl escapes Ben as he pinches the bridge of his nose, a stress-induced headache building at the front of his skull. The pressure only seems to enhance the dangerous vibrations he feels coursing through the Force all around him. "Where did he go? Did you ask?"

"I did, but he merely told me to 'buzz off, goldenrod.' Quite unnecessary, if you ask me, and not to mention... Wait a moment, where are you going, Master Ben?"

"I'm going to find Han!" Ben calls out to the droid behind him as he quickly makes his way towards the ship's gangway, punching the button to open the hatch with far more force than necessary. "Tell Chewie to get the ship ready - we'll be right back."

Luke wakes - well, that might not be the right word as he doesn't really remember falling asleep last night - with a sore back and stiff neck. Sleeping on the floor of the Shadow doesn't agree with him, but with the others off in the Falcon gathering supplies, there really aren't many other options. Ben's ship only has one bed in the captain's quarters. Luke, Leia, Rey, and Ahsoka have been trading off sleeping in the bed and on the floor for the past few nights. Luckily, Ben and Han and Chewie should be back tomorrow, if all has gone well on their mission.

He tries to stretch the knots and tension and exhaustion out of his tight muscles as he sits up, but it doesn't really work. Leia and Ahsoka are still asleep as Luke sneaks out of the sleeping quarters. Rey is up, sitting in the ship's small galley, already tucking into her breakfast, scarfing it down as though someone is liable to snatch it away from her at any second. She pauses when she sees him, offering a small, sleepy smile.

"Good morning, Luke." She says softly, carefully. She is always careful with him these days, especially since he admitted to wanting to help his father. He can see the way she eyes him warily, looks at him like he is something bound to break at any moment. He resents it, even if he does feel like that himself sometimes. He hasn't brought his father up with her since then, hasn't brought him up with anyone. No one understands.

Luke smiles weakly in return as he makes his way to the 'fresher. He likes the 'fresher on the Shadow. It's bigger than the one on the Falcon, for one, and it has an actual water shower to boot. The first time he'd used it he just stood under the spray, letting it go until it ran cold against his skin, he hadn't even cleaned himself really. Leia had yelled at him afterwards for using up all the hot water.

He doesn't take a shower this morning. He runs the sink and splashes some of the cold water onto his face. He hardly recognizes the person staring back at him in the mirror. Months ago, his only worry in the galaxy was whether or not his uncle would let him join the academy before or after the next harvest.

He'll never see another harvest; he realizes only now. He never liked being a moisture farmer, but it was his life, it is what he knows. What will he be now? A Jedi, he supposes, but the thought alone makes his heart beat a little faster and his chest hurt. Ahsoka doesn't speak much of the Jedi, preferring to keep her lessons solely tuned to the Force, Ben is much the same.

Yoda has tried to impress some of the values of the Jedi upon Luke and Leia. An ancient order of protectors, it seems to be much more than Rey had led Luke to believe all those weeks ago on Alderaan. Yoda says that he and Leia are the future of the Order and those words feel like they weigh as much as the entire galaxy. Luke grips the rim of the sink tightly to anchor himself.

He stares at the deep purple shadows hanging heavily under his eyes, the ones that darken with every restless night. He'll have a bit of caf – if they have any left – and will nibble on a ration bar and the bags will fade, but they always return the next morning.

Every night, it seems, Luke is plagued with visions. Sometimes he dreams of Leia kneeling before him, pleading look in her eyes, that crackling voice commanding Luke to kill her. Sometimes he dreams that Leia kills their father, her eyes cold and emotionless. Sometimes Luke dreams that he is fighting his father, his blue blade and his fathers' red clashing frantically, and Luke doesn't know why. It is easier if he doesn't sleep.

He sighs, steeling himself, running one hand through his hair. He fortifies the mental shields Ben taught him to construct a few weeks ago and assures himself that he will be fine.

Leia and Ahsoka are up by the time he leaves the 'fresher. He sits down at the small table in the galley next to his sister who rests a sleepy head on his shoulder. She takes a bite of a ration bar and grimaces. Luke can feel himself smile despite everything else he is feeling.

"Today, Yoda is going to lead you three through morning meditation and then we'll all be running the training course I set up." Ahsoka announces rummaging through the cupboards for something. She frowns slightly when she comes up emptyhanded. "Actually Rey, there are a few things I still need to get ready, could you lend me a hand?"

"Of course." Rey agrees, nodding.

"When do we stop –" Leia starts but her question is broken up by a deep yawn. "When do we stop meditating so much?"

"Kind of never." Ahsoka answers with a tired little laugh. Leia sighs. "But here, you'll need these for later."

Ahsoka unclips Luke and Leia's lightsabers and hands the hilts to each of them in turn. Leia sits up straighter, inspecting her weapon closely. Luke holds his saber tightly, his smile spreading further. He has the urge to flick it on and see the bright blue blade once again, but he doesn't want to give Ahsoka a reason to take it back.

"You think we're ready for this?" Leia asks warily.

"I wouldn't have given them to you if I didn't."

"Thank you, Ahsoka." Luke says, clipping the hilt to his own belt, enjoying the weight of it on his side.

"You got it, Skyguy." She says with a wink before turning her attention to the caf machine behind her.

Luke tries to make it through meditation without incident or diversion, but it's hard. When everything is so quiet it is hard for his mind not to stray towards his father or his nightmares or that vision from the cave. He had once thought meditation simply boring, but now it seems near impossible. He breathes in deeply and holds the air in his lungs for a long moment, trying to focus on nothing but that, but his mind is not truly clear.

"Distracted, you are."

Luke's eyes fly open at the sound of Yoda's voice, the stones that had been floating nearby crash to the ground, one only narrowly avoiding hitting Leia on the shoulder. Luke's breath escapes him in a loud whoosh and he blinks dumbly at the Jedi Master for a long moment.

"Huh?"

"Distracted." Yoda repeats, both hands resting on the top of his gimer stick. "Afraid too, I think. Yes, afraid also. Let go of your fear, you must. A path to the Dark Side, it is."

"I don't know how." Luke admits, not even bothering to deny the fear roiling inside of him. He's not sure he could hide it from Yoda anyway, the old master seems to see right through him

"Your fear, where does it come from, hmm?" Yoda asks curiously. "What is the root?"

Luke opens his mouth to speak but then shuts it quickly. He's not sure he should tell Yoda, but the way the old alien looks into his eyes leaves no room for anything but the truth. Luke's not certain that he could find a lie inside of him if he tried.

"My father," He confesses softly. A rustling to his right tells him that he's gotten Leia's attention now as well.

"Afraid to confront him?" Yoda asks, nodding as though he already knows the answer. "Afraid to face him – ready, you are not, for this. No, ready neither of you are."

Luke could swear his heart stops. His mouth hangs open, chin trembling slightly, his hands balling into fists on top of his legs.

"C-confront him?" Luke asks, his voice shakier than he would like.

"What are you talking about, Master Yoda?" Leia asks.

"Confront Vader, you must, but only when your training is complete, will you be ready." He responds gravely, his eyes focused on the swamp beyond Luke.

Luke feels something settle in his sister, like some turbulence that had been roaring in her soul has finally been laid to rest. She says nothing, but she doesn't need to.

Why do you think we're here, Luke?

We must confront him. It is our destiny.

Luke doesn't close his eyes as Master Yoda walks away, doesn't return to meditation. His blood feels cold, but the fear and anxiety that has been ever present since they'd arrived on this planet over a month ago fades. He sucks in a deep breath, holding the air in his lungs until they burn and scream for him to let go. He exhales slowly.

You know what you have to do.

He does.

Leia lets out a frustrated cry as the remote droid flies around to face her back and hits her with a bolt square in the shoulder. The sound is raw and almost animalistic, unlike any noise that has ever escaped her before. She roars as she whips around and blocks the next shot with her lightsaber. She likes working with the blade much more than any other part of Force training. If someone asked, she would be only a little embarrassed to admit how thrilling it is to use the weapon.

She jumps up, using the Force to propel her higher than she could ever get naturally, just as Ahsoka taught her. She reaches down with her left hand at the apex of her jump to toggle the 'off' button on the remote as it struggles to get her back in its sights. Her feet land on the ground with a wet thud at the same time as the small, round training droid. She hears something rumble low in the distance; thunder she thinks.

A small, triumphant laugh escapes her as she brushes a few loose wisps of sweat-dampened hair out of her face. She wishes she had thought to bring more hairpins with her, and she suspects that the ones she did bring have been getting filched by Ben. She can't be too mad at him though, not when Rey's braids look so lovely. She should teach the girl to braid so that she can return the favor to him.

Leia reaches out with the Force as she pants, catching her breath. She can feel Rey and Ahsoka on the course ahead of her. Yoda is further away, surely off meditating again in his little hut. Leia has often wondered if he ever does anything else. Luke though, he feels wrong. He should be right behind her - but he's not.

She feels something tingling down her spine, something isn't right. She feels it in her blood and her bones, it burns, acidic, like a toxin running through her. She knows now that this is no clever intuition, as she had once thought, but the Force – a warning. Giving little thought to the rest of the training course, she heads off back towards camp.

She finds Luke there, unloading crates of supplies, what little they have left, at least, from the Shadow. He piles them neatly by the bonfire at the center of the clearing. He works solemnly and dutifully, his face set in a deep frown. Leia reaches out to try to get a sense of what her brother is feeling, but she runs up against a solid wall.

"Luke!" Leia calls out into the quiet of the clearing. The creatures of Dagobah chirp and hiss and skitter and pay her no mind, but her brother stops dead in his tracks and turns slowly to face her. "What are you doing?" She feels the first drop of rain hit her cheek.

"I'm going to him, Leia." Luke confesses quietly as the bog beside him bubbles and releases foul smelling gas into the air.

"Going to him?" Leia repeats as her brows furrow. She takes a tentative step towards her brother who makes no move, either to come closer or back away further.

Luke says nothing for a moment, his eyes gazing off as something far in the distance behind his sister, then they flick down to the moist, muddy ground at his feet which he shuffles nervously. He does not meet Leia's eyes when he speaks again. He grasps the hilt of his lightsaber tightly in one hand. Lightning crashes overhead, lighting the dark grey clouds for just a moment.

"Our father," He says plainly, though not confidently, his words timed perfectly with a loud thunderclap.

Leia's mouth falls open in shock. If she'd had something she was going to say to him, it is lost in this moment. She cannot, for the life of her, understand why, after everything that… man has done, Luke would want to go to him. She's known, for a while now, that her brother has some lingering sympathy towards the man that was their father, Anakin Skywalker, but surely that doesn't extend to the thing he is now. The only explanation she can muster is that he must be going to confront Vader.

"You're not ready yet, Master Yoda said -"

"I'm not going to fight him, Leia." He shakes his head, a single tear snaking down his face, though it is lost as the rain picks up around them. "I can't, he's our father."

"Wh - what?"

"There's still good in him, I know there is. I've felt it." Luke does look at her now, Leia sees the steely determination in his eyes. She shakes her head in disbelief.

"No, there's not Luke. He's gone." She wills her voice to be firm and it obeys.

"I don't believe that. I can help him – I have to try." Luke says and Leia just can't understand, won't, she refuses to. She needs to stop him; she needs to get Master Yoda so that he can talk some sense into her brother. There's nothing to save in Vader, nothing worth trying for. She can feel anger growing and growling in the pit of her stomach, a living thing. She clings to it as it is so much more solid than confusion or despair.

"I won't let you leave, Luke." Leia says, her feet spreading apart beneath her, steadying her. Her lightsaber is clipped to her side, but she makes no move for it, not yet. She doesn't want to have to fight Luke if she doesn't have to. "I won't let you walk into a trap."

"I'm not." He says, shaking his head. "He saved my life, Leia, during the battle of Yavin, he shot the other TIEs down and told me to use the Force to destroy the Death Star. There's still good in him, still Light. He just needs someone to show him - like Rey did for Ben…"

"Ben is different." Leia insists, her fingers twitching by her side as Luke takes a step backwards towards Ben's ship. More thunder. It sounds louder now, closer, though Leia is surprised she can hear it over the pounding of her own heart in her ears.

"Is he?" Luke asks, his tone genuine and deeper than normal. "They both fell, didn't they? They were both trained in the Light."

"And you saw what he did to Ben, didn't you?" Leia asks desperately. She can still hear his screams sometimes at night, they haunt her still. "Luke, you don't know what he's done, who he's become. Maybe he was a good man once," Leia concedes, though she does so with no small amount of bitterness. "But that was a long time ago. Please, Luke, reconsider this." She pleads.

"He needs someone, Leia. Please, you have to trust me." Tears are forming in her brother's eyes but Leia ignores them. She reaches for her lightsaber and switches it on, the blue blade illuminating the trees around her. She doesn't know what else to do, all she knows is that she can't let him go this way. Luke does not seem surprised, perhaps sad, resigned, disappointed.

"I'm not letting you leave here to go to him." Leia says, readying herself for a fight. "Don't make me fight you, Luke." She begs, her voice wavering.

"I'm sorry, Leia." Luke says, his own lightsaber flicking to life in his hands. "I know what I have to do."

Leia charges, her feet sticking in the mud as she does. Luke stands his ground, makes no move to attack. Leia swings high and Luke blocks her easily, she'd meant for him to. She doesn't want to hurt her brother, she won't, but she can't let him leave and run off to Vader who will certainly hurt him or try to turn him to the Dark Side, neither of which Leia can allow. She just needs to hold him off, distract him until Rey and Ahsoka return or until Master Yoda realizes something is wrong. She'd sensed this after all, surely the others have as well and will be here any moment.

Leia swings right and then left, each of her strikes are blocked by Luke's blade. Each slash of her blade cuts into her, breaks her heart, tears her apart. She needs the others to help her stop Luke, to talk him down from this crazy notion he has that their father can be saved. She calls out for them, her voice going ragged from the strain. Some of her calls are lost in the thunderclaps above, none of them are heard.

"Leia, please," Luke says, his voice steady but melancholy. He blocks another of her swings effortlessly.

"You can't save him, Luke!" She cries into the air, desperate for her brother to understand. "Please, don't do this!"

Leia tries to center herself, but inside she is a storm of fear and anger and misery. Why won't Luke listen to her? Why won't he see? She feels something cold pull at her, something tempting and powerful. It flows through her veins as seamlessly as blood, fills her lungs like oxygen.

What if Luke has already fallen? Is this what it is like? She feels nothing from him but a dulled cold. Her chest tightens at the thought. How can she help him? She can't let him become like Vader, she won't. The rain continues to pour, soaking the both of them to the bone, making the ground even slicker and trickier to navigate than it normally is.

The blue blades crashing together is a brilliant sight, the rain hissing on the hot plasma. Luke takes a step back towards Ben's craft and Leia moves to follow him, but the wet ground below gives way, her ankle twisting underneath her. She cries out in pain, her eyes squeezing shut as she swings erratically, her balance gone.

Leia opens her eyes a beat before Luke screams. She takes a step back as her eyes frantically search her brother's form, nausea turning in her stomach. She hadn't meant to hit him – is he very hurt? What has she done? At first, he seems to be totally fine, though clearly in pain. It is only when she sees the hilt of his blade on the ground, glinting in the bright flash of the lightning streaking across the sky, wrapped in the lifeless fingers of his right hand that she knows what she has done.

Leia backs up further in shock, in horror. She doesn't see or sense the root that trips her and she falls to the ground. Luke just stares at her for a moment, pain and betrayal clear on his face, his wounded arm tucked up securely against his chest. What has she done? She can't breathe. She's going to be ill. She's a monster.

"I'm so sorry, Luke." She manages to rasp out past the hard lump that has formed in her throat. Scrambling backwards in the muck and mud, the rain coming down in heavy sheets.

He says nothing as he reaches down with his left hand, the only one he has now, thanks to her, and picks up his lightsaber.

"Don't follow me." He says lowly.

Without another word, Luke climbs up the entry ramp of the Shadow. Leia is frozen as she watches the ship hover off of the ground, fly up into the night sky, and break the planet's atmosphere. Once he is gone, and Leia is truly alone, she curls in on herself, pulling her knees into her and burying her face in her legs, and she weeps.