Man of Stars
By
Culf
Chapter IV
Disclaimer: Own nothing but Linelien. Well, I do own the plot, though, but still, the characters and the places (except Linelien) belongs to either George Lucas, JK Rowling or JRR Tolkien. Authors note: Ain't Han great? *grins*
Luke and Linelien had been walking for sometime now, but Luke had barely noticed. He had found Linelien's stories very fascinating, and it seemed to form in front of his eyes. Linelien broke of.
"There is the house of Thranduil." She said, and pointed on a big door in the ground, with trees in line on both sides.
"It's an underground fortress." She explained. They went to the door, and she opened it. Inside there was a great hall. It reminded Luke of Cloud city.The floor and walls were made of white marble. In the other end of the hall, there was a stair which went down to another room.Linelien walked over to the stairs.
"Come." She said. Luke followed. They went down the stairs trough different rooms, most of them made out of marble, except the doors, which was made of dark wood, and patterned with silver. Luke found the doors very interesting. He had only seen doors of metal which went up or down when they opened or closed. The doors here was pushed into, or pulled out of the rooms. It was really simple, but Luke wondered why they didn't use them on his planet. They were much prettier. Luke suddenly noticed that they had stopped. They stood in front of a big door, guarded by two male elves. Their hair was blond, and they were holding a long stick each, both which ended in a sharp metal piece. Luke didn't doubt that, with a little power, those things could go right trough you and kill you. Linelien said some strange words which Luke did not understand, but the other elves did. One of them nodded, and opened the door. Linelien stepped inside, and made a sign for Luke to do the same. Inside there was a man, sitting on a throne, also made of wood, patterned with leaves of silver. It was splendid. The man sitting on the throne seamed wise beyond years. His hair was dark, as was his beard. He did truly look like a king. There was something kind in his blue yes, which looked at Luke in surprise. Linelien bowed for the king, as did Luke.
"Arise." The king said. "Why are you here?" he asked Luke.
"I do not know why I'm here, my Lord." Luke said , using the same the same title as Linelien did, though it felt weird, as he remembered how Vader referred to the Emperor as 'My Lord'. "I don't even know how I got here. The only thing I remember is that I was on Endor with my friends, when I saw a green beam, heading straight at us. When it hit me, I passed out. Then, woke up here. I don't know what happened." He confessed, and he could, somehow, feel that the king believed in him, but he still asked Linelien about what she had seen.
"My Lord,"Linelien started "I heard great noise, so I followed the sound. When I got were the noise had come from, I saw eleven of the orcs we had hunted for some while now, dead around him. A twelfth was standing behind him, ready to strike, but I managed to shoot it first. I went over to the man, which introduced himself as Luke Skywalker, Jedi-knight. He claims to come from another world, but I do not know if it is true, my Lord."
"My Lord," Luke started, "I think that I can prove that I'm not from this planet." As he said this, he looked at Linelien, as if he was to prove it to her, not Thranduil.
"Let us see you proves then, jedi-knight." Thranduil said. Luke concentrated, then lifted Thranduils throne, with the king still on it, made it float for a couple of seconds, then carefully placed it on the ground again. Linelien looked at Luke in disbelief, which returned the look with a childish grin, his entire face crying something like "I told you so!" The king looked shocked, then, recovering, Thranduil gave a short applause, before speaking.
"I must admit, I have not seen anyone like you before." He said, his voice shacking a little. "You have the power of an istari, yet, you are none, I can tell. Who are you, and where are you from?"
"Who I am, has already been told, your majesty. I am Luke Skywalker, jedi knight. I come from the planet Tatooine."
"I see." The king answered. "but you have not yet told us how you got to the land of Mirkwood."
"I don't know how I got here, my Lord." Luke said, trying not to be rude. "One minute I was on the forest moon Endor with my friends, and the next, I woke up in a completely different forest, getting attacked by some disgusting monsters which you call orcs."
"You had not heard about orcs before?" the king asked, confused.
"No, your majesty." Luke said, starting to feel a little stupid.
"I did not even know about elves before Linelien told me about them." he said, and looked over at her." Thranduil sensed something about the jedi that made him believe in him. Then he remembered what this boy had told him.
"You said you were in a different forest with your friends before you ended up here. Do you know where they are?"
"No, your majesty, I don't. I would like to go and look for them." Thranduil noticed the fear in the boys voice. The fear of something bad happening to his friends. He felt sorry for him. He was, judging by the looks, only a young boy. Yet, there were something different about him.
"I am sorry, jedi-knight, but there is to dangerous for you to go outside now. I will send some of my men to look for them, and in the meantime, I would request for you to stay here. At night, this wood is no place for a young boy. Linelien. Would you take Sir Skywalker to his room?"
"Certainly, my lord." She said. She followed Luke to a room. This to, was made out of marble. There was a large bed, made out of wood, with white blankets and pillows on. "That is your bed." Linelien said, pointing at it. "And that," she said, pointing on a large hollow in the floor, filled with water, "is your pool. That's where you can get cleaned." Luke had never seen anything like it. That was not the way he was used to get clean. What a waste of water! Back home on Tatooine, there was no one who could use that much water to get clean. Everyone used a fresher. It was very little water on Tatooine, but it didn't seem to be a problem here.
"I'll leave you to get some rest, Luke." Linelien said. He was ripped out of his thoughts.
"Oh... Ok. Will I see you tomorrow?"
"I will wake you in time for breakfast, if you like." she answered.
"Great." He smiled. "See you tomorrow. Good night." She left.
Luke took a look at the pool. Why not? He thought. Let's give it a try. He undressed and slipped into the pool. He felt it relaxing to have the hot water embracing him. After a while, he got up and used one of the towels laying by the pool to dry himself. He got dressed, and tried to meditate, like Yoda and Ben had thought him. He knew for sure by now that he was no longer on Endore. He wasn't even in the same galaxy he'd been half a day ago. The Force had confirmed it. He could sense Han and Leia, but no one else. Not even Darth Vader, his own father.That's why he was sure he was someplace else. Luke had felt him every night since the incident in Cloud City. That was the first time he had confronted Vader. He had seen him once before, on the Death Star, but that time he'd been told that Darth Vader had killed his father. In Cloud City, Luke had fought Vader, still thinking it was his fathers killer. Then Vader had reviled himself as Anakin Skywalker, his father. Luke had refused to believe him, but deep inside, he knew it was true. Both Yoda and Ben had confirmed it. They had also told him something else. He couldn't quit explain it. It had been something deep down he'd known nothing about, but when Ben told him, it made perfectly sense. He'd known it all along, though he had not yet discovered it. He should have told Leia about it, but there was never the right opportunity to tell her. He certainly couldn't while Han was gone, and when they had found him, there was to much going on to tell her. He wish he had. He wouldn't have liked it if Leia had been hiding something like this. After all, people had the right to know who they where, and were they came from. The truth was that no one except Luke, knew that Leia was his sister. His twin sister, as a matter of fact. Darth Vader was her father as well, and she deserved to know. Or to not know. Luke wasn't sure. It had been a terrible shock for him to know the truth, and it might be even harder on Leia, after what he'd done to her and Han.
Luke felt the need for sleep, and his meditation was going nowhere. He went to bed, but stayed awake to think things over. Finally, he fell asleep.
Luke was standing in a room, next to his sister, Leia, who was kneeling. They were standing in front of a man on a throne. He was taller than Luke, and his hair was dark brown. It reached his shoulders. He had a prominent chin and blue eyes. The way he acted reminded Luke of a judge.
"What is this place?" Luke cried. It looked like the man talked to her, like he was presenting her doom, but he didn't hear anything. "Why is she here? What will you do to her?" No one answered. Luke was panicking. What did he do to his sister? What did he say? Luke turned. There were two other men there. One looked like an elf, with his long, blond hair and his pointy ears. The other was definitively not an elf. He was about 5 foot tall. His hair and beard was brown, and his face wasn't nearly as smooth as the elves. His hair and his mustache was braided, and his head was covered by a helmet made out of leather and metal. "Please. Tell me. What is happening here?" Luke tried to talk to the elf. He didn't respond. Nor did the little man beside him. Some one was knocking the door. No one in the room reacted. Luke went over to the huge door and opened it. There were no one there. It knocked again. What happened? Again, it knocked, but this time, he could hear a voice calling his name. "Luke! It is me, Linelien. You told me to wake you up for breakfast."
Luke woke up. It had been a dream. Some kind of Force vision, he thought. "I'm coming." He said. He got dressed and went outside. Linelien was still outside, waiting with his breakfast.
"Here you are." she said, handing him the tray. She was about to leave, when Luke called her back.
"I just wanted to say thank you for saving my life." He started. "I owe you one."
"Begin your pardon, Luke, but what do you owe me? I have not given you anything."
"It's an expression." Luke explained. "It means that, because you saved my life, I owe you the favor of doing the same for you, if you should ever need it."
"Oh." Linelien said, as if to confirm that she understood what he meant. "Well, I better be close to you if anything goes wrong." She smiled before she left, but first, she told him that the king would await him in the throne room when he had finished his breakfast.
Luke hurried to eat, then left for the room he where the king had been the former day.He went down the hallway, until he saw the guards which had been there the former day. Luke was about to say something to the guards, but one of them opened the door as soon as he got near enough, then said
"The king awaits you."
Luke got inside. He knelt before king Thranduil, who, to Luke's surprise, was standing. Suddenly, he understood. The king didn't feel like going on another "throne-ride". Luke looked up at the king, grinning. Thranduil smiled back, and told him to rise up. "I hope your night has been pleasant, knight. I must ask, have you made up your mind of what you would like to do now? Will you rest here, in the land of Mirkwood, or have you decided something else?" the king asked, his voice making no suggestions except the ones he had proposed.
"I must go find my friends, my Lord." Said Luke, addressing the king the same way as the elves did. "I must leave."
"Very well, Sir knight." Lord Thranduil responded. "I will give you a horse and some food for your journey."
"But my Lord," Luke started "I can't accept this. It is to much." Luke had no idea what a horse was, but giving a stranger both food, and this horse, was something he couldn't understand. Why should he be so kind to him?
"I insist that you accept my gifts, jedi. If for nothing else, then for killing the orcs that have been destroying my land."
"All right, my Lord. I accept your gifts." Luke knew better than to cross the royalties. Luke thought about Princess Leia and remembered how mad she could get.
An elf had showed him his horse and given him some food for his journey. It looked kind of like cookies. The elf had called them lembas. He was also given some bottles of water. He wanted to tell Linelien goodbye, but the elf said that she had left while he was talking to the king, and that it might be several days before she returned. Luke knew that could not wait that long before he went looking for his friends, so he had to leave.
He felt bad about leaving, but then he remembered the vision of his sister. It was in the future, but he still had no time to waste.
To be continued...
Chapter IV
Disclaimer: Own nothing but Linelien. Well, I do own the plot, though, but still, the characters and the places (except Linelien) belongs to either George Lucas, JK Rowling or JRR Tolkien. Authors note: Ain't Han great? *grins*
Luke and Linelien had been walking for sometime now, but Luke had barely noticed. He had found Linelien's stories very fascinating, and it seemed to form in front of his eyes. Linelien broke of.
"There is the house of Thranduil." She said, and pointed on a big door in the ground, with trees in line on both sides.
"It's an underground fortress." She explained. They went to the door, and she opened it. Inside there was a great hall. It reminded Luke of Cloud city.The floor and walls were made of white marble. In the other end of the hall, there was a stair which went down to another room.Linelien walked over to the stairs.
"Come." She said. Luke followed. They went down the stairs trough different rooms, most of them made out of marble, except the doors, which was made of dark wood, and patterned with silver. Luke found the doors very interesting. He had only seen doors of metal which went up or down when they opened or closed. The doors here was pushed into, or pulled out of the rooms. It was really simple, but Luke wondered why they didn't use them on his planet. They were much prettier. Luke suddenly noticed that they had stopped. They stood in front of a big door, guarded by two male elves. Their hair was blond, and they were holding a long stick each, both which ended in a sharp metal piece. Luke didn't doubt that, with a little power, those things could go right trough you and kill you. Linelien said some strange words which Luke did not understand, but the other elves did. One of them nodded, and opened the door. Linelien stepped inside, and made a sign for Luke to do the same. Inside there was a man, sitting on a throne, also made of wood, patterned with leaves of silver. It was splendid. The man sitting on the throne seamed wise beyond years. His hair was dark, as was his beard. He did truly look like a king. There was something kind in his blue yes, which looked at Luke in surprise. Linelien bowed for the king, as did Luke.
"Arise." The king said. "Why are you here?" he asked Luke.
"I do not know why I'm here, my Lord." Luke said , using the same the same title as Linelien did, though it felt weird, as he remembered how Vader referred to the Emperor as 'My Lord'. "I don't even know how I got here. The only thing I remember is that I was on Endor with my friends, when I saw a green beam, heading straight at us. When it hit me, I passed out. Then, woke up here. I don't know what happened." He confessed, and he could, somehow, feel that the king believed in him, but he still asked Linelien about what she had seen.
"My Lord,"Linelien started "I heard great noise, so I followed the sound. When I got were the noise had come from, I saw eleven of the orcs we had hunted for some while now, dead around him. A twelfth was standing behind him, ready to strike, but I managed to shoot it first. I went over to the man, which introduced himself as Luke Skywalker, Jedi-knight. He claims to come from another world, but I do not know if it is true, my Lord."
"My Lord," Luke started, "I think that I can prove that I'm not from this planet." As he said this, he looked at Linelien, as if he was to prove it to her, not Thranduil.
"Let us see you proves then, jedi-knight." Thranduil said. Luke concentrated, then lifted Thranduils throne, with the king still on it, made it float for a couple of seconds, then carefully placed it on the ground again. Linelien looked at Luke in disbelief, which returned the look with a childish grin, his entire face crying something like "I told you so!" The king looked shocked, then, recovering, Thranduil gave a short applause, before speaking.
"I must admit, I have not seen anyone like you before." He said, his voice shacking a little. "You have the power of an istari, yet, you are none, I can tell. Who are you, and where are you from?"
"Who I am, has already been told, your majesty. I am Luke Skywalker, jedi knight. I come from the planet Tatooine."
"I see." The king answered. "but you have not yet told us how you got to the land of Mirkwood."
"I don't know how I got here, my Lord." Luke said, trying not to be rude. "One minute I was on the forest moon Endor with my friends, and the next, I woke up in a completely different forest, getting attacked by some disgusting monsters which you call orcs."
"You had not heard about orcs before?" the king asked, confused.
"No, your majesty." Luke said, starting to feel a little stupid.
"I did not even know about elves before Linelien told me about them." he said, and looked over at her." Thranduil sensed something about the jedi that made him believe in him. Then he remembered what this boy had told him.
"You said you were in a different forest with your friends before you ended up here. Do you know where they are?"
"No, your majesty, I don't. I would like to go and look for them." Thranduil noticed the fear in the boys voice. The fear of something bad happening to his friends. He felt sorry for him. He was, judging by the looks, only a young boy. Yet, there were something different about him.
"I am sorry, jedi-knight, but there is to dangerous for you to go outside now. I will send some of my men to look for them, and in the meantime, I would request for you to stay here. At night, this wood is no place for a young boy. Linelien. Would you take Sir Skywalker to his room?"
"Certainly, my lord." She said. She followed Luke to a room. This to, was made out of marble. There was a large bed, made out of wood, with white blankets and pillows on. "That is your bed." Linelien said, pointing at it. "And that," she said, pointing on a large hollow in the floor, filled with water, "is your pool. That's where you can get cleaned." Luke had never seen anything like it. That was not the way he was used to get clean. What a waste of water! Back home on Tatooine, there was no one who could use that much water to get clean. Everyone used a fresher. It was very little water on Tatooine, but it didn't seem to be a problem here.
"I'll leave you to get some rest, Luke." Linelien said. He was ripped out of his thoughts.
"Oh... Ok. Will I see you tomorrow?"
"I will wake you in time for breakfast, if you like." she answered.
"Great." He smiled. "See you tomorrow. Good night." She left.
Luke took a look at the pool. Why not? He thought. Let's give it a try. He undressed and slipped into the pool. He felt it relaxing to have the hot water embracing him. After a while, he got up and used one of the towels laying by the pool to dry himself. He got dressed, and tried to meditate, like Yoda and Ben had thought him. He knew for sure by now that he was no longer on Endore. He wasn't even in the same galaxy he'd been half a day ago. The Force had confirmed it. He could sense Han and Leia, but no one else. Not even Darth Vader, his own father.That's why he was sure he was someplace else. Luke had felt him every night since the incident in Cloud City. That was the first time he had confronted Vader. He had seen him once before, on the Death Star, but that time he'd been told that Darth Vader had killed his father. In Cloud City, Luke had fought Vader, still thinking it was his fathers killer. Then Vader had reviled himself as Anakin Skywalker, his father. Luke had refused to believe him, but deep inside, he knew it was true. Both Yoda and Ben had confirmed it. They had also told him something else. He couldn't quit explain it. It had been something deep down he'd known nothing about, but when Ben told him, it made perfectly sense. He'd known it all along, though he had not yet discovered it. He should have told Leia about it, but there was never the right opportunity to tell her. He certainly couldn't while Han was gone, and when they had found him, there was to much going on to tell her. He wish he had. He wouldn't have liked it if Leia had been hiding something like this. After all, people had the right to know who they where, and were they came from. The truth was that no one except Luke, knew that Leia was his sister. His twin sister, as a matter of fact. Darth Vader was her father as well, and she deserved to know. Or to not know. Luke wasn't sure. It had been a terrible shock for him to know the truth, and it might be even harder on Leia, after what he'd done to her and Han.
Luke felt the need for sleep, and his meditation was going nowhere. He went to bed, but stayed awake to think things over. Finally, he fell asleep.
Luke was standing in a room, next to his sister, Leia, who was kneeling. They were standing in front of a man on a throne. He was taller than Luke, and his hair was dark brown. It reached his shoulders. He had a prominent chin and blue eyes. The way he acted reminded Luke of a judge.
"What is this place?" Luke cried. It looked like the man talked to her, like he was presenting her doom, but he didn't hear anything. "Why is she here? What will you do to her?" No one answered. Luke was panicking. What did he do to his sister? What did he say? Luke turned. There were two other men there. One looked like an elf, with his long, blond hair and his pointy ears. The other was definitively not an elf. He was about 5 foot tall. His hair and beard was brown, and his face wasn't nearly as smooth as the elves. His hair and his mustache was braided, and his head was covered by a helmet made out of leather and metal. "Please. Tell me. What is happening here?" Luke tried to talk to the elf. He didn't respond. Nor did the little man beside him. Some one was knocking the door. No one in the room reacted. Luke went over to the huge door and opened it. There were no one there. It knocked again. What happened? Again, it knocked, but this time, he could hear a voice calling his name. "Luke! It is me, Linelien. You told me to wake you up for breakfast."
Luke woke up. It had been a dream. Some kind of Force vision, he thought. "I'm coming." He said. He got dressed and went outside. Linelien was still outside, waiting with his breakfast.
"Here you are." she said, handing him the tray. She was about to leave, when Luke called her back.
"I just wanted to say thank you for saving my life." He started. "I owe you one."
"Begin your pardon, Luke, but what do you owe me? I have not given you anything."
"It's an expression." Luke explained. "It means that, because you saved my life, I owe you the favor of doing the same for you, if you should ever need it."
"Oh." Linelien said, as if to confirm that she understood what he meant. "Well, I better be close to you if anything goes wrong." She smiled before she left, but first, she told him that the king would await him in the throne room when he had finished his breakfast.
Luke hurried to eat, then left for the room he where the king had been the former day.He went down the hallway, until he saw the guards which had been there the former day. Luke was about to say something to the guards, but one of them opened the door as soon as he got near enough, then said
"The king awaits you."
Luke got inside. He knelt before king Thranduil, who, to Luke's surprise, was standing. Suddenly, he understood. The king didn't feel like going on another "throne-ride". Luke looked up at the king, grinning. Thranduil smiled back, and told him to rise up. "I hope your night has been pleasant, knight. I must ask, have you made up your mind of what you would like to do now? Will you rest here, in the land of Mirkwood, or have you decided something else?" the king asked, his voice making no suggestions except the ones he had proposed.
"I must go find my friends, my Lord." Said Luke, addressing the king the same way as the elves did. "I must leave."
"Very well, Sir knight." Lord Thranduil responded. "I will give you a horse and some food for your journey."
"But my Lord," Luke started "I can't accept this. It is to much." Luke had no idea what a horse was, but giving a stranger both food, and this horse, was something he couldn't understand. Why should he be so kind to him?
"I insist that you accept my gifts, jedi. If for nothing else, then for killing the orcs that have been destroying my land."
"All right, my Lord. I accept your gifts." Luke knew better than to cross the royalties. Luke thought about Princess Leia and remembered how mad she could get.
An elf had showed him his horse and given him some food for his journey. It looked kind of like cookies. The elf had called them lembas. He was also given some bottles of water. He wanted to tell Linelien goodbye, but the elf said that she had left while he was talking to the king, and that it might be several days before she returned. Luke knew that could not wait that long before he went looking for his friends, so he had to leave.
He felt bad about leaving, but then he remembered the vision of his sister. It was in the future, but he still had no time to waste.
To be continued...