Dear Qui-Gon,

I am happy to report my lessons with Luke are going well. He has learned to control himself, not as well as I would have expected from a youngling at the Temple, but to a satisfactory degree. Beru has informed me that they've had no other incidents of unconscious Force usage like power surges or strong reactions to other's emotional states.

While I know these measures best protect the boy, I cannot help but feel stifled not to show him more. He is so powerful, Qui-Gon. Even in this barren environment with my own Force senses dulled his brilliance is undiminished. I work hard with him to close his mind and erect barriers around his Force sense so his presence cannot be so easily detected by others, but it feels like caging a brilliant bird so it cannot show off its unique plumage.

No, it feels rather more like clipping that bird's wings.

I spend most of my days at the Lars homestead, and often Beru leaves Luke with me while she goes about her day's work. I suppose she trusts me enough now not to break my agreement with them, and only teach Luke to control and suppress his abilities.

It was incredibly hot today, even by Tatooine standards, so by the time I reached the homestead poor Rooh was dripping with sweat (as was her poor master!). I often let the eopie into my hut in such conditions, for companionship as well as anything else. When I mentioned this to Beru she laughed as if I was making a joke, and then gave me a stern look which clearly said there were to be no animals allowed in her house not matter the circumstances.

So before we began our lessons I enlisted Luke to help me wash the creature down with a synthetic saline solution I had bought in Mos Eisley the last time I was there on business for Jabba. It is expensive but not moreso than the amount of water needed would be, and Rooh seems to find relief when it is rubbed into her hide.

Luke loves Rooh, often patting her and giggling when she snuffles her snout into his hair. He talks to her also, and I cannot blame him for that, since I often ramble to her myself. Through the Force I feel her emotions and moods, but today when I observed Luke stroking her neck and babbling away I noticed that his conversation did not appear to be one-sided. He asked the animal questions and acted as if he had heard a response; enquiring whether she preferred the saline rub or baths, what the Dune Sea was like at night, whether she'd ever been ridden past a Tusken Raider camp.

"Luke," I asked nonchalantly, rubbing the solution into the eopie's spine. "Are you talking to Rooh?"

Luke laughed and gave Rooh a look as if I was the strange one. "Of course, Ben!"

"And does she talk back?"

"Yes."

"You mean you're playing a game," I asked, although I knew I wasn't going to get the answer I wanted. "Eopie's aren't sentient, they can't speak or form thoughts like we can."

Luke looked to Rooh and then back at me, biting his lip before answering. "I can hear her, in my head," he explained, pointing at his temple with one finger. "It's not like people talk, but she still saying things to me. She wants you to rub the stuff into her neck now."

Rooh turned her head to me, and I couldn't deny the confirmation in her large eyes. Remembering his skill in healing the dewback and his affinity for animals I couldn't think otherwise, and dutifully transferred my attention to her long neck.

"Luke," I put my hand on his shoulder when I'd finished, and he looked up at me with wide blue eyes. "You know not everyone can hear an animal's thoughts."

"Yeah." Luke looked down and scuffed his boot in the sand. "Aunt Beru says I mustn't tell about what I can do."

"That's right," I told him. "You can listen, but it is best if you don't respond."

"But isn't that mean?" Luke asked. "I don't wanna ignore her."

"They are used to it," I assured him, and patted Rooh's side. "And it is for the best, Luke. I know you don't understand now, but someday I promise I will explain it all to you."

Luke huffed. "Okay." But he put his little arms around Rooh's neck and gave her a sloppy kiss while I continued to bathe her down.

"Why do you live alone?" Luke asked and appeared at my side again. "Rooh says…" He slapped his hand over his mouth at his slip, and then sighed. "I mean, it must be lonely out there."

"It can be," I nodded, uncomfortable with the new line of questioning. "When I was your age I lived in a grand Temple where I studied with thousands of other children, and learnt wonderful things."

Luke squinted in the bright sunlight, holding one hand to shield his eyes. "Why aren't you there now?"

Oh, how such innocent words can sting. "Because I am no longer a student."

"You mean you learned everything?"

I chuckled softly, and mussed Luke's hair. "No, little one. If there's one thing the last few years have taught me, it's that you never stop learning."

"Is that what you're teaching me?" Luke asked. "What you learned at that place?"

I had promised myself I would never lie to the child – mislead and misconstrue perhaps – but never lie. "Some of it," I said carefully, looking around the make sure Beru was nowhere in sight. Likely she was inside so we could not be overheard. "Discipline and control is an important part of what I learned at the Temple."

"But not all of it," Luke nodded in understanding.

"No," I said. "I am like you, Luke. I can do things other cannot, and grew up was a place where I was taught to do much more."

"Like what?"

This was an error, Qui-Gon, but I could not help myself. How long had it been since I had used the Force properly, and Luke so desperately wanted to know! I was weak, I admit.

"This," I said, holding out my hand and lifting him up into the air. He shrieked in delight and I had to tell him to shush, which he did as soon as he figured out he could turn a somersault in mid-air. I knew I was treading close to the line, so slowly lowered him back into the sand as Luke grinned from ear to ear.

"And you could teach me to do that?" he asked, eyes wide and expectant.

"Well, your Aunt and Uncle wouldn't like it…"

"Oh, please Ben!" He rushed over to me, tugging in the sleeve of my tunic. "Please, I won't tell anyone, I promise!"

What could I say? In hindsight there may have been some duplicity in my actions but I swear Qui-Gon in the moment it did not seem that way. All I saw was a young boy eager to learn, and my own worries that teaching him only to suppress his abilities would do more harm than good.

What Owen doesn't know won't hurt him.

Ben Kenobi