It was a good thing the imperial fighters assumed that once the Falcon was gone it would not be coming back, because if they hadn't, returning to Cloud City would have been impossible.

Tess watched with bewilderment as Leia directed Lando and Chewie. How did she know where Luke was? Did she just suddenly remember that they were supposed to pick him up somewhere? The latter would be the logical explanation, but Tess sensed there was something deeper going on. Especially when they saw someone hanging from a weathervane at the very bottom of Cloud City.

"There's someone up there," Lando pointed out, as if reading Tess' thoughts. Leia stood up.

"Chewie, slow down," she demanded, her eyes wide. "Slow down and we'll get under him. Lando, open the top hatch." Lando did as advised. Tess stood up to go help him, but Leia grabbed her arm.

Luke left their area of vision as the Falcon pulled under him. Slowly but surely, they made a perfect stasis right under the weathervane.

Tess felt intuitively compelled to look to the left, and her heart raced at the sight of three TIE fighters like the ones who chased them out of the city.

"Leia…" Tess warned, pointing in that direction. Leia followed Tess' finger, then hurriedly grabbed the comlink.

"Lando?"

"Alright, let's go," came Calrissian's voice.

Chewie did not waste a second. He started preparing the ship to race away. Moments later, to everyone's relief, Lando helped an injured Luke over to the cockpit. Leia jumped to a stand and ran over to embrace him.

Tess kept her place, seeing that Luke needed medical attention more than another hug, but he gave her a smile over Leia's shoulder.

Leia helped him down the corridor. Wielding the fastest ship in the galaxy, the group was no match for the TIE fighters.

It was the Star Destroyer that caused a problem.

Leia soon returned and suggested that Tess go sit with Luke. She welcomed the opportunity to escape the eminent debate over whose fault it was that light speed was not working this time around.

Tess reached the doorway to the room Luke was in and heard a voice. She immediately recognized it as Luke's. At first, she suspected one of the droids was in there with him, but then she saw Threepio talking to Artoo at the other side of the room, warning the little droid not to trust strange computers or something of the like.

"Father?" Luke said. Tess figured he was hallucinating.

"Ben…" he continued. "Why didn't you tell me…"

Tess remembered Ben—that was Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Jedi Master. Her curiosity preventing her from staying put, she made her way into the room.

"Luke?" she whispered. He turned his head slightly. "What were you talking about?"

"Vader…" he muttered. Tess wasn't sure she heard correctly. As if he didn't know he said that aloud, Luke shook his head slightly. "Don't listen to me…I'm…I'm not making any sense."

Tess gave him a look. Wincing, Luke tried to sit up.

"No," Tess insisted, pushing him gently back onto the bed. "You're hurt. You need to stay put." She placed a wet cloth over his forehead and couldn't help but cringe at his severed hand. "Did…Vader do this to you?"

"Yes," Luke whispered, his gaze and most of his mind seemingly somewhere far away. "Father…"

"You said it again!" Tess exclaimed. Luke groggily shook his head.

"There's…there's still…good in him…" he muttered.

He couldn't possibly be talking about Vader. Not the man that they as rebels had come to despise.

"I wouldn't count on it," Tess muttered under her breath. "I hate him."

"No!" Luke snapped. After thinking he was practically unconscious at that point, his outburst made her jump. "No," he repeated. "Hate…hate leads to the dark side."

"Luke, you need to rest," Tess reminded him. The aspiring Jedi grabbed her hand in retaliation.

"Tess, listen," he said seriously. "I'm…I'm not a Jedi yet, but… I want to train you as best I can. I want to train you in the ways of the Force. Would you want that?"

Completely caught off-guard with the idea, Tess' jaw dropped. Force-sensitive one minute, Padawan the next? This was all so surreal.

"I…" Tess stammered. "You mean, like your Padawan?" She let her mind catch up to her, as Luke seemed to slip further and further away from consciousness. He said nothing, but she could almost feel him tell her how much this needed to happen.

"Ye—"

Suddenly, the ship jolted into light speed, sending Tess sprawling into the wall of the small room.

"Yes!" Tess exclaimed, as if now would be her last chance to say it. "Yes, I'll do it!"

She pushed herself to a stand and saw that Luke finally slipped into unconsciousness. She smiled slightly. He needed the rest.

"I'll leave you be, then," Tess whispered. "Master."