Only in my dreams do I own Star Wars. Sigh.

--

Finding the training droid had been easy enough. It had been neatly tucked away in another drawer in Luke's room - although she couldn't say whether he kept it for the practice or the memories. Luke had told her all about Ben Kenobi and the trip to Alderaan, the beginnings of his training…and the pain of Kenobi's death. In a sense, the little round training orb was the last connection Luke had to his first Master.

Zap!

Leia swore, rather loudly, as a bolt from the training droid hit her upper arm. She'd gotten lost in thought and distracted, bad both for her immediate comfort and for her training as a whole. Blast it, time was running out! A full week had passed since she'd found her brother's (father's) light saber. A full week of Jedi training – or as close as she could come to it, given that she only knew the few things her brother had told her. And another full week that Luke had been in the clutches of the Empire.

Frustrated, Leia deactivated the droid and the lightsaber and resisted the urge to throw the latter against the nearest wall. Instead, she collapsed into a nearby chair, dropped the weapon at her side, and tried to calm herself. Jedi are always at peace, she thought. Anger, frustration, hatred…those emotions are of the Dark Side, she knew. But they seemed so human…how could she lock them out? And how in the galaxy could she do it all in time to save her brother without being turned herself?

She bent over in her seat and put her head in her hands, closing her eyes with a sigh. "It's just not possible. I'll never be ready in time to help Luke." She felt sorrow and failure wash over her. "I can't do it."

"If believe that you do, fail, you will."

Instantly, Leia's head came out of her hands and she rose from the chair, and all traces of her introspection vanished. Only a strong instinct kept her from igniting the lightsaber, although she noted with some interest that the weapon seemed to have jumped into her hand. Had she used the Force? She must have; she didn't pick it up.

The visitor who had spoken a moment before seemed to notice the same thing and with just as much interest. The creature's long ears raised slightly as it looked at her, its small mouth tightening just a bit. Altogether it couldn't have been more than two feet tall, wrinkled and green, but radiating a power that seemed incongruous with its size. Leia relaxed slowly, her mind recalling Luke's description of his teacher on the strange swamp planet of Dagobah. Small, green, with an aura of peace and power.

"Yoda?" She was surprised and a little uncertain, her words and inflection unknowingly echoing her brother's from so many months ago. She was almost certain she'd identified the little guy correctly, but she didn't quite understand how he could be here. Luke had told her on the way to the moon that Yoda was dead. On the way to the moon. Leia felt her stomach twist uncomfortably at the memory. They'd left the cruiser together and they'd thought they would all return together. And so they had, Han, Chewie, and most of the Rebel troops with them. All of them but Luke.

The Jedi Master pressed his lips together and raised his ears as though evaluating the woman before him. Leia, like her brother, was far too old to begin the training. Both should have been raised in the Jedi way, taught meditation and focus, taught the ideals of the Order that had survived for so long. But that Order had fallen, destroyed by the very being that the last two Jedi had to call "father". There was no early training, no discipline, no meditation from a young age. But both twins were strong with the Force, they had good hearts – and they had the fate of the galaxy resting on their young shoulders.

"Yoda, I don't know what to do." Leia moved toward her visitor, still unsure how the Jedi could appear. Luke had once mentioned that Ben Kenobi appeared to him as a sort of ghost…was Yoda doing the same thing? "I don't have any training. I don't even know where to start." Yoda listened quietly, letting the princess speak. She shook her head, shifting the lightsaber in her hands. "I don't have enough time. Luke will die or be turned to the Dark Side, and it will be my fault. I'm just not good enough to save him." Her voice rose steadily in pitch and emotion. "Blast it, I don't even know what I'm doing here! I should be looking for him, not training. I'm wasting my time!" Leia resisted the urge to fling the lightsaber away.

Yoda raised his ears, remembering a very similar conversation he'd had with Leia's twin. Luke too had been frustrated and angry. And what had come of his training? Had it been successful? He had resisted the Dark Side, at least so far. The Jedi Master sighed.

"Much anger you have. Like your father." Yoda paused, his eyes meeting Leia's. She clearly resented the comparison to Anakin. "And like your brother." She was both calmed and concerned. Luke had had anger too? But Yoda simply continued to look at her, his face focused as though he were searching for something in his eyes. "Hmm." She was so similar to her brother! Such a desire to help, but such a dangerous Skywalker temper. Both needed to learn control. Both had their father's weakness. Both could overcome it. Yoda sighed, his mind made up. "Help you, I can."

"But how? You're dead." Leia's frustration had faded, replaced by despair. If only Yoda was still alive! She could have appealed to him for teaching and help. But now he was only a blue-edged shadow inside a quiet training room. But dead or not, he seemed disappointed at her lack of faith. He had closed his eyes and his ears and head were drooping.

"Even after a Jedi becomes one with the Force, his spirit can remain behind." This was a new voice, colored with a slight accent and heavy with years of wisdom. Leia turned to the source of the words, finding another blue-tinted ghost, this one of a human man with white hair and a kind face. Leia recognized him immediately even though she'd only seen him for a handful of moments during a frenzied dash across the hangar of the first Death Star.

"Ben? Ben Kenobi?" He nodded in acknowledgement.

"Yoda and I are here to help you, Leia. We can assist you with your training, if you will allow it."

Leia turned to look at both Jedi Masters. They looked so real, so serene. Could they help her? They could talk well enough. Certainly they wouldn't be able to help her wield a lightsaber, but they could tell her what she was expected to do. They could explain meditation. They could describe. They could teach, even if they could not touch. Her mind made up, she nodded.

"Can I be trained in time to save Luke?" She was clearly trying to use her politician's skill to keep her voice level, but both Jedi heard barely-hidden undertones of desperation and hope. The two men looked to one another as though conferencing silently. When they turned back to her, it was Yoda who spoke.

"Clouded, the future is. If work hard you do, help him you might. The rest is uncertain." His answer was truthful and somewhat reassuring. Even now, Luke's fate was not sealed. There was still a chance, however remote, that she might help her brother. Resolve coursed through her veins, giving her strength and focus. She would give her training her every effort. She would learn everything as quickly as possible, working harder and longer. She had no choice. Luke needed her. She wouldn't let him down. She took a deep breath.

"I will work hard, Masters. I will do everything you ask of me. I will become a Jedi." Luke, I won't let you down.

"The task is not impossible, Leia." It was Obi-Wan's voice again, and she turned to face him (his ghost?) "You already know more than you think. Your diplomatic training has taught you how to control your mind. You'll find meditation is quite similar to that." The old Jedi paused. "The Force is strong in your family. I suspect you've already used it without any training at all." He was right, of course. She'd used it to know where Luke was. She got the sense she'd used it when Vader had tortured her aboard the Death Star – how else could she have kept the Rebel secrets from him? She nodded silently.

Yoda broke the silence briskly. "Time to waste, we have not. With meditation, we begin." The green Jedi's spectral form settled down on top of a table, allowing him to watch Leia closely. Obi-Wan took one of the chairs in the area, watching Leia but allowing Yoda to take the lead in instructing her. "Sit down. Relax, you must. Open your mind." Leia obeyed, sinking to sit on the hard ground of the makeshift training room. "Feel the Force, how it flows through you. By living things is it created, but through everything it flows…"

And so Leia Organa, guided only by her instincts and two dead Masters, began her training.

--

Author's note:

I hope you guys like this! I spent quite a bit of time on it to make sure I kept everyone in character. I have a midterm tomorrow, so I wrote it a little hurriedly. I should have some more chapters written over the weekend , but in the meantime, read and review please (and thanks to everyone who has reviewed and put this on story alert!!) Constructive criticism is much appreciated. Of course, I also love to hear that people are enjoying this. It is exponentially more fun to write when I know that somewhere, someone is having fun reading it.

Yours,

Ophelia.