XIII
Nothing had changed, on the planet or in the Force, when Luke arrived on Coruscant. He had been unable to focus on either Jedi or fighter pilot's techniques for sanity on a spacefaring (and therefor days-long, cramped, boring) journeys; even silence, especially ignorance, spread worry out of which chipped only moments or breath-rutine of peace.
Neither Leia nor Tionne had been available any time he made contact.
He settled his craft into its place where someone else in their apartment might have put a few speeders, and caught public transport before 'saber stances took the cramp any amount out of his muscles.
In the Senate halls he could sense no harm, and relaxed in the primary-colored vaulted hallways. Thank you...they're still safe. We're still safe.
A visiting denizen of Mrlsst requested his signature to bring home to its brood, and just as Luke entered Luke's outer office he felt back to normality keenly. He adopted that look Wedge once teased him about, "Staring into space like an old mystic, not a flyboy", and gently shook wide cloak sleeves down over his hands. People wanted to see this, not panic. Or no--what would they expect from a rejected hero?
"C-3PO. Where's Leia?"
"She'll return from Council in a few standard time units, Master Luke. How has your vacation gone?"
Luke laughed a little, at the old droid's endearing/annoying twitchy movements and grimly at his glib phrasing. Luke paced in a circle as he replied, feeling the same relief as he otherwise would have by settling into a chair. "About as calm as our trip into Jabba's palace."
"Oh my!"
"It won't hurt you, now. I don't think. Could you get me any hot chocolate?"
"Certainly, Master Luke."
Leia arrived after Luke reversed his circle and also attained quick mind-contact with Tionne. The teacher's inner self remained unknowing of danger.
Leia took Luke's hands when she swept in, and gazed at him still afraid for his feelings about the Jedi.
"I'm all right." He told her, before anything else was expressed. "An old enemy of the Jedi has found us again, and I can't let Tionne handle it alone. This Dark Lord, I believe he was killed by Jedi, but his spirit has returned."
"Not the emperor!"
"No--older, and with less desire for conquest. I think all he wants is revenge."
She nodded. "There's no reason you can't aid them. Welcome back...I can say that much, right? You aren't going into exile."
He knew her sarcasm and smiled. "Not yet."
They updated on the republic and Lando's venture, and though e did not visit the newborn academy he conformed again to home routine. After a meditation that infused him with the area's safety in the current living Force, if not in the possibilities, he slept deeply.
Only ignorance of Exar Kun's new tactics permitted this.