Chapter 4: Star Tour
Leia waved him in, and as he entered, he could feel his cheeks flushing.
"Miss Gunari here was telling me how gracious you were with your time last night…" said Leia with a smile.
He was sure that he was red now.
She continued: "You will be happy to know that she has been cleared to leave the bay a few days early. It seems that good company is indeed the best medicine..."
Luke was shocked that Leia was so friendly toward Rue – he was sure she'd be chomping at the bit to get her out of there. He hadn't seen Leia interact with any other women before, but maybe she was in need of a girlfriend just as much as he needed any friend at all. Maybe she's recruiting her…
"I'd love to stay, but I have to meet General Reeikan about tomorrow – there's not enough time to do anything around here! - but maybe you could give her a quick tour of the base…?"
"Sure, I'd love to", said Luke. Rue looked happy. She looked more than happy; she was beautiful. Though she still bore many of her bandages, the color had returned to her face, and she no longer looked so gaunt. This of course only inflamed Luke's nerves, and he did the best he could not to give himself away, though that was probably a losing battle at this point.
As Leia left the room, she stuck her tongue out at him and made a funny face. He smiled at her. He knew she was probably going to see Han, not the General. Ever since he returned to aid the Rogues in the battle, she had had a sudden change of heart towards the smuggler - for what reason, Luke had no idea.
Han seemed like all-around trouble: debts to gangsters and thugs, a decrepit and unreliable ship, a shady past, and a highly desirable, flighty noncommittal attitude – the stuff dreams are made of, thought Luke. Leia was beautiful and insanely smart, and he had initially had his heart set on her, but as of last night, he was beginning to seriously question those feelings.
"Good morning, Miss Gunar-"started Luke. "Just Rue, remember?", she interrupted with a half-smile. "Rue. I hope you slept well – it looks like you did, you look very well-healed, wow!"
"Yes, thank you for noticing. The droids were surprised that I made such a quick recovery – they say that after tonight, I'll be able to take the bacta bandages off during the day, and only wear them at night while I sleep. I can live with that for awhile." she said, contently.
"Leia was helping me with the bandages," she said gesturing to her entire torso. "The droids are good, but they're not that good…and I'm no good with a bum hand!"
"Aww don't worry about it, I'll help you…if you need it," said Luke before he realized that Leia was helping her for a reason. He was really moofing this up good.
"Thanks, farmboy, I'll let you know", she replied, elbowing him harder than he expected her to.
He laughed, and quickly changed the subject… "Alright, boss, tour's leaving!", announced Luke, as he pretended to run out the door.
He had broken the ice again, and began to feel a little less worried. He was afraid that last night had been a dream and that today would be yet another day of sobering reality-checks.
Luke felt sorry for her as she got up and moved toward the door much more slowly than he had anticipated.
"You might think I'm healed, but I guess that means I'm a good actress!", she laughed. "As long as we walk slowly, I'll be ok…promise." Luke helped her get out of bed and onto her feet.
"Anything you need, just ask. We can go do this later if you want to rest further-" "No", said Rue, interrupting him much more sternly than she intended. She softened. "Sorry, I'm not used to allowing myself to appear vulnerable to anyone…it's a bit of a bad habit from hanging around all of those gentlemen aboard the Vengeance".
Luke made a mental note of that. "I understand. For what it's worth, I don't judge you for being injured," he said, as she finally made it over toward the door.
"Thanks. And anyway, the droids say that it's actually good for me to get a little bit of exercise. I spent too much time stuck in the pod, and I guess that made me a bit weak, on top of the blood loss….gosh this is so embarrassing…" she trailed off as Luke changed the subject.
"Well, lucky for you, this will be a short tour, as there really isn't much to see," started Luke as he offered her his arm for support, "but hopefully you will enjoy seeing how the other half lives". Rue took his chivalrous arm. At first, she seemed surprisingly tense about taking his unspoken offer, but as they walked down the hallway, she began to loosen up much to Luke's relief.
"So…I should probably tell you that I am pretty new here too, so please forgive my horrendous tour," said Luke as a few crewmen passed them in the hall. Rue could feel all eyes on her and her ridiculous med-gown and bandages. Skywalker didn't seem to care one bit that she looked absolutely horrible, she noted to herself.
Luke continued on, drawing her attention back to the base and off the pain that she was still in.
"Now, what I do know is that this base is within a 5000 year old Massassi Temple to a Sith Lord that turned the native people into slaves to the darkside of the force."
They both looked at each other with raised eyebrows as if they were thinking the same crazy thought. "I know, right?" said Luke.
"Hey, that sounds like the crew of my ship", joked Rue with a chuckle. Her slight Coruscanti accent was really beginning to grow on him.
"Oh I don't doubt that for a second," said Luke. "Everything I hear about the Force is fascinating, but the more I learn about it, the more it worries me." Luke was silent for a moment. "I'm not sure anyone should be wielding that much power, for good or for evil - sometimes the lines blur and you can't tell what is right anymore."
Their timing couldn't have been more perfect. As they approached the great double doors before them, Luke gestured to the ornate carvings that framed the entranceway to the enormous chamber.
"Apparently this room is the only chamber that we have not updated or altered within the usable portions of the base. And for good reason; these carvings seem to tell the story of the rise to power of the Sith Lord to whom this temple is dedicated. The funny thing is, there is nothing about them that indicate the inborn evil nature of the Sith – at least as I have come to understand it recently."
Luke continued pondering the imagery aloud.
"Well, the more I look at it, it looks like the main subject has a choice, rather than it being about a predestined rise to power beginning on one side, rising to the top, and then later falling to evil," he said with excited hand gestures.
"Maybe the figure at the top tells us that the potential for good or evil is within all of us; it is simply up to the subject to choose which side. Here, on one side of the door is the light side, the other the dark, each offering different but equally great powers."
The dark side of the doorway reflected imagery that suggested an insatiable, infinite power with relentless hunger for supremacy; one that promised bottomless wealth and the voracious gratification of immediate desires. But for all of its temptations, it did not appear to radiate happiness…and it looked exhausting. In fact, Luke began to feel tired just looking at it.
They slowly moved over to the light side of the door; it seemed to reflect a patient power that seemed to rule over one's internal domain while remaining atuned to all surrounding objects and beings, like a low, slow vibration. It promoted understanding and transparency of thought, which seemed to include honesty and trust in all things but most importantly trust in oneself.
It in fact looked like the light side was chiefly about connection and inner trust more than 'power' in the traditional sense. Perhaps the power of the light side was that of great clarity and calmness even in dire situations.
One's definition of 'power' seemed to be at the core of using the Force. Though the light side looked much more reassuring to Luke, he sadly noted that he did not get a sense of happiness radiating from the light side either – just a sense of boundless understanding, and an even more profound loneliness.
Luke knew what it felt like to be lonely. He wasn't sure he wanted to think about becoming even more isolated if he chose to become a Jedi.
"Perhaps at one time, all Force-users were of the same 'side', as represented by the figure at the top of the doorway, and only later split into these factions…or WAIT, maybe what this is saying is that the Force must remain in 'balance' and either side of the door warns of the turmoil that occurs when the scales tip to far to either side….either side looks as though it leads to unhappiness, be it individually, or within an entire population…maybe it is about embodying the balance of both sides - too much selfishness or too much selflessness…"
Rue touched Luke's arm. He was so excited about this, so deep in thought; his intuition about all of this was very impressive, and she thought that perhaps he would one day be a great teacher, or a great leader.
"Maybe that's just what they want us to believe," said Rue. "Propaganda is not a new art form, I'll tell you that much."
"Hah, true enough," Luke continued. "Maybe everyone starts out good, and then life forces them to make choices that influence their destiny. To me, it looks like these carvings suggest that powers bestowed by the Force are ultimately shaped by the choices we make, not ones that are destined. In other words, it sounds like we can choose how we use the Force - it's our job to turn on the light, or remain in darkness…maybe we need both sides to remain sane."
"Well, it sounds like you really know a lot about it. I'll tell you, it is very different from what the Empire teaches. The "official story" is that the Jedi were a smaller faction of rogues that went against the wise teachings of the true Force masters, the Sith," said Rue, shaking her head.
They both looked at one carving that showed a single figure surrounded by a group of smaller figures. It was near the top of the door – the 'neutral zone'.
"The Jedi were painted in a bad light for official records, but everyone knows that the Sith were responsible for the assassination of all known Jedi before either of us were were born. The Empire claims that the Jedi Order could not sustain their numbers and eventually died out, however, there is a cold case of at least thirty missing children, all of whom were rumored to be Jedi-in-training around the time of the sudden "dying out" of the Jedi."
Luke furrowed his brow. "I would not put it past them to murder children judging by these images. I wonder if these are supposed to be children surrounding this figure," said he, as he ran his fingers along the ancient stone.
"They look so happy here. Oh, I don't know. Maybe it is the Massassi worshiping their Sith. How disgusting…" Luke trailed off, not sure if he was getting in over his head again.
He looked to Rue and let out a heavy sigh. "Well, someday I'll find out the truth. There has to be more than this. I wonder if these could be-"
"Prophecies?" Said the duo at the same time. They both laughed at their sudden connection. "Too much Force-talk", said Luke with a chuckle.
"They have to be", said Rue. "Clearly, they wanted someone to see this. It must've taken decades to carve. Luke, when you do figure all of this out, will you find me and tell me? I always had faith in the Empire until I saw what the Death Star was capable of, and when that happened, I began to question everything they had taught me. Clearly there is more to the Jedi than the Sith want anyone to know about…and guess who runs the Empire?"
"The baddies?," joked Luke with that moofy grin of his. They both laughed as Luke pushed open the giant doors leading into the vast and gorgeous temple-room. "Anyway, let's check out the room real quick…it is what we call the 'Grand Audience Chamber'. It's where we are having the ceremony tomorrow."
Rue and Luke poked their heads in. It was dark except for the giant slit windows at the center of the grand altar, which gave the room an air of ancientness that was sadly absent from the rest of the explored portions of the temple-base. Interestingly, it was not warm and humid within the great chamber, but cool and dry.
"Remind me to explore every nook and cranny of this place, ok?" requested Luke as they closed the giant slab doors.
Through her yawn, Rue said, "I don't know about you but all of that Force-pondering has made me tired…shall we take a pit-stop, mister Star Tours director, sir?"
They continued past the mess hall and continued on into the war room where they decided to take a break.