The Legion Renewed

Chapter Fourteen

In the morning, when Luke awoke, he found he was alone. He suppressed a sigh, reminding himself not to expect miracles, and set off in search of his missing pupil.

The ground outside was soggy and wet from the previous night's rain, and the air was heavy with insects. Luke did not need to use the Force to find which direction Briande had taken. He simply followed her footprints in the mud.

As he walked, he suddenly heard a cry. Not a human voice, but the squeal of a small animal. Using instinct to guide him, he left the path and went into the underbrush. There, concealed by a low plant, was the nest of a kinoll, a small rodent-like creature with large ears and no tail. The nest was smeared with blood, and a riga-lizard was sitting beside it, licking his chops. Luke had no doubts that the sound he had heard had been made by the mother kinoll as she tried in vain to protect her nest. She was nowhere to be seen, but her fate was clearly visible in the dark stains around the habitation.

The carnivorous lizard turned its attention to the only occupant of the nest that was left, a tiny baby kinoll that mewed almost inaudibly. The riga opened its mouth for a quick strike.

Luke was quicker. He grabbed the riga by the tail and hauled it upside down until he was looking at the lizard at eye level. "No, my friend, you've had enough to eat for one day." He placed the riga on a tree branch, where it would take the reptile a few minutes to scramble down, and bent to pick up the baby kinoll.

The animal was so tiny its eyes weren't even open yet. Its fur was white, an unusual color for a kinoll, with the pink skin of a newborn underneath. Luke stroked it lightly to calm it and then deposited it carefully into the warmth of an inside pocket. As he made his way back to the path, he was careful not to brush that side against anything.

He heard Briande before he saw her. She was talking aloud to herself, or to something or someone else. As Luke approached her from behind, he felt the ripple in the Force again. Like before, when Briande had been dreaming, only stronger.

"I can defeat you," she was saying. "You are too weak for me. You cannot control my powers. I am the stronger!"

Puzzled, Luke reached out and touched her shoulder. In that instant, he felt a wave, like a rush of cold air washing over him suddenly, and then it was gone.

"Briande?" he said tentatively.

She stood frozen, like a statue, seemingly oblivious to the sound of his voice, or the touch of his hand.

He moved around to face her and put both hands on her shoulders. "Briande, who were you talking to?"

She blinked. "What?"

"Who were you talking to?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't you remember?"

Briande looked at him, clearly confused. "The last thing I remember, you and I were in the hut, and you-" She suddenly became aware that Luke was touching her, and she pulled away. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"Last night. My...weakness."

The Jedi looked into her eyes, sensing layers of undercurrents to what originally appeared to be on the surface. Her eyes yearned for...something. For what? To be a little girl again? He raised his hand to touch his fingertips to her face, but the impenetrable shield came up again, and her expression hardened. He let his arm fall back to his side.

"Briande, secretly, inside, you really wanted me to hold you last night, didn't you?"

He saw her start, then take a deep breath and pull herself to her full height, once again the soldier. "Yes," she said.

Luke smiled gently, shaking his head. "That isn't such a bad weakness." He started to put his arms around her, but she backed away.

"Luke, please don't."

He saw fear flicker in her eyes and dropped his hands. "Why not?"

"I don't want to...repeat my father's mistake. Or my own. My father left himself too open and vulnerable to attack. Brenna would use it against me, just as Darth Vader did with my father."

Luke shook his head again, more emphatically. "Briande, your father's greater mistake was shutting himself off after Vader destroyed your mother, not leaving himself too open beforehand."

"But Brenna's already used my emotions against me. She knew I wanted to reconcile with her, and that's how she was able to lure me to Croyus Four. Emotions are a Jedi's greatest weakness."

"That's true. But they can also be a Jedi's greatest asset, his greatest strength."

"You don't understand, Luke. Right now, I'm...safe. But I can feel her lurking, waiting for me to let down my guard. She preys on my emotions, on any weakness she can find. I'm not ready to face that. My feelings aren't buried deep enough yet."

Luke was frustrated and discouraged. How could he explain to Briande that by burying her feelings, she was burying herself as well? It was not something that made easy sense, but something he felt inside.

She was afraid of her own feelings, afraid to acknowledge her own desires and needs. Perhaps he had rushed things last night, forcing too much on her too soon. What he needed was a nice, safe, easy way to teach her that these things were okay, that they were nothing to be afraid of.

A safe, easy teacher...

And then, he realized that he had just that, a safe, easy teacher, right in his own pocket. "Put out your hand," he ordered. He reached into his pocket and brought out the baby kinoll. He carefully placed the tiny animal into her cupped palm and stood back. "I want you to take care of this. It's too young to be weaned yet, so you'll have to find some other way to feed it."

Briande looked at the tiny creature in her hand, and then up at Luke. "I can't take care of this," she said. She tried to give it back, but Luke would not take it. "Luke, you don't understand. It's too dangerous. You don't know what you're‑‑‑" She stopped suddenly, in mid-sentence. The faint trace of warmth Luke had been able to identify as Briande's Force-presence disappeared. She looked around, at the trees, at the swamp. She shivered.

"She's here," Briande said, her voice seeming to echo slightly from the bog. "She's found me."

"Who's here?"

"She's much stronger this time. I don't know how to fight her."

"Fight who? Briande, tell me what's wrong."

Just as suddenly, the chill vanished, and Briande looked at him vaguely for a second. Her expression was unreadable. Luke experienced the sensation of being far away from her, even though they were just a few feet apart.

Then her eyes cleared, and she gave her head a slight shake. She held the kinoll out to him once more. "I can't take care of this," she said again flatly. "I can't give it what it needs."

Luke smiled. "Well, then, you'll just have to learn, won't you." He turned to go.

"Skywalker!"

The voice made Luke stop cold. It was Briande's voice, but it didn't sound like Briande. He turned slowly back to face her.

Briande looked him directly in the eyes and smiled coldly. She held her open palm out to him, the one with the baby kinoll on it. Then, slowly, she began to close her fingers into a fist, tightening them around the kinoll, to crush the life out of it.

It took Luke a second to realize what she was doing, and another to recover from the shock. In the next instant, he rushed her, seized her wrist, pried her fingers loose, and caught the kinoll as it fell to the ground. He stared at her in anger and disbelief, still holding onto her wrist tightly.

Briande was still gazing at him and smiling malevalently. Then her eyes shifted to where Luke's hand was grasping her wrist and gradually dulled and lost focus.

Luke looked at the kinoll. Its breath had been squeezed out of it, but it was still alive. Either he had been fast enough to save it, or-he paused, remembering his slight hesitation-or Briande had been slow enough to let him save it. But still...she had tried to kill it...hadn't she?

With that thought, his anger returned in a rush, and he shook Briande's wrist roughly. "Why did you do that?" he demanded.

"Do what?" she asked. Her voice sounded remote.

Luke's anger was momentarily checked by astonishment. She seemed to have no idea of what just happened. Then her expression changed, slowly becoming one of horror as she stared at her hand.

"Briande-" Luke said uncertainly.

She looked up at him slowly. Then her eyes widened, and she made a cry of fear. Without warning, she pulled her wrist free, and turned and plunged into the undergrowth.

Luke paused only long enough to put the kinoll safely back into his pocket, and then took off after her. He was still angry with her for trying to crush the kinoll to death, but he was also perplexed. He could feel the Force-currents moving now, stronger than ever. It was the puzzle again, another piece that he had found but didn't know where to put.

He did not catch up with her immediately, as he expected, but found that he had underestimated her abilities. She was faster than he had anticipated, and longer-winded, too. Evidently she was drawing on something more than just her physical strength, which she had not done before during the training.

Instinctively, she seemed to avoid the dangerous parts of the swamp where pits of quicksand lay hidden, even though she was not intimately familiar with this area. But she was running blindly, running simply to get away from Luke. Despite the fact that her headstart gave her an advantage, Luke gained on her steadily. At last, he caught a glimpse of her ahead, and sprinted to close the gap.

Briande kept glancing backwards until, finally, her turning caused her to trip over a tree root. Luke took advantage of her fall to catch up. On the ground, Briande continued scrambling backwards, trying to crawl away.

"Luke, no!" she screamed. "Stay away from me!"

Luke was momentarily taken aback by the level of naked fear which showed through. He had intended to give her a hot tongue-lashing, nothing more, but the terror in her face went far beyond any expectation she could have for punishment.

"Why are you so afraid of me?"

"Don't come any closer! Keep back!"

"Why? I don't understand."

She laughed, an edge of hysteria in her voice. To Luke, she seemed to be another completely different person from the controlled and collected soldier he had been training, or even the cold-blooded demon who had tried to kill the kinoll. And yet...none of these personalities seemed quite...right.

"No, you don't, do you," she laughed. Then the humorless mirth vanished and left only an urgent plea in her eyes. "I killed it," she said. "I very nearly killed it!"

"True," Luke replied. "But I wasn't planning to kill you."

The laugh again. But under it, the sobriety of untempered truth. "You may be forced to, Son of Skywalker. That may be the only way you can change your destiny. I suggest you do it now, while you still have the chance."

"Briande, what are you talking about? You're not making any sense."

"The most powerful Jedi Knight that ever lived, and you can't even see your own fate!"

Luke studied her for a moment. She had seen something, then, something she believed he had not seen. He thought of the vision he had seen of Palpatine. If the vision were true, then he had seen his own fate. He wondered if Briande had seen the same thing. Was that why she was so afraid of him? No, there were still...pieces missing.

"What I can see," he said, "is that you're absolutely terrified of something. Of me. I want to know why."

Briande looked away. "I'm sorry," she said.

Luke didn't let her side-step the question. "Why are you so afraid of me?"

She tried to become the soldier again, but the threads she was using to pull herself together were too tenuous. "I-I told you already. You're the son of Darth Vader, the man who killed my mother and-"

"No-" Skywalker shook his head. "There's something more, something you haven't told me. It's me that you're afraid of, isn't it? Not the son of Darth Vader, but me. Tell me why."

"I've told you all that I can."

"It's not enough!" Luke stopped, then softened the tone of his voice. "Briande, you have to trust me. Tell me what you've seen."

She dropped the act of pretended ignorance, but she still did not reveal what he needed to know. "I can't," she said.

"Why not?"

"Because...I'm the only one who can face my sister, but I'm not ready for her yet."

"That still doesn't explain anything."

"Yes, it does. Without your training, I can do nothing."

"Without knowing why you're afraid of me, I can't train you. No-" he stopped suddenly and corrected himself, sensing something through the Force. "No, you're not afraid of me, are you. You're afraid for me. Why is that?"

Briande was silent.

Luke sighed and looked out over the swamp. "Our agreement was that I would train you as long as you did as I requested..."

"No!" Briande turned to him in alarm. "Luke, you don't understand. I'm the only one who can stop my sister. Even you, with all your powers, could be deceived by her. I know her well enough not to be tricked again, but right now she's too strong for me. You must help me."

"Then tell me what you're afraid of."

"I can't. You won't teach me if I tell you."

Luke turned away, disappointed, frustrated, and confused. "I'm sorry. I really hoped that-" He shook his head. "We'll leave first thing tomorrow morning. There are some...things I want to take care of before we go." Some books of Yoda's he wanted to sort through, decide which ones to take with him. He knew that if he left now, he'd never come back.

Briande got to her feet quickly and almost touched his arm to stop him, but her hand hovered a fraction of an inch away. "Luke, no! Don't you see? Much as I want to, I can't give it up. My sister has become a monster, now. And...somehow she's grown immensely powerful. I need to know how to fight her."

"Briande-" Luke turned around and watched her step back. He shook his head. "Briande, much as I'd like to, I can't teach you. Unless I know the truth, it's impossible for me to help you learn how to deal with it. You've made little or no progress since we've been here, and I think this vision-whatever it is-is standing in the way. Last night I thought maybe we were getting somewhere, but I guess I was wrong. There's no point in our staying here if you're not going to-"

"Maybe-" she began.

Luke stopped. "Maybe, what?"

"Maybe...you're right. Maybe you should leave. But do it now. Don't wait until tomorrow."

Luke narrowed his gaze, trying to pierce through to her inner soul. She was on the verge of opening up, he could sense it. But he noticed something else, too, in her words. "You say 'me' as if you're not coming."

"I'm...not."

"I'm not going to leave you stranded here."

"Please, Luke. If there's any chance at all, you've got to take the ship and get away from Dagobah while there's still time!"

"Still time for what? I don't understand."

"Please! " She was openly begging him.

Luke was exhasperated. "Briande, I don't understand any of this. You say that the training is the only thing that's important. You refuse to give it up yourself, but you agree willingly enough if I decide to. But then, only if I abandon you here."

Briande took a breath and seemed to recover some measure of her composure, but her eyes still betrayed her fear. "If I tell you, will you go?"

Luke hesitated. "I'll consider it," he said.

Briande nodded slowly and looked away. "I've seen the future, Luke. I don't want to believe it, but it's there. I've seen it."

Luke sat down and motioned for her to do the same. "Tell me," he said.

Briande sat down but looked into the distance and refused to meet his gaze. "I've had a dream. One that keeps recurring over and over again, ever since we got here. It's the only thing I can remember when I wake up in the mornings. But it's more than just a dream; it's a vision of things to come. Lately, it's been coming more and more frequently. Last night..." Her voice trailed off.

"Go on," Luke urged gently.

She swallowed. "Last night...was the first night in a long while that I haven't been tortured by it, but this morning I was more certain of its reality than ever..."

Briande didn't speak for a long moment. Luke almost thought she had changed her mind about telling him again, when she finally turned to look at him so he could see she was speaking the truth. Her voice, however, was barely audible. "It's you, Luke. It was your death that I saw. I'm going to be the cause of it."

The Jedi stared at her. But he was not nearly as surprised ashe thought he should be. Somehow...it seemed to fit with the other pieces.

He recovered himself quickly. "The future is always in motion, Briande. It's impossible to see everything clearly."

She shook her head. "I can be certain of it. A lightsaber to the throat. I'm not sure of the other details. I don't know why or when. I just know that it will happen, unless you do something now to change it. You saw the kinoll. Don't let the same thing happen to you." She stood up and took a step towards the jungle.

Luke caught her by both shoulders. He felt...something sad underneath his touch. Not revulsion. Not fear. Just...sadness. "Where are you going?"

She nodded to the impossible tangle of undergrowth. "In there. To give you time."

"I'm not going anywhere."

"But you said-"

"I said I'd consider it. You said that you're the only one who can face your sister. If that's true, then I won't abandon the training. If you do, that's your decision. But think of the consequences before you decide."

Briande looked at the sky, still gray from the previous rain, and then closed her eyes tightly. "There...is...no one else. Much as I want to, I can't give it up. You're right, it's more than just you and me..."

She stopped, drew a breath, and at the same time drew herself back inward. The currents Luke had felt in the Force vanished. "I've known that from the beginning. Nothing's changed now, except that you know, too. But, Luke-" She turned to look at him. Her feelings were concealed behind the mask once again, but a tiny a glimmer of fear shone through her eyes. "Luke, I am going to kill you..."