Epilogue

"Whisperkit" was Callista's last word. She spoke it while resting in Luke's arms, her system compromised beyond repair by the poison. Luke had found a way onto Jacen's ship only minutes too late. Oddly, the image that came to Luke's mind when she whispered her last word was not that of a large furry rodent, but rather of tiny songbirds.

Luke immediately recalled the songbirds. Years ago, before they were even engaged, Mara had spoken to him about the tiny songbirds that sing cheerily in the mines of Varn. Though he had once been to Varn, Luke had not noticed them. Few people did, for their song, though beautiful, was inaudible over the racket of the mining operations. When she had mentioned the tiny birds so long ago Mara had been making a point about not getting so caught up in the big picture that you lose sight of the small stuff. Luke had taken her advice to heart and it had changed his life. But since then he had forgotten, he had once again gotten caught up in saving the galaxy and had been neglecting the details of life.

Luke thought maybe he had misheard Callista, he couldn't imagine what she intended, using the last of her strength to mention a child's pet. He held her in his arms and gently stroked her cheek, silently pleading with her not to leave him, not her too. For several seconds they stared into each other's eyes, but then Callista turned away. Luke followed her gaze and saw that she was watching Ben and Jacen.

Jacen was still on his knees, having stumbled the last stride before he reached Luke. "Help her," was Jacen's plaintive request, staring up at Luke and lifting Callista towards him. Luke had taken Callista into his arms, but it was too late. He knew immediately that there was nothing that could be done for her. Now Jacen was staring blankly at the deck. Ben approached him and Jacen turned away. As he did so, Luke got his first clear look directly at Jacen's face. Jacen looked terribly young in that moment, yet at the same time he looked at least as jaded as Luke himself had been feeling lately. There was something else in Jacen's expression—was it fear, or shock, or concern? Yes, all of those, but something else too. It was a moment before Luke recognized it. Shame.

Luke looked down at Callista and asked softly, "His eyes are brown, aren't they?" She nodded weakly. Then she was gone.

It was not until several days later that the word "whisperkit" finally made sense to Luke. Jacen had not so much surrendered as simply given up his command, locking himself in a room and refusing to speak to anyone. Tahiri, for her part, was never found, though records indicated a StealthX had made an abrupt departure from the flagship shortly after Luke arrived. The major powers of the galaxy had gathered to discuss plans for the future, how to deal with the fall of Darth Caedus. The vessel they had gathered on happened to be orbiting above Triquis, a planet that had been utterly destroyed by the war raging around it. Luke had been gazing out the viewport—he was invited to a meeting but was not really part of it—and the arguing behind him fizzled into white noise as his mind wandered.

There was a break in the official meeting and a new voice entered the conversation. She had been introduced as Lieutenant Cade, Luke recalled vaguely, and the leaders and bureaucrats had been annoyed by her presence, though no one had said anything out loud. Luke turned around, curious what a junior officer thought she could add to such a vitally political discussion.

Cade had explained that while surveying the destruction planetside, she noticed a number of small animals crawling among the wreckage and debris that was once a good sized city. She speculated that the animals were former pets, their owners slain during the fighting. She suggested they should be gathered and taken to another planet because given the radiation from the battle and the approaching winter they would not survive for long. The officials scoffed at her suggestion, but Luke was intrigued.

"These animals, what species did you say they were?" he asked.

"I'm not certain," Cade replied, "I've never seen one in real life before, but I think they were whisperkits."

Luke nodded. "Whisperkits," he repeated wistfully. Luke knew exactly what he had to do.

Luke and Ben had taken the next available transport to the surface of the planet. They had been rounding up the furry creatures for the better part of three days. They caught most that seemed likely to be caught and were packing up to leave.

"But, Dad," Ben complained. "We haven't got the red one yet."

"It seems the red one does not wish to be caught. Best to leave it alone. We've done all we can. Besides, we're all out of cages now."

"The red one isn't going in a cage. I'm going to keep her," Ben said defiantly.

"What about this one?" Luke asked, gesturing to the small grey creature perched on his shoulder. It was the first whisperkit Ben had caught, and he had immediately been smitten with it. With her white paws and the perfect triangle of white over her nose, Luke had to admit she was awfully cute. He had agreed to let Ben keep just this one as a pet. So far Ben had been diligent about taking care of his whisperkit, though the pet rode on Luke's shoulder while Ben searched the rubble for more survivors to rescue. Initially Luke had been afraid Ben would want to keep all the animals he found, but he had not asked for another until now. "I thought you were going to keep this one."

"No . . . that one is for someone else," Ben said cautiously.

Luke sighed. "Who?"

"Jacen," he replied seriously.

"Jacen?" Luke repeated slowly. Luke had begun to worry when he realized that Ben had been visiting Jacen while he was stuck in meetings. Ben had seemed far too quick to forgive the former Sith Lord, and Luke was afraid Jacen could still influence him. He wondered what Mara would say. He doubted she would like the idea of Ben and Jacen spending time together. But now a new thought began to tug at the back of Luke's mind. Perhaps Ben was not simply naïve, but rather was practicing the sort of forgiveness all Jedi should strive for. In the brief glimpses Luke had seen of him, Jacen seemed defeated and ashamed. But that hardly made up for all he'd done. In truth, Luke didn't think he could ever fully forgive Jacen. Luke lifted the whisperkit off his shoulder so he could get a better look at her. "I suppose at the moment the question is not whether I will ever forgive Jacen. Right now the question is just whether or not I trust him to take care of you." Luke spoke directly to the grey pet; Ben had already renewed his chase of the elusive red whisperkit.

The sound of a crash nearby caused Luke to look up. Ben was sliding down the side of a mountain of debris on a sheet of duraplast that had broken off as Ben climbed up. The red whisperkit was at the top of the heap, looking curiously down at Ben as he slipped away. Luke couldn't help but smile. This is what kids his age should be doing, Luke thought. Chasing whisperkits. Not fighting Sith Lords.

Luke turned toward the horizon and noticed the sun was getting low. He figured they better head back, with or without the red whisperkit.

"I caught it," Ben shouted and triumphantly held a rather nonplussed-looking whisperkit high above his head. Luke broke into a wide grin. As the setting sun shone like fire through the whisperkit's red-gold fur, Luke knew that though they may have passed on, the ones he loved were never far away.