Your daily reminder that I am no more than a sappy nerd. Also I've said before that Leah is a writing exercise in subtlety for me, so sorry if her role in this chapter annoys you, and if you have any theories... well I'd like to know how good at the subtlety I am. Anyways, enjoy!
Chapter 13
Perhaps he was fifteen, but Luke couldn't help but be excited by his birthday. For one, he could finally get a speeder license, but really, it was his birthday! Sure he had to go to school and explain to Coach why he could no longer be on the team, but it was his birthday. Nothing could damper the teen's mood.
His Com was buzzing, and so Luke scrambled out of bed to answer it. None to his surprise his father popped up, "Happy birthday son."
"Thank you Father," Luke grinned. As much as Luke tried not to remember the other event this day marked, he knew his father could never forget. Still, despite his pain over his wife's death, Vader had still managed to congratulate his son. That meant more to Luke than anything. "Any luck finding the rebels responsible for the attack?"
Luke didn't need a response to know the answer was no. "They will be found yet. If you need a guardian to go to the License Bureau I am sure the Admiral will accompany you. You do know that most people do wait the suggested 6 months between getting the permit and the license, correct? It might do you good; it's been years since you've flown."
"Flying is a part of me," Luke reminded his father knowing very well that he could relate. "Besides, I have the Force to tell me if anything is in my path. I'll pass."
Vader huffed, but they both knew he believed in Luke. The Force gave him an unfair advantage, but he was also a Skywalker. It was legended that their family name came from an ancestor who during the Sith Wars actually walked through the sky to invade a Sith fleet. The sky was in their blood. "Well, if you dent your speeder you have to find the credits to fix it, so make sure you are truly attuned to the Force." Luke let out a sarcastic salute, and his father was once again amazed by how good a mood the teen could be in. "And you will find your other present in the training room. I truly believe you are prepared, but if you cannot figure out what the gift is when you see it, then perhaps the Force does not agree."
That was a cryptic message for anyone, but Luke didn't fight his father for an explanation. Whatever it was he was ready, and now he really wanted to know. "Thank you. I better go if I want to have a look before school. Good luck with your search! May the Force be with you."
"And with you always," Vader replied as he disappeared. Luke checked his Chrono and knew he needed to get ready if he didn't want to be late again, but he had to take a peek at this second gift. He'd been under the impression that the speeder cost so much he wasn't getting anything else, and hadn't even been bothered by it.
Luke made his way down to the training room, buttoning his shirt as he went. Once inside Luke looked around for the gift and found it wrapped in simple brown packaging. He ripped it open just as R2 followed him into the room.
It took the teen a second to realize that he had not, in fact, broken the present (as R2 suggested), but that it had never been assembled. He considered the possibility of it being a model of sorts, but no model ship needs a crystal. The crystal was a clear-ish blue, and yet, when Luke picked it up, it shifted to a darker green. Luke had been completely baffled by the gift, but when Luke touched the crystal he understood. The Force spoke to him, not in words like with Obi-Wan, but in a feeling so clear it made words look indirect: It is time for you to build your own lightsaber.
The speeder showed him growing up in the galaxy, but Luke realized his father giving him this kyber crystal meant he was growing up in the Force. Luke was slightly terrified by the prospect, but deeply honored. And, if he was honest, undeniably thrilled.
Luke knew that building a saber took lots of time, meditation, and patience, which was why he didn't call off his plans to go to the bureau. Still this was going to be Luke's number one priority until it was done, even while he was stretched thin by school and Pooja's lessons. The prospect was so exciting.
It was even exciting enough that Luke made it to school before the bell rang, and didn't even feel tired at all. A couple classmates Luke was friendly with offered him a 'Happy birthday' after Nil began it, but Luke barely paid attention. He could not wait to tell Rickon and Leah.
"You won't believe what my father gave me for my birthday," Luke began sliding in his seat between the two of them first period.
Rickon rolled his eyes, "The nicest speeder on Coruscant which I saw over a week ago?"
"A kyber crystal and parts to make a lightsaber?"
Luke stared at Leah after she actually guessed it. She'd had a lot of ridiculous knowledge but this was a whole new level. "Do you spy on me or something?"
"No, I spy on the spies who spy on you," Leah replied with a shrug. Luke wanted to be annoyed with her, but it was so hard. She was just so chill all the time. That could annoy him, but not her insane honesty. "Your father made a stop on Ilum during his last mission. The whole planet is barricaded because of the caves, which means he was there for the specific purpose of those caves. And you'd need the other parts too so…."
One of these days Luke would figure out Leah. One of these days. "Okay, yeah, I mean you're right. You know I'm probably going to be working on it for a couple weeks. Do you guys want to come over and watch me this weekend?"
"Maybe, sounds a bit boring but if I can take out a spin in your speeder I might come. Oh, my dad offered to take us both to the Bureau after school because apparently I have been asking for weeks and that isn't enough but you get it on the very day of."
Luke felt a bit bad. It wasn't so much that Rickon's dad liked Luke better, it was that he pitied Luke more and therefore tried to spoil Luke in the way it was inappropriate to spoil his own son. Still Rickon had good reason to be resentful sometimes. "I'm going to be giving you rides every day until you get your license, and no way am I letting you fly. Will you come?"
"If I have nothing better to do," Rickon said, and they both knew that was a yes. (When did Rickon ever have something better to do?) "Leah?"
The girl shook her head, "Sorry, I'm sure it will be cool but I can't."
Luke had expected as much, but it was still annoying. "You and I have been friends for what, four years now, and you have never been over my apartment! I know my dad freaks you out but he's not that bad, right Rickon?"
Rickon made a huff that might pass as agreement, but Leah continued to shake her chocolate hair. "You've never come to the palace to visit me on the weekends."
"That's because if I went to the Palace the Emperor would feel my presence and be like 'young Skywalker is here I must go and uproot his life some more'. Besides, you've never even invited me to the Palace because, well, it's the Imperial palace and it belongs to the Emperor, not you."
"And the Penthouse of Republica 500 belongs to Darth Vader, not you!" Leah answered, sounding legitimately upset for probably the first time in as long as Luke had known her. "And if he comes home and sees me there he'll be like 'I must go and uproot her life!'"
Rickon seemed just as surprised as Luke that Leah had finally lost it. "Look he's really not that scary Leah. He doesn't mind me being there and he'd be glad to know Luke actually has more than one frie…"
"No! You don't get it!" Leah huffed leaning forward in her chair so that she was only an inch away from Luke's eyes. "You honestly don't realize it, do you? All these years I've thought you just didn't want to talk about it but you're just oblivious. Look at me Luke, really look at me for a second and let something into your thick skull."
Luke didn't rise to her anger, but centered himself in the Force. As he did he felt the presence of all the beings in his class… all but Leah. It was almost as if she didn't exist but...
Luke's eyes flashed open, and he suddenly felt like a giant fool. He was also slightly terrified. "You have Force Shields. Who put shields around your Force presence?"
"The Emperor, when I was young. I know a thing or two about how to maintain them."
"So you're…" Leah nodded in response to Luke's unfinished question. "I'm sorry, I never realized."
"I still don't realize," Rickon pointed out looking annoyed that (not for the first time) Luke and Leah shared some secret he did not. "What are you talking about?"
Luke waited for Leah to answer, but it appeared she was unable to speak the words. He couldn't blame her. It presented a myriad of questions she probably either didn't have, or wouldn't offer, the answers to. "Leah is Force Sensitive. Not particularly strong, but not weak either. The Emperor taught her how to shield it so no one, well my father mainly, would never know she existed. But why? Are you some sort of spy?"
"No, I just… am. It's too complicated to explain Luke. Sidious doesn't want me trained, but he also doesn't want me dead, so he expects me to keep my shields up, my connection to the Force severed, and my head low. So you can see why marching into Lord Vader's apartment might not end well."
Luke could, but the thought unnerved him. For one he'd never heard anyone outside his father refer to Palpatine as his Sith name. Most people didn't even know he was a Sith! Still there was an honesty to Leah that even now Luke didn't doubt. It explained some of her knowledge, and how she got the spies to tell her stuff. It was a concerning fact, an unknown variable Luke had no explanation for, but he still trusted Leah. She was still his friend.
"I get it. I mean why you don't want to come over. I don't get why Palpatine would do that, but I get you."
Leah claimed she kept her connection to the Force severed, but Luke didn't believe it. How else could she be so aware of what he felt? "I can't tell you the whole truth Luke, and I think you know that feeling well, but believe this. It's not some part of his master plan. I'm not there to be an apprentice if you fail. I'm not there to be a spy or a weapon. I'm no threat to you, just to him. Yet he lets me live, because he is a very, very old man, and even he has weaknesses."
Her words rung true in the Force, and so Luke nodded. A theory or two was cropping up in his mind, but he tried to brush them away. So Leah was Force-Sensitive, Leia was too. A lot of people were Force-Sensitive and just remained under the radar. Okay, it was a bit odd to find someone one on the radar that wasn't on the payroll, but it wasn't unheard of. It was odd, but it was still Leah.
"Well, if you ever want to tell Sidious to screw it you tell me and I might be willing to show you what I know. You'd make a good Jedi."
Leah snorted a laugh, obviously just glad Luke had accepted her without too many questions asked. "I'd make as good a Jedi as you will a Sith. If I could have no power at all I would, but I don't mind the current arrangement, and unless your father discovers me, it won't have to change."
"I'm still confused," Rickon told them, but before Luke or Leah could offer him comforting words the bell rang and class begun.
Knowing it would take forever at the bureau, Admiral Cassel dismissed Luke and Rickon at lunch. Rickon attempted to ask Luke more about Leah's confession, but it wasn't wise to discuss in front of the overly-loyal Admiral. Luke liked the Admiral… especially when he wasn't getting lectures on treason.
Like any bureaucratic place on Coruscant, the lines were insufferable. "This is why I didn't want to bring you Rickon. I figured Lord Vader would ask me to take Luke and I couldn't stand the wait twice."
Luke didn't blame him. It took them a standard hour just to get a number to take the permit test. Then, despite the fact that never more than one of the five testing datapads was occupied, it took another two hours for them to actually get to take the permit test. Both teens passed within five minutes, and then Luke had to get back in line to get another number to take the license test. By the time he finally made it out to the testing speeders Luke had already been at the Bureau for almost 5 hours. It was a pretty terrible way to spend a birthday, but Rickon was always good company, and when they ran out of things to talk about Luke just meditated. At least that passed time quickly (because he was more or less asleep).
The tester climbed in the passenger seat (which had full emergency controls should he need to pilot), and Luke blinked in surprise. "You're a clone!"
"Most kids your age wouldn't even recognize a clone," he huffed, but actually seemed a bit proud. "You have your paperwork?" Luke handed it over. "You realize only 5% of those who try before the recommended 6 months pass, and I've never passed one of you fools that tries for the license first day."
Luke knew the odds, but he also knew he was fine. "I'm from offworld, sir, so it's not really my first time flying."
"Well," he looked back down at the paperwork. "Luke Sk… Wait a minute Skywalker? You're not related to the General, right?"
From Luke's studies of the Clone Wars all the Jedi had been considered Generals, so he could only assume this clone knew what he was talking about. "Did you fight with General Skywalker?"
The clone laughed, "As if, but I've heard enough stories to know that just maybe I won't fail you until you actually make a mistake, first day or not."
Luke hated throwing around Vader's name to get things, but using the name of Anakin Skywalker didn't seem so wrong. Luke hadn't even officially said Anakin was his father; he just let the clone's assumptions stand.
The clone showed Luke a map of their path, and promised to give directions during the course. Luke was slightly nervous as he turned a speeder on for the first time in years, but he still remembered perfectly. (And it was much easier now that his feet truly reached the pedals). Luke eased his way up into city traffic, and spread out his senses to keep track of everything going on around him.
It began easily enough, and the clone seemed confident that Luke wasn't going to kill them. For the teen the thrill of actually being the one flying again after so long made everything worth it, even as he had to navigate the traffic by actually following the laws, not just the way you did it if you didn't want to get killed.
They were almost back to the bureau when the Force screamed that something was wrong. Luke's eyes barely had time to notice the speeder coming the wrong way down the lane, but he had already trusted the Force enough to drop down below the lane to avoid getting hit. His clone instructor stared open-mouthed, amazed by Luke's inhumanly fast reflexes, but Luke's feeling of impending doom did not desist. He turned around to see the passenger of the opposing speeder had been flung from the speeder when it jerked to stop. She was falling between the lanes of traffic, screaming hysterically. Luke didn't stop to think; he put his own speeder in a nose dive. The clone screamed and attempted to take control, but Luke used the Force to quickly deactivate the override. Focusing on the other speeders around him Luke weaved in and out of the lanes of traffic as he sped down towards the falling woman. Finally he caught up to her, and used the Force the best he could to soften her landing in their speeder.
Luke was pretty sure he had failed the test when he made it back to the bureau after speaking to a half dozen traffic officers about the incident. He'd broken a dozen traffic laws to save himself and the woman, but while they were not pressing charges (no one got hurt), surely Luke could not be allowed to pass.
His clone instructor stared at Luke as the teen landed perfectly back at the bureau, and Luke just went to leave until he felt a hand clasp his wrist. Luke looked up, surprised, at the former soldier. "I've seen a lot of people do a lot of stupid things in my day, but that has to top the list. You almost killed us and that woman and everyone on the freeway… but you didn't. I've haven't seen reflexes like yours since the war, and I don't want to think about why that is. Somehow I feel like we were never in any real danger, and so I'm going to give you your license, because we were better off with you flying today than had you not been."
Luke could not believe it, but he couldn't stop beaming. He hadn't regretted saving that woman's life even when he thought he'd failed, but to know he'd done it and still passed… "Thank… thank you!"
"You were the hero today, kid. Your flying is certainly worthy of General Skywalker's legacy, whether or not that legacy actually belongs to you. You made me feel like a real clone again too, so thank you, and happy birthday."