A/N: Sorry this took so long, I split this chapter up twice, before deciding I should just post this bit and stop pushing lol. I made a discord server, link will be in the next chapter for whoever is interested! Cya again soon. :)
It was… warm. Flashes of too bright light tensed his psyche. He saw images, warnings, and snippets of things he didn't understand. There was metal, so much metal, and then his ship. A leather clad hand clasped his, a dark light speared outwards to shear through flesh. He smelled burning.
Luke's eyes felt gritty. Glued together with a sandy sort of muck that felt like cement against his lashes. His entire body felt heavy. What was strange was the lack of achiness. Where his fingers and toes ought to be burning with frostbite, and bruises throbbing where they blossomed beneath his skin there was nothing. No pain, just relaxed limbs. He drifted, literally. His body was suspended by water. The force was quiet here, gentle ripples that glided across his skin, and snuggled up all cozy like behind his ears. There was peace and contentment coming from three other life forms. The rest were but blips to his senses. Fuzzy and out of focus, yet their numbers were large. His eyes slipped open.
Come, my Jeti…
A cavern, long and spanning downwards till the tunnel disappeared around a bend. Behind him was a wall, to either side of him more pools of what had to be softly glowing salt water. Fungal sprouts sat rigid and glowing in the dim lighting. The ones along the ground seemed like rounded stumps. Whereas fountains of golden tinged rivulets speckled the otherwise dark brown edges of the cave. They seemed empty, like husks. Steam sat heavy on the air, drifting idly through the cavern without a care in the world.
Luke sat up slowly, sinking into the pool as he gingerly tested his limbs. Nothing. The lighting was too low for him to be able to make out most of the scars on his skin. Holding his breath, he plunged down into the water. He swept his feet out, attempting to find the bottom to push off from. Instead, he met resistance, and simply couldn't go down any further. Breaching the surface, he paddled over to the ledge. The ground above was slippery, and much cooler than the liquid pooled around it.
With a smooth push up, the Jedi pulled himself up out of the water and stood awkwardly in the dimly lit cave. All of his equipment had been stripped from him. His clothes, his pack, hell he couldn't even find his lightsaber. He was also very naked. Luke went down the tunnel. A low hanging mushroom had a straw hat on it, for some reason.
His mechanical hand brushed against his side. "Oooh, that's not fun." With the whir of gears in his ears, his mechanical hand spread open before his face. Covering the metal was some sort of lubricated sponge. Oily, white, and highly unpleasant to look at. It seemed porous, and Luke was highly tempted to start poking at it.
Water dripped down his back, leaving behind an itchy trail he really wanted to scratch at. Each step he took made a smack against the smooth cave floor. At the exit, the blonde paused. His hand came up to sweep the waterlogged locks of hair out of his face, only to pause. Right, spongidy-sponge. His hand swung back down to his side with a suspicious grinding noise. Peeking his head out of the spring room, he found more hallways. Long, winding, and impossibly daunting. What's the use of being a Jedi if he found tunnels intimidating?
The force would guide him, or some earthy crunchy Jedi shit like that. Was he being flippant? Bitter, mayhaps? He felt a little justified in that, since apparently trusting the force meant narrowly avoiding death. It happens.
Even as he went to take a step, Luke hesitated. It wasn't that he minded being exposed. Tatooine slaves didn't get the luxury of modesty. So, he'd seen his fair share of bodies. No, it was more a fear of being exposed to whatever elements he was about to face that had him pausing. No clothes meant sun exposure.
His choice was made for him.
A bright red mushroom was coming right for him. That sounded way more intimidating than it actually was. The mushroom was small, maybe knee high. Its cap looked squishy, voluptuous in a way that suggested support. The creature blinked up at him with adorable little black eyes. They seemed empty. As though the mushroom was a shell, and something else lived inside. It's head tilted back, and beneath the brim of its fungus cap, those eyes lit up. Flashing dimly with a sort of brilliance lost in the blink of an eye.
The blonde got a sense of its will then. Eager to help, wanting to serve. Like a dog, all it wanted was to please it's guardian. It hadn't come to kill him, then.
The creature made a little noise, and stuck a noodly arm out. Raising an eyebrow, Luke bent down and extended his pinky in offering. Little, nubby fingers clutched onto his pinky and tugged. What was with him and attracting endearing squishy things? First Grogu, now this? The universe was working against his perceived masculinity. Leia would be so proud of his non existent parenting skills.
"Where are you taking me?" The little fun guy tilted its brim back at him, but didn't pause. After a while of walking with his back hunched, his spine began to protest.
Freeing his pinky from the squishy one's grasp proved impossible to do. It's like the creature had suction cup pads on each squat finger. With a quirk of his lips, on the creatures next step, he scooped it up. Victory. It flailed, panicking briefly before it calmed and got comfy.
This creature had no survival instinct. Or he was just special. Definitely not because of the force.
A laugh escaped him when indignation colored the force. "Well? Next time finish what you've started." It wriggled again, attempting to kick him in the gut. "Now, stop that. You can't fault me. I can't help it that you're so small." Oh the irony.
The red capped fungi crossed its arms, swung its legs petulantly, and started to pout. A grinding noise coming from somewhere within the mushroom.
"Well? Go on then. Tell me the way." It grumbled, but pointed one of its oddly shaped nubs- wait a minute! Where'd it's hand go? He blinked rapidly. Okay, it wasn't the weirdest thing he'd ever seen, but that was up there.
A disgruntled rattle sounded from the creature. Like dry beans being shook inside a metal can.
"Right, sorry. Moving now." Off down the winding tunnels they went. Passing glowing stalactite and towering trees of fungus that held caves open. Each time one threatened to touch the open air above, the cold stopped them. Frost slipped into the caves through dark cracks, and began melting halfway down the largest of the mushrooms. They passed by more fungal people, and Luke wondered if they had a name. Or a language. This one seemed to understand him well enough.
When he peeled into the surface of one of their minds, he got a confusing array of intense smells. Scents so strong they had him reeling when he returned to himself. His human brain just couldn't make heads or tails of the fungi's communication. They communicated via pheromones. That was Luke's theory, and he'd witnessed the odd phantoms of neural pathways to prove it.
Their journey led them into some sort of workshop. There were scraps of what looked like cotton or some form of leather wrapped around spools and drying on racks. Inside the room he felt the echoed imprint of his soul. His saber. Raising a hand, he immediately summoned it to him. It answered his call and jumped into his awaiting palm eagerly. Pulsing happily as it nestled against his fingers. There was mud caked in some of the grooves, but someone had made an attempt to clean it.
Luke let out a slow breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.
Next came his gear. They'd stored everything in here. All of his clothes had been cleaned, and patched up with newer fabric that stood out against the faded and worn material of the original. What mattered is that everything was whole and useable again.
What sucked was the loss of Imperial documents, and the proof Leia was most likely waiting for back on Coruscant.
"Did you do this?" He asked, glancing down gratefully at the little guy. It's capped head bobbed with a rattle, and then it gestured for him to try them on. Luke did so without anymore dawdling.
The mushroom then gestured at the mirror, almost seeming eager for praise.
What had been black was more grey now, from whatever they'd used to scrub away any blood stains. His saber was clipped back to his belt, where it snuggled into his thigh like an overeager puppy. There mirror was made of some type of ice and carved runes. His reflection was clear, and when he pressed a hand to it, it was pleasantly cool and refused to melt. He had everything on right, and where at first he'd thought it'd been simply a patch up job, it was clearly an entire remake. For his clothes hardly resembled what he'd originally worn at all.
For starters nothing was truly black anymore. More like dark shades of grey.
When he went out on missions it was always all black, in honor of those he'd lost and probably something poetic like being the light in the dark, or remembering his father. Really black was just extremely useful for stealth, and normally didn't blind people. Still, the colors were all mainly monochrome, with dark brown leather patches. Though splashes of mat blue slashed a V into the chest of his tunic. Flaring down and around like the elegant yet powerful thrust of an eagle's wings.
It was done, clearly, entirely by hand. For there was no electricity down here, only wooden needles and blood, sweat, and tears. He could see the fine stitching, felt the care these clothes had been crafted with via an echo in the force.
An odd comfort came from used clothing, or hand crafted ones. Machine made linens just never had life to then. Maybe the force was why used and coarse fabric felt so much better on his skin than droid pressed silk.
"Thank you." He said with buttercream sincerity, wearing a grateful smile like crunchy candy and pop rocks. "But..." Socked toes wiggled, and he gestured down at his feet, "Have you seen my boots?"
He received a blank look in return. It stared, with lifeless eyes and Luke felt nothing from it. The force had gone eerily quiet.
His boots were gone! Truly he was naked. A pale imitation fallen far away from salvation. Shame be thy naked toes! Shame!
Snickering to himself, he knelt down beside the red brimmed shroom and tapped it on the forehead. It's eyes flashed blue. That was strange. Maybe it simply hadn't heard him? "Thank you." He repeated, sinking down to its level. "It looks great. But do you have anything for my feet?" As he settled into a squat, his hand touched the ground for support.
It startled, gazing up at him with clear delight. With a bubbly sort of fire crackers under water sound, it sped off behind a short table. It came back running. Sprinting at him as though it'd just downed ten shots of espresso, and bumped into his leg. Upon his head were his boots, a bit scuffed up, but clean. Those same blue, dripping wings stitched into the toes of the boots.
That was one crisis averted. Now if only his X-wing could miraculously show up like that.
Another glance at the mirror, the mushroomling had really made him look like a knight. A rugged, medieval knight, without chainmail or a shield, but a knight all the same.
His pack, however, hadn't been saved. Neither had his gun. No more comm.
Least he had his boots. And the saber. Mostly the boots, though. That sounded a lot like a cope.
Come.
His head jerked up, orbs illuminated for a startling second. Then all was quiet. He looked down at the mushroom who, for some reason, was bowing to him.
"Did you hear that?" The mushroom nodded, squeaking up at Luke something he couldn't understand. It smelled like burnt marshmallows, all of a sudden. Tiny nubs began pushing at him, insisting that he follow and be quick about it. He hoped wherever they were going was closer to his ferrets.
Another walk through mushroom lit caverns. The only difference was this time he had the satisfaction of hearing his boots click menacingly on each step. That was the real power in fashion. No one heard heels coming and didn't cringe a little on the inside.
Respect to anyone who learned how to walk silently in them.
After too many turns to count, the cave straightened unnaturally. Slowly but steadily widening until it seemed endless. It couldn't be natural, for it was sleek all around. Perfectly read drop shaped. Pitch black save for the speck of light at the very end. Where the light seemed contained, sneaking out of a fragile barrier. It was only big enough for his mushroom friend to slip through. For when Luke attempted to follow and leaving the ominous darkness behind him, he almost had to army crawl through the space. It was a claustrophobic's worst nightmare.
The barrier between the two rooms was thin, though. Crumbling even as Luke attempted to slide inside with little disturbance. He tumbled through the small hole, landing in springy blue grass.
Here the Force weeped.
A stone, a massive stone, or maybe it was a gem, hummed with an unobtainable energy. Veins crawled away from it, bright and thrumming with that same intense power. Up, up, up the cavern went. Till the ceiling became ice, and through it you could see the sky. A black sky, moonless and cold just like the infinite space beyond it.
Down here there was light, from this impossible stone that bled life and sadness into the air around it. Luke stepped forwards, bewitched. It's song was familiar, one he'd been hearing since he'd landed. This, this was the center of Werda. This was Werda.
He reached forwards, enraptured, and smoothed his fingertips down the frigid stone. Cold? No. It was warm. It was both. This was Werda.
Hello.
Luke stumbled back as ice corkscrewed up his arm, and then melted into heavy heat as it travelled down his chest and into his heart. Lingering within was something that sizzled. Like when hot water ran over your fingers after bare handling snow. The heel of his palm pressed into his sternum, and he gasped. It was borderline painful.
I'm sorry.
He sank to his knees before the stone. For a moment he just breathed, not trusting his limbs or voice to give a response.
I have done this before. Why does it pain you? You are so bright, can't you handle it? The others have.
Yes, yes he can handle it. He just needed a moment.
You're my Jedi. Of course you can handle it.
His eyebrows furrowed, that sounded off to him. It was getting easier to breath. That burning cold tucked itself somewhere beside his heart, nestled under his rib cage. He rubbed that spot, and slowly looked up again.
Oh. Your eyes are so pretty.
Blinking, he actually couldn't believe what he was seeing. In front of the stone, floating above him, was a woman. A ghostly woman, a projection of something that wasn't entirely real. She wore a gown of ghostly ruffles as though she'd taken lion's mane fungus and crafted a dress right from it. Each tendril that cascaded down her form glowed with a sort of spindly light, reminiscent of the whiskers upon the ferret's faces. Melded to her head was a white cap just like the little red mushroom tailor that had fixed all his clothes. Only her's was huge and veiled, half hiding a perfect face. Too perfect. Supple and fine, as though she'd been chiseled into existence by an AI algorithm. Beautiful, but off. Something pretending to be human.
I am so pleased to finally meet you. I've been waiting.
Her words were projected into his skull carelessly. Loud and echoing as though she didn't know what control was. The woman didn't move her lips to speak. However, she did smile. What a beautiful thing it was. Like cracks in stained glass, intricate but still broken. It made the hairs along the back of his neck stand up.
"It was you?" He spoke at last, voice rougher than he meant it. "That was calling me?"
Yes.
She offered no more than that, she just gazed expectantly at him, as though he ought to already know why.
Luke was bewildered. He trusted in the force, but it's not as if the force gave him answers. Where was the kid and his fur balls? "Why?" He folded his hands into the ample sleeves of his new robe.
Because, you are needed. Her form floated down to him, gazing upon him as though he were a particularly peculiar bug. Jedi are guardians of peace and balance. Elegant toes touched upon the ground, and she took her first few steps like a ballerina. Controlled, precise, and lovely in an uncanny valley sort of way. There has not been peace within me since Our Mand'alore died.
His stance widened as she got closer. There was an animal growling in his mind, instinct demanded he run from this being screaming. She was cold. The air turned frigid, Luke could see each breath as it came. She did not breath, she did not blink. You've felt what they did to my children on that base.
The lifeforms in test tubes, cells with suspicious stains of lingering malevolence. A taste? That made him sick. Sick and horrified.
Her smiled turned bright, enhanced by the force and dazzling in its purity. Intangible hands came up to cup his cheeks, and he was paralyzed. He offered no resistance, even as her too cold essence sent needles of hot cold pain into the skin she touched. Thank you.
"For what?" His voice came easily, too easily for the pain that threatened to start digging into his bones.
For restoring the balance there. Head tilting, veil falling to the side, she leaned forwards and planted a kiss upon his brow. To me it was a wound I could not heal. Another frostbite and hot springs caress was planted onto each of his eyes. And for saving my Tooanans.
Tooanans? She pulled back, her smile turning mischievous. Your ferrets. Her hands disappeared behind her back, and she began to float back up. From that warped Apeposis. I regret I do not have the power to heal the infection of man. Those eyes of her's, deep and wide and truly different, turned furious in an instant. How I have tried to eradicate them. The room shook, like an earthquake was rippling it's way through the floor below them. Veins of pearlescent shimmer contracted at a furious pace.
You're here now.
It was calm again. The Jedi took in a shaky gulp of air, he had at some point forgot what breathing was. "How exactly am I doing that?" This seemed like a big step up from daddy issues and death stars, and Werda didn't even have the ability to explode entire planets.
Right?
I only have the ability to decide whether I want to live or die.
"What do you want?"
To live to see my children safe. The smile had slipped off her face, and something fierce took its place. Save them, Jedi Knight. His heart pounded in his chest, thumping with that something that prickled and thawed beneath his ribs. You are my last hope.
What was it with that phrase? Hope, it kept cropping up in almost every situation he was in. That word had been what sparked the wild, spreading fire way back on Tatooine. Back when it was only Uncle Ben, Aunt Beru, and Uncle Owen. He'd heard it so many times, but not a once did it loose its impact.
Every time he heard it he wanted to do Ben proud.Because Ben wouldn't have ignored someone in need.
"Alright. But you got to tell me how."
The spirits, they linger. Locked inside their tombs. She floated towards the walls, eyeing them with a flat stare. Crafted with my flesh, they drill holes in my skin.
"Where?"
I will show you. Reality swirled around him, and he was pulled through a vacuum and into a frozen ocean. Miles upon miles of endless tundra spanned out below them. Stretching out endlessly before sloping down past the sunless horizon. Reinforced boots left impressions upon her skin as shining warriors marched towards a winter claimed city. "We'll find him." Green said to silver. "There's no where else they could have gone." The visor of a silver helmet stared straight at him. Statures or mandalorians were frozen and buildings encased entirely in ice. Deep into the abandoned place, frosted and rusting metal ate into the ground. It was here that Werda's crust ached with a weeping wound. Mandalorians. Was that where the kid's parent was?
Warriors, hunters, family, they followed you. But now they've lost you.
Down into the depths the metallic hole descended. Luke saw flashes of frozen bone, tombs, offerings, and oddly enough working drills. Troopers trampled over ice carved graves, and metal was mined relentlessly. Mine carts clattered their way into forges, dumping chunks of ice and shining rock into glowing buckets over giant flames. The earth here was too warm, threatening to cave in. Machinery hammered down on red hot steel. Rendering it into simple blocks, and pasting on the Imperial signet.
A metal masked man with grey horns took a chisel to a gravestone and swung down with a Crack! Werda raged.
Luke slammed back into his body with a jump. There was a fracture down the middle of Werda's gemstone. It sizzled and popped angrily. Snapping at any ice that dared come near it.
"Is it a mine or a graveyard?" He questioned once his heart rate calmed. Were the imperials mining on sacred grounds?
Werda nodded, expression somber, still murderous. Winds began to howl above them. The burial grounds of My Mand'alore. Her fair features turned thunderous, and the cavern rumbled ominously as stones shone and cried tears of ice. They desecrate them.
She showed him bodies uprooted and carelessly disposed, and then the pocketing of items meant for the dearly departed. He felt sick. "How am I meant to get there?"
Just as suddenly as she'd been taken by anger, her features brightened into a smile while the gem sparkled with a jubilant sort of energy. Your Tooanans, of course.
Luke stared at her, absolutely baffled. The ferrets may be big, but they definitely weren't built to carry more than their own weight. Werda gave him an equally as baffled expression.
Have you not fed them? Isn't this something a Jedi should know?
What? Fed them what? "We've hunted, if that's what you're asking."
No. Light. They feast on Light. It makes them strong. She paused for a moment, realization dawning upon her. There is not much of that left here, the sun drifts further and further away each day...
That sounded so sad. His heart twinged,
It was Light when you first came, the Force favors you, like it did my Mand'alore. No longer. My winters have always been long, have always been Dark. The Balance has shifted. Luminous one, while you must go, you must not go alone. The wise child will go with you, so too with my Tooanans, and further, so will part of me. Her feet made ripples upon the air, from her toes snow fell without clouds. The Gooshies will assist you, however you may need it. They have never been as advanced as my mandalorians, but they have always given when needed. Protect them, and they will happily provide for you.
Her head tilted, the veil of snow flakes and cascading fungal fronds exposing her intense expression. Eat and rest. But do not linger. My children may only hold on for a bit longer. Those delicate eyebrows furrowed, something pained and scared flitted across her dainty face. Be wary, for my nerves grow dead, and something has stolen my sight from me. No storm nor sinkhole has cleared this infection burrowed into my flesh.
A grand gesture back towards where he came, thin spiderweb cracks were visible in her gem for a second, before her form began to flake. Go. I must rest. Before her eyes her ghostly visage flared and then burned away like crystalline blue ashes.
"Where is the kid? My ferrets?"
The gooshies will show what is needed. Go.
"But-"
Go.
He nodded, although an extremely human part of himself ached at the loss of another voice. How long had it been since he'd had a pleasant conversation? The days and nights on Werda stretched on for far longer than Tatooine's. It's rotation cycle was slow, too far out in the solar system to have established any momentum.
Offering her a deep bow, his lips twisted up into a facsimile of a smile. At least he handled isolation better than most, he'd grown up on Tatooine after all.
She curtsied in return, expression sweet, ankles crossing in a smooth ballerina's dip. With a gracious smile, her form dissipated once she stood. You are not alone, Jetii. Combusting in a cloud of hot, snowy flakes that landed upon the ground with an energetic glow. Before him the stone dimmed till it was almost black.
Luke wrenched his eyes away, eyes that felt warmer than they should, and turned around. Sat right behind him was the small mushroom tailor from before. It's eyes were navy blue, almost black. "Hello again." He greeted, kneeling down and extending a hand. The mushroom stepped forwards, a reverberating note emanating from inside it. It bumped its cap into his open palm, a maraca like grinding coming along with curiosity.
The Jedi waited, focusing on the force energies between them and felt it now. There was a gentle drain being placed upon his soul. As he watched the creatures eyes grew brighter.
"So, you guys are Gooshies?" What an odd name. The red cap mushroom nodded, and then beckoned for Luke to follow. "I suppose, you're taking me to see my kid?" Not actually his kid. He just happened to be the green bean's guardian till he found Grogu's actual dad. Or whoever this Buir guy is. It nodded again and scampered back. It scampered away, and Luke jogged to keep up.
The ferrets, or tooanans as Werda had dubbed them, weren't too far away. Their room was spacious and dark. Each of the predators were surrounded by gooshies. Each mushroom folk a shade of color that was vibrant and alive. Vee and Eem glowed, their whiskers, quills, and silver spots lit up like flickering fireflies. Some of the mushrooms simply basked in their light, others brushed their fur or fed them slivers of some sort of dried meat. He hoped this sort of pampering was happening with Grogu as well.
When Luke walked in the big ferrets both perked up. Their quills settled, and from within their chests came a rumbling sort of dooting purr. Eem arched her back and hopped sideways at him, showing off the scarring the Apeposis had afflicted her with. Whereas the mother slunk along the ground, form still a bit thin. She sniffed at him, snuffling through his clothes and nudging at his leg, thoroughly checked him over. Looking for injuries or illness.
Once the mother was satisfied, her tail flicked and her whiskers quivered. Pupils expanded to double their size, and then Luke found himself on his back with his arms full of ferret.
A tongue rasped over his face, their breath smelled like frozen meat. Grosssss, but, "I was worried about you too, girls." He ran a hand over their heads, though Eem sniffed at his mechanical hand skeptically. The sponge like material was beginning to chip off, and some had gotten into the daughter's fur.
"Come on. Get off me you great womp rats." He wrestled with them for a moment. Eem bounded across the room and back in a flash of wild fur and exuberant energy. It was infectious but, "Let's go get our kid." With a great smile, he turned to the red mushroom who waved jovially at him.
It skittered out of the room, Luke and the tooanans hot on its heels. A turn was taken at a sprint, the Jedi's boots slid as he darted around the corner. Two pairs of claws scratched against the rock as they slid close behind. Claw marks left in front of still glowing mushrooms, stems shadowed as they sat in corners, hung from ceilings. From the tooanans' glow those same mushrooms perked up. Dark eyes swirling blue.
Suddenly they all had to stop. Luke swung his arms around to maintain his balance as he stopped himself from crashing into the red gooshi. "Oof!" Vee smacked into him, chuffing at him in outraged question as they both went down. "Ack-" Eem dog piled on top of them both. "Get- Eem stop struggling you're making it worse." He shoved at the daughter, who smacked him in the face with her long tail. "Off!" The mother smushed a paw into his cheek, shoving his face into the earth like the massive traitor she was.
Vee shook Eem off, watching her kit slip off her like some sort of fuzzy liquid. Stepping over her daughter who had pooled on the floor in an effort to get in her parent's way, Vee was the first to greet Grogu. Who had toddled out of a cozy spring cave with a baby blue mushroom trailing him. Luke wiped a muddy paw print off his cheek.
The ferret bumped her nose against the kids, and his grabby hands settled over her snout carefully. He babbled nonsense at the cat, all of his emotions projected into the force. Innocence, trust, happiness, Grogu believed they would come get him. They had. Vee blinked long and slow at the kid, humming starting up in her chest once more.
Luke propped himself up onto his elbows. Eem came and sprawled out over his back. This belligerent slinky. They were having a moment! Glaring at the kit, he shoved her massive head off him, earning himself a satisfying growl of annoyance in return, and got up onto his knees. Eem hooked her paws over his shoulders and gnawed on his ears. "Useless creature." The Jedi grumped, but his smile was telling.
Grogu! Luke called him, and watched as the kid's ears perked up. A smile lit up his green face, and he immediately began tottering over to him. Vee stood guard behind him, a judging sentry. Honestly, Luke didn't know what he was expecting but it certainly wasn't suddenly having an armful of shrieking toddler.
The kid was sending him waves of something rhythmic, the thumps of a beat that was extremely familiar. "Oh." Fuck you his eyes weren't watering, they were just sweating. It's hot down caves. "You liked that song."
Vee snorted, rolling her eyes. There was no way she just rolled her eyes, she was a ferret. Luke was seeing things. The tooanan huffed and stamped an impatient paw. Hungry, mission, save us, save them. Quickly quickly quickly! The impressions came on the wave of animalistic force projection. The Jedi looked at Vee, and nodded. Protect. She showed him an image, her duty to her business. When her mate had died and left her alone she'd watched as creatures hunted her children till it was but her and Eem left. Dark.
She would not fail her child.
She would live for her child.
Business-Guardian-Friend and she looked at him, then to Grogu, then back again. Same. His heart melted. He wasn't attached, he wasn't. A huff of disappointment, before she turned away from him with a dismissive flick of her tail. What had he done wrong?
The blue gooshi waved with up at them with a spindly spaghetti arm, jumping to get their attention. Once it had it the sentient saluted, and then began to march rather exaggeratedly away.
Red jumped up excitedly and shuffled after them. Vee turned with a huff, tail angled to smack Luke in the face. The Jedi put his hands up in surrender. "I didn't do anything!" She swiveled her head around to glare at him before she disappeared around another corner along with the mushrooms.
Eem bounded after, bright eyes taking on everything as though it were all a game, and was that Grogu on her back? It was. The kid was cackling maniacally, looking so much like his master that- Luke cut that thought off with a vicious scrubbing of a hand down his face. With a shake of his head, he followed.
Time was odd on Werda. Everything was so still in the darkness. Nothing really moved, whereas on Tatooine nighttime was opportunity. Darkness was the most productive thing, because the days were too hot to do most anything without burning up energy that could have been saved if you'd just waited for the freezing night.
Luke's estimate was that they spent three days resting and recovering their strength. Three days of him messing with the mushrooms and their weird physiology. Feeding them bits of light and then watching them tragically shut down after a day. There wasn't much to do here, but there were plenty of lessons to learn.
Werda's creatures spoke to him in hollow whispers. Droning gongs in the force like empty reads and half full glasses. They took him through their city, pushed him through antechambers and had him touch the caps of grey mushrooms. When nothing happened they would wilt, and Luke would look away in shame.
He'd never been talented with Life. Only Death.
The Jedi didn't know what they expected. Not really. Each hall they traveled down were filled with dimly glowing mushrooms, most grey but some colored. Luke was starting to feel like the entire place was a resting place. A final destination for these creatures to close their eyes and breath together at the heart of their planet.
The red Gooshi stayed by him at all times, watching with curiosity and prodding at him with the force. It certainly wasn't just a tailor. The other mushrooms seemed to gravitate around the red one, with its carved out eyes reflecting blue light back at him. Was it testing him?
One thing he did find out for sure, was that Werda was ravenous. Despite her massive stores of filtered light, bright and dappled as though refracting off pine boughs and fluffy snow. For a planet with so much light in it, it seemed so hungry for more. It was starving. The Jedi didn't have enough light in him to feed all of them. Neither did Werda. He could feel her in his chest, even then, watching him. Her strength was his to use.
Red had stolen his attention, the one day, dragging him towards a wall of glittering ice shimmering with dew. Except it wasn't dew. The chamber was empty sans the glistening droplets. They were everywhere on the rust and brown walls. Blue against the backdrop of clay and stone. It was concerning, the lack of mud. How did anything grow here?
Luke reached out to the force, expanding his senses and prodding at the room. He got an echo back. There were dormant minds here. Upon closer inspection the soft shine of blue wasn't ice at all. They were spores. While there may not have been many of them, there were enough to have him smiling softly. "Children?" He asked, and Red nodded.
Then, with a hollow rattle like empty gongs and half filled bowls, it took Luke's hand and pressed it to the cool spores. They were weak. Struggling to maintain equilibrium in an unground city that grew colder and colder each day. Not cool in the way the light grew crisp like chipped ice in a blended caf. It oozed in like sickness, the last vestiges of energy draining from a motionless corpse.
The gooshi pressed his hand harder into the spores, Luke pulled back afraid to crush them. "There isn't anything I can do to help them." The blonde whispered, heartbroken. Red shook his head defiantly, and tugged his hand.
Can't or won't?
Luke startled, his chest brimmed with energy as the piece of Werda splintered into his chest thrummed with the will to move. "Can't." He knew how to push death onwards, to make way for natural cycles. Decomposition became minerals became food became the life that ate it. Growing things, pulling things back from death? He'd failed that at every turn.
Odd. The Jedi were always so proud of their ability to defy the Order of things.
Luke didn't know how to take that. Should he be insulted?
Search your feelings. You know what you say is not true. Do.
There was a possibility he could save these children. He knew that for certain, but how? The force offered him no guidance.
I am one with the force, and the force is with you, my jedi.
The thing in his chest moved, reaching out towards the spores and pushing. Willing them to grow, encouraging them to take what little life was left and feel. Think. Before he knew it, Luke was extending a hand. Drifted his fingers did, over the soft spores. Linking with Her will and pressing Life into the fungi.
It was a beautiful thing, feeling life suddenly ping back at him from nowhere. They were growing before his eyes, and sprouting up into little brightly colored caps. Luke kept pulling from himself, filling the little ones with his energy, draining the pool until Werda hooked an ephemeral tendril behind his navel and tugged.
Enough. The job is done.
But Luke could give them more, he wanted to give them more. He had more. There was so much of it, sometimes it hurt to look at. Right now he wasn't Luke, he was in the fungi, in the earth and feeling seeds sprout from where they'd been trapped in ice. He felt their defiance now, growing boldly up through the clay beneath his feet and blowing like tiny star bursts.
He was a sun, and her will was like a moon, absorbing and reflecting a star's energy but never generating any of her own. It fed the gooshi people, but never for as long as his own did. They bloomed beneath his touch, and he wanted to do more.
He felt amusement, and Werda pulled back from him.
Come back, Jedi.
What? He waited in silence, will crawling over the whole cave, searching for something to connect to, to feed and make grow. It was addicting, all of this life.
Slowly it faded, the high, and Luke became aware of himself once more. His limbs shook, his face was drenched with sweat and the world spun around him. Through tiny hollow holes, dimly lit blues peered up at him. "Oh." The Jedi breathed, flexing his hand as it tingled hot and cold. He could make life.
Why hadn't his masters shown him this? It was beautiful. The force was beautiful.
Why hadn't Ben taught him this on Tatooine? This kind of skill could have transformed the desert planet. With a trembling hand he wiped sweat from his brow. His legs collapsed, maybe that was why. It seemed very draining.
He could change things, with this.
He could heal instead of destroy.
That is why you are here, Knight Skywalker.
There was a swelling in the force, as though many voices were reaching out and speaking in tandem.
For The world works
In a cycle
Of rising and falling
Everything is connected
Life flows through even stagnation
Winter to summer
Spring into autumn
From ice age
To scorching sands
Time flows by in a way
You don't really understand
But it still is within us
Both the light and the dark
Embrace one, not the other
Seems a bit of a farce.
Let go of your bias, little Jetii
You have survived,
This is The Way.
Now that made his head hurt. Werda seemed amused at the thought. But his temples did pulse, because fuck riddles. What was with those who are touched by the force being so cryptic? Regardless.
He would do his duty.
He passed out.
And what
Luke woke up with his head feeling like it was full of lead.
Did we learn?
Not to pass out. He got a mental sigh and second hand amusement before Werda's presence once again faded.
Getting up would be a chore. So, he didn't. When he next returned to awareness it was to fur in his nose and quills digging into his skin. He hadn't felt this warm since he'd been a kid. Snuggled against Uncle Ben'd side as they man regaled him with the wild tales of a Jedi Knight. Whispering with melancholy wistfulness as Beru brewed spiced tzai. The moment allowed because Uncle Owen was in Mos Isley trading for parts for a broken vaporator.
What really urged him into full alertness was the echo of grief in the force. It was minty and melting, like peppermint patties in ice cream. Blinking the darkness from his eyes, Luke spotted Grogu nestled into the stomach of Vee. Who spotted him and then regarded him with a critical eye. As though she were waiting to have a theory proved wrong.
Grogu whined, and Luke sat upright. When Eem shifted he wrapped his force presence around her like a warm blanket. Which proved to be a buffer from the sudden darkness eclipsing Grogu's being.
With careful footfalls, still a bit wobbly from over exertion, he kneeled beside the child. "Kid." Luke sighed, sounding suspiciously like Han. When the Jedi reached out he saw blaster bolts and needles. Sensed pain and the death of thousands. Caught the flashes of red and yellow blazing apart the tranquility of the only home a child had ever known.
People left, backs turned. Guardians fought, and then they fell. He glimpsed the crack of a hammer, and peeked into a world of impenetrable steel. This was current, Luke felt the longing, the attachment.
He coaxed those images to continue, to blossom and smooth out into daring galaxy racing. Of small cockpits and cool armor tapping against a little green forehead. Safety, love, protection, family.
Buir
Grogu smiled, the longing turning into trust, because Buir always found him, always saved him.
Luke nudged again, slowly and carefully encompassing the child in light. He projected a promise, to get Grogu to his family. Another vow, to protect the youngling and return him unharmed. Grogu hoped, and then he believed.
The force sensitive finally relaxed. Burrowing into Luke's force signature and cozying up there. The Jedi smiled, and carefully scooted closer until he had drawn Grogu up into his lap. Nestling the toddler against his chest, the blonde sighed in relief. Leaning backwards, he settled against Eem and gently withdrew himself from her.
The kit yawned, and snuffled against him as they both got comfy.
Stretching out his legs, Luke sagged back and closed his eyes. Not before seeing Vee regarding him with a liberal amount of warmth. She caught his eye and blinked long and slow, a pulse of pride blinking through the force.