Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars or anything related to it.
Slowly, out of the mists, something seemed to take form. At first, it was only a slight flicker, then it quickly grew into a square of light. A window, Aurora realized. As they got closer, she was able to make out the shape of a diminutive hut sitting alone in a small clearing. It was a pale tan color, obviously made from the mud in which it sat, and not much taller than she was. But considering they had been walking in a steady drizzle for the last few minutes, it looked just fine to her. She could smell the smoke that was rising from a squat chimney and something cooking. At a gesture from her guide, Aurora ducked her head under the short lintel and stepped into the tiny hut.
"Aurora!"
She turned to see Luke sitting on the floor in front of a tiny table, a bowl of something in his hand.
He dropped it on the table and stood up, having to bend low to avoid the too short ceiling. One step brought him to her side, and she was surprised to feel herself swept into a fierce embrace. It felt unbelievably good.
"Force, I didn't know what had happened to you! I was worried you hadn't made it down, but our host here said he knew where you were and was going to go get you." A slight scowl downward. "He told me I couldn't come with him, or he wouldn't go."
Aurora, all too aware of the heat of Luke's body through her damp flightsuit, and the slight disapproving look they had gotten from the little green alien as he made his way to the cooking area, pushed Luke gently away.
"So does our host have a name?"
Looking slightly rebuffed, Luke sat back down and picked up his bowl, more as something to play with than out of any real desire to eat it. "If he has, he didn't tell me. He just told me he knew where to find you and Master Yoda, and led me here."
Aurora sat down next to him cross legged. There really wasn't much room for the two of them, and she was all too aware of Luke's leg pressing into hers. "Master Yoda? How did you get on that subject?"
"He wanted to know why I was here. I told him I was looking for a Jedi Master."
"You told him that?" She looked at him incredulously and Luke shifted uncomfortably.
"It seemed like a good idea at the time." A flush rose on his cheeks. It had been a stupid thing to do. Mentioning the Jedi on any Imperial planet was a certain death sentence. He would never have done it anywhere else, so what had made him do it this time, with this little creature?
Aurora's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Then what?"
Luke shrugged. "He told me I was looking for Yoda and that he knew where to find him. I told him I couldn't look for Master Yoda until I found you. He knew where you were too, and told me he'd take me to his home and then go get you. I tried to argue with him, but he just ignored me."
Aurora frowned, casting a swift glance over her shoulder to where the little being was humming while he moved from table to bowl, chopping and mixing various things. "Ah, that's how he knew I had something to do with the Jedi." She lowered her voice. "So he knew where I was and he knows where Master Yoda is. He sure seems to know a lot about what we need to find out."
Luke leaned closer. "You don't trust him?"
Hearing their host coming towards them, Aurora deliberately shifted her voice into the drawling tones Han used when he wanted to be particularly irritating. "Sweetheart, I don't trust anybody."
Luke smiled.
With a slight humph, a bowl was shoved between the two of them, forcing Luke to lean back. "Eat, yes."
Aurora took it tentatively. It smelled odd and looked peculiar. "Um, thanks."
The little green alien huffed again and turned his large eyes to Luke. With an abashed air, but a smile tugging at his lips, Luke resumed eating. They'd have to continue their conversation later, preferably somewhere without their host in earshot. Luke was intrigued to find out why exactly Aurora didn't trust the small being.
Making small talk, he took another bite of the stew. It really wasn't bad. Better than Wedge's attempt at taun taun stew anyway.
"How far is Yoda? Will it take us long to get there?"
"Not far. Yoda not far. Patience." He turned away to stir the cooking pot, taking a small taste and nodding to himself. "Why wish you become Jedi? Hm?"
Aurora looked up from her bowl at the studied casualness of the question, but Luke answered easily. "Mostly because of my father, I guess."
The little creature nodded. "Ah, your father. Powerful Jedi was he, powerful Jedi, mmm."
Luke's eyes narrowed, Aurora' suspicions flowing through his mind. His voice was irritated when he spoke. "Oh, come on. How could you know my father? You don't even know who I am." Suddenly, the incongruity of the situation reached him. Here they were sitting cozily inside a warm hut, eating carelessly, while outside in the galaxy his friends were fleeing from the Empire, uncertain of what had happened to them, possibly dying. His notoriously short temper flared and he flung his bowl on the table in disgust. "Oh, I don't know what we're doing here. We're wasting our time!"
To his surprise, the green alien didn't react other than to turn away and sigh quietly.
"I cannot teach them. The boy has no patience. The girl has no faith." He said, apparently to empty space. Luke and Aurora exchanged startled glances, but he could see the same dawning awareness on her face that he was sure was on his.
Suddenly, another voice spoke out of the air.
"They will learn." It was Ben's voice. Luke saw Aurora flinch and he reached out one hand to cover hers.
The little creature turned to study him, his eyes seeming to see inside to his thoughts and dreams. "Hmmm. Much anger in him, like his father."
Ben's voice spoke again. "Was I any different when you taught me?"
Those large, all knowing eyes turned to Aurora. "No trust in her. She believes only what she can see and touch."
"As do many of the students when they first come to us."
"Hah. They are not ready."
It sounded final, and seeing his hopes slip away, Luke found his voice, certain of who he was addressing now. "Yoda! We are ready. We…Ben! We can be Jedi. Ben, tell him we're ready." In his anxiety, Luke started to stand, forgetting that the ceilings were so low and managed to hit his head. With a wince, he slowly sank back down.
Yoda turned to him, his eyes flashing contemptuously. "Ready, are you? What know you of ready? For eight hundred years have I trained Jedi. My own counsel will I keep on who is to be trained!" He poked Luke with the end of his walking stick. "A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind." He turned away to address the unseen Ben again. "This one a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away…to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing." With each sentence, he poked Luke again. "Hmph. Adventure. Heh! Excitement. Heh! A Jedi craves not these things. You are reckless!"
Luke's eyes fell in the face of the accusations. Every single one of them was true. He had spent his time dreaming of adventures and excitement instead of concentrating on what he was supposed to be doing. His uncle had made the same accusation, on more than one occasion. And his military career. At the first opportunity, he had abandoned it, racing off in search of a Jedi that no one had seen in over two decades. Reckless didn't even begin to describe it.
Once more, Ben's voice intervened. "So was I, if you'll remember."
"And this one." Yoda turned to Aurora, who was sitting silently, her face blank. "Not even sure that she wants to be a Jedi, are you girl? Doubts you have. No commitment." It was her turn to get poked and Luke worried for a moment that she was going to grab the stick and snap it half, but after one sharp, aborted movement, she remained still. Yoda contemplated her. "Fear you have." He said softly.
Her eyes raised to his and her voice was just as soft. "Shouldn't I have?"
"Hmmph." Yoda turned away. "They are too old. Yes, too old to begin the training." His words were pessimistic, but something in his voice seemed to indicate a softening in his reluctance.
Luke leaned forward. "But we've learned so much."
Once more, Yoda stared into his eyes, almost as if he was searching for something. Abruptly he turned back to the corner where he seemed to see Ben. "Will they finish what they begin?"
Tired of being spoken about as if he weren't there, Luke interrupted. "I won't fail you – I'm not afraid."
Yoda slowly turned back towards him, his teeth showing in a disturbing smile. "Oh, you will be. You will be."
Luke felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise, and out of the corner of his eye, saw Aurora shiver.
Luke awoke slowly. He felt stiff and sore, and at first he couldn't remember where he was. But as he sat up carefully and surveyed his surroundings, the memory came back to him: Yoda and the muddy swamp on the planet Dagobah. This was to be his first day of Jedi training. The thought had him sitting up eagerly. Or at least it would have if his spine hadn't been twisted into knots from the position he had been forced to sleep in. After the dramatic revelation of Yoda's identity and the following conversation, which he only later realized might have been some kind of test, the rain had still been pouring down outside, and Aurora and Luke had been forced to remain inside Yoda's tiny hut, trying to find enough space to at least get some sleep. Luke had tried to get Master Yoda to keep talking, but after Ben had left or disappeared or whatever, the little Jedi master had refused to speak about their training anymore, telling them it could wait for tomorrow. Now was the time for rest. Shortly after that, he had disappeared into the tiny alcove where his bed was, leaving his two new apprentices alone with each other and their thoughts.
Luke had been forced to wedge himself between the table and a chair, his back to the wall and his legs stretched out in front of him. It wasn't the most comfortable position and hardly conducive to sleep, but after a while he had managed it. Unfortunately, his neck was now protesting that idea strenuously. Across the room he heard a slight groan and saw Aurora push herself up to a sitting position. She had somehow managed to curl herself up around the furniture, so she had at least managed to lie down, but from the look on her face, it hadn't been any more comfortable for her than him.
"Ugh." She pushed at the hair that had fallen into her face. "I feel like I've been squashed by a Hutt."
"Mm." Luke agreed, trying to crack his neck.
"What do you think the odds are on us actually getting any caf this morning?"
Luke glanced around the cooking area, not seeing anything that he recognized. "Not good."
As if in reply, the door opened and Yoda limped in, letting in the dim grey light of morning and the fetid air from the swamp.
"Mmm. Good. Awake you are. Yes. Outside you come. Training you begin."
Aurora and Luke exchanged glances. "Um, Master Yoda, what about breakfast?" Luke asked tentatively.
The old Jedi turned to look at him, something that might have been amusement in his eyes. "Work up an appetite you must." With that he turned and headed back out.
Aurora banged her head lightly against the wall. "I hate my life."
The old Jedi hadn't been kidding. Every morning upon awakening he had them running a sort of obstacle course through the swamp. They jumped fallen trees, climbed vines and splashed through stagnant puddles, all the while lecturing them on the Force. As their lessons continued and their prowess drawing on the Force increased, he added leaps and flips to their repertoire.
Almost worse than the physical effort, was the effort of concentrating on the constant lecture that he kept up from one or the other of their backs.
"Run! Yes. A Jedi's strength flows from the Force. But beware of the dark side. Anger…fear…aggression. The dark side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan's apprentice."
Luke paused in his endeavors to glance over his shoulder at his master. "Vader."
Yoda closed his eyes and nodded.
"Is the dark side stronger?" Aurora asked, stopping next to them, panting slightly from their exertions.
"No…no…no. Quicker, easier, more seductive."
Luke frowned, thinking about it, trying to recall what he had been feeling the few times he'd been able to call the Force to him. That time in the cave with the wampa. He'd certainly been afraid. So did that mean when he was able to call his lightsaber to him with the Force he had been touching the dark side? It certainly hadn't felt wrong, but what did he know? He put the question to Master Yoda.
"But how am I to know the good side from the bad?"
"You will know. When you are calm, at peace. Passive. A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack."
Aurora was frowning too. Apparently this was just as confusing to her as it was to him.
"But tell me why I can't-?"
Yoda interrupted Luke in mid –sentence. "No, no, there is no why. Nothing more will I teach you today. Clear your mind of questions. Mmm. Mmmmmm." He gestured to Luke to lower him to the ground.
Aurora collapsed on a fallen log to catch her breath. She had hundreds of more questions, but they'd both learned early on that when Master Yoda decided he was done teaching, than he was done. No amount of nagging or questioning would coerce him to answer any more questions. She tried clearing her mind of those nagging thoughts, as Master Yoda had instructed, deliberately slowing her breathing, but for some reason, she found herself casting a quick glance over her shoulder. There was nothing there. Just trees and swamp. Shaking her head, she closed her eyes and tried to concentrate again, but once more, a feeling of unease stole over her and she found herself searching the nearby swamp again for an unseen danger.
"Something's not right here." She whispered.
Across the clearing from her, Luke had paused in the act of shrugging into his jacket. He was staring at the base of a huge, dead tree.
Aurora rose to her feet and crossed to him, studying the tree. It was much larger than most of the trees around them. When it lived, it must have towered over the surrounding forest. But that must have been centuries ago; for now it was ancient and blackened, surrounded by dank water. At its base, just barely, visible was what looked to be a cave. From its dark opening a miasma of evil seemed to seep.
"I feel cold, death." Luke murmured, his eyes focused on the malevolent-looking opening.
Yoda was sitting on a root, poking at the ground with his gimer stick. He glanced up at them briefly before returning his gaze to the ground. "That place…is strong with the dark side of the Force. A domain of evil it is." Another swift glance up. "In you must go."
Luke and Aurora exchanged their own glances. He didn't look any happier than she did.
"Excuse me? You want us to go in to the domain of evil?" She questioned. "Does that sound wrong to anybody else?"
Yoda didn't answer.
"What's in there?" Luke asked, still eyeing the cave with misgivings.
"Only what you take with you."
"Oh, of course." Aurora muttered under her breath. " 'Only what you take with you.'" She mocked. "Stupid Jedi mysticism."
Luke knew her cynical outburst was a cover for the very real feelings of fear that she was experiencing. He didn't blame her. He really didn't want to venture into that dark opening. But he knew better than to voice that opinion to the old Jedi Master sitting on the tree stump. Master Yoda said to go in, so go in they would. He grabbed his weapons belt from the tree branch and began to buckle it on.
"Your weapons…" Yoda's voice stopped him. "You will not need them."
Luke studied the evil-looking cave for a moment, then glanced at Aurora with raised brows.
She glanced back and forth between the tree and their master, then her lips tightened and she strapped on her own weapons belt. "I'd rather have them and not need them, than need them and not have them."
Luke felt his lips quirk in a cynical smile. "Good point." He finished buckling on his belt and stepped forward to brush aside the vines hanging over the opening. He looked at Aurora and felt his grin widen. "Ladies first."
She snorted at the reminder of his offer to let her go first into the garbage chute on the Death Star and repeated what she had said to him then. "You're a true gentleman, Skywalker."
With that, she passed under the hanging vines and stepped into the cave, Luke following close behind her.
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It was dark. Almost completely pitch black. Only a little light from the opening behind them filtered in. That and some irregular patches of dimly glowing phosphorescence from some kind of mold were the only sources of light in the cave. It was also slimy and dank.
"Pretty much what you'd expect from a domain of evil." She muttered, igniting her lightsaber with a familiar snap-hiss. Luke gave a hollow chuckle, his own lit saber held out in front of him. "Come on."
Together, they moved deeper into the cave.
Aurora could sense, more than see when the cave opened up around them. The light from their sabers seemed to pool around them, casting dim puddles of light against the darkness. As she moved forward, she could dimly see two openings in front of her.
"Which one do you think we should take?"
When she received no response, she turned her head to look at him. "Luke?"
But he was gone. There was nothing there. The only light was from her lightsaber.
"Luke!" Thinking he had somehow tripped or fallen, she retraced her steps, holding the lightsaber low so that she could see the floor of the cave. But there was no sign of him. The only footprints on the muddy ground were her own. There was nothing to indicate that he had ever been there with her.
Aurora took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart. "Okay. Don't panic." The sound of her own voice steadied her somewhat. "You know he came in here with you, so it must be some kind of trick. Master Yoda had a reason for sending us in here. Domain of evil, remember?" She gripped the metal cylinder in her hand tightly. "Just keep moving forward and get through whatever this is." She turned around and headed back towards the two openings she had originally seen.
"Alright, left or right?" She couldn't see any difference between the two apertures. They were both jagged and dark, the blue light from her lightsaber reflecting off the slimy stone that made up the walls. There was nothing to distinguish one from the other. "You're a Jedi in training, remember? Be a Jedi, dammit." Closing her eyes, she tried to sense if there was anything that indicated one over the other, but the cold, metallic feeling of the Dark side was so prevalent here, that she couldn't sense anything else.
With a mental sigh, she opened her eyes and headed for the left.