A/N: For those of you who keep asking me about Leia… Sorry, she doesn't appear in this story. You will have to wait until the sequel!

Chapter Eight—Part 4

Eyes I dare not meet in dreams

In death's dream kingdom

These do not appear:

There, the eyes are

Sunlight on a broken column

There, is a tree swinging

And voices are In the wind's singing

More distant and more solemn

Than a fading star.

Let me be no nearer

In death's dream kingdom

Let me also wear

Such deliberate disguises

Rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves

In a field

Behaving as the wind behaves

No nearer-

Not that final meeting

In the twilight kingdom

The Hollow Men (second stanza) by T.S Elliot

"Have you the rumors?" Varan Gault asks. The senior militia member meeting has just ended and they are going into the house to cool off after their workout.

"What rumors?" Obi-Wan asks.

"That someone hired a Jedi to kill Jabba! Everyone in Mos Eisley and Anchorhead are talking about it. You have to have heard it, General!" Varan says, incredulous. Some of the men had started calling him General as a joke years ago and Obi-Wan has been so far unable to prevent them from continuing to do so.

"I have not been into town recently," Obi-Wan admits.

He has not left the farm since he took Luke back a week ago, thinking it best to lie low in case someone at the palace had recognized him. Hopefully the Hutt would not make the connection between the moisture farmer whose son he had ordered kidnaped for defaulting on his loan and the man whom had retrieved the boy. Obi-Wan had keep his hood up and killed those whom had not fled. He did not think anyone had gotten a good look at him but it is better to be safe than sorry.

"The assassin failed, though. I know someone who works at the Palace, he says the Hutt has a bolt hole he hides in when things get too dangerous," Jula Darklighter said.

"How do they know it was a Jedi? They were all killed years ago," Jabe Calwell scoffs.

"Because they say he had a lightsaber. Everyone knows that's a Jedi's weapon."

"They probably say that he can shoot lighting from his hands, too," Jabe mocked. "Didn't people say that Jedi could do that too?"

"Do they know who hired the assassin?" Obi-Wan asked, ignoring Jabe and Varan whom were now arguing about the supposed abilities the Jedi had possessed.

"No, but it is probably a rival Hutt trying to destroy Jabba. You know what Hutt's are like, just as dangerous to each other as they are to everyone else. They're all gangsters at heart," Jula replied.

Obi-Wans nods. He is grateful that levelheaded people like Jula believe his one man assault on the Hutt's residence was a hit. It means he is less likely to be suspected. Still…

"Was it a Jedi?" he asks, keeping the interest out of his tone.

Orrin Gault snorts. "Unlikely."

"But Dad, how do you explain the lightsaber?" Varan stops arguing with his stepbrother to ask.

"Simple boy. When all the Jedi were killed, where do you think their weapons ended up? Some bounty hunter probably bought a lightsaber for the price of this farm and then used it to try to kill Jabba and make everyone think it was a Jedi. Think, it's been almost ten years since they were wiped out. Even if one had survived, why would a Jedi want to kill the Hutt?"

Obi-Wan is pleased when Varan does not answer, unable to think of a good reason. Luke had woken up screaming from nightmares twice in the last five days. Obi-Wan was able to heal his head injury with the Force but the psychological scars from the boy's kidnaping are harder to fix. Luke has refused to go to school since his rescue and Obi-Wan has not had the heart to make him.

He has told the boy's school that Luke is sick and hopes that he can convince him to go back. But he himself is not sure that is a good idea. Jabba's kidnaping has shown where he is most vulnerable. Others might deduced the same. Obi-Wan is fortunate the Hutt needed Luke for leverage and as punishment for not paying back his loan. Others may have simply killed the boy for revenge. Luke needs to be in school so he can interact with his friend and peers.

Yet how can he protect his son when he is so far away?