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Pantolomin - Azure Shores

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Coruscant - Golden Age

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She'd played both of those quite a few times already. Always something new to see in the Coruscant vid, but it invariably left her a little sad, nostalgic for times she'd never even experienced. Not what she was looking for right now. Something warmer...

Rey shifted and sank a little deeper into the soft, welcoming curves of the sofa, pulling her robes and towels around her, still wet and chilly from a much-needed shower. The ship was completely silent save for a muted orchestral arrangement that filled the cabin at a suitably soothing volume. Nothing to give away the fact that she was racing towards Ziost as fast as the ship's state of the art Girodyne drives could take her.

She waved her hand at the wall panel, scrolling through the list of vistas.

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Wroona - Endless Blue

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Tython - Hidden Temples

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She loved to watch the forests and peaks of Tython, but not today.

An automated platform rolled up, bearing a small bowl of a hot spiced drink she'd selected from the menus a minute earlier. Something to warm her up and wash down the excellent dinner. Ewok cutlets again, though not quite as delicious as last time. Was the temperature in here lower than usual? She'd had difficulty with the environment manager and... he'd fixed it. Well, whatever, if he could master it, so could she. Later.

She turned her attention back to the panel. Let's see. Something comforting...

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Thyferra - Lost Lands

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Tatooine - Jundland Dawn

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Sullust - Obsidian Beauty

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Gods, Sullust was amazing. So dramatic, but not what she wanted.

Wait, Tatooine? She barely contained a laugh. What was that doing in a list of the most scenic places in the galaxy? It was probably included because the planet had acquired a mythical quality in recent years due to its importance in the Skywalker legend. Even more so with Luke's passing. Her memories of the place were fond with a dash of sadness. Why not?

"Tatooine," she commanded and the panels of the living area shifted and faded into darkness, displaying a point of view inside the twisting sandstone canyons of Jundland, the first light of the dawn visible as a dim glow above the walls ahead. Memories of the cool, sharp nip of desert dawns and early starts in the dim half-light, shivered into her head.

She sipped at the drink. A bit like Chav, but not as sweet. Perfect.

"What are you doing here?" Luke said.

Rey started, barely managing to avoid a spillage. She had never got used to the sudden appearances, and it had been a while since the last one. What had she done to deserve this, she wondered as she collected herself.

"You mean Tatooine or on this shuttle?"

"Take your pick," he reclined on the chair opposite, wrapped in Jedi robes and glowing softly, observing her with a wry smile. The same old Luke, evoking the same old bittersweet memories but always a welcome sight, just the same.

"Umm, Tatooine's the closest thing this has to Jakku?"

He raised an eyebrow. "You really want to go back to Jakku?"

"Ok. Actually, it caught my eye, and I thought of you, and how it's another thing we had in common."

"Growing up on a desert world."

"Growing up an orphan on a desert world. Are you here to see me, or this?" she nodded towards the canyon, which was growing lighter, the silence punctuated by the distant chatter of insect life and smaller mammals emerging to meet the day.

"Both," he smiled.

"Ok," she smiled back, "Is this the famous Beggars Canyon?"

"No. That was further north," he watched the scene, taking in the images and sounds, "Despite what the legends say, they weren't all bad times, you know."

Rey sipped her drink and waited for him to continue, but he appeared content to watch the vista for a moment. She shouldn't let her time with Luke slip by. His visits had grown less frequent over the past few years, and now she thought about it, there was something she had always intended to bring up but had never gotten around to in their previous fleeting encounters. She shifted around to face him more directly.

"I never told you, but after Exegol, they wanted me to set up a Jedi academy," she glanced down at the steaming bowl, "The thought terrified me."

"It wasn't that I didn't want to," she insisted, "But I felt like I was trapped, going down the same path you'd already walked. I was scared of where it would lead."

"Our twin paths," Luke nodded knowingly.

"Orphan on a desert world. Escaping, on the Falcon. Watching a father figure die by a red saber and later, the same killer refusing to kill us, turning against his master instead. Learning from a Jedi master in a remote place and leaving too soon. The more I learned about you, the more I was struck by history repeating itself. Everything was happening again, to me."

Luke said nothing, just watched her, so she took a sip of the hot drink and continued.

"That's how the Force works isn't it, moving us around and around in cycles. That's why you were on Ahch-To, to break that cycle of Light and Dark, Jedi and Sith orbiting each other. I was scared that if I tried to rebuild the Order, I'd still be stuck on the same path as you."

"You were scared you'd fail, as I did."

"Yes," she was ashamed to admit it. Rebuilding the Order would have been a noble mission.

"But you almost ended up a hermit on Ahch-to anyway."

"Yes," Rey laughed, "I almost took a short-cut straight to Ahch-to." Luke smiled back. "All I have to offer in my defence is that I was exhausted, I'd spent, like, the entire week permanently traumatized and sleep deprived," she gestured helplessly, "and it seemed like a good idea at the time."

Luke chuckled. "Admit it, you missed the blue milk."

"I said traumatized, not insane. I thought the Caretakers would be missing me. Anyway, thanks for saving me from that."

"You're welcome. So that's why you're here," he said, "Fear of following me."

"When the Council came up with this mission, I jumped at the chance. I thought it would break me free of that path."

"Fear drives you."

"Fear of following your path," she confirmed, "Fear of myself. Fear of...".

"...of being abandoned." Luke completed for her.

She looked him in the eye and nodded. That fear still cut the deepest. It was the oldest.

"So many fears," he said with a sigh.

"I try to add a new one every couple of years. Keeps me on my toes."

"And you know what Master Yoda said about fear."

"Everyone knows. But it's hard to stop when there are so many things to be scared of," she paused a breath before asking, "How do I stop?"

"By confronting it. Confronting fear is the destiny of a Jedi, but sometimes we need help. My fear led me to hide. You forced me to face my mistake. Alone, I never would have."

She sipped again and considered his words, bathed in the glow of Tatoo II as it peeked into the canyon, filling it with an amber light.

"So I should quit this, face my fear and rebuild the Order? Is that what you're saying?"

"Not exactly." Luke smiled at her gently, and she felt 10 years old again, struggling to keep up with lessons in a shadowy, sweltering Anchorite classroom.

"I wish you could have stayed," she breathed, unable to take her eyes from him, as if the simple act of watching him could anchor him here. She wished he could stay right now, though she knew it was impossible. How many seconds did they have left?

"I did what I had to do."

"I'll never know how. I worry I'm being selfish. This New Glory mission, I wanted it, and they keep telling me it's going to bring light to the galaxy, and all that," she waved her hand in vague circles, "But it's not good for me. There's too much killing involved."

She stared down into the bowl, "And the problem is, I've started to enjoy it. I lie awake at night and think about what I'm going to do to them and why they deserve it and how, in the big picture, in the end, it's doing good because the mission justifies it, and I'm eliminating followers of the Dark Side, which is good, right? That's wrong, I know it's wrong, but I can't help it. Believing that makes sense of everything."

Luke watched her. "The Dark Side deceives."

She nodded. "I still hear his voice. I dream about him, and Exegol. It's as if he's always there."

Luke leaned forwards to look into her eyes. "You were strong enough to resist him before, and you're even stronger now."

"I wish I had your confidence. I don't know if I'll ever be free of him. I can feel him, like a ghost, at the edges of everything, just out of sight, wearing me down until one day I fall."

She turned her attention back to the vista and shook her head, "Or, that's all bullshit, and there's only me, and he's just an excuse: 'Oh, it wasn't my fault I went to the Dark Side, Sidious made me do it.'" Her voice dropped to a whisper, "Nobody would be surprised."

"Rey, you're talking as if it's your destiny to fail. Don't fall into that trap," he urged her, "Your story hasn't been written yet. You still have choices."

"Then why are they so hard to see?"

"Because you're so concerned with your path that you only see what lies straight ahead. You just need to turn your head, Rey. Let the Force guide you."

"He tried to turn you to the Dark," she asked, "How did you resist?"

But Luke was gone, the chair empty, leaving her only with a familiar, aching longing for more time and a nagging fear that she had missed something, a moment of enlightenment that had passed her by, a message lost in the exchange. Her mind was dragged back again to their final meeting on Ahch-to, its violence and antagonism and how she'd never expressed her regrets on how they had parted. Maybe next time.

He never understood you , whispered something old and bitter and hidden.

She hugged her knees, let the sofa and robes swallow her and clutched the bowl, warming her hands. Her gaze flickered to the doorways and corners of the cabin as if searching for something half-expected, but all was still and silent save the chirping of desert birds as they danced in the dawn light and the distant hum of the drives moving her towards her fate.