The pain was bad enough to not let Luke sleep. He hadn't wanted to get up. He was so tired. And Leia and Han were in the- was this a room? hut?- with him and he didn't want to disturb them.

Nest, he decided. Ewoks nested in the trees. Elegantly, with tools, and laboriously, but the whole structure was a nest. They cut long branches or saplings, and lashed them together. Then they dropped bucket load after bucket load of earth in the room, and layered it with dried leaves and grass, and shaped it so their little bodies nestled in the depression.

Little was a key description. Luke, in pain, had his legs drawn up to his chest, so he fit, but Han's long legs stretched out and over the soft earth walls. The ewoks would have to reshape that nest.

There was no thatching, no kind of roof, and the light of night- an indigo glow- showed him that Leia had crawled into Han's nest. Luke envied her ability to sleep. The blaster wound to her upper arm was also probably quite painful. And he envied that she had left her own to join Han. He had half a mind to crawl in beside her, grab on to the two of them.

But with the three of them in one nest it would be confining, and if she rolled over she might touch his chest, injured from his fight with Palpatine. Well, he hadn't fought Palpatine. He'd fought- himself. And he'd won, but not before fighting, and injuring, Vader. His father. He'd forgotten momentarily.

The thought made Luke shiver, and his face screwed up, fighting tears. He hated this. Hated the pain, physical and tormenting, hated the regret, the loss. The sight of Han and Leia sharing a nest made him feel so alone, and the love he felt for them gave him a pain more intense than the Emperor's lightning.

Night was hard. All nights had been, ever since the first one, when he bunked on Han's ship leaving Tatooine.

Full circle, he thought. His home had been burned and now his chest was. His aunt and uncle were dead forever, and now his father was too.

And this was for the best?

Luke pressed his hands to his eyes. He wasn't going to do this. Another succumbing, like the Emperor had wanted. He had learned long ago: you didn't let the night press on you. You had to get up and pretend you didn't feel it. Let day come.

He could go down to the camp site, where the Alliance had set up a medical tent. Lando was down there, and Wedge. Chewie went to the Falcon; he told Han he didn't want Lando in the ship longer than necessary. It sounded like the celebration had quieted; Luke wouldn't have to talk to anyone. He sat up, wincing, and looked again at Han and Leia. Her hand was under his shirt, resting on the warm skin of his belly. He blinked at them, tenderly and with remorse, and left the nest.

And Luke saw the indigo glow didn't come from space, not from stars or another moon. It was Ben, Luke's first master, and he was waiting, Luke supposed, standing by the entranceway into the nest.

Luke pretended not to see him. Ben was dead, only not forever like Owen and Beru. His father was nowhere to be seen, nor Yoda. He'd spotted their ghostly visages earlier, watching everyone dance, and they were smiling and satisfied like it was their party too, and for a few minutes Luke was glad he had made them proud, until Leia pulled him away by the arm.

It was after Han yelled at him for leaving and then hugged him again for surviving- who'd have thought, Han Solo hugging first, but he had- and led him to the medical tent so Luke could get treated for his burns, that Luke realized there was more to the Force than just light side and dark side. There was life, and it didn't need a simplistic opposite called death, and it was something Luke was determined to enjoy.

"Hello, Luke," Ben said quietly.

Luke scowled to himself. "I wish I didn't see you," he greeted in answer.

Ben acknowledged the hostility with a nod. "I'm afraid that can't be helped."

"Leia didn't see you."

"No, she didn't." Ben paused. "Does she know?"

"I told her," Luke said. "I thought I was going to die. I didn't want to leave her without telling the truth. It's a break from Jedi tradition, I know, telling the truth," Luke was sarcastic, "but I'm the Jedi now."

Ben nodded again and smiled slightly. "Like your father before you."

"No," Luke said. "Not at all like him. I figured she should know in case I died and one day you thought you needed her, even though you're dead and you shouldn't care, and you came to her in the middle of something important with that really bad timing you have. Maybe not dying in a snowstorm but having sex with Han or something."

Ben looked infuriatingly amused. "Well, it makes me happy that you three have found each other."

Luke sobered. "I was just thinking that. They've given me more than this has." He reached for his lightsaber, usually clasped at his waist, but remembered he had taken it off and set it by the nest inside.

"The Force includes all life," Ben said. "Perhaps one day your sister will be able to see us."

"I don't think she'll care to," Luke said flatly. "I'm not even sure she'll train. Check back in a few years. Even if she did, though, I don't think she'd get much out of talking to ghosts."

"It is a bridge to the past."

Luke looked sharply at his old master. "One I don't want to cross anymore. And you think after Alderaan she has a bridge? No, Leia moves forward. Seeing ghosts doesn't move the living forward."

"Perhaps you are right," Ben conceded.

"What do you want, Ben?" Luke asked. "You only come when you want something."

"I came," Ben hesitated, "to congratulate you. I see now how that is lacking." Luke snorted. "And so I am only glad to check on you."

Luke set his jaw. He wasn't completely mad at Ben, though he was. But he saw he missed the wry calm, the fond wisdom. Yoda hadn't been like that. His father probably wasn't either. He might never know.

He said very softly, "I forgave my father."

"I did too," Ben said.

"After all the horrible things I learned about him," Luke continued, "I still forgave him. Things in my lifetime- Leia and Han. He cut off my hand." Luke curled and uncurled the fingers of his prosthetic hand. "Did you know that?"

Ben looked pained. "No."

"But I can't really forgive you," Luke said. "He wasn't like you. He was afraid and not smart and following orders, but you were none of those things."

"I am sorry, Luke." The old master was quietly anguished.

"You knew who you left the galaxy with. And you just left! I've been trying to understand why. What did you expect to accomplish?"

"We did know," Ben's had dropped. "We did. You are right. But at the time- Yoda was unable to defeat the Emperor, and I... couldn't kill Anakin. I bested him, but I left it up to fate. We needed to run, to hide, for Palpatine had ordered the deaths of all the Jedi. So we ran, and we waited to see what would happen next. We waited to hear from other Jedi, because... it couldn't be true. We waited a day, a week, a year. And the hope never went away, and neither did the uncertainty of how this was going to end. When."

"I was right there," Luke said. "We were practically neighbors, all my life. And it wasn't until-" he broke off suddenly. "Did you know? When we viewed Leia's holomessage, did you know who she was?"

Ben nodded. "I knew she was the Princess of Alderaan. Senator Organa took her. We were present at your births. I knew she was your sister. I'm leaving nothing out, Luke."

"Now," Luke grumbled. "When it doesn't matter." But he was thinking Ben could name his mother, and a curiosity sparked.

"Luke? You out here?"

Luke turned his head and Ben's glow vanished, leaving Han's wrinkled white shirt to take a moment to come into focus in the new darkness.

"Yeah. Over here, Han."

"Oh." Han was squinting, his hair mussed and with a leaf sticking out of it. "Thought I heard you talking."

"I was. I was talking to Ben." Luke moved to take a seat on the planked bridge the ewoks had erected to travel between the trees. "He can't see you, Ben," he called loudly into the darkness. "You don't have to leave."

Han joined him. "The old man?" He was looking around, eyes wide with concern and skepticism.

Luke nodded. "Remember on Hoth when the wampa attacked me? And when you found me I was delirious and calling Ben's name?"

"Yeah, I remember. You scared the shit out of me."

Luke smiled a little.

"You delirious again?" Han asked.

"Maybe," Luke laughed. "How's Leia?"

Han rubbed the fabric of his pants. "Seems fine. Sleeping. Snoring a little, even. And she says I snore."

"She's upset."

"She's a lot of things," Han said. "Happy too. Medicated."

Luke smiled again. "Did she, um... say anything?"

"Yeah, quite a bit," Han allowed.

"And?" Luke said. "What do you think?"

"Seems like it don't have much to do with me," Han said. "Except I'm acquainted with you. So," Han clapped his thigh, changing the subject, "if you talk to the old man, you can talk to, you know, him?"

"Our father? Yeah, I guess so." Luke wasn't wondering why Han asked. He was thinking instead how Han came to accepting that such a thing was possible.

"Can he use the Force? You know, whisk a blaster out of my hand?"

"Hmm." Luke thought about it. "I don't think so."

"Does he have a body? 'Cause this is what I think," Han was suddenly full of talk, "I'll never invite him to my kid's life day party, but I sure as hell would like to break his nose. Just once. Then I'll be done."

Luke nodded, smiling. Just like with Ben earlier, there was a lot of information in a sentence. He breezed past Han's talk of revenge. "Kid's life day party, huh? You see yourself becoming a dad? Having a family?"

Han shrugged shyly. "If I can put up with Leia's snoring, figure I can put up with anything."

"Yeah, you're tough alright," Luke said. He was still smiling. "I was going back to medical for more of that salve. Maybe some pain reliever."

Han nodded. "Nights are hard," he sympathized. "I'll go along. Make sure you don't get lost coming back." He held up a playful finger. "No snoring, though."

"Can't make any promises." Luke got to his feet.