❝ it’s more than just 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙩 , kid . ❞ squinting eyes drop to the boy’s hands , between them , solo falling SILENT a moment , caught amid painful 𝗋𝖾𝗆𝗂𝗇𝗂𝗌𝖼𝖾𝗇𝖼𝖾 . their son’s questions are to be expected , & as a 𝐬𝐤𝐲𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐞𝐫 , he’s entitled no less than the truth . ❝ i don’t think it ever made much sense to her , neither . 𝐕𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑 didn’t raise her , an she never got to hear his truth from her mother . she’s got no answer for you , ben . all she got are her own 𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 , that she’s learned to live with . now , i don’t know much bout how the 𝖥𝖮𝖱𝖢𝖤 works , but i can tell ya there’s no lesson to be drawn from that 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 . no example to be made of him . ━ so , how bout you leave the ghosts where they belong an focus on the present , with us ? ❞ slowly , lips part into a gentler grin , knowing , hoping to see the boy ease up . ❝ isn’t that what MASTER LUKE would tell ya ? 𝙨𝙚𝙚 ? i got the lesson , too . ❞
ben was dissatisfied with that . he felt cheated — like his father had spun some contrived web , and now had miraculously freed himself of all his duties as a guardian , a protector , a teacher .
his mother was the same ; only she didn’t have either the skill or the necessary detachment to lie so easily . ❝ i don’t need luke . ❞ not uncle . not master skywalker . he needed these two — his mother and father — most of all .
whomever he needed , it wasn’t luke . he already had a teacher — one far more powerful , and far wiser .
❝ where’s chewbacca ? ❞ ben was surprised that his father wasn’t being tailed by the wookiee . ❝ i thought you two were meant to be away for a while . mom’s still on chandrila . ❞