Playlist:

❶ "Luke and Leia"—Return of the Jedi OST

⊘ Silence

❷ "Jedi Master Revealed—The Mynock Cave"—The Empire Strikes Back Extended ST

⊘ Silence

❸ "The Spark" 0:49–2:15—The Last Jedi OST

⊘ Silence

❶ Luke recognized some of the senators as he gazed around Chinot's. Two tables down, a chef stood in front of a small table and seared meat and vegetables, tossing them in the air in a display of raging fire on the table-top grill. The diners shrieked back in their seats at the flame, but the cheers and smiles were a testament to the high-class restaurant's reputation. Outside, the media waited in the paparazzi huddle, never knowing who might show up for dinner or with whom.

Chinot's was the premier eating establishment on Hosnian Prime, catering to the elite, both in fine cuisine and privacy fields at each table. The establishment ensured their clientele could enjoy high cuisine without the media hounding them. While Leia enjoyed the privacy, Luke loved the food. He only wished he were here with Naluma right now.

The meal was exquisite, just as Luke remembered. He arranged with the chef to take two meals to be deep frozen for the trip back to the academy. He could not wait to surprise Naluma. As he thought about her, his face changed into a warm smile.

Leia said, "You're thinking about her again, aren't you?"

Luke nodded. "Always," he said with longing in his voice.

"Why don't you just marry her, Luke? I've never seen a couple so bonded as you two and not married."

"The Jedi Code forbids attachment and marriage because they lead to jealousy and fear of loss."

"Well, you're attached, so you broke it already." She touched his hand. "Also, I don't think you're the jealous type."

"Protective, but not usually jealous." Embarrassed, Luke pulled his hand back and changed the subject. "Leia, what are your plans?"

"I'm not really sure. I'm weaning myself out of the Senate and will resign my office in a few weeks. After that, I'll hide somewhere, deliver her in anonymity, raise her until she's old enough to train with you."

"Why don't you and Han run off together? Maybe stay on the Falcon as he runs shipments?"

Leia looked at Luke in sternness. "Han was hardly ever around for Ben, Luke. He had no desire to be a father, and I'm not going to burden him anymore. Besides, if he knows about his daughter, and Ben sees him ... well, then Ben will know about her—and he can't." She leaned forward. "Oh, Luke, is Ben okay? I mean, really okay? Since he left, I've been having dark dreams about him."

"I don't know, Leia. He seems to have made the right choice, but it's still the honeymoon period. He hasn't gotten over the newness of his life yet, and ..." He grimaced. "I know this may hurt ... but, Leia, Ben is spoiled. He's not fitting in well. He didn't even know how to make his own bunk or clean a refresher, and he thinks that because he is a Senator's son he doesn't have to," Luke said with more strength than he had intended. "We're not only combating the dark side's influence in his life, but also laziness, entitlement, and selfishness."

⊘ Leia looked at him, sad and careworn, realizing what a failure she was in raising Ben. "That was harsh."

"It was the truth, and I'm sorry, but the truth sometimes hurts," Luke said with a soft voice. "I love you, Leia, but you have landed a big problem in our laps at the academy, and I can't promise this is going to turn out well." Should I tell her about the visions, the darkness that shrouds him? No, she can't do anything about it anyway. Only the Force can solve it.

After they ate their desserts in awkward silence, Luke paid for the meals. The tension between the siblings increased as they walked back to Leia's apartment.

While Luke put the two extra meals into the freezing unit, Leia asked, "Are you going to see Han soon?"

He shrugged. "Maybe next rotation. Why?"

Leia headed to Chewbacca's room and pointed at the crates. "I've got all their stuff they left. I can't take it with me when I leave. Would you be able to take it with you? Give it to them next time they're there?"

"Do you know what any of this is?" The same feeling in the Force assaulted him.

"Stuff they picked up who knows where. Han always said he had buyers for it. I just got tired of it sitting in our bedroom."

❷ I would, too. Luke felt the compulsion again. He couldn't ignore it any longer. "D-do you feel that, Leia?" He knelt beside the stack and removed a medium cylinder and a few small crates to dig deeper into the pile.

"No, what?"

"Something's ... calling me ... just, it's not words." He removed two more medium crates to reveal a larger one at the back of the pile. "Look, it's glowing." Blue light pulsed under the seals.

"Luke, don't touch it. You don't know—"

He lifted the crate into the center of the room and flipped the latches on the front of the case. Leia held her hand to her mouth as Luke cracked the lid. Blue light burst forth from the crate, bathing them and the room in its eerie glow.

"What's in there?" she asked while looking at the light on her arms.

Luke pulled out a blue cube with metal etchings, the source of the light. "A holocron."

"Don't touch it. What if it's Sith?"

He shook his head. "Relax. It's not." Luke held up the glowing cube with the Force and then waved his hand at it. The corners rotated, and the holocron sprung to life, sounding very much like when he swung his lightsaber.

With another gesture from Luke, the device started speaking. "Keep your concentration here and now where it belongs. Be mindful of the living Force, Young Padawan." 

Luke turned off the device. "Appears to be a Padawan instruction holocron. I don't recognize the master's voice. There's a real Kyber crystal in there, though. It's worth keeping just for that alone."

Leia shook her head. "Anything else in the crate?"

Luke pulled out a utility belt and a set of black Jedi robes. A leather sleeve with buckles up the length came next, revealing an ancient book at the bottom of the crate. "What's this?" He lifted it out of the case and set it on the carpet. About twenty centimeters thick with a hard cardboard cover, the brown pages crumbled at his touch.

The ancient tome sported gilded page edging as well as a gold-embossed title, The Journal of the Whills. He browsed through the book a bit, which housed much of the ancient Jedi lore. "I've never found anything this old before. Where did Han get this?"

"Crate just says 'Maz.' Not sure if that's a place or a person or what." Leia reached out toward the beginning of the book. "Luke, it's the Jedi creed."

"No, it's not. It's different." He smoothed out the page with a hand before reading.

Emotion, yet Peace
Ignorance, yet Knowledge
Passion, yet Serenity
Chaos, yet Harmony
Death, yet the Force

"The current one is close, but definitely different." He recited it from memory.

There is no emotion, there is peace.
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no chaos, there is harmony.
There is no death, there is the Force.

"How old do you think it is?" Leia asked. 

"At least a millennium." Luke sat back on his heels. "Yoda once told me the missing Jedi text would come to me when I was ready for it. I think this it."

"How could the code have digressed so much from the original? Luke, don't you see what this means?" Excitement lit up her eyes.

"Leia, we could interpret this many different ways."

She put her hand on top of the page. "The newer code denies a Jedi the things that the original code acknowledged. Search your own experience, Luke. You know that even for Jedi there is emotion, or you would have no compassion. There is ignorance, or we would know everything the First Order is doing right now—and we don't. There is passion, because without passion you will not strive to become the best. There is chaos, because evil makes chaos out of order. There is death, as you and I well know—the friends we've lost through the years, Alderaan ..."

Luke closed the book and inhaled a few cycles. "Let me meditate about it, Leia. If I change the Jedi creed, I need Lor San Tekka's approval ... But it does explain some of the struggles I've been having with the current code."

Leia took the book from him and flipped through the pages like she was searching for something. Luke swore that some of the words glowed blue. "Oh, read this, Luke. Before Exar Kun, marriage was allowed in the Jedi Order. Even in the Grand Republic, exceptions were made to the proscription—see here, Ki-Adi Mundi was permitted to take five wives." 

She grabbed his hands. "Yoda was right. It came when you're ready for it, Luke. You're always telling me that the Force meets us where we're at. Of all the pages in this book, why is this the one glowing blue if it's not for you? Don't you see, this invalidates your vows. You're free."

"I'm still a Jedi. I'm still bound to the Order."

"Yes, but not the Code. Not the Mandate."

⊘ He inhaled deeply and shook his head. "May I keep this?"

"Yes. Keep the whole crate. It obviously belonged to a Jedi and shouldn't be on some collector's bookshelf." She leaned in. "I know there's a lot more in there, too. I can sense it."

"Leia," Luke whispered. "Thank you." He took the text from her arms and grabbed the holocron. "I'd like to meditate on this."

"Please do." She exited the room and shut the door, leaving him to his communion with the Force.

❸ The next morning over breakfast, Leia perceived a vibrant energy in Luke. He could not stop smiling.

Luke grinned at his sister as he tilted his head up from his cereal bowl.

Leia asked as she sat the table, "What?"

"Nothing." He took a bite of cereal and then smiled again.

"Luke, what's so funny?"

"Nothing at all. In fact, I'm deadly serious," Luke said. Then he smiled again. "That's a lovely necklace you're wearing."

The sapphire necklace was strung on platinum with tiny diamond accents. Touching it, but still confused, Leia said, "Oh, thank you."

"Where did you get it?" Luke took another bite.

"Bajj's Jewelers in City Center," Leia said as she tilted her head in confusion. "What is that?" She pointed to the sparkling gem in his hand.

"The Kyber crystal from the holocron." He held it out to her.

"It's so small. These used to power lightsabers?"

"Not one this size. Maybe one ten times as large."

She turned it over in her hand. It hummed its weird language, whispering through the Force "Ah-oo-uh." "Is it speaking?"

"Yes." Luke's eyes softened as he fell into a reverie. "That's the rarest gem in the galaxy right now."

Leia dropped it back into his hand.

Luke raised his eyelids and smiled. "Does Bajj's make rings?"

"Of course." Leia's jaw dropped in realization, transforming into a large smile. "Oh, Luke. Really?"

Luke nodded. "Yes. I spent last night studying the Journal. You were right, Leia. The Code has been manipulated from original intentions. The Jedi at one time acknowledged that the Force embraced the emotions of all living beings, not denied them." He pressed his lips together. "It actually ordered us to love one another to keep out the darkness."

Leia said with a smug smile, "See, I'm always right."

Luke chortled. "I wouldn't go that far."

Leia crossed to Luke and hugged him, kissing him on the head. "I know this is the right decision. You have no idea how delighted I am for you."

His eyes blazed. "Maybe this is why the Jedi failed before. The one thing that the Force gave us to keep the darkness at bay is the one thing they denied."

⊘ Later that afternoon, Leia escorted Luke to his shuttle. Threepio had arranged for a ground crew to transfer the crates to the ship while Luke and Leia visited Bajj's and selected a ring and a necklace for Naluma.

The siblings hugged, and Luke kissed her on the cheek. "When you're ready to go into hiding, contact me. I'll have everything ready."

"Thanks, Luke. And thanks for telling me the truth last night. I just hope that Ben turns out all right."

"Me, too," Luke said, dreading the worst. Somehow, he knew that Ben was connected with the Force dream he had encountered during surgery. He could not get it out of his head.

While the shuttle engines warmed up, he stored the meals in the freezing unit and the jewelry in his gear locker. His purchase had cut far into his savings, but he could not wait to give the necklace and ring to her. Even now, set in the center of the ring, the Kyber crystal whispered to him. "Ah-oo-uh"

 I hope Naluma loves them as much as I love her.

Did you know ...

● Luke was reimbursed for Naluma's stay at Koda Station Medical Center years before. He earned a stipend from the Senate, commensurate with each mission he accepted. Now that he had been reimbursed, he had most of his reward from destroying the first Death Star in savings.

● The Senate allocated funds for the Jedi Academy expenses. However, with the added outlay of funds as the Jedi Order grew, some Senators desired more control over the Order.

Tell me what you think ...

● How do Luke's love for Naluma and Leia's love for Han differ?

● Had Leia agreed to travel the galaxy with Han and raise their daughter together, how would galactic history have changed?