*Spoilers for The Rise of Skywalker*

Playlist:

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

❶Leia hesitated outside the sliding door.

A few meters away, Luke stretched on an exercise mat as the sun broke through the clouds. The breeze whipped strands of hair into his face, but he didn't bother to brush them away.

She took a deep breath as the plasglass door whooshed open.

"Leia?" Luke turned his head but did not change from his extended grovel on the mat, his knees tucked under his thighs and his arms outstretched on the wood decking.

"Are you meditating? I can come back." She gave a wan smile.

He inhaled sharply and grinned. "No, just stretching."

The pregnant princess waddled to the chair and table and lowered herself into the deep cushion. "Naluma's headed over to the quartermaster at HQ for supplies."

Luke settled back on his heels and swiveled to his sister on his knees. "Han and Chewie left already?" He moved into the lothcat stretch on all fours, flexing his spine while grinning at her.

"About an hour ago." She sighed as she placed a datapad on the table beside her.

He tilted his head. "Everything okay?"

She shuddered and ground her teeth together, willing the tears away. "Nothing. Just hormones."

He shook his head and creeped to the chair beside her. He gazed at her intently. She felt him scanning her with the Force, but he did not press her further. He wove his fingers between hers, sending pulses of love along their bond.

After a few silent moments, he asked, "What's this?" He lifted the datapad on the table.

Leia pulled her hand away from him. "That book I've been working on about the Clone War. Almost done. I was wondering ..."

Luke raised an eyebrow.

"Wondering if you'd have time to read it, give me some feedback?" Instantly, a burst of insecurity threaten to spill tears down her cheeks.

"Sure, I'd be happy to. It'll give me something to do during recovery." He narrowed his gaze at her. "That's not why you came here, though. Leia, tell me what's wrong."

She hesitated a few seconds and stared out at the hills behind him. "I've le-e-arned some things ... in my studies ... those recordings from R2 you sent me." She bit her lip and took a deep breath. "About our father." She whispered that last word.

He leaned in, resting his arm on the table.

"It scares me." She scrunched her face up. "How can he go from an intensely loyal, talented, loving man and willingly become that monster?" Tears welled in her eyes.

"You just said it, Leia, he loved. He loved our mother so much, he loved us, that he sold his soul to the Sith to protect her, to protect us."

Leia shook her head. "That's what I'm afraid of. If he, if the hope of the Jedi Order, could be swayed, what's to stop the child I carry in my womb from doing the same?" She crossed her arms over her belly. "I feel the Force churning in him, Luke. It's like a whirlpool mixed with lashing rain."

Luke closed his eyes and extended his palm onto her stomach. "He is very strong with the Force, but that doesn't mean he'll turn into Vader." He rubbed her shoulder. "You must have faith, Leia."

She pushed his hand away and aimed her stony gaze at him. "Don't patronize me."

He sat back in the chair and kicked at the support of the table.

While looking at the mountains once more, she uttered in a monotone, "I have had a vision." She felt the color drain from her face as she admitted that. "My son ... oh, Luke, I don't know what to do. I don't know how I'm going to bring up a boy so strong in the Force without knowing how to control it myself."

She turned to him. "I want to be trained."

Luke sighed. "You want to know why our father turned? Attachment. He had visions, too, visions of our mother dying in childbirth."

"This is different."

"No. No difference. What would you stop at to save your son?" He bored into her with his gaze. "Your life?" He lifted his chin. "Your soul? Would you turn to the dark side if it were the only way to save him?"

Leia gasped and turned her head to the decking, running her foot over the grooves. "I don't know. Maybe." She expelled a long breath. "Yes, yes, I'd do anything to save my son."

"I can't risk you, Leia, not like that."

"But you're willing to risk your nephew, my son?" She grabbed his arm and turned him to face her. "Luke, a Jedi must face his fear. You know that. Train me, so I can face this fear. I can't do it without you."

He opened his mouth and then closed it.

"Train me. Please."

He looked at her through raised eyelids. "You're not in any condition right now."

"But—"

He folded his arms and wove his fingers in front of his chest. "If you start, I won't let you quit this time. And it's going to take time, time you won't have while raising a kid and being a Senator."

She mashed her lips together. "What choice do I have? It's the only way I can save him."

Luke closed his eyes for a few minutes, no words between them.

"I'll find a way to make it work, Luke. Please."

She could sense the Force assaulting him with a vision. She could see it on his face. She could feel it in his soul.

A moment later, his eyes popped open. "Very well. Let's start with shielding." He crossed his legs and rested his feet on his knees. "Close your eyes and just breathe."

"Yes, master." For the first time, she addressed him as master with respect, not disdain, not despair.

Leia straightened her back and closed her eyes, breathing as deeply as her pregnant body would allow. Her heart raced. A couple of minutes later, she had found her peace.

"Tell me what you see."

"Ribbons, tendrils of energy flowing between us, binding us together."

"That's the Force, binding us together. Reach out. It surrounds and penetrates us."

She straightened and widened her nostrils, breathing deeply. "The tree. The fountain, a bit on top where the algae is growing. The birds."

"Good."

"Pull on that energy. Build a shield with your mind. Cut me off from our bond." He nodded. "Good. Now power it with the Force. Step-by-step, build it up. Another layer. Imagine it, and set it in place around your mind. Another layer. If an attack comes, the inner layers will stand."

He lashed out with a bolt of the Force at her outer layer. Instinct overtook her. The shield not only held, but she pushed out with the power, tumbling him and his chair backward onto the terrace.

He groaned and winced.

"Oh, Luke, I'm sorry." She helped him stand.

He rubbed his lower back. "You definitely have too much of our father in you."

A gentle chuckle reverberated across the terrace.

Leia shot her head around patio. "Who was that?"

"Father."

She craned her neck in the direction of the voice.

"Just pray he doesn't take a hand in your training." He lowered himself into the chair. "Now, let's try this again."

Leia nodded.

"And don't you dare hold back."

"Yes, master."

Did you know ...

● I originally set up Leia's training to follow TFA where she did not get trained. However, so many fans gave a large outcry to the decision, Abrams brought it in during TROS. I'm retconning the story to amend that.

● Because he retconned Leia having training, Luke can now have a wife in canon. Right? No silly attachment clause holding them back, right?

Tell me what you think ...

● How do you think Leia's training will progress?