Post Speeder Slip but Pre Don't Leave Me and Felt Like Forever. Lani's point of view. In which Jalani Hal'star experiences something that she can't explain and Luke Skywalker visits her at work. Lani's boss acts mysteriously towards the two teens leaving them confused.

Something feels off today as I leave my sisters behind at home to make the long trek to work. It's a feeling I can't seem to shake at all. Almost as if something is calling to me, desperately trying to whisper a secret in my ear. Every once in awhile, I'll get a picture of something. The past? The future? I can never tell. It's so quick I can never tell if I recognize the people in the visions or not. Sometimes they happen in my dreams and sometimes they happen in broad daylight. The moment I blink, they disappear.

I asked Luke about these once and he says he's never had them. I've never had one when I'm with him. I don't know where he is. I only can feel his presence when he's real close to me.  Which apparently he's not because I can't feel him.

I keep running towards work, hoping against hope that someday someone will be able to explain this to me. I don't really think I'm anyone special or really entitled to anything because of these weird but vivid images, I just want someone to explain them to me.  If I get to help people with this power and do some cool things for the galaxy, great. But if not, I don't mind staying here on Tatoonie. Yeah, it's boring and nothing exciting happens here. Everyday feels like a fight to survive but, at least it's predictable...mostly. I know my place here, Luke is here, my sisters are safe here. As long as we keep our heads down, we are not in any real danger while we are here.

Luke has been wanting to leave since the day I met him three years ago. Now, we're both sixteen and much closer to getting out of here than we were when we first met. I would follow that boy from one end of the galaxy to the other as long as I knew my sisters were safe. I am not leaving them without protection. Tatoonie is not a dangerous place but it's not a place I just want to leave them without knowing that they can take care of themselves. As the oldest sister, I feel it is my responsibility to make sure that that is the case.

Paylee would readily take care of them. She's fourteen and already getting into trouble in Mos Eisley. She won't tell me for sure but I think she's involved with some gang activity.

That's exactly why I don't want to leave my sisters behind...yet. I want to make sure that Paylee is responsible enough to take care of them. If she can't stay away from the gang business or be in it and keep the rest of my sisters safe, then she's not ready to be in charge. I would take my sisters with me but I don't know how they would and if I get into danger, then all of us will be in danger. I don't want that to happen because I was stubborn in letting them stay here by themselves. 

Besides, I'm not sure I'm old enough or ready to leave here yet. Even though Paylee acts like she's in charge, she's not ready to take care of the others. I feel like my work here is not yet finished. There's something else I need to do or see before I leave here for a long time. 

I approach town and notice the flurry of activity that always seems to accompany Mos Eisley no matter the hour. Hurrying into work, I smile at my boss, who is an elderly lady by the name of Bola. No one really knows much about her besides that she works here and that she's got some kind of a mysterious history. She seems very quiet and reserved but there's just something about her that seems....different, almost refreshing from anyone else I've met on Tatoonie. She smiles kindly at me from my behind the desk where she helps people find whatever it is they need help finding. I walk back behind, find a collection of items to shelve and start working on shelving them.

I weave my way through the shelves, trying to find a place for the first file. Successfully placing it, I continue on to the next file and the next until something catches my eye.

Kenobi.

That name seems familiar....but I can't remember why. There was a really famous Jedi by the name of Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Clone Wars but that's not why I remember it. As I think about it, one of those weird vision incidents starts happening. The light around me grows brighter and brighter causing me to close my eyes. When I open them, I'm in the middle of a forest area. I see a younger version of my mother running through the forest area with a little girl in tow.

"Mother?" I whisper nervously. I reach out to a leaf nearby and stroke it, feeling how it real is. This whole thing seems so real. Suddenly, I hear the voice of a Stormtrooper call out,

"Where did they go? Did you find them?" I gasp and that Stormtrooper looks in my direction.

Where in the world am I? This is more than just a glimpse of something. The Stormtrooper spots me and starts to move towards me. I start to run as he calls for me to stop. Blaster fire starts to rain down on me as I run through the forest. I trip over a root and fall flat on my face. The Stormtrooper comes over and stands over me.

"Please," I beg, "leave me alone. I don't mean any harm." The Stormtrooper merely cocks his blaster and aims right at me.

"You're running away from the palace and you're in this forest. Don't think you'll survive," he replies and a blaster shot shoots right at my heart. A blinding bright light interrupts the scene and I come to standing in the middle of the aisle of where I was previously standing. Data pads, folders, books, and a variety of other things are floating in the air around me and I gasp at what is in front of me. I fall to the floor again and a hand instantly flies to my heart as I realize that while I wasn't shot with blaster fire, things were floating in the air. As I fall to the ground, oddly enough, so do the things that were floating.

I gasp again when I see my boss standing at the end of the aisle. She was never supposed to see that. Why did she come back here? I'm surely going to get arrested now. The Empire doesn't like these kinds of things to happen....at all. Intentional or not I could seriously be charged with.... I don't even know yet. This could be a big problem. If I get arrested, my whole plan to protect my sisters will never fall into place. Instead of glaring at me, my boss merely smiles softly.

"Are you alright, my child?" she asks me calmly. I feel something eerie about this situation until suddenly, I feel a sensation...coming from her oddly enough.

"I...." I start unsure of how to answer, "I don't know." Her brow furrows as she looks at me nervously.

"I get the feeling that you are anything but alright," she whispers softly, "I understood what happened, dear. Even if you didn't."

"What does that mean?" I whisper back, tears threatening to flow down my cheeks. The incident in the forest seemed so real and then I came to and things were floating.

"The Force is strong with you and you are bonded to another," she replies quietly.

"How do you know?" I ask, "People aren't supposed to know about the Force much less use it."

"Perhaps you don't know everything there is to know about keeping records," my boss replies, "You need to stay close to Skywalker." I look at my boss, confused by who she is and how she knows about all of this.

"Who are you?" I ask plainly.

"Someone who can help you. Someone who can answer all of your questions. Someone who will forever fight for the Light," she states mysteriously.

"Do you know what I saw? What happened? Why did things start floating in the air?" I ask in a frenzy and she shoots me a motherly look telling me to calm down.

"I don't know exactly what you saw but I felt what happened and I felt your fear. You were afraid of whatever it was that you saw. You also were no longer here...that much I felt, as well as a change in the Force. What you experienced is something I know I never will but you...experienced it for a reason," she says, choosing her words wisely.

"What about things floating in the air?" I ask quickly, trying to make sense of all of this.

"Your fear...it was strong and urgent enough to activate your powers," she explains, "You must learn to control your fear."

"Can you teach me?" I ask shuddering at the thought that this could get out of hand at the drop of a hat.

"Not now. Stay on Tatoonie and you will never have those issues as often as you will if you choose to leave," she replies, carefully closing her eyes and levitating the items that I had dropped back onto the shelves.

"You're a...." I start but she shushes me.

"Hush. Here is not the place and now is mostly certainly not the time," she says as everything goes back into its place. I watch amazed.

"How did you do that?" I ask quietly.   

"Now is not the time for questions. We must get back to work before someone becomes too...." she warns me, trying to shepherd me back towards my work.

"Lani?" I hear a familiar voice ask. Both my boss and I jump in surprise. Luke Skywalker himself is leaning against one of the shelves.

"Hey..." I say timidly, trying to get over the sixteen year old girl nerves fluttering underneath the surface. He smiles shyly.

"I got done with helping Uncle Owen early today so I thought I would go over to see what you guys were doing but your sisters said you were at work so I decided to come here," Luke explains. I feel a small smile spread across my face and my boss smiles as she moves away from us.

"I just got here not too long ago," I inform him as I go back to my work. The two of us act very shy around each other.

"Is it okay if I wait here until you finish?" Luke asks and I giggle under my breath.

"Thought you hated being stuck in here," I remind him and Luke sighs, eyeing the long braid running down my back. 

"Not always. It's kind of peaceful," Luke says, swiping a file from me.

"Hey," I complain.

"Calm down. I just want to see this for a second..." Luke says, "Obi-Wan Kenobi...he was a legend in the Clone Wars, wasn't he?"

"Yes he was and a phenomenal general as well," I reply as I continue my work.

"He just seems...familiar for some reason," Luke muses, pouring over the information. I chuckle softly.

"I feel the same way but I can't imagine why," I reply moving to take the file from him. He starts to complain.

"You can't let me learn anything? You always have to be the smart one?" Luke asks and I chuckle.

"I never said that. I just have a job to do and I get in trouble when I don't do it," I reply, "Besides that's not the only file on Kenobi. Promise..." Luke starts to scan the shelves looking for something else to amuse himself with.

"But now I have to find another one," he complains as he looks around at the different files.

"Can't be that hard. I'm pretty sure I shelved one over there," I say as I shelve another file folder on the shelf across from where he is standing.

"Yeah but...." Luke starts and I ignore him and his whining. He can be such a whiny boy sometimes.

"But I have something to tell you," I interrupt. Luke's brow furrows protectively.

"What is it? Is there something wrong?" he asks quickly, nearly dropping the file out of his hand.

"I had one of the....visions again," I state. Luke looks at me concerned.

"You mean one of those scenes from a place neither one of us know?" he asks and I nod quickly.

"And get this. My boss somehow knew that something had happened to me but she didn't know what exactly," I continue. Luke's brow remains furrowed in worry.

"I've been feeling things too lately. Almost like a pull to discover more about my father. I don't understand it though," he elaborates. I sit down next to him.

"I'm sure we'll learn...in time," I try, reassuring us both.

"If we ever get off this rock," Luke mutters. I start to go back to work as he sits back down on the ground to peruse the files.

"I'm sure we'll do that as well. Luke, all of these things just take time," I say, trying to focus on shelving some file about some blue and white droid that I don't know about.

"I wish we could get out of here now. This is no place for me or for you and we both know it," Luke persuades but I turn away trying to ignore him. He becomes more frustrated and puts a hand on my shoulder.

"My sisters are here, Luke. I have to stay to make sure that they are going to be alright. Paylee can't take care of them yet and you know it. Besides, what are we going to do? Join the Rebellion?" I ask.

"Doesn't sound like a bad idea to me," Luke reasons, "I've always wanted to.."

"I know. It just isn't that simple. You know that..." I point out and Luke stops his ranting for a moment.

"You're right. I just thought you would support me," he says sadly.

"I do support you and getting out of here but now is not the time," I explain. Luke looks dejected as he opens up the file about Kenobi and continues reading over it. A tense silence rises between the two of us as I go back to shelving.

"Nobody knows what happened to him?" he asks after a moment.

"What do you mean?" I ask, casting him a weary look.

"No one officially has a body to match Obi-Wan Kenobi," Luke states, reading over the file.

"I cannot do that right now," I say, reaching for the folder.

"What if he's still alive? Lani, he could probably answer our questions," he suggests, his eyes filling with hope.

"Luke, I can't do that. What about my sisters?" I ask, mentally complaining as Luke pulls the folder out of my reach, "What if those are all just stories about the Jedi? I'm sure they happened but perhaps the Jedi are no more."

"What if they're more than that? What if they're more than just stories about the Jedi? What if the Jedi could rise again?" Luke asks hopefully.

"Not like a Jedi order I hope. From what I've read, there were many notable flaws in the original Jedi order. How could you ask someone to be as unemotional as the Jedi were asked to be? Completely detach from your emotions and your feelings? No one can do that! It's impossible," I state shelving something more aggressively than I should have.  Luke looks at me worriedly.

"I think there's hope. There are more than just stories here," he replies.

"I have no doubt that there is hope yet for the galaxy. I just don't think we're the ones to be chasing after it. I'm certainly not capable of it," I say. Luke places a hand on each of my shoulders.

"You could be. Lani, we don't know anything but if we learn....we could change everything. Couldn't we? Or we could at least become Rebels?" he suggests.

"Don't say that here! Please!! You don't know who's listening and who isn't," I say, trying to go back to work. 

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you, Jalani Hal'star. Or your sisters. That's a promise," Luke says, looking me directly in the eye. 

"Thank you," I say, "Someday I think this will all make sense."

"I hope so," Luke answers.

"I need to know what the visions mean, Luke. A Stormtrooper was going to shoot me and he did but I didn't die because the vision ended and...and..." I stutter, starting to feel the tears prick my eyes. Luke quickly pulls me into a hug and I bury my face in his chest. His strong arms hold me tightly as I quietly cry.

"It was just an image," Luke reassures me, "It wasn't real. You're not in danger right now."

"What if it was the future?" I whisper worriedly.

"We'll find out and if that's the case, we'll know to be ready," Luke tries to console me again.

"My mother was there with a little girl and they were running in a forest and it seemed so real," I recall. Luke just continues to hold me tightly.

"It was just a dream, Lani. Or something not real," Luke says, trying to stop my tears.

"How do you know?" I ask.

"I don't. But I'm not going to let it happen to you," Luke states.

"I hope you get that chance. I get the feeling that this is a lot bigger than either one of us," I say quietly. Luke holds me tightly.

"I feel that too but I think with some help we'll be able to overcome it," Luke says as we hug. We're interrupted only when someone clears their throat. Luke and I jump apart as though we were on fire and my boss stands at the end of the row. I gently care to smoothing out the wrinkles in the documents and then I go back to shelving them. Luke starts to move to a different part of the records building but as he walks by me, he takes one of my hands and squeezes it before going off to read his file on Kenobi.

AN:/ Hey peeps!! I'm back!! I'm hoping to release War Wonders sometimes this month but I'm just not feeling very motivated to do anything because I'm stressed with a lot of different things. Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed this one. A friend and I came up with the ship name Lulani, so that's the official ship name for this book. And also, there is a key plot point in this chapter that you DO NOT want to forget. It will become more apparent exactly what was happening to Lani and her vision thing as we go forward into the story and she'll keep having those but we're not really going to know what they are exactly for quite some time. Just remember that plot point though because it is going to be very important to the story. Luke will experience them too eventually but he will have to be with her. This one is crawling with important plot points....I feel like this one is probably the best so far just because I felt like I really balanced and introduced a bunch of key plot points and was able to develop Luke and Lani's relationship a little bit more. This is also I personally think the best written one in regards to Luke's character. Hope you all enjoyed it!! It was fun to write!!

I'll try to work on Newsies and other stuff here soon. The Newsies stuff is going to be a riot to write. I'm kind of excited. I'm also going to try to work on my Back to the Future book because I have been on a major Back to the Future kick along with everything else.

95% of the time, it's fairly safe to assume that I'm having a fandom crisis.

Anyways, thank for voting, reading, and commenting on this chapter. I really hope you all enjoyed it. Sorry it was a little bit shorter but it was still pretty packed for about a 3000 word chapter. I appreciate what you guys do and each and every one of you.

See you around,

Aisling Kiley