The Balance: Part I: The Stranger
by Selinthia Avenchesca & Valerie Vancollie
I feel removed from time, ageless and serene, as I walk these halls, familiar and yet unfamiliar. For years now, I have known the teachings of an order alien to this galaxy, beyond what Jedi or Sith have ever known, a meeting of the Dark and the Light, a perfect Balance that very few indeed can achieve, and even less have the ability to attempt. I was one of those few, but the Order observed me for decades before they decided I was truly fit, and waited years again before they approached me. When the time was perfect, when distractions and obligations were at their absolute minimum, when I could feel that I was no longer needed so much that I could indeed undertake the silent journey with a Master of the Order to reach the temple to Balance that exists on the very edge of the galaxy, so far away from the centre that it borders another galaxy, then I was approached. Always hungry for knowledge of the Force, I agreed with little internal conflict. The first thing I learned from the Order was that I barely understood the Force, that the taking of sides as the Jedi and Sith always have is illogical and foolish. And yet few beings can do without this side-taking, as unlikely as remaining completely neutral in a raging, eternal war.
Now I am treading the natural beauty of this rather newly settled world, and no one sees me. That is something of what contributes to the ageless feeling, of being removed from all time. Another is that, though I age as regularly in appearance as any human being does, I am stretched out along the racks of time, I am old and young at once. I will live far longer than any human is meant to, as I am a part of the Balance, a feature of the universe itself, now. I never would have understood that before.
The Force lets me walk past all beings, not exactly invisible so much a part of the scenery. I past security checks set subtly about by playing that same 'trick', upon the machinery, which it does work upon, strange that may seem to some. Mechanical such things may be, and thus not part of nature, but they are part of the universe, and so part of the Force.
I make my way inexorably to my destination, a dwelling from which I hear the faint sounds of conversation and rather subdued laughter. Laughter, though, none the less. I am glad that they are still happy, after all the torment that Fate has inflicted upon them.
I enter silently, and watch them carefully, noting how they have aged as much as I have, but in a far more human fashion. Still, their eyes are full of life, of a vibrancy that I know the quiet blending of the Balance has drained out of me, replacing it with the silver-grey of Forceful perfection.
At last, after some minutes simply standing and watching, I decide to reveal myself, letting my body and soul, my Force aura, disengage from from their melding with the environment. They notice me immediately, but they do not recognize me.
"Who are you?" the old woman demands, her voice imperious and devoid of the warmth that she reserves for her family and friends. And though I am proud of her regal bearing, I feel left out, and bereft of all warmth myself.
"Don't you know me, Leia?" I feel compelled to ask all the same. "I'm your brother."
"Luke?" she asks with so much doubt in her voice that I know she doesn't believe me.
However, the kids rose at my words, trying to probe me with the skills I taught them long ago. Looking at them I let a small smile appear on my face. They have changed so much since the last time I saw them. Jacen and Tenel Ka are still together, which doesn't surprise me in the least. The attraction between them was obvious to me from the moment I first saw them together. Jaina looks the way my sister once did and Anakin is clearly a younger version of myself.
"You're not Uncle Luke," Jacen declares, unable to find the Force presense he was looking to find.
"Yes I am," I reply as I lower my mental shields, granting access to my mind and soul, knowing that while my Force aura has changed, they have not. "Look."
Leia hesitates before she slowly reaches out with a tendril of the Light Side and enters my mind, exactly the way I taught her to do all those years ago. Studying her mind as she studies mine, I see her thoughts for, although she has her mental shields up, her shields are only strong enough to block out someone using only the Light Side or only the Dark Side.
She gasps as she recognizes my mind, and I can see tears appear in her eyes as I'm suddenly overwhelmed by the wave of joy and love radiating from her. Pulling back from her mind, I smile at her as she rushes up to me. It has been a long time since I have felt so much emotion, both from myself or from someone else. That is one of the results of becoming a student of the Order of Balance, your emotions become more and more balanced as you progress from student to master until you can no longer feel the extremes of any emotion; whether anger, hate, love, or joy. It is, however, but a small price to pay to become one with the Force.
"Luke!" Leia says as she flings herself into my open arms. "It's really you! You're alive!"
Laughing softly at her amazement, I pull her closer to me, pressing my face into her hair.
"Uncle Luke!" Anakin says as he throws himself at me the moment Leia releases me. "Where have you been? I've searched all over for you!"
"What?" I ask, pretending to be surprised.
"When you didn't come back I went looking for you," Anakin replies as he steps back and looks at me. "I can see now that even if I had run into you, I would never have realised it. You've changed so much!"
"In more ways then you suspect, Anakin," I reply and feel curiosity appear in everyone within the room. "But then, so have have all of you."
"Twenty years will do that," Jaina says, a harsh edge to her voice.
Looking at her, I realise that she's slightly angry at me. Not that I can blame her. I did disappear quite suddenly for twenty years without a word of warning. But it wasn't like I could tell anyone where I was going back then; and even now I'll only be able to tell them only part of what I've done since I disappeared. Hopefully she'll understand, it isn't as if I would have gone if they had desperately needed me.
"Indeed it will," I reply as I reach out and embrace her. "I've missed you."
"So have we, Uncle Luke," Jacen says as I pull back from Jaina and embrace him. "Welcome home."
"Thank you," I reply before I turn to Tenel Ka and shake her left hand. "Still refusing a prosthetic?"
"Yes, Master Skywalker," she smiles. "Now and forever."
"Well, if you won't take a prosthetic how about letting me heal you instead?" I ask softly.
"What?" Leia asks. "That's impossible!"
"No, it isn't," I say; and then Tenel Ka gasps.
"Master Skywalker's hand," she says as she turns my right hand over in her palm. "It's real! Master Skywalker healed it?!"
"Yes," I reply as Leia walks up and looks at my hand.
"How did you do this?" she asks, looking up at me.
"It's a long story," I reply.
"Well, we've got all evening," Jaina states, gesturing towards the couches. She stops as her eyes fall on my belt. "Where's your lightsaber?"
"Gone," I reply as I look to see one hanging from everyone's belt except Leia's.
"How?" Leia asks. "Did you lose it?"
"No," I reply, knowing that this is going to be a very long night. "I have no more need of it."
"But--" Anakin begins.
"Why don't we do as Jaina suggested and sit down so that I can tell you what I can," I interrupt as I sit down on the closest couch. "That will save us a lot of time and unnecessary confusion."
"Okay," Leia replies as she and the kids all seat themselves around me.
Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? E-mail me at valeriev84@hotmail.com
