SPOILERS: TPM, and the following Star Wars books: The X-wing
books by Michael Stackpole and I, Jedi (Note: You don't need to
know the books to enjoy this story.) Just be aware that it's
approximately 13 yrs after ANH and that the New Republic has
taken over Coruscant.
DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT: SWA-L and M/A. Anywhere else, ask me
RATING: NC-17
PAIRING: Luke/Wedge
SUMMARY: Wedge finds his uncles diary about the greatest love
among the Jedi.
DISCLAIMER: Lucasfilm owns these people. Except Rojer, but they
own Rojer's nephew, so. .. And they own the Force. Live
probably owns the title and some of the lines within.
Feedback? PULEEZE
Author's note: Don't kill me! I did start Iris II. It's going
very slowly. Sockii: this is part 2 to something you already
have archived. Otherwise, I wouldn't even think of trying to
send it to you.
"What did you find, Corran?" I look into the ruins of one of
Coruscant's large towers carefully, not wanting anything to
fall on me.
"Watch it, General. The floorboards are cracked." Gavin
Darklighter, one of the captains under me in Rogue Squadron
steadies me as I make my way toward Commander Corran Horn.
Corran is my subordinate, friend, and the only Jedi in the
Starfighters units of the New Republic, not that too many
people know this fact.
"Look at this, Wedge." When I reach his side, Corran hands me
what looks like a very dusty datapad. "I bumped it as I was
looking under this pillar. I must have accidentally turned it
on because it started flashing."
I examine the pad and see the screen flashing a pattern very
familiar to me. Small green stars wink in and out on the black
background of the screen. That design, the one my father wanted
to use for his chain of refueling station before he was killed,
once graced my most precious of posessions, my X-wing.
Wondering how something belonging to my family got off Corellia
without it coming with me, I push a button to activate the file
inside the pad. Instantly, text begins to scroll in Aubresh,
the main written language of both Republics.
{This journal is the account of Rojer Antilles, Jedi Knight of
Corellia.}
I look up and see Corran staring at me, with the same amount of
shock as I feel plastered on my face. "Who is this Rojer,
Wedge?"
"I had an uncle Rojer. He was my father's brother. He was going
to help with the refueling station chain, but he was killed in
the Clone Wars. Dad never told me he was a Jedi." I sit down on
the pillar next to us as I try to puzzle this out.
"Probably for the same reason my dad never told me about my
grandfather, Nejaa Halcyon. It was too dangerous to admit to
having Jedi blood in your veins while the Emperor ruled over
all of us." Corran sits down next to me. "You know, you should
show this to Master Skywalker. He'd be interested to see what
your uncle has to say."
I nod. "Do you know where Luke is these days? Is he still on
Yavin 4?"
"No, ironically enough, he went to Corellia. Now that his
sister and brother-in-law made some headway into getting the
Corellian government to consider joining the New Republic, Luke
has gotten permission to look around the ruins of the Jedi
temple there."
I nod, then turn my attention back to the mysterious datapad in
my hand. "Why is this here, and not there?"
Corran gazes around the ruins of the part of the city we're
trying to clean before the building droids come in and
reconstruct the building. We don't usually go over the areas of
reconstruction this carefully, but Corran insisted we do that
here. And after watching Luke for many years, I'll be the last
to not follow the instincts of a Jedi.
"We're not that far from the Imperial Palace. The Emperor tore
the Jedi Temple down to build that monstrosity. Maybe your
uncle had to report to the Coruscant Jedi for some reason
during the Wars."
"And you think we were supposed to come here to find this?" My
third-flight leader nods.
"Well, I was never one to deny the Force. Let me go find Leia
and try to get passage to Corellia so I can show this to Luke."
I get up and start moving toward the crumbling entrance to the
once-grand tower.
But Corran isn't finished with me. He grabs my arm as I stumble
slightly over the debris on the floor, then stares into my
eyes. "When's the last time you talked to Luke?"
I sigh. I don't need Jedi abilities to figure out where this is
leading. Corran and I have had this argument before, ever since
I admitted to him my feelings for Luke. It happened not too
long after the incident in which one of Luke's students, Kyp
Durron, went on a rampage with the Sun-Crusher. "When I visited
both of you at the training center on Yavin 4. And no, I am not
going to tell him how I feel about him. He has enough with his
students and helping his sister and her kids. I'm not going to
add to his burden."
Corran shakes his head. "Don't you think that your love and
support may just lighten that burden instead of add to it?"
"Me? I can barely keep up with you sometimes, and you're under
my command. What am I going to do for the head of the new
generation of the most powerful people in the galaxy?" I head
out of the ruins quickly before Corran can say more. I know I'm
right. Why can't Corran leave well enough alone?
I get permission from Leia to head to Corellia with my
discovery, so I load up my X-wing and head out. I keep the
journal safely tucked away in my emergency pack the entire
trip. Instead of finding out more about my family, as I would
have liked to during the eight hour trip, I mull over Corran's
words, my feelings, and our roles in the current galaxy. It's
hopeless. I can never be more than a friend to Luke. He
probably doesn't look at me as more than a friend anyway.
I land on Corellia at the Coruscant City terminal and check
through customs. Once I leave the building, I hear my name
called. "Antilles! General Antilles!"
I turn to see an older man walking toward me. "Yes?"
He holds out his hand. "I'm Ralstek Horn, Corran Horn's
grandfather. He called me and asked me to look out for you."
I shake the hand of the man who helped Corran find the courage
to follow his destiny as both Rogue and Jedi. "Thanks. I'm here
to deliver something to Luke Skywalker. He's here excavating
the Corellian Temple."
"I know. Corran said you found your uncle's diary on Coruscant.
There's so many Antilles' on Corellia that I didn't realize
Rojer was the uncle of one of the New Republic's finest."
This peaks my interest. "You knew my uncle?"
He nods. "He was one of Nejaa's students. I assume Corran told
you about his biological grandfather?"
"Yes. He said that he was your best friend, and a good Jedi.
And a good man."
Ralstek takes my arm and guides me to a speeder. "Your uncle
was also a good man. It's a shame he died on Coruscant, when
Palpatine and the clones finally broke through the Old
Republic's defenses. He was there to report the destruction of
the Jedi in Coruscant City to the main Jedi Council on
Coruscant. Other than Valin, Corran's father, who was still a
youngster at the time and under my protection, Rojer was the
only Jedi here that survived the attack. Nejaa was on the other
side of the planet at the time."
I get into the speeder as Ralstek takes the controls. "My
father rarely spoke of him, other than to say he was loyal to
his family."
Ralstek turns and smiles at me as we head off to his home. "And
to his friends. Nejaa once told me that Rojer was friends with
Obi-Wan Kenobi, and that Kenobi considered himself in debt to
your uncle for something."
"Did he ever say what?"
"No, Nejaa said it was something personal, so I didn't question
him about it."
This makes me even more curious about my uncle's journal than I
was on the way here. What did my uncle do that Kenobi so highly
regarded?
My thoughts distract me as Ralstek drives through the streets
of the city, and ever closer to Kenobi's famous student.
"Master Skywalker's staying at the Oceanside Resort. It's about
a kilometer or two away from the temple ruins. I can loan you
my speeder, if you want." After a night in Ralstek's guestroom
and some much-needed sleep, he greets me with breakfast and
this announcement.
"Thanks. I better get out there then. The journal might help
Luke in his excavation of the temple." Suiting my actions to my
words, I munch on the pastry Ralstek gave me, grab my caf, and
head out the door.
Once I get to the resort, it takes only a few minutes to talk
to the deskclerk, find Luke's room, and knock on his door.
It opens almost before I knock. "Hi, Wedge. I was just about
ready to go back to the temple. Leia said that Corran's
grandfather was meeting you. I figured you might spend the day
swapping stories with him." Luke gazes at me with a smile.
Somehow I find a way to suppress the shiver of arousal that has
gone through me every time I've seen this man since I met him
almost twelve years ago and smile back at him.
"I thought my uncle's journal might help your work here, so I
didn't want it to wait too long."
Luke nods as he waves me into the quarters. "Thanks."
I hand him the datapad before we both sit down in comnfortable
chairs set across from each other. He begins to scroll through
the text, then stops and looks at me.
"Have you read this?"
I shake my head. "No."
Luke's blue eyes shine directly into mine as he hands the pad
back to me. "You might want to read this before I do then."
I look back at him, mystified. "Why?"
"The whole journal is addressed to you." He get up and lays a
hand on my shoulder. "Why don't you read it here while I spend
more time at the temple. You can tell me what you want to do
with the journal when I get back later today."
"Fine." I watch Luke leave, wondering why I feel my life is
going to change if I read this datapad.
I move the chair I'm sitting on to the window and open the
shades. Outside, I can see a narrow beach of white sand, and
the ocean. Bright blue dolphins jump out of the water and
toward the sky as I watch. The water must be pretty deep here
for the dolphins to be close enough to shore for me to see
them.
I shake myself out of my musings and turn back the datapad. I
can't shake the feeling that I'm headed for a big change, but I
do my best to ignore it and begin reading.
{I can't help thinking as I record this, my nephew, that you
will grow up in a world without love. For some reason, the
Force tells me I have to preserve the memory of it for you. So
here I am, doing just that.}
Luckily, my uncle, you were wrong about that. I have been
loved, by family, by friends. I have some idea why he thought
that, however. Things must have looked pretty dismal at the end
of the Clone Wars.
{Here I will record my experience in helping the greatest love
I have ever seen come into existence. Love that surpassed
death, and is, as I write this, conquering the pain of failure
and hopelessness. I can see it in my friend's eyes as he pilots
the ship that is taking me to Coruscant.
{I met Obi-Wan Kenobi in my twenty third year. I was the
student of Jedi Master Nejaa Halcyon at the time. Master Nejaa
had received a communication from the Jedi Council on Coruscant
concerning Obi's arrival with his master, Qui-Gon Jinn. Master
Nejaa told me, before the two arrived, that Master Yoda, the
Jedi who all of us respect as leader, wanted us to help him
with Master Jinn and Padawan Kenobi, as students are called on
Coruscant.
{Master Yoda had apparently been talking with Master Jinn, who
had been his padawan years earlier, when he noticed something
strange. Now all master/student relationships among the Jedi
include mental bonds, created by the Force. They are necessary
for the master to explain Force manipulation and for him or her
to know when the student is having trouble, or is in danger.
But when Master Yoda had casually probed Master Jinn's mind, he
noticed a bond much stronger than any master/student bond
beginning to develop. Master Yoda questioned his former
student, but Jinn seemed unaware of the new bond.
{Wondering at the source of the bond, Yoda asked Master Mace
Windu, his advisor, to see if Obi was aware of this new bond in
his master's mind. What Master Windu found when talking to Obi
was what prompted Yoda to get us involved. Master Windu found,
in Obi's mind, the other half of the developing bond.
{Now, Jinn and Obi were already scheduled to come here at that
time. It was time for our Temple to make it's report to
Coruscant, and Jinn was encouraged to be the liason because he
and Obi hadn't had a decent rest in months. Obi told me later
that his master jumped at the thought of a vacation because he
feared that his student had forgotten the meaning of the word
fun.
{Both Jinn and Obi were bright men, but they were also
stubborn. Yoda feared that they were trying to protect each
other by hiding the bond from each other and themselves. That's
where my master got involved. Master Nejaa is a kind, gentle
man, but his best friend, Ralstek Horn, is one of the most
manipulative men on Corellia.
{Yoda knew to get through the walls that Obi and Jinn put up to
protect each other, deception would be necessary. So Master
Nejaa and I consulted with Ralstek about the issue. We told him
that we were trying to get two stubborn lovers together, but we
never told him that the potential lovers were Jedi.
{Ralstek, in his ever-mischevious way, asked about the current
relationship between the two. When we told them that one was
the subordinate of the other, he laughed. "The best way to get
those two to see what is going on between them is to change
their points of view." He went on to describe a club in
Coruscant City that catered to people wanting
dominance/submission relationships without or with only mild
sadomasochism involved.
{Master Nejaa wasn't sure about Ralstek's idea, but wanted to
compare the idea with the people in question before making a
decision. So we went to the Coruscant City terminal to await
their arrival later that day.
{When we met them, it quickly became obvious why Yoda asked for
help. These two were broadcasting their feelings about each
other to everyone except each other. I imagine the
Couscant Council had earlier disregarded this broadcasting as
part of an unusually strong teaching bond, and maybe it began
that way. Now, however, it was enough to rock an unprepared
Jedi in his boots.
{Once we both spent some time with them, Nejaa pulled me aside
and we agreed to go along with Ralstek's idea. He would
recommend the club to Master Jinn. If Jinn showed interest in
the club, one way or another, I was to find a way to get his
student there. I recommended using the pretense of the opening
night of the Festival of Unity, which is a raucous affair.
Master Nejaa agreed. Nejaa and I also agreed that we would, on
the surface, attempt to keep them separated to avoid either of
them finding out our plans. So I took Obi and invited him into
my home for a few evenings.
{Poor Obi had it badly, I found. All this guy could talk about
was his master! I knew we were dealing with two men who
severely stifled their emotions, but I was unprepared for what
came forth when I gave Obi the chance to relax a bit in your
grandparents' home. Qui-Gon this, Master Jinn that. I wondered
how Qui-Gon Jinn couldn't be aware of the feelings of his
student. Obi practically wrote them on the waves of the Force!
{Master Nejaa told me the next day that Jinn had taken the
bait. Ralstek had bribed the clerk in the club to tell him if a
certain man came into the club. Nejaa had provided the clerk
with the picture and assurances that the information would not
be used to hurt the man. The clerk had called Ralstek last
night, with a positive response, but said that he only sat in
the main room watching the dancers most of the night.
{The next night, the clerk called Ralstek with even better
news. The man in question had signed up to be a servant! This
made my part of the plan much easier, because now all I had to
do is sign Obi up to be his master in the club.
{Master Nejaa gave me the form the next morning. I filled it
out for Obi and included a note to the clerk that this master
was to be teamed up with the man that Mr. Horn was asking
about. According to the form, such a deliberate pairing without
the people's permission was not allowed, but I assumed Ralstek
knew how to bypass this.
{So that night, I took my friend out for a night on the town. I
told him that the Festival of Unity was a time for single
people to find others to join with sexually, which was indeed
true. However, usually they find friends for this expression of
unity, rather than finding it with a stranger in a club.
{But Obi, being rather naive in Corellian custom, followed me
docilely as I took him to the Shining Jewel and gave him the
black hood that denoted a master in the club. I thanked the
Force for Master Jinn's concentration on diplomacy. After
settling him in a room and assuring everything was being done
according to custom, I let the clerk pretend that they just
found a match for him and the his servant, Hawkbat, would be
along presently. After hiding in a corner for a few minutes and
making sure Master Jinn arrived, I headed for home.
{Obi never told me exactly what happened that night, other than
to say it was just what they both needed to pass on to the next
stage of their relationship. But I swear I felt when their
minds met for the first time in the fullness that comes with a
soulbond. I was reading over some text on diplomacy when I
suddenly felt this wave of the Force flow through me. It felt
like love. It felt like peace. I know in my heart that, despite
the Jedi code, THROUGH passion, those two found serenity.
{The next day, I had to laugh when Obi and his master walked
into our training rooms in the temple. All the confusion, all
the tension caused by their thwarted feelings was gone.
{To this day, I consider that my greatest mission for the Jedi.
I raise my head from the text and look out the window. Uncle
Rojer's account of his labors to make the two Jedi see how much
they love each other sparks a memory in me. I lean back in the
chair, watch the dolphins, and remember . . .
It was on Hoth. We had just gotten there and were drilling out
the caverns. Luke was leading the excavation of the room that
would be our hanger for the speeders, and off to the side, the
stable for the tauntauns. I am standing to one side of him with
my ice cutter, using it to smooth out the wall in front of me
when I notice a violent shiver wrack Luke's slim form.
"Luke, are you all right?" I shut the cutter off and grab for
my Commander as he almost falls to the floor.
"C-Cold." I wonder if his winter gear is damaged or something,
because he's wrapped up as warmly as the rest of us. Then I
curse myself. Of course! If this planet is freezing to me, a
lad from the cool shores of Corellia's great ocean, this must
be the very depths of frozen hell for Luke, who's home is a
sweltering oven. According to Biggs Darklighter, there's not a
spot on Tatooine that has ever felt cooler than a baking tray.
How I wish Biggs was here now to help Luke adjust to the cold.
But there's only me.
I wrap my arms around him, holding him up as I feel him begin
to shiver uncontrollably. I call to Hobbie Klivan. "Have the
Rogues finish up this wall, Hobbie. Luke's been hurt by a chunk
of ice." I figure that's less humiliating for our young leader
than telling his subordinates that he can't stand the cold.
I'm sure Hobbie can see the small convulsions run through
Luke's body, but he either dismisses them or realizes the same
thing I did, because he just nods his head. "The medcenter is
being built in the east wing, Wedge, but the droids aren't here
yet."
Damn. Now what? My mind centers on the small personal heater I
grabbed from Biggs' possessions before we left Yavin. Maybe
that would help.
I move Luke so he leans on my shoulder as I steer him toward
the crew quarters. "Let's head back to my room, Luke. I have
something that should help."
Luke shakily nods his head. He has trouble finding his voice
because his teeth are clenched. He must be so cold that it
hurts. So I move him as quickly as I can to the room I share
with Wes Jansen.
The room is empty. Jansen's in the hanger with the rest of the
Rogues. Knowing he won't be back for awhile, I lock the door as
we enter the room.
I settle Luke onto one of the beds and scramble to find the
tiny heater. As I do, I try to keep him alert. "You should've
said something before, Luke. We all know about Tatooine from
Biggs. Considering how hot it is there, this cold must be quite
a shock to your body."
"Y-yeah. I thought I could handle it though. I figured I needed
to set an example too, now that I lead all of you." I grab the
heater from under the bed on which Luke sits and look up at
him.
"Nobody expects you to be invincible, least of all your
squadron. We tend to be practical people. Well, except for Wes,
who's a clown and Dak, who's just a kid." I turn on the heater
and place it on the crate that serves as a nightstand.
"Take off your coat, Luke. You'll warm up faster if the heat
doesn't have to go through all those layers." I help him peel
off his gloves and unfasten his coat and some of the clothes
under it. Luke's shivering increases as the cold air hits his
skin, so I move the heater to face him more directly before I
help him pull his arms and legs out of his clothing.
After I throw his outer clothing on a chair, I watch Luke
shiver in his underwear for a minute as he tries to get as
close as he can to the heater. He doesn't look like he's
warming up.
Well, they say that the best way to warm someone is body heat.
So I quickly discard my outer clothing and move onto the bed to
sit behind him. I pull his back against my chest.
Finally, his shivering begins to dissapate.
Luke turns his face up to mine as I grab a blanket from the
foot of the bed to wrap around us. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it. I couldn't let our commander go down before
the fighting began." I smile gently at him, trying to tell him
I don't think any less of him because he showed this weakness.
In fact, I think Luke is one of the strongest men I've ever
met. He's still basically a kid, but he's blown up the Death
Star and organized the whole starfighters' group in our move to
Hoth. He has done all this while dealing with the death of his
family and his teacher. And while dealing with the guilt only a
few of us know he harbors: the guilt of killing almost a
million people in a single blast from his S-foils. But he's
survived, and is all the stronger for it.
Like I said, one of the strongest men I've ever known. As well
as the kindest, most practical, and the most damned attractive.
I don't know if what I have is a crush or the beginnings of
falling in love, but I know I have to pause to catch my breath
every time he walks into a room that I'm in.
Now, the man of my most secret dreams pushes back against me
slightly, trying to absorb more of my body heat. I watch his
face as his eyes begin to close. The hypothermia has sapped a
lot of his energy.
So I pull away slightly and shift him to lay down, then pile a
couple of blankets on top of him. I grab another blanket for
myself and move off the bed to sit in the chair and let him
sleep in peace.
"You don't have to do that, Wedge. I don't want you to freeze
after doing all this to help me get warm." Luke holds out his
arm as I turn back to him. "Please. There's room for you here."
I really shouldn't, but I find myself climbing into the bed
behind him. Once I'm settled, Luke leans his back against my
chest again and falls asleep.
I don't know what Wes does that night, but he never enters our
quarters. Instead, I remain undisturbed as I hold our commander
in my arms.
Although I am tense the entire time, Luke barely moves the
entire night, except for the one time I almost give into a
fantasy.
I fall into a light doze soon after climbing into bed with him.
But sometime later, I am pulled partially from my slumber as I
feel Luke shift his arm out from under mine. Not completely
awake, and not completely pulled from my dreams about the man
in my arms, I kiss the back of his neck as he settles down
again. I awake more fully as I hear him whisper after my lips
meet his skin. "I love you."
Realizing what just happened, I pull back, not wanting to wake
him or do something that would offend him. As much as I wish
otherwise, I have to assume that his words were spoken as part
of a dream, probably about Princess Leia. I sigh and resolve to
stay awake the rest of the night before I do something stupid.
That's exactly what I do. And to this day, I have never spoken
to Luke about the incident.
I stare out the window of my room at the ocean and wonder what
General Kenobi would think of my actions and my reluctance to
put any kind of pressure on Luke. He and Master Jinn basically
had to be tricked into getting together, so I know it wasn't
easy for either of them. Oh, but once they got past the hard
part, the benfits must have been extraordinary. I turn my focus
back to the datapad and I read on.
{Qui-Gon Jinn died a week after the celebration of Obi's twenty
fifth year. They had three wonderful years together before Jinn
became one with the Force. Even after he died, they were
together. Their bond kept Jinn anchored to Obi, and still does.
Jinn is most likely the only thing holding Obi together now
that he lost his Padawan, Anakin Skywalker, to the dark side.
That, and the necessity of seeing Skywalker's wife, the Nubian
queen, to safety before she bears his children.
{I wrote this story down for you, Wedge, because the Force
tells me you might need it. Remember that there are times that,
through passion you may find serenity. I love you, may the
Force be with you.
Included at the end of this narrative are notes he probably
used for his meeting with the Coruscant Council. I disregard
these and instead raise my head again.
I open the window to let the cool ocean air in as I watch the
dolphins. It must be mating season for this group, because I
can hear their cries over the wind.
Mating season. I repeat Uncle Rojer's words in my mind as I
watch the beautiful animals. Though passion, you may find
serenity. Maybe that's what Corran was trying to tell me, back
on Coruscant. Perhaps the dolphins aren't the only ones who
have come to this part of my home planet to find a mate.
With that thought, I remember a line of a poem that Mirax,
Corran's wife, once showed me. /When the time is right, come
sweetly, come to me./
For a short time, I let my imagination drift to fantasies of
Luke Skywalker.
And then suddenly, a voice speaks up from behind me. "Is the
time right, Wedge?"
I turn around and find Luke standing behind my chair. "What did
you say?"
"I heard your thoughts through the Force just now. That line,
when the time is right, come sweetly, come to me. It's from a
Corellian love sonnet, isn't it?"
"Yes." For once, I am very suspicious of my friend. "Why were
you trying to read my thoughts?"
"I wasn't, they just came to me through the Force. I knew they
were from you." Luke's face shows his sincerity. I sigh. What
is happening here?
My mind grasps on the first possible explanation for this
occurance, given what I just read. "Do you know anything about
Jedi soulbonds?"
Luke moves a chair next to mine and sits in it. "Was that in
your uncle's journal?"
I nod.
"I don't know much. I know they usually form between two people
who are deeply in love. I also heard of an instance where the
bond formed through without the bondeds' knowledge. They found
out about it's formation once both of them acknowledged their
love for each other. The bond creates a telepathic connection
between the people's minds, which cannot be broken, even in
death."
Luke ponders his own words for a few minutes. When he turns to
me, his eyes gleam of discovery. "You finally acknowledged it,
didn't you? That's why I heard your thoughts in the Force."
I try to turn away from him, but find I can't. "What are you
talking about?"
As an answer, Luke gets up, brushes my hair to one side, and
kisses my neck. I gasp as I feel the soft lips meet my skin and
whisper to me. "I acknowledged my love for you ten years ago,
Wedge. I was just waiting for you. I feared you didn't feel the
same way, even after that incident on Hoth."
Tears sting my eyes as I realize that I waited ten years of my
life for something I already had. "I was afraid. Of you, of our
positions in the New Republic keeping us apart. Can you forgive
me?"
//There's nothing to forgive.// His thoughts enter my mind
directly as I fully acknowledge that this man is my soulmate.
I reach up to the standing blond man and pull his head down for
a kiss. Then I pull back and say the words being carved on my
heart. "I love you, Luke."
//And I you.// Luke's love pours out of his eyes as he pulls me
to my feet. But I can feel a question in his mind when I
concentrate on the link between our minds. "Why was your uncle
writing to you about soulbonds?"
I move us to the bed as I answer him. "He seemed afraid that I
wouldn't find love in my life. So, he wrote down the story of
how he helped two people find it."
"Your parents?"
I smile. "No, actually General Kenobi, and his master, Qui-Gon
Jinn."
"Ben?" Luke's interest peaks.
But I want his interest on me, not on his former teacher.
"Yeah. I'll let you read the journal later. Right now, there's
something else we need to do. Uncle Rojer suggested that I
should try to find serenity in my life through passion. Do you
have any Jedi training exercises that can help me achieve
this?"
Luke laughs as he pushes me back onto the bed. "No, but I'm
sure you and I could invent a few together." He follows me down
and his lips reach for mine in a devouring kiss.
My mind cries out in joy as his body settles on mine. This is
right, this is love. But I want it all, and I want it now. I
find myself tearing at his clothes, trying to remove them.
Luke reaches out mentally to calm me as my passion for him gets
out of my control. //I'm not going anywhere, Wedge. This is
real.// His arms wrap around me and turn us until I am looking
down on him.
The calm depths of his eyes draw me in and I find the implicit
trust I've always had for him. It is enough to help me find my
equilibrium as I begin to undress Luke more slowly this time.
Luke closes his eyes. His face relaxes into the expression he
usually wears when I see him call on the Force.
That is my only warning before ghostly hands begin to unfasten
my clothes. He smiles as he feels my astonishment. "I just
thought I'd make it easier for both of us."
"Yeah, right. And here I thought you left your mischevious
nature back in Rogue Squadron." His action brings back the
times we ran through the halls of the headquarters on Yavin 4,
screaming and laughing at our victory, the late night parties
we organized on Hoth, and the good-natured ribbing Luke gave me
when he officially gave the Rogues over to me.
He pulls me down for a kiss once we're both naked. Our mouths
explore the depths of our souls as they meet, plunder. When I
pull up for air, Luke runs his hands lightly down my chest. "Of
course I left that part of me in Rogue Squadron. I left it with
you, for safe keeping."
I laugh as joy suffuses me. Then moan at the sensations Luke's
hands are beginning to create in me. My nipples peak under his
fingers, then I gasp as his hands trail lower.
When I open my eyes, that mischievous glint in his eyes is back
full force. "Do you trust me, Wedge?"
As if I can do anything but trust him. "Of course."
With that, Luke moves us so he can sit up against the bed's
headboard and turns me so my back is nestled into his chest,
much as he was nestled into mine that cold night so many years
ago. But this time his erection is warm and tempting against my
lower back.
My lover whispers in my ear. "Let me love you. Let me show you
the things Rojer wrote to you about, both passion and
serenity."
"Yessss." The word comes out of me as a hiss, because Luke
lifts me and impales me on his cock. I can only guess that he
is using the Force to help him, because I feel no pain.
Then I feel a wave of thought break over me. I cry out as the
love he has for me washes over my mind, enveloping me in its
heat. Without conscious volition, my body responds to his
thoughts, and begins to move upon him.
One of Luke's hands clutches me tighter to him as the other one
reaches for my shaft. I feel him gasp into my mind as he wraps
his hand around it and my mind instinctively sends him the
sensations I'm feeling.
Gradually, our minds and bodies become so intertwined that I'm
not sure where he ends and I begin. Not that it matters, I
would be thrilled to stay like this forever. But soon enough,
our cries echo those of the dolphins outside the window as we
find release.
As I collapse back against Luke, our minds settle. I am now
wrapped in the comforting peace of the New Republic's first
Jedi Master. And I discover what my uncle meant about serenity.
I know being with Luke won't be easy, we both have our place in
this new galaxy. But as I listen to the dolphins outside the
window, I know we can work it out.
Luke kisses my neck at my thoughts. "We will find a way, Wedge,
I promise you that."
I smile. "The Force must have meant this to be. It seems
everybody was shoving me at you. Even my uncle, who I don't
ever remember meeting. How can I deny the will of the Force?"
After a few minutes, a thought hits me, and I move to get out
of his arms. But seeing my intentions through our bond, Luke
pulls me back against him and uses the Force to grab the
datapad I left on the chair by the window.
As I show him what is written in the journal, I feel a breeze
wash over us from the ocean. I can almost hear a whisper in it,
the voice of an old man I met once when I joined the Rebel
Alliance. //Trust in the Force, Wedge, and trust in Luke. For
we are stronger when we are loved.//
As the whisper dies, I reach to kiss the lips of my beloved.
And feel our combined strength wash over me, giving me peace.
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