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After talking to Ben, Luke had decided to go to the Jedi Temple and practice some of his lightsaber forms, working off some of the energy that had built up with a full night of sleep and a healing trance besides. As well as to calm his mind, keep it focused; he had the sense that they were standing on the brink, watching the storm come swiftly in, and knew that he and the other Jedi would need to get together and work things out, checking in with all of them.

Focus. Feel the Force, let it flow through you.

His green blade sliced through the air, leaving glowing trails behind, concentrating on those first teachings Obi-Wan had given to him on the Falcon, many years ago. And gradually, Luke slipped into a sort of trance, the Force wrapping around him and supporting every simulated parry, every practiced strike.

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Even in his rage, Vader sensed Luke's presence and the perfect waves of the Force that gently radiated from him, sensed the immaculate shapes made by Luke's shifting katas.

It was a shame that he spoiled it all by crashing through the door and shouting.

"Just what do you think you are doing here?! Do you have any idea what this is?!"

Arha had made herself move this day. It was slow progress, but she was working her muscles back into shape despite the lingering ache from various bruising and injury. She would be well healed in a few days, yet. Perhaps enough to spar.

But not this day.

Her feet found her at the jed-Eye temple and she sat to watch Luke, drinking in the way he fought, as eager as ever to learn even if her own blade would not be firm when she held it now.

Startled out of his near-trance, Luke blinked a couple times to clear his head. "It's the Jedi Temple. I like coming here, it reminds me of home."

After a moment, Luke felt the tickle of another presence against his senses, another Jedi. Letting himself slowly come out of it, he held a final pose for a moment, then deactivated his blade and pushed hair out of his eyes with a big grin.

"Arha!" Walking over and taking his friend up in a hug--one not as tight as it could be, considerate of any injuries she had left. "It's so good to see you up and about. How are you doing?"

"I burnt this place to the ground!" Vader howled, gesturing sharply with one hand and shaking a few flakes of dust from the ceiling. "I did it so you would never have to come here! It is a center of lies! Of deceit! Why would you choose to come to this place when I created an entire Galaxy for you of only good things?!"

"Well, Stacy rescued it." Luke really didn't know how to respond past that, so he shrugged and clipped his lightsaber to his belt. "I feel more calm here, and I needed a quiet place where I could do this and not run the risk of hurting anyone. And I didn't feel like conjuring up somewhere in the Sensoriums."

He looked around, a strange, distant look on his face. "This is home now. I feel like too much time spent in the Sensoriums would only deny that this is reality."

"I am healing nicely--it is mostly the ribs that ache," Arha said with a grin, hugging him back and cupping his cheek for a moment. He was better, such was a good thing. "Thank you for helping me heal and making sure I was safe, you and Mara both. I am pleased to see my X-Wing is still in one piece as well. I will have much to do in order to get her running properly. I think I shall reinforce the stabilizer. It came off much too easily."

"RESCUED IT?!" Vader roared, "Dredged it up from the shallow grave where I laid it! Where it should have stayed! You would call this place home when all it ever was happened to be a center of Galactic dominance and--"

It was just too much for Vader. He turned around and swung his fist into the one of the pillars, as he'd often considered but never actually done as a padawan. A fine spiderweb of cracks appeared, but otherwise most of the damage was done to Vader's hand.

"Those things have been problematic for years," Luke said, smiling and putting a hand warmly on her shoulder. "It's a good thing you didn't crash outright, though, or you'd be laid up with a lot more than just your ribs." If you survived at all, he finished mentally. Some of the old pilot superstition stuck with him, enough to keep him from voicing that.

"I hope you're not thinking of getting back to training or working on your X-Wing soon, though. You need to give yourself time to rest up--I know that being stationary isn't something you like doing, but I don't want you to injure yourself even more."

"Hey--Hey!" Luke called, taking a few tentative steps forward. "I know you don't approve of me being a Jedi, but I can't be anything except what I am, and I'm proud to say I'm following in my father's footsteps."

He sighed. "The Order's changed a lot, anyway. It's not like it was when you knew it."

"They did this to you! How can you not see that they-- they stole you from me and denied you the life you should have had-- the life you deserve! WHY DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT I YOU TO HAVE! WHAT I ALWAYS WANTED YOU TO HAVE!"

Vader leaned against the pillar, putting his face in his hand. "The man you speak of is dead. Tell me, then, of your Order. I wish to hear why you share a stronger devotion to it than to your own blood."

"After you tell me what kind of life I should have had." Luke gestured, and two cushions floated over. He sat on one. "I'm curious... when I was growing up, I thought a lot about my parents, who they could be, what life would be like if I grew up with him. What would it have been like? Would we have grown up under the Emperor?"

"You would have been privileged to live under the Emperor," Vader said, taking his own seat- it took him a while to lower himself down, but HE DARES YOU TO COMMENT ON IT, "all of use, beneath his benevolent gaze...your sister and your mother as well. You could have lived at any number of residences owned by the Empire, I certainly had no use for them, you could have gone to any planet you wished, had the best of schooling and material goods...we could have been happy. Together."

He says it with an unsettling fervor.

Luke thought about that. He hadn't lied (it wasn't in his nature, not even to Vader); when he was younger, he'd often imagined that one day, his father would come and take him away, tell him he was a cherished part of a family and that he'd been placed on Tatooine to keep him safe from space pirates bent on kidnapping him, or something equally adventurous, like out of one of the holos he used to watch on days off.

But knowing now what he did... well, speculating what he would have been like had he grown up as part of an oppressive regime wasn't Luke's cup of caf. It was easy to say, now, that he'd hate it.

"Father," he said. "Are you... even though I'm a Jedi, are you still proud of me?"

Vader opened his mouth to begin another tirade, but stopped.

"How could I ever stop?" he asked, slowly. "Nothing that happened was because of you. I would not have wanted you to be among the Jedi because I wanted you to be happy-- I still wish for it. But you...endured, you survived Kenobi and the others and you are still whole, and perfect, and someday you will throw off the shackles they place around you completely because you are my son, my only, perfect, son..."

Luke would be able to feel the fervor behind his words- he'd never dreamed that he and Padme's son could be...like this.

"I have promised Kyle that I shall not do anything until my rib is healed. It will take more than a few days even with the Force and my own healing factor. This is the farthest I have gotten since he took me out of the medical bay. I am afraid that is not a good place for me to be while my guard is down. I have discovered that when I am so injured, my healing wishes to escape. Such has happened once before during the wars on my planet. Then, I was taken to the desert, weak from healing, and left to die. It was a case of too much healing, then, and with my guard so dropped, too went my stability as a healer. When faced with such a great number of dying...the rush of energy used to heal was enough to bleed me dry. I did not die in the desert, though, for I called upon Shai-Hulud and it was he who took me home. But still, if I had remained, I should have perished. So. I cannot lift things with the Force at present and I cannot heal."

She waved her fingers a little.

"Your father will have to wait until I am restored. I am sure he shall be pleased with this news."

The shape of Luke's moving meditation was a balm to the soul.

When Qui-Gon had died, Obi-Wan had known what to do next; Anakin's training was both duty and legacy. When Siri had died, again the then-Padawan Skywalker had been his focus. Follow orders, train your student. Carry on.

But now, with everything that had been Anakin dead...Obi-Wan hardly knew where to turn.

He simply closed his eyes and let Luke's Force-presence wash over him, waiting patiently for his exercise to finish. When it was done, He smiled wanely at his once and future student.

"Hello, Luke."

He could, and did, and for some reason, it bothered him.

"I don't think being a Jedi and being happy are mutually exclusive," Luke said after a moment. "I have Mara and Ben, my sister and her family... and all the friends I've made here and from home. I'm happier with all of them than I would be without, that's for sure."

He was quiet a moment. "And I'm far from perfect."

"As pleased as he can be while still being himself," Luke replied. "Do you want to sit?"

There were cushions lining the wall, and taking Arha's hand in his--a courtly gesture, one that Leia had drilled into him--he led her over. One always treated the women in one's life with the utmost respect; Luke had learned, by virtue of having Leia for a sister and Mara for a wife that they had far more power.

"I'm really grateful you're doing this for him," Luke said. "I know he complains, but I think it'll help him, and once he realizes that I'm hoping he'll be less... combative."

Luke let the Force spiral out from him, dying down like the last puff of breeze on a summer morning, and deactivated his lightsaber so he could go over to the man he looked up to the most, and not risk chopping off anything vital.

"Master Kenobi," he said, grinning as he bowed respectfully. "I'm glad to see you're all right."

Vader waves his hand dismissively. "Who told you this? The Jedi? They are lying. You never had a chance to know Padme, she was taken from you as well...but you are much like her. Both of you, startling gems in the rabble of common beings- you are without flaw. I can feel it."

"But on the manner of the Jedi," Vader said, leaning forward in his seat, "they cannot be happy because they cannot feel anything. It is the source of their power."

"Oh, I'm more difficult to kill than that," he teased, knowing full well that Luke had seen the extent of his skills against the holo-grievous, "You seem well. How is..."

Ben. Mara. Arha.

...Vader.

"If you think I don't feel anything for my wife..." Luke grinned. "A Jedi can't protect what they don't know. I've said before lots of Jedi have husbands, wives, families... they just know that being a Jedi should be their priority."

He chose to pass up all that 'startling gem' stuff. Luke knew he wasn't perfect because he'd experienced things that told him as much, and getting arrogant had led to a period of darkness in his life that he didn't want to have happen ever again. Not that Mara would let it, he figured, but it was never a good idea to be too bold when it came to the darkness.

Luke paused, waiting for Obi-Wan to finish his query. When it seemed like his old master had trailed off, Luke decided that the general sense was the best tack to take.

"Everyone I've had the chance to run into so far seems okay," he replied. "Arha went down in a dogfight, but she's all right and so is her starfighter--Ben and Mara were with me on the Shadow after we all got picked up--Leia and Han are okay--Vader--"

Luke stopped. There was the sticking point, he figured. "Stubborn as ever," he finished, brushing out with a mental query of his own. "How about you?"

It was a question with more than one answer, and Luke wasn't just looking for the physical affirmation of all limbs present and accounted for.

It sounded too good to be true. It probably was.

"I wish to hear of your life," Vader said, very purposefully settling down for a long story. "I do not doubt that you posses the power and wisdom to be Grand Master, but the position had not changed hands for centuries in my time. Tell me how you came to lead your version of the Order."

And, in turn, Vader planned to re-tell the entire ship via the intercomms. HIS ONLY SON.

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