Why Me

He could feel the boy coming, gliding through space, bringing the hope of the galaxy and a chance of peace with him. The boy carried a weight so huge; he had to wonder if the young man would be able to carry out the mission. His part in the mission was simple: train the boy into a Jedi. It was not the easiest task in the galaxy, but it was a necessary one and when pressed, he was the best being to do it. It also helped, he the only one that he knew of that could complete this part of the mission. If the Grand Master of the former Order could not train the boy, he doubted anyone else could.

He reached out to the Force again; gently adjust the ship, so to correct the course. He wondered if the boy was aware of the change, but he picked up no emotional reaction. What he did sense was confusion, uncertainty, anger, fear, and pride. There was lots of those emotions and little else. This worried him some, but he held on to his hopes and put away his expectations. No need to go into this business with a pre made judgment. That was not the way he ran his order and he knew how to run an order. Or so he thought he had. The truth was he knew how to run an order in time of peace, when the light side glowed in blinding brightness, when the darkness hid in corners and rarely ventured out, when peace was to be felt all around. Perhaps he had become too accustomed to the feeling of peace, the addictiveness of happiness, and relaxed too much into the Force to fail to notice the darkness creeping up until it was too late. He had twenty years to reflect on what had gone wrong and there still seemed to be no one simple answer. There was no one person to thrown on the blame, although it was tempting to through it on the Sith.

The ship had just entered the atmosphere. It was time to let go of the past and focus on bringing the boy safely to the ground. A twitch of the Force was all that was needed to blank out the reading on the ship. Immediate, he felt the strong, half controlled panic of the pilot, struggling to gain control of the ship. He shook his head, slightly smiling. The boy was wasting time and energy. The boy was effective as a baby thrashing around in its mother’s arms. Another touch of the Force help guide the ship through the tree line and the boy took it from there, landing straight into a wet spot. This was would do. He wanted to make sure the boy did not get scared, or should he follow his father to in burst of anger try to leave. Once he sensed the exact location of the ship, he sighed and got up from his sitting position. It was time to meet the boy and find out the future of the galaxy as well as the Jedi.

He slowly made his way through the swampy mud, ambling through the thick, old trees, noticing the snakes, lizards, and squawking birds above. This was a planet of life, a planet full of the Force, full of nature. This was his kind of world. He very well could be from the planet for the origin of his birthplace was unknown, even to him. The cloudy sky spoke of rain and the Force supported his feelings. Still, there was time before the storm and might as well give the boy time to deal with a ship stuck in mud.

Soon he came into view of the ship and the boy. The kid was busy moving compartments out of the ship. Good, he thought, the boy brought much needed supplies. It was not that he could not live in the hut he created, or eat the food he found in the near by grounds, but sometimes he missed electric lamps, or cloth blanket, or for that matter, new clothing. A Jedi did not spend time dwelling on personal items, but most Jedi did not spent twenty years in a swamp. If all went wrong and the boy could not be trained, he could still get something out of the deal.

“You ready for some power” asked Luke.

He grew closer to the ship, still well hidden in the fog and bramble, peering curiously at the scene. There was a large pile of equipment and a droid, an asteroid droid to be precise, beeping in affirmation. The droid was not really welcomed to this planet, but maybe the machine could be useful.

The boy hooked a small wire from a box to the droid, who beeped again in a computerized thanks. Then the boy took another small box, sat down on the muddy ground and opened it, to reveal food. The young man looked at his food, made a bit of a face and looked up at the droid.

“Now all I have to do is find this Yoda, if he even exists.” Luke said doubtfully, looking around if Yoda would suddenly show up.

Ah, so the boy at least knew his name, but most likely not his character or reputation. He wondered for a moment what had Obi Wan Kenobi told about him. After all, it was Master Kenobi, not he who suggested the boy should be trained. At first, he was against the idea. The galaxy did not need one more Skywalker, or sithwalker as he favorly named the sith, running around with the Force and a lightsaber in hand. But Master Kenobi strongly argued for the good, innocent character of the boy, reminding him the boy could already use the Force to a degree and he might as well learn the rest. In the end, he had agreed under the conditions the boy was somewhat trainable. He could only hope the age factor would not be a problem.

“This certainly seems like a strange place to find a Jedi Master. Gives me the creeps.” Luke said to the droid.

The boy probably was half aware he was being watched, but was not trained enough in the Force to find the watcher or to know he was already being tested.

“Although, there’s something familiar about this place.”

Ah, so the boy had not forgotten the dreams in which the kid found himself on this planet. He quietly took a few steps out of his hiding spot, standing right behind the youth

“I feel like-”

“You feel like what?”

It was all too much fun to watch the boy spin around and look incredibly surprised and scared by his old presence. A second later the boy had drawn out a gun. The move was too slow for any Jedi. He waited for the boy to calm down and see there was no threat. A minute passed before the kid did so.

“Away put your weapon. I mean you no harm.”

The boy quietly did so. Good, the kid already trusted him, like so many other individuals did.

“I am wondering, why are you here?” He said.

“I’m looking for someone,” the kid said rather off hand, not realizing who exactly he was looking for and who was standing before him.

“Looking? Looking? You’ve found someone I’d say. Heh? Yes!”

“Yeah,” the young man said, smiling a bit at him, without a clue.

He was someone alright. Before the war, before the darkness and death, he was someone that brought hope to millions of faces, glowed in quiet peace, was sought out by billions for advice and services. Yes, even when he was no longer welcomed, the boy had found him.

“Help you I can…yes…yes.”

“I don’t think so. You see I’m looking for a great warrior.”

Clearly the boy knew Jedi were warriors and therefore mistakenly pictured the Jedi to be tall, powerfully build, armed to the teeth and seethed of power beings. Oh, how mistaken he was. The boy had a lot to learn about judging appearances. Still, he would play the role of a dumb swamp creature who knew the land well and could serve as a guide.

“A great warrior? Wars don’t make one great.”

With that, he moved away from the strucked boy and to the pile of junk. He began to dig through the different boxes.

“Get away from there.”

He ignored the useless protests of the boy and the droid. Finding nothing of great use or interest, he spotted the food container and took a bit of something that resembled a stick.

“Hey, that’s my dinner!” Luke said full of shock.

Was his dinner, but one bite of the processed food told him this was food not worth taking back to his hut.

“Thank you, no. How get you so big eating food of this kind?”

Surely, the kid did not actually eat this stuff on a regular basis. The kid did not respond right away, telling him “no” so he threw the box at the youth and dug around some more.

“Listen, friend, we didn’t mean to land here. And if I could get my fighter out of this puddle I would, but I can’t. So-”

Of course the kid could not get his ship out. This had been planned; of course the kid did not know that. He stopped searching and looked up to the boy.

“Can’t get your ship out? Have you tried? Have you tried?

He wanted to laugh, but that was not the role of a swamp creature. Instead, he picked up a case and began to open it. He picked out a small, thin lamp and turned it on. The boy angrily grabbed on to the lamp to take it away, but he held on fast, unwilling to give up his prize.

“Give me that!”

“Mine! Mine! Or I’ll help you not.”

He meant it too. This lamp would be perfect for the night time. He won the battle, that or Luke decided it was not worth the fight and took a step back. He hit something hard and metal. Looking around he saw the droid beeping and moving its circular head in protest of the thief.

“I don’t want your help. I want my lamp back. I’ll need it in this slimy mudhole.”

Now the boy was just being plain rude. This was not good at all.

“Mudhole? Slimy? My home this is!”

He and the boy started quarrelling the lamp. He got so involved in the heated discussion that he did not notice the droid coming up and grabbing the lamp with a mechanical arm. He stopped arguing and focused on trying to yank the lamp loose from the strong grip of the droid.

“Mine, mine. Give it back. Mine, mine.”

He was getting no where with the droid. He growled slightly. Droid had always been of a nuisance to him.

“Okay, Artoo, let him have it. Now get out of here little fellow. We’ve got things to do.”

Like come with him to his hut and begin training. Yet, it was not quite time to tell the kid his identity. There was still more testing to be done.

“No, no! I’ll stay and help you find your friend.”

Luke had an annoyed look on his face that expressed his desire for never coming here.

“I’m not looking for a friend. I’m looking for a Jedi Master.”

Finally the boy had come out in the open and admitted his mission.

“Oh, Yoda, you seek Yoda.”

The shock on the kid’s face was enough to show he did not expect a swamp creature to know about a Jedi.

“You know him?” The boy’s voice spoke of wonder and excitement, replacing the earlier anger.

“Of course, yes. I’ll take you to him. But first we must eat. Good food. Come, come.”

He turned around and started walking back to the hut. He sensed the boy standing there, unsure about what action to take. He could sense the boy not wanting to walk away from his only means of survival, but far too set on finding the Jedi. He wondered too of who this swamp creature was and why should he followed him. Whatever his reasons were, the Force told him the boy made up his mind to follow the swamp creature into the muck of the swamp.

“You’d better stay here and watch over the camp,” Luke called over his shoulder as he started walking towards him. The droid beeped several times, unhappy with the assignment and worried for his owner’s safety. There was no need to worry.

“Artoo, now settle down. I can take care of myself. I’ll be safe, okay?”

He heard the heavy footsteps of the running youth and stopped for a moment. Once the boy had caught up, he muttered happily to himself “Heh…safe…heh…quite safe…yes, of course.” Then broke out and laughed. The boy could hardly be in with safer company. Yes, if little old Yoda could not protect the boy from the dangers of the world and the Force, the galaxy was most certainly doomed. He sighed and wondered why he, out of trillions of living beings, was picked by the Force for this job.