Chapter Text
Luke wanted to hold onto his father’s robes, feel the rough texture beneath his fingertips, and bury his face into the comforting scent of desert heat and dryness. But Luke wasn’t four anymore, but fourteen and they weren’t on Tatooine but on an entirely different planet, in another system, days away from Tatooine. Luke had wanted to join the Rebellion for as long as he had known what it was, but now that they had left Tatooine and actually arrived at the Rebel base, Luke felt strangely homesick.
He missed their house and he missed his Aunt and Uncle and his little cousin and Biggs and all his friends and-
Luke closed his eyes for just a moment, not long enough that anybody could think it was strange, but it was all he needed to center himself. He could show no weakness, he was a Jedi. He’d make his father proud.
“Are you alright, Luke?” Papa asked him, looking down at him in worry.
Perhaps Luke hadn’t been able to hide his emotions as well as he thought. He was good at meditating, enjoyed it even. There was something exhilarating about simply disappearing in the Force.
“Yes,” Luke replied. “It’s just very busy here.”
Ben hummed in agreement and let his gaze wander over the many people stationed at the base. Luke didn’t think it would compare to what he was used to from the war against the Separatists, the hundreds and thousands of men that had been under his command, but it probably brought forth some memories.
“It’s really not a lot like Tatooine, is it?”
Ben smiled at him and Luke measured up enough courage to smile back. The world always felt a little lighter when it was just the two of them, the Force and its endless songs.
“No sand for one. That’s a bonus.”
Luke pulled a face and, almost predictably, Ben laughed and brushed his hand over Luke’s head, messing up his hair.
“Ben!” Luke hissed, cheeks flushed. “I’m not a little kid anymore!”
It was strange to address his father by his name. Luke had never called him that really, but now the situation demanded it. He should get used to it.
“I know.” Ben’s eyes softened. “But you’ll always be my child.”
“Yes, yes…”
Luke saw that they attracted a lot of attention in the hanger with their bantering. Luke supposed that they were a little odd. There weren’t any kids of Luke’s age, or younger or older, running around. Only adults in either uniforms or some wildly thrown together getup. Most of them looked like the bounty hunters that passed through Tatooine really, only they didn’t feel as harsh in the Force. There was kindness and determination to these people. Openness too given how many species were present here. The Empire was famously human with only one or so alien officer if Luek remembered correctly. Ben had kept up with news about the Empire as best he could or was able to stomach. It couldn’t be easy reading about the ruin of everything he had stood for, the death and destruction his own apprentice wrecked in the galaxy.
Luke’s stomach turned.
He had known that his father was still out there, that he had fallen and been given a new name by his Master. Luke had even read about the horrors he committed for the Empire despite his Papa’s best efforts to shield him from that. Luke had just been too curious for his own good, wanting to know about the man his father had turned into.
He didn’t compare to kind and gentle Anakin Skywalker of Luke’s goodnight stories. Most of the time Luke wasn’t even if Ben thought of the two as the same, but didn’t see Luke as the son of the man he used to love and Vader as a completely different entity.
Ben certainly hadn’t wanted anybody to know of Luke’s existence in regard to Anakin Skywalker.
He’d been Luke Skywalker on Tatooine where it was safe and the name of an off-worlder would only draw more attention, but that child he had needed to leave behind.
So with Ben, Obi-Wan Kenobi’s, return to the front, his new Padawan was to follow.
Luke Lars, Force-sensitive with some connection to the great High General of the Grand Army of the Republic.
Jedi.
They didn’t look all that Jedi-like in their current get-ups, wearing traveler’s clothes. They had even hidden their lightsaber beneath their robes. No, there was nothing really identifying them as Jedi, but people were still looking at Ben, pretending to be subtle when they were really not, at least not to Luke’s senses. Nobody had recognized Obi-Wan Kenobi on Tatooine, not that they had gone into the city as such, and really, who would think a Jedi sold jewelry in a little shop? Here though, despite the fourteen years of silence, people knew-
“Obi-Wan?”
Luke turned to the side, stepping out of his father’s shadow.
A young Togruta woman was looking at Ben in shock. Her face markings were white and slimmer than those his Papa had drawn into the sand all those years, but it didn’t surprise Luke. The Jedi in his stories had been a Padawan still, a child his age and only a little older. Of course she’d look different than Luke had ever imagined.
“Hello, Ahsoka,” Ben said and not even a second later, Ahsoka threw herself at Ben, pulling him into a hug.
“It really is you, Obi-Wan,” she said, her voice muffled as she had buried her face in his robes.
She was taller than Ben, Luke noticed. In the stories, Ben had always held a hand up near his shoulders or so when he described Ahsoka Tano and their many adventures. Not everything was as it had been in the stories.
“Force,” Ahsoka said and let go of Ben to look at him once more. “I can’t believe it.”
“I should say that,” Ben retorted. “You have grown up well. I’m glad to see you.”
“I’m happy to see you as well, where have you been all these years?”
“I-“ Ben stopped talking and took a slight step out of Ahsoka’s arms. He put his left hand on Luke’s back, an encouraging gesture, but Luke couldn’t draw any strength from it, he was much too nervous.
He had heard so much about Ahsoka, he thought he must be vibrating with energy. He wanted to know what she had been up to, what she had lived through, if she could teach him how to fight with two lightsabers since Ben refused to teach him.
“This is Luke,” Ben introduced him. “I’ve been watching over him.”
Something unidentifiable flashed over Ahsoka’s face as she looked him over, but it melted into a warm and kind smile, just the way Luke had always pictured her looking at him. He’d always wanted a sister and thought Ahsoka would be the best.
“It’s nice to meet you, Luke.”
Luke grinned back. “It’s nice to meet you as well! Papa told me so much-“ Luke stopped. “I mean- uh, Ben, Obi-Wan told me so much about you!”
Luke grimaced. Great, his first talk with a real Rebel, with another Jedi, and he had already messed it all up. He just hoped nobody had heard. They had been supposed to lie to keep Luke safe. If somebody had overheard their conversation and oh, Force! They were in the middle of the hangers-
“I have been raising Luke since he was a newborn,” Ben explained. He squeezed Luke’s shoulder, sent a silent it’s alright, don’t worry, everything is fine, over their bond before he continued speaking. “He is my Padawan – and he is my son.”
This was a loud declaration. So they were going to make adjustments to Luke’s cover. This would still work.
“Understood,” Ahsoka said easily. “Well, then, little sunshine, welcome to the Alliance.”
Welcome home, she did not say, but regardless, it was what Luke heard loud and clearly in his mind.