The camp we set up was silent for a long moment, taking in what Yoda had just said. To hear that he clung so loosely to life, that his grip on the Force was all that was keeping him alive...

"You've been holding on to train me, haven't you?" Luke asked, dragging us out of the silence. "You could have let go at any time after the Order ended… But you hung around, living in this place because you were waiting for me."

"Need me, we believed you did," Yoda explained, tapping the chair with his cane. "Grown on your own, you have. Proud of you, Obi-wan would be. Proud of you, your father would be, if his mind was not clouded."

"I… Thank you," Luke said, bowing to the Jedi Master. "I would still like to learn from you. As long as you can accept that we have changed."

"Changed, you have?" Yoda asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The Jedi Order was… It was filled with people who wanted to help," Luke said, his eyes flicking to me as he used my words. "But too many aspects of it were wrong, corrupted, or forgotten. We, meaning the start of the new order, whatever we might call it, must be different if we want to avoid the same trappings the old order fell into."

"Already looking towards the future, you are?" Yoda asked, Luke nodding in response. "Good, good, as long as to far, you do not look. Preach the old ways, I will not."

"Thank you, Master Yoda," Luke said, bowing again.

"Good. Now, a rock, there is, sitting on a branch next to a pond," Yoda explained, gesturing into the swamp. "That way, it is. Quickly, you must find it, and return it to me."

"I.. uh…" Luke managed to say, stuttering as he was caught off guard by the order. Yoda tapped his cane on his chair, cutting off any complaint.

"Quickly, I said. Confused by such a word, are you?"

Luke stood from his chair, still looking conflicted, but eventually walked away from the table. He looked back as he reached a tree, only for Yoda to add another level of difficulty.

"Touch the stone, you may not. Get it dirty, you would," The short green Jedi Master said seriously. "The Force, you must use to carry it."

Luke looked at me now, clearly questioning our hosts' sanity, before I simply shrugged. He let out a breath and shook his head before turning back and jogging into the low-hanging mist. I waited a few seconds before turning to Boxi.

"Boxi, send two of your men to follow him," I ordered. "Long distance, as stealthy as you can get. Only interfere if he can't handle anything that attacks him. Oh and have them comm us when he gets into trouble."

Boxi nodded before turning to his men, two BXs running off not long after that, sticking to shadows and climbing trees to stay out of sight. They vanished into the fog not long after that.

"Safe, he would be," Yoda said, though he didn't seem upset. "Watching him, I am. Much training he has."

"I would say he is at the very tail end of Padawan," I volunteered. "Though admitted that is mostly based on what I know Ahsoka was capable of."

"A bad example, she is not," He agreed. "And you have been teaching him?"

"A few basic things, not much more than that," Assured him. "Mostly just sparring to give him variety when he can get it. He seems to like a sword style you guys don't teach, so we will probably expand on that."

"Child of a survivor, could you be?" Yoda asked, looking at me hard, trying to pop my bubble of mystery. "A child of the Jedi Exploration Corps, perhaps, hrrmm?"

"No, definitely not. why?"

"You know things, many things," he said with a frown. "Such knowledge, rare it is."

"Yeah, knowing things is kind of my deal," I explained with a shrug. "Kinda the other side of the magic coin. "For example, I knew you were hiding here before Luke even came to us. I knew Grandpa Palpy hit you pretty hard when you fought, especially that opening blast of lightning, though honestly, you should have probably seen that coming."

"Hiding his presence in the force, Darth Sidious was skilled at," Yoda explained, his voice sounding resigned. "His intent, I could not feel."

"That kind of dependency is something I'm hoping to stop in this next generation," I explained, giving him a look over. "I'm assuming that fight was where you started your decline?"

I was shooting in the dark entirely, but I was rewarded by a look of surprise on his face, then a nod of confirmation.

"Too much, the damage was for my body," He admitted. "Clinging to life ever since, I have been. Waiting to train Luke, I have been. Pass on the ways of the Jedi, I was determined to do."

I nodded in understanding, impressed by his tenacity and commitment.

"Uh… quick question… how is Luke supposed to find a rock through all this fog?" Miru asked, looking worriedly out into the place Luke had left from. "Are you sure he is safe?"

"The Force, he must use," Yoda explained. "Trust it, he must, or he will never rise in strength."

We sat there for a while in silence, listening to the living biome that surrounded us. The sounds of bugs, small animals, and lizards all calling out, living in the swamp and fog. It was almost overwhelming when you stopped to listen.

"He is determined to save his father from the Dark side," I brought up, filling the silence. "He thinks he can pull him back."

Yoda seemed to think about that for a long moment, both hands on his cane as he looked into the distance. After a bit, he looked at me expectantly.

"Of this, what do you think?" Yoda asked, raising an eyebrow.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Coming back from that deep from the Dark side is rare, like one in a million, but it does happen," I responded with a shrug. "The best example would be Bastila Shan bringing Revan back to the light. Also, I think Asajj Ventress also turned away, though I'm not sure about that one. If Luke wants to try, I'm inclined to give him a chance. That said, that doesn't just wipe away everything he did. He was used, manipulated, and brainwashed by the Dark side, but he still did those things. Killing the younglings alone… Luke might turn him, but he still needs to be punished."

"Punish a powerful Force user, difficult it is," Yoda pointed out. "Impossible to separate from our connection, it is."

"It very much is not, and you know it," I said, giving him a look. "A handful of masters could manage it, as they have done a few times in the past. However, there would be an easier method once the war is over. A backwater planet called Myrkr would make the perfect prison for him."

"Ah… that would work, I suppose," He admitted. "Haven for smugglers, it is."

"We can handle some of them," I assured him, waving his concern off. "The Skyforged is more than equipped to clear some smuggler bases."

"This name, you have said. Skyforged," Yoda said after a moment. "Your mercenary group, you say. Tell me about them, please."

"Well, first, Mercenary isn't really the best term for us. We complete bounties on pirates and the like, sure, but we are more Rebel-leaning than that," I explained. "We have a good record of asset seizure, both from pirates and from Imperials. They call us mercenaries because we refuse to hand over what we get for free. Instead, we sell it to the Rebellion at a steep discount. They get cheap ships, which they desperately need, and I get to make sure my people get paid and get access to the best I can get them."

"Large, this group is?"

"We have four ground teams of various amounts of people and three groups of ships," I explained before correcting myself. "Sorry, we have two and a few ships that are being worked on and staffed to create a third. It's a good start and not bad, considering we have only been around for a few months."

"Impressive, that is," Yoda said, watching me closely. "Supporting the new Jedi order, you are?"

"Amescoll and his people joined us officially, but most of them are focusing on their training after we secured holocrons," I explained. "And yes, I am. The Jedi, whatever form they take in the future, they need help. I'm just hoping to help them avoid the issues and mistakes made in the past. Like tying themselves too closely to whatever government comes next when the Rebels win. Jedi need freedom to act in the interests of the Force, not to a government."

"Freedom from you, will they have?" He asked.

"Yes, freedom from me as well," I assured him. "Just because they joined doesn't mean I own their souls or anything. If they want to leave, they are more than welcome. I have a feeling a few of the Padawans, who should honesty be knights at this point, will start asking to help more directly, but none of them are required to do anything."

Yoda studied me for a moment longer but seemed to find whatever it was he was looking for, because he nodded and leaned back in his chair, his body leaning on the backrest.

"Expect this to happen, I did not. Even after being defeated, arrogant was I," He admitted, shaking his head. "Expected to the galaxy to spin as I assumed it would, I did."

"That's something most people are guilty of, Yoda," I assured him. "Call it the arrogance of sentience, that things work the way we assume they do."

He chuckled and nodded, letting out a long breath.

"To train him, how long will I have?" Yoda asked. "Stay long, you clearly cannot."

"No, but something could be arranged to keep him here," I assured him. "We could go up and send a message out to my people to stop by with a spare ship so he has something to fly back with on his own. Oh! I might even be able to get Chewbacca to stop by and pick him up."

"Survived the war, did he?" Yoda asked, a sliver of a smile coming through. "Good news, that is. Unsurprised I am, that he joined the Rebellion."

"In a roundabout way," I explained with a smile. "He got in some trouble but was saved by a smuggler with a good heart named Han Solo. Swore him a life debt for it."

"An honorable man, this Han Solo is?" Yoda asked.

"I would say he is a good man, but he grew up having to sacrifice his honor to survive," I explained. "He is working on regaining it, though. His friendship with Luke is helping with that, as is Chewies."

"Good, good, that it is to hear."

Yoda, Miru, and I talked more about what was going on with the Rebellion, what our goals were, and what else had gone on in the galaxy. Eventually, Luke returned, a head-sized stone floating in front of him. He gently placed it down on the table, letting out a sigh of relief.

"One tree climbing rock, untouched by my hands, as asked for," Luke said, a bit of sarcasm leaking into his voice, getting a wince from me. Luke spotted that and closed his eyes for a moment, centering himself as much as he could before focusing back on Yoda.

"Good," Yoda said with a nod. "Well done, you have.

Before Luke could respond and accept the compliment, Yoda reached out with his hand, the rock floating up off the table. Luke watched silently before the air rippled with energy, and Yoda fired the stone back the way he came. It tore through the sky in a blur, vanishing into the fog, which curled and spiraled from the passing air currents.

"Find it again, you will," Yoda said. "Faster, this time, I expect."

I could see that Luke was very tempted to tell Yoda to stuff it, but he managed to keep his cool, turning around and jogging into the forest after a moment. Once he was gone, I turned to look at Yoda with a smirk.

"You use this method with all your apprentices?" I asked, ancient Jedi chuckling.

"No, I do not," He responds. "Like his father, he is. When overcoming challenges, his best learning is done. Also, old, he is. No experience controlling his emotions, does he have. Become reflex, it must."

Yoda continued to train Luke for several hours until the already dark woods began to get even darker. While Miru and I enjoyed the relative comfort of our survival gear and supplies, Luke roughed it with Yoda, including eating his food and eventually sleeping in his home. It seemed the little gremlin was serious about testing his patience and forcing him to calm down and steady his emotions. As long as Luke was learning how to acknowledge and release them rather than bottle them up until he exploded, that was probably a good idea.

The morning after we arrived, Miru and I both climbed out of our tent to find Luke already meditating, floating a dozen rocks around him while he did a handstand. It was very similar to some of the exercises I saw in the movies, but I had always assumed that it was a late-game exercise. That meant I was either wrong, or Yoda had skipped the beginner's stuff in favor of more advanced lessons. Luke ignored us as we exited our tent, focused on his training. Yoda, however, was waiting for us, already having claimed the same seat as before.

After a quick breakfast, during which he remained silent, he finally spoke up once we had settled again.

"A request, I have for you," He admitted. "Agreed to stay for a month, Luke has. Wishes to learn from me, he does."

"That's great," I said with a smile. "Thank you for taking him as a student. Do you want us to get a ship sent here?"

"No. It is you personally, I ask to return after one month," He explained, gripping his cane. "Leave, take the distractions with you, you will. Return later, I ask."

"And if something goes wrong?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I will reach out through the Force," Yoda answers seriously. "Burn my own life away, I will, if necessary."

"And Luke agreed to that?" I asked, looking up at the young Jedi trainee, struggling to lift yet another stone. "Including the life-burning part?"

"Agreed to stay, he has," Yoda responded tellingly.

"Right. Well, may I bring Ahsoka with me?" I asked. "I'm sure she would like to see you after all these years. She is already going to be pissed that I didn't tell her about you before."

"Deserve her kindness, I do not," Yoda said, shaking his head. "But selfish, I am. Like to see her, I would as well."

"Okay then. We will go and leave Luke to you," I agreed. "In one month, I will return to pick him up."

Yoda nodded, turning to watch Luke as he meditated, sweat pouring down his face as he kept so many stones floating around him. Yoda flexed his power, pushing several of the stones in different directions before adding two more. Luke bit back a curse, wobbling a bit but managing to stay upright despite the challenge. Yoda nodded as he did, a smile on his face forming as he watched his new student succeed.