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"I'm just saying that maybe I was too hasty to distrust the man."

"Sure, now that—"

"Excuse me," Luke said, standing up. He knew their argument could continue indefinitely—and he suddenly felt the very strong need to be alone. He was grateful for his friends, but they couldn't understand what it was like, knowing a great power inside of him might remain hidden forever.

"Come on, Ben, where are you!" Luke exclaimed in frustration. He was sitting on the edge of his bunk, his eyes closed, intently trying to connect with Obi-Wan's spirit. The Jedi had spoken to him when he truly needed it. Surely it could happen again.

Unless that was just my imagination. Much as he tried to suppress the thought, it kept popping up.

Because if Obi-Wan Kenobi really had the power to speak from beyond the grave, why was he staying silent?

Maybe he decided I wasn't worthy of being a Jedi after all.

"Am I disturbing you?" Tobin Elad said from the doorway.

Luke opened his eyes. "No. I was just…doing nothing."

Elad stepped into the cramped cabin and looked around. "Are you alone in here? I thought I heard you talking to someone."

Luke flushed and shook his head. "No. I'm on my own. Come on in." He hadn't had much of a chance to talk to Elad one-on-one. This would be a good opportunity to investigate the man's motives. The Force might not be able to tell Luke whether to trust him, but that didn't mean Luke couldn't figure it out for himself.

Elad perched on a narrow counter and fixed Luke with a steady gaze. "So, have you all made your decision yet?"

"Our decision?"

"Whether to trust me." Elad smiled. "That's why we're flying around in circles, right?"

"Oh. I, uh…" Luke hesitated, unsure what to say.

Elad laughed softly. "It's okay—I wouldn't trust me either, if I were you. Trusting too quickly is a good way to get dead."

"So I've heard." Luke wondered if Han realized how much he and Elad had in common.

"So why aren't you up in the cockpit with the others, trying to decide my fate?"

Luke shrugged. "I had some things I needed to do."

"Lightsaber practice?" Elad asked.

Automatically, Luke's hand moved to the lightsaber hanging from his belt. It was strange how after such a short time, it had already come to feel a part of him.

"I've never met a Jedi before," Elad said. "It's quite an honor."

"I'm not a Jedi," Luke admitted. "Not yet." Maybe not ever.

"Well, you have the right weapon," Elad said. "That's a start."

"A lightsaber's not a weapon," Luke said, echoing what Ben had told him. "It's a tool, to focus the Force. That's what it really means to be a Jedi. You have to connect to the Force."

"And you don't?"

Luke ducked his head. "Not yet. Sometimes I'm afraid I never will." He'd never admitted this to Han or Leia, but somehow, it was easier to speak his concerns out loud to a stranger. "Ben—my teacher—I guess he saw something in me. He was so confident I would learn. But now he's gone. And sometimes I wonder…what if he was wrong?"

"You've never felt the Force?" Elad asked.

"Once," Luke admitted. "When it really counted. Everything rested on my shoulders, and I should have been terrified, but instead, I was just certain that I could do it. I knew it was our only chance and when I—" He cut himself off abruptly. What was he doing, talking about the Death Star with an outsider? He knew better—and this conversation was supposed to be about Elad. How had he ended up revealing so much about himself?

Elad looked at him curiously. "When you…" he prompted.

Luke shook his head. "It just felt good to save the day," he admitted. "I know I could be of much more use to the Rebellion if I could access my Jedi skills, but without Ben…"

Elad raised his eyebrows. "I don't know who this Ben was, but it seems to me that you don't need him to tell you how to become a Jedi. Not if he was right, and you've really got it inside of you."

"But how am I supposed to figure it out on my own?" Luke asked, feeling helpless.

"Kid, we've all got to figure it out on our own."

Luke hated it