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Then he closed his eyes, lifted his injured leg, and jumped. He landed gracefully on the ledge, and gripped the rung quickly, using the strength in his arms to brace himself. Extending his injured leg, he hopped up a few rungs.

She frowned. She had never mastered that trick. The hole below was even deeper. “Luke—” she said.

“You’ve done it before, Leia.”

“I can’t do it now,” she said.

He climbed down the rungs and held out his hand. “I’ll catch you.”

“Your back won’t tolerate that,” she said.

“It will handle that better than lifting you up here.” He peered at her, and was suddenly her strong, invincible brother again. “Come on. All you need is a bit of faith in yourself.”

She had little faith in herself, when it came to her Jedi talents. They were intermittent, and she hadn’t been able to train them properly.

“Leia.” His voice sounded calm, but she could hear the urgency in the way he clipped her name. The old Luke, the boy she had met, would have shouted at her. The Jedi Master knew the value of calm, but the impatience still existed underneath.

She closed her eyes. Instead of imagining the ledge, she thought about the hole beneath, and then realized that would send her into the deep darkness. She took a breath, cleared her mind, and pictured the surface with its broken rocks and high tower. From the corridor, she heard a scraping. Voices. Someone was coming.

“Leia!”

She crouched and then jumped, opening her eyes as she went. She was spinning as she shot past Luke. She missed the top of the tunnel by a meter, then started to fall.

“Grab on!” Luke was shouting. Other voices echoed below. “Grab on!”

She was still spinning, and that allowed her to move toward the walls. She reached for a rung, missed, and slapped her hand along several more rungs before being able to grab on.

The jolt on her arm sent pain shuddering through her. She stopped moving with such force that she felt it along her spine, back, and neck. Luke was climbing toward her like a Wookiee, moving quickly despite the pain he must have been feeling.

“Stormtroopers in the corridor,” he said. “We have to get out before they think of going to the top.”

“They’ll see the trapdoor is open.”

“Yeah, but they may not know where it leads,” Luke said. “I don’t think this place was built by Kueller.”

“I think you’re right.” Leia put the other hand on the next rung and climbed as quickly as she could. She felt shaken, but oddly exhilarated. She had done it. She had used the Force to help augment her own physical strength, just as Luke always told her she could do.

The voices were getting louder, but Leia was nearing the top. She could see light ahead.

“Hey, Leia,” Luke’s whisper sounded loud in the wide tunnel. “Good job.”

Praise, from Luke, meant a lot. “Thanks,” she said. She glanced over her shoulder. Luke was pale, but he was making it. His back looked raw and painful. When he saw her, he grinned. Then he put a finger to his lips.

Leia nodded and kept climbing. The light was fading near the top—the day had to be ending—but she kept moving. She knew she could find the Alderaan in the dark, but she didn’t want to.

The feeling of joy was leaving her. The Thernbee had to be far away by now. In its place was a very real concern for Luke, and an even bigger concern that Kueller hadn’t shown up yet. If he thought Luke and Leia were such a threat, he would love to have them both together.

But he didn’t.

She crested the top, pulled herself out, and surveyed her surroundings. The area was in twilight, and the air had a bit of a chill. Nothing had changed near the tower. The streets, the buildings, everything was empty.

She turned and leaned over the opening to the tunnel to help Luke up.

The emptiness bothered her.

She remembered Kueller’s words:

I prefer simple, elegant weapons.

Weapons that were hard to see?

She grabbed Luke’s right hand and pulled him out of the tunnel.

She supposed she would find out.

Artoo had followed a maze of corridors, and passed a dozen protected