Chapter 21 (Broken Walls And Broken Hearts)

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Location: Naberrie Lake house on the planet Naboo.

Time has the insidious habit of slowly eroding a person from the inside out. Childhood dreams and adulthood hopes are unrecognizably reshaped by a lifetime of struggle. Even a person's face is worn down by the passing years, creating a landscape of crevasses and canyons. But the eyes. The eyes seem to remain unscathed by time's abuse.

Luke Skywalker's famous blues eyes were a perfect example of that truth. They hadn't aged a day since that fateful Death Star rescue decade's earlier.

It was those same ageless eyes that flashed opened as he broke through into consciousness. like a star-fighter's  targeting system, his mind was instantly aware of threats unseen by those blue eyes.  Dena had been leaning over him, reacting to his restless stirring. 
In a move that was purely instinctual, Luke thrust out his hand, palm up toward her. Instantly, Dena was drawn up in the invisible hand of the force and pinned to the rooms ceiling. A small scream escaped her mouth due to his sudden rough treatment of her. For the briefest of moments, the thought crossed her mind that he might be about to hurt her in retaliation for her earlier stun attack. But she dismissed the idea as soon as it popped up in his mind

That wasn't Luke Skywalker, the man with an unlimited supply of patience and hope. No, there was a reason behind his action; an altruistic one, undoubtedly. The fact was, she trusted him completely. So when she found herself staring down into his blue eyes, she made sure her green ones spoke of nothing but trust and friendship. In reality, it was only a heartbeat, but for Dena it felt like a small eternity.
As it turned out, there was no time for any verbal explanation. Half a second after being pinned to the ceiling, the large ornate window facing Luke's bed, blew apart, as a high powered blaster bolt made contact with it. The bolt, unimpeded, continued straight through the spot Dena had occupied not 1 second earlier.

As Luke's left hand held Dena pinned to the ceiling, he lifted his right hand toward the incoming bolt. By all rights, the incoming streak of energy should have vaporized his hand, arm, and upper torso. Instead, the sniper round unceremoniously died in his palm, in a flash of smoke and sparks.

The Sniper, overcome with the frustration of Luke's apparent invincibility, let loose of barrage of blaster bolts. The room erupted in a storm of burning splinters, masonry dust, and goose down.

Through the flying debris, Luke looked up to find Dena looking back at him. Amidst the room's destruction, the two of them were in a world of their own. Held in his invisible embrace, she never had felt more protected. For once, she wasn't even concerned about Luke's safety. At that moment, she had every confidence in his situational awareness and ability. She couldn't use the force to assure him of that confidence, but she didn't need to. He could easily read it in her face.

Soon, the thunderings of incoming blasts stopped, and was replaced by the twin whine of two speeder bikes; repulsers and thrusters being pushed to the max. Tahiri and Raynar had sensed the threat and the evil intent behind it in the force. They could also sense that Luke was in no real danger at the moment. So, instead of rushing to his room, they headed for the hanger. Luke knew that within minutes, the perpetrators would either be in custody or dead, depending on their level of resistance.
With the sounds of Tahiri's and Raynar's speeders fading off into the distance, Luke was quite confident the threat to Dena was over.

Like some kind of angelic vision, she floated downward with a slight gesture of his hand. She landed gently on his lap, without saying a word. A second went by... Then  5... then 10... They both kept staring into the other's eyes, with the slightest glance at the other's lips.
After about 15 seconds, Luke's earlier vision came flooding back to him, and he reached out in the force to try and determine the fate of his family; him being fully prepared to transport himself to their location via the force. But he no longer could sense impending doom.

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