The Desolate Jedi | Luke Skywalker

Act I. xix

Eleri slept too much during the day. Her eyes could only stay fixed staring dead straight at nothing.

So when the combined sounds of silence from her two housemates became too much, Eleri slipped out for a walk into the pouring rain.

She felt like letting her thoughts run loose - like normal. That was what she usually did, it was cathartic, and it was her only release with the fact that Master Yoda hardly let her indulge in a rant. But it felt wrong this time. It felt like a burden.

It felt like someone was listening.

Which was silly - absolutely silly.

But Eleri could not shake the feeling that Luke could somehow hear her thoughts.

Perhaps it was the lifetime of living on this dreary planet with only her Master (who could actually feel her thoughts) that put Eleri in this awkward position. She was alone, but she wasn't.

She was alone, but she had no privacy.

It gave her a headache.

She huffed out loud.

Hardly ever would she vocalize anything on her walks. But a lot has changed, so what would be the harm in vocalizing anything now?

It would wake up the two people sleeping?

Eleri was probably far enough that they wouldn't hear her mumbling; she could probably speak at a regular volume and not be heard over the sound of raindrops falling on the greenery.

Looking up at the infinite sky, Eleri wanted to cry.

"Can you hear me?" She asked it. "Can you hear my thoughts?"

There was no answer. No call from her Master, or Luke, or R2D2, and definitely no reply from the sky.

"Does everyone have thoughts?" She continued, squinting so the drops wouldn't fall in her eyes, but continued to walk aimlessly. "Is everyone constantly thinking at the same time, all the time?"

She nearly tripped on a root.

"Isn't it so loud?"

With her head tilted back, the skin on her neck got pelted with the downpour - it was a weird sensation, neither painful nor comfortable.

The imagine presenting itself in her mind brought a distressful look into her face.

If names had been too overwhelming for Eleri, thoughts were dangerously overbearing. You have a select few names throughout your life, but thoughts run constant from the moment you're born to the moment you take your last breath.

How many people in the Galaxy were named Eleri? How many people felt lonely right now? How many people were talking to the sky in the pouring rain?

How many people named Eleri were standing alone in the nighttime downpour?

Was it just her? In the entire galaxy?

It seemed impossible. It seemed so contradicting.

She could not be alone - not with that many people in the galaxy. But here she was on Dagobah. She could not be lonely - not with her ever present Master reading her thoughts. But here she was, with no one to talk to.

It was all too loud.

Eleri pressed her hands to her ears, trying to block out the sound of her thoughts.

"It is so loud." She whimpered, shutting her eyes in pain.

The rain against her eyelids was like harsh kisses. Tough love in a physical and comprehensible form, but Eleri could not comprehend anything right now.