Tolkien Meta Week Starts December 8!
Join us December 8-14, here and on Tumblr, as we share our thoughts, musings, rants, and headcanons about all aspects of Tolkien's world.
Emotion yet peace.
The sea-feathers waved in the breeze. Maglor stood in the midst of them on the sand dune, watching the ocean waves crash and fade on the shore. He’d thrown his ruined lightsaber into the water. The kyber had cracked— he’d thanked the Force it hadn’t exploded as the crystals could do— and the hilt was likewise in terrible shape. Moreover, being found with it was a death sentence. And his duty now was to survive.
Maglor stood there, letting the peace of the scenery sink into him, until the sun began sinking beneath the horizon. Only then did he leave.
Ignorance yet knowledge
“My grandma said the Jedi tried to kill Palpatine before he took over because he was about to take over. That’s why he declared them traitors.”
Maglor glanced over at another nearby X-wing mechanic searching through her toolbox. It was what he had come to believe over the past nineteen years. It was something that felt true in a way he could never explain to anyone else. It also wasn’t the first time he’d heard that sentiment over the years. It wasn’t just Jedi who could put puzzle pieces together. Not that anyone in the Alliance knew he was Jedi.
Passion yet serenity
He took one deep breath and then another. He had done everything he could to ensure the new pilot for the X-wing pilot designated as Red Five would have the best ship he could. Maglor hadn’t been much of a mechanic before Order 66. But he had greatly improved in the past nineteen years. Mechanics were always needed and the Alliance had appreciated that. Now his job was finished and it was nearing time for the snubfighter pilots to do theirs. He grabbed his toolbox and headed for his bunk to pick up his go-bag before boarding the evacuation shuttle.
Chaos yet harmony
The medal ceremony had been thrown together in a hurry. The shuttle had returned to celebrate rather than hang out in deep space with Mon Mothma and plans to rebuild the Alliance. Now it could grow.
All that said, Maglor stayed out of the way. He was simply a mechanic performing maintenance on Skywalker’s X-wing. Skywalker. Somehow, the kid was related to Anakin. Maglor wasn’t about to ask him. Maglor wasn’t ready for the Alliance to know about him. And he honestly had no idea how most would react to the revelation. It was one thing for a Jedi to hide given the Inquisitorious— though he hadn’t heard about them for a couple of years now— and another to hide among allies.
Maglor shook his head and followed the crowd up to the empty room. He’d be one more face in a crowd. And he was sure Skywalker would seek him out, if only to thank him for the mechanic work he’d done. The Force would let him know if there should be anything deeper there, if there would be an apprenticeship or not. Though he’d help out with the basics regardless: meditation, emotional control, and learning to let go.
Death yet the Force
Maglor sat in his bunk-room, his three other roommates out doing who knew what. It wasn’t exactly like there was a lot to do when the Alliance was floating in deep space. But he’d felt something— and he’d learned exactly what that something was when a transparent, blue Obi-Wan Kenobi appeared before him.
“You know, I always thoughts those creche-tales of Jedi masters living on past their deaths were just that: stories.”
“Apparently not.”
“This has something to do with Qui-Gon, doesn’t it?”
Obi-Wan actually laughed. “Yes.”
“Luke Skywalker?”
“Is Anakin’s son.”
A dozen thoughts raced into Maglor’s mind. He chose one. “How much does Luke know about the Order?”
“His aunt and uncle raised him; they told him Anakin was a navigator on a spice freighter. He’s had only a couple of lessons about the Force.”
He would have to tell the Alliance they’d had a Jedi working as a mechanic for years. Given how they were beginning to treat Luke as the answer to their problems—apart from the general hero-worship of him blowing up the Death Star— his doubts about their reaction to having a full Jedi Master had grown. And he’d need to construct a new lightsaber. Somehow. When he didn’t have a kyber crystal and Ilum was off-limits. “Then he will be my Padawan.”
“Yoda is to be his teacher.”
Maglor raised an eyebrow. “He’s alive?” Obi-Wan nodded. “I’ll teach Luke the basics regardless. When the time is ready, he can seek out Yoda.” He met Obi-Wan’s spectral eyes. “I do not want to know where Master Yoda lives.”
There was still too much risk involved. Vader himself would come after Maglor.
“I understand, Master Makalaurë.”
Maglor nearly wept to hear his proper name for the first time in nigh on two decades. “Thank you.”
“I now must leave but I will contact you again. Do not yet mention this form of me to Luke; he’s not ready.”
“I won’t.”
“May the Force be with you.”
Obi-Wan vanished before Maglor could return the sentiment. He let out a breath of laughter and joy. Master Kenobi might be dead but he could still converse. Master Yoda was still alive. How many more Jedi had survived, hiding and waiting for the day they could step out into the open sunlight? And that day was coming. It wouldn’t be soon but it was coming. He could feel it.