Part 5 (1/2)
”If she gave up all the other demands on her time, and studied the ways of the Force, she could develop her skills tremendously.”
”Do you see any chance of that happening?”
Luke shook his head slowly. ”No,” he said. ”She has made her choices already. Her career in politics put too many demands on her.
Besides which, she has three children to raise.”
”Yet it has always been a regret to her-and to youthat she has not developed her skills more. And if I am not mistaken, the issue has been the cause of gentle and repeated reproaches from you?”
”Well, yes.”
”Do you find it upsetting that your sister has great gifts and has not developed them? That she has not made use of them? Do you find it something close to a scandalous waste?”
Luke raised his head and looked Mon Mothma straight in the eye. The truth. That was what she wanted to getand, he realized, what he wanted to give. The truth, solid and clear. ”Yes,” he said in a slow, firm voice. ”Yes, I do.”
”Then, Luke Skywalker, I suggest you consider the fact that some mirrors reflect both ways.” Suddenly there was nothing remotely gentle or subdued about her voice or her manner.
”Excuse me, ma'am?” Luke asked. It occurred to him that he had had difficulty reading Mon Mothma's emotions since he had come in here.
Her calm manner had hidden a subject about which she felt great pa.s.sion. ”I don't understand.”
”I have heard it time and time again, from all sorts of people,”
she said, somewhat testily. ”How the two of you are twins, how you each inherited the same potential, but only one of you made use of it, while the other chose to do something else, something less. People say what a shame it is. And always it is Leia Organa Solo, the chief of state of the Republic, that they talk about that way. The chief of state, and they whisper that she has not done enough with herself!”
”What's your point?” Luke asked, feeling his temper starting to flare.
”My point is that I think it is long past time for you to consider that Luke Skywalker made some choices as well.
It is long past time to reflect on the fact that you have talents and potential you have never developed.”
”For instance?” Luke said.
”If Leia has potential in the Force because you, her brother, have shown you do, does it not follow that you have potential in other areas because Leia, your sister, has shown she does? She has become a leader, a stateswoman, a politician, a spouse, and a parent. She is building the New Republic even as she is raising a new generation of Jedi.
”Let us look in the mirror again,” Mon Mothma said.
”The Republic is in need of a new generation of political leaders.h.i.+p. I don't know whether you realize it or not, but it is all but inevitable that you will enter politics, whether you like it or not.”
”Me?” Luke asked. ”But I'm-”
”A hero of the Rebellion. You're famous throughout the Republic, and on hundreds of worlds outside it. The various powers-that-be will not be able to resist someone as well known, or as well liked, or well respected, as yourself will be an inevitable focal point of political maneu” the years to come.”
”But I'm a Jedi Knight,” Luke protested.
terI can't go into politics. Besides, I don't Mon Mothma smiled.
”How much r has consisted of what you wanted to dr' -6 'when the Jedi, what I most wanted to talk with you about. What are the Jedi to become?”
”I'm sorry,” Luke said. ”I don't understand what you mean.” It seemed to him that the whole conversation had been little more than riddles of one sort or another. If the Jedi were the most important thing on her agenda, why had she waited until now to bring them up? As for her question, the Jedi were-Jedi. What else would they be?
”All right,” Mon Mothma said. ”Let me put it another way. In the years to come, as the Jedi grow from a handful of students into an order of thousands of Knights, will they set themselves up as an elite priesthood or as a band of champions? Are they to be cut off from the people by privilege and mystique, answerable to themselves alone? Or will they act in the service of the people, be intimately bound to the people? Will they be part of the people, the citizenry, or outside them?”
Luke had never considered the question in quite that way before.
”It's obvious what answer you want,” he said, ”but I think it's the answer I would choose no matter what. It seems to me that an order of Jedi that isolated itself from the population would be a very dangerous thing indeed. It would be very easy to forget the ways of ordinary folk if you never experienced the things they did.”
”Precisely,” Mon Mothma said. ”I believe, and believe strongly, that the Republic needs Jedi that get their hands dirty, that are part of the Republic's daily life. Jedi that live in ivory towers might be more dangerous than no Jedi at all. You need look no further than our very recent history to see that it has been the Dark Jedi that have sought isolation. To be a Jedi of the Light, a Jedi must be one with the people. There must be a Jedi on every planet, a Jedi in every city-not a few planets full of Jedi and nothing else.
There must be Jedi doing what ordinary folk do, Jedi who are ordinary folk. There must be Jedi doctors and judges and soldiers and pilots-and politicians.”
”And you believe that my path will guide me into politics,” Luke said.
'Yes. If for no other reason than because it is your duty to set an example-and you have always been a slave to duty. If you wander off to brood on a hilltop somewhere, your followers will head off to find their own hills to brood on. If you are out in the world, so, too, will they follow that example.”
”I see your point,” Luke conceded, none too happily.
Setting a good example was a laudable reason for most things, but was not one that made the heart beat fast with excitement. But Mon Mothma had a point-excitement was going to be in short supply for a while-and for the general population, that was, perhaps, no bad thing.
”Do you really think I'll get pulled that deeply into politics?”
”I certainly have no way to see into the future,” she said. ”I cannot see your path. But people will look for leaders, and I believe they will look to you.”
”I suppose it is possible,” Luke conceded.
”It is highly probable. Probable enough that you should consider the situation in advance.”
”But I've never been interested in power,” Luke said.
”I'm not going to wake up one morning and decide to run for office.”
”No, of course not. But that is not how it will happen.
Someone-I don't know who, or when, or how many, or why-will come to you, seeking not a leader, but a champion. Someone who will ask you to take up their cause, speak on their behalf, fight for their rights. You are not interested in power-but could you resist a call for help?”
”No,” Luke said, something half-regretful in his voice.
Mon Mothma was right. It was exactly the sort of approach he would find impossible to resist. ”No, if someone put it that way, of course I'd have to say yes.”
”And sooner or later someone will put it that way. The question then is if you are to become a real leader, or just a figurehead.”
”I beg your pardon?” Luke said.
”Will you be a figurehead?” Mon Mothma asked again.
”Will you know the craft of leaders.h.i.+p, of negotiating when you should and of making difficult decisions when you must? Or will you be full of good intentions but ill trained and ill prepared to function in the world of politics, so that others must guide and control-and manipulate-you? If you are to be a real leader for the people, you must prepare for the job, just as you prepared to be a Jedi. You must undergo the training that Leia underwent while you were learning your Jedi skills.”