The Portal on Shakespeare [a week later]

[momslilassassin]

A mattress had been bought for guests, the house had been scrubbed from top to bottom and then bottom to top, and Ben, even though he knew that Luke wouldn't care in the slightest, had stressed out about what they'd have for dinner for the last three days.

Now he was a half-hour early for the time his father had sent him for the portal, bouncing nervously on the balls of his feet.

He was excited and terrified in almost equal measure.

Sounds like a fun vacation, huh?

Comments

[endsthegame]

"We do, actually," Ender said, walking past him to reach for one of the cabinets. "People from your galaxy always seem inordinately into stocking up on the stuff..."

[notsoreckless.livejournal.com]

Luke smiled. "It's been pretty tough to find chocolate after the Yuuzhan Vong war," he explained.

[endsthegame]

"I know," Ender said with a little smile. "Ben always keeps some stocked."

He took a packet out of the cabinet and offered it to Luke. "Our cacao plants here are still young," he said, "but we brought some over on the ship."

[notsoreckless.livejournal.com]

"I grew up on a moisture farm," Luke said. "Your crop diversity is something my uncle would have been envious of."

[endsthegame]

"The original colonists had seed packets on their ships to make sure that if they survived, they'd be able to raise crops," Ender explained, opening the fridge so he could find Luke some milk. "Of course, due to weight limits, they couldn't bring luxury plants. Those have been our contribution... it just takes a while."

[notsoreckless.livejournal.com]

Luke nodded, looking impressed. "We never did that, but then again, most of the planets we were fighting over were already heavily populated."

[endsthegame]

"It's different when you can afford an import economy," Ender said, passing the milk on to Luke. "Even now, the colony is isolated in a lot of ways. It has to be self-reliant, or it dies out."

[notsoreckless.livejournal.com]

Luke made himself a cup of hot chocolate. "Yes, Ben told me about the difference in space travel between home and here."

[endsthegame]

"So far, portal travel doesn't seem to be terribly different from what we're used to, at least," Ender said lightly. "You made it here okay."

[notsoreckless.livejournal.com]

"True," Luke said with a small smile. "Have you thought of using it for getting more colonists here yet?"

[endsthegame]

"I've contacted IF headquarters back on Earth about it," Ender said. "But so far, all attempts to send anyone this way using portals have failed. They just come out on the same side."

[notsoreckless.livejournal.com]

Luke frowned slightly. "Is there a chance I might get stuck?"

[endsthegame]

"A small one, but it's negligible," Ender said. "We don't seem to have any trouble getting to other universes. It's just that when we try to use portals to travel within this universe that we run into trouble."

[notsoreckless.livejournal.com]

"Strange," Luke said, "but portals aren't exactly my area of expertise."

[endsthegame]

"Nor mine," Ender said. "As it stands, I'm simply relieved they work enough to allow you to visit."

[notsoreckless.livejournal.com]

"Me too," Luke said, watching Ender's face. "I think I have you to thank for the invitation, at least in part."

[endsthegame]

"Ben has been equal parts excited and terrified about the idea," Ender said quietly. "But he needed to see you."

[notsoreckless.livejournal.com]

"Terrified?" Luke repeated. "I didn't think we'd left things that bad between us."

[endsthegame]

"You didn't," Ender said, leaning back against counter. "He's not afraid of you. He's afraid because he's worried about himself."

[notsoreckless.livejournal.com]

"How so?" Luke asked, sipping from his mug.

[endsthegame]

"He was raised thinking becoming a Jedi was the only path he was allowed to take," Ender said. "All his responsibilities were tied up in it, and his feelings didn't matter. That doesn't just go away because he made one big decision to remove himself from that situation."

He glanced at Luke. "He has these big arguments in his head about whether it's right for him to be here, even if he is happy," he said. "It's easier for him to act like it's because you'll be making those arguments."

[notsoreckless.livejournal.com]

"To come here and ask him to come home?" Luke replied quietly. "Do you think that's why I'm here?"

[endsthegame]

"If I did, I wouldn't be telling you all this," Ender said. "I argued for you to come because he needs to realize that you're his father, and you don't see him as some extra set of shoulders needed to carry a burden, but that you love him and you want to see him happy. Because maybe then he can finally let go of some of this guilt and shame that keeps gnawing at him."

[notsoreckless.livejournal.com]

Luke took a long sip of hot chocolate to buy him time to gather his thoughts. "I do want him to be happy," he said finally, "and I've missed him every day he's been gone, and not because he's an excellent Jedi."

[endsthegame]

"I know," Ender said. "It's why I think you two should really spend some time working on one of our skimmers together."

He spoke fluent Skywalker bonding by now, even if it wasn't his own style with Ben.