[ EU ] After the Battle of Endor , Luke Skywalker goes on a pillgrimage to understand the nature of the universe ( and thus , The Force ) better . In his travels he meets another protaganist from an entirely different universe and/or time . What do they learn from each other ?

As Luke touched the ship down, lightly guiding the craft over a small valley to settle in between hills, he felt the force tug at his mind. He had come so far simply to arrive at this place; letting the galaxy itself guide him here just so that he might settle his feet upon the soil below. 
 
 A gentle thing, the feeling truly was- but so real, so *true* when he was aware of it. The nature of that flow seemed to beckon him onward, to walk out onto the planet's surface. There was life here; human life, and perhaps ever others, but nothing like what he had left behind on his great pilgrimage. This was a land of progress, though not yet one of the stars. 
 
 In the far distant night, Luke could see chimneys lofting smoke out above a village. The soft gray clouds drifting endlessly fainter upon the winds that swept from the far hills and mountains on the horizon. Still, the force guided him. There was someone in this world, that he needed to meet. 
 
 Luke walked onward, allowing himself to wander into the fields between the hills and forests, past farmlands left to fallow for the season, or perhaps already reaped of their harvests. This world seemed so simple, and yet he could feel that it was not. Only the illusion of simplicity held here, for everything seemed to glow with echoes of a past, stretching onward, even the winds that lightly swept and curled along his face. There was a power here, alive and responsive, settling in above and below for as far as he could reach to feel it. 
 
 In time, the guiding force began to pull him, deep into forests of thick trees, stretching high- far into the heavens above, as if reaching to the stars. To witness trees such as this! Some were so wide it almost seemed impossible, and their branches and canopies seemed to bear tremendous weight, sheltering those beneath them. 
 
 As he watched the leaves above him twist and turn, patterns flickering beyond his grasp, he continued to walk. He did not need to see for the force to guide him, only to listen. After many moments of such awareness, it was then that Luke found he had stopped beside a small fire. 
 
 `` It is good to see someone else in this place.'' 
 
 The voice spoke from the shadows, beneath a thick hooded cloak of woolen fabric. A man sat quietly there, as if waiting. Had Luke not known better, he would have thought the man a Jedi, for the force seemed to swirl around the man- as if an aura. 
 
 `` You are not from here, but you are... still a part of *it*, in a way.'' 
 
 Slowly, Luke sat upon a fallen log, rolled close, across from the cloaked man. Perhaps he had anticipated this meeting, and prepared for it, or perhaps it was just coincidence. The man continued. 
 
 `` When you leave this world, I do n't believe you will find your way back to it. Not for a long while, and not as you are now.'' A pipe lifted, to waft a sweet smoke out and into the air, twisting and tossing it in patterns along the strange aura that seemed to consume the very air, hovering around the man before him. 
 
 Luke spoke before he had realized he could, before he could stop himself. `` Have I met you before?'' 
 
 The hood from the cloak fell back, revealing eyes like oceans, and hair like night. A single speck seemed to float on those waters, as if an island made from a single tear. 
 
 `` We have, and we have not.'' The pipe returned to his lips as the man eyed the items upon Luke's belt. On his own, there was a sword of metal, but there was something strange about it, somehow not ordinary. A bird marked its handle, softly engraved. `` Perhaps you'll remember, though even I must claim ignorance in some respects to the pattern.'' 
 
 `` Tell me, do you know of the force?'' The question came before Luke knew he had asked it, as if pulled from his lips- a single strand from a cloak of possibilities. `` I feel that it must be so.'' 
 
 In the light of the fire, the cloaked man's teeth seemed to glow, as laughter struck him. `` By the light, No! No, not any longer, not for this life. I am but a man, just as you, though your hand does bring back back memories.'' 
 
 `` You must be familiar with it, to know such as that.'' He insisted now, as the cloaked figured held back his laughter, and reached beneath his cloak to pull out a small pouch. From that, his pipe was quietly filled anew. 
 
 `` I was, though not as you know it, and I will be again... For now, though, I am but a man, and truly a man is all I should ever be.'' 
 
 Blue eyes met Luke's curious gaze, as he leaned forward, closer to the fire, staring at Luke's own- deeper than anyone ever had, before slowly standing. The act pulled Luke to his feet before he could stop it, and his hand reach out- his true hand, to take the cloaked man's in a firm embrace, arms locked. 
 
 `` Who are you, stranger? Not a Jedi, not one of the force, but something different, as if you stand beside it all.'' Luke felt the question burn at his mind, as if somehow he could remember having asked this before. `` What is your name?'' 
 
 He received a smile, a deep grin settled on that squared jaw. `` I've been called many things walker of the sky, for I am only the thread of the Pattern, woven in through time, and time again.'' Stern was his voice, echoing with power as he spoke, `` I have been Iron, Steel, and Cuendillar. I have been called a hero and a conqueror, a Dragon and a Lord of the Morning; I have been called a shepherd, and a king- but none of these matter now.'' 
 
 His hand fell away, leaving Luke's own to warm softly in the heat off of embers beside them. The heat of a long since dying flame, flickering out into the night. 
 
 `` You have a saying, a farewell, do you not? Something only said to those kindred souls who follow on paths together or alone, out into the darkness beyond your sight?'' His eyes looked towards the flames below. 
 
 `` Yes.'' Luke replied. 
 
 *'' May the force be with you. `` * 
 
 He said it quietly, and smoke rose from a shower of crackling sparks, the flame bursting out in utter brilliance to wash away the shadows. His eyes closed, and he felt as though the presence had left; to step away and go elsewhere, but not disappear completely. When his eyes had opened again, Luke found himself alone. 
 
 As such, he sat by himself for the evening though it had long since shifted to true night, stoking the dwindled fire with loose tinder, watching the flames burn brightly again, before slowly dying down as the morning light crept over the forest around him. The shifting of cool air roused Luke to his feet, from his thoughts. 
 
 It was time to leave. 
 
 Walking came easily, and the way was clear as the guiding force of purpose pushed, driving him onward and back to his ship. How strange this place was, how peaceful- as if a storm had passed and left nothing but calm. Luke felt a flicker of sadness as he boarded his ship, to let it rise up from the ground below, off into the sky. From the windows, he could see buildings and villages, each stretching out in tiny clusters, sprawling out between farms and cities and rivers- far as the eye could see. At the very edges of his sight he could make out two pillars of black and white stone, standing for all to see, proud and strong. 
 
 As the ship lifted away, he felt a sense of closure, though none of his true questions had been answered. He had received nothing and everything on that quiet night, in the shadows of those great trees, as if he had instead found something profound. His craft rocked forward, rising out into the atmosphere, engines thrusting wind in a torrent of heat behind them, lifting the currents out over the fields and seas, rolling and cresting into gentle waves on the Mountains, mist rolling off of their high peaks under that gentle touch. 
 
 As Luke lifted up for the stars, to travel across the void, on a journey that would take him far, far away- that wind carried on. The wind was not the beginning nor an ending, for there are neither beginnings or endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning.
