Heirs of the Force Read online

  black eyes like two bits of charcoal.

  Groggy, Raynar looked at the dark-haired twins standing next to him. He

  scratched his head in confusion. "Jacen? Jaina? Well, well, well,

  what are you-hey!" He sat up straighter and shook his left arm as if it

  had gone numb. Then he glared at Jacen.

  "I thought I saw one of your . . . your creatures in here, just for a

  minute. And that's the last thing I remember. Is one of your pets

  loose?"

  Embarrassed, Jacen slid his snake-covered hand behind his back. "No," he

  said, "I can honestly say that all of my pets are completely accounted

  for."

  Jaina bent down to help the other Jedi boy to his feet. "You must have

  just fallen asleep, Raynar. You really should have gone to your

  sleeping pallet if you were so tired." She brushed his clothes off.

  "Now look, you've got dust all over your pretty robes."

  Raynar looked in alarm at the smudges of dust and dirt on his gaudy

  garments. "Now I'll have to put on a whole new outfit. I can't be seen

  in public like this!" He brushed his fingers over the cloth in dismay

  "We'll let you get changed then," Jacen said, backing toward the door.

  "See you at the lecture."

  Jacen and Jaina ducked out of Raynar's room. Feeling suddenly bold

  enough to joke, Jacen waved good-bye with the hand that still carried

  the invisible crystal snake.

  Together, the twins raced back to their quarters so they could put on

  their own robes in time to hear Luke teach them how to become Jedi

  Knights. ------------------I JAINA DUCKED BACK into her quarters to

  change into fresh clothes as Jacen ran to stash the crystal snake in its

  cage. She splashed cold water on her face from the new cistern in her

  bedroom wall.

  Her face still damp and tingling, she stepped out into the corridor.

  "Hurry, or we'll be late," she said as Jacen ran to join her.

  Together, the twins dashed to the turbolift, which took them to the

  upper levels of the pyramid-shaped temple. They entered the echoing

  space of the grand audience chamber. The air was a bustling hum of

  other Jedi candidates assembling in the huge room where Luke Skywalker

  spoke every day.

  Shafts of morning light glinted off the polished stone surfaces. The

  light carried an orange cast reflected from the orange gas giant hanging

  in the sky-the planet Yavin, around which the small jungle moon orbited.

  Dozens of other Jedi trainees of varying ages and species found their

  places in the rows of stone seats spread out across the long, sloped

  floor. To Jaina, it looked as if someone had splashed a giant stone

  down on the stage, sending parallel waves of benches rippling toward the

  back of the chamber.

  A mixture of languages and sounds came to Jaina's ears, along with the

  rich open-air smell that came from the uncharted jungles outside. She

  sniffed, but could not identify the different perfumes from flowers in

  bloom-though Jacen probably knew them all by heart. Right now, she

  smelled the musty body odors of alien Jedi candidatesmatted fur,

  sunbaked scales, sweet-sour pheromones.

  Jacen followed her to a set of empty seats, past two stout, pink-furred

  beasts that spoke to each other in growls. As she sat on the slick,

  cool seat, Jaina looked up at the squaredoff temple ceilings, at the

  many different shapes and colors mounted in mosaics of alien patterns.

  "Every time we come in here," she said, "I think of those old videoclips

  of the ceremony where Mother handed out medals to Uncle Luke and Dad.

  She looked so pretty." She put a hand up to her straight, unstyled

  hair.

  "Yeah, and Dad looked like such a . . . such a pirate," Jacen said.

  "Well, he was a smuggler in those days , Jaina answered.

  She thought of the Rebel soldiers who had survived the attack on the

  first Death Star, those who had fought against the Empire in the great

  space battle to destroy the terrible superweapon. Now, more than twenty

  years later, Luke Skywalker had turned the abandoned base into a

  training center for Jedi hopefuls, rebuilding the Order of Jedi Knights.

  Luke himself had begun training other Jedi back when the twins were

  barely two years old. Now he often left on his own missions and spent

  only part of his time at the academy, but it remained open under the

  direction of other Jedi Knights Luke had trained.

  Some of the trainees had virtually no Force potential, content to be

  mere historians of Jedi lore. Others had great talent, but had not yet

  begun their full training. It was Luke's philosophy, though, that all

  potentia Je i could learn from each other. The strong could learn from

  the weak, the old could learn from the young-and vice versa.

  Jacen and Jaina had come to Yavin 4, sent by their mother Leia to be

  trained for part of the year. Their younger brother Anakin had remained

  at home back on the capital world of Coruscant, but he would be coming

  to join, them soon.

  off and on during their childhood, Luke Skywalker had helped the

  children of Han Solo and Princess Leia to learn their powerful talent.

  Here on Yavin 4 they had nothing to do but study and practice and train

  and learn-and so far it had been much more interesting than the

  curriculum the stuffy educational droids had developed for them back on

  Coruscant.

  "Where's Tenel Ka?" Jaina scanned the crowd, but saw no sign of their

  friend from the planet Dathomir.

  "She should be here," Jacen said. "This morning I saw her go out to do

  her exercises in the jungle."

  Tenel Ka was a devoted Jedi who worked hard to attain her dreams. She

  had little interest in the bookish studies, the histories and the

  meditations; but she was an excellent athlete who preferred action to

  thinking.

  That was a valuable skill for a Jedi, Luke Skywalker had told

  her-provided Tenel Ka knew when it was appropriate.

  Their friend was impatient, hard-dn'yen, and practically humorless. The

  twins had taken it as a challenge to see if they could make her laugh.

  "She'd better hurry," Jacen said as the room began to quiet. "Uncle Luke

  is going to start soon."

  Catching a movement out of the corner of her eye, Jaina looked up at one

  of the sky lights high on a wall of the tall chamber. The lean, supple

  silhouette of a young girl edged onto the narrow stone windowsill. "Ah,

  there she is!"

  "She must have climbed the temple from the back," Jacen said. "She was

  always talking about doing that, but I never thought she'd try."

  "Plenty of vines over there," Jaina answered logically, as if scaling

  the enormous ancient monument was something Jedi students did every day.

  As they watched, Tenel Ka used a thin leather thong to tie her long

  rusty-gold hair behind her shoulders to keep it out of her way. Then the

  muscular girl flexed her arms.

  She attached a silvery grappling hook to the edge of the stone sill and

  reeled out a thin fibercord from her utility belt.

  Tenel Ka lowered herself like a spider on a web, walking precariously

  down the long smooth surface of the inner wall.<
br />
  The other Jedi trainees watched her, some applauding, others just

  recognizing the girl's skill. She could have used her Jedi powers to

  speed the descent, but Tenel Ka relied on her body whenever possible and

  used the Force only as a last resort. She thought it showed weakness to

  depend too heavily on her special powers.

  Tenel Ka made an easy landing on the stone floor, her glistening, scaly

  boots clicking as she touched down. She flexed her arms again to loosen

  her muscles, then grasped the thin fibercord. With a snap from the

  Force she popped her grappling hook up and away from the stone above and

  neatly caught it in her hand as it fell.

  She reeled the fibercord into her belt and turned around with a serious

  expression on her face, then snapped the thong free from her hair and

  shook her head to let the reddish tresses fall loose around her

  shoulders.

  Tenel Ka dressed like other women from Dathomir, in a brief athletic

  outfit made from scarlet and emerald skins of native reptiles.

  The flexible, lightly armored tunic and shorts left her arms and legs

  bare. Despite her exposed skin, Tenel Ka never seemed bothered by

  scratches or insect bites, though she made numerous forays into the

  jungle.

  Jacen waved at her, grinning. She acknowledged him with a nod, made her

  way over to where the twins were sitting, and slid onto the cool stone

  bench beside Jacen.

  "Greetings," Tenel Ka said gruffly.

  "Good morning," Jaina said. She smiled at the Amazonian young woman,

  who looked back at her with large, cool gray eyes, but did not return

  her smile-not out of rudeness, but because it wasn't in her nature.

  Tenel Ka rarely smiled.

  Jacen nudged her with his elbow and dropped his voice. "I've got a new

  one for you, Tenel Ka. I think you'll like it. What do you call the

  person who brings a rancor its dinner?"

  She looked perplexed. "I don't understand."

  "It's a joke!" Jacen said. "Come on, guess."

  "Ah, a joke," Tenel Ka said, nodding. "You expect me to laugh?"

  "You won't be able to stop yourself, once you hear it," Jacen said.

  "Come on, what do you call the person who brings a rancor its dinner?"

  "I don't know," Tenel Ka said. Jaina would have bet a hundred credits

  that the girl wouldn't even venture a guess.

  "The appetizer!" Jacen chuckled.

  Jaina groaned, but Tenel Ka's face remained serious. "I will need you

  to explain why that's funny . . . but I see the lecture is about to

  start. Tell me some other time."

  Jacen rolled his eyes.

  Just as Luke Skywalker stepped out onto the speaking platform, a

  flustered Raynar emerged from the turbolift. Puffing and redfaced, he

  bustled down the long promenade between seats, trying to find a place

  where he could sit up front. Jaina noticed the boy now, wore an

  entirely different outfit that was as bright as the one before, and of

  colors that clashed just as much. He sat down and gazed up at the Jedi

  Master, obviously wanting to impress the teacher.

  Luke Skywalker stood on the raised platform and looked out at his

  mismatched students. His bright eyes seemed to pierce the crowd.

  Everyone fell silent, as if a warm blanket had fluttered down over them.

  Luke still had the boyish looks that Jaina recalled from the history

  tapes, but now he carried calm power in his lean form, a thunderstor-rn

  bottled up in a diamond-hard gentleness. Through many trials Luke had

  somehow emerged bright and strong. He had survived to form the

  cornerstone of the new Jedi Knights that would protect the New Republic

  from the last vestiges of evil in the galaxy.

  "May the Force be with you," Luke said in a soft voice that nevertheless

  carried the length of the grand audience chamber. The words in the

  often-repeated phrase sent a tingle across Jaina's skin. Beside her,

  Jacen flashed a smile. Tenel Ka sat up rigidly, as if in homage.

  "As I have told you many times," Luke said, "I donl believe the training

  of a true Jedi comes from listening to lectures. I want to teach you

  how to learn action, how to do things, not just think about them. 'There

  is no try, p as Yoda, one of my own Jedi Masters, taught me."

  From the front row, in a flash of bright color, Raynar raised his hand,

  waggling his fingers in the air to get Luke's attention. An audible

  groan rippled through the chamber; Jacen heaved a heavy sigh, and Jaina

  waited, wondering what question Raynar would come up with this time.

  "Master Skywalker," Raynar said, "I don't understand what you mean by

  'There is no try." You must have tried and failed at some time. No one

  can always succeed in what they want to do."

  Luke looked at the boy with an expression of patience and understanding.

  Jaina never understood how her uncle could maintain his composure

  through Raynar's frequent interruptions. She supposed it must be the

  mark of a true Jedi Master.

  "I didn't say that I never fail," Luke said.

  "No Jedi ever becomes perfect. Sometimes, though, what we succeed in

  doing is not exactly what we intended to do. Focus on what you

  accomplished, rather than on what you merely hoped to do. Or what you

  failed to do. Yes, recognize what you have lostbut look in a different

  way to see what you have gained."

  Luke folded his hands together and walked with gliding footsteps from

  one side of the speaking platform to the other. His bright eyes never

  left Raynar's upraised face, but somehow Luke seemed to look at all of

  the students, speaking to every one of them.

  "Let me give you an example," he said. "A few years ago I had a

  brilliant trainee named Brakiss. He was a talented student, a voracious

  learner. He had a great potential for the Force. He seemed kind and

  helpful, fascinated by everything I had to teach. He was also a great

  actor."

  Luke took a deep breath, facing an unpleasant memory from his past. "You

  see, once it became known that I had founded an academy to teach Jedi

  Knights, it's not surprising that the remnants of the Empire would have

  their own students infiltrate my academy. I managed to catch their

  first few attempts. They were clumsy and untalented.

  "But Brakiss was different. I knew he was an Imperial spy from the

  moment he stepped off the shuttle and looked around at the jungles on

  Yavin 4. 1 could sense it in him, a deep shadow barely hidden by his

  mask of friendliness and enthusiasm. But in Brakiss I also saw a real

  talent for the Force. Part of him had been corrupted long ago. He had

  a deep flaw surrounded by a beautiful exterior.

  "But rather than reject him outright, I decided to keep him here, to

  show him other ways. To heal him. Because if there could be good even

  in the heart of my father, Dar-th Vader, there must also be goodness in

  some one as fresh and new as Brakiss." Luke gazed up at the ceiling,

  then returned his glance to the audience.

  "He stayed here for many months, and I took special interest in teaching

  him, guiding him, nudging him toward the light side of the Force in

  every way. He seemed to be t
urning, softening . . . but Brakiss was

  colder and more deceptive than even I had suspected.

  During one part of his training, I sent him on an illusionary quest that

  would seem real to him, a test that made him face himself.

  Brakiss had to look inward-to see his very core in a way that no one

  else could ever see.

  "I had hoped the test would heal him, but instead Brakiss lost that

  battle. Perhaps he was simply not prepared to confront what he saw

  inside himself. It broke him somehow.

  He fled from this jungle moon, and I believe he went straight back to

  the Empire-taking with him everything that I had taught him of the Jedi

  Way."

  Many students in the grand audience chamber gasped. Jaina sat up and

  looked at her twin brother in alarm. She had never heard this story

  before.

  Raynar again had his hand up, but Luke looked at him with narrowed eyes

  so full of power that the arrogant student flinched and put his hand

  back down.

  "I know what you're thinking," Luke continued . "That I tried to bring

  Brakiss back to the light side, and that I failed. But-just as I told

  you a few moments ago-I was forced to look at how I had succeeded.

  "I did show Brakiss my compassion. I did let him learn the secrets of

  the light side, uncorrupted by what he had already been taught. And I

  did make him look at himself and realize how broken he was. Once I

  accomplished that much, the task was no longer mine. The final choice