Ghosts of the Jungle
The dense jungles that made up the moon of Yavin IV were the perfect place for rumors about spirits to start, which would naturally interest some sort of daredevil, particularly one who had never seen a ghost before.
Tahiri Veila wanted to find the cave that supposedly contained the spirit of some Sith Lord. He had been attempting to become immortal, but his body had been destroyed on the very moon that was now the home of the Jedi Academy. The only difficulty was that the only friend she had at the Academy, Anakin Solo, was not interested in searching for the cave.
"Tahiri, I am not getting lost in the jungle trying to find a cave that probably doesn't exist."
"But we haven't been outside the Temple in weeks. I'm used to being a nomad; I have to do some exploring." Tahiri batted her eyelashes at Anakin, although she normally wouldn't do something so girly. She was determined not to go into the jungle alone, and hadn't noticed just how blue Anakin's eyes were before this. "I don't even care about going through the jungle without shoes."
Anakin sighed. "Fine. I can see you're not going to shut up about this."
"You know me." So what if she was a stubborn girl? It helped her get what she wanted.
"But we should go after nightfall so we won't get caught."
Tahiri was surprised at this. "You want to see the spirit of a Sith Lord at night?"
"There aren't any more Sith, now that my grandfather…" Anakin trailed off.
"Right," said Tahiri, not wanting him to feel that he had to continue. "But the cave could still be there, and we might find something exciting inside it."
Some adults entered the room then and Anakin and Tahiri stopped talking. They started walking towards the dormitories and up the stairs.
"See you tonight at the front door then?" Anakin asked.
"Yes," Tahiri nodded. "And I'll bring everything we need."
"If we get caught by my uncle, I'm telling him this was your idea."
"That's fair," said Tahiri. It must be hard to be related to the famous Jedi Master.
Anakin started to grin for the first time this conversation. "To tell you the truth, I would like to get outside. We'll just have to watch what we're doing."
Tahiri always watched what she was doing. While she was imaginative, she wasn't a pointless daydreamer. "I will. I've gotten my way through the deserts of Tatooine before; how hard could this be?"
Anakin started to head for the boy's dormitories and Tahiri headed towards her next class.
That night, Anakin and Tahiri met at the front door of the Temple and headed outside. It wasn't long before Tahiri realized this was going to be harder than she'd thought. She was used to seeing the horizon as the sand dunes were rarely interrupted in the area where the Sand People lived. Here she could hardly see a few meters ahead.
Although they went in the general direction of the cave, the two became lost as everything looked alike.
"What do we want to do now? Shouldn't we be at the cave already?" asked Anakin.
Tahiri had no idea how to answer that question. The rumors differed on how far the cave from the Temple was. A strange cry came from somewhere inside the jungle. Whatever made it was out of sight, though, and the sound didn't come again, although Anakin and Tahiri waited and listened for a long time.
"I don't know, but we're definitely walking in the right direction and I haven't seen any cave." Actually, by this time, Tahiri wasn't sure whether they could find their way back to the Temple. The darkness seemed oppressive and everything looked the same, no matter what direction the two were walking in.
Just before the two decided they had no choice but to turn around, the cave suddenly appeared in front of them. From the outside, at least, it was everything that had been promised. The rock made a beautiful, if a little eerie formation and the entrance was easily large enough to walk into.
Heading in, they could see crystals hanging. "If I didn't have to worry about the Spirit of a Sith Lord appearing, this would be almost fun," said Anakin.
"That's why I wanted to come." She liked the thrill of being somewhere she shouldn't and wanted to see one of the spirits the Sand People often talked about. Even General Kenobi's hut had been thought to be haunted.
Her thoughts were interrupted when she and Anakin heard another cry but couldn't tell if it was coming from inside or outside the cave. It wasn't enough to convince them, but they gave each other startled looks.
"I don't know if I want to know what that was," said Anakin.
"It can't be anything too bad," responded Tahiri, who was partly trying to convince herself that this whole trip wasn't a bad idea. Just as her breathing got back to normal, though, the sound came again. It sounded closer and definitely seemed to be coming from inside the cave.
After a minute, a small crying rodent ran past them and right over Tahiri's feet. She had only jumped up and gotten back down when a much larger animal ran by, intent on eating the rodent for dinner. It ran on four legs and, as it was panting, she could make out the sharp teeth. She reached for her lightsaber, but both animals ignored her, and soon the incident was all over.
"Are you all right?" asked Anakin, walking over to her.
"Of course," answered Tahiri, although she was out of breath. "I couldn't scare that easily and live with the Sand People."
"Let's go back to the Temple then," said Anakin. "Those creatures are all I sense here."
When they got back relatively easily, Master Skywalker was waiting for them. The next day would be sure to be a long one…