Inheritance
49.
We're finally gonna leave.
I'm kinda bored right now, actually, 'cause I was ready to go in like two minutes or something but the grown-ups keep having to make arrangements, which means talking a whole hoocha lot about nothing important and standing around while you do it.
Master Obi-Wan disappeared this morning early, with like a whole bunch of the Feorian women, mostly the old ones that made the blanket for Master Qui-Gon, and RuRu and some of the other nice ones, too. There were some younger ones tailing 'em, but I thought maybe they were just interested in Master 'cause he's a Jedi and all, and anyway the old ladies like shooed them off after a while.
They all went with baskets out onto the plains, in the direction of the 'sploded cave, like they were gonna gather firewood or something, and they came back later but I never saw whether they found much. There weren't too many good plants over that way, anyhow, and Master shoulda known better.
I didn't go 'cause I never want to go around that place again. I've been to Gola now, too, so I can cross it off my list of all the star systems in the galaxy, and I don't; think I'll ever need to go here again. I'd like to maybe go back to Naboo someday, that would be nice. And I hate Tatooine and all, but I have to go back there to free Mom someday.
And I've been thinking about that, too. Master Qui-Gon freed all these guys here, but they've still got problems. You know why? It's just like what Mom said, that the biggest problem in this galaxy is that people don't help each other. And so after they were freed, nobody wanted to help the Feorians very much. Otherwise why would they end up here? And if you kinda think about it, they don't even help each other so good. Yonso does a lot of yelling and being mad, and the chief just criticizes him and never listens. Nobody's gonna get anywhere fast like that.
So that's why the galaxy needs Jedi, I guess, 'cept we didn't really do too much here either. Well, we slayed the jabuur-weki, or at least I did. That was good, but it didn't fix the problems, really. I mean they're still poor and stuck and all.
Master Obi-Wan said that I'm looking at a tilled field and seeing only a mess or something, like there's seeds here and all but they haven't sprouted yet. I don't get all that kind of farming talk. Nobody grows anything like that where I come from and besides I don't want to wait for stupid stuff to grow, I want to fix things that are broken and so far we haven't fixed too much.
I guess I'll go back into the guest house and wait some more, cause there sure are a lotta arrangements to be made. And guess what? Master's here. Finally. 'Cept…
"Hey! What are you doing, master?" He's got Qui-Gon's blanket, and he's like doing something to it. With a needle. "Hey! I didn't know you could sew!"
"Blast it," he says, and then he sucks on his finger. "Yes, well, apparently I can't," he grumbles all grouchy and low. But he's not really mad. I can tell.
I get a good look at the blanket and whoa. He's sticking pieces of crystal into it, like they're part of the pattern. Bits of … "Ithyll?" I ask. It sure looks the same.
Now his eyes sort of twinkle like they do when he's making a joke, a flat-voice not funny one. But also kinda like they do in the dojo when he's about to chuck somebody into the wall or blitz them with a wizard saber move. And I get this chill all up my back 'cause I think Master Obi-Wan is up to something, like something kinda naughty.
He holds out the blanket and it's prettier than ever. Some parts of it glitter like jewels now, where the crystal is caught in the fibers.
"Rugged," I tell him. "It's even better than before. Master Qui-Gon would like it a lot," I add. He really cares what Master Qui-Gon would think. I can tell.
"Yes. Yes, he would." Master smiles.
A real smile, super big and all, like he never does.
It must be something chuba-booki, big-time naughty. Master Windu's gonna kill him.
Now he hides the smile again, smooshing it down inside him with the stuff he forgets on purpose and his nightmares he won't talk about, and the stories about him and Master Qui-Gon and all. But it kinda leaks into his eyes and he's shining again, in the Force I mean, so I follow him out the door when he leaves.
"Where are we going? What are you gonna do with the blanket? I thought we were gonna give it to the Archives or something?"
We're actually headed into the women's longhouse. I hope they let us inside, 'cause I'm a boy and all, but I guess if they're okay with Master then I can get in, too. "What good would this beautiful masterpiece do the Archives? Did you know, Padawan, that a handcrafted artifact such as this is worth a fortune to someone with the right connections?"
He's not making any sense. "You're not gonna sell it!" I shout.
But he just goes into the hut with all the women.
And whoa! They're like making a whole hoocha lot of blankets, and they've got baskets and baskets of ithyll crystal, little pieces and bits of it like broken transparisteel after a speeder crash. And I think I know what they were collecting this morning, out on the plains. All the blasted out ithyll from that cave 'splosion.
I tug on Master's sleeve. "Master! I thought the Feorians aren't allowed to own any of the stuff in the ground. You said Yonso couldn't keep the ithyll anyway, it belongs to the Presidency."
He's still smiling, that really small one that's mostly in his eyes. "But they are allowed to use scavenged natural items for the creation of handicrafts. Galactic Trade Labor Regulations. If the customers who purchase these blankets for outrageous sums intend to separate the ithyll for other purposes after the fact, that is none of my concern."
Oh. I wonder if Padawans can be like busted for what their master does?
There's that other guy that's always hanging around, the one that chews bacci a lot. He's kinda waiting for Master to notice him.
Obi-Wan goes over to him and gives him Master Qui-Gon's blanket and says something all serious, with his voice all flat. That creepy guy shrugs and looks sorta happy and scared at the same time. I can't believe he's got the blanket, though. He should keep his filthy bacci-hands off it. It's Master Qui-Gon's.
He slinks off with it in his hands, like a nasty Hutt with stolen treasure. "What's he doing?" I kinda squeak.
"He's establishing a market base for us. For a share of profits, of course," Master says.
I don't know how I feel about that. It's kinda like making a deal with a Hutt, and it's kinda like cheating at a game with chance cubes, and it's kinda like flying super reckless in a podracer cause you're the only human who can do it. "Isn't that sorta… sneaky?" I ask. "And that blanket was a present! You didn't have to give it away like that! You coulda kept it."
He looks off into nowhere like he does sometimes, and he's all quiet for a while. "It was Qui-Gon's blanket," he says, after a long time. "They wanted me to give it to him…and so I have, from a certain point of view."
He looks all happy, like he's solved some kinda real hoocha hard puzzle, but my head hurts thinking about it. Sometimes Master Obi-Wan makes no sense. It's too bad about the blanket, but he is kinda right about Master Qui-Gon and all, so I figure it's okay in the end.
And the Feorians are gonna have a chubassi big load of money, too. That part's good.
So that's kinda like helping, for real. Like Jedi are s'posed to do. I smile up at Master and he sorta looks down at me the same way and guess what?
We are definitely friends. Even if I don't understand him all the time.
