Chapter 8: Myth and Logics
'Master' didn't know. When Chirrut had retold his story (though in far less poetic terms) over their breakfast, Tahl felt like her head was spinning. It didn't help much that she felt the two youths' eyes on her. By the Force, she was the grown up and she was supposed to know what to do.
She didn't have a clue. Hopefully they thought that she was merely thinking of the best way to proceed their investigation. Which in a way was true. It just wasn't …the full truth as she had no idea of what to do next.
Finally she forced herself to speak.
"That was a beautiful story, Chirrut, and I do see the resemblance between Awan and 'our' Obi-Wan," she said.
Then she became quiet again. This prophecy 'stew' was a mess of incomprehensible and vague stories from a past she wasn't even sure had existed, and still they somehow seemed to be intertwined.
"This is weird, and it doesn't fit together," she finally said. "It's just too much."
"What is?" Bant asked
"There are too many dying planets," Tahl explained. "Your story has some resemblance with the origin of the rulers of Stewjon, Chirrut. Their family history also tells about the first King being an off-worlder. However, he came by his own. He wasn't shipped off by his father, that's for sure."
"But what if there is a true story behind it all and time and retelling has changed it?" Chirrut shot in, not yet willing to give up this fascinating adventure.
A contemplative silence fell over the group.
"Stewjon's first King was said to be an off-worlder," Tahl repeated thoughtfully, before turning quiet again. "What if he actually was sent to Auratera? To the Temple there. The twins' father may have known about it and decided to send the twins there - to be raised in safety…"
"…and then he missed completely," Bant continued. "He may have thought he plotted the coordinates for Auratera and succeeded for Awan, but he must have mistyped something and plotted the wrong destination for Anera."
"From there the story of Awan and Anera is failing," Chirrut chimed in, "Awan came to the right destination and was raised in the Temple of Auratera, but the myth didn't quite catch that little detail so when the Auratera Temple collapsed he set off to the Archives of Jedha, which was well known already in ancient times and from here he chose a new destination, presumably to find his sister."
Tahl nodded thoughtfully: "We may have something there. It doesn't sound very likely, but on the other hand - it's not like we've found any other good clues so far."
And with that the trio returned to the archives again.
When they sat down at their regular place Tahl spoke again: "I believe we have to change search for a while and maybe focus more on the galaxy and the planets, than on interplanetary history. If we assume that Awan's home planet blew up more than a millennium ago then let's search for planets within a reasonable distance from Auratera which has blown up or otherwise become damaged."
The two youths nodded and bent over their terminals.
Bant was the one to find it.
"Master? Chirrut? I think I found something…"
Her two companions looked up at her.
"Tell us," they said in unison.
"There is, or rather was, a small planet called Khenara which disappeared from the interplanetary charts a little more than a millennia ago. If you look at the 2nd quadrant of the map adjacent to the map where NaJedha is found you can see there is something that resembles an open space between the planets. In older maps Khenara could be found in that open space - look here…"
Tahl cursed the maps silently as she keyed in the necessary information. Reading planetary maps by her reading list was something completely different than reading plain aurebesh. She managed somehow to find the place Bant had mentioned. Chirrut's fingers flew over his keys simultaneously and a small gasp escaped him when he saw the position Bant had mentioned.
"You're right. A planet is missing there. Or one of the maps are wrong, presumably the old one."
Tahl's mind went racing. If there had been a planet there and it disappeared after a disaster, so be it. There was definitely little to be done about what happened a millennium ago, sad as it was for the inhabitants. So there was no use in trying to find Khenara. That much was certain. They had to find another way. To what she wasn't entirely sure anymore. Initially she had wanted to investigate Obi-Wan Kenobi's roots and then she seemed to be followed by old myths and prophecies popping up all over the galaxy. And then again, there was that old man in the cave…
Her brow furrowed in concentration. Hunting myths was all well and good, but she needed to find their origin and track them from there. If one for a moment assumed that the mythic Awan actually was a real person, and if he later was to become the first of the Kh'enbi line of Kings on Stewjon, then he must have been the one who had left Auratera after the earthquake. According to the unnamed Knight in the Jedi Temple Awan had stayed for weeks in the Jedha archives searching for something, but what? And how did the story of his death come to the archive?
She sighed - first things first. The being he most likely would have searched for at that point in his life would have been his twin sister, Anera. He would possibly have been following the same logics as Bant had done. He must have realised that his father had mistyped a part of the co-ordinates when he hastily had entered them for Anera's pod.
Kriff it!
This might take a while. A long while, if she wasn't lucky.
"This will take some time," she sighed, "Chirrut, can you please see if you can find more exact co-ordinates of the place where Khenara was? I think we need to use that as a center and then let the computer calculate the co-ordinates to known planets with almost the same string of co-ordinates as those which Awan's father would have entered in the pods. He hit the target with Auratera but for the other planet where Anera ended up, he must have typed one or two digits wrong - let's hope it's only one… If we find a hit for where Anera could have been sent, then we know where to search next. Bant, can you please do me another favour? Try to find the original manuscript for the Myth of Awan and Anera. Someone must have seen their death and written it down, else the myth would just have disappeared throughout the centuries."
"Yes , Master. I'm on it," Bant confirmed, while Chirrut was eagerly investigating the holomaps appearing in front of him.
…..
"I've found it," Bant proclaimed after several hours intensive search. "It seems like the story about Anera and Awan was recorded by Awan's grand son - or great grandson - I'm not entirely sure. Obviously Awan's son wondered what had happened to his father and one of his descendants decided to solve the puzzle. He must have managed because on his way back from wherever it was he stopped here and updated his predecessor's saga. Unfortunately he didn't once mention where he heard the story of Awan and Anera's death."
"So much for that clue," Tahl sighed, while eagerly creating a search string to extract potential planets based on Chirrut's coordinates for the lost planet of Khenara and the newest holomap's coordinates for Auratera.
"There! This should work, but I assume it will take a little while to run the program, let's go and have our evening meal while it's searching."
The two youths eagerly agreed and together the trio left the archives.
When they came back after the evening meal the search was still going on and the screen blithely informed: "Calculating."
Tahl managed to refrain from cursing loudly. No reason to disturb the youths' impression of 'stoic Jedi Master'. Her inner cursing must have affected the hard working machine because in the very same moment they had decided to leave and go to bed and let the computer finish it's work throughout the night the text on the screen changed: "Calculation completed."
"It's finished," squealed Bant, "let's have a look."
Tahl turned and found her seat again and her fingers tapped the keys rapidly.
The list that came out was surprisingly short. Only 5 planets were listed and from them only one stood out as likely to have a similar course from the imaginary starting point of Khenara, with exception of two small digits…
Bant's already large eyes widened even more.
"Oh, no," she sighed, "not that. Not there!"
Tahl chuckled sympathetically: "Yes, Padawan. I'm sorry to say we may have a winner."