Chapter 5: The Discovery
As I raced through the narrow alleys the shrieks and howls from the pursuing pack became more distant until I could hardly hear them anymore. I was in a reasonable good shape, as any jedi padawan should be but eventually I slowed down and began to see more of my surroundings. The buildings, or rather ruins, down at this level were really old. I mean, like ancient. They were small and built from something that seemed to be natural stone. I had never seen anything like that on Coruscant before. It was almost pitch black but not entirely. Some faint light was seeping down from the levels above and thanks to my species my eyes were more light sensitive than most human eyes. I realised that the ground beneath my feet actually was…ground. Like soil.
I had to be on the lowest level that existed on the planet.
A huge square cliff was laying on the ground a few steps in front of me and I sat down on it while contemplating my surroundings and what to do next.
As I sat there a feeling of peace and tranquility washed over me. This place was, or had been, sacred in a way. Maybe that was the explanation of why there were seemingly no inhabitants in the abandoned buildings. I reached out with my senses but could not feel anyone nearby. I couldn't understand it. One thing that was quite certain on the city planet was that any area that possibly could be used for living beings was occupied by someone - or on these levels more like something. Yet it was totally quiet.
Maybe the peace surrounding this special area didn't go well with the living beings in these shadowlands? There was a definitive aura of something good here. I could actually live here. Maybe one of the abandoned buildings could be repaired and used as a shelter? I was just about to go looking when I noticed it. A small blue flower that fought its way up near the edge of the rock I was sitting on. A real flower? I could hardly believe my own eyes, but there it was - fighting it's way up from the soil surrounded by almost complete darkness but still obviously sucking up enough light to survive. Somehow it seemed like a symbol of hope. I knelt down and touched it's blades gently. "Hi there, little one," I whispered. "if you can live here, maybe I can too?" Then I saw the tiny opening between the stone I'd been sitting on and the ground around it and I realised that this was something man made, not a boulder that had fallen down there in ancient times. This one had deliberately been placed here by someone.
Which again meant that there had to be something beneath it.
Now my curiosity had been triggered and I took a couple of steps back and considered it. Obviously I would not be able to lift it by muscle strength only, but maybe with help from the Force? I had never been as good as my Masters to do the Force lifting thing, I was more into Force pushing, but I was willing to try.
I stretched out my hand and focused, and through the Force I felt the stone answer. Slowly it lifted from the ground and I could see the roughly carved steps leading down below the ground. Without thinking I slid down and lowered the rock carefully again while desperately trying to avoid squeezing the little blue flower.
