Chapter One
Nothing was as heartbreaking as the sight of a helpless parent, Jedi Master Relon Tide thought as he entered the luxurious hallway, closing the bedroom door behind him. He swallowed, working up the courage to look the queen into the eye again. She stared at him.
"Is there nothing you can do?" she queried of him with a desperate look in her eyes.
-"Your son's suffering is... beyond my understanding, you highness" Relon admitted. "I'm... so sorry".
The queen broke down in tears. As Relon put his hand on her shoulder, he cast a glance back to the bedroom where the little prince lay dying. Perhaps one thing was worse to behold than the broken-hearted mother. There were some things even a wise Jedi Master, with all his knowledge of the Force, could not explain.
Who was Relon Tide to explain why a gifted and promising young prince should be plagued by a terrible, mysterious disease for which no cure could be found?
Who was he to understand the will of the Force at times like these, let alone explain it to a parent about to bury her own child? Relon Tide realized there was nothing more he could do here. He gently took his hand off the queen's shoulder. Slowly he continued down the hallway, his head bowed.
Upon exiting the hallway, he found himself in a white marble veranda, overlooking a labyrinth of hedges that stretched out for many miles under the warm sunset.
Sometimes, life as a Jedi Knight was a lot like queen Alithwa's garden, he thought. It all seemed so glorious and beautiful looking at it from a distance, but once inside, the view was just as restricting, just as confusing as that labyrinth before him.
"You cannot save prince Loron, Master Tide" said a deep, crispy voice behind his back. Relon Tide turned around to face a man with a long blue face in an oxblood velvet robe, leaning on a tall, black staff.
-"And you shouldn't, Raxa Maal" he hissed.
The queen's counseler grinned sardonically. "Explain that to the queen..." he said.
"Queen Alithwa knows better than to trust the judgement of a man of your reputation" Relon answered.
Raxa Maal raised his eyebrows. "It's a wonder she still keeps me around then, don't you think?" he answered in a silken tone.
-"If you can save the boy, you must. But I am watching you, Raxa..."
Raxa Maal studied the older Jedi's features with amused arrogance.
"All I intend to do is save the prince, my friend... You may watch me as much as you want..."
Relon Tide opened his eyes. Something had shaken him out of his memory - a loud sound, as if a heavy object had hit the hull of the ship. He got up and made for the Soaring Sparrow's cockpit. The door was open, and when he got close he could overhear part of a conversation between the captain and her co-pilot.
"Weren't you the one who said "but he IS a Jedi"?" Jorian asked rhetorically.
-"You know, you don't usually pay so much attention to everything I say!"
There was the sound of a restrained chuckle. "No, only if I can use it against you..."
-"Look..." Lira started, "we've got him on board, we delivered the cargo, we didn't sign the contract with Quie, our decision has been made and there's no point in arguing anymore about it."
Relon decided it was time for him to make his presence known. "And you chose well, believe me" he said with cool, Jedi-like confidence.
"Shouldn't you be meditating right now?" Lira asked. The Jedi took a few steps towards the control board and inspected it while responding.
-"Well, yes, but something disturbed me. Did we get hit?"
There was a moment of quiet embarrassment until Jorian answered. "Not really. Well, not by anyone else, at least."
Relon Tide raised his eyebrows. "We got hit by ourselves?"
"We lost a bit of equipment, nothing serious" Lira explained. 'The ship was already damaged before we landed on Caffar. Apparently our communications dish wasn't very firmly attached anymore".
-"And the winds of Caffar blew it off" Jorian concluded.
"Oh, I see..." Relon answered. "So we can't... communicate with anyone else anymore?"
-"You know, master Jedi, you're asking a lot of questions... Maybe we're entitled to pose some of our own?" replied Lira in an impatient tone.
"Of course you are" Relon answered. "Ask away".
-"Well... first of all, we'd like to know your name".
The Jedi nodded. "Jedi Master Relon Tide" he said. "But you may call me Master Tide if you wish" he added with a smile.
-"How did you wind up in the prisons of Caffar?" Jorian asked.
Relon Tide sighed. "Not a very happy story, I'm afraid..."
"You promised it to me, your majesty..." Raxa Maal said through gritted teeth, kneeling before the throne of queen Alithwa, "... if I could heal your son you would make me your representative in the Republic Senate. And now this - this Jedi comes accusing me of..."
Queen Alithwa raised an eyebrow at the disgust with which Raxa Maal used the word Jedi. She glanced at Relon Tide who stood besides her. Relon had been there by her side since he had lost his Padawan braid. For over thirty years he had guided her with wisdom, understanding and precision... and he had never failed her. The queen raised her hand to silence her counsellor.
"Raxa Maal... When an ally as trusted to me as Master Relon Tide believes - beyond reasonable doubt - that you have indeed studied and used the Dark Side of the Force on several occasions, I will believe him. I ask only one thing of you - an explanation".
Raxa Maal sighed and bowed his head. He remained still for a while, and when he looked up again to face the queen, Relon noticed a cold, quiet conviction in his features. He felt uneasy, knowing that it was at times like these that Raxa Maal was at his most dangerous.
"Your Majesty... I am not a Jedi. I am but a man with some... elementary skill in the Force. I will not deny that I feel envy... frustration even about that. To be given but the beginning of a great gift is worse than to be given nothing at all. I am no Jedi. I am but a citizen of Neron who felt the need of his beloved queen and her good son. I saw how Master Tide - talented as he is, no doubt - failed to cure your son... And so, yes... I turned to an alternative. It may not have been the most pleasant of choices, but if I had not learned about the healing powers of the Dark Side... I am sorry, your Majesty, but your son would have been dead now".
-"The Dark Side cannot heal, Raxa Maal, and you know this!" Relon interfered with great authority in his otherwise gentle voice.
A smug grin slowly blossomed on Raxa Maal's blue face. "Oh? ... Explain to me then how the prince is now breathing clearly and sleeping soundly without feverish nightmares waking him every night? He is on the mend, Master Tide...whether you like it or not".
The queen frowned indignantly. "Whether he likes it or not? Are you accusing Master Tide of wishing my son dead, Raxa Maal?"
Her stern, pale face expressed great strength, but also impatience. Raxa Maal knew how to deal with this.
"My queen..." he started, "much as it grieves me to say this... I do recall Master Tide suggesting to me that I should not heal your son, before he ever knew what methods I would be using".
Queen Alithwa turned to Relon. "Is this true, Master Tide?"
Relon Tide remained undisturbed and stoic. "'Yes, it is. Of course it is" he said.
"Why?" the queen asked in a tone that demanded only a very good explanation.
-"Because I felt the Dark Side around Raxa Maal and his intentions, your majesty".
"And yet..." Raxa Maal said deviously, "I have cured your son, and is he not better now?"
-"But for what reasons did you cure prince Loron, Maal? Out of love for the royal family and the planet of Neron? Or to achieve your own, selfish ambitions?" Relon Tide asked rhetorically.
Raxa Maal's eyes burned. "And for what reason did you try to stop me from curing the prince, Master Jedi? Out of personal hatred for me? Or because if you were unable to save him, no one else should? Because of your misplaced sense of pride you would have risked a young man's death?"
Relon Tide felt anger rising within him. Raxa Maal was trying him, tempting him, luring him to just one quick outburst of anger or hatred. To expressing but one small sign of the Dark Side. Relon swallowed and remained motionless.
"Well?" Raxa Maal said defiantly, as if it was now Relon who was on trial instead of Maal himself.
Relon Tide did not respond. Instead he just looked in the queen's eye with an expression that said "surely you know me too well to believe what he says".
There was a long silence.
Eventually, the queen said: "I will not guess anyone's deeper intentions or desires, for that is not my part. Relon Tide, I do not suspect you of harbouring any ill will towards either my son or myself, but I am not blind to your deep aversion to Raxa Maal. However... As I find no proof of evil intentions in Raxa Maal, I will not send him from my sight. In fact, I will keep him under closer observation..."
-"But my queen, your promise..." Raxa Maal interrupted.
"Silence!" the queen said harshly. "Queen Alithwa is true to her word, but above all, true to the Republic. If you can prove that you bear no evil intentions and if you do not ever again attempt to use the Dark Side of the Force, I will appoint you as senator. In the mean time, you will be watched... by Master Tide".
The queen stood up from her throne, which meant there was no more argument. Her royal guardians escorted her out of the throne room. Raxa Maal stood up and faced Relon Tide, who was still standing still and emotionless.
Maal took a step towards the Jedi and looked him in the eye with restrained hatred.
"I will be your undoing, Relon Tide..." he grunted in a dark, gravely tone.