Chapter XXVII – Red and Black

The Shadow rejected our offers to help her repair the shattered ceiling of the arboretum, stating that she preferred to fix it herself.

"An area where a phoenix renews itself is a blessed one," she told us. "I am honored that she would select my humble abode to undergo the burning. This spot is sacred now, and I shall treat it accordingly."

"You're going to put a plaque here, aren't you?" I said teasingly. "Something like 'Ash the Phoenix Set Herself On Fire Here.'"

She laughed. "Something like that. The magicians of old would dedicate a shrine over the pyre's ashes, but I think a sign or a memorial tree will be sufficient."

While the others packed our supplies and loaded them upon Nightwind's back, the Shadow and I stood before Ash's rebirthing ground. The pyre had been reduced to black char and silver-and-white ashes, sprinkled with glittering shards of transparisteel from the broken panes overhead. Sunlight streamed through the rift and onto the spot where our friend had departed, seeming to set it afire again. I felt an odd sort of peace here, as if this were a room in the old Jedi Temple.

"She did not say goodbye," I said wistfully. "Not to the others."

"Immortals are accustomed to loss," the Shadow replied. "Thus, they often forget the niceties of what mortals deem as proper farewells." Her silver eyes wandered over the ash pile. "Besides, she loved your party in her own way. She may have been doing you a kindness by performing the renewal out of your sight. Watching someone you love burn is a traumatic experience."

"You sound as if you know that from experience."

She closed her eyes as if in pain. "I have loved… and lost. That is all I will say." She opened one silver-gloved hand. "She forgot this."

In her palm rested the emerald Tyra had given us in return for saving her and her beloved. It caught the sunlight and seemed to burst into green flame. As that had been Ash's quest, it rightfully belonged to her… but she was gone now.

"What will you do with it?" I asked.

"I think," the Shadow mused, "that it is only fitting that this be part of her memorial." She bent down before the ashes of the pyre, scooped out a hole in the cinders and soil, and placed the emerald within it. Smoothing the soil and ash over the gemstone, she placed both palms flat over the spot. I watched, intrigued. What was she going to do?

A single green tendril emerged from the ground – not the new green of a young plant, but a rich, deep, jeweled green, transparent and afire with light. Even as I watched the gem-plant grew before my eyes, thrusting forth leaves and branches, not slowing in its growth until it reached a height level with my waist. Only then did the Shadow withdraw her hands and step back.

"Not expert," she complained. "An expert in the magic of Botany could have created a real tree from a gemstone. I can only manage this." She gestured to the emerald tree, which shimmered and flamed in the sunlight. "But perhaps it is good enough for the phoenix?"

"It is beautiful. Ash would be honored."

The Shadow turned to face me. "It is time for us to part ways, son of the dragon. It is time to seek your destiny."

"You knew all along that our desires would change along the route, didn't you?" I asked, not accusingly.

"I suspected," she replied. "But how could I tell you? You can tell a child repeatedly not to touch a hot stove, but the lesson will not sink in completely until the child tests the boundaries and lays a hand on the stove. There are times when experience is the best teacher, even if it is painful."

"I will miss you," I told her. "You have saved my life many times. And without your guidance, I would never have discovered my past."

"Or your inheritance," she added, her eyes soft as she smiled beneath her veil. "I did what was necessary to pay my father's debt. I regret that my efforts to help you caused you further pain, but I hope that, someday, you find what you seek."

I did not wish to leave. The Shadow was not a member of our fellowship, but she was part of me all the same. In a way, she was as much a member of my family as Jasper. Never mind that her desire to help me was to repay a debt – I still owed her much.

"You are like a younger brother to me," she said softly, tears filling her eyes. "I have watched you grow, rise, fall, and find redemption. I have seen and felt your pain and glory. I have considered you my responsibility… and a member of my family. If I ever had a brother, I would imagine he would be something like you."

"And if I ever had a sister, I think she would be much like you," I replied.

She took me into her arms and embraced me. "Immortals are usually accustomed to loss… but I am young. Forgive me, but your leaving pains me."

"I will find you again," I vowed. "Someday, we will meet again. I feel it."

"Our paths will cross again, young one," she agreed. "You are a creature of magic, like myself, like the Ky-Lin, like Ash. You are one of us. You always have a place with us."

Someone – perhaps Luke – called out for me. They were ready to go. But I was not…

"Go to them," she urged. "The Ky-Lin will lead you to the edge of my territory. Goodbye, son of the dragon."

"May the Force be with you," I wished her.

"And may magic watch over you," she bade.

As I walked through the greenhouse for the last time, I turned back once to look at the Shadow. She watched me go, one hand raised in a salute of farewell, silver and gray robes shimmering in the sunlight. Behind her, Ash's tree glittered like a verdant fire, and for a moment I felt a pang as I remembered the phoenix…

Then they were obscured from view as I turned and followed Luke's call.

Break…

"Vendaxa," the Ky-Lin declared, halting at the boundary where the gray-stoned plain ended and thick jungle began. "Five kilometers straight ahead is a small town where you may charter transport to wherever you please. The Shadow has packed enough credits in your supplies to see you on your way."

Jessa encircled the beast's colorful neck in her arms. "We're gonna miss you, you pain in the neck."

"Just doing my job," he explained, ducking his head in embarrassment. "Well… not quite… I had ulterior motives for helping you out…"

"The Shadow promised you payment?" asked Fett.

"Ky-Lins have no use for money," he replied. "I had traveled once with Talitha's mother, and I have always wondered how her story – and the story of her child – would be finished. Now that my curiosity is satisfied, my work for the Shadow has come to an end."

"What will you do now?" asked Luke.

He shrugged, an odd sight for a quadruped. "Who knows? Time is a relative thing."

Nightwind threw his head back and drank deeply of the wind. "Jungle smells inviting. Let's go in."

"In a minute," I told him. To the Ky-Lin I said "Thank you for all your help."

He smiled. "My life is dedicated to helping others," he told me. "Wait, before you go…" He craned his neck about and pulled something from his back with his teeth – something I had not noticed until now. It was a bag, one that clattered loudly as he proffered it to me.

"The items you gathered on your quests," he explained. "Give them to those that leave when they discover their destinies."

"Very well," I replied, taking the sack. "May the Force be with you."

"Good fortune upon all of you!" he shouted, and off he galloped.

"Weird guy," Tuck murmured. "I'll miss him."

Fett peered into the jungle. "Why did she drop us off here? There's not much on this planet."

"We'll find out, won't we?" Luke replied, hand on his lightsaber as he led the way in.

Five kilometers is not a great distance – unless you are traveling through a heavily forested area on foot. Hours went by as we hacked through undergrowth, untangled ourselves from low branches and vines, and veered off the path to bypass obstacles and hazards such as fallen trees and pools of quicksand. Nightwind repeatedly stopped in his tracks to inspect the shredded bark of a tree or a pile of animal scat, often blocking the path for the rest of us.

"Move it along!" snapped Fett, shoving Nightwind from behind.

"Just wanted a look," he complained, abandoning the claw-torn earth he was investigating and moving forward with a pained expression.

"At this rate, we'll never make it to the spaceport," Jessa huffed.

"We will," Luke assured us. "Just maybe not tonight."

"Definitely not tonight," Tuck corrected. "It's starting to get dark."

"Can you find us someplace to stay the night?" asked Luke.

"Sure can." He motioned for us to follow him. "This way."

The sun was halfway down, slanting bars of scarlet and orange light through the trees, when we came upon the rusted, ruined AT-ST walker. Only a shell of the machine was left, the machinery of the interior having been gutted by thieves, scroungers, and mynocks long ago. Yet that shell was intact enough to provide us shelter for the night.

"Nightwind, coming in?" asked Luke, loosening the straps that held our supplies onto his back. "There's plenty of room for you."

He shook his head. "Sleep outside."

Luke shrugged. "Okay. But you're welcome to come in if you feel like it."

As I unpacked our supplies, I discovered a cooking reactor and an electronic lantern in one of the packs. For a moment I could not understand why the Shadow had given us these items… until I recalled that Ash, the one who had made our fires for so long, was no longer with us. I had a feeling it would be a good long while before I was accustomed to her absence.

"We'll take turns keeping watch tonight," suggested Fett. "Vendaxa is infamous for its monsters."

"I'll take first watch," Jessa volunteered. "Who's second? Don't want to wake up the wrong person and deal with a cranky guy all night."

"I'll go next," Luke volunteered.

"Okay, be back for you later." She left the walker, climbed a short way up a nearby tree, and assumed a pose eerily similar to a bird of prey.

Fett straightened up from adding items to the cooking pot – the Shadow had only packed real foodstuffs in our supplies, evidently not holding ration trays in high regard. "So do any of us have any idea what we're doing now?"

"Not a clue," Tuck replied.

"Well, I think we all know what we're NOT doing," Luke replied with a laugh, earning a glare from Fett and a chuckle from Tuck.

"Well, ONE of us needs to decide before we get to the spaceport," Fett grumbled. "Otherwise we'll just be wandering the galaxy again."

"Is there anything wrong with that option?" I put forth.

"Not really," Luke replied. "But this time we don't have the Shadow's guidance. We could end up running in circles the rest of our lives."

A piercing cry split the evening. Jessa's silhouette stood out plainly against the dying sun as she raised her head to see what was causing the racket.

"Nightwind, cut it out!" she shouted.

Another cry was her reply.

"Nightwind, what's your problem?" She began to descend the tree. "Honestly, keep up the noise and you'll attract every beastie in the neighborhood… OH SITHSPIT!"

Before any of us could respond to her expletive, she had leaped down from the tree and was running for the shelter at top speed.

"What did you do?" demanded Fett, drawing his blaster and leaping to his feet, though the sudden motion made him wince.

"It's not Nightwind!" she shrieked.

A fearsome scream filled the interior of the walker as the form of an acklay blocked our exit – a huge monster with jet-black hide, a scarred carapace, and an ugly slash across his left eye. He screamed again, blasting us with his rancid breath, and tried his hardest to wedge himself through the opening and within reach of his prey. I caught his nightmarish thought processes thanks to the ring, and they were nothing like Nightwind's – incoherent, feral, a terrifying world of absolutes that relegated all creatures to either prey, foes, or potential mates.

And unfortunately, we fell into the first category.

Fett opened fire on the creature, and he screamed in pain as the bolts struck his shoulders. Enraged as well as hungry, he lashed at us with his foreclaws, knocking over the cooking reactor and spilling its contents into the dirt.

"Stop shooting, you're just pissing it off!" screeched Jessa.

"Do you have any suggestions?" demanded the hunter.

Suddenly the monster staggered to the side as another acklay – Nightwind! – slammed into him.

"Nightwind, no!" I shouted. He could not fight this monster! He had no chance against it! He was only a baby, he would be torn to shreds…

But Nightwind was no longer the terrified cub we had discovered tangled in the brush on Corellia. He was enormous – not quite the size of his adversary, but heavily muscled and intelligent-eyed, with powerful adult teeth replacing his impotent baby fangs. His hide was no longer sunset-colored or berry-red, but the hue of fresh blood. Somehow, without any of us realizing it, our acklay child had grown up.

The black beast screamed again, rearing on his hind legs as he challenged this new foe. We were suddenly eliminated from his animal mind as surely as if his memory had been erased. We were merely a nuisance. Nightwind was an intruder… and a potential usurper to his domain.

If I had expected our friend to back down from the challenge, I was sorely mistaken. He trumpeted a reply and reared, slashing the air with his claws. The black roared assent and struck viciously with both forelegs.

"We have to help him!" Luke cried.

"We can't interfere," Fett replied.

"But he'll die!" Jessa protested.

"One of them will be defeated," Fett acknowledged. "It is the way of the species."

"Don't you care about him?" Jessa demanded angrily.

"I care," Fett replied quietly. "Enough to let him make his own choice."

The two creatures slashed and snapped at one another, sometimes dodging an opponent's strike, more often not. The black drew blood from Nightwind's shoulder, while Nightwind scored a bite on the face that left a row of scarlet wounds. The older beast slashed a deep cut down his foe's right middle leg; Nightwind retaliated by dealing a blow that cracked the black's carapace. As they slammed into each other again and again blood rained down on the forest floor, and the ground shuddered ominously as if gods clashed here.

The ring burned as I watched, warning me not to get involved. It, too, seemed to be awaiting the outcome of this battle, though somehow I got the feeling it knew how this would play out.

The black lunged violently, and both combatants tumbled out of our sight. There was a scream of mortal pain, then brutal thrashings in the undergrowth as the victor finished his opponent…

Then nothing but the crying of birds as they fled the scene.

The battle was over; someone had won. I edged forward to get a glimpse of who had triumphed.

"Stay back," Luke told me, catching my shoulder. "The black'll kill you."

"How can you be sure he succeeded?" I demanded.

Before he could retort, a massive form limped our way, his color indistinct in the fading light. Fett and Tuck aimed their blasters at the beast as it approached…

"It's me," came Nightwind's reassurance. "You all right?"

I felt weak with relief. "No one is hurt. What about you?"

"My shoulder and leg are losing blood, but not much," he replied, ducking his head to peer into the walker. "You can put the weapons down. He's dead."

Tuck obeyed, but Fett kept his blaster ready. "Nightwind, behind you!" he barked.

More acklays were emerging from the trees, far too many for Nightwind to take on alone. Were they here to avenge their fallen comrade? I scanned the beasts. Luckily, none were the size of the fallen black. Most of them had the gray or brown hides of females, and those that were male were generally young, the largest being half Nightwind's size.

A fawn-colored female approached Nightwind, who growled warningly and braced his legs against the ground, fully prepared to fight back. But the female bent her head low in a submissive gesture, then reached around and began licking his wounded shoulder.

"Look at that," Tuck marveled. "He's got a girlfriend."

"Wonder what the cubs'll look like," chuckled Jessa.

The other acklays crowded around Nightwind, the adults touching him with their muzzles, the young ones scampering about his legs like pups. Nightwind looked surprised for a moment, then he began exchanging conversation with them, barking and touching noses, snapping playfully at the cubs and twining necks with the females.

At length he turned to face us. "You sleep," he told us. "We'll keep watch."

We obeyed, though I could not help feeling a peculiar sadness as I retired that night.

Break…

It took some time for Nightwind to communicate to the other acklays that we were not to be eaten or otherwise harassed. Time and again a pack member ventured too close to us as we prepared for the journey to the spaceport, and time and again Nightwind would snap and growl to put the offender in his or her place.

"Humans are not food," he told them sternly, but his eyes danced as he looked at me.

"Very good," I told him laughingly, tightening the straps holding our supplies to his back. "Tell them to keep that in mind. A man-eating acklay is eventually a dead acklay."

Nightwind nodded. "They want to come with us."

"Oh, that'll go over big with the folks at the spaceport," Jessa said sarcastically.

"Only to edge of jungle," Nightwind replied. "They'll stay in the trees. Can't stand bright light." He cocked his head amusedly. "Doesn't bother me."

"You're used to it," Luke told him. "They're not."

An hour and a half later, the jungle cleared. A small town lay just ahead… and a thriving spaceport that should take us on the next step of our journey.

"Where to?" asked Tuck.

"I think," Luke said quietly, "that I'm going to Corusant. That's where the Alliance should be now." He turned to the others. "Any objections?"

"Nope," Jessa replied.

"None here," Tuck answered.

Fett did not reply, but he did not object either, so I supposed he was fine with the plan.

"I have no objections," I replied.

"But the Alliance'll be looking for you," Tuck pointed out.

"I have the ring," I replied. "It will protect me."

"Nightwind, what about you?" asked Luke.

The acklay turned to look back into the jungle. The fawn-colored female cocked her head coquettishly at him, which seemed to make up his mind.

"I'm staying," he replied.

"Are you sure?" I asked him. "Is this really what you want?"

"You told your friend on Tatooine I was my own creature," he answered. "I answer only to myself. This is my choice. You can't choose for me."

"I know," I replied. "But I wanted to be sure."

He lowered his head and nuzzled me gently. "They need me. Hunters come and kill them, take their eggs and young. The black was bold but stupid. I killed him. They need a leader who knows about humans and how to deal with them. I am that leader."

I rested both hands on Nightwind's muzzle. He had been with us almost from the beginning, always willing to help, uncomplaining and ever willing to tackle whatever projects we found on the way. He had helped me look at the world around myself in a new light, to appreciate the knowledge the beasts of land and sky could offer me if I only listened. And he had saved all our lives on more than one occasion. In short, he was a loyal friend.

"We will miss you," I told him.

"And I'll miss you." He raised a foreclaw and stuck it in his mouth, grimacing as he twisted the limb about. With a pop a yellow-ivory object fell from his jaws – a tooth.

"Last baby tooth," he replied. "Been bothering me for awhile. Keep it to remember me by. Can I have my claw please? Would like to tell cubs how I fought a dragon!"

I reached into the bag the Ky-Lin had given us and withdrew the band of leather that carried the Great Red's claw. Nightwind bowed to accept the token as regally as a king receiving a crown.

"Good luck," Fett wished him, unfastening the straps and letting our supplies slide from his back.

"Stay out of trouble," Tuck advised, slapping his side in a friendly gesture.

"May the Force be with you," Luke told him.

"I'll miss you, you overgrown praying mantis you," Jessa said with a high-pitched laugh that was obviously meant to mask her tears.

"Farewell, Nightwind," I bade him.

"Farewell, Anakin," he replied. "Remember me."

And he and his new pack melted into the jungle.

Nearly an hour went by before we found the strength to move on. I felt as if I were leaving part of my heart behind in the jungle. And that disturbed me greatly. For if losing the two animals in our party cut me this deeply, how would losing Luke affect my heart?

Break…

There was only one flight to the Core from Vendaxa, and it only went as far as Eclipse. From there, we would have to take a second ship to Corusant. Having little other option, we payed our fares and boarded.

As the passenger shuttle took off, we were afforded our last look at Nightwind.

"This is your captain speaking," came a voice over the intercom system. "If you look out to your left, you'll see an impressive specimen of one of Vendaxa's native species – an odd sight, as they normally don't leave the darkness of the jungles…"

The five of us immediately gathered about a viewport.

A rocky tor jutted from the forest like the fin of a predatory fish from the ocean, and it was atop this rise that a blood-red acklay reared, stabbing spike-like forelegs upward as if seeking to claw our ship from the sky, teeth bared in a show of ferocity. The rising sun caught upon a spot of gold on his breast – the claw of the Great Red.

"Goodbye, Nightwind," I whispered. "May all our stories end as happily as yours."