I'd seen a lot a planets since I joined the Rebellion and most of them had been unpleasant in some way, Coruscant was no exception. Nyssa piloted our fancy multi-seated air speeder expertly through the long lines of traffic criss-crossing the skies above the gray and steel cityscape. The towers and blocks below us hummed with the tangled ambitions, anxieties and hostilities of a billion people. My heart sank, center of the galaxy or not I didn't like this place and I hated the thought of living here. But where were we going to live without a temple? For that matter where were we going now?
"We have temporary quarters in the old Senatorial complex." Dai-Men answered.
I guessed that meant I'd be close to Leia and Han which was good. I turned to Pater. "Excuse me, Master, but did I understand right; you've been working here on Coruscant for the whole twenty-five years of the Empire?"
He smiled a little. "All sorts of people found refuge in the under-levels. We did what we could, and we had help: Nyssa, her father the praetor, Kensai Moriah, Yedda and more recently Anuril Windu and Raj's girls -"
"Raj's what?" I interrupted.
"His crew," Dai-Men said serenely, "four very charming Twi-lek girls."
My eyes widened, I'd heard about Twi-lek females! I was a little shocked but Dai-Men didn't seem to mind and it certainly wasn't my place to judge Raj or anybody else.
Nyssa left the traffic streams to loop gracefully around a cluster of glittering skyscrapers and finally moor us to a sort of terrace several floors down the south face of one of the lower towers.
White pillars upheld the vaulted ceiling high above a floor paved with pink, gray and tan marble. A golden fountain bubbled softly and beyond it stood a circle of chairs with brown robed Jedi rising to greet us.
I saw Chani right off. She still had blue beads, matching the eyes she'd inherited from Ben, braided into her blond hair. She stood between Jayce, with his sharp raptor's face and red head, and Mylo Thraan, the big blue-skinned Laazord 1 Jedi I'd met on Kessel.
I saw Raj with his mop of curls; Jezra Antilles, Wedge's tall cousin; and three Jedi I didn't know.
I was a little surprised that Chani didn't come running to greet me with another of those embarrassing but delightful kisses but she stood there as demure and formal as the rest of them as we entered the circle. Four chairs were empty. Kensai Moriah took one, Dai-Men sat beside her and Pater next to him. I hesitated uncertainly.
"Luke." Master waved me to the remaining chair on Kensai Moriah's right hand. I settled uneasily into it as the others sat down around me, except for Nyssa and Yedda who took their places behind their respective Masters.
Dai-Men began to speak in measured tones. "Right now the fourteen of us here are the entire Jedi Order, which means we twelve professed knights are by default the Jedi Council. May the Force watch over us and guide our deliberations." We all bowed our heads, then Master turned to me. "Luke, you know most of our colleagues, except for Eriol Stargazer -"
A tall gray haired Jedi with deep eyes, both sad and serene, rose from his chair and made me a bow. I stood up and bowed back.
"- Fasha Rho -"
This was a tall blond with something faintly feline about her high cheek-boned face and almond shaped green eyes.
"- and Anuril Windu."
I exchanged bows with the beautiful dark skinned woman sitting between Rho and Jezra.
Master waited for us both to sit down before continuing. "Now, Master Skywalker, would you please tell the Council about your mission to Endor?"
'Master' I shivered. I'd just become a full Jedi Knight, I wasn't ready to be a Master or a councilor! But Dai-Men was right, we were all that was left of the Jedi Order and we all had to take responsibility for rebuilding it - however junior we felt.
Disciplining face and voice I told my fellow Jedi about Endor, the whole story not the edited version I'd given to the Alliance. And then I told them about that too: "I said I'd defeated Darth Vader, but was it Anakin Skywalker who destroyed the Emperor. Which was perfectly true - but I left out the part about them being the same person. My father's fall and redemption seemed too personal, too private to share. But now - I'm not sure I did right. I would appreciate the Council's guidance. Should the new Republic government and the people know the full truth?"
"I feel Luke did right." Raj said decidedly. "Master Anakin did a great deal of good as a Jedi, and in the end fulfilled his destiny and saved us all. I'd hate to see his memory eclipsed by Vader's."
"And there's the reputation of the Jedi to consider as well." Fasha Rho said frowning. "You remember the whispers of rogue Jedi towards the end of the war breeding fear and distrust of the Order."
Eriol Stargazer smiled faintly. "Speaking as one of those 'rogues' I would remind the Council we had good reason for choosing as we did - " 2 his face turned grim. "Better than even we knew at the time. Still Kensai Rho's point is well taken. We have nearly thirty years of lies and misrepresentation to live down. Admitting that the Republic's greatest hero became its bane certainly won't help us."
"I am uneasy about living a lie." Jezra said, face troubled.
My heart sank. She had a good point there.
Jayce, several seats away, snorted. "Come on, Jez, we've all been living lies for the last twenty odd years, hiding who and what we really were because we had to. How is this any different?"
"It isn't exactly a lie, Jezra," Dai-Men said, "but a withholding of truth." He smiled a little. "Which I admit is the next thing to a lie. But necessary I think in this case. Not only to protect Anakin Skywalker's reputation, and that of the Jedi, but Princess Leia Organa's credibility as a leader of the Republic."
I hadn't thought of that. What would being known as Darth Vader's daughter do to Leia's reputation?
"Perhaps someday the full story can be told." my Master went on, "But not now. Not while passions are still running high and the reborn Republic so weak. Agreed?" he looked around the circle. Nobody objected.
"The Chancellor-pro-tem and Praetor Trae-Arlin have agreed the Imperial Palace should be destroyed." said Dai-Men's mother. "But the praetor asks that the Jedi search the palace for traps and other threats before demolition begins."
Raj gave one of his toothy grins. "Our first mission!" and a hint of a chuckle ran around the circle.
"I suggest Luke, Mylo, Mei-Qan." said Dai-Men. Nobody disagreed, including me. Hey, how bad could it be?
"Shouldn't we try to salvage the archives at least?" Kensai Windu asked, but doubtfully.
"It would be unwise to take anything from the building." Moriah said. "All has been tainted by the Emperor's presence."
"Perhaps we could download the information onto data cubes." Jezra suggested.
The old lady considered this then nodded. "Very well. Kensai Antilles, you Master Stargazer and I will do so."
Then she turned to address the whole circle. "We have every reason to hope there are other surviving Jedi and they will make their way here to join us as Eriol and Fasha did, but it is fitting we continued the Tradition by training a new generation in the Way. Master Stargazer, Kensai Rho please bring your candidates before us."
The two of them got up and went out. Chani had just enough time to lean past Mylo and explain in a whisper; "Stargazer and Rho both have kids they've trained in the Jedi Way." before they were back herding four youngsters.
Eriol's two weren't much younger than me, a dark gangly boy who looked a lot like his father and a very pretty girl who didn't. Fasha's kids were also a boy and a girl but younger, no older than fourteen, brown haired rather than blond but with their mother's tilted green eyes.
"My Masters, I present to you my son Evrek and my daughter Elana." Eriol said formally. "They have been well trained it the Way," a hint of a smile, "though I say as shouldn't, and are ready for Apprenticeship."
"I have examined the candidates and agree they are ready." said Kensai Moriah. "Master Naberrie, will you accept Evrek Stargazer as your Padawan apprentice?"
Raj stood and bowed. "I will." the boy left the center of the circle to stand in the apprentice position behind Raj's chair as he sat down.
"Kensai Antilles, will you accept Elana Stargazer as your Padawan apprentice?" Of course she did.
Eriol bowed and returned to his seat. Fasha herded her two forward. The girl was expressionless but the boy looked scared to death. I felt sorry for the kids having to stand up in front of a bunch of strangers like this.
"My Masters," Fasha began, just as Eriol had, "I present to you my daughter Arkady and my son Dov. They have reached the level of acolyte and I believe them ready for Apprenticeship."
"I agree." said Kensai Moriah. "Kensai Kenobi, will you accept Arkady Montross as your Padawan learner?"
'I will." said Chani.
Then, unbelievably, the old lady said; "Master Skywalker, will you accept Dov Montross as your Padawan learner?"
Who me? Was she serious? I still had so much to learn myself, I couldn't possibly teach anybody! I looked to Dai-Men for help. He looked back blandly and didn't say a word.
I gulped. "I will." what else could I say with the poor kid standing right there in front of me? But I promised myself I'd say a whole lot to Dai-Men and his mother when Dov couldn't hear. This wasn't fair, not to me and not to the kid.
"You sound like your father," Kensai Moriah said, "though why he expected the Force to be 'fair' I can't think." she sat cross-legged on a sort of hassock in the dim light of her large but rather bare room. Yedda could be heard, busy with something in the huge closet.
I blinked. "You mean it's not?"
"Not the way you and Anakin mean." Master said, standing tall and still between his mother and me. He smiled, "The Force has a habit of asking for more than we think we can give - hadn't you noticed?"
He had a point there. Asking me to save my father and the universe hadn't been very fair either - but this was different! "I'm not ready to be a Master, I still have so much to learn!"
Now Moriah smiled. "Nobody ever feels ready, Luke, certainly I did not - nor Dai-Men either."
"If every Jedi waited till he felt ready there would be no Apprentices." her son said wryly. "You say you have much to learn, Luke. That's true and will always be true. The day you stop learning is the day you stop being a Jedi."
"You have had three Masters Luke," Kensai Moriah said gently, "it is time to pass on what they have taught you, and to be taught by your Padawan, the learning goes both ways you know."
"Indeed it does." said my Master.
I couldn't imagine what he'd learned from me, and didn't have the nerve to ask. I sighed. "I'll try."
Moriah's eyebrows went up. "Try?"
I grinned. "Right. Do or do not, there is no try. So - I'll do it."
"But why me?" I complained to Jayce in the elevator lobby. "Why not you? you've got a lot more experience."
He shook his head. "It would never work. The boy's afraid of me."
The elevator doors opened and we stepped in. "You are kind of scary." I conceded with a grin. "Okay you're out - what about Mylo?"
Again Jayce shook his head. "That wouldn't work either. Look, Luke, our Masters don't decide these things by picking names out of a bag. Master and Apprentice have to be enough alike for rapport but different enough to create a synergy. Dov and I have no rapport and he and Mylo are too alike - no synergy. I'm sure the Masters would have loved to give you a little more time to settle into being a Jedi, but of the twelve Knights we've got you're the best match for the kid."
"So we're both stuck."
"Live with it." the lift door opened. Jayce got out, then turned to say mock solemnly: "May the Force be with you."
"Very funny." I said and jabbed the up button.
"Remember," he added a little more seriously as the doors began to close, "The kid's even more nervous than you are."
"Is not." I muttered to my reflection in the highly polished doors as the elevator moved upward.
NOTES:
1. Laazord are large blue-skinned humanoids from a glaciated rim planet. They have weak red eyes which they protect with visors against the bright suns of alien worlds.
2. During the Clone Wars a number of Jedi, including Eriol Stargazer, decided they were fighting on the wrong side and went over to the Separatists. Of course as we know there was no right side.
