Inheritance
34.
Boshuda. And I thought Master Obi-Wan's lectures were bad.
Master Windu made me stand outside in the freezing cold with him for like a bazillion hours or something before we got to come in here. He said a whole lotta stuff… but I don't really want to talk about it right now. I feel really weird inside like I did inside that Jabuur-weki cave.
'Cause I was just trying to make a good distraction, that's all. Master told me to do that. It's his fault if the whole thing went all wrong. I wish Master Windu would maybe see that and he could give Master a big ol' lecture instead of me.
Or maybe he's busting me for Master's bad idea. I mean, Master got told off when I broke the rules before, so maybe this is the other way around. That's really not fair! Sometimes being a Jedi doesn't make any sense. None of this would have happened if they just let me come into that cave with them again, instead of making a distraction. That's what they should have let me do. I could handle it. Like a real Jedi.
"Can I talk to Master Obi-Wan now?" I ask. 'Cause it seems like the grilling is over and it's super freezing out here. Master Windu makes a frowny face and sighs and then he nods.
"I need to speak with the chieftain," he says. "Don't get into more trouble."
I like bust through the door as soon as he's gone. Inside the guest house it's super warm, and –
"Master!" I'm pretty happy to see him again. I mean, I sorta missed him when we were freezing out there and I was worried when he didn't show up to find me and I'd rather have his not-funny jokes and stuff than Master Windu's serious talk, any day.
"Anakin." He doesn't look so good, all wrapped up in his cloak and that Feorian blanket thing, the one the women all made for Master Qui-Gon, like he's cold even though it's super warm in here. And he looks like he was asleep a minute ago, or like he's sick. He's really tired, I can tell, and he's making my head hurt a little, like we're connected. It doesn't feel good. Master Windu's not here to be all grouchy about it so I run up and sorta bounce onto the mattress thingy next to him and give him a pretty big hug.
Mom mostly did that when I was sick. Not the bouncing part, but the other stuff.
Obi-Wan kinda shrugs away, real gentle, but still like he's not comfortable with me squeezing him. I forgot about Jedi not hugging. And maybe he's kinda sore, too. Oops. So I kinda stop, and wait. I can tell he's happy to see me, too, so why can't we just be normal and say it?
I'll help him out. "I'm really glad to be back," I say. See? It's not so bad and I don't think it's against the Code, not really.
But he still doesn't say anything. He keeps it all smooshed down inside himself, prob'ly in the same place he keeps all the stuff he forgets on purpose. The thing about Obi-Wan is that you have to pay attention to what he doesn't say, really carefully. I had to figure that out on my own, but I'm getting pretty good at it. That's mostly why I don't pay so much attention to what he does say sometimes.
"Are you okay, master? I can tell you're not, so don't try to trick me."
One of his eyebrows goes up. "If you already know, need you ask?"
Not fair! But I think he's joking again, 'cause his eyes are twinkling. So that's like him saying he's happy I'm not frozen to death out on the tundra. "Well," I say, the same flat way he always does, "I mean is the Council gonna abandon you on an asteroid now?"
He really liked that! I can tell! His face is totally dead calm, and his mouth is very straight like he's thinking it over all seriously. "That might be a welcome relief," he says, "So long as it was a solitary marooning."
He's watching me to see if I get it. Solitary?… hey! I make a face at him. But one corner of his mouth twitches just a little and the Force is dancing like the fire now, and that headache kinda goes away. I think he's feeling a little better, cause we did say it, only in a different kind of language.
It's like a secret code, just between me and Master.
See? We are friends.
"Did you see the jabuur-weki?" I gotta know what happened, and Master Windu wouldn't tell me anything. "Did you fight it? I bet you blitzed it, master!"
"I think it blitzed me, " he says, with his voice all flat.
"Huh?" I didn't mean to squeak like that, it just sorta came out. "It got you? You mean like those other guys that got zapped? But you're okay, master, right? And hey! You saw it! You must have 'cause you fought it! What's it look like? Does it really have claws that snatch and jaws that bite and stuff?" There's a whole hoocha lot of stuff I want to know about the jabbur-weki and now Obi-Wan's like an expert or something.
But he's not as excited about it as I am. He wasn't really excited about creaming that Sith guy either. Even when everybody at the Temple started calling him the Sith Killer. He really didn't like that. I think it would be wizard to have a nickname and all, kinda like being the Boonta Eve Podrace Champion… but Master Obi-Wan was all serious and sorta in a bad mood about it for a while. Master Bant said I shouldn't bug him about it 'cause it was a hollow victory or something like that.
"The jabuur-weki isn't a thing, properly speaking, Anakin. It's more like… a function of its environment."
That's how he starts explaining it. And it makes absolutely no sense. I can feel my nose wrinkle up the way that used to make Mom laugh. But I can't really help it. "What do you mean?"
So then Master tries to explain it all the way. And he's doing a really good job and trying to be super patient and all, and I'm paying real close attention with no distractions or anything, but it still doesn't make much sense.
It's kinda like this: The Force is everywhere and binds everything together and flows through us and gives us our strength and all that stuff. But sometimes there's a place in the universe where it sorta gathers – like the way sand piles up against the south-facing walls after a storm, I guess. A drift. A dune in the Force. I'm not allowed to say there's more of it, cause that's a fallacious misrepresentation. It's just stronger in some places, like a black hole is an imploded star's mass. And it warps thoughts and feelings around it, which makes visions. I kinda don't want to go to Ilum after all even though it's on my list of places to visit. Master also says that some people think a vergence – that's this weird strong spot in the Force – could be centered around a person, too. He looked at me funny when he said it. And then I asked him if he thought that too and he said that he was not wise enough to give an answer and did it really matter?
I guess not. I just thought it was interesting, sorta. But anyway, Master Windu thinks the jabuur-weki's cave is a vergence, for the Dark Side. That's totally rugged, except Master doesn't think so. I can tell. And he says that means that fears and anger can be warped into a pro-… a pro-something, which is like an illusion that channels the energy of the vergence. It's really complicated, like I said. I think he said a conduit. I kinda lost focus there for a minute but it wasn't a distraction. It was just like a circuit overload like when a transceiver blows on a broadband frequency. He said a bunch of other stuff but the main thing is that the jabuur-weki is the pro-whatever of the Feorians' collective racial memory or something, and –get this – it can blitz people with lightning.
Whoa. That's intense.
"What about a vorpal blade?" I ask. I mean, in the old song that RuRu taught me, that's how the hero wipes out the monster. With his laser sword.
Master looks at the fire for a long time. "You can't fight fear with a 'saber," he decides. He sounds really tired again. I wonder if that 's what he tried to do in the cave. It musta worked a little bit at least, though, 'cause he's still alive and all. And Master is a wizard swordsman.
I really want to talk some more but maybe we shouldn't 'cause he looks pretty wiped out and he hasn't got around to lecturing me about the distraction yet. It's funny but I think he's kinda distracted by the whole jabuur-weki conversation. But that's okay with me.
"I need to meditate," Master Obi-Wan says.
Big surprise there.
I try to scoot away real quiet and slow but he catches me with one hand.
"You too," he orders, and poodoo! There's no getting out of it now.
"Yes, master," I sigh.
