Darksaber
Page 38
Kyp Durron hurried over to Luke, his dark eyes shadowed from lack of sleep. "Welcome back, Master Skywalker. We knew you'd come soon."
Luke nodded. "I've got to help pick up the pieces here. The search for Jedi Knights continues, no matter what else happens around us."
Kyp nodded soberly. "We made a fine grave for Dorsk 81 out in the jungle," he said uncertainly. "I originally thought we should take him back to Knomm to be buried--”
Luke interrupted, shaking his head, "They have enough of their own dead."
Kyp agreed. "Yes--and I knew him well enough to understand how he felt. Dorsk 81 was a Jedi Knight. He would rather rest here in the place of the Jedi, than be sent back to the homeworld he spent so much time trying to escape. He never fit in there."
Luke looked up into the baleful orange eye of Yavin that filled much of the mist-covered sky. Its storm systems seemed so peaceful, so soft. And yet he knew that the gravity of this giant world had swallowed Callista and Daala and the Knight Hammer whole. A shiver ran down his spine, and he hoped for a moment he would hear Callista's voice, see a vision of her face across the planet's surface, a message she sent from beyond.
But it was only his imagination, and no words from Callista were forthcoming.
Tionne came up, her mother-of-pearl eyes shining. She tossed her silvery hair. "The supply ship came while you were gone, Master Skywalker," she said. "Everything is running smoothly again, and we're all working together -- but we would achieve better progress under your direction."
Luke forced a smile and looked at the Jedi scholar and loremaster. "You do a fine job yourself, Tionne."
"Oh, I almost forgot," she said, evading the compliment. "The supply shuttle brought a sealed message for you. We put it in your quarters."
Luke frowned. "Who is it from?" he said, expecting more trouble.
Tionne shook her head. "We didn't play it. It's a private message."
"All right," Luke said. "Come on, Artoo. Let's get inside." He gestured in greeting to the other Jedi Knights who continued their training, putting test exercises to work completing reparations to the stone edifice of the temple.
Inside the cool, shadowy corridors of the Massassi pyramid, Luke found the way to his quarters as Artoo rolled along behind him, making occasional whistles and hoots to show his pleasure at being home again.
Luke found a sealed message cylinder on his sleeping pallet. He rolled it on his palm and tried to guess who it might be from, but he could think of no one. He frowned suspiciously, not sure he wanted to know ... perhaps it was someone expressing unwanted sympathy--and that would only make his loss hurt deeper.
He shucked out of his comfortable flightsuit and wrapped himself in one of his Jedi robes, feeling the familiarity and the associative power of the Force. Then finally, in his guise of Jedi Master again, he opened the message cylinder, pulled out the data shaft, and inserted the components together so that they played. An image formed in front of him, and Luke gasped.
"Callista!"
Her face looked off into the distance, not seeing him. He couldn't tell how long ago this had been recorded. She seemed weak and haggard, but with a new kind of inner strength.
"Hello, Luke. The first thing you need to know, I suppose, is that I'm not dead. Sorry if I frightened you. There was no way for me to get back. I barely got out of the Super Star Destroyer in one of the last escape pods before the entire ship crashed into Yavin." She paused, as if contemplating her words, then continued, "After I got away, I drifted. Daala's command-level escape pods had extra propulsion systems. But once I was out of danger, once I escaped, I realized that I could not come back to you--not yet. I'm sorry, Luke.”
"The Jedi powers are closer to me now, but they are not yet within my grasp. The wall of the dark side blocks me from them. I'm afraid I'll be tempted again if I work too closely with you, because when I'm with you, Luke, I want so much to have my powers back that I'm willing to do anything ... almost anything. I can't risk that."
"No, Callista," he whispered to her image. "Please."
"I have to go on my own odyssey," she said. "I'm confident that someday I will rediscover my powers. That way I can come back to you on my own terms. I need time, Luke. Just some time. I promise I'll be back--if ever I can prove myself worthy of the great Jedi Master I love."
She swallowed. Her image moved away as if she meant to switch off the recorder, but then she turned back. Her gray eyes were wide and bright and strong. "We will be together in time, Luke." She took a long breath. "And there is a lot of time in the universe."
Her image winked off, and he reached out quickly, his fingers brushing the air as if to capture just one more second with her--but Callista was gone.
His heart swelled with inner turmoil, a huge elation that she was not dead after all. Callista remained alive, alive! But he had still lost her, for now. ...
He stepped outside the Great Temple in the waning afternoon of Yavin 4. The other Jedi Knights moved around him, busy at their activities. He gazed up at the huge orange planet and reached across space with his thoughts, telling Callista of his love and of his hope that her search would someday be successful.
"There is a lot of time in the universe," he echoed, "and we'll be together in time, you and I, Callista."
The new Jedi Knights continued their work, linked together in the Force, and Luke Skywalker went to join them.