moving the algae with his mind, with the Force. He wondered who Anakin
could be talking to-didn't he know Uldir couldn't use the Force like that?
The melon head bent toward the surface of the water and slurped up a
huge mouthful of algae. The algae floated farther away from Uldir, and the
beast followed, munching contentedly. While Anakin guided the slimy
creature away, Tahiri returned with a length of tough vine. She threw one
end to Uldir, but it fell short and began to drift out of reach. The girl
shut her bright green eyes and concentrated. Uldir was amazed to see the
vine begin to drift back toward him. Soon he was able to reach out and
catch the end of it.
Uldir pulled, trying to free his feet from the mud. Tahiri leaned
backward to pull, but he could see her face crumple in pain as she pushed
down hard with both heels to keep from sliding into the water. Anakin and
his furry pet quickly came to her aid, but even together they were unable
to pull Uldir free. Uldir strained with his arms, pulling on the vine as
hard as he could.
He kicked and wriggled in the warm, putrid water. Just as he was about
to give up hope, the little R2 droid appeared again, followed by the
longhaired pilot.
Old Peckhum looked just as surprised as Anakin and Tahiri had been to
see Uldir. Without stopping to ask questions, though, the pilot wrapped his
huge hands around the vine and tugged. Once Peckhum put his legs and back
into it, adding his strength to the group's efforts, Uldir's feet pulled
free. When his feet came out of the mud, Uldir's entire body skidded across
the surface of the filthy water like a turbo-ski.
By the time Anakin, Tahiri, and old Peckhum hauled him up out of the
pool, every square centimeter of Uldir's body was covered with swamp scum.
Algae dangled from his hair and grayish-green water dripped from his ears
and nose.
`Thank you," Uldir managed to splutter. He coughed up a whole mouthful
of swamp water.
"What are you doing here, Uldir?" Tahiri asked. "How did you get to
Dagobah, and why did you come? What were you doing in the swamp? What was
that thing that was looking at you? Does Master Skywalker know you're here?
How did-"
"Well, this day's just been full of surprises," Peckhum finally cut
in. "But there'll be time enough for questions later. I think we'd better
get a certain young man cleaned up."
The idea of being clean and dry suddenly sounded very good to Uldir.
"And"-the old spacer looked at Tahiri-"then I think we'd better take
care of a certain stubborn young lady's foot."
Artoo-Detoo gave a loud beep of agreement. Uldir looked down at Tahiri
and saw that her right foot was bleeding. The blond girl blushed a bright
red.
"Well, maybe I did learn a bit of a lesson about going barefoot on
strange planets," she said. Her comment interested Uldir. Apparently these
Jedi trainees weren't so powerful. If Tahiri knew so much about the Force,
why hadn't she been able to protect her feet? Uldir was sure that with a
little bit of training even he could do better than that. Sure, he had had
a close call himself just now, but that had been with a monster, not with a
little thorn or a pebble.
"Thank you all for rescuing me," he said with real gratitude. "If you
hadn't come along, that monster would have eaten me for sure."
"Mmmm. You were never in any true danger."
There was that strange wheezy voice he had heard earlier, Uldir
thought. He looked around to see who had spoken. All he saw was Anakin's
pet, Ikrit.
"Your danger came from the swamp itself, not from the creature," Ikrit
said.
Uldir's eyes went wide. "It-it talked!"
In the hold of the Lightning Rod, Anakin sipped from a cup of warm
broth that old Peckhum had made in the food prep unit. Beside him Uldir sat
wrapped in blankets, drinking soup and shivering occasionally, even though
it wasn't cold inside. ArtooDetoo puttered and fussed over the wound on
Tahiri's foot, making scolding noises while the longhaired old pilot
bandaged it.
"I'm sorry I didn't hear you calling for help sooner," Peckhum said.
"I had the antistatic generator running while I checked the circuit paths.
I couldn't hear a thing."
"You came right when we needed you," Anakin said.
"Well you can thank your furry little Jedi friend here for that," old
Peckhum said, winking at Ikrit, who was once again perched on Artoo's domed
head.
"Jedi?" Uldir exploded into laughter.
"Okay. I'il admit it's pretty amazing that your pet can talk. But
don't try to tell me that that overgrown furball is a Jedi!" He pointed at
Ikrit, whooping and chuckling until tears filled his amber eyes.
Anakin wasn't sure exactly how he had expected Uldir to react to
learning about Ikrit. Surprise? Awe? Maybe even discomfort or distrust...
but not this. Anakin found himself becoming annoyed. If Uldir truly wanted
to become a Jedi, this was no way to talk about Ikrit. He looked straight
into the older boy's eyes.
"Ikrit isn't a trained pet. He is a Jedi." Tahiri piped up at this
point. "Not only that, but he's a Jedi Master, and he's hundreds of years
old."
Uldir looked from one to the other. His jaw clenched and his eyes grew
hard.
"Is this your way of getting back at me for stowing away again? First
Master Skywalker tells me I don't have the talent to become a Jedi. Now you
two lie to me. Do you really expect me to believe that some flop-eared
talking pet is more worthy to be a Jedi than I am? That he's a Jedi Master?
"
Before Anakin or Tahiri could make an angry reply, Ikrit spoke in a
low, quiet voice.
"Perhaps we can believe the truth," the furry Jedi Master said, fixing
his blue-green eyes on Uldir, "only if truth is what we seek."
Morning mist hung in the air like shreds of white gauze, though how
one could tell the difference between morning and evening mist-or even
afternoon or night mist-was beyond Anakin. It seemed to him that fog hung
in Dagobah's air no matter what time of day it was. All of the companions
had gotten a good night's sleep in the hold of the Lightning Rod. Now,
though, they left old Peckhum behind to tinker with the ship and ventured
into the swamp for what Ikrit said was a very important lesson. Ikrit rode
ahead on Artoo-Detoo. Behind them walked Anakin and Tahiri. Uldir brought
up the rear of their little group. In spite of the clouds of buzzing
insects, the small odd-looking animals that scuttled across their path, and
the strange burbling of the marshy water, all of them seemed to be enjoying
themselves-all except Anakin.
Anakin looked around at the swampy landscape with barely concealed
impatience. Why had Ikrit taken it into his head to conduct a lesson now,
of all times? He guessed that it had something to do with Uldir's showing
up, but that didn't make him feel any better. After all, wasn't it Anakin's
quest that had brought them to Dagobah in the first place? Shouldn't they
b
e concentrating on that instead? The small Jedi Master rapped on Artoo-
Detoo's domed head to signal a halt.
"This will do," Ikrit said.
He motioned to his three "trainees," then pointed to the trunk of a
fallen tree.
"There. Sit."
Anakin, Tahiri, and Uldir obediently perched themselves on the log.
"Close your eyes," Ikrit said. "Reach out with all of your senses.
Feel the energy around you. Feel the life."
It was easy for Anakin to feel the energy and the life. In fact, he
wasn't sure he had ever been on a planet with so much life. In its own way,
the primitiveseeming planet of Dagobah was every bit as bustling as his
home world of Coruscant, just with different life-forms.
"The energy flows around you and through you," Ikrit said. "It is a
part of you and a part of all things, and you are a part of it. Even the
killing of one insect can change an entire planet, and a small alteration
in yourself can change the whole universe. We are all related in an
intricate web, all joined through the Force. Everything you do causes a
reaction and affects something else. Through the Force we can sense actions
and reactions, and that can help us choose the right thing to do. Now you
may open your eyes."
Anakin blinked. That was all? That was the entire entire lesson?
"We will return to the ship now for supplies, and this afternoon we
will go to the cave," Ikrit said. "On our way back I will give each of you
a chance to lead. I will not interfere. I will only follow."
Tahiri took the first turn at leading. She had to stop a few times to
sense the right direction with the Force, but she didn't make any wrong
turns or lead them into any boggy patches. When Anakin's turn came, he
could tell that Ikrit was pleased with how well Tahiri had done.
Anakin was tempted to hurry back to the ship so they could get on with
his quest to find the mysterious cave where Yoda had tested Luke Skywalker.
But he knew that the swamp was far too dangerous a place to hurry. He used
a Jedi relaxation exercise to calm himself, as Tionne and Uncle Luke had
taught him.
Patience, he told himself. A true Jedi must learn patience.
He led them at a slow, steady pace, sensing the way with the Force. At
one point he felt a large, hungry creature in the undergrowth and was able
to guide the group safely around it. Ikrit said nothing at the end of
Anakin's turn, but the warm glow of his blue-green eyes was praise enough
for Anakin.
"Okay, I guess it's about time I got you swamp - slugs moving a bit
faster," Uldir said, shaking back his shaggy chestnut hair and stepping
into the lead.
His sense of direction was good, Anakin had to admit, and the
companions picked up their pace as they followed him. The sturdy teen
seemed full of confidence and never hesitated for a moment. Still following
Uldir, the group had almost reached the clearing where the Lightning Rod
waited.
But something was wrong. Anakin didn't understand it, but something
happened inside him. A shiver ran up his spine and a strange, queasy chill
grew in the pit of his stomach. Tahiri grabbed his arm and he could tell by
the look in her wide green eyes that she had the same uneasy feeling.
Then, almost without knowing what they were doing, Anakin and Tahiri
dashed forward.
"Uldir, stop!" Anakin said.
"Stay where you are!" Tahiri cried.
Behind them, Artoo-Detoo let out a trill of alarm. Uldir turned with a
scowl as the younger trainees reached him and each grabbed an arm.
"What's wrong with you two? We're almost there."
"I don't know what it is," Anakin said. "But don't go that way."
"There's something dangerous ahead," Tahiri added.
Uldir snorted.
"Oh, I get it. You don't want me to get the idea that I'm a better
leader than the two of you, so you're trying to scare me. I'll admit, you
had me going for a minute there, but it won't work."
He started up the trail again and tried to shake off Anakin and
Tahiri.
"Stop." Ikrit's scratchy voice was not loud, but it held the power to
halt even the most stubborn teenager. "Your friends wish only to save your
life."
The Jedi Master jumped down from his perch on Artoo's head and
scrambled to the front of the group. Uldir turned a sour look on the furry
creature, but Ikrit paid no attention. Picking a long, thick stem of marsh
reed from the edge of a murky pool, Ikrit prodded the air on the path ahead
of Uldir.
Without a sound, two large chunks of the reed fell to the ground, as
if sliced by an invisible laser. Uldir took a step backward as Ikrit
repeated the demonstration, waving the stem through a different patch of
what appeared to be thin air. Again, the reed was mysteriously chopped to
bits.
"But what could possibly do-" Uldir began.
"A butcher bug," Ikrit replied before the boy could finish. "It spins
a web so sharp and nearly invisible that its prey never see it. They are
sliced into pieces-and without a fight, the butcher bug has its next meal.
If not for Anakin and Tahiri, you might have been the main course."
Anakin felt sorry for Uldir. The older boy's face had gone as pale as
Ikrit's fur, and he looked as if he might become sick.
"Would you lead the rest of the way back, Master Ikrit?" Anakin asked.
"I think we'd all like to follow for a while."
Anakin was glad when he and Tahiri, Ikrit, ArtooDetoo, and Uldir
finally set out to find the cave. An almost unbearable tension had been
building inside him as they ate their midday meal and packed small
knapsacks of provisions for the trek.
He could hardly wait now to finish his quest and find out the things
he had come to Dagobah to learn about himself. Anakin hardly noticed that
clouds hung even lower, if possible, than usual over Dagobah's swampy
surface, hiding the treetops from view. He didn't care that the clouds were
the color of tarnished steel or that they drizzled a fine mist on all of
the companions as they walked.
They were on their way to the cave. That was all that mattered. Artoo-
Detoo was the only one in their group who had actually been to the cave
before, so he led the way.
Ikrit once again rode atop the little droid, as if he considered
Artoo-Detoo his personal steed. Artoo warbled and beeped occasional
comments while he trundled down the path. Anakin noticed that Ikrit's blue-
green eyes were closed, though, and that he didn't respond. Perhaps, Anakin
mused, Ikrit was too deep in thought. Tahiri, on the other hand, seemed as
cheerful and talkative as ever. She had brushed her golden hair and put on
a fresh flightsuit. She was also wearing the soft boots that Tionne had
made her. Now she bounced along beside Anakin, talking about the very
footwear she had once refused to even consider.
".... and the soles are very tough, but flexible - and waterproof.
They're not at all like those icky hard shoes I had to wear so often on
Tatooine. Those were made out of stiff animal hides and rubbed blisters on
/>
my feet."
Tahiri grinned at Anakin and tucked a strand of hair that had come
loose back behind her ear.
"But these boots are soft enough that I can still feel what's under my
feet. I still won't wear shoes unless I have to, but these are probably the
best..."
Anakin was glad to have Tahiri chattering so gaily beside him. It
spared him the need to say anything, and Tahiri didn't seem to mind his
silence. She talked to Ikrit occasionally, who didn't answer either, and
Artoo-Detoo. Artoo tweeted and warbled in return, though none of them could
tell what he was saying. Tahiri even tried to draw Uldir into conversation,
but the teen seemed to be sulking.
Their trail wound around through the swamps past the knotted roots of
huge trees. The knobby roots were as thick around as Anakin's waist. They
arched high in the air from the base of each tree trunk before sinking deep
into the marshy ground. Sometimes the companions were forced to duck under
gnarled roots that grew across their path. The next time Tahiri spoke to
Uldir, he glared at her for a time, and when he finally spoke, he changed
the subject.
"What's so special about this cave we're looking for, anyway?"
Anakin sighed and wished that Uldir didn't have such a sour attitude.
Anakin's Quest Page 6