for, they could match them to the words carved in the Palace of the
Woolamander. Then, perhaps, they could solve the riddle that enshrouded the
globe.
It was hard work. Matching symbols to letters, letters to words.
Anakin felt his eyesight beginning to blur. Hours passed and night
blanketed the Great Temple. Anakin and Tahiri hadn't slept since they'd
returned to the Jedi academy. Anakin had written down the symbols from deep
within Sistra. He'd written down Aragon's words. But so far, they weren't
having any luck matching symbols to letters. It just didn't make any sense.
No matter what they tried, they ended up with gibberish.
"We have to get some sleep," Anakin finally stated. "Let's try one
more time,"
Tahiri coaxed.
"We've got to be doing something wrong." She stared at the lines
before her tired eyes. Then tried to insert letters for symbols from left
to right, in the pattern of Basic. She even tried to scramble the symbols,
replacing first and third letters to see if they made more sense. Nothing.
"We're missing something," Tahiri grumbled.
"It's no use," Anakin sighed. "The Massassi were a different race than
we are. They used symbols, but that doesn't mean that each stood for one
letter like it does in Basic. There's an infinite number of possibilities
to translate. It's going to take us weeks, months, maybe years!" he cried
in exasperation.
Anakin was so caught up in his frustration that he didn't hear the
door to his room quietly open.
"I can't sleep," Sannah whispered from the entrance.
Anakin's head snapped up and Tahiri whirled around to face the door.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." Sannah apologized. "It's
just that it's hard to sleep in a new place..."
"It's okay, Sannah," Tahiri said gently as she helped Anakin gather
the crumpled papers before them. One sheet dropped from her grasp and
wafted gently through the air. She watched as it floated-a white bird borne
on the winds of chance.
The paper landed, faceup, by Sannah's bare feet. Sannah bent over and
picked up the sheet. She moved forward to hand it back to Tahiri.
"What is this?" she asked.
"It's just something Aragon told us," Anakin explained as he reached
for the paper. Sannah drew it back toward her and curiously studied the
scribblings of Basic.
Finally, a look of understanding spread across her fine features.
Sannah read out loud the words "Peace to all." Then, she giggled.
"What's so funny?" Tahiri asked. "It's just that I've never seen Basic
written so strangely," Sannah replied.
"What do you mean?" Anakin asked intently. "Well, you've lined the
letters up so that Aragon 's words run from left to right," Sannah
explained. "But on Yavin 8, we spell our words from top to bottom."
Sannah crouched by Anakin and took the writing tool from his hand. She
turned the sheet over and scribbled one word of Aragon's message down. Then
she held the sheet up for Anakin and Tahiri. P E A C E the letters read.
Anakin's ice blue eyes met Tahiri's blazing green ones. The message they
exchanged was clear-This is it!
"I'll walk you back to your room and sit with you until you fall
asleep," Tahiri offered Sannah as she took the paper from the girl and
casually passed it down to Anakin. Then she took Sannah's hand.
"I had trouble sleeping my first night, too," she said kindly. Her
words drifted softly through the hallway as she led Sannah back to her
room. Anakin spread his papers back out and began to match symbols to
letters. He turned when he heard a soft sound behind him.
The Jedi Master Ikrit had appeared on his window ledge. The Master sat
silently, watching Anakin with round brown eyes. The young Jedi turned back
to his work. It makes sense, Anakin thought to himself. The Massassi must
have learned the pattern that the Melodies wrote in, and assumed that
others would write in the same way. That was why they carved their symbols
vertically instead of horizontally, left to right. Anakin watched the words
of the ancient Massassi from the Palace of the Woolamander come to life
beneath his writing tool. By the time Tahiri had returned to his room, he
was finished with the translation. "Did it work?" Tahiri asked breathlessly
as she slipped into the stone chair across from her friend. Anakin didn't
answer. Instead he held up the sheet before him and began to read out loud.
"Peace to all. We are the Massassi. Our children have been imprisoned
by the evil Jedi Knight Exar Kun. Locked deep within this palace, hidden in
the glittering sands of a golden globe, they await. The crystal that holds
them prisoner can only be unlocked by children, strong in the Force and
dedicated to the battle of good over evil. If you are the ones, enter the
globe and lead our children to freedom."
"We're the ones, aren't we?" Tahiri whispered.
"Yes," Anakin replied, his ice blue eyes flashing. "We're the ones."
On the window ledge, Ikrit watched. The Force was strong in these two
children, he knew. But he knew, too, of the dangers that lay ahead.
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