As the last notes drained away, Jacen opened his eyes to find his sister staring at him in silent amusement. Neither Lowbacca nor Tenel Ka, who sat beside him, gave any indication that they had noticed Jacen’s apparent absorption in the music. Then Tionne spoke, drawing Jacen’s attention back to the silver-haired Jedi on the raised platform.
“A Jedi’s greatest power comes not from size or from physical strength,” she said. “It comes from understanding the Force—from trusting in the Force. As part of your Jedi training you will learn to build your confidence and belief through practice. Without that practice we may not succeed when it is most important. This is true of many skills in life. Listen to a story.
“Once, a young girl lived by a lake. Simply by watching others, she learned much about how to swim. One day when her family was busy, the girl jumped into the deep water. Although she moved her arms and legs as she had seen other swimmers do, she could not keep her head above the water.
“Fortunately a fisherwoman jumped in and rescued her. The woman, a practiced swimmer, had not needed to think about how to swim, but the little girl—who had only learned by watching—did not have the skill even to stay afloat. After they were safely out of the water, the fisherwoman took the girl’s hand and said, ‘Come to the shallows, child, and I will teach you to swim.’ “
Tionne paused as if lost in thought, her pearly eyes glittering. “So it is with the Force. Unless we practice what we learn, and unless we are tested, we never know we can trust in the Force if the need arises. That is why this Jedi academy is also called a praxeum. It is a place where we not only learn, but we put the learning to use. As with swimming, the more we practice, the more confidence we have. Eventually, our skill becomes second nature.
“The next several days I would like the beginning and intermediate students to practice one of the most basic skills: using the Force to lift. For today, practice lifting only something small—no bigger than a leaf.”
Raynar interrupted in a blustery voice, “How can you expect us to strengthen our skills if you take us back to a child’s level?”
Jacen rolled his eyes at Raynar’s rudeness, but he had to admit that he had been wondering the same thing.
Tionne smiled down at Raynar without annoyance. “A good question. Let me give you an example. If you wanted to strengthen your arms, you might lift many stones one time, or you might lift one stone many times. It is the same with your Jedi skills. For today, practice just as I have asked you. It is not the only way to strengthen your skills, but it is one way. There are always alternatives. I promise you will learn more than just how to lift a leaf.”
Tionne dismissed the students. As they left the grand audience chamber and started down the worn stone stairs, Jaina pulled the other three young Jedi to a halt, her eyes dancing. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” she asked.
Jacen, who did not know what she was thinking, nonetheless sensed her excitement and her eagerness to investigate Lowie’s mysterious discovery.
Jaina shrugged. “What better place to practice lifting leaves than out in a jungle?”
8
“You sure this seat is safe?” Jacen asked as he squeezed himself into the cargo well behind the T-23’s passenger seat.
“Of course it is,” his sister replied automatically as she climbed into the front. “You like crawling into cramped spaces anyway.”
“Only to catch bugs,” he grumbled. “There’s no cushioning back here.”
The cargo well was much too small to accommodate Tenel Ka, who was taller and more solidly built than either of the twins. Jacen would have to settle for the back or be left behind; his sister would take her turn there on the return trip. He squirmed and settled in as the T-23’s engines started with a roaring purr.
Lowie called a command over the sound of the warming repulsorlifts. Em Teedee said, “Master Lowbacca requests that you please be certain that your restraints are secure. He is interested in your utmost safety. We shall be departing momentarily.”
Lowbacca’s voice barked out again, and the droid amended his translation. “Actually, Master Lowbacca might have said something closer to, ‘Hold on, everyone. Here we go!’”
“Oh, blaster bolts. No crash straps either,” Jacen observed as Jaina and Tenel Ka buckled themselves in up front.
The rebuilt T-23 lifted off with a small jerk. The wind howled past the rattling window plates as they picked up height and speed. Jacen felt the thrill of being airborne as the ion afterburners spluttered behind them. Even cramped in the back, he was glad he hadn’t stayed behind.
Jacen looked out through the scratched port as Lowbacca let the skyhopper skim just above the treetops, arrowing away from the Jedi academy into unexplored territory. Soon there were nothing but trees as far as Jacen could see through the scratched port, as lush and green as the sky above him was blue.
Though he enjoyed the lovely foliage below him, Jacen’s legs began to cramp. By the time the T-23 dove down and came to rest in a small clearing, he could feel the engine vibrations all the way to his teeth.
Up front, Jaina and Tenel Ka unbuckled their restraints and scrambled nimbly out of the T-23. Jacen dragged himself from the cargo well, stretching his stiff legs as he stepped out into the tangled underbrush. He rubbed the seat of his jumpsuit with both hands to get the circulation going again. “I think a leaf is about all I could lift right now!”
Lowie rushed to the edge of the clearing, beckoning the others. “Master Lowbacca says the tree holding the artifact is over here,” Em Teedee called. “It has several broken branches, so he was able to locate it easily from the air.”
Jaina looked in the direction that Lowbacca was pointing. “Well, what are we waiting for?” she said. Tenel Ka marched over to the young Wookiee, as if ready to carve a path through the jungle. Jacen took a long and wistful look at all the strange new plants he saw around him, but followed the others into the deep green shadows.
Lowbacca gestured up into the distant branches of an enormous Massassi tree. The trunk seemed as big around as one of the skyscrapers on city-covered Coruscant, and even the lowest branches were well out of Jacen’s reach. But Lowie wanted them to climb up after him!
“Oh,” said Jaina, a crestfallen look on her face, “I wouldn’t get very far climbing that.”
Lowbacca assured them, via Em Teedee, that the climb would be easy for a Wookiee. He offered to go up alone for the first investigation and report his findings so they could decide the next step.
“We can explore down here,” Jacen suggested. “We might find some other pieces of… of whatever it is.” Or maybe some interesting animals or fungus or insects, he thought hopefully.
Jaina and Tenel Ka readily agreed. Lowbacca swiped a hairy hand along the thick black streak that ran through the fur above his left eyebrow. He swarmed up the trunk, swung into the lower branches, and soon disappeared from sight.
Jacen’s stomach rumbled with hunger, and he hoped that Lowbacca would hurry. The three young Jedi trainees poked around in the underbrush, spiraling out from the T-23 in a wandering search pattern. Taking turns, they practiced their leaf-lifting assignment, fluttering leaves in the shrubbery, lifting dry forest debris from the damp and mossy ground.
Before long, Lowbacca came crashing back down through the thick branches. He dropped to the ground near them and let out a loud Wookiee cry.