Anakin's Quest Page 8

  provisions each of them had brought along from the ship. Turning on the

  glowrod, he took a look around. The cave floor was uneven, made up mostly

  of rocks, roots, and dirt. Here and there piles of leaves were decaying,

  giving off a musty odor. The air was damp and tasted slightly spoiled.

  It left an oily feeling on Uldir's tongue when he opened his mouth to

  breathe. The cave was neither large nor small, wet nor dry. It contained

  nothing in any way remarkable. Uldir gritted his teeth. He balled one hand

  into a fist and placed it on his hip. Maybe Master Skywalker and the

  furball Ikrit were just trying to convince their Jedi trainees that there

  was something mysterious about becoming a Jedi. Perhaps they just wanted

  the students to believe that there was something more to it than learning a

  few tricks and being taught how to be observant and how to use a

  lightsaber.

  Well, he had seen the cave now, and it was full of nothing. Too much

  nothing. In fact, the emptiness of the cave began to press in on him. The

  spoiled taste and the smell of decay grew stronger. He had a strange

  feeling in the pit of his stomach, and he knew he had to get out of the

  cave right away. And after all, he asked himself, why should he stay? There

  was nothing more to see.... Uldir turned and left the cave.

  When he saw Anakin and Tahiri waiting for him, Uldir couldn't help

  blurting out exactly what he was thinking.

  "It's a hoax," he said. "That cave is empty. It's not even a very good

  cave."

  Anakin and Tahiri looked at each other.

  "I think I'd like to go next if you don't mind," Tahiri said.

  Uldir couldn't believe it.

  "Didn't you hear me?" he yelled. "There's nothing in there."

  Artoo-Detoo gave two mournful-sounding beeps. Ikrit, perched on the

  little droid's head, spoke in a sad voice.

  "No, you are right. For you the cave holds nothing." Tahiri took a

  deep breath, trying to calm herself. No matter what Uldir said, she was

  certain she would see something in the cave. She didn't know what, but

  something, or someone, waited in there for her. Tahiri pulled at a limp

  strand of her hair, which had become hopelessly tangled during their

  headlong flight from the spider. It was a mess of twigs and dirt, and still

  wet from the rain earlier in the afternoon, but she didn't want to waste

  time brushing it out now. She needed to see what was in the cave, and she

  knew it would be unfair to make Anakin wait any longer than he had to.

  She looked at her best friend. His ice blue eyes were serious but

  calm, not impatient as she might have expected. Anakin surprised her by

  reaching out and giving her hand a brief squeeze.

  "May the Force be with you," he whispered. It was just what she'd

  needed. Tahiri was glad she had a good friend like Anakin. She leaned

  forward and whispered,

  "Thank you." Then she turned and went down into the cave.

  The first thing Tahiri noticed was how hot the cave was. Why hadn't

  Uldir mentioned how hot it was? she wondered. Surely that was something

  unusual about this cave. Scorching heat burned her nostrils as she drew

  hot, dry air into her lungs. A furnace blast of wind tore at her disheveled

  hair. It stole the moisture from her mouth, making it feel as hot and

  gritty as the sand beneath her feet. Sand...?

  Ghostly voices swirled around her, some speaking the language of the

  Sand People from Tatooine, others speaking Basic. Tahiri could see no

  sunlight or sky or even the roof of the cave, but glowing figures moved all

  around her. A soft glow came from the sand below, as well. The strange

  thing was, she could see through it all-the people, the sand, everything-as

  if she were looking at a hologram.

  "Who are you?" Tahiri asked, but they didn't seem to hear or see her.

  In the distance, Sand People rode banthas across the dunes. She could tell

  by the familiar markings on the curly-horned beasts that the tribe was her

  own-though from many years ago. A few small houses with thick adobe walls

  appeared nearby. Humans and droids came and went from the houses, riding in

  speeders, trading with each other, tending to vaporators. Tahiri guessed

  they must be moisture farmers, as her parents had been. The humans looked

  almost familiar, although she couldn't be certain.

  Oddly enough, despite the heat and the gritty sand, one woman with

  long blond hair always seemed to go barefoot. The man beside her had bright

  green eyes. Could these have been her parents? Yes. It came to her with

  sudden force that they were. Beyond the houses she saw another shadowy

  scene, paler this time and sparkling, as if a hologram were fading out. A

  scene from farther back in her own past. In this one a slender man with

  shoulder-length blond hair and smiling green eyes moved across a changing

  background, perhaps of different planets.

  The man must have been a Jedi, for Tahiri saw a lightsaber clipped to

  his belt, and she got a strange feeling that he must be related to her.

  Without her knowing how, the answer came to her: he was her grandfather.

  Across a faint image of green grass, the man fled, pursued by Imperial

  stormtroopers. The man-her grandfather-turned and ran toward her. The

  stromtroopers shot their blaster rifles. Though the Jedi was still far

  away, Tahiri reached out toward him. The stormtroopers fired their blasters

  again. One of the bolts flew past her grandfather and straight toward

  Tahiri.

  A flash of blood red light burst around her, and Tahiri sank into

  darkness. Then, without knowing how she had gotten there, Tahiri stood

  outside the cave again.

  "Are you all right? What happened in there?" Anakin asked with a

  worried look.

  "I-I'm not sure," Tahiri said. "I don't think I'm ready to talk about

  it yet." She put up a hand to smooth back her tangled hair and was

  surprised to find that it was completely dry.

  Anakin looked at Ikrit, who gave him a solemn nod. Artoo-Detoo let out

  a very soft warble. Uldir folded his arms across his chest and said

  nothing. Tahiri placed 'a hand on Anakin's shoulder and whispered,

  "May the Force be with you, too."

  Anakin hoped that he looked calm on the outside, because on the inside

  he was definitely not. The moment he had waited for was finally here. This

  was why he had come to Dagobah. His quest. What if he didn't learn what he

  had come here to learn? What if the cave couldn't tell him whether he would

  fall to the dark side or become a good Jedi like Luke? Anakin's stomach

  felt as if it were full of dozens of those colorful exploding mushrooms.

  His heart thudded painfully against his breastbone and he heard a ringing,

  rushing sound in his ears. But it was far too late to back out now. His

  mind told his feet to move and they carried him forward almost without his

  knowing it and then, after a short scramble down, he was in.

  Inside the cave it was dim, but Anakin could see well enough. The

  ground was soft and slippery, like the mud outside after it rained. Here,

  however, unlike outside, a damp chill began to seep into his bones. Anakin

  shivered,
wishing Tahiri had warned him so that he could have dressed more

  warmly. He wondered how long he would have to wait before the cave showed

  him what was in his mind.

  Uldir and Tahiri had each been gone only a few minutes. Why hadn't

  anything happened yet? Anakin drew in a slow, calming breath. To his

  relief, he felt warm air flow into his lungs. Warm, clear light like a

  summer sunrise dawned on one side of him. On the other side, the cave

  seemed to grow darker still.

  Lightning flashed across the darkened half of the cave, and a frigid

  rain began to fall. Anakin raised both hands in front of his face. One was

  wet, the other dry. One cold, one warm. What was happening? The next flash

  of lightning revealed a figure wearing a flowing black cape and a glossy

  black plasteel helmet. Anakin's back and shoulders went rigid. The breath

  froze in his lungs.

  He opened his mouth to cry out, but before he could, a second figure

  appeared-this one in the bright, sunlit part of the cave. The new figure

  wore a brown hooded robe, and his bearded face was mostly hidden. A

  lightsaber hung from a belt tied around his robe. Bolts of blue lightning

  crackled through the cave, but this time they did not come from the storm.

  The figure on the darkened side of the cave held his hands out,

  fingers spread. The blue lightning arched from his fingertips toward the

  Light Jedi, who shielded himself from the attack, although he did not hurl

  any blue fire toward the dark side of the cave. Anakin's legs were

  trembling with tension. He found his breathing coming in gasps. Blue fire

  crackled out again, this time followed by cruel laughter.

  Anakin knew he had to do something. He snapped out of his stupor and

  threw himself between the light and the darkness.

  "No," he said. "I won't let you!"

  Dark lightning danced and crackled toward him and he threw up an arm

  to ward it off.

  "I said no!" he yelled.

  The two figures stopped and turned their faces toward him. A bright

  haze swam before Anakin's eyes. Both of the faces were his.

  Anakin and Tahiri huddled close together around a small cook fire that

  Ikrit had built. Uldir sat across the fire from them, a sour expression on

  his face, his arms once more folded across his chest. Anakin guessed that

  the older boy hadn't believed a word that he or Tahiri said, but that

  didn't really matter to Anakin. Right now, all he cared about was getting

  some answers. Anakin looked at Ikrit.

  "So what did it all mean?" Tahiri looked to Ikrit as well. Except for

  when she told her story in a slow, halting voice, she had not spoken at all

  since coming out of the cave.

  "As different as you are from one another, my young students," Ikrit

  rasped, "the things you each saw in the cave are not as unlike as you might

  believe. And for each of you, the lesson is much the same. Your learning

  and heritage mold you. No one is either entirely good or bad. Your parents,

  your experiences, your past and your present all combine to make you the

  person that you are.

  "We each contain the potential for great good or great evil. We each

  hold the shadow of darkness... and the flame of light. Our destinies are

  not set, and life offers no guarantees. It is the choices that you make...

  that will determine what you become." Ikrit looked at Tahiri. "It is not

  who raised us or who our parents were that determines our paths." Now Ikrit

  turned his solemn blue-green eyes toward Anakin. "The Emperor cannot reach

  out to you from beyond the grave-but neither can those you love make your

  choices for you. You will become what you become because of your choices...

  because of what you do."

  Uldir snorted impolitely.

  "I could have told you that. I choose to be a Jedi. You make your

  choice, and that's all there is to it."

  Tahiri ignored the sour remark. Her bright green eyes searched

  Anakin's face.

  "Is that what you needed to learn? Did you find what you were looking

  for?"

  Anakin closed his eyes and searched deep inside himself. The urgent

  need to know what he would become was as no longer there. He still wasn't

  sure what his future would be; no one could be. But he knew that he would

  have to trust the Force and make his choices carefully. And he suddenly

  realized that he was no longer afraid.

  Anakin opened his eyes and smiled at his best friend.

  "It wasn't at all what I expected," he said. "But I found the answer I

  needed. I guess we can all go back to Yavin 4 now and-"

  "No. Not yet," the voice of Ikrit broke in. "We have one last stop to

  make before my own quest here is fulfilled."

  Tahiri and Anakin exchanged surprised glances. Anakin had thought he

  was the only one in the group with a reason for coming to Dagobah. In his

  urgent need to find answers, had he missed something?

  "Where are we going, Ikrit?" The white-furred Jedi Master bounded to

  the top of Artoo-Detoo's domed head.

  "Put out the fire," he said gruffly, as if it was difficult for him to

  speak right now. "The droid will show us the way."

  Artoo-Detoo gave a triumphant warble.

  "I guess that means we're here," Anakin said.

  The companions stood around a small but well - built structure that

  must once have been a house. The outside was not destroyed in any way, but

  it looked as if no one had lived inside for a long time. Through the window

  Anakin could see that rodents, snakes, and flying creatures had made their

  nests among the moss and cobwebs that now covered all of the furniture.

  Tahiri peered inside.

  "It must have been very cozy once," she said. "It's pretty small,

  though"

  Uldir observed.

  "Size matters not," Ikrit replied.

  "Well, it sure doesn't look like much," Uldir said, his voice changing

  and cracking as he spoke.

  "Why would you want to visit this?" Anakin cringed at Uldir's rude

  words.

  Ikrit seemed to take no offense.

  "This was the home of Yoda," Ikrit said. "A great Jedi Master." He

  leapt from Artoo's head through the open window and sat on the leaf-

  littered stone floor. For minutes he sat there studying the tiny dwelling.

  Under the mud and dirt that Ikrit had picked up during their adventures, it

  seemed to Anakin that the Jedi Master's white fur had turned an unhealthy

  shade of gray.

  "Are you all right?" he asked.

  "Yoda was... a noble Jedi," Ikrit replied slowly. "He served the Old

  Republic for hundreds of years. He taught many students and fought against

  evil wherever he found it. But in the end, he was forced into hiding here

  to escape the Emperor's slaughter of the Jedi."

  By the time the Jedi Master finished speaking, his beautiful white

  coat had turned entirely black. Tahiri gasped.

  "Master Ikrit, your fur!"

  "I didn't know that you could do that," Anakin said in amazement.

  "Change colors, I mean."

  "There is much you do not know about me," the Jedi Master rasped. "My

  people have long had the ability to change colors, to camouflage themselves

  for safety..
. or to mourn. I mourn Yoda, a great Jedi Master."

  "How do you know so much about Yoda?" asked Anakin.

  "It was he who found me on Kushibah," Ikrit said, "chose me and

  trained me, just as he trained your uncle. Yoda was my Jedi Master, too."

  While Anakin and Tahiri watched openmouthed with astonishment, Master

  Ikrit shook himself and flung away all traces of mud and dirt from his

  silky coat. Then his fur blossomed again to a snowy white. Anakin wondered

  how many more surprises and secrets Ikrit had in store for them.

  Tahiri couldn't help giggling at the look on old Peckhum's face.

  "I don't know how I'm supposed to squeeze in one more passenger on the

  way back to Yavin 4," the grizzled spacer exclaimed. "Maybe I should just

  let Uldir ride back in the hold-didn't seem to bother him when he stowed

  away the first time, since he went ahead and did it again."

  Peckhum grumbled for a while, then agreed to make room for Uldir. It

  took some creative thinking and hours of rearranging in the cockpit, but

  they managed it in the end. Tahiri plunked herself into her seat and

  immediately removed her boots with a happy groan. She wiggled her toes.

  There was still a bandage wrapped around the cut on her right foot. Even

  so, she felt freer and more comfortable right away.

  "That's better," she said to no one in particular. She sat back in her