Star Wars_ Coruscant Nights III_ Patterns of Force - Michael Reaves [32]
“Someone who would train you,” Jax finished.
“Train who to do what?” Dejah Duare swept into the room, unwinding a long, pale scarf of translucent golden synthsilk from her deep crimson hair, which blazed when the light hit it.
Jax felt his throat constrict and used a tendril of the Force to fend off the effects of Dejah’s sensual aura. At first he thought she must have caught something of the tenor of their discussion and that concern had caused an unconscious spike in her pheromones. Then he realized that her gaze was not on Kaj, but on Laranth.
The Twi’lek didn’t so much as twitch a muscle, but she disappeared from Jax’s sense of the Force almost as effectively as if she’d put on taozin-scale armor.
“I need to report to Yimmon,” she said. “Let me know what you decide, Jax. Good-bye, Kaj. May the Force be with you. You’ve found a good teacher.”
She glided past Dejah without so much as a glance. Jax opened his mouth to call after her, but couldn’t think of anything to say. He shrugged mentally; that was just Laranth’s way. He should be used to it by now.
“Report what to Yimmon?” Dejah asked coming farther into the room, settling the scarf about her shoulders. “Decide what? What’s she talking about?”
Den, who’d been hovering between anteroom and living area, scuttled quickly out of her way and took a seat next to Jax on the couch.
Only when she’d rounded the chair Kaj was sitting in did her eyes fall on him. She smiled, radiantly, her smile like a benediction.
Kaj’s eyes widened, then flicked toward Jax as if seeking instructions. “You’re a Zeltron,” he said with something like awe in his voice.
“Oh boy,” Den muttered.
Jax elbowed him. “Dejah, this is Kajin Savaros from M’haeli. He just had a narrow escape from an Inquisitor. Laranth and I were lucky enough to have witnessed Kaj’s powerful use of the Force in defeating that Inquisitor. Alone. Unarmed.”
Dejah drew in a deep breath and exhaled, her eyes meeting Kaj’s. “Remarkable. Then … are you a Jedi?”
“I want to be. I’m hoping Jax will teach me.”
Dejah’s regard swung to Jax. “That’s what you meant, then. Teach him to become a Jedi. You want to take him on as a Padawan. There, you see, it’s just like I-Five said: if the Jedi Order is to be rebuilt, you’ll have to have a hand in it. Surely you can see that now.”
“I wasn’t blind to it before,” said Jax gently. “I was just aware that there are other priorities.”
“What could be more important than that?” Dejah demanded. “What could be a more valuable thing for you to do than to train this young man?”
She was trying to make points with him by flattery, of course, Jax realized. Trying to convince him to stay out of Tuden Sal’s plottings. He smiled, warmed by the fact that she cared so much for him.
Den growled. “What a bunch of bilterscoot.”
I-Five stirred and made his throat-clearing sound. His sudden reappearance in the conversation startled Kaj. Jax saw the boy’s reaction as a sudden appearance of a multitude of Force spikes that darted out and receded as soon as he registered the source of the sound and movement.
Jax frowned. That had been an involuntary reflex; Kajin Savaros was wearing the Force awfully close to the surface. If it was that easy for Jax to sense him, how much easier would it be for an Inquisitor?
“While I agree with Dejah Duare in principle,” I-Five said, “it does seem to me that in light of the way Kaj came to be among us, we should be prepared to move him—and ourselves as well—if it becomes necessary.”
“Why would it become necessary?” asked Dejah, looking from Jax to the droid to Kaj.
“Maybe you didn’t hear Jax clearly, Dejah,” said Den acerbically. “Kajin, here, defeated an Inquisitor. Which probably means that the entire College of Sith flunkies is about to come down on our heads.”
Dejah swung around to look at Kaj. “But you killed him, surely?”
“I—I don’t know,” Kaj