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“I’m pleased to be marking a passage,” he said. “The river flows, as does the Force—never ending, always moving.… I brought you to Yavin 4 to begin your instruction. I can only set you on the path of the light side and open your minds to the possibilities of the Force. You must all complete your own training. Each of you must decide when that time has come.

“Since the New Republic needs Jedi Knights to spread peace and stability, we cannot stay here indefinitely in our comfortable academy.” Master Skywalker looked at the drenched candidates and at his own soaked robe. “Well, maybe it’s not always comfortable,” he said. The Jedi students chuckled.

Kyp felt suddenly nervous. Although he had looked forward to this graduation for a long time, he now felt as if he were putting an end to one of the most important times in his life—even if it meant he was about to start an even more crucial or exciting phase.

“Three trainees have decided to depart from the Jedi praxeum, the academy where we learn action and learn the Force.”

Kyp and Dorsk 81 stepped forward to stand beside Cilghal and turned to face the other Jedi trainees. Cilghal tilted her head to the sky, letting the rain stream across her face.

“They have mastered each lesson I prepared for them,” Luke Skywalker said. “They have built their own lightsabers and completed their training.”

Cilghal withdrew her own lightsaber handle from her pale blue robe; her weapon was silvery and smooth, with subtle indentations and blisters, as if organically grown, much like the large Mon Calamari starcruisers. Kyp and Dorsk 81 pulled out their own lightsabers. As one, the three graduates flicked on the weapons. Steam sizzled around them as raindrops hissed against the glowing blades.

“You three must go and become guardians for the galaxy, protectors of the New Republic,” Master Skywalker said. “You must fight the dark side in all its manifestations. You are Jedi Knights now.”

Cilghal focused her round eyes on the humming blade in front of her. “I will return to my homeworld, where I serve both as a Jedi Knight and an ambassador. The Mon Calamari are talented and industrious people. We can pool our resources to enhance the stability of the New Republic.”

Dorsk 81 blinked his yellow eyes and looked nervously to Kyp, who gave a slight nod of encouragement. The cloned alien said, “I wish to return to my home planet as well. To Khomm, where our society has remained the same for centuries. Showing them that I am changed—that I have become a Jedi Knight—will shake them up,” he said. His slit mouth turned upward in a faint smile. “I believe they need to be reawakened.”

Master Skywalker then looked at Kyp, who drew himself up to seem as tall as Dorsk 81. “I’ll go with him for now,” Kyp said. “His homeworld is toward the center of the galaxy, near the Core Systems. I’m really worried that the Empire has been so quiet in the last couple of years. Sure, we’ve seen the renegade Admiral Daala and the Eye of Palpatine—”

Here, Master Skywalker flinched and glanced at Callista who, though she appeared wet and bedraggled in the rain, still glowed with affection for Luke.

“But I still think the warlords must be planning something,” Kyp said. “I can’t imagine any greater service to the New Republic than for me to find out what’s going on. I’ll slip in and snoop around the Empire.”

Master Skywalker nodded in approval, then addressed the other Jedi trainees. “Someday you all will become guardians. Think of where you might go, where you could do the most good.” He turned back to the newly graduated Jedi Knights. “May the Force be with you.”

Kyp looked at the others, saw uneasiness or hard determination. Tionne nodded peacefully. Kam Solusar, the hard-edged Jedi, stood unblinking as if nothing could affect him. Kirana Ti, the warrior woman from Dathomir, looked confident in her glittering red-and-green reptilian armor. Beside her, the addle-brained hermit from Bespin, Streen, looked at the raindrops on his hands and flicked his gaze