Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 01_ Outcast - Aaron Allston [124]
Luke shook his head. “Not today. Too sore from shoveling. Tomorrow, perhaps.”
“I look forward to it.” Moments later, Chara and Ithia departed, headed for the sanisteam, and Wyss followed them out, leaving Luke and Ben alone.
Ben gave his father a suspicious look. “Too sore from shoveling?”
“Perhaps too sick of shoveling would have been more correct. Ben, they just gave us the answers we needed here.”
“Did they? The servant, Wyss?”
“He had one of them, and Ithia the other.” Luke stood. “I need to get word to the Hidden One. I'd like for all the Kel Dor in these caverns to be present for our renaming ceremony.”
Ben stood. “We're choosing new names?”
“No.”
“Oh. That's sad. I was looking forward to being Sparky.”
“Sounds like a name for a monkey-lizard.”
“And you could be Grand Master Whango Mittphool.”
“Not in this lifetime.”
THEY GATHERED IN THE HIDDEN ONE'S THRONE CHAMBER, FOUR dozen Kel Dors and two humans. As the last of the Kel Dors, servants who operated the foundries, arrived, conversation dropped off and all Kel Dors turned toward the Hidden One on his throne.
He gestured toward the Skywalkers, motioning them to approach. As they did, he offered them a benevolent smile. “It is with whole heart that I greet you this day. I understand that you have determined to choose new names, the better to make your way among us, the better to accept your circumstances.”
Luke looked surprised. “I'm sorry, great one. There has been some misunderstanding. I did ask for a naming ceremony. I did refer to it as our naming ceremony, but I did not mean that Ben and I would be renaming ourselves. It is my hope that we will be renaming some—or all—of you.”
Exclamations of surprise and disapproval filled the room then. Ben kept his face impassive, but inwardly he was smiling. Much as he liked causing trouble from time to time, it was just as much fun watching his father do it.
The Hidden One's expression darkened. “You have wasted my time.”
Luke shrugged. “What do the dead have except time? And admit it, as annoying as you find my words, this is the most interesting event you are going to experience all day.”
The Hidden One sat back, clearly not amused. “And who were you going to rename first?”
“I thought, great one, that we would start with Chara. Restore his name of Charsae Saal. He was the one most recently named. We could go in reverse order, from the newest one who joined the dead to the oldest.”
The Hidden One sagged just a little as if dispirited. “Why are you doing this?”
Luke abandoned all pretense at good cheer. He drew himself up straight and fixed the Hidden One with a forbidding stare. “Because you're wrong. And if you were only wronging yourself, that would not be so bad. But you are wronging every one of them as well.” His sweeping gesture took in all the assembled Kel Dors.
“I have accepted their sacrifice as a gift to future generations. They knew what they were doing as they offered their oaths and took their new names. There is no wrongdoing.”
“Again, you're wrong.” Luke sprang onto the Hidden One's throne platform, eliciting a gasp of outrage from some of the Baran Do. He began pacing as he talked, crossing back and forth in front of the Hidden One, addressing all the Kel Dors before the platform. “Let's answer some simple questions. The Baran Do Sages are a group who study and utilize the Force. Correct?”
The Kel Dors looked between Luke and the Hidden One. Ben saw the Hidden One pause and then nod. One of the Baran Do toward the front of the crowd said, “Yes.”
“And the Force is the energy of life.”
Another Kel Dor said, “Yes.”
Luke spared an admonishing look for the Hidden One as he passed. “Life is risk. Life is energy, vitality. Yet you have rejected these things. In rejecting them, you reject the Force. In rejecting the Force, you deprive yourself of the right to teach its ways to the living.