Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 01_ Outcast - Aaron Allston [125]
Many of the Kel Dors looked offended, including Chara. He stepped toward the platform, moving to the front of the audience. “Now you're just being insulting.”
“Which angers you, because you're approximately still among the living.” Luke stared down at him. “The dead don't take offense, Charsae Saal.”
“My name is Chara.”
Luke hopped down and brushed past Chara. He walked to Ithia. “Here is a woman who used to beat you consistently in combat, Charsae Saal. Now she is no longer your match. What has happened? Has she grown feeble with age?”
Chara shrugged. “Of course not. She does not train as much down here.”
“Why not?”
“There is less need.”
“Of course there is no need.” Luke walked through the crowd; the Kel Dors stood aside to let him pass. “Thinking you're dead, knowing that you have no future, leaches all energy and hope from you. Drains your very life away. Diminishes you in the Force. How can you even feel a need?”
Luke came to a stop in front of Wyss. “And here we have a boy who gave up his life on the surface to serve you in this place. And what do you give him besides food, water, and the opportunity to serve? Not much. No chance to learn, to improve himself, to grow. Growth is for living things. Here, it's ‘As in life, so in death.’”
One of the Masters, a male Kel Dor even more wizened than the Hidden One, his name Burra, spoke up. “We have debated the philosophy you mention.”
Luke turned a cheerful, if mocking, smile on Burra. “Good for you! Debate would seem to be a good thing for dead people to do. It would keep the cemeteries lively. And how did your vote turn out?”
Burra looked uncomfortable. “Here, we do not vote.”
“Because your lord of the dead decides everything.”
Burra hesitated, then nodded.
“Those of you who debated, did the majority support letting the dead learn new things?”
“Enough.” The Hidden One rose to his feet. “This gathering is at an end. Everyone is to return to his duties.”
“Your duty is to the living,” Luke shot back, “and you've already abandoned that. Why not abandon it for five more minutes?” He gestured toward the exit, and the blast door there slid closed. The Kel Dors already heading toward it hesitated, confused, and turned back toward the throne.
“You want to save the Baran Do teachings,” Luke said. “A noble goal. You want to be prepared in case another purge comes. A good thing to do. Koro Ziil, do you know how the Jedi survived the last purge?”
“That is no longer my name.”
“Do you know?”
“By luck, two Jedi survived. Your Masters, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda.”
“No.” Luke shook his head. “Of course, they did survive those events. But there were other Jedi and former Jedi out in the galaxy. There were resources like the Jedi Holocron. The Jedi survived because they were scattered, their knowledge disseminated throughout the galaxy. You Baran Do plan to survive by concentrating. Few of you ever leave Dorin in the first place, and your backup plan, this series of caves, is just one toxic bomb or groundquake away from extinction. I applaud your goal … but your execution is bound for inevitable failure.”
There was muttering among the Kel Dors present. Ben had the sense that it was not the conversation of people just waking up to a fact, but among people who had voiced these objections many times before, quietly and futilely, in the face of a ruler who opposed their view.
“And those would be lucky ways for you to die,” Luke continued. “Fast and decisive. It's more likely that most of you will just wither away. Like Ithia there.” Luke turned in a slow circle, making eye contact with as many of the Kel Dors as he could. “Who is your best fighter?”
One said, “Ithia.” Two or three, including Ithia, said “Chara.”
Luke nodded. “Charsae Saal, because he has decades of experience. And because, having only recently come here, he is not a listless, lifeless reflection of his former self. But he has still been fading for years. He's