Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 01_ Outcast - Aaron Allston [60]
She stopped for a moment and backed away a step. “Would you like to rest?” Though voiced as if in all seriousness, the question was a taunt, since Ben could not recover without breathing.
Ben glowered as if angered by the question. He sprang at her as if ready to begin one last, futile flurry of blows, then yanked with the Force.
The breath mask rig sailed up over the lip of the platform and caught Tistura Paan behind the knees. Suddenly falling backward, she flailed her arms. Ben spun on one foot, placing the other precisely past her now vanished guard, and hitting her in the center of her chest.
Tistura Paan sailed off the platform and hit the floor beyond, only a few steps from Luke. She did a backward somersault and came up on her feet, eyes flashing. “You failed. You brought outside objects into play.”
Ben stooped to pick up his breath mask. He fitted it over his face, not bothering yet to strap on the canister pack, and took a couple of deep breaths. “You brought it into play,” he said. “You yanked it off me and therefore made an attack of it. I merely followed your lead. Logically, I would have left it right where it was if you hadn't meddled with it.”
Tistura Paan glowered, then turned her head as if looking into the distance well beyond the walls. Finally, she turned her attention to Luke. “I will communicate your request.”
He looked at her blankly, then turned to Ben. “Are you all done?”
“Yes, sir.” Ben donned the canister pack.
“Did you win?”
“Yes, sir. I only knocked her down once. But it was off the platform.”
“Well, that will have to do.” Luke turned back to the Kel Dor. “Yes, please, and convey my compliments.”
Tistura Paan turned and strode, her steps rapid and her upper body a bit stiff, toward a blank section of side wall; a segment of stone, two meters high and two wide, withdrew about a handspan, then slid to one side to allow her entry. Once she was through, it closed.
Ben hopped down to stand beside his father. Keeping his tone down, he asked, “What was that all about?”
Luke gave him a slight, private smile. “Rival school traditions.”
“Huh?”
“In many martial schools, such as rival lightsaber training academies in ancient times, or military academies outside the Old Republic, someone visiting a rival school would generally be denied any aid or information until he'd proved his worth. Which meant proving it to a Master of the school in one-on-one combat. As we arrived, I could sense Tistura Paan's presence within and what her role was. And that she knew we were coming.”
“But you didn't fight her.”
“Correct. If I had agreed to fight Tistura Paan, someone beneath my rank, I would be acknowledging that I was not the equal of her Master, so I'd never see the leader of the Baran Do Sages.”
A light flared into luminescence in Ben's head. “Ah, so your student had to beat her student.”
“And you did, and very well. You turned your mistake into her mistake and your weakness into your strength.”
“And you got clean nails in the bargain. A win all around.”
The wall panel slid open again. Tistura Paan moved out, her face impassive, and gestured for them to precede her through that entrance. “Mistress Tila Mong will receive you now.”
CALRISSIAN-NUNB MINES, KESSEL
THEY GLIDED FORWARD IN NEAR DARKNESS NOW. THE ONLY LIGHTS TO be seen were the dim bluish readouts on the control console. The whine of the vehicle's repulsors and the occasional pinging of the sensor board were almost the only sounds to be heard.
“Have we passed any spice yet?” Leia asked. She glanced between the various sensor readouts, each occupying one-eighth of one of the console monitors. Her face was ghostly in the faint light from the instruments.
Han shook his head, then realized Leia might not be able to see the motion. He tapped the lower