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“It’s a little odd sounding. I think—I’m not sure—but I think the term Sanhedrim means ‘pilgrim,’ or maybe ‘monk.’ I’ve run across the term Aing-Tii monks in various notes from eyewitness encounters. It seems as though the few ships and aliens that anyone’s encountered are either the explorers among their people or on a quest or pilgrimage or something. I don’t think they as a people are casual spacefarers, not like humans are. So that raises the question, what are they looking for? And why?”

Ben paused for another quick bite, and Luke asked, “What’s your conclusion from what you’ve learned?”

“Talon Karrde actually ran across them once, did you know that?” Ben grinned as his father’s blond eyebrows lifted.

“No, Cilghal failed to mention that in her summary.”

“Aha!” Ben pointed his spoon at his father in a victorious gesture.

“Son, that just supports my theory that research you do yourself is more useful than research someone else does for you. Continue, my young apprentice.”

Ben mock-scowled. “Karrde’s report didn’t say much, so we might want to contact him directly if we can. But what interests me is that he met the Aing-Tii through his former boss, Jorj Car’das, who actually lived among the Aing-Tii. He was, it seemed, very ill—dying in fact—and Master Yoda sent him to go and ask the Aing-Tii for aid.”

This much, at least, Cilghal had included in her overview. She’d also included the complete document Car’das had written about his sojourn with the aliens. Luke fully intended to read that from start to finish himself.

“They healed him, but asked that he sort of be their chronicler. So he wrote down everything he learned about them. Which is a lot.”

“I have to say,” said Luke, reaching for a sweetcake despite his earlier claim that he was not interested, “that that strikes me as strange. Everything we know about the Aing-Tii says they are very intent upon maintaining their privacy. They’ll attack and even kill to defend it. So why admit a human they’ve never met—one in dire need of a huge favor from them, no less—into their innermost circle? And then let him write about his experiences?”

“Well, if Yoda sent you someone and asked you to take care of him, wouldn’t you do it?”

Luke laughed at that. “Yes I would, as fast as I possibly could. But I’m a Jedi, and Yoda was a Jedi Master. That’s a bit different.”

“We don’t know what their personal relationship with Master Yoda was. Maybe it was just as close or even closer. Even if they’re not Jedi—and it seems pretty clear by all accounts that they’re not—they’re Force-users on an impressive scale. Who knows what kind of relationship they had with him?”

“You raise an excellent point.”

“Thanks. I wish I could have met him.”

“I wish you could have, too,” Luke said quietly. “I wish I’d had more time with him myself. He was …”

Luke’s voice trailed off. A silence fell, broken only by the sound of Ben’s spoon scraping the bottom of the bowl.

There were not really words sufficient to the task of describing the deceptively small, large-eared, green-skinned being, as wise as he was wizened. He had opened Luke’s eyes to so very much in the brief time Luke had been with him. Luke missed him and his other teacher and friend, Obi-Wan Kenobi, “Ben,” after whom his son was named. Obi-Wan had also been taken from Luke after too brief a time. That they were part of the Force now, he knew; he had seen them. Anakin Sky-walker and Mara were with them, and one day he and Ben would both join them.

But not today.

“Well, let’s put it this way,” he said. “Anyone Yoda trusts enough to send a dying human to for help, I could learn to have warm fuzzy feelings about. Continue with your theory about why they’re going on these quests or pilgrimages.”

Ben set aside the empty bowls and plate and reached for a sweet-cake. “According to Car’das, the Aing-Tii believe in elusive, mysterious deities they refer to as ‘Those Who Dwell Beyond the Veil.’ Your guess is as good as anyone else’s as to what they are and what veil means.”

“It might refer to the Rift.”