Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 02_ Omen - Christie Golden [85]
“Of course,” said Luke carefully. “We will be happy to do so while we are here. You shared with Jacen your understanding of the Force—of this rainbow aspect as Car’das called it. What else did you teach him?”
“Jacen Solo was very strong in the Force, which is why we agreed to instruct him. We believe that he had been sent to us to learn, just as Jorj Car’das was, just as you were. We taught him that one does not need to be Force-sensitive to use the Force. We taught him the understanding of how our vessels move instantly from place to place—how even as simple a thing as a rock or a tool can be moved so.”
He extended a clawed hand and pointed at a small stone. There was a clap of displaced air, and suddenly the rock was at Luke’s feet. Both Ben and Luke started.
“Perception is all, if it is powerful enough,” Tadar’Ro said. “I saw the rock here, and not there, and here it is. It is difficult to convince the mind that it is so, but once you have mastered and understood that—it is supremely simple.”
This, Ben thought to himself, was totally astral. He bent and picked up the rock. It was just that, a rock; not smoking, not unnaturally warm or cool, just a rock that had been there a minute ago but was now here, resting in his palm.
“Jacen Solo was able to learn this quickly,” Tadar’Ro continued. “I will teach this to the both of you. Hopefully your minds will grasp it as quickly as Jacen Solo did.”
“And flow-walking?” Ben said. “How did he take to that?”
“Easily as well,” Tadar’Ro replied. “It is tied in with how we view the Force, and how …” The Aing-Tii ducked his head in an odd gesture. Consternation emanated from him. “How until the coming of this Prophet, we viewed destiny and fate. We believe the Force guides us, and we do not try to direct it in any particular manner. It is the same with flow-walking. One must surrender one’s emotions to the Force; center oneself in its flow.” He turned his head and fixed Ben with one great, liquid black eye. “Perhaps you will be like your cousin, and learn it very quickly.”
“Perhaps,” Ben said, uncomfortable with the notion that he might be like Jacen in any way. And still … he couldn’t suppress a twinge of excitement at being able to go back into the past, or into the future—even an uncertain, not-really-sure-it’s-going-to-happen future. Out of the corner of his eye, as if his father could read his thoughts, Ben saw Luke frown.
THEY LISTENED TO MORE OF CAR’DAS’S HOLOGRAPHIC RECORDING OVER dinner that night.
“They use the Force to power their vessels somehow—to make those crazy jumps that seem as much luck as anything else,” the little hologram continued. “And they discuss it endlessly. At least Tadar’Ro seems to want to discuss it with me.”
And Tadar’Ro wanted to discuss it with Luke and Ben, and presumably Jacen as well. It was odd. They were the most secretive people imaginable—even hostile about it—yet once they had accepted one into their ranks, as it were, they wanted to share everything.
“The Force as a rainbow,” Ben said. “I gotta say, it’s a nice image.”
“It is,” Luke agreed. “I don’t like to think of myself as closed-minded, Ben, or intolerant. And I am fully prepared to admit that viewing the Force this way seems to work for the Aing-Tii.”
Ben thought about the time he had spent on Ziost. At that point in his life, he had been solidly Jacen’s creature, although a few doubts had begun to creep in around the edges. He had believed that the Force was a tool, like a lightsaber or a blaster. That it was what you did with it, how you manipulated it, that was important. That there was no real dark or light side, only a neutral side. Gray, if you will.
Or rainbow.
And yet—even as he first saw the planet, he had felt something malevolent about it. As if it was watching him, the way he was watching it. He remembered the voices, which spoke first in his dreams and then in his head, urging him to abandon the young girl who was