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Luke nodded. “All right. I could use a little physical exercise.”

TWO DAYS LATER, HE WAS REGRETTING THE QUIP.

The thinner atmosphere was starting to take its toll. They had packed water, but it was becoming obvious that they should have packed more. Even though they were Jedi, they could not move as fast as they had expected. The Force could only augment so much for so long.

Tadar’Ro accompanied them, but as soon as he had taken his first formal step on the journey, he refused to speak to them. Luke and Ben, their relationship already strained, found themselves imitating him. For Luke, at least, it made the journey feel that much more difficult.

They were heading east from the Aing-Tii city toward a mountain range that ran from north to south. Over the course of three days of hard hiking, they reached their destination—a nondescript aperture in what appeared to be a sheer wall face.

Ben trudged to a halt, sweaty, his fair skin sunburned. He stared. He said nothing, perhaps because he was out of breath, but Luke could read his expression: Is this it?

After keeping utter silence for the entire trek, Tadar’Ro finally spoke. “This is the passageway,” he said reverently. “Inside, you will find all the artifacts we have painstakingly gathered over many thousands of years. Tread carefully, for this is sacred ground to us. Go to the relics. Be with them. Please … find answers for us that we cannot, so that we might heal this terrible rift that wounds us as a people so very deeply.”

Luke was moved by the request. He placed his hand on Tadar’Ro’s shoulder and respectfully moved his face toward the Aing-Tii’s, knowing that Tadar’Ro would read his intention in the Force. Gently, like a blessing, Tadar’Ro’s long tongues danced over Luke’s face. After a moment of looking uncomfortable, Ben imitated his father.

“I hope with all my heart that we are able to do as you request,” Luke said.

“May Those Who Dwell Beyond the Veil grant you insight, and may the Force be with you,” said Tadar’Ro.

Luke turned to Ben, caught his eye, and nodded. Then he turned to face the aperture and, with Ben right behind him, stepped through.

A small path wound downward. It had been worn by many feet over thousands of years, so they were able to move forward with relative ease. It grew darker as they left the sunlight of the outside behind, until at last they were almost in complete darkness.

“Lightsabers or glow rods?” Ben asked as they continued to descend, feeling their way with hands, feet, and the Force. They had discussed bringing their lightsabers with Tadar’Ro, who had agreed. If a wall caved in or some other disaster occurred, they would need to be able to cut their way out. Also, as Ben had just illustrated, the illumination would be useful if the glow rods failed for any reason.

Luke paused, frowning in the dark. “Neither, I think,” he said slowly.

“Huh?”

“Come on.” They moved forward, their eyes blind, for another few steps. Then, sure enough, the darkness began to lighten. It was only a faint glow at first, so faint as to appear almost a trick of eyes that desperately wanted to see. Then the radiance increased, soft and soothing, but illuminating. There was a luminescence in the Force as well, a comforting, reassuring warmth that bathed Luke’s spirit as the light began to bathe his face and hands. He felt refreshed, even though he was physically weary from the pilgrimage, and excitement and anticipation quickened in him.

They turned a corner, and beheld beauty.

The light came not from artificial lighting brought here by the Aing-Tii, nor from the relics that had been carried into the cave for so many millennia. Instead it emanated from glowing stones of all hues—red, yellow, green, blue, purple, white, and all shades and gradations in between. On the floor from stalagmites; from the stalactites that hung above them like lightsabers; on each wall, they glowed.

“Rainbows,” Ben said quietly, and Luke nodded. This was a place where the Force was extremely strong.