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At the request of the two, Ben lowered the Jedi standard that still flew over the hill. Tasander and Kaminne raised a new one, just painted by Dyon. It showed a radiant sun in gold; small, beneath it, were the black base of a broken column and a green fern leaf.

Tasander called out, loud enough for all those on the hilltop and below it to hear, “With this ceremony, I disband the Broken Columns Clan, which I myself founded ten years ago. I am now Tasander Dest of the Bright Sun Clan. Should any former Broken Column wish not to live as a Bright Sun, he may come to me, found the Broken Columns anew, and go forth, leaving us forever.”

Kaminne made a similar declaration for the Raining Leaves. She continued, “The conclave and the games that brought us together are over. We are at war, Bright Sun against the Nightsisters who have come against us. Last night, we learned how to drive them into retreat. Now we will learn how to destroy them.”

Tasander called, “Uninjured scouts and hunters to the southwest lip. That’s all.”

But it wasn’t all, because, with the formal ceremonies and announcements complete, clan members surged forward to congratulate the newly wedded couple. Kaminne and Tasander’s façades of stern chiefly mannerisms broke as they received embraces, backslaps, impromptu gifts. To Ben’s eye, no one seemed to be approaching them for permission to carry on the Broken Columns or Raining Leaves clan elsewhere.

“Well done, Ben.”

Ben jumped. He turned to see his father standing behind him. “You shouldn’t sneak up on a Jedi.”

“Well, only a Jedi should sneak up on a Jedi.”

“And well done may not be appropriate. All I did was point out where their tactics were disastrously bad. They came up with tactics that worked, Tasander especially.” Then Ben gave his father a good look and laughed.

“What’s so funny?”

“At least you’re dirty now.” He stopped. “Wait a second, should you even be here?”

Luke gestured at the Bright Sun standard. “This is no longer a Jedi camp. No reason for me not to.”

“True. And I guess I’m out of a job as a landlord.”

Luke accompanied Ben back to the southwest lip, and together they looked over the rain forest canopy below. “We’re not done here—the Nightsisters are dark side Force-users, they may have been in contact with our Sith girl, and that makes this whole mess Jedi business—but we need to be thinking ahead. Such as how we either convince Olianne to hand Vestara over to us, or convince Vestara to come with us. And how we convince Vestara to tell us about her Sith, or at least isolate her so she can’t get the information about the dark side power in the Maw back to her people, when we don’t have a legal leg to stand on.”

Ben nodded. “Try this. I go on a walk with Vestara into the forest. I mention that I have a datacard with the access codes for Jade Shadow on it. I turn my back on her. When she tries to put a knife into me, you jump out of the shadows and stop her. Then we’ve got her on attempted murder.”

“I suspect she’s far too bright to fall for a holodrama tactic as transparent as that.”

“Yeah, I know.” Ben kicked a loose rock over the edge, watched it clatter its way down to join the rockfall of the night before. “So we’re back to figuring out what she’s really doing here. Once we can make it clear that she can’t accomplish that—or, let’s hope not, once we figure out that she’s succeeded, or even help her succeed—she’ll be content to leave.”

“So what’s she after, Ben? You’ve now had several opportunities to talk to her.”

“She gave you no clues when she helped you last night?”

“Unless her helping me was itself a clue. Why would a Sith want the Grand Master of the Jedi to survive?”

Ben shook his head. “I doubt that she wants you to survive. You killed her mistress. Our whole Order stands as an inevitable enemy to her kind. At best, she saved your life because she wants to kill you herself, not watch you die at the hands of savages.”

“That’s probably it. Vestara’s first goal: deliver Luke Skywalker into the hands of her people. But what’s goal number two?”

Ben sighed.