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“Then why are you here?” Akanah asked. “Surely you are not arrogant enough to believe that the Fallanassi need Jedi protection—or that we desire it?”

Instead of answering, Luke stopped and turned to stare out the cavern toward the white island. “Then you are hiding Abeloth?”

“You knew that when you came to Pydyr,” Akanah replied gently. “You also know that you are wrong to be here.”

“Looking for Abeloth?” Luke shook his head. “You only believe that because you don’t know what she is.”

“I know that you are playing with the White Current,” Akanah countered. “I know that your Jedi arrogance is what cost you your wife and your two nephews.”

“My Jedi arrogance?” Luke fought to keep his emotions under control. The Akanah he remembered would never hurt him out of spite; if she was saying such things, it was either because she had changed, or because she believed them and thought he needed to hear the truth. “We’ve made some mistakes, yes—I have made mistakes. But the Jedi aren’t like the Fallanassi. We don’t hide from the galaxy, we embrace it and we live in it—and that means we must sometimes fight to defend it.”

“To defend it, or control it?” Akanah asked, speaking softly. She took his arm and started toward the Shadow again. “The Jedi have lost their way—you have let them lose their way, Luke. First, they convince themselves that they are beyond light and dark—”

“That was never Jedi canon,” Luke said. “A Sith infiltrator attempted to corrupt our beliefs.”

“And she succeeded, did she not?” Akanah asked. “Consider the evidence. A Jedi Knight has assumed the throne of the Hapes Consortium. Jacen Solo took it upon himself to change the flow of the Current. And now, a Jedi Grand Master has joined forces with the Sith. If that is not corruption, I have no understanding of the term.”

Luke fell silent, more surprised by the accusations than hurt by them. Akanah had no doubt learned about the Sith alliance from Abeloth herself. But how she had concluded that Jacen had wanted to change the future, he had no idea. Luke himself had come to that realization only gradually, after retracing his nephew’s journey with the Mind Walkers and speaking with his spirit in the Lake of Apparitions. The only reasonable explanation was, again, Abeloth herself.

Half a dozen steps later, Luke finally asked, “Akanah, how can you know what Jacen was seeking? Is that something Abeloth told you?”

“How I know does not matter.” Akanah’s Force aura began to grow faded and hazy as she grew more guarded. “What matters is that you believe it, too.”

They reached the Shadow’s stern and circled around to port. The boarding ramp had been left down, and Luke was dismayed to see a dozen of the sharp-winged birds flitting in and out through the open hatch.

“The failure is not yours alone,” Akanah said, speaking in a gentler voice. “I sensed the shadow inside Jacen when he asked to study with us, but I allowed him to stay because he was your nephew … and because I believed I could help him find the light again.”

“Thank you for trying,” Luke said. “I know that you made an impression—Jacen spoke of you fondly, and with respect.”

Akanah gave a dismissive wave. “It was a mistake,” she insisted. “There was too much fire in him … too much will. I should have known he would leave before he was prepared.”

“Prepared?” Luke asked, surprised. “You had plans for him?”

Akanah nodded. “To teach him to accept. He had so much Jedi in him, always believing that the galaxy was his to save.” She stopped in front of the Shadow’s boarding ramp, and a cold fog began to obscure her Force presence. “That is why he became what he did, you know. It is why so many of your Jedi Knights become monsters. It begins innocently enough, with a vow to protect. But they have a habit of taking a burden greater than they can carry. Soon protection becomes control, and the Jedi protector becomes the Jedi ruler, just as Kueller did on Almania, just as Raynar Thul did in the Colony—just as Tenel Ka has in the Hapes Consortium. You assume too much, and the galaxy pays.”

As Akanah spoke these