Star Wars_ I, Jedi - Michael A. Stackpole [60]
“Not at all.”
“Don’t lie. You had to rescue me last night, and now you find me here, like this.” She looked at me accusingly. “How you keep your contempt for me hidden I don’t know.”
“You can believe it’s hidden, or you can believe it doesn’t exist.” I forced myself to remain calm. “The second choice is right.”
She reached out to me and I took her hand in mine. Tionne closed her eyes and I could feel her consciousness drifting toward me. The touch of her mind was but a faint whisper of what I’d felt from Luke, yet she managed to infuse herself into my surface thoughts. I consciously left them open to her, and beneath them hardened the layer that was Keiran Halcyon. Even though I tried to keep her away from plunging deeper, she managed to twist down through my thoughts about her and stabbed deep into my heart.
She jerked back sharply, breaking our contact, and stared at me with wild wide eyes. “You’ve been hurt, very hurt.”
I shrugged. “I’ve survived.”
“But there is so much of you that is hidden.” She blinked at me. “Master Skywalker has told us his father was Darth Vader. What secrets could you have that would be more dangerous than that to share?”
“Not more dangerous, just boring. They would distract you and training here is hard enough without distractions.”
Tionne smiled and it felt good to see animation return to her face. “They might distract others, but not me. I plan to sing of the exploits of the Jedi, so I need to know about Keiran Halcyon.”
Before I could deny I was worth knowing about, Bodo Baas spoke. “Keiran Halcyon was a famed Corellian Jedi. He successfully put an end to the Selonian Afarathu sect and its marauding within the Corellian system.” As he spoke, the Holocron presented an image of a man built more solidly than I was, but who wore the same sort of moustache and goatee I had chosen to grow. His long, dark hair had been gathered back into a loose tail and the lightsaber he held had a silver blade.
A smile unconsciously rose to my lips. Luke said Keiran Halcyon was the name of one of my ancestors. The Afarathu problem had taken place four centuries back and had all but been forgotten until Imperial officials used the spectre of it to incite xenophobia among the human populations in the Corellian system. Fortunately for the Selonians, they had not been warlike for so long, few of us saw them as a true threat.
Tionne’s eyes sparkled with absolute delight. “Is that your secret? Are you this Keiran Halcyon come back to us?”
“I don’t think even carbonite freezing would have preserved me that long.” I laughed gently. “I was named for him. I have a lot to live up to.”
“Well, we can learn all about him, if you want. I can even compose a ballad about him.”
I winced. “Might put some of the others off, though I would love to learn more about him. Actually, what I had hoped to study through the Holocron was any information it had about this world and the Massassi. Will you help me with that?”
“Gladly.” Her hair shimmered with green highlights as she nodded. “It would be my pleasure and will be a way to repay you for saving me in the grotto.”
“You don’t need to repay me for that.” Extending my right hand, I gave her left shoulder a squeeze. “And I want you to know I don’t think you are weak. Your nature is to be far more emotionally open and receptive than I am. This is why you have clearer access to the Force than I do. It may make it difficult for you to concentrate sometimes, but it is easier to learn to concentrate than it is to learn to open up.”
“I would hate to think you are right, Keiran, because I would hate to think you could not open up your emotions.” Her friendly smile warmed me. “You have friends here with whom you can be open. You can trust us as we trust you.”
“I know.” I gave her a brave smile, but I also knew I could not share my true identity with her or anyone else. Luke Skywalker, in suggesting I adopt another name, was right to think I might be a distraction to