Star Wars_ I, Jedi - Michael A. Stackpole [7]
I gave him a hard stare. “Mirax talked to you about our discussion on children?”
“Mirax wished to know if you had spoken with Qrygg about the discussion. When Qrygg said you had not, she asked Qrygg to encourage the discussion if you did.” Ooryl’s head came back up. “You should not have been ashamed to speak to Ooryl of it. Ooryl would have been worthy of your trust.”
I gave Ooryl the biggest smile I could muster. I over-exaggerated it because he wasn’t so good at reading subtlety. “Ooryl, if I was talking to anybody about our wanting kids, it would have been you. I trust you with my life every day and have never had any cause to regret it.” I saw his mouth parts open, aping my smile and I realized right then and there I’d been fairly stupid in keeping the whole discussion to myself. “And I really should have spoken with you about it. Your advice has always been welcomed and wise. I just didn’t think, which is a bad habit I had hoped to abandon.”
“If Ooryl was truly wise, Ooryl would have advised you to abandon it.”
“You have, in very many ways.” I sighed slowly. “And, as Mirax told you, we have been talking about having kids. She went to you to learn what I was thinking. I’m sure any help you offered her was appreciated.”
“Ooryl would like to think so. You will recall that during Ooryl’s janwuine-jika, Ooryl was also initiated into the ways of being a Findsman. On Gand, the Findsman performs many useful tasks. He locates lost slaves, reads the mists for omens and hunts criminals. There is one more duty he performs for people like you and Mirax. He can wander into the mists and find the child they desire. These mistborn children are a gift and raised by the people as their own. I would be honored to do this for you, my friend.”
I smiled. “Thanks, but I think I can handle the child production part on my own.”
Ooryl’s mandibles sprang open. “Then you are capable.…”
“Yes, very much so.” I raised my chin. “Very much so. No problems here.”
A membrane nictitated up over Ooryl’s eyes for a moment. “Then why would you not have a child already?”
“Huh?”
“This is the purpose of life, is it not? To create life is the greatest act a living creature can commit.”
The solemnity and truth in his words hit me hard. “That’s true, but …”
“Is this a time Ooryl should remind you that you are trying to abandon being thoughtless?”
I snapped my jaw shut and narrowed my eyes. “If having kids is so important, why don’t you have any?”
Ooryl shrugged. It wasn’t a motion natural to him and his exoskeleton clicked in protest. “I am janwuine. It is not for me to choose a wife, but for Gand to choose one for me. At that time I shall proudly commit genetic fusion.”
“The idea loses something in translation there.” I drank a bit of the milk and used another piece of cake to get rid of the thick chalky taste. “The fact is I mean to settle this thing with Mirax once we get back to Coruscant.”
“Good. With the stories you have told of your father, any child you will have will be well cared for.”
I arched an eyebrow at him. “And how do you know I’ll agree to have children?”
“I have spoken with Mirax. That is enough.”
I sat back and laughed lightly. “I never really had a chance, did I?”
“No, Corran, but that really means you will have every chance.” Ooryl slurped in a tentacle, then wiped verdant gravy from his cheek. “We have all helped create and strengthen the New Republic. Creating the generation to which it will be passed is one more duty we owe posterity.”
Ooryl’s words stuck with me through the rest of the trip and worked on me like a virus. By the time I loaded myself into my X-wing and began to descend to our hangar facility, I was looking forward to heading home with Mirax and start working on a child then and there. And while that sort of an enthusiastic greeting when either one of us returned from journeys was not at all uncommon, this time it would be more than a wordless