Star Wars_ The Approaching Storm - Alan Dean Foster [62]
“Okay, I’m impressed. How do you feel?”
“Dizzy.” Smiling softly, Luminara blinked several times. Otherwise, she betrayed nothing of what she was feeling internally.
“Please, Master—what is the secret of the rotating trick?” Barriss very much wanted to know.
Turning her head slightly to face the eager Padawan, Luminara spoke through closely set lips. “The trick, my dear, is not to throw up. At least, not until one is well offstage.”
There was no applause. No whistling, no hissing, no celebratory cracking of joints. In ones and twos, alone and in family groups, the clan Yiwa simply rose from their seats and melted away, returning to their collapsible homes and ceremonial fires. A number of armed males headed for their guard posts, to take up the nocturnal watch for shanhs and other predators that might try to prey on the slumbering herds. Sooner than expected, only the visitors were left, together with Mazong and his advisers.
“The clan has hosted many recitals by many guests,” the chieftain of the Yiwa began, “but never in living memory have any been so diverse, so unexpected, and so remarkable.”
“I didn’t get a chance to show off my juggling,” Bulgan muttered disappointedly. Kyakhta jabbed him in the ribs.
Mazong ignored the aside, pretending not to have heard it. “You have more than fulfilled your end of the bargain.” His gaze fastened on Luminara. “I would give much to know how you did that.”
“So would I,” Anakin put in intently. “It would be useful in a fight.”
Turning toward their host, Luminara launched into a discussion of the Force: what it was, how the Jedi made use of it, and the nature of its essence—dark as well as good. When she was finished, Mazong and his advisers nodded solemnly.
“You traffic in dangerous matters,” he declared somberly.
“As with so much that holds great promise, there is always some danger,” she replied. “Such as this proposed agreement between the Unity of the town folk and the Alwari clans. But when it is treated with respect, the Force is ultimately a power for good. The same can be true of this concordance that we hope to achieve.”
Mazong conferred with his advisers. The two elders appeared to have lightened up considerably, Barriss decided. As the chieftain finally turned back to his guests, she drew her clothing tighter around her. Though the winds of Ansion tended to diminish along with the daylight, they did not always cease entirely, and she was cold.
“We concur.” He gestured magnanimously at Kyakhta and Bulgan. “We will give your guides such directions as will enable you to find the Borokii soonest. Clanless these two may be, but they raise themselves high by their choice of employers.”
“How long until we reach their outlying factions?” Obi-Wan inquired.
“That cannot be foretold.” As Mazong stood, his guests rose with him. “The Borokii are also Alwari. They may be encamped, as are the Yiwa. But if they are on the move, you will still have some tracking to do. We can only point you in the direction of their last known campsite.” He smiled reassuringly. “Do not despair. With our directions you will find them far sooner than if you continued searching on your own.”
“We thank you for your kindness, and for your hospitality,” Luminara told him.
He responded with a gesture she did not know. “You have more than repaid us. Indeed, we are shamed by our suspicions.”
“One never need apologize for caution.” Obi-Wan stretched. A Jedi could go without sleep for an amazing length of time—but would not by choice. He was tired. They all were.
Anakin in particular could not get the Jedi Luminara’s presentation out of his head. It kept him preoccupied as he prepared for sleep and awake well into the morning hours. He thought he had seen or read everything that could be done with the Force. Once again, he had been shown the error of his assumptions. He could not imagine the amount of study and control it took to realize such a feat. The complexity of it, the skill needed to simultaneously control one’s