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“From Carratos,” she said, naming a planet in a system forty parsecs from Coruscant.

As rudely as his visitor had invaded his hermitage, Luke suddenly invaded her mind, probing the secret place where sensitivity to the Force resided. If she possessed the sort of talent her words claimed for her, he should be thrown halfway across the room when the ancient reflex repelled his mental touch. It was so with every Jedi he had probed, every candidate he had brought to Yavin for training.

Luke’s probing met no resistance. He felt no shields blunting or deflecting his examination. Her mind was open—and yet there was no reflexive response. So sure was he of that test that he wouldn’t have considered her for a moment as a candidate for the academy.

But, still, she had found him. She had, somehow, entered a space she should not have been able to enter unless her gifts in the Force were the equal of his.

“Who are you?” he asked wonderingly.

She laughed. “Forgive me. I am Akanah, of the Fallanassi, an adept of the White Current.”

“I’m afraid I don’t know your people, or that path,” he said.

“I know,” she said. “You won’t find us in your census, or the Emperor’s, or the Old Republic’s. It’s not our way to claim lands and raise flags, or stand queue to be counted. But you should know us. That’s part of why I’ve come.”

His brows showed puzzlement. “If your people are such ciphers, why should I know you?”

“Because your mother is one of us, Luke Skywalker. Because you are bound to us through her.”

Luke stared. “My mother? How can—do you—what do you mean, ‘is’ one of us? Leia told me my mother is dead.”

“Yes—I know. As Obi-Wan told you that your father was dead.”

“Are you saying my mother might be alive?”

“I don’t know,” said Akanah, suddenly sad-eyed. “Who saw her fall? Where is her grave? I wish I could answer your question. But I don’t even know my own mother’s fate. I’ve been separated from the body of my people for too many years.”

“Separated? Why?”

“I was away when the Empire came to the world we called home then. The Fallanassi had to take flight, because they would not let themselves and their gifts be used for violence and evil. I don’t blame them. I know they must have waited for me as long as they could. That was nineteen years ago. I was twelve—not much more than a child.”

“And you never found them again?” There was a touch of suspicion in Luke’s voice. “You found me.”

She smiled tolerantly. “The Fallanassi are more practiced at hiding than you are, Luke Skywalker. And there isn’t much an abandoned child can do in the middle of a war to search for a family that doesn’t want to be found.”

“I suppose not,” he said slowly.

“It wasn’t until the Emperor was overthrown that I could even think of looking—I was too afraid I would betray them. And even then, it’s hard for a young woman on Carratos to become wealthy enough to leave it. Especially to leave in her own ship, owing and answering to no one.”

“So you’re looking for them now. And you say my mother could be with them.” He shook his head. “My mother—she’s been such a mystery to me my whole life that I can’t let myself believe you know anything of her. I don’t even know her name.”

“She may have had other names,” Akanah said. “Many of us do. But among the body, she is known as Nashira. It is a star-name, and thought a high honor.”

“Nashira,” Luke echoed in a whisper.

“Yes,” she said. “Luke, I know that there’s an emptiness inside you where memories of your mother should be, a weakness where what she would have taught you would have strengthened you.”

“Yes—”

“There’s an emptiness in my life, too, and for the same lack. I’ve come here to ask you to go away with me, and help me find our people, so you and I can both be whole again.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever been whole,” said Luke, turning his face from her. “The pieces of my life were scattered by a storm before I ever had a chance to tackle the puzzle. And every missing piece that turns up completely changes the picture. I was alone, and then there was Leia—my sister. I was an orphan, and then