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For all his intense curiosity, Luke understood that it was imperative that the invaders be defeated. If defeat could be accomplished short of exterminating the Yuuzhan Vong, so much the better, for then some of his questions might one day be answered. But until such time the Jedi were obligated to aid and abet in the war that had been thrust upon the galaxy. How best to execute the Jedi obligation to peace and justice was an issue he was still grappling with.

The cryptic murmuring of the Force returned him to the moment. He recognized that his visitor had ceased talking some time ago, and he swung to face him now.

“I’m sorry, Talon, you were saying?”

Talon Karrde smiled faintly. But instead of picking up where he’d left off, he smoothed the ends of his dark mustache and continued to observe the Jedi Master with candid interest.

“You know, Luke, I can’t tell you how often I’ve wondered what the universe looks like through the eyes of a Jedi. I used to tell myself that you weren’t all that different from an H’kig priest or an Ithorian who had heard the call, only instead of revering H’kig or nature you looked to the Force. But the comparisons never held up. You see things the rest of us don’t see—or can’t see—and those things aren’t just the products of a mind-set the Jedi have cultivated as a separate reality. You see into the heart of reality, and that ability informs your actions.”

Karrde’s blue eyes sparkled. “I’ve seen you make decisions I couldn’t fathom at the time, but later turned out to be the right decisions. I used to watch Mara do the same thing. And as someone who has always prided himself on making use of privileged information, I had to ask myself whether those decisions were based solely on data I didn’t have access to, or if the Force gave you the ability to tug reality this way or that as needed—as required by your visions.

“I sense the latter’s true with you, but I’m not sure if it applies to Mara.” Karrde uttered a short laugh. “I’m sorry I never knew you when you were fresh off Tatooine—before you turned into a deep thinker. I’m not saying that Mara isn’t a deep thinker, but the Force seems to compel her to act more on intuition than deliberation.”

Ceremoniously, Luke lowered the cowl of his Jedi robe. “Mara and I are different but complementary—in the same way Anakin and Jacen are. There are different aspects to the Force, and not all Jedi focus on the same one. My Masters admonished me for always looking toward the future without really seeing it.”

“Could your father see the future?” Talon asked carefully.

“My father was not the seer but the lens.” Luke grew introspective for a moment, then smiled enigmatically. “By the way, if Mara had known you were coming to Yavin 4, she would have postponed her visit to Coruscant.”

“Another evaluation?”

“On the contrary. She refuses to be scanned, examined, or evaluated by anyone.”

“Then it actually cured her—this magic elixir Solo was given?”

“Not an elixir—tears. And no one will use the word cure, even Mara. I urged her to hold off on taking the antidote until we could be sure it wasn’t potentially dangerous, but she refused. She insisted on taking the risk.”

Talon nodded. “Her intuition. But you’re not convinced?”

Luke gazed at the jungle. “The Yuuzhan Vong priestess who claimed she wanted political asylum was a weapon sent to assassinate as many Jedi as she could gather. The being who traveled with her, Vergere, was not Yuuzhan Vong, but that doesn’t mean she wasn’t serving their interests.”

“The elixir could have been part of the plot,” Talon said. “The Yuuzhan Vong could have wanted to make it appear this Vergere was on our side, to erase doubts about the substance she gave Han.”

Luke said nothing.

“But Mara’s better.”

“Healthier than she’s been in almost a year,” Luke admitted. “Joyous—as I am.”

“If she does slide, if the effect turns out to be temporary …”

“Whatever is contained in Vergere’s tears can’t be replicated. The chemical action is as puzzling as anything we’ve seen from the Yuuzhan Vong. We can only hope the effect is permanent.