Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order_ Dark Tide 01_ Onslaught - Michael A. Stackpole [11]
“Unfortunately true.” Luke sighed and glanced at the markers again. “They were all so young.”
“Ah, Luke, compared to us, everyone is young.” Corran smiled easily. “Measured by life events, you should be, what, about a thousand years old?”
“Being married to Mara has slowed that process, I think.”
“Yeah, but the years she put on you before you two finally got together still count.” Corran jerked a thumb back over his shoulder. “Before we get any older, I thought you’d want to know they’re all here. The last shuttle came in ten minutes ago or so. Kyp Durron was on it. He made a grand entrance, as always.”
Luke shook his head slowly. “I don’t doubt he made an entrance, but your ‘as always’ comment was unwarranted.”
Corran raised his hands. “Perhaps it was, but his arrival excited a lot of the younger Jedi Knights and apprentices.”
“Including your son?”
The Corellian hesitated, then bowed his head. “Valin was certainly among those who were impressed, but I’m more worried about the cadre of young Jedi Knights who are looking at Miko as a martyr. Too many seem to want to take his place. Ganner Rhysode and Wurth Skidder were right there with Kyp, as were a number of the other bright young Jedi. If not for Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin holding themselves back, I’d have thought everyone would have swarmed Kyp with greetings.”
The Jedi Master exhaled his anxiety in a long, slow, calming breath. “I know your concerns, and you’re not alone in expressing them. Kam and Tionne have worries about the academy. Teaching the children here as a group has been good. Opening the older apprentices up to mentoring experiences with other Jedi Knights has sharpened their skills immeasurably. Of course, that does mean that some of the Jedi Knights who are taken with Kyp’s proactive view of the order do end up instructing our senior apprentices.”
“I’m not arguing the methods, Master Skywalker, and I see the risks inherent in them.” Corran sighed. “What worries me is that Kyp is clearly aware of the political storms his actions are creating, but he just ignores them. We’ve discussed this before, all of us, but the problem has really become acute because of Skidder’s actions at Rhommamool.”
“I know. This is the primary reason I recalled everyone here.” Luke noticed a smirk tug at the corner of Corran’s mouth. “And, yes, I know that issuing a recall lets everyone know who is in charge. I may not have been raised on Corellia where that sort of stuff comes naturally, but I am aware of it.”
“Good. And you know Kyp’s choosing to be the last to arrive means he fought you to the last.”
“Yes, caught that.” Luke turned from the grove and waved a hand toward the Great Temple. “Shall we?”
Corran nodded and started off, with Luke catching up easily enough. He watched Corran for a moment, then smiled. When Corran had first come to the academy, to train as a Jedi to save his wife, Mirax Terrik, he’d been willful and arrogant—all the things Luke expected out of a fighter pilot and law enforcement officer. And a Corellian. Through the process of learning what it was to become a Jedi, however, Corran had matured and changed. While it wasn’t until the peace with the Empire some six years earlier that Corran resigned from Rogue Squadron to become a full-time Jedi, the Jedi philosophy and demands had become fully integrated into his life.
Oddly enough, while Corran had let go of his arrogance, Kyp and others were being dangerously misguided by their pride in being Jedi. Luke easily recognized how it could happen. When one was attuned to the Force, life and reality became rendered much more sharply. Options others could not see or fathom became painfully clear. While when solving a problem Luke and other Jedi took care to explain what they were doing and why, Kyp and his followers tended just to act, confident that they knew the best solution for whatever problem it was they were