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Anakin frowned for a moment. “Sounds like you’re trying to plot a course without knowing what your final destination is.”

“Huh?”

The younger Solo boy made a circle in the air with his right index finger. “You said you were circling your goal, but you never defined it. You never said what it was. Me, I want to be a Jedi Knight, just like Uncle Luke and others before him. I don’t know what you want, and I don’t think you do, either.”

Jacen nodded. “That’s how I feel, but I think it’s because I want to be something more. I don’t know what it is, but I guess I think there’s something more to the Jedi order than we’ve been able to recover. I know it’s out there, but I don’t know what it is.”

“Then it could be that going off and thinking about it isn’t going to get you closer to your goal.”

Jacen cocked an eyebrow at Anakin. “How is it that you’re so philosophical all of a sudden?”

The younger boy blushed. “On Dantooine, when Mara made me stop using the Force like a crutch, I had a lot of time to think about things. I realized I was using the Force too much. Uncle Luke uses it like an adviser or sometimes a power source. Others use it like a vibroblade, some like an opinion poll, and yet others like a whole variety of tools. I thought a lot about all that, and I guess I chose to follow in Uncle Luke’s footsteps.

“That’s not an easy path.”

“Easy isn’t for Jedi.” Anakin smiled. “Of course, trying to find your own path is much more difficult. Maybe what you have to do is to walk a bit on the other paths and see how you can weave bits and pieces of them together.”

Anakin’s comment found echoes in Luke’s admonishment that Jacen was still young and lacking in experience. Perhaps I do need to explore more of the Jedi ways and get to know myself better. He realized that while he was more judicious in his use of the Force than Anakin, he didn’t really know how he would function without it. Can I truly discover how to integrate myself with the Force if I do not know who I am without it?

Jacen reached out and tousled his brother’s hair. “Look, one thing, no matter what I think about what we did at Dantooine, I was proud to have you at my side. I don’t know what I’ll be in the future, Anakin, but I know you’ll be a great Jedi Knight. I have confidence that you will succeed, no matter what life throws at you.”

Anakin sharpened his eyes. “Are you really Jacen, or some Yuuzhan Vong in an ooglith masquer?”

Jacen threw an arm around his little brother’s shoulders. “For now, I’m Jacen Solo.” What I will be in the future, however, is anyone’s guess.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

“So there I was, feeling like I was floating, and I was thinking to myself, ‘So, this is what it’s like to die a Jedi and fade from existence like my grandfather.’ ” A sheepishly grinning Corran Horn toweled bacta off himself. “Then I noticed that despite the numbness I still had a touch of pain from my hand. I also realized I was being bumped around a bit, which didn’t strike me as appropriate for a disembodied spirit, but I couldn’t open my eyes, so I hung in for the ride.”

Luke shook his head. “Which is when you discovered that Ganner had returned and was lifting you above the slashrats and out of the shell.”

Corran nodded. “Yes. Against my orders he had Trista bring the Dalliance around, they lased the top off the big shell, and hanging from the landing ramp, Ganner pulled me up. If he hadn’t . . .”

Corran’s wife, Mirax, tossed Corran a robe from the hospital room’s small wardrobe. “If he hadn’t, he’d be running from me. It’s also a good thing they stuck you in the bacta tank on the Dalliance. That venom would have killed you otherwise.”

“Sure, but imagine their surprise if it hadn’t worked.” Corran gave a last rub of his hair with the towel. “They put me in, then only find torn up clothes.”

Mirax arched an eyebrow at her husband. “And that is funny, how?”

“I would have been amused.”

“The dead, apparently, find almost anything entertaining.”

Luke nodded toward Mirax. “We need to know if