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Mara laughed sharply. “Not one I think your uncle would consider suitably Jedi, but after I’d convinced the speculators that I was going to cut deeply into their profit margin, I’d have helped evacuate the village. Then I would have been there and helped the people who wanted to fight the flood to shore up the levees. I wouldn’t have done it for them, but I would have helped them help themselves.”

“But if you have access to the Force, and you can save them, don’t you have a responsibility to do so?”

“Good question. Follow it, though, to its logical conclusion. These are sentient beings. They know they’ve built their homes in a floodplain. They know they will be flooded out. Are you responsible for protecting them from their own decisions?”

“I can’t just let them die.”

“So you know what is better for them than they do?”

“In this case, yes.” He stared off at the distant ocean. The dying sun stained it the color of blood. “Don’t I?”

“If you start thinking that you know the best for people and denying them the chance to make their own errors . . .”

Breath hissed in between Anakin’s teeth. “Using the Force becomes easy, and if you are confident you know what is right, you’re making yourself the center of reality. That’s just selfish, and selfishness is the core of evil, of the dark side.”

Mara walked to him and threw an arm over his shoulders. “That’s very good, Anakin. We have to be responsible for ourselves, our actions, and responsible to society. Usurping someone else’s personal responsibility, though, denies them their sentience. It’s right and good to help someone who cannot help himself, but forcefully shielding them from the consequences of their actions, no matter how foolish, is wrong.”

“But if someone is drunk and pulls a blaster—” Anakin stopped. “Wait, I know! No matter what, he’s still going to have to be responsible for his action, but stopping him would be helping those who are helpless: his potential targets.”

“That would be my read on it, yes.”

Anakin sighed. “It’s not easy to see that fine line there.”

“No, it isn’t, but the fact that you’re willing to look is a very good sign.” She pointed off to the north. “Now, I’ve decided I’m strong enough to go help you lug back firewood. We’ll actually be carrying it, right?”

“Right.” If you think you’re strong enough, Mara, I’ll go with you. If I need to help you, though . . .

She smiled down at him. “I think the idea of coming here to Dantooine is good, for the both of us. I’ll learn my limitations, you’ll learn yours, and when we’re done, we’ll both come out of this stronger than anyone could have expected.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Corran straightened up, then brushed dust from the shoulders of his green Jedi overrobe. “I’m Corran Horn. My aide here is Ganner Rhysode. We’ve come to—”

The woman cut him off, and the two young men with her leveled their blaster carbines at the Jedi. “I know why you’re here, and I’m not going to let you get away with it.”

Ganner laughed. “You think they could stop us?” Illustrating his point, he flicked a finger upward, and the two young men suddenly pointed their blasters at the sky. They struggled to bring them back down on target, then clung to the weapons as Ganner lifted the youths off the ground and left them with their feet dangling in the air.

Corran flicked a sharp glance in his direction. “Put them down, now, and gently.” He turned to the woman, noting that her expression had gone from sour to incendiary. “I apologize for his enthusiasm, but I have to tell you that I don’t have any clue as to why you think we’re here.”

The woman laughed. “I may have been here for three months with my students, but I’m not entirely off the net. I hear things.” She narrowed her eyes behind her goggles. “You said your name was Horn, right? You were with Rogue Squadron?”

Corran nodded. “Only became a Jedi Knight after peace with the Empire.”

“You weren’t at Mrlsst, were you?”

“Before my time. I served with a lot of the people who were: Wedge Antilles, Hobbie Klivian, Wes Janson, Tycho