Luke felt the anticipation in the Force beginning to shift toward optimism, but he also sensed concern rising in his sister. As a Force-gifted politician and a former Chief of State, she realized what he was doing-and she could see where it would lead. Luke pushed her worries out of his mind; he was doing this to save the order, not to aggrandize himself.
“We have been growing,” he continued, “until now.” Luke looked first toward Corran and his supporters, then toward Kyp and his.
“Now we are threatened by a different enemy, one that I brought into our midst through my misunderstanding of the old practices. In my arrogance, I believed we had found a better way, one more in tune with the challenges we face in our time. I was wrong.”
A murmur of soft protest rustled through the hall, and the Force near both Kyp and Corran grew unsettled with guilt. Luke raised his hand for silence.
“In the order I envisioned, we served the Force by following our own consciences. We taught our apprentices well, and we trusted them to follow their own hearts.” Luke looked directly into Leia’s troubled eyes. “It was a splendid dream, but it has been growing more impractical for some time now.”
Luke returned his gaze to the other Jedi. “My mistake was in forgetting that good beings can disagree. They can evaluate all of the evidence and study it from every angle and still reach opposite conclusions. And each side can believe with pure hearts that only their view is right.
“When that happens, it’s easy to lose sight of something far more important than who’s right and who’s wrong.” Luke fixed his eyes on Kyp, who managed to avoid looking away despite the color that came to his face. “When the Jedi are at odds with each other, they are at odds with the Force.”
Luke shifted his gaze to Corran, who responded with a contrite lowering of the eyes. “And when the Jedi are at odds with the Force, they can’t perform their duty to themselves, to the order, or to the Alliance.”
The hall fell utterly silent. Luke remained quiet-not to build the suspense, but to give every Jedi time to reflect on his or her own part in the crisis.
Ben and the students were sitting very still, with their chins pressed to their chests. But their eyes were darting from side to side, looking for clues as to how they should respond. Tesar Sebatyne flattened
his scales-betraying the shame he felt for helping precipitate the crisis, and Lowbacca slumped his enormous shoulders. Tahiri sat up straight and stared stonily ahead, her stiff bearing an unsuccessful attempt to disguise her guilty feelings. Only Leia seemed unaffected by the subtle chastisement. She sat with her fingers steepled in front of her, studying Luke with a furrowed brow and a Force presence so guarded he could not read her emotions.
When the mood in the hall began to shift toward regret, Luke spoke again. “I’ve meditated at length, and I’ve concluded that how we respond to a crisis-the one facing us now or any otheris far less important than responding to it together. Even with the Force to guide us, we’re only mortal. We are going to make mistakes.
“But mistakes by themselves will never destroy us. As long as we work together, we’ll always have the strength to recover. What we can’t recover from is fighting among ourselves. It will leave us too exhausted to face our enemies. And that is what Lomi Plo and the Dark Nest want. It’s the only way they can defeat us.”
Luke took a deep breath. “So I’m asking each of you to rethink your commitment to the Jedi. If you can’t place the good of the order above all else and follow the direction chosen by your superiors, I’m asking you to leave. If you have other duties or loyalties that come before the order, I’m asking you to leave. If you cannot be a Jedi Knight first, I’m asking you not to be a Jedi Knight at all.”
Luke took his time, looking from one shocked face to another. Only Leia seemed dismayed-but he had expected that.
“Think about your choice carefully,” he said. “When you are ready, come to me and let me know what you have decided.”
TWO
A stunned silence still lay over the lecture hall as Leia stepped onto the dais and started after her brother. As a Jedi Knight, it was hardly her place to challenge a decree from the order’s most senior Master, but she knew what Luke was doing … even if he did not. She entered the small corridor behind the dais, and that was when Han caught up and took her arm.
He slid the panel shut behind them, then whispered, “Hold on! Don’t you want to talk this over before you quit?”
“Relax, Han. I’m not leaving the order.” Leia glanced down the corridor, toward the golden light spilling out the entrance to the lecture hall’s small library. Inside, calmly awaiting the storm, she could sense her brother’s presence. “I just need to talk some sense into Luke before this gets out of hand.”