There were six elders sitting around the fire, their faces lined with age. Maga sat nearby, scooping out a bowl of porridge from a cauldron that hung over the fire. The elders were already discussing the rockslide, trying to decide if it was still safe to travel the ravine, when Hoole approached them.
“My niece has something to say,” Hoole announced.
The elders looked at Tash. She had never really spoken to the elders of the tribe before. She had never thought of them as leaders-just quiet old men and women wearing animal skins. But now, looking at them, she realized that despite their primitive ways, they really were leaders.
Their keen, bright eyes reminded her of a look Princess Leia Organa had once given her, long ago.
“I…,” she began, then stopped. She glanced at Maga.
“Perhaps this should be said in private,” Hoole suggested.
One of the elders, who had a gap between his front teeth, shook his head. “Not Dantari way. No secrets from people.”
Tash nodded. It was probably a good way to run the tribe. Or the galaxy. Secrets and hidden schemes were methods the Empire used. Still, she felt uncomfortable accusing Maga to his face.
“I saw…,” she started again. “That is, I think I saw Maga standing at the top of the hill just before the avalanche started.”
“Maga push rocks?” another elder asked.
Tash nodded.
All six elders turned toward their garoo, who was glaring at Tash. But instead of becoming angry, Maga shrugged and said through a mouthful of porridge, “Girl is wrong.”
The gap-toothed elder turned back to Tash. “You saw his face? You know?”
Tash frowned. She hadn’t seen a face. Finally, she admitted, “Everything happened too fast. I saw something up there. Then the rocks came down. I thought it was Maga… but no, I didn’t see his face.”
Maga snorted. “Not see my face because Maga was not there. Ask Bann. Ask Durba.”
Tash scowled. Bann and Durba were two of Maga’s friends. They’d say anything to protect him.
One of the elders shrugged. “Maga is garoo. Garoo does not lie.”
But the gap-toothed elder shook his head. “Girl has power. Girl is like garoo.”
“Only Maga is garoo!” Maga growled, leaping to his feet.
The elders stirred briefly, unsettled by his outburst. They murmured to each other in low voices for a moment, then nodded. Finally, the gap-toothed elder spoke. “Girl says she saw, but is not sure. Maga says he was not there, and was seen by eyes of others. We will do nothing. Water mixes with water.”
Tash sighed. “Water mixes with water” was a popular Dantari saying. The Dantari believed that some problems could not be solved. It was like one cup of water poured into another cup of water. Which water was which, and did it even matter?
“But I saw someone!” Tash insisted.
“Who?” the elder asked.
Tash didn’t answer.
Maga grinned. His teeth were crooked and yellow. “Yes, offworlder,” he said. “Who?”
Again, Tash didn’t answer. Maga snorted. “Girl is crazy. Whole family is crazy. Parents probably crazy, too.”
Tash bristled at the mention of her parents. Anger boiled up inside her, hotter than a nova. Gathering her strength, she glared at Maga and lashed out with the Force.
CHAPTER 3
Tash was surprised at how easily the Force bent to her will this time. The cauldron near Maga suddenly tilted. A blob of hot porridge sloshed out of the pot, spilling right into his lap. The big Dantari leaped to his feet, howling as he tried to wipe the hot, sticky substance away.
The elders and Zak laughed. To them, it looked as if Maga had stumbled against the pot and spilled the porridge all over himself.
Tash turned away to hide the smug expression on her face. Without saying a word to Zak or Uncle Hoole, she went back to their tent, crawled onto a soft fur blanket that served as her bed, and fell asleep.
That night, Tash dreamed.
She was standing on the bridge of a starship. Through the viewport, she could see her home planet, Alderaan, floating in space like a blue-green gem on a necklace of stars. She felt happy. She was going home to see her parents. Everything was all right.
Suddenly, a shadow fell across the planet as a large dark object passed between Alderaan and the sun.
It was the Death Star. Tash watched the Imperial battle station slowly rotate until its enormous superlaser pointed directly at her homeworld.
“No!” Tash screamed, hut her voice made no sound. The Death Star was preparing to fire.
Tash remembered the Force. She had moved the tiny pendant. She had moved the large boulder. Maybe she could even move the Death Star. She tried to calm herself to find the peaceful place within her where the Force seemed to be. Then she reached out and willed the Death Star to move.