“Why isn’t the spider attacking us?” Tash asked finally. “Or you?”
“Why should it?” the little creature said.
“The spiders attacked us before,” Zak replied. He took a nervous step closer.
“Because they thought you were food,” Yoda said. Tash, too, edged forward.
“What’s different now?”
Yoda spread his little hands. “I have taught them otherwise.”
Zak noticed something strange. The closer he got to Yoda, the more at ease he felt. It was like edging toward afire, except that instead of giving off heat, Yoda gave off a feeling of peacefulness and safety. Something told Zak that the giant spider was feeling exactly the same thing.
“Will it bite?” he asked, still eyeing the spider nervously. “Is it poisonous?”
Yoda chuckled to himself. “Still he worries! No, no poison in the spiders. Come, come! Time is short.”
Tash’s jaw dropped in utter disbelief. Softly, she said, “You’re a Jedi. A Jedi Master. I can feel it.”
Yoda’s smile widened. “Your feelings serve you well.”
“But … But . ,” she stammered, “there aren’t any more Jedi!”
“That will be true, if the Emperor has his way,” Yoda replied. Then he shrugged. “We shall see.”
“What are you doing on Dagobah?” Zak asked. “Shouldn’t you be helping the Rebellion?”
“What would I do there that I do not do here?” Yoda asked.
Zak was flabbergasted at the question. “You could help them fight! You could use the Force against the Emperor!”
Yoda closed his eyes briefly and muttered to himself. “So young, this one.” Then he opened his eyes. “I am here because you are here. You are here because I am here. I have something to give each of you.”
Zak felt his heart leap. Each of you. Yoda was a Jedi and he was going to give them each something. Not just Tash.
“Tash,” the Jedi said, “you must walk with me. You have searched long for answers to questions about the Force. Some you must learn in later years. But some will I answer for you now.”
Yoda summoned her forward.
“And me?” Zak asked eagerly.
Yoda paused, as if he’d forgotten something. Then he pointed to the ground, where a familiar bright yellow flower grew out of a clump of grass. “Zak, pick that flower.”
Zak drew back. “But that’s a meat flower. I’ve already been bitten by one of those, and it hurts!”
Yoda sighed. He shuffled forward and reached down, digging into the dirt around the meat flower until he’d freed the plant and a small patch of mud that surrounded its roots. He scooped it up, roots, soil, and all. It did not bite him.
“Recently fed, has this,” Yoda explained. “So it has no reason to bite.”
“But-“
“The meat flower is like all things that live in the Force. It bites only to eat. It eats only to survive. This is your reminder.” Yoda handed the meat flower to Zak.
Bewildered, Zak accepted the flower, careful to keep the roots encased in their little globe of mud. Yoda kept staring at him, so, not knowing what to do, Zak carefully lowered the flower into the wide pocket of his trousers as though planting it there. He felt totally ridiculous, but Yoda nodded at him.
“Good,” the Jedi said. He turned away. “Tash, come.”
“Can’t I come?” Zak asked.
“No, no,” Yoda said matter-of-factly. “Back to the village must you go.”
“What!” Zak squeaked, ashamed at how shrill his voice had suddenly become. “Why? I want to come with you!”
“Because these words are not for your ears.” Yoda turned back and gave him one more glance. “For everything there is a reason. Go to the village. Hurry home.”
Then Yoda tugged at Tash’s sleeve and pulled her into the mist, chuckling quietly. Tash looked back over her shoulder at her brother. Her face was a mixture of wonder, confusion, and sympathy for Zak.
It’s not my fault, her expression seemed to say.
Then she was gone.
And Zak was alone.
CHAPTER 13
The walk back to the village was cold, wet, and miserable. Zak trudged forward, not caring where he stepped or what sort of creature crossed his path. He barely noticed when an armor-backed dragonsnake swam through a water channel half a meter from his feet. He walked right beneath the coils of a tree snake, its body as big around as both his legs.
He felt crushed.
Zak had thought he had some sort of connection with Yoda. When the Jedi Master had said they’d meet again, Zak had thought something special would happen. But all he’d done was serve as Yoda’s errand boy, bringing Tash to meet him.