[Jedi Apprentice] - 12(10)

“There are other things I can do!” Astri protested. “Do I have to point out that I found Reesa On quicker than you did? You have to admit I have some skills.”

“Not with a blaster,” Obi-Wan muttered. He thought for a moment. He knew Astri well enough to guess that if he didn’t include her, she would try to find the bounty hunter on her own. She would be safer with him.

“We can team up, but I need a couple of conditions,” he said. “First of all, you don’t use a blaster.”

“But I need protection,” Astri protested. “And I’m getting better at aiming.”

Obi-Wan winced. “Sure. You came within five centimeters of killing me instead of six. I’ll make a deal with you. We have to wait until Tahl comes up with information about Reesa On. I’ll go back to the Temple with you and choose a new weapon. We’ll see how you do with a vibroblade. You should have some kind of protection, I suppose.”

“What’s the other condition?” Astri asked.

“If things get dangerous, I’m going to ask you to return to the Temple,” Obi-Wan said. “A pile of credits isn’t going to help Didi if you’re dead.”

Astri hesitated.

“I know you think I have no right to tell you what to do,” Obi-Wan said. “That’s true. But I represent the Jedi. You must trust us, not just me.”

Reluctantly, Astri nodded. “So we’re a team?”

Obi-Wan nodded grimly. “For now.”

Astri was hopeless with a blaster, but she was adept with a vibroblade. Obi-Wan gave her a quick lesson in strategy and defense. Her body was agile and strong, and she was surprisingly quick.

“Try to stay behind me or at my side,” Obi-Wan told her. “But don’t get in the way of my lightsaber.”

“Don’t worry,” Astri told him.

The door to the training room opened and Tahl hurried inside. She immediately turned her face toward Didi’s daughter.

“Astri, you’re here, too?”

“Yes.”

“I have a clue,” she said. “It’s not much, but it’s something. I couldn’t find anything on Reesa On, but just on a hunch I ran the name through the language of Sorrus.”

“The bounty hunter’s home planet,” Obi-Wan told Astri.

“It turns out that ‘reesa on’ means something in an obscure Sorrusian dialect,” Tahl said. “It’s spoken by a tribe living in a remote area of Sorrus.”

“What does it mean?” Astri asked.

Tahl’s mouth twisted. “‘Catch me.’ There is actually a childhood game among this tribe called ‘reesa on.”

“So the name is a taunt,” Obi-Wan said. “Catch me if you can.”

“Exactly,” Tahl agreed. “I have the coordinates of the tribe’s area. I doubt that the bounty hunter is there. Jedi teams have been sent on other leads. Most are working on finding Zan Arbor’s lab by tracking medical shipments. This is such a tiny lead. Still…”

“We could find out more about her,” Obi-Wan said.

“And we have nothing else to go on,” Astri agreed.

Tahl cocked her head as if testing the meaning behind Astri’s words. “We?”

“I’m going with Obi-Wan,” Astri declared. Tahl shook her head. “You can’t go on a Jedi mission, Astri.”

“But this isn’t a mission,” Astri argued. “There’s no danger involved.”

“Where the bounty hunter is or could be, danger is there,” Tahl said sharply. “Don’t forget that.”

Astri’s chin set defiantly. Even though Tahl couldn’t see her, Tahl was able to pick up her stubbornness. She frowned.

“I promised Astri she could come with me for a time,” Obi-Wan told Tahl. “The bounty hunter shot her father, Tahl. She has a right to track her, too. And she’ll be in less danger if she’s with me. I’ll send her back to the Temple if I think the bounty hunter is on Sorrus.”

“I don’t like this,” Tahl declared. “I should confer with Yoda. You need to be temporarily assigned to a Jedi Master, Obi-Wan. Or else stay at the Temple.”

“But I’m not going on a mission, just scouting out a lead. Qui-Gon needs my help,” Obi-Wan argued.

He saw the hesitancy on Tahl’s face.

“I have to find my Master, Tahl,” Obi-Wan said steadily. “I feel him. I know he needs me. Let me go.”

“I’m sure we are breaking several rules here,” Tahl murmured.

Obi-Wan smiled. “Qui-Gon would like that.”

Tahl smiled, too. “Yes,” she said softly. “There is a tech transport ship that could drop you off at the capital city closest to the desert tribe…”