[Jedi Quest] - 08(18)

Obi-Wan met Siri’s eyes. She nodded.

“We are going to help the resistance,” Obi-Wan said. “We will take the risk. We need to get Zan Arbor off this planet. We only have tomorrow before our cover could be blown. The best chance we have is if she thinks her safety here is compromised. We will offer her a way out. She will have to take it. There is only one thing.”

Siri cocked an eyebrow at him. He noted that she looked her old self, in her tunic and leggings. It was as if the sight of her in her drifting shimmersilk had been an apparition.

“We might not want to take her to the prison planet,” he continued. “If we do it right, she could lead us to Omega himself.”

“We would have to contact Mace,” Siri said.

Obi-Wan nodded. “I think he would agree. I’ll contact him tonight. It will help us if he can start working on Senate approval for us to help the revolt. But it won’t come in time.”

Suddenly, their mission had grown in importance. Granta Omega could be within their grasp again. This time, Obi-Wan would not lose him.

“We can decide where to take Zan Arbor another time,” Obi-Wan said. “But we should all agree that if we can track Omega through her, we will.”

“I agree,” Siri said quietly.

“I do, too,” Anakin said.

Ferus nodded.

“Now let’s all get some sleep,” Obi-Wan said. Nevertheless, he knew he would not.

Romin had only one moon, but it was a large, luminous satellite. That night its light seemed enormous to Obi-Wan. It kept him from the sleep he tried vainly to reach.

At last he gave up. He rose from his sleep couch, opened the double doors to the stone patio outside, and walked into the fragrant garden. The air felt heavy. The heat from the day had lingered. Obi-Wan moved among the flowering shrubs. He found the play of moonlight on the glossy leaves more calming than lying on his sleep couch, waiting to feel drowsy. He would let the sights and sounds around him lull him into a kind of relaxation that he hoped would be as restorative as sleep.

He followed a path crowded with bushes that suddenly opened into a small grassy clearing. Ferus sat cross-legged in the middle of the clearing, his eyes closed. Obi-Wan stopped, not wishing to disturb him.

He was turning to go back to the house when Ferus spoke.

“You couldn’t sleep either, Master Kenobi?”

Obi-Wan moved forward. He sat on the grass next to Ferus. It was slightly damp and smelled sweet.

“There are many questions on my mind,” Obi-Wan said. “Sleep won’t come.”

“We face a great enemy,” Ferus said. “And now we find that she’s met with a greater one.”

“Exactly.”

“And that is why you and my Master made your decision this evening,” Ferus said.

“You don’t agree.” Obi-Wan spoke carefully.

“I don’t disagree,” Ferus said. “I recognize that I don’t have the experience to refute what you say.”

Obi-Wan stifled a sigh. He could see why Anakin had a hard time with Ferus. Ferus always said the correct thing. Obi-Wan preferred the spontaneity of his own apprentice.

“I sense your impatience,” Ferus went on. “You think I only say the correct thing just to impress you or my Master.”

“I don’t think that,” Obi-Wan said. “Well, not exactly.”

“Can I help it if the Jedi wisdom I have learned by rote speaks to my heart?” Ferus asked. “I don’t say things because they will please you. I say them because I feel they are true. It’s always been that way, from my earliest memory of the Temple. When I was taught, it was as though I already knew. Every Jedi lesson seemed to fit a groove inside my mind that had already been worn. It was why learning was so easy for me.”

“You have a great connection to the Force,” Obi-Wan said. “No doubt that is why.”

“So does Anakin,” Ferus pointed out. “Far greater than mine. I can see that. Yet he did not have the problems I did at the Temple. He has made great friends there.”

Obi-Wan was surprised. “But you were popular in your class. Everyone looked up to you.”

“Yes, I was the one whom everybody liked, but whom nobody wanted to talk to. I was welcome at every table in the eating areas, but not invited to any particular one. Everyone was my friend, but nobody was my particular friend.” Ferus picked some grass and let it fall idly through his fingers. “I’ve heard the names they call me. A tunic stuffed with feathers and the Force. The ruler of Planet Dull.”

Obi-Wan frowned. He had not known these things.

Ferus waved a hand. “It’s all right. It’s all true, isn’t it? I’ve never been able to joke like the others. I know I can be pompous, too correct. I never learned how to tease the other students. They came to me for help with their studies, they looked to me for answers, but no one wanted to be my friend. Not my true friend, the way Anakin has Tru Veld and Darra.”