“Justice.” C’baoth’s lip twisted. “Do not look to lesser beings for justice, Jedi Skywalker.” He slapped himself twice on the chest, two quick movements of his fingertips. “We are the true justice of this galaxy. We two, and the new legacy of Jedi that we will forge to follow us. Leave the petty battles to others, and prepare yourself for that future.”
“I :” Luke floundered, searching for a response to that.
“What is it your sister’s unborn twins need?” C’baoth demanded.
“They need-well, they’re someday going to need a teacher,” Luke told him, the words coming out with a strange reluctance. First impressions were always dicey, he knew; but right now he wasn’t at all sure that this was the sort of man he wanted to be teaching his niece and nephew. C’baoth seemed to be too mercurial, almost on the edge of instability. “It’s sort of been assumed that I’d be teaching them when they’re old enough, like I’m teaching Leia. The problem is that just being a Jedi doesn’t necessarily mean you can be a good teacher.” He hesitated. “Obi-wan Kenobi blamed himself for Vader’s turn to the dark side. I don’t want that to happen to Leia’s children. I thought maybe you could teach me the proper methods of Jedi instruction-“
“A waste of time,” C’baoth said with an off handed shrug. “Bring them here. I’ll teach them myself.”
“Yes, Master,” Luke said, picking his words carefully. “I appreciate the offer. But as you said, you have your own work to do. All I really need are some pointers-“
“And what of you, Jedi Skywalker?” C’baoth interrupted him again. “Have you yourself no need of further instruction? In matters of judgment, perhaps?”
Luke gritted his teeth. This whole conversation was leaving him feeling a lot more transparent than he really liked. “Yes, I could use some more instruction in that area,” he conceded. “I think sometimes that the Jedi Master who taught me expected me to pick that up on my own.
“It’s merely a matter of listening to the Force,” C’baoth said briskly. For a moment his eyes seemed to unfocus; then they came back again. “But come. We will go down to the villages and I will show you.”
Luke felt his eyebrows go up. “Right now?”
“Why not?” C’baoth shrugged. “I have summoned a driver; he will meet us on the road.” His gaze shifted to something over Luke’s shoulder. “No-stay there,” he snapped.
Luke turned. Artoo had raised himself out of the X-wing’s droid socket and was easing his way along the upper hull. “That’s just my droid,” he told C’baoth.
“He will stay where he is,” C’baoth bit out. “Droids are an abomination-creations that reason, but yet are not genuinely part of the Force.”
Luke frowned. Droids were indeed unique in that way, but that was hardly a reason to label them as abominations. But this wasn’t the time or the place to argue the point. “I’ll go help him back into his socket,” he soothed C’baoth, hurrying back to the ship. Drawing on the Force, he leaped up to the hull beside Artoo. “Sorry, Artoo, but you’re going to have to stay here,” he told the droid. “Come on-let’s get you back in.”
Artoo beeped indignantly. “I know, and I’m sorry,” Luke said, herding the squat metal cylinder back to its socket. “But Master C’baoth doesn’t want you coming along. You might as well wait here as on the ground-at least this way you’ll have the X-wing’s computer to talk to.”
The droid warbled again, a plaintive and slightly nervous sound this time. “No, I don’t think there’s any danger,” Luke assured him. “If you’re worried, you can keep an eye on me through the X-wing’s sensors.” He lowered his voice to a murmur. “And while you’re at it, I want you to start doing a complete sensor scan of the area. See if you can find any vegetation that seems to be distorted, like that twisted tree growing over the dark side cave on Dagobah. Okay?”
Artoo gave a somewhat bemused acknowledging beep. “Good. See you later,” Luke said and dropped back to the ground. “I’m ready,” he told C’baoth.
The other nodded. “This way,” he said, and strode off along a path leading downward.
Luke hurried to catch up. It was, he knew, something of a long shot: even if the spot he was looking for was within Artoo’s sensor range, there was no guarantee that the droid would be able to distinguish healthy alien plants from unhealthy ones. But it was worth a try. Yoda, he had long suspected, had managed to stay hidden from the Emperor and Vader only because the dark side cave near his home had somehow shielded his own influence on the Force. For C’baoth to have remained unnoticed, it followed that Jomark must also have a similar focus of dark side power somewhere.