Vision of the future

'I know,' Car'das said, letting go and returning to his seat. 'But as I said, for the first few years I was too ashamed to even face you. And then later, when your Mara Jade and Lando Calrissian came sniffing around, I assumed you would soon be showing up yourself.'

'I should have,' Karrde conceded. 'But I wasn't exactly eager to do so.'

'I understand,' Car'das said. 'It's as much my fault as it was yours.' He waved a hand. 'Still, as it turned out, your arrival was just what we needed to eliminate the threat from Rei'Kas and his pirates.' He pointed toward the ceiling. 'That's one of the many things I've been learning from the Aing-Tii, in fact. Though not all is predetermined, all is somehow still being guided. I still don't quite understand that, but I'm working on it.'

'Sounds like something a Jedi would say,' Karrde suggested.

'Similar, but not the same,' Car'das agreed. 'The Aing-Tii have an understanding of the Force; but it's a different understanding from that of the Jedi. Or perhaps it's merely a different aspect of the Force that they relate to. I'm not really sure which.

'Yoda couldn't heal me, you see. Or rather, didn't have the time the task would require. He told me he needed to prepare for what he said was possibly the most important instruction he had had for the past hundred years.'

Karrde nodded, another piece of the puzzle falling into place. 'Luke Skywalker.'

'Was it him?' Car'das asked. 'I've always suspected that, but was never able to confirm he actually trained on Dagobah. At any rate, Yoda said my only chance to postpone my death was to seek out the Aing-Tii monks of the Kathol Rift, who might— might—be willing to help me.' Karrde gestured toward him. 'Obviously, they did.'

'Oh, yes, they did,' Car'das said, his mouth twisting wryly. 'But at what a price.' Karrde frowned, a shiver running through him. 'What kind of price?' Car'das smiled. 'Nothing less than my life, Talon,' he said. 'My life, to be spent learning their ways of the Force.'

He held up a hand. 'Don't misunderstand, please. It wasn't their demand, but my choice. All my life, you see, I've relished challenges—the bigger the better. Once I'd gotten a taste of what they had discovered out here...' He waved his hand around the room. 'It was the biggest challenge I'd ever faced. How could I pass it up?'

'I thought you needed a certain amount of inborn aptitude to be a Jedi,' Shada pointed out.

'A Jedi, perhaps.' Car'das nodded. 'But as I said, the Aing-Tii have a different view of the Force. Not in terms of Jedi and Dark Jedi—of black and white, as it were—but in a way I like to think of as a full-color rainbow. Here, let me show you. Would you move your tray, please, Entoo Nee?' The little man picked up the tray, leaving the pillar table empty, as Car'das set his cup down on the floor in front of him. 'Now watch,' he said, rubbing his hands together. 'Let's see if I can do this.' He settled his shoulders and gazed hard at the pillar table...

And abruptly, with a sharp pop of displaced air, a small crystalline decanter appeared. Karrde jerked violently, his drink sloshing up the side of his cup and over the edge onto his fingers. Never in any of his dealings with Skywalker or Mara had he seen anything like that.

'It's all right,' Car'das said hastily. 'I'm sorry—I didn't mean to startle you.'

'You created that?' Shada asked, her voice sounding stunned.

'No, no, of course not,' Car'das assured her. 'I merely moved it in here from the cooking area. One of the little tricks the Aing-Tii taught me. The idea is to see the room, and then envision it with the decanter already here —'

He broke off, retrieving his cup and getting to his feet. 'I'm sorry. I could go on all day about the Aing-Tii and the Force; but you're both tired, and I'm neglecting my duties as host. Let me show you to your rooms and let you relax for a while while I see about a meal.'

'That's very kind of you,' Karrde said, standing up and shaking the drops of spice drink off his fingers. 'But I'm afraid we have to leave. If you can't provide us with the Caamas Document, we need to start back to New Republic space right away.'

'I understand your commitments and obligations, Talon,' Car'das said. 'But you can certainly afford to take one night just to relax.'

'I wish we could,' Karrde said, trying not to sound too impatient. 'I really do. But—'

'Besides, if you leave now, it'll actually take you much longer to get home,' Car'das added. 'I've spoken to the Aing-Tii, and they've agreed to send a ship tomorrow to carry the Wild Karrde anywhere you want to go.'

'And how does that gain us anything?' Shada asked.

'It gains you because their star drive is considerably different from ours,' Car'das told her. 'As you may have noticed from the battle. Instead of using the usual hyperspace travel, their ships are able to make an instantaneous