She jumped from the top of the pile to the ground. Then she threw back the hood of her cloak and raised her hands.
'Stay here, Padawan.' Qui-Gon leaped over the rock pile in one fluid motion. He stood with his lightsaber activated, ready to defend Eritha.
'Put away your weapon, Qui-Gon,' Eritha said through her teeth. 'And trust me.'
The mole miner advanced a few meters, then stopped.
Slowly, Qui-Gon deactivated his lightsaber. Obi-Wan watched, knowing his Master could still attack in a movement faster than the eye could see.
Slowly, a hatch opened at the top of the mole miner. A ramp emerged.
A man and a woman crawled out and walked down the ramp.
They faced Qui-Gon and Eritha and bowed.
'Daughter of Ewane, we are at your service,' the man said. Obi-Wan now saw that their skin was gray with rock dust.
Eritha bowed in return. 'I am Eritha.'
The tall woman spoke. 'We thought you were a team from the Absolutes.
We apologize. They have been raiding our settlements and stealing supplies.
' 'Who are you?' Qui-Gon asked.
'We are the Rock Workers. We are allies of the Tech Workers in the city. We are glad to see that you were not harmed.'
'But we were,' Qui-Gon said. 'My Padawan is hurt. And our probe droid was destroyed. It was tracking an Absolute.'
'Then we are truly sorry,' the man said, distressed. 'If you come with us to our settlement, we have excellent med care. We will help you any way we can.'
Chapter 10
The air was so crisp and clear on Ragoon-6 that it gave you the feeling you could see to the future, or back to the past. Tahl had proposed the training exercise to Qui-Gon on one of their rare meetings at the Temple. If they did not take the time now, when would they? she had pointed out, her chin thrusting at him as it did when she wanted her own way. Soon they would both be sent on missions again.
He knew that she had proposed the trip because of what had happened with Xanatos. His Padawan had turned to the dark side, and weeks of meditation and talks with Yoda had not reconciled Qui-Gon to that. He sensed that Yoda was concerned about his progress. Yet he was stuck, thinking over and over about everything he had done and everything he should have done.
To his relief, Tahl hadn't brought up Xanatos once on Ragoon-6.
Instead they had concentrated on the exercise. The landscape of Ragoon-6 was breathtaking, but it was difficult terrain. They pushed their bodies to the limit as they scaled mountains and hiked rocky trails.
They paused to rest on a flat rock overlooking a deep valley.
'Do you see that flying irid?' Tahl said, pointing. 'Look at the yellow on the underside of its wings.'
Qui-Gon looked where she pointed. Tahl could always see farther than he could. He waited until his eyes could track the bird, a flash of brilliant color in the blue sky. 'Beautiful.'
'Yes. But they are horrible birds. They attack their own kind. It's strange, though. They nurture their young with great care. They teach them to fly, to hunt, to nest. Yet when their young reach maturity they are just as likely to eat their parents as each other.'
Qui-Gon stared out at the valley. 'Are parables supposed to make me feel better? I know you are talking about Xanatos. I nurtured him and he betrayed me. It was not my fault. It was his nature. Is that what you're saying?'
'I'm talking about irids,' Tahl said composedly. 'But now that you brought him up 'Excuse me, I didn't — '
'I'd like to make one point. You can't control everything you touch, Qui-Gon. And you can't make sense of everything, either, no matter how much you analyze or meditate. Not even you.'
'This is not about ego,' he said.
She shot him a keen look, all emerald and gold. 'Isn't it?'
Another delay. Qui-Gon wanted to bellow his rage to the sky. Instead, he helped his Padawan to Eritha's Landspeeder and gently lowered him into the seat. Obi-Wan's face was drawn with pain.
The last thing he wanted to do right now was take a detour from their quest, but his Padawan needed care.
Eritha drove her landspeeder, and a Rock Worker took Obi-Wan's swoop.
Qui-Gon followed as they raced through the canyons toward the Rock Workers'
settlement.
He was glad that the distance wasn't far. The settlement lay in a small valley surrounded by quarries. Walkways made of slate were laid out in rows and led to residences, stores, a school, and a small med unit.
