'Something. . large. Not a lot of little curls or waves, but one big wave, a really big change that's already happened or is coming. I don't know how else to describe it.'
'I do not yet feel such a combined surge,' Obi-Wan said.
'That's okay,' Anakin said. 'Maybe it's an illusion. Maybe something's wrong with me.'
'I doubt that,' Obi-Wan said.
Anakin held his hands behind his neck and sighed. 'How much longer?'
The transport landed with a shudder an hour later, and the hatch instantly swung down with a harsh squeal and banged against hard ground. Warm, thick air flowed into the cabin, scented with something at once floral and rich, like a freshly baked dessert.
Anakin found the smell appetizing. Maybe they had fixed food for the visitors-breakfast or lunch.
But as they bent low to climb out of the craft, no tables spread with food awaited them. Instead they found themselves on a broad platform suspended between four huge dark trunks, the middle portions of boras thick and squat as barrels, each over a dozen meters in diameter. Overhead, bright sun filtered through rank upon rank of layered foliage, many meshed canopies of growth that shaded their surroundings and made it seem as if they walked in deep twilight. Obi-Wan helped Anakin down the ramp, eyes darting right and left. They both straightened and faced a tall, strong-looking human male in long black robes decorated with brilliant green medallions. He stood well over two meters in height, much taller than Obi-Wan, and his face was pale and blue as Tatooine milk.
'You're on Zonama Sekot,' he said. 'A planet of considerable beauty and firm tradition. My name is Gann.'
'A pleasure to meet you,' Obi-Wan said as he and Anakin approached the tall man. Judging by his color and bearing, he was native to one of the inner Ferro systems, reclusive and not always compliant with the laws of the Republic. Ferroans were a proud and independent people who seldom welcomed outsiders and almost never traveled far from home.
'Where are your ships, the really fast ones?' Anakin asked, bored by this adult show and his enthusiasm getting the better of him.
'This is my student, Anakin Skywalker of Tatooine,' Obi- Wan introduced. 'I am Obi-Wan Kenobi.'
Gann looked down on Anakin and his expression softened. 'I, too, have a son,' he said. 'A special student. Many sons and daughters. That is what we call our students here. Whoever they are born to, we are all mothers and fathers and teachers. I'm afraid you will not see one of our ships for some days, young Anakin.' He returned his attention to Obi- Wan. He swung out his arm. 'We are at what we call the Middle Distance, our first home on Zonama Sekot, where we settled twenty Ferroan years ago. Sixty standard years. Not that time means the same here as on any of the Ferroan worlds, or on Coruscant.'
'Our accents give us away?' Obi-Wan asked.
'Even a few months on the capital world imparts a distinctive speech,' Gann said. 'Zonama Sekot has its own approach to letting time pass. I feel as if I have spent my entire life here, and yet, it might have been only a year, a month, a week…'
Obi-Wan gently interrupted this reverie. 'We wish to purchase a ship,' he said. 'We have the money, and we are ready to engage in the tests and the training.'
Gann dramatically drew up his thin black eyebrows. 'Ritual first. Answers and tests much later.'
The Ferroan turned at some vagary of the wind, a brief whistling sound through the canopies high above. 'The view from here is not the best,' he said. 'Come with me. I need to introduce you to Sekot.'
Obi-Wan and Anakin followed Gann to a gap between two of the huge trunks that enclosed and supported the platform. He opened a small gate thickly woven from reedlike stalks and gestured for them to pass through. Walking between the trunks, master and apprentice stepped out onto an exterior platform bathed in sunlight and overlooking a scene even more spectacular than that which Charza Kwinn had shown them aboard the Star Sea Flower.
Gann folded his arms and smiled proudly. Morning mists were rising from a wandering river valley, its depths still lost in shadow fully two kilometers below the platform. Along the upper walls of the valley, tier upon tier of dwellings and platforms covered the bare rock faces, held in place by great brown and green vines. The vines hung from great-rooted boras straddling knife-sharp ridges, topped with more brilliant purple and green canopies. Several airships navigated the calm morning currents between the ridges. These were made up of clusters of rigid tube-shaped bone-white balloons strapped side by side and stabilized by more outrigger balloons. The airships followed lengths of ca ble strung across the valley, supported at hundred-meter intervals by trunks thrust up from the sides. Even now, an airship was threading its way through the circular crown of foliage at the top of a support.
'The planet is named Zonama,' Gann said. 'The living world that covers it is named Sekot. This is a small part of Sekot, as are the boras around and behind us, and, we believe, as are we who live here. To be worthy to fly a piece of Sekot, one of our ships, you must tune yourself to our way. You must acknowledge the Magister and his role in our life and history, and you must acknowledge union with Sekot. It's not an easy course-and there are real dangers. The power of Sekot is awesome. Do you accept?'
Obi-Wan's expression did not change. Anakin looked up at Gann with a questioning squint.
'We accept,' Obi-Wan said.
'Follow me, please, and I will show you where you will stay.'
Chapter 20
Why don't you just go and ask about Vergere?' Anakin said to Obi-Wan as they settled into their rooms for a night in the clients' quarters of Middle Distance.
'I get the impression we must be patient,' Obi-Wan answered as he opened a pair of shutters and looked down over the valley. 'We must learn more about this Magister, whoever he is.'
