Chapter 30
The black and red ritual airship carried them beyond the last dwellings of Middle Distance and along a narrowing in the canyon. This far north and west, the rocky walls were wet and slippery but almost devoid of Sekotan growth. Boras could not gain purchase here. Streamers of cloud dropped into the canyon and left the air around the gondola thick with moisture.
Anakin stood in the prow, foot propped in a heroic pose on a forward cleat. His seed-partners clustered around him, quiet for once, peering over the rail with their small, intent black eyes as if looking into their future.
Obi-Wan stood two steps behind Anakin, letting the boy en joy this moment. There would be little enough joy in the next few days, he suspected. What Anakin had detected days before-and called a 'single wave'-now left the space around them charged with a feeling of imminent and massive change in the Force, which Obi-Wan could only describe as a void. Neither Qui-Gon nor any other Jedi Master had ever hinted at such things. That the change was coming from beyond Zonama Sekot, however, was not as apparent to Obi-Wan as it had been to Anakin. I sense something very close, triggered by something from without. But Anakin is correct-it will be a trial.
The airship's guiding ropes flexed under the pressure of winds rising out of the deep gorge and the rushing waters below. The pilot was having some difficulty keeping the airship from exerting too much strain and parting the ropes. The airship would not last more than a couple of minutes in these winds, in such close quarters, before being smashed against the sheer, slick stone walls-an ignominious end for a party of clients!
That kind of danger Obi-Wan appreciated: immediate, manageable, if one trusted the conveyance and its pilot-and the young woman seemed experienced enough. None of the other passengers-not Gann, nor Sheekla Farrs, nor the three attendants-showed alarm. In fact, they seemed to feel the same exhilaration he did.
Anakin looked back and grinned at his master. 'The seeds are trembling-feel them? They know something big is happening!' Gann hooked two hands to the rail and sidled closer to Obi-Wan. 'The boy's a natural,' he said over the roar of wind. 'There can be only one pilot. Have you decided which of you it will be?'
'The boy will be pilot,' Obi-Wan said. He could never hope to match Anakin's skill in that area.
Gann nodded approval. 'He's obviously the one,' he said. 'But he has so many partners! We've never joined that many together.' He shook his head in some dismay. 'I have no idea how you'll control them. I'll be most interested to see what Shappa Farrs has to say.'
The canyon walls spread farther apart, and the airship moved closer to the eastern rim. Its cable guides depended from long, leafless limbs pushed out by the gnarled boras that lined the edge of the precipice. The pilot deftly kept a uniform strain on the cables.
The river's roar subsided with the broadening of the canyon, and the wind quieted, as well. The gondola rocked gently.
Anakin's partners grew more agitated as the airship glided above some of the most spectacular congregations of Sekotan creatures they had yet seen. With more purchase available on the canyon walls, boras and other organisms had carved out terraces similar to those that supported the houses at Middle Distance. In their natural state, the terraces supported dense jungles. Like acrobats, large, long- limbed climbers slowly lifted themselves up and over the canopy with slender, vine-clinging claws. Avians with translucent carapaces flitted over broad flowers spread wide in the sun. Minutes later, the flowers folded their spectacular petals, broke loose from the boras, and inched up hanging tendrils to higher, more brightly lit terraces.
Anakin whispered soothingly to his seed-partners as he absorbed Sekot's variety.
A young woman emerged from the small gondola cabin and walked past Obi-Wan with a polite smile. Her attention was on Anakin, and she paused beside him in the bow. Obi-Wan ob served her with interest, not least because she was the spitting image of the Magister's illusory twin daughters.
This girl, however, was solid and real.
A seed slipped down Anakin's arm in small jerks and clamped its hooks painfully into his flesh. Anakin grimaced, turned to lift the seed back onto his shoulder, and saw the girl. His eyes widened.
'Have we met?' she asked him, with a pretty frown of inquiry.
'You look familiar,' Anakin said.
'Oh, then maybe it was one of Father's things,' she said, nodding as if that explained everything. 'He puts holograms of me in different places at different times. Like arranging flower pots. It's aggravating.'
'How does he do that?' Anakin asked, but the girl decided not to answer.
'Sheekla told me to explain the different kinds of boras here.'
'Finally! Everything is so mysterious.'
'Trade secrets-I know,' the girl said. 'Sometimes it's a bore. What's your name? Father forgets that when I'm not really there, I don't actually meet people.'
Anakin was at a loss for a moment and looked past her at Obi-Wan. She, too, looked over her shoulder. 'Is he your father?'
'No,' Anakin said. 'He's my teacher. Didn't your father tell you?'
'There's a lot my father doesn't tell me, and a lot you don't know about my father. I actually haven't seen him in months- not since. .' Her eyes lost their focus for a moment, then brightened once more.
'I am Anakin Skywalker, and this is Obi-Wan Kenobi.'
'I live in Middle Distance with my mother and my younger brother, but he's just a baby. Father sends us messages now and then. Anyway, I can't explain everything to you now. Maybe later. I'm supposed to tell you about boras, and where they come from, and what they do when they're forged and annealed. You can listen, too,' she said, glancing back at Obi-Wan.
'Thank you,' Obi-Wan said.
'By the way, my name is-'
