with thick, sweet smells-flowers and cakes, wine and ale, and an intense undertone of soil.
'The stones were here before we arrived,' Jabitha said, face solemn in the green-cast gloom. 'And the boras were here, as well. Just last year, Father made a new rule: When the factory begins its work, the boras hide what we're making, in case anyone should catch us by surprise.'
'Your father is a brilliant man,' Gann said solemnly. Obi- Wan again noted Gann's pallor when they talked about the recent past.
A sound like giant horns blew down between the stone walls, followed by great warm blasts of thicker, moister air. Above, the massive trunks of the boras twisted and shivered, and the arching branches stirred and rustled with a sound like many hissing voices. Fragments of cast-off boras skin showered down upon the causeway.
Their seed-partners shivered violently.
'They can't wait much longer,' Gann said.
Anakin could not believe he was actually here. Had he dreamed this place, that it seemed so familiar? With every step, he felt as if he were two people, one who had been here before, who knew all this so well, and a young boy born on another world far, far away. He was not sure from moment to moment was foremost, who did his walking and thinking. He looked at Obi-Wan and for a moment could not remember who the man was, walking beside Gann, wearing a Sekotan ritual robe.
But Anakin bore down and drew these selves together, using Jedi discipline to sharpen and unify his consciousness, and to unify and bring to order all those ranks of thought below consciousness. All but the lowest and most private layer, on the edge of non-self. It was here that this other lurked with its vague, dark, and separate memories.
Anakin decided that now was no time to report this anomaly to his master. But he was interrupted. What looked like large red, black, and green insects marched along the causeway toward them. Their bodies were wide and flat, with three legs on each side and a seventh, central leg front and center. Two long, gray, thornlike spurs thrust up from beside the central leg. They seemed to have been born to carry heavy cargo.
On each of these creatures a stocky, soot-smudged man rode between the spurs, gripping them with hands covered with thick black gloves.
'Are those Jentari?' Anakin asked Jabitha. 'No,' she said, laughing lightly. 'They're carapods. The men riding them are forgers.'
'Are the carapods alive?'
'Mostly. Some of them are part machine.' She stared straight ahead at the many-legged creatures.
Gann looked down at Anakin. 'We leave you here with the forgers. They will prepare your seeds and take you to the shapers and the Jentari.' He looked sad and a little resentful. 'I have never been beyond this point. It is the Magister's will.'
'Good luck!' Jabitha said. 'I'll catch up with you on the other end!' She returned to the steps with Gann and gave Anakin one last glance over her shoulder, eyes bright, lips pressed tightly together. Then she quickly descended.
'I grow weary of ceremony and mystery,' Obi-Wan said. 'And I tire of being passed hand to hand like old clothes.'
'I think it's wizard,'' Anakin said. And he did. It was exciting, and it helped him in some way he could not put into words-helped him to visualize the task ahead. Still, he knew Obi-Wan was suspicious, and with good cause. Anakin frowned. 'I'm so excited, and yet I'm a little afraid. Master, why do I feel that way?'
'The seeds are talking to us,' Obi-Wan said. 'Some of them have been here before, perhaps with Vergere. You're hearing their enthusiasm and responding to their memories.'
'Of course,' Anakin said. 'The seeds! Why didn't I think of that?'
'Because you carry so many they're flooding you,' Obi-Wan said. 'I wish I had the equipment to measure their midi- chlorian levels.' A funny, introspective look came over his face.
'They'd be very strong,' Anakin said, giving Obi-Wan's arm a light poke, as a teacher might rouse an inattentive student.
Obi-Wan lifted an eyebrow. 'But not, I think, as strong as you,' he said, and shook his head. 'Listen to them, but control your connection with the Force, Padawan. Do not forget who and what you are.'
'No,' Anakin said, a little chastened.
The carapods were now within a few dozen meters of where they waited, alone, under the high, restless, arched canopy of the boras. Anakin wiped dust from his eyes and folded his hands in front of him, as if holding a practice lightsaber.
Each carapod stood as high as a man at the main joint of each leg. Glints of metal shone here and there on their bodies, as if the living organisms of Sekot had been melded with steel.
The expression on his master's face had grown more and more peculiar. 'Something's distracting you, Master!' Anakin said.
The carapods drew up around them, yet Obi-Wan paid them no attention. 'Vergere,' he finally said. 'In the seeds. . she's left a message…'
He drew himself up and composed his features just as one of the riders clambered down from his mount and approached them with a dark and determined expression.
'What does she say?' Anakin asked, in a whisper.
'She's left Zonama Sekot, to pursue an even greater mystery.'
'What?'
'The message is not clear. Something about beings from beyond the boundaries, unknown to the Jedi. She had to move very quickly.'
