Imperial times- Coruscant

The old and long-forgotten Jedi seer, Taja Noryyce, settled in for the night in the home the vanished Tarik had given her. Little Zolyn was nearly a toddler, already another year old and trying to squeak out words.

He giggled in his hammock/cradle as Noryyce turned down the lantern and pushed Zolyn's tail back into his bed. Noryyce sighed, smiling down at the little green alien, her star-sapphire eyes catching the light at odd angles.

"Little Zah'lyn, someday I promise you, you will be a Jedi, even if I do not live long enough to train you," she said softly, kissing the little being on the forehead. He cooed and chirped at her, smiling and wrinkling his short snout in a giggle as she sat down on her own bed.

"I have seen the one who will train many others, perhaps he will train you when the time comes," she said as she settled into her meditative half-sleep, half-healing-trance she'd used for the past century.

"Such a long road lies ahead," she said softly, sighing. "So long, and I'm no longer sure I have the strength to travel it much further," she added softly, sadly.

"You've been strong enough so far," a odd echoing voice said, startling her. Her star-sapphire eyes snapped open, her hand instinctively reaching for a lightsaber she hadn't carried in over forty years.

"You don't recognize an old friend?" the voice said, sounding distant yet close.

"Padawan?" she gasped softly, slowly recognizing the hazy, luminous shape of a person in the darkened room. The spirit nodded, coalescing into a more solid form. He sat down on one of the cargo crates across from her position.

"You shouldn't have come. This is too draining on you. Save your strength for the boy, he will need you," she said.

The specter smiled, "You're so sure of young Luke's future?" he asked, studying her.

"Yes, I have seen him already, he will survive what comes," she said confidently, smiling softly. "He will be what was once hoped for his father," she said, half-closing her eyes in thought. The spirit shook his head.

"Obi-wan, you once asked me his future in secret, and I refused you an answer. This future is what I saw, it could not be changed. This needs to happen," she said, insistent. He half-smiled at her,

"I could have been told that before he killed me," he said, only half-joking.

She smiled, "No, you couldn't have. It is another's job now to deal with him. You began the story, now another ends it," she said.

He nodded, "I only hope it's a better ending than my chapter," he said quietly.

"You still think yourself a failure," she said, studying the specter. "You were always afraid of failing, of disappointing your master," she said, watching him look surprised. "Your fear is what keeps you here, you feel you must succeed with this boy at all costs. Even your own life," she said.

"The boy will survive, Obi-wan, this much I will tell you. Nothing more I can say. The future is for those who will live it, not for those who have created it."

The specter looked at her strangely, then sighed.

"You and Yoda would've made a good pair, you both like to confuse people," he said, half-joking again.

"And you would have been pummeled on both sides by us then, padawan," she returned, smiling.

"The nine- hundred-years-past and the infinite future, we'd have drove every Knight and Master insane in a month," she said, laughing. Zolyn shifted in his hammock, still asleep but slightly disturbed by her laughter. She looked over at the little bundle asleep in the hammock.

"Obi-wan," she said thoughtfully, "Will you promise me something?" The spirit sat up straighter.

"Promises are not something I've ever taken lightly, Master Noryyce," he said, uncertain. She smiled a little at him, sadly, then looked back to Zolyn.

"Watch out for him, and Tarik. I may not be able to return as you have to guide them. Little Zah'lyn will be something, I have seen it. But Tarik..."

She breathed out slowly, closing her eyes. "Tarik does not understand what he is yet, his future is constantly shifting beyond my sight. I have no way to find him now, but I know he's returned to Coruscant. Which can only mean one thing. He's been captured."

She opened her eyes slowly, looking back to the luminous form sitting near her.

"We must do something for him, neither of us dare approach that place to help, but some way must be found. Something is about to happen, and Tarik must be free to fight, not trapped at the end of an electronic leash." she said adamantly.

Obi-wan looked at her sadly, "There is nothing I can do, I cannot appear to one who has not met me in life, you know this," he said. "And you know that I cannot venture near the palace at all, the reasons should be all too clear."

Noryyce shook her head, "I know, I know all this, but I cannot let Tarik rot away inside himself. There is potential in him that must not be wasted, even if he does not see it."

She sighed deeply, "I'm sorry, I've kept you too long here. Save your energy for the boy, as I said, he will need you yet." The specter nodded, standing.

"I will see you yet again, Lady Noryyce," he said, fading away, returning the room to eerie darkness.

"I know," she said softly, looking back toward the soundly-sleeping Zolyn. She sighed, settling herself back into her sleeping position. There had to be something to do, and some way to get Tarik free.

She was too old, and Obi-wan too... well... ghostly. Zolyn was too little, and the rebels too far away. She sighed again, forcing the problem from her mind so she could rest.

Tarik would have to find his own way in the universe for now.

--------

Half the galaxy away, Mina and Derek were on the surface of a barren planet, trying to enjoy the sweltering heat after nearly freezing on the ship.

"All right, what's wrong now?" Mina asked, slamming her binoculars down onto the speeder's control panel. Derek leaned against the side of the speeder, arms crossed over his chest, looking distracted and unhappy.

"Nothing," he said flatly, staring at the distant mountains.

"Come on," Mina said angrily. Derek glanced back over his shoulder, then turned to face her.

"Okay, you want to know what's wrong? fine," he said roughly.

"What?" Mina asked.

"You called me Tarik," he said, turning back to stare at the horizon.

"I what?" she said,confused.

"When we... you know, on the ship," he said, then shrugged.

"I did not!" she insisted.

He looked back, eyes narrowed angrily, "Yes, you did."

Mina shook her head, disbelieving.

"Face it, it's been a year and he's still in your head," Derek said, turning back to talk to her again. "Maybe it's because we were talking about him, or maybe we were both a little too distracted,but you did say it." Mina shook her head in denial.

"Derek, I knew him a few weeks, I've known you for three years. We were together before any of us even knew he existed."

Derek sighed, "I know, I hoped I was just imagining things, but that's what you said." He shook his head, smiling slightly.

"It's funny, after all this, I still can't compete with that overgrown lizard," he said. "Hey, maybe if I sprouted a tail and green skin, you'd remember my name?" he said, teasing. She smiled, shoving his elbow off the edge of the speeder, knocking him off-balance.

"I like you just the way you are," she said, leaning her forehead against his as he leaned on the side of the speeder again.

"You'd just like me to be a little different," he said, smirking. She backed away, looking at him critically.

"You know, come to think of it, you might look good in green," she said, smiling mischievously.

"Hey!" Derek said, backing up in mock offense.

"Oh, behave and finish your area scan," she snapped playfully, picking up her binoculars.

"Don't bother, this place is way too hot, all the astromech droids would melt in an hour," he said, squinting against the glare of the triple suns above.

"Well then, we can cross Sandoval's Run off the list too, it's even closer to those suns than this place is," Mina sighed.

"We might as well stop there though, just to look around. All the cities are underground anyway. I have a friend who lives in the mines there, maybe we can make it by lunch time," Derek said, shielding his eyes with a hand as he looked up toward the dimmest star in the trio.

The permanent corner-eclipse of the moon of Sandoval's Run made the sun an eternal crescent from this side of the planet.

"Um, no thanks, I've heard some scary stories about the mining colonies. I'd rather take my chances with the empire than with ground-quakes and Mnemai spiders sucking your memories out," Mina said, shuddering.

Derek nodded, "Right, never-mind lunch, I think you just ruined my appetite anyway," he said, looking back to her with a slight grimace.

"Come on," she said, dropping the binoculars to the seat next to her. "Let's get back to the other group and tell them the bad news," she added as he hopped over the side of the speeder and landed in the seat next to her.

"Yeah, maybe one of the other search teams will have better luck, maybe someplace a little cooler?" Derek teased, buckling his seat restraints.

As the speeder raced off across the parched landscape, one of the other search teams was touching town on a distant and forbidding frozen world called Hoth.

-------End Chapterr 7------

----on to Chapter 8?---

© 2000 Michelle Petrosky

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