Obi-Wan followed the Divine Prince through twisting hallways and balconies. The Temple appeared to be built so that it was both inside and outside. Terraces extended many stories down the side of the mountain. Hallways led to rooms that opened directly out on to a terrace that had stairs that lead to the one below. It was like a maze built into the very mountainside itself. When they came to a particularly large terrace that had it's own tiny waterfall and a stand of flowering trees, the Divine Prince stopped.
The whole time they had been running, he laughed, the smile never leaving his face. The Divine Prince was the most joyous person Obi-Wan had ever met. It was infectious. As they dashed through the rooms and hallways descending lower and lower he shed his disappointment and depression and soon he was grinning too.
"Watch!" The Divine Prince shook the branches of one of the flowering trees. Within moments they were immersed in a swirling cloud of petals that settled on their robes like snow. "It is beautiful, is it not?"
Obi-Wan smiled and looked around him. From where he stood he could see the green expanse of rain forest below stretching out for miles. Above them the great temple rose up many stories, its colorful flags flapping in the constant wind that drove up from the cool forest. White petals still drifted over the landscape. "Yes," he said, "It is."
The Divine Prince glanced at him conspiratorially. "Would you like to know my name?" He asked, "The one my mother gave me?"
Obi-Wan nodded.
The Divine Prince gathered up a handful of petals from the ground. "Menalu!" he cried and threw the petals in the air laughing. "Nobody knows but you and Sheniko. Not even Dash-te Dey."
"Menalu." Obi-Wan repeated. "It's a nice name."
"What did your mother call you?" Menalu asked.
"I don't know." Obi-Wan admitted. "I never knew her."
"I used to live on a farm. When I was three I was identified as the spiritual leader of Yebbis-Corta and they took me away to live here in the temple."
Obi-Wan laughed. "Well, I used to live in a temple and they almost took me away to live on a farm." He said. Incredibly, Menalu's grin grew wider.
"You are funny Obi-Wan. Come. I will show you something new."
Menalu knew the temple intimately and seemed to insist on taking the most roundabout way to any destination. They followed yet another twisting path for several minutes and appeared outside on a terrace once again. This one was flat and barren with only a few pebbles. Obi-Wan realized that despite traveling quite a ways, the pond was only a terrace above them.
Menalu sat down on the ground, carefully positioning his robes around him. "You'll like this," he said. Obi-Wan watched. Menalu shut his eyes and held his hands out from his sides. The smile left his face and was replaced by an expression of incredible concentration. Then, the small stones before them started to move. They merely jiggled at first. Then they began to skitter about the ground one by one until they were crashing into one another and whizzing off in different directions. Menalu opened his eyes and watched as the stones collided with one another and finally stopped. He giggled.
"I can move them, but I can't control them." He added a little sheepishly. He looked up at Obi-Wan. "You can do it." He said. Obi-Wan nodded. Moving stones around was one of the most basic temple exercises. One of his earliest memories was doing what Menalu had just done. Now moving things, particularly inanimate objects like stones was second nature to him. Guiding it with his hand, he gathered the force around the stones, drew them together into a pile and then stacked them.
Menalu clapped his hands together with glee. "I knew you could do it." He cried. "I want to know everything. What else can you do?"
Obi-Wan wasn't sure how to answer the question so instead, he told Menalu about growing up in the temple, the friends he had there, and the things he had learned. He talked about the force and about Master Yoda and Qui-Gon. Menalu listened intently and Obi-Wan found him incredibly easy to talk to. Menalu was particularly curious about the force and what it meant to the Jedi. As they walked along the idyllic pathways of the temple Obi-Wan tried to describe an aspect of himself that was as natural as breathing. He couldn't.
* * *
For the first time in many days, Qui-Gon felt relaxed. After releasing the boys, Dash-te had left him to explore the temple on his own. He had wandered the hallways unhindered for the better part of an hour admiring the artistry of the woodwork and the tapestries. The culture of the Yebbi was truly unique in the universe that they would have such mental stamina to produce such detailed work. One monk might create a single tapestry in his entire lifetime.
He stepped down into one of the many meditation rooms. There were cushions on the floor so he took one to an out of the way corner and began his own meditation. He allowed himself to become one with the force, slowly like sinking into a pool of mud. There was a warmth and openness to this place. He could feel the force here and the contemplative minds of the monks seemed to swirl around his own. He stayed that way for a long time, simply listening and resting. Gathering strength. It almost felt like home.
But there had been a disturbance. Qui-Gon stretched out once again, feeling the minds and hearts of the monks in the room with him. It should have meant nothing to them, yet he was suddenly blocked. Qui-Gon opened his eyes in surprise. Amidst the bowed heads, a single head straightened and glared at him. Suddenly unsure of what to do, he got up and left the room. Perhaps it was time to have that talk with Dash-te Dey.
* * *
Obi-Wan and Menalu had completed their circuit of the lower floors and were climbing up now to the upper rooms of the temple. These were the meditation rooms mainly, Menalu told Obi-Wan. After a while they stopped. "Why should I be careful?" Menalu asked. Obi-Wan was confused until Menalu pointed to his lightsabre. He repeated his question.
"I'll show you." Obi-Wan said. He took the lightsabre off his belt and handed it to Menalu who took it carefully in both hands. "Okay, hold onto it tightly. It's a little weird the first time." Menalu gripped it with both hands and smiled brightly. "Are you ready?" Obi-Wan asked. Menalu nodded enthusiastically. Standing behind his friend Obi-Wan reached down and activated the lightsabre in Menalu's hands.
Menalu shrieked in terror and threw it down. It deactivated and rolled on the ground until it dropped to the terrace below. Menalu looked stricken and stared at his hands. Obi-Wan was instantly worried.
"What is it? Did I hurt you?" he asked. Menalu was too shocked to speak.
"It's a weapon." He cried after composing himself somewhat. "It is forbidden. I cannot hold a weapon!" Menalu looked so horrified that for a second Obi-Wan was worried that he might fling himself off the terrace.
"I didn't know." Obi-Wan said apologetically. "I just wanted to show you. You were so curious." He had obviously insulted his new friend. Of course, what was a normal part of his life was horrific to one with Menalu's beliefs. Why hadn't he been sensitive to that fact? The whole point of having the Jedi there was as protection for those who did not protect themselves. What had he been thinking? Had he been showing off? He was proud of his lightsabre that he had constructed himself, but so proud that he risked hurting someone who had been nothing but friendly? Confused, he hid his face in the sleeve of his robe. He suddenly felt so inept. How many times had the briefing from the council stated that the Yebbi practiced most extreme form of pacifism? He should have known. Only an idiot wouldn't have known. He sat down and put his head in his hands.
Obi-Wan felt a tap on his shoulder. He looked up. Menalu was squatting beside him. He didn't look angry; he looked concerned. "What's wrong Obi-Wan?" He asked.
"Aren't you mad?" Obi-Wan asked.
"No."
"But, didn't I…"
Menalu stopped him. "It doesn't matter. What's done is done. It's in the past."
Obi-Wan got up and they looked over the edge of the terrace where Menalu had thrown the lightsabre. "I can get it." He said and dropped over the side. He landed softly and put the lightsabre back on his belt. Then, he gathered the force around him and jumped back up to where Menalu was standing.
Menalu was grinning from ear to ear again as though the last few minutes had never occurred.
* * *
Qui-Gon found Dash-te Dey sitting in a large library. He sat on the floor on a cushion before a large scroll, which he was marking with meticulous strokes of a brush. He looked up when Qui-Gon entered.
"Ah, Master Qui-Gon. I take it you are rested?"
"I am, thank you."
"And now you have questions." Dash-te smiled.
"I do." Qui-Gon answered.
Dash-te led him to the rear of the library where some of the oldest scrolls and tomes sat inside sealed chambers that looked out of place amongst the rest of the temple furnishings. "How well do the Jedi know their history Qui-Gon?"
"Not very well," Qui-Gon had to admit, "There are stories, legends. They're the stuff of myth though. I'm afraid to say that not even the Jedi know where the Jedi come from."
"Well, we know our history very well here." Dash-te said. He showed Qui-Gon a manuscript that looked as old as the stars themselves. "Before I became the advisor and tutor to the Divine Prince, I was a scholar of the ancient writings of our people. This manuscript is over a millennia old and though it doesn't say much, some of what it does say might interest you." He showed Qui-Gon a line of meaningless script.
"This talks about a time where the Yebbi were at war with themselves. Before this time, we were smallish group of aesthetics, fanatics if you will. Slowly, the movement grew and before long the seeds of the Yebbi culture that you see here now were planted. We discovered different things about our world and ourselves. We learned about the transmigration of souls and the presence of holiness in all things. And a group of monks, who believed in the practice of a deeper form of meditation tapped into something else."
"The force." Qui-Gon said. Dash-te smiled.
"Yes."
"And so what happened?" Qui-Gon asked.
"It was a small group of monks who felt it. They thought it was a product of their meditation. They formed groups to teach everybody how to meet this energy they had felt." Dash-te's face saddened. "Of course, not everybody could feel it. And so the elders met to decide what to do. In the end that form of meditation was forbidden. But, the monks knew they had tapped into something of immense importance. They couldn't let go and so they formed a sect."
Dash-te Dey went on to explain how the creation of a sect of force users caused the temple to divide. What had once been a peaceful life was shattered by constant debate over the proper use of this new power. Finally, the sect chose to leave the temple and the planet to continue their work elsewhere. On their new home they were once again a small band of aesthetics; radical mystics on the verge of a new religion that would in the end shape the future of the galaxy.
Somewhere along the line the monks in the new sect took on social responsibility and their cause became protecting the weak and insuring that justice prevailed. They of course dropped their pacifistic ways and became warriors of sorts. So different were their ideas and beliefs now that the sect took on a new name: the Jedi.
Qui-Gon shook his head in disbelief. "Of course. It makes sense. This place almost feels like the temple on Coruscant. But why the secrecy for so long?"
Dash-te sighed. "There are many monks who do not believe that we should use the force - that there is no use for it in our way of life. But I do not believe this is so. It is a part of us. There are elders who refuse to so much as acknowledge the existence in the force, yet they use it block others from using it. We are still being torn apart by it, but this time it is happening quietly, from the inside. And it has gone on for hundreds of years."
Qui-Gon thought of the elder pushing him out of his mind as he meditated. "Yet, we have not been unwelcome here." He said.
"No one is unwelcome here, not even our enemies."
Qui-Gon furrowed his brow in thought. "And what of the negotiations?"
"These will happen, but it was merely a convenient excuse for bringing you here. Astrid Stovall has a powerful army hidden in the forests. A ruthless mercenary called General Ruusk leads them. He was a monk as a young boy and now he marches against us with a fervor that is unmatched by even Astrid Stovall."
"Even monks are not immune to the dark side." Qui-Gon offered.
"It is not so simple." Dash-te said, "The force was not strong with Ruusk at all. He is evil for his own reasons. Never the less, we cannot go without some form of protection. The Divine Prince doesn't even have bodyguards. You must see that he gets to the negotiations alive."
* * *
"How did you jump up from the lower terrace?" Menalu asked.
Obi-Wan tried to explain, but found that once again he couldn't. There was a big difference between knowing how to do something and explaining to someone how to do it. Finally he had an idea.
"This is an exercise that Master Yoda had us do." He said. He instructed Menalu to sit down on the ground and then sat across from him. "Okay, first you have to open yourself up. Do you remember what you did when we first met"?
"Yes, but it just happened. I didn't mean to."
"That's okay. You don't have to do it, you just have to open your self up to me doing it to you." Menalu nodded and closed his eyes tightly. Obi-Wan shut his eyes and reached out to see if Menalu was really listening for him. He wasn't.
"Don't try so hard. Let it, um." Obi-Wan thought for a moment. "Let it flow through you." Menalu's features relaxed somewhat and after a few minutes Obi-Wan could feel tentative fingers of the force reaching out listening. He waited until it got stronger, like a warm white light then he reached out to Menalu and said "hello". Menalu jumped.
"I heard it!" he cried. Obi-Wan shushed him.
"Don't. Keep concentrating." Obi-Wan remembered the first time he and Master Yoda played this game. He smiled and instead of saying something tried to project the scene of he and Master Yoda to Menalu.
Menalu laughed. "I see you as a little boy. With… With. A puppet?"
"Not a puppet. A Jedi Master. Master Yoda is very small, but very powerful." Obi-Wan realized that with Menalu so open to him that this point he could have tried Qui-Gon's tickling trick, but that didn't seem fair. Instead he said, "You can go the other way. Instead of accepting me, you can push me out."
"Why would I want to do that?" Menalu asked with his eyes still closed.
"Just pretend you have a secret to keep from me."
Menalu nodded. This time Obi-Wan felt Menalu resist his attempts to touch his mind. He was much better at this than he had been at listening and accepting. Obi-Wan could push quite hard before Menalu was unable to keep him out. He stopped and relaxed, releasing the force away from him like flowing water. "You can stop listening," he told Menalu. Menalu visibly relaxed, his smile as wide as ever.
"Now I understand." He said.
Suddenly, they heard Qui-Gon and Dash-te's voice above them. Menalu looked mischievous. "I have a game of my own. Come, I will show you." he whispered and motioned Obi-Wan to follow him through another trip into the maze of hallways.
* * *
Menalu's game turned out to be sneaking around and eaves dropping on the goings on in the temple. Obi-Wan training made him uniquely skilled in this area and the two of them were able to listen in on a great many conversations.
They heard the cooks discussing what would be prepared for dinner that night. Two monks quietly debated the meaning of a certain mantra. The temple workers were the most interesting. They lived outside the temple and gossiped openly about village life in the capital city.
"This is how I learn everything." Menalu confided. Obi-Wan nodded. He knew this trick well though it was much harder to do in the Jedi temple where the masters could read one's thoughts whether they were visible or not. Menalu motioned him to follow.
They entered what looked like a large library and crept along the stacks of manuscripts and scrolls. They heard voices and ducked down.
"I trust then you will bring this matter up to the council when you return to Coruscant." It was Dash-te Dey.
"I will." Qui-Gon's voice.
Obi-Wan motioned frantically to Menalu. "We'll get caught." He whispered and pointed to the door. They started to creep out and then Obi-Wan froze.
"I think it is a matter that they will definitely want to look into. Don't you agree, Obi-Wan?"
Menalu nearly laughed aloud but covered his mouth quickly. At a loss for what to do Obi-Wan answered, "Yes Master. What ever the matter is I'm sure the council will want to look into it."
Qui-Gon and Dash-te looked on as the heads of their students popped up amongst the stacks.
"It's just as well that you're joining us," Dash-te said, "Qui-Gon and I were about to discuss the plans for our journey into Talus."
* * *
The journey would not be easy even with the fast shuttlecraft that would fly them over the dense rainforest. General Ruusk had a battery of powerful weapons hidden in the trees that had shot down travelers from Rengaia before.
The forest itself was said to be un-navigable due to its density. It consisted of 3 canopies of lush greenery and was home to countless unnamed species of wildlife. Rescue from the forest would be impossible so it was imperative that they out maneuver any attacks on the shuttle.
"It's time you saw exactly who we are dealing with." Dash-te Dey said. He and Menalu lead the group to a part of the temple that was blocked by closed doors. They were unusual in the openness of the temple. Until then the only closed doors they had encountered were the doors to the Divine Prince's audience chamber. Dash-te swung them open.
Where there had been a large meditation pavilion and many rooms stood ruins. The walls were crumpled and blackened by blaster fire. Bits of singed tapestries hung in shreds from the damaged balconies. The damage was extensive, Obi-Wan could see evidence of the attack many floors below and above. Splintered furniture and bits of manuscript paper were strewn about like an echo of all that had once been there. The only thing not singed or damaged was a garland of yellow fringe that was strung about the wreckage.
"They came during our morning meditation ritual. We used to gather here to welcome the rising sun." Dash-te said, his voice was low and quavering. "They fired without warning or provocation."
Qui-Gon found it hard to speak, the power of the act and the meaning behind it was so great. "How many?" he managed at last.
"These yellow threads you see," Dash-te gestured to the garland, "Each thread represents the soul of a monk released."
Obi-Wan ran his hand along a length of threads. They were such fine threads and there were so many of them. Hundreds, maybe thousands. All those people, killed while simply practicing what they believed in. It was so unfair. So cruel. In his life he had never encountered such tragedy, such base evil. It was incomprehensible to him. He looked at Menalu, a mix of sadness and anger welling up in him. Suddenly he couldn't understand his friend. Why didn't they fight back? They allowed this to happen and now stood by complacently. How could they live knowing so many had died because they hadn't protected them?
He struggled with these emotions, but found himself unable to control them.
He ran from charred remains of the pavilion into the darkness of the temple.
Return to Archive List
Continue on to Part Four