Darkest Knight

6

The morning breeze ruffled Lowie’s ginger-colored fur as he stood with his friends outside on the treetop observation platform. The area was broad and smooth, empty of equipment or visitors—the perfect place for them to stretch their muscles and perform Jedi exercises in the fresh outdoors.

The air was enriched with the scent of spring blossoms, new leaves, and sun-warmed wood. Beside him on the wooden platform, Sirra crouched in pensive silence, watching the Jedi trainees as they worked through their individual exercise routines.

Lowie tried not to make it obvious that he was keeping an eye on Sirra. Too great a show of concern on his part, he figured, would probably only annoy his sister and make her more stubborn. They had left many issues unspoken between them, but he knew they would have to talk soon.

He flicked his golden eyes around the platform and watched as Jacen did push-ups and Jaina practiced gymnastic tumbles. Tenel Ka, limber as ever, stood on one leg, the other pulled up high behind her, pointing toward the sky.

Lowie bent over, placed both hands flat on the warm wood of the platform, kicked his feet into the air, and balanced there. When Jaina turned a cartwheel past him, he risked another look at Sirra. His brash younger sister had spoken very little since his arrival yesterday, though she had instinctively remained close to him. Lowie couldn’t help wondering what she was thinking. Did Sirra in any way resent him because he had inherited Jedi potential, while she had not? Did she blame him for Raaba’s death? Did she resent the friends he had brought home with him?

He and his sister were so different that Lowie wondered if there had ever been a time when they understood each other completely. Lowie was thoughtful, analytical, introspective, while Sirra was wild, confident, outspoken. He preferred not to draw attention to himself, while she enjoyed surprising people with her appearance—why else would she trim the fur at her ankles, knees, wrists, and elsewhere in such a strange patchwork style?

Sirra and Lowie had always trusted one another, though—but did she still trust him?

Tenel Ka whirled through Lowie’s field of vision, performing aerial somersaults. He felt himself begin to lose his balance, but quickly regained it and began doing vertical push-ups.

“Hey, Lowie,” Jacen yelled from behind him, “can you spare a little concentration from your exercises to teach us a few words in your Wookiee dialect?”

Lowie grunted his assent. “Master Lowbacca says he would not be averse to the possibility of instructing you,” Em Teedee translated.

Jaina chuckled. “Gee, that’s funny, Em Teedee—it sounded to me like all he said was ‘yes.’”

“Well, I suppose that is an alternate translation,” Em Teedee said, sounding somewhat miffed. “Though it’s rather unimaginative.”

Lowie gave a bark of laughter and looked over at Sirra to see if she had listened to the interchange. She returned his look for a moment, then deliberately turned and sat with her back to him at the edge of the platform, dangling her legs over the side, above the leafy canopy far below. She stared down toward the unseen depths … where Raaba had disappeared.

“Well then,” Em Teedee said, sounding hurt now, “once you’ve taught the others your dialect, Master Lowbacca, I suppose you won’t require my services anymore.”

“Of course we’ll still need you, Em Teedee,” Jaina said. “We’ll never be able to understand every word Lowie says.”

Lowie absently grunted his agreement, still looking at Sirra’s hunched shoulders. It occurred to him that although he had come home to support her in this difficult time, he had no idea how to do it. Clearly, his presence alone was not enough. He wanted to try talking with her, but what if she had problems he couldn’t solve? What if he was part of the problem, having set a dangerous example that his sister felt obligated to follow, though it might mean her death?

Still balanced on his hands but deep in thought about Sirra, Lowie lost his concentration and his balance again, this time with embarrassing results. He teetered precariously for a moment, trying to regain his equilibrium. Em Teedee let out a squeal of surprise, then Lowie toppled over, landing on his rear end with a loud thump.

Jaina rushed over, adding to the Wookiee’s embarrassment. “Are you all right?”

Lowie wished his friends had ignored the entire incident. To Jaina’s credit, as soon as she had determined he was unhurt, she made a hasty retreat and became absorbed in her exercises again, studiously pretending not to notice while Lowie picked himself up off the platform’s floorboards and dusted off his fur.

Still a bit self-conscious at his clumsiness, Lowie told Em Teedee to shut down for a rest cycle as he ambled over and seated himself by Sirra at the platform’s edge, letting his legs swing free beside hers. He waited for a while, hoping his withdrawn sister would say something, since he had no idea where to begin. Watching her out of the corner of his eye, he pondered again what had caused them to turn out so different from each other, how two such opposites could spring from the same set of parents.

Lowie had a strong aptitude for the Force, whereas Sirra showed neither potential nor interest in the Jedi Knights. Lowie’s quiet introspective nature had always been a sharp contrast to her confident outspokenness—until recently, that is, when she’d become so quiet. And, while Lowie could sit engrossed for hours in the intricacies of a computer system, Sirra became restless quickly and longed for excitement and adventure. In addition, Lowie had always prided himself in being obedient, finding it simpler to do what was expected of him than to expend effort on meaningless acts of rebellion against authority.

At that thought, Lowie’s eyes were drawn to the bands of close-cropped fur on Sirra’s body. It was not a style sported by any adults that Lowie knew, and very few youth. He finally decided to ask her about it, hoping to start a conversation somehow. Lowie blurted out the question, asking if the style kept her cooler during warm weather.

Sirra shrugged. That was not why she did it.

A symbol of mourning, then? For Raaba?

Sirra snorted at the suggestion.

Rebellion, then?

Sirra thought for a moment before sighing in confusion, obviously at a loss about how to explain. She thought of it as … a way of showing on the outside what did not show on the inside: that she was different.

Lowie considered this, rumbling deep in his throat. He had thought it was already clear enough that everyone was different.

Sirra shook her head and sprang to her feet on the platform. Lowie saw at once that she was irritated, that he had misunderstood her, for his sister walked all the way around the edge of the platform before motioning for him to join her. When he did, he practically had to run to keep pace with her.

At last Sirra spoke again, her agitation apparent in her voice. She pointed to her shaved wrists and elbows, explaining in more detail that she did this to show others that she was not like them.

Lowie cocked his head quizzically, trying to think of a response, but Sirra resumed her explanation. She said that since she didn’t have Force potential as he did, their parents had always just assumed that she would work in the fabrication facility. But Sirra had no wish to work there like everyone else did. She didn’t enjoy assembling computers, and was only a mediocre programmer. She raised a fist and barked loudly—she wanted something much more exciting!

Lowie shook his head sternly. Wookiees could excel in engineering, in science, in piloting—anything they wanted to. But such success did not come easily. He nodded toward his friends to indicate how hard they were training at the moment. Lowie and Sirra walked together for a while in silence.

Jacen, Jaina, and Tenel Ka finished their exercises and perched at the edge of the platform, looking down at the beautiful tree canopy. Jacen pointed. “Hey, Lowie—how do you say the name for those trees?”

Lowie barked the answer—wroshyr.

After he and Sirra had skirted the trio, Lowie asked his sister what she wanted to do with her life. Sirra groaned and shrugged uncertainly.

Lowie thought for a moment. Well, what did she like to do? he asked.

Sirra heaved a heavy sigh, spreading her hairy arms wide to encompass the forest and the sky. She loved to be out and around, to visit new places and learn new things. She enjoyed feeling free, the way Lowie himself did when he’d travel alone in his skyhopper. And Sirra liked making her own decisions, not being told what she had to do and when.

Lowie growled the names of distant cities of Kashyyyk, suggesting other factories, other jobs. Sirra waved a hand as if to brush the idea away. She wanted to do something important, something unusual. Her voice suddenly sounded resentful of Lowie and his Jedi friends. They had been given a tremendous opportunity, and she wanted one for herself.

The twins and Tenel Ka took turns reaching out with the Force to make temporary furrows in the leafy canopy below, as if a giant invisible bird of prey were skimming over the leaves in search of its quarry. Sirra grumbled in disgust and pointed to the Jedi trainees “racing” their Force furrows through the leaves, crisscrossing and intertwining them.

She would never squander talent like that, she insisted. Knowing that she soon intended to prove her strength and bravery against a syren plant, Sirra expressed her doubts that the young Jedi Knights would last even five minutes down in the forest underlevels. Their Force powers would not keep them safe, she asserted, if this was how they used them.

Lowie fixed his sister with a challenging look, trying to explain difficult concepts. His friends were merely “exercising” their abilities. Learning and practice were never wasted. He insisted that his friends were much stronger than they appeared.

Sirra shrugged away the comment and began pacing the flat, sun-drenched platform again. Exasperated, Lowie demanded to know how she expected him to help her solve her problem.

Surprise registered on Sirra’s face. She hadn’t asked him for a solution.

It was Lowie’s turn to be perplexed. If he saw his sister confused or in pain, he asked, shouldn’t he assume she wanted help?

Sirra’s eyes narrowed. With a quick series of gruff words, she reminded him of when he had fallen down a few minutes earlier and bruised his … his dignity. Had he wanted anyone to solve his problem for him?

Lowie shook his head. Sirra raised her eyebrows, asking if now he understood.

Lowie saw what his sister was getting at, but that had not been the same thing. He knew she needed help.

Sirra sat down again at the platform’s edge, looking out across the wroshyr trees. Lowie squatted beside his sister with earnest concern, and her expression softened. She didn’t want him to solve her problem, she said, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t helping.

Lowie realized that it was helping her just to have someone who listened.

He clasped her shoulder, and Sirra sat closer to him. For now, that seemed to be enough.