forged ahead, pushing through the field with the last of his strength,
absorbing its weakened power in dull aches and hot flashes. Suddenly he was
through, his hands drawing the children behind him in a steady stream.
Anakin forced his mind back to the field, joining Tahiri in a last
effort to weaken its power as the children streamed from the globe, hand in
hand. Minutes later it was over, the last child emerging from the globe's
cursed grasp. Anakin sank to the stone floor.
"You're free," Tahiri said softly to the countless children who
crowded the chamber. Their small, spiritlike forms were almost transparent.
Cloaked in white robes outlined in shimmering blue, they stood silently
before the Jedi candidates.
"Do you think they understand?" Tahiri asked as she sat down beside
Anakin.
wonderment and joy. One of them walked toward the Jedi candidates. He
reached out a small hand and gently touched both of their faces. Anakin
felt the brush of a feather across his cheek at the touch. Then the
Massassi child bowed and moved back to the other children. Slowly they all
began to fade from sight, until the last glimmering blue outline
disappeared. They had finally returned to their people.
The curse was broken; the children were freed from their imprisonment.
"Do you feel it?" Anakin asked Tahiri.
Tahiri nodded. "Peace to all," she replied softly.
As Tahiri and Anakin moved to leave the chamber, they heard a sharp
sound behind them, and whirled. The golden globe was cracking, its surface
lined with running veins of white. Then, in an instant, the sphere broke
into a thousand shards of crystal, and the golden glitter which had once
filled it spilled out into the chamber, now just lifeless yellow sand.
Anakin and Tahiri left the Palace of the Woolamander. Their eyes
quickly adjusted from the gloom to the soft morning light of the jungle.
And to the figure of Jedi Master Luke Skywalker as he stood on the
crumbling stone steps of the palace,
Master Ikrit by his side. Luke Skywalker studied Anakin and Tahiri.
His face conveyed relief at seeing the two Jedi candidates safe.
"The curse is broken?" Luke asked softly.
"Yes," Anakin answered his uncle.
"You have both done well," Ikrit rasped, his big brown eyes gleaming
in pride at Tahiri and Anakin.
Luke Skywalker nodded. He wrapped his arms around Anakin's and
Tahiri's shoulders.
"I am very proud," Luke said, his eyes meeting theirs.
Slowly the group walked back toward the Jedi academy. For the first
time in a long time, Anakin and Tahiri were not heading toward danger, but
simply toward the future-adventure, the Force, and their ultimate goal: to
become Jedi Knights.