Star Wars: The Colors of the Force

Chapter 11

Naluma ignored the tottering old man's queries and strutted into the garden through the paned double-doors. She opened the book and allowed the Force-light to bathe her in its sparkling blue. In the cool evening with the stars glittering above, she followed the overgrown path through the topiary labyrinth. Left, left, right, straight ahead, left, left, right, right, left.

Halfway down the last straightway, Naluma crouched at the base of the juniper hedge. If she had counted correctly, the treasure Padmé had hidden so many years ago was here.

Reading the passage once more, the blue letters glowing from the page, Naluma's heartbeat quickened.

"It's the most lovely gift in the galaxy. When I hold it in my hand, it glows, never settling on a color. Transitioning from red to orange to yellow to green to blue to indigo to violet and back to red, this Kyber crystal fascinates me. I can almost hear a note or two when it shines orange. I'll never let this go, not now that I know what terrors A. had to fight to get it. The Ilum Excursions are definitely a trial by fire and ice. I think I'll take it to the jewelers one day and see if they can set it in a pendant or ring. Can you just see the attention I would get with a gemstone changing colors every few seconds?"

That's the second Kyber crystal on this planet? Wonder where they got the other one. She turned the page to the next glowing letters.

"Bad news. The crystal split in half when I gave it to the jeweler. He said he didn't try to cut it. Just tried to mount it. But I think he's lying. What am I going to tell A.? One piece still changes colors. The other has turned blue. I can't even try to mend them."

A map of the hedge maze was doodled below the handwriting.

"I've decided to give the blue splinter to the museum. It's too small for anyone to use, but the Natural History Museum is always looking for oddities."

"I have this uncanny feeling I'm being watched. Ever since I brought the splintered pieces home, private conversations in an empty room are making their way to the Senate and the Chancellor. Someone or something's spying on me, and they're doing it through one of these crystals. With the splinter in the museum, I won't have to worry about that one. But the larger one? It pains me to let it go. But I have to. Some of our conversation about ... well, I shall not write another word. Who knows who's reading this diary. I'm going to hide the larger piece in the labyrinth. "

Naluma found three rocks arranged in a triangle, just like the diary had led. She scraped around the edges and found the stone to be much larger underneath, only the tips poking out from the earthy loam. Fingers probing, she tore through the softer material and into a dense layer of mud beneath the manicured evergreen hedge. As she reached the compacted mud layer, the dark dirt wedged under her fingernails. Guess I'll really need a manicure now. About six inches down, her fingers struck a solid object, much larger than the Kyber crystal could be. Using the Force, she blew the remaining detritus away from the object—a ceramic lid.

She pried it off with her fingers and expected to find the hidden crystal. Instead, she discovered a torn parchment rolled into a tiny scroll. After extracting it with two fingers, she unrolled the yellowed vellum. "Ha! Ha, Sabé!" That was one of her handmaidens' names. "You thought you could find it that easily. Good luck with this clue."

Dots and dashes formed a fanciful pictogram. At first, Naluma thought the picture was the clue, but then she realized it was in the secure code that the old Jedi Temple used for private messages. Wracking her brain for a few minutes, she tried to remember the meaning of the few familiar symbols. That's a nern. Oh, and that's an esk. Mern. Trill. Senth. Aurek. Besh. Crench. Resh. Dorn. I think I can figure this out.

"-nder t-e tree ... under the tree, the fruit that we shared that night we first kissed, find it you will beneath the flowing water"

What fruit? Well, it's probably in the orchard if it's a fruit tree. Maybe the Force will give me a clue once I get there. Naluma brushed the soil from her hands and sundress. So much for this dress. Oh, well. She ignited the lightsaber with the snap and hiss and let it lead her through the vineyards to the orchard by the stream.

When she reached the grove, the boughs of each tree hung heavy with fruit. Some lay scattered on the ground, over ripe and rotting, while other species were still green with weeks left before they could be harvested.

Huffing to catch her breath, she recognized singing. It was like a choir of ethereal voices chanting her name. Barely audible, but it was there, to her left in the sloping ravine. She slunk across the orchard floor, careful to keep her movements quiet so she could follow the sound.

A black bird squawked in front of her and took flight above the tree canopy with a large suura in his mouth.

"Go away, you thief!" she yelled at the brazen avian.

The light-green, hour-glass-shaped fruit hung from the tree above her. She could smell the sweetness of the juices dripping from the harvest with the slight fragrance of fermentation wafting from the fallen spoiled ones.

Naluma scrunched her nose. I hope I'm not digging under those.

But, no, the song had not stopped. It was still further on. Closer to the stream. A few more steps is all it would take to reach it.

Her sandals pounded the loose dirt into footprints as she strided to her goal. She ducked between the growing thicket and brushed back two massive fan-shaped fronds. A small spring gurgled on a ridge, running in a rivulet to meet the larger stream. The hillside glowed to her Force-enhanced vision. Red. Orange. Yellow. Green. Blue. Indigo. Violet.

She scrambled up the side of the ridge, scraping her hands and knees in the process, but the pain didn't matter. She had to answer the call of the Kyber. She had to reach the Colors of the Force. On the cliff side, she grabbed a block of riverstone that surrounded the spring. With an easy tug, the piece pulled free.

The light shot forth across the orchard and the stream, lighting the lake, brighter than any of the pyrotechnics from her first night on Naboo. Hesitantly, she extended her hand into the blazing colors. When her long fingers barely graced the crystal, before she could even see it, the colors pulsating. The song increased in her ears—"Naluma!" A violet beam shot forth, encasing the valley and the mansion in its glow. A second later, the light subsided, barely glowing inside the splintered stone, but still a steady purple.

Naluma scooped it into her hand. Wow! I thought all those records were exaggerating. But it did sing. It did call me. Wait! Wasn't this supposed to be for Luke? Shouldn't it have called him? Turned blue like his Force-signature?