The Young Republic | A Star Wars Story

Chapter 28

The Seeing Stone

"When in doubt, go to the source"

The Seeing Stone was considerably less dramatic than Xena expected.

Underwhelming even. It was literally a rock - a small one at that - in the middle of a bunch of other rocks. There wasn't any cool... stuff. Just a rock. Xena bets that if she tapped into the Force and felt around a bit, she might feel the awe-inspiring, absolutely space-shattering, great power of majesty of this particular rock. But nope, she ain't gunna do nothin'.

"It's just a rock."

"I can see that, Rex."

"Is it supposed to look like that?"

Xena shrugged. Like hell if she knew. She's never seen it, never heard any descriptive tales about it. "It's the inside that counts, man."

Rex's hands found their way onto his hips. "You're just sparing its feelings."

"You can't change the way you're born."

Rex shook his head, hand coming up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Alright, great. We're making jokes about a rock -" He circles around once, twice, looking at the other rocks and pillars around them. The other clones looked just as dumbfounded as him, all scattered around sitting on stones, waiting for something extraordinary to happen.

"- you sure this is it?" Rex asks because he's finding it a little hard to believe. Jedi stuff never looked so... normal. Boring, yes, definitely dull. Jedi loved boring stuff. They weren't all there for flashiness or colour or anything extravagant. Maybe General Skywalker and Xena, but the rest are boring.

But never normal. No matter how boring, Jedi stuff never felt normal. There was always something so abhorrently abnormal about them. That other-worldly feeling. Like their separate, and all their stuff is sort of untouchable.

But this.... This is disappointing.

And judging from Xena's face, pouted mouth and skewering eyes, it was also a bit of an anticlimax for her as well. Arms crossed, Xena shifted weight from one foot to the other. "I think so."

Well. Okay.

Rex walked over to the stone. There wasn't any repulsion or shield or anything invisible keeping him back. He let his hand drift over the stone - cold from the morning chill, and dusty from the wind that creeps around at the oddest of times - then let it drop. "So what are we supposed to do with it?"

Now that Xena was unsure of. "I guess... I'll meditate on it."

"What, like sit on it?"

"Yeah," Xena also felt around the stone. It was flatter at the top and big enough for someone to sit on. "I mean, what else can I do?"

Rex gave the rock a few good pats, checking to see if it really was just a boring old rock. He shrugged.

"Alright, you keep the men entertained," Xena stretched a bit, still wondering how the hell she was going to make this work. Yoda had been very vague about his instructions. Go find it, he said. See who can give advice, he said. No harm, no difficulty, he also said.

Yeah, right; Xena felt as clueless as the day she was flung across time. Stepping up, Xena spun in a little circle, dusting gray dust off the rock, then sat down crossed-legged. Again, nothing happened.