Managing the Shadows (Star Wars Legacy - AK, After Krayt, Part 1)

Chapter 5: Life From Death

Cade rubbed his hand on the edge of the wooden table. He traced the carvings in the wood. He felt the grooves of a four pointed star chiseled into the wood. The northern tip pointed to an arrow, used to target far away prey and lead it towards primitive traps. Going clockwise the next tip pointed to a spear, the weapon that the lead hunter would use to deliver the killing blow. The southern tip pointed towards a Beesh, the Myneyrshi blade used for harvesting flesh and skinning the hide. Finally, the last tip pointed to a Hooghan, the ceremonial tool used for carving wood and stone in a decorative fashion.

When Myneyrshi worked with anything dead, they gave it a certain reverence. Over the years of continual planet wide cataclysms, the Myneyrshi had coined a phrase, Hoj'uh Chidi. Em had once told Cade that the term roughly translated into "life from death".

Cade moved his hand along the beautiful engravings, the stories told in carvings. He then felt the rings of the wood on the top of the table and began counting them. He estimated this tree had probably been close to 250 years old when it met its untimely demise. An uninterrupted life cycle of the Nineez Ina trees could have them live to be thousands of years old.

Em came up to the table with a boiling pot of water in one of his hands, a cup of sugar in another, and a tray balancing four wooden cups and a container of herbs in his other two hands.

He placed the tray on the table and began making tea with the herbs and boiling water.

"One spoonful or two spoonfuls of sugar?" Em'Achee asked.

"Five for me!" Traya shouted with a giggle.

"She'll take two." Cade butted in.

Traya leaned back and sulked in her chair. Em gave her a wink and a smile as he put three spoonfuls of sugar in her tea while Cade pretended not to notice.

Cade stopped examining the table with his hands and attempted to sense it in the Force. He grew unnerved as he realized the material of the table, Deadwood. This table was just like the root he carried in his pocket, it had no presence in the Force.

"This is a beautiful table," Cade noted to Em.

"Yes, it was brought in by Tsintah. He's traveled deep into the Deadwoods and brought back many wonderful items, pieces, and artifacts."

Although the wood made Cade, and often other Jedi, who came in contact with it uncomfortable, this wood was held as sacred by the Myneyrshi people. What better example of Hoj'uh Chidi than taking an object dead to the Force itself and making it into something so immensely alive.

"How is your Ts'i young one?"

"Needs more sugar," Traya huffed.

Cade gave Traya a nudge with his elbow and smiled at Em'Achee, "it is delicious, Em."

Cha'ku also gave a grunt of approval. Once Em had finished serving all his guests he took a seat. "So Cade, as happy as I am to see you, I can't help but notice you seem on edge. What brings you to Wayland now?"

Cade pulled the root he had been carrying around with him out of his pocket and placed it on the table.

"I have been trying to study this piece of Deadwood and see if on my own I could glimpse hints into the mystery of its emptiness in the Force. I have traveled to a number of planets searching for experts in the Force who might aid me in the matter.

"It seems to me there are two options. Some remnant of Yuuzhan Vong life energy is still flowing through the Deadwood. It seems like a possibility, although not very likely or practical. Or something is cloaking the Deadwood and everything that has become entangled with the Deadwood.