Its a big day for Star Wars prequel-prequel era.
Oanne would be consumed.
Burry was less certain.
Image: Penguin Random House
The Nihil might set fire to your forests, thats true, Bell said with a frown.
But if youre here, youll die, too.
If you evacuate with us, you have a chance.
Image: Penguin Random House
Doesnt the Republic want us for our The translator droid stumbled over the name of the fungus.
Burry didnt need to hear it.
No, he said sharply in An-An, startling everyone.
Burry met her vivid-green gaze.
The bristles along her neck rippled, shimmering green-blue to blue-green.
Gently, Bell said, Maybe its true the Republic wants your mushrooms, but not me and Burryaga.
We want to keep you safe.
The medicine artist looked sad.
Bell didnt like how much he still relied on interpreters sometimes.
Bells reliance didnt bother Burry, but his determination to learn filled Burry with warmth.
There hadnt been room in the bunk to twirl him around, but that didnt stop Burry from trying.
Bell wanted to understand his friend.
It was right above his belt, where the brown of his robes crossed.
Then the medicine artist touched her own stomach over the interwoven strips of sashes that served as her clothing.
She said something the interpreter droid couldnt translate.
It sounded like the Shyriiwook word for chiming bells: Arryssslesh.
Burry touched his stomach where she had.
He answered her with his name in his native language.
Come, she said, waving over her shoulder as she trotted deeper into the forest.
Burry glanced down at Bell, then grabbed his friends elbow and hauled him up.
They followed the medicine artist.
The interpreter droid tromped after.
Most here were older, parents to generations of Elia-An.
He tried to avoid crushing the grasses along the narrow Elia-An path, but his feet were too large.
When the blades bent and broke, they smelled like spice and their nectar glimmered like star algae.
It lit the forest from below, and Burry thought it was beautiful.
Beside him, Bell said, Its beautiful.
Burry roared a soft agreement.
If the Nihil came here, theyd turn it into ashes and smeared nectar.
Burry tried to let go of the anger he felt when thinking of the destructive determination of the Nihil.
Better to rest in this lush forest teeming with the Force.
It felt strong and connected, in the way of a healthy ecosystem.
Burry, empathic as he was, sensed the emotions of the nativity trees.
They were more like their sentient Elia-An counterparts than most trees Burry had encountered.
He wondered if any Force users had tried to transplant the nativity trees into a starships arboretum.
The medicine artist brought them into a meadow filled with bright-yellow insects floating aroundno, they were seeds.
Burry found himself purring slightly in amusement.
Everything here was connected on more than just the level of the Force.
Ah, um, Bell said.
Several of the insect seeds had settled in Bells hair like a string of jewels.
Burry laughed softly and told Bell he looked very pretty.
Theyd spent so much time chasing and fighting, nearly dying again and again.
When he went to sleep, he always expected to be woken up with emergency alarms blaring.
This is a Grandfather tree, the medicine artist said via the droid.
The memory in this Grandfather helps us locate our seed-heart.
Burry nodded, though he didnt understand the terms perfectly.
The Elia-An moved from grove to grove, drifting with their communities to new trees.
Come, the medicine artist said again.
We cannot leave them, she said.
The droids translation was emotionless, but Burry could feel the grief and certainty in Arrysssleshs trill.
He closed his eyes and leaned into the tree.
The Grandfather tree was sad, too.
It longed, it .
As if the Grandfather wanted these Elia-An to go, to save themselves.
He knew if he said that, Arryssslesh would be even less inclined to evacuate.
She put her small seven-fingered hand over the back of Burrys, sandwiching him between her and the tree.
Burry breathed deeply, and the Force thrummed throughout himthroughout the whole forest.
It felt like home to him.
This forest, in particular, had grown in a balance.
Take one part away and the others would be bereft.
The Nihil had cut off part of the galaxy from the rest with their Stormwall.
If they cut through the Oanne system, Burry was not sure the Elia-An could ever recover.
They shouldnt have to leave.
Burry could feel his friend join the connection more directly.
Tiny spots on the Grandfather tree began to glow.
Arrysssleshs bristles tipped with the same light.
There was no such thing as apart.
He really wanted to hug the whole tree, and so he did.
He fell into the Force, into the rootwork and interlocking lace of the branches.
He let himself have a moment, this moment, invited to connect with an intricate web of Force.
Somethingsomething not too far from heredrew his attention through the layers of Force and emotion.
It could be a dying nativity tree or a body of water, something slightly diseased maybe.
Hed ask Arrysssleshshe would know.
But first Burryaga pushed his awareness toward it.
A harsh electronic bleep cut through his thoughts.
Burry jerked back, and Bell flailed for his comlink.
Sorry, Bell gasped.
He thumbed the alert off and stepped back from the tree.
This is Bell Zettifar.
came the tinny voice through the comlink.
Youre needed back on the Tractate.
Theres a distress call from the neighboring system and we The comlink distorted.
They were deep in the trees, after all.
Im sorry, can you say that again?
Burry stopped in his tracks.
Drengirsentient, vicious, meat-eating plant monsters.
On the Stormwall border.
Burry, come on, Bell said, shock echoing in his voice.
Reprinted from Star Wars: The High Republic: Temptation of the Force by Tessa Gratton.
2024 by Lucasfilm Ltd.
Published by Random House Worlds, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.
Star Wars: Temptation of the Forcehits bookshelves next week on June 11.
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