Chapter 128

Liane chuckled.

"This four poster bed was exchanged for the surplus of the nut harvest? That's not what master Cornell had in mind, I guess?"

"Absolutely not, but the merchant who traded all the furniture in this room was very eager to buy up the whole surplus of nut harvest of that year, for not only did he offered the furniture, but also a considerable amount of credits."

"Those transaction always must have taken place on Myr, after the harvest men had come back from Tyr, hadn't they?" Luke asked.

"Yes, Luke, and I know what you've been thinking about. Trading from Tyr never took place, because landing on Tyr was too dangerous."

Luke nodded. Liane got a fit of laughter.

"So master Cornell and his men stood on the western plains with this load of furniture: the bed, the rug, the couches et so on." She said laughing.

"That's right, but Cornell didn't warn the governors, or me. They loaded all of it on the two pulse boat speeders and shipped it to Cantamaga. Once on Tyr they stored it all in one of their larger storages, before they went back to Myr for the rest of the year. What Cornell intended to do with it, I don't know. I have asked him about it once our whole community arrived on Tyr and we needed to prepare accommodation of all the Quelans. He couldn't remember."

"How did it ended up in this tower?" Luke asked.

"After our arrival the harvest men cleared several of their storages buildings. In one of them they discovered this forgotten load. I ordered them to bring it to top room of this tower, the other towers were still loaded with nut harvest, after several of Quelans had done the clean up. I have to say that it hadn't really suffered from being in store for several years and after being cleaned and brought here it became a temporary accommodation for the governors' families, as the governors themselves had gone back to Myr to ask the occupier of our town to free the thirty young Quenlan male. Luke, meanwhile you know, that it took Toallin and Mugin quite some years before they met you and your friends.

After Cantamaga had taken shape and most of the Quelans had found a new way of life in a new house, we locked up this room as we didn't have a proper use for it. It's good furniture, but it is not what the Quelans appreciate. We mostly keep our furniture sober and user-friendly as we have always done."

Kamalin pointed to the four poster bed.

"This isn't what a Quelan bed use to be, but I understand you appreciate to stay here. Maybe, we should consider to bring all of this to Myr again and prepare a guest room especially for the two of you when you will visited Ribana in the future."

Liane looked puzzled.

"How did you managed to bring the bed up to this room? The spiral staircase to reach this room certainly isn't use to do that."

"Partly, Shaayla-Car, for the bed can be taken apart in several more manageable pieces. We discovered that when we took it from the storage room. Cornell and his men also hadn't transported it in one piece.

Toallin looked around in the room and nodded.

"Kamalin, I have a better option for the use of this furniture. You suggested to prepare a kind of special guest room on Myr for Luke and Shaayla-Car, but I wonder how often will they be able to visit us, once Ribana has been restored and they have gone back to their duties elsewhere in this galazy. It could take years for them to come back to Palomintar Four. They will always be welcome, but as the duties of the Jedi Knights always come first, I think there won't be much time for personal leisure moments. "

Toallin looked at Liane.

"You love the furnishing of this room, don't you Shaayla-Car?" He asked.

"Absolutely, Toallin. It's so cozy and warm. It's wonderful to stay here. I feel at home here." She said.

"That's a good feeling, Shaayla-Car. It is my believe that women are better to make a house into a home, where you like to come back after a long journey or a day of work.

Luke, I gave you the key of the cabin on Palomintar Six. Shaayla-Car, when you will have a look around you will notice the essential furniture Mugin and I made: the table and chairs in the living room, some comfortable armchairs and the single beds in our common sleeping room. You love this room, you will love the sleeping room in the cabin with its broad doors to the terrace around the cabin, so I give you the furniture of this room to make that sleeping room on Palomintar a memory of your stay here in Cantamaga. Make the cabin the home for you and Luke, Shaayla-Car. You know what I mean, don't you?"

"Yes, Toallin, if you and the other Quelan won't use this furniture it would be lovely to use in the cabin on Palomintar Six." Liane said and she looked at Luke who nodded in agreement.

Kamalin also nodded.

"It's good to know that we have find a good use for all this, but you will needs help to transport, I guess."

The Astræga has a large cargo hold at the back which isn't in use," Luke said, "And I'm sure, that Shaayla-Car will love it use her Force skills to remove all of this."

"Then it's all yours. You can take it now, or when you will go to Palomintar Six when the second group has returned to Tyr." Toallin said.

Liane looked at Luke.

"I want to join the second group back to Tyr, Luke, for I will support the sons of master Cornell to gather the fallen nuts again."

"Shaayla-Car, you and me will support Filann and Cemall. Probably the governors and the chairman of the Council will be there too."

Kamalin and Toallin rose.

"We'll talk to solve further practical problem at a later stage. Enjoy your stay. It's a lovely evening still, and you need time to relax after all that has happened this afternoon in the nut forest."

The two Quelan leaders left. Luke and Liane walked over to the terrace. Liane looked at him.

"What a great gifts did Toallin bestow on us. It will be lovely to stay in the cabin with this beautiful furniture.

"Make that cabin our home, my love, for I want to go there together as often as possible." He said before he kissed her.

Manall looked with concern at Wollin.

"Are you sure to be alone with that hothead of a grandson in the community building?" He asked.

"He already knows that he's no match for me, Manall. Moreover he has to work with me without his harvest equipment belt. We won't sleep there, for Han Solo will bring him back to the cargo hold at the end of the day. That's reassuring. You shouldn't worry about him."

"I'm not worrying about him, Wollin, I'm worrying about you. He attacked you with his knife. Maybe it will be an idea to have all the harvest men work without the equipment belt as it is now, for weapons, like knives, are no longer needed if we'll gathering the fallen nuts." Manall said.

"You might meet opposition, Manall, but it certainly will help the relationship between the Quelans and the Urams," Wollin remarked. "It's good that you will have the overall responsibility again, Manall."

"Hasn't there never be opposition against what my son was doing?"

"Manall, most of us found the idea that the yield of the nut harvest surplus would increase the way of life of our community a good reason to change the way we harvested the nuts. You also have admitted that it had advantages."

"I know I have, and I feel some responsibility and shame, Wollin, that while I had to stay on Myr I never really let sink in in what way the surplus could yield more."

"Cornell didn't want you to know, Manall. I often have told him that he should consult you, or at least keep you informed. He always refused."

"You know, Wollin, I can't blame him. My son doesn't have the same feeling with the nut wood I have. Therefore I felt devastated when all of us had to go back to Tyr and find our way of life in Cantamaga. Tell me, my old friend, am I right that there weren't any nut trees chopped down while all the Quelans where on Tyr."

"Who told you that, Manall?" Wollin asked.

"No one, but since I'm living outside the harvest men's community I often have visited the nut woods on my own. I met my old friends in the nut woods. Two adult Urams, after a long time of suspicion, became my friends again. During my many visits, Wollin, I have never noticed fresh chopped down trees, so I concluded that my son never chopped down trees while we were living in Cantamaga in exile."

Wollin was silent for a long time.

"Shortly after our arrival on Tyr a severe accident happened in the nut woods, Manall" Wollin said pensively.

"I heard of it, Wollin. It was a wise decision of the Council of the Elders to forbid any Quelan from entering the nut woods."

"Yes, Manall, but Cornell also didn't want that any of us would ask for a Harvest Council hearing, about the chopping of the tree we had done in the years before all the Quelans came to Cantamaga. It has been Ccrnell to ask Kamalin to issue a 'special announcement' that would forbid the Quelans to enter the nut woods as long as the Quelan community was staying on Tyr. During the first years of our exile we kept ourselves busy building houses for our fellow Quelans. Most of the harvest men thought that the governors would somehow be able to convince the occupier to leave, so the Quelans could return to Ribana."

"After which the ruin of the forest could start again, " Manall said sternly and disappointed.

"When nothing was heard of the governors again all the Quelans assumed that they would never return and master Kamalin and master Woldrin governed Cantamaga in their name, but the harvest men's lives became boring, for once all the Quelans had gotten a new house and the administration building had been set up, there wasn't much for us harvest men to do. Some went secretly into the nut woods, but the Urams always attacked them, so after some other accidents all of us stayed away from the nut woods.

Of course we knew about our project on Myr to bring the water back to Ribana. Cornell wanted to use the time we couldn't harvest the nuts, to go back to Myr and continue with our project, but master Kamalin was against the use of both hover pulse boats, saying that if both boats would be gone that Quelans couldn't get back to Ribana, if the occupier would leave the cave in the mountain.

Therefore Cornell was all too excited when the Jedi and his friends brought the governors back and ask the harvest men to assist them to free Ribana. Cornell explained our project and Han Solo and Jedi Knight Skywalker accepted to help us. It wasn't really our idea to free Ribana, but we wanted to do something useful, although we knew that it would take at least another decade and more to get the project up and running."

Manall shook his head.

"And all those years he didn't want to ask me how the nut harvest could be done without the Urams to attack. Well, I have to undo what my son has done, because he has focussed himself too much on improving the Quelan's way of life. It's an unexpected discovery Han Solo has a look at the rocks with contain the aludium crystals. Those crystals might really benefit our community, but the governors need to be very cautious when selling those crystals."

Wollin looked at the old harvest man.

"Manall, you knew that the rocks contained the aludium crystals, didn't you?" He asked.

Manall nodded, but remained silent for a while as if he was recalling something from the past.

"Yes, I knew, and I know what those crystal are used for. I've once heard about the find of the crystals and intruders came to Palomintar Four to lay their hands on what the mountain ridge on Myr was hiding. Luckily, all those intruders left and no one ever has come to Palomintar Four to to search for aludium crystals. Therefore it will be wise to be very prudent not to spend the yield on extravagance, for that might attract unwanted attention on other systems.

Wollin the leadership of the harvest men need to cooperate very closely with the governors and the Council of the Elders in the future. It will be our responsibility to avoid that Myr will again be occupied by greedy traders or fortune seekers who wants to profit on behalf of the Quelan community."

"So those aludium crystals are dangerous, Manall."

"Alumdium crystals are rare, Wollin, and that might be dangerous. That's way I want all the leaders of our community to be cautious, very cautious when we are selling those crystals to buyers on other systems.

It's good, Wollin, to discuss this with you. I will also inform Cornell and Roshann. My son deserves a second chance to become a leader, a more responsible leader with a better look at the consequences of actions he wants to take. You and Roshann will have to remind him of what I expect of him... and of his sons. When will Han Solo bring Filann to the community building for the first time?"

"Probably tomorrow or the day after."

"That's fine. Let me know when you will go there too. I want to join you."

"You're always welcome, Manall. It might be good if Filann realizes that his grandfather is also keeping an eye on him."

Early the next day Wedge and Ian went to the nut wood without Chati and Lorann.

"Do you really believe that your healing skills can also work on those tree stumps?" Wedge asked

"I can yet tell, Wedge. Shaayla-Car began to use Force Healing skills. When she looked at me I understood that she wanted my assistance."

"Those stumps are still rooted in the soil of the wood. They are still living beings and part of the Living Force," Wedge said pensively, "Maybe your sister have been thinking along similar thoughts. It would be amazing to see if those stumps would sprout again, and the buds turn into leaves and later on in branches."

"It still will take years before the damage on the clearing will be undone. Master Manall will need all his persuasiveness to change the harvesting way."

They had reach the entrance of the nut wood and follow the short path to the clearing. As they looked around they saw that already tens of stumps had been covered with the greasy paste the Uram feathers produce. Ian walked over to the stump where his sister has used her healing skills to awaken a sleeping bud. Wedge was looking at the fallen tree stems that lay in some disordered heap near the edge of the clearing. Just like the tree stumps the stems were overgrown with moss and fungi. Pensively Wedge looked around to all the edges of the clearing, when Ian called.

"Wedge, come over here. You should have a look. This is incredible. Shaayla-Car was right. Those stumps will grown into nut trees again."

Wedge walked over to Ian and looked in amazement at the tree stump. In a circle around top grew some tens of green bud through the greasy paste. Some buds already were enfolding tiny leaves. Ian sat down near the stump and watched the blooming buds.

"Maybe I should use my healing skills to awaken sleeping buds on the other tree stumps. I often come here with you and the others. Maybe I'm not yet as strong as Shaayla-Car, but it might help. What do you think, Wedge?"

"It's a good idea, and it certainly will convince Oltomyran of the growth potential of the greasy paste, for I understand that Shaayla-Car said that the paste will provide food for the sleeping buds. You should do it, Tama-Hin, when we're assisting Chati and Loran."

Ian stood up and looked at Wedge.

"You look puzzled, Wedge. What's on your mind," Ian asked.

Wedge grinned.

"Being a Jedi Knight, Tama-Hin, you should know, but look around at the clearing and see what has happened here and what has not." Wedge said slowly.

Ian let his glance wander over the clearing. He noticed the fallen trees, the tree stumps and the thousands of nuts on the forest floor. Slowly he walked over to a spot where the light was brighter. He bowed and carefully touched some small plants. Then he looked up at Wedge.

"Once again my sister was right, Wedge. There are nut seedlings growing here."

Ian looked around and began to smile.

"Wedge, there are seedlings everywhere if you look carefully."

Wedge nodded.

"The fallen nuts have taken root and have produce the small leaves of a seedling that over several years produce new nut trees. But what does it tell you, Tama-Hin, as we're seeing these tiny seedlings?"

Ian looked around and suddenly his face brightened.

"Recently, Wedge, only you, me, Chati and Lorann have been here. We always stayed near the entrance of the clearing when those two young Quelan Force users were feeding the younger Urams. We never walked further and what I miss are nut trees that have been recently chopped down. Those fallen trees near the edge are laying here already for years. Wedge, the harvest men haven't gathered nuts by chopping down trees in recent years."

"Right, Tama-Hin, and since when could that have happened?"

Ian started walking around along the far edge of the clearing, touching some of the nut trees, looking at the vegetation and then slowly walked over to his companion.

"Since the Quelans were driving out of Ribana and went into exile in Cantamaga." He said.

"We don't know what Cantamaga looked like when the community from Ribana arrived here. I assume, that the harvest men were asked to help building houses. That could be a good reason why they didn't go into the nut woods to chop down nut trees, but there's another possible explanation. While all the harvest men and the Quelans were living on Tyr, they couldn't sell the nut surplus, for the traders couldn't come to Tyr due to the cause of the cloud layers."

Ian grinning.

"The Quelans arrived about seven or eight years ago. All that time the harvest men didn't do any chopping of tree. First, because their help was needed elsewhere, and later on there also wasn't need to gather surplus nuts. Wedge, that explains why Cornell and his men were very willing, I should say eager, to accept Luke and Han's proposal to help us to free Ribana. Cornell told Luke and Han about their project so we should bring the harvest men to Myr to spend their time on their old project."

"Excellent deduction, Tama-Hin. We're not certain if it all went as we presume, but I sense that we're not far from the truth."

"Should we tell the others about our conclusion?"

"On occasion, maybe," Wedge said pensively, "There even might be no reason at all to bring up our conclusions as they might not be relevant any longer, for the focus will be on gathering fallen nuts again in the future. That's what I understood while Shaayla-Car was communicating with Oltomyran. Let's get back to Cantamaga now. They probably will have some breakfast ready and I want to talk to Luke and Shaayla-Car before they leave Tyr."

"You're still the harvest leader, my son, but you will share your leadership more closely than before with Wollin and Roshann." Manall said at Cornell.

"What about you, father?" Cornell asked.

"I'm just supervising, Cornell. I don't want to dictate what has to be done, but I want to be kept informed. There is a lot of work still to be done here in Ribana. Not all the houses can be repaired by the Quelans themselves, and we also have to build houses for ourselves.

I want that our families mingle with those in Ribana. The harvest families shouldn't form a separated group. We are Quelans, just like those who live in Ribana. We're not that special.

Next we need to assign harvest men who will do maintenance and keep a look at the water flow on the mountain. You've heard what Yarnick Grann said.

Now that our project is finished we need to concentrate on how we keep it running. The harvest men have to be assigned in groups of ten. Each group will stay for a month or two up on the campsite. It might be a boring job, but it must be done.

And there always will be a large group of harvest men with you as their leader to go to Tyr with the hover pulse boats to gather a new load of fallen nut to serve the needs of all the Quelans in Ribana, for without nuts there will be no nutritious nut bread. It might be, Cornell, that sometimes I will accompany you when you went to Tyr to harvest the nuts, for I love to stay in my house on Tyr every now and then, and I want to meet my Uran friends in the nut woods. I'm sure that over time, the Urams will become a kind of friends with you and harvest men too. "

"You're not telling me how I want my men to gather the fallen nuts?"

"No, as long as you don't develop ideas to make the nuts fall without chopping down the trees." Manall warned. "The nuts on the trees are for the Urams. The fallen nuts can be gathered by us to serve as our food supply.

There will be enough fallen nuts under the trees, so you also have to stay away from the clearing you have created. Over the time, the nuts which are still on the clearing will grow into nut trees again, and undo the damage of the chopping down of tree. I understand it brought our community a better life, but we also have to learn to be content with what the nut harvest can bring us."

"It's a step back, father. There will be men who don't want to gather the nuts the way you've always done."

"Yes, there certainly will be, but you, Wollin and Roshann must show your authority over them. If necessary, those who still keep refusing to follow your orders, can become permanent maintenance workers on the water project. You can give them a choice, Cornell."

"So, you don't want to be the harvest men's leader again, father?" Cornell asked surprised.

"Son, I have handed over the leadership on request of the Harvest Council. They decided that it was time for me to hand the leadership over to the next generation: you. What I didn't appreciate is that you never ask me, never told me anything, never consulted me, but I learned to live with the fact that you neglected me, and cast me out of the harvest men's community."

Cornell silenced.

"I understood, son, why you acted the way you did. You feared that I would interfere with the decisions you would take. You didn't want me to meddle in your new way of leadership, but had I known what you intended to do in the nut woods I could have pointed out to you that the Urams were also dependent on nuts as food, not on the fallen nuts the Quelans used as food supply, but on the nuts still hanging in the trees. You decided that the unripe nuts would yield a better profit when sold. You were right, but with that decision you brought the wrath of the Urams upon yourself and the harvest men. Had I known what you intended to do I should have told you about the two species which are so dependent on the nuts.

Cornell, you have worked in the nut woods from your seventh year. Too early to become a harvest men, but you were my only son, and I want to take care for you. You have worked under my leadership a long time. I would like to know if you have ever seen that the Urams attacked us harvest men?"

Cornell shook his head.

"No, I haven't, father. I have seen them looking at us. They always were high up in those trees. Most of the time they were invisible while we were gathering nuts. I thought that those birds couldn't be that dangerous to the harvest men."

"But after you became the harvest men's leader you found out what birds they were. Fierce birds with sharp talons and beaks. Cornell, the Urams only attacked you and the men because they defended their rights, and you stubbornly thought that the nut woods only provided the Quelans of their necessary food. You have fought the Urams for seven years, until our whole community came to Cantamaga after being driven out of Ribana, haven't you.

"Yes, father, we did, but when the whole community had to live in exile in Cantamaga, my men and I didn't go into the nut woods again. There has been accidents just after all the Quelans arrived and I advised the Council of the Elders to forbid any Quelan to enter the nut woods. Yet, I often have brought Mayan Fonaldris back home to her mother, after I saw her in the nut woods. I even have seen that a Uram came close to her. Since she has become a Jedi apprentice of one of Ben's friends, he has taken her to the nut woods regularly, and he also has taken Lorann with him."

"Together with another Jedi Knight, the son of my Jedi friend Obi-Wan Kenobi, Cornell. Those two youngster have the time of their life, feeding the Urams and their efforts will become invaluable for the harvest men who will be gathering fallen nuts again."

"You strongly believe in that unseen power, don't you, father?"

"Yes, son, I believe and will always believe in the power of the Force, for I'm a Force-user. Oh, I can't do what those Jedi Knight can do. I never have been a Jedi master's padawan, but I strongly believe in what the Force is telling me."

"Father, can you explain why Ben told the Harvest Council that Lorann is a Force user, but that he can't tell if my son will become a Jedi Knight."

"At the moment Lorann is a Force user, Cornell."

"Because he can run very fast and make very detailed drawings of the stories the Quelans have told him?"

"Those are only two visible effects of his slumbering Force use. Master Skywalker has stated in the Council that becoming a Jedi Knight requires much more. Maybe Lorann will always remain a Force user, like myself.

"Or maybe one of those Jedi Knights, especially master Kenobi, will take him as his Jedi apprentice."

"Might be, Cornell, but master Kenobi is a prudent man who won't become Lorann's Jedi master shortly."

"Does he think that Lorann can't learn to be a Jedi Knight?" Cornell asked, sounding agressively.

"On the contrary, son. Master Kenobi is convinced that Lorann can be a Jedi Knight in the future, but master Kenobi himself wants to be sure that he can take the responsibility for a padawan learner. He and Lorann are getting along very well, a master-padawan relationship would certainly be fruitful, but for both of them, the time is not yet ripe. Lorann is still a young brat and Tama-Hin Kenobi has become a Jedi Knight recently. There's still a lot for him to learn about the Force and it's use."

"How long do you suppose that master Kenobi needs before he will take Lorann as his Jedi apprentice." Cornell asked.

"I can't tell you that, and I think that master Kenobi also can't give you an exact answer to your question, son."

"When Ribana has been restored, will he come back to visit us and more particularly will he come to see Lorann."

"That's for certain, Cornell, for I sense that Lorann will wait until master Kenobi comes back to Ribana to take your son, my grandson as his padawan."

"What should we do with Lorann in the mean time, father. I had in mind to make him a harvest men within five years or so, but wouldn't that be useless? Maybe you should tell him what he can do with his special talent, or maybe master Kamalin, who also is a Force user they say, can teach him some Force use. Lorann seems very fond of master Kamalin."

"Cornell, do I understand, that you no longer have objections against Lorann's Force use, and neither against a possible future as a Jedi apprentice."

"Father, I have worked with Ben, Jedi master Luke Skywalker. I have learned to appreciate his skills. I am still very grateful that Ben has used his skills to safe the life of Cemall. I have listened to what Ben said in the Harvest Council and I believe and trust Ben. So when one day Ben tells me that master Kenobi can take the responsibility to be my son's Jedi master and asks me if I accept that Lorann will become a Jedi Knight I won't object. It's not what I had in mind for a son of mine, but I don't want him to be unhappy. Father, what I have said has to remain between you and me, don't tell Lorann."

"Absolutely not, son." Manall said and patted his son on his shoulder. "You will do great again as a harvest leader, son."

"I will rely on your long standing experience, father," Cornell said and took the old harvest men's hands.