Chapter 131

"What are you doing here? Since you and your Jedi friends arrived on Tyr everything has changed." Filann snapped.

"In which way?" Luke asked calmly.

"With your arrival some Quelans began to see themselves the way you are, as Jedi Knights. You've infected Mayan Fonaldris who was supposed to marry my brother Cemall, and you've also infected Lorann who has to become a harvest man, like we all are." Filann said mockingly. "You, Jedi, are to blame for all what has happened to us Quelans. You should never have come."

"We've brought back your governors, Toallin and Mugin Fonaldris. Their families and the other Quelans were all to glad, when they arrived at Cantamaga."

"Not me," Filann said obstinate, "You have persuaded the harvest men to help liberate Ribana."

"That was my promise to your governors, Filann, that's what I hoped I could do."

"The harvest men could have done that, and have done that, in the end. So your help wasn't really needed." Filann said grumpy.

"Filann, how many years have passed since the whole Quelan community had come to Tyr, before my friends and I brought back the governors." Luke asked without raising his voice.

Filann was silent and in thoughts. Luke followed the train of thought of the young harvest man.

"Good thinking, Filann, almost eight years."

"You know what I was thinking?" Filann asked.

"I'm a Jedi Knight, Filann, one of my skills is that I can intercept what people are thinking."

"A wizard's trick."

"No, a habit. A habit developed during my training to become a Jedi Knight, but I would like to exchange thoughts with you on those eight years in which the Quelan community lived in Cantamaga" Luke said sounding inquisitively.

"There's not much to tell. It was a boring period for us harvest men." Filann murmured.

"Why?"

"Before the whole Quelan community arrived there, only the harvest men went to Tyr to harvest the nuts for our food supply. When the Quelans of Ribana had been sent into in exile to Tyr, my father, master Wollin decided that the harvest men would lead the Quelans to the western harbor and go with them to Tyr using our hover pulse boats. After the arrival on Tyr my father asked the members of the Council of the Elders, they wouldn't allow any Quelan, or harvest man to go into the nut woods."

"So, all those eight years, no nuts have been harvested to provide food for the Quelan community once they came to Cantamaga?" Luke concluded.

"No fresh nut harvest, Ben, but my father and the harvest men had stored a huge surplus of nuts in the twenty store houses my father had set up. Also those six towers which have been included in the administration building in Cantamaga where use to store some of the harvest."

Luke smiled as he heard that Filann had addressed him with the name he had been using, while he had lived among them.

"What happened ... no tell me why your father has stored that surplus of nuts in those store houses."

"When my father became the new leader, he developed at new method to harvest more nuts than we had done under my grandfather. The harvest men began to chop down the nut trees and harvest the unripe nuts sill hanging among the leaves. Unripe nuts can be stored for an almost unlimited time and my father has begun to trade those unripe nuts for more credits. He didn't want those credits for himself. He always has handed th0se credits to the Council of the Elders so all the Quelans could benefit from it."

"Very generous of your father, Filann. So he took great care of the wellbeing of the whole Quelan community.?"

"Absolutely, Ben. My father has always thought about the wellbeing of all the Quelans and how our way of living could be improved. That's why he developed that new method to harvest nuts, but his new method had a huge disadvantage."

"A disadvantage, why is that?" Luke asked friendly.

"You have been in the nut woods with your girlfriend, also a Jedi Knight, haven't you, Ben?"

"Yes, I have."

"And you have also heard what your Jedi girlfriend told on the Harvest Council about her meeting with a Uram leader, and what he seems to have told her, right" Filann asked.

"Yes, I have heard what she told the members of the Harvest Council. What's more I have heard myself what she has said to the leader of the Urams, and what he has told her about how the Urams live in the nut woods," Luke told Filann.

"My father had overlooked that, when the harvest men started chopping down the nut trees, the Urams began to attack the harvest men. I have heard that several of the harvest men have died during those attacks. Those attacks by the Urams became increasingly violent and the harvest men had to protect themselves and kill the attacking Urams. "

"Sounds like a war between the harvest men and the Urams had been started," Luke said, "Has your father ever given it serious thought, why the Urams attacked the harvest men?"

"I don't know, Ben. I have never been in the nut woods, and I also have never met with an attacking Uram. I only have listened to the stories the harvest men told among the group after they were back on Myr."

"You were too young to join them?"

"Too young. I still lived on Myr when I heard those stories" Filann said quietly. "But I hoped that one day I could hunt down the Urams, when my father would take me with him to the nut woods.

But completely unexpected Ribana was flooded with those men in white armor and they drove all the Quelans to the other side of the dry riverbed onto the western plains and ever further into the wild lands. While the whole group struggled to reach the western harbor, several older Quelans died en route as did some very young kids." Filann said and his voice got a very soft and sad tone, "Once on Tyr at Cantamaga all the Quelans had to live in tents on Tyr or in store houses that were emptied. The harvest men helped all of the Quelans from Ribana to build a new house, make new furniture, prepare agricultural area and all that is needed to find a living."

"That probably has taken years, right?" Luke asked.

"At least four, maybe even five years. I was sixteen when I arrived on Tyr and I hoped that my father would let me accompany the other harvest men when they would go in the nut woods again, after they had helped to Quelans to get a proper accommodation."

"I can imagine that you wanted to see all, you have heard about the nut woods and the Urams by yourself." Luke remarked.

"It was my greatest wish, Ben, to become a real harvest man. I hoped for it, but after the Council of Elders issued a 'special announcement' about the forbidden entry of the nut grove, that hope shattered. I have never been to the nut grove. I've only seen it from afar."

"Disappointing and frustrating, I guess?" Luke said as in a flash he recalled how his uncle always had refused to allow him to join the Academy.

"Disappointing and frustrating, Ben? Those are the right words. You can't imagine how Cemall and I felt. We had reached the right age, as I was twenty-one and Cemall nineteen meanwhile."

"There's another moew frustrating thought on your mind, Filann," Luke said.

Filann looked at him with wry smile.

"Two frustrating things, Ben, for my youngest brother Lorann is visiting the nut woods since Mayan Fonaldris has become the Jedi apprentice of one of the Jedi Knights. Chati Jedi teacher often takes another Jedi friend with him who has become good friends with Lorann. All four go into the nut woods and they are feeding the Urams with nuts that have fallen among the vegetation."

"And because the nut woods which are still forbidden Lorann's visit to it, is frustrating you, Filann. What's the other thing, for I sense that what has happened to you personally is even more frustrating, right?"

Filann nodded and looked a way.

"Yes, it's a personal matter, and not only do I feel frustrated, I feel highly humiliated, Ben.

I've heard that you and your girlfriend have plans to get married. Well I hope that the two of you will be happier than I was, when my father unexpectedly announced in public that I and Sumall were husband and wife. That happened about a year ago, just before you and your friends brought back our governors."

"So, you're married man, Filann?"

"Yes, but don't congratulate me with my marriage, Ben." Filann snapped and Luke felt the anger boiling again in the young harvest men's thoughts.

"I understand, Filann, that marriages among the harvest men are arranged between the parents of the future partners, right?"

"Yes, it's always arranged after a female Quelan has been born among a harvest men's family.

The marriage itself is announced when the young female Quelan has reached the age of fifteen.

Sumall was sixteen when she became my wife. I was twenty three.

Suddenly I had to build a new house for the two of us, make furniture and other things to set up a household. I hoped that Sumall would appreciate what I did, for I really wanted to please her. I hoped that at a later moment our new house would be filled with kids of our own, which I thought would be a normal wish for a married couple. I don't know what I did wrong, Ben, for every time when I wanted to spend time together with Sumall, she started to cry, yelling that she didn't want to become pregnant. Over and over I have tried to reassure her, telling that I didn't want to hurt her and make her feel scared, but she always refused me.

Ben, I have never talked about this to someone, except for Cemall, but as you are going to get married soon, I can only hope that you won't be disappointed the way I have been. "

Luke looked at Filann with compassion.

"You said that your wife told you that she didn't want to get pregnant. Did she tell you why, did she gave a reason for her refusal to become your real wife."

Filann swallowed and nodded.

"She has told me during one of our arguments that she doesn't love me, that she loves Cemall and that she will never allow me to touch her. Ben, Cemall has been in love with Mayan Fonaldris, the governor's daughter, but he has told that she definitely has rejected him, certainly now that she will become a Jedi Knight. Cemall told me that Mayan has told him that she would make him unhappy and that he deserves a better wife.

At least Mayan has been honest with my brother before his weeding, but I'm married to a Quelan girl who who has set her sights on my brother. It feels so humiliating, Ben." Filann sighed joyless, "Well, it's good to talk about this with someone else, although you're one of those guys who relies on some power I don't believe in. Are you staying here tonight?"

"Tonight, Filann. It's already near dawn. Thank you for your trust in me, with all you have told me," Luke said.

"We'd better should take a rest, but first I'll make us something to eat, Ben, for with all this talking I've become a bit hungry. My father has left me food supplies for two standard weeks. I'm sure I can prepare a good meal for the two of us. After our meal I will arrange one of the tree houses for you."

"That won't be necessary, Filann. There are just the two of us here. We both can take a rest in the community tree house. I see there are still some nagawa fleeces stacked in that corner."

"Can we do some more talking, tomorrow ... later today, before you're leaving, Ben?" Filann asked.

"Sure, we can. I'm not in hurry. Maybe we also can have a look at the water flow. I understood from your grandfather that you are charged with maintenance work."

"That's what my father demanded me to do. He said he would explain to me, what I had to do, but I got angry at him and he left me."

"Shall I give you a hand with the meal, Filann."

"Would be an advantage, Ben. I need to keep it simple for I have to check if I can ignite the stove."

Together they checked the food supplies Cornell has left and found some vacuum sealed nut bread slices and nagawa cheese. There also were some large bottles with water. Within minutes they sat together enjoying a simple shared meal.

While Luke was listening to Filann at the campground, Manall had gone to the administration building early that morning to have a serious discussion with Governor Mugin and the Vice Chairman of the Council of Elders, Woldrin, regarding some new measures and changes he envisioned for the community of Quelan as a whole.

Mugin and Woldrin received the old harvester with due respect, for as the new leader of the harvesters, he was the highest-ranking among them and the chair of the Harvest Council, more or less the equivalent of the Council of Elders.

"Governor Mugin, master Woldrin I would like to exchange some thoughts with you about some matters which already have drawn my attention while I had to live on Myr after my son had become the leader of the harvest men. Those thoughts have begun to bother me more seriously since the harvest men have brought all the Quelans from Ribana into exile to the continent of Tyr at Cantamaga.

Governor. Lately, I have observed disturbing developments that confirm my fears and could lead to much discontent among my fellow harvesters, and particularly among the young adult harvesters, males and possibly females alike.

As the new leader of the harvestmen, I am concerned about the current situation and would like to exchange views with the overall leadership of the Quelan community, because the harvestmen are also Quelans and therefore also fall under the leadership of the Quelan community."

"Listening to your words, master Manall, we want to know what's on your mind," Mugin said.

"Thank you, governor. What I want to discus with you are some necessary changes between the group Quelans I'm representing and the Quelans who have lived in Ribana before they had to leave their town and find a new way of life on Tyr."

Manall began to explain what he has noticed while living on Myr, before the intruder occupied Ribana, and what has happened during the years that the Quelans and the harvest men and their families had lived in Cantamaga.

Mugin and Woldrin listened very attentively and with great interest to the harvest man's narrative without interrupting him. After Manall silenced he looked at the governor and the vice-chairman who both nodded in agreement.

"We fully share your vision and what you are proposing, Manall. We're certain that my brother and master Kamalin will also share this. It certainly will be a huge change, but in the future it will also be a good development for our community as a whole. It is a very good idea if the harvest families will begin to see themselves as part of our whole community and not as a separate group whose members are subject to their own rules, which sometimes deviate significantly from what is customary among the Quelans of Ribana. We are all Quelans. Master Woldrin and I will support and defend your plan, but do you think that the harvest men will agree."

Manall looked at the governor of Ribana and the vice-chair of the Council of the Elders.

"As chair of the Harvest Council I intend to present my plan before the Harvest Council. It has to be the Council's decision to ensure that the harvest men and their families will form one community with the Quelans who are living in Ribana. I hope I can convince the Council that this change is necessary to prevent the young harvesters from still being forced to agree to and adapt to the traditional choices of the harvester group from the past, whereas during the years they lived together with the Quelans from Ribana, they saw and experienced that other, more personal choices are also possible. Choices that influence their lives in a different and possibly happier way.

One of the big differences the young adult harvest males and female have noticed is the great difference between the way young adult Quelans of the Ribana community can choose their partner and how marriages among the harvest men families are arranged. Already on Myr there was resistance against those arranged marriages, and while living together with the other Quelans on Tyr this resistance is growing among the young adult male and female of the harvest men " said Manall with a very serious look.

Woldrin nodded.

"You are right, Master Manall. Kamalin and I have also received reports of dissatisfaction from a number of young adult harvest men who were recently told that they had been paired with a partner since their youth with whom they were required to form a household, without any consideration for the opinions or feelings of either partner. Kamalin has already expressed his concerns about this to our governors, because given some considerable age differences between some partners, it seems to be becoming quite a challenge to make these arranged and forced marriages successful." He said.

Manall looked grateful at Woldrin.

"The age difference between the partners of these arranged and forced marriages is caused by the fact that, since a long period, much more males than females have been born into the harvest families.

This has led to a large group of young harvest males who already have reached adulthood.

However, the number of females born within the harvest families is much lower.

This has led to the recent situation where the young harvest males are forced at an adult age to form a new household with an underage and often immature female," Manall said, "I know of cases where these forced marriages have led to misery, sorrow, and unhappiness. There is often so much discontent between partners that in some new families the number of newborns decreases, or that no children are born at all, which in turn can lead to an even greater imbalance in the age gap within arranged marriages.

I am therefore in favor of allowing young adult harvest men and women to choose their own partners in the future, once all Quelans are living in Ribana again. That choice can, of course, always be a harvest man or woman, but also a Quelan man or woman from Ribana. In any case, a man or woman of approximately their own age. It is therefore advisable that young harvest women, just like young harvest men, not be forced into marriage before they have reached the age of twenty," Manall said emphatically.

"We fully agree with your point of view, master Manall." Mugin said, "but you also should be aware that it will take much effort, before what you have told us, will become reality. I will discuss your vision on this matter with my brother as soon as we all have gone back to Tyr to make arrangements for the last group to come to Ribana."

Mugin looked at Woldrin who also nodded in agreement.

"I will bring this to the attention of the Council of Elders, master Manall, for this is a very serious matter that must not be overlooked. You said that you want to bring this before the Harvest Council. That is an excellent idea, and I am sure that the Council of Elders will give you their full support. Surely, it cannot be the case that a marriage between an young adult harvest males and a still underaged immature harvest female causes misery for both partners?

With everything our community has gone through in recent years, we must certainly ensure that our Quelan community, whether they come from a harvest family or a Quelan family of Ribana, can choose a partner of their own choice to start a new family." Woldrin said.

Manall rose.

"Thank you very much for your time and understanding. I will ensure that the Harvest Council convenes to speak out on this matter. This will take time and will encounter resistance from the harvest families, but I will find witnesses and supporters who are willing to endorse my words. It will be a difficult confrontation, but I will stand my ground. These changes are necessary, regardless of any objections some harvest families may have."

The three men shook hands and Manall left the administration building in a combative mood.

'This is my first step, and what ever will happen, I will not let anyone dissuade me from this position. I saw this coming, but unfortunately I was not in a position to raise this issue.' He thought, walking back to harvest men's tent camp.

'Shaayla-Car, my lovely naughty pixie, have you woken up already?' Luke's voice sounded in Liane's mind while she was still half asleep.

'It's wonderful to hear your lovely voice when I'm waking up, darling. You are making my day.' Liane said teasing him.

She heard Luke laugh.

'Have you slept well with some pleasant dreams, lovely pixie?' Luke asked.

'Ever since we met, Luke Skywalker, my dreams are always nice, for you're always the main character in my dreams.' Liane said laughing while she pushed the blanket aside 'Are you still at the campsite? Did you meet Filann? How is he doing, Luke? Is he feeling as unhappy and disappointed as Cemall?'

'Cemall has talked to you about his frustrations?' Luke asked.

'He said that doing work for the community now, is much more rewarding than hanging around doing nothing on Tyr, but I sensed how dissatisfied and disillusioned he is still feeling.'

'I had a similar talk with Filann, but his frustration goes much deeper. Not only has his long stay on Tyr without any expected activity in the nut woods frustrated him, but his marriage has become a huge delusion, although he had done everything to please his wife Sumall. Filann doesn't really have a character as trouble makeer, but the circumstances haven't brought him what he expected. He always has dreamt about being a harvest man like his father and his grandfather, but when he came to Tyr with all the Quelans from Ribana, Cornell asked the Council of the Elders to forbid all the harvest men and and enter the nut woods with his father and the other harvest men to harvest the nuts.

'So, he has never been there, nor has he has he ever met the enraged Urams. This is just like what Cemall told me.' Liane conclude.

'Right. I guess he has done good work to build houses for the Quelans in exile, but once the work was over his life became boring, because he couldn't find anything to feel useful.'

'Sounds like Filann and Cemall have experienced the same disappointment.'

'They sure have and I can imagine how it must have felt being forbidden what they always had dreamt off. Filann's story reminded me of my wish to join the Academy, but uncle Owen always argued that he couldn't miss me.'

'Did Filann show interest in our Jedi's weapon?'

'No, but in the beginning he wasn't very cooperative. He blamed the Jedi Knights for what had happened on Tyr, after we had brought back Toallin and Mugin. Later on he addressed me again as Ben, and he has shared confidential thoughts about his marriage with me.' Luke said and Liane sensed the overwhelming compassionate feeling Luke had for Filann.

'Was his marriage arranged in the traditional way?' Liane asked, 'Lorann once told me that he's already knows that a daughter of master Wollin. Kalinn, an seven year old girl at the moment, will once become his wife. Lorann is almost fourteen. He once told me that when Kalinn will be fifteen he will become her husband. Luke, this sounds so odd to me. From Udine and Carmona I understood that the Quelans of Ribana are free to chose a future partner. There are some rules, but as soon as a couple wants to get married, and their parents agree, there aren't any obstacles.'

'Among the harvest men there are very different ideas. It's the parents of both sides that arrange the marriage when a female Quelan harvest girl is born.' Luke explained.

'So they arrange a future marriage between a Quelan baby girl and one of the harvest boys who don't have a voice in the arrangement. Luke, I begin to wonder, how many unhappy marriages are the result of such rigid rules.'

'Some of those arrangements can turn out for the good, but some won't and that's what has happened to Filann. Sumall has told Filann that she will never love him, for she loves Cemall.'

'What! That's terrible, Luke!

'It surely is, my love, but I sense that Filann has no other choice than to agree with the arrangement and the public announcement Cornell made that Filann has become Sumall's husband and she had become his wife.'

'I don't know what to say, Luke. This isn't good. This certainly is the cause of the tremors you've felt yesterday.'

'I want to have some other talk with Filann, Shaayla-Car, but that will mean that I won't come back to Ribana soon.'

'I can stay with Udine and Carmona, Luke. You surely have to find a way to bring some relief to Filann. Because of everything you have told me, I understand how misunderstood he and Cemall feel. They have heard the stories of the harvest men about chopping the nut tree and the attacks of the Urams while they lived on Myr. Once they were old enough to go into the nut woods it became forbidden. It shattered their dreams and their believe in themselves. It's obvious that they have become obstinate and outraged. They probably feel a deep hate against their father which they can't openly express. Could that be a reason why they set up the trap for Lorann. Luke, if Lorann would have been severely wounded or even would have died they would have had a form of revenge, for their own frustrated feelings.' Liane said.

Luke had listened to Liane's explanation, but didn't look immediately convinced.

'You're point of view could also be the explanation why Filann has said, while he had a talk with Cornell and Manall, that he wouldn't have regretted it, if Manall would have died, after the Urams had attacked him. Cornell got mad at him and that's why he brought Filann to the campsite.'

'Han told me, that Cornell had come back to Ribana much earlier that expected. Could it be, Luke, that Filann and Cornell had an argument again and that Cornell left his son on his own.'

'Filann told me that he argued again with Cornell. I have promised him to have a look at the waterfall project as soon as he wakes up again. When I left the community tree house he was fast asleep. I took some rest on the clearing in the wood, doing a refreshing and deep meditation, before I woke you up.'

'Go back to Filann, Luke, and stay with him as long as you need. I will take care of Cemall. Maybe he also wants to talk more about how he has experienced the ban on entering the nut woods on Tyr after the Quelans had gone into exile.'

'You're a wonderful woman, my love. I didn't want to tell you directly that I want to stay with Filann as long as needed, for I sense that this Quelan adult needs our help.' Luke said.

'I haven't yet finished pruning all of the grapevines, Luke,' Liane chuckled 'There's more than enough work to do here and Udine and Carmona certainly will love it if I tell them that I will stay with them as long as you are somewhere else. My love, we can always be together using our skills.'

Liane recalled how she had looked at the Jedi-pendant the evening before. She heard Luke laugh and knew he had read her thoughts as he said

'May the Force be with you, Shaayla-Car Kenobi, and you always can use the Jedi-pendant I once have given you. It still has kept its meaning.'

'Mezorahim dejan Forca tusale, Luke.' Liane said with a smile and released herself from their Force connection.

After having worked with Cemall in the vineyard again for some six hours Liane stopped and pulled a large piece of berry cake from a bag she had put in the shadow.

"This is all for today, Cemall. Tomorrow is another day to prune these grapevines. Cemall looked at what he has done and sighed.

"I thought I could do more, but tedious work." He said.

"I agree with those words, Cemall. We're only making a start pruning the grapevines. No one expect us to do the whole vineyard." She said with a grin. "Let's sit down for a while in the shadow. Carmona has given we a large piece of her famous berry cake. Want a piece?"

Liane held out a piece of the cake to Cemall. Hesitatingly he accepted the cake and sat down at some distance. He devoured the cake with relish.

"It's very good. The governor's wife is famous for her berry cake. At least that's what my mother always said. Sometimes she went to main plaza and exchanged her knitting work for a whole cake." Cemall said with a full mouth. He looked at Liane who was taking small bite from her part.

"Apologies, miss Kenobi, I'm forgetting my manners," He mumbled. "It's a long time ago that I tasted this again."

"Didn't Carmona make it when you were living on Tyr?" Liane asked.

"She missed some ingredients she always said. I don't know what she meant, but it's good to know that once we're all back in Ribana, life will look a bit like it had been before, but I also hope that many things will change." He said.

"What do you mean by those words, Cemall. Shouldn't it be good when all of the Quelans are back in Ribana."

Cemall looked uncertain.

"It always look good here, miss Kenobi, but after I have lived among the Quelans of Ribana I have begun to see thing differently." He answered reluctantly.

"How old were you when you arrived on Tyr, Cemall?"

"Too young to go to the nut woods. That was what I hope for. I was fourteen. My brother Filann is two years older and he also wanted to see the nut woods and together we wanted to fight with the Urams."

"What was Cantamaga look like when you all arrived there? Where there enough houses for all the Quelans?"

"There never have been any real houses on Tyr, except for six stone towers which the harvest men had build as storage. My father had developed another type of storage, which was much easier to build.

When we arrived on Tyr we brought as much of the nut surplus in those six towers to empty at least half of the other storage, for my father, Wollin and master Kamalin and master Woldrin wanted to use my father's storage buildings to give some Quelans of Ribana a shelter. Not all of them, mostly the elder ones and families with young kids. The rest of the Quelans and the harvest men housed in tents, similar to the tent where the Harvest Council was held."

"Must have been a very difficult period at Cantamaga, because you all had just survived the long walk through the wild lands on Myr to reach the western harbor." Liane commented.

"That journey was a disaster, miss. Progress was very slow, because of the elder Quelans and the young ones and on our way we always had to stop to find food for all of us. And once we arrived on Tyr, more problems had to be solved."

"Like what? You just mentioned how the Quelans were housed. What other problems were there?"

"Miss, the nuts always are the Quelan's main food supply. During our journey through the wild lands the harvest men rationed the amount of nuts we could use daily as our food. That was a good measure, of course. But when we arrived on Tyr, several young Qualans females went over to the nut forest to gather nuts for themselves and their families. There are always many fallen nuts on the forest floor. When my grandfather was the harvest men's leader the men solely use to gather fallen nuts."

"Which wasn't dangerous?"

"No, but when my father became the leader, the harvest men had begun chopping the nut trees to gather the nut directly from the trees. I've heard stories that the Urams attacked the harvest men while they were chopping the trees. You have heard it all during the Harvest Council, haven't you, miss."

"Yes, I have, Cemall. But what happened when those female Quelans from Ribana went into the nut forest to gather nuts?"

"It was a massacre, miss. More than fifty females were attacked by the Urams and none of them survived their severe wounds. It was a real disaster."

"Is that the reason why the nut woods became forbidden for all the Quelans, including the harvest men, while you were living on Tyr in exile."

Cemall nodded with a somber face.

"Yes, miss Kenobi, and that was very disappointing for Filann and me. We had hoped to become part of the harvest men who were going into the nut forest to gather nuts, and after the Council of the Elders had made a special announcement that the nut forest was a forbidden area, we were disappointed."

"There must have been more young harvest men of your age who hoped to see the nut forest on Tyr, weren't there?"

"We were a group of twenty young males, miss."

"So you and Filann weren't the only ones. What did the other young males do? They surely must have been as disappointed as you two were."

"Of course they were, miss, but Filann and I were the sons of Cornell. Our father was the harvest men's leader and we thought that he would take us with him to the nut woods as soon as we would have reached the age of seventeen, despite that special announcement."

"Wasn't master Wollin also a harvest men's leader. What about his sons?"

Cemall started to laugh.

"Wollin has only seven daughters. My father also has several daughters, five I think, but Filann and I were his sons and his pride and on Myr his third son was born, Lorann."

"And the parents of the other young harvest boys kept strictly at the ban the Council had issued."

"Yes, miss. When the Council of the Elders announces a special announcement, there is no Quelan, no harvest man, young or old who will surpass the ban."

"It's a kind of law which no one may violate."

"That's right. Violation is always disciplined with community service, like I'm doing here. No one wants to do that, for every one knows then that you have violated what the Council of the Elders has announced. It's humiliating to do community service in front of your friends and relatives.j Actually, I am very happy that I can work here where only the governors' wives are and you, miss, for you send master Skywalker and master Solo away. You told them to leave you alone with me, but I felt they were a bit worried about you."

Liane got a fit of laughter.

"You behaved very well, Cemall. You were pretending you didn't want to cooperate, but that's not who you are."

Cemall got a shameful look and his olive green cheeks got a rosy color.

"You're too kind, miss, for I wanted to steal your lightsaber," Cemall said on a whispering tone

"I know and also what you wanted to use it for. I told you it's dangerous weapon in unexperienced hands."

"My brother thought that it could help the harvest men to fight the Urams."

"Because the Urams attack the harvest men?"

"Yes, there has been several deaths among the harvest men, before the massacre after we arrived on Tyr. But I have listened to what you said during the Harvest Council and I have seen the images of what would happen if the harvest men would continue to chop down the nut forest. Through what I heard and saw during the Harvest Council I understood that when my grandfather was the leader the Urams only watched the harvest men, but they never attacked them. I believe that my grandfather has had a better understanding of how the Quelans and the harvest men had to live in peace with the Urams. He probably understands the Urams, because he believes in what you Jedi call the Force. Miss, you shouldn't worry about me. I won't try to steal your lightsaber, for it's wrong and not a good way to treat the friends of our governors. You helped us and you have ensured that the intruder who ruined Ribana and has stolen everything he could use, left this planet. We should be thankful instead of blaming you like my brother often does."

Cemall looked at the soil beneath his feet and didn't dare to look up at Liane.

"I just said that you act like you are rude and selfish, Cemall, but you aren't. You have always been doing a lot of thinking, I think."

"I have, miss, also recently. You have told at the Harvest Council that you have spoken with the Uram leader. It's good to know that he could let us know that we're doing something wrong. I don't know if my father really understood why the Urams attacked. Miss Kenobi, Filann and I ... were disappointed, because he wouldn't allow us to enter the nut forest and meet the Urams. We felt we were treated as Quelan boys ... " Cemall silenced

"... who did not need to be taken into account, right" Liane said with compassion. "You felt humiliated."

"Yes, humiliated, disillusioned and disappointed."

"Cemall, did you want to show your father that you and Filann were also capable to make a strategic plan with regards to Lorann, because your father is against Lorann's secret wish to become a Jedi Knight one day. Cemall, is that why you gave that old harvester's jacket to Lorann? You had only heard how violent attacks of the Urams were. You never have seen an Uram. You only knew that the Urams always attack the harvest men, but you have never known why they did that, have you? What you planned, Cemall, was it a way to seek revenge on what your father had done to you and Filann, at the cost of Lorann's life."

"No, no, no! That's not what I wanted, miss! Filann and I only wanted Lorann to become frightened, we didn't want him to die."

"But that could have happened, Cemall, for the Urams are fierce birds and attack in a violent way. You know what has happened to your grandfather, don't you? Tell me in all honesty, Cemall, what has been the real reason why you and Filann gave Lorann that jacket which the Urams certainly would recognize." Liane insisted.

Cemall sat with bowed head and shuffled his feet back and forth in the earth in front of him. Liane waited calmly to give the young Quelan harvest man the opportunity to tell what he knew and what was bothering him. Cemall looked up at her.

"Filaan and I became jealous, miss Kenobi, after we heard that Lorann was going into the nut forest together with Chati Fonaldris and two Jedi Knights. We heard that they were encountering Urams which they gave fallen nuts to eat."

"The jacket Lorann wore that day had been worn by a harvest man who had been chopping down the nut trees, before the Quelans came to Tyr, right?" Liane asked.

Cemall nodded.

"Miss, all the harvest men wore that type of jacket, only my father and Wollin wore a different type, so the harvest men could always detect where their leaders were, but when it became forbidden to go into the nut forest, many harvest men gave those jackets away to the Quelans who still only possessed a few clothes. You must know, miss, that most fabrics to make clothes weren't available once we lived on Tyr. Almost all the clothes the Quelans wear have been repaired or amended several times. At a later stage some farmers managed to grow plants which fibers could be used to make sheets of fabric and on the far side of Tyr, behind the nut forest, the harvest men found a herd of nagawas. That was a lucky find, although it was difficult to get the animals to Cantamaga, where the farmers domesticated the beasts."

"Nagawa's are very useful animals, aren't they?" Liane ask.

"Oh, yes, miss. Nagawas provide a lot of things. Their long hair can be shave and pressed to fleeces. Some Quelan females can twine the hairs and create ball of long threads. My mother used those balls to knit all kinds of useful caps and socks. The nagawas give a whitish fluid when they have young. We prepare nagawa cheese of it which tastes good on nut bread. The farmers sometimes slaughter nagawas and then we will use the meat for our famous stew, the bones are also used to make a broth and a prepared nagawa skin is perfect to make a warm coat. "

"What you're telling me, Cemall, gives me a very good impression of how difficult living in exile has been in the beginning. I only have seen Cantamaga when the Quelans already had settled themselves again. The Quelans are a remarkable human species with an extraordinary resilience. Despite all the difficulties they have encountered they never gave up. That's admirable and deserve respect. All of you haven't been wasting your energy by giving up."

"Thank you, miss, that you have so much respect for the Quelans.

While we lived on Myr we hadn't much contact with humans. In fact we often avoided contacts, for in the past Quelans were killed by outsiders, because of our skin color change. We were thought, being shape shifters.

Sometimes traders landed on the western plains. My grandfather and my father sold them the surplus of the nut harvest. The governor's families traded their wine stock and the farmers sold nagawa fleeces and the surplus of their harvest. In exchanges we got better fabrics and material to improve our houses. The surplus of unripe nuts was sold for credits with which we could buy real good stuff. Those credits really improved our lives, but once we had settled on Tyr we lacked all those things, for all those years none of our regular traders came to Tyr. They must have forgotten us, after they had seen our ruined town."

"They will come back to Myr, Cemall, once Ribana has been restored and renovated. The reason why the traders never came to Tyr is that Tyr is covered with a thick cloud layer. Space ships need visual contact to land safely. The cloud layer also interferes with the instruments on board a space ship, so that's the reason why no trader has ever come to Tyr."

"But Ben and his friends came and managed to land on the plains behind the mountain ridge, and now those freighters and Ben's special space ship come and go between Tyr and Myr. We even don't have to use the hover pulse boats to travel between Tyr and Myr." Cemall said in surprise.

"Yes, but the pilots are always Jedi Knights, Cemall, who use the Force to guide them and ensures a safe landing." Liane said. "Those boats will be useful in the future when the harvest men will go to the nut forest again to harvest the nuts as main food supply."

Cemall's eyes lit up.

"We will again gather nuts like the harvest men did in the old days when my grandfather was the harvest men's leader, for that will prevent any future causalities among the harvest men as we don't have to fear the Urams any more."

"You still want to be a harvest man, Cemall?" Liane asked.

"Yes, miss. It will not be as spectacular as in the stories I heard, but the nut forest has something special. As a harvest man I'm drawn to it. It has something mysterious about it and I want to become part of that mystery. I'm sure that my grandfather will pacify the Urams, so they will not attack us anymore. We can wear more comfortable clothes and not those heavy jackets, miss, for when I was on Myr working on my grandfather's project I sensed how great it felt to wear our daily clothes. We also can skip some of the weapons we always carry with us at our belt."

Cemall began to laugh, feeling more and more relaxed.

"My father told me that I had to teach Chati how to make use of our weapons. When the harvest men went back to Myr to work on our project, Chati had hidden herself in the freighter general Solo. My father was mad at her and so was Ben when he found out what she had done. She is really a daring Quelan female. My father has often seen her in the nut forest. He took her home to her family, but she has gone in the nut forest more than once."

"You love her, don't you?" Liane asked.

"Yes, I still love and admire her, but she will become a Jedi Knight one day, like you, miss. I wanted to marry her, but she is a very honest woman. She told me that I deserve a better wife than she would be, but we're still friends, good friends, for she has been the first Quelan woman who could do the work of a harvest man. She often dared to oppose my father and he accepted what she told him."

"Chati Fonaldris is the governor's daughter, not a harvest female. Your father must have opposed your wish to marry her, didn't he?"

Cemall grinned.

"That was a real problem, miss. It was the many refusals of Chati that prevented that my father accepted my wish. I have proposed several times to Chati, but she always rejected my proposal. On Myr I made another attempt to persuade her, but it was she who persuaded me to give up my wish." Cemall said and Liane sensed and heard a worried tone in his voice, but before she could ask him about it, Cemall continued; 'And now I have to wait until in one of the harvest families a Quelan harvest girl will be born. My father will probably make an arrangement with the little one's parents to bring her up as my future wife. That means, miss, that I have to wait until that girl will be fifteen. I am now twenty-two, then I will be thirty-seven and I will be marrying a girl of fifteen. That doesn't sound as a good beginning for a happy marriage. "

"I sense this is bothering you, isn't it?" Liane said.

"It's unimaginable. I want to marry a Quelan woman of my own age, that's why I choose Chati to become my wife. Miss, how much older is Luke Skywalker?" Cemall asked rather bluntly.

"About six years, Cemall, but he age difference between Luke and me has never played a role in our friendship. I fully understand your point of view on this matter. Has it always been this way among the harvest men?"

"As far as I know it never has been different, but I know that young Quelans in Ribana are allowed to chose their own friends or partner. Someone they like and not someone they have to wait for until one of them has grown up. Harvest males and females should have similar privileges and harvest male have to be allowed to chose a Quelan female even if she isn't born in a harvest men's family. I have met a lot of nice Quelan females in Cantamaga while we all lived on Tyr.

Miss Kenobi, Filann was twenty-three when he became the husband of Sumall, the sixteen year old daughter of Pohinn. Miss, my brother is a very unhappy husband. He hasn't told me what's really going on between Sumall and him, but I feel it's not going well. He was all to glad to go to Myr to work on my grandfather's project, for he didn't have to argue every day with Sumall about their marriage. My brother has built a house for her, make all the furniture, bought everything she needed to run a household and still she is crying and yelling at him day in day out. She is always crying and she isn't taking care for their house. Often she leaves and seeks the company of some old girl friends who aren't yet married. She is very irresponsible and she is hurting my brother. I don't like her. She is spoiled and very unkind to Filann."

"You just said that she seeks the company of some of her old girl friends. Are those girls born in harvest men's families, for I guess not." Liane asked pensively.

"No, her girl friends are Quelans of Ribana, no harvest Quelan girls. Sumall is born on Myr and went to master Kamalin's class. She was eight when we had to leave Ribana. By then she was a young girl who always laughed and had a lot of friends. On Tyr she also went to master Kamalin's class until she was thirteen. Then her parents told her that when she had reached the age of fifteen, she would marry Filann. It was so odd, miss, instead of being a happy girl, she became angry and obstinate and often screamed at her father that she didn't want to marry my brother, that she didn't want to bear him children."

"Could it be, Cemall, that she wanted to marry someone else?"

"Impossible, miss, she was promised to become Filann's wife on the day she was born."

"Yes, you told me, but while she grew up she didn't seem to know about the agreement between your father and her father. She had a happy youth until she became thirteen and her parents told her who would be her husband in the future."

Cemall had become quiet and looked thoughtfully at the grapevine trees opposite him.

"Putting it that way, miss, it is just as I feel, about getting married as a harvest man. Probably Sumall also want to make her own choice, but how should we harvest males and females change the rules that have been a long tradition. I want to be free in my choice, but there must be lots of other young harvest men and women, who feel the same. On Tyr we have seen how the Quelans of Ribana got along with each other. It was different from what we knew, but to be honest I envy the young Quelans of Ribana."

"While the harvest men's families lived on Myr did they live among the Quelans who lived in Ribana?"

"No, we lived in houses around the harvest men's community building at a distance of Ribana. Young harvest boy and girl only met young Quelan boy and girls from Ribana in master Kamalin's classes, but most of the time we lived among ourselves. "

Liane looked friendly at her companion.

"I have learned a lot about the Quelan community, Cemall. I also understand what you and the other young harvest boys and girls want, but it won't be easy to change long traditional rules. Yet, I don't want you to give up hope. Chati and Lorann might be the beginning of some changes in your community and the Harvest Council has decided that the leadership of the harvest men is back in the hands of your grandfather and three deputies: your father, master Wollin and master Roshann.

Ribana has to be rebuild that maybe a good opportunity to make agreements that the harvest men's families should no longer live in a group of separate house but among the other Quelans. You are all Quelans, you only differ in the way you earn your living. Your governors have lived on another planet for years. They surely have seen many differences between the way their community prospered in the past and how their experiences on Palomintar Four might help to change things for the better. In the future the Quelan community will get a better way to communicate with other systems. Master Nori Thai is working on that. That could also set changes in motion, for traders might come to Myr and visit Ribana more frequently."

"Miss, I glad I have told you what's on my mind. You have listened to me with interest. Maybe I should tell all this also to my grandfather. He is a wise man, a very wise man. He must have learned a lot from those old Jedi friends of him. Our community should benefit from what he knows instead of opposing his ideas." Cemall said.

They both looked up as they heard nearing footsteps. On the path through the grapevine tree two man appeared. Han Solo and Manall. Han looked mockingly at Liane.

"You're very busy, Shaayla-Car Kenobi," He said.

"I am, Han Solo, and I have learned a lot, while talking to Cemall. Greeings, master Manall. What brings you here?"

"I just want to have a look here and see if my grandson fulfills his community duty." The harvest man said.

"He does, master Manall. He told me a lot about the Quelan community, the harvest men's families and the way he and others look at their way of life." Liane said while she rose and reached out her hand to help Cemall to his feet. Manall saw what she did and laughed.

"Well, Cemall, Shaayla-Car certainly has a good influence on you, as you just showed me. Would you have accepted a woman's hand to help you to your feet?"

Cemall looked at his grandfather and shook his head.

"No, I wouldn't, but things change, grandpa, and we all should benefit from future changes and seek the right way to make these changes improve our lives. Ribana will never be what it has been in the past, for our governors know that on other planets things are done in different ways. They surely want to change things in our community too." Cemall said looking at his grandfather.

"They certainly will, Cemall, and harvest men have to support them and make the changes they see as an improvement for our ways of life into new rules which will apply to all Quelans and harvest men a like." Manall said.

Manall turned to Han Solo.

"Master Solo can you bring my grandson and me to the harvest men's tent, for I want him to dine with me, his father, Wollin and Roshann, and afterwards I want to have another talk with him on board of your ship."

Han beckoned Cemall.

"You should follow us, Cemall. You've heard what your grandfather said."

Cemall wanted to stretch out his hands so Han could put on the binders, but Manall shook his head.

"I don't want you to join me for dinner in chains, Cemall."

They were about to leave when Cemall turned to Liane.

"I'll be back tomorrow, miss Kenobi. Thank you for our long chat."

"Enjoy your evening with your family and friends, Cemall." Liane said. and watched them go.

For some moments she remained where she stood, until the three men were no longer visible and she heard the engine of a disappearing speeder.