Greater Good (Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy, #2)

by Timothy Zahn

“Well. The way the Magys’s people do things is that if they think there’s no hope for them—no hope at all—they…they make a decision to do something called touching the Beyond. It’s supposed to let them join with something—people in Lesser Space call it the Force—that will let them start healing their planet.” “Okay,” Che’ri said, frowning. “So that’s why she’s in there?” “Not exactly.” Thalias braced herself. “You see, what they have to do to touch the Beyond is…die.” Che’ri drew back. “You mean they kill themselves?” Thalias nodded. “Yes.” “But…” The girl waved a hand helplessly. “No, that’s not how the Chiss do things,” Thalias said. “But different peoples and different cultures…people sometimes do things in different ways.” “But what if they make a mistake?” Che’ri asked. “Or change their minds?” Thalias felt her throat tighten. “They can’t change their minds,” she said. “Once it’s done, it’s done.” Che’ri inhaled sharply. “Is that why Thrawn locked her up? Because she was going to…do that?” “Yes,” Thalias said. “We put her in my sleeping room because it would be out of the way, and no one but me would see it.” She felt her lip twitch. “No one but us. So you need to keep this a secret from everyone except—” “Wait a second,” Che’ri interrupted, frowning. “You said the Magys is in there? Just the Magys? But there were two of them—” She broke off, her expression going rigid. “Did he…?” For a moment Thalias was tempted to lie. It would be so much easier, and Che’ri didn’t n...