Race to Crashpoint Tower (Star Wars: The High Republic)

by Daniel José Older

“You must see the whole for the whole,” Master Kunpar had told Ram so, so many times, “and each part for the role it plays—not for what you want it to be, not for what you fear it to be. Just for what it is.”

“I am?” The Jedi leaned forward so her head was beside Lula’s. She was smiling. “Of course! Being a Jedi isn’t about not having feelings or caring about anything. You know that.” “I do?” Vernestra laughed. “If Jedi weren’t supposed to feel anything, we might as well be droids. And even they feel things, if you think about it. The fact that we feel, that we care, is what makes the Jedi great.” “But—” “Balance,” Vernestra said. “Being a Jedi is about balance. Balance of the Force within you, the Force in the wider world. Balance of the Force as it flows through us.”

You must see the whole for the whole, and each part for the role it plays—not for what you want it to be, not for what you fear it to be. Just for what it is.

“Drengir. They’ve been causing trouble around the galaxy recently. A bunch of Jedi just rode out to face their main hive on the edge of somewhere. They hate everything that’s not them, from what I understand. And they eat…like…uh, people.”

“This meat is talkative!” one Drengir commented. “Talkative meat is often quite chewy, I find,” another noted.