StarWars.com shares an exclusive extract from Justina Ireland’s Star Wars: The High Republic: Mission to Disaster, arriving January 4th, 2022, which sees Vernestra Rwoh focusing on being the best teacher she can be, training Imri Cantaros in the delicate nature of using the Force to leap an otherwise impossible distance.
Vernestra Rwoh, Jedi Knight, master to Padawan Imri Cantaros, needed a nap.
“Come on, Vern, one more round! I think I’m finally getting the hang of it!” called Imri from the middle of the canyon, where he hung in midair after missing the jump. Vernestra was holding Imri aloft with the Force, and she very carefully set him down on the ground beside her. That was the thirty-third time she had caught him. She was exhausted.
Since Imri had become Vernestra’s Padawan after the Steady Wing disaster, they hadn’t had a lot of opportunities for controlled practice in the field. Between fighting the Drengir and then the Nihil and going to Coruscant to help Master Stellan, they’d been too busy to just take a day and practice the fundamentals. But now the Nihil leader, the mysterious Eye, was on the run, and the Republic and the Jedi had finally restored safety to the frontier and the hyperspace lanes.
Vernestra had decided it was beyond time that Imri had some more formalized instruction. They’d traveled to Kirima to give Imri a chance to practice a few different techniques, such as jumping longer distances and leaping great heights. Vernestra thought it would be a good place to finally practice the skills they hadn’t yet had a chance to explore.
Imri was, as usual, enthusiastic but maybe not the best at using the Force for great feats of strength. He was fantastic at creating bonds and using the Force to soothe emotions, something that Vernestra had worried over initially but now saw as just the way Imri interpreted the will of the Force. Working with the younger boy had been as much a learning experience for Vernestra as it had been for Imri. Vernestra had become a Jedi Knight at the tender age of fifteen, much younger than most, and now at nearly eighteen she realized that she had learned much more from having a Padawan than from any other part of her life as a Jedi. Imri was to be thanked for that.
But she was really, really tired of catching the boy before he plunged to his death.
“I feel like Master Sskeer has a different idea of the best training for a Padawan than I do,” Vernestra said, eyeing the canyon before them once more. It had been Master Sskeer who had suggested the training location, and his former Padawan Keeve had laughed when Vernestra had asked her about her experience training with him on Kirima.
“Oh, Imri will find it unforgettable. Trust me,” she had said with a grin. Vernestra had gotten the impression that she’d meant that in a bad way, but Imri was having a blast.
“Okay, one more time. And then we need to find some lunch,” Vernestra said, her middle achingly empty. “Ready?”
Imri squared his shoulders and sank into a crouch. “Ready.”
Vernestra ran toward Imri, using the Force to push off the ground so each step became explosive. She sped past him, toward the looming edge of the cliff and the canyon beyond. At the last possible moment she jumped, using the Force to carry her up and across, her jump far more powerful than anything an average being could accomplish on their own.
She skidded to a stop on the other side and turned to see Imri grinning after her. “All right, it’s your turn!” she yelled back, cupping her hands around her mouth to make sure that her voice could carry across the distance.
Imri began to run toward the edge of the ravine, and Vernestra prepared to catch him if he needed her to. It was more likely than not. They had been on Kirima the whole day, and he had yet to make the jump.
This would be the time when he did. Vernestra could feel it.
Imri reached the edge of the canyon and launched himself across, his arms windmilling as he flew through the air. Vernestra grinned at the trajectory and speed of his jump. He was going to make it.
Kirima faded away, and Vernestra was suddenly watching a man dressed as a Nihil shooting Avon, the girl falling to the ground in a laboratory Vernestra had never before seen. A figure loomed over her, and Vernestra reached out, trying to help her friend.
“Oof!”
Imri slammed into Vernestra, and they both went tumbling backward into the dirt. Vernestra groaned as Imri scrambled to his feet.
“Vern! Are you okay? Did you see that? I made it! I did it!” Imri jumped up and down, punching the air in excitement.
“Ugh, yes, you did. Excellent job,” Vernestra climbed to her feet with a frown, dusting herself off as she did.
“Vern? What’s wrong? You’re troubled.” Imri’s ability to read the emotions of those around him was stronger than most Jedi’s, and he’d become a valuable asset to diplomatic missions because of it. It no longer overwhelmed him since he now had a number of targeted meditations he could use when the emotions of others became too much. Vernestra was proud that Imri had been able to find a way to embrace his abilities instead of resisting them. She had helped, but the accomplishment was still due to his hard work. It was one of her favorite things about her Padawan. He just didn’t give up.
She wished she could be as brave as him.
“As you jumped I had a vision,” Vernestra said.
Imri’s mouth fell open. “Here? But I thought that usually only happened in hyperspace for you.”
“Yeah, which is why it was so alarming. I wonder if it’s because it was somehow more personal? I saw Avon, and she looked to be in danger.”
“Do you think something happened to Port Haileap?” Imri asked. The distant planet Haileap had been their home for a while when Vernestra had been a new Knight and Imri had been Padawan to Jedi Master Douglas Sunvale, who had perished in the devastation of the Steady Wing explosion. They both still had a number of friends on Haileap, and the thought that something terrible had happened there was not an easy one. “Do you think it could be the Nihil?”
Vernestra shook her head. “I’m not sure how. The person was dressed like the Nihil, but the efforts of the Jedi and the Republic have all but eliminated them. It might be nothing at all. Maybe I just need some water.”
Imri’s expression went hard. “We should send a call back to Haileap, just in case.”
Vernestra and Imri hiked back to their ship, which was only a couple of kilometers away. As they walked Vernestra tried not to let her thoughts run wild. There was no benefit in that.
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