Thank the Force that we made it through hyperspace in one piece, Reath realized. Though it wasn’t all Force. Some of that was thanks to Leox, Affie, and Geode. Or the Force was working through them, I guess. Still—I didn’t appreciate how fortunate we were.

He’d looked too much at the negatives of their situation, not the positives. He ought to have been more like Leox, grateful for the good instead of complaining about the bad.

And if it was true about the accident, maybe it was true about his rejection of this assignment, too.

A med droid wheeled up to him. “Your condition is acceptable?”

“I’m fine. Just here to help.” A terrible thought came to Reath then, one he ought to have considered before. It was just so unimaginable—so impossible—“Do you have access to medical records from Starlight Beacon?”

“Yes, data is updating every half day.”

“In their infirmary—was there a patient there called Jora Malli? A member of the Jedi Council, the new head of the Jedi delegation on Starlight. Master Jora Malli. Was she injured after the hyperspace disaster?”

The droid tilted its oval head. “Master Jora Malli was never brought to the Starlight infirmary.” Reath smiled for the brief moment it took the droid to add, “She was killed in battle against the Nihil.”

He couldn’t have heard that correctly. (He’d heard just fine.) It couldn’t be true. (Of course it could.) Or the droid was wrong. (Droids pulled their information straight from central processing.)

“Dead?” Reath repeated in a small voice.

“Jora Malli was declared lost in action by Jedi Master Sskeer,” the droid said. “Is there any further information I can provide?”

Reath knew Sskeer. They’d met when the Trandoshan had been assigned as Master Jora’s aide on Starlight. If Sskeer said it was true, then…then it was true. He swallowed hard. “No. That’s all. Thank you.”

As the droid rolled away, Reath leaned against the nearest wall. Breath wouldn’t enter his lungs. His eyes wouldn’t focus. His ears refused to make sense of the sounds surrounding him. He was nothing but his pulse and breath and the horrible knowledge that Master Jora was gone.

Chapter Fifteen

The Padawans’ training area was all but deserted that time of day. Other apprentices would be preparing for missions or dining with their masters. Reath, who had no assignment and no master, went there because he had no place else to go.