The wind stopped rushing past him.

Bell opened his eyes and saw the ground, a meter or so below him. Then he dropped, hitting hard, though not as hard as he would have if his fall had not been stopped.

He rolled over, groaning, and a shadow fell across him.

“You need to figure this out,” Indeera Stokes said. “Loden really is going to kill you one of these times.”

She extended a hand, and Bell took it and let the other Jedi pull him up. Indeera was Tholothian, with dark skin only a few shades lighter than Bell’s own, elegant white tendrils in lieu of hair, and eyes so blue they almost seemed to glow, just like every member of her species Bell had ever met. Her leathers were scratched and worn, with the Jedi insignia in white on one shoulder. She wore her lightsaber holster on a strap of yellow webbing slung diagonally across her chest, and kept a dark-gray nanofoil scarf wrapped around her neck—useful as a mask in dust storms, and moldable into almost any shape she might need.

Standing at Indeera’s side was a small, four-legged creature, mostly mottled black, white, and gray, but with spots of red and orange here and there, and bright-yellow eyes. A charhound, native to Elphrona. She took a few steps forward and nuzzled at Bell’s hand; he scratched behind her ears, and the little beast purred with pleasure.

“Hi, Ember,” Bell said. “Nice to see you, too.”

He gave the charhound one last scratch and looked back at Indeera.

“Did Loden ask you to catch me?” he said, brushing dust off his own leathers, originally bright white but now well worn in, stained and mottled, evidence of hard use.

“Yep,” Indeera said. “No shame in it. No Jedi is perfect at everything from the start.”

She held out his lightsaber hilt. He hadn’t even felt it fall from his side. Bell took it and slipped it into his own holster, worn at his hip.

“No shame…” he said.

Loden knew he’d fail from the beginning.

“I just don’t get why he won’t let it go,” he said. “I clearly can’t do this.”

“Because one day you’ll fall off a cliff for real, and he wouldn’t be doing his job if he didn’t try to keep you from dying when you do. Jedi fall off things a lot. You need to be ready.”

Indeera turned toward the path that led back up toward the outpost.

“Come on,” she said. “Porter is making breakfast. Nine-Egg Stew, and he told me he found some stone peppers, too.”

“You think Loden will let me eat before he throws me off the cliff again?” Bell said.

“I’ll insist,” she said. “No one should die on an empty stomach.”

“Wow,” Bell said, “so kind of you.”

He followed her up the path, Ember keeping pace at his side.