Chapter 13

     Although she was no trained musician, powerful magic being her forte, Glinda knew this was a challenging composition, by way of the solo passages. It was a suite for full orchestra with featured solos for violin, cello, and piano. She knew just who could pull off the violin and piano parts – Anthony and Six. The latter was Number Nine's sister, a pretty teenage Munchkin lady, who excelled as a violinist. No one in Oz could match Six's virtuosity and technical expertise. The cello passages would most likely be performed by Madeline; in fact, it seemed Helmut knew only a Jedi could perform these solos. So difficult from a technical standpoint. Even the most seasoned cellist would have problems approaching such a challenging work.
      However, more pressing matters were on Glinda's mind. She already knew of the impending, secretly planned coup, and she knew just why. There are Jedi in Oz, always have been since time immemorial. So many Jedi and Force Masters fleeing Emperor Palpatine's purge found that time slip, thus landing on Earth albeit in various eras and places. Three Force Masters resided in Oz, in Quadling Country, just across the Crystal Swamp. This would be Deke, Mariah, and Rath. Another refugee from that faraway galaxy also resided in Oz, but he expressly told Glinda and Ozma not to reveal his identity or whereabouts. Just leave him in peace; when the time is right he will make himself known.
      Through her Book of Records, which contained therein every event and deed from around the world, Glinda discovered one of those exiled Force Masters was none other than Neo Govin, the second eyewitness to the dinosaur Bren's kidnapping. Stranger still, Govin turned out to be one of Madeline's distant ancestors. This she revealed to Nick Chopper who had just arrived.

      "The records on Neo Govin stop just short of 1482. He simply vanished," she said to Nick.
      "Does this mean," asked the Tin Woodman, "one of those who escaped Palpatine's clutches may really be Madeline's ancestor? From which side?"
      Glinda replied, "Neo Govin changed his name to Amiel Beauchamps...One of Jean- Paul's forebears."
      Nick nodded. "Oh, Jean-Paul married Marbe Tasou. Anything else on Neo?"

      "No, nothing else."

      Returning her attention to the score, Glinda pointed out a few oddities. Not that the royal blue satin cover with the title Auf der Sternen (Out of the Stars) emblazoned in fanciful gilt Copperplate seemed out of place. In fact, the thick tome was as clean and pristine as the day it was presented to Elzire and Blanche Mendel in 1847. What got Glinda were the odd shapes scribbled in the margins and at the end of each page.

      Nick thumbed through the entire work, and though he knew nothing of musical terminology, he marvelled at Brück's ingenious use of dynamics and juxtaposing themes. His eyes fell to the bottom of each page, taking in the odd little handwritten ovals. Neatly tucked in the back was a fifty-page document written not in Helmut Brück's native German, but in a language not even the most skilled linguist could decipher. The letters were of fanciful script but not of any recognizable written language. Studying further the strange language and ovals, Nick suddenly realized what he was reading.
      "Glinda," he asked, "did you find anything in your Book of Records on these symbols? The reason I'm asking is I know this language. Not by way of translating, but I've seen it before. This is Naboo futhark and futhork. See?"
      He handed over the score to Glinda, continuing, "These ovals are the formal script. The document in back is in futhork, the everyday written language. My goodness, Glinda, and I just learned this today...Helmut Brück was a Jedi!"

++++++

Meanwhile, in the valley, a reminisce and wise counsel...

      What am I doing here? I can't do this! My professional debut, with the Chicago Symphony, and I'm only fifteen... I know I'll screw up...I know the piece, but I'm so nervous. What if I flub a passage? Break a string? Worse yet, fall off the stage...I knew I wasn't ready for this...

     "Fear of failure you are,"

     "I'm not afraid to fail."

     "Afraid you are, young Madeline. Quiet the mind you must. Right your teacher is...Fear, doubt, anger...Never emerge the artist will. "

     "Master Yoda, why do you and the other Jedi watch out for me? Why am I so special?"

     "Special you say! Special you are not. Gifted in ways of the Force you are. Dispel all doubt you must. Play well you will. Only then emerges the true artist..."

++++++

     "I was a jangle of nerves that night. I mean, I knew the piece inside and out, but I guess I was letting doubt and fear take over. I played my piece..."

     "Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations," commented Qui-Gon Jinn. "Yes, you played very well for one so young. Quite the virtuoso you were becoming. We watched over your entire performance, and even then we knew you had an excellent command of the Force."
       "Oh, yes," said Madeline. "That was an unforgettable evening. I got three curtain calls plus two encores. Master Yoda was right: I was letting my fear cloud my better judgement, and it could have ruined my performance."

      In the verdant valley, Madeline Tasou, awakened from her trance, wasn't that all surprised to find the Force ghost of Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn sitting next to her. Oh, she knew the Jedi watched over her entire life and career. They cheered her in triumphs and counselled in her darkest hours. Of course, these visitations were never shared with her mother or Charlie; she felt they wouldn't believe her tales of seeing and conversing with long dead Jedi.
      However, it was the recently viewed Jurassic scene that both puzzled and disturbed her. There, as clear as if it happened just now, Maddie saw herself as the child apatosaurus Bren, taken from her family and friends with no explanation. Only the girl's best friend, a corythosaurus named Korie witnessed the crime.
     Did I really live before, as a dinosaur? Maybe that was what Anakin Skywalker meant in that dream...In that valley similar to this one...That my family – and true love – are here waiting for me. It was this latest development she wanted to share with Qui-Gon, but the Jedi Master wanted to delve into more than visions of a distant past life.

     "It is true, Madeline," he said gently, "the Jedi have watched over you. We've shared in all your life's triumphs and tragedies. There was one event in your life that troubled us, as much as it distressed you. Do you remember?"
      Now she couldn't hedge. She had to talk about it, although she had blotted out the sad event out of fear the sheer memory would consume her. Taking a deep breath, Maddie recounted that tragic episode that cost her a dear friend.
      "Judy was my best friend since kindergarten. I didn't have many close girlfriends. Anyway, it happened during my sophomore year at I.U., and Judy and I had just delivered Valentine fruit baskets to a local nursing home. We did stuff like that: Give back to those who hadn't much. I was already a minor celebrity in the music world, and Judy was making a splash as an up and coming visual artist."
      "We took my car, but since it was that time of the month, and I had these awfully painful cramps, Judy offered to drive home. It wasn't far, my apartment, and it wasn't icy anymore, so we took a little country road that passed by the old limestone quarries. We always took that way home..."

     A leisurely drive home soon turned into tragedy the moment the car skidded on a patch of black ice. Judy lost control, and the car veered off the road then plunged into the freezing waters below.
     "I was thrown clear of the car, but Judy was stuck inside. I couldn't help her if I wanted. My leg was surely broken; I was in a daze. All I could do was lay on the rocks while Judy screamed for help. The car sank deeper and deeper. I passed out afterwards and didn't know anything until I found myself in the ER."
      Qui-Gon listened as Maddie related those sad days after the accident. She felt sorry for herself, and she blamed herself for not being able to help her best friend. Not long thereafter, Maddie received a special visitor: Jedi Master Adi Gallia who counselled the distressed young woman.
     "Do you remember what Master Gallia said to you?," he asked.
      Madeline recalled, "It was not long after the accident. I was still in the hospital; I couldn't go to the funeral, and I felt so bad, as if I was being punished for not driving that day. It should have been me at the bottom of that quarry, not Judy. Anyway, Mom and Charlie just left for the night, and the nurse brought medicine for the pain. I got a little drowsy, and that's when Adi appeared to me. I thought I was dreaming, but I wasn't."
      "Master Gallia said not to feel sorry for myself, and I wasn't to blame for Judy's death. Fear of loss is a first step to the dark side, and I was letting myself go deeper and deeper into a pit of despair. She said it was an unfortunate accident, nothing more. I should remember Judy for the joy she gave me, but don't mourn or miss her. I felt a little better after Adi's pep talk, and I guess I was sliding into the dark side. Afterwards, when I was able to go home, my leg still in a cast, I plunged myself into my music. the only thing that gave me complete joy. Of course, I kept in touch with Judy's mother. Mrs. Anderson was a widow; her husband died years ago in an explosion at work. She was always very nice to me, but I felt bad about the accident. After all, she lost both a husband and her only child."

      Master Jinn understood Maddie's sentiments on the death of her best friend. He himself felt the loss of a promising Jedi Knight in the form of Anakin Skywalker.
     This he voiced to the young woman who said, "But Anakin was very much alive after your duel with Darth Maul. How could he die...Oh, that's right. Anakin fell to the dark side. I suppose one could 'die' that way..."
      Qui-Gon nodded, commenting, "In a way, Anakin did die the moment he became Darth Vader. But not all was lost, for you see, there was still a faint glimmer of love in him. For his wife Padmé and the children he never knew. Of course, in the end, his son Luke helped to bring out the good in him, thus restoring Anakin to the light side of the Force. See? The prophecy rang true: Anakin Skywalker was the Chosen One, the one who would defeat the Sith and bring balance to the Force."
      He looked squarely into Maddie's eyes, adding, "You are much like Anakin, more than you realize. No, you do not have his impetuous, reckless streak. But you still harbor much frustration and guilt. Guilt over the loss of your friend, and frustration that you couldn't have done more to help your mother during her dying days. But you fight off those feelings remarkably well, which is crucial for a Jedi. Do I believe you have the makings of a fine Jedi Knight? Yes, and as Anakin pointed out, you've already touched the Force through your music. The abilities you've demonstrated in your younger days proves a remarkable command of the Force: Able to grasp technique long before you could read, the ease of composing complicated passages out of nothing, even playing the most difficult pieces..."

     Deftly changing the subject, Qui-Gon Jinn then focused on why this visitation. He told Maddie why she was here, in Oz, and of the strange phenomenon that she had lived before as a dinosaur. He also revealed, in part, the crime's culprit, and of the fallout said nefarious person left long after his death.
       "Young Bren was one of Count Dooku's many victims, but he wasn't interested in turning her to the dark side. He had hoped this animal could be trained as a beast of war. Surely such an animal, though still very much a baby, would grow to gargantuan size, capable of smashing the Republic's clone troops with one step. However, Dooku believed the animal stupid and slow. I, from afar, observed Dooku's methods, and I watched how the little one reacted. Already I could tell the child deftly resisted all Dooku's efforts. This child was not slow or stupid, but keenly intuited with the Force."
      Maddie said, "I know what happened to Dooku: Killed by Anakin. But what happened to Bren?"
      "Bren simply disappeared from her pen. No one knows what happened to her, and that is one mystery you will partially solve by reconnecting with your Jurassic family."

      Madeline nodded, but she was still in the dark as to what Padmé mentioned last night. Something about a Dark Jedi who came to Earth via that time slip. Maddie would, when the time came, face down this person, ultimately defeating him or her.
     "Who was the Dark Jedi, Qui-Gon? A man, woman? Where on Earth did they land, in what time period?"
       Master Jinn sighed then replied, "There were so many who fell to the persuasive powers of the Sith. Two in particular deeply worried me as they were not Jedi or Force Masters. One was Lorenz Kast, a former Jedi Apprentice who failed his trials, thus returning to his home on Dantooine. What became of him is a mystery to me. The other was a young woman named Parva Eugui, daughter of Orson Eugui, a Separatist sympathizer. Orson was one of the Clone Wars' first casualities, and his daughter took up her father's mantle, ultimately becoming one of the Emperor's most fervent supporters. So lost in worship of Palpatine, Parva fell to the dark side quickly. He rewarded her loyalty by making her an apprentice of sorts. Not that the Emperor already had an apprentice by way of Darth Vader, and, of course, most Sith apprentices are easily discarded and replaced."
      Maddie commented, "As Anakin replaced Dooku, who replaced Darth Maul. Anakin told me much, how the Emperor wanted to turn Luke to the dark side, thus replacing the father with the son."
      Qui-Gon replied, "Yes, as such is the way of the Sith. But, getting back to Parva...She was used as an instrument in turning more to the dark side of the Force. Even after Palpatine's death and defeat of the Empire, Parva focused her attention and efforts to the New Jedi Order."
       Then, he asked, "In your study of Marbe's journals, was there any mention of her brother? I'm asking because Kirel was one of Parva's latest victims. I will not go into detail of Kirel's plight; that you will learn on your own. I will tell you this: Parva escaped after her defeat at Luke Skywalker's hand. To where is not known. There is a huge possibility she escaped to Earth via that slip. Exactly where on Earth I do not know."

     Smiling, Master Jinn said before vanishing, "But I'm here to counsel you, Madeline. This magical place serves as refuge for those who fell to the Dark Jedi's machinations. Today you will meet two such persons, and they will tell you more of Jedi on Earth, but not as you think. Later, after you complete your training, Glinda will have a special item for you. Guard it well, as it holds even more secrets of the Earthbound Jedi. Many of us will be with you, counselling you on your journey."
      Then, finally, Qui-Gon said, "If you're worried about your Jedi training, don't. You've already received training through one Jedi Master. He taught you far more than music...That is another fact of your life yet to learn. But for now, settle in, make friends. Lose yourself in everyday routine, and find your niche within Ozma's realm. When all is over, when the Dark One is at last defeated, you will earn a joy unprecedented. Anakin was right: You will reunite with one feared lost long ago..."      

Copyright©2007 by PRP