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forged ahead, pushing through the field with the last of his strength,

  absorbing its weakened power in dull aches and hot flashes. Suddenly he was

  through, his hands drawing the children behind him in a steady stream.

  Anakin forced his mind back to the field, joining Tahiri in a last

  effort to weaken its power as the children streamed from the globe, hand in

  hand. Minutes later it was over, the last child emerging from the globe's

  cursed grasp. Anakin sank to the stone floor.

  "You're free," Tahiri said softly to the countless children who

  crowded the chamber. Their small, spiritlike forms were almost transparent.

  Cloaked in white robes outlined in shimmering blue, they stood silently

  before the Jedi candidates.

  "Do you think they understand?" Tahiri asked as she sat down beside

  Anakin.

  "They understand," Anakin answered, sensing the children's growing

  wonderment and joy. One of them walked toward the Jedi candidates. He

  reached out a small hand and gently touched both of their faces. Anakin

  felt the brush of a feather across his cheek at the touch. Then the

  Massassi child bowed and moved back to the other children. Slowly they all

  began to fade from sight, until the last glimmering blue outline

  disappeared. They had finally returned to their people.

  The curse was broken; the children were freed from their imprisonment.

  "Do you feel it?" Anakin asked Tahiri.

  Tahiri nodded. "Peace to all," she replied softly.

  As Tahiri and Anakin moved to leave the chamber, they heard a sharp

  sound behind them, and whirled. The golden globe was cracking, its surface

  lined with running veins of white. Then, in an instant, the sphere broke

  into a thousand shards of crystal, and the golden glitter which had once

  filled it spilled out into the chamber, now just lifeless yellow sand.

  Anakin and Tahiri left the Palace of the Woolamander. Their eyes

  quickly adjusted from the gloom to the soft morning light of the jungle.

  And to the figure of Jedi Master Luke Skywalker as he stood on the

  crumbling stone steps of the palace,

  Master Ikrit by his side. Luke Skywalker studied Anakin and Tahiri.

  His face conveyed relief at seeing the two Jedi candidates safe.

  "The curse is broken?" Luke asked softly.

  "Yes," Anakin answered his uncle.

  "You have both done well," Ikrit rasped, his big brown eyes gleaming

  in pride at Tahiri and Anakin.

  "You know everything?" Anakin asked his uncle, gesturing toward Ikrit.

  Luke Skywalker nodded. He wrapped his arms around Anakin's and

  Tahiri's shoulders.

  "I am very proud," Luke said, his eyes meeting theirs.

  Slowly the group walked back toward the Jedi academy. For the first

  time in a long time, Anakin and Tahiri were not heading toward danger, but

  simply toward the future-adventure, the Force, and their ultimate goal: to

  become Jedi Knights.