When Ben returned with the med kit, the fiend was hobbling away, dripping blood along the trail. Whatever flora the blood touched shriveled within seconds.

Ben gasped when he didn't see Jannah. "Are you just going to sit there and let that creature take her?"

Kalder glowered at him. "Take that kit to Kallay and Pilar."

Ben zoomed his chair to the group around Wei'ahtt.

Pilar crouched low and pressed one hand on top of the laceration and another on Wei'ahtt's heart. She worked her hand from heart to wound, cleansing one drip of venom at a time with the Force.

I don't get it. How can she be so clumsy with a lightsaber but so precise with healing? Ben closed his eyes and ranged out with the Force, observing, learning this technique. And where did she learn this? I thought only Master Fau—

Kallay opened the huge med kit. She pulled out an oxygen tank, nasal cannula, a bone knitter. "Take those over to Kalder—and don't interrupt." She turned back to her injured friend. "Pilar?"

"It's taking time. The venom has already reached his heart."

Wei'ahtt jerked under the grip of his medics. His moans grew fainter as his body twisted and turned.

"Can't you go any faster?"  Kallay's voice hinted demand as she glared at Ben.

Pilar grimaced as sweat beaded on her forehead. "Not without one of those healing Kyber crystals, but no one has seen any of those for decades."

How does the Force neutralize venom inside a person? 

Ben had seen Master Fau set a bone with it before, but that was more like a Force-push. This, whatever Pilar was doing, was entirely different. A part of him wanted to stay and observe, but the other group needed the oxygen and bone knitter.

When Ben reached Kalder across the grove, he saw the contorted form of Jannah Witerspah sprawled on the ground.

Tandolleau squinted as he reached out with the Force. "That's it. Nice and steady now." 

Kalder pulled out a small tube from her chest. "Lung's reinflated. How's the seal?"

"Holding together." Sweat beaded on Tandolleau's brow as he concentrated to use the Force.

Kalder grabbed the oxygen tank and cannula. He attached the hose and inserted the cannula into her nostrils with the tubing flowing over her ears. He turned the valve until the oxygen flowed freely. Kalder said, "I'm holding the bottom ribs."

Zeke said, "Two up top."

Jedi Benae said, "Got the rest. Quick now, someone get the bone knitter going, or it's all going to collapse again."

Padawan Ben held out the bone knitter.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Turn it on and run it over her ribs," Tandolleau snapped. "Hurry! If we can't keep her lungs re-inflated, she's going to die."

Ben switched on the small box and traced her bones.

"Hold it still for two minutes over each break. Haven't you had Field Med IV yet?" Benae's sharp tongue always got the better of her in stressful situations.

The teen shrugged. "Of course I have. I'm not stupid, you know."

"Then do it right. This isn't a training exercise, Ben. She needs you." Tandolleau's lips curled back. "Ben, the Force will guide you if you let it."

Ben's arm shook as he extended the device over the first crack. 

"Hurry. Her life-force is fading. Can't you feel it?" He wasn't even sure who said that.

He set the timer for two minutes and waited until moving onto the next fracture. When he finished, Kalder instructed him to start the cycle again.

Three cycles later, Kalder said, "Let's get her back to the shuttle. Zeke, go get the backboard. Benae, prep the med bay."

Tandolleau said, "Ben, we need a thermal blanket, a saline IV, and the pain meds."

The boy sped away in his chair and rummaged through the med kit over by Wei'ahtt.

Kallay asked, "How's Jannah?"

"I don't know. They're getting ready to move her to the med bay. Bringing the backboard now."

"We'll bring Wei'ahtt after you guys get her settled. Pilar's almost done expunging the venom." Kallay rummaged through the kit for a blanket and IV as well.

Ben dropped the bone knitter into the center of the kit and sped off to Kalder, eager to get away from Kallay's probing questions.

She knows I froze. She knows it. If they die, she knows it will be all my fault.

When R2-D2 flicked a switch in the main cabin, jump seats disappeared into the fuselage, and two gurneys took their places. They secured both patients into the shuttle's med bay as oxygen hoses, IV hooks, and vitals monitors lowered from the ceiling panels. 

Ben sat motionless in his chair at the back of the cabin. He breathed a sigh of relief when Master Kalder headed to the cockpit. "Artoo, get Master Luke on the line and find out what that beast was."

The little droid beeped.

"Yes, Artoo, I know the coaxium cylinders are missing. Just contact Luke."

A trill directed the Ben's eyes to the display screen above the droid.

A Gorax? That thing was a Gorax?

Ben had heard tales about those creatures when he was growing up. He shook his head as his early memories on Endor returned to him.

"This is Master Skywalker." Luke's voice crackled over the line with static. Sounds of tribal music and Ewok voices bled through the background.

Ben struggled to maintain his concentration on his uncle's voice. The Ewokese in the background filled his mind. He was shocked at how much he understood.

Kalder cleared his throat. "We had a visitor. Something called a Gorax."

The name of the beast jolted Ben out of his reverie.

"It attacked the camp." Kalder wiped his brow. "Jannah's got crushed ribs and a punctured lung. We're holding her together with the Force right now. Wei'ahtt got slashed and took a good bit of venom. They're stabilized but critical."

"First cruiser is due to arrive in two hours. Can you hold on that long?"

Kalder bit his lips. "Not sure."

"Meet us at the landing platform."

"Copy that. Elenium out."

Did you know . . .

● A bone knitter is a canon device that fuses bones together so they can heal faster.

● The Jedi are so focused on the task, that they are forgetting the Padawan is just a Padawan and has very little field medicine training (and what courses he has taken, he cheated on or did not pay attention to).

Tell me what you think . . . 

● Since no one clapped him on the back or said "well done," what do you think is going through Ben's mind right now about what the other Jedi think of him? Is he correct?