Avar caught a flicker of an impulse from Elzar. Not a word, not a message, but something she understood all the same. She had known Elzar Mann for a very long time—they were younglings together, and Padawans, and that created a connection, a bond through the Force that meant sometimes they didn’t have to use words to understand each other.

But if Elzar had used words, she knew what she was sensing from him would mean: He’s lying.

Elzar was better at sensing deception than she was. Now, when it came to her particular gift, a native understanding of the way the Force touched all life in the galaxy, she thought there might not be a more skilled Jedi in the Order than herself. Well, perhaps Master Yoda. But as far as understanding people…Elzar Mann was an expert. She didn’t think he even needed to use the Force to do it.

Avar suspected he was considering a use of the Force right then, however—what most Jedi called the mind touch, and he called the mind trick. He found it a more honest way to describe what was actually being done. Elzar would lift two fingers in a subtle gesture and touch Marlowe San Tekka’s mind with the Force, and then Marlowe would do whatever Elzar said next.

The mind touch was a tool of the light, Avar knew, but she preferred indirect approaches to such a focused intervention in another person’s path. Elzar had his reservations as well, but viewed the technique as a way to open people to the truth, to provide clarity, to allow them to feel the will of the Force. To put it another way—he was a problem solver, and the mind touch certainly solved problems.

Avar sent an impulse of her own across their link, one he would recognize immediately, simple and straightforward.

No.

Elzar turned and looked at her, his face expressionless but easy for her to read. His mouth quirked up into a quick little smile—okay, you got me—and then he looked back at the San Tekkas.


Star Wars The High Republic Light of the Jedi Chapter 23