And the force answered him Do not blame yourself, my old friend.
As it sometimes has these past thirteen years, when the force spoke to him, it spoke in the voice of Qui-Gon Jinn.
"Too old I was," Yoda said. "Too rigid. Too arrogant to see tha tth eold way is not the ONLY way. These Jedi, I trained to become the Jedi who had trained me, long centuries ago -- but those ancient Jedi, of a different time they were. Changed, has the galaxy. Changed, the Order did not -- because let it change, I did not."
More easily said than done, my friend.
"An infinite mystery is the Force." Yoda lifted his head and turned his gaze out into the wheel of stars. "Much to learn, there still is."
And you will have time to learn it.
"Infinite knowledge..." Yoda shook his head. "Infinite time, does that require."
With my help, you can learn to join with the Force, yet retian consciousness. You can join your light to it forever. Perhaps, in time, even your physical self.
Yoda didn't move. "Eternal life..."
The ultimate goal of the Sith, ye tthey can never achieve it; it omes only by the release of self, not the exaltation of self. It comes through compassion, not greed. Love is the answer to the darkness.
"Become one with the Force, yet influence still to have..." Yoda mused. "A power greater than all, it is."
It cannot be granted, it can only be taught. It is yours to learn, if you wish it.
Slowly, yoda nodded. "A very great Jedi Master you have become Qui-Gon Jinn. A very great Jedi Master you always were, but too bloind I was to see it."
He rose, and folded his hands before him, and inclined his head in the Jedi bow of respect. The bow of the sudent, in the presence of the Master.
"Your apprentice, I gratefully become."
He was well into his first lession when the hatch cycled open behind him. He turned.
In the corridor beyond stood Bail Organa, he look stricken.
"Obi-Wan is asking for you at the surgical theater," he siad. "It's Padme, she's dying."
"
