"That"s in the past," Luminara told him. "And besides, Bar riss says it wasn"t really your fault, and that you"re cured. I accept her conclusion on that."

"Guides for Jedi! Us!" Bulgan could hardly believe the change in their fortunes that had taken place in a single day-from working for a slime-tracker like Bossban Soergg to escorts for Jedi Knights.

The ever-wary Anakin leaned close to Obi-Wan. "Master, do you think it wise to place our trust and requirements in such as these?"

Obi-Wan pursed his lips. "I sense no danger in these two."

"Neither did Barriss," Anakin pointed out sagaciously, "until they abducted her."

"That was before she performed her healing. I think we shall be well looked after by this grateful pair. And they offer us an advantage we could not have hoped to obtain from the city folk: being Alwari themselves, they should find the right path and make the eventual necessary introductions as well or better than any others we could hire here in Cuipernam."

Anakin mulled this over. "Are in the final a.n.a.lysis all relationships between sentients ultimately reduced to politics of one kind or another, Master Obi-Wan?"

"It is thought so by many. Hence my continual attempts to hammer into you the basic principles of skillful diplomacy. Who knows? One day they might serve you in personal as well as professional relationships."

That thought was sufficient to quiet the Padawan, and to set him on an entirely unrelated line of thinking. Meanwhile, the two older Jedi discussed details with their new guides as together they strode from the crowded square.

"The first thing," Luminara declared, "is to have these wicked devices removed from beneath your respective scalps."

"I know a healer who can do it in minutes, and will not be afraid to, now that they have been deactivated." Kyakhta flashed bright, sharp teeth at Barriss. "He is a fine craftsman, but he would never even have thought of treating us-before. To do so would have meant incurring the wrath of Bossban Soergg."

"Good." Luminara sidestepped a trio of wandering Mielps, bent down beneath the weight of shopping bags nearly as large as themselves. "Then we can hire a landspeeder, and proceed to-"

"No, no!" Bulgan cautioned her. "No landspeeders. We must take with us as few examples of galactic technology as possible. All Alwari are die-hard traditionalists. As you already know, this argument between them and the people of the towns centers largely on differences between long-established customs and new ways of doing things, of living. If you wish to gain the trust of the Borokii, to prove from the beginning that you do not favor the city folk, then you must approach them with reverence for the old ways."

Obi-Wan nodded amiably. "Very well then. No landspeeders. How do we travel?"

"For traversing the great prairies, there are many riding animals that are suitable."

Anakin made a face. "Animals!" He"d always been far more comfortable working with machines. If they gave him enough time and access to sufficient equipment and spare parts, he could have built them a vehicle that would perform as required. But the native had been insistent-no landspeeders.

"By far the best is the suubatar." Kyakhta"s enthusiasm was palpable. "If you can afford them, they are the preferred means of travel for Alwari highborn. Arriving in a camp atop one immediately marks the rider as a person of consequence. Not to mention taste."

Luminara considered. "The Jedi Council prefers that we travel modestly.

We have at our disposal only limited means of exchange."

"I think we might manage it," Obi-Wan told her. "Given that we"ve been told to resolve this business as quickly as possible, no one should object to our spending a little to achieve that aim. The sooner we leave Cuipernam in search of these Borokii, the better our chances of quick success, and the safer we all will be."

"Riding a suubatar is like riding the wind." An eager Bulgan leapt over a dozing crowlyn. As he cleared its wide jaws, it pawed at him indifferently and went back to sleep.

Anakin shrugged. "I"m a champion Podracer. I"m afraid no organic riding steed, no matter how "n.o.ble" it might be considered locally, is going to impress me very much."

But he was wrong.

If there was one thing advanced technology had largely eliminated from modern transportation, it was smell. The latter was present in abundance at the travel market, where an amazing variety of domesticated riding creatures was to be found. While the two older Jedi went with their new guides to find suitable animals, the pair of Padawans were placed on guard.

"I"ve already apologized to my Master for allowing myself to be abducted." As she spoke, Barriss"s eyes were never still, regarding every vendor and shopper, every merchant and animal trainer, as a potential threat.

Having already been lulled once by the apparent tranquillity of his surroundings, Anakin was equally alert. He stood alongside his counterpart, wishing she were someone else but never less than properly and politely respectful of her already established bravery and talent.

"There"s no need to be embarra.s.sed. I"ve done plenty of stupid things in my life, too."

"I didn"t say it was stupid." She turned away from him.

He hesitated momentarily. "Look, I"m sorry. We"ve managed to get off on the wrong foot somehow. All I can say in my defense is that I"ve got a lot on my mind."

"You"re a Jedi Padawan. Of course you"ve got a lot on your mind." Eyeing a seuvhat driver heading purposefully in their direction, her hand strayed toward her lightsaber. When he turned his vehicle, her fingers fell away from the weapon.

"I mean I"m preoccupied." Reaching out, he put a hand on her shoulder, hoping the gesture would not be misconstrued. He needn"t have worried.

"If I hadn"t been, if I"d been doing my job, I would have been paying more attention to the shop you went into. I might have followed up in time to prevent your abduction."

"The fault was mine, not yours. I was guilty of thinking of only one thing at a time. Besides," she added briskly, "if events had unfolded differently, I wouldn"t have been able to help those two unfortunate Alwari, and we would still be looking for guides to take us to find this overclan. As Master Yoda says, there are many paths through life, so it is best to be happy with whichever one we finally decide to take."

"Ah yes, Master Yoda." He slipped deep into thought.

Along with watching the crowd for signs of trouble, she also stole occasional glances at her fellow Padawan. A hard one to read, this Anakin Skywalker. Strength boiled within him. Strength, and-other things.

Already, she saw that he was far more complicated than anyone else she had trained with at the Temple. That in itself was unusual. Once chosen, a Jedi"s path was straight and uncomplicated. That was not what she perceived within Anakin Skywalker.

"You said you were preoccupied," she finally said to him. "I sense that it"s an unhappy preoccupation."

"Do you, now?" She couldn"t decide if he was being sarcas tic, or merely agreeable. Behind them, Jedi and guides continued to haggle for mounts.

He found himself wishing they would get on with it. He was tired of this place, tired of this a.s.signment. What did it matter if Ansion, or even several dozen allied worlds, seceded from the Republic? Given the current state of galactic governance and of the Senate, with its proven record of corruption and confusion, who could blame them? It might serve as a wake- up call to the rest of the Republic, a warning to clean things up or risk worse to come.

Strong thoughts for a Padawan. He smiled to himself. Obi-Wan was wrong. I do think about the state of things, sometimes, and not just about myself.

"Yes, I do," Barriss continued. She was not in the least in timidated by him. "With what are you so preoccupied, Anakin Skywalker? Why are you always so pensive?"

He thought about telling her the truth. In the end, he decided to explain only part of it. With a wave of one hand, he took in the travel market, the surrounding streets, the mixed throng of An-sionians and offworlders, and the city beyond.

"Why are we here? Master Obi-Wan has tried to explain it to me, but I"m afraid I"m not very sympathetic to the intricacies of politics. I find them difficult to understand, even irrelevant to life. Ever since I was a child, I"ve always had to be a direct sort of person." He looked over at her. "Where I grew up, the way I grew up, if you dissipated your energies, idled away your time, you didn"t last long. You want my sincere opinion of this a.s.signment?"

She nodded, watching him.

"It"s a waste of time. A job for jabbering diplomats, not Jedi."

"I see. And what would you do if you were in charge, Anakin?"

He didn"t hesitate. "I"d round up the leaders of both fac tions, city and nomad alike, lock them all in the same room, and tell them that if they didn"t make peace within a week, the Republic would send a full task force and a.s.sume direct control of local affairs."

She was nodding slowly, an infuriatingly tranquil expression on her face.

"And how would the Commerce Guild respond to that, given its extensive interests in this sector?"

"The Commerce Guild does what is profitable. War with the Republic is not profitable." He looked convinced. "That much I"ve learned."

"And if the Ansionian Unity of cities and towns, in conse quence of this action of yours, makes good on its threat to join the new secessionist movement, and the other worlds that are allied to Ansion decide to join in-?"

"It wouldn"t make any difference to people"s daily lives. Trade would continue, everyday life on the worlds involved wouldn"t change," he huffed.

"Are you so certain that you would risk thousands of lives to find out?

And what would happen to the Alwari, who disagree with the present path of the Unity? Would not the Commerce Guild and its allies come down hard on them?"

"Well, I"m not sure that..." Under her relentless reasoning, his wall of certainty was beginning to crack.

She looked away from him, returned to studying the lively crowd. "Better, I think, to send a pair of Jedi and their Padawans to try to fix things.

Far less threatening than a task force. Also cheaper, a course of action that always pleases the Senate."

He sighed. "You argue plausibly. But Ansion is such a no where world!

Even Obi-Wan wonders if it is very important. He"s spoken to me about it several times, as well as about what he thinks is wrong these days with the Republic itself."

"Flashpoints," she shot back. "Surely he has also spoken to you about flashpoints, and the need to stamp them out before they can grow into uncontainable conflagrations."

"Interminably." He sighed resignedly as he resumed surveying the crowd with her.

"It is a fair price." The mane of the Ansionian trader had been painted with alternating silver and black chevrons that ran down his spine to disappear beneath his low-cut collar. Convex lavender-hued eyes studied his clients blankly, giving away nothing. "Nowhere else in Cuipernam, or on the Sorr-ul-Paan Plateau, will you find six such splendid steeds of such grace and quality! Not for thrice the price!"

"Be not overinsistent," Kyakhta told him, "lest your inces sant haranguing curdle the stomachs of my masters." Turning away from the broker, he lowered his voice as he and Bulgan conferenced with their new employers.

"He is right, Master Luminara. The price he asks is a fair one. Slightly high, perhaps, but the animals are in excellent condition."

"To ride such mounts!" Bulgan could hardly contain his antic.i.p.ation.

"Give us a moment." Turning away, Luminara left the two Alwari to continue with the negotiations, although by now these were no more than a matter of trying to shave minuscule amounts off the broker"s final offer.

"What do you think, Obi-Wan?"

He surveyed the surrounding market, ever alert for signs of impending aggression. "I think we should rely on the native expertise of our new guides. After what your Padawan did for them, I believe they would cheat themselves before they would take advantage of her." A glance back showed the two Alwari still arguing agreeably with the seller. "Besides, I"m rather looking forward to riding one of the beasts. One of these days, I have a feeling I"ll have no choice but to ride around in old skimmers and beat-up landspeeders." Looking up, he studied the clear blue sky.

Luminara eyed the Padawans. "There is still tension between Barriss and Anakin."

"Yes." Obi-Wan sighed. "I"ve noticed it, too. But they appear to be getting on better since her ordeal. A fine student, Barriss. The Force flows strongly within her."

"So it does, but not like it does in young Anakin. He is a wild river, your Padawan, full of repressed energy that needs channeling."

"He came unreasonably late to training, and was raised by his mother to a greater age than the usual apprentice."

Luminara looked again in the Padawans" direction. "He knew his mother?

That is a bond Jedi apprentices do not normally bring with them. It presents all manner of potential com plications and difficulties."

"I know. For that reason alone I would have not accepted him, but he was taken up by my own Master, Qui-Gon Jinn, whose dying wishes I vowed to respect. Among other matters that had to be dealt with subsequent to his pa.s.sing, that meant dealing with and bringing along this unusually volatile youth."

"How has it gone?" she asked earnestly.

Obi-Wan stroked his beard absently. "He"s often impetuous, which is worrying. Sometimes it carries over into impatience, which is dangerous.

But he has gone through and survived a great deal, and he is an avid student of Jedi lore. There are subjects in which he excels, such as lightsaber combat. And he"s a natural pilot. But he has little time for the intricacies of history or diplomacy, and politics positively make him ill. Yet he perseveres. A trait he gets, I believe, from his mother, whom Qui-Gon knew but briefly as a quiet yet strong-willed woman."

She nodded thoughtfully. "If anyone can turn such unwieldy raw material into a polished Jedi Knight, I suspect it is you, Obi-Wan. Many have the knowledge, but few the patience."

"You could do it, I think."

She regarded him straight on. Face to face, the two Jedi gazed into each other"s eyes. Each saw something different but worthy there. Each saw something distinctive, even exceptional. When they finally looked away, it was simultaneously.

Turning, Obi-Wan moved to consult with the gently bickering Alwari. She watched him for a long, contemplative moment before turning back to resume her scrutiny of the crowd.

At Obi-Wan"s urging, Kyakhta and Bulgan concluded their negotiations for the six animals. At the shoulder, the magnificent suubatars stood thrice the height of a human. They were six-legged, with long-splayed toes that seemed wholly out of place on a creature designed for running through open gra.s.slands.

When Anakin pointed out this seeming evolutionary disparity to Kyakhta, the Alwari laughed.

"You"ll see what they are for, Jedi Padawan!" Pulling back on the double set of reins, he effortlessly turned his own newly acquired mount.

The lightweight but thickly padded saddle was cinched be tween the front and middle shoulders. Between middle shoulders and rear haunches, a second swayback would accommodate a sizable pack of supplies. Having been negotiated for and priced, these were in the process of being loaded onto the complaisant animals by the merchant"s busy underlings.

"Food, water, accessories: all has been acquired and ac counted for, Master Barriss." Bulgan had his own booted, long-toed feet thrust forward in stirrups that were slung on either side of the suubatar"s neck, instead of hanging downward. The smooth arch of the saddle behind him cradled his crippled back. "Ahhhh-haja!" he exclaimed with evident pleasure. "To sit like this brings back many memories."

Following Kyakhta"s instructions, Luminara straddled her own mount.

Despite its height, she had no trouble doing so. First, because it was presently crouched down awaiting its rider, and second, because the body was lean and narrow. The reason for the saddle became immediately apparent. Without it, one would be seated directly atop the line of protruding vertebrae.

"Elup!" Kyakhta barked. Starting from the front, the suu-batar rose one set of legs at a time: front, middle, and finally rear. The reason for the high-arching leather curve at the back of the saddle was now clear.

With no support behind her, the angle of ascent would have sent Luminara bouncing down the creature"s spine all the way to the ground.

Though each boasted its own pattern of dark green stripes set against short soft fur, all six animals were the same underlying light bronze color. The combination would allow them, despite their size and visibility, to blend in well with their prairie land surroundings.

Expecting the suubatars to be typical grazing herbivorous creatures, Luminara was surprised to learn that they were in fact omnivores, able to survive on a wide variety of foods. Their long, slim jaws were hinged at the bottom, allowing for an enormous if narrow gape that could swallow astonishingly large fruits or prey in a single gulp. The four front canines protruded above and below the jaws, giving their owners a fearsome appearance that belied their placid nature.

"Of course, these are domesticated individuals," Bulgan told her, divining her thoughts. "Wild suubatars have been known to attack and destroy entire caravans."

"That"s rea.s.suring." Bobbing from side to side atop his pa tient mount, Anakin was struggling to maintain his balance. Kyakhta noted the trouble he was having and came alongside.

"You"re sitting up too straight, Master Anakin. Lean back into the viann, the saddle support. There, that"s it. See how your legs now thrust naturally into the forward stirrups?"

"But I can"t see as well in this position," the Padawan com plained, struggling to hang on to the double set of reins.

"I think we"re high up enough to see anything of impor tance," Obi-Wan told him. He lay back in the saddle as one to the manner born. "Look on this as another unexpected episode in your education."

"I"d rather be educated in a late-model landspeeder," Anakin grumbled.

But Kyakhta was right. The more he leaned back and trusted the saddle, the st.u.r.dier and more stable he felt. Maybe this wouldn"t be so bad after all.