“Well, what are you doing here, boy?” Tyko demanded with a tremendous sigh. “Now you’ve ruined everything!”
14
The Rising Star dipped and looped and cavorted with its pilot’s exuberance as Raaba flew across the jungle canopy of Kashyyyk. Lowie didn’t have to use his Jedi senses to see how excited she was about coming back home.
He couldn’t wait to see his sister’s face when she saw her best friend again. Of all Raaba’s friends and relations, Sirra alone knew that the long-lost Wookiee was actually alive. But even Sirra didn’t know that Lowie and Raaba were coming for a visit.
He bared his teeth in a gleeful grin as Raaba accelerated, flipped the little star skimmer over, and flew briefly upside down just above the dense canopy. The branches were so thick and interlocked that thoroughfares as wide as highways had been chopped through the treetops so that beasts of burden could walk from place to place. Deep beneath the rooftop of branches lay the dark underworld where few Wookiees ever ventured.
Raaba flipped the Rising Star over again and waggled the tiny craft’s airfoils back and forth so that the skimmer ruffled the leaves below it, like a Calamarian seaskitt dancing across the green waves. Then, finally, they headed toward the vast treetop city where they had both grown up.
The crowns of the tallest wroshyr trees rose above the level canopy like islands in an ocean; wooden platforms at various heights served as gathering areas and landing pads. High-tech facilities, such as computer fabrication labs and the planetary traffic control tower, had been erected in some of the larger trees, while more distant tree clusters served as dwellings for Wookiee families.
Raaba chose an open landing platform high on the outskirts of the city. Cinching the red band tight around her head, Raaba bounded out of the star skimmer, as full of cheerful energy as Lowie had ever seen her.
She made Lowie promise not to tell anyone, not even Sirra, of her presence. Instead, she planned to make her way unobtrusively to the Great Tree Arena, where she would register a request for an all-city meeting. She would let the Wookiee registry spread the word for her, and then make her surprise reappearance tonight with everyone present.
Raaba had much to do between now and then, and it had to be done just right. The sleek, dark Wookiee woman hurried off after Lowie agreed to urge his sister and family to attend the gathering.
It was a long way to Lowie’s house yet, but he was in no hurry. His parents, Kallabow and Mahraccor, were probably still at work at the computer fabrication facility. After hours of cramped flight, he wanted to stretch his legs by striding along the spicy-smelling branchtop thoroughfare. The morning sun was warm, and the breeze fragrant. It felt good to be home.
He went to see his sister first.
A distinguished-looking older Wookiee with yellowing fur pointed Lowie toward the flight training area where Sirra took classes to become a star pilot. He leapt and climbed from branch to branch to reach the leafy field above which Sirra flew her training vessel.
He looked upward, watching her ship make one long dive and then another pass. With no slight amusement, he noted that Sirra’s piloting style was very much like Raaba’s. The two had been fast friends for years, after all.
The refurbished Y-wing had a cramped instructor’s station built into the compartment where the gunner formerly sat. From the speed with which Sirra banked and looped, however, one would never have guessed that her practice vessel was a discontinued model now used primarily for training.
Sirra simulated a perfect reverse-throttle hop against an imaginary opponent, followed by an under split, then disengaged after performing a flawless Tallon roll. Her exhaust nacelles glowed orange-white as she roared back toward the treetop city.
With her lesson finished, Sirra brought the Y-wing to the landing platform low and fast, barely a meter above its polished surface. No doubt showing off, she pulled up into a steep climb, looped around, and landed with microcaliper precision directly in the center. Her ship’s repulsorjets let out a hiss like a nervous sigh of relief.
Sirra popped the Y-wing’s canopy and sprang out of the cockpit. Because she was pumped with adrenaline from her flying antics, she did not notice her brother at first, but Lowie had a front row seat for an amusing exchange.
Sirra raked long fingers through her ruffled patchwork fur, while her instructor, a portly human whom Lowie did not recognize, levered himself slowly and painfully out of the rear compartment. The man’s face was flushed and indignant, and his voice shook when he spoke. “Why, in my day, young lady—” he began.
Wookiee, Sirra corrected him, growling in her own language.
“Yes, well, Wookiee then,” the man said. “In my day, trainees understood how to follow instructions. And they did it politely with a ‘Yes, Captain Thorn’ or a salute. No grandstanding.”
Sirra reminded Captain Thorn that she was not in the military, nor did she ever intend to be. Then, with sly deliberation, she pointed out that she had actually followed every one of his instructions. She had simply added a bit of … embellishment.
“Precisely,” Thorn said, “embellishment. I did not tell you to embellish.”
But he hadn’t told her not to embellish, Sirra insisted in a mild voice, wrinkling her black nose.
Lowie, nearly shaking with laughter, chose this moment to heave himself up onto the landing platform where his sister could see him. Sirra uttered a yelp of happy surprise and crossed the platform in two long leaps. She threw herself into her brother’s arms, and the two Wookiees set up a joyous interchange of growls, barks, and chuffing laughter.
Captain Thorn flushed a deep red all the way up to the scalp that showed through his thinning hair and stalked off the platform, mumbling something about needing a pay raise.
Sirra wanted to know why Lowie had come unannounced, when he had arrived, why his little translating droid had not accompanied him, how he had gotten to Kashyyyk … and whether or not he had heard anything from Raaba.
Lowie tried to explain without giving away Raaba’s secret. Sirra gave a pleased growl, not noticing how he had evaded her questions. His timing was perfect, she assured him—though she cast an annoyed look in the direction of her departed instructor. She hoped that Lowie could stay a while and watch how well she had learned to fly since she, too, had completed her rite of passage down in the dangerous underworld.
She had so much to tell him, it might take days.
At early evening, Lowie and Sirra made their way to the amphitheater just outside the treetop city. Their parents were already there, along with half the city’s inhabitants.
Sirra complained that they would have more fun staying home and playing combat-simulation games on their entertainment unit. Why in the sector would he want to attend an open city forum in the Great Tree Arena? Such meetings were always dull and never had any relevance to the younger members of society.
With a mysteriously cocked brow, Lowie hastened to assure his sister that she would find this particular meeting very interesting. Sirra threw him a doubtful glance, but did not argue further.
They chose seating branches high in the amphitheater, where they could get the best view. The sun sank below the horizon of the sprawling forest, and the sky grew rich and dark overhead. Lowie had a hard time distinguishing between the soft rustling of Wookiees finding their seats and the whisper of leaves in the evening wind.