The matriarch had designated Tenel Ka.
The princess sat waiting, watching the waves. She had not brought her chronometer along and wondered if the ambassador was late … or if she was just impatient for this ordeal to be over with.
Lowbacca stood watch at her side, tall and shaggy; Em Teedee gleamed silver in the sunlight. Jacen and Jaina, who hadn’t been briefed, hung back.
“Uh, what are we doing here, exactly?” Jacen asked.
Tenel Ka turned to answer him, but Em Teedee chimed in first. “If I might be permitted to explain, Mistress Tenel Ka? I believe I can provide an appropriate summary.” The little droid made a sound as if it were clearing its voice speaker. “Now, then. The Mairan underwater consulate—a domed structure built on their own planet and transported here to the Hapes homeworld—is perilously close to a subsurface mining project opened by the Vergills just after the Mairan consulate was established.
“Although the Vergill mining business is terribly productive, the Mairans have filed a formal complaint because of the noise and the silt stirred up by the drilling and excavation operations. They contend that, since the Mairans were there first, the Vergills should be required to clean up the muddied waters, cease their disruptive mining, and relocate to a place at least fifty kilometers from their consulate.”
Tenel Ka nodded. “Yes, these are some of the facts. But not all.”
Before she could elaborate, Tenel Ka saw a hulking shape rise out of the water and shamble in her direction, sloshing through the surf. Forty or so black tentacles—which Tenel Ka knew the Mairans let drift free underwater, to grasp any fish that might flit within reach—dangled from its slumped shoulders, and it weaved from side to side on two legs as it walked. The spherical discolored lumps on its sloping head must have been eye membranes. The entire creature looked dark and oily.
Tenel Ka’s initial reaction upon seeing the alien ambassador was one of fear—a giant primeval monster nearly one and a half times her own height rising out of the surf and lumbering toward her—but she pushed the reaction away. Fear could only weaken her judgment right now.
Waves rippled around the Mairan’s legs, which were like tree trunks clinging to the beach. Stopping in the low surf, the ambassador held a heavy convoluted shell, into which a pattern of holes had been drilled.
The Mairan ambassador spoke from a vibrating membrane beneath its tentacles in a resonant and burbling voice that was very difficult to understand. “I am capable of speaking Basic if this is how we must proceed.”
Tenel Ka shook her head. “That will not be necessary. Use your native language.” She cast a glance sideways at the silvery ovoid of Em Teedee at Lowie’s side. “I have brought my own translating droid.”
“Oh, my,” said Em Teedee, who just an hour earlier had downloaded the Mairan language from the fortress databanks. “This is quite exciting!”
The tentacled hulk bowed once, then straightened. Placing the drilled side of the shell against its blowhole, it played a skirling, complicated series of flutelike notes.
“Ah, yes,” Em Teedee said. “This musical language was indeed properly loaded into my memory banks. Thank the Maker! The Mairan ambassador formally greets you, Princess Tenel Ka.”
The tentacled creature blew another series of notes. Em Teedee translated. “And he commends you on your capture of such a magnificent and well-trained pet, with its coat of silky brown seaweed—oh, dear!” the droid chirped. “I do believe he’s referring to Master Lowbacca!”
Lowbacca growled and flashed his fangs. Tenel Ka stood, indignant, letting the robe fall away to reveal her reptile-hide armor and her arm stump. Behind them on the rocks, the matriarch frowned in disapproval at her granddaughter’s performance.
“Wookiees are an intelligent species. They are no one’s pets,” Tenel Ka said. “This is my friend.”
The Mairan appeared flustered, flailed his tentacles in agitation, and played another series of notes. “The ambassador offers his apologies for having misunderstood, Princess Tenel Ka. He grieves for your loss of one … tentacle—I believe he means your arm—and hopes that you exacted tenfold retribution on the fool responsible for your loss.”
“How I have dealt with the loss of my ‘tentacle’ is not his concern.” Tenel Ka’s voice was crisp and hard. “If he has a diplomatic matter to raise, he had better do so immediately. If he tries my patience, I will leave. I have other things to do.”
The Mairan ambassador hesitated, its tentacles stirring uncertainly, then raised the shell flute again, drawing forth a long and tangled melody.
“The Mairan ambassador apologizes again and says that he understands the matriarch gave you this decision to make as part of your diplomatic training. Since it is to be your first ruling of major import, you will most assuredly want to give it the utmost time and consideration to choose the best course of action.”
Tenel Ka did not back down. Her voice remained stern. “The ambassador is sorely misinformed. I have made many important decisions in my life. Although this may be the first one that affects him and his kind, he may rest assured that I am no stranger to making tough choices.”
Some of those other choices flashed through her mind—particularly her decision to join Master Skywalker’s Jedi academy, and her insistence on embracing the Dathomir side of her heritage as well as that of the Hapan Royal House.
“Please present your case without further digression,” she said. Her one hand gripped the chair, but she remained standing to minimize the height differential between herself and the towering tentacled ambassador.
“Very well, Princess Tenel Ka Chume Ta’ Djo. The Mairan ambassadorial delegation begs the intervention of the Royal House in a matter that has distressed us greatly.” Em Teedee had a difficult time keeping up as he translated the fluting notes of the tentacled ambassador’s speech.
“Our peaceful undersea settlement is our home on this world, set up by our first delegation no more than six months ago. We have been delighted with the beautiful and tranquil setting of our consulate under the sea. If only you air-breathers could come to see it, I’m certain you would agree that—”
“I’m not a tourist,” Tenel Ka said. “What is your grievance?” She already knew, but she wanted him to spell it out.
“Only a month after we established our consulate,” the ambassador whistled, “a mining crew of oafish, inconsiderate Vergills set up a floating platform and began drilling less than a kilometer from our settlement structures. The currents are now perpetually stirred up and dirty. The noise vibrates through the water, disturbing our concentration and frightening away fish. They have ruined our home.”
The Mairan raised its tentacles beseechingly. “We had established our dwelling there first, most knowledgeable Princess. We beg you to order the despised Vergills to move their pollution away from our home. After all, they have the entire ocean. They need not disturb our peace.”
“I understand,” Tenel Ka said.
The tentacled ambassador bowed deeply in respect, but then Tenel Ka continued sharply, “I also understand that the Vergills conducted a mining survey of the oceans by satellite, well before you established your consulate city. When I consulted the access records, I learned that you Mairans received a copy of this mining report several months before you chose a location for your domed consulate. Finally, I have discovered that you identified the richest vein of ditanium picked up on the survey and chose to place your structure exactly there, knowing full well that the Vergills would eventually commence mining operations in the vicinity.