Jaina and Zekk hurried up behind him. Jaina wondered if she should draw her lightsaber. A single swipe at the stilts would topple any one of those houses into the marshy pond.
“Hey, man. Who’s out there?” said the original Bith voice.
“It’s Lando Calrissian,” Lando said. “And if you don’t stop firing mud at me, I’ve got two Jedi Knights here who’ll do more than get your shirts dirty.”
“Lando, my man!” A Bith raised up his pink cranium and poked his smooth head out the window. Jaina couldn’t tell if the alien was smiling or not. His huge black eyes glittered in the hazy bayou light.
He raised a nimble hand whose fingers had the dexterity to play just about any musical instrument in the universe. “Why didn’t you say so? We thought you were some of those Black Sun people trying to rub us out.”
“Black Sun?” Jaina said in alarm.
Lando sloshed closer to the huts and Figrin D’an lowered a rickety wooden ladder. “Come on up! We’d love to jam!” the bandleader said. “Maybe even play a little round of sabacc or two.”
Other Bith band members stood up in the adjoining shacks to look with huge black eyes at the new arrivals. A few dissonant musical notes rang out as they gathered up their jumbled instruments.
“Next time you should check out who’s at your door before you open fire,” Lando said, wiping another smear of mud off the chest of his filthy shirt.
“Hey, couldn’t take the chance,” Figrin said. “You know how it is, man. We got a price on our heads.”
Lando hauled himself up the ladder, then reached down with his muck-encrusted grip to help Jaina climb off the ladder and into the hut.
“Well, if we really were thugs out to kill you,” Lando said, “that little mud-cannon of yours wouldn’t have done much other than annoy us. Then you’d have been facing a really unpleasant interrogation session.”
Two of the Bith band members groaned. One picked up his jizz stick and blew a wailing strident note.
Zekk climbed up to join Jaina and Lando in the central one-roomed hut. The place smelled of mildew and damp wood as well as strange spicy stew that had obviously been bubbling for a long time on a thermal stove set on a stone plate in the center of the room.
A pair of the band members retrieved their instruments and set about plugging in powerpacks and tuning up. Disconnected musical notes wafted through the air like clouds of ortellian whisper bats.
Lando made the introductions. “These two are my associates, Zekk”—the dark-haired young man nodded—“and Jaina Solo. You remember her father.”
Figrin sat back and twiddled his big-knuckled fingers. “Solo? As in Han Solo’s daughter? Yeah, Han and I spent many an hour at the sabacc table.” With all of the fleshy folds around the Bith’s mouth, Jaina still couldn’t tell whether he was smiling. “How ’bout a game this afternoon, Lando? Just like old times.”
“Not yet. We need some information,” Lando said. “There’s been some trouble on Cloud City and I’m pretty sure you know something about it. You’ve got to tell us whatever you can. What happened to my friend Cojahn?”
Figrin sighed and a few of his band members struck up a low, mournful tune. “Man, that’s a sad song,” he replied. “A real tearjerker. We don’t usually have stuff like that in our repertoire. Cojahn … that story has good guys, bad guys, treachery and tragedy. You know, all the stuff that makes for a surefire hit.”
“So you’ll tell us everything?” Jaina said. “All the details?”
Figrin sat back against the rickety wall of the hut. The other band members adjusted their instruments, ready to play.
“Why not?” the Bith bandleader said. “We got plenty of time … and it’s been too long since we had a really attentive audience.”
10
In the rain forest sector of the Climateria, Lowie hung upside down from an artificial tree branch, admiring the view. Em Teedee hovered right-side-up half a meter beneath the Wookiee. Anja, who paced back and forth on a limb adjacent to Lowie’s, seemed as edgy and impatient as ever. Two meters lower down Tenel Ka straddled a branch and practiced Jedi relaxation techniques while Jacen searched in vain for tiny creatures on the bark of the synthetic tree.
“Remind me exactly what it is we’re supposed to be pretending to look for while Calrissian and the others are off joyriding,” Anja said with an exaggerated sigh.
Lowie rumbled a reply and, since Anja did not understand the growling language, Em Teedee obligingly translated. “Master Lowbacca points out that we are not pretending to look for anything. We are pretending to enjoy ourselves whilst actually searching for any indication that someone might have wanted Master Cojahn … disposed of.”
“We’re not really sure what we’re looking for,” Jacen explained helpfully. “But while Lando, Jaina, and Zekk are poking around on the Bith homeworld, it’s our job to keep an eye out for anything suspicious here. Any sort of shady dealings Cojahn might have learned about, maybe some sort of espionage, drug dealing, embezzling—who knows?”
“We must remain watchful and follow any leads,” Tenel Ka said.
Anja snorted. “Well, this watchfulness is about as interesting as watching all of you contemplate the Force or think at rocks back on Yavin 4.”
She gave an experimental bounce on the tree branch fifty meters above the ground, took another step and bounced again, then again. Step-bounce, step-bounce. A dangerous game. Lowie gave a cautionary woof, but she seemed utterly confident and tensed like a predatory animal ready to spring. The thought of falling did not seem to worry Anja; in fact, Lowie wondered if it had occurred even to her. Then again, he mused, maybe it had and she found the thought exhilarating.
Jacen, apparently giving up on finding any interesting creatures in the artificial tree, stood up and began pacing and bouncing just as Anja was doing. Lowie growled a warning at him as well. Jacen stopped, inhaled deeply, let his eyes fall halfway shut. His entire body seemed to relax, and he walked with a smooth effortless grace to the far end of the limb he was on, then headed back toward Tenel Ka, who was seated closer to the trunk, drawing in slow, deep breaths.
Anja snorted and continued bouncing along her branch. “And exactly what sort of clues do you expect to find at the top of a tree?”
Jacen glanced up at the young woman—and in that moment she missed her footing. “Oh, Mistress Anja, look out!” Em Teedee cried. Anja tried to regain her balance, but to no avail. Lowie watched her tumble from the branch as if in slow motion.
Before Em Teedee had finished speaking, both Jacen and Tenel Ka were completely alert. Lowie’s furry arm shot out, and he managed to slow Anja’s descent, but he could not get a grip on her. Jacen and Tenel Ka, however, each succeeded in grasping one of her limbs and pulled Anja to safety on their branch.
“Thanks.” Anja’s voice carried an uncharacteristic quaver, and her face was paler than usual, her eyes brighter, with an unaccustomed startled look in them. “I must not have been paying close enough attention. I guess I owe you one.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it. That’s what friends are for,” Jacen said. “To be there. All of us young Jedi Knights have saved each other’s hides more than once.”
“This is a fact,” Tenel Ka said, then changed the subject. “And I believe Anja was correct: this treetop will not aid us in our investigation. We should continue our search in a place more likely to yield clues.”
Anja smiled at the warrior girl—a genuine smile. The expression was not a common one for her, especially when addressing either Jaina or Tenel Ka.