Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 02_ Omen - Christie Golden [64]
The elder retracted his tongues and stood waiting for Luke’s reply. “As Those Who Dwell Beyond the Veil will it,” Luke said, bowing slightly. He moved on to the next. Also an elder, this one was female, and Luke got a very strong hit that she was not at all happy he was here. Beside him, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ben flinch infinitesimally as the first elder’s tongues danced across his features. Poor Ben. Luke wouldn’t have appreciated the gesture when he was that age, either, and he was proud of Ben, who endured it with only the vaguest ripple of discomfort in the Force.
The touch from the female elder’s tongues was strangely cold—not physically, but in the Force. No, she was definitely not pleased that he and Ben were here. Nonetheless, he repeated the phrase with all the respect and courtesy he could summon, bowed, and moved on.
It took a long time, but at last Ben and Luke had officially introduced themselves to their new hosts. Some of them were welcoming, some hostile, some entirely neutral in their attitudes. Luke wondered uneasily what he and Ben might have stumbled into, but he kept that thought carefully shuttered. When the last Aing-Tii had finished with Ben, the two Jedi turned to Tadar’Ro.
Tadar’Ro beckoned them to follow him. Like the nod he had given the two Jedi previously, this seemed to be a forced gesture on his part, but one that was easily understood. They obeyed, following him as he took them around a large, jutting rock outcropping.
Luke was surprised by what he saw on the other side. He hadn’t been sure what to expect, but it wasn’t this. Rather than another one of the rock-shaped dwellings, it was a small, single-story house, with four straight walls, a roof, and a door. While clearly constructed with materials native to the planet—also obviously designed for human aesthetics.
“Jorj Car’das,” Ben said, then realized he hadn’t spoken into the translation mechanism. Taking it from Luke, he inquired, “This was Jorj Car’das’s home during the years he spent here, wasn’t it?”
Again the nod. “Yes,” said Tadar’Ro. “We used what we learned of human needs and comforts, and created this dwelling to accommodate him.”
Luke pushed open the door.
It was surprisingly cozy inside. A small mattress, lumpy looking but not uninviting, was nestled in a corner. A rug, woven of colorful dried fronds of some sort of plant, covered and insulated the floor. There were two tables, and one wall was filled with shelves. The floor, tables, and shelves were pleasantly cluttered with knickknacks so familiar that Luke felt an unexpected tug on his heart: repair parts for an astromech, spare parts for a blaster, datapads. Mixed in with these were colorful stones and carved wooden statuettes of various vaguely recognizable images—a small bantha, an astromech, and one he suspected was intended to be Tadar’Ro. It had obviously been a hobby rather than a true artistic calling for Jorj Car’das, whom Luke suspected of having many empty hours to while away.
“Jedi may stay here, if they wish.”
“Thank you, we would like to visit here, and perhaps stay here during the day. At night, though, we will return to our ship. Your atmosphere, while tolerable, is not ideal for us.”
“So Jorj Car’das told us as well,” Tadar’Ro said. “Such is acceptable.” He indicated the mattress. “Sit. We will speak of why you have come … and what it is you expect to find here.”
Luke and Ben sat on the mattress. As Luke had expected, it was fairly comfortable, if a little awkward to settle into.
“You know why we have come,” Luke said. He’d been scrupulously polite, enduring all the face-licking and mystery. But now it was time for him to learn something from Tadar’Ro, rather than the other way around. “I sense that not everyone here is as welcoming as you, Tadar’Ro. Can you tell me why?