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“Then what were you doing here?”

“Two years, four months, and three days ago, Master Han dropped a credcoin here in the engine compartment. He was never able to find it. Since then, it has emerged at times of high-stress maneuvers, rolling about and clattering. It’s quite maddening, really. If I could find it—”

“You’re still lying.” Allana’s tone was more disappointed than accusative. “If Artoo was doing something that was all right, you’d tell me. So he’s doing something sneaky and he could get hurt.”

“Droids don’t get hurt, little one. Just damaged.”

“And sometimes kidnapped and tortured and taken apart. That’s not hurt?”

“Well … not technically.”

“Are you going to tell me where he is, or am I going to talk to you all day long?”

C-3PO offered up a simulated sigh. “He went out last night after we tucked you in bed. He hasn’t returned. Though I’m sure there is no cause for worry.”

“Where did he go?”

“I am not sure. But at one point he was raving about seeing a ship in one of the domes hereabout. He probably went to investigate.”

“Well, let’s go find him.”

“No, miss. Either there is no problem, in which case he will return to us, or there is danger, in which case we are under strict orders not to expose you to it. Why, if you were to be harmed, Master Han and Mistress Leia would find themselves a whole new Wookiee to pull my arms and legs off.”

“But you’re not doing anything!”

“I am monitoring Artoo’s preferred comm frequencies. That is all I can do while remaining here.”

Allana stomped in frustration, then turned and ran to the top of the Falcon’s boarding ramp. It was in the up and locked position. She reached high and hit the wall control to lower it.

The control panel clunked to acknowledge that it had been activated, but the ramp did not lower into place.

“Threepio!”

“I’m sorry, mistress. Orders, you know.”

DATHOMIRI RAIN FOREST

Their opponent, Luke knew, had superior knowledge of the Dathomir wilderness, superior tracking skills, and Force powers that, while probably not greater than Luke’s, might be better adapted to this environment.

So Luke set about to change the rules.

The woman who was pacing them, constantly trying to slow and divert them, had now established a standard operating procedure. She would maneuver herself to one side or another of Luke and Ben’s path and either set up some sort of trap to inflict a minor injury on them or lay down a false trail to lead them astray. Several times, only the Jedi’s Force awareness allowed them to dodge whipping branches, avoid venomous serpent nests, or keep from slipping down an unexpectedly slick slope into a river.

Setting up traps or stomping through the forest like a drunken bantha took time and a greater interaction with her surroundings than she might have experienced while doing simple tracking. So it was then that Luke should be able to find her in the Force.

With Ben on guard for both of them, Luke sat on a flat rock and sank into a Jedi meditative trance. He opened himself to the Force fully for the first time since embarking on this quest. He cast around, trying to become one with the rain forest. If he did this properly, he would be able to feel minute changes, little areas of damage, that would give him some hint of his opponent’s plans and location.

And he felt … Leia.

The unexpected contact nearly jolted him out of his trance, but he calmed himself and sent his sister a touch of reassuring emotion, the Force equivalent of a smile. Then he turned back to his task.

Distantly, he felt animal life across a wide area grow alarmed and alert as they detected a deep rumble in the ground; but it was only a minor tremor, a natural occurrence causing no damage. He gave a little shake of his head and turned his attention elsewhere.

Scars in the forest … a new one-family settlement south-southeast, near the spaceport, a plot of ground laid bare by fire, a prefab permacrete hut now being erected there. He could feel other scars, tiny ones close by caused by the feet of rancors ripping at the forest floor, big ones in the distance