Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 05_ Allies - Christie Golden [22]
“And finally, I will be continuing my lunch breaks on the steps of the Temple.”
He had started these a few days ago, taking his packed lunch—Dorvan always ate at his desk, he never had time to actually leave it to visit the cafeteria—and sitting next to Raynar Thul, who kept a strange sort of vigil every afternoon.
Thul would come out and simply sit at noontime, an eerie personage who was Jedi, but not convincingly so human, but not fully so. His mind went in interesting and fascinating directions, and while Dorvan ostensibly went to see if he had anything that could possibly be of use to the GA, he enjoyed the conversations on a personal level.
For a while, Thul had been thronged by reporters, but they seemed to have dwindled after the first few days. His conversations with anyone were always public, including those he had with Dorvan.
“How’s that going?” Daala inquired.
Dorvan shrugged. “Thul is a fascinating person. I haven’t enjoyed lunch quite so much in some time. But as for assisting us, I don’t think he really thinks in those terms.”
“Well, you’ve not taken a vacation in the entire time you’ve worked for me, Dorvan, so if you feel like spending your lunch breaks listening to a madman spin tales, then I certainly won’t stop you.”
“Thank you, ma’am.” He rose to leave.
“Wynn?”
“Yes ma’am?”
“That game of politics—I think it’s time you started to learn to play. You may tell Raynar Thul that starting today, he’ll be having lunch with Wynn Dorvan—my Chief of Staff.”
He paused and looked at her. She smiled and nodded; she was quite serious. “Well, then,” Dorvan said, “I’ll accept his congratulations, or perhaps condolences.”
Daala chuckled.
Klatooine was an arid planet. Ben, Vestara, and Luke peered down on a sandy yellow ball of a world, marked only by a few areas of vegetation or the blue of oceans.
“Lovely,” Vestara said, wrinkling her nose.
“Do you not like desert worlds? Is your homeworld lush and green, Vestara?” Luke said casually, locking them into orbit.
Vestara’s full lips thinned and she remained silent, but otherwise she showed no sign of the irritation Ben knew she must be feeling. Ben didn’t know about his dad or her, but he was getting awfully tired of all this dancing around everything.
He wished he could just talk to her, like a regular girl. He wished he could trust her.
He wished she weren’t Sith.
“So what’s worth writing home about this place?” he asked his father, more to break the uncomfortable silence than because he was actually curious.
“Not a lot,” Luke replied. “Here are the beings we’ll be interacting with. We have a couple of days while we wait for Lando, and it’s a good opportunity to resupply before heading into the Maw.”
He touched a button and a hologram appeared, slowly turning. It was of a bipedal being, with a bald pate, deep-set eyes, and heavy jowls around a mouthful of sharp teeth. The hands and feet looked humanoid, but there was something about how the face was arranged that made Ben think of a—
“Dog,” he said. “The Klatooinians evolved from canines, didn’t they?”
“Sharp eyes,” Luke said, “And you’re right.”
Vestara’s lip had curled in repugnance. “What ugly creatures,” she said.
Luke smiled at her thinly. “I wouldn’t dismiss them quite so quickly. They may not be attractive to your eyes, Vestara, but their culture predates even the Old Republic. You’re looking at one of the oldest species in the galaxy.”
“Hmph,” Vestara said, but Ben noticed that she looked slightly impressed. He, too, had a new respect for the Klatooinians.
“They’ve been in service to the Hutts for over twenty-five thousand years,” Luke continued.
Ben grimaced and sighed. “You know, Dad, when you told me on Sinkhole Station that you thought I hadn’t spent enough time with Hutts and were hoping to correct that … I thought you were joking.”
“Strange are the ways of the Force,” Luke said with mock seriousness. Ben could almost see Vestara’s ears prick up at the