Star Wars the Truce at Bakura - Kathy Tyers [51]
Leia paused to touch a rain pillar, then smiled at Prime Minister Captison. “I haven’t seen a home so lovely since I left Alderaan.”
“This house was built by Captain Arden, the city’s founder. Wait until you see the table my grandfather added.” He raised a white eyebrow.
Luke held Han back a few paces. “It’s only politics.”
“I know. I don’t like it. Give me an honest fight.”
They caught up with Leia at the entrance to a dining hall surrounded by indoor trees with dangling, drifting branches. More vine-covered white stone walls enclosed the trees, and at their center he spotted a table that was roughly triangular, with its corners blunted for extra seating.
Then he looked down. Blue-green water rippled beneath the room’s transparent flooring. Underwater lights cast small moving shadows of fish and an occasional long, snakelike creature.
Finally, amid the table stood a miniature mountain range delicately carved from some translucent mineral and lit from inside like one of the rain pillars. Tiny blue rivers trickled down its sides.
Ingrained habit reminded him to probe the room for hostile intent. Halfway down the table, he sensed …
Her—or else there were two women on this planet who could electrify him without even meeting his eyes. She already sat down, facing away from the door.
“Lovely,” Leia murmured.
Madam Captison looked back over her shoulder. “Thank you, dear.” She swept into the room, swirled off her cape, and handed it to a servant as she appeared to walk on water. Trees along the vine-covered walls raised their branches like arms. Luke wondered if her motion or some other cue signaled them, and if they were really flexible trees, some kind of primitive animal, or artificial.
Luke stepped forward, drawn almost against his will. Human servants scurried away from the table—he had yet to see a droid anywhere—probably having rearranged seating to accommodate Chewbacca. Captison escorted Leia to a spot next to himself along one side. Madam Captison took the other chair on that end. An elderly man wearing a voice box on his chest—Senior Senator Belden, Luke realized—already sat next to her on that corner. “Just beyond him, dear,” she told Chewbacca.
Luke grinned despite his distraction. Dear wasn’t a term he’d have applied to a Wookiee. Chewbacca ducked his head and chuckled softly. They’d left him almost an entire side of the table. No repulsor chairs here. The ambiance was antique and formal.
“Nice job of work yesterday,” the elderly man told Luke. “My chance to thank you. We were ready to run for the hills when you arrived.”
Han sat down next to Leia in the second corner spot. That left Luke only one chair, just left of that glimmer in the Force. He sat down, gathered himself, and glanced right.
Gaeriel Captison sat leaning away as hard as she could. Over her deep green dress, a sparkling gold shawl draped her slender shoulders.
“Our niece Gaeriel, Commander,” declared the prime minister. “I’m not certain she was introduced in the senate chamber. Too much hurry.”
“It’s all right, Uncle Yeorg,” she said. Before Luke could even say “Hello,” she turned to Chewbacca. “If you’d prefer to sit with your party, I’d be glad to trade places.”
Luke suggested subliminally to Chewie that he’d like to remain: Chewie snuffled.
“He says he likes it there,” translated Han. “Look out, Madam Captison. Wookiees make friends for life.”
“I’m honored.” The older woman adjusted a triple strand of blue jewels on her pale gold bodice.
Luke made it a point not to look in Gaeriel’s direction again until the matter of switching seats was settled. As conversations sprang up around the table, he turned toward her.
Caught by surprise, he looked closer. Senator Gaeriel Captison had one green eye and one gray eye. They narrowed. “How do you do, Commander Skywalker?”
“It’s been a long day,” he answered quietly, damping down his awareness of the Force to keep the seductive savor of her presence from monopolizing his attention. The entrance of another group robbed him of the chance to say more. Flanked by a pair of