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Wedge thought for a moment, then shook his head. “There should be another two hours of testimony today, shouldn’t there?”

“Yes. Winter was called after you were.”

Watching Winter testify has got to be hard on Iella. They were even closer than Iella and I became, and with Winter and Tycho being together … “Iella will need you there, because Winter’s testimony is going to be tougher on her than mine.”

“But you shouldn’t be alone right now.”

“I won’t be.” Wedge jerked a thumb toward the east. “I’m going to go down a level, then over to the Galactic Museum via the walkway. I’ll spend some time in the Criminal Gallery, visiting old friends, then I’ll come back here when court is adjourned for the day and take you up on your offer. I have a feeling that when today is over, Iella isn’t going to want to be alone either. No matter how this turns out, I do consider her a friend, and I want to make sure she has no reason to doubt that at all.”

19

Gavin shifted his shoulders uneasily and tugged at the cuffs of his dress jacket. I feel about as comfortable here as Commander Antilles did on the witness stand.

Asyr slipped her arm through his as the tether-lift stopped and the doors opened. “It’s not going to be that bad, Gavin. Liska Dan’kre, our hostess, is an old friend of mine. We schooled together before I went off to the Academy.”

“If she’s hiring a skyhook for this party, she must be filthy rich.”

Asyr purred contentedly. “Rich, yes, but you’ll find nothing filthy about her.” She led Gavin from the lift box onto the entry platform which overlooked the whole of the skyhook’s disk. “Impressive, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” The circular skyhook actually formed a bowl with several pathways spiraling down through forested depths to a central courtyard. A kilometer in diameter, the floating garden flew high over the mountain district of Coruscant. Off to the northeast, beyond the Manarai Mountains, Gavin saw the top of the Imperial Palace. “I can’t believe I’m here.”

Asyr looked up at him, puzzlement riding openly on her face. “What’s wrong?”

Where to begin? “Nothing, really, I suppose. It’s just that, well, on Tatooine we had no skyhooks. They weren’t deemed safe enough—one good dust storm blows up out of the nastier regions and it would pull one of these skyhooks from the sky.”

The Bothan patted his hand. “The repulsorlift generators are more than sufficient for keeping this skyhook aloft. Don’t worry about that.”

“Then there’s the jungle.” He gave her a weak smile. “You weren’t with us on one of our duty stations, but it looked a lot like this. I got shot there. My stomach is already acting up because of it.”

Asyr rubbed her hand over the faint trace of a scar on his belly. “I’ve seen what the bacta left you for a souvenir, remember, love?”

Gavin blushed. “Yeah.”

“And I think you’re not nervous about that as much as you’re nervous about being here among my people.” She raised a finger and pressed it to his lips to forestall a comment. “I know you’re not bigoted—if you were you’d not be here—but you’ve even said yourself that most of your life has been spent among humans. It’s not unusual to be anxious when outnumbered—I feel it whenever we go to places where humans predominate.”

Gavin’s shoulders sagged a centimeter or two. “I should have realized … I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Asyr smiled broadly. “Come on, let’s make an impression on my friends.”

Gavin brought his head up and smiled. “As you wish, Asyr, so shall it be.”

Together they descended from the entry platform and started off on a path that took a long, looping spiral down to the central courtyard. The guests at the party were mostly Bothans, and all of them stared at the couple as they walked past. Gavin knew that had to be because of the high-necked, sleeveless gown Asyr wore. Woven of iridescent blue and purple thread, the color shifted and shimmered with her every movement. The garment clung tight to her slender body, but the fact that the skirts had been slit from ankle to high on her thigh meant