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Tenel Ka followed the group as they filed toward the formal dining chamber, conscious of her every movement. This was an important diplomatic function, and she had been well tutored by her harsh grandmother in the plush courts of the Hapes Cluster. Tenel Ka was a royal princess, after all, the heir apparent to an entire cluster; but she avoided such nonsense and spent as much as time as possible training instead on her mother's austere world of Dathomir. Tenel Ka's Hapan grandmother strongly disapproved of the path that the princess had chosen to follow, but Tenel Ka had a mind of her own-as she frequently demonstrated.

Now she strode behind Jacen, Jaina, and Zekk, walking next to Lowbacca and the silent younger boy Anakin, as they hurried to the dining chamber.

She wore a short, tight-fitting sheath of colorful reptilian hides, freshly oiled and polished so that they gleamed with her every movement.

Her muscular arms and legs were bare, but she wore a flowing cape of deep forest green over her shoulders.

Tenel Ka had spent many months at the Jedi academy in the primitive jungles of Yavin 4, and before that she had lived in the cliff cities of the Singing Mountain Clan. It had been a long time since she'd been spoiled with luxuries, but she viewed the formal evening meal with the Karnak ambassador as another challenge to face.

Lowbacca had been shampooed and dyed, his fur neatly combed so that he seemed much thinner than usual without his swirling hair sticking out in all directions. The black streak that swept back above his eyebrow had been slicked down, giving him a dashing appearance... for a Wookiee.

See-Threepio strutted ahead of Leia and Han as if he were an escort. New Republic guards stood beside the entrance to the great dining hall and swung the doors wide as they approached. Clasping Han Solo's arm, Leia walked in, regal in her fine white robes. Though small of stature, the Chief of State seemed full of energy and confidence, like a battery overcharged with power. Tenel Ka admired her.

Their timing was exactly right. As they passed into the dining hall from one end, the opposite entrance opened, and the ambassador from Karnak Alpha entered, followed by her train of eight children.

The ambassador was a haystack of tan hair, a mound of fur that grew so long that it obscured every other feature of her body. Not even the ambassador's eyes were visible peeping out from between the strands, as she scuttled forward on feet also hidden by her flowing tresses. The ambassador took her place at the head of the table beside the seat reserved for the Chief of State. Leia sat down, with her husband next to her.

The ambassador's children, all eight of them, were miniature versions of her, heaps of hair that bustled to their seats. The girls' fur was knotted into colorful ribbons, while the boys jingled with bells tied to strands of hair. All of them seemed well-groomed and impeccably behaved as they took their seats along one side of the table.

Tenel Ka was glad she had thought to braid colorful ribbons into her own red-gold hair. She had seen natives of Karnak Alpha during her time at the royal court of Hapes. The hairy creatures were shy and had some unusual customs, but they were relatively easygoing.

Tenel Ka sat beside Lowbacca, while Jacen and Jaina took their dark-haired friend Zekk to the front end of the long polished table. Their little brother Anakin, with his eerie ice-blue eyes, seemed content to sit anywhere they directed him, quietly waiting for his place between Lowbacca and Jacen.

See-Threepio moved up and down the line, fussing over items and reveling in his position. This type of duty was, after all, what a protocol droid was programmed for-not for bravery or adventure, but for intricate diplomatic functions.

In front of each gleaming plate sat a crystalline vase containing a cluster of fresh, rich smelling greens, exotic plants taken from some of Coruscant's botanical gardens-interesting specimens