Star Wars_ Young Jedi Knights 05_ Darkest Knight - Kevin J. Anderson [14]
Transparent mesh cages filled with swarms of tiny, luminescent bugs hung from the ceiling branches, providing a fuzzy, warm light.
Exotic spices and incense wafted around the room and out the open window notches into the humid night. The air was thick with mouthwatering smells of the welcome meal Lowie's parents had prepared.
The table was a huge slab of wood, a slice from a broad-boled tree: its hypnotic concentric rings indicated how long the tree had lived. All the chairs and furniture in Lowie's home seemed overlarge, built for bodies much taller than the average human. Jacen shifted uncomfortably on the high bench at the table.
Something finally clicked in his head. "Hey, where's Em Teedee?" he asked. "We could really use his translating skills here."
Jaina flushed, her mouth forming a small oh" of surprise. "I, um, guess that's my fault," she stammered. "I kind of borrowed him and hooked him up to the Shadow Chaser's diagnostics so he could give us a readout of the parts we need to repair the ship." She bit her lower lip. "I suppose it would have been more polite to wait until after we had had a chance to chat with Lowie's family a while."
Jacen shrugged and squeezed his eyes shut. He tried to concentrate in the new environment, to pick out individual words.
But with five Wookiees barking, bellowing, growling, and roaring, it was difficult to make sense of their speech. He took a slow breath and tried to relax, planning to reach out with the Force to see if he could sense some meaning in the conversation.
Outside, Jacen could hear a warm afternoon rain running gentle fingers through the leaves of the stately wroshyr trees. Inside, the battle of tones continued, strange voices mixing with familiar ones. In the undertones, he felt joy and apprehension, hope and sorrow. He felt...
He felt the touch of a furry hand on his arm. Jacen looked up in embarrassment to find Lowie's sister Sirra holding out a platter laden with roasted meats and vegetables.
Sirra uttered a polite but curious woof.
"Blaster bolts! I'm sorry, is that plate for me?"
Lowie chuffed a laugh and then swept a hand around the table to indicate that everyone else had already been served. Each of the Wookiees' plates was filled with coarsely chopped fresh meat and mounds of raw vegetables.
Jaina had a platter of food similar to his own, while Tenel Ka's held a mixture of vegetables and meats, both cooked and raw.
Jacen was amused to note that Tenel Ka's appetite reflected the conflicting preferences of her primitive and refined upbringings.
Kallabow and Mahraccor had worked hard to accommodate the dietary preferences of their human guests. Jacen accepted the platter from Sirra and thanked her.
When the Wookiees all fell silent, expectant, and turned to Lowbacca, he held one furry hand over his plate of food as he crooned a few short phrases in a low voice. Jacen recognized the Wookiee ceremonial speech of thankfulness that he had heard from Chewbacca so often.
Lowie stood then, raised his arms high and spread his hands as if forming a protective leafy canopy over his family and friends, and repeated his brief speech. Lowie's mother crooned a sad, low note.
A moment later, both Wookiees and humans attacked their food as if none of them had had a decent meal for weeks.
The next day, Jaina murmured something noncommittal and looked dubiously at the list that Em Teedee had downloaded to her datapad. Jacen and Tenel Ka sat near her in Lowie's spacious room, which had been hollowed out from part of a massive wroshyr tree. Lowie disconnected the lead wires from the diagnostics panel, tucked them back into Em Teedee's casing, and closed it with a snap.
While Jaina and Lowie worked together to catalog the Shadow Chaser's ills, Chewbacca had taken the opportunity to go to the other side of the planet to visit the rest of his family, whom he had