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"Obviously there's more to it than that," Lando agreed. "It's a good sign."

Dripping green and slimy swamp residue, their faces scratched by branches and stung by insects, the three sloshed deeper into the bayou, trusting Lando's sense of direction and his presumably reliable information on the location of Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes.

At last, parting head-high tufts of bluish marsh grass and pushing the blades aside, Jaina looked into a clearing surrounded by knotted low-hanging water trees. Lando and Zekk crept closer on either side of her.

In the middle of the wet, flat area stood three ramshackle houses on stilts, teetering like weary swamp birds on unsteady legs. Their windows were small, the walls made of woven marsh grass and patched with thick wads of the resinous moss that hung from every tree.

Buzzing firegnats, butterfly creatures, and fist-sized beetles flew all around, droning into the hot, humid air.

Jaina heard quiet mournful notes of music drifting up from the shacks, as if morose band members were passing the time by rehearsing a few old favorite tunes.

"Sounds like the Biths we're looking for," Zekk said.

Lando nodded. He pushed forward into the clearing, with the two young Jedi beside him. "Hello! Is anybody inside there? I'm looking for Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes."

The music suddenly stopped with a loud squawk. They heard clatters, thuds, and bumping noises, as if people were scurrying about in a panic inside the tiny huts. One polished pink head popped up, just barely visible through a tiny window opening, and Jaina recognized the familiar alien form of a Bith musician.

Then the creature ducked down. Clanking and dissonant notes rang out from musical instruments as they were tossed aside.

"Go away! Leave us alone!" shouted one saucy-voiced Bith inside the huts.

His Basic was heavily accented, high-pitched with alarm.

????? ounds like Figrin himself," Lando said. "Figrin! Wait, it's me!"

Jaina's eyes went wide when she saw an ominous-looking tube appear through the window opening, a thick-walled cylinder sawed from an iron-cane stalk. The black hole in the tube looked very much like the mouth of a weapon.

"Look out!" she cried, just as a rumbling blast erupted from the tube with a puff of smoke. Zekk and Jaina both dove to one side, tumbling face-first into the marsh. Lando staggered backward to get out of the way. A hurtling mass of brown crashed into the trees behind them.

"Hey!" Lando shouted. "There's no cause for-', A second tube emerged from another window. This time the blast caught Lando squarely in the center of his chest.

"No!" Jaina shouted.

Lando staggered as the amorphous brown shape slammed into him, splattering in all directions, hurling him into a tree trunk. He looked down in horror at his chest, as if expecting to see blood and bones.

Instead, he encountered only torn transparalon and sticky, dripping muck-the same muck they'd been slogging through for hours, dredged up from the bottom of the swamp.

"It's just mud!" he said, aghast. "They're shooting mud bombs at us."

Then he stormed forward, sloshing toward the houses on stilts.

"That does it. You've gone too far this time, Figrin! You've ruined my shirt! You'll pay for this out of your sabace winnings!"

Jaina and Zekk hurried up behind him. Jaina wondered if she should draw her lightsaber. A single swipe at the stilts would topple any one of those houses into the marshy pond.

"Hey, man. Who's out there?" said the original Bith voice.

"It's Lando Calrissian," Lando said. "And if you don't stop firing mud at me, I've got two Jedi Knights here who'll do more than get your shirts dirty."

"Lando, my man!" A Bith raised up his pink cranium and poked his smooth head out the window. Jaina couldn't tell if the alien was smiling or not.

His huge black eyes glittered in the hazy bayou light.

He raised a nimble hand whose fingers had the dexterity to play just about any musical instrument in the universe. "Why didn't you say so?

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