Raaba seemed about to reply when Tenel Ka dashed up to get Jacen’s attention.
“Company,” she said, pointing skyward.
At first Jacen could seen nothing but swirling dust around the crater rim, but then he saw a flash of metal the color of tarnished brass high above.
“I heard your shout. What’s wrong?” Jaina asked, trotting up to join them. Jacen indicated the approaching ship with a lift of his chin. His sister’s eyebrows shot up. “For an out-of-the-way planet, Kuar sure gets a lot of traffic,” she observed.
A low growl came from deep in Raaba’s throat. Her dark fur seemed to bristle, and she reached for the blaster at her side.
Lowie held up a hand, though, asking her to wait and grumbling a comment to himself.
“Why, whatever do you mean, Master Lowbacca?” Em Teedee said with some asperity. “How could you possibly recognize that ship?”
“Didn’t think anyone else in the galaxy even knew we were on this dust ball,” Jaina commented, squinting to get a better look.
“Except Tyko Thul,” Tenel Ka said.
“That’s his ship all right,” Jaina confirmed.
Jacen now recognized its boxy design and unusual color. Soon the ornate craft was close enough for Jacen to see the slightly rotund figure in the cockpit. He felt the tingle again at the back of his neck, only stronger this time. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Jacen said. “First Raaba shows up—and we thought she was dead. Now Tyko Thul is here…”
“And we thought he was on Mechis III,” Jaina finished for him.
Two minutes later Raynar’s uncle climbed out of his ship. His moon-round face beamed at the assembled party. “How wonderful to see you all again. So glad I found you. I brought some food. Would you all like to join me for”—he glanced appraisingly at the sky—“morning meal? I’m simply famished. Hyperspace travel really drains me.”
“Uh, wait a minute,” Jacen said. “Is there some kind of emergency? Didn’t you say you had business back on Mechis III?”
“I did, my dear boy—I mean, I do Tyko began to unpack a mouthwatering array of foods from an enormous food-prep unit. “I was on my way there when I thought to myself, Tyko, you have only one brother—and although no one else may realize it, it’s clear he’s gotten himself into some sort of financial predicament. If there’s anyone who can coax him out of hiding so he can get some help, why, it’s you, Tyko. And so, here I am to assist you in your search. It’s the least I can do. Family obligations and all that. Besides, those droids back on Mechis III know how to run the show. And if they don’t do it properly I can always dismantle them.”
“Indeed!” Em Teedee said in a huff. “The very idea!”
“Actually, we were about to leave,” Jaina said. “We’ve pretty much found what we were looking for here.”
Tyko’s cheeks grew pink and he sputtered.
“Why, you can’t—I—I’ve only just arrived. You must allow me to set my mind at rest. Help me look for my brother—please, just for today,” he urged. “Have you found any clues whatsoever?”
“Yes. Actually, though,” Jacen spoke up, gesturing toward the chocolate-furred Wookiee, “this is Raabakyysh of Kashyyyk. She’s a good friend of Lowie’s, and she has a bit more searching to do here. Lowie volunteered to help her, didn’t you, Lowie?”
Lowie gave a tentative growl of agreement.
Tyko darted a dismissive glance at the two Wookiees. “Splendid, splendid,” he said. “It’s settled then. We’ll spend the day investigating. Shall we eat first? What may I offer you?”
After a sumptuous meal the party split up for one last exploration of the crater and the rim surrounding it. Lowie accompanied Raaba.
The two Wookiees left together, and Tyko bustled around after Jacen, Jaina, and Tenel Ka, looking busy and interested, though he frequently glanced at his wrist-chronometer. They showed him the tattered sash they had found, along with its dire warning, and told him about the meeting, perhaps with a scavenger named Fonterrat.
Otherwise, the day was spent in what proved ultimately to be a fruitless search.
As they gathered for evening meal, however, Tyko Thul seemed satisfied with their efforts. “My only regret is that I still have no idea what kind of shady scheme my brother’s gotten himself involved in,” he said. “Oh well, it was worth the attempt to look around here. Now I can rest easy.”
Jacen felt unaccountably protective of Raynar in the young man’s absence. “Raynar believed that his father was completely honorable,” he objected. “How can you be so sure he’s gotten himself involved in a shady scheme? We don’t really have any evidence of that.”
Tyko favored him with a condescending smile. “My dear boy, of course Bornan’s involved in something shady. Why else would he make an appointment with that rabble-rousing firebrand Nolaa Tarkona and then simply disappear? I can’t believe he’d even associate with such a despicable troublemaker as that Twi’lek woman. Then again, he’s always had bad judgment in selecting business associates, and Tarkona is one of the worst.”
Raaba sat up straight at Tyko’s comment about Nolaa Tarkona. Her fur bristled, and a growl rumbled deep in her throat.
“No, no, I know my brother,” Tyko went on, ignoring the Wookiee. “You mark my words. He’s gotten himself into trouble because of the people, or the things, with whom he associates.”
Angrily, Raaba stood and stalked away into the darkness. Lowie quickly followed her, and Jacen could hear them in the distance, conversing in strained tones. Oblivious to the angry reactions his insults had inspired, Tyko continued talking as if nothing had happened, though Jacen didn’t hear a word he said.
Only moments later, with a whine of repulsorjets, Raaba’s interstellar skimmer streaked off into the night, vanishing among the stars above.
When Lowie returned to the group, silent and dispirited, Tyko simply shrugged.
“A bit hotheaded, isn’t she?” he remarked, then dug back into the food packets. “Now, what may I offer you to eat?”
18
Later on, as the night hung dark around them, Jacen looked up into a sky bristling with sharp pinpoints of stars. The broad band of the galaxy’s midsection stretched overhead like a pearly river.
He felt the weight of thousands of years of unchronicled history seeping out of Kuar’s ruins, ancient mysteries trying to tell their stories. At their isolated encampment, the tiny crackling fire did little more than emphasize the deep blackness of space lurking overhead.
Jacen could barely even see the blocky outlines of the crumbling buildings in the rains below. Just last night, camping out had seemed fun, despite the adventures that had shown the young Jedi Knights all too clearly what dangers lurked inside the abandoned structures.
Tonight, however, an ominous feeling hung in the air.
Lowbacca sat alone, quietly moaning to himself as he touched the graft bandage that covered the wound on his ribs. But Jacen knew the Wookiee’s greater pain came from the deep sadness of losing Raaba again. She had disappeared, taken off in her ship—just as she had done before … At least this time Lowie didn’t believe that the young Wookiee woman had been devoured by a carnivorous syren plant.
Raaba was alive but she was still gone.
Before going to bed, Lowie had told Jacen that Raaba had promised to find him again … someday. Jacen hoped it would be soon. He felt the deep pain and grief emanating from his Wookiee friend.
Despite the companions’ invitation, Tyko Thul had insisted on sleeping inside his own ship. As he left the others, he was clearly in high spirits. He was delighted to have found some inkling of Bornan Thul though why Raynar’s father had come to this isolated place to meet with some scavenger, he could not understand…