'Not understandably,' Mara admitted. The thought annoyed her almost as much as having to be rescued. 'What are they saying?'
'At the moment, not much,' Luke said. 'They're waiting for their Bargainer to arrive. I gather from an earlier conversation I had with a group called the Qom Qae that that's the local term for leader or spokesman.'
'Ah.' Mara frowned as a ripple of displeasure ran through the almost-voices. 'I get the distinct feeling they don't like the Qom Qae very much.'
'Yes, I know,' Luke agreed, his tone a little uneasy. 'Actually, it may be partially my fault. I think they're displeased that I brought a Qom Qae in here with me.'
'Not necessarily the most politic thing you could have done.'
'He spent the last couple of days guiding me here,' Luke said, sounding a little defensive. 'He wanted to come inside and see you, and I decided he'd earned that much. Besides, whatever's going on probably concerns both groups.'
'Could be.' Mara glanced around them. 'Where is this guide of yours?'
'Up there somewhere,' Luke said, playing the beam from his glow rod around the ceiling. Each of the mynocklike Qom Jha twitched as the spot of light passed, shying away from the glare. All except one, a somewhat smaller creature whose leathery hide seemed to be a slightly different color than that of the beings clustered closely around him. Also unlike the others, who hung casually from cracks or bumps in the ceiling, he was perched awkwardly upright on a rock jutting out from the wall. 'That him?' Mara asked.
'Yes,' Luke said, holding the light there a moment and then turning it back toward the ground.
'He's called Child Of Winds.'
Mara nodded, thinking back to her flight in through the deep canyon and all the small caves she'd noticed pockmarking the rock walls along the way. 'I take it the Qom Qae are cliff-dwellers?'
'His nesting is, anyway,' Luke said. 'His father is also their Bargainer.'
'Friends in high places,' Mara said. 'That could be handy.'
'I'm not sure 'friends' is exactly the word I would have used,' Luke said dryly. 'They seem to have made off with my X-wing when I wasn't looking, and Child Of Winds either can't or won't tell me where they took it. It must have taken a whole lot of them to even move it.'
'It did,' Mara said with a grimace. 'I know because I watched the Qom Jha do the same thing with my Defender, hauling it into the cave to who knows where. Looks like they've got more in common with the Qom Qae than they might like.'
'Actually, your Defender isn't very far away,' Luke said. 'Artoo and I spotted it on our way in. He gave it a quick scan—it didn't seem to be damaged.'
'That's a relief,' Mara said, a small amount of the weight lifting from her back. The Defender might be useless for getting her home, but without it she couldn't even get off the ground. 'After everything Karrde went through to get his hands on it, he'd kill me if I lost it. When's he getting here with backup?'
Luke winced. 'Well, to be honest... I told him not to send anyone else.' Mara felt her mouth go a little dry. 'Did you, now,' she said, striving to keep her voice calm. If Luke was starting to slip back into his old omnipotent-Jedi habits... 'You don't think the two of us tackling a whole fortress full of unknown enemies is giving us too much of an advantage, do you?' An odd look flicked across his face. 'That's not it at all,' he protested. 'I just didn't think it would be a good idea for a full battle force to come storming into the system. Especially since we didn't know whether or not you were a prisoner.'
'I suppose that makes sense,' Mara conceded, the knots untying a little. 'I guess that means you don't have a Star Cruiser skulking in the outer system, either?'
'I doubt the New Republic could spare even an armed transport right now,' Luke said, his expression turning grim. 'Things are getting very nasty out there.'
'Let me guess. Caamas and the Bothans?'
'Caamas, the Bothans, and a thousand worlds using Caamas as an excuse to pick up on old grudges against their neighbors,' he told her. 'And frankly, I'm starting to wonder if there's any way at all of stopping it.'
'That's a cheery thought,' Mara growled. 'Let's deal with one problem at a time, all right? Starting with confirming these Threateners are the same ones we're looking for. We think we spotted one of those alien ships on its way in when we came out of lightspeed, but it was too far away for a positive identification.'
