local customs and lifestyles.'
'Contentment!' Reaching under the table, one of the other Ansionians, a female with long vertical lines in her face and one clouded brown eye, pulled out a stack of data disks the size of a building stone and dropped them onto the highly polished surface. They landed with a dull boom. 'Lifestyles! Do you know what this is, Jedi?' Before either Luminara or Obi-Wan could reply, she told them. 'It's the latest bimonthly policy update from the Republic Senate. The latest only!' She gestured at the enormous stack as if it were some obscene sea creature that had suddenly expired on her desk and already begun to rot. 'The yearly indices alone carry more data than the city library. Compliance, adherence, obedience: those are what the Senate is interested in these days. That, and preferential treatment for themselves and those they represent in matters of trade and commerce. The once-great galactic Republic has fallen under the sway of petty bureaucrats and self-seeking button pushers who seek only personal aggrandizement and advancement, not justice and fair dealing.'
'The Senate's clear bias toward the Alwari proves this,' declared the female Ansionian seated next to her. 'Senator Mousul has kept us well informed.'
'The Senate favors no social or ethnic group above another,' Luminara countered. 'That basic principle is enshrined in the founding law of the Republic and has not changed.'
'I happen to agree with the delegate,' Obi-Wan declared quietly.
Surprised and even a little startled, the room's occupants shifted their attention to the other Jedi. Even Luminara was taken aback.
'Pardon my eyes,' Ranjiyn murmured, 'but did you say you agreed with Kandah?'
Obi-Wan nodded. 'To deny that there are problems within the Senate and the bureaucracy would be to deny the existence of pulsating stars. Certainly there is confusion and disagreement. Certainly there is bureaucratic infighting and conflict.' His voice rose slightly, though not in the general manner of other people. It was full of controlled energy. 'But the law of the Republic stands, pure and inviolate. So long as all participating sentients adhere to that, all will be well within the galaxy.' His gaze fixed on Kandah. 'And on Ansion.'
Seated at the end of the table because his massive legs would not comfortably fit under it, Tolut the Armalat finally rose to point one of his three thick fingers at Obi- Wan.
'Jedi obfuscation!' He glared out of small red eyes at his fellow delegates. 'See not where this is leading or what is being attempted? They try to fool us with clever words. Think all Ansionians are backworld dust riders, I wager!' Leaning forward over the table, he rested the knuckles of his powerful hands on the smooth purplish wood. Though strong and well made, the table creaked under the weight of his several hundred kilos.
'Masters of the Force, are you? Masters of scheming and sneaky phrases, say I. Jedi mischief!'
'Please, Tolut.' Ranjiyn tried to calm his far larger, highly agitated colleague. 'Show some respect for the Force, if not for our visitors. Though we may disagree, we still-'
'Pagh! 'The Force.' You all bemused and intimidated by this Force nonsense.' Green fingers stabbed at the silent visitors. 'These are humanoids, like yourself. Sentients, like me. They bleed and die like any creatures of flesh and blood. Why should we continue to suffer beneath their burdensome rules? Their officials are corrupt, or ignorant of the needs of different species, or both. When a government becomes like an old sea creature, it should be treated like one.' Thick, chisel-like teeth flashed. 'Taken out and buried.' Reaching across the table, he picked up in one hand the massive stack Kandah had brought forth and threw it across the room, where it slammed against a wall, disks scattering everywhere.
'Regulations! Restrictions! What can be done by peoples and what cannot. All words-words we of Ansion not write. This movement to leave the Republic we should join, say I and those who think like me. Free Ansion! And if the Alwari will not join us in this, we should deal with them as we have in the past.'
Throughout the tirade, the visitors had sat silently. Now Anakin's hand strayed in the direction of his lightsaber. A hint of a smile from his Master was all that was necessary to still the movement. Not that Anakin cared particularly whether Ansion stayed in the Republic or not. The convoluted machinations of galactic politics were still a mystery to him. It was the insult to his Master that caused the anger to rise within him. Now he forced himself to remain calm- because his Master wished that he be so.
Obi-Wan Kenobi, he knew, was quite capable of taking care of himself.
The Jedi Knight started to rise, but somewhat to Anakin's surprise deferred to the woman seated next to him. 'The Force is nothing to be so casually disparaged, my large friend,' Luminara informed the Armalat. 'Especially by one who has no understanding of it.'
Once again showing his huge, flat white teeth in a broad grin, Tolut started around the table. Barriss and Anakin both tensed, but Obi-Wan sat quietly, indifferent to the approach of the massive, powerful Armalat. A small smile played across his face. Luminara rose and stepped away from her chair.
'Think you only Jedi know the Force?' Tolut snorted at his fellow delegates. 'Anyone can know it. It only takes practice.' Extending a huge hand, he gestured at the table. One of the several crystal carafes of water that had been placed there to slake the thirst of the participants trembled slightly, then rose half a meter off the surface. Sweat starting to seep from his cheeks in large, glossy beads, Tolut smiled triumphantly at his friends.
'See! With exercise and will, anyone can do what Jedi can do. Hardly reason for awe!'
'On the contrary,' Luminara told him, 'knowledge is always reason for awe.' She did not raise her hand. She did not have to.
The carafe stopped trembling, steadied. As Luminara focused on it, it rose slowly until it reached the ceiling. Fascinated, the delegates could not take their eyes off it. Living as they did in a border world, none of them had previously had the opportunity to observe Jedi manipulation of the Force.
Like a bulbous crystal bird, the carafe drifted along the ceiling until it was poised directly above the Armalat. Grim- faced, he began to make ponderous, then frantic gestures in the hovering container's direction. These had absolutely no effect on the floating object. He might as well have been gesticulating in front of a mirror.
As smoothly as if manipulated by an experienced waiter, the carafe abruptly turned upside down and dumped its ice-cold contents on the increasingly frustrated alien. Glaring, he wiped water from his eyes and took a step toward the serene Jedi. Bar-riss reached for her lightsaber, only to be stilled by her Master, much as Obi-Wan had earlier restrained his own Padawan.
One by one, the remaining carafes leapt off the table to dash their contents in Tolut's face. Laughter began to rise from the remaining seated, and still dry, delegates, the humans chortling softly, the Ansionians emitting
