me?'
The two Alwari exchanged a look. 'Not our business,' Kyakhta finally replied. 'Catching you our job. Questions not our job.' He turned to leave the room. 'Report in success now. I looking forward to it.' He straightened. 'Bossban don't think we can do it. Be nice surprise for him.' His smile widened. 'I think I make him wait a little while before I tell him so.' He gave his companion a shove. 'Watch her close, Bulgan. Beware Jedi tricks.'
'No worry, Kyakhta.' Hunched over but alert, the other Al wari settled himself on a bench opposite the shackled human. 'Bulgan watch carefully.'
Barriss stared as the single door closed heavily behind the one who called himself Kyakhta. A loud dick followed his exit. Without her lightsaber, she would not be able to penetrate the barrier, and her limited mastery of the Force was not sufficient to allow her to pierce it mentally. She was trapped until her friends could locate her. That they would do so she did not doubt. Only the time factor troubled her. Would there be enough of it before she was transferred from this place and handed over to whomever had arranged for her abduction? Of one thing she was certain: whoever it was was likely to be both more ruthless and more competent than her two comparatively simple Ansionian captors.
As time passed, she waited for her guard to grow tired, or to leave. He did neither. Nor was she able, try as she might, to influence his mind. That could be, she reflected, because according to every indication there was not much mind there to influence. That might explain why neither she nor her Master had sensed its hostile intentions.
They had used the unconscious shopkeeper to distract her at tention. Upset with herself at falling for the diversion, she repressed the growing irritation. Anger was another kind of distraction, one she could not presently afford.
'Maybe bossban give Kyakhta and Bulgan bonus,' her watcher observed aloud. 'Jedi lightsaber would be nice. Then Bulgan go home, show to clan. They let Bulgan back in. And those who object,' he made a swinging motion with one heavy hand, 'Bulgan cut off their heads!'
'You speak fondly of your bossban.' She made a conscious effort to appear and sound as helpless and resigned as possible. 'Who might that imposing individual be?'
A slow smile spread across her guard's face. 'Padawan try fool Bulgan. No Jedi tricks here. Bulgan and Kyakhta little slow, maybe. But that not mean we stupid.' Rising and lumbering forward, he loomed over her seated form; a broad- chested, bald-pated, threatening mass of muscle and bone, unusually massive for an Ansionian. 'You think Bulgan stupid?'
'I did not say that, nor did I mean it,' she responded sooth ingly. The Alwari backed off. 'But I do see something else about you that I am sure of.'
The hulking native's eyes narrowed dangerously. 'What that? Careful be, Padawan human. Bulgan not afraid of you.'
'I can see that. What I also see, and can sense in ways you cannot imagine, is that both you and your accomplice are in pain-and probably have been so for a long time.'
Bulgan's brown, gold-flecked Ansionian eye bulged even wider than usual. 'How-how you know that?'
'In addition to the usual Jedi training, many of us have our own specialties. Areas of learning that we are especially drawn toward. Myself, I am a practicing healer.'
'But you human. Not Ansion.'
'I know.' Her tone was tender, reassuring-compelling. 'And I can't fix your poor back, or give you a prosthetic to re place your missing eye. But the pain in your mind is akin to the pain nearly all warm-blood sentients experience. It arises from certain kinds of neural breakdowns and malfunctions. It's as if someone was trying to wire a very complex computer and all the necessary materials and components were laid out before her, but she wasn't quite sure how to link everything together. So she did a job that was a little too hasty. Do you understand anything of what I'm saying, Bulgan?'
The Alwari nodded slowly. 'Bulgan not dumb. Bulgan understand. Haja, that just how Bulgan feel most of the time. Not wired right.' Tilting his head slightly to one side, he stared at her hard out of his one good eye. 'Padawan can fix that?'
'I can't make any promises. But I can try.'
'Fix pain in head.' Her captor was clearly exerting a consid erable mental effort. 'No more pain here.' He rubbed his forehead with his open palm. 'That be a big thing. Bigger even, maybe, than credits.' The effort at extended cogitation having exhausted his limited intellectual resources, he glared at her again. 'How know Bulgan can trust you?'
'I give you my word as a Padawan, as a student of the Jedi arts, as one who has dedicated her life to their high ideals- and to mastering the skills of a healer.'
Obviously torn, her captor took a deep breath, glanced cir cumspectly at the door, and then turned back to her. 'You try fix Bulgan. But if you try trick, I-'
'I've given you my word,' she interrupted him, forestalling his threat. 'Besides, where could I go? The door is locked and barricaded from the outside. Or haven't you realized that you're locked in here with me?' She did not smile. 'Your friend is taking no chances.'
'Locked in?' He rubbed his bare skull, his hand passing to either side of where a dark mane would normally be. 'Bulgan confused.'
Immediately, she jumped on the opening thus offered. 'Confusion comes from the pain you've been living with. Let me try to help you, Bulgan. Please. If I fail, it costs you nothing. Even if I succeed, you can still keep me in here because the door is locked from outside.'
'That right. Padawan speak truth. Ou, you try.'
Meeting his gaze evenly, she gestured toward her bound wrists. 'You have to untie me. To do this kind of work, I need my hands.'
He was instantly wary. 'What for? Jedi trick?'
'No. Please trust me, Bulgan. There are vastly more im portant things at stake here than my life, or the size
