Entry 24
We've been slowly traveling through the jungle in the pouring rain all morning. I hate being out in a deluge. On Coruscant the weather is controlled so we are never surprised by a storm. Once a month it would rain on the city world…mainly to clean off the dust and dirt deposited by vehicles or industry.
I have to admit the durawick coveralls do work. Despite the intense downpour and the constant sticky humidity my skin stayed dry. Dad said he wished he had this type of coverall when he went to Dagobah with Uncle Luke. He spent a week on the jungle world and he ended up with a wicked heat rash. He said couldn't wait to get back to civilization so he could put a specialized bacta salve on the infected area…which was everywhere his underwear touched. Ouch! He said it was like a million needles stabbing his groin. Double ouch!
I hope I don't ever to have to go to Dagobah. It doesn't sound like a fun place. Dad went there to train with Uncle Luke. This was shortly after I was born when Dad was just an apprentice. While on the planet Dad went into what he called the cave of evil...an underground cavern full of darkside energy. He was told Jedi going into the cave often had visions. Uncle Luke said the first time he was on the planet he had a vision of him killing Vader only to find out it was himself within the armor. Five years after Yoda died Uncle Luke returned and he saw a possible future where my Aunt Mara actually killed him while on Tatooine. Luckily that future did not come to pass.
My father went in and when he came out my Uncle Luke said he was shaken and pale…but my father refused to tell anyone what he saw. I asked him once but he wouldn't even tell me. Whatever it was it must have been awful. I have a feeling it might be something to do with him or his family…otherwise why wouldn't he tell Luke?
Anyway, getting back to my story. Dad said he was glad he had the coveralls even though the castoff Wookiee hair that remained in the outfit was making him itch. Dad said he hoped the Wookiee that last wore the outfit didn't have Wroshyr Lice.
Uncle Han once told us all about Wroshyr lice that are found on the Wookiee planet of Kashyyyk. He said that female Wookiees would drop a Wroshyr louse on a male she was interested in. She would then apologize for accidently (meaning on purpose) dropping a louse in his fur. She would then take the next hour to groom the male's fur to extract the louse. In other words, it was just a stupid excuse for the female to put her furry hands all over the male's body. The males don't seem to mind though.
I am so glad that humans don't have that custom. I could just see some lady infecting me with Kaon Crotch Crabs just so she would paw over my body. That wouldn't be fun…well, I guess it would depend on how hot looking the woman was. Ha!
Once again I am off topic. Our travels through the mucky jungle of Seylott was a pain in the butt. The vegetation was so thick that speeder bikes couldn't be used, so we had to walk. The troops would climb three steps up a muddy hill and then slip down two. Which wouldn't be too bad if the hillsides weren't covered with a strange, black barked tree that had spikes sticking out all along the trunk. The natural human response to sliding down a muddy hill is to grab onto something to slow your decent. Unfortunately, this tree—which I nicknamed 'Black Palm' because the black spikes usually ended up embedded in your palm—was always there when a trooper reached out to grab something. The Jedi didn't really have this problem keeping our balance, but the soldiers were slipping and sliding all over the place. We ended up using the Force to assist the soldiers up and down some of the rougher terrain.
After a while we could sense sentient beings in the distance, probably six kilometers away. They didn't feel completely human, but we knew we weren't sensing animals. We were fairly certain it a group of Seylott tribesmen, so we kept moving.
I got to meet my Master's tent-mate during the walk. It was the only other female in the group. Her name is Captain Lodi Nisda. She is a thirty-something human female with short-cropped hair and a stern look. I was told she works for GA Intelligence. That in itself wasn't odd—what was strange was my Aunt's behavior around her. Mara had suddenly become very outgoing and talkative with Captain Nisda. It's not that Mara Jade Skywalker wasn't friendly, but usually it took time for her to warm up to people.
The fact that she was acting all chummy indicated to me that she was trying to coax information out of the Captain. So now I have my Master and my father both acting a little strange. I wish they let me or Ben in on what's is going on. Both denied that they were acting weird, but I am pretty sure they are keeping something from us.
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Author Note: The description of the Seylott people in the previous post is canon and the Wookiee mating habits are also canon. I think they are both from the comics. The tree I described is not canon, but they have it in Panama and I slid into more than one of those miserable trees while training in that country.