Chapter 29: The Dinner
A few minutes later, the double note
was sounded, and Luke and Han went inside, saw a procession getting ready and
went to the back. Then the Alderaanian song started up again, and in the middle
of it the procession started up again, Luke noted that it had a triple chime,
then the Seqwetian song started, and by the time it ended Luke and Han were
seated, in fact it was at the last note that Luke sat. This continued untill
after the two songs there was a fanfare. Rogue, and a Duchess of the Seqwetian
house stood up, "Presenting, The King and Queen of Seqwet, the Chief of
State of the New Republic, and the Princess of Alderaan."
Then Mon Mothma came in, Luke noted
not from the North, but the east enterance, then another fanfare started..."
As the fanfare started the King and
Queen of Seqwet entered, and a second later, Leia entered. Luke could feel
Han's eyes following Leia, who looked BEYOND gorgeous, and the dress did give
off an aura of power, even more so then in the shop, because it was combined
with Leia's regality, and her hairstyle. The King and Queen of Seqwet also
looked great, but there was no way they could compare to Leia. Or maybe it was
just because Luke was biased, and feeling like a proud older brother.
As they walked a quarter of the way,
Mon Mothma also started walking. When they reached close the little beyond,
quarter mark, the king and Mon Mothma stopped, and Leia and the Queen continued
until they were one step away from the halfway point, when Leia and the Queen
curtsied to each other. As they began to rise, the King and Mon Mothma started
walking again, until all were one step away from the halfway point. Just as Mon
Mothma and the King reached the halfway point, Leia took a step forward, and at
the halfway point she began speaking, "I, as the Princess House Organa,
The House of Alderaan, welcome you all on behalf of all Alderaanians and House
Organa members to the Alderaanian embassy on Coruscant, the capital of the New
Republic. We, wish all present have a great evening, and enjoy the Alderaanian
hospitality and extend a hand of friendship. "
Then Leia took one, regal, step
backwards, and Mon Mothma took one forward, "And I, as the elected Chief
of State of the New Republic, welcome you on the behalf of all members of the
New Republic, and Councilors, to Coruscant and extend a hand of
friendship."
Mon Mothma took one step back, and
the King and Queen stepped back. "As King and Queen of Seqwet and the
House Sen, and the House of Seqwet, we accept the hand of friendship, and
return it with our own. We offer our gratitude. The King said.
Then the Queen continued," We would
like you to meet the members of our court, and House." She proceeded in
introducing everyone. After every name Leia said a regal, "We welcome
you."
Then after the Queen was done Leia
said, "I would also like you to meet, everyone present." She
introduced everyone," I would now like you to meet two people, I am SURE
you have heard about, a friend and saviour, Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker of Tatooine,
Hero of the Rebellion, Commander of the Alliance, and head of the Jedi
Order." Luke noticed that Leia added every title he had ever held...that
they knew about, he guessed it was part of the intimidation thing. He inclined
his head, as the Queen did her, it was a pleasure to meet you.
"Next, I would like you to meet
another friend and savior, General Han Solo of Correlia. A General of the New
Republic, Hero of the Rebellion."
The queen did her, it was a pleasure
to meet you, and Han inclined his head.
Leia made a sweeping gesture with
her hands, showing the King, Queen, and Mon Mothma to their seats. The King,
Queen, and Mon Mothma, went to their seats, in that order, with Leia following.
Luke was looking at Leia, for some
cue as to when to start talking.
Leia noticed and gave a slight nod.
Luke was going to say something when
the Prince SecQuewet started conversation, on the topic most people started
conversation with, Jedi-ism. "Jedi Skywalker, I have heard a great deal
about Jedi's I am not sure how much is accurate, so I was wondering if you
could clear it up for me."
"I would be honored. It will
make my later work, much easier if many rumors are cleared up. What would you
like to know."
"Well, I have heard that Jedi's
believe in something called, Light side, and Dark side, could you explain that
to me."
Oh, blast. Luke thought, he wished,
for the umpteenth time for Leia's gift of turning a phrase. "Well, Jedi's
believe that these are intentions, and when he do something a certain way, or
do a certain thing you invoke one of them. The Dark side is the side of evil.
Master Yoda, my teacher, said Fear-anger-aggression, hate, The dark side are
they. Meaning whenever you are afraid, and act in fear, or anger, or do act of
aggression, or hate that is the dark side. But if you act, at calm, or work at
peace it is the light side."
"That is interesting."
Then the prince looked around. "This is nice, for an embassy. Out of
curiosity, I can tell you are pretty close, with Her Highness, are they ever
planning to build another palace, or world."
Luke knew the comment, no matter
what the prince said, was meant to instigate Luke, he didn't take the bate.
"Support Services is looking, and it looks hopeful. Your Highness, will
you tell me a little about Seqwet, after living on Tatooine, I know little
about other worlds."
"Seqwet is a very nice
place." As Luke had planned, it took SecQuewet the entire first and
partway into the second course to tell him about the planet.
"Tell me a little about
Tatooine, and your life there."
"Well, Tatooine is a desert
planet, two suns. My Uncle, Owen Lars, was a moisture farmer."
"Forgive the interruption, but
was." SecQuewet said.
"Yes," Luke answered,
softly, "was, my uncle and Aunt died when Imperials burnt their homestead,
it was pure luck that I wasn't there at the time. They were looking for C-3PO,
and R2-D2. 2 Droids, that I had bought from Jawas. Jawas are creatures that
take everything and anything mechanical and sell it. See, I hadn't known it,
but Leia had hidden information inside of Artoo, and told R2 to find Obi-Wan
Kenobi who was on Tatooine. Meanwhile Artoo had been caught by Jawas, and was
sold to me. THat was why I was away, R2 had left in the middle of the night,
and I had to follow him. Uncle Owen would've killed me, he and spent his life
saving on the droids and I had been the one who had removed Artoo's restraining
bolt."
"Well, Tatooine doesn't seem
like a place anyone would want to live on, if you will excuse my comment."
This time Luke could sense that he
honestly meant it, and it wasn't meant for instigation. "Yes, Tatooine is
the farthest from the bright center of the universe. Most of the kids I knew
there where, waiting, like me for a chance to blow off the rock."
SecQuewet laughed. "I enjoy your
views, Jedi Skywalker."
Unknown to Luke, but everyone, had
stared at him. No one had before gotten SeCQuwet to laugh at an official thing
before when his friends weren't around. "Looks like your friend is good at
making conversation, Princess." Queen Saere said.
"I guess he has an untapped
ability."
Just then, they saw someone dangle
on the Chandelier, "Skywalker has untapped abilities everywhere. Did you
know he is undefeated at EVERYTHING."
Luke blushed. "Stop it."
He said, in Tatooinian.
The man, a Brotherhood member, just
grinned a wicked grin, "He is Champion pod racer, built the best ship,
etc."
"There is one game I haven't
challenged you to, I have spent years mastering it, Sabbac."
Luke groaned, "I think I know
what is coming next."
Raque grinned, "Yup. Sacre I
challenge you to a quick and easy game of Sabbac, WITH bets." Raque said,
then he added, "The bet being if you win, your ship that you built on
Tatooine that is being kept in working condition by brotherhood members, I will
add a working hyperdrive to it, and fly it to you here, if you win. If I win I
keep the ship. Tonight, your quarters." in Tatooinian.
"Done." Luke said, knowing
he was trapped. Raque disappeared. "Sorry about that." Luke said.
"What was the last part."
Leia asked, curious.
'He was just laying the bet, and
time."
"And what was the bet."
Han asked, grinning.
"Well, on Tatooine I built this
ship, it doesn't have hyperdrive because Hyperdrives are expensive on Tatooine,
half of Uncle Owen's life savings. I thought the ship must've rusted by now,
but friends of mine have been keeping it in working condition. So if I win
Raque will add a working hyperdrive to it, and fly it here, if he wins he keeps
it."
"The time." Leia asked.
Luke winced, "Tonight, after
this is over."
Han laughed, "Kid, you are
going to get beat. I would've offered to coach you, I know Lando would've
helped, we both know how much ships, especially ships you build mean,
but..."
"Oh, I don't know, Raque may be
the Tatooinian Sabbac Champion, but...besides, Raque could take better care of
the ship then I could, I left her on Tatooine."
Luke cleared his throat,
"Sorry, about the distraction."
After throwing a worried glance at
Luke, Leia continued her conversation. "So, this ship, how'd you build it."
"Out of everything I found, it
is literally built from scratch, and scrap." Luke said, "my dream was
that one day I would find a discarded hyperdrive and blast off of the
planet."
Then desert came, and then the
dinner was over. "We all thank you for a lovely evening." THe King
and Queen said, as they left.