Eeth strode down the ramp, followed by Kat. Their padawans were meant to fall into line right behind them, but Zyle, a smug look on her face, wedged herself in between Kat and Lok. Since Lok did not want a tussle to break out at the precise moment at which they were supposed to encounter their hosts, he slowed down his steps and let her, which forced Takhya, who came behind him, to do the same.
They were met by a delegation of twenty men and women, clad in traditional Iridonian warrior garb; Lok thought Kat's quip that these people were "more-Zabrak-than-thou" was more than fitting. As could be clearly deduced from their skin colours as well as the fact that they stood in two groups of ten, each group well apart from the other, half the members of the delegation were Kaath and the other half Takar. When Eeth reached them, they touched their hands to their chest and turned as one person, military-style, falling into four lines that flanked the five visitors on their way towards the exit of the spaceport, with two lines to their right and two to their left. Kol Kaath and Triz Takar were at the head of the lines, level with Eeth, and Lok could only just see their backs. To his side was a Kaath whose name he remembered, thanks to the relentless drills Eeth had imposed, as Zur. Zur's tattoos had a reddish hue which contrasted vividly with his black skin; this seemed to be typical of the Kaaths. The black colour that Eeth and most other Zabrak had used would have been lost on them. Zur kept his eyes straight ahead and did not make any attempt at communication. Lok thought it prudent to follow his example. But after he had stepped onto the large shuttle that was waiting for them, Zur having politely motioned for him to go ahead, he threw a furtive look across his shoulder to see if Takhya was following and noticed Zur staring at him intently. The man hastily averted his eyes as soon as he realised that Lok had noticed. "Maybe," Lok wondered, "he has never seen an untattooed boy my age before?"
He was distracted by this thought for a moment, and before he knew it, everyone around him had already taken seats. There were only two free seats left, one next to Zyle and one next to Lok Takar. It was not much of a choice to make. With as much unhurried dignity as he could, Lok sat down next to his namesake. The older Zabrak turned openly curious grey eyes on him, which was in stark contrast to Zur Kaath's furtive stare.
"I have to admit," said Lok Takar, "that when we asked for support from the Republican Senate, we did not anticipate them sending representatives quite as young."
Lok was a little taken aback by his bluntness even though Eeth and Kat had forewarned him to expect it. But he was rarely at a loss for words.
"Primarily, they sent our masters," he said, nodding towards Eeth and Kat who were sitting next to Triz Takar and Kol Kaath in the front seats. "I hope those are old enough to meet your expectations."
Lok Takar looked as if he was working hard to suppress a smile. "They are," he acknowledged. "But you… What is your name, Jedi padawan?"
"We share the same first name," said Lok. "I'm Lok. Lok Dar."
"A good Zabrak name," said Lok Takar. "Now, if you had gone through the rites of passage, I would say you could not be older than fourteen or fifteen, but since you have not, you must be younger than that."
"As a matter of fact, I am fourteen," said Lok. "Since I am raised as a Jedi, I am not required to go through the Zabrak rites."
"The two Jedi masters did, though," said Lok Takar.
"They chose to do so, yes," said Lok. He decided to follow his gut feeling and be open about his own motives, or as open as he could be, given the circumstances. "I've been undecided so far because I've never been exposed to Zabrak culture," he said. "It might have been a lucky coincidence that we were assigned this mission. I hope my stay on Iroqa will enable me to learn more and make up my mind. By the end of this mission, I will make a decision, one way or another."
Lok Takar gave a nod of approval. "We will make sure to create opportunities for you to become familiar with our culture, then," he said. "And thank you for being honest with me. Our clan greatly values honesty."
"So does ours," said Triz Kaath, who was seated across the aisle, in a derisive voice. "More so than yours."
Lok Takar gave an equally derisive snort. "What is that supposed to mean?" he asked.
Triz did not reply. She did, however, glance at Zyle Xatrax in a meaningful way, causing Lok Takar to frown. Lok had no idea what to make of this exchange, but he committed it to memory and vowed to tell the others about it later.
Iroqa-Tira was a much larger city than Lok had anticipated, and it was a lot more modern than he had thought it would be. At the same time, and despite the climate, the city was surprisingly green. Apparently, there was a plentiful underground water source. Given the attire of the Kaaths and Takars, Lok had pictured deer hunters and lava pools but he could find no evidence of those. Instead, the shuttle took them across a large urban sprawl with suburbs that housed beings from a wide variety of species. The closer they came to the city centre, the higher was the concentration of Zabrak, but none of those were clad in the type of warrior garb that their escort was wearing. Most of the ordinary Zabrak inhabitants of Iroqa-Tira seemed to prefer practical outfits in various shades of brown, suited to the hot desert climate. They were distinctly less heavily tattooed than their leaders, and Lok noticed that hardly any of them were as dark-skinned as the Kaaths or as light-skinned as the Takars, which made him wonder to what lengths these clans must have gone to "keep their bloodlines clean."
"We are taking you to the Council Hall," explained Lok Takar. "It is where political deliberation takes place on this planet. We expanded the building a few years ago and equipped it with guest quarters for foreign diplomats and delegations from the provinces. As you can see, Iroqa is interested in expanding its foreign relations. We were quite pleasantly surprised that the Republic saw fit to agree to our request for assistance so suddenly and unexpectedly. Was there any reason for this?"
Lok realised that several of the Kaaths and Takars sitting in his vicinity had stopped talking to listen to his answer. It was obviously something that they were all wondering, which meant that none of these people were politically naïve. But nor was Lok, who had been trained by some of the best.
"If there is, I am not privy to it," he replied smoothly and confidently. "The Jedi serve the Senate of the Republic. We can only surmise that, if the Senate saw fit to ask for Jedi assistance in this matter, they must have had some interest in relations with Iroqa. Maybe there is a connection with the fact that we have the privilege of being in the company of a Falleen diplomat?"
He could immediately sense that he had hit a nerve, especially among the Kaaths, even though they made an admirable effort at appearing unfazed. Still, Triz Kaath could not quite prevent herself from throwing her namesake from the Takar clan a dirty look. Lok still had no idea what was going on but he deduced that they owed Zyle's company to the Takars in general, or Triz Takar in particular, for some reason and that the Kaaths were none too happy about it. Suddenly, he realised that this mission was starting to intrigue him, beyond his personal quest to find out more about his origins. And maybe that was all for the best.
The shuttle took them to the administrative heart of the city, which turned out to be a surprisingly modest square that was surrounded by large, low buildings. The ensemble looked pleasant but entirely unassuming. Lok did not know what he had expected, but probably more grandeur. The shuttle stopped in front of a long, two-storey building that took up one entire side of the square. As soon as everyone had left the vehicle, their hosts took up the same formation they had used at the airport and escorted their guests to the entrance and into the building. At this point, everyone except for Kol Kaath and Triz Takar veered off to the left and disappeared down a corridor whereas Kol and Triz took them straight ahead to a backdoor and through a square garden towards the opposite side of the building complex where a protocol droid was waiting for them.
"A9 is at your disposal and will look after all of your needs," said Kol Kaath. "Your rooms are situated on the first floor, overlooking the garden. Your luggage has already been taken inside."
"We are grateful for your hospitality," said Eeth politely. Lok knew that hospitality was valued greatly on Iroqa. The tastefully decorated, carpeted staircase and the wide corridor onto which they emerged, with ceiling-high windows overlooking the city on one side and a set of ornate wooden doors on the other, matched this piece of knowledge.
"We have assigned each of you their own flight of rooms," said Triz Takar. Pointing to the first door, she added, "Padawan Lok Dar, this one is yours."
Lok frowned in confusion, not only because he had expected to be lodged with his master but also because he sensed a strange discomfort in Triz Takar, even though she was managing not to show it. Not wanting to offend anyone, he opened the door and peered inside to see a lavishly decorated, spacious room with an enormous bed and a large window through which the sun was shining. His travel pack was sitting on a bench at the wall. He did not enter yet; his eyes sought out his master's, and he could see and sense that Eeth was just as disquieted as he was.
"Our padawans are still minors," said Eeth. "They usually share their quarters with their masters."
"We wanted to afford you maximum comfort," said Kol Kaath. "Surely you will not rebuke our hospitality?"
There was obviously little that Eeth could, or wanted to, say to that, nor did Kol and Triz seem to expect him to.
"This one," said Triz, moving on towards the second room, "is for Padawan Takhya Khash."
Takhya flung open the door with far more energy than Lok had, whooped as she saw the huge bed and ran inside. A moment later, she could be heard landing on the bed, bomb-style. Kat rolled her eyes. The frown on Eeth's face deepened, but Lok did not think this had anything to do with Takhya. The next room was assigned to Zyle, who walked inside immediately, a small, sardonic, Falleen smile on her face.
"The next room is for Master Omir, and we have reserved the Ambassador Suite at the end of the corridor for you, Master Koth" Kol Kaath concluded the procedure, pointing to the respective doors.
"Thank you," said Eeth. "But surely there is nothing that would prevent us and our padawans from occupying adjacent suites?"
"Save for the Ambassador Suite, all the flights of rooms are entirely identical," A9 replied politely and helpfully.
"But your luggage has already been taken to the rooms I have pointed out," Triz added quickly.
"We don't have much," said Kat. "It's no trouble moving it. Lok, why don't we swap? That way, I'll be next to Takhya and you'll be next to Eeth."
"Yes, let's," said Lok and immediately went to fetch his luggage. Kol Kaath seemed unconcerned by this but Triz looked as if she had bitten on a lemon. She remained silent, though, probably because she was unable to come up with any further objections. Lok's feeling of unease increased. Something was being orchestrated here. He had no idea what it was, or why, but their hosts, or the Takars in particular, were obviously trying to split them up and to keep the padawans apart from the masters. He could see that Eeth and Kat knew it, too.
"There will be a briefing on the security situation an hour from now," Kol Kaath said. "A9 will escort you to the council chamber where it will take place. After a lunch reception, there will be a meeting to discuss the other issue that caused us to ask for Republican assistance, namely, Iroqa's government structures. Tonight, there will be a banquet in your honour. We aim to make your stay as pleasant and productive as possible."
"Thank you," said Eeth, bowing to their hosts. Kol and Kaath touched their hands to their chests in response and left.
"I'll look after Takhya and get settled in my room," said Kat, emerging from the room she was swapping with Lok's, her bag in hand. "See you in a quarter of an hour in Eeth's room?"
Eeth nodded. "Yes, please do," he said.
"I will be happy to join as well," said Zyle, who had appeared out of nowhere, in a silky voice.
There was a moment's silence. Then Eeth said, far more brusquely than Lok would have him expected to, "We need a private word with our padawans on matters of conduct during this mission. Having an audience would be counterproductive. You are welcome to attend the official proceedings an hour from now."
Zyle gave him a haughty stare. "I might just get the impression that you have something to hide," she said in a somewhat mocking voice.
"Well, we don't," said Kat laconically. "Now excuse me. I need to find my padawan and keep her from demolishing the furniture."
Ten minutes later, Lok entered Eeth's suite, a little before Kat and Takhya were due. He gaped at what he saw. The other suites might be considered lavish but this one was positively decadent. Lok had to grin at this; surely Eeth was the last person who would have wanted this kind of luxury. But refusing it was, of course, out of the question.
"You really hate Zyle, don't you?" he asked his master as he plopped down into an armchair, helping himself to a piece of fruit from a bowl.
Eeth frowned. "'Hate' is too strong a word, but I do resent her," he admitted, taking a seat opposite Lok. "I would wager we all do."
"True, but you are usually much better at keeping such things to yourself," said Lok.
"As I have already told you," said Eeth, "this type of Falleen does not understand politeness. More importantly, though, there is something going on that she is a part of and I have no idea what it is. That is causing me some concern. I was intentionally rude, hoping it would cause her cover to slip."
"Yeah, I did something like this on the shuttle, with some success," said Lok. Before he could continue, there was a knock on the door, and Eeth went to let Kat and Takhya in. Once they were all seated, Lok told them about the conversation that had happened during the shuttle ride.
"There is some connection between Zyle and the Takars, or possibly Triz Takar in particular," he concluded. "And this is also the feeling I'm getting from her. She's wary around us. Something's off."
"I agree," said Kat. "Maybe she's planning something and our arrival got in her way. The question is, how deep do we want to dig when we had an entirely different reason for wanting to come here in the first place?"
"The way she is acting, she is leaving us little choice," said Eeth. "Besides, we do have a mission mandate."
"I agree," Lok said. "There's something going on and we should try to find out what it is."
This proved hard to do, however, because during that day and the next, the schedule imposed by their hosts left them no time for anything but meetings and receptions. Lok found that he preferred the former because there, at least, nobody asked him about his lack of tattoos whereas the receptions offered ample opportunity for curious Kaaths and Takars to do so. And there was no escaping this because Kaaths and Takars were the only Iroqans the Jedi got to see. No other Zabrak, let alone non-Zabrak, were invited to the meetings and receptions, and there was no opportunity to go out into the city either. Lok wondered what had happened to the opportunities to learn about Zabrak culture that had been promised to him. Other than watching myriad people in identical ceremonial outfits touch their hands to their chests, there was little Zabrak culture happening.
The meetings were not entirely boring but Lok had a feeling that the one-sided make-up of the Iroqan delegation would prevent them from making any progress, once they were past the fact-finding stage. The raids from the Ortal system they could probably deal with; Eeth had already sent the Jedi High Council a preliminary report, asking them to use their leverage on Ortal's trade partners to exert some pressure and to file a request for sending military advisors to Iroqa. But the reform of the political system was a far more pressing issue, and it seemed more than strange to Lok that the same clans that were the main impediments to this reform were the only ones the Jedi got to talk to.
"This is hardly a coincidence," said Eeth in the late evening of their second day when they were sitting together in his quarters. "Tomorrow's schedule looks no different from today's. I am starting to suspect that they are actively trying to prevent us from interacting with anyone outside their clans."
"Except with Zyle," said Takhya, wrinkling her nose.
"True, but at this point, I feel that she's just a distraction," said Kat. "She's purposefully annoying but I'm not even sure she has an agenda of her own. I'd wager she's being used by our hosts, or by the Takars only, or by Triz Takar specifically. Triz is shifty, and she's still projecting this weird feeling of being disturbed by our presence. I don't know what to make of it but it sure as all Sith hells is not getting any better. Oh, and one other thing. It might be inconsequential, but did you notice this Kaath guy, Zur, is Force-sensitive?"
"No," said Eeth. "He is very inconspicuous. I admit that I have not paid attention to him so far."
"Well, it's precisely because he's way too quiet that I've started paying attention to him, and that's when I noticed," said Kat. "He was probably never Force-sensitive enough to have him raised at the Temple, and since he received no training, his abilities must have withered. Still, he is decidedly better able than others to hide his emotions. And the fact that he never takes part in the debates is conspicuous in and of itself. After all, he must be important enough to have been made part of the negotiating team and yet he keeps completely to the background."
"Interesting," said Eeth thoughtfully. "I will keep an eye on him tomorrow. And we should all think about ways of finding out more about this planet, beyond sitting in meeting rooms with a bunch of Kaaths and Takars."
"Why don't we just sneak out of this compound?" asked Takhya. "We should have no problem climbing out of the windows, and the city centre is right beyond the square."
Eeth raised his eyebrows. "Climbing out of the windows of our rooms will not take us to the square, but merely into the garden," he said. "The garden's exits to the street are locked at night. And if we use the corridor windows, which do open to the square, A9 will notice. We cannot use the Force to fool him. Let us not be rash. If there is no new development tomorrow, I will ask to meet delegates of other groups of Iroqans and we will see how our hosts react to this. It is a reasonable request, after all. If they reject it, we know that they are treating us as little more than hostages, and then we can still decide what to do about it."
"That sounds like a plan," Kat agreed. Takhya did not look as if she agreed but she did not complain. Lok felt that for a padawan who allegedly had obedience issues, she had been remarkably well-behaved so far. Much better-behaved than he had been at that age, that much was for sure!
Kat and Takhya turned in soon thereafter. Eeth led Lok through a lengthy meditation but for some reason, this did not help Lok to shake off the sense of unease and foreboding he was feeling. He expected Eeth to reprimand him for it but his master did nothing of the kind. Instead, he waited for Lok to pull out of his meditative trance and said quietly, "If there is the slightest thing out of the ordinary, padawan, call me through our bond immediately. Even if it happens at three in the morning."
"What are you expecting to happen?" asked Lok warily.
"I do not know," said Eeth. "But … be careful."
This did nothing to put Lok's concerns to rest. As he made his way to his quarters that night, he missed his master acutely. For all the "maximum comfort" Kol Kaath had promised them, he wished he and Eeth were sharing a room.