Amorrn went outside the Overlord's Citadel to complete the competition task and to arrange the feast Shimrra requested; Then he saw that an informant was following him - it was an old woman who he had previously observed talking for a long time with one of his two competitors, the master shaper Ghithra Dal. So he walked away as quickly as she could follow him. He descended into the lower levels of the capital planet and collected granite snails - gray slimy animals that ate whatever scraps were left for them by the inhabitants of the world formerly called Coruscant. Then he went to the group of Ohamed Ones who were living their illegal existence with him. He went straight into the kitchen and told one of the Shamed Ones who were responsible for preparing the food to put a kettle of boiling water on. As soon as the steam from cooking began to waft out of the cauldron, he threw all the granite snails in and said to the Shamed One: "Cook them for three hours until they're nice and crispy, then our overlord will lick all ten of his fingers tomorrow after that meal. In the meantime, I'm going back to the surface to let the sun shine on my stomach."
The old woman saw and overheard all this and immediately reported it to the other two shapers, who also set about collecting granite snails and cooking them.
However, Amorrn rose back to the surface and called a young Jedi named Jacen Solo, with whom he had recently become acquainted. "Jacen, you once told me how good the Giju stew from Tatooine tastes, which your aunt always cooks on holidays. If she could prepare a good portion of it for me, it would restore health to the runaway slaves of the Yuuzhan Vong who have found shelter with me and, at the same time, strengthen them immensely."
"It is strange that a Yuuzhan Vong should approach us with such a request, but if it is to serve the slaves, then I would like to ask my aunt for that food," Jacen Solo promised.
After three hours, two Noghri came to Amorrn's cave and brought him the Giju stew that Jacen's aunt Mara Jade-Skywalker had lovingly cooked, as well as the recipe. With that, the Shamed One went to Shimrra's court the next day, and he first tasted the dishes of Ch'Gang Hool and Ghithra Dal, while Nen Yim sat at his side.
Shimrra spat out Ch'Gang Hool's food as soon as he took a bite. "That put out to the slaves in the servants' room."
He tried Ghithra Dal's food. "It wasn't particularly smart of you to copy your colleague," he reprimanded the shaper. "Bring this to the slaves in the kitchen, because at least it's better seasoned than the first meal."
The Shamed One served his food and the Overlord half closed his eyes in comfort as he noticed the smell that hit him from the large, steaming bowl. He began to eat and finished the entire tureen.
"This is a food that you like to eat on good days," Shimrra Jamaane said to Amorrn. "Nen Yim shall be yours."
"Do you know, August Lord, that Amorrn is in league with a band of disgraced and war deserters in the lower levels of this world?" Ghithra accused Dal Amorrn. "He seems to associate with them there, without those Shamed Ones engaging in any godly work, which, with the blessing of Your Grace, is assigned to them by our intendants, as is the custom. How can someone who does such forbidden things become Nen Yim's companion?"
"Is that so, Amorrn?" Shimrra turned to him.
"It's true," he admitted, because lying to the Supreme Overlord didn't seem like a good idea to him.
"Why are you doing something like that, Amorrn?" Shimrra wanted to know.
"I only want to help those to do good works," Amorrn replied modestly, "until they have completed these works and thus repented sufficiently to be allowed to appear before our intendants again. Otherwise, they don't do any harm to any of us, nor do they take anything away from us."
"Well, that may be so," replied Shimrra, "but punishment for such insubordination must also be meted out." He turned again to the Ghithra Dal. "Where are those apostates?"
The shaper gave him the exact coordinates and Shimrra sent out a cleansing party to assassinate all of those disgraced.
"Now that Amorrn has received his just punishment," announced Shimrra, "his crime has been atoned for and he can now call himself Nen Yim's companion, since his food was excellent despite his previous dubious dealings."
Nen Yim was happy and was about to go to Amorrn, but Ghithra Dal intervened again. "Eating is one thing," said the shaper, "because everyone can cook."
"Which doesn't mean that everyone should," Ch'Gang Hool continued, and some in the dining room began to laugh. "Because shaping is much more than cooking," Ch'Gang Hool continued with a serious expression. "So we want to create something truly useful, because everyone who wants to unite with Nen Yim should be good at that."
Shimrra nodded. "True again. So all three of you will gather here tomorrow in a gablith mask, and whoever can make the best one will have Nen Yim."
~*ɛɷɜ*~
The next morning, two supplicants came to the Overlord, one of them wearing the mask of a Ruthian Twi'lek, the other that of a green Rodian.
"You are as thick as Ch'Gang Hool," the Overlord spoke to the blue Twi'lek. "And so it will be you."
The Twi'lek pressed the spot next to his nose, revealing his face. And - lo and behold - the Overlord guessed correctly.
"And who are you, if I may ask?" the Overlord demanded of the Rodian.
"I am Selamak from the Peace Brigade. My unit needs more weapons and money. But the new Warmaster* doesn't want to give us anything more."
"Nas Choka was right not to give you anything, peace brigadist. You may not be a technology worshipper like Rodians tend to be, but I recognize your voice. You're Ghithra Dal, aren't you?"
The Rodian also pressed that point next to his nose and that same Ghithra Dal appeared.
Then the guards let in a third visitor, a green-scaled lizard with a huge tail, a bony crest on its long skull, three-fingered claws on its hands and feet, and yellowish irises in its eyes in which two small black dots flashed.
"Venerable Overlord, the treacherous, vile P'w'eck on the world of Bakura have killed our noble Keeramak, who after a long time appeared to our people, the Ssi-ruuk, and promised us salvation. Your shapers are so accomplished. I brought some genetic samples from our Keeramak here. Would you like to clone him for us? For this, the Ssi-ruuk people will forever be grateful and of service to you."
Shimrra looked at the two unmasked shapers. "Now that the third suitor isn't here, this is your chance to apply for Nen Yim's hand in marriage one last time."
"Give me the samples!" Ch'Gang Hool called to the Ssi-ruu.
"No, me!" Ghithra Dal intervened.
"You both shall have some," said the reptilian, then he pressed the point near his nostrils and the lizard's skin fell away to reveal Amorrn's slender form.
"That's a disguise that even I haven't figured out yet," Shimrra said appreciatively. "So this one should get Nen Yim."
"Not so fast!" Ch'Gang Hool began.
"Why is that?" Shimrra wondered.
"Because all good things come in threes," added Ghithra Dal. "There are said to be truly powerful planets in this galaxy where individuals find it easier to use the so-called Jedi power. Let us find such a planet so that our people can also learn to use that power and face the Jeedai on equal terms."
"And if we implant a capable world brain on such planets, it will control the power of that world and use it to our benefit," added Ch'Gang Hool. "When I have found the planet, I will create such a world brain for it."
"So it shall be done," the Overlord agreed.
"But if all three of us set out at the same time to find such a planet and make it our service, and all three of us die in the process, that would leave a big gap within the shaper's caste," Amorrn pointed out.
Ghithra Dal pointed his eight-fingered shaper hand dismissively at Amorrn. "If you ignore that one."
"So first I want to move out," Amorrn accepted the challenge. "If I die in the process, at least it wouldn't be a great loss for the shaper caste and then the other two are welcome to try their luck."
The other two shapers were only too happy to agree, but they secretly followed Amorrn by sinking a Nisbat into his ship, which would reliably tell them Amorrn's position, wherever he might fly with it.
~*ɛɷɜ*~
Amorrn's ship landed on the planet Dathomir. As soon as the Shamed One landed, he disappeared into the thicket so that his two pursuers could not find him so easily, because he had noticed their manipulation of his ship and that was exactly what he had planned.
When Ghithra Dal got out of his ship, Amorrn gave a rutting cry after the manner of the Rancors and then hid himself in a pit that he had previously dug for himself. Immediately the beasts ran in herds and pounced on the shaper, who had rushed to answer the call. Ghithra Dal was able to kill eight of them with the weapons implanted in his shaper hands and elsewhere, but there were simply too many of the Rancors, and the ambitious Shaper was ultimately trampled under them and his journey was over.
Ch'Gang Hool, who had wisely remained on his own ship, saw this from a distance and considered what to do. Then he saw Amorrn's ship take off from the planet's surface again.
Author's note:
*Warmaster: The chief commander of the Yuuzhan Vong war fleet
"Oh my goodness!" he exclaimed. "This Amorrn is more cunning than I thought. But he won't fool and deceive me as quickly as he did the clumsy Ghithra Dal!"