The Tales of Alikka Nerdan-Chapter Two Deception for Honour

2002 short story by Zizziana Nightstar

Twenty-seven years before Episode IV – A New Hope

Coruscant - Jedi Temple

Alikka Nerdan could sense that something was going to happen.

The young Padawan bounded through the Jedi Temple, looking for her Master. Although she was more mature and closer to being at one with the Force than most Padawans, she wasn’t completely there yet.

She was just shy of thirteen now, and about average height for her age but a little slender than most. She wore the loose, plain tunic and pants of a Jedi, with knee high boots and a brown robe. Her hair had been put up into Padawan style. Most of it was tied into a loop at the back of her neck but a small part behind her right ear had been put into a Padawan braid.

The Force had a special purpose for her, and she had always sensed it. Had it not brought up a situation for Jander Zalar, one of the greatest swordsman to train her? The Council had needed convincing that someone a little reckless and young like Jander wouldn’t ruin a Jedi with such great potential. The Council was still convinced that allowing Obi-Wan Kenobi to train Anakin Skywalker was a mistake and they hadn’t been eager to repeat it.

But none of that mattered now.

Alikka stopped for a moment and reached out with the Force, searching for her Master. She felt his presence – in his room – almost at once and went dashing off in that direction.

Jander Zalar was in his early thirties. He had dark eyes, blonde hair, a certain sparkle in his smile and eyes that spoke of almost childish mischief at times. At his chin was the short beginnings of a beard. "I might as well start looking like a Master, now that I have a Padawan," he had told Alikka when she had first commented on it.

He was seated at a small table in his room, looking over a thick volume of Jedi lore that had been given to him by the Council to help him in training Alikka. He was stroking his short beard calmly and his door was open, as though waiting for Alikka.

   "You’re becoming a little vain over your beard, Master," Alikka remarked as she reached the doorway.

Jander looked up and laughed. "And who has been seen tugging on her Padawan braid?"

Alikka smiled back. "I see we have reached a deadlock," she said in a serious tone.

Jander nodded solemnly and then laughed himself. "The Council wants to see us," he told her when he had regained control of himself.

   "I know, I sensed it," Alikka admitted.

Jander grinned. He had a habit of doing that whenever it seemed like Alikka took a few more steps towards becoming closer and closer with the Force. He knew that she was quick, and she learned in leaps and bounds, gaining an understanding of the Force through a wisdom unusual for her age.

   "Shall we see what the Council has in store for us?" Jander asked, standing.

Alikka grinned and nodded.

This time, all of the members of the Jedi Council were there to speak with them and Alikka tried to not be nervous. Just two weeks ago, the permission for Jander to train Alikka was at the mercy of this very Council. There were twelve members ranging from human to humanoid to completely alien, and from short-term members to long-term members to completely permanent members. The combination didn’t seem unusual at all to Alikka, the differences created balance and the Force bound them all and that was what mattered to her.

With her hands tucked into the sleeves of her robe, Alikka stood at the centre of the Council Camber and bowed in unison with Jander.

   "Gone well Alikka’s training has," Yoda remarked. Of all of the Councillors, Yoda was the most respected of all. He seemed to only be a small alien who was mostly green skin and ears but the Jedi knew better. Yoda had trained members of their order for nearly eight hundred years, and he was perhaps the greatest ally of the Force that the Jedi Order had ever produced.

   "Alikka is a choice Padawan. She listens and absorbs her lessons well and is eager to learn," Jander said. "The only problem is in keeping up with her pace."

   "Yes," Yoda agreed. "A mission the Council has for you," he said.

   "What sort of mission?" Jander asked.

   "Alikka has proven herself to be very skilled in combat," Mace Windu remarked. He was a tall, dark human, exceptionally skilled in combat himself. Mace Windu leaned forward and his baldhead and serious expression made him seem all the more powerful. "Now it is time for her to show us how she uses other aspects of the Force."

Alikka felt excited by the opportunity at once. Her first mission with Jander, already!

   "The mission will send you to a planet called Dantamir. It’s capital city, Thurmond is run by a group of powerful merchant families. Two of these families have been engaged in a blood feud for the past two centuries. They have recently agreed to meet and see if the feud cannot be ended.

   "We have been warned that it is very likely that one or both of the families is planning on using this opportunity to attack the other. We are sending you to Thurmond to mediate the discussions and ensure that there is no bloodshed."

Alikka’s eyes went wide with surprise. This was a mission of the utmost importance! Especially for a Jedi new to being a master like Jander and a Jedi new to being a Padawan like her.

   "When do we leave?" Jander asked.

   "Tonight. You will arrive in the city is just three days, and the negotiations will begin the evening of your arrival. May the Force be with you."

Alikka and Jander both bowed as one as if they had been given an invisible signal. "May the Force be with you," they murmured.

   "I’ve never left Coruscant since I arrived and I was only five months old then."

Alikka told Jander as they left to pack what few things they would need.

   "No you haven’t," Jander realized. "This will be quite the experience, won’t it?"

   "I’m already excited," Alikka admitted. "I’m a little nervous too, Jander. It’s not like I’ve never left the temple before but I haven’t left it that often or gone that far."

A shadow of a memory flickered over Jander’s face. "Alikka, you’re about to learn what the galaxy is really like. The temple is far more kind and understanding then the outside. It’s far more innocent, far more protected from corruption. The rest of the galaxy is full of both good and evil, and you’re about to see far more evil that you’ve ever known."

   "How so?" Alikka asked. She felt a sick lurch of worry in her stomach. Just what was the galaxy like?

   "I’ve often thought that the reason the Jedi are separated from their families and not allowed to see them is because of the ambitions of those families. How could those who don’t understand the ways of the Force resist from calling on a Jedi family member to avenge every action seen as a wrong, to champion the family and use them to get ahead?"

   "You’re saying that our families would push us onto the path to the dark side," Alikka said with great surprise. "And they wouldn’t know what they were doing when they did so."

   "You catch on quickly, Alikka. I believe that’s the exact reason we are kept away from our family members who aren’t Jedi themselves."

   "So these families that are feuding, they are the ones that would do anything they could to have the chance to use a Jedi against their enemies?"

   "And that’s why we must be very careful," Jander told her. "They don’t have a Jedi at their beck and call, but they will have us arriving within easy grasp in just three days."

Alikka could never recall feeling so frightened or nervous before in her life. The Jedi on the Council had praised her on her ability to gain control over her emotions but now that she was leaving for a mission she felt as though she was starting all over again from the very beginning.

She looked around her small room. It wasn’t really that special as the Jedi lived in a modest manner. The walls were smooth and white, and the room was neat and in perfect order. There just enough room to hold her bed, a trunk for her belongings, a table, chair and a shelf above the table where she kept the one thing that made the room truly hers: a collection of minerals and rocks. In the centre of the collection that held close to two hundred specimens was a very special gem. It appeared to be a rough, unfinished purple rock but with some precise cutting and polishing, it would one day be the gem for the first lightsaber she would ever build.

Alikka opened up her trunk and packed some extra clothes and some other things she would need into a small travel bag. It was hard to believe that she was really going to leave it behind, even if it was only for a week and a half.

She tugged on her Padawan braid as she thought things over. Things were starting to happen so quickly and uncontrollably that she wondered if she would be able to make sense of it all.

   "You’re still feeling nervous," Jander remarked when they boarded the freighter that would take them to Dantamir. It was a rounded craft with just enough room to carry passengers but small enough that extended periods of time with too many people could create hostility – unless your passengers were Jedi.

   "We’re going to take off soon," the captain told them in a hissing voice. Captain Andervas was a reptilian Taliski. She was about two meters tall and had an almost humanoid body covered in dark blue and black scales. Her head was set on a long, slender neck and was rather egg-shaped. She had slits for a nose and ears; her eyes were black, luminous and almost innocent but the thought was taken back when she opened up a mouth with a snake’s tongue and filled with two rows of sharp, pointy teeth on the top and bottom. Her body was build so she could move on all fours or standing like a humanoid. Her primary weapon of defence and attack, the pride of her people was the meter and a half long whip-like tail with poison barbs at the end that would either send you comatose or kill you outright.

Captain Andervas didn’t frighten either one of the Jedi in the least, which was probably why she did most of her dealings with those of the Jedi Order. Alikka and Jander respected her teeth and tail rather than let themselves be intimidated by them. Jander had met other Taliski before and he not only addressed Captain Andervas by her Taliski title (Shamdriki Andervas) which pleased her immensely, but told Alikka that one could tell how a Taliski felt by how they moved their tail. When the curled it around and didn’t move they were prepared to strike; when it slowly rolled along the floor back and forth they were impatient; when they started to curl it up they were angry or threatened, when it slapped the floor rapidly they were excited; when they swept it up and it moved back and forth they were in a "normal" state of mind.

Jander showed Alikka how to strap in during take-off and started to go over the basics of mediating negotiations with her.    "Both sides speak a language you must understand. I don’t mean a spoken language that is heard by the ear, do you know why?"

   "Our senses depend on those and they can deceive is."

   "Exactly," Jander grinned. "The unspoken language is that of motive, and it is the one you must understand. These families we are going to be dealing with are merchants. They revolve around the idea that family honor is connected to how many credits are brought in. But these families in particular also believe the other side is wrong and at fault for the blood feud.

   "Which side is at fault?"

   "No one knows, and I suspect both. They’ve been fighting the feud for so long that in their bloodlust they’ve managed to forget what it’s about."

   "How could that happen?" Alikka asked.

   "These people are so caught up in their anger that they’ve becoming obsessed with the idea of destroying the other family. It no longer seems to matter that started the feud; one side kills a member from the other and the other side kills one of their members out of revenge. It’s gone back and forth like this for two centuries and it will continue unless they reach an agreement."

Alikka could imagine a group of people being that angry. "The Sith are a little like one of those families, aren’t they? They strike at us now because they want revenge because of the destruction of their order."

   "Yes they are," Jander agreed in a low voice that almost frightened Alikka. "The Sith have already claimed one of our order, and this time they won’t stop until one of the orders is destroyed."

Thurmond, like the rest of Dantamir seemed to be mostly water. The city of Thurmond was actually no more than a group of about thirty little islands that was connected by sets of bridges. The bridges were only for walking on, as the only transports used were the kind that could hover over both water and land.

Alikka looked at Thurmond through the good of her cloak and was amazed at the wonder of it. She had never seen anything on Coruscant like it before, nor did she think she would ever. The sand on this planet was pure white and seemed to shimmer in the light of the planet’s single star. The shores were covered with tiny pebbles in blues and greens of almost every shade imaginable. The homes and shops were all made of some sort of pearly stone the likes of which Alikka had never seen. Upon a closer inspection, she noticed streaks of blue and green in the stone that the light reflected when looked at from certain angles.

   "Have you ever seen anything like it before?" Alikka asked Jander.

   "No I haven’t," he seemed to be a little amazed himself. "I’ve seen many different planets and many unique places though. I don’t think that there are two that are exactly alike. Imagine what these people would think if they saw Coruscant."

   "They’d be as amazed as we are right now."

Andervas was accompanying them, as she insisted on taking them to the house of the Cardinlas Family to make sure they arrived there safely. She had grown rather attached to them, especially when (to her surprise) she had found out that Jander knew how to play Sabacc. Andervas was convinced that Jedi were the best Sabacc players because they could hide their emotions behind calm faces and saw playing against Jander as a great challenge. Alikka, who had been more than a little surprised herself had been trying to figure out where Jander had possibly learned how to play Sabacc and if the Council knew about it.

She had finally decided that it was one of those things that made Jander unique, but it was also one of his more reckless facets that the Council had been worried about when he had first wanted to train Alikka.

Alikka reached out with the force and took five of the little pebbles from the shore and tucked then into a pocket of her robe. Jander looked over at her and remembering her collection, gave her a small smile that reflected in his eyes.

Jander always understands, Alikka thought. I think that’s one of the reasons why the Council decided he was ready to take on a Padawan learner.

They crossed over one of the bridges; it was a good fifteen feet above the water and made of wood and rope. It rocked a little under them and Andervas’s tail started to curl up and she sputtered a little.

   "It’s all right, Shamdriki Andervas," Jander said, placing a hand on her shoulder and. "the bridge will hold."

Alikka sensed Jander using the Force and she watched as Andervas’s tail went into "normal." Jander had used a Jedi technique to calm the Taliski’s nerves.

As they came down a ladder at the end of the bridge, they arrived at the Cardinlas House. It was different from the other houses because it had pillars and carvings in the stone. The designs were all of little waves and other symbols that seemed to represent the ocean.

   "You must be the Jedi," a young woman came down a set of stairs leading to the sandy shore. "I trust your trip went well." She had waist-length black hair and dark eyes. Her floor-length dress was of white silk that draped around her elegantly and her matching slippers were small and delicate. Her gaze turned to Andervas and she took a step back and eyed the alien with blatant suspicion and disapproval.

   "This is where we part, Shamdriki Andervas," Jander said. "We will be returning to Coruscant with you in four days."

Andervas hissed under her breath and her tail started to curl. "I don’t trust these families, you may need to be guarded."

   "You forget, we have the Force and they don’t."

   "They have home territory."

   "Yes, but when it comes down to fight, a lightsaber can make a few changes to home territory."

Andervas gave a hissing laugh, understanding the joke. "I like you Jedi, and your Padawan as well. I will warn you, if something happens to one of you, there will be more than changes of home territory."

Jander nodded in understanding.

   "May the Force be with you, Shamdriki Andervas," Alikka called.

   "And with you too, young one," Andervas called.

   "A friend of yours?" the Cardinlas daughter called.

   "Yes she is," Jander replied.

The daughter frowned but then her regal face gave Jander a dazzling smile. "Will you come inside now? I’m sure you’d like to rest a little while before this evening."

   "We would appreciate that," Jander said and started to follow the daughter inside. Alikka was a few paces behind him. She reached out with the Force to read the young woman’s feelings and discovered the cunning of a predator.

The one thing the Cardinlas family seemed to agree on above all others was to get the Jedi on their side when they had the chance.

The daughter, whose name turned out to be Ladria, managed to not stray ten feet from Jander’s side the entire time. Besides Ladrina, there was her mother, Lady Ladrimana, her brother Karbinas, and six younger brothers and sisters. There had once been two other brothers along with Master Cardinlas but the three of them had been victims of the blood feud over a period of ten years.

   "Cousin Vandrin and the rest of my father’s family will be here shortly," Ladria told Jander.

There are more people in this family than there were Neimodians in the Trade Federation, Alikka thought. For some reason, the blood feud hasn’t managed to wipe them all out.

Karbinas was almost competing with his sister for Jander’s attention, for a turn to discredit the other family. Karbinas looked very much like his sister and more white silk clothing as well. The entire family seemed to wear white silk and have the sane dark features as Ladria and Karbinas.

Karbinas had an old burn scar on one side of his face, a result of a blaster shot from the other side.

The family members started to talk all at the same time and Alikka took a deep breath and wished she had had more time for meditation. She and Jander had been hustled inside and seated in a large dinning room full of carved furniture and souvenirs from ocean travels. The skeleton of a giant fish hung above the chair Karbinas was seated at, and the pearly stone walls seemed to absorb light and make it look like a phantom.

Every time Jander looked at Karbinas his gaze seemed to fall on the fish and he had to stifle a laugh.

An hour later the rest of the family arrived, as dark haired and white silk clad as the others with some pairs of blue eyes for variety.

And then came the Gandareen family. Lead by a heavy man with curly red hair and green eyes, the Gandareen family was full of redheaded, green eyes members who wore a variety of bright colours. Master Gandareen was loud and demanding, shouting at Karbrinas to "stop trying to get the Jedi on your side before we begin you little insolent pup" on threat of "smacking you so hard you’re ancestors will feel it."

By then, dinner was being served and Alikka found herself forced to eat about three types of fish and four types of sea plant, all which her stomach almost disagreed with, not being used to such foods.

The plates were barely cleared by a crew of servants before both families started to shout at Jander to make the other one apologize and pay retributions for damages."

   "Stop!" Jander thundered and the room fell silent. "First of all, I am Jedi Master Jander Zalar and this is my Padawan learner, Alikka Nerdan. We have been sent here to mediate, not to take sides. I will go over the rules for how these negotiations will be conducted tonight and we will start tomorrow. Anyone who breaks these rules will no longer be part of the negotiations."

Alikka was impressed, she had never seen Jander take charge or take control so simply, and his voice never rose above a normal tone when he listed the rules. That was until he mentioned that neither family was allowed to bring weapons into the negotiations.

   "Treachery!" Master Gandareen roared. "You can’t trust ‘em."

   "Over my dead body! I don’t trust that oaf!" Karbrinas glared at the man who had killed his father.

   "These are not Trade Federation negotiations," Jander remarked dryly. "Therefore, we have no need for poison gas and droid invasion armies and no need for blasters or other weapons as well."

   "What about you?" Master Gandareen glowered at Jander.

   "My Padawan and I both carry lightsabers and will continue to carry lightsabers seeing as we are mediators, not members of either family."

Both family leaders gave Jander looks that would have sent a Wookie cowering, but Jander’s face remained passive. "If you would prefer, you can choose to not be a part of the negotiations."

Both men roared like Wookie’s wronged. "We’re attending the negotiations," they insisted.

   "Then abide by the rules," Jander told them.

Alikka could never recall having ever been so tired in her entire life. True, a lot of practice sessions with her trainee lightsaber had left her feeling drained, but never to this extent.

As she walked through the hallway of the Cardinlas House, she noticed someone stopping Jander. She recognized it as Jander because he was the only other person who wasn’t wearing white silk or bright colours. The figure she recognized at once as Ladria Cardinlas and she promptly frowned. Ladria’s brother left his anger and thoughts on his face, but Ladria was dangerous underneath her beautiful face and she seemed to use that as a weapon.

Even now, she stood close to Jander, whispering softly to him.

   "Master!" Alikka called, thinking quickly. "Master, my lightsaber isn’t working!" she hurried down the hall.

Ladria whirled around and have her a deadly look that would have shocked anyone who wasn’t aware of her real intentions speechless. Ladria covered the look as quickly as she had let it appear though.

Jander looked grateful for the intervention. "What seems to be wrong with it?" he asked, holding out his hand.

Alikka took out her lightsaber and handed it to him. "It won’t turn on," she told him. "And I can’t figure out what’s wrong with it."

   "Let’s take a look at it then," Jander said. "I’m afraid you’ll have to excuse us," he said to Ladria.

She gave him a dazzling smile. "I’ll see you tomorrow," she said to Jander.

When she had turned her back to them, Jander made a face. "The family thinks they can use her to get me to side with them?" he asked. "I’d rather be thrown to the Hutts."

Alikka grinned at him, but then she rubbed her eyes. "I’m exhausted, Master," she admitted. "And I know we can’t trust these families. I’m also beginning to wonder if we did something to offend the Council."

Jander threw back his head and laughed. "If we had done something to offend the Council, they would have given us a far worse mission, Alikka." He then handed her back her lightsaber. "I trust your lightsaber is functioning as normal?"

Alikka turned it away from Jander and ignited it, the blue blade came alive with an electric crackle. "Why Master, you must have fixed it," she said with a small smile and then shut it down.

Jander grinned at her "Don’t ever loose your sense of humor Alikka; you’d be surprised how it will save you," he told her.

The next morning started the negotiations, or as Alikka was beginning to think of them, "the accusations."

Each family seemed to have brought a list of what crimes the other one had committed against them and Alikka started to wonder why both families weren’t arrested, convicted and locked up for good.

The charges went from general sabotage, assault, murder and was topped off with a recent kidnapping of nineteen-year-old Darina Cardinlas, who was sitting across the table from her kidnapper, Namivan Gandareen.

Hours later, they adjourned for a few hours for the sanity of the Jedi, and Alikka escaped outside and promptly made her way towards the ocean. She found a rock outcropping and tucked herself into it, taking the chance to stare out at the blue ocean.

   "I don’t see anyone, do you?" someone said softly. Alikka could tell that it was a feminine voice.

   "No, I don’t think I was followed."

Definitely a male voice.

   "What are we going to do if the negotiations don’t work?" Whoever she was, she sounded desperate.

   "They’ve spent centuries perfecting how they hate each other," he argued. "Besides, The Jedi are trying to do what they can."

    "I’m about to give up!"

   "Don’t do that! It’s only the first day!"

   "Do you really think the Jedi can do anything?"

   "They got my father and your brother to shut up."

Alikka paused; she suddenly knew who these people were. They were Darina Cardinlas and Namivan Gandareen!

Hate can only last so long, Alikka thought. At least this sort of senseless hate. She couldn’t help but to feel that the key to the negotiations would be Darina and Namivan.

   "I think you’re right," Jander told her. "If we’ve found a member of each family that doesn’t want to strangle the other one, we’ve got a good place to start. There’s just one problem.

   "What?"

   "Neither one of them is a family leader."

   "How important is that?"

   "These people won’t do anything without the permission of their family leader. To them, the family leader is the law and all honour revolves around not breaking that law."

   "So Darina and Namivan…"

   "Karbrinas would sooner slit Darina’s throat than let her care for Namivan and Master Gandareen would throttle his son than let him care for Darina. So they don’t let their families know what they feel. Deception for honour, you see."

The second and third days came and went, and Alikka didn’t think they had gotten any further. The Cardinlases tried to throw Ladrina at Jander and the Gandareens tried to coax him to their side by claiming innocence. Alikka was beginning to wonder how much longer they would keep it up for.

But the fourth day was about to end with nothing happening. Jander kept directing both families to compromise but they seemed to prefer bashing each other.

A servant brought in water for all in the middle of a heated argument between the family leaders. Jander thanked her, picked up his glass, took a long sip, swallowed, and then paused.

   "Master?" Alikka whispered.

Jander went pale, dropped the glass and instantly turned pale.

   "Master!" Alikka jumped to her feet.

   "Poison!" he croaked, and his muscles twitched. He strained as he tapped into the Force and started to negate the poison.    "It’s strong," he murmured.

The families turned on each other. "Treachery!" Master Gandareen roared.

   "Poisoning a Jedi Master! You’ll pay!" Karbrinas exclaimed.

A servant rushed in and went to Jander. "Get him out of here, he can save himself but he needs quiet," Alikka told her, and looked over at Jander. She couldn’t loose him, not now...

   "I’ll be fine," he assured her as he was taken from the room. The door boomed shut behind him.

Both families turned to Alikka. "It’s over," Master Gandareen said. "There won’t be any negotiations now."

   "Sit down," Alikka told him in a low, controlled voice. "You people should be ashamed of yourselves! One of you poisoned my Master and I’m not going to take that lightly. Your blood feud has reached out and claimed a victim not related to you, it’s time for it to end!"

   "I don’t have to listen to you!" Ladria rushed to the door, and found she couldn’t open it."

   "The Force is my all," Alikka remarked. "And a very powerful ally at that."

   "No Jedi tricks!" Ladria sputtered.

   "Sit down, Ladria."

   "You can lock us in here!" Master Gandareen drew a small blaster out of his sleeve and aimed for the door. Alikka reached out with the Force and called it to her hand before he could so much as blink."

   "That’s not very diplomatic, Master Gandareen," Alikka remarked. "A blaster is also a very crude weapon and the Jedi can counter it with a lightsaber. The only catch is that a reflected blaster bolt must go somewhere…"

Master Gandareen paled and sat down hard.

   "Now, are there any gaffi sticks, blasters or perhaps a thermal detonator I should be aware of?"

No answer.

Alikka closed her eyes and reached out with her mind. One by one, she named every person who was carrying a hidden weapon and how many they had. Within two minutes she had ten blasters total.

   "Now that you’ve broken the rules, I’m in charge of the negotiations, and there will be no more slander. If the cause of this feud really meant something, you would be able to tell me what it is. Instead, you use it as an excuse to kill each other."

No one spoke and Alikka knew she commanded the situation. "Now, you are going to create a binding that will end the bloodshed."

   "How do you propose to make us do that?" Master Gandareen asked, glowering at her.

Alikka paused and desperately searched her mind for a solution. These people were merchants, and they spoke the language of Republic credits. Now if she could just use that against them…

   "You’re going to combine your businesses together," she announced. "Through a pact you can not break."

   "What sort of pact?" Karbrinas asked.

   "A marriage between Darnia Cardinlas and Namivan Gandareen," Alikka announced. "The feud will end with this, neither side will be held at fault and your houses will combine and be one. With the Cardinlas shipping business and the Gandareen mineral business, there will be guaranteed business for the Cardinlas family and lower shipping rates for the Gandareen family, either way, both families win."

Alikka waited for the explosion, but it didn’t come.

   "How did you know to do that?" Jander asked when they were back on Andervas’s ship. They both leaned back in comfortable seats around a table large enough to eat at.

   "Both those families speak in Republic credits, so that’s what I gave them. I also kept them from having to admit they were wrong and at fault. Each member will believe what they want, but Darina and Namivan will keep the peace."

   "You learn well," Jander grinned.

   "Maybe so, but it will be good to go back home."

   "Yes it will," Jander agreed.

Andervas came in then, her tail in normal position. "Ready for a game of Sabacc?" she asked.

Jander grinned again and stroked his beard. "That I am," he said. But then he paused and turned to Alikka. "Come on Alikka, if I can teach you to end a blood feud I think teaching you Sabacc will be much easier."

Alikka smiled back at him. "What will the Council think about that?"

   "Whatever they want," Jander replied.

   "All right," Alikka said, sitting up. "Where do I start?"