Clone Wars Gambit: Siege Part 6

Obi-Wan sprawled in a sleeping heap next to him, his breathing soft and regular. No cause for concern there, even though dried blood discolored his beard and his face was marred by cuts, sc.r.a.pes, and bruises. Slivers of shadow striped him where light from the new day slid between the warped shutters covering the storeroom's single small window.

The new day. Going by Lanteeban time, that meant they'd slept without stirring for nearly twenty local hours. The good news was he definitely felt refreshed. The bad news-there always had to he bad news-was that his empty belly was rumbling like a rockslide. With luck there'd be breakfast.

But we can V stay here after that. We have to get back in the fight. So the question is, what's next?

Obi-Wan opened his eyes. "Well? How are your bruised bruises this morning?"

"Surly, " Anakin said. "Yours?"

"I'll live. "

And so would he, but not comfortably. Everything hurt. And in the unfortunate absence of pain meds... "Hey. Don't suppose you could..."

"Sorry, " said Obi-Wan, sounding genuinely regretful. "Miraculous overnight healing is likely to raise eyebrows. " Wincing, he threw back his blanket and rolled untidily to his feet. "Never mind. We'll manage. Now, what are your impressions of this village?"

Anakin watched Obi-Wan tug the window's shutter aside and stare through the scratched and warped transparisteel at the dwellings beyond. They were even more dilapidated than Gardulla the Hutt's Mos Espa slave quarter, where he and his mother had lived before being sold to Watto. Small, featureless boxes with flat roofs and shuttered windows. No gra.s.s to soften the hard ground, or flowers to give even the illusion of cheer. What a sad place this was. But despite its sunken, sunbaked sorrow- "I think we're fine, " he said. "At least for the moment. Obi-Wan, we have to get a message to the Temple. "

"You're reading my mind, " said Obi-Wan nodding. "With the mine active and supplying damot.i.te, the village must possess some kind of comm center. The question is..."

"Will they let us use it?" He shrugged. "Probably not. So I say we don't even bother asking. We can just..."

Prompted by m.u.f.fled footsteps outside the storeroom door, Obi-Wan turned. "It appears our hostess is up and about. I suggest we go and make friends. We'll need her support while we're here. "

"And if we don't get it?" said Anakin, slowly getting lip off his mattress. His sc.r.a.pes and bruises really were surly. "What then? You try a little gentle persuasion?"

"I'm not certain that would work, " Obi-Wan said at last. "This Teeba has a very definite personality. If she's unprepared to offer further hospitality, we'll have to see if someone else will take us in. And if that doesn't work, then we'll simply have to find another settlement where the natives are friendlier. "

27."Except we're in the middle of nowhere already and I can't sense another village anywhere close by. Can you?"

Obi-Wan grimaced. "Right now I can't sense much beyond the need for a 'fresher. "

Good point. His own unhappy body was making urgent demands, too. With elaborate courtesy he opened the storeroom door and stood back. "After you, Cousin Yavid. "

They found Teeba Jaklin in her small kitchen, slicing a rough loaf of mixed-grain bread. Putting the knife down, she considered them with her wary, pale blue gaze. "So. There you are. I was beginning to wonder if you'd died. "

Her demeanor was odd. Not hostile, but not exactly friendly, either. More than anything, Anakin sensed a resigned resentment in the woman. As though their arrival on her doorstep was just one more burden in a long and disappointing lifetime of burdens.

Undaunted, Obi-Wan pressed his hand to his heart and offered her his most polite bow. "We certainly slept like the dead, Teeba.

Again, you have our most humble thanks. I think my cousin and I were ready to lie down in the road. "

From the look on her face the Teeba wasn't sure whether to believe him. She sniffed. "I think you were too, Teeb. But likely you'd have been safe enough. There's no convoy due for a few days yet. Still... " She wrapped the remaining uncut bread in a cloth and dropped it into a bin on the bench. "Better safe than sorry. "

"Indeed, " said Obi-Wan. "Ah-Teeba..."

She pointed through the kitchen's other door. "The 'fresher's down the corridor there. Can't offer you the tub today. No body bathing till tomorrow. "

Anakin swallowed a groan. His skin was tacky with dried sweat and blood and grime. We might as well be back on Tatooine. "Your water's rationed?"

"That's right, " she said, indifferent to his dismay. "First, second, and third priority's the mine. Then beasts and crops and drinking.

Wis.h.i.+ng bodies and clothes comes a long way last. "

"That's quite all right, Teeba Jaklin, " Obi-Wan said quickly. "You've given us shelter and sustenance. We don't expect you to launder us as well. "

Teeba Jaklin stared at Obi-Wan, steadfastly refusing to be softened by his charm. "You get a splash of wet in the bottom of the 'fresher basin for the worst of the stink. No more than a splash, mind. I'll know otherwise. There's a gauge. "

"A splash, " said Obi-Wan. "Yes, of course. "

She frowned at his cuts and bruises. "Not brawling each other, were you? We don't hold with brawling here. "

"No, Teeba, " said Obi-Wan. "As we said last night, there was an accident. We're not trouble, my word on it. "

"In that case there's a pot of salve in the cupboard over the basin. Use what you need of it. I make it myself. "

Obi-Wan bowed again. "That's very generous. Thank you. Markl-you go first. But don't dawdle. "

"I won't, Yavid, " Anakin murmured, the obedient younger cousin, and left Obi-Wan to his closer reading of the Teeba and their current predicament.

Like the dingy, cramped kitchen, the cottage's refresher was run-down and hardly big enough to turn around in. As he washed his flesh-and-bone hand and his face at the tiny basin, using no more than the requisite miserly splash, he stared at his wobbly reflection in the cracked mirror. Could be worse. A thin cut along his hairline. Bruising along his left cheekbone and under his eye. A sc.r.a.pe on his chin. Tugging his s.h.i.+rt open, he counted more bruises. His right collarbone ached viciously, as did two of his ribs and both knees.

Perhaps it was for the best that the tub was denied him. He had the feeling he was a patchwork of purple and green bruises and red blaster blisters, which would make for a depressing sight.

Still. If looking awful makes us seem less threatening... more vulnerable... that's all to the good.

He daubed himself liberally with Teeba Jaklin's stinking, sticky green salve. It stung like fire. Then he returned to the kitchen. Upon his arrival Obi-Wan withdrew, leaving him alone with their hostess.

28.Obi-Wan's right. Her mind's about as pliable as durasteel. Whatever we need from her we'll have to get with old-fas.h.i.+oned cajolery.

And hadn't his mother always told him he could coax the stars down from the sky if he put himself to the trouble? Didn't Padme say the same, not always so admiringly?

He offered the plain, tough woman his most winsome, winning smile. "Thank you, Teeba Jaklin. It's very good of you to help us like this. If we hadn't come across your village when we did, or if you'd turned us away as vagabonds, I'm not sure how we would've survived. "

With an unimpressed glance the Teeba fired up her kitchen's clunky old stove. "We keep ourselves to ourselves in Torbel, young Teeb, but that don't make us cruel. I took you in for it was the right thing to do. "

"And the right thing for us to do is be grateful for it, " he replied, meaning it. "Kindness isn't found everywhere, Teeba Jaklin. "

She hesitated, then shook her head. "No. It's not. "

"Have you lived here all your life?"

"No, " she said, fiddling with the stove's k.n.o.bs. "Twenty- one seasons. Came here with my man. He died a miner. I stayed. Took to teaching. "

Behind her laconic reply Anakin sensed an aching well of memory-and was sharply reminded of Bant'ena Fhernan. This was turning into a mission overrun by sad women.

Or maybe it's just that n.o.body anywhere can truly call themselves happy.

"Twenty-one seasons in the same place, " he said, to fill the silence. "Hard to imagine. It's almost longer than I've been alive. "

She sniffed again. "Practically a boy, you are. "

He watched her place two slices of bread on the compact cooktop grill. Beneath her reserve and her sorrow she remained wary, watching him from the corner of her eye as she toasted the bread.

This isn't going to work if we can't get her to trust us.

"Can I do something to help, Teeba?"

"Eggs in the cupboard there, " she said over her shoulder. "Know how to whip eggs, do you?"

The question woke memories. Sharing kitchen time and laughter and dreams with his mother: fetching pots, measuring agra-flour, slicing dried ott.i.th when he was old enough for her to trust with a knife. Family. Real family, not the oddly separate togetherness of the Temple.

"Yes, Teeba. How many?"

"All you find in the bowl. Fork's in the drawer. Cracked sh.e.l.ls go in the 'cycler. "

After emptying the raw eggs into the bowl and disposing of the sh.e.l.ls, he started beating the pink yolks and whites together. "Teeba, is this right?"

Another disparaging sniff. "Thought you said you knew whipping eggs. " But she looked into the bowl and gave him a small, approving nod. "Right enough. "

The toasting bread smelled good. His stomach rumbled again, loudly. "Sorry, " he said, seeing the woman's eyebrows lift. "Good appet.i.te. "

"That's enough with the eggs, " she said, exchanging toasted bread for fresh. "You can set them aside and put plates on the table. Four.

There's someone coming. "

29.Laying places at the table, Anakin looked around the kitchen. The only splash of color was a handful of flowers on the windowsill.

Otherwise he got no sense of the woman who lived here. As a rule he never had any trouble reading people, but this Teeba Jaklin?

Wary and sad. That was it.

And that's not very much when we're risking our lives.

As he finished setting knives and forks to go with the plates on the battered old table, Obi-Wan returned with his hair slicked wet and no dried blood in his beard. A tiny nod as their eyes met, and a casual (lick of his fingers: Obi-Wan code for Nothing untoward in the rest of the house. He'd done his own dawdling to make sure of their safety. n.o.body did "cautious" like Master Ken.o.bi.

Teeba Jaklin turned off the grill and fired up the stove's two small hotplates. "You. Teeb Yavid, " she said briskly. "Pull the b.u.t.ter and nutpaste from the cool box and put the crisped bread on the table. "

"Of course, " said Obi-Wan. "Anything else?"

Their hostess wore the same brown tunic, trousers, and boots, but her gray hair was caught in a blue scarf this morning. Jaklin tucked a loosened wisp back into confinement and shook her head. "No. Not a man born can make tea or cook eggs in any proper fas.h.i.+on. "

Swallowing a smile, Obi-Wan did as he was told. "There's an extra place set, Teeba. "

"Good to know you're not blind, " she said, setting a kettle of water to boil. "Two of us oversee Torbel village. Me and Teeb Rikkard, the head miner. He's a need to a.s.say you, Teebs. It's true you've not murdered me under my own roof but these are sideways-looking times. You'll not complain. "

Anakin exchanged another look with Obi-Wan. No, I'm pretty sure we won't. "How many live here in Torbel, Teeba Jaklin?"

She had a pan on the stove now, with oil poured into it and starting to spit. Holding the bowl of frothy pinkish eggs ready to pour, Teeba Jaklin flicked him a glance. "Four hundred and thirty-seven. There was twice that and more in the old damot.i.te days. With production stepped up again we might see us grow a bit. New times are here on Lanteeb. But what they've brung us... " She shrugged, then poured the eggs into the hot pan. "We'll see. "

What they've brung you, Teeba, is more misery. In fact, if he and Obi-Wan were successful here, they'd be leaving this woman to a cruel and uncertain future. But he couldn't tell her that. Indeed, after the disaster that was Bant'ena he wasn't even tempted. Obi-Wan was right. Getting caught up in these transitory people's lives was a mistake.

We're Jedi. We need to take a longer view. Focus on the big picture and not get lost in the small details.

He felt a stir in the Force and a moment later heard banging on the cottage's front door. Danger? No. They were still safe.

"That'll be Rikkard, " said Teeba Jaklin. "You'll mind your manners, Teebs. He's a good man and a brave one and his word in Torbel is weighty. " She slid the eggs off the stove and left the kitchen.

Anakin rolled his eyes. "She makes Master Yoda look cuddly, but I don't sense she's a threat, " he murmured. "I just wish I could tell how far she'll go to help us. Can you?"

"No, " said Obi-Wan. "All I can say for certain is that events are in flux. Perhaps that's why..."

Teeba Jaklin returned with a lanky man in tow. Dressed like their hostess, his close-cropped head was roped and crisscrossed with livid scars. His right eye drooped half closed, and more scar tissue marred his hookish nose.

"This is Teeb Rikkard, " she announced. "Rikkard, here's these men I spoke of. The heard is Teeb Yavid, the youth is Teeb Markl.

Cousins from distant Voteb. "

Teeb Rikkard looked to be somewhere in his middle years. "A groundcar accident brings you here, says Jaklin, " he remarked. He had a deep voice, almost lazy, but his brown eyes were sharp. "For sure, Teebs, you look to be sore and sorry. We've no fancy doctoring in Torbel. Are you fetching to die?"

"Not if we can help it, Teeb Rikkard, " said Obi-Wan, smiling, easing his innate aura of authority so that this man, a village leader, would not feel threatened. "We've already put you to trouble enough. Haven't we, Markl?"

Anakin bobbed his head. Humble, humble, keep it humble. "Yes, we have, Yavid. We're very lucky. "

"You can talk sitting just like standing, " said Teeba Jaklin. " There's tea to brew, then I'll dish the eggs. "

30.At the first mouthful of fried egg Anakin nearly gagged, then flinched as Obi-Wan kicked his s.h.i.+n. Courageously taking his second swallow, he thought longingly of the last meal he'd sat down to outside a Temple dining hall. Not only had Padme been there, his best beloved, but Bail Organa could actually cook.

Don't be sick. They won't let you use the comm if you vomit.

"Your speech has lost the touch of Lanteeb, " said Teeb Rikkard, spooning down the dreadful eggs as though this were a Senate banquet. "And Teeban men aren't for beards. "

If Obi-Wan was struggling with their breakfast, it didn't show. Swallowing another mouthful, he nodded. "We've been away these three years gone, Teeb. Away to Alderaan for to make our fortune. "

And just like that, he had a proper Lanteeban cadence. Anakin washed down his envy with a scouring mouthful of hot tea. Sometimes he thought his former Master was part Clawdite, a changeling who could become anything or anyone just by wis.h.i.+ng.

"Alderaan, " said Teeb Rikkard, his ropy scars s.h.i.+ning in the light through the window. "They let aliens roam free there, I've heard tell. All manner of creatures, pretending to be proper men. "

Anakin gave up on the eggs and rook a slice of dry toast instead. Left it dry, deciding not to risk the b.u.t.ter or nutpaste. "We kept ourselves to ourselves, Teeb. "

Teeba Jaklin sat back in her chair, brooding over her mug of tea. "Doing what? I've never met a Lanteeb youth wanted to rub clean skin with slimy alien hide. "

He felt his blood leap. Don't. They've lived their whole lives here. This is all they know. "Lumber. It was good money. We lost our farm to the Plough Comet drought. "

"Aaaah, " said Rikkard, and his careful gaze warmed a little with sympathy. "The Plough Comet brought misery hanging on its tail, for sure. A trickle of bad for Lanteeb turned to gus.h.i.+ng, thanks to the Plough. "

"That's true, " said Obi-Wan, his voice artfully close to breaking. "It dried up Voteb and all its farms like salt. So you see, Teeba Jaklin, for me and Markl it was Alderaan or starve. And we had no want to starve. " Lightly, he punched a list to his chest. "Don't give us a harsh eye. We're home again now, which is where we belong. "

As Jaklin closed her lips tight, Rikkard scratched the scar on his nose. "Home after three years. You'll see a change. "