“What about our supplies?” Anakin inquired aloud.
“Your property will not be touched.” Bayaar was not insulted by the query. After all, these were not only outsiders, they were offworlders. It was to be expected they would be unfamiliar with Borokii ways. Trying to decide whether Luminara or Obi-Wan was the leader of the visitors, he found himself unable to do so, and settled for addressing them simultaneously.
Having been informed of the nature of their purpose in seeking out the overclan, he tried to keep a neutral tone in his voice, even though personally he was not sanguine about the strangers’ aspirations.
“I will convey your request to the Council of Elders. Meanwhile, you will be made comfortable, and be given food and drink.”
“Do you think they’ll give us an audience, your council?” Luminara was quite taken by this dignified warrior-sentinel, who thus far had demonstrated both courtesy and curiosity. Not that he could by any means be considered an ally, but he at least struck her as sympathetic.
“It’s not for me to say. I am only a sentinel.” Placing hands over eyes and chest, he departed, leaving the visitors to wait for a formal response. Hopefully, she mused, it would not be long in coming. Councils of every type and species had a distressing tendency to dawdle until a consensus could be reached. With luck the Borokii, a people used to being always on the move, would be more responsive.
Everything they experienced during the next several hours spoke to the strength of the overclan. The food was better, the drinks richer, the trimmings and trappings of the visitors’ house in every way more lavish than anything they had previously encountered on Ansion. Truth be told, they enjoyed themselves. After their dubious encounters with the Yiwa and the Qulun, it was a relief to be able to relax in pleasant surroundings reasonably confident they would not be set upon at any moment by potential assailants. Both Kyakhta and Bulgan were convinced of that much, though Tooqui remained as chary as always. As to the possible response they would receive from the Borokii Council of Elders, the two guides could offer no opinion.
Bayaar was back well before evening. If the swiftness of his return was encouraging, his word s were not. At best, they were ambiguous.
“The council will greet you,” the sentinel informed them.
Barriss’ face broke out into a wide smile. “We’re all set, then.”
As she spoke, Bayaar turned his attention to her. “I am not entirely certain what you mean by that, but I think you are confident too soon. When I say that the council will greet you, that is all they will do. Not to do so would be ill mannered.”
Obi-Wan worked to interpret their host’s meaning, as opposed to his words. “Are you saying the will receive us, but not listen to our proposal?”
Bayaar nodded. “In order for that to happen, you must present the council with an appropriate conventional offering of their choosing.”
“Oh, well then.” Obi-Wan relaxed slightly. “What would satisfy the council? We have access to some funds that can be used for trade. If something more substantial is required…” he left the question open.
“Actually, the council requests that you present them with something smaller.” Bayaar let his gaze travel over the group. Having encountered only a few human traders before, he was fascinated by their tiny, squinched-up eyes and individual follicular variations. “They wish one of you to hand them a handful of wool taken from the ruff of a mature white male surepp.”
“That’s all?” Anakin blurted. Obi-Wan threw his Padawan a warning glance, but a very mild one. He was himself surprised by the seemingly unpretentious nature of the request.
Which was why he was immediately wary.
“Where can we purchase some of this wool?”
“You cannot buy it.” Bayaar was uncomfortable in the position of diplomatic go-between. He would much rather have been out on the prairie, patrolling a picket line, weapon in hand. “One of you must take it, by hand, in the traditional manner and without the use of any marvelous offworld devices or other forms of assistance such as a suubatar mount, from the back of a white surepp.”
Tooqui made a face. “Don’t like this idea. Too many many surepp gots too many many big feet.”
Leaning over, Barriss whispered to her fellow Padawan. “I don’t like this either, Anakin. Just a handful of wool? It seems too easy. The surepp are domesticated herd animals, therefore they can’t be too hard to work with. How hard can it be to catch one and snip off a handful of ruff?”
He nodded uncertainly. “I know. Maybe that is all there is to it. Just because it’s a custom doesn’t mean it has to be difficult, or dangerous.”
She indicated their Masters, who were conferring between themselves. “I have a feeling we’ll know soon enough.”
Standing away from Luminara, Obi-Wan again addressed their host. “We’ll be happy to comply with the council’s request.” He hesitated. “I take it that wool from one of the surepp in the Borokii herd will suffice, and that we don’t have to go looking for a wild one?”
“That is correct. It is allowed to cut from the ruff of a herd animal.”
“Then we’re wasting time. There’s still ample daylight outside. If you’d be so kind as to escort us?”
Bayaar sighed. Plainly, these strangers had no idea what they were being asked to do. Haja, they would find out soon enough.
“Come with me.”
The stroll through the nomad town was interesting, and Bayaar was happy to point out highlights and explain the sights. Before too long they found themselves on the outskirts of the bustling community, gazing across strands of recently unspoiled, electrically charged super-conducting lines at thousands and thousands of Borokii surepp. The herd was an impressive sight, mewling and moaning as it nibbled at the high grass. Grazing close together guaranteed safety, if not much room for individuals to move about. Catching a male and cutting off a handful of its neck ruff might require a healthy sprint on the part of the would-be wool trimmer, but it wasn’t as if a lengthy dash across the plains was going to be necessary. There was only one problem. Bayaar had told them that the council demanded a handful of white wool.
The fur of every one of the dozens, of the hundreds, of the surepp within view was either blue or green. There was not a white animal in sight. Not even one that was a pale green. Luminara was quick to point this seeming discrepancy out to their host.
Bayaar looked embarrassed. “I don’t make the laws. I am only serving as a vehicle for the council’s directives.”
“How can we cut white wool from an animal that doesn’t exist?” Obi-Wan indicated the milling herd.
“It does,” Bayaar told them. “The albino surepp is very real, and there are some in the Borokii herd.”
Luminara's gaze narrowed as she studied their discomfited host. “There are thousands of animals foraging out there. How many is ‘some’?”
Bayaar turned away, visibly uncomfortable. “Two.”
Letting out a long sigh, Barriss found herself nodding knowingly. “I knew it sounded too easy.”
“Without transport, I don’t see how we’re expected to do this.” Anakin was visibly upset. The Borokii council had set the visitors a seemingly impossible task. Addressing himself to Bayaar, he asked dispiritedly, “What do the Borokii do with their herds at night?” He indicated the electrically charged conductors that kept the herd separated from the town. “The other Alwari we’ve seen round their animals up and keep them in temporary corrals, the better to watch over them and protect them from nocturnal predators.” Both Obi-Wan and Luminara eyed him favorably, and he tried not to show how pleased he was at their approval.
“The Borokii do the same,” Bayaar acknowledged, “though on a much larger scale than other Alwari.” He indicated the softly humming barrier. “This keeps the surepp contented and together after dark, while outriders like myself keep shanhs and others away from the corral. The surepp cannot leap over the barrier, but a hungry shanh could.”
“You said ‘to
gether’.” Luminara's mind was working. “How close together?”
“Very close.” Holding hands out in from of him, Bayaar brought the slender palms almost to the point of touching. “This close. Crowded up against one another, the surepp feel safe and secure. They sleep standing up.”
Barriss studied the herd. “Packed that closely together, they’d have to.”
Luminara nodded thoughtfully. “With the animals concentrated in one place, it would be much easier to find the white ones than during the day, when the herd is spread out over hills and vales like they are now.” She eyed the polite sentinel unblinkingly. “How would the surepp be likely to react to someone moving among them?”
He had to smile. “I see what you’re thinking. It is a dangerous notion. It is possible to walk among sleepy surepp without panicking them, but one has to be very careful. They are nervous creatures, easily agitated. If they feel disturbed, or threatened, or even nothing more than uneasy, their mood and manner can change abruptly. Anyone trying to walk between individuals could find himself gored by an abruptly irritated male, or crushed between many suddenly shifting bodies.”
After a quick glance at his colleague, Obi-Wan spoke up once more. “Is there anything else you can tell us that would help us to single out these rare white surepp? Do they tend to congregate in any single place, any one part of the herd?”
“Actually, they do,” Bayaar admitted. “Unfortunately, because they stand out so prominently, they naturally tend to seek the safest place—which is in the exact middle of the herd.”
Surveying the thousands of large, healthy creatures that covered the nearby grassland all the way to the horizon and beyond, Barriss tried to imagine worming her way through a densely packed mass of them while striving constantly not to annoy or alarm a single one. In contrast to Obi-Wan’s earlier optimism, she found herself tending to agree with Anakin. When confronted with the reality of the immense, easily agitated herd, the task that had seemed so simple at first was looking more and more impossible. Given a landspeeder, now, or a confident suubatar, or any other means of transportation capable of rising above the horned heads of the massed beasts, the task set before them would be worth contemplating. But the Council of Elders’ instructions, as relayed to them by the sympathetic Bayaar, were all too straightforward: no offworld technology could be employed in the carrying out of the undertaking, and no mounts could be ridden into the herd. No suubatars, not even a smaller sadain.
It didn’t matter. They didn’t have a landspeeder anyway. A mastery of the Force would enable one to rise momentarily above a small part of the herd, but it would not permit long-term personal levitation. Something else would have to be tried. She tried to imagine stepping through the electrified barrier and walking all the way to the center of the herd, past thousands of closely packed animals, any one of which could turn on the intruder at any moment. A single snort of alarm might be enough to set them off. Once deep within the herd, there would be no chance of escaping from a stampede. An intruder would go down beneath thousand of hooves and a million tons of surepp mass.
She wasn’t the only one who was stumped for a solution to the problem. “We’ll come back here at evening time, just before sunset,” Obi-Wan informed their host. “At least,” he murmured more softly, “whatever we eventually try and whoever tries it will have a better chance of locating one of the albino animals when the members of the herd have clustered together for the night.”
“And since we’re not allowed to use advance technology, we’ll need a Borokii knife.” Luminara spoke absently, as if her thoughts were focused elsewhere. “To cut the wool.”
Back in the visitors’ house, there was much discussion of possible ways to get around the council’s stipulation. Getting around it seemed the most practical approach, since fulfilling the request as put forward seemed, on the face of it, unachievable. Numerous suggestions were proposed, debated, and just as rapidly discarded. The approach of evening found them no nearer a clear-cut solution than when they had begun talking.
With Bayaar once more guiding them, they returned to the outskirts of the provisional corral. Much to his distress, the sentinel had been appointed to take charge of and see to the needs of the visitors. No diplomat, he was uncomfortable with the assignment, but resigned himself to carrying it out to the best of his ability.
A considerable source of his unease arose from the stipulation the council had placed on the strangers. He found that he rather liked the squinty-eyed offworlders. It would make him unhappy to see any of them injured, or worse, trampled to death. He could not see how they were going to fulfill the council’s requirement without that coming to pass. Perhaps, he thought, they would simply accede to the hopelessness of the situation, have a pleasant but inconsequential meeting with the elders, and continue on their way.
He could not read their alien expressions, but those of their guides did not lead him to believe that the offworlders possessed some special magic that was going to enable them to fulfill the council’s demand.
Standing close to the fence line, the visitors studied the assembled surepp attentively. Herded together for the night, the burly, powerful animals were already beginning to settle down. Settling down, however, did not mean they were unaware of or indifferent to their surroundings. A single bellow by one would be enough to alert every fellow surepp to any perceived danger.
Having learned of the demand that had been placed on the visitors, a small crowd had gathered, more hopeful of seeing a trampling than anything else. Though it was beneath a warrior of Bayaar's stature, others of his clan had no hesitation about placing bets on the chances of the strangers’ success. The only problem was that those wagering against the visitors had to give long odds in order to get any action at all.
He frowned. What was the taller female doing? Removing her outer clothes struck him as a most peculiar approach to entering the densely packed herd. If he was the one about to attempt the suicidal endeavor, he would want to have on as many layers of clothing as possible, to protect himself from thrusting horns, pounding feet, and the hard ground itself.
When the female finally finished, she was wearing only her strange, alien garments. In the light of the setting sun, he found them most peculiar. Still, they no doubt suited such an oddly formed biped. Concern for his guests was almost outweighed by his curiosity to see what they were going to do next.
Obi-Wan stood looking into his colleague’s eyes while arguing quietly with her. “I don’t think this is a very good idea, Luminara.”
“Neither do I, Master,” Barriss added apprehensively.
Luminara nodded, glanced across at the last member of their little group. “And what about you, Anakin? You haven’t said anything since I ventured the idea.”
Asked for his opinion, the tall Padawan didn’t hesitate. “I couldn’t do it, that’s for sure. It sounds crazy.”
Luminara smiled. “But you know that I’m not crazy, don’t you, Anakin?”
He nodded. “When I was a child, I did plenty of things that were called crazy. Everybody thought I was crazy to take part in professional Podracing. But I did, and I’m still alive.” He stood a little taller. “The Force was with me.”
“Luck was with you,” Barriss murmured tartly, but so low that no one else could hear.
“So you think I should go ahead with this?” Luminara asked him.
Anakin hesitated. “It’s not for me to say. If Obi-Wan agrees…” his voice trailed off without finishing.
She turned her attention back to the other Jedi. “Obi-Wan has already said he doesn’t think it’s a good idea. Does Obi-Wan have a better idea?”
The Jedi hesitated for the briefest of instants, then gave a slight shrug. “I tend to side with Barriss in this—but no, I don’t have a better idea.”
“We need that piece of wool if we’re going to get the Borokii to listen to us.”
“I know, I know.” Obi-Wan looked unhappy. “Are you sure you can do this, Luminara?
”
“Of course I’m not sure I can.” As she spoke, she was making certain the sharp, ceremonial Borokii knife Bayaar had loaned her was securely fastened to her narrow waistband. “But like you, I can’t think of anything else to try. This is the best I could come up with.” She smiled reassuringly. “We can’t convince the Council of Elders to persuade the rest of the Alwari to agree to our position if we never get to speak to them.”
“While your death might convince them of our sincerity, and of the importance the Republic attaches to our mission here, that’s still no guarantee they’ll agree to listen to the rest of us.”
“Then you’ll find other ways of convincing them of our sincerity,” she told him. Reaching out, she put a hand on his shoulder. “Whatever happens here, now, may the Force be with you always, Obi-Wan Kenobi.”
Stepping closer, he gave her a firm hug. “Not only will the Force be with me, Luminara Unduli, I expect you to be with me for a while longer yet as well.” He indicated their Padawans. “You wouldn’t’ go and leave me with not one but two Padawans to look after, would you?”
Her smile broadened. “I think you would manage to cope with the challenge, Obi-Wan.”
“Master…,” Barriss began. Turning, the Jedi put a reassuring hand on her Padawan’s shoulder.
“Not everything is assured in advance, my dear.” Her hand slid off the strong shoulder. “I know what I’m doing. I just don’t know what the surepp are going to do.” Taking a couple of steps back, she took a deep breath and nodded at Bayaar.
It was not for him to try to dissuade the offworlder. He had already done all he properly could to apprise her of the danger she had chosen to face. Raising a hand high, he signaled to his right. Down the fence line, the operator in charge of this section of the corral responded with a gesture of acknowledgement. Something softly went ssizzt.
“The barrier here has been shut down,” he told the visitors. “If you really mean to do this thing, you have to do it now.”