Live Journal Feed// Text //[i] denotes mental thought
[i]{ Text. } denotes Mindspeech.
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Chapter 3 - A Friendly Visit
Somewhere in the distance, they could hear the deep, steady thrum of the Federation transport engines. Glancing at their odd group, Qui-Gon asked, “Much farther?”
Alia shifted her pack’s weight, a hand unconsciously lowering to feel the wood of her climbing hooks. As hard as he found to believe it, she had been an interesting companion, that much Obi-wan would grant her. Somehow she had patience enough to pay attention to the Gungan and manage to ignore the Jedi’s silence. Until now. He watched as her hand froze of its own accord, and she glanced back at him, appearing startled to feel his eyes on her. He was surprised she had sensed his gaze. Perhaps she had some latent Force-ability; probably enough for her sensitive instincts, but not enough to be trained as a Jedi. Her eyes, the intensity of their coloring intriguing him, darted away quickly, and settled instead on the Gungan’s back.
Within moments, they had emerged from a deep stand of swamp grass and thick rushes at the edge of a lake so murky that it was impossible to see anything in the light reflecting off its surface.
“Wesa goen underwater, okey-day?”
The Gungan spoke matter-of-factly, looking back in the direction from which they had come, his long ears flapping with the movement.
“Now I remember why I never wear white to visit,” Alia grumbled to herself, shifting the pack on her shoulders.
Obi-wan glanced at her, his gaze questioning. Alia caught his look.
“White has a tendency to stick when its wet,” she explained impatiently, “I don’t like to flaunt the fact that I’m female every time I visit.”
Her impatience quickly faded into amusement as she watched his cheeks flush slightly as he took in her meaning.
“And besides,” she said, restraining the laughter she felt welling within her as she took pity on him, “Look at that water? Do you think anything that went in white would come out the same? I think not.”
Qui-Gon had been listening to their slight exchange, and couldn’t repress the twinkle in his eyes at her teasing of his Padawan, despite the seriousness of their mission. As she busied herself with her pack, the Jedi looked at each other, extracting portable breathing devices from their utility belts.
“My warning you, Gungans no liken outsiders,” Jar Jar told them, his eyes shifting from one to the other, “So, don’ expect a wurm welcome.”
“Don’t worry,” Obi-wan replied dryly, “This hasn’t been our day for warm welcomes.”
The Gungan shrugged, as if to deny all responsibility for what would follow, turned back to the lake, and sprung high in the air, vaulting into a wide double somersault.
“Ay-ay-yah Oo-oo-ooie!”
“Show off,” their female companion grumbled, her eyes shining with mirth as she watched her friend make a spectacle of himself.
Together, she and the Jedi waded in after him. Breathing in deeply, Alia placed her own small palm-sized breathing device in her mouth, submerging herself beneath the murky waters of Lake Paonga.
Downward into the shadows they swam, the humans following the Gungan. He seemed far more at home in the water than the land, his arms and legs moving gracefully with practiced ease. Obi-wan turned his head toward the stranger as they angled deeper into the water, the light from the surface fading behind them. Despite her complaints about wearing her rucksack, it didn’t appear to be hindering her movements in any way. In fact, it seemed that her movements were nearly as graceful as the Gungan’s, if not as fluid. The water was growing colder with each passing minute, and at last, Alia could see the familiar lights of Otoh Gunga, inwardly sighing in relief. A few more minutes, and the cluster of bubbles comprised of locap-grown plasma that formed the city grew closer.
Jar Jar swam directly toward one of the larger bubbles, and both the Jedi and the woman followed behind him; as they reached its surface, Jar Jar and Alia stood on the platform that was just outside, and pushed in. Following their example, first Qui-Gon then Obi-wan moved through the gelatinous membrane, passing through to the other side wet, chilled, and amazed at the bubble’s shielding properties.
“So good be-en home!” sighed Jar Jar, for a moment forgetting the reason why he had to leave, and the reason he had returned. Alia removed her breathing device and shook the water from her eyes, looking up at the sudden sound of her name being called.
“Alia!”
Another Gungan, not bothering to look at the outsiders, rushed through the startled crowds, leaping up the stairs to embrace her friend.
“Ay-yah Alia! So good to see yous, my-a miss’n yousa so muuuuch!”
The Gungan wrapped their arms around Alia, pulling her around in a hug. Qui-Gon watched as his strange companion laughed and hugged the Gungan tighter.
“Zasa,” she said once she’d been let down, “I’ve missed you as well.”
The female Gungan gave her friend a big smile, her jaws stretching far wider then that of a human; so wide that Obi-wan nearly winced at the strain a normal human jaw would’ve felt.
“But,” Alia said sternly, her eyes twinkling, “I have presents that need to be given. And presents always come before hellos, goodbyes, and funerals.”
“Myasa!” Zasa laughed, taking her friend’s hand, and leading her down the platform.
“Hey, yousa! Stoppa dare!”
Alia looked back, startled, at the gruff voice that called behind her. The Jedi and Jar Jar had been surrounded by the Gungan sentinels, the wicked-looking ends of their electropoles forming a sort of cage around them.
“Hey-yo-day-lee, Cap’n Tarpals,” tried Jar Jar, his smile wide and nervous, “Mesa back!”
But the Gungan shook his head.
“No again, Jar Jar,” said the Captain, having none of it, “Yousa go-en to da Bossas. Yousa in big doo-doo dis time.”
Alia watched her friend hang his head, and felt a sudden flash of anger when one of the sentinels stabbed him with an electropole. She tried to reclaim her arm from Zasa’s grip, but the female’s hold simply tightened, and as Jar Jar and the Jedi were led away, she turned angrily to meet her eyes.
“Let me go! I have to help him!”
But her friend shook her head at Alia’s words.
“Bombad, Alia; yousa be know-en da law. Dat Jar Jar brokie da rules, hesa has to go to my fadda. Lookie you, wesa go too. Wesa go dis way.”
With a twist of her head, Zasa led her human friend through the square, slipping in between the other Gungans milling about as easily as if she were an eel, swimming through the crowd with as much grace as a dancer. They passed under arches and around buildings, taking the back way until they reached the High Tower Boardroom. Zasa halted a little ways to the side of the chamber, squeezing her friend’s hand.
“Mesa no go wit you, if yousa go-en to be in dare. I wait for you, okeyday?”
Understanding her friend’s reluctance to break the unwritten rule of sanctity during council session, Alia simply gave her a small smile, catching her in a sudden hug.
“I should never have let him come back,” she said, pulling away from her friend’s scaly arms.
Zasa said nothing in return, and as Alia turned, squaring her shoulders, watched her walk confidently toward the doors of the Boardroom and her nod respectfully to the guards when they stopped her.
“I’m here to plead for Jar Jar Binks, Carsal; let me pass.”
The guard removed his electropole from her path, and she was allowed to enter. At the sound of her arrival, she saw Boss Nass and a few of the Elders turn their heads toward her; Jar Jar also looked in her direction, and she gave him a small, encouraging smile. Of all of them, only the Jedi had not looked at her entrance, and for that, she was oddly grateful; she didn’t want their attention at the moment.
“Yousa cannot bees here,” Boss Nass was saying, making the click-click-clicking sound that showed his irritation, “Dis army of meccaniks up dare is new weesong.”
“The droid army is about to attack the Naboo,” explained Qui-Gon, holding his ground, “We have to warn them.”
“Wesa no like da Naboo,” said Nass, “And dey no like uss-en. Da Naboo tinken dey so smartay. Dey tink dey brains so big!”
Obi-wan couldn’t believe that these people would sit by and allow their planet to be invaded. He spoke up, hoping to appeal to their own survival instinct.
“One the droids take control of the surface, they will take control of you,” he said quietly, willing them to believe.
“Mesa no tink so. Dey not know of uss-en.”
The remaining members of the council nodded in agreement, muttering approval of Boss Nass’s wisdom.
“You and the Naboo form a symbiant circle,” Obi-wan insisted, not willing to give in, “What happens to one of you will affect the other, you must understand this.”
Alia looked at the younger Jedi in surprise, before watching her friend’s father shake his head firmly.
“Wesa no care-en, about da Naboo.”
“Then speed us on our way,” said Qui-Gon, his voice steady and sure, casually passing a hand before the eyes of the Gungan leader: there was no further use in arguing with him.
The Gungan nodded.
“Wesa gonna speed yous away.”
Alia brought her head up sharply at Nass’s submission to the Jedi’s request. Narrowing her eyes, she centered herself, reaching in and out…Obi-wan looked around with piercing eyes as he felt ripples in the Force, a sign of it being used by someone other than his Master. Severing the connection quickly, Alia felt only a little guilt in what she’d done; she had the information she needed. Qui-Gon, however, didn’t break in his manipulation of Boss Nass.
“We could use a transport,” he said, passing his hand again.
“Wesa gonna give you una bongo.”
Both Alia and Jar Jar looked up at the head Gungan in surprise; for Alia, there was suspicion as well. Both shared a look of confusion between them.
“Da speediest way to da Naboo tis go-en through da planet core. Now, go.”
Qui-Gon and Obi-wan bowed in respect.
“Thank you for your help, we leave in peace.”
As they turned however, Obi-wan whispered.
“Master, what’s a bongo?”
His Master glanced at Alia, having known when she entered, and noted the alarm written on her face.
“A transport, I hope.”
The woman refused to meet his eyes, turning to look instead at the council, and fix them with a hard stare. Qui-Gon sighed, and as the Jedi moved away from the officials, they caught sight of Jar Jar wearing wrist binders, standing forlornly to one side.
“Deysa setten yousa up,” warned Jar Jar as they passed him, “Go-en through the planet core…bad bombin. Ah, any hep here would be hot.”
He gave the Jedi what he thought was a winning smile.
“Master, we’re short on time,” said Obi-wan. He didn’t want to waste time with this creature; they had to get on with their mission.
“We’ll need a navigator to get us through the planet’s core,” replied Qui-Gon, his eyes thoughtful, “This Gungan might be of help.”
His Padawan held his gaze for only a moment before looking away. Qui-Gon turned from him and walked back to Boss Nass, passing Alia, who was looking at him with startled eyes.
“What is to become of Jar Jar Binks, here?”
“Hesa to be…pune-ished,” said Boss Nass, smiling vindictively, “Pounded unto death, dis one.”
From behind him, Qui-Gon could hear Jar Jar moan loudly. There were mutterings around the room. Both Obi-wan and Alia looked on in shock. She had known Boss Nass wouldn’t be happy to see Jar Jar, but she hadn’t thought he’d sentence him to death. / What did he do? / she wondered, her mind working quickly through the arguments she’d use once the Jedi were gone. There was no way she’d allow Jar Jar to be killed.
“I saved his life,” replied Qui-Gon, locking eyes once more with the large Gungan, “Your gods demand that his life belongs to me now.”
“Binks? Yousa, have-en a lifeplay with this-en his-en?”
Jar Jar nodded as Alia sighed in relief. Boss Nass, however, looked as if he’d eaten a plate of goba fish and suddenly been told it was kaadu droppings. He frowned horribly as he gestured to the Jedi.
“Begone wit him.”
As the wrist binders were unlocked, falling to the ground, Jar Jar rubbed his hands.
“Count me outta dis one. Better dead here, den dead in da core,” he said, before suddenly slapping himself in the head, “Egads! Wotta mesa say-en?”
As her friend followed the Jedi out of the room, the doors closing behind them, Alia began moving toward the center platform, bending a knee in respect before fixing Boss Nass with a glare.
“With all due respect, your honor, that was not good form. It might not be wise to kill off two Jedi and bring the rest to your doorstep.”
“Dis-en be none of your bisiness, Alia. If-en deysa reach da Naboo, den da gods be with dem. If not, den da big fish have a full belly.”
Alia was suddenly angry with him, though she was careful to hide her feelings behind her eyes.
“It is my business if my friend is killed along with them. Please, at least give them a better ship than a bongo. You know as well as I that there are other ships they could use that would be safer.”
“Dis-en none of yous concern!”
The head Gungan suddenly exploded, angry that she had dared question his judgment.
“Yousa might-en be a frend of Zasa, but yousa still an outsider! If yousa want-en to come back, yousa liss-en and say nutten back!”
Shocked beyond words, Alia stared at him. His body was heaving with emotion and his eyes were nearly crossing in his anger. Alia was stung by the ultimatum he had flung at her. Straightening her back, she slowly stood, a few council members muttering in quiet voices about her disrespect. She ignored their jibes as her eyes sharpened with her own anger. No one ordered her around. No one.
“Then I’m afraid I must take my leave of your city, your honor,” she bowed, her body rigid with fury, “I do believe there is a transport being made ready, and if I hurry, I may still catch it.”
She turned on her heel and walked away from him, feeling his growing alarm as he called her name. Without turning around, she threw her response over her shoulder.
“If it is safe for them, then it is safe for me.”
Furious, Alia stomped out the Boardroom doors, so oblivious in her rage that she missed Zasa coming out of the shadows, and nearly collided with her.
“Argh!” she exploded, throwing up her hands, “Your father makes me so mad, Zasa! Why won’t he ever change?”
But her friend said nothing, merely holding out her bag. Alia noticed that it seemed lighter, and took it, weighing it in her hand. She was right. Alia looked at Zasa with a questioning gaze.
“I heard,” was Zasa’s reply, “And mesa take-en out dos gifts yousa say yousa had. I pack-en some food, and watersacks.”
Touched, Alia nodded, her anger slowly dissolving. If she was to be traveling with Jar Jar, who knew what world they’d end up on. She sure wasn’t going to bring him back to Naboo if all that awaited him was death. The watersacks would help him adjust to nearly any temperature.
“Thank you, Zasa,” she said, pulling her friend into a hug.
The female Gungan held her tightly, before letting her go and nodding to her left.
“Dat way be a shortcut to da bongos. Don’t be worried, Alia; I talk with my fadda, I show him yousa spek true.”
Alia gave her one final hug, before strapping on the bag and setting off at a run down the passageways. Zasa shook her head at her friend’s strange behavior. Casting her eyes toward the council doors, she sighed and squared her shoulders. Boss Nass was not going to easy to convince.
Running through the shadows cast by the plasma lamps, she struggled to keep her breathing steady as her heart followed her footsteps. Finally, she saw them descending into the hangar bay, and she hurried her pace, though it was no longer hell-bent on reaching her destination.
Reaching the top of the stairs, she called out, “Wait!”
X X X X
As one the Jedi turned around at the cry from behind them. Qui-Gon noted, with a little surprise, that it was the woman who had arrived with them to the Gungan city. Alia, he remembered, was her name. She ran to them now, panting slightly as she descended from the upper level.
“I’m coming with you,” she said, slightly breathless from exertion, her skin slightly flushed. Looking at Jar Jar, she repeated, “I’m coming with you.”
Shaking his head, Qui-Gon replied, “I cannot have you in my protection, young Alia. I do not have the time or the patience.”
She bristled a little at his words, straightening her shoulders back with pride even as she averted her eyes, gesturing slightly to her friend.
“You will have far less to worry about with me along, Master Jedi; at least, less than you will have with Jar Jar.”
The Gungan in question let out a small noise of half-indignation, half-agreement. The Jedi, however, merely tilted his head to one side, saying in his deep voice:
“And how do I know you are trustworthy if you will not look me in the eye?”
She seemed to catch her breath between her teeth, before replying:
“A Jedi should not need to see a person’s eyes to see into their heart. Tell me, Jedi, am I evil?”
Qui-Gon cocked his head to the side slightly, studying her.
“Perhaps not, yet what else must I think but that you have something to hide? I do not have the time to banter words with a child, nor the patience to discover your no doubt juvenile secrets.”
“You won't trick me into giving away more than what you need to know by stamping on my pride. Jar Jar is my friend, I don't trust you keep him safe, and I'm going with you.”
He smiled inwardly at her refusal to be baited, but answered:
“That is not true; you do trust us.”
The girl tossed her head in exasperation, turning her eyes to look at the ship they were about to enter in derision.
“But the other two are. Now, get into the bongo.”
Chuckling slightly, Qui-Gon merely shook his head, and despite Obi-wan’s expression, followed her lead.
X X X X
Alia felt a sense of accomplishment as she sat between Jar Jar and the younger Jedi. When her fingers had accidentally brushed against his thigh and he glared at her in indignation, she had rolled her eyes to hide her embarrassment, saying, “If you haven’t already noticed, Jar Jar isn’t exactly the calmest creature you’d expect to meet. It’s either me, or a paranoid Gungan flinging his arms and ears everywhere.”
Obi-wan arched an eyebrow in reply, then looked back at the controls to contain the sudden urge to laugh at her exasperated expression.
“Yousa don’ reelly mean dat, do you Alia?” asked the Gungan in question, his ears drooping and his eyes full of hurt.
The girl wrapped an arm around her scaly friend’s shoulders, and gave him a gentle squeeze.
“You know I love you, you silly creature,” she said affectionately, adding in an amused voice, “But you aren’t the bravest Gungan in the lake.”
“Mya know,” he said, hanging his head.
She turned his head to her, looking him in the eye. Qui-Gon could see the amphibious creature freeze, and tried to remember what her eyes looked like. They had been blue, he recalled; a startling blue that seemed familiar. Shaking his head, he resolved to ask Obi-wan later.
“That’s why I’m here,” Alia said tenderly, patting Jar Jar’s scaly hand and pulling slightly on one of his ears.
Qui-Gon could see the Gungan’s expression suddenly melt, and Jar Jar smiled, turning to look again out the window.
“Oh, oh, goba fish! Big big goba fish!”
The older Jedi winced and Obi-wan glowered as the Gungan tried to climb into Alia’s lap to get away from the window despite the restraining belt he wore. A pair of lips suddenly twitched in amusement when Alia was heard to mutter, “This is going to be a long ride.”
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Author's Notes
Locap plant Though Naboo lacks a molten core, its porous structure is permeated by a highly energized, naturally occurring plasma. The roots of the locap plant pierce through the planet's honeycombed crust, and metabolize the plasma, distilling and naturally stabilizing it in the digestive process. The locap plant contains this safe form of plasma in buds located on the tips of its stalks, which the Gungans then harvest as a power source. So noted from StarWars.com.
