The Queen had thought it as worrying as it was telling, that the veteran diplomats had been willing to even so obliquely express their disapproval of what was transpiring in Otoh Gunga, but the lack of a Gungan point of contact had left her government in the extremely difficult position of wondering just what their militarily powerful neighbors' intentions now were.
...
Finally, a little more than eighteen hours later, Ambassador Binks had appeared unannounced in apparent answer to the Queen's request.
He'd been effusively, passionately apologetic about the "Bigsa Bad Movings at'the home", but regrettably firm in communicating the fact he'd been ordered to close out the Embassy, and oversee the return of it's diplomatic staff to the Gungan capitol. All while offering absolutely no explanation for these actions.
It had been the Queen's opinion that the brief editorializing the Gungan Ambassador had engaged in had been due to his own misgivings and private disagreement with whatever was happening, but she hadn't been able to convince him to break his silence any further than he already had.
Within six hours, the entirety of the Embassy staff had vanished wordlessly beneath the surface of Lake Paonga.
Almost all with much furtive glancing about, and uniformly worried or distressed body language according to RNSF observers.
It had been after Jar Jar's appearance, and before the Gungan Embassy staff had actually begun to move out, that the Queen had reached out to Padme.
Learning of the attack on Coruscant, and recognizing the distances involved, she'd nearly despaired of availing herself of the Senator's services as a diplomatic envoy universally respected by the Gungans.
When she'd learned the mustering of the Gungan Grand Army had now reached levels unseen since the Invasion only a couple hours before our arrival, things had grown understandably tense.
Now, with Padme's unexpectedly quick arrival, the hope seemed to be the Gungan High Council would meet with the extremely respected Senator, even if Boss Lyonie decided to object.
For the length of the audience, it went unsaid that Queen Neeyutnee and the Diplomatic Corps were growing convinced that Boss Lyonie's apparent belligerence might well be the result of his having taken leave of his senses.
...
I held my peace, and didn't offer an opinion until Padme, Ahsoka, IG-1, and I had returned to Seraph.
Since the city of Moenia was large enough to have it's own spaceport, it was far, far quicker to make an out-atmosphere hop and another descent, than it was to take an airspeeder several hundred miles to the edge of the Lianorm Swamp.
I told myself it was this fact, and not my desire to avoid leaving the bio-ship unattended in a distant city that influenced my travel-plans.
Swiveling my chair to face Padme once I had our descent vector and could allow Artoo (despite a few snarky complaints in Binary) to work with Seraph on the landing, I observed in a tone I hoped conveyed my complete certainty.
"I spent a significant amount of time in Boss Lyonie's presence, after the capture of Vindi. Since Dark Woman was fielding nearly all the many questions asked by the Representatives of the Gungan Council, I had nothing to do but stand at parade rest, and, well, read the various Reps with my empathic gift.
I would be willing to wager all three of our lives that that particular Gungan is morally incapable of sending Gungans to die in a war of aggression. Not of his own volition, or even while suffering from the sorts of instability that could pass unnoticed by those who know Lyonie well.
Everything we heard from Queen Neeyutnee and Captain Panaka seems to point to his being in the grip of some all-consuming paranoia, but I simply can't reconcile the memory of the Gungan leader I met with the idea he's become a thrall of fear and suspicion."
"Neither can I, and not simply due to my assessment of his character. His strengths, like many Gungans, simply don't include any aptitude for nuanced, continuing duplicity. Oh, Boss Lyonie has an excellent sabacc-face, and he can hold important information back with ease, but pretending a strong emotion he isn't feeling is very much beyond him.
I am so certain he was genuinely delighted to see evidence during the Festival of Warriors that the alliance between our peoples continued to grow, that I'd stake the welfare of my people on it.
No leader goes from endorsing friendly foreign relations with a primary trading partner deeply involved in their colonization program, to contemplating a military campaign against said ally. Not in sixty days, at any rate." Padme replied, equally convinced there was something glaringly amiss here.
"Seems strange, all of this happening, just as the Separatists attack Coruscant" Ahsoka offered suddenly. I caught her gauging my reaction to her entry into the conversation, so I smiled and nodded encouragingly.
"More than a little strange" I agreed. Injecting a deliberate note of approval into my voice.
"Noticing discrepancies in individual behavior, as the Senator and I have pointed out, or oddities of timing too pronounced to dismiss as coincidence, like you just did, are examples of two of the three most significant factors in ascertaining the truth behind a situation. Motive, Method, and Means, as they're known more generally.
If you can determine the motive behind an action, identify the method which the group or individual intends to use in carrying out that action, and discover the means available to facilitate the chosen method, you've generally got what you need to unravel the mystery at hand" I continued in an encouraging manner. Seeing and seizing the teaching moment that had presented itself.
Appearing to consider my explanation at length, Ahsoka finally responded in an initially uncertain manner that grew more and more animated as she continued to talk.
"OK, Master, if you and Senator Amidala agree that the actions we're seeing don't fit the motives of Boss Lyonie, then it sounds like the motive belongs to someone else. What about this unnamed advisor? Everything seemed to go wrong when he showed up.
Could he have a motive to make the alliance between the Gungans and Naboo fall apart? If breaking the alliance is his Motive, then getting the Gungans to attack the Naboo would be his Method, and that would make convincing Boss Lyonie to order such an attack the Means of carrying out his Method, right?"
I looked at Padme, who slowly nodded, then more decisively asserted "Coercion is as good a theory as any I've considered. Even if it seems impossible to me that Lyonie would go along with any plan with a very obvious price-tag in Gungan lives. Maybe that explains his erratic behavior?"
Seraph touched down with a thump so gentle it could hardly be felt. I checked habitually for any sign of damage due to the landing, as I considered my response.
"It's a reasonable theory" I eventually conceded with a frown. "Excellent practical application in constructing it, apprentice. Your proposal that the motive may not belong to Lyonie is possible, but it doesn't try to address what the actual motive might be.
That doesn't mean you're wrong, necessarily, but it's something to consider. Why would this mysterious advisor desire such a conflict?" I had an idea about that, of course, but this was at the moment a teaching exercise.
We'd all tromped down the landing pad by this point, so there was a lull in the conversation as we tried to gain our bearings. Owing to the fact we'd be heading underwater, and due to our need to keep Seraph mobile, Artoo had elected to stay behind.
Which left the four of us hurrying out of the spaceport's confines. Continuing our attempt to work out where anything was in the omnipresent fog, with Padme doing her best to guide our group as the only one who'd been here before.
Tall, surprisingly attractive structures loomed out at us from the thick mist enhancing the eerie gloom that seemed part and parcel of the city. Most of these buildings were painted bright, vibrant colors, or bore astonishingly detailed murals consisting primarily of natural scenes.
Where paint or artwork hadn't been enough to satisfy the owners, there were window-frames consisting of crushed semiprecious stones, elaborate balcony display, and most of the doorways we passed were flanked by pairs of identical, lifelike statuary.
Where the murals were primarily composed of landscapes and various combinations of flora, most of the statues were depictions of animals from all around the galaxy.
I was genuinely impressed when we walked past what I guessed was a high-ticket bar, because of the pair of life-sized Wyyyschokk sculptures bookending the white and red double-doors of the tavern.
Colored perfectly true to life, each created the illusion they were rearing and ready to cast webs or spit poison from their great parted mandibles.
Noticing my attention, Ahsoka asked with some curiosity "Is there something significant about those spider statues, Master?"
Nodding, I allowed a bit of my enthusiasm for the subject to enter my voice, as I answered "No one has ever successfully captured a wyyyschokk with a holo-camera, and the predators destroy any droids sent to observe them in seconds.
The only way the artist could have gained the knowledge required to create those sculptures was by going to Kashyyyk, and not only surviving a trip into the shadowlands, but managing to escape the wyyyschokk themselves.
They tend to hunt in groups, they're as smart as any sapient being, the spiders are deadly poisonous, and capable of throwing their spun webs to entangle potential prey.
Which they'll stalk for kilometers, as they wait for a moment of perfect vulnerability. It took considerable courage and commitment on the artist's part to create something that enriches as much as it impresses. That's worthy of respect."
"My sister Callista made those. Just like she made the Katarns climbing the tree-pillars outside Moenia First Regional Bank. She even created the full-size sculpture of a Star Dragon in the center of Inspiration Park."
A thin, reedy voice proudly proclaimed from somewhere in the mist above us. It took me a split-second to get a fix on the speaker's position, but by then he was already in motion.
Leaping down from the roof of the two-story tavern, he tucked into a somersault on his way down, then rolled as he made contact with the earth. Coming to his feat a little more than two meters away from us, with the adroitness of any older Jedi Padawan.
Straightening to his full, one point nine meter height, the pale blue skinned young man tilted his inverted teardrop-shaped head to regard me quizzically with his flaring ember colored eyes.
His elongated torso leading to limbs as long as they were slender. Taken all together, they were the lines of a runner or gymnast taken to an extreme which would have been caricature in a human being.
Watching the alien watch me, I noted the way the four bright orange braids laying across his head in a + shape twitched with the small, quickly occurring muscle tics in his head and neck. Guessing it was a sign of anxiety exhibited by his species, because that was definitely one of the stronger emotions I sensed in him.
"You're a Terrelian Jango Jumper! I read about your people in the Temple. You can really jump like that without the Force?" Ahsoka excitedly exclaimed. Not stopping in her enthusiasm to consider whether or not her question might be considered invasive.
I worried momentarily that the newcomer might really take offense. Not because of his species, despite generalizations of his people making Terrelians out to be impulsive and passionate, but due to his age and gender.
Owing to the differences in species, I couldn't assign an exact human-equivalent age, but I was certain he was no older than early adolescence. The entire galaxy knew there was nothing more impulsive and quick to anger than a young teen, with that going double for a young male teen.
Looking more bemused than anything, however, the unnamed young man simply nodded in response to my Padawan's question, then returned his attention to me.
"You said you respect my sister's work. If you respect her, then you should be willing to help her. That's what Jedi are supposed to do, right?"
The question that capped what amounted to the most assertive verbal lunge the teen could manage ended in a quavering tone. The tic that jerked his head slightly picking up speed as his voice broke.
"Maybe you should start by telling us your name, and why you think your sister needs help from a Jedi" I replied almost without thinking.
It was strange, because I hadn't really decided per se to offer that suggestion. It was one of a few responses I'd considered, but something had nudged me to choose those words in particular.
When the young Terrelian opened his mouth to answer, I found myself thinking in all seriousness "I have a bad feeling about this."
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