#something about following instructions is anathema to how my brain works

[buckynats]

Absolutely making shit up as I go. Still finishing the other one and then I have to figure out how to attach them without ruining it all. I actually made my own pattern and cut fabric out to it without crying or panicking this time. So that's progress.

(Ignore how uneven those look, that's my abysmal posture at work. They do actually match in length when I'm standing still. And despite the lighting weirdness, it all matches.)

[atamascolily]

An Appointment in Sawarra, 2/?

Following Mara’s advice, Luke goes to see Karrde for a possible lead.

(part one)

There were advantages to friendship with the Smuggler's Alliance's official liaison. The next day found Luke smoothly  escorted into Karrde's office in the organization's new headquarters without even a token wait.

"Hello, Luke," Karrde said by way of greeting. He rose to his feet and came around the massive desk for a hearty handshake before retreating to his chair--more like a throne, Luke thought, though not an ostentatious one. "I understand there's a matter I might be able to help you with."

Luke balanced the bag of seeds on his palm. Recent history, as well as Luke's own instincts, pegged Karrde as a trustworthy ally, and he knew his fears were groundless. Yet he hesitated all the same, spooked by the same deep anxiety that had made it so hard to reach out to anyone before now.

But Mara trusted Karrde, and Luke trusted her judgement in this. He took a deep breath and and offered the bag to Karrde. "I need you to find someone who's good with plants. Someone who can help me... grow these seeds."

Karrde raised an eyebrow as he emptied the bag's contents onto his desk. With a loud <i>thunk</i>, one of the cones hit the table, sending seeds everywhere. Most of them remained on the desk, but a handful started rolling for the edge. Luke nudged them with the Force, just enough to halt their progress and keep them from spilling to the floor.

If Karrde noticed Luke's interference, he didn't comment. "I trust this is a special project, or you wouldn't have come to me," was all he said, an unreadable expression on his face.

How much had Mara told him? Luke gave him a cursory summary.  "These are seeds from an uneti tree--once planted at every Jedi outpost in the galaxy before the Empire destroyed them. These are from the only tree I've ever found, which may well be the only survivor. I... have no experience with plants. I'm afraid if I try to grow them myself, I'll kill them."

Karrde's eyes lit up with genuine interest. "And you haven't been able to find any records or references anywhere?"

"I've explored a handful of leads over the years, but never with any success."

"Hmmm." Karrde prodded the nearest seeds with a finger, as if hoping to trigger a reaction from it. When nothing happened, he sighed and began sweeping them back into the bag. "I think I may have a contact for you. But I warn you, you may find her quite... eccentric."

Something in his phrasing made Luke's thoughts flicker to Gaeriel Captison, the Bakuran planetary senator who'd considered Jedi anathema when they'd first met in the aftermath of the Battle of Endor.She'd come around eventually, and they'd parted as friends--but he needed someone comfortable with him from the beginning, particularly when the stakes were so personal for him.

"I don't mind eccentric," Luke said, and meant it. Whoever Karrde had in mind, she couldn't be crazier than Yoda. "As long as she's not afraid of me or the Force. I need someone who's willing to get their hands dirty--" He caught himself, realizing his audience. "You know what I mean," he finished.  

"As a matter of fact, I do," Karrde said, graciously ignoring Luke's faux pas. "As it happens, I think the two of you will get along splendidly. I'll have one of my people send over her information shortly."

Luke wanted to sag in relief, but they weren't done. "And the fee?"

"For you? No charge," Karrde said as he handed over the bag with its precious contents. "If it weren't for you, I'd be brain dead after the Empire had ripped everything they wanted out of my skull. But I'd appreciate if you keep my generosity to yourself. I wouldn't want anyone else to think I'm going soft."

"Of course," Luke said with what he hoped was a measured and assertive nod.

Karrde smiled.

Barely an hour after his departure from Karrde's office, Luke recieved an encrypted message from a special courier at his apartment. DR. TOR MENDOZA flashed in large letters at the top, followed by an address for a university botany department on a planet he'd never heard of before.

Below this, someone--Karrde?--had written, "Be sure to ask if my gift is sufficient recompense for any inconvenience I caused her."

<i>What's that about?</i> Luke read the instructions twice more, but no further insights leaped out at him. A coded message? A private joke? A subtle jab at Luke's intrusion on her solitude?

He didn't think Karrde was luring him into a trap. And he did say this person was eccentric... assuming she was even human at all. <i>Maybe it'll make sense when I meet her,</i> he thought

He didn't need to take a speeder out to the Manarai Mountains anymore. He had a new destination, one that with any luck would be far more fruitful than any of his other work of late. It was tempting--far too tempting after so long on Coruscant--to drop everything in pursuit of this new lead.

But the seeds had waited this long--more than five years now, he reminded himself. Presumably, they could wait a few hours longer. No matter his own personal sense of urgency, rushing was not the Jedi way.

Besides, he was supposed to meet Han and Leia for dinner tonight, a rare moment of normality painstakingly carved out of Leia's schedule. He couldn't wait to tell them everything.