He didn't hesitate. "I'd round up the leaders of both fac tions, city and nomad alike, lock them all in the same room, and tell them that if they didn't make peace within a week, the Republic would send a full task force and assume direct control of local affairs."

She was nodding slowly, an infuriatingly tranquil expression on her face. "And how would the Commerce Guild respond to that, given its extensive interests in this sector?"

"The Commerce Guild does what is profitable. War with the Republic is not profitable." He looked convinced. "That much I've learned."

"And if the Ansionian Unity of cities and towns, in conse quence of this action of yours, makes good on its threat to join the new secessionist movement, and the other worlds that are allied to Ansion decide to join in-?"

"It wouldn't make any difference to people's daily lives. Trade would continue, everyday life on the worlds involved wouldn't change," he huffed.

"Are you so certain that you would risk thousands of lives to

find out? And what would happen to the Alwari, who disagree with the present path of the Unity? Would not the Commerce Guild and its allies come down hard on them?"

"Well, I'm not sure that…" Under her relentless reasoning, his wall of certainty was beginning to crack.

She looked away from him, returned to studying the lively crowd. "Better, I think, to send a pair of Jedi and their Padawans to try to fix things. Far less threatening than a task force. Also cheaper, a course of action that always pleases the Senate."

He sighed. "You argue plausibly. But Ansion is such a no where world! Even Obi-Wan wonders if it is very important. He's spoken to me about it several times, as well as about what he thinks is wrong these days with the Republic itself."

"Flashpoints," she shot back. "Surely he has also spoken to you about flashpoints, and the need to stamp them out before they can grow into uncontainable conflagrations."

"Interminably." He sighed resignedly as he resumed surveying the crowd with her.

"It is a fair price." The mane of the Ansionian trader had been painted with alternating silver and black chevrons that ran down his spine to disappear beneath his low-cut collar. Convex lavender-hued eyes studied his clients blankly, giving away nothing. "Nowhere else in Cuipernam, or on the Sorr-ul-Paan Plateau, will you find six such splendid steeds of such grace and quality! Not for thrice the price!"

"Be not overinsistent," Kyakhta told him, "lest your inces sant haranguing curdle the stomachs of my masters." Turning away from the broker, he lowered his voice as he and Bulgan conferenced with their new employers.

"He is right, Master Luminara. The price he asks is a fair one. Slightly high, perhaps, but the animals are in excellent condition."

"To ride such mounts!" Bulgan could hardly contain his anticipation.

"Give us a moment." Turning away, Luminara left the two Alwari to continue with the negotiations, although by now these were no more than a matter of trying to shave minuscule amounts off the broker's final offer. "What do you think, Obi-Wan?"

He surveyed the surrounding market, ever alert for signs of impending aggression. "I think we should rely on the native expertise of our new guides. After what your Padawan did for them, I believe they would cheat themselves before they would take advantage of her." A glance back showed the two Alwari still arguing agreeably with the seller. "Besides, I'm rather looking forward to riding one of the beasts. One of these days, I have a feeling I'll have no choice but to ride around in old skimmers and beat-up landspeeders." Looking up, he studied the clear blue sky.

Luminara eyed the Padawans. "There is still tension between Barriss and Anakin."

"Yes." Obi-Wan sighed. "I've noticed it, too. But they appear to be getting on better since her ordeal. A fine student, Barriss. The Force flows strongly within her."

"So it does, but not like it does in young Anakin. He is a wild river, your Padawan, full of repressed energy that needs channeling."

"He came unreasonably late to training, and was raised by his mother to a greater age than the usual apprentice."

Luminara looked again in the Padawans' direction. "He knew his mother? That is a bond Jedi apprentices do not normally bring with them. It presents all manner of potential com plications and difficulties."

"I know. For that reason alone I would have not accepted him, but he was taken up by my own Master, Qui-Gon Jinn, whose dying wishes I vowed to respect. Among other matters that had to be dealt with subsequent to his passing, that meant dealing with and bringing along this unusually volatile youth."

"How has it gone?" she asked earnestly.

Obi-Wan stroked his beard absently. "He's often impetuous, which is worrying. Sometimes it carries over into impatience, which is dangerous. But he has gone through and survived a great deal, and he is an avid student of Jedi lore. There are subjects in which he excels, such as lightsaber combat. And he's a natural pilot. But he has little time for the intricacies of history or diplomacy, and politics positively make him ill. Yet he perseveres. A trait he gets, I believe, from his mother, whom Qui-Gon knew but briefly as a quiet yet strong-willed woman."

She nodded thoughtfully. "If anyone can turn such unwieldy raw material into a polished Jedi Knight, I suspect it is you, Obi-Wan. Many have the knowledge, but few the patience."

"You could do it, I think."

She regarded him straight on. Face to face, the two Jedi gazed into each other's eyes. Each saw something different but worthy there. Each saw something distinctive, even exceptional. When they finally looked away, it was simultaneously.

Turning, Obi-Wan moved to consult with the gently bickering Alwari. She watched him for a long, contemplative moment before turning back to resume her scrutiny of the crowd.

At Obi-Wan's urging, Kyakhta and Bulgan concluded their negotiations for the six animals. At the shoulder, the magnificent suubatars stood thrice the height of a human. They were six-legged, with long-splayed toes that seemed wholly out of place on a creature designed for running through open grasslands.

When Anakin pointed out this seeming evolutionary disparity to Kyakhta, the Alwari laughed.

"You'll see what they are for, Jedi Padawan!" Pulling back on the double set of reins, he effortlessly turned his own newly acquired mount.

The lightweight but thickly padded saddle was cinched be tween the front and middle shoulders. Between middle shoulders and rear haunches, a second swayback would accommodate a sizable pack of supplies. Having been negotiated for and priced, these were in the process of being loaded onto the complaisant animals by the merchant's busy underlings.