“Cease fire!” Tenel Ka ordered, a bit late. “Stand down!”
The guards, already rushing Jacen with their hand blasters half free of their holsters, reluctantly obeyed. The nobles complied far less reluctantly.
Once Tenel Ka was satisfied her orders were being followed, she leapt onto the courtyard wall and, smiling warmly, opened her arms. Jacen was not surprised to see that the right one still ended at the elbow. After the sparring accident that had claimed the limb, Tenel Ka had refused an artificial replacement, keeping the stump as a reminder of the arrogance that had led to the mishap.
“Jacen!” she cried. “Welcome!”
“Thank you.” It warmed Jacen’s heart to find such an enthusiastic reception. “It’s good to see you again, Queen Mother.”
As Jacen stepped forward to receive her embrace, half a dozen burly Hapans blocked his way. One of them, an icy-eyed noble with neck-length blond hair and no left hand, glanced back at Tenel Ka. “This man is a friend of yours, Queen Mother?”
“Clearly, Droekle.” Tenel Ka pushed between Droekle and an even larger noble missing an entire forearm. “Would I wish to hug him if he weren’t?”
She pressed herself tightly enough to Jacen’s chest for him to tell that a lot had changed in the last five years-all for the better. Jacen hugged her back and, noting the noxious glowers from her male courtiers, tried not to smirk.
“I apologize for entering this way,” Jacen said. “But your social secretary refused to announce me. He kept telling me you were unavailable.”
Tenel Ka released him and took a step back, her expression darkening. “Which one? I must see that he’s corrected.”
“No need.” Jacen allowed himself the hint of a smile. “He has been.”
“Is that so?”
Tenel Ka waited for him to elaborate. When he did not, she shrugged and took his hand, then jumped into the sunken courtyard to face her slack-jawed courtiers. Jacen was astonished to see that more than half had lost parts of their arms.
“Jacen is one of my oldest friends.” She squeezed Jacen’s hand, then looked up at him with a mischievous grin. “He was the boy who cut my arm off.”
Though Jacen and Tenel Ka had long ago come to terms with that terrible accident and had developed a friendship bordering on romance, even he was taken aback by the bluntness of the announcement. The courtiers were left stammering-which was exactly what he sensed Tenel Ka wanted. Pulling him toward the far side of the courtyard, she slipped her arm through his and leaned her head against his shoulder.
“I would like to catch up with my friend,” she called back. “Please amuse yourselves.”
She guided him onto a stone path that wound its way through the jungle alongside a small stream. Though the lush foliage and gurgling water made it seem as though they were alone, Jacen could sense the guards shadowing them in the brush - and the courtiers following them down the path, just out of sight one curve behind.
Guessing this must be the normal state of affairs for Tenel Ka, Jacen said, “Thank you for taking the time to see me, Queen Mother.”
“No-thank you for coming,” Tenel Ka said. “You cannot know how refreshing it is to speak with someone who is not trying to win my hand or coax something out of me.”
Jacen felt instantly guilty. “Actually, I did come to ask a favor. A big one.”
“I know.” Tenel Ka squeezed his arm and leaned closer to him. “That changes nothing I said. Hapan nobles never ask. They arrange or contrive or-if I am lucky-merely persuade. You would not believe what they do to curry favor.”
Jacen raised his brow. “The amputations?”
“Fencing accidents.” Tenel Ka snorted. The path came to a jungle pond, complete with a waterfall and a small island rising out of the green water. “To judge by the number of limbs being preserved in Hapan cryovats, most of my idiot nobles have no idea which end of a sword to hold.”
They stopped at the edge of the pond, and Jacen leaned down so that his voice would not carry up the path. “You do know we’re not alone, don’t you?”
“Of course.” Tenel Ka turned and raised her voice. “Be gone-or I will ask Jacen to take your other arms.”
The nobles retreated quickly, but Jacen could sense the sentries continuing to lurk in the bushes.
Tenel Ka sighed. “There are some things even a Queen Mother cannot order.” She slipped off her shoes, then turned toward the island. “Would you like to get your feet wet?”
“Why not?” Jacen eyed the twenty-meter distance to the island. “Only our feet?”
“Trust me.” Pulling him along, Tenel Ka stepped out onto the water. Her feet sank only to the ankles. “Walk only where I walk, or it will be more than your feet.”