[Dark Nest] - 1(51)

Leia appeared less stunned than Han by Raynar’s politeness.

She smiled graciously, then said, “Sometimes, art helps us know each other better. Do you know what this painting depicts?”

Raynar nodded. “It shows an arm of the Lost Nest.” He still did not look away. “We remember it well.”

“The Lost Nest?” Luke asked.

“Remember it?” Han gasped. “It’s ancient!”

Raynar finally tore his gaze from the moss-painting.

“We remember the nest.” He fixed his eyes on Leia. “When humans came to Alderaan, they called it the Castle Lands. But we knew the nest as Oroboro. Our Home.”

Han shook his head in disbelief. He liked to say that all bugs were alike, but not even he had assumed that the Kind and the Killiks were actually the same. Sure, they shared the same general body shape and had the same number of limbs, but beyond that, the Kind looked like the Killiks in the painting about as much as humans looked like Aqualish. The towers, on the other hand, were another matter. In both the painting and the Yoggoy nest, they were crooked cones with distinctly banded exteriors.

Leia did not sound surprised at all. “So the Killiks didn’t go extinct, as everyone supposed. They simply left Alderaan thousands of years ago.”

“You seem less surprised at that than Lizil was to see a painting of Oroboro,” Raynar said.

“I’ve had my suspicions since we arrived at Yoggoy,” Leia replied smoothly She turned back to the painting. “Archaeologists have dated the oldest of those spires to twenty-five thousand standard years.”

“Correct,” Raynar said. “The Celestials emptied Oroboro ten thousand generations ago-that would be twenty thousand years, as humans measure time.”

Han wanted to ask who the Celestials were-and what Raynar meant by emptied. He also wanted to ask if a Killik generation really passed at the rate of one every two years. But he could see by the set of his wife’s jaw that she was pursuing her own line of questioning.

“And yet, only three towers had collapsed before Alderaan was destroyed,” Leia said. “No maintenance or repairs, exposed to the elements all that time, and only three collapse. But here, a tower just happens to collapse as we’re about to pass by. Do you see where I’m going with this?”

“There is more gravity here than on Alderaan,” Raynar countered. “And the ground does not make such strong spitcrete.”

“This was still the first tower to collapse for no apparent reason,” Luke reminded him.

“There is always a first, Master Skywalker.” Raynar turned back to Killik Twilight and began to study it. “We cannot explain what happened. Please accept our apologies.”

Han exchanged looks of frustration with Luke and Leia, but Saba-who did not truly understand the concept of apology - made a distasteful grating sound in her throat.

“This one does not want your apology, young Thul. She does not eat humanz.” She glanced out into the corridor, where Raynar’s duo of assistant Killiks stood waiting. “And she has never cared for the taste of insectz, either.”

Raynar’s head snapped around so quickly that Han feared he was about to have bloody Barabel scales flying all over his sleeping quarters.

“Take it easy, kid. You remember how Barabels are.” Han took Raynar by the arm and started forward. “Sorry for the misunderstanding, but we still need to get under way. Why don’t you tell us about these Celestials on the way out?”

“If you like.” Raynar allowed himself to guided into the corridor. “It was after we built Qolaraloq-you Others call it Centerpoint Station. The Celestials were angry-“

Saba stumbled into Han’s back as he stopped dumbfounded in the corridor.

“You’re saying Centerpoint was built by Killiks?” Leia gasped. Finally, she sounded like something had surprised her.

Instead of answering, Raynar abruptly stopped. “We need to see the aft hold. Your Noghri are abducting Captain Juun and his first mate.”

Han winced inwardly. “Abducting? What makes you say that?”

The muffled whine of an angry Sullustan drifted up the access corridor. “… will not be quiet! Let me see Captain-“

Juun’s voice fell silent, but Raynar was already out the cabin door.

Han turned to Leia. “Abducting?”

Leia shrugged. “I told Cakhmaim to bring Juun and Tarfang to the Falcon. I guess they didn’t want to come.”

“A misunderstanding,” Luke said. “We’d better go explain.”

Luke led the way into the access corridor, and they caught up to Raynar and his attendants outside the aft hold. Raynar hit the touch pad, then scowled when the hatch did not open and raised his palm toward it.