He was holding the rusty knife he’d found in the dungeon.
“Hang on, Tash,” he urged her. “I’ve got an idea.”
Letting go of her hand, Zak carefully eased himself down beside her. He had to move slowly to keep from slipping too far down the pit.
The Sarlacc’s tentacle had wrapped itself twice around Tash’s ankle. The brownish-green tentacle looked tough. “Not as tough as stone,” Zak told himself.
He plunged the knife into the Sarlacc’s flesh.
Deep beneath them, buried under tons of sand, the Sarlacc roared. The ground trembled, causing little rivers of sand to pour down the slope and into the monster’s mouth.
Still, the tentacle held. The Sarlacc refused to give up its meal.
Zak raised the knife and brought it down again. This time the blade sank deep. The tentacle slipped free, taking the knife with it, and slithered back into the Sarlacc’s mouth.
Zak and Tash scrambled up the slope until they reached the top of the pit and safety.
Zak climbed to his feet, brushing sand off his clothes as he turned to grin at Tash.
She wasn’t smiling.
“You stupid nerfherder!” she yelled.
Zak was stunned.
“You could have gotten me killed!” she fumed.
“I just saved your life!” he protested.
“I didn’t need saving until you showed up! I wasn’t in any trouble until you made me slip. And by the way, you let the Sarlacc know I was there when you yelled.”
Zak tried to argue. “But-“
“Oh, never mind!” she said, stomping off through the sand. “Just stop following me around like a little lost bantha cub!”
Zak made his own way back to Jabba’s palace. All he had wanted to do was make sure Tash was safe. Wasn’t that the job of a brother? Wasn’t that the job of a friend?
Moping through the palace, Zak reached their rooms just as Hoole arrived. “Zak!” the Shi’ido sighed. “Where have you been? Where is Tash?”
” Just… around,” Zak replied. He’d already made her mad enough. He didn’t want to get her in trouble with Uncle Hoole.
Zak let out a deep breath. “Uncle Hoole, can I talk to you?
“I don’t understand Tash,” Zak said, once they’d seated themselves in Hoole’s room. “We’ve always been pretty close. Especially after Mom and Dad died. I mean, we get into little fights, but we’ve always been friends first. Now she treats me like I’m a little kid. It’s like she doesn’t want to be friends anymore.”
Zak felt his face redden. He even felt like a little kid saying it.
Hoole’s face softened more than Zak had ever seen. The hard lines vanished. Although they’d been together for almost a year now, Zak and Hoole had never had a serious talk.
“Zak,” Hoole said gently. “You know I do not have much experience as a parent, or even an uncle. I have always been too busy with my research. So it would be wrong for me to try to sound like a parent now.
“But,” he continued, “I think I can help you by telling you what I have noticed as an anthropologist. Humans of Tash’s age need to feel grown up. They want to find new friends and new ways to have fun. They change.”
Hoole pointed at Zak, then at himself. “I have always found it very strange, the changes humans go through during their lives. We Shi’ido do not do that. Our personalities never change. Humans never change their shape, but their personalities are always changing-sometimes happy, sometimes sad, always finding new interests. Shi’ido, however, change shape all the time, but our personalities remain the same from the day we are born. That is what makes us what we are.”
Zak was amazed. Hoole had never spoken to him about anything this personal.
Hoole continued. “But there is an old saying among the Shi’ido: ‘No matter how many times we change our shape, we always look like ourselves to those who know us.’ It means that whatever shape I choose, my true friends will recognize me.”
He put a hand on Zak’s shoulder. “What is true for my appearance is true for Tash’s personality. I am sure that if you look closely, you will find the Tash you always knew.”
Zak could hardly believe his ears. Hoole had always tried to protect his niece and nephew-several times he’d even risked his own life to save theirs. But Zak always thought Hoole was doing what he had to do, not what he wanted to do.
Realizing that Hoole really did care for him, Zak took his words to heart. Maybe Hoole was right about Tash. And if he was right, then their friendship could last, whatever Tash was going through.
Excusing himself, Zak went to look for his sister. He had a feeling he knew where to find her.