[Jedi Apprentice] - 13(19)

“We have not heard. You get your water supply from your Great Sea, do you not?” Adi asked.

He nodded. “It is run through the desalinization tanks and provides us all with drinking water. Every seven years, a naturally occurring bacteria invades. We prepare for this. We know how to contain it, and we stockpile water for our use while the scientists control the bacteria. This year, they could not control it. It has multiplied and spread. But not before it took the lives of many elders and children. Among them my granddaughter.”

“I am so sorry,” Adi said. She bent down slightly to give the man a brief touch on the arm. Underneath Adi’s regal manner, her intuitive nature gave her insight into suffering.

“I am not alone,” the Belascan continued. His bleak gaze swept the empty street. “Many are ill on Belasco. Even the Leader’s own daughter. Most of the ill are children and elders. The Leader has set up med wards on the royal grounds. But every day there are more funerals. Even while all our scientists work to contain the bacteria, we are running out of water. And running out of time.”

Adi bid the elder good-bye and turned to the others. “This news is distressing. It can’t be a coincidence.”

“Jenna Zan Arbor must be behind this,” Qui-Gon said grimly. “She has done this before, introduced a virus or bacteria into a population in order to rush in at the last moment and save it.”

“We’d better get to the royal grounds,” Adi said.

Hurrying now, they followed the curving streets to the palace, which was visible on the main hill of the city. The palace gates stood open to all so that the population could enjoy the gardens. As they walked through they could see that large temporary domes had been set up on the wide lawns surrounding the sprawling rosy palace. Medics walked rapidly by them, and some children sat on benches nearby. They wore white robes, and their thin faces were turned toward the sun.

Adi looked shaken. “If Zan Arbor is responsible, this is monstrous.”

“Could she deliberately make all these children sick?” Siri asked.

“I’m afraid she could,” Qui-Gon said.

Tup swallowed. “If she could do this to kids, imagine what she would have done to us.”

They asked a medic for Uta S’orn’s whereabouts, and he pointed them to a garden at the back of one of the Ward Domes. They found S’orn sitting on a bench, watching over a group of children. Instead of her usual jeweled headwrapping, she wore one of fine white linen. A small girl with dark curls sat in her lap.

Uta S’orn was speaking to the girl with a smile on her face, but it faded when she saw the Jedi.

“This is a surprise,” she said to Qui-Gon. She gave a disdainful glance to Astri, Cholly, Weez, and Tup. “Is this your new entourage?”

The little girl shrank shyly back against Uta S’orn’s lap. Qui-Gon crouched down and smiled gently at her.

“And who are you?”

“Joli K’atel,” she said, and added confidingly, “I’m sick.”

“I am very sorry to hear that. But I’m sure you will be well again.”

She nodded. “My father says it is so.”

“Then it is so,” Qui-Gon said gravely.

Uta S’orn gently eased the girl off her lap and gave her a gentle pat. “Go sit with the others, Joli. I need to speak to these people. Unfortunately.”

The little girl wandered off, the sash of her robe trailing in the grass. Uta S’orn’s face was creased with worry as she watched her.

“I have volunteered as a med aide,” she said quietly. “I thought I could help. I did not know it would break my heart.”

“Is that the Leader’s daughter?” Adi asked.

“Yes. But she is no more important than all of these children,” Uta S’orn said, waving her hand to take in the Ward Domes. “They are our future. We must save them.” She turned to them. “What is it that you want? As you can see, I am busy. Why are you here? It seems I cannot get away from the Jedi.”

“We have reason to believe that Jenna Zan Arbor - ” Qui-Gon began.

She stood up angrily. “Not this again. You have told me what you believe about my former friend. I have not heard from her, nor do I wish to. She has nothing to do with me.”

“But we think that she does,” Adi said. “We think that she is here, on Belasco. We’re not sure why. There could be some link that we are overlooking, some reason she needs to contact you again.”

“But she hasn’t,” Uta S’orn said impatiently. “And I will not see her if she tries. All right?”

“She might insist,” Qui-Gon said. “And she can. Ona Nobis is here as well. She has kidnapped and killed for Jenna Zan Arbor before.”