“Yeah, and it’s noisier, too.”
Han stood, then grabbed a priceless larmal-topped end table and started across the room.
Leia jumped up to block his way. “Han, what are you doing?”
“I can’t take it anymore.” He gave Leia a quick half wink, then started around her. “That tocking is driving me nuts.”
“So I see.” Leia caught him by the arm. “But the crazy act won’t get us an audience any sooner. We’re not under surveillance.”
“Of course we are. This is Hapes, remember?”
“It’s Tenel Ka’s Hapes.” Leia turned him around to face her. “And she respects us too much to spy on us.” Han rolled his eyes. “Yeah, right.”
“She knows we’d notice the surveillance, so why risk insulting us when she won’t learn anything? This way, she can let us know that no matter what our differences, she still considers us friends.”
“Let me see if I’ve got this straight.” Han continued to hold the table up by his shoulder, “She keeps us cooling our heels seven hours to make sure we know we’re still friends?”
“Exactly,” Leia said. “It’s the same reason flight control had us land the Falcon in the Royal Hangar. She’s trying to let us know politely that she won’t be able to see us.” Han’s stomach sank. “Tell me this isn’t one of those diplomatic code things.” Leia gave him an apologetic smile. “Afraid so. You know how Coruscant would react if she gave us an audience. Omas and Niathal would think she was considering the possibility of recalling her fleets-possibly even helping Corellia.”
“Then how come she told Gejjen to send us?”
“To placate her nobles, I’m sure,” Leia said. “She needed to buy some time to maneuver, and now we’ve served our purpose.”
“So she used us,” Han said. “I hate that.”
“It wasn’t personal, Han.” Leia took the end table from his hands and used the Force to float it back to its place “We’ll just have to wait. Eventually, she’ll find a way to see us without the spies knowing.”
“Eventually?” Han went to the intercom panel next the door. “She can do better than that.”
“Han, you can’t keep…”
“Sure I can.”
Han pressed the call button, and a moment later the peevish face of one of Tenel Ka’s male social secretaries appeared on the vidscreen.
“Captain Solo,” he said, obviously exasperated.
“Is there something I can do for you?”
“Yeah,” Han said. “You can tell Tenel Ka I’m tired waiting.”
The man’s expression grew weary. “As I’ve already explained, the Queen Mother is unavailable. She asked to assure you that as soon as she can break free…”
“Break free?” Han cried. “We were supposed to have half a day with her. We’ve already been here twice that-
“Excuse me, Captain,” the secretary said. “Were you under the impression that the Queen Mother was expeting you?”
“Of course I’m under that impression. We had an appointment!” Han was ready to crawl through the intercom and choke the man. “If you think we came ail the way from Corellia just to drop in…”
“Are you saying we’re not expected?” Leia interrupted, coming to stand next to Han.
“Indeed I am,” the secretary replied. “The Queen Mother canceled the conference when Prime Minister Gejjen insisted it had to be held on the same day as the Queen’s Pageant.”
Han scowled. “The Queen’s Pageant?”
“To pick the most handsome man in the Consortium,” C-3PO explained. “After the Queen Mother’s Birthday and the Marauders’ Masquerade, it’s the largest ball of the year.”
“Precisely.” The secretary nodded. “Of course the Queen Mother is unavailable today.”
“You don’t say.” Han was starting to have a bad feeling . about their assignment. “And it’s always on the twentieth?”
“On the last day of the third week,” C-3PO corrected. “The tradition is more than four thousand years old. It seems that the first Queen Mother threw the original pageant as a parody on the slave auctions once held…”
“Enough, Threepio,” Han said. “We don’t need the history of the whole cluster.”
“Your droid is correct about the ancient history of the tradition,” the secretary said from the intercom. “I explained all this to Prime Minister Gejjen myself.”