It was only a few quick minutes to Mali Errat’s lab. It was shuttered and dark, but Obi-Wan pounded on the door. Mali stuck his head out of a window on the second story. His fringe of white hair made a wispy halo around his head.
“Who is it?” he roared. “Who comes so early in the morning!”
“It’s me, Mali!” Obi-Wan called. He stepped out into the street so that the technician could get a good look at him.
“Impatient young man! Where have you been?” Mali cried, pounding excitedly on the windowsill. “I have your results. I’ll be right down.”
Seconds later, the door opened. Mali stood in the doorway in his unisuit. A datasheet fluttered in his hand. “I am a genius!” he proclaimed.
“What did you find?” Obi-Wan demanded.
“I searched every record of chemical agents in the galaxy,” Mali said. “Every engineered compound, every secret poison, every chemical… and do you know why I could not find your agent?” Obi-Wan shook his head impatiently.
“Because it was a natural agent!” Mali roared.
“What a surprise! Who uses them anymore? No one! It is dimilatis. An herb! It grows in the sea plains of Gala. A pinch or two is harmless. But the local people know that if it’s dried, and used in certain concentrations, it mimics the effect of a wasting illness. Ultimately fatal, of course.”
“If it grows on the sea plains of Gala, it’s probably in the palace gardens,” Obi-Wan said, thinking.
“Come on, Obi-Wan, let’s go,” Jono urged. “We have to tell the Council.”
“Is there an antidote?” Obi-Wan asked.
Mali held up a vial. “I have made one up. It will cost you…”
Obi-Wan stuffed all his credits in the elder’s hands. He grabbed the vial. Urging Jono to hurry, he raced toward the palace.
Jono led Obi-Wan to a part of the palace he’d never visited, high in the tower overlooking the gardens.
“I need to get to the Queen,” Obi-Wan said impatiently.
“They told me I should bring you here,” Jono said nervously. “The guards are on the lookout for you. You’d never make it. They will bring you to the Queen.”
Obi-Wan moved to the small window. He looked down at the leafy top of a great lindemor tree. Below it spread the orderly rows of the kitchen gardens.
“Do you know the gardeners well, Jono?” he asked. “Are there any among them who would plot against the Queen?”
“I don’t know,” Jono said.
“They would have to know a great amount about herbs,” Obi-Wan said thoughtfully. “Or what about that council member with the blue-white eyes? He’s always in the gardens.”
“Viso is the Queen’s staunchest supporter,” Jono said.
“A council member would have access to the Queen’s chambers,” Obi-Wan said thoughtfully. “But still, it would be strange if he brought food.” Access was the key, he knew. The poison would have to be brought to the Queen by someone above suspicion….
The thought shot through him like a laser. The green below him became a blur to his eyes. Jono. His friend was the only one who had access to the gardens and to the Queen. Qui-Gon had been right. Sometimes the obvious was the answer.
Jono had said he missed the sea. The poison had come from the sea plains. He had the daily duty of picking flowers for the Queen’s bouquet. Easy to pick a bit of dimilatis, too. And Jono was the one to deliver the Queen’s nightly tea, as Qui-Gon had pointed out.
Obi-Wan turned. Jono backed up a step.
“What is it, Obi-Wan?” he asked. A look of concern was on his face, but Obi-Wan sensed his nervousness.
“It was you, wasn’t it, Jono,” Obi-Wan said gently. “You poisoned the Queen.”
“Poison the Queen? I could not do such a thing!” Jono cried. “You know it could have been anybody!”
“But it wasn’t,” Obi-Wan said. “It was you.”
Qui-Gon had often told Obi-Wan that he was often not in touch with the living Force. But now Obi-Wan could read his friend’s guilt as clearly as a sensor. He saw desperation and fear in Jono’s eyes.
And something else: anger.
He said nothing, just kept his eyes on Jono.
Slowly, the mask of innocence dropped from Jono’s face. “And why shouldn’t it be me?” Jono asked softly. “Thanks to you Jedi, I was almost exiled from the palace!”
“But to kill the Queen…” Obi-Wan started slowly.
“Don’t you understand, Obi-Wan?” Jono cried. “This is all I have! The Dunns have been part of the royal family for generations. It is what I was trained for, bred for. The honor of my family depends on me.”