“I got through to Ogden’s Hope security, Dad,” he said. “I told them what was happening. The man on the other end was asking a lot of questions, but he stopped when I told him the Nihil were here. He…he just…he said they’re too far away to get here in time. The man said he was sorry…but he just sounded like he was afraid. I’ve tried calling back, but they won’t answer.”

“Cowards,” Erika spat.

From below, a sound: a thud, of something heavy hitting their front door, and then a voice.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” it called, floating up from outside, low and strange. “We were just going to take you.”

thud

“Now we’re going to hurt you, too.”

“You want more stew?” Porter Engle said, looking down into Bell’s empty bowl. “Falling’s hungry work, I guess.”

Across the table, Loden chuckled. Bell didn’t care. He was over it. He’d figure out the Force falling eventually, and even if he didn’t, that was no reason to turn down a second bowl of Porter’s Nine-Egg Stew.

Porter Engle was a legend. He’d been in the Jedi Order for over three hundred years, a burly Ikkrukki who, at this point, was more beard than being. He had explored full careers in most of the primary Jedi roles in his time—teacher, explorer, diplomat, warrior—and the stories told about him in any one of those occupations would be enough to ensure his status in the chronicles. He had just one eye, for example, the other lost long ago, a long scar down his face a story of its own. But now he was nearing the end of his span, and his latest and final calling seemed to be cook. The stew really did have nine different kinds of egg in it, but Porter would only reveal five of them. The remaining sources were either too rare or too revolting for him to divulge. Whatever was in it, the stuff was good.

Below the table, Bell felt Ember stir. She was lying across his boots, her internal heat warm and prominent even through the thick leather. The hound was no fool—of all the Jedi of Elphrona, Bell Zettifar was by far the most likely to slip her a bite or two during meals.

The creature had appeared one day at the building’s entrance, skinny, trembling, and with an infected wound on her rear haunch.