Stellan crouched down and offered Ember the leather. She sniffed it once and then once again and then scooted off into the crush of people. Stellan jumped up, the holster grasped in his hand, and took back his lightsaber before taking off after her.

“Maybe I’m getting better with animals,” he shouted back as Bell chased after them both. “Proof you’re never too old to learn.”

They would have run straight past Mann if it weren’t for Ember. They had followed the charhound out of the fair park into the heart of Lonisa City itself, only for her to lose the scent at the last minute.

Bell had felt Stellan reach out with the Force in an attempt to locate his old friend, but Ember had barked sharply and scurried around the corner of a droid dealership that was making the most of so many tourists being in town. They pelted along a crowded side street and would have come bursting out of the other end if Ember hadn’t suddenly skidded to a halt and barked sharply, looking up to the roof of one of the buildings.

The street was illuminated by lanterns strung from building to building, and yet the glow-bulbs around this particular roof were all out. Stellan put a finger to his lips, then dipped into a narrow alley between the building in question and a noisy saloon—the Lake’s Rest. Before Bell had gone after him, Ember at his heels, Stellan had leapt from the ground to the roof, leapfrogging from one wall to the next.

“You stay there,” Bell told Ember before following the Council member, using a second-story windowsill to bounce up to the roof. At first neither Jedi saw Mann, but then their senses came into focus and they spotted him crouched near the edge of the flat roof. A look of annoyance crossed his face, and he beckoned them over.

“What are you doing here?” he hissed through gritted teeth. “Get down, for void’s sake.”

“We’re looking for you,” Stellan said as they scrambled down to where Mann had been hiding, using the Force to mask his presence.

“Master Gios sensed something was wrong,” Bell explained, choking slightly at the dust they had kicked up.

“Did he now?” Mann glared at Bell. “And who are you?”

“This is Padawan Zettifar,” Stellan explained.

Mann grunted.

“Ah. Greatstorm’s apprentice. Just keep yourself covered. I don’t want anyone to see that we’re here.”

“Why?” Stellan asked. “What are you waiting for?”

“It’s what he’s waiting for that I’m interested in.” Mann pointed out an open window on the third floor of the cantina. A Sullustan was deep in conversation with a heavy-set Orzrelanso with long drooping earlobes and shoulders that wouldn’t have looked out of place on a Gamorrean.

“Tia Toon,” Stellan breathed.

“As large as life.”

“Which one?” Bell asked, watching the Sullustan pace around the thug in the suit.