The Seventh Star (novel)/Chapter 9

The address brought Jali to an upmarket residential area of Coruscant. The buildings were pleasant-looking and were painted with pleasing colours. He continued past on his speeder bike the entrance to Nami Kotour’s building until he found what he was looking for—a flower stall.

The blue-haired woman tending the stall looked at him. “You after something?”

Jali shrugged. “Think so,” he said.

She crossed her arms and stared at him. “How guilty are you feeling?”

Jali considered. “Fairly,” he said finally. “When I left her she was pretty upset.”

“Forgot the anniversary, hey?” she teased.

“Something like that,” Jali said.

“Here,” she proffered a large bouquet of violet roses imported from Naboo. “This oughta do for you, what say?”

Jali handed over the money and took the flowers. Grinning to himself, he went in to the apartment building and inquired at the desk.

“Got a delivery for a Nami Kotour,” he said to one of the clerks. “What apartment? They didn’t tell me.” He kept the flowers firmly over his face.

The clerk checked the system without asking any questions. “Seventieth floor, room 1138,” he told Jali.

“Thanks.” Jali took the turbolift up.



The apartment wasn't that hard to find, and he kept his face well-hidden by the flowers and said “delivery” when a silvery voice inquired who was at the door.

“Flowers, for me?” asked Nami as she opened the door. “Oooh!” she squealed, opening her arms to receive them. “They’re lovely!” she trilled.

With a grin Jali handed them over. “Do you mind if I come in?” he asked. “There’s something else I have for you that I don’t want to hand over in the doorway.”

The mauve Twi’lek examined Jali closely, considering for a moment. Jali could clearly see her dilated pupils. There was also a distinctive smell about her clothes, skimpy as they were. Ryll, Jali automatically thought. He had seen it destroy more lives than he would care to admit.

“Okay,” she chirped, cradling the flowers in her arms. “But not for long, okay?”

Jali nodded and Nami opened the door wider to admit him.

While Nami left to find a vase, Jali took a look around the apartment. The whole place screamed ‘love nest’. The red velvet walls, the crimson deep-piled carpet, the mirrors on the bedroom ceiling, the underwear, bottles, glasses and drug paraphernalia left everywhere.

“Very, very, very nice,” Nami tittered, putting an expensive caged glass vase on the low table with the flowers inside. Jali tried not to look at her as she bent over the table. “Now, what else was it that you said?”

Jali looked at her carefully. She clearly did not remember, another symptom of excessive ryll use.

“It’s just something I wanted to ask you,” he said. “I know who you are, and I think you can help me.”

The Twi’lek’s eyes widened and she slank away from him like a cornered animal. “What do you want?” she demanded, her voice almost a shriek. “''What do you want? Just take it and leave!''”

She slumped against the wall, her legs splayed out at odd angles. Jali started towards her, was she all right? All he needed was to be the witness of an overdose.

Nami opened her eyes. “Well? Why are you waiting? Go ahead!” She started to remove her clothing, it tore away easy. “Here, that helps.” She arched her shoulders back, tilting her head up.

Jali stared at her for a long moment, then shook himself and looked away. The last thing I want to do tonight is look at a naked Twi’lek woman, he thought. “Put your clothes back on, sit down and be a good girl.” He sat down on the couch and tried not to look at her.

“Yes sir,” she said, putting her clothes on obediently and sitting on the couch opposite him.

Carefully, Jali looked up, but it was impossible. “This will never do,” he said, removing his coat and then draping it over her shoulders, making sure her chest was covered. “Now, tell me about the people who come here.”

“Mmmmm.” She sucked a finger. “There’s Aldie, he comes a few times a week and we go in there!” She pointed to the bedroom, causing the coat to open. Jali made a gesture, she giggled and closed it.

“Aldie?” Jali asked.

“He’s a senator,” Nami told him, grinning.

“Does he have a last name?” Jali probed.

“Stoll,” Nami said.

So it was Senator Stoll, the same one that Tira worked for.

“He bought me this place and lots and lots of nice things,” Nami trilled, giggling hysterically.

Jali sighed, this was going to take a while. “Who else comes to see you?”

“Well, there’s you,” Nami said, laughing wildly.

Jali made an impatient gesture. “Forget about me,” he told her. “Who else comes? Who gets you the ryll?”

“Nuada,” Nami said. “Well, I think that’s his name. He’s a little funny, he can see what I think.” She giggled again.

That wouldn’t be hard, Jali thought bitterly. He was beginning to see just what Guren had meant when he said it would be hard to extract information from Nami.

“Does he have another name?” Jali asked.

Nami shrugged and said she didn’t know.

“Why is Nuada funny?” Jali asked her.

“He has no eyes,” Nami told him, her own eyes with their enlarged pupils widening at this. “He looks like you, but has no eyes.”

He’s a Miraluka then, Jali surmised. Could this Nuada be the next link? Guren had told him that Nami was just a stop from one source of information to another. But he needed more information.

“Do you know where I could find this Nuada?” Jali asked her as she dissolved into yet another fit of giggles.

“He comes and sees me,” Nami said, “maybe you can meet him! That would be fun!”

“I don’t think so,” Jali murmured, but Nami heard him.

“Why not?” The Twi’lek cocked her head to one side; the coat hung suggestively open.

“Just a feeling,” Jali said.

Nami giggled again. “Nuada just has feelings like you,” she said. “He took me out once.”

Jali grabbed onto this detail. “Where?”

Nami shrugged. “Little place, high stools, little girl in the kitchen, this short guy who talked a lot.”

“Where was it?” Jali asked.

“It was round and square,” Nami said, shrugging. “Lots of little towers around it, up a little high.”

Round and square…towers…little girl…short guy. It had to be Didi’s Café. Jali could have kissed her, he may only have the first name of who he was looking for, but it was something. It wasn’t the first time he did not have much to go on in order to find someone.

He left as soon as he could, and headed to where he had parked his speeder bike. Someone followed him out of the building and got into a red and black airspeeder parked a safe distance from Jali’s bike. When Jali had headed off, the speeder followed.