Regatta At Argenteuil

For the life of him he couldn't understand what Ben wanted with the monster, orwhy he was spending his time in guttural conversation with it instead of with the now-vanished Corellians. So he sat and sipped his drink in splendid silence, his eyesroving over the crowd in hopes of meeting a responsive gaze that held no belligerence. Suddenly, something shoved him roughly from behind, so hard he almost fell.He turned angrily, but his fury spent itself in astonishment. He found himselfconfronted by a large squarish monstrosity of multiple eyes and indeterminate origin. "Negola dewaghi wooldugger?" the apparition bubbled challengingly. Luke had never seen its like before; he knew neither its species nor its language.The gabbling might have been an invitation to a fight, a request to share a drink, or amarriage proposal. Despite his ignorance, however, Luke could tell by the way thecreature bobbed and wove unsteadily on its podal supports that it had imbibed toomuch of whatever it considered a pleasing intoxicant. Not knowing what else to do, Luke tried turning back to his own drink whilestudiously ignoring the creature. As he did so, a thing—a cross between a capybaraand a small baboon—bounced over to stand (or squat) next to the quivering many-eye.A short, companionable arm around the snuffling mass. "He doesn't like you," the stubby human informed Luke in a surprisingly deepvoice. "I'm sorry about that," Luke admitted, wishing heartily he were somewhere else. "I don't like you either," the smiling little man went on with brotherly negativity. "I said I was sorry about it."