She laughs, startled, lets herself be seen and applauded - it's weird and almost terrifying but also exhilarating, how excited everyone is -

The race winds down, the other five whose pods didn't crash following fairly close behind, and Anakin starts making her way over to Qui-Gon's box.

(There are thoughts and gazes turning to him - people he made bets with, all of whom have now lost. Still, there's a mood of jubilation and startled delight at the exciting race - he's unlikely to see many people going back on their bets.)

(He's going to slip away into the crowd discreetly so he can collect his winnings from one person at a time and avoid any sort of talking-to-two-people-as-two-assumed-identities comedy-of-errors shenanigans.)

It takes a while for Anakin to get back, anyways - being a sudden celebrity is weirdly tiring! And she's content to chatter at Kelié when she does.

(Qui-Gon doesn't run into much trouble with the people he'd bet for their slaves, not if he's clever about witnesses - Jabba narrows his eyes at him, but the witness to the original bet is still present, and Jabba concedes with feigned grace.)

(Of course, the bet against Gardulla will be more complicated to fulfill...)

"Gardulla," he says.  "Good to see you again."  He's got a good poker face.

Gardulla the Hutt is - laughing, actually. "That was a good race. A good bet!" she tells him. "Rare that just about everyone loses. Makes things more exciting, though - people'll talk about this one."

"I believe they will," he says.  "I don't mean to sound too pointed, but I believe I need to collect from you as well."

"Of course!" she says, jovially. "You'd wanted a tour, yes?"

"I do," he says.  "I'll let you lead the way."

"Well, I have a few things to finish here, but then you can follow my party back - or ride along, if you'd like the full experience."

"I'll meet you there."

She grunts and goes about her business.

And, soon enough, her small convoy is ready to leave back to her compound.

He joins her convoy in one of Kelié's ship's speeders, thankful for the chance to give his false smile a rest.

Her compound's built into the landscape of Tattooine - not particularly grand from the outside, hardly visible from most angles (especially above), and highly defensible. It's built for war, as much as pleasure.

The entry bay is fit for their speeders, though, with guards posted at the only entrance deeper within.

Gardulla herself slithers down from her somewhat grander ship, squinting about.

"This place is quite an achievement," he says as he disembarks.  "I'll let you lead the way."

She does so, chattering to him about the palace as she slithers along.

Looks like he made it in all right.  All that's left now is to keep up his poker face and wait.

Someone else has made it in alright, too.

Anakin ghosted out of his ship once Gardulla left - she's sometimes hard to trick, and Anakin's not taking any chances - and through the hallways she mostly remembers in nightmares (and dreams of the future, sometimes; those are perhaps nightmares for everyone but her), to Gardulla's control room.

Now, what're the defenses here...

First she's gotta get inside the control room itself; the door's locked shut electronically, with a numerical keypad on its right.

She stands to the side so no one will bump into her and watches, searching mentally for visions of people opening the keypad - though if someone happens to walk through the door first, all the better.

No one comes this way, but from the couple of people inside she can put together a mix of visual recall and muscle memory.

This bit's tricky... She enters the code into the pad while very aggressively projecting 'there is absolutely nothing abnormal going on here, you see what you expect.'

She's in a calm mindset as she does so, of course, but - she's alert as the door slides open for any questioning or alarms.

One person, who happens to be looking at the door, frowns vaguely at her and then turns away; the others ignore her.

The door slides closed behind her, and she goes completely from their awareness.

Now, if she's lucky, there'll be an unattended console...

A couple, even!  One closer to the door and a dusty one off in a less-traveled corner.

The dusty one, she thinks - she feels she'll be less likely to be disturbed there.

She makes her way over carefully, trying to envelop the concept of 'nothing is happening over here' in her cloak as she begins investigating the console properly. First, to turn it on...