Chapter Text
Allana wasn't any good at peace.
She didn't struggle in other fields. The teachers at the Jedi academy on Shedu Maad said she had a talent for action. They said the Force flowed through her when she was in motion, mind and body set on one goal, and she felt it flowing sometimes, strengthening like adrenaline, when she ran through obstacle courses, moved objects, or practiced with her newly-crafted lightsaber. Her mother always stressed that strenuous physical exercise was essential to perfecting your body, mind, and connection with the Force, and Allana had come to understand what she meant. Sometimes when she was in motion it felt like she was in perfect synchronization with the universe itself.
But sitting down, meditating, and finding inner peace was always hard.
She tried anyway as she sat in her private cabin aboard the Dragon Queen II. Her mother had insisted on it. The impulse from hyperdrive engines vibrated softly beneath her as she sat cross-legged on the deck, eyes squeezed shut against the cabin's total dark.
With her eyes closed she could hear that tiny hum of the engines, the whirr of recycled air. There was little else; her cabin was in the most secure area of the ship, and no feet clapped by the hall outside. She felt very alone here in the dark, and beneath the hum and whirr she registered something else; something that made no sound but felt like a whisper.
The whisper was soft but not comforting. Instead it promised, menacingly, that the Force held more than she could ever know. It offered paths of darkness that might claim her if she just stopped long enough to peer down them. There were many such paths, interlaced with courses of light, and she was afraid that if she even stopped to hesitate, the path she'd followed so far would disappear and she'd become lost in darkness.
Quiet promised too much. Allana could only stand it for a little while. After some uncounted time, she commanded the cabin lights on. Her eyes burned red, but it was still better than tempting dark. She rose to her feet, put on boots and overcoat hurriedly. She wanted only to be outside.
It was liberating to escape her cabin. Allana strode down the halls, through the secure gates, all the way to the Dragon Queen II's bridge. As soon as she stepped through the final blast doors the duty officer snapped, "Majesty on deck!" and all as one the women at the helm stations rose, turned on their heels to face their princess, and snapped formal bows.
Allana was still getting used to that. Almost all the childhood she could remember had been spent traipsing around the galaxy with her grandparents on their ancient freighter. Much of her youth, including most of the past two years, had been spent among the Jedi, and while Shedu Maad was a more formal place than the Millenium Falcon, it was in its own way egalitarian. Not so the Dragon Queen II, where Allana was constantly reminded that she was chume'da, heir to the Hapan throne. It was no wonder why her mother had preferred to spend her youth on Dathomir and Yavin 4.
Allana made a small dismissive gesture and the crew returned attention to their stations, but the princess was quickly approached by a woman with graying hair braided halfway down her back and a wide-shouldered colonel's uniform. Though Allana was stretching tall in her fifteenth year, Espara had half a head on the princess.
"Is there anything we can help you with, Majesty?"
Allana had just wanted to get away from her cabin, but she couldn't tell Espara that. With that formal dignity her mother and grandmother had drilled into her, the kind you always had to keep on show in public, Allana asked, "Do you have an estimate on our arrival time, Colonel?"
"We're still a way out from our destination, Majesty. At least seven hours."
"But we have the coordinates?"
"Yes, Majesty, we've received the final package and are en route." A pause lingered between them. Espara has served Allana and her mother for over twenty years, and though she was too professional to say it, she probably had an idea what had driven the princess to the bridge. "Is there anything else, Majesty?"
Allana looked past Espara's braided shoulder to the strobe of hyperspace outside the bridge's curving floor-to-ceiling viewport. "That will be all. I'd like to stay and observe for a while."
"Of course, Majesty. Let me know if you need assistance."
Allana nodded, dismissing the colonel. She lingered at the back of the bridge, doing her best to keep out of sight of the crew. They were in the middle of a long hyperspace jump in a situation that was not expected to involve any combat whatsoever; nonetheless, the deck was fully staffed. Under the circumstances it was perfectly natural. The Dragon Queen II was taking both the queen and chume'da- the most important women in the Hapes Consortium- to a conference with the heads of the Imperial Remnant.
Officially it was the first meeting between the two governments since the Battle of Uroro Station a decade ago. Allana could just barely remember that fight. She'd been on the original Dragon Queen when the Jedi lured the Galactic Alliance's fleet into an ambush outside Shedu Maad. When the Imperials had attacked the Dragon Queen with a nanovirus and killed hundreds of crew in their outrageous attempt to assassin-ate Hapes' monarch. When Allana and Tenel Ka had just barely survived.
When her father had died.
This conference was supposed to mark a normalization of relations between two governments that had spent the last decade being just shy of enemies. In truth, negotiators had been holding secret talks for two years. This event was going to mark a formal, public mending of ties; the appearance of Tenel Ka and her counterpart, Vitor Reige, was more symbolic than anything, but the symbolism was essential.
It was also exceedingly risky, which was why this meeting wasn't going to take place on any planet in Hapan or Imperial space. In fact, it would be set in Alliance territory and not on any planet at all. The spatial location of the Ithorian herd ship Tafanda Bay was a closely-held secret; the coordinates were supposed to be transmitted only to the Dragon Queen II and its Imperial counterpart once both ships were en route.
According to Espara the coordinates had been received. Seven hours was a long way to go, but it was the last leg of a longer trip.
Allana watched hyperspace flare and wondered they'd truly be safe on Tafana Bay. She wasn't sure how long she'd stood there when her mother showed up, but she felt a brush in the Force before the duty officer called the crew to attention a second time.
With her own little gesture, Queen Mother Tenel Ka Djo ordered the women to return to their stations. Unlike Allana, who still needed to change into her ceremonial outfit, Tenel Ka was dressed in layers of Dramassian shimmersilk, gleaming platinum embroidered with golden whirls. Sometimes Allana had a hard time believing that her mother had grown up preferring rough animal-hide tunics; she seemed so natural in those gilded robes, in a way Allana doubted she'd ever be herself.
Tenel Ka sidled next to her daughter. Facing the viewport, lowering her voice, she said, "There's still many hours before we arrive at our destination."
Which was her way of telling Allana to go back to her cabin and meditate some more. In an even softer voice, she told her mother, "I worked at it for a while. And I think I made some progress."
"Is this a fact?" Tenel Ka's gray eyes slipped sideways and bore into her. Allana wondered if all mothers were so infuri-atingly perceptive, or if it was just ones with Force powers.
"I did," Allana insisted. "It's still… tricky."
"I understand," said Tenel Ka, "But it's something you must keep working on. A Jedi has to know herself in moments of stillness before she can be ready for moments of action."
Allana looked pointedly toward the viewport. "Action's more fun."
"Perhaps. But it is also less important."
Allana wasn't sure about of that. Meditating might be essential to finding yourself in the Force, but to everyone who wasn't tuning themselves to that mystic power- like Espara, all these officers, the citizens on Tafanda Bay and across the galaxy- a Jedi's actions were a lot more important. Nobody would care about her mother if Tenel Ka just sat in a cave on Dathomir all day. And her father…
Allana pushed the thought away. She usually tried very hard not to think about her father. This conference and the attenuate anniversary were making it hard.
Tenel Ka sensed that too. "We must concentrate on the present, not the past," she warned. "This conference is going to make a better present, and future."
"The agreement's already setup. You're just there to look Reige in the eye and shake his hand. And I just get to smile and watch. It doesn't sound complicated."
"Everything is complicated, especially the things that appear simple."
"Great." It took all her regal training for Allana not to roll her eyes.
Getting into an argument on the bridge of the Dragon Queen II would also be bad for the royal mystique, so for a long minute mother and daughter stood at the aft of the bridge, watching hyperspace, saying nothing.
Finally, Tenel Ka suggested, "At the least you should be rested when we reach Tafanda Bay."
"All right. I'll go back to my cabin and stop distracting the crew. Happy?"
"I recommend you at least attempt meditation. We have plenty of time."
"I'll think about it."
"Very well. Please meet me on the flight deck fifteen minutes before we reach our destination."
"I will." Allana stepped away from her mother, gave her a respectful nod, then quickly turned and left the bridge. She was glad to be out of there just like she'd been glad to leave her cabin. Unfortunately, there was no place on this ship that gave her solace.
They said the Ithorian herdships, which now wandered the hyperlanes after the destruction of their homeworld a quarter-century ago, were some of the most beautiful things to sail the stars. Each one contained vast jungles in is belly where it preserved the holy forests of lost Ithor. To the unhomed Ithorians they were more than just transports; they were cathedrals. Maybe, just maybe, Allana would find some peace there.
-{}-
Jaina Solo Fel had expected her return to the Tafanda Bay, home base of the defense of Ithor more than half a lifetime ago, to rouse up some interesting memories. She'd gotten a whiff of them when the vast herdship, shaped like a great bronze bowl with multiple domes fillings its topside, appeared in the viewport of her shuttle. She'd gotten a little more when she stepped onto the landing deck, and when she first caught sight of the great jungles enclosed by miles-wide transparisteel roofs.
But mostly she was too busy to bask in yesteryears. The Dragon Queen II and its Imperial counterpart, the brand-new star destroyer Ephin Saretti, were still hours away, but security teams had been given the herdship's coordinates and early access so they might go over the setting.
Jaina had the unlikely honor of heading up the Imperial team. Reige and Tenel Ka were each bringing a coterie of dignitaries to take part in the signing ceremony, dignitaries that were supposed to be trustworthy, but in the Imperial Remnant and Hapes Consortium, trust was not something you took for granted. Hence the presence of Jedi on Tafanda Bay, which had been jointly requested by both governments, apparently over the grumbling of said dignitaries.
"The signing ceremony will take place in this chamber," explained the herdship's chief security officer as he led the advance teams down a long hallway into a glass-topped atrium. "Note the weapon scanners in the entryway."
Jaina had already reviewed the schematics and knew this chamber, some ten meters wide and fifteen tall at the top of the dome, was located within one of the larger transparisteel bubbles. Artificial sunlight, used to nourish the surrounding environment, poured through the glass and could easily have been mistaken for the real thing. True to Ithorian form, the walls of the chamber were ringed by flowering plants that offset the mechanical gray of the walls with vivid emerald and patches of saffron and indigo.
"As you can see, the signing will occur at the center of this raised dais. We anticipate the signatories will stand at this table to certify the treaty. Is this correct?"
The security chief was an Ithorian named Netoh Uphawl, whose copper-toned skin contrasted with the forest-green of his uniform. He spoke Basic through both mouths, and between the accent and stereophony Jaina sometimes had trouble parsing his words. Thankfully, he spoke slowly.
Jaina's Hapan counterpart got in before her. He said, "The arrangement looks good to me. Do you plan on installing chairs on the main floor?"
Uphawl's wide-spaced eyes blinked. "It is not our habitual custom. On request, however, I believe we can provide chairs for human physiognomic standards."
Zekk looked sideways at Jaina. "What do you think, Master Jedi?"
It felt weird being referred to like that by someone she'd known almost all her life, but apparently Zekk wanted to keep things formal right now. Jaina said, "We were planning to limit the Imperial party to sixteen people: six security, probably along the outer walls, plus ten dignitaries, included the Head of State."
"We were planning on eighteen people, but we can pare it down to match yours," Zekk nodded easily. "That puts us at thirty-two.
A throat cleared at the back of the group. "Plus the Alliance representatives."
"Of course," Jaina agreed and watched as a young human diplomat slipped past the Hapan and Imperials agents.
Slim and dark-haired Jevor Haine stepped between the two Jedi and said, "We have only a small contingent. Myself and two others."
"Plus your security?" Jaina glanced at the back of the group and spotted one bald head gleaming in the fake sunlight; its owner didn't volunteer any words.
"Plus our Jedi guest, yes," said Haine. "Four is all we need. We're here to facilitate, not steal the show. Chief Uphawl, I trust your people will be in attendance?"
The Ithorian nodded his ladle-shaped head. "I will be over-seeing operations from the security operations center during the ceremony, but I will have four to eight guards, per your request. And the chief priest will of course preside on the event."
"Of course," Zekk nodded. "So. Thirty-two, plus four, plus eight local security just to be safe, plus one high priest. That takes us to forty-five."
"It will be tight, but we can fit them here sitting," Haine observed.
Jaina would rather have them stand; it left more room free, and with more space between people it was easier to watch them.
Zekk was on the same wavelength. He told Uphawl, "I think in deference to local customs we should have everyone stand. The signing ceremony won't be long, after all."
"Very well. Is there anything else?"
Jaina scanned the atrium and pointed to the air filtration ports halfway up the outer walls. There were four of them total, equidistant around the diameter. "We're going to need those secured. Where do they lead?"
"They can be set to cycle air through the chamber internally, or intake from the environment outside."
"Make sure they're on internal cycle. How many holo-cams are set to record this thing?"
"Five from Tafanda Bay's internal stock are ready to capture this historic event."
"We'll want to look those over before the ceremony," Zekk said.
"It's not that we don't trust your people," Haine interjected. "But in the interest of absolute safety-"
Uphawl held up a long-fingered hand. "I understand, counselor. This ceremony belongs to the Hapans and the Imperials. You and I are just here to facilitate."
"Of course," Haine nodded, clasping hands tight in front of him. If the Alliance had been more active in these negotiations, Jaina thought, they'd have sent a more veteran diplomat.
"If you don't mind an extra set of eyes," Zekk added, "I'd like to join you in the operations room during the ceremony. I might notice things you would not."
"That is permissible," Uphawl said. "If you trust your Imperial counterpart to secure this chamber fairly."
Zekk glanced at Jaina and allowed a little grin. "Oh, I know these Imperials can be slippery types, but I guess I can trust her not to assassinate anyone."
"If you are comfortable with that risk I will not dissuade you," Uphawl said, apparently missing the joke. He twined those fingers in front of him and passed his small-eyed stare across the group. "You have seen the habitat quarter, the banquet hall, and now the atrium. Is there anything else that will require your presence?"
Looks passed between Jaina, Zekk, and Haine. When none spoke, Jaina told the Ithorian, "That will be enough. That you very much for the tour, Chief."
"It is all I can do to ensure a safe ceremony. Our people prize hospitality, and of course we want to do everything for this peace process. High Priest Tawron looks forward to meeting your dignitaries."
"We understand, Chief Uphawl, and thank you." Haine made a traditional Ithorian gesture of thanks with his small human hands.
"I have one more request, Chief," came a voice from the back of the group. Jaina had been waiting for it, but now that it finally sounded it took her by surprise.
She looked over her shoulder to see Raynar Thul step forward. The son of a rich trading family, Raynar had trained with Jaina and Zekk at the Yavin 4 Jedi academy all those years ago. They'd all gone through their traumas since those innocent days, but Raynar had been more wounded than most. During the Yuuzhan Vong War he'd been wounded, then kidnapped by two dark Jedi. Their ship had crash-landed on a Killik colony in the Unknown Regions and Raynar, horrifically scarred from the fire, had been inducted into the colony. The insects had warped his mind as well as body, and as their leader UnuThul he'd led them in a war against the Chiss that had nearly spreads galaxy-wide. Only Luke Skywalker had been able to remove Raynar from the colony's grasp.
That had been nearly fifteen years ago, and it had been a long, hard recovery. The spiky-haired blonde boy she'd known on Yavin was gone; the man before her was pale, bald, and thick around the midsection. Surgeons had replaced his burn scars with skin grafts but there was still something stiff and unnatural about his almost-normal face. Raynar's biggest problems, though, were in his mind and soul. It was so hard to tell what went on in his head; even the Force offered few clues. He was normally taciturn and passed most of his days in a scrupulously-observed routine on Ossus. As a boy he'd had the habit of asking the most obvious questions possible; now he asked the strangest. Jaina braced herself for what came next.
If Uphawl knew about Raynar's past, the Ithorian gave no sign. Hands still folded he said, "Yes, Master Jedi?"
"This is a wholly unofficial request, but if there's time after the signing, I'd like a guided tour of the Tafanda Bay's botanical zones."
"That can be arranged, Master Jedi. But the security of the conference is our top priority for now."
"Of course," Raynar said. "It's just… I've developed an interest in botany, and the science of… non-standard life forms. I'd like to take advantage of this opportunity."
Jaina knew about Raynar's hobbies and suspected that had led him to volunteer for this mission on Tafanda Bay; she hadn't expected him to come out and say it in the middle of a high-security meeting.
But the Ithorian seemed sanguine. "I am sure a limited tour can be arranged. The Mother Jungle, of course, is off-limits without express blessing from High Priest Tawron. However, the other bio-zones-"
"I understand," Raynar smile seemed stiff and fake, but it was the only way he ever smiled now. "I have things I'd like to discuss with your botanists. That's all. When there's time."
Haine cleared his throat again. "I'm sure there will be. Later." The Alliance diplomat clearly had been briefed on Raynar's strange history and clearly wasn't comfortable with it. In truth, Jaina didn't blame him. Though it was no fault of his own, Raynar disturbed her sometimes too.
That marked the end of the meeting. Uphawl led the security teams out of the chamber and back down the hall. Outside the ceremonial atrium, catwalks spanned over the canopy and an artificially-cultivated but very natural-looking landscape of low ridges topped by scrub. This was an arid bio-zone, and Jaina understood other accessible domes contained wetter and cooler climates. Staring up through artificial sunlight, Jaina could barely make out the dotted stars of deep space beyond the transparisteel bubble. Beneath these upper bio-zones was the largest section of the ship, which was reserved for remnants of Ithor's native sacred forest. As Uphawl had said, no being set foot on the Mother Jungle's remains without express permission. Some Jedi had been allowed to touch the real Mother Jungle years ago, during the war with the Yuuzhan Vong, but not Raynar or Zekk, who'd been elsewhere; not Jaina, whose fight those days had been in an X-wing.
The Hapan and Imperial agents split apart and went toward their separate habitat decks, while Raynar and Haine made their way, together but awkward, for the small area preserved for Alliance personnel. Which left just Jaina and Zekk to linger on the walkway, looking out on dry hills and green scrub beneath a false midday sun.
Zekk exhaled and leaned forward, elbows on railing. "That's mostly gone well."
"Yes."
They could have talked about Raynar, but what was there to say? That he'd volunteered for this mission was seen as a good sign. Mostly the damaged Jedi lingered in the temple on Ossus, meditating or doing his little botanical experiments. He'd been drawn out on this field trip because of the location and (Jaina hoped, anyway) because it got old friends from the Yavin days in the same place for once. Like a little reunion. A reunion, with that one aching exception.
"I got a message from the Dragon Queen II just before this meeting," Zekk said. "Their ETA is about six hours."
"Five hours for the Sarreti."
"Ah. Well, it's not like it was race."
"Good thing, otherwise you'd lose." She smiled tightly.
"Are you turning into an Imperial patriot now?"
"Hardly. If I did, my father would kill me. Or himself."
"Can't imagine your mom would take it well either."
"True. But she's less dramatic than Dad."
"Ah." Zekk peered over the catwalk edge, at the artificial desert's brush and flowering cacti. "I can't believe Jagged stayed back on Bastion. He was one of the lead negotiators for all this. You'd think he'd want a seat beside Reige."
"Jag doesn't like the limelight, remember? Or did you forget how he basically quit his job as Imperial Head of State?"
"Oh, I remember. I'm just saying, he put a lot of work in this thing. I expected him to be here."
"He has pressing business back on Bastion."
"Oh. Is it anything I'm allowed to know about?"
"I did just have a son three months ago. I know you and Taryn haven't gotten around to kids yet, but newborns need a lot of care. So do four-year-olds, for that matter."
"Jagged stayed back to babysit? Don't they have droids for that?"
Jaina shook her head. "No, we both agreed one of us should stay and look after our sons." She allowed a little sigh. "Some-times I feel like I barely even saw my parents growing up. They were always running off, dealing with some crisis or another."
"This is a crisis? I thought we were done with those."
"Maybe we are."
"I was hoping for better than maybe. If we're going to have trouble, I should have insisted Taryn and Trista come."
"My point is, I want Davek and Arlen to have it better than I did."
"Well, I can't argue with that."
Jaina watched a flock of birds take off from a distant tree and soar toward the transparisteel sky. When they settled down she asked, "When are you and Taryn going to get around to it?"
"Around to what?"
"You know what," she looked at him seriously.
He avoided her eyes. "We'll do it when we're ready."
"Good." After watched another burst of avians she added, "Now that I have sons… I wonder why I waited so long."
"You and Jag were a little busy."
"So were my parents. They found time."
"You just complained they weren't around to raise you."
"I'm not complaining… I'm just saying, none of us are getting younger."
"I'm aware."
"Besides, you'd be good with kids. You were good with Allana."
"Your parents laid the groundwork there. I just built up from the foundation."
"They needed Allana as much as she needed them," Jaina said softly. She could feel herself growing maudlin and rejected it, pushing away from the railing. "We can chit-chat more later. We've got more work to do."
"Hey, I've got a whole extra hour before my people arrive."
"Then I guess you can afford to take your time." Jaina sketched a salute. "I'll see you around, old man." Then she turned and walked, briskly, down the catwalk.
-{}-
As essential part of being royalty was making big entrances. Constantly being fawned over got annoying, but Allana often found herself the centerpiece for an interesting variety of pageantry.
Take the arrival on Tafanda Bay. After Dragon Queen II's double-disc met the great Ithorian bowl at their deep-space rendezvous point, one emerald-hulled shuttle departed from the battleship's hangar and soared toward an open landing pad located on the herdship's rim. Phosphorous flares colored a Hapan blue-green shot into space on either side of their entry lane. The landing platform itself with filled with rows of Ithorians holding flags with the Hapan fan-shaped crest, and when Tenel Ka and Allana, both wrapped in finest shimmersilk gowns, walked down the landing ramp they were first greeted by a tall Ithorian wearing in what looked like holy vestments, with layered stripes of greens, violets, and reds hanging off his broad shoulders.
Trailing a step behind her mother, Allana looked past Tenel Ka and the Ithorian both to find Zekk a step behind the priest; he gave her a tiny knowing wink and she almost broke her royal mien by smiling. It was always good to see a familiar face.
"Welcome, Majesty, to Tafanda Bay," the Ithorian said in stereophonic Basic. "I am High Priest Relal Tawron."
Keeping back stiff and hands at her sides, Tenel Ka said, "Thank you, Master Tawron. You honor us by providing your home for this historic event."
"The honor is ours. Our people have always promoted peace and harmony in this galaxy. We hope you and your Imperial counterparts will find it here today."
"I am sure we will." Tenel Ka gestured to Allana. "Please meet my daughter and heir."
"I am glad to meet you at last, Princess. I have heard so much about you."
Allana wondered what parts. By now most of the galaxy knew that she'd masqueraded for years as Han and Leia Organa Solo's adopted daughter. Less knew that she was undergoing Jedi training at the Order's hidden academy but it wasn't hard to guess.
"The Imperial delegation will be arriving within the hour," Tawron said. "If Your Majesties prefer, I can show you to your quarters now."
"We would prefer it very much. Thank you, Maser Tawron."
"The Alliance observers have also arrived. I know they are eager to meet you also. Please, come this way."
Tawron led them down the rows of banner-bearing Ithorians toward the hangar exit. Allana and Tenel Ka were followed by a line of ten noblewomen, each with at least one courtier. According to certain interpretations of protocol, Tenel Ka should have introduced each woman to Tawron. She still intended to do so once they reached the habitat ring; a compromise, she'd told Allana, between snubbing them and reminding them of their place.
Allana did not look forward to taking a more active role in court politics.
As they walked Zekk fell in alongside queen and princess. "Welcome to Tafanda Bay, Majesties."
"Have you and Jaina reviewed the security arrangements?" Tenel Ka asked in a low voice.
"Yes. I volunteered to watch the ceremony from the security operations center. Jaina will be there in-person." After a tiny pause he added. "Raynar will be there too."
Tenel Ka allowed a small show of surprise. "Raynar Thul? Truly?"
"He came with the Alliance team."
"That is…. surprising."
"It's nice to see him out in the field, isn't it?"
"Fact," Tenel Ka said, then kept her lips pressed tight.
Allana felt a muted flush of satisfaction from her mother. She wished she could share it. Back when she'd tagged along with her grandparents, she'd known Raynar Thul mostly at this odd presence that lingered in the Jedi Temple. She'd not really understood what had happened to him, or what he'd done.
She understood a little better now, but that just made it harder to look him in the eye when the Alliance delegation met them at the mouth of the landing complex. The portly bald man, wrapped in brown Jedi robes, lingered behind a trim young Alliance diplomat in formal suit who introduced himself as Jevor Haine.
"As you know, the Alliance promotes peaceful cooperation between all galactic governments," Haine told Tenel Ka and Allana after giving them both curtsies and kisses on the hand. "We're happy to have arranged this conference for you today."
"The Consortium is thankful for the Alliance help," Tenel Ka said formally, then softened her tone when her attention drifted to Raynar. "Knight Thul, we are most pleased to see you."
The Jedi didn't step forward. Instead his eyes, pale blue against a pale face, swept over mother and daughter without, Allana felt, actually focusing on either. In a soft voice, weirdly bereft of emotion, he said, "It's good to see you too, Majesty. And your daughter."
Allana froze; only a tiny nudge in the Force prompted her to nod and say, "Thank you for coming, Knight Thul."
Relal Tawron interjected, "If you'll follow me, I will show your retinue to your quarters."
When they left the landing complex they crossed a wide walkway that spanned Tafanda Bay's main city complex. Tree-lined lanes criss-crossed on catwalks beneath them, and Allana wondered how many beings could fit inside; she'd been told most of the herd ship's space was reserved for its natural environments.
At first she didn't mark the noise beneath as chanting, but when she picked out the rhythm it became impossible to ignore. Without veering too far from the center of the walkway, Allana looked down and saw Ithorian pedestrians crowding the streets below. At first she thought this was part of the greeting pageant, but something in those yellow banners they hoisted seemed poisonous. When she squinted she marked a few Basic words scrawled on them, and only then did she notice the nebulous, swirling bile in the Force beneath.
Jedi Out, many signs read. Others: Refuse the Destroyers. Or: No More Warmongers. Several declared: Leave Us In Peace. A plea, but it felt like a threat.
Her mother noticed them too, and Zekk, but when neither of them said anything Allana asked, "What's going on? Who are all those people down there?"
"A vocal minority," Tawron insisted. "They will do you no harm."
"They seem to think we mean harm."
Instead of explaining, Tawron gestured to the security team to form tight around them and hurried them on. As they trotted down the walkway Allana had to grab fistfuls of her long dress to keep from tripping. These high-heeled slippers weren't helping either.
"What's going on?" she asked Zekk. "Who are those people?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," he said. "The security chief didn't mention any, uh, local resistance."
As they neared the tower cluster that marked their new quarters, Allana heard the whine of a landspeeder. Her heart beat fast and she braced for the worst. She'd give anything to have her lightsaber right now but her mother insisted she keep it aboard the Dragon Queen II. Not Tenel Ka, though; she kept her rancor-tooth saber in the manifold folds of her dress, because she was a real Jedi, not some padawan who couldn't be trusted not to lose her head, even though she'd fought off kriffing Sith as a nine-year-old-
A speeder, a stout brown-hulled, open-topped model- soared overhead. The Ithorian guards lifted their weapons but didn't fire; clusters of something small fell from the speeder and Allana froze in fear and dread, expecting them to hit the walkway in a split-second, expecting them to flash and explode.
But a great gust came from nowhere, blowing the falling objects past the walkway so they fell into the crowd-packed streets below. Hardly better, Allana thought, but then she saw one object drop onto the edge of the walkway, bounce, and break apart at the feet of some of the trailing noblewomen.
What came out wasn't a flash or an explosion, but a translucent yellow liquid and a noxious smell. Relief lasted just a second; that could still be poison. One noblewoman saw her dress splashed to the waist; another got liquid on her bare arm and straight-up fainted, but that might have been histrionics.
That landspeeder course-corrected and tried to wheel back around for the walkway. The Ithorians trained their guns on it but still didn't fire. Zekk barked to Tawron, "Are they going to do something or aren't they?"
Then Allana saw a single figure racing toward them from the habitat tower. No lightsaber blazed in hand, but she could tell it was her aunt Jaina, hastening to help. She knew it from her shape and stride; most of all she knew it in the Force.
The other Jedi knew it too. Allana felt it swell around her then; she was just small flotsam, buoyed by the rising tide that was Jaina, Tenel Ka, Zekk. Even Raynar joined in, a strange stiff presence, not quite in sync with the others but doing what it could to help. The landspeeder was arrested in mid-swoop. Allana heard its repulsors strain and cough as the speeder was wrestled against its will down the lower levels. When it fell from view she heard the pop of a dying engine and spotted a trail of smoke marking the machine's final resting-place.
By then Jaina had joined the group on the walkway. To one Ithorian she snapped, "Get your people on it, right now. Grab them before they get away."
"Of course," the security officer said, and pulled out his comm with the most alacrity Allana'd yet seen from an Ithorian.
Tawron, almost-frantic, bowed his ladle-shaped head repeatedly. "I apologize for this disturbance. This is my most grievous fault, but rest assured, they do not represent the majority of our citizens."
"But who are those people?" Allana asked.
"Jedi aren't totally popular on Tafanda Bay, or other Ithorian herdships," Jaina said. She was breathing hard from her sprint, with hands on her hips and lightsaber dangling so-visibly at her waist. "Some of them have hard time remembering it was the Yuuzhan Vong who destroyed their homeworld, not us."
"That is the short of it." Tawron released a dual-mouthed exhalation. "I cannot apologize enough for this disturbance."
"We should hasten to our quarters." Tenel Ka said firmly. "Will Ducha Yark and Ducha Lohr need medical attention?"
"The item dropped was a lekh mohr seed. It is noxious, but not deadly."
Tenel Ka looked back at the two women. Evla Yark was out cold and being hoisted by two male courtiers, while Demia Lohr was scowling in their direction and clenching the skirts of her splashed-up dress.
"Nonetheless," the queen said, "They should see a medic."
"Of course. We will give them anything they need."
"Good," Jaina said gruffly. "Now let's get out of sight."
Two minutes later they'd completed the crossing and reached the more secure residential tower where they'd rest for a night after the ceremony. The Duchas were none too happy with the events on the walkway and Allana couldn't say she was much better. She might have fought off Sith as a nine-year-old but right there she'd let fear freeze her and make her useless.
"No crisis, you said." Jaina sighed after the dignitaries had been led off. Tenel Ka and Haine stepped aside for a conver-sation with Relal Tawron, who was still begging forgiveness.
"This wasn't a crisis, this was an inconvenience," Zekk said, but he'd clearly been rattled.
"I hope to hell it is." Jaina crossed her arms, exhaled, then finally turned to Allana. "Sorry about the bad greeting. It's good to see you, by the way."
"Thanks for your help," Allana said.
"Well, I heard there were protesters set to greet you. I didn't expect they'd be that aggressive."
"We'll have to talk to Uphawl about that," Zekk said. "If they're going to be a threat-"
"They were an embarrassment," said Raynar Thul, softly. "Not a threat."
He was probably right. Zekk gave an over-dramatic sigh. "Well, I guess that means our biggest security problem is still scheming duchas."
"Or scheming moffs," Jaina said. "They're to arrive..." She glanced at her wrist-chrono. "All too soon. I should get ready. Raynar, you and Haine will be there, won't you?"
"Of course." Raynar looked at the corner where diplomat, queen, and high priest were still in discussion. "Excuse me."
Allana relaxed a little when he stepped away. Zekk followed, and suddenly it was just Allana and Jaina, the latter of whom had places to be. The younger woman said, "I guess we'll get a chance to catch up later."
"We will. I promise." Jaina stepped forward and squeezed her forearm. "Don't let the welcome fool you. Tafanda Bay's actually a very lovely place. Maybe you can join Raynar on a tour once the ceremony's over."
I'd rather do it with you and Zekk, Allana thought, but asked, "Do you know this ship? From, um, the Yuuzhan Vong war?"
"It was our base for a while," Jaina nodded. "The battle… well, you know how it ended. But at least I got a husband out of it."
Allana blinked. "You met Jagged here?"
"His Chiss squadron made a dramatic entrance. After the battle he joined a reception on the herdship. He marched right past a whole line of New Republic luminaries and came straight to me." Jaina smiled softly, wistfully. "He said he needed to pay his respects, warrior to warrior."
"Wow."
"Yep."
"How old were you then?"
"Just sixteen."
"That sounds like… destiny."
"You might be right."
Some mental math occurred to Allana. "But if it was destiny… why did it take you another sixteen years to actually get married?"
Jaina lowered her eyes and gave a long, long sigh.
"Does that mean 'you'll understand when you're older'?"
"For your sake, I hope not. But I have to run. I'll see you at the ceremony."
Jaina gave her a warm parting nudge in the Force, then hurried from the chamber. Allana watched her go, and allowed herself to wonder how her own parents had met. It was not something she'd ever asked Tenel Ka; in truth, she wasn't sure she wanted to know. Her father was part of the past and he belonged there. Lest he contaminate her present even more than he already had, she decided to let the matter lie.
Ignorance could be a blessing, sometimes.
-{}-
Over forty people, all on their feet, left the atrium feeling just shy of crowded. Still, as she waited for the ceremony to begin, Jaina wondered whether they shouldn't have brought in chairs. Ithorians were tall, broad beings. Hapan women were also famously statuesque, and for whatever reason the moffs and officers in Vitor Reige's contingent were all vertically inclined as well. It left Jaina, who'd grown to be just shy of her mother's already petite height, feeling swamped. As she stood guard on the other edge of the room, she had to carefully position herself to see through a forest of shoulders and heads to where the signing would take place.
Despite the attack on the walkway, they'd decided not to add extra security to the conference room. According to Netoh Uphawl, the 'vandalism,' as he put it, was done by the Ithorian Solidarity League, an organization that blamed the Jedi for the destruction of Ithor and wasn't too keen on the Alliance or Imperial Remnant either. Uphawl stressed that 'organization' was an overstatement; the League was just a handful of extremists scattered across the herdships which were themselves scattered across the galaxy. When Jaina noted the scale of the protests and the dozens of banners, all a uniform sickly yellow, Uphawl had demurred, saying their general sentiment had some support, but Ithorians as a race were not inclined to violence or radicalism.
Relal Tawron had insisted much the same. It was clear the Ithorians were embarrassed by the events on the walkway; Jaina could feel extra anxiety bleeding off Tawron in the Force as he stepped onto the raised dais to begin the ceremony. A half-dozen holocam-bearing droids, which ranged in size from a human fist to a modest blitz-ball, slowly floated around the room. All of them had been checked for bombs by Zekk beforehand; the air system was set to internal circulation to prevent the insertion of toxins. The weapons-scanner located at the entrance seemed to be working perfectly, registering blasters on the guards but not the guests.
Jaina had good reason to feel good about this conference, but as she stood at the outer wall with hands clasped behind her back, she crossed her fingers.
Dressed in his fine priestly robes, Tawron raised two large hands, palms toward the artificial sunlight that poured through the glass ceiling. With both mouths he said, "We have come today to write a new chapter in the story of the galaxy. The Galactic Empire and the Hapan Consortium are both nations with long histories and proud people. That history and that pride has kept them apart for some time. Those years are at an end. Today they will reconcile with the past, and with each other."
Good words, Jaina thought, but words were the easy part. Diplomats from both sides had been hacking out the details of this treaty in secret for two years. The Empire would be offering an official apology for its attack on Dragon Queen ten years ago, and hefty reparations to seal the deal. The Hapans, in turn, would lower some of their infamous tariff barriers and cooperate with Imperial business interests. There were also plans for limited military and intelligence-sharing operations, but Jaina knew those were especially complicated, with many kinks to be worked out.
The most important thing that was that they were here, today. Tawron gestured for the signatories to come forward, and so they did. Vitor Reige and Tenel Ka came onto the dais from opposite stairs. Allana followed, just a step behind her mother, so that all four of them stood at the central table. It rose waist-high and was topped by a centerpiece of lovely flowers with wide rosy petals and long red stamen. Next to the flowers was an old-fashioned scroll and two ink-tipped pens.
The dialogue, like the treaty terms, had been agreed on in advance. As he took up his pen, Reige said, "In sealing this document, we seal our peoples."
Tenel Ka grasped her own pen. "In joining our names, we join our nations for a better future."
Tawron turned his hands down, a palm over each human head. "In completing this treaty, we set aside the anger and hatred of yesterday, and discover a brighter tomorrow. All of our peoples will remember this day as the start of something new."
From her angle Jaina could just see Allana beyond her mother's shoulder. The girl swallowed hard; sunlight caught a watery gleam in her eye but like a proper princess she kept her face clear of the emotions broiling off her in the Force.
For everyone else in this room, today was the tenth anniversary of an awful battle. For those who'd known him, it was the tenth anniversary of the death of Jacen Solo.
His first death, Jaina told herself. In his second death on Zonama Sekot he'd found some redemption for himself, however small, and finally been able to merge with the Force and dissolve into its immensity like a true Jedi should. Jaina had been with him then, cradling his head in her lap as he'd died his second death, just like she'd done in his first. Those brief days of his return felt like a dream, quick and hazy in memory, but she felt the truth of them in the Force. Because of that, she could endure today without sorrow.
Tenel Ka hadn't been there on Zonama Sekot to see Jacen one last time, but she'd felt him in the Force as he died. That had brought her, too, peace. But for Allana it was different. If she remembered anything about her father it would be Jacen in madness, when righteous anger and maniac obsession had turned him into Darth Caedus. She had no recollection of Jacen as he was, no better self to reconcile with the monster he'd become. According to Tenel Ka, Allana never talked about her father, not ever.
But Jaina knew she was thinking about him right now, and only him.
Reige signed the treaty first, then Tenel Ka. Then Allana took the pen and, with firm hand, joined her name to her mother's. All three stepped to a lower tier of the dais without leaving entirely. The other Hapan and Imperial dignitaries were also to add their names, and for the next five minutes a steady procession of sober-faced humans stepped to the flower-topped table to sign their names beneath the benediction of an Ithorian priest.
As the dignitaries shifted, Jaina got a better look through the forest of bodies. Raynar was on the opposite site of the drum-shaped room, watching the dais with a vacant stare. Jevor Haine was more receptive; he met Jaina's eyes and gave an encouraging nod.
So far so good, she thought. Next up: the banquet, hopefully poison-free.
Jaina felt a wash of relief; then, almost giddiness. It seemed to be contagious. She saw the expressions of those Hapans and Imperials, usually so snooty and disdainful, start to relax. Evla Yark, who'd passed out on the walkway (from shock alone, the medics said) was tightly smiling. Demia Lohr's red-painted mouth hinged open; that woman actually seemed to be laughing, a high, giddy laugh. The Imperial next to her, a grey-haired admiral, was swaying slightly on his feet, eyes rolled to the ceiling glass.
And Tenel Ka, Jaina saw, was grinning a white toothy grin.
Something was wrong. Jaina looked around; the room seemed to spin. She reached out in the Force but found everything blurred; Tenel Ka and Allana and Raynar were all there, but it was suddenly hard to get a grasp on them.
Jaina reached for her comlink. It felt huge in her hand as she fumbled it on. "Zekk, do you hear me? Zekk?"
"What is it, Jaina? Is something wrong?"
"The air… I think… the air."
"What do you mean? We've been recycling the whole time-"
There was a loud thud, and Jaina looked back to the dais to see the admiral had collapsed face-down. Next Evla Yark tipped over and fell down the short stair. Relal Tawon had braced himself against the table but remained upright. Vitor Reige staggered back but tripped over his own boots and fell. His security rushed toward him, sluggish. Across the room Haine was gasping into his own comlink. Where Raynar was she couldn't tell.
Zekk was seeing it too. Over the comm he called, "What's happened? Why is everyone collapsing? Jaina?"
"The air!" she rasped. "Something…. Vent it out!"
She heard an Ithorian say over the comm, "We can cycle in air from the main atrium."
"Do it!" Jaina hacked. "And a medic… bring medics..."
She heard a whirr as the fans in the overhead vents kicked to overdrive. Bracing herself against the back wall she felt a rush of relief, which vanished the instant Tenel Ka toppled to the floor. Allana dropped on top of her but remained conscious, breathing hard and feeling her mother's face.
Zekk and a team of Ithorians arrived less than a minute later. By then Jaina was slumped against the outer wall, legs splayed out but head and shoulders upright, clinging to consciousness. Allana was lying half atop her mother, eyes still open, panting hard. As for Tenel Ka, she lay face-up, shimmering gown spilled around her, not moving, not even the rise and fall of breath.