Peace of the Jedi [Sequel to Sword of the Lanterns]

Chapter Thirty-Nine- The Brightest Day

"Do you have to leave?"

Aunt Mara hugged Jaina tightly. She smelled sweaty, of course, but even death couldn't dispell the familiar scent of burning laserfire and lightsabers that clung to Mara's jacket. It made Jaina's stiffened muscles relax just a bit more. Mara was alive. Anakin was alive. Everything was going to be okay. Nothing could go wrong if her family was alive.

"You heard what your big, blue-headed guardians said. Life needs to be rebuilt, and if Sidious tries to make a comeback we need to be ready for him."

"He won't come back," Jaina said with certainty. "He's dead."

"For the third time. And as we just saw, death is more of an illusion than we thought."

Uncle Luke patted her shoulder, just like he'd done at her knighting, and her shoulders slumped beneath the weight of the galaxy, again.

"It'll be fine, Jaina. We're all together again."

Jaina watched her aunt and uncle board the Jade Sabre with their son, following the rest of the New Republic back into deep space.

"Not quite," She whispered under her breath.

She began the slow trek across the Watchtower's expanded docking bay, to where Tenel Ka argued with several of her generals and honor guard over the Rock Dragon. 

"Do you have to go?" She repeated the same question she'd asked Mara. She'd only asked it twice, but even once was one time too many. Mara was her mentor, Tenel Ka, one of her oldest friends. It felt as if everyone was trying to leave her today.

"According to my generals, yes," Tenel Ka huffed, "Apparently, in our absence, a few pirates have inched into Hapan space, aiming for Gallinore." She let her fur-trimmed cloak fall over her stump of an arm, other hand on her hip. She refused to look Jaina in the eye.

"Do...do you want me to tell you when he wakes up?" She ventured.

Tenel Ka's eyes  darted to the steel floor, and her diadem slid forward slightly. A scantily-clad Hapan male servant fixed it before Tenel Ka could even lift a finger.

"Perhaps it would be best not to." She said.

Jaina nodded. "He'll ask about you, you know. It was the last thing he thought of before he-" She stopped herself. 

"Tell him that I am well."

"Should I tell him to stay away? To pay a visit?"

Tenel Ka gave a bark of mirthless laughter. "I would find that rather hard to explain to my court."

Jaina chuckled to try and ease the tension, but she was no Jacen. "And All- Amelia?" She corrected herself.

"I have discussed things with your parents. If he wakes up, they will assess if the both of them are in any condition to be acquainted with one another."

"When," Jaina said insistently, "When he wakes up."

Tenel Ka did not correct her. "I trust, friend Jaina, that our paths will cross again soon."

"I do too," Jaina said. 

Tenel Ka gingerly wrapped her arm around Jaina, and Jaina returned the embrace. 

With a pattering of feet, Allana raced into the docking bay, followed anxiously by Zekk. A warning look from both Tenel Ka and Jaina reminded her not to scream for her mother.

"It was wonderful to see you again, your majesty," She gave a small curtsy, as best she could in a green-gray jumpsuit.

Tenel Ka knelt in a bow before the girl with dyed hair that barely concealed red-gold roots. "It was wonderful to see you again as well, Amelia Solo." She placed a kiss on the young girl's forehead, nodded to Zekk, and turned to her ship. And then, piloted by her best general, the Hapan Queen Mother acquiesced to riding the Rock Dragon back to join her fleet.