After many Yuuzhan Vong warships rammed themselves into Galactic Alliance warships, a quiet yet somehow tense ceasefire occurred between the two sides, and it was still ongoing after five days. Warmaster Nas Choka, or rather former Warmaster Nas Choka, of the Vong had called out to the Galactic Alliance and asked to meet with their leaders. As of now, Choka and what remained of his fleet were being investigated by GA military officers to make sure that he wasn't planning anything nefarious, and he and the rest of his fleet were being incredibly compliant and willing, all things considered.
Today, however, that wasn't on the mind of anyone on Zonama Sekot. The funeral of Luke Skywalker was being held. It was a sad time for all in attendance, with the widow crying as her extended family, the Solos - or rather, three of them - vainly tried to comfort her even as they felt the same pain that Mara was feeling. The rest of the Jedi Order and many members of the GA military - a vast majority of the latter being veterans of the Rebel Alliance - had their heads bowed in mourning for whom they believed to be the greatest of all of them. Luke was given two separate eulogies; the first was by GA General Wedge Antilles, who recounted how great of a hero that Luke was as a member of Rogue Squadron, what with him blowing up the first Death Star, his role in leading to Emperor Palpatine's downfall, the establishment of the New Republic, and, of course, his role in the war that had just ended. Wedge followed it all up with a few brief remarks about how great of a guy Luke was to everyone in the Rebellion and concluded with the obvious, "We'll all miss you, Luke," before leaving the podium for Jedi Master Kenth Hamner.
Hamner's speech was even more heartfelt, even though he knew Luke less than Wedge did. Still, in his eulogy for Luke, Hamner emphasized the late Jedi Master's role in establishing the New Jedi Order and how Luke was such an inspiration to every Jedi that has come since he set off on his journey to find candidates for his Jedi Academy. Hamner concluded with:
"I feel utterly humbled to be following in the footsteps of Master Skywalker, as I doubt that I could ever truly replace him in running the Jedi Order. Nevertheless, I vow to do my best, not only for his memory, not only for the dead, which include all of the Jedi who have died in this terrible war, but I vow to do this for the living, for this generation and the generations that will come after. So, Master Skywalker, I have nothing more to say than this: Thank you for all that you have done, not only for the Jedi Order, but for the galaxy at large, and may the Force be with you. You will be missed."
With that, Hamner stepped off the podium, and from the hand of Jedi Knight Saba Sebatyne, he took the torch that she offered and he placed himself one side of the funeral pyre that had Luke Skywalker's prepared body placed upon it. On the other side, Wedge Antilles had another torch that he took from his friend Tycho Celchu, and once both Wedge and Hamner locked eyes, they simultaneously nodded. They then looked down upon Luke's body and placed the flames of the torches on the edges of the pyre and backed away as the fire engulfed Luke's body.
Everyone in attendance looked with forlorn grief as they watched Luke's body burn away to ash.
Yet not everyone who cared about him was there to watch.
.
Angrily, Jaina trudged through the woods of Zonama Sekot and found her sole surviving brother Jacen slumped against a boras-tree as he simply stared up and ahead into the clear blue skies above, his expression sullen.
Momentarily, Jaina wondered if she wouldn't be as hard on her twin brother as she thought she was going to; but she reconsidered, as what he had done earlier today was completely unacceptable.
She closed the gap between them and he looked up at her, as if only now noticing her presence instead of having felt her approach through the Force. She continued to glare down at him with eyes firing lasers at him.
"You weren't at Uncle Luke's funeral," Jaina intoned, her arms crossed upon her chest.
"I heard what Master Hamner and General Antilles said about him," Jacen replied neutrally. "I could hear their voices from their amp speakers from all the way over here. And I saw the fire."
Jaina sighed in irritation. "You were supposed to be there with the rest of us, Jacen. With the rest of the family," she emphasized. "Why weren't you?"
"I didn't deserve to be there, Jaina. I failed Uncle Luke. I wasn't worthy of being at his funeral."
"You can't blame yourself for what happened to him," Jaina told him patiently. "It was the venom in Shimrra's amphistaff. Shimrra killed Uncle Luke, Jacen, not you."
"But I could have stopped it, yet I didn't. I had no right to be there."
Jaina looked down at him incredulously. "How dare you! This isn't about you! It was about Uncle Luke! And you sat here like the selfish nerfbrain you are while all of us cried when we needed everyone to be there! We lost Chewie, and we lost Anakin, and we lost so many others, and you think that because you didn't make it on time to save Uncle Luke that you weren't worthy of being there?!" Even as she screamed, tears were already flowing out of Jaina's eyes.
"Selfish? Selfish?!" Jacen exclaimed as he sat up. "If I'd actually been there, I would have been selfish! You think I didn't wanna be there? Huh?! Huh?! This is my penance, my punishment, for letting Uncle Luke die!"
"But you weren't responsible for letting him die, Jacen!" Jaina argued. "No one but Shimrra was, and he already paid for it! And, what, you think I didn't blame myself for Anakin's death, just as you, Tahiri, and everyone else who made it off the Baanu Rass? You think none of them blamed themselves, and we still went? You think Dad and Anakin didn't blame themselves when Chewie died? They still went!"
"I wasn't there for Anakin's funeral," Jacen reminded her quietly.
"That was Vergere and the Vong's fault, in case you forgot," Jaina pointed out. "Here, you have no reason or excuse not to be there for Uncle Luke's funeral. This, you can actually blame yourself for."
When silence passed between them, Jacen asked, "I take it everyone else shares your feelings on this matter?"
"Dad does; he says he never wants to see you again for avoiding the funeral. Mom's tryin' to tell him that you need your space, and Aunt Mara couldn't care less since her husband's dead. But I find myself agreeing with Dad; looking at you makes me feel disgusted that you should be so selfish. I gotta admit, I found your philosophical introspection to be charming, but this... You went too far, Jacen. If I ever see you again, you better be on your hands and knees apologizing to everyone for not being at Luke's funeral; you'll have to admit that not everything's about you, because you dishonored everyone who died in the war: all the soldiers in the New Republic, the Galactic Alliance, the Jedi, hell, even the Shamed Ones and the Yuuzhan Vong who decided to turn against Shimrra! So I never wanna see you in my sight until that happens."
With that, Jaina turned and headed back away, and Jacen slumped back down against the boras-tree to sob to himself.