A LONG TIME AGO...
Jagged Fel guides his clawcraft into the belly of Ralroost with the steady hand of a lifelong pilot. When his craft is fully settled, he shuts down the engines and repulsorslifts, pops the vacuum seal on his cockpit, and eagerly pulls himself out to breathe the cool recycled air of Admiral Kre'fey's flagship.
He spares a few brief words for Shawnkyr and his other Chiss pilots, then makes a beeline across the busy deck. He can see her waiting in the entry to the hallway on the far side, a small woman in a dark green flight suit, brown hair down and framing her face, just the way he likes it.
When he reaches her he doesn't stop. He takes her by the waist with both hands, pushes her into the shadows, and kisses her on the mouth. He's surprised by his own desire. A lifetime among the Chiss has made him an expert at stifling his emotions and focusing on his duty instead of his need. Now, after along and dangerous away mission, he finds that all he needs is Jaina Solo.
When he finally breaks away for oxygen, Jaina pushes him away. For a second he panics that he's gone too far, but then he hears her giggling. It's a silly, girlish laughter, the kind he's not used to hearing from her. When he takes a step back and looks in her brown eyes he sees a new infectious joy.
When he first met Jaina over Ithor, he was surprised how young she seemed. He'd told her she wasn't grim enough. Then she'd lost both her brothers on the same day, and that loss had made her far too grim.
But now here she is, smiling, eyes blazing with happy energy. She takes his hands in hers and says, "Hey, flyboy, have a nice trip?"
"You could say that," Jag allows a smile. Smiling still feels a little strange, like someone is tugging his face in weird directions. "You seem... chipper."
"Of course I'm chipper," Jaina squeezes his hands. "Jacen's back."
Of course, Jag thinks. He knows her brother, captured by the Yuuzhan Vong at Myrkr and left for dead, has in fact returned. He'd been so eager to see Jaina herself that he nearly forgot.
"I heard on HoloNet," Jag says "Congratulations."
"Come on," Jaina tugs him down the hall, still holding both hands. "He's here, on Ralroost."
Well, that explains it.
He works one hand free so she can stop walking backwards, then lets her drag him down the hallway. He's happy for Jaina, happier than he can say, but he feels a spike of sadness inside.
When Jaina lost both siblings, a perverse part of him was almost glad, because it gave them something in common. Jagged's brother Davin and his sister Cheriss had both been almost ten years older than him, and they'd both died so long ago he could barely remember them. They'd died as warriors and brought honor to the Fel family name, but they'd lingered through his youth as haunting figures.
He is not the last child of Soontir and Syal Fel. Chak has his own ship in the CEDF, and his younger brother Cem and sister Wyn are both training. Someday they will follow the family tradition and go into the military. He wonders which of the clan will be the next to follow Davin and Cheriss. Sometimes he wonders if it will be him.
But when Jaina pulls him through the door to Ralroost's auxiliary pilot's ready-room, he does his best to push the sadness and foreboding away. You can't be grim allthe time. It's probably the best lesson he'd learned from Jaina, one for which he is eternally thankful.
The ready-room is empty except for two people sitting on the sofa in the far corner. Their bodies are angled toward each other, but their postures bespeak caution rather than intimacy. When Jag and Jaina enter, they both look up, startled out of an apparently personal conversation.
Jag knows Tahiri Veila. The blond girl, small and pretty except for the scars on her forehead, loved Jaina's younger brother Anakin, and has become something of an honory member of the Solo family since his death. Despite the bond she and Jaina share, Jag has always found Tahiri a little off-putting. Maybe it is because he is uncomfortable with grieving. Maybe it is because those scars, left by Yuuzhan Vong shapers, hint at something more menacing behind her pretty face. Maybe it is because she does not speak plainly, and seems suspicious of everything, including herself.
He has never met the young man with the brown hair and trim beard before, but he can see Jaina in his eyes. Jacen Solo rises to his feet and puts on a smile.
"So," Jacen said as he looks Jag up and down, "I guess you're okay."
"Stop it!" Jaina slaps him on the shoulder, giggling again. "Jag, meet my brother Jacen. Jacen, meet Jag Fel."
"Nice to meet you," Jag extends a hand. He's never been good at meet-and-greets and stumbles for something to say. "You look good for a dead man."
"Thanks," Jacen chuckles. "You should have seen me a month ago."
Jacen sits back down next to Tahiri and Jaina and Jag plop onto the sofa facing them. Jaina sidles close and loops her arm around Jag's in an open display of affection. He's not used to them, and tries not to blush.
Jag tries to keep his attention on Jacen. He looks young and old at once, child-like but immensely serious. If Jaina's come to possess a certain grimness, her brother has... perhaps an intensity. When Jacen looks at him, Jag feels like he's being scrutinized somehow.
"So," Jag says, awkwardly keeping his gaze, "I understand you were held captive by the Yuuzhan Vong for almost a year."
"Stang it, Jag!" Jaina shakes her head. "He doesn't want to talk about that."
"I don't mind," Jacen says, and Jag can tell he's not being polite. It's like he actually doesn'tmind talking about spend-ing months being tortured by a race of ferocious genocidal aliens.
Jag doesn't know what to make of thateither.
"Let's talk about something else," Jaina says. "Jacen, why haven't you gone off to Hapes yet? Tenel Ka would loveto see you!"
Now it is Jacen's turn to blush. He seems young and earnest again. "I just haven't got around to it. Sorry. There's so much to do, with the war and all..."
"Well, what about Danni Quee? Jag, you remember her from Borleias, right? Blond, beautiful scientist. Very smart. She's on Mon Cal now, and she and Jacen have been spend-ing a lot of time together. Doing really serious stuff, like sun-bathing in coral reefs, taking long walks along the esplanade at Huereka City..."
"It's not like that," Jacen shakes his head.
"Jacen, I know you can be pretty dense with these things, but trust your twin sister. It islike that."
Tahiri laughs, but there's sadness in her eyes. She says, "It's good to see you two together like this. It's almost like..." Her expression wavers, and her eyes gleam with tears. "I'm sure he'd love to see you now."
An awkward silence falls over the room. Jag tries to think if he's ever had a conversation like this with his surviving siblings, full of teasing and implications. With Wynssa sometimes. She's always been the most rebellious and rambunctious of the Fel children, the one who refuses to be chained down by the strictures of Chiss society. It's some-thing he's always found alternately endearing and annoying about her.
"You're together again," Tahiri says firmly, blinking away her tears. "There's nothing you can't do."
"I'd like to think so," Jacen favors her with a soft smile.
"You're twins. Family," she says. "There's nothing that can break that. Not all the Vong, Sith, or madmen in the galaxy. Nothing."