Chapter 21-----
"I'm surprised you're up this early."
Jaina was only half-listening to her youngest brother while pushing her breakfast around on her plate. She wasn't really hungry especially after her brief encounter with Kyp.
Anakin could sense Jaina's melancholy and knew it had something to do with the few words she and Kyp had exchanged only moments before, but he wasn't sure how to handle it. Part of him wanted to hug her. the other part wanted to yell at her for letting the man upset her in the first place, and since he couldn't decide what to do, he ignored it all together.
"Think you and Aunt Mara will find anything out there?" he ventured lamely. He waited for what seemed an eternity until Jaina finally looked up and acknowledged his presence.
"Did you say something?" she asked as her brown eyes met his blue. He glared at her with an expression of annoyance and she blushed. "Sorry!" she apologized. "My mind's just not--- working today."
"Yeah, I noticed," Anakin replied curtly. Jaina's gaze drifted to the mess hall doors and she sighed wistfully. "Is there something you want to talk about, Jaina? I'm a good listener, you know." He continued to watch her, but she avoided his eyes in favor of the cold food on her plate. "It's Kyp, isn't it?" he finally dared.
Her head snapped up and a look of terror was on her face. Well, that got her attention, Anakin mused to himself. Over the past few days, he and Jacen had had several conversations about their sister and her unusual behavior. Jacen was convinced Kyp had something to do with it, and he was miffed. Of course, he had never liked Kyp at all in the first place. Anakin, on the other hand, found that more often than not, he agreed with some of Kyp's philosophies, and although he couldn't easily forgive the Jedi master's deception toward Jaina several months earlier, he still kind of liked the man. Kyp reminded Anakin somewhat of Han in an odd way. Maybe that was what was drawing Jaina to Kyp.
Well, whatever it was, Anakin was more certain now than ever that his sister definitely had something going on with Kyp Durron, and he felt proud that he'd been the only one of his family to figure it out.
"Well, it does have something to do with Kyp, right?" he asked again awaiting her confession. Unfortunately, he'd have to wait a little longer.
"Greetings, fellow siblings." Jacen Solo suddenly appeared out of nowhere and plopped into a chair at their table. Anakin tried to hide his disappointment while Jaina was secretly thanking the Force her other brother had shown up when he did. Neither spoke. Jacen got a look of hurt on his face and raised both of his eyebrows. "Well, that's a fine how-do- you-do! Did I interrupt something important because if I did, I'm not leaving anyway." Then he shrugged his shoulders and began eating his breakfast.
Jaina and Anakin looked at each other and rolled their eyes. Typical Jacen.
In between bites, Jacen kept talking. "I just saw Kyp in the hall on my way here," he stated glancing at his sister out of the corner of his eye. He noted a guarded expression on her face, but she still wouldn't speak. She'd managed to avoid being alone with Jacen since her return, and between his own observations and the disturbing account from Corran Horn, which the older man had happily shared, Jaina's twin was bound and determined to get to the bottom of her obsession with Kyp Durron. It had to end. for her own good. Lucky for her she had such a concerned brother. "Yeah, he's a real piece of work."
The temperature inside Jaina began to rise as her brother proceeded to expound on Kyp Durron's utter lack of redeeming qualities--- His arrogance, selfishness, lack of respect for authority, aggressiveness--- Jaina couldn't stand to hear another word and threw her fork forcefully down onto her tray.
"Will you just shut up?!" she said loudly causing several nearby diners to cast irritated glances their way. Both Solo brothers froze and stared at their sister who was glaring daggers at both of them. Anakin finally gulped down the mouthful of food that had been suspended in his mouth but dared not move any other muscles.
"Just shut up! You don't even know Kyp!" she accused. "I never thought my own brothers would be so pompous and judgmental."
Jacen opened his mouth to rebut, but Jaina held up her hand to stop him. "NOT a word, Jacen!" she commanded. "You know, have you ever tried to put yourself in his shoes? Kyp came from a family that was fighting against the Empire, just like ours, only they didn't survive. Instead he was stuck in an underground prison from the time he was only eight until Dad got him out of there. Then he's told he has these great Jedi powers, gets possessed by an insane Sith lord who causes mass chaos, is in danger of losing his own life. and all before he's even eighteen!!"
Several of those nearby diners were now openly watching and listening to every word being spoken at the Solo table.
"So when you talk about Kyp just remember a few things. Maybe what you call selfishness and arrogance stems from his being forced to depend only on himself all those years and maybe it has made him a bit afraid to make himself vulnerable to other people that are so unforgiving. And perhaps his lack of respect for authority stems from the fact that the government was responsible for the deaths of his parents and the break up of his family." She felt like steam was coming out of her ears as she tried to calm her heavy breathing. She thought she might hit something, and her brothers were starting to look extremely tempting. So she decided to leave before things got out of hand. Pushing away from the table, she stood to leave.
"One more thing, Jacen dear," she said icily, "Kyp's 'aggressiveness' has at least gotten him to do something besides sit on his butt and contemplate his 'purpose' in the Force like someone else I know!" One last glare and then she was gone.
The two brothers stared after her until she was out of sight and then stared at each other. totally speechless. After several awkward moments and many uncomfortable glares from the surrounding 'audience', Anakin spoke.
"Well, guess that answered our question," he said softly. "She's nuts about him!"
"Yeah," Jacen muttered, "---nuts." ^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^
It was back to the old flight sim for Jaina. After the morning she'd had, it was the only available option she had for relieving the knot of stress that had effectively tied up her insides. Her brothers, mainly her very own twin, had pushed her way too far this time. She had never railed on them quite so viciously and a tiny part of her felt guilty. but just a teeny tiny part. The rest of her was still fuming at Jacen's brazen arrogance concerning Kyp. He had no idea what he was talking about. Kyp wasn't really like that. She knew him. the 'real' him. and he was different from the façade he put forth to everyone else.
She passed the meeting room where Kyp was briefing his new squad members. She halted outside the door and entertained the notion of bursting in and declaring her love for him, but chickened out. Instead, she reached out through the Force just to feel him.
Inside the room, Kyp was listening to his new subordinates introduce themselves. or at least pretending to listen. He couldn't seem to think about anything except Jaina. He had hoped not to see her this morning. It was too painful. Her rejection of his love was one of the worst things he had ever had to endure. She had come to mean too much to him, and he chided himself for letting it happen. He should have known better than to fall in love with Jaina Solo.
Suddenly, a tingle at the back of his mind caused him to glance curiously around the room to find the source. Then it dawned on him. It was Jaina. He let her in for only a moment and then quickly blocked her out. Forcing himself to focus on the speaking pilot at the other end of the table, he pushed any thoughts of Jaina Solo out of his mind.
The coldness overwhelmed her. Kyp had shut her out. just like that. Tears started to well up in her eyes, but she wouldn't dare let them escape. Instead, she stormed off to the flight room for a nice round of 'annihilate the Yuuzhan Vong' in the simulator. ^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^
After spending the better part of the afternoon exterminating virtual Vong skips, Jaina felt marginally better. She climbed out of the cockpit and slid down to the floor wiping the sweat from her brow. Leaning against the side of the machine, she felt her lip start to tremble. No, she didn't feel better at all. It was now closer to the time when she would have to leave with Mara, and who knew when she'd see Kyp again. The way things were going he'd never want to see her.
"Jaina, sweetie. There you are!" She looked up and saw her parents approaching. Quickly, she straightened and composed herself, willing away the tears and replacing them with an insincere smile.
"Hey," she said trying to sound happy to see them. "What are you two doing here?"
"We were looking for you actually," Leia replied. She could sense the unrest in her daughter and was dying to just ask outright what was going on, but Leia held herself in check. Jacen and Anakin had come to her and Han earlier and told them about Jaina's outburst. After some parental prodding, Jacen explained the theory he had developed for his sister's unusual behavior since her return. that she was infatuated with Kyp Durron. However, he hadn't explained why exactly Jaina had yelled at him. Anakin gladly chimed in with the whole truth much to Jacen's disapproval.
Han had been surprisingly mild about the whole thing, which made Leia wonder if he had already known about it--- or if he was just saving it all up for later. To be safe, she had smoothly placed herself between he and Jaina in case either of them got a little too worked up. Seeing as they were two peas in a pod when it came to temperament, Leia thought it was a wise move.
"What did you need?" Jaina asked nervously shifting her gaze from one parent to the next.
"Your brothers told us-"
"Oh, great!" Jaina interrupted her father. "What did those two morons say now?" She should have known they'd go running to their parents. Tattle tales. Nothing ever changed with those two.
"Jaina! Don't talk about your brothers like that!" Leia scolded.
"Why? Apparently they've been talking about me." She thrust her chin into the air defiantly and crossed her arms. "Well? What did they say?" she asked rolling her eyes. It was coming sooner or later, she had known, so now was as good a time as any.
"They say you've been messing around with Kyp," stated Han with a steely gaze. To emphasize his size and rank within the family, he puffed up his chest and crossed his own arms.
Jaina's mouth dropped open and her arms fell to her sides. She snorted but no words followed.
"Is it true?" Leia asked softly. "You can tell us, honey."
Jaina clenched her jaw tightly and felt her ears heating up. She didn't know whether to be angry or embarrassed or both.
"We already know, Jaina," Han added. "Corran Horn saw you two in the hallway the other night."
"What?!" she finally exclaimed. "Is everybody spying on me or something?!"
"No!.no," Leia said placing a calming hand on her daughter's arm. "No one's spying on you."
"Maybe they should be," Han added under his breath.
"Daddy!" "Han!"
Both women were glaring at him, so he shrugged his shoulders and gave an innocent look. "What?" he said.
"You're not helping, dear," Leia ground out between gritted teeth.
"I'm just cutting through the poodoo, sweetheart," he countered. "Look, Jaina, we know that something is going on with you and Kyp. You haven't been acting like yourself since you got back. I want to know what's going on with my daughter and why you're trying to keep it a secret. Is it that awful?"
Jaina's expression softened a bit. She glanced down to the floor and then back to her parents. It was time to quit acting like a child and be an adult.
"Yes, something is going on between Kyp and me--- or at least it was," she stated with a sigh.
"Is he forcing himself on you with those Jedi mind tricks?" Han questioned firmly. If she answered yes, Kyp Durron was a dead man.
"No! How could you think such a thing?!" she exclaimed. "Kyp's not like that."
"Oh, no?" Han asked with a raised eyebrow. "Well, then what's he like?"
Jaina suddenly felt silly being questioned by her parents about the man she loved. How could she make them understand the real Kyp and the feelings she had for him without sounding ridiculous?
"Dad!" she declared. "You know Kyp better than most people. You saw the good in him when others didn't even want to look. Well, I looked--- and I like what I saw." There, what else could she say?
Han and Leia looked at one another, each waiting for the other to respond first. Leia decided to give it a try.
"I thought you hated Kyp," she said recalling the conversation she had had with Jaina before the girl had left on her mission.
"Yeah, me too," Jaina replied with grin so like her father's that Leia just shook her head. "But I got over it."
"When you sent that message and said you'd been 'training' with Kyp, what exactly-"
"Han!" "Daddy!"
"What?" he answered with his hands up in surrender again.
"Daddy, it's not like that," Jaina insisted. Both parents stared at her in disbelief making her feel extremely uncomfortable until she just had to give in. "Okay! Okay! It's kind of like that, but we haven't--- you know- -- 'trained for the big race' or anything like that."
An audible sigh of relief came from Han Solo when he heard his daughter's confession. "Shew!"
Jaina grew indignant. "But that's not to say we won't," she added for shock value. Leia had to step in between the two again as her husband made a half-hearted lunge for his daughter. "I am an adult now, Dad, in case you hadn't noticed."
"Oh, I've noticed," he replied. Silence hung in the air for a few uneasy moments while the trio tried to figure out what to say or do next. Finally, Han heaved another sigh and then turned to leave.
"Where are you going, Han?" Leia asked after him.
He halted by the door and turned to face the two most important women in his life. Leia knew something was up when he had that old roguish grin on his still handsome face.
"I'm just going to have a little talk with my friend Kyp." He winked, then spun back around and left.
"Mom!" Jaina yelled. "You can't let him do that!" Leia held her daughter back and forced her to look at her mother.
"Yes, I can and I will. Your father loves you, Jaina. He won't hurt Kyp. at least I don't think he will," Leia muttered to herself. "He just wants to be your father. Let him do this."
Jaina looked at her mother with an expression of utter despair on her young face. She didn't have the courage to tell her that it was useless for Han to talk to Kyp since Kyp no longer cared for her anyway. Instead, she let Leia embrace her in a comforting hug and fought back those tears that had been threatening to gush all morning.
"I'm surprised you're up this early."
Jaina was only half-listening to her youngest brother while pushing her breakfast around on her plate. She wasn't really hungry especially after her brief encounter with Kyp.
Anakin could sense Jaina's melancholy and knew it had something to do with the few words she and Kyp had exchanged only moments before, but he wasn't sure how to handle it. Part of him wanted to hug her. the other part wanted to yell at her for letting the man upset her in the first place, and since he couldn't decide what to do, he ignored it all together.
"Think you and Aunt Mara will find anything out there?" he ventured lamely. He waited for what seemed an eternity until Jaina finally looked up and acknowledged his presence.
"Did you say something?" she asked as her brown eyes met his blue. He glared at her with an expression of annoyance and she blushed. "Sorry!" she apologized. "My mind's just not--- working today."
"Yeah, I noticed," Anakin replied curtly. Jaina's gaze drifted to the mess hall doors and she sighed wistfully. "Is there something you want to talk about, Jaina? I'm a good listener, you know." He continued to watch her, but she avoided his eyes in favor of the cold food on her plate. "It's Kyp, isn't it?" he finally dared.
Her head snapped up and a look of terror was on her face. Well, that got her attention, Anakin mused to himself. Over the past few days, he and Jacen had had several conversations about their sister and her unusual behavior. Jacen was convinced Kyp had something to do with it, and he was miffed. Of course, he had never liked Kyp at all in the first place. Anakin, on the other hand, found that more often than not, he agreed with some of Kyp's philosophies, and although he couldn't easily forgive the Jedi master's deception toward Jaina several months earlier, he still kind of liked the man. Kyp reminded Anakin somewhat of Han in an odd way. Maybe that was what was drawing Jaina to Kyp.
Well, whatever it was, Anakin was more certain now than ever that his sister definitely had something going on with Kyp Durron, and he felt proud that he'd been the only one of his family to figure it out.
"Well, it does have something to do with Kyp, right?" he asked again awaiting her confession. Unfortunately, he'd have to wait a little longer.
"Greetings, fellow siblings." Jacen Solo suddenly appeared out of nowhere and plopped into a chair at their table. Anakin tried to hide his disappointment while Jaina was secretly thanking the Force her other brother had shown up when he did. Neither spoke. Jacen got a look of hurt on his face and raised both of his eyebrows. "Well, that's a fine how-do- you-do! Did I interrupt something important because if I did, I'm not leaving anyway." Then he shrugged his shoulders and began eating his breakfast.
Jaina and Anakin looked at each other and rolled their eyes. Typical Jacen.
In between bites, Jacen kept talking. "I just saw Kyp in the hall on my way here," he stated glancing at his sister out of the corner of his eye. He noted a guarded expression on her face, but she still wouldn't speak. She'd managed to avoid being alone with Jacen since her return, and between his own observations and the disturbing account from Corran Horn, which the older man had happily shared, Jaina's twin was bound and determined to get to the bottom of her obsession with Kyp Durron. It had to end. for her own good. Lucky for her she had such a concerned brother. "Yeah, he's a real piece of work."
The temperature inside Jaina began to rise as her brother proceeded to expound on Kyp Durron's utter lack of redeeming qualities--- His arrogance, selfishness, lack of respect for authority, aggressiveness--- Jaina couldn't stand to hear another word and threw her fork forcefully down onto her tray.
"Will you just shut up?!" she said loudly causing several nearby diners to cast irritated glances their way. Both Solo brothers froze and stared at their sister who was glaring daggers at both of them. Anakin finally gulped down the mouthful of food that had been suspended in his mouth but dared not move any other muscles.
"Just shut up! You don't even know Kyp!" she accused. "I never thought my own brothers would be so pompous and judgmental."
Jacen opened his mouth to rebut, but Jaina held up her hand to stop him. "NOT a word, Jacen!" she commanded. "You know, have you ever tried to put yourself in his shoes? Kyp came from a family that was fighting against the Empire, just like ours, only they didn't survive. Instead he was stuck in an underground prison from the time he was only eight until Dad got him out of there. Then he's told he has these great Jedi powers, gets possessed by an insane Sith lord who causes mass chaos, is in danger of losing his own life. and all before he's even eighteen!!"
Several of those nearby diners were now openly watching and listening to every word being spoken at the Solo table.
"So when you talk about Kyp just remember a few things. Maybe what you call selfishness and arrogance stems from his being forced to depend only on himself all those years and maybe it has made him a bit afraid to make himself vulnerable to other people that are so unforgiving. And perhaps his lack of respect for authority stems from the fact that the government was responsible for the deaths of his parents and the break up of his family." She felt like steam was coming out of her ears as she tried to calm her heavy breathing. She thought she might hit something, and her brothers were starting to look extremely tempting. So she decided to leave before things got out of hand. Pushing away from the table, she stood to leave.
"One more thing, Jacen dear," she said icily, "Kyp's 'aggressiveness' has at least gotten him to do something besides sit on his butt and contemplate his 'purpose' in the Force like someone else I know!" One last glare and then she was gone.
The two brothers stared after her until she was out of sight and then stared at each other. totally speechless. After several awkward moments and many uncomfortable glares from the surrounding 'audience', Anakin spoke.
"Well, guess that answered our question," he said softly. "She's nuts about him!"
"Yeah," Jacen muttered, "---nuts." ^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^
It was back to the old flight sim for Jaina. After the morning she'd had, it was the only available option she had for relieving the knot of stress that had effectively tied up her insides. Her brothers, mainly her very own twin, had pushed her way too far this time. She had never railed on them quite so viciously and a tiny part of her felt guilty. but just a teeny tiny part. The rest of her was still fuming at Jacen's brazen arrogance concerning Kyp. He had no idea what he was talking about. Kyp wasn't really like that. She knew him. the 'real' him. and he was different from the façade he put forth to everyone else.
She passed the meeting room where Kyp was briefing his new squad members. She halted outside the door and entertained the notion of bursting in and declaring her love for him, but chickened out. Instead, she reached out through the Force just to feel him.
Inside the room, Kyp was listening to his new subordinates introduce themselves. or at least pretending to listen. He couldn't seem to think about anything except Jaina. He had hoped not to see her this morning. It was too painful. Her rejection of his love was one of the worst things he had ever had to endure. She had come to mean too much to him, and he chided himself for letting it happen. He should have known better than to fall in love with Jaina Solo.
Suddenly, a tingle at the back of his mind caused him to glance curiously around the room to find the source. Then it dawned on him. It was Jaina. He let her in for only a moment and then quickly blocked her out. Forcing himself to focus on the speaking pilot at the other end of the table, he pushed any thoughts of Jaina Solo out of his mind.
The coldness overwhelmed her. Kyp had shut her out. just like that. Tears started to well up in her eyes, but she wouldn't dare let them escape. Instead, she stormed off to the flight room for a nice round of 'annihilate the Yuuzhan Vong' in the simulator. ^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^
After spending the better part of the afternoon exterminating virtual Vong skips, Jaina felt marginally better. She climbed out of the cockpit and slid down to the floor wiping the sweat from her brow. Leaning against the side of the machine, she felt her lip start to tremble. No, she didn't feel better at all. It was now closer to the time when she would have to leave with Mara, and who knew when she'd see Kyp again. The way things were going he'd never want to see her.
"Jaina, sweetie. There you are!" She looked up and saw her parents approaching. Quickly, she straightened and composed herself, willing away the tears and replacing them with an insincere smile.
"Hey," she said trying to sound happy to see them. "What are you two doing here?"
"We were looking for you actually," Leia replied. She could sense the unrest in her daughter and was dying to just ask outright what was going on, but Leia held herself in check. Jacen and Anakin had come to her and Han earlier and told them about Jaina's outburst. After some parental prodding, Jacen explained the theory he had developed for his sister's unusual behavior since her return. that she was infatuated with Kyp Durron. However, he hadn't explained why exactly Jaina had yelled at him. Anakin gladly chimed in with the whole truth much to Jacen's disapproval.
Han had been surprisingly mild about the whole thing, which made Leia wonder if he had already known about it--- or if he was just saving it all up for later. To be safe, she had smoothly placed herself between he and Jaina in case either of them got a little too worked up. Seeing as they were two peas in a pod when it came to temperament, Leia thought it was a wise move.
"What did you need?" Jaina asked nervously shifting her gaze from one parent to the next.
"Your brothers told us-"
"Oh, great!" Jaina interrupted her father. "What did those two morons say now?" She should have known they'd go running to their parents. Tattle tales. Nothing ever changed with those two.
"Jaina! Don't talk about your brothers like that!" Leia scolded.
"Why? Apparently they've been talking about me." She thrust her chin into the air defiantly and crossed her arms. "Well? What did they say?" she asked rolling her eyes. It was coming sooner or later, she had known, so now was as good a time as any.
"They say you've been messing around with Kyp," stated Han with a steely gaze. To emphasize his size and rank within the family, he puffed up his chest and crossed his own arms.
Jaina's mouth dropped open and her arms fell to her sides. She snorted but no words followed.
"Is it true?" Leia asked softly. "You can tell us, honey."
Jaina clenched her jaw tightly and felt her ears heating up. She didn't know whether to be angry or embarrassed or both.
"We already know, Jaina," Han added. "Corran Horn saw you two in the hallway the other night."
"What?!" she finally exclaimed. "Is everybody spying on me or something?!"
"No!.no," Leia said placing a calming hand on her daughter's arm. "No one's spying on you."
"Maybe they should be," Han added under his breath.
"Daddy!" "Han!"
Both women were glaring at him, so he shrugged his shoulders and gave an innocent look. "What?" he said.
"You're not helping, dear," Leia ground out between gritted teeth.
"I'm just cutting through the poodoo, sweetheart," he countered. "Look, Jaina, we know that something is going on with you and Kyp. You haven't been acting like yourself since you got back. I want to know what's going on with my daughter and why you're trying to keep it a secret. Is it that awful?"
Jaina's expression softened a bit. She glanced down to the floor and then back to her parents. It was time to quit acting like a child and be an adult.
"Yes, something is going on between Kyp and me--- or at least it was," she stated with a sigh.
"Is he forcing himself on you with those Jedi mind tricks?" Han questioned firmly. If she answered yes, Kyp Durron was a dead man.
"No! How could you think such a thing?!" she exclaimed. "Kyp's not like that."
"Oh, no?" Han asked with a raised eyebrow. "Well, then what's he like?"
Jaina suddenly felt silly being questioned by her parents about the man she loved. How could she make them understand the real Kyp and the feelings she had for him without sounding ridiculous?
"Dad!" she declared. "You know Kyp better than most people. You saw the good in him when others didn't even want to look. Well, I looked--- and I like what I saw." There, what else could she say?
Han and Leia looked at one another, each waiting for the other to respond first. Leia decided to give it a try.
"I thought you hated Kyp," she said recalling the conversation she had had with Jaina before the girl had left on her mission.
"Yeah, me too," Jaina replied with grin so like her father's that Leia just shook her head. "But I got over it."
"When you sent that message and said you'd been 'training' with Kyp, what exactly-"
"Han!" "Daddy!"
"What?" he answered with his hands up in surrender again.
"Daddy, it's not like that," Jaina insisted. Both parents stared at her in disbelief making her feel extremely uncomfortable until she just had to give in. "Okay! Okay! It's kind of like that, but we haven't--- you know- -- 'trained for the big race' or anything like that."
An audible sigh of relief came from Han Solo when he heard his daughter's confession. "Shew!"
Jaina grew indignant. "But that's not to say we won't," she added for shock value. Leia had to step in between the two again as her husband made a half-hearted lunge for his daughter. "I am an adult now, Dad, in case you hadn't noticed."
"Oh, I've noticed," he replied. Silence hung in the air for a few uneasy moments while the trio tried to figure out what to say or do next. Finally, Han heaved another sigh and then turned to leave.
"Where are you going, Han?" Leia asked after him.
He halted by the door and turned to face the two most important women in his life. Leia knew something was up when he had that old roguish grin on his still handsome face.
"I'm just going to have a little talk with my friend Kyp." He winked, then spun back around and left.
"Mom!" Jaina yelled. "You can't let him do that!" Leia held her daughter back and forced her to look at her mother.
"Yes, I can and I will. Your father loves you, Jaina. He won't hurt Kyp. at least I don't think he will," Leia muttered to herself. "He just wants to be your father. Let him do this."
Jaina looked at her mother with an expression of utter despair on her young face. She didn't have the courage to tell her that it was useless for Han to talk to Kyp since Kyp no longer cared for her anyway. Instead, she let Leia embrace her in a comforting hug and fought back those tears that had been threatening to gush all morning.