Author's Note:
Thanks Falcona, Luke, & Kaial Skywolf! (How many of you guys are there? —Do I want to know? :) Jaina's going to figure more later, I'm thinking, but she probably won't be a top player. Leia won't show up much... She might become major, though. At the moment, she's still comatose. Tahiri's currently out of commission, but her recovery will begin in a few chapters... Luke's part is growing. A1's part in this will definitely grow, but not until his 'few weeks' of recovery are up—remember what Barriss said. That cover everything?
Sorry for the wait, guys. I am working on this! It's just in a very sluggish rut, right now... I'm getting all these ideas, but they're all too far ahead in the story! (More like sequel time period.) I'm fighting it, but that means these chapters are forming extremely slowly... Especially these on Mon Cal.
Tell me what you think, guys. The blunter, the better.
Enjoy! :)
TWENTY-SEVEN
Eating a cafeteria breakfast, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker watched Senator Whitesun run her hands over her gray hair, leaning slightly away from Kyp. Jedi Master Durron seemed angry at her, waving his arms and pointing at her hair, her datapad, and her cup of tea.
Luke frowned. He picked up his tray and headed over to join them.
"...And you're still working!"
"Is something wrong?"
"Yes something's wrong! Misti doesn't—"
Senator Misti Whitesun exploded. "I am Senator Whitesun, sir!"
"Well, excuse me, Senator," snobbily replied Kyp. "You're working yourself to death, you never eat—"
"You've never seen me eat so I must never eat, is that it?" she tersely mocked.
"It isn't normal!"
"Normalcy is relative."
"Health isn't, though," timidly offered Yni Lecarr. "He's just concerned for you."
"He may return his 'concern' to whatever eddy it flows from. As may you."
Tears welled in the young lady's eyes at the Senator's cold tone. "But—"
"Hush, child."
Yni tucked her side braid into her mouth and chewed. She sniffed. "But Si—" A glare from the Senator silenced the girl. She gulped and whispered, "But the—"
Whitesun forcefully returned her tea mug to the table. "Dear," she said thoughtfully. "Do you want to meet a giant squid?"
The young woman yelped and fled, passing Whitesun's secretary bearing two trays. The tall dark caramel-skinned woman scowled. "I'm beginning to wonder if it wasn't a good thing that the Force willed that you not be a mother." The secretary went after Yni.
At the woman's words, Whitesun froze, teacup almost to her lips. Her hand shook. She blinked quickly, putting her other hand over her face and turning away from the two Jedi.
Abruptly she stood and took a few steps after her secretary. "Tahl!" she called. "Tahl! Please!"
On 'please' her voice wavered, and she glanced with a tight brow back at Luke. Misti bit her lip and hurried after Tahl and Yni.
"Don't, Kyp."
Master Durron huffed, but didn't trail after the Senator. "You know, that woman is impossible to make think about what might be best for her. She tosses me off from being her bodyguard whatever chance she gets, though she obviously needs one!"
"Guard Tahl."
Kyp stared at him. "What?"
"We've been requested to guard Tahl."
Luke already knew who he was going to ask for Misti Whitesun.
What's eating you?
Shut up, Tayun.
Why are you so upset?
Tayun.
Was his mother that bad?
Senator Whitesun swatted her own head.
...It isn't his mother he reminds you of, is it?
Tayun domain Kwaad!
...Is it that he's a Jedi?
Misti Whitesun forcibly drove Tayun away. She frowned, looking for Tahl and—and Yni.
She sensed her mental companion listening with piqued interest. She closed her eyes and sighed. The girl was learning—quickly, at that, now that Tayun had gotten the hang of things...
Even so, it was like being her own mother, sometimes...
No. Not sometimes. Often.
"Tahl!"
Jaina turned to see Senator Whitesun hurrying after her secretary and that weird 'Yni'.
"Tahl, I—"
The woman's pale face abruptly whitewashed. She choked on her words. "Pooja," she whispered and collapsed, unconscious.
The Jedi Knight hurried over and checked for a pulse. Erratic.
Tahl and Yni joined her. The girl-woman was chewing on her hair. "Is she all right?"
"Who's Pooja?"
The secretary gave Jaina a sharp look. "What?"
But Yni had started. "That was Pooja?"
"What was Pooja? Who is she?"
Yni twitched at Tahl's question, staring at the floor. "Pooja. Sola's girl. She just..." She tugged on her hair.
They waited. "...Yes?" prodded Jaina when no continuation came.
She shrugged. "Pooja's like Sola, now."
"Sola?"
"Sola..." Unlike the Jedi Knight, Tahl's response was thoughtful. "Sola Naberrie?"
The brunette nodded widely—and wandered off to examine something that caught her eye.
"Who's Sola Naberrie?"
Tahl gave Jaina a slight smile. "Someone who's dead."
She blinked.
The secretary leaned closer, offering a sharp nod back towards Yni. "Miss Lecarr needs such connections to understand something. Call it a side effect of her parents losing her at two."
"Say what?" Jedi Knight Jaina Solo felt like Jacen.
"Just humor her." Tahl stood, hauling the still-unconscious Senator up by the arm. "She's highly informative, after her fashion."
Before Jaina could frame a question, Tahl had carried her employer away. She headed after them, but a yelp and flying sparks caught her attention.
The Jedi Knight caught Yni and hastily rewired the frying circuitry. The brunette shrugged sheepishly. "Jar Jar did that."
Fried circuits? Jaina eyed her, wondering just how much of Yni's behavior was an act. No adolescent was that puerile.
Well, she figured, there's only one way to find out.