CHAPTER SIX

Luke and Anakin arrived in the Coruscant system and Anakin relaxed, looking forward to spending a couple of days with his grandchildren while Luke was preoccupied with preparations for his pre-wedding party. Anakin planned to be home before the party started. He didn't know if he could bear to be close to the celebration and not be a part of it. He knew that Mara would not be as comfortable with him in close proximity and felt it would be better to abstain from the event. It would be hard enough for her at the wedding, he was sure. His thoughts were taking a turn for the morose when the holotransmitter beeped and his youngest grandson and namesake's face came into view, lifting his spirits.

"Hi, Grandfather! Hi, Uncle Luke!"

"Anakin Solo, I told you to wait until I got there to press the button!" His daughter's face appeared and shooed her youngest out of the picture. "I'm sorry. Anakin got a little overeager," she said.

"Do not be silly," Anakin said with a frown. "I can't imagine anyone's face I might like to see more in a holo, except maybe my lovely daughter's."

Leia regarded him with raised brows. "Oh my stars. This trip certainly has done you some good," she said suspiciously.

"Nonsense, I have always thought you the noblest creature," Anakin said with mock hurt.

"All right, all right," Luke interrupted with a roll of his eyes. "Before you two get carried away... What's up?"

"Can I speak with Luke alone for a moment, Father?"

Anakin sat up straight, this time the hurt was real. "Certainly. I'll just be in the back," he said to Luke with a nod and got up to leave.

"Calm down. Before you get your cape in a bundle, Father...," Leia started.

"My cape in a bundle? Young lady, you are not too old to be turned over my knee!" Anakin drew himself up indignantly.

"Yes, your cape in a bundle. I just had a private matter to speak with Luke about, it's a surprise," Leia insisted with mock impatience, a laugh simmering under the "serious" tone she was taking. Sometimes it was just fun to get him riled up.

"Can we get on with this, please??" Luke said. His voice had been a little louder than he meant it to be. His sister and father were trying his patience, especially since he knew it was because they had missed each other's company.

"I'll be in the back," Anakin said as he turned to leave. "I'll see you in a few hours, my princess," he said with a wink.

Luke just shook his head. He could never tell when they were serious with each other.

"Okay, what is it?" He asked.

"You need to be prepared for your engagement party when you land," Leia said.

"Come again?" Luke said with a touch of disbelief. "The party isn't until next week."

"Yes, well, there's been a change in plans and both you and father need to be prepared for the engagement party when you land," she said more precisely this time.

"What do you mean? What about Father? We can't just leave him sitting at home while we have this party, unless you've decided to leave the kids with him..." Luke said incredulously.

"Believe me, I have thought about that," Leia said. "But as much as Han and I need a night out without the kids, Father and Mara simply need to deal with it."

"Deal with what?" Luke asked. "You can't just force two people to 'deal with it', Leia. Especially people like those two. You have met my future wife, right? We don't even know what happened."

Leia's face took on the look that Luke loathed. It was the same look his father had gotten at his home before they left for Tatooine. Stang! This mess was driving him crazy!

"I'll expect you two here shortly. And wear something nice!" With that she snapped off the holo leaving Luke sitting there with his mouth agape. Why does she always get the last word??

He stood and turned to retrieve his father and collided with the solid wall of his father's chest. He backed away and waited for the inevitable.

"So, we have just been ordered to land posthaste and show up at this party, and that is that?" Anakin's expression had taken on a thunderous look.

For a moment Luke felt a sense of dejá vu, only in an unthreatening and almost comical way. If this wasn't his wedding, he be laughing his head off right now.

"It appears that way, yes," Luke said resignedly.

"She is just like her mother when she gets something in her head," Anakin said through clenched teeth. He shook his head exasperatedly, put his hands on his hips and stalked to the back of the shuttle. "Well, you'd better get us there fast or there'll be hell to pay!" He yelled from the back of the shuttle.

Just get me through this night... Luke closed his eyes and silently begged of the Force.

x x x x x x x x x x

Luke entered the small private ballroom and stopped, momentarily speechless. Leia had outdone herself this time. The flowers, centerpieces, music, even the place settings reflected the elegant design that only a princess of Alderaan could arrange. He smiled at the gathering of friends, family and Jedi who mingled quietly, or in the case of the corner currently occupied by Han, Lando, and Talon Karrde, not so quietly, around the room.

Leia appeared at his elbow. "It's about time," she murmured. "Where's...Master Spicewood?"

"We ran into Corran on the way in," Luke answered. "They'll be here in a minute." Corran Horn had been friends with his father ever since he learned that Anakin had been a friend of Corran's grandfather, Nejaa Halcyon, in the Clone Wars.

"Well, look who decided to come to his own party," Han announced, clapping Luke on the shoulder. "I was beginning to think I'd have to toast the happy couple without the happy couple."

"Speaking of..." Luke looked around the room for any sign of his fiancé. He spotted her with Iella Antilles in front of an intricately carved ice sculpture and smiled in spite of himself. Mara's red-gold hair hung gracefully around her shoulders, complemented by her shimmering black gown. She and Iella were laughing at something in a plain brown package – one of the gag gifts she had threatened to give the bridesmaids, no doubt.

Luke started to walk toward her only to be halted by the grinning face of his brother-in-law, "Hang on, kid. I've got a little something for my little brother." Luke grimaced. He could only imagine.

x x x x x x x x x x

Across the room, Iella shoved the gift from Mara into a pocket of her party jacket as her husband approached. "I'm not even going to ask," Wedge commented.

"That's probably for the best," Mara smiled behind her not-quite-sabacc-face. "Have you seen Mirax anywhere?"

"She and Corran were on the observation deck, last I saw them," he answered.

Making her way graciously through the room, Mara exited the ballroom and keyed for entry into the observation lounge. She had decided to spare her wedding attendants the embarrassment of gaudy dresses, and instead had purchased each of them a talisman of questionable taste during her latest run to the Corellian Sector.

Mara stepped into the room and halted dead in her tracks as the door closed behind her. Corran and Mirax were not there, but the tall, cloaked form silhouetted in front of the floor-to-ceiling transparisteel wall was familiar...painfully familiar.

to be continued...