Chapter 4

"Mom, can I please have some of that coffee stuff?" Jaina asked from her mother's side. Jaina had been excited about their house guest. She felt the need to show off a little bit.

Leia had been trying to get the children ready for breakfast and Luke's visit. She had also been trying not to make Nomica do a lot of work because of the trauma she had been through the night before. Han had been trying to get things together for them to leave to find Lando. "No, Jaina. Please go into your room and watch Anakin while I finish making breakfast." Leia expected to hear the sigh she always seemed to get from Jaina when she had to do something that she didn't like. Leia wouldn't have asked her to but Jacen had gone out with Han and Chewbacca to put supplies on the Falcon.

"But mom, Nomi is playing with him; she said that she would watch him for a little while. Can I please stay in here with you? Anakin is showing her how to rewire one of his little droids and it's kind of boring."

Leia laughed. Anakin had a way with machines. When he was younger the twins used his abilities to their advantage but they soon got bored. "Yes, you can stay in here. I'll let you help if you want. You can set the table." Lately her work for the Senate had kept her pretty busy, the children had been spending more time with Han and Chewie. She was glad her and Jaina could have mother-daughter-time.

"Okay I'll set the table if you let me have some of that coffee stuff. Please?" Jaina refused to give up without a fight.

"Alright, go ask Nomi if she would like some."

"Mom, can I ask you something about her? I just want to know what she is doing here. I know you told me she was one of Uncle Luke's friends but what else do we know about her?" Jaina felt that Nomi was a stranger and she wanted to know all about the woman if she was to be staying with them. "How does she know Uncle Luke? And if Dad and Uncle Luke are leaving why can't she go with them or at least stay at Uncle Luke's place?"

"How did you know that your father was leaving? He wasn't going to tell you until after breakfast. And that is rather mean of you to not want her to stay with us. What wrong, Jaina?" Jaina was usually happy to have guests; it gave her a chance to show off. Was Jaina getting out of that stage? Maybe Jaina felt something about Nomi that Leia couldn't.

"Jacen told me when I asked him where he was going so early in the morning. Don't worry I didn't read Dad's thoughts or anything. I'm only asking because I want to know. Mom aren't you even the little bit curious?"

"Yes, but either Uncle Luke or Nomi will tell us when they are ready. All I know is that they are old friends from when he lived on Tatooine. She is the younger sister to a friend of ours that died a long time ago." Leia realized how long it had truly been since Bigg's death, almost fifteen years.

"Mom, I already knew that much. Uncle Luke told us that last night when they came by."

"Well then, Jaina, for once you know as much as I do." Leia was now starting to wonder about everything Jaina had asked. Jaina always had a way of asking questions that made Leia start to want to know the answers to. There was a chirp from the commlink that was sitting on the counter. Leia looked up to see Jaina standing in front of her with an eager face to answer it. Leia usually didn't allow the kids to answer the commlink but it would do no harm. "Go, ahead answer it."

Jaina jumped down from the chair she had been standing on. "Yippee!" She grabbed the commlink off the counter. "Hello this is Jaina Solo."

"Jaina? What are you doing with mom's commlink she hates it when we answer it. Is everything okay?" It was Jacen.

What is he doing with Dad's commlink? "She said I could, and she is sitting right here. What do you want?"

"Dad told me to call her and tell her to expect a call from Talon Karrde. He is coming to Coruscant and that he is going to go with Dad and Uncle Luke to find Lando." Jacen told her.

"Mr. Karrde is coming? Hey does that mean Mara is coming too? That would be really cool. Ask Dad if she is coming."

"Dad said he doesn't know, but he told me to tell mom that Mr. Karrde said that someone named Tendra Risantwas coming with him. And that Dad and Uncle Luke would be leaving not long after breakfast."

"What? Jaina gives me that commlink," she took it away from her and stepped into the other room. "What do you mean they're leaving early? Let me speak to your father." Leia had planned on spending a little bit more time with Han. With Jaina's questions going through her head, she wanted to spend some time with Luke also.

"Hey, sweetheart. What's wrong?"

"What do you mean you two are leaving early? Why? I thought you were going to stay at least until lunch."

"I didn't know that Karrde was coming or that Tendra was coming. They're going to arrive after breakfast. Luke and I are going to go and talk to Karrde and Tendra and see where we should start looking. Then we'll come back and say our goodbyes and leave. I know you thought Luke and I weren't leaving until later, but Mara said that Tendra doesn't really want to land here, but they have to drop Mara off."

"Mara's coming? Yay!" Jaina screamed from inside the kitchenette.

"Jaina quit listening in," Leia said. "I just want you two to stay home for a little while so we could have a family breakfast without you two rushing."

"Leia, you knew that I'd be rushing anyways, to go find Lando. You also know that Luke would too. Even though Nomica is here he still knows that he had to leave."

"Luke is leaving?" Nomi asked from the children's bedroom doorway while holding Anakin's hand. She had no idea that he was leaving. He had never told her.

"Han let me call you back." Leia turned off the commlink. "Anakin, go into the kitchenette. Jaina is in there; ask her to get you some juice." He let go of Nomi's hand and went into the kitchenette. Leia looked at Nomi and could tell that she hadn't even known about Luke leaving. "I'm sorry. Luke was going to tell you at breakfast this morning."

"Why is he leaving? I thought we were supposed to watch Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin for you. He said we would have time to talk." Nomi didn't want to sound like a child but she was beginning to. She had wanted to talk to him about something but now it seemed it would have to wait. It was something that she couldn't tell him as he was leaving.

"One of our friends, Lando Calrissian, is missing. Han and Luke are going to try to go find him. I'm truly sorry. I just found out that they decided to leave earlier." Leia could feel a change in Nomi's emotions. She seemed sad but understanding. Leia decided this was not the time to be nosey. There was a knock at the door. Leia knew who it was and by the way Nomi's mood changed she guessed she did also.

Jaina and Anakin ran for the door. "It's Uncle Luke!" Jaina screamed as she ran ahead of Anakin. Leia and Nomi walked into the common room just in time to see Anakin run and jump at Luke. Luke caught him with ease, of course.

"Hi, Leia. Hi, Nomi." Luke said nodding toward both of them.

"Luke, could I talk to you in the other room?" Nomi asked.

"Yeah." He set Anakin on the ground and walked to where she was standing.

"Uh-oh, Uncle Luke, you're in trouble." Jaina said.

"Jaina!" Leia snapped with a look that said do that again and you're in big trouble.

They went into the guest quarters, where she was staying. Luke didn't need Jaina to point it out to him. He could already tell something was bothering Nomi. "What's wrong?"

"Luke, why didn't you tell me that you were leaving? I overheard your sister talking to her husband. What were you going to do just leave me here?" Nomi was truly upset about this. She couldn't help but feel that once again he had forgotten about her.

"That's what Han wanted to talk to me about last night. I wasn't going to leave you here. I was going to see if you would have wanted to stay here with Leia or down below in my apartment. I don't want you to go back to your aunt's though."

"How long are you going to be gone? I can't wait around forever Luke. I can't stay here and wait for you to get back. The longer I'm gone the worse things will be when I get back. Luke, I don't want my father to end up hating me."

"I know you don't want him hating you. I understand if you want to go back to your aunt's house. There is someone coming here that I would very much like you to meet. You two are so much alike you could be the same person sometimes."

"Luke-"

Han walked in the room. "I hope I'm not disturbing anything, but we better go eat if we are going to go meet with Mara and Karrde."

"We'll be there in a second." Luke answered him so that he would go away. It worked and Han stepped back outside. "What do you want to do?"

Nomi sat there a moment. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She exhaled and opened her eyes. "I guess I'll stay with Leia. If your gone for more than two months and you haven't come back then I'll have to go home."

"I understand. I hope it doesn't take two months to find Lando." There was a strange pause that meant the conversation was over. "Let's go eat." Luke said as he took a hold of her hand.