Chapter 25
The wedding of Jaina Solo, Jedi Knight, hero of the Yuuzhan Vong War, notorious Joiner of the Killiks, daughter of Rebellion heroes Han Solo and Princess Leia Organa Solo who was a former Chief of State, niece of Jedi Grand Master Luke Skywalker and granddaughter of Darth Vader could in no way ever be an unimportant media event. But compound that with the fact the groom was one of the Galaxy's most controversial Jedi Masters, there was no way the public wouldn't want to know. Jaina Solo and Kyp Durron had always been news favorites, particularly Jaina. She was born of royalty which had nothing to do with her mother being a princess. She was young, brave and beautiful and had been a media darling since she was born. But her star really rose during the Vong War.
Most recently she and Kyp Durron nearly single handedly destroyed the massive pirate organization, Moorex. They disposed of its leader and uncovered enough information to rock several Outer Rim planets. The new president of Tatooine ended up stepping down after being implicated in accepting kickbacks from the Moorex for enacting lenient laws in favor of the pirates. The Queen of Naboo had been publicly embarrassed when she was forced to have her chief advisor arrested for not only helping pass laws favoring the Moorex but had also been identified as a former member of the Peace Brigade. However, what really sent shockwaves throughout the GFFA was when the uploaded information Jaina recovered from the main Moorex computers on Geonosis revealed Assistant Director of Military Intelligence Quu L'Nox as a Moorex spy.
Even so, what really pulled at the public's collective heart strings was the news that Jedi Knight Jaina Solo sat day in and day out beside the bed of the comatose Master she was in love with. The news about Kyp Durron's condition had reporters literally camping out in the lobby of the medial center and of course, Tarc was among them. However, the young HoloNet reporter was the only one who had gotten an exclusive interview with Master Kenth Hamner concerning the Jedi Master Kyp Durron and his hopeless condition.
These thoughts surfaced in the mind of the reporter who had been the only one invited to the wedding, just as he was the only one invited to the marriage of the Hapan Royals. But then he was not just a reporter, he was considered a family friend. He had kept in touch with Han and Leia Solo over the years since he had been dumped temporarily into their care as a twelve year old orphan following the Battle of Corescant. As he moved slightly around the wedding guests recording the event for prosperity with his holocam, he got more than one curious look. Every one there knew who Tarc, formally Dab Hantaq, was. He was famous enough, but he still possessed enough of a resemblance to Anakin Solo even after all these years that people who had known the young Jedi would look at Tarc and he was sure they wondered if Anakin would have looked like Tarc at age twenty-one.
He planned on recording the whole event and then he would edit out tidbits for the knowledge and gossip hungry public he served. He then would brush up the rest of the holo and present it to Kyp and Jaina as wedding gift. He had done that for the Queen Mother and Prince Consort. As he finished recording the couple as they entered the Grand Ball Room of the Hapan Palace, he moved to the back of the lavish hall and skirted the perimeter behind the tables that were set up to accommodate the 335 hungry wedding guests. As human servants and droids scurried about to serve the multi-course wedding feast, he recorded the bride and groom as they took their places at the head table with the royals who included Prince Isolder and the rest of the Solo/Skywalker clan.
After a few moments the guests settled down and began to eat. But that peace was short lived. Tarc snickered as he suddenly heard a loud whistle that seemed extremely out of place in such an elegant setting. He zeroed in on the offender and had to keep from laughing out-right. The old Corellian wedding whistle came from the very Corellian Booster Terrik.
The ex-smuggler followed the whistle with a chuckle and a shout, "Well, come on, Durron, surely you've been around enough Corellians to know what that whistle means!"
Several other guests, most of whom had some ties to Corellia, began to laugh and added in their own whistles. Kyp looked at Jaina and they grinned at each other, then Kyp bent over to give Jaina a very chaste kiss.
"Oh, Durron," another voice rang out and Tarc immediately identified its owner as Wes Janson, "can't you do any better than that?" More whistling followed. "Or maybe you need me to show you how!" This brought a pronounced scowl from the bride's father, more than a little laughter from the guests and head shakes from Hobbie and Gavin Darklighter as they pulled the one-time Rogue back down into his seat.
Jaina glared at Janson and then whispered into Kyp's ear. He raised an eyebrow and gave her a roguish lopsided grin but before anyone else could say a thing more, Kyp took her into his arms and caught her lips in an extremely passionate kiss. As the moments ticked by and the crowd became more boisterous with its hoots and hollers, Tarc wryly wondered how they could continue kissing for so long. Must be a Jedi thing.
Suddenly, through all the noise, Lando Carlissian called out after the couple continued to kiss, "Jaina, your brother looks like he is about to lose his stomach and Han is turning purple."
Wedge Antilles who was sitting with his wife and daughters at the same table as Wes Janson and others of the original Rogue Squadron, yelled between chuckles. "Okay, Durron. You better stop. Your father-in-law just pulled his out his blaster."
Prince Jacen Solo-D'jo had a pained expression of disgust on his face and he shook his head as he sat beside the newly weds trying not to witness the kiss. As Kyp and Jaina finally came apart, the Prince whined, "Please, next time just go to your room."
Jaina looked at her brother with a bright but mischievous grin in place and breathlessly asked, "Is that a Royal Order, Your Highness?"
"No! No one is leaving, yet." Han bent forward to look at his daughter and son. Then with a glare he pointed a finger at Kyp, "I realize that may be a behavior you partake in while alone, but, Kid, if I ever have to see you do that to my daughter again you are a dead man." The guests nearly shook the room with their laughter. Tarc shook his head and joined his laughter with the rest thinking, Nothing like the Solos throwing a party.
X
Following the meal, the orchestra began playing the short introduction to indicate it was time for the traditional wedding dances. Kyp took Jaina's hand and led her around the table to the dance floor in the center of the Ball Room. She went into his arms and as the orchestra changed music and began playing what they had chosen for their first dance. The strains of a very contemporary ballad began to fill the air. It was the melody of the love song she and Kyp had danced to several times since that very first dance the night either of them would ever forget.
They held each other close and Jaina became completely lost in the music, just as she always had. She could hear his heart race as her head rested on his chest, tucked under his chin. The music soon came to a stop and when they parted enough to look into each others eyes Kyp leaned over and kissed her gently.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and tuned to see her father standing there with an expression of love and yet sadness. Han looked from her to Kyp and said, "May I have the next dance with my little girl?"
"Oh, Dad, I'm not that little any more," She smiled and moved away from her husband and into the open arms of her father.
"You will always be my little girl." Han said as he pulled her close.
She smiled up at him and said, "Do you remember the first time you danced with me?"
Han smiled down at her and nodded, "You were nine and it was at a State Dinner when your mom was Chief-of-State."
She nodded and smiled, "You let me stand on your feet because I couldn't get the steps of the waltz right."
Han couldn't look at her in that moment instead he watched as Kyp swung his wife into the waltz and quietly said, "You can dance on my feet any time, Princess."
X
Kyp grinned and moved away to find Leia with hands clasped before her, standing at the edge of the circle tables. He held out his hand, bashfully smiled and asked, "Um—may I have this dance?"
Leia smiled and put her hand into his. Kyp lead his mother-in-law out to the dance floor just as the orchestra began to play an old Alderaanian waltz that was traditionally played for this very dance.
They didn't speak at first; Kyp actually felt awkward dancing with Leia. They had spent so many years being at odds with each other that it was completely out of character for them to actually get along. Finally though, Leia smiled and said, "I remember the first time Jaina came to me and announced she was going to marry you."
Kyp looked at Leia, "Oh?" He knew she wasn't talking about when they announced their relationship to the Solos eleven months ago.
Leia donned an expression of remembrance and went on to say, "She was six maybe seven. It was right after we had visited Yavin Four and you were there."
Kyp laughed as he swung her around the dance floor. "She was six and I remember her insisting that I be her X-Wing and Han insisted on taking holos of her humiliating me." He paused, grinned and added, "I still have one of the holos."
Leia looked up at him surprised, "You do?"
"Yeah, I got a copy from Han before I left for a mission Luke sent me on before you all left," he said sheepishly.
Leia shook her head and chuckled, "I should have known you two were destined to be together. It was after that trip, Jaina announced she would someday marry you."
The two couples continued to dance and as the waltz came to its ending Leia looked up to Kyp and said, "You know this will go on forever." She nodded over to the forming line of males who hoped to eventually have a chance to dance with the bride.
Kyp followed her line of sight and grinned as he saw who was lining up. "Yeah, but she'll be leaving with me at the end of the night." He looked back down at his mother-in-law and added with a lifted brow, "Unless, you are suggesting I do something about them?"
Leia laughed softly and said, "You know, Kyp, I may have been wrong about you all these years but one thing is sure, you are still a scoundrel."
Kyp gave her a lopsided grin and said, "Ahh, Jaina says I'm a rogue."
"All the same." She pulled Kyp into an embrace as the music stopped and quietly said into his ear, "Just don't let it go on too long. If she is anything like her mother she won't be able to get out of here soon enough especially after that kiss."
She broke the embrace leaving a very shocked Kyp behind to watch the Princess of Alderaan gracefully move towards her husband as Luke moved to take the next dance with Jaina.