-Tomorrow-
Humming to herself, feeling lighter than she has in a while, Jaina presses the door chime at Tahiri's quarters. A full thirty seconds pass and there's no response. There isn't one to her knock, either. When she thumbs the access panel, the unlocked door slides open.
The room is empty. No Tahiri. No anything, really. All of her meagre possessions are gone, save for the robes lying across the unmade bed and a datapad sitting atop it.
Alarmed and yet strangely calm, Jaina crosses to the bed and picks up the datapad. It's been wiped, the only thing in it an unsettling message.
I'm sorry, Jaina. You're my sister, but he's my friend, and you betrayed him. I know what you've done. I can't be here and watch you do this.
The door opens and Luke Skywalker comes in, followed by Kyp Durron and Corran Horn. She's not surprised to see them. Corran was Tahiri's master. Kyp is virtually Luke's right hand man these days.
"What are you doing here?" her uncle asks.
"Tahiri and I were supposed to go to Hapes today, to visit Tenel Ka. But…" She gestures around. "She's left."
"Last night," Corran Horn says. "She boosted one of the smaller transports. No one was awake except a few sentries, and she apparently slipped past using some technique she learned from Jacen. We don't know where she went."
Jaina's voice is just a little shaky as she says, "I think I do."
She hands the datapad to Luke. He reads the message aloud. Jaina doesn't look at Kyp.
"You think she's gone to Jag?" Luke asks.
"That's the only 'he' I can think of that I could have betrayed at this point." She laughs without humour.
"He's the one who became Emperor," Corran points out. "How could *you* betray *him*?"
Kyp leans against the wall, folding his arms across his chest. This isn't how Jaina imagined the day after to go. They exchange a look.
"Me," he says.
Luke and Corran turn to look at him.
"What?" Corran squeaks, and it would be hilarious if the situation were different.
"Jaina and I are in a relationship."
Corran looks between the two of them, eyes bugging. The animosity between the two men has faded over time, but the idea is clearly baffling to the older man.
"It's true," she says. "We've been seeing each other for a couple months. Tahiri apparently found out, which we purposely didn't tell anyone so that it couldn't get back to Jag, and… I don't know."
"Jag's always been a bit, uh…" Kyp wrinkles his nose. "He knows I love Jaina and hasn't liked us even being friends, and he's always been irrational and obnoxious about it. We didn't want him to think Jaina left him for me. Tahiri clearly thinks she did and has gone to tell Jag."
Jaina shakes her head. "I'm going to have to comm him, tell him. I have no idea how she's going to spin this.
Talking to Jag is the last thing she wants to do today. She wants to retreat with Kyp and hide from reality. She wants to go with her friends on a vacation. She doesn't want to face her ex-husband for the first time since she signed her divorce documents and tell him she's in love with someone else.
But she has no choice.
Kyp closes the space between them and pulls her close. "I'm here. I'm not going anywhere. You don't have to do anything alone."
Corran clears his throat. "Ah . . . I'll just . . . go see about improving our security."
He excuses himself and leaves. Luke looks at the couple for a moment, then says, "I trust you not to start an interplanetary incident. Let me know how it goes."
He, too, exits. Kyp kisses Jaina's forehead.
"This is his picnic talk," he tells her, and she laughs briefly.
"Yeah. Well, better get it over with."
