Chapter Five

Exiting the lift on the top floor, Leia walked straight into a wall of grey-uniformed chests. The one on the left wore a pair of engagement insignias; the one on the right was adorned with over a dozen. She glanced up to meet the gaze of the ranking officer. A long way up. Apparently, the Imperials fed their ISS guards double portions, because this guy was huge.

"I'm expected," she said, and swept past.

One long step brought him right back into her path. "Name?"

Her time in the Imperial Senate came rushing back. Everything stood on procedure; nothing left to assumption, even identity. She forced a smile. "Leia Organa Solo, mother of the bride."

The behemoth nodded to his subordinate, who tapped on his datapad. "Leia Organa Solo. Nine o'clock audience."

Audience? Leia began to wonder if her husband's concerns might not be so overblown after all. She raised her gaze back to the lead officer. "As I said, I'm expected."

He did not return her smile. "It is oh-eight-fifty. You're early."

And he just stood there, unmoving. Behind Leia the lift chimed with a call from the lower levels, and its doors slid closed. No doubt summoned by the dressmaker and his entourage. At best, Leia had minutes to get in that room. Squaring her shoulders, she stormed forward. The behemoth moved to intercept, but came up short against an invincible wall. She triggered the announcer and tapped on the door with her knuckles for good measure.

"Jaina, it's Mom. Let –" Using her recall of her own suite one floor below, Leia visualized the door controls on the other side of the wall and nudged the entry button. "– me in."

The door snapped open. Leia whisked inside, making a mental note to talk to Soontir about his security. They didn't have much experience with Jedi, but that was no excuse for falling for such a simple ruse. If they were going to protect her daughter, they'd best get it right. Stopping just inside the door, Leia appraised the suite.

Presents were stacked atop the entire surface of the lone table in the living area, as well as a continuing stack along one wall. Several floral arrangements adorned locations around the room. One set of window drapes fluttered in the breeze. At first glance it appeared serene and homey, but instinctively Leia felt a definite sense of disarray and unrest.

Then again, perhaps it was merely the insistent buzzing of the room comm that was disconcerting. Simultaneously, she sensed Jaina reaching out to her in the Force. Leia hurried toward the comm panel, assuming Jaina was trying to reach her any way she could.

Stepping past the conformcouch, her foot hit something solid. She glanced down and let out an astonished gasp.

An arm? And not just any arm, but the familiar tattooed humanoid flesh of a Yuuzhan Vong. She left it there and skirted past, intent on answering the comm – and asking her daughter about exactly what had happened. She reached the wall panel and clicked the line open.

"I just found…" Leia hesitated. For some reason Jaina wanted this kept low-key.

"Hi. Leia? Is that you?"

"Jag? Yes, it is."

"Is the dressmaker there?"

"Not yet." Leia glanced over her shoulder at the arm, just to make sure it was still there. It was.

"Oh, good. Can I speak to Jaina quickly? It'll only take a second."

"Sorry, Jag. She's a bit... indisposed at the moment."

"That's all right; I'm not in a rush."

Blast! He was willing to wait. "It could be a few minutes."

"Is she feeling all right? She said something didn't taste right with that cravat salad she had –"

"Oh, don't worry, nothing like that."

There was a long pause on the other end. "Is she there?"

Leia bit her lip; she really didn't want to lie. "Just lots of things popping up unexpectedly. She and her father have it under control."

"Yes, for me, too. Will you please let her know I called?"

"Of course. Have fun repulsorsurfing, Jag." Leia slapped the comm disconnect just before the door announcer chimed.

Grabbing the arm, she frantically scanned the room for some place to hide it. She strode into the bedroom, spotted the closet and figured that was her best option. As the chime sounded again, Leia trotted over and propped the arm against the side where no clothes hung. She sprinted from the room, intent on reaching the door, when out of the corner of her eye she noticed something flop over the open window's sill.

Instantly her lightsaber slapped into her hand. Just as quickly, Leia's brain processed that the intruding object was a bare leg belonging to none other than her daughter.

"Jaina Solo!" Leia stored the weapon and grabbed her daughter's arm as it appeared through the window. "What in the blazes is going on?"

"I'm climb–" Jaina heaved herself over the sill. "–ing back in –" She pulled her second leg in. "– the way I left."

"I'm talking about the arm, young lady."

"Oh. That." Jaina's eyes darted toward the spot where Leia had discovered the amputated limb. "What did you do with it?"

The insistent double tone of the door announcer preempted Leia's answer. Glancing in the direction of the sound, she shoved her daughter toward the bedroom. "It's taken care of – for now. Get changed. I don't think we should keep Raul waiting."

Leia inhaled once, slowly, then calmly smoothed the front of her dress before moving toward the door. As she approached she toggled the entry button with a Force nudge. The door swished open. For all the anxious ringing of the announcer, Leia expected someone to barge inside. Yet there was no immediate rush or moans of complaint. Just an open door, and silence.

"Dahlings, I'm heeeeeere!" The expectant calm shattered, a short portly man swept into the room. His attire was something one would only find in Vadal City during Fashion Week, and generally on the models. Form fitting leggings, red on one side, orange on the other. A lengthy double-breasted suit coat in a vivid hue of purple with wide red pinstripes, topped off with oversized orange-piped lapels. On most it would seem obscene; on this balding man with white-rimmed, square-framed glasses and a slim wooden cane, the outfit accentuated his eccentric flair. He spun, examining the living area. "Wah-air-evah shall we put my things?"

He stopped, facing the lone table stacked with gifts. "This will have to do." He clapped his hands and several droids whirred through the door, each bearing a crate or case. "Here. Set up. Chop chop."

The droids erupted in a flurry of activity, parking their parcels to one side and immediately clearing the table of the gifts.

"I hope I'm not too late –"

"Weeenssah!" he cried out as Syal crossed the room's threshold. Tottering over to her, he leaned up to peck an air-kiss near each of her cheeks.

Syal smiled graciously. "It's been too long, Raul."

"It certainly has, dahling." Raul spun his cane before tapping it to the ground. "No one has ever come close to pulling off my crrrre-a-shuns since you were kidnapped to the Unknown Regions."

"I wasn't kidnapped, Raul. I left freely."

"Freely? Freeee-ly?" He whipped out the handkerchief stuffed in his chest pocket and fanned his face. "A superstar you were. Then poof! Lost beyond the outskirts of civilization. No one does that freely." Raul paused, his eyes darting and his voice lowered. "Ah, but I see! We're in the midst of them. Your secret is safe with me."

Syal winked at Raul before turning to Leia. "Have you met Leia and…" She peered deeper into the suite. "Jaina?"

"She had a little trouble getting up this morning. She'll be out in a moment." Leia shifted her attention to their guest. "Master Designer Gupta, it is my pleasure."

Raul waddled toward Leia. "No, the pleasure is all mine, Princess." He went through the same air-kissing routine. "All these years I have hoped beyond hope you would call upon me –"

"Oh, Raul, your dresses are too spectacular for someone of my stature. Unlike Sy–er, Wynssa, I could never pull them off."

He flopped both hands over. "Pish posh. That daughter of yours is just a slip of a girl and you will see – oh!" He stared slackjawed at the droids still bustling about in the corner. "Where. Is. The. Dress?"

The droids gave no reaction to the outburst. Instead they simply hefted the table between them and shuffled it out of the way, leaving open a large corner of the room.

"The-ah drrrrr-essss!"

"Yes, Master. I'm here." A pale humanoid peeked into the room. "The lift was rather slow, and the first one had people in it. And of course, the case wouldn't fit with anyone else, so I had to wait for another lift. Then those awful security guards –"

"Balki!" Raul hissed.

"Yes, of course." The humanoid – strangely, Leia couldn't identify his species; he was either a very fat Muun or a very tall Umbaran – began to guide an enormous hover-wardrobe through the door. "The dress."

As Raul crossed over toward the wardrobe, Leia shared a look with Syal. "Will they be able to find Jaina in the dress?"

Syal placed a hand on Leia's arm. "Have faith. Raul has unmatched talent and, appearances notwithstanding, impeccable taste. It will be perfect."

Leia watched the dressmaker and his assistant wrestle the wardrobe into the newly vacant corner. They clapped at controls and unsnapped shipping locks. Her eyebrow arched at the rakish colors of the man's attire, and Leia prayed for her daughter's sake that Syal was right.

Ten years previously, upon Jaina and Jag's first engagement, Leia had struggled mightily trying to get her daughter to choose a dress as the wedding drew near. Jaina was always stalking a band of pirates or volunteering for Jedi patrols. At the time, no one had recognized Jaina's seemingly unwavering sense of duty for what it truly was – a mask to hide her fears of committing to married life, and the unhealed trauma of the war that shaped them. So in the excited rush of preparations Syal had offered to contact her old friend, Raul Gupta.

As Wynssa Starflare, she had worn Raul's dresses to several high profile premieres. Her stamp of approval on his designs and the inevitable media frenzy surrounding everything she wore had propelled Raul's career to unprecedented heights. He owed his success entirely to Wynssa Starflare's fame, and he could hardly have refused her request to create the wedding gown for her future daughter-in-law. Jaina, rushing between one assignment and the next, had suggested they simply give the renowned dressmaker free rein on the design. With Jaina being who she was, certainly no expert in the subtleties of high fashion, no one had found her request troubling – not until after Jaina had dissolved the engagement…

So here they were, a decade later, another wedding days away, with a dress no one had ever seen – save this crazed, ostentatious man Jaina had never met.

"Ah!" Raul broke from directing Balki in their curious unpacking ritual and rolled across the room. "The bride-to-be!"

Jaina stood frozen in the bedroom doorway, and barely managed to gather herself to return the second air-kiss showered upon her by the dressmaker.

"Let. Me. See." He circled Jaina, sizing her up with his eyes. "Mmmhmmm. Uhn-nnnhh-uhh."

"Yes, yes. Excellent. Still about the same." He stopped in front of her and held his palms up, inches from her chest as if he were about to seize hold of her breasts. "Hmm? If I must say, a bit bustier."

Jaina's head tipped forward, the fall of a couple loose locks of hair concealing a blush.

Raul whipped his right elbow out. One foot pointed forward as he pivoted until he was beside her. "So, my dear. Shall we see your dress?"

With a small upturn in the corner of her mouth, Jaina replied, "I'd love to."

Together, Jaina and Raul strolled across the room. "Imagine my surprise," he started, "when Wynssa called after all these years. Did I save the dress, she asked. Of course, dahling, I told her. This –" He practically sniffled. "– was to have been my masterpiece. I was nearly broken-hearted when you cancelled."

"I'm sorry," Jaina said as they drew up before the wardrobe.

"Why?" Raul released her hand to spin around. "This, this is even bet-terrrr! Imagine me, Rah-oool Goop-tah, designing the dress for the wedding of the century. All eyes will be watching the event, a Skywalker marrying one of the Empire's brightest sons. If only I had realized back then what would happen now, I wouldn't have despaired." He paused, a chagrined frown on his face. "Oh my, what an awful thing to say. Ah, well, when you see the dress I know you will forgive me my little moment of vanity. Now, Jaina dahling, chop chop, off with those, uh, rags these Imperials give you as clothes."

Crossing her arms over her chest, Jaina tossed her mother a plaintive look. "Uh."

"Bahl-kee!" The dressmaker clapped his hands. "Help the poor thing."

As the assistant skittered across the room, Jaina backed up a step, then another. She thrust a palm forward and the humanoid bounced to a stop, practically falling to the ground. "I think I can manage. Um, do you mind?"

Raul's eyebrows arched. "No need to be shy, dear. It's not like I haven't seen a naked woman before."

Leia was about to intercede, when Syal smoothly appeared at Raul's side. "Oh, of course you have." The former holostar giggled, a peculiar sound coming from a mother of five, but Leia had to admit she could pull it off. "In fact, I remember a time or two right before the – "

"Don't!" Raul threw a palm out. "Don't say it."

Rubbing her hand down Raul's pinstriped sleeve, Syal said, "It's just that our sweet Jaina has suffered a few combat injuries over the years, and you know how we women can be insecure about even the slightest –"

"Say no more." Raul waved his hands officiously. "Let's leave the poor girl alone, Balki. We'll wait outside."

Balki tentatively sidled over to Syal and held out a handful of undergarments. "She can put these on." He bowed, then scurried out of the room after his master.

Syal waited until the door swished close behind the men before she turned to face Jaina, who was eyeing the undergarments skeptically.

"I hope you know how that… thing works."

The aging Corellian beauty carefully unfolded a corset fashioned from delicate lace. "I certainly do."

"The trouble," Leia added cheerily, "will be how will your groom get you out?"

"He'll manage," Jaina and Syal said in unison, and they both chuckled.

In the course of a minute, they had Jaina in the corset. Leia watched as Syal cinched up the laces on the sides. The dress was obviously low-backed, because the corset swept down to expose nearly Jaina's entire spine, and Leia found she couldn't take her eyes away from the smooth porcelain skin. Not one scar remained from Jaina's battle with her twin. Looking at her, Leia could image the battle had never happened, and she found her hand inexorably drawn by the temptation to touch.

Syal paused, noting Leia's awe. At the same time, Jaina peered over her shoulder. Leia suddenly couldn't see either of them as her eyes blurred. Her breath refused to come; her heart swelled. There were no words to describe the bittersweet emotions that crashed over Leia.

"Mom?"

"I'm all right." Leia patted her daughter's arm. She couldn't see it, but she knew instinctively where it was. With her other hand, she managed to catch Syal's fingers. The choice to send Jaina away with the Fels had been so difficult. Jaina was her last surviving child, and Leia had wanted so badly to hold onto her after losing Jacen, but she and Han had known that Jaina had needed something different. So they had entrusted Syal and Soontir to fill that parental role, to look out for Jaina while she had healed. Now here she was, happy and healthy. It was more than Leia had hoped for. "Thank you."

"Oh, no. Nonono." Jaina sounded perturbed. "There will be no crying."

Syal's arms clasped Leia to her. "Sorry, child. That's what mothers are supposed to do at weddings."

"We're not even at the wedding yet," Jaina countered. "It's two days away."

Leia stepped back, batting away her tears. "It's all the little steps along the way to losing our babies."

"Mom…" Jaina's protest ended where it started as she fell into her mother's arms. A rare gift as far as Leia was concerned. She relished the feel of Jaina there. In the womb, Leia had possessed ultimate control to protect the innocence of her children. Time and circumstances had peeled away that innocence, and ultimately taken two of her children from her. And in two days' time, Leia would watch another person take over the mantle of Jaina's protector. The unguarded moment was short-lived, though; Jaina stiffened. Leia noted the gleam of a watery sheen in her daughter's eyes when she stepped back.

Jaina wrapped her right arm around her mid-section to grip her left elbow. "About that dress."

"I'll just let Raul back in." Syal paused and glanced back. "If that's all right with you?"

Jaina tugged at the top of the corset. "As ready as I'll ever be."

The tall blonde summoned the dressmaker and his assistant back into the suite. Raul entered, sweeping his arms wide. "Balki, the dress."

Between Raul's frenzied directions and Balki's frantic movements, a strange scene unfolded. They opened the wardrobe, but only part way, enough to drag out several long sticks. These were passed to the droids, who set the sticks in a neat semi-circular formation around the wardrobe. Balki walked along the formation, and when he pointed a controller unit at it an opaque holoscreen rose to the height of about two meters between one stick and the next. The wardrobe was now hidden from view, except for the very tops of its doors swung wide open.

Leia raised up in vain on her tiptoes, and she could hear little except for Raul and Balki still fluttering around. Finally Raul stuck his head through one of the projected screens and beckoned Jaina inside.

So Syal and Leia waited, each trying to appear patient and both doing a particularly bad job of it. Behind the screens there was a great deal of chattering, but nothing to indicate how Jaina felt about the dress.

Eventually Raul said, "Now turn around so you can have a look."

Jaina's shock emanated through Leia so hard she gasped. Beside her, Syal took Leia's hand. The two women locked stares momentarily. The lines around Syal's mouth were the only indication she might actually hold some concern about the dress as well.

"Shall we show them?" Raul asked.

Leia never heard a reply from Jaina. The poor girl had been rendered speechless. One by one, the holoscreens descended. Leia rushed forward, intent on comforting Jaina as best she could. Then she stopped, frozen in place at the sight before her.

Her daughter stood in a profile pose, her face bent down toward the dress. The unmistakable streaks of tears were evident on her cheek. But somehow, it all seemed right. She was a vision – feminine, beautiful, larger-than-life. A princess in her own right, yet still undeniably Jaina.

Leia sighed. "It's perfect."