Part V
His expression was tired, but he smiled easily at her when she pressed the button to accept the transmission. For a moment, he just took in her appearance, and one might have thought that he'd been gone more than five days.
"You're in the Csilla system?" Jaina quickly asked.
"Just emerged from hyperspace," he assured her smoothly. "You were my first call, once we'd received landing clearances. Once we're done, I'll go ahead and leave a message on Ossus for Leyla… have you spoken with her yet?"
Jaina nodded. "We talked briefly two days ago, shortly after Kyp headed back this way. She seems to be settling in fine. I gave her a general idea of what was going on with you." Jag nodded. "She… didn't seem surprised."
He shrugged. "She's smart and observant."
"And she reads me like a book, even from Ossus," Jaina quipped wryly. "Anyway, I'll have to ask Kyp about that when he gets back."
"When is he due?"
She looked away, calculating. "Late tomorrow, I think."
A sly look crossed Jag's face. "Good; I'll have to remember to tell him not to let you go gallivanting across the galaxy doing Jedi missions that just happen to be near the Unknown Regions…"
An outraged expression crossed her face, but she fought the smile. "Are you sure you don't have latent Jedi abilities?" she asked sardonically.
He looked mildly surprised. "I wasn't entirely serious." His eyes narrowed. "Jaina…"
"Oh, calm down. I'm not going to come running out to Csilla, or anywhere near Chiss space. I was going to ask Uncle Luke about going on some missions with Jacen though. I've been sitting here on Coruscant for too long, I only get sent anywhere when the rest of them are spread too thin, and now that Leyla is on Ossus, under the watchful eyes of the Solusars and Aunt Mara… why not?"
He looked reluctantly resigned. "Just be careful."
"You're the one who's practically in a war zone," she deadpanned. "Besides, it'll probably be boring stuff anyway, meeting with diplomats and the like…"
"And we all know how stuffy and dull diplomats are," he reasoned. She laughed, but stopped when he frowned and leaned out of the image to confer with Ashik. When he leaned back in, his apologetic look said it all.
"You have to go?"
He nodded. "My father is contacting us."
"Alright; take care, stay in touch. Give your parents my greetings."
A soft smile touched the corners of his lips. "I love you."
"I love you, Jagged; now go knock some sense into the Ascendancy and skedaddle on back here."
X-X-X-X
Barely two hours later, as he stepped over the threshold of the foyer, loosening the fastens that held up a hood which protected his face against the biting wind and freezing cold, he was folded into a fierce hug. Sighing slightly, he abandoned the attempts at removing the protective outer layers and embraced his mother, who he had not seen in more than a year.
"We've missed you, Jagged," she murmured.
"I miss you as well, mother." He pulled away and regarded her a moment before returning to the arduous task of removing the coat. "How have you been?"
A grim smile crossed her otherwise pleasant features; even the span of decades could not detract from the unique beauty of the former holovid star. "Too often lonely, since Wynssa left. Your father works too hard."
"A family trait, I'm afraid; Jaina would likely say the same about me."
A booming voice cut off his mother's reply. "It is your lot in life, as a Fel." He turned to see his father striding in from the direction of his office, face set and even as it had been when they had conversed briefly while Jag and Ashik were still entering the atmosphere. "Jagged," he stopped short and looked his son over. "You are looking well."
"Thank you, sir. You are looking… uneasy at best."
Soontir Fel's mouth twitched in what might have almost been a smile, before a hardened look came to his eyes. "Perhaps; it might have been a mistake to return."
Syal blinked up at her husband in confusion, and Jag frowned. "I was summoned, father."
"I suspect that your summoning had less to do with you being on Csilla than it did with getting you off of Coruscant."
Something cold settled in the pit of his stomach. "What does that mean? Jaina is on Coruscant, her entire family is on Coruscant…"
Soontir held up a hand and shook his head. "I merely suggest that certain factions among parliament and the Ruling Families do not wish to see you- a symbol for all they oppose- in a position to thwart their further attempts at pulling away from the Galactic Alliance. I do not mean to imply any danger to your wife or to her daughter."
Jag's brow rose and his expression cooled immediately. "Her daughter? Father, I have raised her from infancy, Leyla is as much my child as she is Jaina's…"
"Not to the Chiss, Jagged; and you've spent far too long abroad. You need to start putting yourself back in their mindset, if you are to keep up with the political landscape. Otherwise, you are useless to us here. However…" his eyes softened. "I do apologize; I did not mean to imply that I- or your mother- view Leyla as anything less than our granddaughter."
He nodded stiffly as the three of them retreated to a sitting room. "Why is Leyla of any concern to the Chiss?" he asked numbly.
"She is not; though I will not deny that some have felt… deceived… as rumor has developed into truth in the past four years, regarding the girl's… true father. Some feel that the situation four years ago was a Jedi problem, and should have been handled as such, rather than expending our resources to defend Bastion."
"And you, father? Mother? Do you feel deceived?"
"An odd question," Soontir murmured. "I wonder that you did not, all those years ago. You risked much to protect your girlfriend who was pregnant by another man."
A knot of tension was forming along Jag's shoulders and neck. "That is between myself and Jaina, and between us and Master Durron." Syal was glancing between her husband and son a bit worriedly. "And I would appreciate if you did not take this opportunity to slander my wife's character; she has always been loyal to the utmost, regardless of what you may think you understand about a difficult situation twelve years ago."
His father eyed him curiously a moment, before nodding. "Understood," he said smoothly. "Now… here's what you should know about the situation here…"
X-X-X-X
The hangar was deserted except for the lone, small figure, wrapped up in a grey cloak, watching as he descended the shuttle ramp alone. He quirked a brow in her direction, and she started forward, meeting him halfway between the ship and the door that opened from the hangar to the lower levels of the Jedi temple.
"I wasn't expecting a welcoming party."
"Do I constitute a party?" her voice was wry.
He glanced down at her, trying to get a read on her emotions, but she kept them neatly under wraps. "Depends, I suppose; what's going on? It's awfully late to still be roaming the temple… is Jag still at work?"
"Jag's gone, Kyp."
That made him stop in surprise, though he supposed in retrospect that he should have anticipated it. "What?"
Sighing, she leaned against a cool stone wall. "Something is going on in the Ascendancy… they recalled him last week. He just arrived in Csilla yesterday, he left a message for Leyla on Ossus, but you'd already started back." He opened his mouth to ask a question, but she cut him off with a small smile. "Don't ask- whatever the question is, I don't have an answer. The Chiss were… less than forthcoming… with their instructions."
"Gosh, Jaina… that's rough, I'm sorry."
She shrugged wearily. "All in all, I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised; in almost a decade, Jag's managed to get by with a visit or two a year back home, they haven't once demanded he return on a whim like this… so I suppose it was about time. It's just that…"
"The timing sucks?"
"Yeah."
They kept walking, winding their way through the corridors in more or less random patterns that would ultimately deposit them on the level that held the audience chamber and opened up onto the plaza, where walkways would get them back to their respective apartment buildings, which were only about a kilometer apart. "So what are you doing here?"
"I can't just come and welcome you home?" she asked bemusedly. He cocked a brow and his lips quirked when he saw her expression of affected innocence. "Fine," she laughed. "First of all, I'm instructed to invite you to my parents' place for dinner tomorrow evening at eighteen hundred."
"You came out in the middle of the night to invite me to the Solo family weekly get-together?"
She smacked his arm lightly. "No. I came to fill you in on the situation with Jag, to find out how Leyla seemed to like being at Ossus before you left, to tell you that Jacen is back from Neimodia, and to inform you that I'll be leaving again with him in two days to investigate some suspicious smuggling activity near Reecee."
"Is that all?"
"Isn't that enough?"
He chuckled. "You multitask well. And Leyla will be just fine; she was more than excited to see Mara and Ben, and she'll be catching up with Vulcor right up until she leaves again." He hesitated, and she latched on to it quickly.
"What?"
"I… want to talk to you about something she said. Not now, it's late and I'm tired. And no," he answered her unspoken concern, "nothing to worry about, just something to… be aware of… in the future."
"Okay…" she replied slowly, unsurely. "Tomorrow then, before dinner."
He nodded. "Deal. I'll come over around seventeen hundred." He glanced around as they emerged onto the plaza, and then turned with her in a generally southerly direction.
"Kyp?" she peered up at him. "You live that way," she pointed along a row of buildings somewhat west of their route.
"It's late," he repeated. "I'll walk you home."
Her smile was part amused, part dangerous. "Aren't you just chivalrous?" she deadpanned. He winced. "You and Jag," she muttered. "I'm fine; I can take quite good care of myself."
"Right," he agreed, slowing to a stop and turning slowly to face the other way. "Sorry."
She sighed. "Go get some sleep, Kyp. I'll see you tomorrow."
They parted ways, and a couple of times, Kyp turned to watch her departing figure melt into the surrounding darkness. He shook his head to clear it of the sensation… maybe it was just the lingering confusion over Leyla's parting words… but something felt wrong. Not necessarily bad or dangerous… just wrong.
With a resigned sigh, he tucked his hands on his pockets and headed home.
X-X-X-X
It did not take Jag long to understand why his father had behaved as he did upon his arrival.
For the entire night, as he tried to sleep and escape the uneasiness that was creeping into his mind, he was tense and brooding, and he woke the next morning feeling touchy and defensive.
Which he realized as he sat, five hours after waking, in a large chamber full of governors and senators, fighting to keep from banging his head against the table, was his father's intention all along. It had taken less than five standard minutes from the moment that formal greetings were completed and everyone was properly seated for the topic of Jag's recent promotion to ambassador for the Ascendancy for the Galactic Alliance to come up; within another three minutes after that, his appropriateness in the role was called into question, with hard-eyed senators and governors addressing his marriage that tied him closely to the Jedi as well as to the formerly New Republic, given Leia's history in politics.
It took another four and a half minutes for someone to bring up the fact that Jag had taken a lengthy leave of absence after Leyla was kidnapped four years ago, abandoning his post to go fight the 'Jedi's battles.'
"Ambassador Fel," he looked slowly to his left where the presiding Aristocra sat partway across the room. "Do you wish to address the concerns of these honorable senators and governors?"
"Are they done already?" Jag muttered, earning a rebuking look from a female chiss to his immediate left and a soft snort from Ashik on his right. "Thank you, Aristocra Chaf'orm'bintrano," he spoke in a crisp, clear voice. "And I will keep my comments brief- suffice it to say that the merits of diplomatic appointments in the Ascendancy have never before been deemed unworthy due to times of shifting opinion and political unrest."
A terse silence met this remark. "Would the ambassador care to expound upon his comments?" a soft-spoken senator murmured, and Jag tapped once on the table, a signal for Ashik to learn the identity of the man and compile information on him later.
"If my esteemed colleague wishes it," Jag countered smoothly. "More than nine years ago, I was singled out, asked to step down from my position in the military, to join a corps of diplomatic representatives specifically for the reasons which are now named against me. I might remind the cabinet and the senate here assembled that I was already publically engaged to Jedi Solo at the time when I was asked to serve in this capacity. And I'm confident that my marriage was common knowledge a year ago when I was asked to step up to the position of ambassador," he concluded wryly, earning another muffled noise of amusement from his assistant.
"Those are… valid points, Ambassador," the same male senator murmured. "However, you have not spoken to the other concern, that you are inclined to put personal troubles ahead of your work."
Jag just stared at him for a minute, face impassive. "Again, Senator, might I point out that the situation to which you infer occurred some three years prior to my appointment to my current assignment? I cannot believe that these concerns were not addressed when my name was submitted for candidacy by the honorable Aristocra," he nodded politely towards the presiding, elderly figure, who nodded his acknowledgement.
He refused to be drawn into an argument. After all, that wasn't what this was about; it didn't matter that there was no relevance between the issues being addressed and the current situation in the Ascendancy. What mattered was that elements of the government were doing their best to isolate him, to be able to hold him forth as an example of human failure in Chiss society.