A/N: Future ADA- that scene with Jag and parliament was like a bio of your life? You must lead quite the life … :P

Part VI

"So basically," Kyp sat back and regarded Jaina contemplatively from across the room, "Leyla is a hell of a lot more perceptive and aware of what's going on around her than is likely normal in an eleven-year-old- which is fine, we knew that already. But she's smart too, and that combination can be… problematic… when she's only picking up on certain things, or isn't fully comprehending what she is perceiving around her."

Jaina stared. "What are you talking about?"

"You and Jag spoke recently with Luke about her training, about getting her a head start because she has a lot more potential to manage."

"Yes; I told you about that discussion."

"Did you tell Leyla?"

"No."

He stared. "But she knew about it." Jaina blinked. "I don't know how, but she heard, or sensed something of it… and before I left, she was worried that she wasn't ready to start training, was worried that she wouldn't understand the difference between light and dark, because of her experiences with Wrynn," a slight shadow passed over Jaina's face. "And apparently this only really started bothering her when she realized- or thought she realized- that her parents and great-uncle were shipping her off because she was too powerful."

Jaina winced. "Force, Kyp," she sighed. "I… shavit," she bit. "She didn't mention this once before she left, she was ecstatic to go!"

"Reservations aside," he assured her, "she's thrilled to be there- it was only as I was leaving that she grew a little nervous, and I explained to her that no, the rest of us aren't afraid that she's going to misuse the Force or anything, just that she comes from… unfortunately powerful heritages," he cringed slightly at the thought of his own, poor introduction to Jedi training. "I'm not telling you this because I think she's going to obsess over it, or that it will ultimately affect her… I just think you need to realize how aware Leyla is of what is going on around her… emotionally, as well as physically."

She frowned. "What does that mean?"

Hesitating a moment, Kyp pursed his lips. "She reads you very well, Jaina. Even from a distance… she sensed- we both sensed- when you were really upset last week… I assume when Jag was leaving, we weren't even to Ossus yet," he shrugged. "And then she told me that you were sad a lot, and that… you were recently sad because of me."

She looked away uncomfortably.

"She was worried that we'd been fighting," Kyp continued softly. "I told her, first of all, that she needed to be careful that she wasn't being too invasive of others' privacy, and second of all, that you were just reminded of… less happy times."

She smiled wryly. "That's a way of putting it. Was she… content with that response?"

He met her gaze evenly. "She asked if those times were when she was born." Jaina sighed and closed her eyes. "Jaina, we have to tell her the truth soon."

"Why?"

"Because she'll figure it out on her own," he shot. "And worse, she'll only half-understand whatever she thinks she figured out, and she'll interpret it in the worst possible way."

She stared at him incredulously. "What's the 'worst possible way'?" she demanded. "What's worse than the truth?"

He cringed, but fought from snapping at her again. "Worse than learning that she was born when her father fell to the dark side and thought that his problems would be solved by involuntarily impregnating a teenager?" Jaina blinked in shock a few times at his bluntness. "How about this- 'Mom, if Kyp fell to the dark side and hurt you so that you'd have me, does that mean that I inherited his dark side?' How about 'Mom, does that mean that you and dad didn't want me? Does that mean that you don't want me now?' You don't worry that a little girl's mind will work like that?"

Angry tears were pooling in her eyes. "I hope to hell that she's not paying too close attention right now," Jaina bit, wiping at her eyes, "because she's really going to wonder what we're fighting about."

"Exactly!" Kyp cried. "She will wonder, and that's why we have to tell her the truth! It needs to happen because we started the conversation, and that way we can control it. You and Jag caught a lucky break four years ago when she blindsided you with the question about me being her father. It won't happen again though. Any other child would have resented being misled like that, but Leyla was smart enough to understand as far as we wanted her to… but now… the truth will come out somehow, Jaina, and it'll hurt her if we don't open up to her first."

For a long time, Jaina sat brooding, and Kyp could tell that she wasn't really mad- it was just another thing that she didn't want to have to deal with now, not with Jag called away for an indeterminate amount of time, not with Leyla on Ossus, not when she was preparing to head out with Jacen again…

"You're right," she finally slumped. "Of course you are; but I think it can wait until she's home again, you know?"

"Of course."

"Jag should be home by then."

"Right."

"And if he isn't, I'll straighten the Chiss out myself." She glanced sidelong at him. "I'll be going out there if it takes too long," she said softly. "At least until Leyla is through with her time on Ossus."

His eyes narrowed slightly. "Won't that be… never mind," he quickly stopped that line of thought, remembering how annoyed she had become the prior night when he'd been too protective. "I hope it won't come to that," he amended.

Her sardonic smile told him well enough that she knew what he had been about to say. "Jag's… assessing the situation," she assured him. "If there is anything to be concerned about, I'll know well in advance. But," she looked at him seriously, "if it does come to that, you'll be best poised to handle any potential problems on Ossus."

"Not a problem."

They sat looking at each other quietly for another minute before she shook her head ruefully and stood. "Come on, we're going to be late."

X-X-X-X

"Hey, Ben."

Hesitating only a moment, she sat down with her lunch on the bench next to her cousin, smiling lightly back at him and looking shyly under her lashes at the young twi'lek male across the table and the female bothan to his left.

"Hi, Leyla," he smiled broadly, a twinkle in his bright blue eyes. "Settling in alright?"

"Yeah."

Ben was just over a year older than her, and nearly thirteen. In the face, he greatly resembled his father, Luke, but his hair was close to the same shocking red as Mara's… and despite it all, he had a mischievousness about him that defied either parent, and which Leyla largely suspected was attained through his years informally apprenticing with her uncle, Jacen.

"Do you know Battek and Tivan?" he gestured to the twi'lek and bothan respectively, and Leyla shook her head, smiling and exchanging simple greetings with the other two.

The bothan smiled, baring teeth. "You're cousins?" she queried.

"Second cousins, yeah," Ben said casually. "Leyla is Jacen's niece." Apparently the other two knew and were fond of Jacen, because they looked duly impressed. "You've never had the chance to meet his twin, Jaina, have you?" he asked his friends, frowning in thought. "She sticks mostly around Coruscant… what with a family and all," he grinned at Leyla and she shrugged.

"Not anymore; dad had to go to Csilla, I think mom said she was going to go on some trip with Uncle Jacen, actually."

Ben wrinkled his nose. "Csilla… miserable place, isn't it?"

She laughed. "S'not so bad. I haven't been in a long time though."

"Isn't Csilla the Chiss capital?" Battek asked, brow furrowed and lekku twitching slightly in confusion.

"Yes; dad's an ambassador for the Chiss Ascendancy on Coruscant," Leyla replied matter-of-factly.

Tivan sat back and regarded her. "You aren't blue," she stated evenly, and Ben laughed behind his hand while Leyla's mouth quirked in a half-smile.

"Dad's family just lives on Csilla, they aren't really chiss."

"Yeah," Ben put in enthusiastically, "Leyla's granddad is an Imperial baron, and he joined Thrawn's empire before it disappeared."

The other two just stared. "And… his son married the… daughter of a New Republic chief-of-state…?"

Ben and Leyla exchanged wicked looks and grinned. "We do have an interesting family," Ben admitted. "Have I ever told you about my mother's job when she was a teenager…?"

X-X-X-X

"Come in."

Jag stepped over the threshold and peered with mild interest around his father's office in their private residence; it was a room he had not seen in years. "Father," he nodded his head once, waiting for the older man to look up from the datapad he was perusing.

"Jagged," Soontir sat back in his chair and beckoned his son forward; Jag took up a chair opposite him at the desk and waited. "You are returned from Csaplar," he observed. "Did you find your trip… educational?"

"Beyond imagining," Jag returned wryly. "Though after the first three days, it really got rather old, having the same senators continually bringing up the same irrelevant points… but it seems that it can never be stated enough times that a human is inept and incapable of performing his appointed task." He paused, studying his father's impassive face. "You played me," he commented mildly.

Soontir steepled his fingers and leaned forward. "I did; I hope you'll forgive me, I needed to be sure that you were on your guard before sending you to the slaughterhouse that has become the cabinet and parliament."

"There is nothing to forgive; I quickly understood."

"And I have nothing but the utmost respect for Jaina- personally, professionally, militarily…"

"I understand, sir."

For a long moment, the two regarded each other carefully across the desk. "May I satisfy an inkling of curiosity, Jagged?"

That was most unusual for his father. "Perhaps," he conceded slowly.

"When you came to Csilla during the war… were you hiding Jaina from the Yuuzhan Vong, or were you hiding her from Kyp Durron?"

A terse silence stretched between them, and Jag fought from repeating his words of a week prior- that these issues were between him and his wife, and between the two of them and Kyp… "Both."

Soontir's brow quirked upwards. "Yet you were on good terms with the man when I saw you marry at the end of the war." Jag jerked his head in acknowledgement. "Durron forsook his dark side," he surmised. "He treats Leyla well?"

"Of course."

Another lengthy pause sat heavily in the air. "Son… are you planning on staying?"

"I will do my duty," Jag returned stiffly, "right until I am relieved of my post."

"Even if it means being separated from your wife?" Jag stared, but his father read the truth in his eyes. "Jagged, you cannot bring her here."

"If you are concerned that she will be targeted…"

"No," Soontir said quickly. "I am sure that she can take care of herself; my concern is that her presence will detonate the situation and rile the traditionalists and… it would not be fair to those who fight for the betterment of our society, those like Aristocra Formbi who have been nothing but helpful to our family and have only the best interests for the long-term survival of the Ascendancy at heart."

Jag frowned heavily. "Jaina has been here before."

A look of mild consternation crossed his father's face. "Jagged, you miss the point. I do not bring up Kyp Durron to be provocative, I did not mention the Defense Fleet's defense of Bastion to rile you; there are some who view Kyp Durron as the antithesis of all we stand for, who view his past crimes as unforgiveable, who would jump at the chance to hold him fully accountable for his actions against the Empire decades ago. And I am deadly serious when I tell you that there are some who are deeply offended to have such a personal tie between him and the Ascendancy."

"I thought you said Leyla was of no concern to the Chiss," Jag muttered through numb lips.

"And she isn't; remember, Jagged, that it is all just an excuse, but that does not make the situation any less real or damaging. Tying you to Kyp Durron- not a far leap, by your own admission- is just another way to discredit you, which is just another way to prove the point that humans cannot be trusted, that the Jedi are just a bunch of rogue criminals who blow up training academies, and therefore, we have no business allying ourselves with the Galactic Alliance that supports them."

"Then perhaps I should resign now and eliminate the source of the trouble."

His father shook his head sadly. "You could, but it would solve no problems. To resign now would only prove, in their minds, that the instigators have been right, that the Ascendancy would be better off without humans, without connection to the Jedi or the Alliance… without the Fels." A shadow crossed his face. "Though I do not deny that the latter might be true."

"You would defect?"

He sighed. "Son, I have been a great many things- a Corellian, an Imperial, a Rebel… a member of Thrawn's empire, now a leading member of the Ascendancy… the only true defection was that to the New Republic." He took a few deep breaths, thinking and looking absently at the far wall. "But not yet, son; it would be irresponsible at best for me to leave now. The Ascendancy will not survive if they revert to the old status quo."

Jag was somber and pensive for a long moment. "When the situation is suitably calmed, sir… I cannot help but feel it would be best if I were to step aside, resign my commission in the Defense Fleet, and remain in the Galactic Alliance from now on. I have considerations and obligations, and duties to my family that shall, from here onwards, seemingly be at odds with my duties here." He hesitated. "I just… fear that to do so would wound mother grievously, since Wynssa joined the Remnant."

"That decision will be for you to make with your family, Jagged; but rest assured, your mother understands the difficulties of raising a family across multiple political spectrums. It nearly tore us apart, in the early years of our marriage. You will do what you must."

He would do what he must, as he always had, as he always would… but that didn't make the breaking of a promise any less bitter.