16

Leia suppressed a dignified smile as she led Gantoris into the projection chamber. The dark-haired man stared in his puppetlike way as he tried to gawk at everything at the same time.

Gantoris was resplendent in a new uniform, tailored to match the generations-old pilot suit he had worn as leader on Eol Sha. Leia had loaded a tailor droid with patterns from the archives and presented the uniform to Gantoris as a gift. He had been delighted, puffed with admiration.

Even after getting to know him, Leia felt uncomfortable around Gantoris. Though Luke assured her of the strong Jedi potential in the man, Leia did not like the thought of the deadly “tests” Gantoris had given Luke before he would agree to leave Eol Sha. Gantoris had lived a hellish life, she admitted, but he seemed too intense, his dark eyes fiery pits of contained fury. He had the look of a man accustomed to power suddenly shown how small he is in the grand scheme of things.

But the other side of Gantoris intrigued Leia. She watched him flick his eyes back and forth, craning his head to stare at the tall building spires rising to the fringes of Coruscant’s atmosphere. He gaped in astonishment at the sparkling audience chambers, at the minor personal amenities in the quarters Luke had obtained for him. He had never before seen or even imagined things that Leia considered commonplace.

Now, as they entered the projection room, Gantoris stared at the giant windows that filled the walls with broad vistas of Coruscant and the centuries-old buildings that girdled the world. The two of them were not really high enough for such a view, Leia knew; the projection room was actually a deep internal chamber, and the “windows” were high-resolution screens displaying images from cameras mounted at the top of the Imperial Palace.

“What is this place?” Gantoris asked.

Leia smiled, folding her arms over her robe. “Right now this is just a room. In a moment, though, I’ll give you a new world.”

She stepped to the control dais in the middle of the room and called up images she had compiled from the archives, records left over from Old Republic surveys and the dossiers compiled during the Alliance occupation.

The window screens flickered, and the images changed, startling Gantoris. He whirled as the landscape suddenly showed a completely different planet. His eyes grew wide and panicked, as if Leia had just transported him across the galaxy.

“I’m showing you a new home. This is Dantooine, the place we have chosen for the people of Eol Sha.”

Around them the window screens displayed vast plains of grassland and spiky trees. Purplish hills rolled across the distant horizon. A herd of small, hairy beasts roamed across the savanna; in the air a cluster of bright balloonlike things, either plants or rudimentary animals, drifted about; a few had snagged on pointed branches of the spiky trees. Two moons, one lavender and one greenish, soared overhead.

“We established one of our first Rebel bases on Dantooine. It has a mild climate, abundant life-forms, plenty of water. A few nomadic tribes roam up and down the coasts of the ocean, but for the most part the planet is uninhabited.”

Leia had used Dantooine as a decoy when Grand Moff Tarkin interrogated her aboard the Death Star. To save her beloved planet of Alderaan, Leia had divulged the location of the old Rebel base on Dantooine rather than naming the real base on Yavin 4; but Tarkin destroyed Alderaan anyway, because Dantooine was too remote for an effective demonstration of the Death Star’s power. Now, though, Dantooine could be put to use again, as a home for the refugees of Eol Sha.

“Do you think your people would like to live on a place like this?” Leia raised her eyebrows.

Gantoris, who had so far seen only his own blasted world, the gas planet of Bespin, and the city-covered surface of Coruscant, seemed impressed. “This looks like a paradise. No volcanoes? No earthquakes? Plenty to eat, and no sprawling cities?”

She nodded. Before Gantoris could say anything else, the door to the projection room opened. Leia turned, surprised to see the Chief of State, Mon Mothma, coming to join them.

The auburn-haired woman walked with a sure step that made her glide across the floor. The leader of the New Republic extended a hand to Gantoris. “You must be one of Luke Skywalker’s first Jedi trainees. Please let me welcome you to Coruscant and wish you the best of success in becoming part of a new order of Jedi Knights.”

Gantoris took Mon Mothma’s hand and nodded to her with a slight bow; but Leia caught a fleeting impression that he considered himself a leader meeting an equal.

“Mon Mothma,” Leia said, “I was just showing Gantoris some images of Dantooine. We are considering moving the refugees from Eol Sha to our old base there.”

Mon Mothma smiled. “Good. I’m aware of the plight of your people, and I would like to see them safely on Dantooine. I always thought it was one of our most pleasant bases, not quite as rigorous as Hoth or Pinnacle Base, without the dense jungles of Yavin 4.” She turned to Gantoris. “If this world meets with your approval, I’ll direct Minister Organa Solo to begin the relocation work immediately.”

Gantoris nodded. “If these are representative pictures, this place Dantooine would be a perfect new home for my people.”

Leia felt a surge of relief. “I was thinking of putting Wedge … I mean General Antilles in charge of the relocation duties. He’s been supervising the reconstruction of the lower city levels for months, and frankly, I think that’s a waste of his talents.”

“I agree,” Mon Mothma said. Though buried under more diplomatic entanglements and bureaucratic decisions than Leia could imagine, Mon Mothma somehow maintained a calm energy. “Also, my calendar just reminded me that the Caridan ambassador will be arriving in two days. Are all the preparations going smoothly? Can I offer my assistance in any way?”

“Just plan to be there. That’s the most I can ask of you. I have decided to move the reception to the Skydome Botanical Gardens, rather than holding it here in the Imperial Palace. Since Ambassador Furgan seems hostile to our cause, I didn’t want to exacerbate his reactions by receiving him in the former seat of the Emperor’s government. In fact, the ambassador is trying to disguise his mission here as a mere pilgrimage to visit the site of various Imperial landmarks.”

Mon Mothma nodded slightly but gave a smile. “At least he’s coming. That’s the best signal of all.”

“I suppose.” Leia remained skeptical.

“By the way, I never received your report on Han’s mission to Kessel. That was a brilliant idea to send him instead of a formal ambassador. Han can speak to those people in their own language, and reopening the spice channels away from the black market might do wonders for the new economy. Did he have any success?”

Feeling awkward, Leia dropped her gaze to the floor. “He has been delayed, Mon Mothma, so I don’t have any information at the moment. I’ll give you a full report as soon as he gets back. Let’s hope his mission is a success.”

“Agreed.” Mon Mothma’s expression hinted that she suspected there was more to Leia’s story, but she asked no further questions. “I have to go debate with the Ugnaught representatives about salvage rights for the wrecked ships in orbit around Coruscant. I’m afraid it’s going to be a long afternoon, and I just wanted to greet you while I had the chance. Gantoris, it was a pleasure.”

Mon Mothma turned to go but flashed a glance back at Leia. “By the way, you’re doing a fine job, Leia. Too often in government we get inundated by so many dissatisfied interest groups, so many complaints, that we forget the things we’re doing right. You are doing a lot of things right.”

Leia couldn’t cover an embarrassed smile. If only she hadn’t lost her husband, she might have been a lot happier.

•  •  •

The twins began bawling in unison as soon as Winter stepped onto the ramp of her unmarked shuttle. Leia’s personal servant stopped, keeping her back turned to Jacen and Jaina, and then slowly faced them.

Leia gripped the shoulders of the two children, but they still treated their mother as a stranger, even after several days. She held on tightly, which she realized might not have been the best thing to do, but she felt suddenly possessive of the twins.

Winter’s face was cold and impassive beneath her white hair. “Children, stop crying this instant.”

Jacen snuffled. “We want you to stay, Winter.”

Winter thrust out one hand, pointing her finger like a spear at Leia. “That is your mother. I was only taking care of you. You are big children now, and it’s time for you to be at your own home. I have to go back and take care of your baby brother.”

Leia kept herself from trembling. She had known Winter a long time; the woman had total recall of anything she had ever seen or heard, and she rarely showed any sort of emotion. Now Leia thought she could detect a sadness in her, a sense of loss as she finally gave over care of her two wards.

Leia knelt beside the twins. “You’ll be staying with me now, both of you. And your daddy should be home soon. We’ll have lots of fun together.”

The twins turned to look at her; Winter took that moment to slip inside the shuttle. Before Jacen and Jaina noticed she had gone, Winter activated the doors, sealing herself inside.

Leia stood beside the children on the windswept landing pad. The shuttle’s repulsorlifts whined, powering up. Leia stepped backward, nudging the twins with her. “Out of the way now. Back where it’s safe.” Jacen and Jaina still sniffled, on the verge of crying again. In her untrained way Leia tried to send them calm, loving thoughts.

She spoke into a comlink on the lapel of her robe. “Grant departure clearance to unmarked shuttle on top northside platform of the Palace, authority of Minister Organa Solo.”

The orbital traffic controllers acknowledged, and Winter’s shuttle rose from the platform, pivoted, then angled into the sky. Leia raised her hand in a farewell salute. “Wave to Winter,” she said.

The twins flailed their pudgy arms in the air. Winter flashed the lights in the shuttle at them; then the orbital-bum rockets kicked in, and the vessel shot into the aurora-streaked distance.

“Come on, you two,” Leia said to them. “I’ve got a lot of lost time to make up for.”

Streen sat atop the ruined and abandoned skyscraper where he had made his home. When Luke brought him to the yammering mass of Imperial City, where millions of people covered the planet with all their thoughts and all their feelings, Streen had begged for a place where he could have some solitude until they moved off-planet to their Jedi training center. Luke showed him the abandoned parts of the city, and Streen had selected the tallest building. Being high up reminded him of the clouds of Bespin.

Now Leia brought the twins with her, keeping a firm grip on each of their hands as she led them into the barely functional lift, which took them to the rooftop. They walked out onto the upper platform where Streen sat alone on the edge. The old man dangled his feet over the sides, unperturbed by the unbroken kilometer drop below him. He looked up and out at the unrelenting cityscape, the geometric spires of sprawling buildings. He watched the tiny shapes of hawk-bats riding thermals.

Leia walked across the rooftop. She had never been afraid of heights, although with the young children at hand she felt an altogether different kind of fear, a stomach-clenching paranoia of the millions of things that could bring danger to her children. Jacen and Jaina wanted to dash to the edge of the platform and look over, but she refused to release her grip.

Upon hearing them approach, Streen turned. Leia noted that he still wore his many-pocketed jumpsuit, not wanting to change into the warmer or more comfortable clothes she had offered him.

“We just came to check on you, Streen. With Luke gone I wanted to make sure there was nothing else you needed.”

Streen paused a moment before answering. “What I’d like is solitude, but I fear there’s no place I can have that on this entire planet. Even in the quietest places on Coruscant, I can still hear a constant hum of whispering thoughts and voices. It’ll be very difficult for me here, until I learn how to block it out. The Jedi Master promised to teach me how to do that.”

“Luke should be back shortly,” Leia said.

They approached the edge, and Leia insisted on standing a safe distance away. But Jaina pulled forward to the full reach of Leia’s arm, to where she could peer over the edge and gape all the way down. “That’s far!” Jaina said.

“Too far to fall,” Leia told her.

“I won’t fall.”

“Me neither,” Jacen said. Then he insisted on straining forward to look over the edge as well.

Streen stared at them with a kind of wonder. “You’re better than the others. The children’s minds are simple and straightforward, and they don’t bother me. It’s only when thoughts are complex and filled with a thousand subtexts that it makes my head ache. And you, Minister Organa Solo, are quieter and more focused than most other people.”

“Luke taught me how to control my own mind. I don’t leak out the thoughts and feelings that bother you so much. I keep from broadcasting them to anyone else.”

Streen gave a wan smile, then stared out at the vast sky. On various parabolic courses, blinking lights of incoming and departing diplomatic shuttles traveled across the sky.

“I hope all the Jedi trainees can learn to be as silent as you are, Minister. I’d very much like to be around other people, part of a community like yourself and the Jedi Master. How long will it be, do you think?”

He looked deeply into her eyes, and she pulled the children away from the edge. “Soon,” Leia said. “As soon as possible.”

She vowed that she would find a place for Luke’s academy before he returned from Kessel. It had to be the right place, and she had to find it without delay.

Leia and Threepio insisted on giving the twins a warm ripple bath before bedtime. Leia ran the water as Threepio checked to make sure its temperature was perfect.

Leia shooed Jacen and Jaina toward the rippling water. Jacen balked. “Put bubbles in first!”

“I’ll put the bubbles in while the water’s still running. Now just get in.”

“Winter puts bubbles in first,” Jaina said.

“Well, this time we’ll do it a little different,” Leia explained a bit testily.

“I want bubbles now!” Jacen cried.

“Dear me! Perhaps we had better put the bubbles in, Mistress Leia,” Threepio said.

But the twins’ defiance had awakened Leia’s own stubbornness. “No, I told you to get in the bath. I don’t care how Winter did it. This is the place you live now. Sometimes we do things differently.”

Jaina began to cry.

“It’s all right!” Leia said. “It’s still a nice bath. Look.” She splashed her hand in the warm water. “It doesn’t make any difference when you put the bubbles in.”

“I put bubbles in?” Jaina asked.

“If you get in, you can add the bubbles.”

Jaina promptly climbed into the water and held out her hands. Leia gave her an amber-colored sphere that would dissolve in the agitation of the ripples.

Jacen jumped into the ripple bath. “Now I put bubbles in!”

“Too late,” Leia said. “Next time it’ll be your turn.”

“Perhaps we should let them add another sphere of bubbles?” Threepio said, bending over to situate the children in the water.

Jacen used both of his hands to fling water into the droid’s face. “I want home!”

“This is home, Jacen. You live here now. I’m your mother.”

“No. I want home!”

Leia began to wonder why her diplomatic skills were failing her now. The twins began splashing each other. It looked like light play at first, but suddenly—for no apparent reason—they both began to cry. Perhaps this would be good preparation for meeting the Caridan ambassador, Leia thought.

She squeezed her eyes shut as the two continued wailing. Threepio, growing more and more flustered, frantically tried to determine what the difficulty was.

Leia wished she knew where Han was.