Star Wars: The Jedi Academy Trilogy: Jedi Search by Kevin J. Anderson

Author:Kevin J. Anderson
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub, mobi
Tags: Solo, Leia, Science fiction, Space Opera, Star Wars fiction, Princess (Fictitious character), General, Luke (Fictitious character), American, Adventure, Han (Fictitious character), Skywalker, Fiction
ISBN: 9780553297980
Publisher: Bantam Books
Published: 1994-02-01T08:00:00+00:00

* * *

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-burn 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.

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