“Oh, no, Master Jacen,” Threepio said sternly. “You mustn’t neglect your studies.”
“Sorry, Threepio,” Jaina said, “but we have other plans today.”
Before the droid could advance his argument any further, the twins’ mother came into the room. “Good morning, kids,” Leia said.
Jaina smiled at her mother. Princess Leia looked as beautiful as in the old picture Jaina had seen from the Rebellion. Since that time, Leia had taken on extremely heavy political duties and devoted most of her waking hours—along with quite a few of those she should have spent sleeping—to untangling knots in the threads of diplomacy.
“What are you doing today, Mom?” Jaina asked.
Leia sighed and rolled her dark brown eyes in an expression that Jaina often unconsciously imitated. “I have a meeting with the Howler Tree People of Bendone … they speak a very strange language and need a team of translators. It’ll take me all morning long just to hold a conversation.” She closed her eyes and rubbed her fingertips at her temples. “And their ultrasonic voices give me a headache!” Leia drew a deep breath and forced a smile. “But it’s part of the job. We have to keep the New Republic strong. There are always threats from the outside.”
“This is a fact,” Tenel Ka said gruffly. “We have seen the threat of the Shadow Academy and the Second Imperium firsthand.” Lowbacca growled, clearly remembering the dark and difficult time he and the twins had experienced aboard the cloaked Imperial training station.
“Hey, I’ve got something that’ll cheer you up, Mom,” Jacen said, reaching into his pocket. “A present I kept for you.”
He held out the glittering Corusca gem he had snagged while using Lando Calrissian’s gem-mining machinery deep in the stormy atmosphere of the gas-giant Yavin.
Leia looked down at it, blinking in amazement. “Jacen, that’s a Corusca gem! Is this the one you found at GemDiver Station?”
He shrugged and looked pleased. “Yeah—and I used it to cut my way free from my cell in the Shadow Academy. Would you like to have it?”
Leia’s expression showed how deeply moved she was, but she closed her son’s fingers around the valuable gem. “Just having you offer it to me is a very special gift,” she said. “But I don’t really need any more jewels or treasures. I’d like you to keep it—find a special use for it. I’m sure you’ll think of something.”
Jacen flushed with embarrassment, then turned an even deeper red when she gave him a big hug.
Han Solo came into the cozy dining area from the family’s living quarters, freshly washed and wide awake. “So kids, what’s up for you today?”
Jaina ran to give her father a hug. “Hi, Dad! We’re going to spend some time catching up with our friend Zekk.”
“That scruffy-looking teenaged junk hunter?” Han asked with a faint smile.
“He’s not scruffy-looking!” Jaina said defensively.
“Hey, just kidding,” Han said.
“Just make sure you don’t get into trouble,” Leia said.
“Trouble?” Jacen said, blinking his eyes in feigned innocence. “Us?”
Leia nodded. “Keep in mind that we’re having a special diplomatic banquet tomorrow night. I don’t want to have you stuck with a medical droid because of a sprained ankle—or worse.”
Threepio interrupted as he tried to herd dark-haired Anakin off to a quiet room. “I do wish you’d let me keep them here to continue their studies, Mistress Leia. It would be ever so much safer.” Anakin looked dejected that he couldn’t go out on an adventure with his older brother and sister.
Em Teedee spoke up from Lowbacca’s waist. “Well, you need have no fear for their safety, my conscientious colleague. I shall personally see to it that they behave with the utmost caution. You can count on me.”
Lowbacca growled a comment, and Jaina didn’t think the Wookiee was agreeing with the little translator droid.
In the open air Jaina waited next to Lowbacca, Tenel Ka, and Jacen as they stood in one of Coruscant’s busy tourism information centers, a deck that jutted from the grandiose pyramid-shaped palace. Dignitaries and sightseers from across the galaxy came to the capital world to spend their credits visiting parks, museums, odd sculptures, and structures erected by ancient alien artisans.
A boxy brochure droid floated along on its repulsorlifts, babbling in an enthusiastic mechanical voice. It cheerfully listed the most wonderful sights to see, recommended eating establishments catering to various biochemistries, and gave instructions on how to arrange tours for all body types, atmosphere requirements, and languages.
Jaina fidgeted as she studied the bustling crowd—white-robed ambassadors, busy droids, and exotic creatures leashed to other strange creatures. She couldn’t tell which were the masters and which the pets.
“So where is he?” Jacen said, putting his hands on his hips. His hair was tousled and his face flushed as he scanned the crowd for a familiar face.
The four young Jedi Knights stood under a sculpture of a gargoyle that broadcast shuttle arrival times from a speaker mounted in its stone mouth. Gazing up at the cloud-frothed sky, Jaina watched the silvery shapes of shuttles descending from orbit. She tried to amuse herself by identifying the vehicle types as they passed, but all the while she wondered what had delayed their friend Zekk. She checked her chronometer again and saw he was only about two standard minutes late. She was just anxious to see him.
Suddenly, a figure dropped directly in front of her from the gargoyle statue overhead—a wiry youth with shoulder-length hair one shade lighter than black. He wore a broad grin on his narrow face, and his sparkling green eyes, wide with delight, showed a darker corona surrounding the emerald irises. “Hi, guys!”
Jaina gasped, but Tenel Ka reacted with dizzying speed. In the fraction of a second following Zekk’s landing, the warrior girl whipped out her fibercord rope and snapped a lasso around him, pulling the strand tight.
“Hey!” the boy cried. “Is this the way Jedi Knights greet people?”
Jacen laughed and slapped Tenel Ka on the back. “Good one!” he said. “Tenel Ka, meet our friend Zekk.”
Tenel Ka blinked once. “It is a pleasure.”
The wiry boy struggled against the restraining cords. “Likewise,” he said sheepishly. “Now, if you wouldn’t mind untying me?”
Tenel Ka flicked her wrist to release the fibercord.
While Zekk indignantly brushed himself off, Jaina introduced their Wookiee friend Lowbacca. Jaina grinned as she watched Zekk. Though the older boy had a slight build, he was tough as blaster-proof armor. Under the smudges of dirt and grime on his cheeks, she thought, he was probably rather nice-looking—but then, she wasn’t one to talk about smudges on the face, was she?
Recovering himself, Zekk raised his eyebrows and flashed a roguish smile. “I’ve been waiting for you guys,” he said. “We’ve got plenty of stuff to see and do … and I need your help to salvage something.”
“Where are we headed?” Jacen asked.
Zekk grinned. “Someplace we’re not supposed to go—of course.”
Jaina laughed. “Well then, what are we waiting for?”
Jacen looked out at the sprawling city and thought of all the places he had yet to explore.
Coruscant had been the government world not only of the New Republic, but also of the Empire, and of the Old Republic before that. Skyscrapers covered virtually every open space, built higher and higher as the centuries passed and new governments moved in. The tallest buildings were kilometers high. Many had been destroyed during the bloody battles of the Rebellion and had recently been rebuilt by huge construction droids. Other parts of the planet-wide city remained a jumble of decay and wreckage, their abandoned lower levels and piled garbage forgotten over the years.
The buildings were so high that the gaps between them formed sheer canyons that vanished to a point in the dark depths where sunlight never penetrated. Catwalks and pedestrian tubes linked the buildings, weaving them together into a giant maze. The lower forty or fifty floors were generally restricted from normal traffic; only refugees and daring big-game hunters in search of monstrous urban scavenger beasts were willing to risk venturing into the shadowy underworld.