Lightsabers

14

The royal yacht, a Hapan Water Dragon, skimmed across the ocean waves at top speed, its repulsorjets kicking up spray. Bright sunlight shone through its transparisteel windowports, and the fresh smell of saltwater and rafts of seaweed filled the air.

Leaning against a windowport, eyes half shut, Tenel Ka watched the water dance and sparkle. She had always thought of Reef Fortress Island as her summer home, a place to enjoy the warm sun, the surf, and the ocean breezes. But in truth, it was a stronghold, a safe haven in time of danger.

“I feel ill,” Jaina said. “Mentally and physically.”

Tenel Ka, having been lulled by the yacht’s rocking movement as it sped across the water, now straightened and blinked in surprise. “What is wrong, Jaina?”

“Do you realize that a few minutes one way or another, and we might all have been blown to bits by that bomb?” Jaina asked incredulously. “Or maybe I’m just a little seasick from these waves.”

Tenel Ka looked at each of her friends in turn. Jaina did not look well. Her straight brown hair, dull with perspiration, clung in damp clumps to her pallid face and neck. Lowie, sitting beside Ta’a Chume as she steered the yacht with nonchalant confidence, seemed too interested in the navigational computer to be affected by the waves. Jacen, on the other hand, looked boyishly enthralled by the experience.

Tenel Ka said to Jaina, “You will recover.”

Tenel Ka’s grandmother spoke from her position at the helm. Although royal guards accompanied them, the former queen preferred to pilot the craft herself. “We’re almost to the fortress now. You’ll be safe there.”

Tenel Ka’s eyes narrowed shrewdly as she noted her grandmother’s words. “Should you not have said we will be safe?”

“You and your friends will be safe, yes,” her grandmother said evasively.

“Where will you be?” Tenel Ka asked.

“Much of the time I’ll be with you, but I’m not sure I can trust the investigation of this bombing to anyone else. Until I get to the bottom of the plot against us, I may have to travel back and forth between Reef Fortress and the Fountain Palace.”

Jaina looked startled. “And leave us on the island alone?”

“You will have a full complement of guards,” Ta’a Chume said soothingly. “And Ambassador Yfra will stay with you whenever I’m away.”

Lowbacca snuffled a question from the navigation station. “Master Lowbacca wishes to inquire whether that island up ahead is our final destination,” Em Teedee elaborated.

Jacen and Jaina went to the front windowport to look out at the smear of darkness rising from the sun-dappled water.

“Yes,” Tenel Ka’s grandmother replied, “that is Reef Fortress.”

Tenel Ka didn’t move forward to look out at the island. She’d been there so many times, she already knew what she would see. It never changed. She closed her eyes, picturing the rocky spires jutting up from the foamy waters of the ocean. She envisioned the water-level entrance to the cave grotto, the steep stone walls of the fortress itself, the crystal-clear cove where she had once loved to swim, the dizzying heights from the parapets along the impenetrable walls where she could walk or run with the wind in her hair, the gently steaming thermal springs in the cellar that provided fresh water for bathing, cooking, and drinking.

Tenel Ka suddenly realized that she had felt homesick after all for this place that held so many of her happiest memories from her childhood, memories of carefree time spent with her parents. The corners of her mouth turned up slightly. Opening her eyes, she moved to stand beside Jacen. “I can’t wait to show you my home.”

Although the matriarch offered to select quarters for their guests, Tenel Ka insisted on personally choosing an appropriate room for each of the young Jedi Knights.

Lowbacca’s chamber was massive, built at a corner where two of the fortress’s protective walls met. The room’s appointments were basic, its only decorations an ornamental spear on one of the inner walls and a threadbare tapestry on the other. But through the windows on the two outer walls, the room had a spectacular view of the sheer drop from the stone fortress down to the reef rocks and ocean below. Lowbacca stood by the window casement, staring through the force-field screening with such rapt wonderment on his face that Tenel Ka knew she had chosen well for him.

“Do be careful, Master Lowbacca,” Em Teedee squeaked in alarm. “If I were to fall down there, I’m sure the damage to my circuits would be irreparable.”

For Jaina, Tenel Ka chose what she had always known as the “gadget room.” It had belonged to Tenel Ka’s great-grandfather, whose hobby had been inventing and tinkering with machines. Fully half of the chamber was filled with workbenches, adjustable-intensity glowpanels, power droids, electrical implements, and odd-looking equipment in various stages of assembly or disassembly. Jaina stayed behind to investigate the fascinating workshop while Tenel Ka showed Jacen the special room she had picked for him.

When they reached the arched doorway, Tenel Ka found herself assailed by an inexplicable bout of nervousness. What if she had judged wrong for her friend? What if Jacen found this room gloomy or dreary, instead of peaceful and soothing? Oh well, she finally decided, she might as well try for the whole effect.

“I would request,” she said uncertainly, “that you close your eyes.”

“Sure,” Jacen said. “Need to clean it up a bit?” He squeezed his brandy-brown eyes shut.

Tenel Ka opened the door with her right hand and reached out to take his arm with her other—only to remember that she had no left hand. Even though Jacen could not have seen, she felt a flush of embarrassment creep into her cheeks as she grasped his arm with her good hand and led him into the room.

“Uh, if it’ll make you more comfortable,” Jacen quipped, “I can keep my eyes shut the whole time we’re at the fortress.”

“That will not be necessary.” Tenel Ka shut the door behind her and adjusted the lighting. The room was still dim, but that was unavoidable. “You may look now.”

She heard his quick intake of breath, and then a whispered exclamation. “Blaster bolts!”

“It is … to your liking?” Tenel Ka moved closer to observe Jacen’s expression. In the glow of the violet lighting, his smile flashed a fluorescent white. She noted with great satisfaction the delight that lit his face as he used all of his senses to experience this special room.

Tenel Ka’s own sense of wonder was renewed as she looked around with Jacen, as if for the first time. A four-meter-high curved aquarium lined the walls of the circular room, unbroken except for the arched doorway through which they had entered. The air tasted salty and tingled pleasantly in her nostrils. Almost hypnotic in its effect, the bubbling and whishing of recirculating water surrounded them. Colorful creatures of all shapes and sizes propelled themselves through the seawater, lit only by specially regulated glowpanels. Moist tropical warmth wrapped them like a blanket, and Tenel Ka stifled a contented yawn.

Jacen followed suit and then chuckled. “I don’t think I’ll have any problem sleeping in here,” he said. “This is just perfect.”

She felt him reach out, grope around for her hand, and then give it a squeeze. Tenel Ka sighed. This room was indeed filled with peace.

After they had had an opportunity to refresh themselves, Tenel Ka took her friends to one of her favorite places on the rocky shore of the island, a tiny cove with calm water in an amazing shade of living green. The four of them waded in the sparkling warm waters, joking and splashing, able to forget for a moment the dangers that had brought them to this place.

Jacen and Jaina wore only the undergarments from their flightsuits, which served admirably as swimming gear as well. Tenel Ka herself had changed into a brief lizard-hide exercise suit and felt more like herself than she had at any time since returning to Hapes.

“If you won’t be requiring my services, Master Lowbacca,” Em Teedee said, “might I stay on shore and shut down for a rest cycle? I have no idea what saltwater might do to my delicate circuitry.”

Tenel Ka watched Lowbacca grumble a reply and splash out of the shallows to place Em Teedee high up on a dry rock. After the Wookiee returned, the four friends waded out toward deeper water, enjoying one another’s companionship, along with the feeling of the silky water around them.

When Jacen, Jaina, and Lowie turned onto their backs to float lazily on the surface while they conversed, Tenel Ka absently flipped over and floated as well. In that instant she remembered yet again that one of her arms was missing—but she also realized that, with only a slight adjustment of her posture and weight, she was able to float quite easily. By experimenting, she discovered she could propel herself at surprising speed, using nothing more than her strong legs.

Jacen, who had noticed her tentative attempts, swam over and favored her with what she could only interpret as a challenging grin. Starting to tread water, he raised his eyebrows at her. She met his gaze and began treading water as well—at first with little coordination, then finding her rhythm. When Jacen narrowed his liquid-brown eyes and moved to a sidestroke, Tenel Ka did the same.

Tenel Ka met one challenge after another with varying degrees of success. She found that she was able to do much more than she could ever have imagined. And even when her performance was less than stellar—as when she tried to perform an underwater somersault—she enjoyed herself.

When she resurfaced sputtering and coughing after one such attempt, she noticed a measuring look in Jacen’s eyes, daring her to push herself to her limits. “Race you to the shore,” he said.

Tenel Ka gave him a solemn warning look. “Only if you truly intend to beat me,” she said.

Jacen’s face was equally grave as he said, “I’ll give it everything I’ve got.”

She nodded. “Then—go!”

Tenel Ka drew on all of her strength, endurance, coordination, and ingenuity as she threw her body into the mad race for shore. Her entire consciousness was focused on one goal, and she drove forward with every bit of determination she possessed.

Before she even understood what had happened, she was standing on the shore being greeted by loud cheers from Jaina and a very bedraggled-looking, wet Lowbacca, who were already standing on the rocky beach.

Disoriented, Tenel Ka turned, looking for Jacen, and found him just emerging from the water behind her. From the surprised expression on his face, she knew their competition had been real: he had not “allowed” her to win.

Jaina ran forward to hug them both just as Lowbacca, with a loud Wookiee yell, shook himself dry, sending sprays of salty water in every direction. Jacen yelped, and Jaina gave a small shriek of surprise.

Tenel Ka was glad of the diversion, however, because some of the salty droplets glistening on her face were not seawater.