[Black Fleet Crisis] - 02(48)

So he sat up awake, watching over Akanah, listening to whispered conversations, gently sensing the energies of those around him, looking out into the night as distant lights betrayed their swift passage and the cities along their route embraced the railtrain with their restless energy and then surrendered it back to the darkness.

He wondered if somewhere out in that darkness the woman Akanah had known as Nashira was asleep as well, peacefully or restlessly, tranquilly or fearfully. What would my mother think of me?

he wondered, and it was the first time such a thought had ever confronted him.

The thought perplexed and distracted him. He recalled Akanah’s words on the night she had appeared: “The gift of the Light came from your mother—and your mother was of our people. There is an emptiness inside you where memories of your mother should be, a weakness where what she would have taught you would have strengthened you.”

Presumptuous words, but knowing words. In that moment, he felt that emptiness acutely, unable even to imagine what might fill it, or even that it might ever be filled.

Perhaps Nashira has stayed away because she’s ashamed, Luke thought.

Perhaps she sees too much of Father in us, just-as this woman does.

You may have been right, Leia. If I do find the truth, I may not find it to my liking-Then Luke’s sense skill tugged at his consciousness, calling his attention to a change in his surroundings.

Clearing all other thoughts from his mind, he swept his awareness and his gaze together across the darkened railtrain.

Both quickly fixed on the same point—an Elomin passenger, sitting near the front of the car on the opposite side. The Elomin’s back was turned toward Luke, his horned skull-crown just visible over the top cushion of his tour couch.

Now, where did you come from? Luke thought, intent with suspicion.

You weren’t there ten minutes ago—how could I have missed you coming in? Something doesn’t feel right about this-He stole a quick look at Akanah, reassuring himself that she was sleeping blissfully. He wondered how badly his attention had wandered, whether he had let his mask slip.

Everything I know about you says that this isn’t really your sort of vacation spot, he thought, staring at the back of the Elomin’s couch.

Even if the Teyria share your fetish for order, they keep letting in all these unpredictable alien types. And I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I’ve seen a solitary Elomin out in mixed company. Two of you in one day—or the same one twice-This feels like more than a coincidence. What I can’t figure out is what would make an Elomin go rogue and hook up with Imperial agents—or why someone else might be interested in us. And I just may have to have a few answers-Just then the Elomin left his seat and moved forward with slow, long-limbed strides. He was empty-handed, as the Elomin at the spaceport had been. At the end of the aisle he paused for a moment and looked back into the cabin. Then, ducking his head, he passed through the connecting doorway and was gone. Luke waited, torn between wanting to follow and not wanting to leave Akanah.

The Elomin had still not returned when the porter droid made an appearance, trundling down the aisle reciting a soft-spoken warning.

“Attention, passengers. If you are not continuing to River District Spur destinations, please move into one of the forward cabins. This car will be separating from the train at Podadun. Attention, passengers—” Still the Elomin did not return. As the chime sounded and the status light above the connecting door changed to yellow, Luke reached out with his senses and searched the train for the Elomin. But Luke could not find him. Fearing a bomb, he rushed forward to where the Elomin had been sitting.

Luke stared. There were no bags or articles there—just a sleeping Gotal infant.

The chime sounded again. Luke looked up as the connecting doors slid shut and the status light turned red. There was an

almost

imperceptible deceleration as the cars separated and the lights of Podadun began to flash through the unfiltered viewpanes.

The infant stirred in its sleep, and Luke retreated. What is wrong with me? he demanded silently as he made his way back to his seat, the aisle tilting under him as the car swung off the main line and onto the banked spur to Sodonna. Why am I jumping at shadows?

Akanah had slept through it all, oblivious. When she finally woke to the spectacular salmon-and-pink sunrise warming her face, Luke said nothing to her about it.

He didn’t know what he could have said, except that he had had another waking dream and still didn’t know its meaning.

The name Kell Plath no longer appeared in the Sodonna directories, but not because Teyr’s winds had ripped it from the map or because the name had become burdened by shame. An hour at the city library uncovered not only its location, but also the petition under which its new owners had asked for the more marketable name of River Gardens.