At the rear of the parry were four more Hapan security specialists.
Luke pitched his voice as a whisper. “Quite a retinue for a little walk in the woods. How many do you have to take with you when you just want to go to the refresher?”
Tenel Ka had not smiled in the brief time since her arrival on Endor, but she almost did now. Almost. To Luke, it seemed that the facial muscles that permitted such an expression no longer knew how to perform. Her whispered answer was matter-of-fact: “In my own palace, none. In foreign palaces, a minimum of four.”
“And if you’re visiting Dathomir, where the only thing available is a bush?”
“It’s the best-defended bush within a dozen parsecs.”
“I thought so.”
They walked in silence for a little while. Luke could feel the tension within Tenel Ka-it roiled at the surface of her thoughts, like water just beginning to boil-but he did not feel it appropriate to hurry her toward the conversation to come.
Tenel Ka waited until they found a broad clearing. At its center was a wide, nearly flat stone, some four meters across, the only spot of the clearing visited by shafts of sunlight. She raised her voice so that all could hear. “This will do.” As she and Luke moved toward the stone, her guards scattered, forming a defensive perimeter around the clearing, while the Jedi Masters, Hapan advisers, and droids stood in a tight knot well away from its center.
Luke sat at one edge of the stone. It was warm under him, even compared with the warmth of the forest air. He extended his senses through the Force to seek out any intelligences that might be close enough to listen and found none-except for Tenel Ka, who was doing just as he was.
She finally sat next to him. “One of the problems with dealing with Jedi Masters is that they’re so patient. It’s enough to drive you crazy. They just wait you out.”
Remembering his own time on Dagobah with Master Yoda, Luke nodded. “You’re right. Now I’ve become exactly what used to make me insane with frustration. I wonder when that happened.”
Tenel Ka took a deep breath. “You know that I turned my back on the Alliance, demanding that Jacen be removed from power. Then I withdrew from the war altogether and did not pursue my agenda against Jacen any longer.”
“Yes. I assumed you had a good reason.” That was the truth. Luke felt no anger or censure. Tenel Ka was the
Queen Mother. She would not have wavered on this matter without cause.
“I don’t know if it’s a good reason. It’s a very personal reason. Jacen kidnapped my daughter, Allana. He threatened to kill her if I did not resume my duties as an Alliance member.”
Luke winced. “I wish I could say I was surprised.” He almost added, He kidnapped Ben, too, and tortured him. But he clamped down on the words before they left him. Tenel Ka did not need to experience mental images of Jacen torturing Allana. She did not need the additional fear and worry his words would cause.
“I thought-I think-that he could probably do it. Kill. … my baby. The situation cut me in two. The Queen Mother arguing one course of action, Allana’s mother arguing another. Allana’s mother won.”
“I understand.”
“But after what happened a few days ago. … the firing of Centerpoint Station …” Tenel Ka’s voice wavered. Luke could feel her anguish growing within the Force, and, detecting her distress, Saba and Cilghal glanced over at the two of them. “It shows the ends the Confederation is willing to go to. It shows how insane this war has become. The Hapes Consortium has been rebuilding for more than fifteen years from the damage caused the last time the station was fired. The Corellians can use it to destroy whole worlds if they want.”
Luke nodded.
“Awhile back, I thought that Allana and I could perhaps run away. They’d hunt us down, of course. The Alliance, of my political opponents from Hapes. Allana and I would die, but we’d die together, in each other’s arms. Now it looks like we won’t even have that tiny comfort. We’re going to die never having seen each other again.”
“You don’t know that. If you saw something like that as a Force vision, it isn’t necessarily the true future…”
“I don’t see visions of the future anymore. Not really. I just feel death and failure all around us. Consuming us like a fire.” Tenel Ka looked down at her hand, resting palm-up in her lap. It twitched, and Luke sensed she longed for her lightsaber to be there, lit, with enemies in front of her-enemies she could attack personally, physically. “I have to be the Queen Mother, Master Skywalker. I have to decide what’s right for my people.”