“I beg your pardon?”
Luke sipped at his drink. “Governments and entire planets are important, Threepio. But when you sift everything down, they’re all just made up of people.”
There was a brief pause. “Oh,” Threepio said.
“In other words,” Luke amplified, “a Jedi can’t get so caught up in matters of galactic importance that it interferes with his concern for individual people.” He looked at Threepio and smiled. “Or for individual droids.”
“Oh. I see, sir.” Threepio cocked his head toward Luke’s cup. “Forgive me, sir … but may I ask what that is that you’re drinking?”
“This?” Luke glanced down at his cup. “It’s just something Lando taught me how to make a while back.”
“Lando?” Threepio echoed, and there was no missing the disapproval in his voice. Programmed politeness or not, the droid had never really much cared for Lando.
Which wasn’t very surprising, given the circumstances of their first meeting. “Yes, but in spite of such a shady origin, it’s really quite good,” Luke told him. “It’s called hot chocolate.”
“Oh. I see.” The droid straightened up. “Well, then, sir. If you are indeed all right, I expect I should be on my way.”
“Sure. By the way, what made you come up here in the first place?”
“Princess Leia sent me, of course,” Threepio answered, clearly surprised that Luke would have to ask. “She said you were in some kind of distress.”
Luke smiled and shook his head. Leave it to Leia to find a way to cheer him up when he needed it. “Show-off,” he murmured.
“I beg your pardon, sir?”
Luke waved a hand. “Leia’s showing off her new Jedi skills, that’s all. Proving that even in the middle of the night she can pick up on my mood.”
Threepio’s head tilted. “She really did seem concerned about you, sir.”
“I know,” Luke said. “I’m just joking.”
“Oh.” Threepio seemed to think about that. “Shall I tell her you’re all right, then?”
“Sure,” Luke nodded. “And while you’re down there, tell her that she should quit worrying about me and get herself back to sleep. Those bouts of morning sickness she still gets are bad enough when she isn’t worn-out tired.”
“I’ll deliver the message, sir,” Threepio said.
“And,” Luke added quietly, “tell her I love her.”
“Yes, sir. Good night, Master Luke.”
“Good night, Threepio.”
He watched the droid go, a fresh flow of depression threatening again to drag him down. Threepio wouldn’t understand, of course-no one on the Provisional Council had understood, either. But for Leia, just over three months pregnant, to be spending the bulk of her time here …
He shivered, and not from the cool night air. This place is strong with the dark side. Yoda had said that of the cave on Dagobah-the cave where Luke had gone on to fight a lightsaber duel with a Darth Vader who had turned out to be Luke himself. For weeks afterward the memory of the sheer power and presence of the dark side had haunted his thoughts; only much later had he finally realized that Yoda’s primary reason for the exercise had been to show him how far he still had to go.
Still, he’d often wondered how the cave had come to be the way it had. Wondered whether perhaps someone or something strong in the dark side had once lived there.
As the Emperor had once lived here… .
He shivered again. The really maddening part of it was that he couldn’t sense any such concentration of evil in the Palace. The Council had made a point of asking him about that, in fact, when they’d first considered moving operations here to the Imperial City. He’d had to grit his teeth and tell them that, no, there seemed to be no residual effects of the Emperor’s stay.
But just because he couldn’t sense it didn’t necessarily mean it wasn’t there.
He shook his head. Stop it, he ordered himself firmly. Jumping at shadows wasn’t going to gain him anything but paranoia. His recent nightmares and poor sleep were probably nothing more than the stresses of watching Leia and the others struggling to turn a military-oriented rebellion into a civilian-based government. Certainly Leia would never have agreed to come anywhere near this place if she’d had any doubts herself about it.
Leia.
With an effort, Luke forced his mind to relax and let his Jedi senses reach outward. Halfway across the palace’s upper section he could feel Leia’s drowsy presence. Her presence, and that of the twins she carried within her.