Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 02_ Omen - Christie Golden [113]
Seff answered without looking away from the corner. “Yes, Master Cilghal?”
His voice came from the small relay speaker near the door, and when Cilghal answered, she angled her mouth toward the tiny microphone beneath it.
“How did you know it was me?” she asked.
“It’s …” Seff struggled with an explanation for an instant, then said, “It’s always you—or Tekli. And Tekli wouldn’t reach that high when she knocked.” He shrugged. “So, no, I haven’t developed the ability to touch the Force through a ysalamiri void-bubble.”
“But you do seem to be feeling better,” Cilghal said.
“I’ll take your word for it.” Seff remained facing the corner. “I don’t have a clear memory of how I was feeling before.”
Cilghal rolled a hopeful eye in Leia’s direction, then spoke to Seff again. “Do you remember why you’re here?”
“That would depend on the meaning of here. I remember trying to rescue Valin Horn from a Galactic Alliance Security facility, and being ambushed by someone who looked a lot like Jaina Solo.” Seff stopped and shook his head. “I assume I’m in the Asylum Block inside the Jedi Temple detention center, but none of it makes much sense.”
“It probably shouldn’t make sense,” Cilghal said. She smiled in a relief that Leia did not quite share. “I’m afraid you’ve been suffering from paranoid delusions lately.”
Seff’s head and shoulders slumped in a fairly convincing manner, and he continued to look into the corner without speaking.
“Seff, you’re going to get better,” Cilghal said. It was something any good mind-healer would say to a patient—whether or not it was true. “This is an encouraging sign.”
Leia couldn’t read Mon Calamari faces well enough to know whether Cilghal was being sincere, but she did know that she wasn’t convinced. She didn’t like the way Seff continued to hide his face. And if he was having trouble remembering what had happened to him, how had he known earlier that it was always Cilghal or Tekli who visited him?
Cilghal continued speaking into the relay microphone. “Seff, you have visitors. Would it be okay if we came inside?”
“Visitors?” Seff finally looked away from his corner. “Absolutely. Come inside.”
Before Leia could express her concerns, Cilghal reached over and entered a code to deactivate the lock. As the door slid aside, Leia glanced toward Han and was relieved to see the same wariness in his eyes that she felt in her gut. If Cilghal was being too optimistic, at least there would be someone else ready to jump on Seff.
“Princess Leia, Captain Solo …” Cilghal waved them into the cell. “After you.”
“The Solos?”
Sounding less surprised than cynical, Seff rose and turned toward them. To Leia’s surprise, there were no alarming glints in his eyes, no suspicious mouth twitches, nothing obvious to suggest that Cilghal’s apparent relief was anything but warranted.
Seff raised his brow in an expression of astonishment that seemed rather rehearsed. “What are you two doing here?”
“We just wanted to check up on you,” Han said, holding out his hand and crossing to the corner so Seff would not have an excuse to approach the door. “Good to see you’re feeling better.”
As Seff took Han’s hand, Leia winced inwardly and readied herself to spring into action at the first hint of trouble. But Seff merely remained in the corner and looked slightly bewildered as they shook hands.
Leia moved her hand away from the stun stick in the small of her back and went to stand with Han. “You do look much better than the last time we saw you.”
Seff’s eyes shifted in her direction. “From what I’m gathering, that wouldn’t be difficult.”
He flashed a self-deprecating smile, and Leia began to wonder if all of the betrayal and disappointment she had suffered over the decades was beginning to make her too suspicious.
“Do you remember when you saw the Solos?” Cilghal asked. She remained just inside the door, as though her presence was an unpleasant requirement and she didn’t want