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And then she heard her uncle’s voice. “Threepio! It’s good to see you.”

Luke?

“Master Luke, sir! I, too, am very pleased. I am delighted to report that I was able to do as you requested.”

Requested? Wasn’t that the same as “help”? And wasn’t Grandma Leia not supposed to be helping Luke? But they’d gone to Dathomir … Allana was so confused.

“That’s wonderful.”

“I can tell it to you now, if you’d like.” Allana’s eyes grew wide.

“Actually,” Uncle Luke was saying, “could you just transmit it to me? I want to be able to listen to it more than once, and at a time and place of my own choosing.”

“Ah! I quite understand, given the clandestine nature of this information.”

Clandestine was a big word, but Allana knew it. This was just getting better and better. Allana was both excited and worried. She didn’t want anyone getting into trouble—not Luke, not Grandma, not anybody. But at the same time she needed to know exactly what was going on.

“I dislike eavesdropping,” Luke continued, “but when you have Sith on your ship, well, I dislike not knowing what they’re planning even more.”

“Indeed, Master Luke. You working with the Sith! Who would ever have thought it! It is a unique situation, and may I say that it is one which I had never anticipated encountering.”

Allana’s eyes grew as big as the saucers that held their evening hot chocolate. That couldn’t be right. Her Uncle Luke Skywalker would never work with the Sith!

“Well, you’re not exactly encountering them, Threepio. I hope you’re able to stay well out of it.”

“I share that hope ardently, Master Luke. I feel like I need a nice hot oil bath after translating such an unpleasant conversation.”

So it was true. A wave of fear and confusion rushed over Allana. Anji lifted her head and hissed, her spines raised, agitated by Allana’s emotions. Allana winced and grabbed Anji, trying to calm her, but the cub was still young and imperfectly trained, and when Allana’s hands closed on her too hard, she yowled and struggled to free herself. Allana released her, and the cub scooted off a distance, fleeing on too-large feet, before sliding to a halt and turning around, mewing pathetically for her master.

“Oh! Who’s there! Mistress Allana!” Threepio hastened to the doorway. Allana made no attempt to hide herself. She stared up at Threepio, a mixture of emotions warring within her. She could see past him into the room, where a small hologram of Luke Skywalker stood on the desk.

“Threepio?” the miniature Luke was saying. “What’s wrong? Allana?”

“What are you doing here?” Threepio scolded.

“I might ask the same question of you,” Alanna retored. “Both of you.”

“It goes against the polite conventions of eighty-seven-point-four percent of known cultures to listen to a conversation not intended for one’s aural receivers,” Threepio continued indignantly.

Allana ignored him, marching up to the hologram of Luke. She was crying, and that upset her because she didn’t want to cry; she wanted to be calm and in control like her mother and grandmother would have been. She wanted to ask proper questions.

Instead, what burst out of her was a sobbing, “Uncle Luke, why? Why have you gone over to the Sith?”

Luke’s face, barely a centimeter high, softened with compassion. “Oh, honey, it’s not what you think. I’ve not gone over to the dark side. I promise you.”

“Then why?” The cry was anguished. “What are you doing even talking to them? Why is Threepio sneaking around to talk to you?”

“It’s very complicated,” Luke said. “Threepio, you still there?”

“Indeed, Master Luke.”

“Go get Han and Leia. I think they need to explain everything to Allana.”

“Of course.” The droid sounded relieved to have an excuse to leave. “I’ll go fetch them immediately.” Servos whirring, he hastened out of the room.

Allana almost staggered, gripping the back of a sofa for support. “Grandma and Grandpa know about this?”

“Well, some of it,” Luke said, and smiled a little. “I hadn’t … exactly asked permission to use Threepio