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In a whisper, unbelieving, Daala said, “Liegeus?”

He was staring, as if at a ghost, only no ghost could have brought that leap of amazed joy to any man’s face. “Daala?”

They crossed to each other, stopped inches apart, as if, after a lifetime of diverging roads, at the crossroad they feared to touch once more. It was Daala who reached out first and took his hand.

“Have you …” His voice hesitated. “Have you had a good road, all these years?”

“A long one,” she said, the girl’s voice, the proud dreamer’s, audible still beneath the damage of battle and years. And it seemed to Luke that he saw death leave her eyes, and long-forgotten life stir there again. “Cruel, in places. You?”

“A long one.”

She put up her hand, touched his unshaven face.

“I’ve missed you, Liegeus,” she said softly. “I’ve missed.… This will sound foolish, but I’ve missed having someone to talk to.”

Liegeus’s fingers brushed her cheek, wonderingly exploring the footprints of the years, then gathered up the copper weight of her hair.

She had always been the stronger of the two, Luke thought, watching them together. And knowing this, he had released her into her strength.

Their lips met, tasting first, both afraid, then drinking deep, as if they could never again have enough. Her arms went around him, incongruous in the military severity of her uniform; he crushed her to him, medals, blaster, and all.

Nobody in the lounge existed anymore. It was as if Leia, and Han, and Chewie, and the droids, and Luke had all been wiped from existence, and with them the past twenty years.

No one in the lounge was the slightest bit surprised when Daala and Liegeus made their exit, without a word to anyone, handfast, into some other part of the shuttle. “I guess you’ll have that conference some other time,” remarked Han, drawing Leia down beside him on the black leather of the couch.

Leia sighed and laid her head against his shoulder, weary beyond words. “I guess we will.” His arms were around her, strong and rock hard under the rough linen of his shirt. He smelled of salt sweat and burned insulation; his chin was sandpaper against her temple and his breath living warmth on her skin. She wanted more than anything simply to remain there, and drift into sleep.

From the viewport, Luke watched the thin yellow track of Umolly Darm’s freighter as it lifted from the planet, streaked through the atmosphere and away.

She’s all right, he thought. It was like watching a hunt bird when after its years of servitude, its owner frees it to return to the woods. She is well, and strong. She’ll find her way one day to the Force, to the light. He felt weightless, at peace, and strangely free.

The blue air thinned to darkness and stars. The shapes of the fleet became visible, silvery pendants in the blackness—the world that he had sought since the age of eighteen, when he had looked into the Tatooine skies.

She had released him, he thought, to travel his road, wherever that road was going, to whatever end that journey would have.

He heard a soft step behind him, knew it was Leia before her hands touched his shoulders. Her voice was worried. “Are you all right?”

“Yes,” said Luke softly. “I’m all right.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

BARBARA HAMBLY is the author of The Emancipator’s Wife, a finalist for the Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction. She is also the author of Fever Season, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and seven acclaimed historical novels.

Also by Barbara Hambly

THE EMANCIPATOR’S WIFE

A FREE MAN OF COLOR

FEVER SEASON

GRAVEYARD DUST

SOLD DOWN THE RIVER

DIE UPON A KISS

WET GRAVE

DAYS OF THE DEAD

DEAD WATER

And coming soon in hardcover from Bantam

HOME LAND

STAR WARS—The Expanded Universe

You saw the movies. You watched the cartoon series, or maybe played some of the video games. But did you know …

In The Empire Strikes Back, Princess Leia Organa said to Han Solo, “I love you.” Han said, “I know.” But did you know that they actually got married?