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Jaina stood leaning against the south wall.

“Didn’t you hear the announcement?” Leia asked. “We’re processing anyone sick or wounded first, so we can get them into our medical facility. I’ll walk you through.”

“Thanks,” Jaina said, “but if Coruscant’s med center couldn’t do anything for me, I doubt yours can.”

“I can use you,” Leia said, “personally. I’m swamped out there. I have an aide, but by the time everyone here gets out of quarantine, I’ll be so far behind that—”

Something hard tapped her shoulder. She turned her head and looked up into the blank mask of a chem suit. “What is it, Threepio?”

“Excuse me, but there is a priority transmission from Bburru waiting on line six,” he told her. “And the report you requested from Dr. Cree’Ar—”

“That’ll keep,” she told him. “Say hello to Jaina.”

“Hello, Mistress Jai—”

“Good to see you, Threepio.” Jaina turned aside and said bluntly, “You’ll never catch up. Not with my help, not with a dozen assistants. That’s because you take on everyone else’s problems. Well, you weren’t there for mine. Not even the military could find you, Mother. I thought you’d finally been caught by some unreconstructed Imperial terrorist, or that the Yuuzhan Vong dropped a moon on you. Jacen and I tried to find you from Thirty-two. What a joke. First we couldn’t get an outsystem connection. When we finally reached SELCORE, we got Viqi Shesh. That was another joke.”

“I haven’t signed my reports, but if she wanted to find me, she could.” Jaina’s words stung, but Leia thought it would be best to let her vent. Senator Shesh had done very little toward easing supply problems.

“I don’t care,” Jaina said. “I don’t want special treatment. I want to help these people. What about the old ones? There’s no treatment that will cure their aches and pains. Before, at least they had their ways, their traditional meds. Now they’ve got nothing. Are you going to process all of them through first, too?”

“Yes,” Leia told her. “Immediately after the—”

“Shaved, Mother? The old people?”

“Mistress Jaina,” C-3PO butted in, “you will be pleased by our relatively fine medical facil—”

Leia felt warmth spread up her neck, toward her face. “Jaina, I’m trying to help them—and you.”

“Maybe,” Jaina said through her teeth, “I just don’t want help anymore. You showed me I had to learn to do without you. So I did.” She stalked away.

Leia gave chase. “You seem to have missed something,” she said. “I’ll be decontaminating out of here, the same as you, the same as anyone. Think about it.”

Jaina stared at the long coil of hair. “You’re kidding,” she said quietly. “Mother, if you … how long did it take to grow it that long?”

“That’s not even slightly important. You are. I suppose we won’t ever find it easy to live in the same place, again. We’re too much alike.”

Jaina’s grin showed teeth. “Bullheaded, obstinate, perfectionist … me? How could you accuse me of—”

“Heredity,” Leia answered. “And environment. You were doomed. At least you’ve got your father’s luck.”

Jaina’s smile faded. “Before I forget, Mom, you need to talk to Jacen. You know how well he reads people.”

“And?” Leia prompted, confused again.

“While we were looking for you, he got a look at your Senator Shesh. He had a real strong reaction. Negative.”

Leia thought back to her own dealings with Shesh, on Coruscant. Publicly, the senator had staunchly supported SELCORE—and the Jedi, despite their PR problems—and yet there’d been unexplained shortages, communication problems, defense shortfalls. If Leia wanted to suspect Senator Viqi Shesh of duplicity, it wouldn’t be hard.

“I’d better talk to him,” she said.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“So.” Droma waggled his mustachios. “She could’ve married royalty, and she took you instead?”

Han backhanded his friend with a spoon full of synthetic stew, driving Droma backwards off his stool.

Jacen could barely stay awake. It had been an incredibly long day. Most of the Ryn were laying out their sleeping pads.

“Randa was the first one out of quarantine,