Star Wars_ The New Rebellion - Kristine Kathryn Rusch [18]
“Or make the people who caused it pay,” Anakin said.
The bloodthirsty one. Luke put his hand on his nephew’s, knowing that he would always have to give this boy special attention. He understood what Leia had been doing in naming Anakin after her father—she had been trying to reclaim a good part of her past—but the name made Luke give extra attention to the recklessness behind Anakin’s fierceness. Recklessness that Anakin shared with his uncle at times.
“If we’re not careful, Anakin,” Luke said, “that kind of vengeance will make us turn to the dark side. Then we are no better than those who fail to value life.”
Anakin looked away, a slight flush staining his cheeks.
“Look at me, children.” Luke spoke firmly. He wanted their full attention for this next. “You did the right thing creating warmth. Your actions had nothing to do with the explosion that hurt your mother. Nothing at all.”
“You promise, Uncle Luke?” Jacen asked. His voice was quivering too. He tried to be tough, just like his father, but beneath he was one of the most sensitive hearts Luke had ever met.
And that, too, was like Han.
“I promise,” Luke said. He gathered the children close and hugged them. They squeezed him back. He held them, letting his own warmth comfort them, as he thought about the conversation.
The children were on to something. But they had it backward. The deaths happened, and then, a short time later, an explosion occurred in the Senate Hall on the opening day of the new session. If the events weren’t related, then that was a startling coincidence.
And the older he got, the less Luke believed in coincidence.
“Come on,” he said when the children started squirming. “Let’s go see your mother.”
The children slid off the bench, and he let them lead him to a large room. Leave it to Leia to insist that she was not given any special treatment. Five other senators filled beds in the room, with curtains between them. Leia’s was at the far end. Her curtain was open. Han sat beside her, while Chewbacca stood at the foot, holding his paws together, as if this were a state function and he didn’t know how to dress. A medical droid placed medication on Leia’s bedside table, then disappeared through the pulled curtain beside her.
Winter was sitting in a chair beside the wall. When she saw Luke, she smiled. Sometimes he wondered if she had special powers besides her fantastic recall. She rarely let the children out of her sight, and yet they had found him at exactly the right moment.
“Luke,” Han said as he stood. “Leia’s been asking about you.”
She turned her head then on its pillow. Her face was a mass of bruises and cuts. Even though she had clearly been in the bacta tank, she still wore bandages on her hands indicating serious injuries that needed several more tendings.
“Oh, Luke.” Her voice was unusually loud. “I’m glad you’re here.”
Luke sat beside the bed. “Me, too.”
She frowned slightly.
“I don’t think she understood you,” Han said. “She can’t hear.”
Luke glanced at Han. He seemed remarkably calm.
“They say her hearing will come back in a few days. It was the strength of the explosion.” Han smiled tightly. “It’s been rather humorous, actually, watching the medical staff deal with a hundred deaf patients. No one is following instructions.”
His tone implied there was no humor in it. In any of it. Luke had already gotten the statistics when he landed. Twenty-five senators dead, a hundred more wounded seriously, and another hundred bruised. That didn’t count the support personnel or all the destroyed droids.
“Any idea what happened?”
Winter stood. “I think, children,” she said, “we’ve been here long enough today.”
“Daaaad,” Jaina wailed. She took his arm. “They always make us leave when the conversation gets interesting.”
“I’m not going,” Anakin said.
Chewie growled at him. Anakin ran to his sister’s side.
“That