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She wanted to do something important, something unusual. Her voice suddenly sounded resentful of @wie and his Jedi friends. They had been given a tremendous opportunity, and she wanted one for herself.

The twins and Tenel Ka took turns reaching out with the Force to make temporary furrows in the leafy canopy below, as if a giant invisible bird of prey were skimming over the leaves in search of its quarry. Sirra grumbled in disgust and pointed to the Jedi trainees "racing" their Force furrows through the leaves, crisscrossing and intertwining them.

She would never squander talent like that, she insisted. Knowing that she soon intended to prove her strength and bravery against a syren plant, Sirra expressed her doubts that the young Jedi Knights would last even five minutes down in the forest underlevels. Their Force powers would not keep them safe, she asserted, if this was how they used them.

Lowie fixed - his sister with a challenging look, trying to explain difficult concepts. His fhends were merely "exercising" their abilities.

Learning and practice were never wasted. He insisted that his friends were much stronger than they appeared.

Sirra shrugged away the comment and began pacing the flat, sun-drenched platform again. Exasperated, Lowie demanded to know how she expected him to help her solve her problem.

Surprise registered on Sirra's face. She hadn't asked him for a solution.

It was Lowie's turn to be perplexed. If he saw his siste r confused or in pain, he asked, shouldn't he assume she wanted help?

Sirra's eyes narrowed. With a quick series of gruff words, she reminded him of when he had fallen down a few minutes earlier and bruised his...

his dignity. Had he wanted anyone to solve his problem for him?

Lowie shook his head. Sirra raised her eyebrows, asking if now he understood.

Lowie saw what his sister was getting at, but that had not been the same thing. He knew she needed help.

Sirra sat down again at the platform's edge, looking out across the wroshyr trees.

Lowie squatted beside his sister with earnest concern, and her expression softened. She didn't want him to solve her problem, she said, but that didn't mean he wasn't helping.

Lowie realized that it was helping her just to have someone who listened.

He clasped her shoulder, and Sirra sat closer to him. For now, that seemed to be enough.

- ----------------

FROM HER UNUSUAL perch, Jaina surveyed the high-tech tree city and realized how much Kashyyyk looked like an organic version of Coruscant.

Here at the canopy level, surrounded by industrial structures and Wookiee living quarters, Jaina saw tall exhaust ports and crystalline windows that reflected the hazy graywhite sky. The crowns of tall trees thrust above the main canopy like skyscraper towers covered with foliage. A huge clump of majestic growth in the distance sat like an island above the leafy waves of the unbroken treetops; from this distance, it reminded her of the pyramidal towers of the Imperial Palace.

Jaina thought with a twinge of homesickness that she missed her mother.

The last time she and Jacen had returned to the capital world, though, they had lost their friend Zekk, who had been captured by the Shadow Academy....

Clusters of Wookiee homes dotted the canopy, compact dwellings connected to the computer factory complex by natural roadways that extended like the spokes of a wheel across the treetops. Imported banthas trudged along the wide, wooden roads, brushing against encroaching leaves. They plodded along sturdy worn branches hundreds of meters above the untraveled and treacherous lower levels of the primeval forest.

The bantha Jaina and her friends rode from Lowie's home to the computer fabrication complex was large enough that all five companions could ride on the padded seats strapped to the beast's back. The bantha had a rich, spicy animal scent that tingled in her nostrils. A harness made of bright red ribbons jingled with burnished brass bells.

Her brother Jacen patted the wiry cinnamon-brown fur of the enormous beast