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By Root 343 0

as she had believed they would be, Jacen, Jaina, and their friends at the Jedi academy had shown themselves to be helpful, patient, and honorable-even in the face of her most withering sarcasm. To make matters worse, Jacen had turned out to have an endearing love for animals and a quirky, silly sense of humor that Anja had come to find more and more pleasant as the days passed.

She stamped her foot in annoyance outside the door to Jacen's chambers.

How could this be happening? She wanted to hate these young Jedi Knights, wanted to find them despicable in every way. Their talk about trusting in the Force was a bunch of nonsense. They were trying to change her with their talk of control and inner calm. So why didn't she despise them?

Anja couldn't allow herself to become fond of these "friends," she reminded herself She needed to get revenge for the death of her father, the great Gallandro. She could never allow herself to trust a... a Solo.

They would probably show their true colors sometime soon.

Perhaps if she tried goading them a bit more...

Squaring her shoulders, Anja raised one fist to knock on Jace's door.

But before she could do so, Jaina emerged from the next room over.

"All ready for Cloud City, I see," Jaina observed. "Me too." She patted the small duffel she carried. "How about Jacen?"

"I was about to check," Anja replied in as cold a voice as she could muster. "Isn't it obvious?"

Jaina's brandy-brown eyes blinked at Anja's rudeness, but then she shrugged it off and gave a hesitant smile. "Guess I should have figured that out, huh?" Then she stepped forward, tapped once lightly on the door, and poked her head in without waiting for an answer.

Anja could see past Jaina into the room to where the tousle-haired young man stood in front of a wall filled with cages and aquariums. A ball of bright blue fluff sat on his shoulder.

He turned around and waved his sister and Anja inside. His face lit with a quick smile. "Hey, I'm almost done here. I was just setting the timers on those new feeding and exercise monitors you designed, Jaina.

Raynar said he'd look in on my menagerie, just in case, and Uncle Luke even offered to take care of Nicta," he said, pointing to the feathery blue ball perched on his shoulder.

"We shouldn't keep Calrissian waiting," Anja said gruffly, impatiently, though she wasn't the least bit eager to go.

A rich chuckle came from the doorway. "No, it doesn't pay to keep me waiting-unless, of course, you're a beautiful young lady."

Anja turned to look at the speaker and saw in the arched doorway a dashingly handsome man with dark features and a dazzling white smile.

"Well, hello.... What have we here?" the man said, striding into the room. "Two beautiful young ladies?" He took Anja's hand, bowed, and kissed it lightly. "It's a pleasure to meet you." He held her hand in his and favored her with a brilliant smile.

She sucked in a quick breath. This man was too smooth and hand some for his own good. And she wasn't at all pleased that she felt a slight flush of pleasure to be the center of his attention. From the corner of her eye she saw Jaina clap a hand over her mouth to suppress a giggle.

"Ummm, Lando Calrissian, this is Anja Gallandro," Jacen said, flushing as well. "Anja, meet Lando Calrissian, one of my father's oldest and best friends. Lando used to be a pretty big gambler, and he's a former smuggler, too."

At these words Anja stiffened and snatched her hand from Calrissian's grasp. Her gaze turned frosty, and her lip curled back in an involuntary sneer. "What a shame. I kind of like smugglers. But I've always found people who call themselves tonner smugglers to be sort of... self-righteous."

Rather than being offended, as Anja had hoped, Lando Calrissian raised his eyebrows as if he'd found her statement interesting. "Well, we'll just have to see if we can't correct that impression," he said. "I'll wait for you three down at the Lady Luck. The others are already there."

He gave an enigmatic nod and left the room with a swirl of his cape.

As Anja turned back toward the twins,