the infirmary, where she was to see Tahiri before meeting with her parents to go over their plans one more time. He would go on to a meeting with her uncle and aunt. They would need all the information he could give them on the Chiss if theywere seriously planning to go to the Unknown Regions expecting help.
As they walked, Jag rubbed at his breastbone. It was still tender from the last kick she had delivered.
“I’m sorry if I fought you hard today,” she said, noting his discomfort. “I’m just …” She shrugged. “I don’t know, Jag. I guess I’m a little angry about being put out of action.”
“So you’re fighting harder to prove you haven’t lost your edge?” he said. She nodded. “Listen, Jaina, no one has said
that.
”
“No, but it was implied. That’s why they want me on this mission, I’m sure. They want to rest me up.”
“Now you’re just being paranoid,” he said. “But anyway, so what if going on this mission
does
allow you to get in some rest? You’ve earned it, haven’t you? I really don’t see what the problem is, Jaina.”
“I’m surprised you’re taking it so well,” she said as they rounded a corner, almost bumping into a couple of Ho’Din walking the other way. “I expected you to be as annoyed as I am about all this; in fact, I would have thought you’d be cursing and swearing!”
He shrugged. “You don’t tend to learn too many swear words at the Chiss academy.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really. The worst insult I learned there was
moactan teel.
”
“And what does that mean?”
“That you’re fair-haired,” he said with some embarrassment. It was an insult that only really worked in Chiss space where everyone had jet-black hair. Here, among so many variations of hair color, it seemed ridiculous. “Sorry,” he added.
She laughed out loud. “Are you apologizing for theinsult to my own hair color, or the lameness of the insult itself?”
He felt himself blush, but didn’t respond to her teasing.
“I tell you, if you want some good insults, you should listen to my father. I learned plenty from him over the years,” she said. “And if you don’t want them directed at you, then I suggest you take care.”
They parted at the infirmary with no obvious display of affection. He was far too conscious of the people around them for that. He kept imagining what others would think if they were seen together: “What’s the outsider doing with the Jedi today?” His upbringing with the Chiss had left him short on social mores when it came to public displays. He didn’t want to be seen to do the wrong thing, and he was pretty sure Jaina wasn’t mistaking his caution for disinterest.
He continued along the winding corridors to the meeting with the Skywalkers. Part of him wished that it was
this
mission he and Jaina were participating in. He would have loved for her to see the Chiss capital again: icebound Csillia, with its blue snowfields and clear skies. Since joining one of the phalanxes—the twenty-eight colonial units that comprised the domestic Chiss military force—at an early age, he had found few opportunities to return to the capital planet, let alone the estate on which his parents, General Baron Soontir Fel and Syal Antilles, had recently settled. The Yuuzhan Vong had been harrying the Unknown Regions as well as the rest of the galaxy. Life, even for a relatively young and untested starfighter pilot, had been hectic.
Untested no longer
, he reminded himself as the door to the small, oval conference room slid open and he entered.
Inside the darkened room, Jag found Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and his wife, Mara, studying numerous maps and charts on a clear, vertical display screen. As he stepped in and the door behind him closed, the Jedi Master straightened, staring at him through an incomplete section of one of the maps. Jag instantly recognized this particular great swathe of the galaxy as the area that the New Republic and the Imperials
As they walked, Jag rubbed at his breastbone. It was still tender from the last kick she had delivered.
“I’m sorry if I fought you hard today,” she said, noting his discomfort. “I’m just …” She shrugged. “I don’t know, Jag. I guess I’m a little angry about being put out of action.”
“So you’re fighting harder to prove you haven’t lost your edge?” he said. She nodded. “Listen, Jaina, no one has said
that.
”
“No, but it was implied. That’s why they want me on this mission, I’m sure. They want to rest me up.”
“Now you’re just being paranoid,” he said. “But anyway, so what if going on this mission
does
allow you to get in some rest? You’ve earned it, haven’t you? I really don’t see what the problem is, Jaina.”
“I’m surprised you’re taking it so well,” she said as they rounded a corner, almost bumping into a couple of Ho’Din walking the other way. “I expected you to be as annoyed as I am about all this; in fact, I would have thought you’d be cursing and swearing!”
He shrugged. “You don’t tend to learn too many swear words at the Chiss academy.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really. The worst insult I learned there was
moactan teel.
”
“And what does that mean?”
“That you’re fair-haired,” he said with some embarrassment. It was an insult that only really worked in Chiss space where everyone had jet-black hair. Here, among so many variations of hair color, it seemed ridiculous. “Sorry,” he added.
She laughed out loud. “Are you apologizing for theinsult to my own hair color, or the lameness of the insult itself?”
He felt himself blush, but didn’t respond to her teasing.
“I tell you, if you want some good insults, you should listen to my father. I learned plenty from him over the years,” she said. “And if you don’t want them directed at you, then I suggest you take care.”
They parted at the infirmary with no obvious display of affection. He was far too conscious of the people around them for that. He kept imagining what others would think if they were seen together: “What’s the outsider doing with the Jedi today?” His upbringing with the Chiss had left him short on social mores when it came to public displays. He didn’t want to be seen to do the wrong thing, and he was pretty sure Jaina wasn’t mistaking his caution for disinterest.
He continued along the winding corridors to the meeting with the Skywalkers. Part of him wished that it was
this
mission he and Jaina were participating in. He would have loved for her to see the Chiss capital again: icebound Csillia, with its blue snowfields and clear skies. Since joining one of the phalanxes—the twenty-eight colonial units that comprised the domestic Chiss military force—at an early age, he had found few opportunities to return to the capital planet, let alone the estate on which his parents, General Baron Soontir Fel and Syal Antilles, had recently settled. The Yuuzhan Vong had been harrying the Unknown Regions as well as the rest of the galaxy. Life, even for a relatively young and untested starfighter pilot, had been hectic.
Untested no longer
, he reminded himself as the door to the small, oval conference room slid open and he entered.
Inside the darkened room, Jag found Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and his wife, Mara, studying numerous maps and charts on a clear, vertical display screen. As he stepped in and the door behind him closed, the Jedi Master straightened, staring at him through an incomplete section of one of the maps. Jag instantly recognized this particular great swathe of the galaxy as the area that the New Republic and the Imperials
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