* * *
Luke sat in silence and awe, watching the magnificent spectacle unfold. Leia had chosen an Alderaanean wedding, something he'd never seen before. Mon Mothma, as Prime Minister of the Allied Senate, was the official witness, along with Valena as the Jedi witness. The rest of the Senate, as well as nearly all of the former Rebel Alliance, looked on. Han looked highly dignified in and only slightly uncomfortable in his official General's uniform, and Leia was radiant as ever in a simple white gown. They stood hand in hand and proclaimed their bond to the whole galaxy. The beatific smile on Luke's face was only matched by the one on his sister's as his two best friends made their love official. It was sealed with a kiss and the entire audience burst into applause. Luke was the first out of his seat and grabbed the opportunity to embrace the bride. "Congratulations!" he whispered into her mind. Moments later, Han became covered in Wookiee fur. The rest of the crowds of people close to them surged in and he released her. Cheer after cheer went up.

After the initial embraces, there was a more formal reception. Han and Leia shook the hands of every Senator in the galaxy. While that was going on, Luke sought out Wedge. He had not seen his friend since the incident on Carida, because he had been on Agra. Valena had insisted that he was ready to go, but he did not feel ready. The calamities he had precipitated by recklessness had taught him some lessons.

Wedge was sitting in a corner with a woman Luke found very familiar. When Wedge noticed Luke coming towards them and hailed him. "Luke! It's great to see you. Sit down!" Luke pulled up a chair and complied. "You may not remember her, but this is Quiara Arbolis, Mon Mothma's aide."

The name and face connected for Luke, bringing to mind the woman's history with the Rebel Alliance. "Nice to see you again, miss Arbolis."

"It's Quiara to you, Jedi Skywalker," she told him with a grin. "Anyone who saves Wedge's life is certainly a friend of mine."

Luke blushed. "It was just repayment, Quiara. And just call me Luke. Do you even know how many times you've saved my life, Wedge?"

Wedge began counting off on his fingers. "The first Death Star- was that once or twice? Ord Verton, once. Hoth, at least once. Teyri, once."

Quiara laughed. "Is that all? I had no idea you were so indebted to him, Luke. Can I cash in a few of those favors and get a lightsaber?"

"Why would you want a lightsaber?" Wedge asked indignantly. "Blasters and X-wings are much higher range weapons, and there's not too many times you've got to slice something open."

Luke indulged his curiosity and lightly touched both of their minds. Their mutual love was obvious, and his examination just confirmed it. While he listened, they debated the merits of lightsabers and blasters. "But Wedge, everyone has a blaster. Lightsabers are more individual, more unique."

"You can't buy lightsabers, that's why," he replied. "Lightsabers can't hurt something more than a meter and a bit away."

"You can't use a blaster to block its own bolts, though. Blasters aren't legendary, and are nowhere near as noble. Lightsabers have class, and they make such a distinctive noise. If it weren't for the sound, I think everyone would just use sharpened metal as hand to hand weaponry."

"So sabers are loud and make noise that will not allow stealth. Luke, can lightsabers be fixed up with silencers?"

Luke thought a moment before answering. "As far as I know, they can't."

"Well then. Blasters can be silenced so that only their bolts themselves will give them away," Wedge finished triumphantly.

"I would still rather have a lightsaber," Quiara answered rather sulkily. "I don't care if blasters are quiet, can kill people meters and meters away, possible to find compact or even more practical."

Luke decided to join the debate. "Lightsabers take more finesse, Wedge," he put in.

"Tell that to Macra Fiy," Wedge retorted amiably, referring to the leading hotshot on Coruscant. The Alliance holonews was frequently highlighted by tales of his exploits.

Before either Quiara or Luke could come up with an appropriate reply, Leia came up behind Luke and touched his arm. "Sorry to interrupt," she told his companions, "but some things require a brother's help."

"Goodbye, Wedge. Goodbye, Quiara, good to officially meet you," Luke said and waved to them.

"Bye, Luke," they replied and went back to the private conversation mode of an established couple.

"So, you need brotherly assistance yet again? What's the matter?" Luke asked as Leia guided him through the crowd.

"There's nothing at all the matter. I just wanted to introduce you to someone. After all, on Alderaan matchmaking at her own wedding was a bride's prerogative, and I- well, I think you'll like Kathri." He could tell that she was hiding something, but allowed her the privacy she desired. She ushered him towards a quiet table near a wall. The only person at the table was a girl with dark blonde hair, fiddling with her utensils and looking quite bored. "Kathri, I found him!" Leia announced and the girl looked up, thankful for anything to assuage her boredom. "Kathri Manette of Dilantia, please meet Luke Skywalker of Tatooine." He shook Kathri's hand and Leia released his shoulder. "If you two will excuse me, I have to go and be sociable. I wonder where my groom has run off to," Leia muttered to herself as she departed into the throng.

"Won't you sit down -Luke?" Kathri asked politely. He pulled up a chair across from her. They sat in silence, studying one another. She was about the same age as he was, Luke decided. Her dark blonde hair hung straight to her shoulders, framing a face that was not exceptionally beautiful or delicate, but something about her captivated him. When she spoke, the spell just deepened. "Your sister has told me a lot about you," she said to break the tension growing, "but I didn't know she would introduce us."

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you. I've never heard of your planet before. What is Dilantia like?" He tried to engage her in a conversation she would feel comfortable with.

"Nothing much, really. Just yet another colony world no one cares about. I'm the Senator's daughter, and he didn't want to leave me behind. He said he wanted me to follow in Leia's footsteps or something along those lines. Coruscant is so much more vibrant than my home. I'm very glad to get out of there, even though my situation here is not what I would like best." Luke looked at her curiously, encouraging her to continue. Kathri leaned forward as if confiding in him. "My father really brought me here to marry me off, not to get me started in the Senate. Leia understood, after all, she grew up on a world where lineage was very important. She was, in a way, lucky that her foster father died. Bail Organa would certainly have someone more, well, noble in mind for her. No offense meant to General Solo, of course," she said quickly.

Luke laughed in amusement, the thought of Han's reputation galaxywide counteracting his disgust at the awful practice of arranged marriages. "None taken, I'm sure. I've known Han ever since he really was the scoundrel his reputation makes him out to be. Leia probably had someone more royal in mind for herself, too, but Han reformed a lot after the Battle of Yavin." He shook his head, still thinking of the way Leia had told him about her interest in Han after the incident on Bespin. Eventually, the way Kathri was looking at him brought him back to the moment at hand and another question came to him. "Does your father have anyone specific in mind?"

"Not that I know of." Kathri shrugged. "Probably someone from a system allied with Dilantia, or on the brink of being allies with our system. Politics are a lot more important in this than my own preferences, I'm sure. That's what royalty means."

The disgust of before flooded back. "That's awful! What if you fell in love with someone?"

"Well, if he's important enough in the right system, then I've got it made. And if not, I'll get over it eventually, won't I?" she answered, cynicism evident in her tone. She frowned, answering her own question. "Love isn't really important in the long view of the world."

"That seems so callous," he sympathized. "I'm glad I've got a choice in my relationships." Luke touched her hand where it lay on the table, wishing that all of Force powers could do something for the beset girl.

"Do you really?" she asked incredulously. "You're a war hero and famous galaxywide. Even with the stories about some of the things that have happened to you recently, you're very important to the Alliance. One of the last Jedi, of the Skywalker line, and you're the only one with a say in your love life? I'll believe it when I see it."

A sudden wave of confusion hit Luke and he pulled his hand away from hers, suddenly suspicious. "Why did you say Leia introduced us again?" he asked warily, and saw the same question that was in his mind in her eyes.

She sighed. "Oh dear, she wouldn't, would she? I suppose you would make a very advantageous match for me."

"And you aren't nearly as objectionable as a lot of women that a young, impressionable, available Jedi could fall in love with. I'm sure your father asked Leia to do it." There was a knife edge to his tone, suggesting danger in the future for both Kathri's father and Leia.

Kathri stood to leave. "I'll go. I'm sorry that this had to happen; please forgive me."

"No! Stay here." Luke stood and tried to take her hand again. "You didn't know, I know you didn't know.I don't blame you at all." He nearly begged her. "Please, Kathri." She accepted the offer and sat down, next to him this time.

"If you're sure about this, Luke." She began examining her fingernails, radiating misery.

"I am sure. It wasn't your fault that your father set us up. Since he'll probably be very angry with you if you through away this golden opportunity, let's make the best of a bad situation."



In several hours, after most of the diplomats had left, Luke found several minutes with his sister and took advantage of them. "Leia, that was a cruel thing to do. You might have warned me."

She looked at him in bewilderment. "What are you talking about? Oh, you mean Kathri. I'm sorry; her father said I couldn't tell either of you, and it was his idea anyway. I should have known you'd both figure this out. You did talk for a long time, though." Her face shifted from shame to a mild pride.

"She's a nice girl and she didn't deserve to be tricked like that. I couldn't just leave her there, what would her father have said?" Leia grinned in a way he usually associated more with Han and he raised a hand in protest. "Oh, no. I'm not going to play marriage games. You can't use me as a bargaining chip, I won't allow it. I can just make an excuse and go off somewhere again on a meditation trip, and stay there forever. Coruscant may need you but it certainly doesn't need me."

"I know, I know," Leia said, relenting. "All right, go for it. Try out controlling your own life, but remember that Kathri is a nice girl. I can't even control my own life all the time. If you decide that helping a nice girl out isn't so bad, she'll probably still be there."

"Leia, I won't marry out of pity! How can you talk about what should be based on love like this? It's awful. Don't you love Han, or do you just feel sorry for him?"

"I grew up with the machinations of the royal Alderaanean court, Luke. I really am sorry, brother. It is the way of many worlds." She moved to embrace him apologetically. He resisted at first but then accepted it. "Don't take it too personally," she advised him. "You are one of the galaxy's most eligible bachelors now that you've come out of hiding."

"In other words, expect a lot more of this sort of thing?" Leia nodded rather guiltily. "At least now I'm warned. I must say that this is just a lovely way to return to civilization. I'm back for two days and already I've met a girl whose father expected me to marry her. And as you recommend, I'll remember Kathri, if only because this is the first time this sort of thing has ever happened to me. Go on, have fun," he told her, shooing her into the crowd. "It's your day." Luke kissed his sister's cheek softly and left the party, very disillusioned and more than a little unhappy.



"Leia, I swear to you that if you throw me one more featherbrain, I'm moving to Agra forever!" Luke hissed in disgust. "I don't need to hear about all of the recent fashion trends and I don't want to. How can I get you to stop seating me next to total morons at all of these official events?"

Leia was having to suppress a great deal of laughter. "Well, get married," she told him reasonably. "Then you can sit by your wife whenever you like."

"But you've never introduced me to anyone worth marrying, and every time I have a chance to meet suitable women on my own I've already been promised to some diplomat's daughter or other. Maybe I'll just run to the underworld instead. How am I supposed to get married?" he protested. "I've never talked with any of these girls more than one night out of my life - not that I'm sorry about that loss," he added, nodding down the table to indicate the woman he had been placed next to that night. "She, for example, spent half an hour describing to me how she picked out the belt she is currently wearing. I couldn't do anything but sit there and nod. I don't think I've been so bored since- well, since the last official function."

Leia did not really listen to his last few sentences; she appeared to be pondering something. "Not one worth talking to more than once?" she interrupted in a faraway voice. "Not even Kathri?"

Luke paused in his frustrated venting, and considered. "She was the only one, and I haven't been able to talk to her since your wedding. I think," he added, "that I would like to see her again. She seemed to be the only available girl of appropriate rank in the system who cared how the world treated her." He grinned at his sister, letting some of his bitter detachment fade. "Is there any chance I can choose a girl to escort to the next banquet in honor of some Senator's birthday or triumph or defeat?"

"Of course," she answered with a smile. "I know where to find her, and she may very well be glad to hear from you."

"Oh, I hope so," Luke exclaimed, showing enthusiasm that she had thought was dimmed in her warrior brother by the year of peace. His expectations were obviously high, and there was a glimmer of the reckless boy she had met in the first Death Star. The thoughts provoked soft laughter, and he looked at her in consternation. "What's funny?"

"I was just thinking about how you're really an innocent boy, even with everything that's happened to you. Just talk to Kathri as yourself, and not a Jedi, and she will be entranced, I assure you." He looked at her, confused. "Oh, you have to know what I mean, don't you? Just, well, be human. So often now I can see all the pain you've had in the past few years, and it really scares me. Be who you are, under all the terror of yourself, and she won't stand a chance."

"Well, that's nice to hear," he answered jokingly. "I think influencing people's romantic influences is part of the Dark Side. Oops, I ought to get back to Jynia," he said with a sigh. "She's waving. Call me later with Kathri's information. will you?" he called over his shoulder to Leia as he walked dejectedly back to the girl.



"So, how is the husband quest going?" Luke asked when Kathri took her seat beside him.

"Apparently as well as the wife search," she replied rather sardonically. "I was glad to hear from you, you know. It's been an awful year. And that girl you were with at the last inauguration is a complete idiot. Personally, I found the sight severely depressing."

"So, you've been watching me? I'm flattered," he replied teasingly. She blushed crimson. "Don't worry about it. You're much more interesting than she is- I think. If you start talking about fashion choices. You wouldn't believe how many complete dullards I've been forced to listen to in the search for the perfect Mrs. Luke Skywalker."

Kathri sighed deeply. "Oh yes, I would. I'm sure it's quite close to the number of pedants I've faced in the quest for a perfect match for myself. Not one of them was worth talking to more than once, except the one I'm talking to now."

"Maybe you would, then. I must have been to dinner with all suitable eligible women approaching my age on Coruscant." His memory offered a humorous thought, and he added, "And some that weren't. For instance, the Marquess of Nosila. An old widow, trying to giggle over me as if I weren't young enough to be her grandson and she on her search for a third husband."

"They dug up fossils for you, too? Great stars, the Comte de Adleb. Twice the age of my father. I had to help him up when he bent to kiss my hand." They both laughed at the anecdotes and the shared experiences.

Their eyes locked suddenly as they reached the same conclusion simultaneously, as they had one night over a year in the past.This time, it was Kathri who spoke first. "We've come full circle, haven't we? There's no way my father could have planned that."

"I certainly hope not!" he answered, chuckling. Then, suddenly shy, he asked, "So, what are you doing tomorrow night?"

"If that's an offer, I'm busy. I'm going out with a desperate Jedi. What are you doing?"

"Teaching a very interesting woman about submission to destiny and why it's not always so bad. And I'm not desperate! Well, not anymore," he allowed sheepishly. The slight tension between them broke, and then they grinned at each other. "I think I need to work on my foresight, though."

She looked a little surprised and very curious. "Whatever for?"

"Well, if I had been able to see this, we could have saved a year of awfulness for us both."

"I wouldn't have believed you, probably, so it wouldn't have done any good."

Luke, who had been getting a little excited, sank back into his chair in slight depression. "True." He sighed. "Well, now that our year of confusion is over, we can get on with our lives, can't we?"

Kathri smiled. "Oh, thank the stars, yes. Though I reserve the right to return to long hours of blind dates with random dignitaries if you and I don't work out," she warned.

"Of course, Kathri. And I reserve the right to return to endless lines of blathering fashion slaves if I find huge faults in you."

"It's a deal then?" She stood and came around the table, extending a hand to seal the bargain.

"It's a deal." He clasped her hand in assent, then kissed her.

---

To be continued in Son of Skywalker...