Reunion by Sean Williams Read Free Book Online Page B

male’s hair was a deep black, while the woman’s swept back in a wave of pure white. Their jaws looked strong, their expressions stern. They wore robelike garments consisting of wide sheets of fabric falling from their shoulders in overlapping streams, all in shades of green and gray.
    They came to a halt a safe distance from
Jade Shadow
, staring at the yacht with their hands clasped in front of them as though waiting for Luke, Mara, and Jacen to step out.
    “Well,” Luke said, glancing at his wife, “here are the natives.”
    “Their expressions don’t look too inviting, do they?” Mara said, standing.
    Jacen went to leave the cockpit, but Luke took his arm. “I’d rather you waited here with Artoo to keep an eye on the others.”
    Jacen looked for a second as though he might argue.The stubby droid tootled encouragingly, and the look passed. “That makes sense, I guess. Just call if you need help.”
    “Don’t worry,” Mara said, squeezing his hand as they passed through to the air lock. Together she and Luke made their way past the others—Tekli, Saba, and Danni sprawled unconscious on the floor of the passenger bay—to the rear of the ship and the exit hatch. Mara keyed the air lock open and waved Luke through. He stepped down the egress ramp, stopping at the bottom in the knee-high grass to take lungfuls of Zonama Sekot’s invigorating air. He closed his eyes for a second, enjoying the feel of the cool breeze on his skin.
    We’re actually here
, he thought. It would take more than a less-than-friendly welcome to dull that sense of achievement.
    He opened his eyes when Mara came up beside him. Her expression reflected an amazement similar to his own. The sky was a vibrant blue, and a fitful wind stirred the flat, wide-bladed grass about their feet. Small clouds scudded overhead, partially obscuring the broad, reddish face of Mobus, the giant world around which Zonama Sekot orbited. The system’s primary was halfway up the sky and twenty degrees away from the gas giant.
    Another deep breath swept the last lingering feeling of doubt away. This place was real, and it smelled like life itself. There was a powerful potential in the Force trembling behind everything, as though a psychic thunderstorm were about to burst. Was that the mind of Zonama Sekot? Luke wondered. Was that what Vergere had felt when the living planet had become conscious, all those years ago? Even on Ithor, he had never felt fauna and flora blend so effortlessly into such a magnificent whole.
    He put his ruminations aside when the two strangers approached.
    “Who are you?” the woman demanded.
    “My name is Luke Skywalker,” he said. “And this is my wife, Mara. We’d like to thank you for welcoming us—”
    “You’re
not
welcome,” the male said sharply.
    Mara frowned. “But weren’t you the ones that gave us the coordinates to—?”
    “We were ordered to do so,” the woman cut in.
    “Yours is the first vessel to land on Zonama in more than fifty years,” the man added. “Sekot has willed it, and so we obey.”
    With poor grace
, Luke noted.
    “You speak the names
Zonama
and
Sekot
as though they were separate things,” he said. “Why is that?”
    “Sekot is the mind,” the man said.
    “Zonama is the planet,” the woman concluded.
    “Then you are the Zonamans?” Luke asked.
    “We are Ferroans,” said a voice from behind Luke. He turned to find himself facing a blue-skinned woman dressed similarly to the others, except her garments were entirely black.
    Mara had spun around, surprised, and dropped into a defensive stance.
    The corners of the woman’s mouth turned up into a slight smile. “Forgive me for startling you.” Her hands came up in the universal gesture of peace. “I mean you no harm. I am the Magister. I stand between Zonama and Sekot.”
    Mara relaxed slightly. Luke studied the new arrival with wary fascination. He couldn’t tell exactly how old she was. Her pale blue skin was wrinkled, but her