Jaina rushed over, adding to the Wookiee’s embarrassment. “Are you all right?”
Lowie wished his friends had ignored the entire incident. To Jaina’s credit, as soon as she had determined he was unhurt, she made a hasty retreat and became absorbed in her exercises again, studiously pretending not to notice while Lowie picked himself up off the platform’s floorboards and dusted off his fur.
Still a bit self-conscious at his clumsiness, Lowie told Em Teedee to shut down for a rest cycle as he ambled over and seated himself by Sirra at the platform’s edge, letting his legs swing free beside hers. He waited for a while, hoping his withdrawn sister would say something, since he had no idea where to begin. Watching her out of the corner of his eye, he pondered again what had caused them to turn out so different from each other, how two such opposites could spring from the same set of parents.
Lowie had a strong aptitude for the Force, whereas Sirra showed neither potential nor interest in the Jedi Knights. Lowie’s quiet introspective nature had always been a sharp contrast to her confident outspokenness—until recently, that is, when she’d become so quiet. And, while Lowie could sit engrossed for hours in the intricacies of a computer system, Sirra became restless quickly and longed for excitement and adventure. In addition, Lowie had always prided himself in being obedient, finding it simpler to do what was expected of him than to expend effort on meaningless acts of rebellion against authority.
At that thought, Lowie’s eyes were drawn to the bands of close-cropped fur on Sirra’s body. It was not a style sported by any adults that Lowie knew, and very few youth. He finally decided to ask her about it, hoping to start a conversation somehow. Lowie blurted out the question, asking if the style kept her cooler during warm weather.
Sirra shrugged. That was not why she did it.
A symbol of mourning, then? For Raaba?
Sirra snorted at the suggestion.
Rebellion, then?
Sirra thought for a moment before sighing in confusion, obviously at a loss about how to explain. She thought of it as … a way of showing on the outside what did not show on the inside: that she was different.
Lowie considered this, rumbling deep in his throat. He had thought it was already clear enough that everyone was different.
Sirra shook her head and sprang to her feet on the platform. Lowie saw at once that she was irritated, that he had misunderstood her, for his sister walked all the way around the edge of the platform before motioning for him to join her. When he did, he practically had to run to keep pace with her.
At last Sirra spoke again, her agitation apparent in her voice. She pointed to her shaved wrists and elbows, explaining in more detail that she did this to show others that she was not like them.
Lowie cocked his head quizzically, trying to think of a response, but Sirra resumed her explanation. She said that since she didn’t have Force potential as he did, their parents had always just assumed that she would work in the fabrication facility. But Sirra had no wish to work there like everyone else did. She didn’t enjoy assembling computers, and was only a mediocre programmer. She raised a fist and barked loudly—she wanted something much more exciting!
Lowie shook his head sternly. Wookiees could excel in engineering, in science, in piloting—anything they wanted to. But such success did not come easily. He nodded toward his friends to indicate how hard they were training at the moment. Lowie and Sirra walked together for a while in silence.
Jacen, Jaina, and Tenel Ka finished their exercises and perched at the edge of the platform, looking down at the beautiful tree canopy. Jacen pointed. “Hey, Lowie—how do you say the name for those trees?”
Lowie barked the answer—wroshyr.
After he and Sirra had skirted the trio, Lowie asked his sister what she wanted to do with her life. Sirra groaned and shrugged uncertainly.
Lowie thought for a moment. Well, what did she like to do? he asked.
Sirra heaved a heavy sigh, spreading her hairy arms wide to encompass the forest and the sky. She loved to be out and around, to visit new places and learn new things. She enjoyed feeling free, the way Lowie himself did when he’d travel alone in his skyhopper. And Sirra liked making her own decisions, not being told what she had to do and when.
Lowie growled the names of distant cities of Kashyyyk, suggesting other factories, other jobs. Sirra waved a hand as if to brush the idea away. She wanted to do something important, something unusual. Her voice suddenly sounded resentful of Lowie 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 friends 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 sister 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.
7
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 gray-white 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….