The droids ambled off in Val’s direction. They’d be fine, and if anything happened, I was sure Val would be close enough to help them. Hewouldhelp them. He was still Val.
As I waited for everyone else to leave the port, I found myself picking at my cuticles. Why was I so nervous? It was nonsense. Everything was fine. I would smuggle him out, and no one would be any wiser. So once everyone was gone, I went to the back of the ship, where a crate had been loaded out for new supplies, and pulled the tarp off a short box. It chirped as I pulled open the lid.
Noola jumped out first, and Sian pulled himself up out of the empty crate. “That was much preferable to those pickled whatever-they-weres,” he said. “So I take it you’re my farewell party?”
“Sorry, stowaways don’t get that add-on.”
He laughed and climbed out of the crate. He’d taken one last shower, and his hair was pushed back from his face and still damp from the wash, smelling sweetfrom the ship’s complimentary shampoo. His clothes were freshly laundered and gently pressed, though his gray jacket was still regrettably torn. I hadn’t gotten the chance to darn it.
It didn’t matter now.
I saw him out of the docking port and into the busy streets of Mos Espa. We lingered there for a moment, standing side by side. Then I reached into my pocket and brought out the lightsaber. I’d wrapped it in brown cloth, like a gift.
“Here,” I offered. “As promised.”
Strangely, he hesitated a moment, as if he didn’t want it back, but then he closed the distance between us and gently accepted the relic. He bent toward me. My heart leapt into my throat. His lips brushed against my cheek, light and feathery—barely a touch at all, but a kiss nonetheless. “Thanks, Starlight,” he rumbled, and then eased away from me again, and my stomach burned with the space he created between us. He put the saber in his pocket, looking as though it was more a burden than anything else.
“Where are you going to go now?” I asked, trying to keep my head on straight.
He gave another one of his infuriating shrugs, though he was grinning as he did. “I dunno. Guess I’ll have to figure it out.” He brushed his thumb across mycheek and tucked my hair behind my ear. “You’re very pretty when you blush.” Then he turned away from me and raised his hand in goodbye. “Be safe.”
By the time I found my tongue to reply, I blurted, “Be safe!” but he was already far enough away that I doubted he’d heard me, and then in a blink he was swallowed by the crowded city, and suddenly my stowaway was gone.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The Jawas
Even as I returned to the ship, I could still feel where his thumb had brushed my cheek.
Telly and Maeve were in the mess hall with a few guests, listening intently to a radio station relaying the fathier races. They cheered at the announcers as I passed the open door and made my way toward the main chamber. There, tables had been rolled out and different board games set up.
In the corner of the room, Maz hummed as she played holochess with herself, first moving one side of the board and then spinning it around to move the other. She saw me in the doorway before I could duck away and motioned with her hand for me to come over. I did, pulling up a chair across from her.
“Sit,sit!” she welcomed. “It’s more fun playing this game with a friend.”
“I’m terrible at it,” I warned as she reset the board.I made the first move. “Entoo always wipes the floor with me.”
She hummed, studying my play. “That little droid just knows all the good moves.” She pushed one of her pieces, and then I pushed another, and she immediately took it. “It’s easy to win a game when you know all the good moves.”
“I guess you’re right,” I admitted. “Dad says my mom was also really good at holochess. I can’t say, though. I don’t remember much about her. But Dad says I look just like her, so when you said I looked like Dad, I was surprised.”
“You are the best parts of both of them,” Maz said. “You’re stalwart and stubborn, like your father, but there’s a curiosity in your eyes, too, like there was in hers. While most people looked away, she’d stare directly into the night. She challenged it.”
The game was immediately forgotten. “My mom? You knew my mom?”
“She was brilliant in the way only the best of us can be.”
Brilliant.Like stars were brilliant. Like glowing homeworlds in the night sky that I kept chasing after, constantly comforted by their light. I blinked back the terrible burn of tears. “I wish I got to know her better,” I said, and made my next move to distract myselfso I wouldn’t cry. It was sloppy, so she took that piece, too, and then clicked her tongue in disappointment. The move put her k’lor’slug in line with my Mantellian Savrip, which could take it. I didn’t, though, and moved to claim a different piece instead.
She hummed again. “You are so very like her.”
“I just know that trap,” I said with a grin. “Entoolovesthat one—”
There was a beep from my communicator.
“Oh! Speaking of which…” I dug into my pocket for it. It couldn’t be Kotti or Daaric; they’d call Telly directly if anything was wrong, so it had to be one of the droids. “Veebee? Is everything—”
“Not all right,”the tinny voice of VB-35 replied.
