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"It's your room," Mommy said. She shifted her hand from underneath Jaina's bottom so she could set her down on the bed. She pushed a button on the exterior controls and the blinds lifted up, letting in all the white light from the picture. The picture showed a purple sky with grey buildings. "You remember your room, don't you?" Mommy asked.
Everyone knew the sky on Coruscant wasn't purple. Everyone knew the buildings didn't even look like that. "It looks different." she said.
Mommy smoothed the covers on the bed, and picked a brown, stuffed wookie. "No," she said. "It's all just the way it was. I didn't even let the cleaning droids in here. Eba's right where you left him." She held out the wookie to Jaina. "He missed you too, Sweetie."
Except Eba didn't have any feelings. Not really. He was made of cloth and beads and squishy synth-fur. He didn't miss Jaina, just like he didn't miss the windowsill where she used to put him every morning. But she didn't want to hurt Mommy's feelings. She took him by the ear in between her thumb and the finger beside her thumb, holding him down by her leg.
Mommy knelt down and then put a few more toys on top of the bed. There was a fuzzy green fizztral with wide bug eyes, and a qireen that had soft furry spikes on its back. Even though in real life they were hard, and they hurt if you touched them. That was what Jacen said.
Mommy put the last of the toys on the bed, and then stood back so she could look at it. "It looks nice," she said. "You always liked them better on the floor."
There weren't any toys on the floor anymore. She could see all the tiles in the marble instead, all the way around the whole room. Even right near the shelves on the wall, where Anakin kept his blocks. If she could count all the way down one side, and all the way up the other side, then she would know how many there were all together. Winter told her that once.
Mommy sat down on the bed next to Jaina. She brushed Jaina's cheek with her hand. "Are you going to be okay in here?" she asked. "You still look pale, sweetie." She put her other hand on Jaina's forehead.
Jaina blinked hard. "Jacen doesn't feel good," she said.
Mommy sighed once. Her hand slid back a little bit, so she could smooth Jaina's hair out of her face. "He'll be okay," she said. "Daddy's taking him to see the medical droid right now."
Mommy was right. Mommy always knew everything.
Except for when Jaina and Jacen and Anakin were stolen. Then Mommy didn't know where they were. Not for a long time. Her chest hurt. "It's not that kind of not feel good," she said.
Mommy's hands kept stroking, but all the sudden they stopped curving back, like they were made of sticks all the sudden. "I know," she said, finally. "He'll be okay, baby. He's just scared."
Maybe Mommy was right. Maybe if Mommy stayed here and didn't leave, then the bad men would never come back.
Mommy kissed the top of her head and hugged her. "Are you going to be okay?" she asked again. "Do you want Threepio to come and sit with you?"
That meant that Mommy had work to do. That meant she wanted to shut the blinds and leave and go back to her office.
"No," Jaina said. She tried not to squeeze Mommy's hand too hard. "I want you, Mommy."
Mommy made the face that she made whenever she had to do something she didn't want to do. "I'm sorry, Sweetie," she said in her Mommy voice. "I can't put this off anymore. There's some very important work I have to do right now."
"It's nighttime now," Jaina said.
Mommy squeezed her shoulder and kissed Jaina's cheek again. "I don't think that matters to the Cairon ambassador," she said. "A lot of very important people were worried about you, baby. You and your brothers."
"It matters to me," Jaina said firmly.
She could feel Mommy's smile. "I'm sorry," she said again. "I'll tell Daddy to check on you when he comes back. If you get scared, you can come and find Winter."
Mommy wanted her to nod. Mommy wanted her to close her eyes, and go to sleep, and be brave.
Mommy leaned over and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "I'll be right outside," she said, and she stroked Jaina's hair one more time after she tucked her in. "Just stay in bed, honey. Close your eyes."
She closed the door when she left, and told the lights to dim until morning.
Jaina pulled her legs up against her chest, and she made her eyes close. If she burrowed down far enough into the blankets, then even if the bad men came in, even if they walked in right past Mommy's office and she didn't see them and Winter didn't see them, then the only thing that would be in the nursery would be a lump under the covers. They wouldn't see Jaina, and they wouldn't look for her.
They would never find her.