“It is not another mountain.”
“There are many things that are not mountains.”
The lower passage opened into the cliffside access corridor, then into the private hangar cut into the mountain below the Residence. Suny knew the space well: polished stone, composite decking, recessed lights, stored vehicles, the smell of coolant and metal and cold air moving through pressure seals.
A compact ship waited in the near bay.
Suny stopped. She instantly recognized its aggressive shape, although she wasn't sure about the exact variant, then she noticed the elongated cockpit and the two in-line seats. ‘Skysprite’ she thought.
The frame was old, sharp, elegant, predatory in the clean way of old Jedi hardware, but it had not been preserved as a relic. Its avionics were obviously updated and the ship well maintained. Langardian blue stretching along the pale hull, small family markings set discreetly near the forward paneling, not ostentatious enough for state display, too deliberate to be accidental.
He did not say a word. He let his wide smile speak for him, as he put his hand on the frame, obviously satisfied. Suny walked closer. The ship sat low on its landing struts, canopy dark, hull catching the hangar light in long, pale bands. The old shape should have felt archaic. It did not. It felt awake.
“What is this?” she asked.
“Then your training was not wasted.”
“It has been kept flight-ready,” he said. It will be recognized immediately, system-wide. The only real change was the registration.”
She looked back at the old Jedi Fighter.
“You’re giving me my own Star Fighter.”
Her throat tightened before she could stop it.
Kell’s expression softened, but he did not step toward her.
“It was your mother’s idea, actually.”
“I wish I had come up with it. To be fair.”
Suny looked at the Delta again, and the gift changed shape.
“She said you needed a way to return to the city without waiting on household transport, academy shuttles, or my availability.”
“She also said that if I kept letting useful ships sit in storage out of sentimentality, she would have Alfrid start inventorying my emotional problems by hangar bay.”
“No,” Kell admitted. “Not exactly.”
She walked another step toward the ship.
“We rarely fly with it anyway.” He said.
“It seats two. We either fly solo or all together.”
“So it was just sitting here.”
“Waiting for a better use.”
The metal was cool and she could see a distorted version of herself in it.
"With this you can go wherever you like, whenever you like, with whomever you like".
Kell stood beside her now, both of them facing the Delta.
She glanced at him then looked back at the Delta.
The passenger seat was dark behind the canopy.
“I don’t know when I’m leaving.”
“Talk to mom first. Thank her for the idea”
“Dad, of course." she said in a voice more sorry than she expected. She opened her arms and he welcomed her hug.
That afternoon, after eating more than she expected and checking the Delta’s systems twice with a technician who pretended not to be amused, Suny sent Juvian another holo.
“I’m flying back today. Citadel Academy landing grounds, probably western approach. I attached guest credentials. They’re tied to my flight clearance, so show the code at the access gate. They’ll know you’re with me and point you to the exact landing pad.”
“Don’t worry. Or worry a little. That’s probably normal.”
His answer came voice-only as she was checking the Delta's preflight status.
“I want to see you arrive.”
The sky over the Residence had cleared into hard blue by the time she took off. She had kept the parting as light hearted as she could. The Delta-12 helped make it feel less final. Two and a half hour flight from the Capital. It would be easy to come back more often. The mountains were already falling away behind. The controls felt familiar enough to trust and new enough to demand attention. The engines responded cleanly. For the first quarter-hour, it was perfect. No instructors. No transport schedule. No shuttle crew. No Alfrid politely managing thresholds between her and the places she wanted to go.
Just altitude, weather, and direction.
Then, about halfway into the flight, two marks appeared on the tactical display.
The Delta identified them before she needed to ask.
She watched them close from the north-west, angled out of a training corridor over the wilderness. For half a second she wondered if something had gone wrong.
Then the first Fang slid into visual range off her left side. The second crossed above and settled to her right. They did not hail her. They did not intrude on her comms. They only matched her course with enough distance to remain formal.
The pilot on her left turned his helmet toward her and saluted through the canopy.
The pilot on her right did the same.
She looked down at the comms and saw the setting of the transponder panel.
Household identity visible. Flight path visible. Destination category visible.
The two Fangs eased back into escort position, one on either side and slightly behind, forming a loose V around the Delta.
She could turn the transponder passive now, but that would not make the Fangs disappear. It would only tell them she wished they had not come.
The escort was not the problem. The kindness of it was the problem.
Some wing commander had seen the broadcast, understood whose ship it was, and dispatched two pilots without being asked. Not security. Not necessity. Respect. A small airborne bow from people who had decided that Kell Ljun’s daughter returning to the capital in a newly registered personal craft, should not cross the sky alone.
It was generous. It was unbearable.
Juvian was going to see this.
Suny closed her eyes for one second, then opened them again because she was still flying a ship.
“Fine,” she muttered. “Fine. We are doing this, apparently.”
The Fangs kept their distance all the way toward the capital airspace.
As the city appeared on the horizon, rising out of the afternoon haze in stacked towers and suspended traffic lanes, Suny adjusted her approach vector and tried not to imagine Juvian waiting below, looking up at her arrival with two military interceptors framing the ship.
This was not how she had wanted to return to him.
Except of course, that it was exactly how she was returning to him.
The Citadel acknowledged her flight automatically. Landing clearance opened. Her escort peeled away, each Fang banking outward in turn.
No words passed between them.
The left pilot saluted once more before breaking off.
Suny raised two fingers from the control yoke in answer.
The Delta descended alone toward the Citadel Academy landing grounds.
She set the transponder to passive the moment she cleared the last marker.
The old fighter said nothing in return.
The landing platform opened below and the Delta 12 was swallowed into the Citadel itself.
Suny kept both hands on the controls even after the guidance system took over the final descent. Below, the landing grounds opened between the academy towers, all clean lines, marked pads, wind barriers, signal lights, and the small moving figures of people who knew exactly where they were allowed to stand.
She hated that she searched for him before the ship had even settled.
Juvian stood near the western access line, exactly where the credentials would have led him. He had dressed better than usual and looked as if he regretted it. His hair was disturbed by the landing field wind. One hand rested near his side, not quite in his pocket, not quite still. He looked up at the Delta as it came in.
The landing struts touched down with a soft mechanical shudder. The engines cycled down. The canopy released.
For half a second, Suny remained seated.
The Citadel moved around her. Ground crew approached, then slowed when the ship’s registry fully resolved in their displays. A technician near the pad straightened. Two cadets crossing toward the east hangar stopped speaking when they recognized the markings on the hull.
Suny closed her eyes briefly.
The canopy lifted above her. Wind entered the cockpit, carrying the smell of hot landing surface, fuel trace, and city air.
She removed her head gear and left it on the Delta's seat as she climbed out of the frame, before anyone could offer a hand.
Suny crossed the pad toward him, trying not to walk too fast. His eyes moved from her to the ship, then to the empty sky where the escort had vanished, then back to her.
As she approached she didn't know what to tell him.
He answered in kind, obviously sharing the emotion around it.
Then, after a pause:
"You're really you."
He took one step toward her, then stopped, as if suddenly remembering that they were not alone.
That annoyed her more than it should have.
She stepped into him first.
The kiss was shorter than she wanted and less careful than the place deserved. Juvian made a small sound of surprise, then his hand came up against her back. For a few seconds the landing pad, the Citadel, the old fighter, the people pretending not to look, all of it dropped away.
When she pulled back, he did not let go immediately.
“You came in a Starfighter,” he said quietly.
"I still can't believe any of it"
"Get used to it city boy"she said, playfully. Then more seriously:
His answer came without hesitation.
Someone behind them shouted her name.
The voice was amused, and badly timed.
Juvian looked over her shoulder.
A boy roughly their age was crossing the pad toward them with the confidence of someone who had never once wondered whether he belonged in a restricted area. He wore training clothes, half-fastened as if he had come directly from some exercise and decided rules could catch up later. His face was bright with relief, radiating friendliness.
Before Juvian could ask anything, the boy reached them and threw his arms around her.
Suny staggered back half a step.
“Stars, I’m glad to see you.” He held her tight for a second. She hugged him back.
For Juvian, the world narrowed unpleasantly. This 'Ben' approached close enough to touch her without thinking. He knew her name. He smelled of training rooms and outside air and came with no visible fear of the place, of her, of anything attached to her. He felt out of his depth but also reminded himself, that this is what she had meant all along when she asked 'can you live with who I am'. This was who she was. Juvian found the strength to keep his face composed then.
Ben pulled back and looked her over.
"Dank farrik you look miserable"
"Thank you."
Ben grinned. Then his attention shifted, and he seemed to notice Juvian for the first time as more than scenery.
"Ben, Ben Skywalker" the blonde boy said, extending his hand to him.
Juvian shook it, only half-registering the name.
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