Free The Final Prophecy by Greg Keyes

in a Yuuzhan Vong creèche, she’d studied the ways of the Jedi on Yavin 4, but more and more the
Millennium Falcon
felt like home. It was a feeling both comfortable and unsettling, but from what she’d gathered, that was a large part of what
home
was all about.
    “I hope you weren’t injured in your travels,” C-3PO went on.
    “No, I’m just a little banged up. And tired.”
    “Well, now you can rest. And, I must say,
Onih k’leth mof’qey
.”
    That sent a little shock through her. “
Don’t
—” she began, but cut herself off. This was
not
an abomination—it was 3PO.
    C-3PO caught the sudden anger in her tone, however. “I’m dreadfully sorry, Mistress Tahiri. I only wanted to—”
    “Make me feel welcome,” she guessed, “both as a human and a Yuuzhan Vong.”
    “Yes, mistress.”
    “It’s okay, Threepio. I’m still working the bugs out of this. It’s just, hearing a droid speak that language—”
    “Oh, yes. I understand how the Yuuzhan Vong feel about droids. In the future I shan’t—”
    “No. Like I said, it’s okay. These are exactly the things I have to face.”
And hope I can
.
    “Very well,” C-3PO said, with extravagant relief. “But, if I may ask, is the integration of your former personalities … complete?”
    Tahiri smiled. “It’s complete. But it’s like—like being raised by parents who taught you one set of values, and then learning a different set of values in school. Which is right? There are conflicts in what most people feel and believe. I’m no different in that respect, maybe just a little more extreme. Do you understand?”
    “I believe so.”
    “Part of me was raised to believe that machines—especially thinking machines—are abominations. But that’s just something I learned. It’s not part of who I am. It’s not part of the Yuuzhan Vong on any intrinsic level, either—it’s just what the leaders and priests teach us as crèchelings. It’s something that can be unlearned, that must be unlearned,because it’s wrong. You’re my friend, Threepio, or at least I hope you are. And if, now and then, I have an unthinking reaction to you, I truly hope you can understand and forgive me.”
    “Oh, very easily,” C-3PO said. “Thank you for explaining it to me.” His voice shifted back to consternation. “Oh, heavens, I’m holding you up when you should be resting. I’ll go now.”
    “Wait, Threepio.”
    “Is there something else?”
    “Just this.” And she threw her arms around him and gave him a hug.
    “Oh, my,” C-3PO said. But he sounded pleased.
    She woke, not knowing exactly where she was. She lay still in the darkness, letting the world return to her, solidify about her, fearing something but not knowing what.
    The
Millennium Falcon, she thought.
Right. That’s where I am
.
    She glanced at the table chrono and realized she’d been asleep for almost a standard day. Shaking off the dream-shroud, she pulled on her Jedi robes, visited the ’fresher, and then went looking for Han and Leia.
    She found them in the lounge, discussing something in low and somewhat heated tones. She coughed softly, not wanting to eavesdrop.
    The two turned toward her.
    “Finally up, I see,” Leia said. Her voice sounded a bit odd.
    “Yeah,” Tahiri replied. “I guess I was more exhausted than I thought.”
    “You ought to be,” Han grunted.
    “I’m ready to talk now, if that’s okay.”
    “Why not?” Han muttered. “Have a seat.”
    She slid in next to Leia and clasped her hands together in front of her, trying to think how to start.
    “You said something about a promise,” Leia prompted.
    “Right.” Briefly, Tahiri laid out the events on Dagobah. “The Shamed Ones were looking for a planet,” she said, when she was done with the narrative. “A planet their Prophet thinks may bring them redemption.”
    “Dagobah? Why Dagobah?”
    “These Shamed Ones sort of worship the Jedi. They found out somehow that Anakin and Luke had been