Free Star Wars: The Last of the Jedi, Volume 4 by Jude Watson Page A

an outage for a
time, but the Imperial presence will become suspicious if the outage lasts any longer.”
    Ferus inclined his head. “That should be all I need. Thank you.”
    “Thank you for your service,” the Queen replied. Now it was her turn to incline her head in a gesture of respect to Ferus and the others. “Thank you for not giving
up.”

Ryoo Thule had been up before dawn. She had walked down to the lake to see the sunrise. She had noticed on the way to her home, as she climbed the steep grade back to the
house, that she was out of breath. Yet she didn’t feel winded, exactly.
    She pressed a hand to her side, then against her heart. She was an elder now, but she was still surprised when her body told her so.
    She remained robust and strong, still capable of walking the steep, winding paths of the cliffsides along the lake. She just had to learn to walk slowly, not scamper up the way she had when she
was a child.
    That must be it.
    On those early morning walks her family strolled beside her. Not the family who still lived, her daughter Jobal, her son-in-law Ruwee, their child Sola and her children, her own namesake Ryoo
and her sister Pooja. Not her sister and her children.
    It was her husband, long dead, who walked beside her. Her good friend, Winama Naberrie (how they had plotted to marry off their children! How surprised they’d been when they’d
actually fallen in love!) and her beloved grandchild, Padmé. In some ways Padmé felt closer to her now that she was gone.
    From an early age Padmé had been on her way to somewhere else. Oh, she had been the most loving granddaughter possible, but her visits had been respites from a busy life. She’d
never suggested, by word or look, that this was the case. Her whole heart had been in those visits. Ryoo had felt it just the same, because she was closer to Padmé than any of her other
granddaughters.
    She’d had her secrets. Ryoo knew that. She’d known before Padmé had that she was in love. She’d known that love was entwined with heartbreak.
    Padmé’s death had broken her own heart. Ryoo had, according to custom, been the overseer of her funeral. She had kissed her granddaughter’s cold cheek. She had tucked small
white blossoms into her clothing and hair. She had wept on a cold floor.
    The grief was still a stone in her belly, but she’d found peace here. Padmé had loved this place, and Padmé was all around her. Padmé was part of the galaxy now.
    Part of her stays. Somewhere out there in the stars. I feel it. It is enough to feel it. Perhaps someday…
    Ryoo stood at the window looking out at the azure lake. She pressed a hand to her chest and felt her heart flutter. Why had she woken this morning with such a sense of foreboding? Why did
Padmé feel so especially close to her today?
    What was this feeling? Why was she so restless?
    She had been here for six months, mourning. It was time to return to her life in Theed. She wasn’t too old to find a renewed sense of purpose. Padmé would want that.
    Maybe that was the source of her anxiety. She knew it was time to let go of her grief, and she was reluctant. She had to remind herself that leaving this place wouldn’t mean leaving her
memories of Padmé behind.
    Ryoo paused by the comlink station. Its insistent blinking told her of messages she should listen to. But she wasn’t ready. Not now. Later. Her family was used to her returning messages
later in the day. They wouldn’t worry. They knew her grief needed solitude.
    Ryoo smiled at that insistent red light. It spoke of the warm voices of friends and family, eager to bring her news or check on her well-being. It contained the threads of her life.
    It was time to pick them up again.
    She would leave tomorrow. It was time.
    She heard footsteps in the reception hall below. Strange. She was alone here, without servants, and the neighbors weren’t close. She would have seen a gondola, or a speeder, if someone had
come to visit.
    She