There were several dozen reasons why Jaina didn't want to say goodbye to Luke and Ben, the least being that she'd much rather just punch Daala in the face instead.

It had been Luke's choice, she knew, but that didn't make it easier. Yesterday he'd pled guilty to Daala's charges against him, which meant a sentence of a ten-year exile, unless he was able to find out what it was that actually drove Jacen to do the things that he did. Ben had opted to go with him, and they'd had about a day between sentencing and now, when they had to see both of them off.

And it was stupid. Daala just wanted a scapegoat. And this wasn't going to help the Jedi. And he wasn't at fault for Jacen's turn; Luke was one of the few people who'd started seeing through Jacen early on when things got bad. And Jacen was a grown man who should have been held responsible for his own actions and decisions. And this was stupid.

While Luke might have preferred to leave quietly, there was really zero chance that anyone else would allow that. Instead the Masters had gathered everyone at the Great Hall level of the Jedi Temple. Everyone. Family, every Jedi that could make it, people like Jag and Wedge Antilles and Talon Karrde who'd worked with him through the years, several pilots Luke had flown with back in the day… There were plenty of people who wanted to be able to say goodbye, which Jaina thought said more than anything else.

And when Cilghal and Ben brought Luke to the Great Hall, all conversation died, and Luke looked genuinely surprised at what he'd walked into.

Kenth Hamner, who'd been placed in charge of the Jedi Order in Luke's absence, stepped forward to him. "Kenth, was this your idea?" Luke asked.

"Leia's, mine, every member of the Council's, and many others besides," Kenth said. "Many had messages, messages they'll deliver personally as you make your way to the front of the hall, but all of them had a message in common." He draped an arm across Luke's shoulders and turned him toward the Jedi. "Forty years ago, there was one practicing Jedi in all the galaxy, and the Order and the Temple were just ill-formed notions taken from suppressed rumors. Today, what you see before you- this is your doing, Master Skywalker."

There was a moment before Luke said, "Not alone," sounding possibly a little choked up.

"Not alone," Kenth repeated. "But remove any other contributor from the processes and the end result only looks a little difference. Remove you, and it all goes away, like a holodrama switched off in mid-scene." He reached for Luke's bag and gave him a little pushed forward. "I'll have this put in your speeder."

After that, everyone got to say their goodbyes to Luke and Ben in turn. It took a long time, given the number of people there, and some people were really emotional. Of course the Solos were the last to get to them, and for the longest time. Which was only right. They were a family, and a close one at that. It didn't feel okay to have two of them forced away.

"You'll be home soon," Leia said as she released her brother from a hug. She sounded cheerful, but there was no way anyone believed her tone.

"Define soon," Luke said with a little smile.

Leia shook her head. "Informative answers are not the Jedi way."

"Hey," Ben said from the middle of his hug with Jaina. "You stole that line from me."

"I said it first twenty years before you were born. Before I was even a Jedi."

Han pulled Luke into a big hug. "You know, anywhere you go in the galaxy, give me a shout on the holocomm, or give Leia a squawk through the Force, and the Falcon will be right there."

"I know," Luke said. "You'll take care of Artoo-Deeto for me while I'm gone?"

"Are you kidding? Having Artoo with us means See-Threepio only talks to us half as much. I should be paying you."

Jaina slipped under Luke's arm so that it stayed around her shoulders as they walked the rest of the way out of the Great Hall. "Daala's going to be sorry for this."

"That sounds suspiciously like a thought of revenge," Luke said, frowning at her.

"It's not. I just know how things work. Inevitably some mess will arise that she can't solve, that no other Jedi can solve, and she'll know what a mistake she made."

"Be charitable," he said, and when they got outside the building he stopped to give her a real hug. "She's trying to do the best she can for the Alliance, the only way she knows how."

Somehow Jaina doubted that. "Well, she's not very bright."

"That's not 'charitable,'" Luke noted.

"Oh. I thought you meant 'honest.'"

[NFB, NFI, OOC okay. You know I'm getting into a catchup when I got a little teary at this one. Dialogue taken from Outcast by Aaron Allston.]