Naiade oil painting

Luke probably hadn't intended his response to be audible, but Solo overheard hismurmur of "Good" none the less. "Still," Solo ventured thoughtfully, "she's got a lot of spirit to go with her sass.I don't know, do you think it's possible for a Princess and a guy like me…?" "No," Luke cut him off sharply. He turned and looked away. Solo smiled at the younger man's jealousy, uncertain in his own mind whether hehad added the comment to bait his na?ve friend—or because it was the truth. Yavin was not a habitable world. The huge gas giant was patterned with pastelhigh-altitude cloud formations. Here and there the softly lambent atmosphere wasmolded by cyclonic storms composed of six-hundred-kilometer-per-hour winds whichboiled rolling gases up form the Yavinesque troposphere. It was a world of lingeringbeauty and quick death for any who might try to penetrate to its comparatively smallcore of frozen liquids. Several of the giant planet's numerous moons, however, were planet-sizedthemselves, and of these, three could support humanoid life. Particularly invitingwas the satellite designated by the system's discoverers as number four. It shone likean emerald in Yavin's necklace of moons, rich with plant and animal life. But it wasnot listed among those worlds supporting human settlement. Yavin was located toofar from settled regions of the galaxy. Perhaps the latter reason, or both, or a combination of causes still unknown hadbeen responsible for whatever race had once risen from satellite four's jungles, only todisappear quietly long before the first human explorer set foot on the tiny world.Little was known of them save that they left a number of impressive monuments, andthat they were one of the many races which had aspired to the stars only to have theirdesperate reach fall short. Now all that remained were the mounds and foliage-clad clumps formed byjungle-covered buildings. But thought they had sunk back into the dust, theirartifacts and their world continued to serve an important purpose. Strange cries and barely perceptible moans sounded from every tree and copse;hoots and growls and strange mutterings issued from creatures content to remainconcealed in the dense undergrowth. Whenever dawn broke over moon the fourth,heralding one of its long days, an especially feral chorus of shrieks and weirdlymodulated screams would resound through the thick mist.