LEILA
I can only just barely remember my father, and only because I have an eidetic memory. I remember being as small as 3 years old. Not many people do. I remember my father crying out to my mother, telling her to grab me and get out, get somewhere far away from here.
"Reyna, grab Leila and get out!" he had called.
My mother picked me up and ran out the back door of our house. I didn't know why we were leaving. I only knew I might never see my father again. My mother ran for so long. We never quite settled. She brought me to a planet far away from anything I'd ever known.
My mother and I wanted to give ourselves new names. My mother became Jeyna Koban. I became her daughter, Leia Koban. It wasn't that much different than my old name.
I always thought my father would come looking for us, but he never did. My lack of a father, even though he had been noble, helped me bond with a boy in town. He longed to leave Tatooine, as did I, though for different reasons. Luke wanted to be a pilot. I wanted to find my father. We talked about running away sometimes, but the plan started to fall apart when it came to finding a ship.
After Luke turned 12, his uncle put him to work on his farm, and I didn't see him for a very long time. My mother had not been herself since my father sent us away, so I often went into the desert for anything I could salvage and sell. I was hiding from sand people when I saw a speeder pull into the valley.
I knew instinctively that it was Luke. I was about to run down into the valley to Luke, then the sand people struck. I wanted to do something, but what could I do? I was just about to run for help when a man appeared and saved Luke before I could even think about trying.
A jedi...I thought as the man rescued my childhood friend, even though Luke was out cold.
I ran down the valley towards the jedi, who was retracting his lightsaber and kneeling down to check on Luke.
"Excuse me!" I cried. I fell down in front of the jedi and checked on Luke.
"Do you know this young man?" asked the jedi.
I nodded.
"And who are you?" he asked.
His voice was comforting and I knew I wouldn't be able to tell him my fake name.
"I'm Leila Kenobi," I said.
It was the first time I had spoken my real name in a while. The jedi stood up suddenly.
He took down his hood. He looked at me very closely. Then he sighed.
"How do you know this young man?" he asked.
"He is my friend, or was, but I hadn't seen him in a very long time."
"And what is his name?"
"His name's Luke. Luke Skywalker."
The jedi sighed.
"Go back home, Leila. I promise I will take good care of Luke."
I nodded. It seemed like second nature for me to trust him. I ran as fast as I could back home. But when I arrived, there was barely a town to run back to. The town was flooded with stormtroopers, and my house was burnt to the ground. I wanted to go back to the jedi and Luke, but Luke would have enough to deal with now that his aunt and uncle were dead, just like my mother.
Making a living on Tatooine wasn't easy, especially for a girl my age. I didn't know what to do. So, after a while, I went back to the valley where I had seen Luke and the jedi. I walked through the valley where I had seen the jedi take Luke to see if he was home. To ask his advice.
There was no one there. I pounded on the door. My mother's death finally hit me, after a month of trying to make it on my own, and I pounded on the jedi's door, crying out in frustration.
"Let me in! Let me in! Please…" I sobbed.
The door clicked open and I fell into the house. I stood up and brushed myself off. I shut the door behind me and wandered through the house. The jedi wasn't there. I sat down in the house. I suddenly saw a figure appear in front of me. He phased into my vision, blue and translucent. It was the jedi.
"Leila," he sighed.
I nodded.
"I'm sorry I'm in your house," I sputtered through my tears.
"No, Leila," laughed the jedi sorrowfully, "I am sorry. For there is much I have not told you."
"Besides your name?" I laughed.
The jedi shook his head.
"I am Obi-Wan Kenobi."
"Father?" I gasped.
He nodded.
"I'm sorry that I sent you and Raina away. Anakin was after me, and I needed to protect you."
"I understand, Father," I sighed.
Father smiled.
"I am glad to hear you say that, Leila. Underneath that cloth over there is a box. Look inside the box. It is something your mother left behind when she left."
"Mother is dead, father," I sighed.
"I know. As am I. The box, Leila."
I lifted back the cloth to see a wooden box, carved with my mother's initials: RJK. I traced my fingers over the etching, saying my mother's name to myself.
"Reyna Jinn Kenobi."
"Open the box, Leila."
I opened the metal latch to the box and looked inside. I had seen this object many times before, and I had seen it given to my father before he sent us away.
"Do you remember what your mother said before she left with you?" asked Father.
I nodded. Father had been handed Mother's lightsaber. Then she had placed me on her hip.
"Bring it back to me, Obi-Wan," I repeated.
"When Anakin turned to the dark side, I forgot all about my promise to Reyna. My promise to give her the saber back. So now I give it to you, Leila."
I took the saber from the box and held it upright. I extended the blade. It glowed bright green, and it was just like I remembered. I sheathed the lightsaber and looked back at the spirit of my father. He was smiling at me.
"Father, is Luke alright?" I asked.
Father nodded.
"He is with the Rebellion, and will do just fine."
"Would you do me a favor, Father?"
He nodded.
"If you see Luke...would you tell him to come back to Tatooine?"
"For what?" asked my father.
"For me," I sighed, "I can't stay here anymore, and I have no means to get off Tatooine. He always wanted to be a pilot. So can you tell him to come back for me, Father?"
He nodded, and the manifestation of his spirit glimmered away. I sat there in my father's house, eating what was left of his food, and I only remembered later that Luke did not know me as Leila Kenobi. He knew me as Leia Koban. I doubted he would come back for me anyway.
