"Happy life day brother." Leia said pulling Luke into a hug from behind.
Luke froze, surprised, before turning to embrace his sister. Years of solitude had made him forget all about life day and the journey they'd shared with it. Leia hadn't always enjoyed the festivities of life day when Luke first joined the rebellion, given that her home planet and everyone she'd ever celebrated it with was taken from her. And Luke understood this, his aunt and uncle murdered and his friends on Tatoonie so far away. Then Leia gained a brother and a husband and a son, and life day suddenly had new meaning. And now this year all of that was gone again. It was just the two of them feeling a little bit like they were back where they started.
"Where's your student?" Leia asked, breaking their embrace to peer up at her brother.
"Rey. She's gone away."
"Again?" Leia asked in exasperation.
Luke huffed. "She told me she doesn't enjoy life day. She had no family on Jakku and never celebrated it before."
"Yes but she has friends now at the resistance?" Leia sighed.
Luke smiled. "Yes she does, but some things never change."
Luke often had theories about where Rey went. She did leave much too often, always claiming to find herself, to seek solitude and surround herself with the force. Luke couldn't make up his mind if it was good for her and there was always this itching sensation that there was more to it than she let on. Still he was very cautious not to be too controlling over her, he'd learnt his lesson from that. And he could hardly argue with her when each time she came back she came renewed and she was making so much progress with her training recently. Rey hadn't spared a thought for Jakku in months, there was nothing left back there for her.
"What are you doing today?" Luke asked, turning to look at his sister.
Leia's brow furrowed. "Everyone has the day off. That means non-stop drinking which means the kitchen and rec rooms are going to be chock full and completely crazy for the entirety of the day and-"
"Leia." Luke cut in softly. "I know what happens today. My question is what are you going to do today?"
Leia looked up at him, stunned. "I don't know." The general of the resistance spent her every waking hour pouring over her cause so to be given a whole day when she was to put it all aside was exhausting.
She turned slowly to face her window. The planet that they'd set up base on was always cold. Clear yet cold. The sun always shined brilliantly through an unmarked crystal blue sky and nearly every morning ice and frost crept all over the base which proved a nightmare for the X-Wings. At night the sky was awake with stars. But nothing else, she'd never seen a single cloud touch that sky, never seen the rain pour or lightning strike, never seen a single change in the planets weather until today.
White fluffy cloud had gathered above them outside the window and suddenly the first snowflakes began to fall, gathering in a flurry as they descended.
Leia sat down at her window and watched as the snow fell fast. "I guess we do what everyone else really does today." She said softly turning her face back to Luke as she reached out her hand to him.
"What's that?" He asked, placing his hand into her own.
She pulled him into another embrace and he sat with her at the window. She rested her head against him and for the first time in she didn't know how long she finally felt content again. It wasn't that she didn't feel young again. She'd known too much for that. She'd lost everything, and she'd been angry and she'd been in love and eventually all that was gone from her. Han was gone. Her son was lost, though Leia knew as long as they both lived she'd never give up hope. In the end as it was in the beginning it was always and only her and Luke. They'd always had each other, even when they were worlds apart, even when they didn't know the other existed. Luke and Leia they were each other's comfort, each other's keeper, each other's peace and each other's soul. And if Leia was to have just one day of rest a year this is the way she wanted to spend it, watching the snowfall with her brother at her side.