Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars and I don't own any of the characters in this story.
Gift to the Princess, Gift to the Queen
Author: SilSolo
Summary: Gramps gets to put certain events into fairy tale format.
Keywords: princess
Genre: fairy tale? Does that count?
Characters: Cast's all canon; so start guessing.
Time: Where this would logically fit into the canon universe as of what I heard of TUQ
A/N: Thanks to Draconarius for beta'ing this!
In a fancy, moonlit room, a little girl sat on the lap of a regal, old man with long hair that was once a glossy white blonde.
"I promised to tell you a story." The old man paused to glance around the room for inspiration. "What about the story behind that necklace?"
"Tell me, Grandpa!"
"A long time ago, there was kind queen and a beautiful princess." The old man began.
"Ooh, fairy tale!" The girl grinned and leaned closer to her grandfather. When she met her grandfather's suddenly somber gaze, she remembered her lessons on interrupting and apologized. "Sorry. I don't mean to int… int…"
"It's all right; you're not interrupting. The land and people were very beautiful, but most of the leaders were cruel. The princess proved to be strong and nice under the guidance of her mother's greatest friends and she was sent away from the evil leaders of her kingdom to a faraway moon to hone her skills."
"But why to a faraway moon, Grandpa? Why not just to a place where there aren't so many bad people? She could come here and stay on one of our moons if she likes moons so much. We got seven big ones." Inquired the curious child.
The old man chuckled as he replied. "You see, my little angel, she had special powers just like yours and she wished to train them. Since that moon was the only formal training ground, she was sent to the moon, where there also lived a gentle and kind prince of an old planet that bad people ruined.
"The princess was a hardened warrior because of her early years living in the same palace as many bad people and perhaps, the codes of honor that she is bound to. The prince was her exact opposite in many ways, for he was lighthearted and empathetic. The two became good friends as they had many adventures and the prince's sense of humor eventually rubbed off on her bit by bit."
"Wait a minute, Grandpa. Can you tell me what you mean by 'codes'?"
"They're rules to live by. The princess's mother came from a special group of people and the princess had to follow their rules. Then, after she was sworn in as the special warrior she went to the faraway moon to become, she had to follow another set of rules, and thus the codes.
"The prince was especially sensitive towards animals' feelings and he had so many animal friends that it's impossible for anyone but him to count. The prince also had kept a special egg and one day, a beautiful, blue bird with three eyes hatched from the egg."
"The clan's bird of bonding!" Gasped the girl. "Mother said that there's one eye for each person, the third eye for connection, and blue feathers for luck."
"Very good, little angel. Your grandmother would be very proud of you if she gets to hear that from the Force. That was what she told me, word for word! Because the prince felt that his friendship with the princess was very deep and that deep inside, he knew that he lit her world like a big, bright star, he took the pieces of the shell and turned them into a necklace. He offered that necklace to the princess and she accepted."
"That was a great gift." Commented the child.
"Yes, my princess, that was. In fact, that's like a gift from the Force itself. She promised to cherish that with all of her being and thus, to this day, it sits with the priceless items of this room. If you stay the angel you are, which I trust that you will, you will be allowed to guard this divine gift just like that princess did."
"Oooh, really?" The girl squealed as she picked up the simple but valuable necklace through the Force.
"Yes, my princess, but you must carefully put that necklace down. Your mother's been trusted to take care of the necklace and she won't be too happy if anything happens to it."
"What happened to the princess after that?"
"Put the necklace down, and I'll tell you what happened to the princess." The grandfather told the child, who reluctantly obeyed and released her invisible grip on the piece of treasure.
"Some bad people invaded and the princess felt the prince's death through the Force. Soon after, the kind queen was poisoned one day at the hands of some bad people and the beautiful princess was forced to take her mother's place. The new queen was sad and became unhappy with living with the bad people that lived in her kingdom."
"Why doesn't she leave?" Asked the puzzled girl.
"She was a good woman and she didn't want a bad woman to take her mother's place. There were many bad women who could have taken the throne and hurt the good people in the kingdom, so she became and stayed queen to fight the bad people. Because most people around her were evil liars and she had very few true, unwavering friends fighting for her people at her side, she became lonely.
"Just as the lonely life began to eat her good, Jedi core, the prince from the faraway place of Corellia came to her with a greater gift than the necklace. In fact, he gave her the greatest gift of all. However, the prince left as soon as he came and the beautiful queen did not look at the gift for a year because she loved him."
"Why didn't she, if she loved him?" Asked the child.
"Love works in strange ways, my little princess." The old man gave his granddaughter a warm and yet ghostly grin before continuing, as if trying to hide years of experience not yet fit to be declared to the girl. "When the beautiful, young queen finally looked at her gift, the prince came back for a visit. He had to leave again, but after he left, the queen knew he left her with the way out of her lonely world."
"The way?" Asked the child.
"Yes, my child, that was the gift, the Way."
"What happened to the young queen? Do they live happily ever after?" Asked the child.
"You'll know in time, my little princess, when you go to Ossus to become a Jedi." Assured the grandfather.
"But I wanna know now, Grandpa!"
"Then you must ask your mother when she gets back tomorrow, Alleia, for only a woman can know. G'night, little princess." The old man tried to keep hints of sorrow out of his voice as he put the girl to bed.
