A/N: A depressing little ficlet I wrote to counter the relentless Christmas cheer in yet another Hallmark holiday movie we're watching. Cross-posted on my tumblr, dreamsofstardust10. (Anyone care to give me turorials/advice for being on that website? Still a virgin.) Set after the end of TLJ; no spoilers.
A Mother's Words
30 ABY
Leia had to blink once, twice, three times before she realized she was looking at a literal specter from the past. The Falcon and the Ghost together again—who'd have thought?
The VCX had been so meticulously well kept up that not a single scratch nor line of carbon scoring marred her hull. The painted silhouettes of TIE fighters—a scoreboard—were the only indication that this ship survived a war. The ramp lowered and a single figure, a human woman, walked down.
"We heard your call."
Leia smiled as the woman continued to approach. "I knew you would." She stepped forward and they embraced. "Sabine Wren. You changed your hair."
"Always." Sabine smoothed her half-up hair, the natural brunette streaked with lavender and only handful of grey strands. She'd started to smile, but sobered quickly. "We heard about Amilyn."
We. It was the second time Sabine has used the word. Leia looked up at the Ghost's cockpit and she smirked a little bit. "Hera's still thorough with her landing routines, I see."
Suddenly, Sabine looked ashen and every bit of fifty-five. Before she could answer, the Ghost's captain strode down the ramp, shoulders thrown back. "I had the Ghost," she said flatly. "Mother was home on Hosnian when—"
She stopped and clenched her jaw, eyes welling with tears. Depa Jarrus was thirty-two, but she looked so young and lost that it made Leia's heart ache.
Depa scratched the toe of her boot in the dirt, looking down. "My father died for the Rebellion. My grandfather died for Ryloth. My mother died for the Republic. And here we are—and we'll die for the Resistance." She looked up at Leia, teal eyes burning with muted rage. Her cheeks flushed dark green. "What was it all for?"
Sabine, grieving herself and at a loss, looked to Leia. Leia reached for one of Depa's balled-up hands. "Your father survived a genocide. He spent almost his whole life as a fugitive. Your mother grew up on a war-ravaged world. As a child, she knew hunger and fear. You did not." Leia lifted Depa's chin. "That's what it was for."
Depa nodded slowly and turned back to the Ghost, leaving Sabine and Leia alone. Sabine murmured something and Leia only half-heard; she was busy wondering why she'd been gifted with the ability to nurture other people's children—Poe, Rey, Depa—and not her own.