"This is preposterous," Leia complained as she applied a second coat of blush pink to her pouty lips. "I am clearly insane. Surely that is the only logical reason why I agreed to this ridiculous charade."
"Honestly, Aunt Celly," she added, turning to face the one person she trusted more than anyone in the galaxy. "What was I thinking?"
"Hush," the older woman soothed softly. She paused to appraise her niece's appearance. The princess presented a stunning picture in her floor-length, white taffeta gown. She had gathered her long, chestnut locks into a single, elegant braid that reached the small of her back. The fastidious woman nodded with satisfaction.
"Any worries you entertain are frivolous," she assured the young girl.
"How considerate of you to dismiss my legitimate concerns as silly."
"Do you honestly think that you will be left alone with that man for even a moment?" Aunt Celly demanded.
"So, you'll stay with me the entire time?"
"My dear, the man would be a fool to try to pry me away from you tonight, or he will incur my wrath. He would have an easier time persuading a Jedi to dispose of his light saber than to convince me to leave your side."
"Ah, yes. Speaking of weapons, where is mine?" the princess asked in a faux sweet tone that surfaced during her most cynical moments. The young woman's perfectly manicured hands pulled a blaster out of a bureau drawer. "Yes, this one will work quite nicely tonight."
Deliberately ostentatious, Leia lifted half of her dress and slid the weapon into a leather holster that guarded her right thigh.
"Now I am fully dressed," she declared.
"I do not know where you inherited your fondness for vulgar weapons, but I assure you that it was not from my brother," Aunt Celly replied, wrinkling her pretty face in disdain.
"Are you implying that my mother harbored an affinity for blasters?" the princess asked teasingly.
"Certainly not. Breha was a lady through and through."
"Mother was a pacifist first and foremost," Leia corrected.
"Perhaps if Mother had carried a blaster, she might be here right now," she added.
The older woman opened her mouth to scold her surrogate daughter for the insensitive remark but promptly shut it without uttering a word. She did not wish to provoke the plethora of sass that resided inside Leia. The young woman's sharp tongue had chased away some of the galaxy's most eligible suitors. She would not let her add another one to the list of men who had fled from the turbulent storm commonly known as the Princess of Alderaan.
"How can you even be certain this man is who he claims to be?" Leia asked for the umpteenth time since learning that her long-lost intended had reappeared.
"Of course, we cannot be certain… yet," Aunt Celly admitted. "That is precisely why we are meeting with him. If this man truly is Callen, he will have to prove his identity. He will be expected to answer my questions with answers only a Reeseon would know. If he cannot rise to the challenge, we will have little choice but to dismiss the man as an imposter. No doubt, he will be thrown in prison for attempting to swindle a royal family member."
"Even so, I don't…" Leia's aunt started to add softly before trailing off.
"Don't leave your thought unfinished," the princess encouraged. "Even so, you don't what?"
Celly wavered, contemplating the relentless suspicion that had nagged her since she had caught sight of the man claiming to be the Reeseon heir. She shook her head as if to clear it and plunged forward, finally committed to revealing her true suspicions on the matter.
"Leia, I nearly fainted from shock when I entered the receiving room and saw that man standing before me waiting to speak with you."
"Why?"
"It was like I had been transported 25 years into the past and Mennick Reeseon was standing in front of me as if time had never passed."
Leia knew the buried pain her aunt harbored. As a young woman, Celly had loved Mennick since the two had played together as children. By their late teens, the couple's relationship had turned romantic, and they often spoke of one day marrying one another.
One day, Mennick had accompanied his father to Coruscant to sit in on several senate sessions. Beginning at an early age, the young man's family had begun grooming him to become a senator. Such trips were common practice for the father and son.
However, a different Mennick returned to Alderaan. The future senator's behavior had dramatically shifted in nature. He acted cold and distant toward Celly, sometimes even snapping at her over trivial matters. One week after his return, Mennick devastated her by ending their relationship. Two months later, he announced his engagement to Pya Linette, the daughter of a wealthy furniture manufacturer, and married the other woman shortly afterward.
Aunt Celly had never recovered from the betrayal. A dutiful daughter, at first she allowed other men, all from esteemed families, to court her. Like her ex-love, she, too, had changed. Melancholy dulled her once bright eyes. Cynicism clouded her formerly optimistic nature. She simply could not feign interest in any other man, not after losing the love of her life. As the years passed, the woman's youthful glow also abandoned her. Men eventually stopped calling on her. For years, she led a solitary life withdrawing from a cruel social scene filled with spiteful busybodies who partook in nasty gossip about her all-too-public heartache.
When the Empire had stolen Leia's innocence by murdering her parents, Celly found a new purpose in life. The passionate woman hurled herself into the daunting role of the princess's caretaker and legal guardian. She loved her niece unconditionally and assumed dual roles as the young girl's armor and her staunchest advocate.
"Aunt Celly," Leia began delicately. "Is it possible that your intense feelings for your ex-beau could have clouded your judgement?"
The woman offered a self-conscious smile. Even so, behind the embarrassed expression lay firmness and certainty.
"Even prior to the man identifying himself, I felt certain that he was Callen Reeseon. You see, his eyes revealed his identity to me."
"How can you make such a claim when we have never known Callen as a grown man?"
"I knew his father at his age," Aunt Celly answered softly. "If that man is not who he claims to be, I will be stunned. Their physical resemblance is striking."
Leia blew out an exasperated breath that signaled her defeat on the issue. Her aunt seemed convinced that her long-lost fiancé had returned to claim her as his betrothed. She would have to be the one to prove the man's deceit. And she would do exactly that. She would not waste the remainder of her life married to a stranger.
"Let's get this debacle over with," Leia muttered, shaking her head in disgust as she headed toward the door. "I have a bad feeling about this."