Chapter 12
Leia's POV
My room begins feeling more cozy as the weeks have passed by. It took a while to get used to my grandparents' home, but now it feels natural to be living with them.
It has become obvious that they both love me dearly, which is a weird experience. It feels strange knowing two people love me simply because of blood relation. Well, I'm sure father and Luke cared about me, but it was hard to believe that most of the time. I didn't doubt Jobal or Ruwee's affection in the slightest.
My days mostly consist of reading or spending time with Han, Chewie and my grandparents. I have been reading more political books, intrigued by the new information I didn't have access to before. I often help my grandmother cook or garden. My grandfather loves to play card games or discuss one of his many adventures from before his retirement, which I eagerly listen to.
Han and Chewie seem to be settling in too. They didn't plan on staying for this long, but I know Han wants to stick around because of me. The thought makes me blush. I could tell Chewie would get a bit restless from staying in the same place for so long, but hasn't complained. My grandparents don't seem to mind Han and Chewie staying here, they actually seem to be enjoying having a full house. But I often see Han and Chewie doing labor around the house, trying to make their presence more desirable.
A week ago a woman arrived, my grandmother claimed her to be my aunt Sola. My grandmother had told Sola about me, and Sola wanted to meet me herself. At first it was a bit awkward, but we soon warmed up to each other. Unfortunately she had to leave after a couple days, but told me she would visit again, next time with my cousins. Another new experience for me, having an extended family interested in knowing me.
Things were going great, better than they have been for a long time. I didn't hate living on Tatooine, I had a fine life, but it was nice being with my grandparents.
I kept in contact with Luke a bit. I didn't go into much detail when talking to him, he only knows that I am doing well. He explained to me about how father didn't authorize Eryk to do what he did, but that didn't change my mind on not returning to the palace. I wasn't ready for that.
I am currently sitting out in the garden by myself, one of the only places I can be outside and not attract attention from neighbors. I had just finished a card game with my grandfather, Han and Chewie. It didn't end well, Han and my grandfather ended up fighting over how to play. I left halfway through the argument, done with listening to them. They are fine now, I can hear them laughing inside the house. I was going to join them again, but it is such a beautiful day that I didn't want to go back indoors.
I grow a bit tired and is about to fall asleep under one of the trees, when I feel another presence in the garden. I look around, but don't see anyone. Strange. I ignore it, it is probably a neighbor walking by the wall. I close my eyes again and try to settle my mind. Then I hear someone say next to me
"Hello Princess."
My eyes fly open and look towards the location of the voice. Sitting next to me is Obi-Wan. I sigh
"Hello Obi-Wan. You scared me for a second."
He gives a small smile, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."
"It's quite alright. How did you find me by the way?"
He chuckles, "I thought you would come here after I saw how you reacted to discovering you connection to the Lars. How have you been?"
I smile "Good. It's been nice here. I've had a lot of time to think."
"Think about what" he asks.
I shrug, "Everything I guess."
"Well I came here with another thing for you to think about. It is about joining the Rebellion."
I sigh, "I told you last time Obi-Wan. I'm don't want to get involved with that."
"I thought you might change your mind after meeting your grandparents. I guess not."
"I'm sorry Obi-Wan, it's just…" I trail off.
"I understand Leia, I truly do. I'm not going to force you into this, it is a big decision. But if you ever change your mind, our base is on the planet Hoth. Just approach the planet, I will know if you are coming."
I stare at him wide eyed, "You trust me with that information?"
"Yes, I do. I must return to Hoth now, but remember my offer."
I nod my head yes, "I will."
He smiles, "It was nice to see you again Leia. Hopefully it will not be the last time."
"Goodbye Obi-Wan."
I watch him leave the garden and disappear out of sight. I think over what he said. Should I join the rebels? I could at least see what they are about, see if I agree with what they are fighting for.
-that night-
After the five of us in the house finished dinner, we all decided to play the card game again. This time Han and Grandfather discussed the rules before the game began. We played for a few hours before Chewie and my grandparents decided to go to bed, leaving Han and I alone on the couch in the living room.
I asked Han if he wanted to watch the holoscreen, but he quickly said "No!"
I wasn't exactly shocked by this outburst. Everyone in the house has seemed to try to steer me away from the holoscreen or web. I didn't notice it much at first because I don't use the objects
often, but after the fourth time it became obvious they didn't want me using the electronics.
"Why does everyone seem to freak out when I ask them to watch the holoscreen?" I ask irritated.
Han thinks for a minute then sighs, "Leia I need to tell you something."
"Oh Geez. That's never a good line."
"Well, it might be in this case. It's about Eryk Ando."
My body tenses "What about Eryk?"
"He died a few weeks ago." Han says gently.
"What!?... How?" I stutter.
A menacing voice behind us says "You killed him."
Han and I whip around to see a red-headed woman standing in the doorway
Han gets up and points a blaster at the woman. 'Geez, Does he always carry that around?'
"Who are you?" Han barks.
The woman smiles, "Don't worry pretty boy I'm not here for you. I'm here for the Princess."
"Pretty boy?" Han asks confused.
I ignore him and stand up while asking the woman, "How did you find me?"
"Your brother should really try to hide his communicator's signals when trying messaging someone in hiding."
"What do you want?"
Her smile turns into a glare, "I want you to pay for what you did to Eryk."
"I don't know what you mean. I have never done anything to Eryk besides leave him."
"You are the reason he is dead! The Emperor killed him because of you!"
"What! My father killed him?" I ask shocked.
"Who else?"
I look over at Han, who is still pointing his blaster at the woman. "Did you know about this?" I ask in disbelief.
Han looks over guiltily, "We were going to tell you"
"We? Did my grandparents know about this too?"
"Yes, but we decided you weren't ready to know yet…"
"ENOUGH BOTH OF YOU!" the woman yells at us.
The three of us hear footsteps running down the hallway, a few seconds later Chewie and Ruwee are entering the room with blasters 'Does everyone but me have those lying around?' Jobal is a few feet behind them.
"Who are you?" Ruwee spits at the woman.
Before the woman can answer I ask angrily "Did you know about Eryk? Did you know my father killed him and not tell me?"
Ruwee's face drops "Leia, try to understand, we didn't want to lose you…"
The woman interrupts "That's too bad, because she won't be here for much longer." She pulls out a blaster of her own and points it at me.
Han pushes me behind him, "I suggest you leave lavahead."
"Great comeback" the woman says rolling her eyes.
I step out from behind Han and approach the woman. Han tries to stop me by grabbing my hand and saying "Leia, don't."
"Han! I worked at Chalmun's Cantina for five years as a bartender. This isn't the first time someone has pointed a blaster at me." I snap at him. He backs off.
I return my attention to the woman and carefully ask "Why do you want to kill me?"
She smiles smugly, "Just finishing our plan."
"What plan?"
"The one Eryk came up with. Unfortunately it didn't turn out exactly as expected."
"What do you mean? How long has Eryk been planning whatever this is?"
The woman smiles evily, "Really Princess. You think everything that happened during your engagement was a coincidence? I thought you would be smarter than that."
Ruwee asks sharply "What are you talking about?"
"You're talking about Zeth and Orion, aren't you?" I answer for the woman.
"Oh, so you're not a complete idiot. Yes, I'm talking about your little boyfriend and guard. Eryk couldn't have them getting in the way."
"What did he do to them?" I command from her.
"Well the guard wasn't hard to get rid of, Eryk just hired a friend of mine to shoot him. That is actually how we met."
"How romantic" I spit.
She ignores my comment and continues "Then he simply put a few poisoned bananas in your fridge. Nothing that would cause any harm, just build up in you boytoy's system. Then would react when it came in contact with the right arrangement of chemicals, which he slipped into the boys drink at a ball."
My world seems to come crashing down. I had always found Orion and Zeth's deaths strange, but just thought I was being paranoid. I had my suspicions of Eryk being behind Orion's death, but had no idea of how he could have killed Zeth. Now I knew I was right all along. Eryk killed both of them to get to me; Zeth and Orion died because of me.
I can feel tears burning my eyes. The woman notices and snidely says "That's right Princess, this is all your fault. You caused them all to die, the boy, the guard, Eryk."
"Leia! Don't listen to her. None of this is your fault. Eryk did all that, he did it to himself." Han says behind me.
"I didn't want anyone dying because of me" I say in a small voice. A few tears escape my eyes.
"Listen to the girl, mophead. She knows she caused this. If she had just been a good little girl and cooperated with Eryk, nobody would have gotten hurt."
"Why do you care?" I ask quietly.
Her glare hardens, "Because if our plan had gone correctly, I would be queen right now."
I grow confused, "What exactly did Eryk tell you?"
"He explained his entire plan. Keep you happy for a few years, kill your brother, kill your father, and finally kill you. Then he would be emperor, and I his queen." She smiles.
Sympathy for this woman overtakes me. "Eryk lied to you. He wasn't planning on 'keeping me happy' then killing me. If I died he didn't have any access to the crown, even if my father and brother were already dead. He wanted to manipulate me, just like he manipulated you."
The woman's face returned to a glare, "Eryk wasn't manipulating me" she hisses.
"Yes he was. He was using you, just like he used me."
I hear Jobal behind me, I almost forgot she was there. "Leia, what are you talking about? What did Eryk do?" she asks gently.
I stare Mara in the eyes and answer "He raped me. He raped me, and he messed with my mind every chance he had."
"YOU'RE LYING" the woman screams, her grip visibly tightening on the blaster she is holding.
"I'm not. Eryk wanted to brake me, and he did."
Han puts his hand on my shoulder and says quietly "Leia." I can hear the concern in his voice. I shake off his hand and continue
"He turned me into his servant, I did whatever he told me to do. He did the same thing to you, just in a different way."
The room goes silent. The woman's eyes are wide with shock. We stare at each other for what seems like an eternity, I can tell by her face that she believes me.
"I I I…I didn't…kn…I I" she stutters.
"Nobody did. Eryk made sure I would never tell anybody."
"I…" she begins, but then sprints out of the room. Chewie runs after her out of sight. Everybody else stays put, staring at me with sympathetic eyes.
Han comes up to me and pulls me into a hug. I fight him and he lets go. Chewie reenters the room and growls "She's gone."
Jobal walks up to me, tears in her eyes, "Leia, why did you not tell us?"
"Why didn't you tell me about Eryk's death? Why didn't you tell me my father killed him?"
Ruwee walks up and says gently "We didn't want you to leave us and return to the Empire."
"I left for more reasons that Eryk! You should have told me!"
"I was trying Leia" Han says.
"Were you going to tell me that my father killed him?"
"Well, yeah maybe. I don't see how that matters though, the important part is that Eryk's gone. He's gone, he won't hurt you again. Your father doing it doesn't matter."
"That is the most important part! My father killed him because of me! Another person dead because of me! I may have hated Eryk, but I would never wish death on anyone, especially if it's because of me." I break out into sobs.
Jobal pulls me into a hug and whispers to me "It's not your fault sweetheart. I'm so sorry, we should have told you. We just didn't want to lose you too."
It takes a while but I eventually calm down. I tell them "Look I get it, I really do. But I deserved to know!" My grandmother leads me to the couch to sit down and calm myself a bit more.
Grandfather kneels before me and says, "I'm sorry too Leia. It is my fault we kept this from you."
"Same" Han says.
I look over at Chewie, expecting him to add on. Instead he puts his hands in the air and growls "Don't look at me! They don't tell me anything either!" Even while crying, I can't help but laugh.
It is silent for a while, then Grandma asks "She said she found you from your brother's communicator. You've been in contact with him?"
I nod, "Yes, just a bit."
"Is he planning on coming here?" her voice sounding hopeful.
"No. He just wants to know that I'm okay. He doesn't even know where I am."
"Oh" my grandfather says, a bit of disappointment in his voice.
I smiled. It's nice to know that my grandparents care about Luke also.
-a week later-
I step off the Millennium Falcon into the base with Han and Chewie next to me. Most of the people who were working when we landed are now staring at us.
I rub my hands together. Even though I am wearing many layers, I'm still getting used to the cold air. Han seems to be experiencing the same thing.
Obi-Wan walks up to us, "Hello. Nice to see you again Leia. You two must be Han and Chewbacca."
"Pleasure" Han mumbles.
"I am glad you decided to come Leia."
"I'm just here to see what this is all about. I don't know if I'm going to stay or help." I tell him.
"I think we can convince you of our cause" he replies. "Follow me, I want you to meet someone."
Han, Chewie and I follow Obi-Wan through the base.
I told Han, Chewie and my grandparents the day after the woman's visit about wanting to go to Hoth. My grandparents weren't happy about it, but understood my interest in going. I told them I would keep in touch, and that eased their minds, but I could still see the sadness on their faces.
Han told me right away that he was coming with; Chewie didn't really have any say. We left Naboo a few days later and headed to Hoth.
I wasn't sure what Obi-Wan meant when he said he would know if I was coming, but somehow he did. When we got closer to the planet, a signal was sent to our ship showing us where to land. A voice also came over our com system and asked for our identification, which is how Obi-Wan knew Han and Chewie's names.
I wasn't sure what I would find when I got here. All I knew was that there was a base and Obi-Wan was here. I was a bit worried, but trusted Obi-Wan enough.
Along the way to wherever Obi-Wan was leading us, we came across a small green alien of some kind.
"Princess Leia, you must be" he said.
"Uh. Yes." I reply.
"Princess this is Master Yoda my colleague. He is a big leader of the Alliance." Obi-Wan introduces.
"It is a pleasure to meet you Master Yoda."
The Jedi smiles "Polite this one is."
"So is this who you wanted us to meet?" Han asks Obi-Wan.
"Well yes, but I also want you to meet someone else. Someone the Princess will very much like to see."
Obi-Wan opens a door and gestures for me to go inside. I walk into the room and freeze when I see who is inside.
"Mother?"
