Piecing Together the Truth
Chapter 21
When Leia awoke in the cramped and dimly lit bunk room, it took her a minute to remember where she was. Then the rest of the memories of that day flooded back to the front of her mind. She breathed out a heavy sigh, and ran a frustrated hand over the braided ridges of her hair. The time apart from her family had been necessary, but could not be prolonged further. Today she would need to go back. Clear the air. Maybe finally get some answers.
She dressed quickly, scrunching up her nose in distaste as she slipped on the cream dress she'd worn the previous day, and followed the sounds of clanking dishware and animated talking to the ship's kitchen. The slightly oddball family was gathered around the table, Han clearly trying to coax Jaina into eating something that looked healthy but not particularly appealing to a small child.
He looked up when she walked in. "Still not the earliest of risers, I see." The amused tone to his voice conveyed it was more of a tease than an actual criticism.
"Good morning to you too." Leia retorted. "I'm heading off now, but I wanted to thank you for letting me stay last night."
"It wasn't any trouble." He looked over her critically. "You should eat first."
She waved a hand dismissively. "I can do that when I get back."
He snorted dismissively. "Will you though? Or will you just get so worked up you forget about it altogether? You can't live off anger and adrenaline."
Leia bit back a sarcastic response and took the empty seat next to Jaina. The little girl scowled up at her.
"I don't like porridge." She said sullenly and then visibly brightened. "Can I have sugar pops instead?"
"No." Leia said before Han could. Jaina looked surprised, as though unused to her mother not letting her have her own way.
"If I was a princess, I could eat whatever I want."
Leia laughed, unable to hold back her amusement. "No you couldn't." She said with an affectionate smile to the little girl who was so woefully mistaken. She leaned in a little closer, as though to tell Jaina a secret.
"When princesses travel around the galaxy, they have to attend these huge banquets. Sometimes the food isn't very nice, but they have to pretend they like it because it would be rude not to." She gave Jaina a meaningful look and a playful nudge. "Maybe you should start practicing?"
Jaina glowered, but obligingly ate another spoonful of porridge.
"We'll have to try that tactic next time we need to get her to eat vegetables, right Chewie?" Han commented.
The wookie rumbled something presumably in agreement, and resumed browsing news holo channels on the screen on the wall opposite the table. He seemed undecided on which he wanted to listen to, only pausing for ten or twenty seconds to see the headlines before switching on to the next. Leia listened passively to the short snippets, absently noting anything of interest she'd have to read up on further once she returned home. That lasted until one particular snippet caught her attention.
*click* "-disruption at the royal palace in Aldera has raised concerns-" *click*
"Wait," Leia called out, attention suddenly focussed on the screen, "can you go back to the last channel?"
The wookie obliged, cutting off a newsreader relaying information on how the overthrow of Palpatine had affected the economy of some mid-rim planet.
"… despite the lack of official public engagements, members of the royal guard were seen exiting the palace this morning for reasons unknown. An insider source within the palace informed Aldera Daily that a member of the Organa family had gone missing, and current speculation suggests that if true, all indications indicate that the most likely candidate for pulling a vanishing act is Princess Leia. The Princess, as most will remember, only recently returned to Alderaan after several years of being presumed dead…"
Forgetting the young presence at the table, Leia swore colourfully. She hastily pushed herself away from the table and began making her excuses.
"Thank you for the breakfast, but I really need to get going."
"What's the hurry?" Han looked confused.
"Big emergency." Leia said vaguely, waving at the screen. "I should probably go check on that, see if they need me." She had to repress the urge to wince, fully aware her panic was drawing more attention than she would have wanted. Inwardly she cursed again. If she had just remembered to bring her comm with her, then the situation wouldn't have escalated to this point.
Han and Chewie followed her to the exit, Han still trying to get answers from her. The wookie said nothing, but she could feel the weight of his stare boring into back.
"What is it exactly that you do at the palace, Ami?" Han asked exasperatedly. "Because to be honest, I'm not really seeing what sort of role you could play there. Especially the kind that gets me interrogated."
She wasn't ready. Leia bit her lip, unable to find an answer that would satisfy him and that wouldn't make her feel like the worst of liars. In the end she didn't have to.
Chewie barked out a few harsh words in the Shyriiwook language. For a moment nothing happened, and then Han's face contorted into an expression of amused disbelief.
"Don't be ridiculous." Han admonished shortly, shaking his head and chuckling in amusement. "You won't believe this," he said to Leia with a smile that invited her to enjoy the joke as he did. "Chewie here thinks you're the princess."
Leia said nothing.
"You're not denying it." The amused expression started to slip and his brows furrowed. "Why aren't you denying it?"
"I can't." Leia said, defeatedly resigning herself to the truth coming out. "He's right."
"No." He denied, shaking his head vehemently. "You can't be."
"I'm sorry. I wasn't sure how to tell you. I don't know why I never told you before."
She wanted to sit down and discuss this properly. Give him time to come to terms with this news. But Leia was acutely aware that the longer she remained gone, the more likely it was that one of the guards sent to find her would make their way to the hanger.
"I'm really sorry," she apologised again, "but I need to get back before they really start panicking."
Chewie shuffled forward and pressed the button to open the ramp to the outside. Leia gave him a small smile as a thank you, more than a little aware that he probably wasn't too happy with her at the moment.
She strode outside, already mentally going through the monologue she was going to have to give her parents about not coddling her, only to nearly walk into a man dressed in the pale blue uniform of the palace guard.
"Your highness!" The man called out in surprise as he recognised her. Leia heard an intake of breath behind her, and mentally bemoaned that the morning really couldn't get any worse.
"Brax." She greeted coolly, remembering his name from the times he had escorted her to official events.
"Are you well? Have you been brought here against your will?"
"Now hang on one minute-"
Leia felt Han try to squeeze past her to get out of the door. Placing a hand on his shoulder, she gently pushed him back into the ship before he could make the situation worse. From what she'd seen of him so far, she wouldn't discount his ability to offend Brax enough to get arrested.
"I wasn't aware I was under house arrest. Am I not permitted to visit friends?" She replied in the same voice she used whenever she was forced to assert her authority.
"You're not…? I don't…" Brax floundered.
Leia took advantage of his confusion. "Please inform their majesties that I am in no danger, and will return shortly once I conclude my business here."
Unfortunately her bluffing confidence was not enough to overcome years of deeply ingrained training. Brax straightened his back and shook his head.
"I'm afraid I must insist you come with me, your highness. My orders were clear."
Leia forced herself not to roll her eyes, but couldn't help the annoyed huff that escaped her lips. "Fine." She did her best not to sigh, aware that looking like a petulant teenager likely wouldn't help her cause.
"Ami…?"
The soft hesitant call from behind her drew her attention. Han looked lost and confused, more like a child than the grown man he was. She felt her irritation slip away and condense into feelings of remorse and sympathy.
"Leia." She corrected as gently as she could. She moved forward and gently squeezed his hand.
"And you're…?"
"Princess of Alderaan, yes." Glancing back at Brax she saw him standing plank-stiff, obviously trying not to pay attention to the scene unfolding in front of him. "Brax, can you give us a minute?"
The guard nodded stiffly and moved away so that he was still within eyesight but not earshot. He was loyal and she could count on his discretion, but she didn't exactly want witnesses.
"I'm sorry," Leia said to Han. "This isn't how I wanted to tell you." She shifted uncomfortably on the spot. Truthfully, if she hadn't been forced into it she wasn't sure she would have found a good way to tell him. How did you explain to someone that you had shared your life with that you had kept something so monumental from them?
"Ami never told me. Why wouldn't she tell me?" He still looked so lost, like the rug tethering him to reality had suddenly been yanked from under him. It was a bad sign that after their conversation the previous night he had regressed to seeing current her and past her as separate people.
"I don't know." She admitted. She really didn't. It was a decision that reeked of poor planning. Surely, she had to have realised it would come out eventually? Did she not trust him? "I'm sorry." She apologised again.
"But I've met the King and Queen," Han blurted out abruptly. Leia winced and forced herself not to correct his assumption that her father was King and not Prince Consort. "You don't look anything like them!"
"I'm adopted." She explained simply. She glanced back at Brax to see him shifting uneasily. He wouldn't wait forever. "I wish I had the time to explain everything, but I need to get back before they send out more search parties."
"Right…" He still didn't look any better, gaze flitting unfocusedly between her, Brax and the interior of the ship. Chewie was no where to be seen, and she guessed he was busy keeping Jaina away from everything. Oh hell, she still had to tell Jaina.
"Thank you again for letting me stay." Leia said, and feeling like the worst person in the world she left him to follow Brax out of the hanger.
Leia had thought most of her anger and frustration at her family had dissipated overnight, but she found those feelings rapidly returning with every step away from the hanger. One night, she thought to herself angrily. Couldn't she have just one night to herself without being coddled and chased like an errant child?
Brax escorted her all the way to the family rooms and it really did feel like she was a runaway teenager being dragged home by the police to face her parents. It took everything within her not to cross her arms and scowl when she finally came face to face with Bail and Breha.
Her mother was the first to move, immediately moving to her side, taking her into her arms and checking her over as though looking for injuries. "Leia sweetheart, where have you been? We've been so worried."
"I was fine," she replied through gritted teeth. "I just needed some space." She shot a frosty look at her father. "You didn't need to make such a fuss."
"A fuss?" Bail thundered. "We've only just got you back, Leia, you can't keep running off like this! You are-" he dropped his voice into a stern whisper, "pregnant."
"I'm also an adult." She snapped. "I can take care of myself. I don't need to be constantly watched and monitored to see if I'm going to go off the rails."
"Where were you?" Breha asked.
"Why was Luke Skywalker here?" Leia retorted. When neither of them answered she let out an unladylike snort. "I don't know how you can expect me to answer your questions when you won't answer mine."
"It isn't that we don't want to tell you," Breha said, "but we don't think it's the right time."
"When will the right time be?" Leia demanded.
A small childish part of her wanted to throw caution to the wind and tell them about Jaina but instinct reigned her back. It was with some chagrin that she was forced to acknowledge that there were occasions where timing was important. But still she tried to rationalise to herself, her situation was entirely different.
"I don't know." Breha admitted at the same time as Bail retorted, "When we think you're ready to hear it."
Leia shook her head in bitter disappointment.
"I'm going to my office, in case you need to send another search party." She said acidly and left the room before either of them could stop her.
Author's Note: Sorry about the huge delay. Uni was stressful enough and then COVID hit and it has gotten a hell of a lot worse. I hope you're all coping as much as possible. Seems with the vaccine there's some hope on the horizon. Shorter chapter than usual, but I wanted a clear separation between this chapter and the next one where everyone's had some time to cool off. Key point is that Han knows about Leia now. Next chapter, Leia is going to be doing some investigating into her past and following some old leads that were introduced in the very early chapters of this fic.