Giving her tutors the slip was getting too easy. Leia almost felt bad about it, but the history of the Empire was boring and stupid, and she didn't understand why Mama made her learn it. Leia didn't have history, and the Empire wasn't any older than she was.

She didn't want to know about the stupid empire. She wanted to know about the Rebellion. She wanted to know secrets, but nobody was sharing, and she was sick of it. So Leia veered left, ducking under the security cameras that watched the edge of the Organa royal property. Glancing back over her shoulder, she could just see the house at the crest of the mountain and the other graceful silver buildings around it. She'd jumped down from her window without anybody noticing. She'd be such a good spy, and nobody had any idea. If Mama and Papa would just see how good at it she could be, they would have to let her help.

The princess hiked her skirt up to her knees, glad she'd worn her grey leggings today, and jumped off the retaining wall to the dirt path. It ran up to the peak and down to the fancy estates along the river. There was less adventure in the estate district, especially this time of year as they headed into the rainy season, but if she climbed up to the peak, one of the patrols was bound to recognize her and take her home.

That wouldn't do at all, so she turned toward the river and big houses.

On the path, Leia found a good stick and wandered on, tapping rocks and bushes and hedges as she passed them. The houses all had humongous yards and bigger walls, and it took ages to get from one house to the next. People that lived there liked their privacy. All fancy imperials or Alderanni who wanted to be close to the royal house. And that was fine with her. It meant less people to bother her and maybe a secret or two for her to find out.

The princess switched to skipping. It was faster, more efficient than walking, and it made her trailing stick tap a nice rhythm on the prickle bush hedge to her left.

She skipped for a long time listening to the slow river and smelling the flowers that bloomed on the hedges. Leia stopped and looked back up the mountain, but home was out of sight. Maybe she could have brought a timepiece. Maybe she should go back. Her tutors would be looking for her. They wouldn't tell Mama, not while she was working, but Threepio would. Stopping, Leia put a hand on top of her head and sighed. That stupid droid had gotten her in trouble a lot. And with Papa at the Senate, Threepio was even more wound up than normal.

She was getting thirsty, and the sun made the top of her head hot, but Mama had braided her hair that morning, so only the little flyaways stuck to her face. But before she could decide whether to go home or stay out longer, the unmistakable thunk of stormtrooper boots came from around the corner. She froze.

"Tell me again what he did to the speeder."

"Re-threaded the fuel lines. Karking fast too."

If the Imperials caught her, they'd take her home, and Mama would definitely hear about it. And Papa. If Papa had to call from Coruscant to scold her, she'd never hear about the Rebellion.

"That can't be regulation," the trooper said. Closer.

"That's what I said, but-"

She spun around, but the road ran straight. Once they came around the corner, they'd see her running for sure. Her white dress stuck out so much against all the green.

"Did you report it?"

"Of course I reported it. I like this posting."

That left one choice. Prickle bush? Or storm troopers?

Leia tossed her stick aside and plunged into the hedge. It was sharp, and the branches were tight and grown together, and she had to push hard to get all the way in. The branches snapped closed behind her, covering her in foliage. Clapping a hand over her mouth, she held her breath.

The steady clunk of those awful white boots passed her by.

Leia sighed and shifted, but the hedge caught her dress and something ripped. She grabbed at it and caught her hand, then the branches behind her gave way and she tumbled backward. A moment later, the hedge spat her out on her backside, and she squeaked indignantly.

Once she was sure those boots were passed, she got up and took stock. She had fallen into someone's garden. It was sprawling, looking even bigger on the inside that it had from outside, all carefully maintained, and full of beautiful flowers and trees and shade. A little pond glittered a few meters away, and a fruit tree leaned over the water. Behind it towered the chateau, probably a vacation home for some rich, self-important bureaucrat or a Moff. A not-home Moff since no alarms had gone off and no security droids were swarming her. That would have been embarrassing.

Her surroundings assessed, Leia looked down at herself. Ugly brown and green streaks stained her dress and leggings at the knees, and her sleeves had torn on the thorns. She hadn't been scraped too bad though. That was something.

"Hello there."

She whipped around, and in the grass sat a young boy with a holobook on his knee. He had a sharp, delicate face with eyes too big for it and slightly red as if he had been crying. A lot of blonde hair tumbled over his forehead and almost into his eyes, making his pale, thin face seem smaller. He looked a little ill, but his eyes were bright and fixed sharply on her. "Are you a ghost?"

"No, I'm not." Leia frowned. There was something strange about him, like the energy in the air right before a storm. She had never seen him before, which was strange since she had to play with all the children of Alderaan's officials and important visitors when their parents visited her parents. He wore the soft blue and grey clothes of an Alderaani child, but his accent was definitely from Coruscant. But he was so familiar, she must have seen him somewhere before. "Are you a ghost?"

He stared at her, long and hard, and she started to wonder if he hadn't heard her question. Then he shook his head, and his hair snapped back and forth. "No. I'm Luke."

"Leia. Luke who?"

"Just Luke. Leia who?"

Leia opened her mouth to answer but closed it again. Luke might tell on her. He seemed trustworthy, but that seemed like a rookie mistake to make. "Just Leia. Have we met before?"

He frowned and looked at her more closely then stretched a hand out toward her. "Are you sure you're real?"

Leia usually hated people touching her, but she didn't shy away, and he stopped before he reached her. She wrinkled her nose. "That's a weird question. Of course I'm real."

"Oh." Disappointment and relief flickered across his face. "I have such vivid dreams sometimes that I wanted to make sure."

"That's silly." She stepped closer and grabbed his hand. "See? I'll pinch you if you want."

He smiled and held her hand in his own that was cool to the touch. She would have thought it was strange, holding hands with a strange boy in a stranger garden, but now she felt like she'd known him forever. They must have met before. Maybe when they were both very little and couldn't remember. Maybe he was visiting from Coruscant, which meant he was probably some high-ranking imperial's son. That revelation should have made her nervous, but it didn't. She frowned. "Why were you crying?"

He let go of her hand, and his face folded into a fierce scowl. "I wasn't crying."

"Yes, you were. Your eyes are all red!"

"Wasn't."

Fine, if he was going to like that, let him. Mama said it was good for a princess to know how to change the subject, so Leia nodded to the holobook. "What are you reading, Luke?"

His scowl vanished and looked down in surprise like he'd forgotten it. "This? Oh, it's a droid manual. I'm building one, and my father is going to help when he comes home."

"Your father?"

"Yes." Luke was very bad at answering questions, and Leia was about to tell him so when he spoke first. "Do you want to see it?"

She needed to get home. But Luke seemed like a nice boy, and she had never seen a droid being put together. He seemed so excited to be talking to somebody-he seemed lonely. She nodded. "Sure."

The inside of the house wasn't what she'd expected. Usually, the manor houses by the river were open and airy and luxurious—vacation homes or political residences for entertaining the galaxy's wealthy and important. But the halls here were sparse. Nice, but there was little artwork hanging the walls, and what was there was all landscapes or impressionist pieces or the occasional abstract sculpture. It looked expensive but like the person doing the decorating hadn't really known what they liked or what they were doing.

It was also almost entirely empty. Her house at least had people in it—servants, visitors, droids. It was alive. Here it was just her and Luke's soft footfalls echoing through the big empty rooms. It would have been spooky if she was alone, but Luke led her through the house to the third floor and a suite of rooms. These were more tailored with lots of dark wood and soft green surfaces. On the green walls sat shelves haphazardly lined with starfighter models. Crumpled clothes scattered the furniture, and a few planets hung from the ceiling in white pots.

On the wall, there was a dark set of curtains, but the room had only interior walls, so there wouldn't be a window behind it. Leia started to ask about it, but Luke was already in the next room. She followed him into a little workroom. Industrial lights hung over a table, and on the table lay a half-assembled protocol droid surrounded by spare parts and tools. Luke pointed to it. "This is TC. He's a protocol droid."

Leia studied the exposed gears and wiring with an intent eye. It looked like Threepio with more bits missing. "Where's the rest of him?"

Luke pointed to a box of silver plating tucked under the workbench. "Father spends a lot of time away from home, so it's been slow assembling him."

Leia nodded. Her papa was gone a lot too.

Luke stood staring at her again. She frowned. "Stop that."

"Stop what?"

"Staring." She held up a hand to block his face. She wasn't mad. Not really. But there was a tingling feeling in the back of her head whenever he looked too long like he could read her thoughts, and she didn't like that at all. "It's rude."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

She lowered her hand. "Do you do that to everyone?"

Luke wrinkled his nose in thought for a moment then shook his head. "No. There's no one else to stare at."

Oh. Was he really all alone here? They stood in silence for a moment. Then Luke walked back into the bedroom and returned with a model TIE fighter and a transport shuttle. "Do you like ships?"

"No." She was still angry with him for staring. "And your TIE is broken; they don't have bent wings."

"It's not broken!" Anger flashed across Luke's face, and some of the paleness left his face. "My father flies one just like it, and I've seen it."

"I bet you're lying. Why would they make a TIE with bent-up wings?"

His mouth fell open, then closed again, then he grinned. "You're being contrary."

She sniffed. "Maybe."

"Come on." He put the shuttle in her hands, and it was heavier than she'd expected like it was wood instead of duraplastic. "You be the senator on a diplomatic mission, and I'll be your escort and protect you from pirates."

So two of them ran through the house, Leia putting her shuttle through death-defying twists while Luke shot down attacking pirates with pinpoint accuracy. After they had saved the mission, Leia dropped onto a sofa and tossed the model onto a footstool. She was sweaty again and thirsty. Luke dropped down beside her and held the TIE fighter against his chest. He stared into the middle distance, his pale cheeks flushed with a color that didn't seem natural to them. She wondered the last time he had run around with a kid their age.

They had run all over the house, up and downstairs, in and out of bedrooms and libraries and balconies without seeing one person. The whole house was big and quiet and empty save for a few droids that kept their distance. Leia twisted in the soft cushions to look at him. "This is such a strange house. Are you really all alone here?"

He shook his head. "No. I have the droids. I have Ben. And Father comes home as often as he can."

Leia thought of some TIE fighter-flying Moff coming home to find her running pell-mell around his house, and her stomach did a little flip. She thought about her own father coming home and not finding her there. She tried to sit up, but the sofa sucked her back into its plush cushions like it was trying to eat her, and she struggled harder until she was back on her feet. "I have to go home."

"Do you?" He looked at her like he was surprised she had a home. That was silly. As if she'd just appeared out of a hedge like some sort of spirit. "I don't want you to go. If you go… I'll think you really were a ghost. Or a dream."

She didn't want to go, not really. She wanted to stay here in this mysterious empty house talking to this more mysterious boy. But instead of saying that, she pinched him. "Did that feel like a dream?"

He gave her an outraged look and rubbed his arm. "No."

"Because I'm real, silly. And so are you. I bet we're the most real things in this whole house. But I do have to go home."

He hopped up and headed for the hallway. "I'll tell the troopers to take you."

"Troopers?"

"Yes, there's a guard on the house. I'm not supposed to talk to bother them, but this is important."

"No!" Leia seized his arm, breathless, heart pounding. "Don't do that!"

Luke turned his eyes on her, and they were immense and innocent. "Why not?"

"Because if you do that, I'll never get to come to see you again." Her tutors would make sure she never left her room again, let alone the house. What kind of Rebellion spy got caught her first day out?

Luke looked about to protest, so she plunged ahead. "If the troopers take me back, Mama will think I got in trouble, and she won't let me outside. But if I go home now, by myself, I can come back. And we can play and talk, and it'll be our secret. The grown-ups can't tell us what to do if it's a secret. Do you see?"

A long second passed as he thought about it, his face scrunched into a severe frown. Then he fixed those immense eyes on her again. "Will you come back? If it's a secret?"

Leia thought about it for a moment and realized she did want to see him again, even with his staring and the nagging familiarity. "Yes. But you have to keep it a secret."

"I've never had a whole person as a secret before. I promise." He nodded and offered his hand. She took it, and they shook on it. He was her secret, and she his.

It was nearly dark by the time she got home and managed to shimmy back through her window into her bedroom. There she brushed her hair and changed into clean clothes, stuffing the hedge-torn dress into the bottom of the laundry basket. She'd grass-stained a lot of clothes-no one ouwld notice. When she finished braiding her hair, she doubled-checked the back in the mirror then nodded. There. Just in time for dinner.

Threepio clinked into the room and waved a golden hand. "Mistress Leia, where have you been?"

She waved vaguely at the outdoors. "Playing. Were you looking for me?"

"Why I dare say I was! I never-" And while Threepio fretted, Leia looked down at her hand. Her adventure almost felt like a dream. Strange little boys in secret gardens, big houses with no one in them. It sounded like one of the folk tales Papa had told her from his own childhood.

But it was real. Her very own secret friend. And she knew how to keep a secret.

Author's Note:

This is Part II of the AU started in Nothing Grows, about seven years after that story. It won't be necessary to read that story first to understand this one, but it does explain how Luke and Obi-Wan ended up here instead of on Tatooine, and it is much more angst-ridden than I'm planning for this one to be.

Story Playlist:

Uneven odds - Sleeping at last

Up the Wolves - The Mountain Goats

The Valley - The Oh hellos

Heirloom - Sleeping At Last

Like the Dawn - The Oh Hellos

The Hand That Feeds - The Crane Wives

Laughter Lines - Bastille

Story photo by Tim Cooper on Unsplash