Chapter XXIX: Rulers Of The Galaxy
There was a strange energy in the lobby of the Skywalker Castle: the small crowd of family members, finally together after so long, unsure of what emotions were to be felt, what words were more appropriate to be said, whom to look at; who should be questioned.
The daughter seemed the most lost. She stood in between her parents, whom little by little loosened the grip on her, color rushing and draining from their faces. Too much astonishment within their hearts.
Luke kept walking towards them with a very normal pace, though it seemed, for the other Skywalkers, that he gave painfully and awfully, cruel slow steps.
He was just below them when he ceased his pacing, and no word could be uttered when Padmé's heart finished healing, as she could hold her son again. She spoke words of love, relief and happiness; bathing Luke with tears, and suffocating him with desperate, motherly embraces. While the young boy stood there silent.
Leia could still feel Anakin's arm around her, for some moments gripping at her so tightly she feared for another bruise. But nothing, no physical pain could ever compare to the twirling within the Force. Leia felt her father's strong feelings. The Sith's emotions burning her and almost driving her mad.
He quickly realized it and disguised his private thoughts, but Leia was sure his mind was aching with that same fearful uncertainty which shouldn't be possible.
How.
It wasn't just Leia, she could also read it in her father's eyes. The surprise hadn't just shook the Princess. Anakin did not sense the presence of his own son!
Even having him a few feet distance, they, the Sith and Apprentice could almost swear he wasn't there!
"Oh my children," Padmé was the only one smiling fully, "finally I have you both again! Come on, Leia, I want to hold you both at the same time."
The Princess didn't move, but Anakin gave her a slight push, and so the Queen had her twins within her loving grasp. The Princess flinched when Padmé gathered her hand along Luke's.
"Are you okay? Do you feel ill? Have you eaten yet…?"
"Padmé, stop," Anakin interrupted, rubbing his forehead. "You will give them a headache with so many questions. We'll have plenty of time for that," he ominously said. "For now… I think we all need to sit down."
"Speak for yourself. I could hold my kids forever!"
"I do want to sit down, actually," Luke calmly said.
Anakin's blue eyes flashed distrust, he stared at Luke for a long time. The strangely identical looks crossed, until Anakin gave two slow steps to approach his son. Leia's heart skipped several beats. Anakin embraced Luke Skywalker, and the young boy held his father very tightly. No more words passed for the moment, and the Emperor motioned everyone to follow him.
It will not be that easy, Son… he thought, keeping both eyes on his family.
The largest drawing room in the castle was reserved only for the royal family. No visitor, not even high-ranking imperials could enter it. Of course there were the Castle's servants. Padmé ordered her children's favorite meals and a teapot to calm everyone's minds—they rather needed it.
Anakin disappeared for some moments while the tea and the food were being served.
"Now," he asked to a droid servant. "In what conditions did my children arrive?"
"Sir, the Princess of the Skywalker Empire arrived here a couple days ago in a Corellian freighter—a Corellian pilot, a Wookiee and the protocol droid C-3PO accompanying her. She spent the first day in rehabilitation, visited only by doctors and Lady Jade."
He couldn't hear about Leia's possible injuries for the moment—if ever.
"Didn't Luke require medical attention, too, then?"
"I had not seen the young Prince till now."
"Was he with Mara Jade then?"
"I do not know, Your Majesty."
"And my daughter's… companions," Anakin gritted his teeth. "Where are they now?"
"The protocol droid and the Wookiee were in the dining room last time I checked."
"And the pilot?"
"In the Princess's bedroom, I believe, sir."
Anakin's stomach turned.
"What?!" he cried as if it were the droid's fault.
"In the Princess's bedroom, sir," the droid repeated.
Anakin covered his face with his hands. He rubbed his eyes and pulled at his own hair. Why hadn't they protected his daughter while he was away? But this will not go unnoticed by him.
"Triple Zero, I have a few commands you must ensure are well followed while I come back to my family."
"Of course, Your Majesty."
I want this to be over…
I want this to be over…
I want this to be over…
Leia thought over and over again.
Really, she couldn't wish for anything more than to be alone in her bedroom, hiding from her own reality. She had longed for her mother endlessly for the past months, now she could hardly believe she was seating next to Padmé and Luke while drinking tea and fancy sandwiches. It seemed ridiculous. She felt nauseous all the sudden, then she saw her father had comeback.
"Where were you?" Padmé asked him.
"Just taking care of business; a few affairs. I've been gone a long time."
"Well, I think anything else can wait, I mean look, Ani: we are all together at last!"
"Yes," Anakin smiled. "Although why we were separated, I do not know," he said, staring accusingly at Luke. He returned his stare with much defiance.
"Not now," Padmé pleaded. "We can discuss everything later. Right now, I just want us to enjoy our time together as a family."
Luke gave a drink to his cup of tea. "Yeah," he said with a smile, "me, too."
Leia's headache was returning with odd intensity. She rubbed her forehead with her index finger. She tried to stand up, only to fall back into her chair immediately.
"Leia!" Anakin and Padmé cried at the same time. "Are you all right?"
"I am fine," she muttered angrily. She turned to see her parents and realized she couldn't distinguish them. Everything had become a huge blur.
I am blind! She suddenly thought, panic-stricken. What is happening to me?
"Leia, honey you look so ill!" Padmé cried, worriedly. "Have you eaten appropriately? Here, give a bite," she took a meat sandwich, Force knows which kind (Leia couldn't tell the flavor) and directed it at the Princess's mouth. The simple smell made her choke; the slight taste turned Leia's white face green and purple. She tried to turn her back on everyone. She could only crawl on the large cushioned couch and throw up an odd mix that all the Skywalkers tried to turn to not see. The Princess kept vomiting, Anakin grabbed her shoulders with one hand while pushed her hair away with another. "There, there, my Princess," he softly said. "Don't worry, it will be all right."
"I can't breathe… I cannot see! I am dying!" Leia cried, dramatically.
"Shhh," Anakin soothed her. "Don't say that. Come my child, you need to sleep. Padmé, call a doctor immediately, darling, please."
"I want to go with you!"
"Call a doctor first. Luke come and help me with your sister."
"What do you think is wrong with her?" Luke asked, slightly pale.
"I am not a doctor, am I?" Anakin said, bitterly.
Luke nodded and the two walked Leia out of the drawing room.
The Princess dozed off several times while in the arms of her father. She was not aware of moving across the castle. Pain, new but just as unbearable clung to her making her wish she was just dead already. She reacted only after hearing her father say, "Open the door, Luke."
She flinched, startled. She opened her eyes, and forcing them, the recognized the door to her bedroom. "No!" she screamed and stood before it. "No don't come in."
"Leia, we'll just help you lie down so you can rest." Anakin calmly said.
"No—I said no!" Leia fought, but Anakin easily opened the door. She was sweating and muttering gibberish, feeling like she would throw up again. Which she did.
"Well, call a cleaning person here, too," Anakin said.
Leia felt as they placed her on her bed. Anakin put the covers and blankets over her. She search with her hand around the bed for the man she had shared it with just before. But she was alone in the bed.
She breathed out in relief and sunk into her pillows.
"Are you better, my child?" Anakin asked her.
"No," she answered truthfully. "please leave me alone. I need to rest."
"All right," Anakin nodded. "But I will send a doctor here, so be ready, my dear. Come Luke, let's leave her at peace."
"I can stay and watch over her," Luke said.
Leia's blood turned hot with rage. "No," she whispered, barely concealing her hatred at her brother. "Go."
She didn't see his expression as he said, "Alright."
They both left her.
After hearing the door being closed, she jumped from the bed. "Han!" she whispered, smiling, and looked under the bed. He wasn't there. "Han!" she searched the closet, giggling thinking she'd find him in there with an arrogant grin after fooling the emperor. He wasn't there. "Han?" she looked in the fresher. He wasn't there.
"Where the hell did he hide?" she wondered, bewildered.
Still in the fresher, she regarded her reflection on the looking glass, and was partly thankful he didn't see her in such a state.
Minutes later, when the doctor arrived, he cleaned her and gave her medicine that finally made her feel much better, and less like she was about to die. He also explained to Leia what a hangover was. She made him promise he wouldn't say Leia had just experienced one of those, and a rather severe one.
Somewhat pain-free, now she could wonder, more coherently: Where the hell did Han go?
As good as the doctor's medicine made her feel, Leia cursed the fact that they also put her to sleep. She could tell when opening her eyes that she was now in another day.
She bathed and got ready with an unsteady heart. How could she had lost so much time?
She left her bedroom terribly afraid of being lonesome. For a few moments, she feared she had been abandoned by everyone. She thought she wouldn't find Anakin and Padmé again. She even felt anxious at the thought that Luke might had escaped again. She counted only on one person: Han Solo.
Surely there was a good reason of why he didn't try to get into her bedroom last night.
No, he must've tried, she thought amused. But with the Emperor in the castle it must've been impossible.
Where did they send him to sleep, though?
Oh she was dying with curiosity and she asked the first person she ran into: Mara Jade.
"Good morning, Princess," Mara greeted with a smile.
"Mara," Leia didn't think to greet her back. "Where are my friends?"
"I don't know about the droid," Mara said, "maybe sent back to Theed with your mother's family—"
"And the smugglers?"
"That's what they were?" Mara questioned, scathingly.
"Where are they?!" Leia pressed.
"They left last night, dear. Where to I certainly don't know."
"What," Leia gasped.
"They talked to your father and then they left."
"No… no! What did he do to them?"
"Leia, what could he possibly do?" Mara grinned as if amused.
Leia kept gasping for air.
"Is everything all right?" a dark voice spoke behind the two girls.
Mara Jade paled as if she had seen a ghost.
"Father," Leia said, on edge, "Mara told me… you spoke to my friends. The ones who brought me here."
"The pilots, Leia? Oh yeah I met them last night, and of course I thanked them for bringing you and your brother here safely."
"They said that?"
"Yes, the Corellian man, what's his name, also let me know of the debt you had to him. Don't worry, Leia, I paid him."
"What?" Leia cried in a paralysis of shock. "You paid him?"
"Yes, of course. He seemed very happy with his reward—I could tell he really loves money," Anakin smiled.
"And he just—left?"
"Yes, I told him I could provide him of a ship if he just waited to the morning but he was very—too keen, actually, on leaving."
"He left," Leia whispered to herself, breathless.
"Yes," Anakin smiled a large smile. He stared at Leia, waiting for her explosive nature to burst before his eyes; he waited for her screams, for her insults, for her claims and questions. All in vain. He received nothing of that.
"Very well," she calmly said and turned her back to go.
Even Mara Jade was shocked.
The princess walked perfectly fine till she reached the main staircase, at the bottom of it she found her twin brother, he was seated with R2-D2 and C-3PO joining him by each side. Just as she reached them, Leia heard, from behind, up above, the Emperor's dark voice:
"Don't go anywhere. I want to speak to you."