Anonymous asked: How about Lynnie meeting Chewie for the first time? And/or Luke?

First Introductions

1. They'd anticipated her being spooked. Or rather they'd prepared for it – if only because she seemed a little spooked by everything – sleeping in a room all her own, bug on the windowsill, hyperspeed, crowds. Not the kind of kid who was shrieking or squealing, demanding, whiney – but she did have a tendency to race to safety behind Leia's leg, clutching to her pants and trembling until the designated awful thing had passed or else been proven harmless. They had a little private fun of it, sometimes – trying to piece together what had sent her running and hiding, coaxing her out to let a dragonfly rest on her little finger, explaining hyperspace as more shooting stars than shooting. There was a part of Leia that secretly loved these moments, even though she never would have imagined a child of hers would be shy. Loved both the part where she was clung to as the safe thing, and also where she could prove the world she'd sacrificed so much building to be safe.

So after all that pre-explaining – to her, then to Chewie, all she's skeptical of any new thing, she's afraid of most humans let alone – it was quite the – surprise, the pleasant, pleasurable surprise, that what happened during her first encounter with his best friend was one very small little girl walking right up to one very tall Wookiee with her thumb in her mouth and tilting her head back to peer aaaalllll the way up, before extracting the thumb and declaring, voice small but serious, "Tu es grand."

Leia's voice, amused and translating the obvious: "She said, 'You're tall.'"

Chewie's bellowing laugh, then, and though they were sure that forceful sound would send her spiraling, Lynnie smiled, all tiny teeth, and laughed too – then shrieked with laughter as he scooped her up in his arms, flipping her upside down and making a show of ruffling her hair and tickling her until she screamed. Han and Leia maybe would've started slower – indeed, they had, that careful courting of a would-be child, that slow build to unbridled physical affection – but that's why they were Han and Leia, and that's why he was Chewie – and that's what family did, made a half thing whole.

2. Luke they'd prepped differently – when he first came to dinner he came on a night they were having her favorite meal, with bright connecting blocks in his knapsack for her to play with, with the knowledge that if she really disengaged he could always levitate some of her stuffed animals to make her squeal. Mostly Leia's doing – I want to stack the deck, she'd said bluntly as she sifted through the cabinet for the complex combination of spices in Lynnie's favorite Alderaanian dish. I want to make it impossible for her not to love him.

(It went without saying that it would be impossible for him not to love her. Leia cast a glance over to where she talked softly to her stuffed animal friends, her face alight with the imaginative expression of each persona she took on – what wasn't to love?)

So – they'd stacked the deck, with favorite food and rainbow blocks and magic tricks that maybe weren't what the Force was intended for but wasn't this another kind of connection forged between living things, anyway? Leia was ready with a hundred reasons for Lynnie to love Luke – et il aime aussi les animaux, honey, like you – yes, she had mapped out this evening to be perfect, managed the baby's mood all day so she'd be amicable and open-minded, she could manage this too, choreograph a falling-in-love like her busy schedule or a revolution…

But when he walked in the door, calling out Hey you guys, it's me! like he always did, like "you guys" hadn't crossed from two into three, it turned out the opening line she'd spent the day crafting wasn't needed at all, because the toddler, curious at the new voice, had sprinted in her socks to the door and then shrieked, hand flying to her mouth almost as if in a silent-vid enactment of shock – "Jaune!"

Leia jogging after her – "Slow down, honey – ralentis––"

"Mama, jaune! Jaune!" And pointing, hand shaking in excitement, up at his hair.

Luke ran his fingers through his hair a bit self-consciously, looking at his sister with a quizzical smile. "I don't…?"

"Yellow," she translated, laughing a little in spite of herself as Lynnie tugged on her leg and pointed again. "As in, you're blonde – she's never seen someone with blonde hair, I don't think. And she loves yellow – right honey? Tu aimes le jaune?"

"Joli– Mama – jaune!" Pointing again, doing a little theatrical gasp. "Oh!"

Leia brought her hand up to her mouth, too, trying to hide her laughter, and gave a gasp of her own: "Oh!"

And then suddenly Lynnie was flying right from her leg to Luke's, clutching it and beaming up at him.

"And here I thought I'd have to bribe my way into her heart," he joked good-naturedly, reaching a tentative hand down to ruffle her hair.

"Love at first sight," Leia said affectionately, half-teasing, half-serious.

"She knows who her family is."

3. This one a little later, and disguised as a letters exercise – one that required sitting crosslegged in the grass, which in turn distracted from why-was-Mama-wearing-black with the thrill of Mama-sitting-in-dirt even though it meant her dress getting dirty. Mama sitting in black, sitting crosslegged, sitting in dirt; the baby on her lap wearing black velvet and looking like a little raven dream, with eyes all big and innocent. Her chin resting on the top of her daughter's head, hand on her wrist as her small finger traced the etchings in the obsidian plaque.

"B…"

"Good, baby, mhm." She kissed her hair and took a moment to inhale – the sweet smell of the starfruit shampoo, the one Han lathered too much of in the bath and used to style her hair into fantastical spikes, making her shriek with delight.

"R… E…"

He was still inside, then, mingling at the reception and no doubt trying to find an easy escape; she herself was technically only supposed to be taking Lynnie to the 'fresher, this little church-side meadow excursion a stolen moment of privacy in the midst of all that remembering inside. She felt a little bad, that she hadn't grabbed him too, but he'd find them eventually – he had a knack for these things, and he always did.

"H…"

"Mhm, and that last one?"

"…A?"

"Yes, mhm, d'accord, good." She pointed a little over. "And this?"

"B…"

"Yes, and then…"

"A… I…"

"Yes…"

"…L."

"Perfect, baby," she said, and she kissed her hair again, giving her a little squeeze.

"Ça dit quoi, Mama?"

"Bail. C'est mon père." Kissed her hair a third time. "And Breha, my mama." A fourth.

"Mama's mama?"

"Yes."

Lynnie frowned and squirmed off of Leia's lap. "Oh." She kicked her shoes in the dirt slightly – "Where my da is?"

Leia sighed at the apparent wane in the toddler's attention. "Inside, honey… he'll be out soon. Bientôt."

"Mmm… very bientôt." Han, then, his low voice behind her, his pronunciation atrocious, headed their way. "Finally found you guys."

"I'm sorry," Leia confessed, rising and turning to embrace him. "I just – we got distracted, and I needed some air…"

"No need to apologize." He kissed her forehead and held her tight. "How're you holding up?"

"I'm alright, I've been better… she's oblivious, I think, which is probably for the best."

"Been thinking about them a lot, recently, haven't you."

"How could I not be?" She sighed, resting her head on his chest, appreciating how it felt, to feel close to him. "Just – having her here, with me, for the first time – visiting… it's so… I just wish they could…"

He kissed her hair gently. "I know." Then started, apparently caught off guard by something he saw over the top of her head. "Sweetie, get up out of there – what're you doing?"

"What is she––"

Leia turned – the baby was splayed out in the dirt, on top of the plaque, her arms spread wide across it, cheek against the cool stone.

"Say hi," came her muffled, indignant voice.

Han sighed loudly. "Get up, Lyn, you're making a mess––"

"Say hi – hug," she clarified, and she lifted her head to frown at them both, indignant.

Leia crouched beside her, her lips parting slightly. "You're saying hi with a hug?"

Lynnie nodded vigorously, small, soft arms still embracing. "How say hi famwy."

"Yes, that's right," she gasped, feeling herself trembling, just a bit, with too much emotion. "That's how we say hi to family."

Reviews are like Leia honoring & loving her late parents while remaining optimistic and excited about what the future holds.