Leia scratched her neck, hating the feeling of the white cadet uniform against her skin. It was stiff and scratchy, and felt like it'd been worn by a hundred other students before her.
Class was dragging on, and she couldn't bring herself to care about the different divisions of the imperial navy. It was even more boring than school back home in Namusa had been, except here the teachers were far stricter, the lessons far more demanding and the other children were far more vicious. If she thought Dumbon and his cronies had been bad, they were nothing compared to some of the girls she now shared a dorm with.
After a while, the bell rang out and classes for the day were over. Learning a mixture of academic subjects about the empire, as well as physical lessons on using the Force and wielding a lightsaber, Leia was quickly adjusting to life in the academy and knowing what was expected of her as a student. But the more she settled in and realised that this was her life now, the more she missed her mother and father with a deep longing sadness that never seemed to leave her.
She hated the academy. Everything looked grey and uniform, including the teachers, the stormtroopers and the pupils. There wasn't a single plant in the entire complex, and from the window in her dorm that looked out over the landscape beyond the academy, it was nothing but bare, soulless rock for as far as her eyes could see. There was no fun, no play and no life to the place. Even the sky outside was overcast in permanent cloud. The only thing keeping her smiling was Luke, whenever she got to see him, and the daily call they had with mom. But, even those two things could only keep her spirits up for so long. With every day that went by, she felt less and less like herself.
The children filed out into the grey hexagonal shaped corridor, their identical boots clanking against the grated durasteel floor. In the hustle and bustle of dispersing students, Leia tried to make her way back to her dorm to get her comm device, but a familiar face stopped her in her tracks and she felt dread drop in her stomach.
"Leia, off in a hurry to speak to your mom again?" Aiora, the meanest girl in her dormitory room, asked her with raised eyebrows. Two other girls flanked her, Sofia the Twi'lek and a human girl Jynn, who were also her roommates.
When she'd first arrived, Aiora had been nice to her. But now, any possible friendship had been ruined by the red-haired girl's decision to constantly pick on her.
"Yes," she replied tersely.
"You're such a baby, still talking to your mom," she ridiculed her, and Sofia laughed.
"No I'm not," Leia countered hotly, not knowing how else to defend herself. "I'm going back to the room, what do you want?"
The kids around them who were leaving for recess had thinned out now, all going to the cafeteria, library, common rooms or back to their dorms. The four girls were alone now in this part of the corridor.
The comment about talking to her mom reminded Leia that every other student here had been taken from their homes at various stages of their lives, some a long time ago, and some very recently. She and Luke were the only students, as far as she knew, who were allowed to contact their mother, and this had immediately alienated them from their peers. It felt unfair, and so she'd asked her home group mentor about it, but the woman hadn't answered clearly enough to get any answers. Regardless, Leia wasn't about to give up her conversations with her mom just to make friends. She wasn't sure if she wanted any of these moon jockeys for friends anyway.
But this fact, coupled with her and Luke's Force abilities that outshone every other student in their year group, had made them instantly unpopular. The academy was a stark contrast to their old school, where there was no harsh competition, and everyone had their families to go back home with at the end of the day. She missed her old friends, and the games they'd play together. She even missed Dumbon.
"Why are you wearing your hair like that?"
"Like what?" Leia asked, not backing down but also not asserting herself in the way she used to with bullies. Something just felt missing inside of her.
"It looks stupid, you haven't even done your braids properly," the girl mocked her, pointing at where her less than perfect braid had unravelled from the wear of the day.
Looking at Aiora and Jynn's perfectly plaited cadet hair, Leia began to feel every bit like the country bumpkin she had been told she was by the other children.
"I heard you grew up in a farm house with no running water. Daryn said you had to go to the toilet in a hole," Sofia said with a smirk.
"And that you have bantha fleas," Jynn added.
She wondered briefly at that moment how differently the girls would be treating her if they knew Darth Vader was her biological father, and that she had met the Emperor himself. But mother had been careful to warn them about revealing any of that. Besides, no one would believe her. It would only give them more ammunition to mock her with.
"You don't know anything about where I grew up!" Leia snapped at them, drawing her data pad and books close to her chest defensively.
"Yes I do. I was born on Coruscant. They have HoloNet shows about people like you, charity money nerf-herders, barely able to wash themselves," Aiora sneered.
"My home is a hundred times better than stupid Coruscant, and this academy! You don't know anything."
"Then go back there, no one wants you here!" Aiora snarled, moving closer with a horrible glint in her dark eyes.
Leia had just about had enough of this, and was about to shove past the girls who were blocking her exit, when the red-haired bully continued to mock her.
"Oh wait, your dad, the Jedi, is coming to rescue you, isn't he? I can't believe you told everyone that. You and your Luke are so weird, no one has a Jedi for a father. The Jedi are all dead," she sneered and Leia fought down the wave of hurt that came from her words.
No one here believed her when she'd told them her father was a Jedi, and that he was coming to rescue her and Luke, but it was true, she knew it was true.
"Well, you're wrong, because our dad is a Jedi. So shut up and get out of my way."
Jynn blocked her path and pushed her back, almost causing her to stumble, but Leia righted herself and glared back at the three of them, ready to fight.
"If you really are telling the truth, that makes your dad, and your whole family, traitors of the empire," Jynn said and Aiora smirked.
"Who cares about the stupid empire?" she retorted, sick of hearing about it. No one cared back on Bakura.
The three of them looked at her like she'd just dribbled on her shirt. Aiora broke the silence.
"I'm going to tell Miss Tendra you said that! That's treason!"
"Go tell the kriffing Emperor for all I care! I'm sick of this place! I hate it here! All of you can go to hell!" Leia yelled. Part of her knew this retaliation was going to make them even more horrible to her later on, but she didn't care.
Aiora bristled at her boldness, her hands balling into fists. "You're as stupid and as weird as your brother. No wonder your dad hasn't come to rescue you, he's probably embarrassed. He's never coming to get you! The Emperor's probably killed him like the rest of the evil Jedi!"
Knowing she was just trying to provoke her didn't stop Leia from smacking the girl across the face with all the power in her arm. Aiora shrieked as she fell back onto Sofia, her pale cheek glowing red.
Recovering instantly from the shock, she launched herself at Leia, and the two tumbled to the hard grated floor as they brawled. Sofia was quick to pull Leia's hair back, her plait coming completely undone as it was yanked. Jynn tried to pin her down but got kicked in the face by Leia's boot, causing an immediate nosebleed. Screaming, the noise of the fight soon attracted the attention of their military history teacher who came rushing out of the classroom they'd just been in.
"Girls! Stop this immediately!"
Prising the children apart with difficulty, he was quick to deduce points from their dorm's scoreboard and assign them extra homework, his harsh tone reminding Leia of an army officer more than a teacher. But for some reason, after the yelling, he let Leia go, and kept the others behind in class for a detention. Now they were going to hate her even more. Why was she allowed to go? Was she getting special treatment because of Darth Vader? Surely not; he was the strictest man she'd ever met.
With shaking fingers, Leia clutched her data pad and books close as she ran to her dorm, her heart thudding from the fight. Mom could not find out about that.
The room and its ten beds were empty, which was a relief. Leia crossed the floor to her cot and chest of drawers that were integrated into the wall panelling. The rectangular space was bare and utilitarian, and carried on the grey theme that ran through the entire academy. Rummaging in the drawer, Leia retrieved her comm device and headed back out. Eventually she reached the library and looked for Luke, who waited for her here every evening.
Reunited after another day of classes which kept them apart, Leia told Luke about the fight whilst they searched for a soundproof study pod to speak to their mom in private in.
Luke didn't seem phased to hear about the scuffle, and told her it must be jealousy that caused them to act like that, which made her feel better about it.
Leia didn't get to see much of Luke anymore as their classes and dorm groups were split by gender. In such a horrible school, she had begun to treasure the time she had with him. Without the protection of their parents, it really was them against the world right now.
Finding a free pod, the twins settled down and waited for the call to connect. After a few rings, the comm device flickered to life, and there was their lovely mom, lit up in a blue Hologram that could never compare to the real sight of her pretty brown eyes or her warm face. After the fight, she wished she could have the comfort of her parents now, and she ached with how much she missed them.
"Hi mom," Luke said.
"Hi mom," she echoed, giving her best smile, though she wasn't sure if it was convincing.
"What's wrong sweetheart?" she asked immediately. Leia was amazed her mom could see through her so easily. Maybe she did have Force powers after all.
"It's just…been a crazy day."
Padmé gave a reassuring smile. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"No, it's okay mom, I'm alright. I just miss you."
"I miss you too," she said, her dark eyes conveying the depth of her longing. "But I have some wonderful news to share. I hope it cheers you up a little bit."
"What is it?" Luke asked, leaning forward as if he could see through the Hologram.
Their mother shuffled around outside of the HoloProjector's scope for a few moments and their curiosity was piqued.
To Leia's utter amazement, mom came back into the frame, and in her arms was a shimmering blue image of a baby.
"You had a baby!" she exclaimed, jumping up with such energy she nearly fell out of her seat. "The baby's here!"
"Is it a girl or a boy?" Luke asked, also jumping upright. Leia knew he wanted a brother almost as much as she desperately wanted a sister.
Mom smiled. "You have a baby sister."
"Yes!" Leia whooped just as Luke fell back in his seat, defeated. However, Leia's elation only lasted a few moments before she realised they couldn't go and meet their new sibling. In fact, it could be months and months until she got to hold her.
"When can we see her?" she asked, her eyes still glued to the tiny baby.
"When it's the Life Day holidays."
"But that's months away!"
"That's the situation Leia, you know I would change that if I could," she said, not without a hint of bitterness marring the joyful mood.
"What's her name?" Luke asked, apparently over his disappointment.
"June, but I've already been shortening the name to Junie."
"Why'd you pick that name?"
"Because it means summertime, and because it reminds me and your father of some important and much-loved people in our lives."
"So you didn't go with Clankerbot in the end?" Luke joked, referring to one of his droid toys he'd suggested naming their sibling after when they'd been back home.
Mom laughed, moving their baby sister in her arms a little and adjusting the blanket she was wrapped up in. "Maybe the next baby can take that name."
"Can you have a boy next pleaseeee?" Luke begged dramatically.
"I'll put in a request with your father," she said with a grin.
"Does dad know Junie's here now?" Leia asked.
Their mother couldn't mask the sadness in her face when she replied. "No. I have no way of reaching him to tell him the news. But I will keep her safe until we are reunited. Have faith that it will happen. We will all be together again."
"We will," they said in unison.
Their conversation carried on for some time, until baby Junie started crying and needed to be changed. The loud wails were enough for them to agree to disconnect until the same time tomorrow, and the twins left the pod feeling strange. Now there were three of them, and though Leia was over the moon about having a sister, she was also deeply upset she couldn't see her for herself.
Later that evening, in the hour long period in-between washing and dressing for bed and lights out, Leia lay on her stomach in her bunk, drawing on her data pad. The other girls in the room, all in matching white cadet sleeping uniforms, were either chatting, reading or already sleeping, and mostly they ignored her.
Swinging her bare feet back and forth, she leaned on her elbows and moved her head down to carefully draw the scene. She'd never been too good at drawing, but her recent sketches of her, Luke, mom and dad had made her happy and so she'd taken up the hobby.
Now, she was drawing them all again from scratch with the addition of a little round blob in mom's arms called baby Junie. Leia added a double laser cannon to the roof of their house too, like the ones she had seen on Vader's ship, so that no one would ever take her and Luke away again. Despite the horrible comments the girls had made earlier, she was proud of her home and added lots of trees and flowers to remind her of how beautiful it was there.
Luke had told her he'd made some calls to Darth Vader since they'd arrived. He said they'd talked mostly about ships, and so she wasn't keen to join their meetings, but she was proud of her brother for being so kind. In the whole entire galaxy, she doubted there was anyone out there who wanted to talk to Vader.
This made her very sad for a moment, and she remembered what her mom had said about Anakin. It felt mean to leave him out of the drawing. Maybe when he'd been nice before he wore the suit, he would've liked to see their house. Maybe she could've shown him all the best trees to climb and where the most colourful frogs lived. At the back amongst the flowers, she drew a man. She didn't know what Anakin had looked like, but she sketched a tall man with hair like Luke, and hoped that was accurate.
Admiring her work, she decided to add a few more baby sisters to the drawing, creating a small army of them that she could order around to do her bidding. She sketched Luke and her dad on top of the dining table, scared by all of the girls that were crowding the house, and almost laughed out loud, but she sensed the door about to slide open, and she quickly buried the data pad beneath her pillow.
Aiora, Sofia and Jynn entered the room and crossed over to their respective bunks with their heads held high, glaring daggers at her as they did so. Jynn's nosebleed had all dried up, she noticed. The other girls in the room had gone quiet, and Leia wondered if they knew about the fight. No one spoke, and it wasn't until Aiora was in bed that conversation gradually returned to the room and Leia let out the breath she'd been holding.
After sometime, the warden arrived to announce lights out and everyone went to bed. Through the Force, Leia could feel the impression of hundreds of life forms above and below her in the accommodation block, all drifting slowly to sleep.
Rolling over and brushing her hair from her face, she stared out of the window to the dark and cloudy sky. Was her father thinking about her right now? Did he know how much she missed him?
Wanting to feel close to him, she began to recite the Jedi code he had taught her and Luke as part of their training. It was calming, and made her feel like he was here with her.
There is no emotion, there is peace.
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no chaos, there is harmony.
There is no death, there is the Force.
In the wake of the bullies and the sadness, the Jedi code was the comfort she needed. Eventually, she drifted off to sleep, and dreamed that her father was on his way to rescue her from this horrible place.