Leia sat curled up, her nightgown and robe tucked under her folded legs. Theed's palace, like all royal residences, was active at all times. A palace not only housed the monarchy, it was the main seat of government. Even so, at this hour of the night or, to be more accurate, early morning, the palace grew quiet, the activity going on happening in its more buried areas. The throne room, silent and serene, was exactly what she sought.
She was still there when Luke and Faren entered. She didn't need the soul-to-soul tie with her brother to know how happy he was. He radiated it. Like all new couples, he and Faren elated in each accidental brush against the other, their eyes lighting with it, their clasped hands tightening. They delighted in their newness, and Luke didn't even notice his sister right away.
"Hi," she said when he finally did. Her greeting was casual, but she grinned with his happiness, the grin growing wider with Faren's slightly shy hello.
"You're up late," he said.
"I could say the same."
His teeth flashed in a broad grin and he dropped Faren's hand to slide an arm around her shoulders. "Yeah, you could."
The way her mouth screwed tight to bite back a laugh should have warned him, but she saw he put it down to the late hour making her punch-drunk with lack of sleep. Until the next moment when Rabé called from behind him, "She's not the only one."
Faren's mother came away from the throne room's large windows where she had stood looking out on the city's lights. "You're up awfully late," Faren said, her voice just a shade too casual.
"Yes, I am. I believe we've covered the fact that everyone is up late."
The silence was heavy; Leia wavered between watching her brother squirm to find an answer or trying to ease their way out of this herself. The diplomat in her won. "I came down here a while ago, Rabé joined me a little while after that. We've been discussing things."
The other three didn't care about what she said, so she let them continue staring at each other. For once, she enjoyed being totally innocent of everything.
"Why the hell is everyone up!" Han's sudden bellow startled everyone. He stood in the opening of a corridor opposite Luke and Faren. Clad only in pants, his chest and feet were bare, and his hair tousled from bed. "For once we don't have to shoot our way out of something tomorrow, so why aren't you taking advantage of it and get to bed!" He singled out Leia. "You left an hour ago. When did you plan to come back?"
Leia felt her short lived moment of innocence crash in a fiery death of embarrassment from everyone's knowing glances. She transferred it to a piercing gaze of death aimed at Han who immediately changed to an attitude of misunderstood innocence. His hands pointed to his naked chest in a 'Who me?' gesture. "What?" he asked her.
She started to reply, caught Luke's smirk, glared at him, and turned back to Han when she saw a large shadow come up behind him. The bolt of alarm she felt rapidly gave way to recognition and she enjoyed Han's startled expression as Chewbacca swatted him in the back of the head, snarling something.
"Don't look at me, pal," Solo snarled back. "I said the same thing myself!"
A smaller shadow moved out from behind the Wookiee, rubbing its eyes. "Yeah, well the next time you plan to ream people out about something, don't start yelling as you pass by our doors." Lando squinted in even the subdued lighting and caught sight of Luke and Faren, the only people he hadn't seen when everyone had turned in earlier. "You two just getting in?"
That was it for Faren. She spluttered in surprised laughter. "I feel like I'm twelve."
Luke smiled down at her making Rabé eye him all over again. Leia began to wonder if they were stuck in this loop forever. Rabé obviously still had issues with her brother while Faren had just as obviously resolved hers and had given in to the initial attraction she had felt for Luke.
Chewbacca mumbled to himself and pushed the leaning Han off him, stumbling back to the enlarged bed the Naboo had made for him. Rabé finally shook off her maternal concern. "I think he has a good idea. Good night, everyone."
They chorused good-nights and she graciously didn't look back to see if her daughter was also leaving for her room... alone. Leia gave her credit.
But Han, unable to help himself, called to Luke, "Hey, kid, good thing she doesn't know how you can walk into a room so quietly, no one hears you."
Rabé stopped in her tracks, then surprised everyone by turning with a wicked gleam. "I think I'll leave you to their punishment for that remark."
Han didn't even get to respond before he was nailed by Luke's and Faren's combined glares. Lando's chuckle rumbled in his chest. "I'm with Rabé. I'd love to see the outcome, but violence before bed keeps me up. Good luck, buddy." He slapped Han on the back as he left.
Leia started getting down from the marble table before the throne. "He's not going to need it. We're going to leave you two alone."
Faren stopped her. "No, it's okay. We were calling it a night when we came here." She looked up into Luke's eyes and Leia didn't miss the way her expression softened. "I'll see you tomorrow?"
Leia turned deliberately away so she wouldn't see their kiss and recalled the loudest song she ever heard into her ears so she wouldn't hear their whispers. She caught sight of Han, looking so very desirable, and became lost in their own world, allowing Luke and Faren theirs.
The second Faren was out of the room, Luke swung on the Corellian. "That's two I owe you." He didn't mean saving his life.
"So I made a couple comments. So what? Lighten up, kid."
Something devilish fired behind Luke's sudden serious tone. "Actually, what you said made me realize something." Solemnly, he crossed to Leia, took her hand in his and breathed deeply. "I've failed as your brother."
Her eyebrows shot to her hairline. Han crossed his arms over his chest; this didn't look good. Luke went on. "Someone like you, with your position and power, draws a lot of undesirables who want to take advantage. People like smugglers, pirates, and con men. I should be protecting you from them and I haven't." He turned, stepping emphatically in the line between Leia and Han. "But I will from now on. Starting tonight, I'm sleeping in front of your door so you'll be safe inside... alone."
Leia's snort of glee was nothing compared to Han's utter astonishment. "Luke - hey, buddy, c'mon! You're not serious!"
"Deadly."
"Okay, I get it... you win, very funny. I was over the line and you got me back. Fair's fair."
"Yes, it is." Luke spoke over his shoulder to Leia. "I'll need a pillow and blanket."
"Okay," she agreed cheerfully.
Solo gaped from one to the other, his mouth working on what to say next, when he suddenly slammed it firmly shut and stabbed a finger at them. "You know what? I'm tired of both of you and your warped sense of humors. I'm outta here." He turned sharply on his heel and marched off, calling back, "We'll see how long it is before you come looking for me, sweetheart!"
Leia snickered as she ran fingers through her unbound hair. "That'll be fun to face later on."
Luke grinned and jumped up to take a seat next to her. "So, what are you doing up?"
"I was thinking over some things. I probably projected some of them earlier tonight."
"About Father?" She nodded. "Do you want to talk about it?" She nodded again. "Let's go somewhere then."
"No," she said suddenly. "I want to be here." She hugged herself, looking around the shadowy throne room. Her eyes half-closed and her head tilted to the side as if she heard something he couldn't. "When I was fourteen, I was finishing a proposal for the Alderaani Council one night and was a little overtired from it. I was walking through the throne room and found my father sitting on the steps in front of his throne." She suddenly stopped but Luke shook his head. 'My father' obviously meant Bail Organa, no explanation needed. "He had me sit next to him and we just relaxed there together for awhile. Then he told me when he was younger, he had found his parents sitting in the throne room as I had just found him. And they had said they enjoyed sitting there in the quiet, feeling the presence of the kings and queens before them. Good and bad decisions, mistakes and triumphs, all of it was still the closeness of people who went through the same things they did. They enjoyed the stillness and the presence. They had told him and he told me."
"And you came here tonight."
"It seemed the right thing to do." They relaxed together, enjoying the stillness, and Luke for the first time felt the other men and women who had served Naboo besides his mother. Leia sighed next to him. "I'm turning down the Naboo on their request that I run in the next election. I have to, Luke. You know how honored I am that they asked me, that they'd even consider me for their next Queen. I still can't believe it. But I have responsibilities to my own people and to the Republic."
"I wasn't arguing."
"I know." He waited for the rest. "It'd be so easy, Luke, to fall into all of this. To be elected to the throne, to live here, to be a part of this. It'd be-"
"Home."
"Yes, home. And that's just it, that's why I can't do it. This isn't home. I can't pretend Naboo is Alderaan no matter how much I want to, no matter how much they want to pretend I'm Amidala. The Alderaani are out there and I need to get us all home, not just me. I have my commitment to them and to the Republic. I can't abandon either of them."
"You have to do what's best for you too, Leia."
"And making this decision is," she said firmly. "I don't do myself any good with delusions."
"Okay, if you're sure. Have you told them? Is that why today was tough?"
"No, we're so close with finishing the membership application, I don't want to interfere with that. And I know once I turn down the Naboo, they won't listen to me anymore."
He scoffed. "Yes, they will. They think too much of you. C'mon, Leia, they'll be disappointed, but they're not going to throw you out."
She rubbed the back of her neck. "I hope not." She looked around the throne room again, and then looked out onto Theed, drinking it in. "I'd like to come back here. There's so much we still don't know. I want to go back to Mother's village and to poke around the cabin-" She suddenly turned back to him, her eyes wide. "Oh, Luke, I'm so sorry. I can't believe I forgot to tell you." She rapidly told him of their parents' private home, of the tools Han had packed for him, and the holos now residing in Artoo as well as in the cabin itself. He listened quietly, savoring each detail she gave him. She waited, seeing him picturing it for himself, before going into her time with the holo of Anakin.
"That's what I sensed earlier," he said.
"I'm sorry. I stopped broadcasting as soon as I realized-"
"I wasn't complaining. I was glad to feel it." She was facing him now, and he ducked down to look into her face. "You did see what I meant about Father, right?"
"Yes, a little anyway. You know, Luke, in some ways, it's even more sad. To see him the way he was, and yet knowing what he'll become, what he'll do. But it did help me to make some peace... and a decision." She leaned forward. "If you still want to do it, I'd like to take the Jedi training."
She had taken him aback. He sat there, obviously not sure he heard her correctly before he grinned. "I wasn't ready for that. I thought I'd have a long time before I could ask you again."
She picked up his hand, his mechanical one, and held it before them both as evidence of what she decided. "I stood in that cabin for... forever and just looked at him. Anakin. In some ways, you're exactly like him, Luke. He's taller." They shared a small chuckle over that. "I had so much anger over him because of everything he did and how I felt being his daughter. And that's been the real problem, hasn't it? Not just him for himself, but what part of him is in me." Her mouth had gone dry and she swallowed. She held Luke's cybernetic hand, the legacy of Darth Vader. "And as I stood there staring at him, I realized the only way to win was to face it. I've never done myself any good by running away from things. Han and I spent three years running from our feelings for each other, and it didn't help. I ran for the same three years from my fear of Vader, and it's led me here, hating him and hating myself for coming from him. That is until today when I remembered what you said to me. I have to look inside myself all over again and find out who Leia is. And I have to answer this... call inside of me instead of just half-accepting it so I can be connected to you." She looked up into his eyes. "I know something else. You're afraid to train me."
He sat back, stunned. "Leia, I never-"
She evenly answered his half-hearted denial. "You never what? Said it out loud? And you think I wouldn't know?"
He chewed on the inside of his bottom lip, staring off into space as he often did when thinking aloud. "Ben failed with Father. He never saw his apprentice turning to the Dark Side until it was too late. It took Yoda to train me and even then I ran off before I was ready." Now he was the one to hold up his cybernetic hand as if it was an object not a part of him. "I gave into fear - fear of losing you and Han - and faced Vader before I should. I got this. I'd have died if you didn't rescue me. Then later, over Endor, I almost killed Father out of fear and anger again because he threatened you. I almost murdered him until I saw his hand was like this."
She threaded her fingers into the mechanical ones so they were meshed palm to palm. "You know me better than Obi-Wan knew Anakin. You know were the pitfalls are because you faced them yourself. Luke, I know the other part of this decision I made. I can't stay in place ignoring the choice I have to make, but I can't plunge blindly ahead either. Someone has to show me the way. Who better than you?"
The cybernetic fingers closed so carefully over hers, long practice controlling the strength in them to avoid crushing her. It was no longer evidence of what Vader could do; it was Luke's hand. "I never said I wouldn't train you or that my doubts were so large I couldn't handle them. I just want you to know what you're agreeing to. It's not an easy path, Leia. You're going to get scared and angry and wish you never started."
"After all this time of convincing me I should do this, you're trying to talk me out of it?"
"Leia, I'm serious." A lock of hair falling in front of his eyes didn't diminish their intensity as they bore into her. "I think you can do this and I think you should do this. You have the strength for it. I already see what you can become, how powerful you'll be. But I'm not lying about how difficult it is."
Their hands lowered as she spoke. "Tell me. If you had to do it all over again, would you?"
He didn't hesitate. "Yes." He didn't say he wished it'd be different; that he wished he could avoid Ben's death and Anakin's and the many other things he'd like to change. He didn't need to say it anymore than she needed to say she'd still join the Rebellion while always wishing Alderaan wouldn't be destroyed because of it.
She spoke as if taking an oath. "I understand."
He released a long breath. Then, his lips parted in a slight smile, and he brushed the hair out of his eyes. "You'll have to listen to me. Do what I say."
She frowned, her eyebrows arching. "All the time?"
"Yeah. It'll be something different for you."
She sighed dramatically. He grinned and gave her hand a pat before swinging off the table, stretching out cramped muscles. "I'm beat."
She nodded, his words bring out a yawn from her. "So am I. And tomorrow is another long day with the Council."
They started walking towards their quarters. "But you think we'll be done here soon?" he asked.
She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes. She had a feeling she knew what was behind that question. "In a few days, not much more. It's just formalities at this point." He didn't say anything and she tried to think of how to get at his thoughts, or even if she should. "That doesn't mean we won't ever be here again... or that some people from here couldn't come to Coruscant."
He dropped his head down, just barely turning in her direction to toss her a grin. "Am I that obvious?"
"Yes," she said. "But who wouldn't be? You like Faren that much?"
He nodded, a besotted expression giving his mouth a foolish grin. Leia had caught herself having the same expression and, thankfully, Han gave it back to her. "You could stay," she said.
"No, I can't," he replied, the expression turning rueful. "It hasn't gone that far. I'll just hope there are other times coming."
She took a couple steps in silence before asking, "Have you told her? About her Force gift?" By not answering, he spoke volumes. "Have you told her you want to see her again?" The same silent response. "Taking advice on how to handle women from Han and Lando, I see," she said.
"Not exactly," he said defensively. "I just don't want to move too fast."
"So you're not moving at all."
"Stop nagging."
They entered the main sitting room. Leia noticed Han was nowhere in sight. Probably holed up with a blaster ready to take a shot at Luke or planning to not come back tonight and teach me a lesson. "All right, no more nagging, but here's my unasked for opinion. You have to tell her the first thing and you should tell her the second thing. Either one is dangerous left unsaid."
"I know. I have to talk to her. Even she said that."
"I'll run interference with Rabé if it'll help."
He scowled fiercely. "I can't believe her. Did she think I was going to jump Faren right there in front of everyone?"
Leia grinned. "Did she think it? No. Did she fear it?" She shrugged. "Not that I'm an expert on maternal fears, but I can imagine my parents' first reaction on meeting Han Solo, former spice smuggler and mercenary. It'd be a lot like Rabé meeting Luke Skywalker, proud son of Anakin Skywalker. Good night, Luke."
He repeated her good night and went to his own rooms. He stripped off his shirt and flexed his neck and shoulders, remembering he had the morning patrol. Just before he flung the shirt away, he caught a whiff of Faren's fragrance on it. He brought it closer. The smell of her soap and the night air mixed with the unique scent that was her. It made him heady with imagining her in her own room, maybe asleep, or maybe awake and thinking of him.
In the morning, he contacted Han and Lando to meet him in the hangar bays, then went through his meditation and workout routine before hurrying through a shower and getting down to the hangar himself.
The patrol duty was fantastic. The customary rundown of their flight path, going over the ship for himself - a more sleek and modern one-man ship than his father had flown against the Trade Federation - even the mundane details to go through before takeoff, and the uneventfulness of the patrol felt great. To move smoothly in the 3-ship formation, serving as wingman for Cetix, Duvan on her other side, to just enjoy the acceleration of takeoff, the ship at his command, Artoo behind in the droid socket, it all felt right.
On landing, Han and Lando were already going over the other ships in the Nubian fleet and then returned the favor by giving a tour of the Falcon. Luke waited for signs of disappointment from the Naboo pilots on seeing the famous ship. He loved the Falcon - not as much as Han; no one could match that - and she was legendary now, but the reality was she was brutally utilitarian to see. But these pilots didn't care about looks - they cared about function, speed, and handling. With Solo and Calrissian playing guide and arguing over who made what modification, the Nubians swarmed over the ship's engines, the systems, and the cockpit. Finally, unable to resist showing off, Han got clearance for flight and demonstrated how his beloved ship responded. Lando periodically gave up the copilot's seat to one of the Naboo while Luke silently repeated a mantra of Don't let the ship breakdown now, don't let the ship breakdown now.
They'd have stayed all day up in the stars, putting the Falcon through her paces, if there weren't other patrols to fly, and if Han, Lando, and Luke didn't find out a Republic pouch had been delivered from Mon Mothma meaning they had work to do.
It was just before the usual dinner hour that Luke finally escaped on his own. He exhaled with a long, slow breath and hunted down Faren. He found her sitting on one of the palace's balcony lounges. Her semi-formal robe of red and gold suddenly reminded him she had worked today with her mother and some of the palace staff on a return trip to the Gungans. He had grown used to her in more casual clothes, but he thought the robe suited her just as well. Truth be told, he thought she looked beautiful in anything.
She was talking to a council aide Luke had seen before. She was smiling and gesturing animatedly, but that was nothing compared to her reaction when the aide walked away and she saw Luke. Calling his name delightedly, she ran to him almost bowling him over, flinging her arms around his neck, and quickly kissing him. "You've got to congratulate me."
"Congratulations!" A few people seated sporadically at small tables around the balcony looked up at the commotion and then returned to their own business. "What for?" he asked.
She moved to a bench seat, pulling him with her, and plopped down, one leg curled under her. She vibrated with happiness. "A Republic pouch came today. Never mind, you already know that. But in it was a letter to me from Supreme Chancellor Mothma." Luke could see her repeating that in her mind, A note to me from the Supreme Chancellor. Faren was shaking her head in disbelief. "Princess Leia spoke to her about the Cultural Studies program and the Chancellor answered in one day about it! Seems she - Chancellor Mothma, I mean - has already started reinstituting the program, and she contacted the Council about me applying for it. She included Princess Leia's recommendation. I leave for Coruscant in a month!"
"A month?" Luke repeated with feigned casualness.
"That's how long they estimate before they're ready for program candidates. There's an application I have to fill out - what experience I have, what studies and training I've gone through, the standard thing. I don't think I'll have a problem."
"I know you won't," he said.
She quivered with joy. So much was working out for her. "And it gives me time to wrap up things here with the Gungans and then there's Jaron's trial. I want to make sure my mother is alright. Her own work is helping her, but it's been a bad blow. Well, you know that too. I guess I'm babbling," she finished.
"And I'm enjoying it." Which was true. They were sharing so easily together, and sat so comfortably with each other that it was hard to believe she once looked at him with fear or anger instead of the open attractiveness she had now.
Still, she drifted down from the clouds a bit, twisting her mouth sideways. "But it's probably boring. After all, this sort of thing happens every day to you."
He laughed. "The first time I found out Mon Mothma even knew my name let alone contacted me, I strutted around the base with my chest puffed out until Wedge Antilles shoved me in a locker because he couldn't stand it any longer. I hope you get to meet Chancellor Mothma. Even Han was impressed after meeting her."
"I bet," Faren said, losing herself a little more in her good news. She glanced at him. "When are you going back to Coruscant?"
He sighed inwardly. He'd almost convinced himself that he was better putting off their talk for now, and here she brought him right back to the matter as she always did. "I'm not sure exactly, but Leia thinks Naboo's membership application to the Republic is almost done. Maybe a few days more."
"Oh," she said quietly. "What about Jaron's trial? Don't you have to testify at it?"
"The Council said they may just take our depositions and we did give them Threepio's recording."
"Oh," she said again and then with more good humor, "But it's still a few days before you leave."
"Yeah, it is. Faren..." He took a stronger hold of the hand she still had in his. "... I hope when you come to Coruscant, I'll have a chance to see you. I know you'll have your work offworld..."
"And you have yours, but if you hadn't just asked me, I was going to say something to you. I wasn't sure... if it was too soon." She paused, all the strength of personality focused on him. "I can't tell you how much I enjoyed last night... but it was one night."
It took another beat before he said softly, "You could call it that. Or you could say... it was a beginning."
"Yeah," she breathed, "I like that much better."
He leaned over, capturing her lips in a kiss. The heat between them was there, just beneath the surface, but here was not the time or place. He pulled away after a second, and they sat quietly together for a time.
"Are you done for the day?" she asked.
His mouth pulled down in a grimace. "No. I've got some party I have to be at in a couple of hours. Are you...?" She shook her head. "Would you like to come? I'm not sure it'll be any fun-"
She cut him off with a broad smile. "Is this formal?"
"I guess. Leia's shoving us into uniforms."
"Then I should meet you..?"
He grinned, happy she would so easily agree. "I'll come get you at your quarters. Okay?"
"Sounds like I'd better get ready." She dropped a kiss on his nose and dashed off, not knowing he watched her go. He hummed a bit to himself as he headed for his own apartments. That went well. He'd worry about the other talk they needed to have later.
When he walked into the main sitting room, Han was sitting in a large armchair with the back of it towards the room. He put a finger to his lips warning Luke to be quiet. Behind him, Leia was talking to someone, but Luke couldn't see who. At the sight of his sister, he felt an overwhelming sense of reliving the Yavin ceremony. She was dressed in a white gown, elegant in its simplicity with the chalcedony waves around her neck, and her hair in an long, elaborate coiffure. Moving a little to the side, Luke saw a holo of Mon Mothma.
"I knew you couldn't be contacting me so soon with another report," the Supreme Chancellor was saying.
Luke could only see Leia's right side but he could make out the corner of her mouth tipping up. "No, although I could update you if you wished. I'd rather discuss my first business."
"No doubt you do." Her gaze mocked Leia for the formality, her own mouth crooking in a mirror smile. "So we're clear, you want time away, correct? Why the sudden request?"
Leia frowned in thought. "I did plan to ask once we returned to Coruscant, but this gives you more notice. I need this time, Mon."
"And you'd rather not say why?"
"I have no problem telling you why. I'm going with Luke to train as a Jedi."
Han jumped in his chair, startling Luke because he thought the Corellian must have known what Leia was going to say. His sister was already answering Mon Mothma's last remark. "No, I'm sure it doesn't surprise you. Does that mean my request is granted?"
"You know it's a bad time now."
"I know that with all the work ahead of us, our entire lives will be a bad time. But we have to make a place for important things."
"Too true." Mothma threw down a writing stylus on the desk in front of her and sat back in her chair. Her teasing light came back. "We did this not too long ago, didn't we? When you came to Ackbar and I saying you wanted to leave to go after the bounty hunter who had Captain Solo. And I take it that the out of view person making that armchair jump around is Han himself. Hello, Han."
Han shook his head, laughing to himself. He really did like Mon Mothma. Without getting up, he reached a hand up into sight and waved.
"Do I need to justify this?" Leia was asking. "I could. First, all personnel are taking time to return home now that the war is over. I haven't... for the obvious reasons. I could use that time now."
"Didn't you use all your accumulated leave for Han's rescue mission?"
"Second," Leia continued firmly. "I am obviously a better tool to the Republic as a Jedi. Third... I have to do this, Mon. We both know I rarely ask, but I must put myself first in this case."
The older woman's warmth came through the light years separating them. "Also true." She sighed and some of the strain showed around her eyes and mouth. Luke almost leapt forward and said he'd put off Leia's training, but he knew that was wrong. The Chancellor leaned forward. "All right, here's an initial plan. Finish your assignment on Naboo and when you return, we'll work out a schedule to cover your work while you're gone. I'll need to know exactly how long you'll be away."
"I'll discuss it with Luke and send you an answer in the next pouch. Thank you, Mon."
"You earned it. I can't forget that. You do have to put yourself first once in awhile, and I know how many times you didn't do that for the sake of the Rebellion. I wish you could go home and that you'd be returning as one of Alderaan's senators."
Leia's voice was husky. "Thank you." She cleared her throat. "You have to go -" The Chancellor started signing off. "So I'll make this next part quick."
Mothma dropped back in her chair, her fingers rubbing her temple. "Go on."
Leia's chin came up but her eyes twinkled. "We were speaking of homes just now. Just outside the Naboo system is a small world the Empire used for mining. After stripping it of what they needed, the world was abandoned. But it's not desolate and it's unclaimed."
Mothma's reaction warred between irritation and admiration for the princess' boldness for putting so many requests in at the same time. "Alderaan was one of the foremost inner systems. Are you going to be happy away from the center of things?"
"We have nothing now. Having any home is better than that. Plus, being away from the 'center of things' allows us to focus on rebuilding. And who's to say," Leia finished, "that when we're finished, the center of the things won't move to where we are?"
The Chancellor chuckled and some of the weight from her responsibilities fell away. "Put your claim in with the rest of the diplomatic pouch. I'll forward it to the Restoration and Relocation Committee. Anything else? Need your own fleet?"
Leia managed to stay calm even with the glee dancing behind her eyes.. "No, that's all. Thank you again, Chancellor."
The second the holo closed out, Leia spun happily on Luke and Han. "I am on fire. I feel like I can do anything right now."
Han got up on his knees to look over the back of the chair. "You didn't tell me about you trainin' in this Jedi mumbo-jumbo."
"I was about to when I got a clear channel to Mon." She gave him a fierce kiss on his forehead. "I'm going to contact people I know on the Restoration and Relocation Committee while my luck holds out. Threepio! I need your help."
"My pleasure, Mistress Leia."
Her dark head leaned close to the golden, metallic one and they spoke in quiet tones. She looked over her shoulder and frowned at the two men. "Uniforms!"
Luke chuckled and headed for his rooms. He abruptly realized that if Leia had time to be doing all this, the Naboo's membership application must be completed. He looked back and noticed Han glancing worriedly up at the tapestry of Amidala.
That look - and wondering why Han made it - kept working on Luke's thoughts as much as speculating if their timetable for leaving Naboo had shortened. But it all was shoved into the back of his mind when he met Faren and entered the party with her in the same hall as that disastrous night when he and Leia couldn't speak to each other. He didn't have to shove down the memories of being isolated from his twin, cutoff from the warm sense he usually had of her; Faren's bright smiles for him - and him alone - washed away that other night and he only had to watch his sister enchant whoever came up to her to eradicate those memories. He remembered her comment of being on fire and beheld her shining with it, making him laugh softly. Faren heard him and asked what made him so cheerful. Later, he'd kick himself for telling the truth instead of smoothly saying it was because he was near her.
"She certainly seems to be having a good streak of luck," Faren said after listening to the story. "You know she turned down any chance for the throne here." No, he didn't know that, but if Leia had needed to talk about it, she knew she could come to him. "And while the Council was disappointed, they're too busy asking her to support their newest choice: Pormet. Can you believe it? Quiet Pormet! But he stepped up to the challenge that day in the throne room with Jaron, the first and best one of the Council to do so. And maybe Naboo needs a quiet King now, someone to soothe the sore spots. Of course, he has to run in the election, but no other strong candidates are coming up against him so far."
Luke turned to where Pormet was standing with the incumbent Queen speaking on different matters of state. If the man was overwhelmed at being at the forefront for the throne - and Luke'd bet he was - he didn't show it. "I think they made the right choice."
"You just like him because he liked your mother," Faren teased.
"Of course."
"Princess Leia hasn't given him her support."
"You don't have to call her princess, you know. And she can't support any candidate. No matter how much she'll remind people of it, everyone will take it that she's speaking for the Republic and the Republic swore to stay out of it. But she likes him and will probably tell him so." He saw Leia walk over to the older man and lean in to whisper something, smiling brightly even as other people took note of her favorable attitude. "See?"
Faren shook her head in disbelief and wonder. "Even with her good luck, I can't believe she got a planet and a leave of absence with a few words."
Luke nodded to a few people going by. "It's not luck. Leia has done a lot for the Alliance and will do a lot for the Republic." He felt the weight of the medals adourning his chest and of all the times the princess, in keeping with Wookie tradition, had sent dramatic descriptions of Chewie's accomplishments for retelling around Kashyyk's honor fires. She herself had never been awarded anything. "Mon Mothma knows it and doesn't need a long list from Leia to remind her. And it's very true that Leia's more use as a Jedi, to herself and the Republic. Plus the Chancellor has been expecting it and everyone else is taking leave to go home."
"And the planet?"
"The Alderaani aren't the only war refugees, but they're probably the most noticeable. So it's something else Mothma and the Republic knew would happen sooner or later, or they wouldn't have the committee. All they were waiting for is a place for them to go. Someone must have mentioned this world-"
"My mother," Faren said. "I heard her mention it to the princ- to Leia after her announcement about not staying on Naboo."
"And the world belonged to the Empire so now it belongs to the Republic and Leia puts in a claim before the others. I'm surprised she did it without actually going there-" He stopped when he saw Faren grinning and calculated the time between when he last saw Leia and Han before seeing them in the sitting room. "I take it back. Han'd get the Falcon there and back in time."
"Well, that. Plus Naboo's initial survey reports and the Empire's."
"I go away for one little morning patrol..."
Councilor Marnin, hovering around Diseks and Pormet, now made a concentrated effort to be part of the group. A corner of Luke's mouth pulled down in a grimace. "I think Leia's luck just ended." He moved closer so he could hear. So did Han who took a position behind the Councilor.
"- I thought you should know so you could respond," Marnin said.
"I don't think this is something we should bother the princess with," Pormet said.
"Marnin..." Diseks warned.
"Who's making these complaints?" Leia wanted to know, her expression dark and heavy on Marnin.
He looked ill. He was physically caught between the princess and Solo: the irresistible force and the immovable object. "None of the Naboo!" he assured the princess, obviously including himself. "None! But we have heard from other worlds... not complaints, no, I wouldn't call them that. More... concerns."
Leia faced Diseks who, after a second, nodded. "People are asking if the Republic can unify and keep such a diversified galaxy together. They go so far as to point out the weaknesses and mistakes they see already."
Leia's eyes narrowed and she turned them on Marnin again who sweated under their weight. Then, remarkably, her mouth pulled into a sardonic grin. "Oh, is that all?" To the Queen, she said, "You could have come to me. I would not want you to have the same concerns. As for these other people, you could remind them that the original Republic lasted over a thousand years in this diversified galaxy. The Empire ended before its third decade. If I can indulge in history - your history - for a moment, Naboo went through this same argument when it first turned the monarchy into an elected position. Every time a mistake was made, the detractors said this proved it would never work. The King, who served at the time, admitted to the mistakes and weaknesses, but vowed the new government was nonetheless capable of doing the job. 'After all,' he reminded them, 'even the sun has spots.'" Diseks raised her glass in compliment of the point taken. "And another thing. You might tell these... people that they should come to us directly instead of whispering amongst themselves. It's hardly a strong thing to do," Leia drawled in an aside to Pormet, "for people who are worried about weaknesses."
Marnin's moment to relax ended when she asked, "Satisfied, Councilor?"
He stared down into his glass, his voice dead. Luke could barely hear his first words. "You wouldn't believe it, but I once was one of the best. I'd never have made the Advisory Council otherwise. I let my prejudices destroy that. Princess Leia," he said, his volume more normal, "I made a serious mistake in following Jaron, and another in carrying my hatred for Vader over to you. I admit all of this and take the responsibility. But I honestly told you this news about your detractors in case you didn't know it and needed to prepare a response."
Over the man's shoulder Leia exchanged raised eyebrows with Han. She answered Marnin. "Then I owe you my thanks, Councilor," and held out her hand for his. He bowed over hers instead, with a ghost of what must have once been an elegant, court manner. He walked away, leaving a group of nonplussed people in his wake.
"He's right, you know," Queen Diseks said. "He was one of the best, and the sad thing is, he didn't do anything illegal, but I don't know if I trust him anymore."
A commotion broke out from the opposite end of the great hall. Luke sensed the guards' unease and moved Faren behind him. She stubbornly moved backed to his side, but kept a step away allowing him easier access to his saber. He felt rather than saw Chewbacca come closer to back him up, just as Han and Lando now flanked Leia. Luke tapped into that heightened Force sense Faren's nearness gave him and read what was happening. His sister's head titled towards him as she did the same thing, then whispered that all was well to the Naboo monarch.
The guards at the doorway parted and a party of five Gungans pushed their way through. Queen Diseks, Pormet, and Leia immediately started to them, more guards falling in around them, staying watchful. Boss Tarpals and the other boss crossed hurriedly, their own guards matching the wary manner of the Naboo.
Leia's hand went to her ear and her lips moved almost imperceptibly, and Threepio suddenly changed his position to better enable him to hear and see what was going on. No one could hear a response from him, but Leia slightly nodded and took her hand from her earpiece. As they reached the Gungans, she made the introductions, careful to stay behind the Queen.
"Boss Tarpals, Boss Booten." Diseks greeted them with a small bow of respect. "You are most welcome."
Tarpals took his time to scan the room and the expressions on everyone. Finally he spoke. "Des welcome'n good."
"Yes," the monarch replied firmly, "I only wish I had known your party was coming."
The Gungan leader held his head high. "Yousa sent a invitation dat yousa comen to Gungan city. So wesa again be'n allies." She agreed. "Many years ago, Amidoll wish'n to be'n oursa ally. She comen and kneel'n to Boss Nass and dey make'n friends. Days ago, Amidoll's child'n comen to maken friend wit da Republic. So dis time, wesa be'n da ones to showen respect. Wesa comen to yousa so wesa again be'n together on dis world." He led the other Gungans in bowing to the Naboo Queen.
Taken aback but recovering quickly, Diseks and Pormet bowed again. "We've been too long apart, my friends," she said. She turned slightly to include Pormet.
He said, "You have come at the most opportune time. We are finishing the Republic membership application and will have to choose Senators right after it. Now, instead of our peoples having separate agreements with the Republic, we will have one agreement and both our senators on behalf of all Naboo."
They clapped each other on the shoulder and the Gungans were introduced to the rest of the Council, followed by Leia greeting them and bringing Lando and Han forward. The Gungans instantly grabbed the men to discuss those of their people who wanted to join the Republic Fleet and armies as well as the search for their enslaved people, a discussion Solo had Chewbacca join.
Luke pulled away after his own greetings to see Faren eyeing him. "You knew," she asked, "didn't you? You knew they were at the door before they even came in."
"I remembered how their presence felt before and sensed that they meant no harm."
Her forehead puckered in thought. "Does this have to do with person you told me about, the one who... 'amplifies' the Force for you?"
He glanced around at the people milling around them and spied an open side door to the gardens outside. He took her arm. "C'mon. This isn't the place." She said nothing although she must have been curious. He saw Leia note their leaving with a concerned expression.
Once outside, Faren pulled away to lean on the wall's railing. The night air was as sweet and clean as the previous night when they had walked together. He stood now and just drank in the sight of her, unknowingly repeating her own admiration of him last night in the silver-blue light.
"Faren," he began.
"It's me, isn't it?" She still faced away so she didn't see his jump of surprise. "I'm the one who's doing it, aren't I? That's why you brought me out here. That's what you meant when you told my mother I had to be in the throne room because you and the princess needed me to confront Jaron." Her shoulders hitched. "I guess I was an idiot for not seeing it last night."
He swallowed hard. "Faren-"
"I won't ask if you're sure. You wouldn't even mention it if you weren't. Only..." She raised her head to the night sky and her olive skin was bathed in a circle of pale light catching the strain across her jaw. "...I don't feel anything. If it's true - and I know it is, I do - shouldn't I feel something?"
Am I sure? He sensed nothing in Faren like he sensed around Leia, Yoda, Ben, or his father. But Vader hadn't sensed him aboard the Falcon when it was first pulled onto the Death Star or when above Tatooine chasing down the battlestation's plans. It wasn't until Luke pulled everything he could from the vast power of the Force to fire that torpedo down the Death Star's exhaust port that Vader first sensed his ability.
So he closed his eyes now, uttered not a sound, but called her as he had called out to Leia from Cloud City. Faren... hear me. He waited for that connection, waited to see her react. The Force throbbed with all the energy of life, and the heady easiness with which it came to him, with her being so near, made him feel at once insignificant and a part of everything. But Faren obviously felt nor heard anything.
He walked the few steps between them quietly, wanting to put his arms around her waist. He knew how large this was, how surreal and almost unwanted. Hating Vader had made up her whole life; now she had a power that, in a very different way, reminded her of him. She accepted Luke, but wanted no part of that world.
He didn't put his arms around her. He didn't know if he was welcomed right now. "I'm sure."
She nodded quietly, her jaw tight. "What does it mean?"
"Only what I said before."
"I'm not a Jedi or... anything else?"
"No, you can't be. It doesn't work that way for you."
She nodded again and stood peering into the night. Finally, "Can I hurt you somehow? Could someone, I mean, use me against you?"
"There's no Sith left, Faren, no one - I know what you're going to say so hear me out. If someone like that does come around again, using you wouldn't help them at all. Because the minute they brought you with them, your ability would affect me too and the odds are even again."
"Then... could they use me against someone else? Someone innocent?"
Now he did put his arms around her and laid his head against the side of her own. "You are someone innocent. But you're not some beacon that any Force sensitive can see anywhere in the galaxy. And the odds are astronomically against someone just randomly finding you."
"You did."
"You found me," he reminded her and his very soft laughter was a tender sound. "I'm very glad you did."
"Luke-" She leaned her head against his.
"I know someone could find you, but you know the odds against that. You're a Cultural Specialist. You won't sit around Coruscant, you'll travel around the galaxy and blend in with the native population to learn their culture." He ran a strand of hair through his fingers. She had told him of the years Rabé had lived on the run from Palpatine, who had wanted to use her to find Amidala. That ended when Amidala had been found and murdered by Jaron. But Rabé hadn't known that, and had kept looking over her shoulder, teaching Faren to do the same. "And anyone with the kind of ability you're thinking of is a beacon to me. I'll find them before they ever get to you or anyone else. I'm not exactly going to put you in front of the newscams with the title 'Force Magnifier' under your name."
She tilted her head to brush his fingers with her lips. She then pulled a bit away so she could see him. "I need some time to think. Please. I just have to let this sink in." She moved away from him and into the night, the darkness swallowing her.
He only wavered for a second, then started after her, a slim figure suddenly appearing in his way. "Luke, don't," Leia warned. "She needs to be away from you right now."
"You were eavesdropping?" he snapped.
"No, I was just coming out to see if you two were okay and I saw her leave."
"I don't think she should be alone," he argued.
"You don't want her to be alone and you want to be the one with her. So would I if I were you, but we're only a reminder of what's bothering her. Someone better for her is going. Come back inside; she'll be looking for you in there."
Faren pushed through the trees and hedges separating her from the garden. Reaching the open path, she stopped, her arms hugged around herself. Too much, too soon. Coming to Naboo, meeting Vader's children including a son who challenged her preconceived ideas of him, seeing firsthand her father's final fate and confronting Jaron's madness over it, and now her world once more spun around too rapidly for her to grasp it. She held her hands up before her as if she could see the unique power the Force gave her. Luke saw it and had used it to catch Jaron when no one else could. What if someone else... someone like Vader... if Luke didn't find them first...
"They make your head spin, don't they?"
The abrupt presense startled her. Han sauntered up next to her with a casual attitude as if everyone from the party was supposed to come out here and question their place in life. She couldn't think of what to say besides "Who?"
"Skywalkers. Or Organas or whatever name they give themselves. They come in spitting fire, annoying you so much you just want to swat them and get them the hell out of your life as soon as possible. Or they throw you off with some innocent smile that makes you think you're still in control of what's going on. And then the next thing you know, you're mixed up with some stupid thing you'd never be in otherwise. But it doesn't stop there." He looked sideways at her. "You figure out you like them. So what do they do? Drag you into something else. Damn 'em."
Blinking in disbelief, her mouth twitched at the corners.
"Then the worst part comes. One of 'em really gets under your skin so that you're tryin' to run away, and you can't. You're pulled in like a black hole's got you, and you end up loving it. Every aggravating, temper filled, idealistic nonsense, hokey Jedi minute." And he smiled at her, a big open quirky smile recognizing her as a comrade of the situation.
She couldn't help it. She returned it. "That bad, huh?"
"Oh yeah, terrible. It's so bad at that point that they come after you even when you think they won't. Or shouldn't. Walk right into hell if they have to." His eyes were somewhere else, and she saw just how much it meant that those Skywalkers came after him. He came back to the here and now, and grinned again. "Course, it's better for you. You're still at the beginning. You can get away before he really gets his hooks into you. It's too late for me. Leia already dragged me away from my miserable, dirty life where she found me. Save yourself."
Her heart and mood much lighter now, she asked, "Let's say I'm already at the rim of the black hole and I choose not to break free. Any advice?"
"Do what I do. Shake your head, call yourself an idiot, complain that you hate all of it, and then revel in the ride."
"Do you... ever find yourself standing in a garden, thinking about how mixed up you are?"
"I don't have to get in a garden to realize that."
Music and voices from the party intruded again in her thoughts and the overwhelming sense of another Vader waiting to use her dwindled back to the small chance it was. If not, I hope Han's right about Skywalkers coming after you. And in time, I might get used to this... this gift. Not that I can doing anything with it apparently.
Han peered down at her. "Better?"
"Much. Thank you."
"Hey, I don't know exactly what you're going through, but I know the basic experience." He held his arm out gallantly and she took it.
As they headed back inside, she remembered what Luke had said, what her mother had taught her. "I can defend myself."
But Han mistook her comment as a part of their previous conversation. "Yeah, I used to think that too."
And there was Luke, watching her with such concern. She broke free from Han and hurried to him. His eyes flicked back and forth, searching hers. "One question," she said.
"Yes?" he asked.
Her smile spread slowly on her face. "This was the last thing I had to find out, right? No more surprises? The Emperor isn't my father?"
He blew out a long, held breath. "Not that I know of."
"Good. I think we've done enough, at least for this trip."
Relieved, he drew her in a quick hug. Behind him, Han, his arm draped over Leia's shoulders, winked at her and mouthed Black hole.