Leia crept through the halls of he home quietly. She couldn't
afford to be seen. That would completely ruin everything. Her long
nightgown trailed behind her. Nanny would probably want to know how
it got so dirty in the morning, but Leia didn't care if nanny scolded
her. What she was doing was important. She was finding out who the sad
man was.

Leia had seen him for the first time a month ago. He had been
in mommy's bedroom. Leia remembered that mommy had wanted her and Luke
to meet the sad man, but he wouldn't look at them. Leia had crawled up
on the bed. She wanted to know who was making her mommy so sad.

He'd been very pale. Leia didn't think he spent much time in
the sun. Perhaps he was in space a lot, or maybe his planet didn't get
much sun. His face had had lots of painful looking scars on it. There
was one that had gone from his hair to his neck.

His eyes had been pretty. They were blue, like Luke's. Leia
liked his eyes, but they were sad. She wondered why the sad man was so
sad. It couldn't be that he missed his mommy like Leia did whenever
mommy went away. He was with Leia's mommy and Leia's mommy was the best
mommy of all.

Leia had seen him after that. No one except Luke knew, and Luke
wouldn't tell, because if he did Leia would beat him up and he knew
it. Luke was such a wimp.

The sad man went out to the gardens at night. Leia watched him
from her window sometimes, after nanny had gone to sleep. He liked to
go to mommy's pond. Sometimes mommy or Uncle Ben would go out and stand
with him, but they never stayed for long.

Leia was going to stay though. She needed to. The sad man was
sad and Leia didn't like that. She would make him happy and then they
would play house. The sad man would be the daddy and mommy would be the
mommy and Luke and Leia would be their children and they'd all go on
fun adventures and nanny would be more fun and let Leia get her clothes
dirty.

Leia passed through the house with no problems. It wasn't until
she came to the door that she began to have trouble. The controls for
the door were to high up for her to reach. Frowning, Leia looked
around. There, the little stool Grandpa always put his feet on.

Grasping the legs of the stool Leia pulled. It didn't budge.
Grunting, Leia pulled harder. It still didn't move. Letting go Leia
plopped down on her but. Crossing her arms she glared at the stool.

"Your bad." She whispered. "You gotta go over there so I can
get outside. I ain't gonna tell nobody. I promise." The stool didn't
speak but Leia knew it had said yes. Standing up she toddled around
to the other side of the stool. She would push this time.

Within moments the doors were open and Leia was on her way down
the path to mommy's pond. Her bare feet against the stone path made
little slapping sounds. She wished she'd put on her slippers, but there
was no time now. If she went back then the sad man would be gone and
she'd have to wait all day. Leia hated waiting.

She slowed to a walk as she neared mommy's pond. Standing on
her toes, she crept into the little clearing surrounded by trees. The
sad man was there. He was standing beside the pond looking into it.
Leia wondered what was so interesting about the pond that the sad man
came every night. It had always seemed like just some water to her.

Maybe it's got somethin' to do with it bein' nighttime, she
thought to herself. I've never seen the pond then.

Still on her toes Leia snuck up behind the sad man. When she
was behind him she returned to standing normally. Rubbing a foot she
made a face. Walking on your toes hurt.

Looking up at the sad man quickly she grinned. He didn't know
she was there.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" Leia let out a quick eep as the sad
man turned around. Composing herself she gave him her best Luke did it
face. He didn't seem to be buying it.

Standing up straight Leia looked him in the eyes, although she
didn't know why it was eyes, she could only look in one eye at a time,
just like mommy did when Grandpa started talking about mommy getting
remarried. Leia didn't know what remarried was, but if mommy didn't
like it then neither did she.

"Your bein' sad, and I don't like it so stop." Leia nodded
fiercely to give her statement emphasis. She thought she saw a little
bit of a smile on the sad man face. Good, she thought, he's listening.

The sad man kneeled down so that they were at eye level. He
reached out a gloved hand and cupped her chin.

"I'm truly sorry Your Majesty. I assure you my sadness was
completely unintentional. It shall not happen again." Leia smiled at
the sad man. She still thought he sounded a little sad, but for now
his promise would do.

Grabbing his hand she began to lead him out of the small
clearing. She chattered happily all the while.

"My name's Leia and I'm not a princess or a queen or nothing
so ya don't gotta call me Majsty, but ya can if ya wanna. I don't
mind." She weaved her way through the interwoven paths of the garden.
"We can go to my tree house for now. No one'll bother us. All the
'dults are too big and Luke's 'fraid a heights. He's a big whinny baby,
but he does what I tell 'im so I let 'im stay." Leia stopped at the
base of a large tree. Looking up at it she realized her mistake.

"Oops. Ya can't come up cause yer a 'dult and they can't fit."
Suddenly she was struck with a brilliant idea. Spinning around she
grinned at him. "Can ya shrink?" The sad man cocked an eyebrow. A
small grin showed itself on is face.

"I'm afraid I can't Leia," At this Leia's head dropped and she
stamped the ground with her foot. "But I'm sure we can go some other
place to play." Leia's face brightened and she smiled up at him.

"Like where?" The sad man smiled and scooped her up in his
arms.

"There's a very pretty place by the lake. It's the perfect
place for a princess to hold court."