Chapter Three

To Leia's relief, Winter's parents gave her permission to go to Shadowcliff. Bail himself came to pick the girls up from school, their bags already packed and loaded in the speeder. Another speeder followed them carrying the Naraud family, but during the ride to the mountains, Leia could pretend they didn't exist. She and Winter chatted happily away during the trip, making plans as if they didn't have obnoxious guests to contend with over the coming days.

But as they pulled up the pathway to the Organa family's mountain lodge, Leia's spirits wavered. The moment of arrival was usually one of joy, but this weekend the beloved retreat would be more of a prison. The speeder had hardly stopped before Leia opened her door and headed toward the river, but she had only gone a few steps when she heard her father's soft voice. "Leia."

That one word stopped her as effectively as if her father had grabbed her by the arm. She sighed deeply, planted a vaguely friendly smile on her face, and turned back to greet her guests.

The Narauds' speeder hovered to a stop nearby, and the family stepped out into the late afternoon sun. The governor, dressed in his steel gray Imperial uniform, Lady Naraud wearing civilian clothes just as stern as any uniform, and their three children: Jaffia, a few years older than Leia and Winter, her long hair styled elaboratly on top of her head; Dal, mussed bangs hanging into his large, brown eyes; and little six-year-old Teena, who had the indecency to be cute and adorable, with fat cheeks and irresistibly curly black hair. In fact, all three of the Naraud children, even with Jaffia's haughtiness and Dal's grubby fingers, looked horrifyingly...normal.

Bail approached them. "Governor, Lady, welcome to Shadowcliff. I hope this weekend will prove a pleasant retreat for you," he greeted. "Let's get you settled into your rooms, and then we'll give you the grand tour."

Lady Naraud nodded slightly, excuding boredom, but the governor breathed the air deeply, his chest puffing out, and smiled at Bail. "How wonderful! You're fortunate to have such a lovely hideaway, Viceroy, and we're so grateful for your hospitality in sharing it with us." He turned to his children, who were standing awkwardly in the gravelled path. "Look, kids! Real mountains!"

Jaffia showed as much interest as her mother, Dal was enthusiastically picking his nose as he stared up at the tall trees, and Teena whined, "I gotta go pee!"

"Dal, stop that," Lady Naraud scolded, pulling Dal's finger out of his nose, while the governor held a hand out to his youngest, saying, "Come along, sweetie. I'll take you."

As they headed up the path to the house, Bail cocked an eyebrow at Leia. "Why don't you take Jaffia and Dal to see the river? I'm sure they'd love it."

Masking her annoyance, Leia turned to the two elder children. "Would you like to?"

"Sure!" Dal said, and Jaffia didn't look completely opposed to the idea.

"It's this way," Leia indicated, and she took off on a branch of the path, Winter and the two Narauds following her. "Have you ever been to the mountains before?" she politely asked.

"Never," Dal said. "Are there wild animals here?"

"Yes," replied Leia.

"Do they ever eat anyone?"

Suppressing a laugh, Leia said, "Not that I know of. But there's a first time for everything." She glanced over at Winter, who was hiding a smile behind her hand.

Dal looked disappointed, and Jaffia stared down her nose at Leia. "Maybe the Alderaani pacifism extends to its wildlife as well."

With a sly grin, Winter offered, "Sometimes you can hear the tree lions screeching at night."

Jaffia paled. Attempting to appear aloof, she sneered, "I suppose they're vegetarians."

"No," Leia said with barely suppressed glee.

Dal seemed pleased by the news. He glanced around at the trees again, as if he could see the lions. "I thought it would be cold in the mountains," he commented.

"It'll get cold at night, but it can be quite hot during the day," Leia explained.

"Maybe we can build a fire tonight! And tomorrow we can climb some mountains!"

Leia shrugged. "Maybe." She decided that his enthusiasm was obnoxious. He probably wouldn't be able to appreciate all the wonders that Shadowcliff had to offer.

They came to the streambank, and Leia announced pointlessly, "Here's the river."

"Wow!" Dal exclaimed, looking up the mountainside where the water came tumbling down. "This is great. Can we swim in it?"

"It's not really big enough," Leia said.

Winter added, "Besides, the water is very cold. This is snow melt."

"Really?" Dal that knelt down on the bank, muddying his pants legs and plunging his arm up to the elbow in the swirling water. "It's freezing!" he happily exclaimed. His eye caught on a glint of light shining at the bottom of the riverbed. "Is that gold?"

Leia froze. It was really just shiny bits of mica, but her father used to tell her it was magic river gold. How could this ignorant, repressed Imperial have the same idea?

"Don't be stupid, Dal," Jaffia scoffed. "They're just rocks." She turned to Leia and Winter. "This river's awfully noisy."

"I like it," Leia said defensively. "At night I crack my window open so I can hear it."

"I probably won't be able to sleep," Jaffia complained. "I'm just not used to such primitive wilderness."

Winter edged closer, sensing that Leia's temper might blow at any minute, but before Leia could say anything her father wouldn't approve of, Dal spoke up again from where he knelt on the riverbank. "Are there fish in this river?"

Leia glanced down at him. "Yes."

"Can we go fishing? I've never gone fishing before!"

Leia frowned. This wasn't supposed to be happening. The governor's son wasn't supposed to be... fun. At her side, Winter piped up, "It's not fishing season." Leia shot her a disapproving glance. There was no such thing as a fishing season, but Winter merely smiled. Leia sighed. After all, she *had* promised.

"Sorry, Dal," she said.

"Awww." The boy's shoulders drooped in disappointment. He glanced back up toward the house and saw someone approaching. "Who's that?" he asked, pointing.

The girls turned and saw a woman carrying a toolbox in one hand. She limped awkwardly down the rough path, as if one of her legs was shorter than the other. Her face was lined and weathered, and a long scar cut across her forehead, over one eye and down to her jaw. To top off her bizarre, vaguely sinister appearance, she sported a shock of moss green hair. The two Naraud children shrank back, startled by the stranger's appearance, but Leia and Winter smiled warmly at her.

"Aris!" Leia called out, rushing up to the woman and hugging her around the waist. "Papa didn't tell me you were coming."

"Of course, I was coming. Your father couldn't find his own feet without me to look after him."

Her voice was brusque, almost harsh, but her blue eyes sparkled, and Leia giggled, asking, "What's the box for? Are you fixing something?"

Aris nodded farther down the stream. "An old tree fell on the footbridge. I have to fix it before you kids climb on that thing and fall into the river and break your necks."

"Can we help?" Winter asked.

Aris rolled her eyes with an exasperated air. "I'd love it," she said in a voice that clearly said otherwise.

Ignoring her sarcasm, Leia and Winter happily dashed down the path with Aris, the two Naraud children following a bit more cautiously. Further down the stream they found the damaged bridge, a long, narrow tree trunk leaning against it. The tree wasn't very large, but it had knocked several of the bridge's slats out.

As Aris waded out into the stream to get a better look, surprisingly agile despite her bad leg, Jaffia asked, "Is that your servant?"

Leia scowled to hear Aris referred to as a "that." "She's my father's personal assistant." Also an aide, an advisor, and a bodyguard, but Leia wasn't about to let Jaffia and Dal know that.

"Why does she limp like that?" Dal wanted to know.

"It's an old injury." Leia knew there was an exciting story behind Aris's scars, but of course she was considered too young to know the truth.

"She can't be a very useful servant with a bad eye and a messed up leg," Jaffia said.

"Don't judge by appearances," Leia rebuked.

They watched as Aris sought out a good grasp on the tree trunk. Jaffia said, "She doesn't actually think she can move that tree by herself, does she?"

Leia remained silent, a smug little grin on her lips. The children watched as Aris braced herself beneath the trunk and pushed up against it. The trunk slowly rose, until Aris had pushed it clear and let it fall into the stream. Leia felt a strange tingling along her scalp as Aris moved the tree. She felt it sometimes around the woman. It was the oddest sensation. She had once asked Winter about it, but Winter said she never felt anything, and she teased Leia that the strange feeling meant Leia had a crush on Aris. In truth, she *did* have a crush on her. Aris was without doubt the most interesting grown-up Leia had ever meant or even heard of, but she doubted the sensation had anything to do with her crush.

As the tree fell into the water with a splash, Dal whistled in admiration. "How did she do that?"

"Aris is very strong," Leia boasted, shooting a smug glance at Jaffia.

The girl was trying very hard not to be impressed. To divert attention away from Aris's feat, Jaffia said, "That bridge doesn't look very stable."

Leia scowled. Jaffia seemed determined to find fault with everything. "I helped build that bridge with my cousins. We had eight people standing on it once. It won't break."

"Well, I'm not getting on it," Jaffia sniffed.

Aris opened the toolbox for a hammer and some nails, and Leia called out, "Can we help?"

Aris shot her a skeptical look. "If you think you can be useful."

"Well, I'm not helping. That's servant's work," Jaffia scoffed.

Leia and Winter approached Aris, and Dal hesitated, wanting to join in but wary of Jaffia's disapproval. He glanced uncertainly at his sister.

"Don't you go there, Dal," she warned. "That bridge will fall apart any second, and you'll get hurt. We're going inside." And she grabbed Dal's hand to pull him up the path toward the house.

Leia watched them go. She knew her father would want her to go with them to act as host, but she wanted to shirk her duty for just a little while longer. She climbed carefully out onto the bridge and sat down, swinging her legs above the river. "I can hold the nails for you," she offered.

Aris smirked and handed her the nails. "Whatever would I do without you, Princess?" was her sarcastic reply.

Winter climbed out next to Leia and sighed, "Oh, Aris, you should have seen the look on Jaffia's face when you lifted that tree! Served her right, the priss."

Positioning a nail, Aris hammered it into one of the loose planks. "Why should I care about her opinion of me? She's not my boss."

"But Aris, she's just awful!" Leia scowled. "Stupid, stuck-up Imperials."

"Now who's stuck-up?" Aris replied, taking another nail. "You'd better not let your father hear you talking like that."

A bit stung, Leia retorted, "Well, he's in the house, so he won't hear me. And you won't tell him, will you?"

Aris paused in her hammering long enough to shoot Leia a warning look. "I suppose I won't," she said. "Besides, if I told him every time you did something you're not supposed to, I'd never get anything productive done."

"I knew you wouldn't tell!" Leia beamed. "And I know you hate Imperials as much as I do."

"Hate is a mighty strong word, and not one to be thrown around lightly. No one should be hated just because of what they are, not even Imperials. Prejudice of any kind is wrong." She fixed a fierce blue gaze on Leia. "Your father raised you better than that, Princess."

Leia blushed in shame. Of course Aris was right, but it just felt so good to hate Imperials! She sighed. "I know. But it's hard sometimes."

Aris's expression softened. "Yes, but you girls are smart. You know what's the right thing to do. Now, why don't you let me handle those nails while you go rescue your father? Abandoning him to deal with the Imps all by himself! I've a mind to beat you two for being so cruel to him."

"All right, all right!" the girls chorused. They scrambled to their feet and headed up toward the house, calling, "See you later, Aris!"