Leia – Age 7
Annealed
Water engulfed her.
Lungs burned with the desire for air. Her limbs shivered from the liquid's chill. Amid the cruel juxtaposition swirling blues tinged her vision. It hurt to exist, let alone endure.
For the briefest of moments, her head shot above the foaming cacophony. Time enough to start a breath, not enough to finish. Sucked back down into the noiseless churn she choked on a lungful of water. Her body began to seize in panic, yet her mind fell eerily calm. She did not fear death.
In the instant of serene acceptance, a powerful force overcame her, surrounded her in a warm layer of assurance. Her face erupted from the surface of her tomb.
"You're safe. I've got you," a smooth voice said in her ear.
She wanted to yell at him. Safe! We're in the middle of River Theed, heading towards the falls! But all her haggard body could muster was sputtering hacks.
"Can you swim?"
They seemed to be moving toward the bank. Yes, toward the bank. She could make out the growing orbs of the lights that lined Theed's riverwalk balustrade. Spurred on by renewed hope, her arms tugged and her legs kicked.
She kicked and stroked, then kicked some more, the other's grip holding her securely the whole time.
"That's it," he encouraged after a ceaseless struggle.
"How…much fur-ther?" she gasped when their progress became intangible.
"Ever closer," he replied, and tried to offer a faint smile.
"Can't your Force just save you?" Really she meant us. Can't it save us? It was a modicum of optimism, but it was all she had.
He had no answer; he just cast his blue eyes back toward the island, toward the crypt and the awful truth.
The truth. Her mind still grappled with it all. Padmé was gone; her beauty snuffed out forever. The bank was getting no closer; in fact she was sure the current was pulling them faster toward the falls. She was caught in the embrace of a Jedi of all things, a Jedi who couldn't use the Force for fear that the monster they fled would find them out.
This was surely hell.
She wanted to scream for the madness of it all. She was screaming for the madness of it all. Her voice shrieked in her ears. Her hands slapped the water sucking away her life. Her feet kicked off her savior.
Then suddenly she was being tugged down. Into the water. No more screams. Just weight. Cold. Dark. Nothingness…
Save fingers pinching her shoulder in a desperate hold.
"Sabyne," the voice rumbled through the watery grave. "Sabyne." More insistent this time.
"Sabé!"
A whispered shout jolted her back to reality. She blinked in the darkness, searching for the one who knew her real name. Framed against the moonlight, she recognized Bail's grim features. Her eyes darted to the window streaked with raindrops. Lightning sizzled in the night sky, flashing illumination into the room, and the heavens grumbled ominously – a thunderstorm. Of course, the dreams always came with the rain.
As had many other terrible events of her life.
Sabé shot from the bed, her feet slipping instinctively into the leggings placed at the ready on the floor. "What is it?" she asked as she shimmied them over her hips.
"He's here." Bail spoke softly, but the words boomed like hammerdrops in her ears. "On planet. He just arrived unannounced –"
"Who?" she interrupted, her fingers deftly lacing her boots. She had to be sure.
"Vader." The name exploded inside her mind like a planet shattered with an immeasurable force.
Her body wanted to wilt in fear, but Sabé harnessed decades of training and fueled it with years of unadulterated hate. That monster had crushed the life out of her friend. It would be a disservice to Padmé's memory to let that knowledge paralyze her in a moment of reckoning. Armed with duty she crossed the room, sweeping off her nightshirt as she went.
"What does he want?" she asked, her back to him as she grabbed a dark shirt off the top of the bureau.
"No one knows." Bail was studying his feet when Sabé faced him. "If he comes to the palace…"
"Oh, he's coming to the palace," she said, strapping on her weapons belt.
"Do you think he can sense her?"
"I don't know."
Drawing up to his full height, Bail paced the distance to stand before her. "I need you to be honest. Is she showing signs?"
"Yes." There was no time to hedge, only the truth.
"What did Kenobi instruct you about this?"
Her face was lowered, her eyes inspecting the charge on her blaster, or Bail would have seen the grimace at the mention of that time. Often she regretted having confessed to Bail those harrowing days she and Obi-Wan had shared on Naboo. Deep down, though, she knew there had been no way around it. Not for Leia's sake.
Meeting Bail's dark gaze, she remembered what Obi-Wan had told her. "Run."
He regarded her for a long moment, then spurred into action, ushering her to the door of Leia's suite. "So be it." He placed a small bag of credits in her hand. "Take her."
She pocketed the currency in her belt pouch, then tightened the vibroblade holster on her forearm. "And you?"
"I will stay here. I must."
Sabé sheathed the blade and brushed down her sleeve to conceal it. "And Brehu?"
Rocking from foot to foot, Bail glanced to his wristchrono. "She is still in the infirmary. Her condition is guarded, but improving."
"So she's conscious."
"Yes."
"You must sedate her," Sabé ordered.
Bail's jaw drew back sharply. "She is my wife."
"She will be your daughter's undoing if you aren't careful." With that Sabé turned to the door controls and punched in the entry code. Ultimately, she trusted Bail would do the right thing. There was no further need to argue the matter. The controls chimed in acknowledgement, and the door swept open.
"Illumination three-quarters," she said, sweeping into the room.
Sabé had designed the child's quarters like the Queen's on Naboo. There was only one way in – through the external handmaiden's quarters. While Sabe's room was sparse, the princess' chamber was spacious and grand in its appointments. Curled in the middle of the enormous circular bed at the center of the room, Leia slumbered peacefully in the knowledge she was completely safe from harm.
With his longer stride, Bail reached the bed first. He leaned over and shook the child awake. "Leia."
Weekly drilling since age five had taught the little girl to snap quickly from sound asleep to fully awake. Even so, Bail stepped back with a start at her sudden scramble to the bed's edge. As Sabé quietly slipped to Leia's side, the child's clothes in hand, he eyed the handmaiden with a look of bolstered respect.
"What is it this time?" Leia yawned, holding up her arms so Sabé could slip on her shirt. "Pirates in the space lanes? Rebels at the gates?"
"This time it is not a drill," Sabé answered when Leia's head had emerged from her shirt.
The child's brown eyes shot round. She glanced to her father, then back to her protector. Her lips drew into a thin line, and she nodded resolutely. "I understand."
Bail lowered to one knee, taking his daughter by the shoulder. "Listen to Sabyne and everything will be right, child."
"You're not coming, Papa?"
"Don't worry for me," he said with a false smile. "Only yourself."
Squaring her shoulders, Leia tipped her head. Bail swept his courageous daughter into a crushing embrace. A flash of fear crossed his eyes as he kissed the tussle of her brown hair. It was gone just as quickly, and he pushed her away.
"I love you, Papa," Leia said, taking Sabé's hand. "I promise to be brave."
"I know you will be," he said, standing once more. His comlink chirped, and a hard mask crossed his features. He turned his back and retreated toward the door. "I love you, too."
The door sealed shut, leaving Sabé alone with her charge. For the span of several trembling heartbeats, they stood frozen. Sabé drew in a deep breath and reached for the calm center left by years of drill and experience. She had to be the strong one this time. There was no other handmaiden to fall back upon, no Dormé or Eirtaé. No Padmé, who had fought at their sides.
There was only Sabé and a child, Padmé's child.
Outside lurked the mutilated vestige of a father who had earned only the right of ignorance to his child's precious life.
"Finish dressing," she said in a sweeping exhale, then crossed the room to the lone window.
Sabé passed her fingers along the frame, feeling for the correct indentation. This she had designed, too. The window was inaccessible from the outside, protected above and below by various countermeasures. From inside it could only be opened by two signatures, the fingerprints of Bail or Sabé. She found the barely detectable dip where her finger fit and placed it there. An instant later, the window's locks released in a hiss.
"I'm ready." Leia arrived at her side, a little breathless but composed. Her outfit was complete: dark clothes, sturdy play boots, and a lightweight jacket.
"Just like we practiced," Sabé reminded her as she lifted the lid to the window seat. The child nodded mutely as the handmaiden uncovered the secret compartment inside the seat. She had to lean into the enclosure, balancing the lid on her shoulders, to retrieve everything she needed. Arms burdened with a rope ladder, ascension gun, and two harnesses, Sabé realized she was stuck. "Leia, how about holding the seat?"
The weight remained, so Sabé stayed.
"Leia, hold the seat."
Still nothing.
"Leia," she growled.
At last a patter of feet announced the girl's arrival, and the weight lifted off Sabé's shoulders. "Sorry," the child said, looking duly admonished as Sabé emerged flushed from her exertion.
"From now on, you don't leave…" She hesitated, noting the familiar drape of Padme's japor snippet across Leia's neck. "…my side."
"I won't."
"Keep that hidden," Sabé reminded her, eying the pendant.
As Leia tucked away the necklace, Sabé separated the equipment. She handed Leia her harness and then stepped into her own. It took only a few seconds to unfurl the ladder and attach it to the sill. When drops of cold rain buffeted her face and hands, Sabé remembered it was a stormy night, not the calm daytime in which they usually practiced these escapes.
Drawing Leia to her, she pulled up the tiny hood of her jacket and secured it snugly. "Keep dry."
Sabé snapped the two harnesses together, then climbed onto the window seat. She held out her hand and Leia joined her, peeking her head into the driving rain. Without any direction, the girl flung a leg over the sill. A second later, she had disappeared into night.
Peering down the ladder's path, Sabé judged Leia's descent and let out enough line between the two harnesses to not hinder the girl. Quicker than usual the familiar double tug told Sabé that Leia had reached the tiny ledge below, which for security reasons only emerged from the palace wall when the window locks were deactivated. Hand over hand Sabé retracted the ladder. She flung open the window seat, and tossed the ladder into its hidden compartment.
With the ascension gun in one hand, Sabé clambered out onto the sill. Staring up into the night rain, she had some difficulty visualizing the small outcropping a meter above the window, but hundreds of repetitions gave her a physical memory that allowed her to aim and hit her target anyway. Sabé gave the gun a firm tug to check the hold.
"I really do hate this part," she muttered as rain dripped down her nose. She sighed resolutely, pressed her finger back into the window lock, and swung free of the sill. As she dangled twenty meters above the palace grounds, the window sealed shut.
She triggered the ascension gun to lower her to the ledge below. At the same time, Sabé began to count in her head. One, two, three…
Her feet hit the smooth duracrete lip a couple seconds later. "Twenty five seconds, Leia." A gentle reminder that time was their precious ally, because at the end of the countdown, the ledges above and below would retract back flush with the exterior wall.
The girl sidled out of the way. Sabé dropped to a sitting position, facing the wall, and hooked her feet into a decorative valance. In one smooth move she whipped backward and ended dangling upside down, her lower legs anchored to the ledge above. Reaching up, she took Leia's tiny hands with crossed arms. The girl locked her dark eyes on Sabé, the two nodded in unison, and after a deep exhale they executed a daring move with practiced skill.
Sabé rolled backward. Leia followed in a controlled dive. Sabé uncrossed her arms, spinning Leia. At the base of their arc, they released their hold on each other, and the girl landed in a crouch on the balcony below. As soon as Sabé was sure Leia was safe, she unhooked her feet from the valance. Swinging her torso up, then back, she flipped off the ledge. After a tight somersault through the air, she spotted her target and opened her legs for a landing worthy of a tuskcat. Overhead, she could hear the ledge begin to recede into the wall.
Leia hovered in the shadows, her harness already unhooked as she had been taught. Sabé discarded hers, then directed the girl onward. The dangerous descent over, the pair silently began their journey across the numerous balconies that lined the palace, slowly winding their way toward ground level. The route was tougher than usual, made slick by the rain and treacherous from the wind. They were both careful, and Leia had always been coordinated beyond her years. Somewhat winded but no worse for wear, they arrived at the most challenging part of their escape.
As part of its security, there was only one bridge into the palace proper. To stay hidden they couldn't travel across the upper deck in full view. Instead the pair would negotiate the narrow lip carefully concealed among the stone and brick composition of the bridge's façade. Even then, they would be somewhat exposed.
Afraid to call any undue notice their way, neither spoke as they crept out onto the tiny ledge that ran below the bridge's balustrade. Leia hunched slightly to avoid being seen. Sabé, on the other hand, had to keep her head down and move along in a crouch. To make up for what she couldn't see, she kept her ears attuned to the sounds above, buffering the roar of the river below into the back of her mind.
Halfway across the bridge, the unified clip of dozens of booted feet vibrated from overhead. Sabé increased her pace. Her hands stretched out to urge Leia forward and ended up bracing between their eventual collision. The sudden stop caused Sabé to lose her footing. Leia snatched her and pulled them both against the bridge's wet wall.
The girl said nothing, but Sabé could see the terror blazing in her eyes. Slowly, she straightened up and peered through the balustrade's opening. There was a wall of white armored legs as far as she could see. Her eyes scanned for an end and stopped abruptly at a pair of black boots. At that very instant, the procession of clonetroopers halted in formation.
Sabé scooted down and plastered her body to the slick stone wall. Her heart pounded so hard in her chest she couldn't even make out the patter of rain. She tried to keep any trace of fear off her face as she turned to Leia.
The little girl mouthed. "Vader."
Sabé couldn't even nod to agree, or offer the child moral support. She raised a finger to remind Leia to be silent. Her heart had been racing, but it stopped cold when she heard the whir of forced respiration.
"Your orders, Lord Vader?" a clone asked from directly above them.
There was no response at first, just the buzz of air sucking in and blowing out the monster's lungs. A hand snatched Sabé's arm and she practically jumped out of her skin. It was Leia, trying to find some comfort for her frantic trembling. There was nothing her protector could do for her.
"My Lord?"
"I sense something…" The rumble of Vader's modulated voice sent chills down Sabé's spine. She imagined Leia's terror was worse than her own – above stood the dark stalker of childhood nightmares – yet the girl remained frozen in place. For once, Sabé wished for the Force, for a way to conceal their existence with simply a thought, but it wasn't to be. Instead, she had to pray to the gods of Naboo, Alderaan, and many more systems to save them from a tragic fate.
"Lord Vader, to what do I owe this unexpected visit?"
Who needed the Force when you had Bail Organa? Apparently he had come marching right out of the palace to meet the monster in their midst.
"Senator, it has been too long." Vader remained at his position by the balustrade.
"Please, you are a guest of Alderaan. Come inside out of the rain." There wasn't a hint of fear in Bail's voice.
"In a moment." They could hear Vader leaning on the balustrade, and both Sabé and Leia pressed as tight as humanly possible to the wall.
"I must insist, my Lord. There are many rebellious souls about. It is not safe out here."
"I agree, sir," a clonetrooper interjected. "It's not safe."
"Do you think I am afraid?" Vader roared over the growing onslaught of rain.
"Not at all," Bail replied smoothly. "It is more for my own safety, unfortunately. My loyal work for the Empire makes me a target."
"Very well." Vader's voice drifted away. "We do have matters to discuss."
Heavy lumbering steps marked the monster's movement. Sabé didn't dare budge until the squads of troopers were well underway. She waited, balanced on the slim ledge over roaring waters, while rain soaked her to the bone. When she thought it was safe, she counted to ten.
Halfway in her pivot, Sabé found Leia desperately clutching the balusters. Her face plastered between two of them. Her eyes followed the Imperial contingent into the palace. Leia's body shook violently.
"Kill Papa. Kill Papa." The little girl said it over and over.
"Leia." Sabé touched her shoulder.
The girl didn't seem to notice. She simply repeated the two ominous words like she was trapped in a trance. Just when Sabé had decided a good slap might be necessary, Leia drew her gaze away from the closing palace gates and looked sightlessly into the distance. "He's going to kill Papa."
Faster than the blink of an eye, Leia launched halfway up the balustrade. Sabé wasn't prepared. She snatched at a leg, snaring a bare ankle. Her fingers felt like they were touching fire, and released of their own accord.
"Alderaan will burn," Leia cried out, scrambling onto the balustrade.
Sabé gawked at her angry, throbbing fingertips. There was no time to wonder what was happening, though. She reached for a pant leg and called over the howling rainstorm, "Leia, stop!"
Leia kicked her off. "Save them."
Sabé watched in horror as Leia lost her grip on the wet rail. Sabé swiped, grasping for any part of her, an arm or piece of jacket, anything. Her fingers met with air, nothing more.
She couldn't even scream out as Leia met her gaze, dark eyes widened with fear of impending doom. She could only watch Padmé's daughter fall into the raging river below. A tiny splash, then nothing, as Sabé's living nightmare engulfed Leia and pulled her under.
After the initial shock, her instincts took over. There wasn't even a question whether Sabé would follow her ward into the cold, dark hell. Her boots were off, her jacket shed. She crossed her arms over her chest and stepped off the ledge. As she fell she grabbed hold of her nose, then braced. Not even old memories could prepare her for the freezing crush of melted mountain water swallowing her alive. Her body wanted to gasp, but she staved off the primal urge. Determination was a powerful ally.
Leia needed her.
Kicking for the surface, Sabé wondered if she would ever breathe air again. Then suddenly her head erupted from the water. As the foaming swirl of waves pummeled her from every direction, Sabé sucked in a quick breath. This time there would be no Jedi to rescue her; she was the savior. She used every failing from the last time to her advantage.
Once she was secure in the reasonless rhythm of the water's dance, Sabé began to look around. She moved about in a mixture of treading water and swimming, always being pulled forward by the current. The stormy night shed little light on the rippling surface. With her dark hair and dark clothes, Leia might as well have been a tuskcat against forest flora. Still Sabé persisted.
Bob. Swim. Tread. Always eyes searching.
Again and again. Always finding nothing.
Nothing but a black ribbon of water.
Find Leia.
Or die trying.
Die failing.
Find her.
Little Leia.
Leia!
A glint of something lighter than the obsidian surface caught Sabé's gaze. An arm thrashed. Then a drenched head thrust out of the water. Leia was only a meter ahead.
Sabé called over the water's rage. Leia didn't hear her, though. The struggling child gulped for air and instead swallowed a heavy wave. In turn the wave swallowed her. The last Sabé saw of Leia was her small hand trying to take a final hold on the surface.
"No!" Sabé surged forward, keeping her eye on the spot ahead. Where she believed Leia had been sucked under she dove. It was impossible to see anything. She groped wildly, feeling for anything solid.
When her lungs felt the stab of a thousand vibroblades she surfaced. One deep breath and she plunged into the cold darkness. In less time than before, the demands of her punished body required her to rise for more air.
Sabé would have cried, but the heavens were already doing it for her. The one opponent from whom she had feared death was water. It was even more horrific to imagine Leia losing the same battle. Since returning without her charge was an impossibility, Sabé made the grim decision to fight the river until she could fight no more.
She chugged a gulp of air and returned to the battle. Her eyes open even though there was nothing to see. She went deeper than ever before. Down until her eardrums shrieked against the unrelenting weight pressing them inward.
One more stroke, she ordered her oxygen starved body. Like leaden weights her limbs complied, pulling…
Her hand smacked into something thin. A cord. Closing her fingers, she felt the familiar ridges of carved japor, the same ridges that had rested in her palm for the first years after Padmé's death. Pulling on the cord, Sabé was able to capture Leia in her arms.
Up she kicked with all her might, beating her legs in a frenzied pace, her hollow lungs telling them the direction. Eternity was the time it took to break out of their enemy's grasp.
Air howled into Sabé's lungs. Not so for Leia. She lay limp in her protector's arms, not even a tremor of life as Sabé struggled for the shore. Dead weight to be dragged onto the bank.
The handmaiden crashed to her knees, rocks digging into her freezing skin. Tenderly she placed Leia upon the wet soil. The blessed pendant rested against the girl's breastbone, seemingly as content as it had been in Padmé's hand in the crypt.
"You can't have her," Sabé whispered to the night.
Fully prepared to battle for the girl's life she almost missed the soft rise of the japor snippet. She was sure her eyes had not deceived her when Leia contorted, heaving water out of her lungs. Sabé rolled the child on her side and soothed her damp hair as her body tried to recover. Slowly regular breath returned and swiftly converted to ragged sobs.
Gently, Sabé took Leia into her arms. "You're safe now. I've got you."