Chapter Twelve Responses:
SUP3R G1R: I love Han. Always have. Always will. ;)
SailorLeia: Thank you! Han/Leia interaction is always a joy to write!
Aladailey: Ah, well. Many readers seem to want to know that. :) Yes, Ivoen will eventually find out -- hoping for a Will moment from the first season of Alias. We'll see how it goes!
Summers2004: Nah, Leia's got Han. What could possibly go wrong in that scenario:)
Saber Girls: Sarcasm and irony are certainly in abundance in this story. Thanks for reading!
Hananiah: I always thought that was why the two of them worked: they're more alike than they realized and both know that pity won't solve their individual problems. :)
Trout: A larger plot? Oh, well, I'll get going on it right now . . . :)
Angryteabag: Actually, I'm quite awful at the mushy romance junk . . . it winds up being more mental mush than physical and I'm not that keen on writing the physical anyway! Glad you liked that chapter, though!
Clare: A bit longer of a wait, but here's another!
Mirax Myra Terrik: You don't have to make up for anything - I appreciate reviews when you can give them, but don't worry about it. I lurk a lot and I know its hard sometimes to say positive things! Thanks for your kind words, though!
Ophelia-Eternal: Well, I do have a thing for Lucas, so . . . :)
Chapter Thirteen Responses:
Trinity Day: Why, thank you! I'm glad you think I've done Leia justice. :)
Sailor Leia: There's actually quite a few H/L fans our age, have you noticed? I always thought I was alone in my generation of SW AniAmi fanatics. :)
Aladailey: Yes, you're absolutely right that it was a filler. That's why I hated it. :) Thanks!
Ophelia-Eternal: Stormtroopers have started to creep me out after watching ROTS. Maybe that's just me . . .
HSG: Nope. Not a teen. And very, very happy about it!
SuP3R G1R: Maybe this one'll be a bit better? Thanks for reading!
Summers2004: Thanks! Leia's sense of family is skewed a bit, so it's been fun to think of ways to play with that. Unfortunately, it is time to move on to the actual plot of the story, so it'll only be a bit of the incongruities I've thought about.
Sarge1: Another almost twenty-year-old! See, Sailor Leia? They do exist! Thank you for your extremely kind words - they really translate into a huge ego boost for me. Thanks!
Clare: Thank you!
Trout: Yeah, yeah. Action. Right. Hey, it's like an hour until you're picking me up! How exciting is that?
Okay, people. Here's the next chapter . . .
Chapter 14
Leia soon understood why every pilot, mechanic, receptionist, foot trooper, defense guard, aide, and High Council member she knew complained about a neurotic family life. Everyone had one.
Ivoen was no different.
The Sorrehs were treating their guest to a home-cooked meal, a novelty of the residence, it seemed. Mrs. Sorreh was currently in a razed state of keening, a woman of incredible societal value rendered useless in the kitchen. Leia had attempted to give her aid, but was rebuffed through the older woman's sobs and wailings and was politely asked to take a seat and enjoy the view. How anyone could attempt to enjoy anything among the racket that woman was making Leia didn't know, but she posed half-heartedly at one pane of the expansive viewport and blew what she hoped was a whimsical sigh.
Surrounded by ocean and supported by stilts, the Sorreh's vacation home reminded Leia of the rain-spattered cities of Kamino – albeit in a distant, kindlier way. Unlike Kamino, Rivaicnev City spanned across a durasteel bridge to the nearby continent; selected few citizens were given permission to build stilted homes, most circular, with a view of both land and ocean and the luxury of unrestricted building space. The less fortunate resided upon the landed mass and worked the various tourist centers of the shoreline. Leori was correct about the size of the town – they'd sped through it, although Ivoen assured her the outlaying centers were nearby and the trip was to include a quick hop to the northern-most center for "recreational delights", as Mrs. Sorreh said. Leia only hoped "recreational delights" didn't include a stay at anything remotely akin to a kitchen – one droid-unassisted meal by Mrs. Sorreh was quite enough.
"Fortunately, she doesn't do this often," a deep voice said behind her. "It's only for exceptional company that she attempts these culinary debacles. Irony loves the Sorrehs, it seems."
Leia turned to look at Leori, upon whose face a slight smile had appeared. "I'm certainly happy to be considered 'exceptional company', but this really isn't necessary."
"I know." He was silent for a moment, and Leia turned toward the pane again, almost closing her eyes as a particularly loud sob carved through the quiet. Leori sighed. "You have my most sincere apologies, Rimmas."
She turned again. "Why?"
"The only part of this meal more painful than the preparation will be the meal itself." The secretive smile appeared again. "Apologies."
Leia laughed. "I've had worse, I assure you." Ration bars, dried bantha, crusted nerf . . . welcome to the Rebellion . . . eventually we'll be eating ice chips from sheer ration rationing, just wait . . . "Nothing can shock me."
"Mmm, well, it's a particular gift that woman has. You'll see."
Leia almost winced. This is going to be a long weekend. I can feel it already.
Leia had long ago given up her attempts to enumerate her euphemisms for the dining experience. She'd spent the first half an hour in deep conversation, simultaneously scrounging her brain for the proper word to describe Mrs. Sorreh's well-meaning meal. She tried "interesting", saw that it was too obviously derisive. Then "nice" crept in, but she'd never liked anything "nice" before. "Fantastic"? "Incredible"? "Perfect"?
I'm not a good enough liar for this.
How in the galaxy did I ever get elected to the Senate if I can't even lie to my roommate's mother?
Leia felt her stomach twinge and wondered if maybe Mrs. Sorreh had unwittingly poisoned the number three most wanted being in the Empire. She put her utensil on the plate and sat back, watching the Sorrehs to see what the reaction would be, feeling completely incompetent and at a loss for her magic euphemism.
Leori nodded toward his wife. "Elaep, I think you've outdone yourself here. Really, ingenious work with the vegetables, dear. I've never seen them quite that shade of vermillion."
Leia coughed into her napkin, let the cloth hide her grin, as Mrs. Sorreh took the compliment in the calculated way with an enormous exhalation and a bright smile. That's talent, that is. She lowered her eyes as she nodded her affirmation and stood up, dusting of her pants, and inquired as to the sleeping arrangements.
"We've only got the two rooms, I'm sorry, dear, did you want your own room, because I'm sure we can figure out something, I'm so sorry, dear, will you ever forgive me, I'm just mortified – "
"Elaep. Quiet. I'm sure you didn't mean to cause an entire furniture rearrangement session, did you, Rimmas?"
She laughed lightly. "Not by any means. I'm perfectly fine sleeping in the same room as Ivoen."
"Yeah, Mom, Rims and I are used to it by now. Don't have a fit, okay?"
Mrs. Sorreh busied herself anyway, throwing a plethora of heavy blankets on both Leia and Ivoen's beds, fluffing already enormous pillows, checking the room temperature continually as if the walls were threatening to freeze them all by morning. Leia wasn't sure she'd ever seen a woman of such high capacity to both disgust and enamor her own child; Ivoen looked on the verge of exploding by the mere mention of her comfort or necessities.
Eventually, Ivoen managed to get her mother to vacate the room by pushing her physically away from the beds and wrenching the small environdroid out of the older women's hands. With a huffed "goodnight", Ivoen jumped onto one of the beds, moaning under her breath and flinging her hair over her face with a jerk of her head.
"Just two minutes. Two minutes without an overly embarrassing question about my social life. Two minutes without a . . . a 'dear' or the word 'mortified' or . . . I don't know . . . are all mothers like this?"
Leia grinned. "I wouldn't know."
"Right. Sorry. I just . . . maybe it's because I'm living on my own now. I don't need her and I don't want to need her and – you don't understand what I'm saying at all, do you?" She sighed and paused. "Do you miss them?"
"All the time."
Ivoen sat up and swung her legs over the side of her bed. "Why is it that we forget pain so easily after we've experienced it? I know I know what it would be like to be alone, but I don't remember ever feeling it."
"That's the nature of grief. Forgetfulness is a blessing."
"So's oblivion."
Leia smiled again as she went to the door. "Oblivion is weakness. Forgetfulness is achievement. Don't wish for something not worth having, Ivoen."
Her roommate glanced at her. "Since when do the two of us spout philosophy?"
"Since you decided you were taking your mother for granted. I'm going to the refresher."
"Gotcha. Go right, right and then left up to the second door in the circular lounge."
"Yeah. And don't do any serious thinking until I come back. Someone's got to watch out for your innocence and naivete." Leia dropped her smile as she exited the room, padding up the hallway as Ivoen had instructed and arrived at the refresher. She'd borrowed a pair of Ivoen's shorts and wore one of Rimmas' lounging shirts, quickly changing into the ensemble and glancing at the mirror as she prepared to brush out her hair. How strange would it be to wear the earrings to bed? Deciding that Ivoen was not above noticing the peculiarities of her roommate's behavior, Leia decided to attach one earring to the inside of her shirt. The other she held in her hand, about to drop it into her bag when she heard a muffled voice, unmistakably male, coming from the wall behind her.
And Han says he has good luck.
Unfortunately Leia was unable to distinguish the particulars of the conversation. There's got to be something I can do about that. She brought the tracer up closer to her eyes and inspected the back. It's got a frequency charge – here – and a power source – there . . . all I need is a conduit to the comm system and maybe . . . Leia looked around the fresher, hoping for a – yep, there it is – intercom hookup. Tearing off the faceplate, Leia eyed the wiring carefully. Where is my mechanical genius Jedi-in-training? Or my starpilot extraordinaire? She sighed in frustration. When I really need them . . . forget the Death Star rescue, I handled that one almost entirely by myself, I need you guys here now . . . Shrugging, Leia closed her eyes and attempted to sort out the schematic in her brain. Attaching the frequency charge to the conduit there will trigger a reversal in the system flow . . . maybe, there? She quickly attached the earring to the conduit and waited for the inevitable loud-pitch squeal.
Which apparently wasn't as inevitable as she thought.
What did erupt from the earring was a clear audio feed into the next room, as well as a tap into the comm call itself, whisper-soft, but intelligible.
"Leorime, should we wait? With Vader here and the city under close surveillance, it'd be impossible to find them."
"What about the rest of the board?"
A small chuckle from the other end. "Does it matter? Imbeciles will vote as they need protection. At least half of them have invested significant funds towards the resistance – playing both sides was guaranteed to catch up with them."
"I agree. But blatant disregard for the Alliance representative? It could trigger a split on the board."
"Would you rather incur an Imperial takeover?"
A pause. "I didn't want the Alliance here at all."
"I know. Vote to get rid of them. There's the chance the Empire will leave as soon as they do."
"It's not that simple."
"It's business. It's as simple or difficult as you make it. Vote."
"The Empire won't leave until they're in control. Or until they think we're Imperial enough to be trusted."
Another pause. "It will be done quickly. Good night."
Leia heard footsteps outside in the hall and a hiss as the master bedroom door closed shut.
What the hell?
Sleep was often Leia's best and worst time of the day. If she were lucky, sleep would come quickly and oppressively, leaving no dreams or memories to plague her thoughts. Occasionally Alderaan, Vader, Tarkin, her father congregated in her head while she slept, a rolling blend of heartache and resistance guaranteed to leave her unsettled the next morning, but these were confined to specific times of anniversary or stress, only occasionally a significant deviant to her duties at the Alliance's Base of the Month.
She encountered neither of these scenarios her first night in the Sorreh's vacation home. Wide awake, Leia analyzed the conversation she'd overheard, filtered it through every mental lens she had, scrutinized it endlessly as Ivoen slept across from her. Leori was obviously a businessman, determined to save the independence of his corporation from Imperial takeover. It had nothing to do with loyalties, she told herself.
What worried her more than Leori's words of the night before were those of his partner. It will be done quickly? What will be done? She sighed and sat up in her bed. How am I going to save this proposal? Is it even worth it now? She looked at the chrono, decided it was late enough in the morning to justify actually rising for the day. Grabbing a guest robe, Leia let herself out of the bedroom, leaving Ivoen asleep in her bed, and attempted to navigate her way through the halls towards the dining room.
Some time later, after cursing herself for forgetting that the third left was actually a right and deciding that the hall that looped around to its very beginning was one of the most ridiculous architectural feats she'd ever witnessed, she stumbled onto the holo-room, where Leori sat, cross-legged and attentive, as the business reports flew in from IE City.
Following the preliminary "good-mornings" and reassuring Leori that she had indeed slept soundly and well through the night, she settled herself down in the opposite chair and watched as market estimates and health reports were broadcasted. She was about to rise and grab a cup of caf when the broadcaster announced a Rebellion sympathizer in the University of Itets-Enuzore.
Leia's mind flew through her contingencies, realizing that "find the Falcon and get away" was not the best escape plan she'd ever devised and if Vader was onplanet, her chances of that plan working were next to nothing. She had her comm and her earrings, but the earrings could potentially be traced by the Empire and Vader might not have realized where her backup was; using the comm to request more aid from headquarters was akin to giving an invite to the Imperials to drop by and blow it out of existence.
She was stuck.
How the hell am I going to get out of here?
"Krem Nusorreh-Duil is being held for questioning at IE security headquarters under suspicion of resisting Imperial authority and involvement with the Rebel Alliance to Restore the Republic."
Nusorreh-Duil? My Contemporary Concerns professor? She blinked. Why would they suspect - ?
She sucked in a breath in understanding. The debate. He incited Imperial citizens to question the policies of the Empire.
" – arrested earlier this morning following a call from GansCorp Security, allegedly citing Duil's curriculum as evidence of his – "
GansCorp? She looked quickly at Leori, watched him take a calm sip of his caf. Leori's GansCorp? The company with whom I wish to deal?
I have a bad feeling about this.
" – Board of Directors has yet to comment – "
'It will be done quickly . . .' This is what they were discussing last night – a way to satisfy the Imperials enough to leave the board independent control of the corporation, to avoid an Imperial takeover.
She closed her eyes.
" – or the source of the information – "
I told Leori about the debate.
I gave him his scapegoat.
This is my fault.
Dedicated to LL, because I'm an idiot and think my knockoff jokes are amusing. :)
KR