"I never got to congratulate you properly. Personally."
The seemingly out of the blue statement came prompted by a benign comment the younger (but not youngest) female made in relation to that morning's nausea; an early side effect of her condition already.
"The baby." The eldest clarified, to clear the look of darling curiosity from her granddaughter's mother.
Leia, to her credit, spent most of her waking moments (or rather, Lilia's waking moments) with her granddaughter; the granddaughter she never thought she would ever get to meet. To that end, the palace gardens (the man-made sanctuary of pristine landscaping in the centre of the palace) made for a great social excursion; where three prominent females could simply enjoy the sun-soaked outing without being imposed upon by a security detail or media. Where they had some scarce semblance of normality.
The birds, several imported species of the most pleasing plumage and sounds, skittered playfully in the trees; much to Lily's sky-focused, excited awe. They serenaded the trio on their walk, benevolent and sweet, for it to be carried on the cool breeze and surround them; a joint illusion of the wild for the birds and humans alike.
Lucilla had kindly relinquished the hover-pram to her daughter's grandmother (processing that had taken time and a hefty glass of wine) in an effort to make up for lost time; she had hogged it long enough. Every now and then, they would stop and take turns in enthusiastically encouraging Lily to take a few steps (with hand-held support) before returning her to the comfort of the pram to recuperate before the next round. Outside of that, while Lilia rested, the women had time to talk.
"Thank you." The Empress graciously replied, inclining her Stygian head in acknowledgement while her mind bubbled in self-interrogation of what Leia might know. "It's not unexpected. We've been trying for a while."
"I guessed as much with all the sleepovers Lily and I had been having." The General remarked with a restrained grin, hoping Lucilla would see the humour; judging by the responding pull into the little dove's cheeks, she did. "I hope they won't end now that the reason for them has been successful?"
"They don't have to, no." Lucilla replied, smile still in place as she indulged the playfulness. "But her poor nanny will be out of a job."
"Lily's very lucky, you know." Leia began with knowingness edging on her tone as she walked; enough to tweak the Empress' notice and attention. "Most children with parents of power are left to be raised by staff. More often than not, our Lily is with one or the other of us. And I don't need to tell you that doesn't always go down well with some of the more die-hards of Imperial royalty protocol."
"It doesn't." The Empress agreed mildly, inclining her head once more but to embody agreement more than acknowledgement. "But as I've told said die-hards: I was Lily's mother ever before I became Empress. How can I, in good conscience, just cut off the contact and connection I have tirelessly maintained with her since before her birth just because this new responsibility came along? And if I am to portray myself as this maternal figure to the galaxy, surely it only makes sense to do that with my own child? Not to mention I took to the Processional Way pushing her pram before me, I started this journey with her; I'm not going to abandon her now. That applies to when the baby arrives too."
"That's why mothers make good politicians." The elder mother told the younger, checking under the hood of the hoverpram to see if Lily had drifted off or was still wakeful. "Their negotiation skills are second to none, sharpened by the most tyrannical beings in the galaxy." She shot another coy look Lucilla's way. "Their own children." However, it faltered to pique the curiosity of the blue-eyed beauty as Leia seemed to somewhat fold into herself. "While it's safe to say mothers make good politicians, not all politicians make good mothers. I suppose it depends on what they were first."
That held all too true for Leia, even more so to compare herself to Lucilla.
When Leia's labour with Ben began, she bit the inside of her cheek and continued to stand in silence until the signing of the Galactic Concordance (which declared the formal end of the Galactic Civil War) had drawn to a close. Then, and only then, did she lean to Han to inform him that the little bandit(sorry, the little angel) was on his way. Those instances were numerous, including the incident that had potentially kickstarted her son's gravitation to the Dark Side: The revelation of Darth Vader as Leia Organa's true father to the public (and a blissfully unaware teenage Ben) by a political rival. To her shame, she recounted within the privacy of her own mind, Leia opted for public damage control first before her own vulnerable child.
Lucilla, the Galaxy's Darling, on the other hand had known no such responsibility upon the birth of her daughter. No such burden had befallen her aside from being a wife and mother and so, her focus had been showered unyieldingly on her child. All she had to do then, even as Public Liaison, was apply that maternal drive for the wellbeing of those in her care (with true feeling, perhaps aided by a few plots and ploys) and voila, a new Empress reigned.
Had the roles been reversed, would the results be the same? Had his mother been present, would Kylo Ren have risen at all? They would never know.
"If I can measure up to you in the political arena, Leia, I'll be doing alright." Lucilla remarked genially, casting her elder a benevolent smile only to have it faintly returned.
"Do better than me in the parenting arena, that's where it's important." The older woman replied dryly, her own failures (despite being decades old) still stung. Even now, with her only child in his mid-thirties, she had external factors (not any familial connections) for their reunion which could still be tense and turbulent at the best of times. "Hopefully Ben will follow suit."
"Ren and I don't always see eye to eye." The Empress conceded fairly, opting to stop at a nearby bench when the nausea reared its head again; it would be a simple matter of riding it out. Leia, with Lily now in her arms, took a seat in placid solidarity. "But to his credit, he has never been anything but wonderful to and with Lily. From the moment she was born. Unlike Orion."
"That's… not really what I was talking about." Cue the curious tilt of an Umbaran head, a bewildered crease of heavenly features that prompted Leia to choose her words carefully; never moving her heed from the ebonette. The look alone, sapphire eyes narrowed in telling confusion, nudged the Princess-turned-General to elaborate; thereby breaking the seal of secrecy in the returned gentle knowingness. "I meant the baby. I know it's Ben's."
"There aren't many people who know that." Lucilla conceded after a spell of stunned silence though, to be fair, of the small group she expected, Leia was bound to be one of them. For a moment, the pair marked each other, encapsulated in a bubble of feminine trust; something vaguely akin to mother and daughter. "I suppose Ren told you?"
"He did. You could say he's put out about it." Leia said with a grimace, taking her lead from Lucilla, and rising to her feet to resume their walk. "Tried his old trick of trashing my apartment but Lily put a stop to that." Well I did but Lily was the core of the logic.
"I'd imagine that's granting a certain generosity on the reality." The Empress acknowledged grimly, wincing at the thought of all that historical furniture falling prey to the Supreme Leader's tantrum.
Even though the walk had resumed and the outside ambience remained as blissful as it had earlier when conversation had not been so heavy, Lucilla began to feel its weight. This guarded secret could only remain so for so long and if Ren could tell his mother, what made the little dove so sure he wouldn't tell Orion? Not as a compassionate or friendly gesture, of course. The naivety of such a gesture would be laughable. No, if Ren opted to tell his rival (in all but political leanings) that his beloved children were not his and his precious wife had been unfaithful, it would be out of sheer malice. Sheer malice in a bid to pick up what the Grand Marshal would hopefully drop in utter devastation.
"I take it you're looking forward to being a grandmother again?" Lucilla decided not to wade into the muck regarding her baby's conception, wishing to focus on the positive. Her own joy aside, Leia's enthusiasm when it came to her child (and now, children) warmed her heart; knowing that Lily had the added benefit of a grandparent that Lucilla had not.
"I never thought I'd get to be one the first time 'round, so this one's gonna be an extra bonus." Leia replied with the softest undercurrent of a chuckle and genuine benevolence. "Not to pry but… I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess Hux doesn't know? It's not some… arrangement… you two have?"
Naturally, the Empress found herself wincing. Arrangement… How vile. Either with Ren or Orion.
"It's not." Came the cautious confession, the crunch of tiny multicoloured pebbles underfoot allowing for micro-distraction from the buzzing in her skull of everything wrong with the situation; everything Leia remained blissfully unaware of. Or… unaware of as far as Lucilla was aware. Said stones had attracted a gaze of sapphire in subconscious embarrassment; the kaleidoscope of the sun hitting their surface made for the inspiration of a custom-made mobile for the new baby's nursery. "No, it was a rather unfortunate, highly charged circumstance that was far from intentional."
"Ben thinks you used him."
"I didn't. As much as I wanted another child, Leia, I would prefer it to be by my husband. But we are where we are."
"I mean… Again, I don't really want to pry but-"
"But you're going to."
"But lightening doesn't strike twice, Lucilla. Ben is Lily's father, that's accepted fact." The General went on, despite the pained exhale at her side; not to pry be damned. "Ben is also this baby's father. I have to assume there's more going on here than just unfortunate, highly charged circumstance."
"Out of interest, Leia-" The eldest ebonette managed through pursed lips, heightening her hardened eyes but keeping them ahead; radiating subdued irritation. "How do you think Lily was conceived? Humour me. How do you think she came about?"
Perhaps Leia had not expected such a direct and blatant response; it certainly showed in the stunned double-take that whipped her bunned head. There, she recognized the irked restraint of someone of power fighting to keep their cool for diplomacy's sake. She had seen and employed it many times.
"I mean… I don't know, he never told me-"
"I should think not." Lucilla retorted, her pace briskening subconsciously that Leia followed just as subconsciously. "It would, after all, reflect poorly on your family's much-respected connection to the Force."
"I don't know what you're implying-"
"I'm implying nothing, simply stating the actuality." As if fearful of Lily's eavesdropping and subsequent betrayal of confidence, her mother checked the child in the pram only to find her still slumbering off her last bout of excursion. "You'll recall how we parted ways last time, upon the surgery that implanted the womb to accommodate both your grandchildren." She ignored the subtle shift of discomfort in her peripheral vision though felt a small stroke of satisfaction for it. "We were given clear instructions that any intimacy was to be protected as it settled; premature pregnancy in that time could result in miscarriage or worse-"
"Did you impart that to Ben?"
"Why would I impart that to him when our communication at that time amounted to absolutely nothing?"
With the walk drawing to a close and the palace doors creeping back into view, Lucilla felt a pull to both the lavatory and a cup of tea with something chocolatey before her afternoon sitting in the throne room. To that end, she had to decide on how the outing (that, by all accounts, had started out quite well) of irksome nature would be reined in.
"The fact of the matter is, Leia, and this is not to privy you to some of your son's more underhanded nature-"
"He got there before you did."
"But I knew nothing of Ren's stake in Lilia's paternity until he came to my bedside the night she was born. He told me then but I had no reason to believe him. I even ordered a paternity test to dispel the possibility from my mind." That couldn't possibly be the case. How could she not know Ben potentially fathered her child? Surely a certain act of intimacy (outside her marriage or not or with her husband's permission or not was none of Leia's business) would suggest he could at least be a candidate as the father of her child? Conscious of the end of the walk drawing nearer, Leia opened her mouth to interject but found herself haughtily sideswiped.
"His underhandedness did not extend to just interfering in the paternity test, which would have been bad enough. But manipulating the Force itself to ensure my child would bear his genes in a bid to train her as his apprentice is rather a stretch beyond, wouldn't you agree?!"
"Oh." Was all Leia managed after a stupefied silence spanning several seconds. No wonder Ben had never divulged Lily's origins. She assumed he would rather not discuss his sex life (and therefore, his child's conception) with his mother; something she would happily comply with. Then again, perhaps he would prefer to take advantage of that awkwardness and play on the assumption: Never asking, never telling. The Force, despite the wielder's side, should be sacred and immune to such vile bending.
"Oh, indeed." Lucilla snipped, scarcely reminding herself that none of that particular saga had been Leia's doing and so, sparing her from reaction only seemed fair. Mellowed by her reasoning and resigned to leaving the past in the past, the little dove went on with greatly diminished impatience. "Not many know this, Leia, but Orion owes his life to Lily and her… inherited abilities-" The General slowed in awed realization but did not cease her tread, the Empress had yet to notice. "I laid her on his chest to say goodbye, long after he had been declared dead and the next thing I know, I'm being summoned because they've found a heartbeat. That's more than coincidence."
"It is." Leia agreed weakly, unsure if Lucilla knew and understood the significance of such a rare ability and what the mere idea of it had done to her own father. "She's uhh… a special little girl, that's for sure."
"She's all that and more." With the path completed and the party back to where they had departed from, it meant a parting of the ways for the Empress and her unofficial, sort-of advisor; the meeting giving a shell-shocked Leia plenty to ponder upon. "Well… Thank you for your company today, it was a pleasure as always…" The older woman had already leaned into pram, enthusiastically saying her goodbyes to her (so far) only grandchild. "And we'll see you tomorrow perhaps."
"We'll aim to do this again tomorrow if your schedule allows." Came the bred-in amiability of a woman raised by politics, all the while thankful to be kept in her granddaughter's orbit while Ben stayed in the proverbial doghouse. "You know how to reach me if something comes up."
Thankfully, much to Leia's relief, the morning walk with her granddaughter and her mother would be (almost) a daily occurrence. Not only was it to keep up with Lilia's progress and remain in her life but also to monitor her unborn grandchild; something she deemed very important indeed.