Nine years ago, shortly after the galaxy pulled through and defeated the Yuuzhan Vong, Han and Leia bought a small property on Corellia. Small, that is, by the extravagant standards they'd once lived in but no longer cared for. The home, not an apartment, was quite spacious and big. It had five rooms split on two levels, two refreshers, and a kitchen with plenty of counter space. It was a home. Even the family's first apartment on Coruscant couldn't compare to the warm, inviting atmosphere of this place. Nowhere else had ever felt so permanent and right.

Memily certainly couldn't imagine living on bustling Coruscant or always travelling between systems as her older sister Jaina had once recalled to her. Her family's home on Corellia was steady, always there. The only other place in the galaxy that even came close to being a second home was New Alderaan.

Hundreds of refugee programs had been started following the Yuuzhan Vong War to cope with the flood of refugees that had been left helpless across the galaxy. Memily's mother had seized the galaxy's giving mood to focus on the Alderaanian refugees who had been lost in the galaxy for decades. She'd founded New Alderaan years ago, but the planet was not in much better condition than the dumpy reservation Delaya- Alderaan's sister world- had begrudgingly provided the people with all those years ago. Leia Organa Solo wanted to fulfill her visions for Alderaan's survivors and give them an actual home. Nothing could ever come close to replacing Alderaan, but these people deserved a new place to call home at the very least.

When Leia had first founded New Alderaan for the refugees, she'd appointed a small council to oversee their transition, but the progress made was- well, hardly progress. This had not settled well with Leia and she'd created the Alderaanian Replacement Council- or ARC- with the purpose of building up New Alderaan as an independent and capable civilization, to give the people of Alderaan a home and a voice in the galaxy. Leia had used her connections across the galaxy to find allies who would support New Alderaan and help fund the refugee project. With friends and family in high positions on Naboo, the Hapes Consortium, Bakura, and several other systems, Leia had created ties within the New Republic and began establishing New Alderaan as a civilized, government-recognized planet.

Of course, it hadn't taken long for the galaxy's natural turmoil to interrupt New Alderaan's growth. There were groups of Alderaanian refugees who remained on Delaya, refugees who harbored a relentless bitterness towards Princess Leia and chose to blame her and her family for the Disaster of Alderaan. Their argument was against Princess Leia for being insensitive to the refugees and thinking that she could recreate the home they had forever lost.

Only strengthening the tensions on the political side was the newly revived Empire, flourishing under the rule of Head of State Jagged Fel. The empire had been cooperating with the Galactic Alliance, working together to make peace under the condition that the Jedi Order remain separated from the GA due to strenuous relations between the Order and the Empire (not to mention between the Order and the GA). However, the Jedi Order fully supported New Alderaan and had been the planet's main line of defense- and New Alderaan was establishing itself as belonging to the GA. The equation didn't equal out and, while the GA swore that they had no business with the Order or even Grand Master Skywalker, the Fel Empire grew impatient.

It had been pushing the limits of its power against the Galactic Alliance for a few months now. Uniting with bands of Alderaanian pirates who despised the dead House of Organa, the Chiss Ascendancy had taken the helm and outrightly objected to New Alderaan's independence and refused to respect it as property of the GA. Since then, the GA itself had split in half, wrecking itself in a debate over New Alderaan's right to be part of the Galactic Alliance, and thus remain protected by it. In the midst of the burgeoning turmoil, Leia had done the only thing she could and resumed a place of leadership over the desperate refugees, becoming Princess Leia once more.

Memily could recount dozens of family trips to New Alderaan over the years. They even had a small cabin that was kept for them when they came. In truth, Memily could imagine living on New Alderaan rather than Corellia. She had nothing against her family's home, but she did enjoy the tranquility and quietness of New Alderaan that Core worlds just couldn't have. Besides, she'd fallen in love with the ancient, dying culture as a little girl. The ideals, the values, the modest clothing styles, the art. Everything that Alderaan had once represented, every detail Memily had managed to suck from her mother, she became enamored with it. She could almost feel her mother's loss as her own when she considered Alderaan.

Leia often joked that, while she wasn't so sure about her own blood, she knew Memily had the genes of an Alderaanian. The girl embodied more than just the old culture, but many of their beliefs like a passion for pacifism. New Alderaan was a place she understood, could truly relate to. New Alderaan could be her home.

But the growing conflict between powers had been dragging Memily's mother away from their Corellian home more often in the recent months and Leia did not want to bring her children with her when the situation was so unpredictable.

Stifling down her worry, Memily looked up from her plate to her brother across the table. Jarik Solo, a tall and lanky boy no older than nine, was drumming his spoon against the rim of his bowl, probably to whatever tune was stuck in his head. He stopped when he caught her staring.

"Mom's been on the comm for a while," she noted. Leia had left her seat at the dinner table over half an hour ago. Han had followed nearly ten minutes ago.

Jarik followed her gaze to their parents' empty seats. Shoving aside the solemn mood, he grinned and asked his older sister, "Sooooo. Does this mean that Syal's babysitting?"


Once Perre Needmo's Newshour was over, Han turned off the holovision and Leia tapped Memily and Jarik's shoulders. "Bed time."

"I need a braid for bed," Memily told her mother as Leia guided her into her room.

Leia laughed, reaching out to caress her head. "You know how to do it."

Memily allowed a nod. "But I like it when you do it."

She thought her mother looked satisfied by the request as she plopped onto Memily's low bunk. "Alright, come here." Combing with her fingers through Memily's light hair, she asked, "What do you want?"

"Surprise me."

"How about Alderaanian double plaits?"

"Just what I wanted!"

"Don't I know you so well?" Leia made quick work of dividing Memily's blonde hair into separate sections, then delicately weaving each into each other. While her fingers were still busy, Memily asked her, "That was Missus Celchu, wasn't it?"

Memily was first met with silence, her mother's hesitation before she could muster a response. "Yes," she allowed. "But not for the reasons you're thinking."

"She wants you to come back to New Alderaan, doesn't she?"

"Yes. But not because of the situation there. It's Rieekan."

Memily was too afraid to ask, though she didn't think she had to. She already knew. Carlist Rieekan was getting well along in years and his health had been on the decline for a while now. Memily didn't know the old man very well, but her father had nothing but respect for the man and he always said he owed Rieekan a great debt.

"Memily, Dad and I are leaving tomorrow morning. Your uncle agreed to take care of you and your brother until we get back. He could use some company, you know."

"Of course."

"I have no doubt the two of you won't cause trouble for your uncle, but please …" Leia sighed. "Just humor him."

Memily chuckled because she knew exactly what her mother meant. Since Luke's wife Aunt Mara had died, he'd latched onto the rest of his family with a vice grip. He'd become Fun Uncle 4.0, determined to get the most out of the time he spent with his family. Though, she didn't think it was much different than Regular Uncle Luke. As her dad had once crudely joked, Fun Uncle Luke 4.0 was basically just Uncle Luke on glitterstim. But each in their own way, she supposed that her entire family had become that way after Jacen-

"We'll play with him."

Leia laughed. "Thank you." She left a soft kiss atop Memily's head, then stood and paced to the door. "Speaking of Uncle Luke, he told me you finished making your lightsaber. I'm so proud of you!"

She groaned internally. "Uh, yeah."

"I don't think he's ever let a student build their first one this soon!" A glimmer of humor twinkled in Leia's eyes as she offered Memily a wink. "I think it was a while before he could trust your big siblings with their own lightsabers."

Memily laughed like she was supposed to. "I understand it as the weapon that it is and its potential for harm."

At that remark, Leia appeared- startled, shook, like her nerves had suddenly sparked and fried like C-3PO's circuits. It was a moment before she even blinked. She looked away as she shook off her alarm. "It's more than just a weapon, Mem-"

"I know. I understand that it's also a symbol."

Leia held her gaze evenly. "Okay. Just-" she muttered, "making sure. Well, goodnight, honey."

"'Night."