To the readers,
Just a quick update. Some of you might have noticed this, but around the time we arrived in Hoth I realized writing in third person limited to Tess wasn't going to work unless I make sure Tess gets into every scene I want to include. So until Hoth, it was all Tess. Up until now, I just kind of did third person all over the place, going into everyone's thoughts. Now, I'm going to return to first person limited, but I'll switch back and forth between Tess and Leia, maybe even some other people, all separated by a page break. Just wanted to show you I kind of had an idea of what I'm doing. Emphasis on the kind of. I want to make sure I can fill in the blanks for scenes like when Tess was unconscious after getting too cold on Hoth, and I also needed to somehow bring up the fact that Leia knew Tess was at least related to her, stuff like that.
I'm glad everyone loves Tess so much! I was so nervous writing her for several reasons. One, I tried writing a Star Wars FanFiction before until I realized that I was atrocious as portraying the characters—particularly Luke and Han. Two, new characters are not so well-received in FanFiction, especially ones that become so prominent in the storyline. Three, Tess is me. I had a dream the day before I started writing this that I was Leia's long-lost sister and that dream included several of the details in this story. I just had to write it down, and before I knew it I had a FanFiction! Tess is even my real name (Avery Taylor is a pen name). That's even me in the story's picture!
Thank you everyone so much for reading and especially for your kind and constructive comments,
Love,
The Real Tess
- - - - - Bespin - - - - -
- - - - - Cloud City - - - - -
The orange clouds of the planet Bespin were even more magnificent than the art Tess had seen in some old books that her old guardian Inny kept on their cottage in Dantooine. The group descended the Millennium Falcon's ramp and suddenly it was as if they were part of the sky. Tess had never been to a planet like this before, unlike her well-travelled companions.
"Oh, no one to meet us," Threepio pointed out. Tess glanced at the door expectantly before sensing Leia's unease. Then, Tess herself felt her own surge of uncertainty that she couldn't explain.
"I don't like this," Leia pointed out.
"Me neither," agreed Tess. Han rolled his eyes and turned to face the two of them.
"Well, what would you like?"
"Well," Threepio offered. "They did let us land."
"Look," Han stated, looking between Leia and Tess. "Don't worry. Everything's going to be fine. Trust me."
Before Tess could list the many reasons Han had inadvertently given for them to distrust him, the door leading out to their landing platform swooshed open.
"See?" Han said, nodding towards the door. "My friend."
Tess and Leia exchanged glances as Han approached the man who he claimed was his friend. The princess leaned over to Tess.
"Inna Organa, my sister, fourteen years old," Leia reminded her. "But if we can, let's try to leave out the last names."
"Sixteen," Tess corrected. Leia gave her a look.
"Have fun getting someone to believe that."
A great, friendly-sounding laugh came from Han Solo's old buddy, but something about him still did not sit right with Tess. Leia seemed even more apprehensive. The two men hugged and sparked up a conversation immediately. Assuming now was a good enough time as any, Leia, Tess, Chewbacca, and Threepio caught up with Han and his old friend.
Han's friend—Lando, Tess recalled—was a dark-skinned man with short, curly black hair. He was well kept and well dressed in a dark blue suit. His smile was large and friendly, but it changed when his eyes found Leia.
"Well, hello, what have we here?" he said with a gentlemanly suave. "Welcome. I'm Lando Calrissian. I'm the administrator of this facility. And who might you be?"
"Leia," she replied, grinning modestly.
"Welcome, Leia," hummed Calrissian. His words were definitely bordering seductive.
Tess exchanged glances with Chewie, holding back a grin. Maybe it was because when all of her peers were experimenting with their teenage hormones, Leia was running for Senator of Alderaan. Whatever the cause, it always amazed Tess when fellow rebels or any man for that matter complimented Leia—not because she did not deserve the compliments, but because she was so surprised at them.
Take Han for example. He had obviously developed romantic feelings for Leia. That was two years ago. Seeing the banter between the princess and the smuggler, one might guess that Han was just wasting his time with someone he knew he couldn't have. But Tess saw the inside view—Han saw through Leia.
Han saw the woman who needed him there, but couldn't express it. The woman who used her work in the rebellion as an excuse not to drop all defenses and give love a chance. Tess knew better than anyone. Not only did she practically live with Leia for three years, but for a rebel who had been hiding from the rebellion since even before the Battle of Yavin, the princess had very few girl friends to rant to so the job fell to Tess.
Once the group settled in to the elaborate room they were provided, Tess and Leia took the time to change out of their dirty jumpsuits into more appropriate attire. Leia fashioned her hair into two hoops of braids at the sides of her head and a small bun near the top. She wore an elegant red jumpsuit with a long, flowing, sand-colored vest.
Tess wore a similar jumpsuit but instead chose a teal one. Leia helped her tame her curls so she could wear her hair mostly down, as she liked it. They were grateful to have a place to freshen up after seeing how elegant everyone looked on Cloud City compared to their fresh-out-of-an-escape-from-the-Empire grunginess.
Tess found herself on the verge of twiddling her thumbs, sitting restlessly on the white couch in the room the group was provided. Leia returned from a walk about the facility.
"Still no sign of Threepio?" Tess asked. Leia shook her head and began pacing about the room. In all honestly, she was kind of glad the droid had disappeared, or else he would eminently end up as her babysitter.
"He'll turn up," Tess assured the princess.
Leia sighed and collapsed on the couch beside Tess.
"Maybe I'm just being paranoid," she began. "But I have a weird feeling about this place. And Threepio going missing definitely is not helping."
Tess nodded absent-mindedly. She had a bad feeling about this place, too. She couldn't explain why, but Tess knew that these intuitions that she and Leia sometimes had were almost always right.
Those feelings were most unwelcome now, though, because it was the first time in a long time that things seemed good. Leia had not been too overprotective, Tess was enjoying looking out the windows and reading information available on such a beautiful planet as Bespin, and most surprisingly, Han and Leia were getting along—even sharing a kiss here and there.
Tess liked to imagine that one day, she, Leia, Han, Luke, and Chewbacca would eventually calm down with their adventures at least a little. She could see Han and Leia getting married and having a kid or two, Luke furthering his Jedi training, and Chewbacca tagging along like some crazy uncle. It would just be nice to have somewhere to come home to. Still, Tess often wondered where her place would be in that scenario.
She had the same kinds of questions with Uncle Bail. Why did he even keep her around? What was she to him? She knew he loved her, but what made him take care of her in the first place? Now she was thinking the same things about Leia, Han, and Luke.
"Leia?" Tess asked tentatively. The princess looked over in response. "Why… um…" Her voice trailed off as she second-guessed the questions she wanted to ask. "I'm… I was wondering…I noticed the information systems here seemed pretty extensive. Would you be okay if I used them to…try to find out where I come from?" Tess bit her lip in anticipation of the answer.
Leia was definitely caught off-guard by the question.
"I don't want to leave you and Han and Luke," Tess added quickly. "I swear. I just…I always wondered if I had any family left, you know? You were adopted. Don't you ever think about that?"
"I used to," Leia admitted. "Every once and a while. Especially when I was around your age. I really needed a mother and since my adoptive one had died, my father—your Uncle Bail—he told me about my birth mother. He even showed me some information on her. Answered some questions. It helped to know where I came from, but I was lucky."
"How so?" asked Tess.
"Because my birth mother was an amazing person," Leia explained. "That would have been a much more damaging experience if she was some thief or criminal who could not deal with a kid."
Tess shuffled uncomfortably in her chair. Leia was obviously holding something back, and Tess was anxious to hear it.
"Uncle Bail said that the Naberrie family was a family he knew," Tess brought up cautiously. "Did you know them?"
Tess could tell she hit the nail on the head where Leia's restraint was concerned. Whatever the princess was neglecting to tell her, she had just asked the perfect question to figure it out.
"Not officially," Leia explained carefully. "But in a way, yes." The princess took a deep breath. She met eyes with Tess and took her hand. "Tess… maybe I should have told you this earlier… but my biological mother was in the Naberrie family, too. We are actually related." Leia scanned Tess' eyes as she took in the news.
"How long have you known?" Tess wondered aloud.
"Since the moment I saw you," Leia told her with a grin, squeezing her hand. "But officially when I saw you had written down a list of names from the Naberrie family, and I just put two and two together."
"So…we're like…cousins or something?" asked Tess, still taking this all in. She didn't feel very attached to the situation—it was almost as if it was happening to someone else. Tess always thought that her mother's name being Padme Naberrie was just a coincidence—some woman with the same name as the former queen and Senator. But as Leia said it, somehow Tess knew it to be true.
"Something like that," Leia said with a nod. She leaned forward and gave Tess a kiss on the forehead. "But you know I love you like a little sister, no matter who Padme Naberrie was to your mother."
Tess straightened up in surprise.
"Wait…Padme Naberrie was your mother, too?" Tess blurted. Leia's face twisted in confusion.
"What do you mean?" Leia asked. "You were told your mother was Padme Naberrie? That's impossible."
"How is it impossible?" Tess questioned. She tried not to show it, but Leia's comment was like a kick in the gut. Was she lied to about her mother's identity all this time?
Leia frowned in sympathy for the fourteen-year-old, squeezing her hand again. Tess didn't notice, but her eyes started to form tears. Leia wiped one off her cheek.
"Tess…" the princess began carefully. "Padme Naberrie was my mother… but she died soon after giving birth to me. That was eight years before you were born."
Tess' eyes seemed to gaze off a mile away. Leia wrapped the girl in a hug.
"I don't know why my father told you that was your mother's name," Leia began softly, holding Tess. "But I promise you we'll figure this out. I know you're my family, Tess. I can feel it. That will never change, no matter what we find." Leia then pulled away from the hug and took Tess' face in her hands. "As soon as we leave here, I will contact everyone I know who might be able to help, if that's what you want," Leia promised. "Is it?"
This was all just too much for Tess. She didn't understand it. A part of her was begging for answers, another part of her was left in the dark. She found herself rising to a stand.
"I'm going to go on a walk."
Tess went on a walk to be with nothing but her thoughts, but surprisingly enough, no thoughts came. Her mind was just blank as she shuffled through the white halls of Cloud City.
Suddenly, Tess snapped into alertness when her ears caught one of the voices she most feared. She only heard it once, but somehow she knew the heavy mechanical breathing and the deep, demanding voice was Darth Vader's. She immediately put her ear to the door.
"In exchange for finding Skywalker's friends," said Vader. "I have given Boba Fett permission to take Solo and retrieve his bounty with Jabba the Hutt on Tatooine. He needs the smuggler alive. Any torturing to lure Skywalker will have to be minimal."
"What about the princess?" asked an unfamiliar voice.
Tess' could feel her heart pounding in her throat. If some other part of her didn't take over after realizing how important this conversation was to her and her friends, she probably would have gotten sick right there.
"I have interrogated the princess before," responded Vader. Chills crawled all over Tess' arms. "She is extremely resistant, and has somehow learned to shield her thoughts from reading and manipulation through the Force. I sense nothing of her even when sharing the same room. I fear young Skywalker may not sense anything from her either if she is in pain. Now, the child with them—the one that escaped the Death Star—she might be the perfect target. I have an officer in my establishment that suggests this girl was some sort of creation, rather than a child born. In the process of testing her, he has agreed to begin with the pain-related processes to most effectively bring Skywalker here."
Tess' breath nearly stopped. She knew the moment Vader said it that the officer interested in her was Chid—her former guardian. Tess' brain told her to run and tell the others before it was too late, but her feet would not let her move.
"What if this officer is right," began yet another unfamiliar voice, "and the child is a creation, but it turns out she is some kind of inhuman? What if this means that Luke Skywalker will not sense her?"
A robotic voice jumped in.
"Though I need Solo alive, as long as I can supervise, I will allow him to be tortured less extensively to ensure you get what you came for, Lord Vader."
"Your help is appreciated, Boba Fett," Vader replied.
"Tess, what are you doing?" asked a familiar voice.
Tess' glance darted up, startled, to see Lando Calrissian standing over her.
"Nothing, I…" Then, Tess froze. "You…you called me Tess. I told you my name was Inna."
Calrissian's face tensed up. Suddenly, he grabbed Tess around the waist and clapped another hand over her mouth. Tess kicked and screamed as best she could. She tried to bite his hand, kick his shin—something.
Tess' heart practically stopped when Lando Calrissian opened the door she had been listening through and Tess found herself face-to-face with Darth Vader.