The reporter stared down at his holo-camera with a look of manic glee as the diplomatic ship took off from the docking bay. He'd gotten it! The only reporter on the scene! And the picture of the century and nobody had noticed. Walking slowly back to the speeder taxi he had hired, the reporter held the camera like it might fall apart or turn to dust if he so much as breathed on it too hard. As the speeder pulled out into traffic, he dialed his tabloid's number in the com link he had brought with him,
"Hey, boss? Yeah, it's Rikk Staster. You'll never guess what I've got – the story of the century and the picture to prove it! What is it? Well, you know all that speculation about whatever happened to General Solo that's been going around? I've found him! He's in command of the Destiny. Yeah, the one Organa's on. What did I tell you? This is why you keep me!" Rikk Staster laughed as his cab sped towards Corsucant's media district.
Isolder paced impatiently up and down the corridors of the Ta'a Chume's palace in the Hapes. He hated talking to his mother. She was one of the extremely few beings who still made him feel small and insignificant and weak after all this time. Nothing he did was ever good enough, as far as she was concerned and she was always comparing him with someone else when he did succeed using phrases like "that time you were almost as good as…." Well this time, Isolder was determined that he would please her by marrying Leia and producing an heir. The Ta'a Chume had even approved of the match and he loved Leia and, ever since that Han Solo character had disappeared, she had loved him too.
Pausing for a moment in his pacing, Isolder stared intently through one of the ten foot tall floor to ceiling windows which made the Palace of the Hapes feel so light and airy without really seeing the magnificent scenery before him. Han Solo. Isolder had yet to meet this shadowy man from Leia's past but from what he had heard through the news reports on the man's disappearance, Solo had been a smuggler and a pirate before he'd joined the New Republic. That was yet another thing about Leia which puzzled the prince. Why had she ever associated herself with such a piece of common, criminal slim – even if that slim had gone on to be a top ranking general of the New Republic?
He sighed turning away from the window, the late afternoon light casting strange angular shadows across his face. How he longed to leave here and see Leia again. Actually he had been supposed to leave earlier that day so he could travel to Akkinth and surprise his darling Leia by being there to meet her and stay with her for the rest of the diplomatic mission like he had for her past several trips. After the day's talks were done he'd rub her shoulders and listen to her vent about the beings she was trying to negotiate with and he'd make jokes and try to make her laugh but she'd only smile and the smile would never quite reach her eyes because she was so exhausted. Sometimes he wondered why she never laughed. During all the time since Isolder had met her and then had become engaged to her, she had never once laughed in front of him. Leia had smiled plenty of times but, try as he might, he could never remember her actually remember her laughing. She had been laughing when he'd first seen her, months before they had finally been introduced. It was what had initially attracted him to her. Isolder sat down on one of the long window seats, closed his eyes and remembered the night he had first seen Leia.
The Inter Galactic convention had been dragging on for hours and Isolder was desperate to leave. He had grown tired of dancing within the first half hour and the veil his mother always made him wear in public made it nearly impossible to eat or drink anything. Females of both humanoid and other races were clinging to him like leaches and, as far as Isolder was concerned, whoever was in charge of picking the music, should get a blaster to their head, but his mother had been very clear that – if he wanted to be able to pick the next Queen of the Hapes himself and not have his marriage arranged for him, then he would have to attend some diplomatic conventions. Isloder was fairly sure that the only reason she had said this was so that he would give up on the idea of picking his own wife and let her pick for him.
Just as the prince managed to detach the latest leach-like young diplomat's daughter from his arm, Isolder heard quiet laughter – the most beautiful sound he had heard all evening. He looked around for the source of the out-of-place laugh and spotted a young woman near the edge of the dance floor. She was petite but her mere presence seemed to command attention, a sign of true royalty. Her long hair was swept up elegantly in numerous braids and a long gown of shifting blues and emerald green embraced her upper body and flowed to the ground. As she turned to speak to one of the men standing next to her who was dressed in formal looking black robes, Isolder caught a glimpse of her face. It shone as though lighted from within with such a radiant beauty, the type of which he had never encountered before on the Hapes, that it almost took his breath away. At that moment the other man with her whose arm she was holding leaned down and whispered something in her ear. This man was taller than the first with unruly coppery brown hair and a mischievous lopsided grinned on his face looking rather uncomfortable in the formal dark blue New Republic military uniform he was wearing. The woman's eyes widened at whatever the man had whispered and covered her mouth in an in vain attempt to stop herself from laughing again. She swatted the man's arm playfully and Isolder, who had by now moved closer, heard her reprimand,
"Stop it, this is supposed to be a serious event!"
The man's grin just widened,
"Everyone else is being serious enough for you."
Shaking her head, the woman said something more quietly. The military man nodded and she disappeared into the crowd just as one of the diplomat's daughters who had been plaguing Isolder latched onto the man in black robes and dragged him away towards the dance floor. Isolder moved forward quickly before the military man could also disappear into the crowd. He had to find out that woman's name!
"Excuse me?"
The man in the New Republic uniform glanced over at the prince of the Hapes somewhat disinterestedly, but looked more tired than anything,
"Yeah?" To Isolder's surprise he suddenly realized the man was Corellian not that it mattered. All that mattered was that woman's name.
"Who was that woman you were talking to just now?"
"Senator/Princess Leia Organa." Leia? What a beautiful name… And… Princess? Isolder nearly jumped for joy. She was royalty
After that, Isolder had spent the rest of the party searching for Leia to ask her to dance with him, but had only seen her once more from a distance on the dance floor slowly dancing arm in arm with the Corellian. Isolder felt the first twinge of jealousy prickling in his stomach. She looked absolutely and utterly content and happy and at peace with the world in that other man's arms.
Isolder's eyes snapped open as he heard the doors of his mother's library open. A servant knelt respectfully before him,
"The Ta'a Chume will see you now."
Squaring his shoulders, Isolder crossed the threshold of the library to face his mother.
Leia blinked the tears out of her eyes as she stared at her reflection in the mirror and began to brush her hair. After resting and crying several months' worth of tears, Leia was finally for some strange reason feeling in control of her life again, which was odd considering this confidence had come at the moment when her life had just fallen apart as badly as it had after the destruction of Alderaan. This was different, though. When Alderaan had been destroyed there had been nothing she could do to change it, to put the planet back together or bring back those who had died for the dead. This time she wasn't married yet, Han was still alive, and she still loved him. Maybe he wouldn't have her back, she couldn't blame him after what she'd done to him, but she had to try. She'd never forgive herself if she didn't try and now was her chance while Isolder wasn't with her every waking moment of every day.
This was her chance to show Han that she still loved him.
Han slowly picked himself off the floor of his cabin. This was a big ship, other than at meal times he should be able to avoid Leia. His heart sank slightly – not that he wanted to avoid her, but it would be better for both of them if he made himself scarce. He could at least talk to Luke, though. Han straightened his uniform and squared his shoulders. He was Corellian, he could deal with this.
"And you're point of delaying my departure is?" asked Isolder respectfully but coldly. The Ta'a Chume folded her hands and glared at him,
"When I said that you could picked your own wife I expected you could at least maintain a hold on her until you were married and not cause scandal involving the Hapes!"
"Mother, what are you talking about?"
"This!" The Ta'a Chume threw a holonews article down in front of him. "Now what do you plan to do about this?!?"
Isolder picked up the tabloid article and read the title, General Solo Back on the Scene and felt his heart drop as he looked at the picture accompanying it. Yes, what indeed was he going to do about this?
A/N: Review, Review, Review! It is your reviews upon which I thrive and am inspired to write more!!!