Wow! I didn't know people would like this idea so much. Thanks for the reviews. I'll try posting once a week now. I can't do anything less that that. All the parts are at least seven thousand words, no shorter than six thousand and it takes time to write and proofread it. Not only that, but I'm working on my other stories. Throw in the fact that I start school again in a few weeks and you're talking about one busy schedule. Luckily for me, college classes aren't too demanding. Fairly easy. Okay enough talk, on with the chapter. Read, enjoy, and review!
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Chapter Two
Naboo
Obi-Wan shot up in his bed at the sudden disturbance in the force. He hadn't felt a disturbance like this in nine years, since Leia had been kidnapped. He sighed. He had failed in his duty to protect his old friend's daughter, even though he knew it wasn't his fault. There was nothing he could have done to prevent it. Maybe he could have looked for her harder, but he knew that even that was a hopeless cause. The pirates could have taken her anywhere in the galaxy and Leia had the rare ability to unknowingly shield her force presence. He had searched for years but had given up. Either he'd never find her or she was dead. Besides, he had a duty to protect Luke. He couldn't leave the boy unguarded.
Obi-Wan started out of his home, using the force to cloak himself so nothing would see him and made his way to the Lars homestead. The two Tatooine suns had long ago disappeared into the horizon, and it was dangerous to be out like this. But he had to. Something was very wrong. With the help of the force, he soon found himself in front of the small home and knocked on the door.
"Luke Skywalker," he heard Beru start to shout from the other side of the door. "I'm going to-." Beru stopped as she opened the door and looked at Obi-Wan. "Oh. Obi-Wan. It's you. What brings you out here?"
"Beru, who is that? Is that-?" Owen stopped and scowled when he saw Obi-Wan. "What do you want old wizard?"
Obi-Wan reached out with the force looking for Luke while asking, "Can I speak to Luke please?"
"No," said Owen. "I told you I-."
"He's not here right now Obi-Wan," Beru muttered trying to keep the worry out of her tone.
"Where is he?" Obi-Wan asked. "There was a great disturbance in the force a while ago, and it has something to do with him."
"He's in town, Mos Espa to be exact. He's visiting with one of his friends there," Beru explained.
"Why are they in town?" Obi-Wan asked concerned.
"That's where she lives. She's a slave," Owen explained sitting down. "You want something to drink Jedi?"
Obi-Wan shook his head. "No, I'm fine. You say Luke's not back yet."
Beru smiled. "It's not uncommon for him to get sidetracked with that girl. They're celebrating their birthday today. She doesn't exactly know what day hers is so he shares his with her. Why do you want to know these things? What's wrong?" Beru asked suddenly frowning.
Obi-Wan sighed. "I'm not sure yet. But I will find out."
Obi-Wan looked at Owen. "If you don't mind, could I borrow your speeder or better yet, can you take me to where they are?"
Owen snorted. "The girl's master won't like that. He already hates Luke being around."
Obi-Wan gave him a look and Owen sighed as he led the man outside to his speeder. It took them thirty minutes to get into town and arrive at the shop. As soon as Obi-Wan was within a good distance of the shop, he felt it. Death. He jumped out the car before Owen had even stopped it and went around the back of the shop, letting the force lead him. He came upon a large shed. The door was open and the light in the shed was on. He stepped inside and automatically assumed it had been living quarters for the girl.
He then took sight of the two dead men on the ground. Obi-Wan bent down and felt for a pulse. It was no use though. The body was already starting to get cold. It had been here for at least an hour and a half. Luke's lingering presence was still in the room along with another familiar presence, yet he couldn't name why it was so familiar.
Owen came in behind him. "What happened here?"
"I'm not sure," Obi-Wan said inspecting the bodies. "This man here seems to have dies from blaster wounds and this guy…" Obi-Wan noticed the finger marks on his neck. "He was choked."
Owen looked down at the dog-like humanoid alien. "That was the girl's master. You don't think Luke did this and that girl."
"I'm afraid so Owen, but I'm sure they had good reason. I'm guessing the girl's master rented her out to this man and Luke saved her… Of course, either one of them could have done this," Obi-Wan concluded.
"Then where are they now," Owen snapped.
Obi-Wan reach out into the force and searched for Luke's presence nearby. He frowned as he reached out with his senses as far as they could go. Luke wasn't anywhere near them and neither was the girl he was friends with. They had both disappeared. Obi-Wan stood up. He had lost the last hope for the galaxy. Obi-Wan took out his comlink. He had to contact Yoda immediately.
Meanwhile, Owen had called the local authorities to report two missing children. Obi-Wan sighed as he put up his com. The least Yoda could do was answer it. Knowing the old jedi, he had thrown it somewhere and couldn't find it. When the authorities came, if you could call them authorities, they looked at the dead bodies in outrage. Apparently one of the men that were dead was a respected member of the community.
Obi-Wan discreetly took out the man's ID and paled. He was a lieutenant in the Imperial Army at a nearby outpost. He vaguely heard the men talking about a slave girl with light brown hair and streaks in it that came from the two suns. They mentioned how they knew she was always trouble and told Meyrin to get rid of her because she was too stubborn and defiant. Obi-Wan knew that by the time they reported this to the Empire, it would be a twisted story painting the girl and Luke as the criminal, when Obi-Wan was sure they were only defending themselves.
He had to find Luke and the girl fast, or they would both be in danger, or at least, in more danger than they were currently in.
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Leia sighed as Luke threw up in the trash can again. They had only been in hyperspace for five minutes when Luke really realized he had taken a life. It had bothered him to the point that he was sick and his sickness was interfering with Leia's attempts to treat his wounds.
"It's going to be okay Luke," Leia said rubbing Luke's back.
"No it's not," Luke said wiping his mouth with the towel Leia had given him. "I killed your master. I'm a murderer."
"You're not a murderer Luke," Leia snapped suddenly startling Luke a little. "A murderer kills for the heck of it. They kill for no good reason, and I should know. I've met my fair share of them since I was sold into slavery. Meyrin was practically nice compared to some of the masters I had, but he still deserved what he got for what he was going to let that monster do to me!"
Leia's lip was trembling as she spoke and Luke realized he had been so focused on the fact that he had killed someone, he didn't stop to think how Leia was feeling about all this.
"I'm sorry," he said. "It's just…"
"Luke," Leia said trying to hold back her tears. "I've seen things I shouldn't have had to seen in the last nine years and I know exactly what he was going to do. I used to hear the screams and the pleas. I was just so naïve I never thought they'd come out of my mouth. Maybe it makes me cold and heartless but… I'm glad they're dead. I'm glad you killed my master."
Leia couldn't stop it anymore. The tears fell, and Luke wrapped his arms around her in effort to comfort her and himself. Leia was tough, but there was only so much a teenager could handle. Not only did they have to deal with that though, they were on the run. It would only be a matter of time before someone found those bodies. Though Luke doubted anyone would care enough to put a bounty on their heads to find them in the galaxy, it did mean they could probably never go to Tatooine again. Luke would never see his aunt and uncle again.
"Luke. What are we going to do?" Leia asked as she sat up, and confident that Luke wouldn't throw up again, began applying bacta to his cheek.
"I'm not sure yet Leia," Luke said and then added, "But something tells me that we made the right decision in heading for Naboo. I read in my school textbook that Naboo is a beautiful planet with lots of trees and, get this, water. I saw a picture and I've never seen so much water in one place. If my uncle could get as much water out of sand in a year as they have in one lake, we'd be rich on Tatooine."
Leia noted the sad tone in his voice, despite his attempts to sound excited. She looked at him and started to put a bandage on his cheek.
"You don't have to act all fearless for my sake Luke. I know you're just as scared as I am," Leia whispered.
Luke gave a nervous laugh. "You're right. I knew one day I'd be out on my own and travelling the galaxy with you, but not like this," he added. "How about this? We get to Naboo and then we'll figure out what we're going to do from there?"
Leia nodded her head and yawned. "Okay. I'm tired."
"Me too. We should both get some rest," Luke said. "You can take the bed back there. I'll stay here in the cockpit."
"Alright. If you need to get in the bed though, let me know and I'll watch the ship," Leia said before going to the back of the ship.
A few hours later, both teenagers were awake and Leia was rubbing her stomach.
"I'm starving," she said as she looked around the ship for something to eat.
"You're always starving," Luke said as he began to help her. "I don't know how you get by during the day on what you used to eat."
Leia shrugged. "It was will mostly. That and I used to sleep like a log. When I was done with work and you left, I'd go straight to bed."
"Was that your way of making up for the fact that Meyrin didn't give you enough food?" Luke asked.
"Yeah. Sleep replenished me. I'm so into the habit I doubt I'll ever eat like I supposed to," Leia said and then smiled before crying in triumph, "Aha! Rations. This will work for now."
Leia tossed one to Luke and then sat down with him as she opened it. Luke inspected his.
"These look old. Are you sure they're alright?" Luke asked.
"I don't know. But when you've been a slave, you learn to take whatever you get," Leia said biting into the ration. She frowned. "But even I can be a little picky. These things taste like dirt. They must be really old."
Leia put it down as Luke began checking the controls.
"We're dropping out of hyperspace," Luke said to her and Leia looked at him. She had a bad feeling about all of this.
"Do you know where we're going to land?" Leia asked.
"Yeah," Luke said. "Someplace we don't have to ask permission."
"That only narrows it down to… just about anywhere on the planet," Leia shot.
"You fly the ship then," Luke snapped as something on the ship violently jerked.
Luke frantically started to mess with the controls and Leia looked at him starting to panic.
"What's going on?"
"It's the ship," Luke replied.
"I thought you knew how to fly," Leia said.
"The best pilot in the galaxy would have trouble with this thing. Something's wrong with the landing gear," Luke deduced.
The ship jerk violently again and Leia fanned herself. "Is it just me or is it getting really hot in here?"
"I think the ship isn't taking re-entry well. How long did Meyrin have this thing?"
"Let's just say it was ancient before I was born," Leia replied and began to panic. "The ship's falling apart."
"That's the least of our worries," Luke said as they sped to the ground and began to get a view of Naboo landscape. "The landing gear isn't working at all."
"Can't you do something?" Leia asked as Luke tried to keep the ship from crashing nose first.
"I'm trying," Luke said trying to stay calm as he tried to keep the ship level. "Oh forget it," he finally said and grabbed Leia's hand. "Come on."
He led them to the back of the ship and opened doors on the way looking for a small space to get in, yet one that was big enough for both he and Leia. He found a small closet full of old towels, but the space at the bottom was big enough for them to fit in.
He pushed Leia in first and then got in behind her and closed the door. Not ten seconds after they were in did the feel the impact of the ship crashing to the ground. Luke and Leia screamed as the ship then began to skid and crashed into something solid, like a tree. They waited a good minute or so before they started to move. The ship had fallen in an awkward way on its side and so they both had to kick the door up and were met with the clear blue sky.
Leia climbed out first taking a towel with her and then Luke. The ship had broken in half from the top.
"Well, at least we're not stuck in the ship," Luke said grabbing the top of the ship and pulling himself up. He reached down to grab Leia who was frowning and sniffing the air.
"Do you smell that?" she asked fiddling with her necklace
Luke sniffed the air and paled.
"Gas," he said and grabbed Leia's arm before she could even reach for him. He helped her pull her up and then they slid down the side of the ship to the ground.
"Ah," Luke said grabbing his ankle.
"You okay?" Leia asked.
"My ankle…"
The smell of burning metal stopped Leia from inspecting it. She helped Luke up instead.
"We'll check it later but right now we have to go," she said and supported Luke.
Despite his ankle, Luke ran as fast as he could with Leia, as far away from the ship as possible. Leia looked up and saw a huge rock.
"We'll hide behind that," she said hurrying Luke along.
Luke and Leia got behind the rock just as the ship exploded. The rock shielded them from the debris of the ship and Leia peaked around the rock to see the remains of the ship on fire. The smoke was rising high into the sky, and Leia knew it was only a matter of time before someone came to investigate it.
She was brought back to the situation at hand when Luke groaned.
Leis sat back down and took his left ankle. She pulled down his sock and loosened his shoe. She rolled her eyes.
"Stop acting like a big baby you," Leia said as she prodded his swollen ankle. "It's just a sprain."
"It hurts like hell though," Luke muttered.
Leia took the towel she had gotten from the closet and rubbed an edge of it against a rock to start a tear. She tore it the rest of the way and began to tightly wrap up Luke's legs.
"That better?" Leia asked him and Luke nodded as he stood up testing his ankle.
"That's better," Luke said and started to limp from behind the rock.
"Where are we?" Leia asked followed him.
"I'm not sure…" Luke said and saw something in the distance. "Hey look Leia. There's a city."
Leia looked in the distance and saw it too. "How far away do you think it is?"
Luke shrugged. "Maybe about five miles or so."
"Think you can make it?" Leia asked nodding to his ankle.
Luke looked at the ship wreck. "I don't have much of a choice really. Someone is bound to see that smoke. We need to get as far away as possible from this."
"Alright," Leia said grabbed a long stick off the ground. "Here. Just in case that ankle doesn't hold out."
Luke and Leia then started the long walk to the city. The closer they got to it, the more familiar it became to Luke until he gasped.
"What luck," he said.
"Why?" Leia asked rubbing her stomach as it growled.
"That's Theed. The capital city of Naboo," Luke said. "The queen lives there."
"You think they'll have somewhere we can get some food? I'm starving," Leia admitted.
"Did you bring that credit chip?"
Leia didn't meet Luke's eyes as she muttered something under her breath.
"What?"
"I said it was on the ship somewhere. I put it down in the cockpit and didn't have a chance to go get it before we crashed," Leia said and felt Luke's frustration. "I'm sorry. I just forgot. So much has been going on and…"
"It's okay Leia," Luke said blowing out hard through his mouth. "We'll figure something out. Maybe we can find a job or something, just temporary you know? So we can get some cash."
They continued to the beautiful city and both teenagers looked on in awe. It was a stark contrast to the cities on Tatooine. The buildings were beautiful blues and greens and creams and the city sat next to water. The palace stood out above the rest of the buildings and Leia felt an odd sense of familiarity about it.
They started down the streets of Theed and looked into all the windows of the boutiques and shops.
"This city, it's so homely," Luke said. "I feel like I'm part of hundreds of years of tradition."
Leia nodded and looked into the windows of some of the cafes. Luke followed her eyes and decided not to dwell on his own hunger. Instead he took in the fact that the streets were crowded in celebration of something. He looked around to get an idea of what the fuss was about and saw a picture of a beautiful woman in white make up with an elaborate hair style and robes of a queen. Then the holo changed, and Luke thought that the woman looked even more beautiful without all the makeup. Her curly brown hair cascaded down her back and she was smiling. There was something familiar about her.
"Luke," Leia said coming to stand next to him. "What are you looking at?"
Luke turned to look at Leia when she called him and then did a double take.
"Leia look," Luke said pointing to the picture.
Leia looked at it for a moment and then shrugged. "So what?"
"That woman looks just like you. Well she's older of course, but she looks just like you," Luke said.
Leia inspected the picture for a moment and then pointed out. "Her hair is dark brown. Mine is a light brown with blonde streaks."
"That's because the suns on Tatooine bleached it. Your hair was exactly that color when I met you," Luke said. "And hair color aside, you have the same face."
Luke looked at the woman thoughtfully and then looked at Leia.
"Do you think she may have been your mother?" Luke asked.
"That's impossible," Leia said sighing.
"Why?"
Leia tossed Luke a pamphlet and Luke looked at it. The woman was on the cover and her name was written across the top. Padmé Amidala.
"She died while she was pregnant. She never gave birth. They're passing these out. Apparently, they're celebrating her life. She died someday this week, and they celebrate her life all week," Leia replied. "We arrived just in time for the celebration."
"Who was she?" Luke asked.
"Obviously she was a queen at one time," Leia pointed out.
Luke rolled his eyes. "You can act like a real haughty brat sometimes."
"I do not," Leia said offended.
"Yes you do," Luke said grinning. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were a princess or something."
Leia scowled. "Princesses don't get to have fun. I probably wouldn't be able to race and play tricks and do all the fun stuff you boys get to do if I were a princess."
"I'm not saying you are a princess. I'm just saying you sometimes act like one," Luke said.
"And princesses also don't steal," Leia said, her eyes following a food cart that was selling Naboo fruits along with other treats and candies.
Luke looked at the cart too. Normally he would have been totally against doing something like this, but he was starting to feel the pangs of hunger too. He watched as everyone began to clear the streets.
"We better hurry then," Luke said looking for the reason and spotting it. "A parade is about to start."
"You distract him somehow," Leia said. "I'll steal the food since you can't run with that ankle."
"How am I supposed to do that?" Luke asked.
"I don't know," Leia said as they crossed the street to the cart. "If you can choke someone without touching them, you can cause some kind of distraction without it pointing back at you."
Luke sighed and Leia went to stand next to the cart innocently. He worried about her sometimes. She talked about him killing her master so casually it scared him a little. In fact she talked about a lot of things a little too casually. Slavery had to have given her some mental issues.
Luke went up to the cart, looked at the fruit and the candies like he wanted to buy something and simply waited. Something told him not to act just yet. The music, signaling the start of the parade, began and Luke saw a group of teenagers start to run their way with the intention of rushing past the cart to get a good view. With the music playing so loud and the teenagers rushing by, Luke was able to hit the cart so that the vibration made some of the fruit topple over onto the ground.
The cart owner started to shout after the teenagers thinking they had done it before bending down to pick up his merchandise.
"Here," Luke said bending down while looking at Leia out the corner of his eye. "Let me help you."
Leia took a bag hanging on the side of the cart and started to grab fruits and a few candies from her side of the cart while the man was distracted. When she thought there was enough for the time being she started to walk down the street quickly, but within a reasonable natural pace so she wouldn't stick out.
"Thanks," the man said and started to put his food back in place. Then he frowned. "I swear I had more of these candies…"
"That girl," a woman from behind him said. "She was picking some things. I didn't say anything because I thought she might pay for it."
"Where is she?" the man said.
Luke cursed as the woman searched and spotted Leia. This wasn't good.
"There she is," the woman pointed out.
"Thief!" the man somehow managed to yell over the music. "Someone get that girl!" he yelled.
"Leia run!" Luke shouted as he saw the authorities that were making sure things stayed peaceful start to chase her.
Leia was already way ahead of Luke. As soon as the man said thief, she had broken out into a run. People began to murmur in the streets and look for the source of the disturbance making it harder for her cut through the crowd. Leia wished they please keep moving and get out of her way.
Meanwhile, Luke had forgotten all about his sprained ankle and was chasing behind the authorities. He had to get to Leia before they did. It was hard to do so in the crowed sidewalk though, so he jumped in the middle of the parade, which had now stopped, and followed Leia.
Leia had never run so fast in her life. She wasn't quite sure how long she could keep up doing so. She was beginning to get a little dizzy. She really needed to find somewhere to hide so she and Luke could eat something and build up some strength.
The crowded sidewalk was really slowing her down and so Leia steered towards the street to get some room. She regretted it a moment later. Just as she started into the street, she ran smack dab into a two legged beast that was being ridden in the parade, next to a huge ad extravagant float. But Leia didn't care about how pretty the float was. She screamed as the beast lashed out at her with its two small clawed front arms and dropped the bag in the process.
All of its contents spilled out, but Leia wasn't concerned as she too had fallen and was now only concerned with getting back up and running away. She stood up and started to back up, right into the authorities.
"Gotcha," the said grabbing her arms from behind.
Leia tensed, he face paling dramatically before she began to struggle and lash out.
"No!" she yelled. "Let me go."
The office let go of one of her arms and turned her to him.
"Listen child, it's okay," he said noting something was wrong.
"Let her go," Luke shouted when he got to them and grabbed hold of Leia from the officer. When she continued to thrash about Luke grabbed hold of her shoulders and looked her in the eye.
"Leia. It's me," he whispered so no one really heard it.
Leia stopped and blinked. "Luke," she muttered and calmed down.
"That girl stole from my cart," the man from before accused.
"Is that true?" the officer asked Leia and she nodded.
"The you'll have to come with us," he said started to reach for her.
Leia's eyes flashed. "Leave me alone," she snapped.
The officer was about to grab Leia anyway when a voice said in a monotonous but firm and clear tone, "Stop."
Everyone stopped and looked toward the beautiful float where a woman with elaborately dressed up hair, regal gowns, and white face paint came down, along with four other woman wearing the same outfits and hoods over their head.
"Your highness," the officer said to her shakily and bother Luke and Leia gasped.
It was the Queen of Naboo.
"What is the problem here?" she asked.
"Your highness," the man from the cart said. "That girl was seen stealing from me and ran when the authorities went after her. Her friend was in on it," he added pointing to look with a glare.
Luke fumed and started to talk accidently cutting off the queen. "Yes we did it and we know we were wrong. But we were just hungry. Really. All this commotion over a couple of pieces of fruit and candy."
Suddenly Luke realized he had cut off the queen and blushed. "Sorry your highness. I didn't mean to cut you off."
The woman smiled and turned to the officer and the man.
"Surely we cannot blame two children for taking a few pieces of fruit because they were hungry. They appear to be orphans. They meant no harm," she said.
"But milady," the cart man said respectfully. "That fruit cost. That's profit lost that I need to feed my family."
"Then I will compensate you for your losses," the queen decided and then looked at Luke and Leia.
"I trust you won't cause another disturbance like this again," she said giving them a stern look.
Luke almost laughed. If not for the fact that she was a queen, he would have rolled his eyes at her trying to tell him what to do. He barely listened to his aunt and uncle. Leia sensed his amusement and glared at him out the corner of her eye. Luke felt something akin to warning coming off her presence and sighed. They both nodded.
The queen looked at the officer. "Then I also trust we can let this little blunder slide."
"Yes your highness," the officer said.
"Very good," the queen said pleased and turned back to Luke and Leia. "Stand up you two. What are your names?"
Luke and Leia looked at each other managing a wordless conversation in their glance.
"Kyle," Luke said.
"Kyla," Leia said.
"Last name?"
"Darklighter," they said together not missing a beat.
"We're twins," Luke added and Leia resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Twins? Really… The likely-hood of them being twins was as likely as Darth Vader being their father.
The queen regarded then for a moment before nodding her head.
"Rashidah, Ayame," she said referring to two of her handmaidens. "Escort these children back to the palace and make sure they are taken care of. Give them one of the best suites in the palace and provide them with a bath, clothing, and food."
"Yes milady," two of the handmaidens said as a luxury speeder came up next to them and the doors opened.
Luke and Leia looked at each other not believing their luck before they got in the speeder followed by the two handmaidens. This had definitely not been part of their plans, not that they had one in the first place, but they weren't complaining about it.
The two had never been in a speeder so nice. Luke bet it was worth more that the entire homestead back on Tatooine. Leia on the other hand was completely overwhelmed. The only thing she had known or remembered were small cramped living quarters, if her masters gave her any at all. She would have gladly live in a speeder like this if she had to in favor of those cramped quarters.
"One would think you'd never been in a speeder before," Rashidah said with a smile.
"Not this nice," Luke admitted as they pulled up to the palace.
If Leia was overwhelmed by the speeder, she almost had a heart attack when they started into the palace. She would sleep outside for the rest of her life if she could wake up and look at this every day. Luke was feeling about the same and then saw a water fountain and ran over to it as best he could with his ankle still hurting.
"Look," he gestured to Leia who came behind him as he put his hand in the water. "I've never seen so much water in one place in my life."
"I forgot you grew up on Tatooine. I've been to at least two other planets where there's more water. Tatooine is all desert and sand, but there are some places where the planet is up almost completely made up of water," Leia explained as Luke looked in fascination at the water.
Leia then looked towards the handmaidens that were quietly watching them. Leia grabbed Luke's arm.
"Come on you. Their watching us," she said nodding her head to the handmaidens.
"Oh yeah," Luke said standing up and following the handmaidens into the palace.
"That's it," Leia determined. "We're going to stay here as long as we can until we figure out what to do," she muttered to Luke so the handmaidens would not hear her.
"In that case," Luke said with a grin as they went down the hall, "let's take our slow sweet time.
They arrived at a large red wood door and the handmaidens pushed it open. Luke and Leia's jaws scraped the ground.
The room was painted with calm serene colors with living room furniture to match that face a large fire place. Hanging above the fire place was a large holovision and in the middle of the ceiling was an elegant chandelier.
"Stars," Luke said sitting on the couch. "This is sweet."
Leia didn't see any of that though. She ran straight past Luke to the glass door that led to the balcony. She leaned on the railing and looked down, straight into the garden and then back up to see the city of Theed. There was another glass door a little ways down the balcony and Leia assumed it went to a bedroom or something since the curtains were drawn.
She went back into the living room where she found the handmaidens showing him his bedroom. She grinned. That meant she got the one that led to the balcony.
"You both have private baths attached to your rooms," Ayame explained. "Feel free to refresh yourselves. We will bring you suitable clothing in a few minutes."
The two handmaidens left leaving Luke and Leia to themselves. It took both of them a minute to figure out how to use the fancy knobs and adjust the temperature of the water in the bath (They both decided not to even fool with the showers).
Luke was out long before Leia was though and twenty minutes later, when she still wasn't out, he was growing impatient. He knocked on her door.
"Leia, what's taking you so long?" he asked.
She finally opened the door wearing an orange, red and yellow sun dress and sandals. She looked even thinner now without the big baggy sack she used to call a dress hiding her form.
"Didn't you have anything better to do than to bother me while I got ready?" she asked annoyed.
"Nope," Luke admitted and Leia shook her head.
"That's sad Luke. You really need to get a life if your whole world revolves around me," she teased.
"I could tell you the same," Luke shot rolling up the sleeves to his orange shirt.
"Wow," Leia said in awe.
"What?" Luke asked running a hand through his hair.
"I had no idea you could look so clean," Leia said smirking.
"Oh haha," Luke said as they went to the couch.
"Did you change the bacta pad?" Leia asked referring to Luke's cheek and the boy nodded. "And your ankle?'
"The bath helped." He then tilted his head at Leia in a fashion she was sure had seen somewhere on the holovision or something and said, "What's up with your hair?"
"I washed it," Leia replied. "That's what took me so long. I didn't feel like combing it out so I just threw it in a ponytail. Does it really look that bad?"
"It's a tangled mess," Luke admitted and Leia glared at him. "But a kind of elegant tangled mess in a way."
"Whatever," Leia said rolling her eyes. "So what's our course of action?"
Luke sighed. "Well, we can't stay here forever," he began.
"I know that much Kyle," Leia teased.
"Sure Kyla," Luke shot back.
Leia then remember what he had told the queen earlier and gave him an incredulous look.
"We're twins?" she asked. "Really. You couldn't come up with something better, like half sibling or step siblings or something? We don't look anything alike."
"It was the first thing that came to my head? Besides, it's not that unbelievable. We could say you got your looks from our mother and I got mine from our father," Luke defended.
"Still," Leia said and started to say something else when there was a knock on the door.
Luke went to open it and then let the two handmaidens in.
"A meal has been prepared for you until dinner. Queen Kylantha wishes to eat with you later," Rashida said coming in with a tray of food followed by Ayame.
They sat it on the coffee table and Leia sat on her knees before it. She'd never gotten so much food at one time in her life, or as far as she could remember anyway. She started with the Naboo fruit salad and was done with it by the time Luke sat next to her to join her. Then she moved on to the lunch entrée. She had heard Luke complain about eating his vegetables many times when he came to see her, but to her, the vegetables were a hundred times better than the slop she was usually fed as a slave. She never knew food could taste so good.
Leia was just in the middle of licking some sauce off her fingers when she noticed everyone was staring at her.
"What?" she asked and next to her Luke laughed.
"It's not going to run away Leia," Luke said smiling popping a piece of fruit in his mouth.
Leia blushed and slowed down. She knew that. She had forgotten though, that she wasn't a slave and no one was going to take it away from her.
Luke could suddenly understood why Leia had scoffed it down so fast though and had to restrain himself.
"Would you like us to do your hair?" Ayame asked.
Leia shook her head. "You don't have to. You've already done enough," she said bashfully.
"Kyla," Luke said and it took Leia a moment to figure out he was talking to her. "You said yourself you were having trouble with it."
"We'll go get the combs and brushes," they said.
Leia looked at Luke. "Why did you do that?"
"Their queen ordered them to take care of us. We may as well take advantage of it while we can," Luke said before drinking his juice. He was going to get as much royal treatment as he possibly could before all this was over.
The women came back and got to work on Leia's long hair. She had always told Luke she wanted to cut it because it gave her so much trouble but he always insisted that she leave it long, teasingly saying if she cut it off, people would think she was a boy.
Luke looked at Leia strangely for a moment. She looked oddly in place with them doing her hair like that. Sure she looked a little uncomfortable and annoyed, but the handmaidens doing her hair just looked right. Maybe it was because he always imagined that Leia was a princess sometimes. He had dreams of her in another lifetime, another universe being fussed over by other woman and Leia with her arms crossed and a displeased scowl on her face. Her expression wasn't very princess like, but the scenes would shift to an elaborate ball or dinner, and she would act all diplomatic and be polite.
He shrugged the dream out his head. Leia acted a little like a princess sometimes, being that she could get a little haughty sometimes and could put up impossible to beat arguments in negotiation to get what she wanted (he should know. She used it on him sometimes), but other than that, Leia was as far from being a princess as Tatooine was from the core. She had a bad temper if you got her riled up enough, she didn't mind getting dirty, she was a tomboy, and she wasn't one to be polite when she was around people she didn't like. They knew she didn't like them as soon as she made up her mind not to like them.
"There," Rashidah said after they had twisted her braids around her head into a simple yet fancy hair style.
"Thank you," Leia said wiping her hands with a damp napkin.
For the rest of the day they sat around the room. Leia had taken a particular interest in downloading things about Naboo off the holonet and onto the datapad one of the handmaidens had given her, while Luke was more interested the holo games, especially the flight simulations.
"Time for dinner," the handmaidens said knocking on the door.
Luke and Leia stopped what they were doing, surprised that the day had gone by so quickly and followed the handmaidens to the dining room. Queen Kylantha was sitting at the head of the table with another man dressed in senatorial garbs and a girl with stark white hair next to him.
"Kyle, Kyla," the queen said. "Please join us. I hope you don't mind the company."
Leia and Luke shook their heads as sat on the other side of the queen next to each other. Luke immediately looked at the man sitting with the girl. He seemed to be staring intently at Leia, and Luke didn't like it. Instead of glaring at the man though, he looked at his daughter and felt his knees go weak.
"This is the Senator of Alderaan, Bail Organa, and his daughter Winter," Kylantha said.
"Nice to meet you," Leia said politely and then hit Luke under the table who was still staring at Winter.
Luke shook his head. "Yeah. Same here."
Leia would have rolled her eyes if she hadn't known it might be a rude gesture at the table.
"So the queen tells me you're orphans," Bail said carefully. "Where did you come from?"
Luke was about to panic, but Leia's quick response saved them from being blown by his nervousness.
"Our mother couldn't afford to take care of us. She left us at an orphanage when we were babies, but they treated the children there very cruel. They didn't even try to find parents for us. They just worked us like slaves. The local authorities found out and shut the place down putting all the children in foster homes, but they were going to separate me and my brother. So we ran away," Leia said smoothly.
Luke could only sit and try to look like he agreed with her. That was a blatant lie, and she told them without thinking, even managing to seem timid and sad.
"That's horrible," Kylantha said with a little emotion in her tone, a stark contrast to how she had been talking before.
"We arrived here on a transport a few days ago and planned to find somewhere to earn some money, but this celebration was going on. We were just so hungry," Leia said softly and if Luke had been surprised before, he was shocked and trying to keep his mouth from scraping the ground now.
"That's understood," Kylantha said. "The two of you can stay here as long as you need to. We'll even see if we can find you something to do."
"Thank you," Luke managed still in awe over Leia's quick thinking. He knew it was a lie, and she almost had him convinced.
"So how old are you?" Winter asked.
Luke even knew they had to lie on that one. "Fourteen," both he and Leia said together. If someone was looking for them, the first thing they would ask was their age.
Winter laughed. "You're short for a fourteen year old," she said to Luke and he scowled.
"Winter," Bail warned.
"Sorry," she said.
"I like her already," Leia muttered to Luke, but Luke wasn't paying attention.
Luke was looking at Bail. Why did he suddenly seem so downcast when he found out their ages, well, their fake ages anyway? He was almost looking at Leia forlornly, like she was a forgotten memory or a ghost.
"Are you alright sir?" Luke said not being able to stay quiet about it anymore. "You look a little sick."
Bail shook his head. "I'm sorry. I just lost my other daughter some years ago. You look a little like her Kyla."
"Oh," Luke said looking down, suddenly guilty he had thought the worst of the man. "I'm sorry."
"It's alright," he said
When they were done with dinner Leia, who had taken a liking to Winter, said, "Can Winter come with us to our suite?"
Luke suddenly jumped, and Leia looked at him strangely before turning back to Bail.
"She has some lessons she's been avoiding for the last few days that she has to get to.
"Oh Father come on," Winter said to him and Bail shook his head.
"Maybe this will be more motivation for you to finish your homework this time," Bail said and Winter scowled excusing herself from the table to go do it.
Leia and Luke followed her example thanking the queen for the meal. When they were out in the hall, Luke rounded on Leia.
"How did you come up with that story?"
Leia shrugged. "No big deal. It was easy."
"Leia!" Luke said in a harsh whisper. "You came up with a story so believable you almost had me convinced. Man, if we weren't in trouble I'd look for some auditions for you. Where did you learn to make up stuff and act like that?"
Leia urged Luke to keep walking down the hall. It wasn't until they were halfway to their room that she answered him.
"Luke," she said in a tone as though she were remembering a painful memory. Luke caught her wince a little. "When you're a slave and every little thing that happens, your master can blame on you, you learn to tell believable fibs real quickly."
Luke stopped and Leia kept walking. One day she was going to tell him everything that had ever happened to her when she was a slave, but right now, they had to figure out exactly what their plan of action was. He started to ask her before he felt something of amusement come off her.
"By the way," she said. "Don't think I didn't notice how you acted around Winter. I can't believe it. You're growing up Lukey. You have your first crush."
Luke blushed and then said, "You're one to talk. You think I was so blind I couldn't tell you had a crush on Biggs."
He smirked when he saw Leia's face heat up and felt her embarrassment. Just because he was a boy didn't mean he was clueless about everything. He certainly wasn't clueless about Senator Organa's feelings either. Maybe Leia did look like his daughter, but he had a feeling there was more to the story and he was going to figure out exactly what.
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In the next chapter while Luke seems more fascinated with palace life and two droids that belong to Bail Organa, Leia takes coming up with a plan to get them off planet when the time comes into her own hands, even if it means taking advantage of the kindness the queen has given them. When Luke finds out, he's not happy about it to say the least, but it doesn't matter when Leia uses her power to save Senator Pooja Naberrie from being assassinated. Not only has she blown their cover, but also leads the Empire straight to them. Luke forgets about not taking advantage of someone's kindness. He and Leia have to get off the planet fast.
I was always interested in how Luke and Leia would interact if they had known each other before they met in the movies. And I also had to figure out how to make Leia true to her personality, but taking into account the fact that she was a slave. I figured if she had been raised as a princess for four years, some of that would linger into her personality. I was also able to use some of the things I read about her. Also, I found it fun for them to use thinks a make up lies that were actually true. Like Luke speculating about Leia's mother, saying they were twins, the Darth Vader being their father. I have other little ironic things in the rest of the story, but I'll let you find them later. Hope you enjoyed. Review please!