A/N: Thank you for the reviews!
As exciting as the coup drama may be, for now we're back on Chandrila. At Embassy Row, specifically. Where Ben receives a message someone left for him?
Nothing had changed. The furniture arrangement in the living room, the carpets, the portaits that hung on the walls. Even the droids. As far as homecoming went, he had only agreed because Dure and Leo insisted. That, and the fact they literally delivered him to the gates of the apartment complex along Embassy Row.
"We'll pick you up later, so just stay there," Dure had warned him before her transport sped off. Meanwhile Leo waved back happily at him while shouting, "See you Uncle Ben!"
Did he have a choice?
When the doors of the turbolift opened onto the higher floors, he was prepared to walk into a dark and deserted apartment. Unfortunately, nothing had gone the way it should since he set foot on Chandrila. Not at Dure's manor yesterday, not at the Senate Plaza earlier, and definitely not now.
Instead of an empty shell of a house, he was welcomed to a well-lit home and the sight of house droids busy at work. He almost let out a derisive laugh. Fancy having these programmed machines still cleaning when the apartment had been vacant for more years than he could remember. His face darkened slightly. When its owners were all dead.
The droids were quick to detect his unannounced presence. They stopped whatever cleaning it was that they were doing and swiveled to look at him. There were three droids in all, a BX-model and two from the T2-series. They studied him warily. It was T2-LC "Elsie" who was the first to recognize him. Was it his hair? The other droids picked up on his data. Suddenly, it was as if he was ten all over again as the droids greeted him, "Welcome back, Master Ben!"
He stood there, blinking and unsure how quite to respond. The droids however had no such qualms. They immediately ushered him to have a seat. Elsie rolled off to "prepare the bedroom."
He wanted to object; he wasn't planning to stay on Chandrila after tonight. He hadn't even been back to his ship, and he had left his commlink on board, meaning that he hadn't been able to check in on how things were progressing in the Order. If General Hux had never been over-eager to be in charge each time he was away, he probably wouldn't be this mildly concerned.
But then his former nanny cut in with, "Your mother insists it should always be ready for you". And Elsie took his stunned silence as consent.
Just as Elsie disappeared from sight, a cup of freshly prepared caf materialized in front of him. He left it sitting on the low coffee table. He knew who gave it to him. There was only one droid programmed to cook. BX-778 probably didn't remember what happened all those years ago in the kitchen, but he did. It gave him nightmares for years.
He suddenly recalled those teary times he begged to not be left behind alone with no one but the droids. His reward for trying had been a hug and a kiss on the cheeks, but the arrangement remained. It got worse when he started going to school, and his parents' schedule got busier. BX-778 once told him factually that the family seemed to only sit down to have dinner together around ten times a year. From then on, he stopped asking and just assumed he would be having his dinners by himself.
Perhaps all of these was why he had been very ambivalent about having his own droid. To suddenly be back in this apartment, alone and surrounded by nothing but these machines, it unnerved him.
He leapt to his feet and all but stomped back to his room. Elsie had yet to finish changing the lampshade before he was ordered out. If Elsie had a face, he would most certainly look hurt. In any case, he obeyed and rolled away, making sure to close the door behind him.
The young master of the Organa-Solo household scanned his room. In the days before he was sent away, he spent much of his time in here. Specifically, at this desk, practicing his calligraphy as means of distraction. The droids also left him alone when they saw him seated there. He picked up a model ship that resembled the Millennium Falcon. He noted absently that it wasn't dusty at all, even though this room was long uninhabited. Elsie must have stayed true to his mother's orders.
The Falcon. How he wished he could hate that ship.
There was something else on his desk. It was squarish, wrapped in grey and white jacquard. Curious, he tugged at the silver ribbon holding the wrapping in place and it revealed a portable holoprojector. When he opened its side lid, he saw a set of six holocron nestled in the storage space. They were marked numerically, probably indicating the order in which they were to be played. Had they been left for him?
He loaded the cube labeled 1 into the holoprojector. The screen was located at the top, a typical blue glass panel. The image that flickered on was solid and full-coloured, taken from the shoulder up. But it must have been taken a couple of years ago. The woman who smiled into the recording still had more brown hair than grey, tied back into a loose braid.
"Hello Ben."
Her voice was mischievous, much like her personality in a good mood. His heart ached with a feeling he had fought so hard to keep down.
The recording was still playing. "When you see this, I am probably gone. For good. If it happens to be when you're not yet home... I'm sorry, sweetheart. It's not something that could be helped." The woman laughed, but there was more sadness than mirth. "Hopefully."
He sank down onto the edges of his bed even as his gaze never wavered from the image. "Now Ben, before you think I planned this whole gift from the beginning, I didn't. But the past few days, I kept thinking about you. I'm not sure if you know, but many, many things have been happening here and I can't reach you. I know I shouldn't be worried, Luke is with you. Still..." Her words trailed off into a sigh.
"In any case," she continued. "At the time I'm recording this, I am no longer in the Senate. And I am no longer on Hosnian Prime. If it turns out I never get to see you again, I hope at least I'm there near you in Chandrila."
Instinctively he glanced out his room window, where the Senate Plaza which housed the Senators' Mausoleum was in perfect view. When he returned his gaze back to the hologram, she gave him a look as if she knew that was exactly what he would do. His heart hurt.
"How are you, Ben?" The question took him by surprise. The image held out a hand, to indicate he shouldn't answer. "If you're going to say you're fine and smile... sweetheart, I think it's time to know, you are a terrible liar." She leaned in with a sad smile. "I'm sure it's too late by the time you see this. But let me just say it: I'm sorry."
He froze at her words.
"I'm so sorry, darling," she repeated. "About sending you away to be a Jedi. Without asking you if it's what you want." Her eyes softened. "You must have had dreams of what you want to do, and we... Ben, if you ever want to come home, please, please, just let me know. Sweetheart, you don't have to be a Jedi if it's not what you want."
He studied her face carefully. He saw the regret playing across her features. But her eyes reflected how much she missed him. How much hope she had in him.
Suddenly she gave a laugh as she pinched her nose bridge lightly, an attempt to wipe the tears threatening at the corners of her eyes. He wanted to reach out to touch her face, but this was a hologram. That much he knew. If anything, it pained him even more.
Once she had composed herself, she continued with a slight shake of her head and a chuckle. "Well, if there's one thing I would discourage you from doing, it's politics." She didn't appear to be serious about her warning, though. She looked thoughtful before she added, "I won't stop you if you want to enter politics, but it's just not something to take lightly. Once you're in it, you never leave."
She gave him a terse smile. As I'm sure you know, was what it seemed to say. Nevertheless, she still doled out advice. "Politics isn't just about power, Ben. It's about duty. It's about answering to your constituents, being responsible for them. Protecting them. Standing up for what you believe is right." She grimaced. "Though it's a pain to get things done when everyone is too busy squabbling." And then again, that sad smile. "And oh, all the things you have to give up along the way..."
He had enough. He walked over towards the holoprojector to stop the recording. But as he got nearer to the image, he noticed the escaped tears on her cheeks. He reached out to touch, only to find his hand passing through. Of course, he thought bitterly. How had he forgotten.
"I'll always love you, Ben. Come home anytime, sweetheart."
The recording ended on its own. For a long while, he stared helplessly at where the hologram had flickered out. Something warm trailed down his cheek. When he wiped at it with a gloved hand, the wet, trailing warmth didn't lessen. Instead, there were more.
Come home anytime.
"I'm home," he whispered, and desperately hoped the person who had left him these holocrons could hear him through the Force. "But everything's too late."
Rey turned around suddenly. She felt it, that sharp stab of unceasing sadness. It had come on without warning. She had half-expected the Force bond to kick in and to have him looking back at her.
But there was nothing. The only sight that greeted her was the vast expanse of the metropolis of Hanna City.
"Rey?"
The gentle voice jolted her out of her thoughts. Rose was looking on at her. "Is everything okay? You look pale."
The young Jedi gave her friend a reassuring smile and a laugh for good measure. "I'm fine. I think I'm just tired. We've been flying in and out of space for some time."
Rose held out an arm for Rey to link hers through as they followed after the rest of the Resistance. She tried to sound cheerful about their otherwise bleak situation. "Well, I guess we'll be staying here for a while. It's such a pretty city, don't you think? There's so much green and open spaces."
Rey nodded along to her words. She glanced around them. Everything about the place appears to be very... Well, rich. The well-maintained parks. The smooth roads. Even the way their inhabitants dressed and spoke pointed to a city, if not a planet, that was relatively wealthy and erudite. A good-looking couple strolled past them wearing similar gunmetal grey robes with silver embellishments down their length. She overheard them speaking about balances, but the way they spoke about it sounded different from those shouted about by junk traders at the Nima outpost.
"Was this where Leia stayed?" Rey asked, still marveling at the sight before her.
"That's what I heard," Rose replied. "I guess that's why she wanted to be laid to rest here."
"It's beautiful."
Ben must have grown up here too. She added silently. Her mind recalled the deserts of Jakku and she felt herself suddenly out of place. Compared to him, she really was just a scavenger, wasn't she?
But not to me.
"Ben?"
Again she whirled around, a hand this time round flying to the nape of her neck. There was no one, but she could almost feel him breathing those words close behind her. What was going on? Was she finally losing her mind?
Rose looked really worried now. Rey just shook her head and continued on their way.
But she couldn't shake off the intense sadness she felt from earlier. Rey sighed. She only hoped this wasn't a sign that their sojourn in Chandrila would take a turn they didn't need.