"Welcome to Coronet City, kids. Your dad spent a lot of time here growing up."
The Solo family had arrived on Corellia. The Falcon had been docked safely and they were now cruising along in their rented speeder through the city on the way to where they would be staying for the next two weeks. "Wow, it's pretty cool. Not as big a city as Coruscant, though," Jacen said with his nose pressed up against the window.
"No, but still not a bad place to be. There are even some great beaches that we're going to. You're gonna love it," Han said proudly.
After about thirty minutes of moving through the city, they made it to their resort. It was a vast building in a more remote area, about halfway between the city and the beaches. Only about twenty stories high to maintain the exclusivity of the place, it had a large courtyard in the back with several pools and other recreational activities. While Han certainly disliked a lot of aspects of being a more public figure, he could not deny that being able to afford such luxurious accommodations wasn't such a bad thing.
They finally made it to their corner suite on the top floor, the walls almost entirely transparisteel overlooking the gorgeous skyline and mountains in the background. They entered into a large sitting room with a small kitchen. On either side were doors to the two bedrooms with their own bathrooms. Occasionally Han wondered if he was spoiling his children, but he never got tired of the excited looks on their faces when he gave them something or brought them somewhere like this.
Leia led the children to the smaller of the two rooms with two sets of bunk-beds in it. "You kids go put your stuff in there and Dad and I will go see our room."
As the youngest Solos ran into their temporary quarters, Han and Leia walked into the huge master bedroom. The large bed in the center was adorned with more pillows than even Leia thought were necessary. There was a couch and a fireplace on the side of the bed near the windows, while a door on the opposite side led to what was sure to be an ornate 'fresher. Han dropped his bags and plopped on his back on the bed, crossing his legs at the ankles and putting his hands behind his head. "Not bad, huh, sweetheart?"
She walked over to the window to take in her surroundings. "It's beautiful here, Han. I was here once before, but I never really got to appreciate it."
"Yeah, well, the accommodations are a lot better this time than most of the other times I've been here. It's great to be married to a princess."
She walked into the 'fresher and he heard her gasp before standing and walking toward her. "What? Is something wrong?"
"No, this place is just amazing. They have a Jacuzzi tub."
Han smiled and wrapped his arms around Leia's waist from behind, pulling her close. "Big enough for both of us?"
"Maybe, if you play your cards right."
"You already know what I good card player I am."
"That's what I'm afraid of. Now come on, let's unpack and go out and get some nice dinner somewhere, what do you say?"
"Sounds great, I'm starved."
The next morning, the Solo clan began the first full day of their vacation by touring the city. After several hours of walking, the children's feet were aching and they were starting to become grumpy. In spite of the fact that Han did not have a lot of good memories of growing up there, he had always held a fondness of Corellia and a sense of pride for his home planet. He liked showing his children their roots even if he knew at the moment they were too young to appreciate it. Someday he hoped they'd look back and have some good memories of their own from where their father had come from.
But so far they'd mostly only enjoyed their visit to the local candy shop and the promise that they could go swimming later at the resort pool. When the children's level of whining about their feet and empty bellies had become unbearable, Han and Leia decided it was time to sit down and have some lunch.
After they'd found a nice outdoor café and sat down, Leia commented on the gorgeous mountains in the background, trying to distract the children while they impatiently waited for their food. Han felt a dull ache inside when he thought of the injustice that his wife didn't have a home planet to visit anymore, while he still did even though there was nobody to come back to. His eyes had been fixed on her and she looked up and smiled at his gaze, bringing his mind back to the present so he could simply enjoy having lunch with his family.
"Can we have dessert, Dad?" Jacen asked hopefully once he'd cleaned his plate, leaving no trace that there had ever been any food on it at all.
"Kiddo, you guys already had enough sugar earlier."
"Aw, please?" His only daughter gave him the face that he wasn't sure he'd ever actually said no to. Thankfully, Leia said it for him. She was like an impenetrable fortress to their tactics. He hoped she would teach him how to do that someday.
"No, come on, you can have dessert tomorrow. Are you ready to go back and go swimming?"
As usual, distraction seemed to do the trick and there were no more complaints as they finished up their meals.
As they walked back towards the resort Han was taking in the sites, trying to remember which stores had been there when he was a child and which ones were new. There seemed to be a fairly even mix of each. His pace slowed when he recognized an old pawn shop where he was sometimes sent to trade in smaller artifacts for credits to give back to Shrike, the man who had taken him in and used him and many other children to steal for him.
He had no desire to go in and relive any of that, but he did spare a glimpse inside and recognized the counter he used to have a hard time even seeing over, now probably not much higher than waist-level.
"Han?" Leia's voice took him out of his reverie.
"Huh? Yeah, honey?"
"I think the kids need a 'fresher break before we make it back. Will you take the boys?"
"Sure. Come on, guys."
Han took his sons' hands and they walked down a corridor toward the public 'freshers. After taking care of business, Han had to stop his sons from splashing water on each other at the sinks. "Hey, come on, guys. Mom is not gonna be happy with any of us if you come out soaked. Save it for the pool."
Anakin seemed to have lost the fight and while Han tried to help dry his shirt as best he could, Jacen wandered to wait for them out in the hallway. It had been a fairly long day and he was a bit tired and just wanted to get back to the resort and go swimming. He leaned up at the wall and inspected his shoes for no other reason than there not being anything better to do while he waited for his family.
"You, boy!"
Startled, Jacen looked up to see a petite old woman, only a few centims taller than he was, walking slowly toward him with a cane. He knew he wasn't supposed to talk to strangers, but this woman seemed far too non-threatening, even though he did not know how to respond.
As she got closer, she spoke again. "Young man, how can this be? You're still so young!"
Jacen definitely didn't understand what she'd meant by that. "I've always been young," he said, shrugging his shoulders.
She shook her head. "No matter. I kept this safe for you. You can have it back now."
Jacen looked around to make sure none of his family members were coming so he wouldn't get in trouble for talking to a stranger.
"Have what? I don't-"
She pulled something off from around her neck and held out her hand which contained a gold necklace. "You take it back now. You should have it back."
"I'm not supposed to take stuff from people I don't know. Is it stolen?"
"Not stolen, it is yours. Do you not remember? Your mother-"
Jacen knew his parents wouldn't like it if he took this necklace from a stranger. Who did it really belong to? It seemed strange that she thought it was his.
She held out her hand and put it in his. "I must go now," she said hurriedly, "You take it home."
She disappeared around the corner while Jacen looked down at the necklace in his hand. It had a fairly short chain and a small pendant with some sort of numbers on it.
"Jacen?"
The boy practically jumped as he heard his father's voice. Looking up, he saw him holding his brother's hand and looking at him in such a way that he was pretty sure he had no idea of the encounter he'd just had. "Huh?"
"You ready to go, pal?"
"Oh. Right. Yeah," he said as he followed them back to meet his mother and sister. He discreetly put the necklace in his pocket as they walked. Maybe later on when they were back in the room he could give it to his mother. The woman kept saying stuff about his mother. And he knew that she liked it when his father got her jewelry. He could maybe just pretend he found it on the ground.