She was running through a tunnel — the tunnel on Mapuzo that Tala had said would have a pilot waiting at the other end. She didn't know which way she was running or how long she'd been doing it, but her lungs burned and there was a stitch in her side and the lights on the walls kept flickering, throwing her into darkness and making it impossible to try to keep track of where in the tunnel she was.

She wanted to stop running so much, but she couldn't, because the Inquisitor was behind her. The Inquisitor called her name sometimes, their voice sweet and friendly, but Leia knew what would happen if she was caught. The big metal machine. Maybe it would stab her or melt out her brains or slowly tighten around her skull until her eyeballs popped right out of her head. Even though she didn't know what the machine did, she knew that she wouldn't escape if they got her in there. She knew it in her bones, like she knew which branches of her favourite tree were safe to put her weight on, and that her parents loved her, and that she was destined for even bigger things than being the Princess of Alderaan, one day.

The Inquisitor didn't sound like they were out of breath at all, even as Leia's gasping was the loudest sound in the tunnel. Leia didn't dare look back to see how far away they were — why bother, when she was already running as fast as she could?

The lights flickered again and suddenly the footsteps were closer, and when the Inquisitor said her name it sounded like they were laughing at her. Their voice was right behind her and then the Inquisitor grabbed her arm and she screamed for Obi-Wan and for Tala and for Mama and Papa and for anyone, but no one could hear her, and the Inquisitor grabbed her around the middle and—

She was in a dark room. The moon shone through the window, but instead of illuminating anything, it just threw everything into shadows she couldn't recognise. Had the Inquisitor caught her and locked her up here? She had to get out, but it was too dark and she couldn't see a door. She tried to find Lola to use her torch to see by, but she didn't have any pockets, and she didn't know where else Lola could be. Maybe they'd taken her?

Someone said Leia's name, and she saw their silhouette moving towards her — it was the Inquisitor. She screamed because maybe there was someone who would come, surely someone had to come, she couldn't be left alone here. When they'd said no one was coming for her, they'd been lying, hadn't they? As the Inquisitor came closer, she tried to scramble backwards and hit the wall. "Get away from me! Get away! I'm not going to tell you anything, you can't make me."

And then someone turned on the light. She was in her bedroom in Aldera Palace. The Inquisitor was a Royal Guard, the one they'd put outside her door when she went to sleep, and the guard had her hands up in front of her as she backed away from the bed.

"Leia," Papa said, crossing the room, but even as he got closer he sounded far away, drowned out by the rushing in her ears. "You're safe, you're alright. It was a nightmare. You're in Aldera, and no one's going to hurt you."

Leia began to relax until a terrible thought hit her: maybe this was what the machine did, lulling her into thinking she was safe so they could make her talk. "I'm not going to tell you anything," she said, but her voice was shaky now. "I'm not, you can't make me." She still had her back right up against the wall. Papa sat on the bed, blocking her escape route, but maybe if she timed it right she could get around him.

"You don't have to tell anyone anything," Papa (pretend Papa?) said. He sounded an awful lot like real Papa. "You did so well, not telling them. You were so brave." He reached towards her and she flinched, expecting him to squeeze her arm as hard as the Inquisitor had, but he froze for a moment and then pulled back. "I promise you," he said, "that you're safe now. Do you remember going to Tessen? I came and picked you up in the Polestar and I showed you how to fly the ship."

She did remember that. He had let her put her hands on the controls and then covered them with his, showing her which buttons to press and how much they should turn. When she shivered, he had given her his cloak and she'd wrapped it around herself like a blanket. It had smelt like Papa, like candlewick flowers and washing powder and something woody. The Papa on the bed smelt the same and as her heartbeat finally slowed, she allowed herself to think that maybe it was true that she was back home and the Inquisitors couldn't get her.

"You promise this is real?" she asked, and Papa nodded. "And you won't make me tell you anything?" She couldn't be too careful, after all.

"Not if you don't want to. I'm happy to listen if you do, but no one will make you." He looked very solemn, even in his nightclothes, and she really wanted to believe him.

"Alright," she said quietly. Papa offered her a small smile, but he didn't look very happy — more like he was trying very hard not to cry.

"Would you like to go back to sleep in here, or sleep in our bed?" he asked. She was way too old to sleep in her parents' bed, but the prospect of going to sleep alone made her shiver. Did Papa already know that? Was that proof he was a pretend Papa from the machine, or that he was her real Papa who loved her so much that he knew she was scared?

"With you?" she said, and Papa looked a little happier.

They both stood up and he put his arm around her shoulders as they walked down the hallway to Mama and Papa's room, where Mama was sitting on her side of the bed with the lamp on.

"Leia," she said, sounding relieved. "Had a nightmare?" she asked as Leia crawled across the bed. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Leia froze, her heart racing again. She had wanted it to be real so badly, but apparently Mama was there to trick her too.

"You can say no," Papa said soothingly from behind her. "She's not going to keep asking about it. It's only if you want to."

Mama looked above her head at Papa, alarmed, but whatever she saw made her expression soften as she looked back at Leia, more like her usual face. "I'm sorry, darling. Forget I said anything. Are you sleeping here for the rest of the night?"

Leia nodded, trying to relax. If they truly weren't going to ask, then it didn't really matter how real they were. If she still needed to escape, she could do that tomorrow. For now, she was exhausted, so she curled up between her parents and went to sleep, warm and surrounded by love.