Bail didn't often get contacted by the public inquiries department (the people who wanted to reach him either had his personal com or his public senatorial com) so he was surprised to see the caller information come up.

"Hello?"

The image of a Twi'lek flickered into existence. "Good morning, Viceroy. There's a call for you?" he said, sounding uncertain. "It's, um, Princess Leia? She says she's on Tessen?"

Bail abruptly felt like he couldn't breathe. They had thought the worst had happened, but if Leia was alive—

The Twi'lek, when he didn't respond immediately, said, "At least, it looks and sounds like Princess Leia? If it's—"

"Put her through," Bail said, finally finding the ability to speak again, before grimacing. "My apologies for cutting you off. Could you connect us, please?"

"Of course, Viceroy," the Twi'lek said before flickering out, replaced by a small girl.

The connection wasn't great — he wasn't sure where Tessen was, but it certainly wasn't anywhere near Alderaan — but it was definitely Leia. He couldn't ascertain anything about her physical state beyond her face being relatively unmarred and her hair a mess, but it was so much more than he would have dared dream even ten minutes ago. They'd all but lost hope; he and Breha had agreed that if they hadn't heard anything in another two days, he would go to Tatooine and try to convince the Larses to move; he'd even begun to prepare fake documents.

But now, impossibly, his little girl's hologram was wavering in front of him, and it was taking all his control not to cry with relief.

"Leia," he said, hoping she would blame the way his voice cracked on the poor connection. "I'm so glad to see you," he told her, only barely catching himself from saying I'm so glad you're alive.

"Papa!" Leia said, and then to someone Bail couldn't see, "I told you it would work."

"I'm sorry! I've never been to a planet with royalty before," an unfamiliar voice replied.

"Leia?" Bail prompted, drawing her attention back to him. "Where's Ben?"

Leia's face fell, and his stomach fell with it. "He... he left. He said he had to distract Vader so the rest of us could be safe and then he left and—" She stopped and visibly tried to calm herself down, though her voice still shook when she continued speaking. "I sent Lola with him. He needed her more than I did."

A toy droid wouldn't help Obi-Wan against a Sith Lord, but there was no point in telling Leia that. He wondered what had happened between them for Leia to give away her most treasured possession (or, as Leia insisted she was, her friend). It wasn't confirmed that Obi-Wan was dead, though. Obi-Wan had survived impossible odds before, and Bail could only hope that the gods — no, that the Force was still with him.

A man stepped into frame and gave what Bail thought was an attempt at a bow. "He charged me with getting her to safety."

"And you are...?"

"Haja Estree," he said, but before he could say anything else, Leia butted in.

"He's a fake Jedi. He's okay, though. He helped us get away from Daiyu."

Bail wanted to ask what in the galaxy a fake Jedi was, but he could do that when Leia was safe. "Do you have a way to get home?"

Leia shook her head and Estree pulled a face. "Unfortunately not. I, uh, don't have much in the way of funds. Well, I don't have enough to get a ship all the way to the Core. I find myself abruptly unemployed," Estree said.

"Tricking people isn't a job," Leia said in a scathing tone. It was hardly the sort of thing Bail wanted to hear about the person currently in possession of his daughter, but Obi-Wan had trusted him enough to rely on him keeping her safe, so Bail would have to as well.

"Hey, I might not have been entirely truthful, but I did what people asked of me. I got you to Mapuzo and to the Path, didn't I?"

Leia frowned at him, apparently beaten.

"I'll come get you," Bail said, pulling up a galactic map on his pad. Tessen was out near Aduba, which meant it was about as far as you could possibly get from Alderaan, but also that the Imperial presence there was sparse. "I'll leave as soon as we end this call, but it'll still take me a day and a half; do you have somewhere to stay that's safe?"

Leia looked to Estree, who nodded. "I won't let her out of my sight."

Bail took a moment to just soak in the sight of Leia again, whole and alive and looking annoyed at Estree's pronouncement. His mind was just a loop of she's alive she's alive she's alive she's alive and he didn't want to stop looking at her, but he had to if he wanted to hold her in person.

"Thank you," he said to Estree. "If you need anything, call — I'll send you my comm code, but it won't work in hyperspace, so if I'm not picking up, call Queen Breha instead."

"That's Mama," Leia said to Estree, who was looking nervous.

"You should call her after this; probably best to go through public inquiries again to make sure she'll answer. She'll be so relieved to hear from you. I have to go get some supplies and then I'll be on my way, alright, sweetheart?"

"Okay," Leia replied, and the reluctance in her voice mirrored his own. "You should hurry, though. I miss you."

"I've missed you so much, too," Bail said. "I love you, and I'll be there as soon as I can." He looked to Estree and said, "Thank you for looking after her." He gave them his comm code and ended the call, taking just a moment to put his face in his hands and try to get his emotions under control. She's alive she's alive she's alive continued in time with his heartbeat as he left his office, only stopping to tell an aide that there was an emergency and that he would be off-world for three days or so.

Leia was one and a half days away. He sent a prayer of thanks to the gods and hoped the hyperlanes were clear.