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Chapter 6– Fett's Grown-Up Girl

Leia trotted down the steps, following Boba, after her coming of age ceremony. She now had a full set of Mandalorian armour as well as a weapons system that mimicked her father's. She also had a new ID chip that identified her as a member of the Fett clan. Leia could barely contain her excitement, she wanted to explore Mandalore then go with her dad on hunts, but she could tell that Boba was tense, anxious, and eager to get off-world.

When they arrived back on Slave I Boba immediately primed the ship for take off, and instructed Leia to strap herself in.

"Where are we going? Why can't we stay for a little longer? We've barely seen any of the planet!" Leia whined as Boba began the take off sequence.

"We'll talk later, Leia." was the curt reply.

Boba flew the ship out of Mandalorian space in silence, Leia could sense his unease and decided not to push further about her desire to see their ancestral planet. When Boba made the jump to hyperspace and stood from his seat whilst running a hand through his short hair, Leia straightened up in her seat.

"Dad?"

"Yes Princess?" Boba tried to keep his voice even, but his unease and exhaustion came through anyway.

"Why don't you like being on Mandalore?"

Boba gave her a weary smile, "It's complicated, Princess. I've never liked being there, but ever since you were born the Empire has had a stranglehold on the planet. It's dangerous for you there, and I can't stand every second that you're in danger."

"Oh… why am I in danger on your home planet? Don't you work for the Empire?"

"I'm a bounty hunter, I do jobs for the Empire, but I have no affiliation with them. You're in danger because of what you are." he sighed, knowing that now he was going to have to explain the Force to her, knowing very little about it himself. Leia opened her mouth to ask another question, but Boba held up his hand for silence, and began his attempt to explain. "You're something called a Force-sensitive. Like the Jedi of old. You can see things before they happen, and with proper training you could move objects with it, and even learn to fight using it. In fact, I think that your connection to the Force is how you learned physical combat so quickly despite your size. The Empire has people called Inquisitors that hunt down and kill any Jedi that survived the Great Purge, but they also kill the children that are born with a connection to the Force. They do this because if a new Jedi Order is born they would be a threat to the Empire, and the Emperor wants these threats eliminated."

"But… how would a new Jedi Order come to power without the old one?"

"There are some Jedi that escaped the Purges, they could train new Jedi, and some have already attempted it. When you were born the Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi was there, he'd once been a friend of your mother, he killed her to kidnap you and your twin brother." Boba paused here, as he heard Leia gasp, he could practically see her mind whirring, turning over this new information. "The Jedi got away with your brother, but I managed to get you back. I believe that they took you because both of you have a very strong connection to the Force. It's possible…"

"The boy from my dreams!" Leia gasped.

"Yes. It's possible that when the two of you sleep at the same time you can bridge your connections, and subconsciously visit one another. I've had my suspicions for a while, that's why I've had you try to remember things like the location of your dreams, but if the only thing that you can see is a desert, there are trillions of places that he could be. There are many desert planets, and even more that have areas of desert. I've searched for him for thirteen years, but I haven't even found a clue."

"Maybe, do you think, if I talk to him in the dreams… Do you think that he could tell me where we are?"

"It's possible. But I wouldn't get your hopes up too much, Princess. It could easily not work, or something worse could happen. I don't know much about the Force, Princess. You'd need an actual teacher to learn more about it." Boba paused and studied Leia's face, she was wearing her scheming face, and he knew that Leia would attempt to talk to Luke through her dreams, he just hoped that she wouldn't be disappointed.

After Boba was sure that Leia was asleep he locked himself in his quarters. The door clicked locked with what to Boba seemed like a deafening sound, this was the first time in thirteen years that he had locked his door, and by extension kept Leia out. But it needed to be done, there was a conversation that must be had, and he didn't want Leia to accidentally overhear it. Boba was the one person who could call the Emperor's chief enforcer a friend, and now he had a favour to ask. The call went through, and the massive frame of the dark lord of the Sith came into view.

"Boba Fett." came the rumbling baritone from behind the mask.

"Vader, it's been too long, but I'm afraid that this isn't a social call. I have something that I would like to ask you."

"Indeed. What do you wish for me to do?"

Boba cleared his throat, and began to outline what he needed from Vader. "It's my daughter, I believe that she is a Force-sensitive. I cannot train her, or even answer many of her questions. I know that she could be powerful, but she needs a teacher, she needs your tutelage."

"Interesting. Your daughter is thirteen now, correct? How long have you been aware of her power?"

"I've had my suspicions since the Jedi's attempt to kidnap her when she was an infant. Kenobi killed her mother and attempted to kidnap her. But now I'm sure of it, she's extremely attuned to the emotions of those around her, she knows things before they happen, and she became excellent in hand-to-hand combat in an absurdly short amount of time."

Vader was silent for a moment before replying, "Very well then. Bring her with you the next time you are called to hunt for the Empire and I will assess her myself. It should not be long, and we will see if Leia possesses the talent to become my apprentice."

Boba nodded, "I look forward to our meeting."

Vader tilted his mask in his version of a nod, and disconnected the call. Boba leaned back on his chair and hoped that Vader could train Leia without robbing her of her youthful innocence.

It took Leia a long time to fall asleep, she was focusing on what she would say to the boy that she now knew to be her brother. She wished that she could remember everything about him and the place that they had been in her dreams, but when she woke up all she could remember was that he was a boy her own age, that she felt a strong connection to him, and that they were in a vast expanse of desert.

When Leia finally drifted off she found herself in the desert again. The twin suns beat down on her pale skin with blistering heat, and the light wind did nothing to alleviate the situation, only serving to pelt her with grains of sand. As she raised her arm to shield her eyes a figure appeared on the horizon. Excitedly, she ran toward the figure, the sand slowing her steps and quickly exhausting her, but she kept going. When she neared the figure he turned to face her, and she recognised him immediately as the boy from her previous dreams, her brother.

"Brother!" she called out, "Please, tell me where we are. I need to find you!" but the boy just stood there, seeming confused by her words. "Please! I'm your sister. I need you to tell me where you are!"

The boy began to respond, "This is–" but the critical location was cut off, and the desert and the boy swirled out of existence as Leia shot upright in her bed, the dream broken.

"Noooo!" she cried as she realised that she had missed her brother's location by mere fractions of a second, and so much adrenaline was pumping through her body that she wouldn't be able to fall back into the dream any time soon.

Her door flew open and Boba appeared at her bedside, having rushed in upon hearing Leia's scream. "What happened Princess? What's wrong?"

Leia was in tears by this point, "I talked to him daddy, I talked to my brother. But I woke up before he could tell me anything!"

Boba made a soft noise of comfort, and stroked Leia's hair as he cradled her to his chest. "It's alright Princess. You'll see him again. It's not your fault. It'll be alright." Leia slowly drifted into a dreamless sleep in Boba's arms.

On the other side of the galaxy a young farm boy on Tatooine sat up with a start. The girl that he'd seen in his dreams had said the strangest things, and his head hurt from trying to figure it out. He swung his feet out of bed and padded to the kitchen, where his aunt was preparing breakfast as the suns rose.

"Aunt Beru?" I had the weirdest dream last night."

Beru looked over at him from her pots, "What happened in it Luke?"

"Well, there was a girl there, I can't remember much about her, but she appeared over the dunes. She ran toward me, and screamed at me. She asked where we were, and then told me that she was my sister, and then repeated her question saying that she needed to find me. It's weird, isn't it Aunt Beru?"

Beru chuckled at her nephew's over-active imagination, "Yes Luke, it's very weird. It's likely because you wish that you weren't an only child, so your mind made up a lost sister."

Luke nodded, thinking that his aunt's idea made sense, "Yeah. You're probably right. Thanks." Beru smiled and motioned toward the cooler, and Luke handed her the blue milk, just like every morning.

Author's Note: Hello again! I know I said that I might not update for a while, but it turns out that writing fanfiction is a lot more fun than studying for finals, so I procrastinated! Thanks for reading, and please do tell me what you think! I'm sorry to those of you that were hoping to see a twin reunion soon, but we can't make things that easy on our heroes, can we? In other news… Vader's on the scene! How do you guys think that Leia's real dad is going to interact with her? I've got to go now, but please… Read and Review!

xx

Eponine-Skywalker7