| Subject: FIC: The Right Path Again -- Luke and Leia Interlude |
Author:
Haley J. The Bat
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Date Posted: 18:53:42 06/18/02 Tue
AN: Big thanks to John for looking this over and telling me whether four-year-olds really can hold this type of conversation. I'm sorry it's taking me so long to put up TRPA's latest chapter, but what with the website and my weekends usually being filled up I haven't found the time. I've also been working on other writing projects such as this and a rewritten version of 'Impossible'.
Until ff.net is up, just leave a review in a reply if you feel the need.
Thank you all for your support on this series, and I hope that this chapter measures up.
***********
Leia wasn't allowed to roam the palace with Irshaad. But then, Leia didn't follow rules unless she saw a good reason for them being there. In her opinion, there was no reason for her to be restricted to the stuffy Irshaad.
Leia hadn't gotten to talk to her aunt very much since her return. She had been ecstatic when she found that Padmé was back. Her father and mother had been acting as if she would never return, and Leia began to believe that herself.
Leia typed in the security code to the door, one of the few she bothered to memorize. The door opened with a 'whir' for her, and she stopped inside jovially, a bright smile on her young face.
She narrowed her eyes when she saw the little boy from the meeting when Aunt Padmé had returned. The boy seemed oddly familiar even though she knew she had never laid eyes on him before.
"What are you doing?" he asked. He had a hand on his heart as though she had startled him.
"I'm visiting my Aunt Padmé," Leia proclaimed. She didn't need to explain to this boy what she was doing.
"Your aunt Padmé?" he looked slightly confused. "She's your aunt?"
"Of course!" Leia said exasperatedly. "Who are you and what are you doing in her quarters?"
"I'm Luke," the boy said proudly. "Your aunt is my mom."
"Really?" Leia felt a little relieved. That explained the familiarty with him. Her mother had explained that paternity sometimes infused bonds.
"Yes, really. Why else would I say so?" Luke asked. He didn't say it sarcastically but merely curiously. Leia looked him over. He seemed the picture of innocence, his sandy hair ruffled, and his clothes loose-fitting on his skinny frame. There was a friendly air about him that was irresistable.
"Never mind," Leia said exasperatedly. "Why didn't Aunt Padmé tell me about you?"
"I don't think she knew about me," Luke said honestly. "I didn't know about her until just a week or so ago."
"What happened?" Leia asked interestedly.
"I was living with my Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru." Luke's eyes began to glint sadly, and Leia felt her heart clench for the young boy. It was obvious he loved and missed his adopted family very much. "Then my mom and dad and Obi-Wan came and took me away."
"That's awful!" Leia said without thinking. She stopped abruptly. Nothing that her Aunt Padmé did could ever be *awful*. "I mean . . . they had a good reason, right?"
Luke shrugged. "I don't know." His eyes lit up suddenly, the sadness forgotten. "They took me on a spaceship!" he said in awe.
"A spaceship?" Leia repeated, unable to hide her own sense of awe. She'd never flown in space though she'd heard many tales from her mother. Her father didn't like telling stories. "What was it like?"
"It was really cool," Luke said simply, nodding enthusiastically. "We were attacked."
Leia's jaw dropped. "I don't believe you," she said firmly, but there was a sincere notch in Luke's voice.
Luke nodded. "Honest! My dad rescued me. Then I picked up his light saver--"
"Saber," Leia corrected automatically.
Luke narrowed his eyes at her, a little upset at her interrupting his story. "Light *saber*," he said, rolling his eyes. "Somebody had my mom, and another one of the men had a blaster pointed at my dad. So I picked up his light saber and *wham*!" Luke made a motion as if he had a light saber in his hand. "I wacked the guy's legs out from underneath him! Then my dad made the guy with Mom go flying backwards. It was like magic."
Leia smiled kindly at him. "Your dad is Jedi, right? Like my mom told me about?"
"I think so," Luke said, thinking hard. "Obi-Wan and Dad said that word when they were talking to each other."
"Is Obi-Wan a Jedi too?"
Luke nodded. "He had a light saber. That's the one I used. My dad is making a new one. He showed it to me while he was working on it. He says that someday I'm going to make my own light saber, that someday I'm going to be a Jedi too."
Leia raised her eyebrows, impressed, as he puffed out his chest. "Wow." She felt suddenly a little incompetent. She had always thought the tales her mother told her where from a time long ago, and now this little boy got to be a part of it. Something had opened inside her soul, and she found herself wanting to experience the same adventures that Luke was describing.
"I know," Luke gushed. "My dad is really strong."
"So is mine," Leia said. She winced at the words spoken defensively. For some reason she was jealous of Luke, and she wasn't doing a very good job of hiding it.
"Who's your dad?"
"Bail Organa," Leia said, tilting her chin proudly. "He's the king."
"You're the princess?"
Leia felt a little bit of satisfaction of the mirrored awe in his voice. She nodded eagerly. "Yes. I'm supposed to rule Alderaan someday."
"That sounds hard," Luke said.
Leia didn't know how to describe it -- she just had the sudden urge to talk to this boy, she knew that somehow he could soothe her. "It will be! My mom isn't happy, so I don't think I'm going to be happy either."
Luke looked surprised that she was sharing so much with him. "I think you could be a queen," he said softly, encouragingly. "You seem to fit the part well."
Leia nodded. "I've been training to be the queen since the day I was born."
"You aren't happy," Luke said, eyeing her as though he could see right through her. She didn't like that feeling. She had tried to hide her dislike of the palace and its responsibilities. She wanted to stay strong for her mother. Luke took a step forward, his eyes wide and innocent. "I'm going to be a pilot. I can take you away from here. You and your mom."
"What about my dad?"
Luke looked confused. "I thought you didn't like him."
"I never said that!"
"No," Luke admitted with a shrug. "You were feeling it though."
Leia took a sharp intake of breath. "How do you know that?" she demanded. She held her breath without realizing it, wanting and needing to hear his answer.
"I can hear people's thoughts sometimes," Luke said, his voice a little scared. It was obvious he never talked about this, that he was trusting her with a secret he considered very important. "I feel what people around me are feeling."
Leia let her breath out slowly, a wide smile spreading across her pretty features. "I can too!" she said breathlessly, looking relieved.
Luke looked stricken. "You can?"
Leia nodded. "My mom says that it's a special power not many people have, that I should be very lucky. I think it has something to do with the Jedi, my mom always tells me the little information she has on them, and I figured it out on my own."
"But if we have the special powers that Jedi do, then why aren't *we* Jedi?" Luke asked.
"I don't know," Leia said, her face falling. "Maybe we don't have as much of this gift as we're supposed to have. Maybe there's something wrong with our powers."
Luke looked a little hurt. "My dad said I was going to be a Jedi someday," he insisted.
Leia considered this information. "Then maybe it's something you *become*, not something you *are*."
"What do you mean?"
Leia shook her head, a little unsure of her own thoughts. "Maybe we don't get to be Jedi until we're older. My mom is a Jedi, so is your dad and Obi-Wan. Maybe you have to be a grown up to be a Jedi."
Luke smiled, relieved. "Maybe," he murmered. He shook his head. "Maybe it's a family thing."
"What?"
"We're cousins, and we're both Jedi," Luke said.
"That's not true. Your mom and my mom are sisters, I think, and it would have to be passed down by blood."
"If your mom is a Jedi, why isn't my mom?"
Leia shook her head, her head piece flying. "I don't know!" she cried. She calmed down slightly, looking embarrassed. "It's just too confusing. I think we should ask somebody."
"We can ask your mom," Luke said. "I don't know where my mom and dad went."
"My mom is in a meeting. A very important meeting."
Luke puffed his chest out. "Maybe my mom and dad are too!"
Leia smiled in amusement at their behavior. "Then I will ask my mother tonight and talk to you again tomorrow, Luke."
"I'll ask my mom and dad too. My dad is a Jedi, he knows lots and lots about it."
"Good," Leia said, her smile wider. She bowed to him. "Thank you for your time, Luke Skywalker. Our conversation was a pleasure."
"Yeah, I guess," Luke agreed.
Leia smiled at his naivity and left the room with a purposeful stride. She had noticed the gap between her and Luke. She felt as if she was talking to a child. Instead of smugness, she only felt a longing deep inside her. She wanted to be like Luke. She wanted to be a normal little girl. She didn't want to be the queen of a planet she'd never even explored besides family vacations.
Leia stopped walking with a wistful sigh. She tilted up her chin and stiffened her resolve. She would not long for what others had. That was not the way a princess should act.
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