The Coincidence

Daya stared outside the window. Outside the pub, it was such a day. Coruscant was never a brilliant planet for her, except the ancient temple in the center of its surface. Still, today was the worst.

Daya sighed as the enormous thunder hollered. It should be relieving to be able to avoid the heavy raining, but the pub was no better than outside. It wasn't that it rained in the pub too; it's just that she didn't like the place. She did went inside the pub before—at least more than a dozen of times—but this one must be the worst pub ever. It was so crowded of people who came to avoid the raining like her, and Daya couldn't even sit on a chair well. It seemed she wasn't the only one who was irritated, since there were grumbling sounds everywhere.

Daya shifted her pose slightly to see the holoscreen at the front of the counter. She could barely see it, but it was better than doing nothing but just waiting for the rain to stop. It didn't look like it was going to stop soon, anyway.

The reporter was talking something about a prince. He was the son of the emperor, and he never showed up in the formal event, for now. He was a mysterious figure for the people therefore. It didn't interest Daya much. She was just a street girl, and she didn't care about those loyalties. She gave up watching the news and glanced at the window. The raining hadn't stopped yet, but she was starting to get more and more frustrated at the pub. Daya carefully stood up and walked through the people, but stopped when she heard some words from the entrance.

"Hey! You stomped on my foot, kid! Watch yourself!"

This interested Daya. She struggled to see the 'kid' the shouter said. At the entrance there was a boy, soaked with rain completely. Although he was wearing expensive looking silk shirts, he looked no better than Daya because of that.

Daya raised her eyebrows as the boy said,

"The one who should watch himself is you, Mandalorian."

The man immediately went red and barked. "You'd better get off my sight if you don't want to die, you kriffing—"

But Daya stumbled on someone's foot and wasn't able to hear the rest.

She hit on the floor hard, and when she finally stood up with trembling legs, she fell to the floor again, her cheek swelling—

"You dare bump me, a mere girl, a beggar!"

Daya chewed her lip slightly. She tried not to tremble and said.

"S-sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"You didn't mean to?"

The man held his hand, and Daya cringed, in her best to reduce pain. However, the blow never came. She opened her eyes a little bit and closed them again. Seeing dead person was never easy no matter how she experienced. After a few moments she eventually got up and figured out what happened. She was shocked to see her rescuer.

The boy holding a red humming laser sword was right in front of her. His blond hair was a bit messy, but exclude that, then he was as same as before. Daya stammered as she evaded his blue eyes.

"Th-thank you."

There was a small whip sound as the boy deactivated the weapon. The boy seemed somewhat frustrated, and Daya couldn't guess why.

"I didn't kill him to earn your thank you, girl. Do you know the nearest port which has a lot of illegal ships?"

Daya blinked. "What?"

The boy sighed, clearly irritated. "You will tell me the location of the nearest port with lots of illegal ships."

Daya frowned and said,

"Well I don't—wait, but why?"

The boy looked confused at her response at first, then it came to a surprised murmuring.

"Why would she…does it mean…?"

It made Daya more flustered. Moreover, she couldn't bare the glances of people staring at them intently, and she took the boy's hand.

"I don't know what you're saying or asking, but we'd better get out of here."

The boy protested, but realizing the people looking them, he obediently followed Daya, to the outside of the pub.

"Who are you?"

The boy asked, right after they stopped at the corner of the alley. He said like it was a pure mystery, and Daya had to wonder if being a street girl was a big deal.

"I'm just a street girl. As you see." She shrugged and asked back.

"Who are you then?"

The boy didn't answer to her question but asked again.

"Do not lie. You couldn't just be a mere street girl. What's your name?"

Ignored question was not offending to Daya. Actually, she could almost guess who the boy was. Assuming by his way of speaking and silk shirts, he must be a rich boy who has his parents on high ranks. Daya was rather considering whether to tell the boy her name. The name Daya was given by herself, and she knew that all names are given by others. It can't be her real name, isn't it? Nevertheless, she wasn't so sure. Maybe her family—if she actually had a family, that is—didn't name her and left her. That thought made her sad.

"My name's Daya."

The boy accused. "Just Daya? No second name? Just that?"

Daya nodded. "Well, I gave myself the name. I don't know my real name…but there's a vague memory."

"What's that?"

Daya hesitated. She never said it to anyone. In fact, today was the longest conversation she ever had with others.

"It's just…someone calling my name. I think it was my name. It feels like. I think it was my mom saying the name. She said, 'Leia.'"

Daya really liked the sound of the name. She had considered that to be her name before, but Leia sounded like a name of a princess or someone very noble. It didn't fit to a street girl.

"Leia…"

The boy murmured. He looked like he was actually feeling the name. To touch, to sense…

In a brief second, Daya felt like she had known the boy for a long time. She knew she didn't, but it felt right. It was such a relieving feeling, to feel like she's deeply connected to another person.

"I am Luke."

The boy suddenly blurted, making Daya to open her eyes widely. The boy was looking at her directly, his pure blue eyes bright—

Daya shook her head and breathed. She was getting crazy. She never talked with others this long.

"Oh, right. You said you're looking for a port, right? I don't know the port with many illegal ships, but I know a lot of ports. I can take you to the nearest one."

Luke nodded. His attitude toward her was somewhat politer, and it was definitely better.

"Do you have parents?" asked Luke as he walked next to her.

"I'm an orphan." Daya replied, maybe more than a little bit sharply. Luke twitched but didn't say anything about that, though.

"I see…then do you—"

Luke stopped and frowned. He turned to Daya urgently and hissed.

"We need to go fast. We should run…no, it's not enough…"

Luke shook his head hopelessly. He groaned and sat back.

Daya was about to ask Luke what's wrong, but it was buried by the loud engine sound. When she found the source of the sound, she was struck with shock.

It was a lamda shuttle, stormtroopers and red-armored soldiers aboard in it. However, they weren't the one that froze her.

The emperor, the real emperor, emperor of the galactic empire, walked down to the ground and approached. Daya glanced at Luke. He was stiffened as well, but not surprised. Daya didn't have time to think why before Luke said,

"Father."

The emperor turned to Luke.

"My son, I believe it wasn't a very wise decision to sneak out secretly."

Daya stared at them, trying to organize the situation. Now to see, it wasn't that hard to spot the resemblances between Luke and the emperor. They both had blond hair, blue eyes, and smooth face. Daya wondered why she hadn't figured out that before.

"I think that it isn't the right time to talk about your attempt to run away, Luke. We have the more important matter now."

With that words the emperor turned to Daya and smiled at her. All Daya could do is just looking at him.

Emperor reached his hand to her hand and grabbed it softly. It was warm; Daya could almost smile back at him.

"Leia."

Daya raised her head to see the emperor directly, surprised at his word.

"But-but that isn't my name—"

The emperor squeezed her hand as if she was a precious treasure. Daya…didn't want him to stop that.

"My wonderful daughter."

Daya, somehow, was not astonished. It was not surprising. She had always known. She just didn't think about it. It was always like that. It felt right…she didn't know why, or how.

She opened her mouth slowly, saying the most beautiful word in the galaxy, the word which she never thought she would say someday.

Leia said,

"Father."