Summary: The price of ruling. Leia Organa has one last lesson to impart to her son.

Throne

Ben Solo Organa had always known that his mother was a powerful and influential person. The last princess of Alderaan, the last scion of the ancient houses of Antilles and Organa – adopted or not – and a Skywalker by birth, she had risen to the ranks of Senator, General and queen of New Alderaan on her own merits.

"You are my heir," Leia told him, while still a small boy, "but only if you want to be," she had said seriously, bending down before her son and smoothing Ben's dark hair back from his face. "Alderaan is gone and New Alderaan is still so new, so small. A ruling Council makes decisions in my name," she said, "and I think it might be time that we elect our leaders democratically, like the Naboo do." She frowned in thought, kneeling before him, a vision in white, her perfect skin and hair ready for a vote in the New Republic Senate.

Princess Leia Organa was a priceless jewel, beautiful and perfect like a diamond. Ben had never tired of looking at her, of feeling her clear, purposeful presence in the Force. When all was chaos, his mother had always known the right thing to do. "Many things are changing, and many more will in the future, but we are still Alderaan," she said softly, "and what matters is that we hold on to the good."

Ben had fidgeted in her grip, not understanding what she was saying. "So, I'm a prince?" he asked, just to clarify things. Han always called him, "my little prince," like he called Leia "princess," sometimes, but that might just be a father thing. Or a Han thing. Even at six and several months, Ben knew that Han didn't always tell the exact truth.

Leia laughed, the ringing of clear bells, and Ben watched her awe, feeling her gentle amusement in the Force. He never felt anyone else as clearly as he felt his mother, not even the presence of his grandfather, who visited him sometimes in his dreams and told him to keep it a secret from his parents.

"Yes, you are a prince," Leia said, still amused. "And one day you could be king, or governor, or any number of other things." She kissed his forehead gently. "You could even be a Jedi, like you Uncle Luke or like General Kenobi. Your father and I named you after him, you know. He was a great man." She got to her feet and held out her hand for his.

Ben slipped his hand in her larger one and they walked together out of the apartment complex on Chandrila his mother owned a suite in. Chandrila was the New Republic's capital, but his mother said that next year the capital would be moved to Cato Neimoidia. Ben didn't understand how the capital of the galaxy could move, but he trusted his mother was right.

Leia's security detail, including several Noghri, met them at the door and escorted them to the armored landspeeder that would take them to the Senate building in the government sector. Leia sometimes took Ben with her to these events. "Training," she said, lightly, but Ben knew that she was afraid to leave him alone all the time, especially with Han gone most of the time.

"They don't trust you," his grandfather told him, in the darkness of the night, when Ben felt the loneliness pressing upon him most keenly. "They know how much power you have inside you, and they are afraid of you. That's why your father doesn't stay."

Now, however, in the light of day, Ben couldn't really believe it. His mother seemed happy he was coming with her, and he tightened his hold around her hand just in case. She wasn't afraid of him; he had never felt fear from her, just love.

He reached out to her in the Force and she automatically reached back, looking down at him and smiling. The gentle Chandrilan sun turned her dark hair glossy and she looked even more beautiful than usual in the simple, white dress she used in service as New Alderaan's senator.

"Are you ready little one?" she asked. Ben nodded.

As they drove through the streets of Hanna City, Chandrila's capital, Ben watched the square-shaped silver buildings, the numerous parks and green spaces, the happy people all around him, and the rolling green hills in the distance. Chandrila was a mild planet, his mother said, and rarely experienced dangerous or severe weather conditions. In fact, Ben could only remember one time that it snowed.

His father had bundled him up and held him as his mother taught him to taste snowflakes on his tongue. It was a treasured memory, before the darkness and the loneliness, the other children in his school being afraid of him, his father leaving, and a sadness growing in his mother's eyes.

"There is a price to ruling, Ben," Leia said suddenly, and Ben turned to see her staring out of the other window towards several families who appeared to be having picnics in on of Hanna City's many parks.

"A price, mother?" he asked. "You have to pay Republic credits to be queen of New Alderaan?"

Leia turned back to him, lips smiling but a troubled expression in her brown eyes. "No, dear one," she explained. "I simply mean that when you are a ruler…there are some things that will always separate you from other people. Should you choose to follow my path…you will be in service to our people, which is an honorable calling, but you will forever be apart from them. The lives of others will be…different from yours." Leia seemed to be struggling to explain. At last she settled on, "Your joys and fears will be different as well."

"Oh," Ben said, understanding at last. He turned away from his mother. He already knew this one. Grandfather had explained that Ben's destiny was special, that he was special, and that no one would trust him, or love him for him, but only for his power. They would fear and respect him in equal measure, grandfather said. But you will change the galaxy. Forever, his grandfather promised. Ben wasn't so sure he wanted this destiny his grandfather promised, but he didn't see what choice he had.

"The Force provides," he said quietly, something grandfather said, and his mother looked over to him quickly, seeming surprised.

"Where did you hear that?" she asked. Her dark eyes were assessing, suddenly probing, as though she could see to the very corners of his soul and into the darkness that was there. Ben wouldn't let his beautiful, light-filled mother tainted like that. Grandfather would help him get through this. He was helping him already.

Ben hunched his shoulders, refusing to meet her eyes. "Around, I guess," he muttered, and didn't say another word for the rest of the trip.

He had thought he understood what ruling was, what it truly entailed. He had watched his mother do it all his life, he had watched Uncle Luke lead the Jedi, he had watched Snoke lead the First Order.

But it was only today, staring down into the eyes of several Toydarians, who had been brave enough to come to him and claim justice for their murdered king, that Ben truly understood what ruling required. Toydaria was a smaller world, less valuable to the First Order in terms of resources and manpower, but it had always been loyal to the Emperor. "In honor of your mother," the king had said, when he'd come to Ben's coronation and laid a present at the young emperor's feet.

Now the regional governor of the R-11 quadrant in Hutt Space had apparently decided upon an expansion of the role's traditional powers and murdered the king when the Toydarians failed to pay him a protection fee.

"We humbly ask for justice," the Toydarian king's daughter, Princess K'lara said, lowering her eyes respectfully, her small wings fluttering furiously as she hovered before Ben's throne.

The problem with it all was that the regional governor of R-11 was former Imperial Admiral Osvald Teshik's son. Krendel Teshik had been one of Ben's staunchest supporters, even during the uncertain time after Snoke's death, when many in the First Order's military and high command supported Admiral Hux.

Krendel Teshik had never been anything but loyal to Ben, and now a planet that provided no true value to the First Order demanded his death.

Ben looked at Princess K'lara. Despite the differences in their species, he saw his mother in her, in the tilt of her chin, the fire in her eyes, the elegance and fierce desire for justice that seemed an innate part of her. He knew he looked imposing, he knew his reputation was that of a monster. He sat forward on the uncomfortable throne and studied the young princess intently. "Why come to me?" he asked simply. "My reputation precedes me, I'm sure. What makes you think that I would grant your request when I have no incentive to do so?"

"Because you are Princess Leia's son and you are a son of Alderaan," K'lara returned instantly. "My grandfather knew yours, long ago during the Clone Wars."

Ben must have shown the surprise he felt for she shook her head, long blue earrings tinkling as she did so. "Not Darth Vader," she corrected, "Bail Organa. It was your grandfather who brought mine back into the Republic, convinced him of unity in a time of chaos, promised him that respect for all systems, whether powerful or forgotten, could be achieved."

She flew slowly closer to him, keeping an eye on the Knights of Ren who stood behind Ben's chair, one short now that Jacen had been taken from them.

"And your mother, Princess Leia, she is a hero to the galaxy. "She fought for all of us her entire life. She kept the Empire from utterly destroying her people and way of life. She saved Alderaan." K'lara looked at him earnestly. "I don't believe that Princess Leia's son would hear my plea and be unmoved, and if I'm wrong…well then there is no hope for my people anyway."

Ben sat back and closed his eyes, but he already knew what he was going to do. K'lara was his mother, but she was also Rey, who looked at him as though he was her savior, as though he was a hero and not a monster with blood upon his hands. "I promised order and stability with my reign," he said, raising his voice so that all in the Hall could hear him clearly. "I promised the rule of law and I promised the end to the factionalism that existed under the Republic and the chaos that was the hallmark of the New Republic. I keep my word. Regional Governor Teshik no longer represents the First Order's interests, and his resignation will be accepted immediately."

Ben waved the Toydarian princess away, not hearing her protestations of thanks, already seeing the uproar in the Hall. He watched as Hedala decided to go with K'lara. Fardi wouldn't take no for an answer, and she would bring Ben Teshik's head – metaphorically or not – before forty-eight hours passed.

The Hall emptied quickly after that, Coruscant's political machine shaken at the fall of such a powerful and influential man, a loyalist, but Ben stayed and watched unmoving from his throne as the red-gold rays of the sun sank beneath the horizon and the room descended into darkness. There was a N'Omis flower clutched in his gloved hand; a gift from the princess.

It was dark when she came.

"Artoo brought me," she said apologetically, closing the main doors behind her with a muted "boom" sound, "and Tahiri let me in." Artoo followed after her, beeping quietly as he headed towards Ben. The young emperor watched the lights on the little droid, glowing in the darkness of the throne room. It had been many years since he'd seen his old friend – not since that night when Uncle Luke tried to kill him.

The old astromech, who had once belonged to Grandma Padmé, had been Ben's only friend at the Academy. Jacen had grown close to him after that fateful night, but Ben had been alone during his entire time on Yavin. He'd been waiting outside Ben's hut, whistling worriedly, after Ben managed to dig himself out of the debris. "Hello Artoo," he said quietly. The droid had always been more loyal to Uncle Luke than to Ben, but it was good to see him all the same.

Artoo beeped and came closer.

"He has a message for you," Rey said. Her voice was like cool water in the hot furnace of Ben's emotions. He couldn't see her in the darkness, but he could feel her; powerful and controlled and brilliantly bright. Whoever was teaching her – a Jedi holocron, a Force Ghost or someone Ben didn't even know about – they were doing an amazing job. She burned in the Force as brightly as Uncle Luke and Mother ever had.

"Very well," Ben said, waving a hand towards Artoo. Rey came up the steps of the dais and stood beside him, reaching down and taking his hand as Artoo whirred and a ghostly figure of a young Leia appeared before him.

General Kenobi, years ago you served my father in the Clone Wars. Now he begs you for help in his struggle against the Empire…

Leia's image flickered, replaced after a moment by her face as Ben remembered her last, still beautiful but distinguished by time.

"Ben, my son," she said, and there was grief and pride and hope in her voice. "If Artoo brings you this message, then I am gone, and he believes that you need me still." General Organa took a deep breath. "Know that I love you, Ben, that I will always love you. And know that you are my hope for the future. I know that you will make this galaxy a better place, that you will succeed where I have failed. I believe that. Our family's past does not determine your destiny, Ben. Choose, and choose again if you fail. Trust in the Force. Be strong and be brave. May the Force be with you, always."

And then she was gone.

Ben didn't speak but he held onto Rey's hand like a lifeline, squishing until he was sure she would protest. She did not. After a while she climbed into his lap, straddling him on that cold, painful throne and kissed him until his lips tingled and the numbness had been replaced by heat and desire and love.

"Wherever you go, I go to," she whispered against his lips, a promise, before she left. "Just come to me. We can make our own destiny."

Her words lingered long after she departed. Ben stood before the transparisteel windows, hands clasped beside his back, Artoo beside him, and stared out at the twinkling lights of Coruscant. It felt, in a way, like his mother had set him free. Bound by duty her whole life, she had still told him to choose his own path.

Trust in the Force, she had said, and Ben had done so with K'lara. He wasn't sure that was the best way to rule, but for the first time since he'd left Luke's Academy, he wondered if that was his destiny after all.

Notes: Poor Ben. Leia is truly epic, right? Even from beyond death, she is guiding her son. And I loved the parallel of Leia's first moment in the saga as a hologram telling Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi that he is her only hope, and her last moment in the saga being a hologram and telling Ben that he is her hope for the future.

Next chapter will be some lighthearted fun between Ben and Rey. And a picnic!