Title: "The Attribute of the Strong"
Spoilers: "The Phantom Menace' through 'Return of the Jedi'
Summary: How did Princess Leia handle finding out that she was the daughter of Darth Vader?
Author's Notes: In the films, we, as the audience, got to see how Luke handled finding out that he was the son of the Dark Lord of the Sith, but we're never shown – or it was never revealed – how Leia handled the news as well. We just see her react in disbelief when Luke tells her that Vader is his father in 'Jedi', but we don't get a reaction when she realized she was also related to Vader. I just wanted to see if I could try and explore her feelings, especially since Leia may have a possible future with Han Solo.
This story takes place a day or so after the ending of 'Return of the Jedi'.
Reviews and Critiques are welcome!
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
-Gandhi
"Okay, your worshipfulness, what's the matter?" Han Solo asked.
"Why should anything be the matter?"
"Well, it's the day after we destroyed the Death Star, the Emperor is dead, the Imperial Navy is scattered, we've got the galaxy's biggest party going on right here…and you're hiding in the cockpit of my ship…sitting in my seat, no less."
Princess Leia Organa looked chagrined as she glanced up at the legs she had propped up on to the instrument panel of the Millennium Falcon. Her glance went from them to the figure of Han Solo leaning near the entryway of the cockpit
"Guess I shouldn't have put my feet up there, huh?"
Han smirked. "Well, it did surprise me somewhat when I walked past and noticed the white boots, and since I already know Chewie's shoe size…"
Unable to restrain herself, Leia laughed at the mental image of the 7-foot Wookie walking around in her size of boots. She quickly sobered when Han seated himself across from her in the co-pilot's chair. She sighed.
"Sorry, Han. I - I just needed to be alone for a bit."
"Oh," was all Han said and left it at that. Leia had to suppress a grin. They loved each other; she had known that much yesterday when they both nearly died in each other's arms during the fight to get to the shield generator. It was definitely the start of…something. But there was still so much about the man she just didn't know. Could she truly trust him with what she had recently found out?
Han caught Leia's look of worry and leaned over to place a hand on top of hers.
"Hey, Princess, what's bothering you? C'mon, you can tell me."
Leia searched deeply into her would-be lover's eyes. Can I, Han? she thought. Can I tell you what I found out only days ago? How I went from fear, to joy and then immediately back to fear in the span of a few breaths? Fear for Luke when he had to leave us that one last time to meet his destiny with…his father. Joy, when I realized that I had true family in a brother I had never really known. Yes, I felt something was there for him all the time, but feeling is worlds apart from knowing. Then my fear returned when I came to grips with being the daughter of someone I hated all of my life. To know that the same blood flows through my veins. Luke had months to come to grips with who our father was…I've only had a few days.
Han sighed as he could see the conflict in Leia's eyes. "Look, Leia," he started. "Does this have anything to do with what you and Luke were talking about a few nights ago before the attack?"
"A little bit." Now there's an understatement. Before Han could form a reply, Leia squeezed his hand and leaned forward. "Han, do you remember your parents?"
He blinked in bemusement. So thrown off was he by the question, he sat back in his seat and ran a hand through his brown hair. "My parents?" he repeated. His face screwed up a little in tentative thought. "No," he said slowly. "No, I can't say that I do." He pursed his lips, looked at Leia and then shrugged. "Most of my earliest memories involved working in a trading clan with a bunch of other street kids." He grimaced. "The only person I could call family – if I wanted to – was a cousin who was in the same trading clan." Han sighed and looked out past the cockpit. "No, now that I remember, I wouldn't want to call him family, not with the stuff he pulled." His eyes grew distant for a moment before he refocused in the here and now and looked at Leia. "Why are you asking me this?"
"I don't have any memories of my mother," Leia said quietly. "I only remember that she was beautiful, kind…and very sad. For a long time I always wondered why she was always crying. I never thought I'd ever find out why."
"You lost your father on Alderaan, didn't you?" Han asked quietly.
"My adoptive father – the one who raised me – was Bail Organa." Leia cocked her head slightly. "I never told you that, did I? That I was adopted?"
Han shook his head and frowned slightly. "Princess, is that what this is about? Your parents…I mean, you and Luke's parents?"
Leia swallowed. She'd always prided herself in being self-sufficient; this is one of the reasons why she'd done so well in politics. She'd never had or made time for relationships, giving herself fully to the Rebel cause. And yet she had fallen for this scruffy-looking scoundrel. Leia knew that, ideally, there shouldn't be any secrets in a relationship, and something like this she couldn't keep from Han. She not only wanted to tell Han the truth, but she also wanted – no, needed – to hear it from her own mouth.
"Han," she started and took a deep breath. "My father was – "
"Oh, General Solo! Princess Leia! There you are! I've been looking all over for the two of you!" said C3PO's synthesized voice behind the two of them. Leia stifled a moan and Han leaned back in his chair, shaking his head.
"It never fails," Han said tiredly. Before she could answer, he leaned over and stole a quick kiss before turning to the protocol droid. "What is it now, goldenrod?"
"General Solo, I was instructed to find you and make sure you contacted Admiral Ackbar. There's a communications tent close to where the shield generator stood if you need a transmitter. I believe it has something to do with the Corellian system?"
Han nodded and looked over at the Princess, his eyes clearly conveying: We'll talk later. He left the cockpit, his footsteps echoing in the hold. Threepio turned back to Leia.
"Your Highness, if I may, it has been a hectic few days, so I would like to power down for a few hours?"
Leia nodded. "Go ahead, Threepio," she said, looking out at the darkening sky. "Sounds like a good idea, anyway." Leia watched the droid return to the main hold and sit down next to the holochess game just as his photoreceptors winked off. Unconsciously, she yawned as she sat back in the pilot's chair, realizing that the last few days had been taxing on her, both physically and mentally. Han wouldn't be back for some time. She snuggled deeper into the chair and closed her eyes.
Leia woke with start. Slowly she blinked the sleep away from her eyes and looked at her wrist chronometer. That's odd. She'd only been asleep a few minutes, yet it was already pitch black outside. Leia shrugged; she'd never really had time to note when sunrise and sunset occurred here on Endor. The shrug turned to a yawn, which made her arch her back. The yawn suddenly died in her throat and she froze stiff in mid-stretch at the small sounds coming from the main hold.
Footsteps.
Leia frowned. Years of experience as a rebel leader had helped her, especially when it came to covert ops and the art of stealth. The footsteps were very soft and deliberate…not the sound of someone casually walking in. She knew it couldn't be Han since he had no reason to be that quiet, and since she was a light sleeper, she would have noticed the characteristic heavy-footed swagger that he always used when he walked around his own ship. No one she knew - who had any right to be on board in the first place – would be trying to sneak around the Falcon.
Which meant…
Fully alert Leia left the seat and leaned against the control rook bulkhead next to the main compartment hatch, squeezing herself small. There had been so many Imperial troops on the planet during the raid. It was still an ongoing operation to find them all. Some had fled into the forests when the tide of battle had turned against them, those the Ewoks were out hunting. It wouldn't be too far fetched that one or two had come back for a last parting shot, and who better to take out than an important leader?
Quietly, she slipped her small blaster out of her shoulder holster, giving silent thanks to Han who'd taught her to keep a spare charge clip handy. After checking the blaster's charge, she slowly got out of the pilot's seat and peered around the corner. From where she stood, nothing looked out of the ordinary. Threepio still sat there, deactivated, and then she noticed some movement reflected off the protocol droid's golden surface. Leia's eyes narrowed. She knew she'd have only one chance at this, especially if the would-be assassin had a cell of compatriots somewhere else close by. Gripping her weapon tightly, she leapt around the corner.
"Freeze!" she yelled…and nearly lost her resolve.
A small sandy-haired boy, who couldn't have been more than 10 years old, yelped and jumped away from where he'd been standing near Threepio.
The blaster in Leia's grip wavered and she gaped at the boy. She pointed her weapon left then right in quick succession, looking for any signs of a trap. The weapon went right back to the boy, who stared at her, wild-eyed. They stood there for several moments, a surreal tableau, neither saying nor doing anything. Leia looked the boy up and down, but couldn't find anything harmful in the brown breeches and cloak he wore. Finally, realizing the foolishness of the situation, Leia slowly lowered her weapon and brought a hand up in a (hopefully) soothing gesture.
"Shhh…it's okay!" she said. "I'm sorry…I didn't…I didn't realize…" Leia stopped and frowned. "Wait. Who are you and how did you get here?"
The boy still said nothing, his eyes flickering to the silent Threepio. Leia caught the gaze and briefly wondered if the boy couldn't speak Galactic Standard. Did he know that Threepio was a protocol droid? Another thought hit her: was this boy a prisoner? Although the shield complex had been destroyed, the surrounding structures were still intact. If she remembered correctly, searches had found nothing in the form of Imperial prisoners. Could the boy have escaped and lived on his own in the forests? But he looked too young to have survived in the forest alone and there was no gauntness in his cheeks that Leia could see. It was the eyes though, that truly caught the Princess' attention: something old and solemn lived behind those eyes. Something else as well: sadness, though when that gaze turned to Leia, it almost looked like…yearning. The boy's mouth opened and he said something just below a whisper. Leia strained to hear but all she caught was what she thought was the word, 'angel'.
Slowly, she holstered her blaster and looked back. "I'm not sure if you can understand me, but were you a prisoner of the Empire?"
The boy gasped and took a step back. In alarm, Leia stepped forward, hand outstretched.
"Wait…I didn't mean…Wait!" she yelled, just as the boy bolted down the main ramp and out of the ship. "Dammit!" Leia swore as she grabbed a flashlight and dashed out after the boy.
Even with illumination, the darkness surrounding Leia was hard to cut through. Deeper and deeper she ran into the woods, shining the light here and there and every so often getting just a glimpse of something beyond the range of the beam. She stopped briefly to catch her breath, idly wondering if she could use the Force to find the boy. The thought died as quickly as it came. No, she didn't want to use it…not with the awesome responsibility that came with it. She'd seen the way Luke used the Force during the fight on Jabba's Barge – not to mention the times she'd seen him practice with his lightsaber; Luke had looked like poetry in motion then, fighting off all those remotes. Leia however could remember times where she would feel a flickering of something at certain times in her life. One moment that still felt fresh in her mind was during her first visit to Coruscant with Bail Organa, she'd been in the presence of the Emperor himself. She never did forget how cold the reception hall felt at the moment.
A twig snapped and she whirled. There! The boy stood, yards away, just looking at her. As Leia got closer to where she had seen the boy last, she noticed a dim glow deep in the woods. She shut her own light off, since the glow was bright enough to navigate by. Passing a few trees, she came to a large clearing in the woods with a very large bonfire burning in the center. She took two steps into the clearing…and then stopped.
Leia cocked her head and strained to listen and heard...nothing. She took a few steps back, thinking it had something to do with the roaring fire. But after a few moments, she couldn't deny it: aside from the crackling flames, there were no other sounds. No birds flew through the air; no nocturnal animals announced their presence and no insects issued their distinctive mating calls. This whole area was deathly quiet and a chill ran down Leia's back. She was considering going back, when the boy appeared standing just on the other side of the fire and looking solemnly back at her.
Even through the flames, something about those blue eyes gave Leia pause. She couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something familiar about them. Taking a deep breath and keeping an eye on the boy, she walked into the clearing and around the large bonfire to stand next to him. Both regarded each other warily and for a while, neither said a word, the fire crackling beside them.
"You gave me quite the chase," Leia said quietly.
The boy shrugged, looking a little chagrined. "Sorry."
Leia's eyebrows rose a bit. "You understand me?" The boy nodded. Leia sighed and looked around. "Are you by yourself?" Another nod. "Well, since I did have to chase you around, can I get a name?"
"Ani."
Leia smiled. "That's a nice name. I'm Leia," she said and held out her hand. The boy looked at the hand briefly, before taking it in his. "Mind if I ask how you got here?"
The boy scrunched his face. "I'm not really sure, but I'm think I'm here to do something."
"Like what?"
Before he could answer, the boy's eyes went wide and he looked to the far side of the clearing. Leia followed the gaze to a part of the clearing more indistinct in the firelight than the rest. A light mist blanketed a small, dark path that led deeper into the woods. Leia could make out nothing beyond two large, gnarled trees on either side of the path. None of the light given off by the fire penetrated into the gloom. A small feeling of dread needled into her mind, and she unconsciously hugged herself as a shiver went down her spine.
Leia glanced back down to see Ani keenly watching her. "Are you scared?" he asked. Leia frowned at the question, but glanced back at the path and nodded once. "You shouldn't be, Leia. Fear can bring out the worst in people." Leia looked back at the young boy and blinked.
"That's a very…grownup thing to say, Ani," she said a little cautiously. Her interest more than a little piqued, Leia sat on her knees and looked Ani straight in the eye. "Who are you?" she asked quietly. Rather than answering, the boy bent down pulled something from a small rucksack. He placed a small, cloth-covered bundle in Leia's hands and stepped back.
"That's for you," was all he said.
Leia looked from the bundle to the boy and back. Slowly, she pulled back the folds until she could only stare at what was in her hands: a small, metal cylinder, dull in finish, with a grip on one end and some form of emitter on the other. A small red stud stood out in the middle. Though the Jedi Knights were all – save one – extinct, Leia had seen her brother in action often enough to know that she held a lightsaber in her hands.
"How did you – " Leia began, looking up, but only thin air in front of her. "Ani?"
"Remember what I told you, Leia," a voice said from behind. Leia whipped around to see the young boy only feet away but bound for the entrance to the shadowed path into the wood.
"Ani, don't go in there!" she yelled, but the boy disappeared into the mists. Exasperated that she was still following this child wherever he went, Leia paused only briefly at the path's threshold before walking into the darkness.
-Continued-