Archive of Our Own ^beta

Breha Organa kept a very full calendar, which meant that her day was scheduled down to the minute, the very second even. There was no room for any unexpected deviations. It wasn't at all the way she preferred to live her life; however, at this early point in her career (as she was preparing herself to take over the throne from her ailing mother), it was a necessity.

She jogged up the hill approaching a view of Cloudshape Falls, her favorite part of this five-kilometer jog that she took every fourth day of the week. She went at mid-morning, when the sun was barely over the mountaintops at her back rather than shining down unbearably from overhead.

As she made her way around the bend that would open up to the spectacular view that she loved so much, Breha glanced at her wrist to check her chrono. She was still setting a good pace, and Visaiya, her new palace advisor, wouldn't have anything negative to say about the time she was spending not attending to everything else on her calendar.

Her last conversation about this with Visaiya included Breha taking the datapad from her and inputting this weekly run as a permanent event on her calendar, simply so that there was no chance of anyone "accidentally" scheduling something over it. Breha needed this time alone. If she could have it more than once a week, she'd gladly take it.

But for now, she counted on her fourth-day runs, rain or shine. She appreciated the fact that her chosen path, a trail that snaked its way south from the palace grounds, climbed up to Whisphead Moor and then down to the falls overlook before circling back along the river's edge, was empty this time of day. It meant she was left alone with her thoughts and her pace, rather than having to stop now and again to speak with whomever was excited to have run into the princess outside like this.

Yes, of course she knew that her personal guard was not far behind her, but Peik knew her well enough to keep his distance. He was there at her father's request - "just in case." Breha shook her head at the thought; she hated being viewed as being at any disadvantage, even though she was. She knew her limits, knew that this trail, its length, and the time of day were just nearly at her limit, but that was precisely why she continued to do it. If she never pushed herself to her limits, how would she ever know what her limits were?

As the path in front of her started going downhill, Breha slowed. She pressed a hand against her chest to feel the mechanical pulse of her pulmonodes as they worked harder than usual to keep up with her physical activity. She walked the rest of the way to the stone overlook of Cloudshape Falls.

The mist from the falls reached even this far, and Breha closed her eyes to enjoy it showering her face with a thin sheen of fresh water. She pushed her fingers through the hair at her temple, back to where it was twisted into the braids crowning her head with her long, dark hair. She tucked a thick strand that had come loose behind her ear. She wished she could remain here all day, bathing herself in the roar of the falls, in the majesty of this view. With her mind cleared and the fresh air filling her soul, Breha knew she wanted to be nowhere else in the galaxy.

Somewhere behind her, Peik cleared his throat, and she startled out of her thoughts and stood up straighter. "Your highness, the time," he said.

She lowered her chin to her shoulder to glance back at him. "Of course, thank you, Peik." Her tone always sounded so different out loud than it did in her head, where she could be wistful and dreamy. Out loud, she sounded like her mother.

Breha wiped the mist from the falls off her forehead as she started up again, a quick walking pace as the trail descended to meet up parallel with the river. She'd begin jogging again when the path leveled out, the falls at her back. For now though, she needed a slower pace to be sure of her footing and to keep her pulmonodes from warning her against sudden overexertion.

---

Bail Antilles, newest junior senator from Alderaan, hadn't set foot on his home planet in nearly a year, something which his mother and sisters refused to let him forget. There was so much happening on Coruscant, at the heart of the galaxy, the nucleus of government, the planet that never slept, that he hadn't really missed Alderaan at all during his time away. Now, however, that he was back, he realized what a fool he was to ever think this wasn't worth missing.

He took his speeder out from Aldera the moment his mother and sisters left that morning to go shopping. Though they had done everything they could to convince him to join them, somehow he managed to get out of it. Thankful for his good fortune, Bail found a quiet clearing not too far down river from Cloudshape Falls, where he parked the speeder and began walking along the river's drier rockbed.

The river rippled here, not rushed, far enough away from the falls that the current wasn't dangerously strong. Still, he was near enough that he could hear the roar in the distance and see the white mist rising from the river as though it could be the edge of the world.

There was nothing like this on Coruscant, he thought. Everything was man-made; nothing natural was left. Even the waterways through Corusanti were pumped in from far below the planet's surface. The water was undrinkable until it went through filtration thrice over.

Bail cupped his hands under the water and lifted it to his mouth, drinking quickly. That old saying, the one that said that you never missed home until you were away for a while, it was completely true. Alderaan, though it was often far from his mind when he was elsewhere, was still a part of him, and he knew it the moment he stepped out of his ship the afternoon before. He believed it even more now.

He sat on a large rock and shrugged out of his cloak, which he had needed only to nip the chill of the wind during the speeder ride in the first place. It was a very pleasant morning, with the sunshine just now streaking over the tops of the mountains, the air warm. He unbuttoned his shirt as well, discarding it with his cloak before he worked off his boots and set them aside. He considered, for a moment, swimming with his trousers on, but then he'd have to endure the ride back with them soaked and heavy, so he removed them as well.

Barefoot and wearing only his underwear, Bail walked into the river, hissing as the cold water touched bare skin. As soon as it was deep enough, he ducked under, the water enveloping him. He surfaced just past where he could touch, his toes brushing the rocky bottom, and shook his wet hair out of his eyes. A moment of swirling his hands around in the water and then he tipped himself onto his back so he could watch the clouds sweep past. Another thing impossible on Coruscant unless one's idea of cloud-watching involved speeder traffic jams.

His time on Alderaan was short, too short he was quickly realizing, and he didn't know when he'd have a chance to make it back again. Perhaps not until the equinox, four months away. Bail sighed up at the blue sky and brought himself upright again. The current had carried him quite a way downstream; his speeder was far enough that he had to squint to see it.

He swam, stroke for stroke overhand, back against the current until he was once again parallel with his speeder, his heart racing from the exertion and his breathing tight. He moved until he could touch and then began the walk back up over the rocks to shore. As he got about halfway there, still thigh-deep in the water, a figure emerged from the trees into his clearing.

A young woman, jogging, her exercise clothes fitting well, her hair crowning her head in traditional braids. He stopped, the water dripping off of him, the chilly air prickling his skin into goosebumps, and stared at her. Her hips swayed, her arms pumped, her shirt left little to the imagination as she moved -

Out of the corner of his eye, Bail saw someone else emerge from the trees along the trail, a large man, older than the young woman. He was focused on her too, his pace picking up until he wasn't that far behind her at all. Bail frowned and moved without thinking. Even with the unevenness and sharpness of the rocks under his bare feet, he was fast. This was the kind of thing he expected to happen on Coruscant, some big man chasing down a beautiful woman, not here on Alderaan.

Bail sped up as soon as he made it to the trail. "Hey," he shouted, drawing the attention of both the man and the young woman. Over the man's shoulder, he saw that the young woman hadn't moved and instead was watching, a mix of concern and amusement on her face. "Excuse me, miss, but this man was chasing you -"

He brought himself up to his full height and then, despite his obvious state of undress, lunged for the man. He wasn't quick enough though, and the man had Bail's arm twisted behind him, his knee between Bail's in an extremely uncomfortable way, immobilizing him.

"Peik, stop," the woman said, her tone sharper than he expected out of such a tiny woman. "I'm certain he doesn't mean to do me any harm."

"Me?" Bail squawked. He started to struggle against the other man's grip but discovered that any sudden movement threatened to break a bone. Bail considered that he probably should have paid more attention in the self-defense classes his mother suggested he take before taking a full time position on Coruscant. "He's the one who's chasing you -"

"Are you certain, your highness?"

Bail croaked something out that may or may not have been an echo of what the man who had him bound said. He tried to twist to look back at the woman but felt his arm strain to just about its limit. "Wait, what?" but it came out as some kind of incoherent squeak.

A moment passed and the man released him, nudging him away. Bail stumbled forward with a grunt, rubbing his wrist all the way up to his elbow. He turned quickly to look at the man and the woman, whom he recognized now that he was closer to her. A blush crept up the back of his neck, and he instinctively tried to cover himself with his hands. Thank the stars that he had left on his underwear or else this would be an utterly inappropriate situation.

"Peik is my personal guard," the woman told Bail, her tone laced with something he wanted to believe was warm amusement. "He was running behind me because I prefer to run alone. He certainly wasn't chasing me. But nevertheless, I -" She paused, in a thoughtful way not a hesitating way. " - appreciate your heroic effort." The way she said it, Bail wasn't entirely sure it was meant to be a compliment.

He inclined his head, any excuses that he wanted to give lodged somewhere in his throat, as he looked over at her.

Of course he recognized Breha Organa, crown princess of Alderaan, now.

It was true that she wasn't wearing a traditional gown and instead was wearing exercise clothes that fit her like a glove, and he could see the steady orange pulse of her pulmonodes through the fabric - Bail snapped his head back up the moment he realized he was staring at the princess's chest. He looked at her, expecting to be slapped or, perhaps, worse.

"Princess," he began, searching for the right words. He could stand up and speak on the senate floor, even as a junior senator, and yet right now he found himself completely without words.

She looked at him with a very amused expression, the side of her mouth curling and her dark eyes bright. "Senator Antilles," she said. "You seem to be missing your clothes."

His jaw twitched. The last thing he expected or wanted was for her to recognize him. Bail tried not to look too abashed, which wasn't exactly easy considering he was standing one garment away from naked in front of Princess Breha. And he certainly didn't expect a comment (was that a tease? was she flirting with him?) like that to come out of her mouth.

Bail cleared his throat. "They're not missing," he told her, "I just happen to not be wearing them at the moment."

Her tongue darted out to wet her lips and she glanced over towards his speeder, where his clothes were haphazardly thrown against a nearby rock. She looked back at him. Rather, he realized, she looked at his bare chest. He couldn't help but straighten, ensuring that she got the best view possible.

"Is this a regular occurrence for you, senator?"

A beat and then he said, "Only when I know a princess is watching."

It was possible, not probable but possible, that the princess's guard grunted in a way that might have been a laugh but also might have been a warning. Bail ignored him.

Princess Breha smiled at him, her face lighting up, delighted. "I'm on a bit of a time crunch," she said, sounding as disappointed as Bail felt about the idea of her jogging off away from him, "but I hope I'll have the opportunity to see you again soon." She started to turn away but then stopped. "Although perhaps next time it might be more appropriate for you to be fully clothed."

"I suppose that depends on the circumstances of our next meeting, your highness."

Her cheeks turned pink and Bail wondered if he had perhaps gone a step too far, but she didn't chastise him or slap him or set her guard on him again. Instead, he watched her shrug, her shoulders lifting and falling just slightly, enough that he noticed. "Have a good day, senator," she said warmly. She met his eyes, held his gaze for a moment.

Bail gave her a light bow, hoping that the fact that he was so undressed didn't make the action appear mocking. "You as well, princess."

She nodded once, firmly, as though that movement itself was ending their conversation, before she turned back down the path. She motioned for her guard to join. He watched her pick up her pace and jog away from him, the back of her neck bare with all of her hair swept up onto her head like that. His gaze fell lower, to the spot where her shirt didn't quite meet the top of her pants, and his mouth went dry.

When she turned to look back at him, he shot her a wide smile, kind of in awe of her, of perhaps the entire situation. The perfect moment when she smiled just as widely right back at him was ruined when her guard gave Bail such a glare that it almost felt again like he was being immobilized by him again.

Once the princess (and her guard) had disappeared into the trees, Bail returned to his speeder. There was no one around to see him swagger. Or to notice the grin he couldn't wipe from his face.

--

Breha was shocked that the warning lights weren't going off in her pulmonodes, seeing as she could scarcely catch her breath and it felt like her stomach had pushed her heart up into her throat. How dare Bail Antilles ruffle her like that, she thought, right before she turned to glance at him as she jogged away.

He was watching her, wearing a smile unlike any she'd seen before on someone's face. It was impossible for her not to smile back. She looked away quickly, her face on fire, before the made the turn as the trail turned into the treeline. She picked up her pace, partially to make up the lost time from her unexpected diversion, but mostly because she knew she needed to get as far away from him as possible.

Before she did something completely inappropriate.

She clenched her hands into fists as she ran, her fingers tingling. It had taken every ounce of effort she had inside of her not to reach out and touch his bare chest, damp as it was from his swim in the river. She would never admit it, of course, but she had noticed him swimming the moment she came out of the trees and into the clearing.

Breha ran a little faster.

His arms strong and sure with each stroke. The way the water had fallen off of him as he sauntered out of the river.

She picked up the pace again, her feet pounding against the ground and her arms pumping at her sides.

The way the muscles of his chest were sculpted. How his undergarments had clung to his hips and thighs and -

Breha had to stop, suddenly, her chest tight and her pulmonodes beeping wildly. Peik was at her side in an instant, a hand against her back. "Your highness, are you all right?" He had been one of the guards on Appenza Peak during her trials, during the accident. He had personally ensured that she remained alive while they waited for the emergency team to appear. He was the only one of her guards she trusted completely.

She held a hand up as she caught her breath. "I'm fine, Peik, thank you. Just pushing myself too hard, once again." The words came out hoarsely as she bent over and fought with herself to recover.

After a few minutes, as her heart rate slowed and the warning flashes at her chest did as well, she straightened and looked at him. "Let's keep this entire excursion just between us, all right?"

Peik didn't look like he was going to agree to that, but at a sharp look from her, he nodded. "Of course, your highness." He paused. "Er, all of it?"

She thought of Bail, standing there just an arm's length away, his hair over his forehead, river water dripping down his neck and chest. The lights at her chest quickened again and she pressed her hand over them in an attempt to hide it. "Yes, all of it," she said firmly.

Peik nodded. He even had the audacity to look somewhat amused.

Breha rubbed the side of her neck and breathed in evenly. "I believe I'll walk the rest of the way back to the palace after all. If you'll please comm Visaiya and let her know that I'll be late for my next appointment, I'd appreciate it. Thank you."

As he stepped away to make the call as requested, Breha began walking again, her pace much slower now and her mind stuck on what might happen the next time she ran into Senator Bail Antilles.

Or, perhaps, how she might orchestrate that next encounter herself.