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Chapter Text

Leia stood uncertainly at the gate, watching the teeming crowds of chattering girls and boys. The sign atop the gate read Camp Anchorhead in both Basic and a language which she supposed must be Huttese. She’d never seen any writing like that before. She’d also never been anywhere this relentlessly hot and dry, and wearing her lightest, coolest outfit hadn’t made the slightest difference.

“Shall I help you with your luggage, Miss Leia?”

“Oh, no thank you,” she said, turning hurriedly to Captain Antilles as she clutched her bags closer. “No one else has anyone helping them. It will make them suspicious.”

He nodded with a smile. “Of course. I suppose I’ll be on my way, then. Do you have any message you’d like to send?”

“Just my love,” Leia replied. “And my thanks for letting me do this. I’m going to have a wonderful time here, I just know it.”

“I’ll let them know,” the captain said, chuckling. “See you in five weeks.”

“Good-bye, Captain.” Leia managed to free one of her hands to wave frantically as he climbed back into the speeder to return to the spaceport.

“Well!” That was a new voice, a cheery adult woman with official-looking insignia on her tunic. She approached Leia and went on, “I’m Miru Islyn, the camp director. You must be Leia Organa. One of our few Outlanders.”

Leia frowned, glancing around to see if anyone had overheard. “Could you please…um. I don’t really want the other campers to know. I want to understand what it’s like to live on a place like this. I want them to treat me like one of them.”

The woman beamed. “Isn’t that nice? Don’t your worry; your secret is safe with me. Now, if you’ll follow me, I can introduce you to your cabin-mates. They’re already getting settled.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Leia heaved up her bags again and started down the sandy path behind the director. She might have been imagining it, but it seemed that every girl and boy, whether sitting on their cabin’s steps or grouped around the water spigots, was watching her as she went by. Was her Outlander status really so obvious? She wasn’t wearing anything fancy, and she was just as dusty as the rest of them after the ride from Mos Eisley. Maybe it was the way she walked. She tried to slouch her shoulders a little. They were still staring.

“Here we are,” Director Islyn announced, stopping at one of the last cabins in the line. Like every building in this camp, it had a small aboveground entrance with most of the structure down below where it was cooler. Leia heaved a sighed of relief as she reached the bottom of the stairs, glad to leave the twin suns behind. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dimmer lighting. There were three bunks built into the wall, and two of them were occupied, each girl busily unpacking. One was a human, sandy-haired, her skin well-bronzed. The other was a Twi’lek with dark shining eyes. They had probably both lived on Tatooine their whole lives. And now they were both looking at Leia curiously.

Director Islyn nudged her forward. “Girls, this is Leia. Leia, this is Kierra and Shan Aris.”

“Hello,” they all chorused.

“Wonderful!” Director Islyn chirped. “I’ll just leave you ladies to get acquainted. Remember, dinner starts precisely at five bells. Don’t be late! After all, you wouldn’t want to get demerits on your very first day.”

Leia watched in bemusement as she climbed back up the stairs. “Demerits? What is this, a military camp?”

“Practically,” Kierra grumbled. “I mean, I understand the curfew; it’s idiotic to wander around after dark, but marching everywhere precisely at such-and-such a time, like mindless droids? It’s ridiculous.”

“Still, there are worse ways to spend the summer,” Shan Aris said, flopping down on her bunk. “I could be working at my dad’s repair shop, getting covered in grease all day long.”

Kierra laughed. “Yeah, I’d have to put up with my whiny little brother. What about you, Leia?”

“Oh…” Leia set down her bags on her bunk to give herself a little time. “I’d be stuck with the family business too, I guess.” If you could call royal politics a family business.

“Any bratty brothers or sisters?” Shan Aris asked, poking Kierra with a giggle.

“No, it’s just me.”

“Lucky! Not having to share your parents with anyone at all,” Kierra sighed.

Leia didn’t answer. She’d always wanted a sibling, but she wasn’t about to risk her newfound rapport with her cabin-mates by saying so. Slowly she began unpacking her bags, setting her belongings on the shelves that lined the space above the bunk. Last of all she pulled out a framed holo and placed it carefully on the top shelf. Shan Aris, hovering nearby, leaned close and exclaimed, “Wow! Is that your mother? She’s beautiful.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Leia answered, “She’s my governess. Like a second mother, you could say.”

“Oh, that’s awfully nice.” And then the fifth bell rang, saving her from further awkward explanations. They started off for dinner with easygoing speculations about how gross the food was going to be.

Leia’s thoughts couldn’t help drifting back toward the holo as they carried their trays to a table in the dining hall and settled down. It was probably a mistake to put it on display like that. It was her mother, but she wasn’t supposed to tell anyone. She was a political refugee with enemies who might still be looking for her. Her identity was such a closely-kept secret that not even Leia knew her real name. Leia had been adopted by the Organas, meanwhile, because it was far too dangerous for anyone to know who her true mother was.

Being separated from Mother was the one thing that had almost kept Leia from deciding to come to this camp. She was going to miss her terribly. But she knew that all her aspirations to change the galaxy for good would mean nothing if she didn’t actually know what the rest of the galaxy was like. Particularly obscure Outer Rim planets like this one. Leia needed this experience. And it was only five weeks, after all.

“Everything okay?” Kierra’s voice broke into her thoughts.

“Sure! Of course.” Leia shoveled down a spoonful of food and tried not to gag. Everything here had sand in it, even the food. “I was just thinking…” The words drifted off as a boy passed by their table, chatting happily with a pair of friends. Another sandy-haired native, nothing remarkable, and yet…there was something uncannily familiar about him….

“Psst, Leia!” Shan Aris hissed, nudging her in the ribs. “He looks just like you!”

“What?” Leia shook her head with a derisive laugh. “Of course not. His hair and eyes are completely different colors —”

“Yeah, but if you cut your hair and dyed it,” Kierra put in, looking from Leia to the boy, now seated a few tables over, “you’d be practically identical.”

“Ha. And if you keep claiming there’s a resemblance, you’ll be completely delusional,” Leia retorted. Kierra stuck out her tongue.

The next day, all through the camp’s activities, Leia kept catching sight of the boy. Whatever she said out loud, she couldn’t deny the resemblance. It was truly bizarre, like looking at a distorted mirror image. Once she had caught his eye, and he blinked in a startled way before looking quickly away. At one point she heard one of his friends call him Luke. She was absolutely certain she didn’t have any long lost relatives named Luke, or Mother would have told her about it. And Mother certainly wasn’t from this planet. Though she couldn’t say the name of her home, she had lovingly described its green fields and shining blue lakes.

Finally Leia had had enough of wondering and speculating. Just before dinner, she marched up to him outside the dining hall and said, “So. I’m sure you’ve noticed it too.”

Luke glanced at his friends, a dark-haired human and a Rodian, before asking, “Noticed what?”

“The resemblance. It’s very peculiar, isn’t it?”

“Hmm.” Luke regarded her, then grinned. “Oh, I see it! You’re right.”

“Yes! How do you suppose —”

“What a rare opportunity,” Luke went on. “It’s really not often that you see someone who’s the mirror image of womp-rat.”

His friends burst into snickers. Leia saw red. Without a second thought, she scooped up a handful of sand and threw it into Luke’s face. While he sputtered and gasped, Leia walked past him into the dining hall with all the poise and grace of a princess of Alderaan.

Chapter Text

“Well, she’s obviously not from around here,” Biggs said with a snort as he climbed into his bunk. “I think I saw her show up in a fancy speeder yesterday. With a pilot and everything. She might be all the way from Mos Eisley.”

“Did you see how pale she is?” Creesh rolled his eyes. “I bet she’s never been outside for more than five minutes at a time, before she came here.”

Luke nodded vindictively. “She’ll turn bright red after a few days at camp. Pampered princess. The nerve of her, thinking we look alike!”

“Well…” Biggs shrugged. “I mean, you kind of do.” When Luke glared at him, he lifted his hands placatingly. “It’s just a coincidence. No need to get worked up about it.”

“Anyway, how are we going to get back at her?” Luke said. “She needs to know that she can’t go tossing sand at people without paying for it.”

“Let’s get a really big bucket of sand, and dump it on her!” Creesh mimed the idea excitedly.

Biggs straightened. “Nah, we’d get caught and punished doing something that obvious. We’ve got to rig up something that will really take her by surprise. Luke, what do you think? You’re good with machines.”

“Not as good as my dad, but sure,” Luke agreed. “I can come up with something…” As a thought entered his mind, he began to grin. “Yeah, we can do something really good…”

Cabin inspection always took place at seven bells, right before curfew. They would have to move quickly if they wanted to get the job done before the girls got back from dinner. Luke and his cabin-mates crammed down dinner as quick as possible, then strolled casually out of the dining hall before hurrying down the path to Leia’s cabin. Creesh stood as a lookout at the entrance while Luke and Biggs headed down the stairs.

The camp’s precious water supply came from a large neighboring moisture farm, piped into each cabin with a discrete daily ration. And it just happened that the water pipes ran parallel to the oil line that powered the cabins’ electronic systems. With just a few adjustments, the line could be redirected to flow straight into the spigot. Luke worked quickly, while Biggs stood ready to hand him the tools he needed. He had just finished the job when a hissed warning came from aboveground. “I see them! Get out, get out!”

He and Biggs scrambled up the stairs, tripping over one another and nearly dropping the tool-case back down the stairs. They made it just in time to position themselves across the path, watching innocently as the girls entered their cabin.

Luke would have dearly loved to stick around and listen to their shrieks of horror, but they had to get back to their own cabin before inspection started. Reluctantly he followed Biggs and Creesh, glancing back now and then in gleeful anticipation.

He needn’t have worried. The shrieks were audible from across the entire camp.

Afterward, they could hear a growing tumult aboveground. Once enough time had passed that they could reasonably blend in with the crowd without being suspected as the culprits, Luke and his cabin-mates emerged to find Director Islyn standing at the entrance to the girl’s cabin, shrieking as loudly as the girls, her face smeared with grease. Apparently she had come down to inspect their bunks just as one of them turned on the spigot. Biggs nudged Luke with a snicker. All of them were splattered with greenish stains, but Leia had definitely gotten the worst of it. She was hardly recognizable, her hair and skin drenched with the filthy oil.

And somehow, through the grease, through the crowd, she managed to zero right in on Luke, glaring so fiercely he was afraid she might burn a hole through his head. “You!” she called out, half-crazed. “This is your fault!” And before he realized what was about to happen, she barreled through the milling campers and tackled him to the ground.

Luke fended her off as best he could, but she was surprisingly strong for such a small-framed person, and her fury only made her stronger. It seemed ages before Director Islyn wrenched Leia away from him, hollering to be heard over their fierce shouting. “That is quite enough!” she declared, as Luke got to his feet unsteadily, nearly as grease-spattered as Leia. “Campers, go to your cabins. I will deal with these two myself.”

Luke gulped. Leia sniffed, her nose pointed snootily in the air. “I’ve done nothing wrong,” she said as the campers dispersed. “This is all his fault.”

“You do realize that physically attacking other campers is against the rules, don’t you?” the director demanded. “Come along.”

Once they’d cleaned the grease off themselves, they stood in the antechamber of her cabin that served as an office, staring glumly at the ground. Director Islyn regarded them with a glower. “This is unacceptable. Never, in all my time directing here, have I witnessed such flagrant disregard for the safety of others or the dignity of this camp.”

Luke shuffled his feet and muttered, “She threw sand in my face.”

“Oh? And why did you not report this to me and allow me to deal with it?”

He had no answer.

“Perhaps because you are from off-world, Leia,” the director said crisply, “you might not be aware of how damaging sand can be to the eyes and breathing tract. Enough sand could have suffocated him.”

“Oh,” Leia said in a small voice. Luke stared at her. She wasn’t even from this planet? Who would come to a dump like Tatooine just for summer camp?

“And you, Luke,” Director Islyn rounded on him. “You know how dearly we guard our supplies of water. Did you consider the consequences of meddling with pipelines? We will all have to decrease our rations until the mess has been cleaned up.”

“Oh,” came Luke’s abashed reply, a precise echo of Leia’s.

“I would be fully justified in sending both of you home. You must realize this.”

They both nodded, staring once more at the floor.

“However…since it would be considerably difficult to make travel arrangements for Leia, I have a different idea.”

The two of them looked up, curious.

“You must have noticed the remarkable resemblance between the two of you. If not for your vastly different homeworlds, I would have assumed you to be brother and sister.” She smiled sardonically. “You have certainly been acting like bickering siblings. And how do brothers and sisters learn to get along? By having to live under the same roof.”

Luke could feel his curious expression sliding into horror.

“For the remainder of camp, you will share a cabin, share a table at mealtime, and spend all your activity time together.”

“But Director Islyn,” Leia began, “you can’t —”

“I most certainly can,” she replied without letting Leia finish. “You needn’t fear for your privacy. You’ll have better accommodations than most campers, with curtained-off bunking areas. Now go and pack up your things so you can get settled in your new cabin before curfew.”

They exchanged a brief look of mutual disgust and misery, then turned and started up the stairs in resignation.

The first day wasn’t as bad as Luke feared. They seemed to have come to a unspoken agreement that this ordeal would be best endured in silence. They adjourned behind their respective curtains in silence; they went to sleep in silence; they got up and headed for breakfast at the sixth bell in silence.

But by the evening, it was starting to get to him. He missed Biggs and Creesh. He missed talking. He almost tried to start up a conversation with Leia as they headed down to their cabin, but what could they possibly talk about? She was a fancy, prissy Outlander who’d probably never worked a day in her life. He was a farm boy who knew what it meant to go to bed hungry. They had nothing in common at all — nothing but a weird similarity in their faces.

He settled down on the floor and pulled up the speeder blueprints he’d been studying, hoping to repair the broken one in their garage. As he traced his finger along the schematics, he could heard an occasional cough or sniffle from Leia. The sandy air was messing up her breathing. Good. Let her suffer a little.

Then a great gust of wind blew through the open door, swept down the stairs, snatched the holo-reader from Luke’s hands and scattered clouds of sand everywhere.

Chapter Text

Leia heard the furious wind and rushed out of her partition. “I’ll get that,” she said, running to the stairs. But the button was stuck, refusing to respond. Luke got up to help her, and with their combined efforts they finally got the door closed and locked.

There was an awkward moment when they couldn’t seem to look at each other, and then they both suddenly laughed and felt much easier.

“Thanks,” Leia said.

“Yeah.” Luke glanced around at a holo-reader lying against the wall, sadly dented. “Oh, no!” He ran and picked it up, groaning as it let out a sad little dying beep.

“What’s that?” Leia asked. She was surprised to find there was no sarcastic edge to her tone.

“Blueprints,” he answered. “I saved and saved to buy it, and now it’s ruined.”

“Well, it wasn’t very well-made if it broke that easily,” she said. “You can buy a better one next time.”

“A better one!” Luke laughed shortly. “It took me years to save enough for this one.”

Leia felt her face growing hot. “Oh. Right.”

“Are you very rich?” Luke asked. It wasn’t accusatory, just a matter-of-fact question.

“I guess my life has probably been more comfortable than anyone else at this camp,” she said at last. “I don’t mean to take it for granted. That’s why I wanted to come here, actually, so I could understand better —” She bit her lip. “But maybe it’s not working out so well.”

He carefully set aside the damaged holo-reader. “You came here just so you could understand poor people better? That’s crazy!”

“Yeah, maybe so.”

“I can’t believe your parents let you. It took me months to convince my dad, and we only live on the other side of Anchorhead.”

“What’s your home like?” Leia asked, rather than talk about the sticky issue of her parents.

He shrugged. “Just like any moisture farm, I guess. Hot and dry and sandy, with lots of hard work to do all the time. It’s my uncle and aunt’s farm, actually. My dad helps out with the mechanical stuff. He can fix almost anything.” His eyes were shining, and Leia felt a peculiar pang of jealousy. Bail was a wonderful father, no question, but knowing her real father was out there somewhere, no better than a stranger, had always made her wistful.

“And sometimes he takes me out to hunt womp-rats in Beggar’s Canyon,” Luke was going on excitedly. “Ben says we shouldn’t go so fast, but Dad just laughs and goes even faster.”

“Who’s Ben?”

“Oh, old Ben is a friend of Dad’s from their days in the Clone Wars,” he said with remarkable casualness.

Leia gasped. “They fought in the Clone Wars? Both of them? And now they’ve living on some farm on the edge of the galaxy?”

“Well…” Luke looked a little uncomfortable. “They didn’t exactly agree with the Emperor when he took on his new title at the end of the war. They kind of…had to go into hiding.”

“Wow.”

Now he was growing nervous. “I probably shouldn’t have mentioned it. They don’t like to talk about it much.”

“I won’t tell a soul,” Leia said solemnly. “In fact…I know someone who’s in hiding too.”

“You do? Who is it?”

“I can’t say. Obviously.”

“Oh, right. Sorry.” He sat on the floor, fingering a button on his dented holo-reader. After a moment Leia joined him, tracing a pattern in the sand on the floor.

“What does your mother think?” she asked quietly. “About your dad flying too fast when you’re hunting, I mean.”

Luke shook his head. “Don’t have one. Just my aunt.”

“I don’t have a father,” Leia burst out. “I mean…I’m adopted. But I know my real mother, and I don’t know a thing about my father.”

“That’s too bad.”

“Yeah.”

Silence, but not the stony silence of earlier. Now they were both simply lost in their thoughts. Leia glanced at Luke, and suddenly little bumps began to sprout on her skin, even though it was never cold enough for that on Tatooine. “Luke…” she began slowly, “how old are you, exactly, in standard time?”

“Exactly?” He began counting on his fingers. “Ten years, three months and seven days.”

Leia did some quick mental calculations. Her heart began pounding strangely. “Me too,” she said. “Exactly the same.”

“Huh. Weird.” Luke got to his feet. “I’m tired. See you in the morning.”

“Wait!” Leia stood and grabbed his arm. “How can you think of sleep at at time like this?”

“What?”

“You think it’s just a coincidence? What are the chances that two strangers would be born on the exact same day?”

He shrugged. “Well, everyone has to be born on some day, I guess.”

“Luke!” Leia stuck out her arm. “Look at that. I always get bumps when something important is about to happen. Mother says…she says I should trust my instincts. This is important. Tell me everything you know about your mother. Anything at all.”

“What’s going on?” Luke stepped back as though he was worried she might tackle him again. “I told you, I don’t know anything. Dad won’t talk about her.” He shook his head. “I think I found a holo of her once, in one of his drawers, but the next time I looked he’d hidden it somewhere else.”

Softly Leia asked, “Was she very beautiful?”

“Yeah.”

Leia headed past her partition, took up the holo of Mother and brought it out. Luke stared. “Where did you get that?”

“It’s my mother.”

“But that’s — that’s her.”

“Your mother?”

Luke nodded.

They stared at each other.

“Twins,” Luke said at last. “We’re twins.”

Chapter Text

They could heard the distant bells chiming out the midnight hour, but Luke didn’t feel a bit tired. Excitement was coursing through his veins like electricity. A sister. He had a twin sister, and she was sitting right here, chattering animatedly.

“They must have had some terrible falling-out,” she was saying, gazing intently at their mother’s holo. “That’s why they’ve never spoken about each other. They each took one of us, and that was that.”

“That’s terrible!” Luke exclaimed. “How could they do that to us? It’s selfish, that’s what it is.”

“Grown-ups can be awfully selfish,” Leia said soberly. “Good thing we’ll be able to set things right.”

“What do you mean?”

“You deserve to know our mother, and I’m just dying to see our father.” Leia grinned. “We’re going to switch places.”

Luke looked at her a moment, then burst into laughter.

“What’s so funny? It makes perfect sense! All I have to do is cut and dye my hair —”

“It would never work! We couldn’t fool anyone for a second.”

“Oh, maybe not the people who know us well,” Leia said earnestly, “but I bet we could convince Director Islyn when we’re going home from camp. And you could wear a hood and keep most of your face covered when the captain comes to take me — I mean, you — home. You only have to get to Alderaan without being discovered.”

“And then what? When our families find out what we’ve done —”

“We’ll be on different ends of the galaxy,” Leia returned triumphantly. “That’ll give us each at least a little time with our parents before they can arrange to switch us back.”

“And then —” Luke’s face suddenly shone. “They’ll have to meet! Leia, I just realized it — we can get them back together!” He shivered. “Look…bumps. Now I’m getting them too.”

“This was Fate,” Leia declared. “The two of us meeting here. All this time, they’ve never loved anyone else. They’ve just been waiting for something to draw them together again. And we’re going to make it happen.”

They started planning immediately.

“First of all, you have to fix the way you talk,” Leia told him.

Luke scowled a little. “What’s wrong with the way I talk?”

She shrugged. “Nothing, if you live on a farm. But if you’re living in a palace, you can’t be sloppy.”

“You live in a palace?” Luke stared at her. “What are you, royalty?”

“Just…adopted royalty.” She seemed embarrassed, which was weird. He was the one who ought to be embarrassed, a dirty lowly farmboy. “My official title is Princess.”

“That’s amazing.”

She didn’t answer right away. Finally she said softly, without meeting his eyes, “Are you mad that I ended up in a palace and you got stuck on a farm?”

“Huh? Oh. I guess I hadn’t really thought about it.” He rubbed his chin. “Maybe a little. But I bet you can’t fly a T16 through a fancy palace like you can through Beggar’s Canyon.”

“I don’t spend all my time cooped up in the palace,” Leia said. Now she seemed faintly indignant. “We go climbing in the mountains every month, and I started training with the guards when I was five —” She stopped, grinning. “Doesn’t matter. Why should we be jealous of each other’s lives when we’re about to switch them?”

“Very true,” he said. “But I still don’t think there’s anything wrong with the way I talk.”

She rolled her eyes. “Trust me. They’ll notice something’s off right away if you’re not careful. You have to say every word clearly, without mumbling or running sounds together.” She demonstrated as she spoke, articulating every consonant and rounding out all her vowels.

“You have to say every word clearly,” Luke repeated painstakingly. “How was that?”

“Mmm. It’s a start. We’ll keep working on it.”

“Okay, but you’ve got some things to work on too.” He clambered to his feet. “You’re always standing so stiff, with your nose up in the air. Relax. Let your shoulders down.”

She joined him. “Like this?”

Luke did his best not to snigger. He’d never seen anyone try so hard to look natural, and look so unnatural while doing it. “Um…”

“Never mind, I’ll work on it,” she said hastily.

“Meanwhile, let’s take care of your hair. You got anything to cut it with?”

Leia’s pale face went even paler. “Oh…yes, I think I have something.”

“What’s the matter?”

She disappeared in her compartment for a minute before emerging with a multi-purpose cutter, approaching Luke reluctantly. “Now that it’s actually about to happen, I don’t know if I can go through with it.”

“Oh, come on! It’ll grow back, won’t it?”

Leia swallowed. “It’s taken me ten years to grow it this long. And what if you cut it wrong?”

“Eh, don’t worry about that,” he said, running a hand through his own unruly hair. “Look. I always cut it messy. It’d be more suspicious if yours was perfect and neat.”

“I guess so.” She clenched her hands into fists and squeezed her eyes shut while extending the cutter toward him. “Let’s just get it over with.”

Luke accepted the cutter, took a deep breath and started clipping. Leia let out a few tiny squeaks but stood perfectly still until the job was done. “All right, looks good!” he announced at last.

She blinked, reached up tentatively and felt the ragged ends of her hair. Then she dashed to her compartment once more, declaring, “I need a mirror.”

He waited until she appeared at the curtain with a looking-glass clutched in her hands, staring intently. Her eyes were very wide. “It worked,” she breathed. “We could be twins.”

With a laugh Luke reminded her, “We are twins.”

“Yes, but I mean, identical. Just a little bit of dye and I’ll be all set!” Her eyes fell to the ground, where her cut hair had fallen. Her eyes were suddenly brimming with tears. “Oh! What have I done?”

“Uh…” Luke patted her shoulder awkwardly. “Sorry.”

“But it’s worth it,” she said, wiping her face with sudden fierceness. “I’d shave my head bare if it would bring our parents back together.”

“I wouldn’t recommend it,” Luke said with a small smile. “It would burn bright red.”

She managed a laugh. “Yes. How do you keep from burning all the time, anyway?”

“I dunno. I keep covered, mostly. And I guess my skin is used to it after living here my whole life.”

“Were you born here?” Leia asked urgently. “Do you know?”

He considered the question a moment. “I guess I don’t. Dad never said. I just figured it must’ve been here, but maybe not.”

“Same with me.” Leia bit her lip. “It’s very important that you protect Mother’s identity, by the way. I’ve never told anyone else that Bail and Breha aren’t my real parents. I don’t know why, but you mustn’t ever let anyone know that she’s our mother.” She grabbed his shoulders, holding his gaze with unnerving intensity. “Do you understand?”

“Yes, yes,” he said quickly, pulling back. “Of course I’d never want to put our mother in danger. I won’t say a word.”

She nodded, satisfied.

Chapter Text

The remainder of camp seemed to fly by, faster than Leia could have imagined. When Director Islyn first forced her and Luke together, she assumed it would an interminable, unbearable experience. Now that they were friends — and planning the most important thing they could possibly do — every day was exciting, with never enough hours to do all they wanted.

In between their secret planning sessions, they somehow found time to participate in the usual camp activities. Kierra and Shan Aris were a little baffled that Leia had become friends with her arch-enemy, but they warmed up to him soon enough. Biggs and Creesh weren't so bad once you got to know them. They couldn’t know the secret about Luke and Leia's parents and what they were plotting, but they could all have fun together and feel sad when it was time to separate at the end of camp.

And come the end of camp did, on a morning that filled Leia with a wild confusion of excitement and terror as she dressed in Luke’s clothes and checked that her hair was just the right shade for the hundredth time — they had dyed it last night, after curfew. She would finally be able to meet her father, and the life her brother had led all this time. But what if it didn’t work after all? What if she couldn’t play her part convincingly for even a minute? What if the director took one look at them and switched them back?

She’d find out soon enough.

“Okay, now remember,” Luke said, handing her the single large bag that contained all his belongings, “the transport won’t take you all the way to the farm.”

“I know that.” She adjusted the bag’s strap impatiently on her shoulder. “At the last stop, I’ll get off with the last campers and then walk the rest of the way, toward the rising suns. It’s only about ten minutes, but it’ll feel longer because of the heat. I’ll make sure to drink water, but slowly so I don’t use it all up right away. It’s the only settlement in that direction for miles and miles. I can’t miss it.”

Luke beamed. “Perfect.”

“And you need to keep your face covered when the captain comes to get you,” Leia reminded him. “It’s not safe until —”

“Until we’ve gone into hyperspace and it’s too late to turn right around and go back,” Luke finished. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to miss my chance to finally get off this rock and see Mother!” He pulled on the flowing robe she had given him to wear over her simplest tunic and trousers, then drew up the hood. “How’s this?”

“Hmm.” Leia gave him an appraising look. “Lower your head. Pull the hood down further.” He obeyed, and the effect was striking. Not quite like looking in a mirror, but as long as the captain didn’t know that Leia had a lookalike at camp, he probably wouldn’t question it.

“Well.” Luke shuffled his feet. “You’d better get on the transport before the captain shows up.”

“Yes.” Leia’s eyes were wet. “I can’t believe it’s really happening! Two months ago, I didn’t even know I had a brother. Now I’m going to miss you so much.” She hugged him tightly. He responded with a startled yelp.

“We’ll see each other again soon enough,” he said once she’d pulled back. But his eyes were bright too.

She grinned. “And then the real work begins. Now, you know you have to get her to come here. If they’re really both in hiding from the Empire, it’s much safer to reunite them on the Outer Rim.”

“I know, I know. Now get going!”

Leia nodded, took a deep breath and started for the stairs leading out of their cabin. She would miss this place too, this dusty old underground room where she learned about the missing half of her family. But if she lingered too much on all these wistful thoughts, she’d miss the transport. That would cause real trouble.

“Well, Luke!” Director Islyn beamed at her as she emerged aboveground to join the crowd of campers waiting for the transport. “After a rough start, you spent the rest of camp without earning a single demerit. I am very proud of you and Leia. It seems your punishment was just the thing you needed.”

“Yes, Director,” Leia replied, hoping all her practice at matching Luke’s vocal pitch was successful. It wasn’t much deeper than her own voice, but the slightest difference might —

“Wonderful!” And she was off to talk to someone else.That was easy.

“Luke! Over here!” That was Biggs, calling out from the transport. Leia gulped and headed toward him, climbing up to the seat beside his, not daring to meet his eyes.

“Wow.”

“What is it?” she asked as casually as possible.

“You really do look alike. Sorry for the mix-up, Leia, but since you’ve changed your hair, it’s impossible to tell from a distance. Where’s Luke?”

Her mouth was too dry to answer. She could feel his curious gaze upon her, growing more and more intense.

“Hey…” he said softly. “You’re wearing his clothes. And I thought you were an Outlander. Why are you on this transport? You’re —”

“Please.” She finally looked up, startling him into silence. “Don’t tell anyone. It’s important.”

Biggs cocked his head. “Okay. No more questions.”

He was true to his word. As the transport started on its way, he played his part well, calling her Luke and frequently drawing attention away from her to other campers so no one else would grow suspicious. Leia cast him a grateful look as they reached his stop and he got up with a casual wave at her. Luke chose his friends well.

Then it was the final stop, and a ten minute walk to the farm. Luke wasn’t kidding about the heat. It was only a few hours past dawn, but she felt like she might just melt into a puddle. A puddle that would then immediately evaporate into the parched atmosphere. She had never sweated so much. It was disgusting. Not to mention dangerous. In accordance with Luke’s instructions, she took frequent little sips from her canteen, finishing the last drop just as the farm came into view.

She hadn’t been expecting anything grand, but somehow she was still underwhelmed. Just a very small structure, with a few worn-out droids trundling through the sand, beeping and humming as she wearily approached. Someone was bent over one of the droids, fiddling with a tool. Dad? No, he didn’t fit the description Luke had given. The round face, grizzly beard — probably Uncle Owen.

Then he straightened and turned. They were still a fairly safe distance apart. “Oh! Welcome home, Luke.” With a squint he added, “Did you do something to your hair?”

“What?” Leia twisted a strand nervously. “It just grew out a little, I suppose.”

“Hmph. Your aunt’ll be wanting to cut that. Maybe you could humor her this time.” And she realized his eyes were twinkling.

She laughed. “It’s good to be home.” Since he had turned back to the broken droid, she was able to slip past to the entrance without him getting a good look at her. Still, she wouldn’t be able to fool him or anyone else much longer.

Just get to Alderaan, Luke, she pleaded silently. Everything depended on that.

Chapter Text

Luke fidgeted at the entrance to the camp, growing more and more nervous. He was the only camper left, and Director Islyn was keeping very close to him. She just kept chattering on and on about what an honor it was to host someone of such prominence, and he could only nod and murmur, “Thank you,” so many times before she would start to notice something wasn’t quite right —

“Ah,” the director said, hand shielding her eyes, “there is your captain! Excellent.”

He followed her gaze to the distant figure of an approaching speeder. He swallowed hard, pulling his hood very low. He didn’t dare meet Captain Antilles’s eyes as he arrived and climbed out of the speeder.

“Well, Miss Leia?” he greeted him, sounding amused. Did he suspect? Or was it just because Miss Leia was hanging her head so low as to resemble a burrowing rat?

“Hello, Captain,” he said in a sort of squeaking imitation of Leia.

“Have a safe journey, Leia,” Director Islyn said cheerily. “We’d be happy to have you back next year!” And then she was off, leaving Luke to clamber quickly into the backseat of the speeder while the captain was busy loading the luggage. He covered his face with an arm, hunching into his seat.

“Everything all right?” the captain asked, his voice far too close.

“It’s very hot,” Luke said in a grumpy higher voice. “It’s been very hot for weeks. I want to go home.”

Captain Antilles chuckled. “Aha. So this adventure wasn’t quite as fun as you hoped?”

He just humphed and hunched deeper.

The grouchy mood seemed to do the trick. The captain didn’t try to talk with him all the way to the spaceport. Once they arrived, he purchased an umbrella from a street vendor and offered it to Luke. He accepted it gladly. Not because it kept the sun out of his face as Captain Antilles assumed, but because it offered the perfect way to keep the captain from looking too closely at Miss Leia.

In truth, Luke would have loved to survey his surroundings more closely. He’d never been this far from the farm before, and Mos Eisley was one of the largest cities on Tatooine. The few glimpses he got from under his umbrella left him wide-eyed and thrilled. So many people, so many buildings, so much noise and bustle. The captain, however, seemed to be in a terrible hurry to get out of it, and breathed an audible sigh of relief once they arrived at their docking bay.

“I admit I won't be too sorry to leave here either,” he said. “Though I’m afraid the ship won’t be as comfortable as you’re used to. The one we used at the beginning of camp was far too tempting to the locals. They defaced the exterior and stole whatever wasn’t locked down.”

“Oh no!” Luke said, almost forgetting to keep his voice high in his dismay.

“It’s all right,” the captain said, patting his shoulder. “I was able to repair it without too much trouble or expense. But I learned my lesson. This is the humblest of the palace ships.”

Luke peeked out from under the umbrella, blinking. The humblest? Really? He’d never seen anything so beautiful. Long and sleek, sunslight glinting off the surface…he couldn’t wait to get inside and see how the controls worked.

Except he couldn’t, because Leia had insisted that he claim he was exhausted and needed to take a nap as soon as they boarded the ship.

With a wistful sigh Luke followed the captain aboard.

The interior was just as gorgeous as the outside, but Luke did his best to act bored with all of it, yawning heavily. “I think I’ll sleep through hyperspace,” he said as Captain Antilles settled down at the controls in the cockpit. “Where —?”

The captain nodded toward the door at the back. “There’s a compartment through there, Miss Leia. No beds, but I hope a padded bench will do.”

“Thanks.”

He didn’t intend to actually fall asleep, but after the initial rush of take-off and soaring into light speed, it was pretty dull. He woke to a beeping noise, sat up groggily and tried to remember where he was. A starship. Dressed in Leia’s clothes. He straightened and gripped the edges of the bench. But where in the galaxy?

The answer came from the captain. After a tap at the door his muffled voice announced, “We’re nearly home, Miss Leia. Prepare for landing.”

He was too nervous to answer, his grip tightening. What now? A tugging feeling somewhere around his middle — they must have entered the planet’s atmosphere. A gentle thump. The ship was settling down.

The captain tapped again. “Miss Leia? Are you awake?”

“Yes,” he answered hoarsely, then coughed to cover up the unLeia-ish voice. But there was no need to be overly cautious now, was there? The captain couldn’t just march him back to Tatooine.

Luke got up, opened the door and peeked out into the cockpit. Captain Antilles glanced back and grinned at him. “About time, sleepyhead! We’re here. I’m sure your parents are waiting for you.”

His heart pounded, and then he remembered that those would be Leia’s adoptive parents, not their real mother. But he was still very curious to meet them. They’d realize the switch at once, of course. Would they be very angry? Would they bring him to his mother, or would they — he gulped — punish him first?

Slowly Luke started toward the ship’s entrance, watching the captain walk down the ramp and greet a man and a woman dressed in elaborate clothing. What was he saying to them?

“Leia?” The man was smiling at him, beckoning. “Come along, then! What’s all this dawdling for?”

Just get it over with and meet whatever happened. With fresh resolution, Luke hurried down the ramp and gazed up at Bail Organa. The man stared back, frowning slightly. Beside him, the woman who must be Breha wore a similar look. Luke braced himself. Then there came a gasp. But it wasn’t from either of them.

A second woman emerged from behind a pillar, her hands clasped against her chest. Luke knew her at once.

“Mother,” he whispered.

She ran to him, stooped down and wrapped him in her arms. “Luke. Oh, Luke.” She was shaking. He held her tightly. “Luke, what have you done?”

Chapter Text

There was no one in sight in the courtyard down below, though Leia could hear a whirring noise from one of them rooms, maybe the kitchen. Hesitantly she started for the doorway and peeked inside. A kind-faced woman was working with some sort of device, placing food into it and humming to herself.

“Hello,” Leia said at last, tired of waiting and suddenly bold.

Aunt Beru, she assumed, smiled without turning. “Hello, Luke! When did you get back?”

“Just now.”

“And how was camp?”

“Wonderful!”

“I’m glad to hear it.” Beru stirred the contents of the container, then added with a frown, “Sounds like your throat is all worn out. Why don’t you get some rest until the food is done? I hope you didn’t catch anything!”

Leia coughed. “Um, okay, sure.” She walked back into the courtyard, trying to remember which of the doorways led into Luke’s room. All the weeks of careful memorization seemed to have flown from her head. And it was still so hot and dry and sandy. How long was she going to have to endure this planet? If Luke brought Mother here as planned, and they were able to reconcile their parents, did that mean they would all stay here forever? She couldn’t help grimacing. Surely it was a small price to pay for having her family all together, but…

She wiped her brow and sternly told herself to stop being so selfish. Once she’d found Luke’s bedroom and gotten out of the suns, she’d be able to think more clearly. She headed for the doorway directly opposite the kitchen, kicking up a cloud of sand in her haste. Tiny dusty grains flew into her eyes. She scowled. “Sand is the worst.”

“That’s my boy,” came an amused voice behind her. She whirled.

It couldn’t be anyone but Dad. Tall, bright-eyed, mouth quirked with laughter. Leia gazed up at him, unable to keep her lips from trembling. He blinked.

“But you’re not…you’re not my boy,” he said softly, sinking to his knees. “You’re my little girl.”

She stood there shyly. “Hi…Dad.”

With a face full of wonder, he held out his arms. “Leia. Come here.” She flew to him, burying her face in his shoulder. He wore a soft tunic; she would remember forever the way the texture felt against her cheek, and how he held her a long, long time as if he couldn’t bear to let her go.

At last he pulled back, revealing a wet but smiling face. “But now you’ve got a lot of explaining to do. How did this happen? How did you know where to find me? And where’s Luke? Promise me he’s all right,” he went on with sudden ferocity.

Leia nodded rapidly. “Oh, yes, I’m sure he’s fine, cozy and comfortable on Alderaan.”

“Alderaan!” Dad repeated, straightening. “Let’s sit, Leia.” He indicated the nearby bench. “This is going to be a long conversation.” The two of them settled on the bench, and Leia kept her eyes fixed on his face all the while, memorizing every detail. “Alderaan. Is that where you’ve been living?”

“Yes, for as long as I can remember. Without any knowledge of you or my brother!” she added a little reproachfully. Dad opened his mouth, but she pushed on. “We met at camp, you see. I had no idea about Luke; I just wanted to spend some time on a planet far from the Core, where I could learn more about the variety of peoples in our galaxy. You can imagine my shock when I met someone who practically shared my face. It didn’t take us long to figure out what was going on.”

Dad seemed mildly amused, of all things. “So you’ve figured it all out?”

“Yes. How you and Mother separated, each taking a twin with you. How you dragged us off to separate ends of the galaxy, with never a word about the missing half of our family. We knew what had to be done. We had to switch places. Luke was desperate to know Mother and I absolutely had to see you, and now I’m so very glad I did, except I’m still quite angry with you, Dad.”

“All right,” Dad said, holding up a hand. “I can see how you’d feel wronged. But you’re missing a big part of the picture —”

“Am I?” she demanded. “I’m sure you think you had a very good reason for separating. People always do. They just don’t think of all the damage it’s going to cause everyone else —”

“That’s enough.” It was a quiet reprimand, but his eyes flashed, silencing her. “Now, I don't blame you in the least for planning this scheme. It was reckless, very reckless,” a trace of a smile returned to his face, “but that’s to be expected, considering your parentage. Unfortunately, it may have very serious consequences that you couldn’t have anticipated. If only I’d told Luke more…” He sighed. “I was waiting till he was older. I should have known it was dangerous to leave him ignorant.”

Leia clutched at the bench. “What are you talking about, Dad? I don’t understand.”

He regarded her with a look so serious she practically shrank beneath it. “What do you know about your mother?”

“She’s the most wonderful person in the entire galaxy,” Leia replied fervently.

Dad let out a long breath. Until then, she hadn’t realized how much tension he’d been carrying. “So she’s still alive.”

“Of course she is! Don’t you think I would have mentioned it if she wasn’t?” Leia gave him an uneasy look. “You really didn’t know if she was alive or dead?”

“It was too dangerous,” he said quietly. “Absolutely no contact whatsoever. We both agreed it was necessary.”

“But why?”

“You’ve been assuming all this time that your mother and I separated over some argument.” Dad shook his head. “It was nothing like that. We had no choice. It was the only way we could protect you and Luke.”

“Protect us? From what?”

“From the Emperor.”

She stared at him, stunned. Was he joking? No, the deadly serious look remained, and on top of that, her skin had started growing bumps again. The danger was absolutely real. “I don’t understand,” she said at last, her voice very small.

“It’s a lot for a ten-year-old to understand,” he said ruefully. “I wish I didn’t have to tell you. But it’s too late to go back now.”

“Food is ready!” Leia jumped as Aunt Beru’s voice rang out from the kitchen.

Dad glanced across the courtyard. “Probably for the best if we get something to eat before I start telling you the whole story. And you’ll need proper introductions to your aunt and uncle,” he added with a wink.

“Right,” she nodded, while a flurry of thoughts swirled through her mind. She didn’t know what to think anymore, except that she was definitely hungry.

Chapter Text

He couldn’t take his eyes off of Mother. He sat across from her at the table, sipping a delicious sweet drink whose name he didn’t know, and watched her set down her own cup with a sigh.

“Are you very mad at me?” he said, clutching the cup nervously.

“Oh, my darling,” she sighed, “I’m not mad at you in the least. To see you after all these years…to know that you and your father are well…it’s a blessing I never imagined possible.”

In spite of all his uncertainty, Luke felt a wonderful warmth fill his chest. His mother loved him for himself, and not just because he looked like Leia, or because she supposed that she ought to love her son. The love was a tangible, glorious comfort, wrapping around him like a blanket. Which was especially nice as he felt an actual cool breeze coming from the open window.

“Why didn’t you ever contact him?” he had to ask. “No matter what you argued about, it couldn’t have been so bad that —”

“Not an argument,” she said, a little sharply. “A danger. Far worse than you could imagine.”

Luke shivered. “What?”

She shook her head, taking another sip from her cup. “And to think you were right there on Tatooine all that time. I never would have guessed…”

“You didn’t know?”

“Of course not.” Mother put her hand over his. “That was part of the protection. To keep anyone from knowing too much. If I had realized where you were, I never would have sent Leia…” She trailed off again, then laughed mirthlessly. “And the only reason I let her go to camp at all was to get her safely away from Alderaan while the Imperials visited.”

He choked on his drink. “Imperials? Here?”

“They come from time to time.” She set down her cup, frowning. “The Emperor has never fully trusted Bail or Breha — with good reason, though they’ve managed to avoid open accusations. In the past they’ve ignored Leia as a harmless child. This time something told me she was best kept far from their notice. So I allowed her to go off-planet for a few weeks.”

“And you really had no idea Dad and I were on Tatooine?”

“No.” There was a distant look in her eyes. “I’m surprised he was willing to ever go back there.”

“Why?”

Another head-shake. “If he hasn’t told you, it’s not my place to do it.”

“So…” Luke bit his lip, then asked, “What are you going to do now?”

Mother leaned back and rubbed the sides of her head. “I don’t know. You can’t stay switched, obviously. Eventually someone at the palace is bound to notice that the princess looks a bit more like a prince. They’ll only grow more suspicious if you stay locked up in your room all the time.”

“I can’t do that!” he exclaimed. “Can’t we just go to Tatooine and —”

“And what?”

“I don’t know.” He stared at the table. “I’m sorry, Mother. We thought we had figured everything out — we thought we knew your problem and how we could solve it. I guess we didn’t know anything.”

“You knew you each had a missing parent and wanted to meet them,” Mother said gently. “If only it were as simple a matter as reuniting. Luke, I would give almost anything to see your father again. But I would not give away you and your sister’s safety. Anything but that.”

“How will it endanger us?” he had to ask. “I don’t understand.”

She gave a strange chuckle. “That story begins on Tatooine, as it happens. Your father grew up there. Did he ever tell you that?”

“Yes…but I don’t know any of the details.”

“He and his mother were slaves,” she said. “It was a terrible injustice. I was furious about it when I first met him. I had no idea that far worse injustices were coming…”

Luke listened, enraptured, as he finally learned how his parents met, how his mother had ruled an entire planet — though she wouldn’t say the name of it — and how they had defeated the army keeping her people captive. He was astonished to learn that his father was younger than he was now when he piloted a starship into battle. Well, the autopilot had helped, but still.

“And then, at last, he could begin training as a Jedi,” Mother continued.

“What’s that?” he asked. Somehow the word sent a peculiar thrill through him.

She looked to him in surprise. “You’ve really never heard of the Jedi?”

“It sounds a little familiar. Weren't they some kind of soldiers?”

“Far more than that. They were peacekeepers, diplomats…and yes, when necessary, powerful warriors. And your father would have been one of the greatest Jedi who ever lived…if not for the Emperor.” Her face darkened. “He defamed the Jedi Order — convinced the Senate that they were plotting to overthrow the Republic — sent out his agents to exterminate their numbers.”

With a gasp Luke asked, “How did Dad escape?”

“Well, the Emperor didn’t want him killed. He wanted to turn him.”

“Turn him into what?”

“To his side,” she answered soberly. “To be his agent, his apprentice.”

“That’s ridiculous!” Luke scoffed. “Dad would never do that.”

Mother didn’t speak for a moment. Then, “Luke, you mustn’t underestimate the lure of the Emperor’s promises. He has turned many good people to darkness. He can pry into the deepest desires of your heart. He can offer powers beyond your wildest dreams.”

Luke squirmed. “You make it sound like he wants to turn me.”

She regarded him solemnly. “Yes.”

“But — but I’m just a kid from a moisture farm!”

“And your father was just a slave from Mos Espa. Do you think all extraordinary people were born in palaces?”

“No, but —”

“You have the potential to become a tremendous Jedi. So does your sister. Each of you separately could present a powerful threat to the Emperor — or a powerful asset, if he could turn you.” She stood, and though she wasn’t a tall woman, she was a formidable sight. “Together, you might be unstoppable. But it’s for that very reason that we had to keep you separate. The Emperor is constantly searching for those with Jedi potential. He would surely have sensed you if you were growing up together.”

Luke got up too, though he was thoroughly baffled. “I still don’t understand. Sense us? What kind of powers does he have?”

“That’s for your father to explain. One way or another, I’ll have to get you back to him.”

“Can’t you take me there? Please?”

Mother gave him a sad smile. “I would love nothing more, my darling. But if I am seen too much with you, the courtiers will start to notice the resemblance. It is crucial that no one knows whose child you really are. After all, your father and I are both supposed to be long dead.”

Luke took her hand as they strode toward the doors. “You faked your deaths? Do you think the Emperor believed it?”

“I hope so. It’s hard to say for sure. He seems ignorant of your existence, at least.”

And now he and Leia had endangered all their careful plans. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled.

Mother stopped, knelt and hugged him one more time. “Fate takes many strange paths,” she whispered. “I’m glad for the path that brought you to me at last.”

Chapter Text

“A princess, eh?” Uncle Owen chuckled gruffly while Leia gave a sheepish smile. “And you managed to convince Luke to dress up as you? I’d like to see that.”

“It wasn’t so bad," she said. “He didn’t have to wear a dress or anything. And I had to cut my hair!”

Dad ruffled what was left of her hair affectionately. “Still beautiful. Just like your mother.”

She blushed, bending over her plate and stuffing another spoonful in her mouth. It took some effort not to grimace at the food — it was far simpler fare than she was used to, even worse than what they had at camp, and every bite had sand in it — but she was determined to be polite to Beru. She had accepted Leia as kindly as if she’d known her all her life.

“How are you all related, anyway?” she wondered, looking from Dad to her aunt and uncle and back again.

Dad looked down. Owen and Beru exchanged glances. Finally Owen answered, “My father married his mother about fifteen years ago. We’ve been family ever since.”

Luke hadn’t said anything about Dad’s mother — their grandmother. Leia didn’t dare ask.

With a purposeful look, Dad stood up and announced, “Enough delaying. It’s time you knew the rest of the story.”

She followed him to the courtyard and down a ramp into another room, this one some kind of garage. Dad strode to a control panel and fiddled with a tool, then dropped it with a sigh. “Your mother and I weren’t supposed to get married at all,” he said, looking at her somberly.

Leia clasped her hands behind her back, waiting.

“I was a Jedi,” he went on. “Do you know what that is?”

She nodded. “Mother talked about them a little. I thought the Empire wiped them out.”

“Nearly. I only escaped because — well, I’m getting ahead of myself.” He sank to the floor. “We were supposed to live completely without attachment. That was a problem from the beginning. I had a mom. Most Jedi didn’t know their parents at all. And I had loved your mother — oh, nearly from the moment I met her. Years passed between our first meeting and our next, but I thought of her every day. When they assigned me to be her bodyguard, I didn’t stand much of a chance.”

“You were protecting her?” Leia smiled dreamily as she sat next to him. “That’s so romantic.”

He laughed shortly. “You can go on thinking that. The truth is, I was a clumsy fool. I had all these feelings and no idea what to do with them. Sometimes I’m amazed your mother didn’t just laugh in my face. But then, she was lonely after all those years of public service, with hardly any private life. In the end, neither of us could imagine living without the other.”

Leia let out a happy sigh. It was so gratifying to know that her parents had really, truly loved each other, so thrilling to see the light of longing in his eyes. How could they not come back together? Anything else was just too unfair.

“The galaxy was already in turmoil by then,” Dad went on grimly. “We were there at the start of the Clone Wars on Geonosis. We watched a former Jedi turn traitor and order our execution. The Republic came to the rescue with an army of clones…but that was all part of the Emperor’s plots in the end. He wanted war. It was his surest way to gain power. If only we could have captured Count Dooku —” Dad shook his head. “There’s no point in regrets.”

“What happened?”

“We were on our way to stop him before he could get to his hanger and flee the planet,” he said, his brow furrowing tighter and tighter. “Your mother and I, and my Jedi master. We might have been able to take him down together, if only our transport hadn’t been crippled by a well-aimed blast. We crashed and never made it to the hanger. Dooku escaped, the war escalated, and the Emperor grew stronger and stronger. He was still called the Chancellor then, but it was only a matter of time before he claimed his Empire.”

“You opposed him, though. Didn’t you?”

“Opposed him?” Dad let out a bitter laugh. “I thought he was my friend. He had played the role of caring mentor ever since I started my training. I trusted him with most of my secrets. I nearly —” He shook his head.

Leia found she was afraid to ask, but she made herself say, “Nearly what?”

“I nearly joined him.”

She covered her mouth, horrified.

“I know. It’s easy to see now how evil he is. But he played the role of benevolent leader to perfection. And the Jedi Order was far from perfect. They had never liked me. At times they were downright hypocritical. They forbade me from visiting my mother, yet they expected me not to miss her or worry about her safety.” He shut his eyes tight. “She died here, tortured and murdered by Sandpeople. And there was nothing I could do about it.”

Leia’s vision blurred with sudden tears.

After a long pause he went on, “They never would have let me marry your mother. We had to do it in secret. We were in constant danger of being found out. I would have been expelled from the Order. Your mother would have had to resign from the Senate in disgrace. When she became pregnant, the danger only grew worse.” With a shaky breath he went on, “I can only imagine how much worse my state of mind would have been if I hadn’t refused to kill Dooku.”

“Refused? But you said he was evil, a traitor — that he had to be stopped.”

“Stopped, yes. But not killed in cold blood. You see, I was confronting him alongside my old master. I was a Jedi Knight by then, but we continued to fight side by side throughout the wars. We were determined that this time we would succeed where we had failed on Geonosis. And we did.” Dad closed his eyes as if he were reliving it in vivid detail in his own mind. “I stood there, my weapon at Dooku’s throat, and the Chancellor urged me to kill him. It was a struggle. But I told him no, that the right thing was to take him into custody to stand trial. What I didn’t know then was that Dooku was the Chancellor’s secret apprentice. And he was hoping to replace Dooku with me.”

“He didn’t, though,” Leia said triumphantly. “You withstood him.”

Dad shook his head. “I did nothing. When I hesitated to take the Chancellor’s bait, he turned to others, gathering potential apprentices and commanding his clones to turn on the Jedi. I fled the capital with your mother and never returned.”

Leia wished she had some way to comfort him, but she felt completely helpless. And disappointed, if she was honest. Luke had described their father as someone who loved to smile and laugh and make others happy. Not a man trapped in gloom and regret. But that too was probably her fault, coming here and reminding him of everything that had gone wrong. She hung her head with a heavy sigh.

A strong but gentle arm drew her close. “Oh, Leia. I was afraid this would be too much weight for a ten-year-old. I’m so sorry. Don’t blame yourself for any of this sadness — it all happened before you were even born.”

“I know. I’ve only made it worse, that’s all.”

Dad shook his head as he got to his feet, helping her stand up as well. “The truth was bound to come out eventually. It’s just sooner than I expected. Why don’t we take a little trip? I think it’s time we pay my friend Ben a visit.”

Leia looked up at him in delight.

Chapter Text

Though a few moments with Mother had been enough to banish any of Luke’s shyness around her, he was still bashful in the presence of the Organas. They were kind and friendly, but also very dignified and important, surrounded by courtiers and servants. And he was sure they disapproved of the scheme to switch places with Leia. They certainly raised a fuss about how “she” had cut and colored her hair, though it might have been an act to distract the courtiers from suspecting the truth.

He wished Mother could sit near him, but there were too many people around to risk it. She stood at a respectful distance near the wall, with several other handmaidens in hooded uniforms. Instead, Breha held his hand and asked harmless questions about camp.

“It was so hot,” he said, doing his best to imitate Leia’s tone of lofty complaint. “I doubt my skin will ever completely recover.”

Bail and Breha both chuckled. “A little hardship is good for one’s character,” Bail declared, and spread out his hand to indicate the vast, well-furnished hall around them. “Are we any more deserving of such luxuries than those we serve? It would be well if all of us had to the chance to trade places with one of another position, and learn what it means to live their life.”

That was a rather meaningful look in his eyes. Luke nodded a little nervously. “Yes, you could definitely learn a lot from switching places with someone.”

One of the guards standing watch at the door had come to Bail’s side, clearing his throat importantly. “Your grace, what we were discussing —”

“I see.” Bail stood, straightening his robes. “Excuse me. This cannot wait.”

Luke watched curiously as Bail left the hall with the guard at his side. “What’s going on?” he blurted, before remembering that Leia probably wouldn’t have been that openly nosy.

Breha patted his hand, though she seemed distracted. “Your father has many duties, dear. Some of them are more urgent than others. Now…” Her eyes flickered to Mother, then back to Luke. “This is usually the time to meet with your tutor, but I’m sure you’re tired from the long journey. What if my handmaidens accompanied you to your quarters, and summoned you again at dinnertime?”

He wasn’t tired at all, not after napping on the ship, but he had the distinct feeling that it wasn’t really a question. “Okay, that sounds good.”

Mother was as silent and unobtrusive as all the other handmaidens as they led Luke down the grand corridors and into a suite of rooms that overlooked a breathtaking view of the mountains. He was so entranced by the sight, staring through the wall-length window, that he didn’t notice they were gone until he finally turned and found himself alone.

Somehow he had assumed Mother would stay and talk with him more. He should have realized she couldn’t risk drawing suspicions. Had it always been like this for Leia? For all her life of luxury, he wondered if she really had it better. At least he’d never had to pretend that Dad was anyone but his father.

Meanwhile, her quarters were amazing. Three whole rooms all to herself, and big rooms too. An enormous bed that he was very tempted to jump on, though he managed to restrain himself. Lots of other furniture, shiny polished surfaces; and paintings and fancy vases and soft carpets. The most exciting feature, however, was definitely the console in the bedroom, with communication features and holo projectors and databanks, containing what seemed an endless array of information. He pulled up a map of the galaxy and examined it with avid interest. There on the Outer Rim, a tiny dot that represented Tatooine, dutifully circling its twin stars.

He wasn't sure how long he was absorbed in the map before a door opened and closed, making him jump. Breha was hurrying into the bedroom, trailed by a heavily cloaked figure. “We haven’t much time,” she said breathlessly. “They’ll be here within the hour.”

“Who?” Luke asked creakily. It felt like his heart had jumped up into his throat.

“Imperial agents.” She was at a dresser, briskly pulling out clothes. “Bail just received word.”

“I — I thought they had just left.” He stood there in a sort of horrified daze as the cloaked figure drew closer, revealing Mother’s shadowed face. The visible terror in her expression — it was too much to bear.

“So they did. But they’re returning. With someone worse.”

Luke couldn’t find the voice to ask who. Mother offered the answer in a curt, harsh voice. “The Emperor’s apprentice.” He stared at her with wide eyes. “He’s been looking for the lost Jedi. And now he’ll be looking for you.”

“I’m sorry,” he managed to choke, but Mother didn’t let him finish.

“This would have happened either way. He would have come for Leia if not for you. And either way, I want both of you as far from him as possible.”

Miserable tears filled his eyes. “You’re sending me away.” He understood why it had to be, but so soon after at last meeting his mother? It wasn’t fair, not at all.

But Mother shook her head. “I’m coming with you.”

Breha handed him the pile of clothing, which he accepted dumbly. “Get changed. Keep your face covered as much as possible. The ship leaves in ten minutes.”

He obeyed.

Dressed in a cloak much like Mother’s, Luke followed her and Breha through a back entrance into the palace hanger, where three more handmaidens waited at the entrance of a small ship. Their clothing was identical to Mother’s as well. If he didn’t look close, he couldn’t tell which one she was. And that was exactly what they wanted.

All of them gave Breha a brief embrace before boarding the ship. Lastly she stooped and kissed Luke’s cheek. “I’m sorry Bail can’t be here,” she whispered. “I hope we will meet again soon, under better circumstances. Give Leia our love.”

“I will,” he answered solemnly, before turning and hurrying aboard the ship. They were already starting to take off before he’d found a seat next to Mother and strapped himself in.

And just like that, his time on Alderaan was over.

Chapter Text

Leia had naturally assumed, from Luke’s descriptions and from Dad’s stories, that his old master and Ben must be the same person. But she had her doubts once she arrived at his house. He and Dad didn’t interact at all like a teacher and his student. She had always been taught to greet her tutor, her fighting instructor and her flight trainer with a respectful bow, after which she was to listen attentively to their lessons and thank them graciously afterwards. Of course she didn’t always follow that with perfect obedience — life would be awfully boring if she did that — but Dad didn’t even try.

To start with, he knocked on Ben’s door and called out, “Are you in there, old man? Still sleeping at this hour?”

A moment later the door opened to reveal a rather disgruntled face. “I wasn’t sleeping. I was meditating. You never learned the difference.” Then his eyes fell on Leia and widened dramatically. “Well, hello, there. I see we have much to talk about.”

They entered a structure much like everywhere else she’d been on Tatooine — sparse and grit-laden but at least a little cooler than the outdoors. Gingerly she found a place to sit, very much aware of Ben’s eyes upon her.

“Tell me,” he said, “how is your mother?”

“She’s fine,” Leia answered. “At least, she was when I left.” She glanced guiltily at Dad. “She’s probably pretty worried about me.”

“And I presume that your brother is currently with her.” Ben was pacing now, hands behind his back.

“Yes.”

“What do you think?” Dad asked. “Should we chance a trip to Alderaan?”

“Is that where they ended up?” Ben shook his head, frowning. “Too close to the Core, I fear. And where would we get a ship to take us there?”

Dad shrugged. “Give me enough spare parts, and I could throw something together.”

“You have a very high opinion of your skills,” Ben said dryly. “Delusional levels, I would say.”

Dad made a sour face. “Fine. It’s not safe anyway, you’re right about that. And too far to contact them.”

“What if they come to us?” Leia couldn’t help asking. She flushed as both men looked at her. “I…I was hoping they would, anyway. So we could be together. I know it’s dangerous, I understand now why we were kept apart…but Luke’s going to be in danger on Alderaan anyway.”

“More likely your mother will have to take him somewhere else,” Dad answered at last. She could see how it pained him to say it. “Probably at the other edge of the Outer Rim, as far from us as possible. We — we’ve sacrificed too much for your safety to do otherwise.”

Ben clapped a hand on Dad’s shoulder with a sympathetic look on his face. “I’m afraid there’s not all that much we can do, old friend.”

Dad heaved a sigh. Leia found herself wanting to comfort him, even though she couldn’t think of the words or the gesture that would do it. Finally she just set her hand atop his. He gave her a grateful smile and gripped her fingers. “One thing I know,” he said at last, meeting her eyes somberly. “We can’t put off the training any longer.”

“Training?” Leia repeated, barely above a whisper.

“Your Jedi training.” Her heart began pounding, bumps sprouting all up and down her arms. “You and Luke are our only hope.”

Chapter Text

It was only several hours after they had entered hyperspace that Luke finally dared to ask Mother where they were going. His words, hesitant though they were, startled her out of a silent reverie. She turned to him, blinking. “Where? Oh…a quiet system where we can refuel and gather other supplies. We won’t stay there long.”

“And…where after that?” Luke ventured. She had gone back to gazing out of the window at the blurred starbursts of hyperspace.

“A place of refuge,” she answered at last, her gaze still fixed on the window. “A place the Empire has not yet discovered.”

“Will we — will we stay there long?”

“As long as we need to.” She looked at him again, and he was dismayed to see tears running down her cheeks. “I fear we can never return to Alderaan.”

“Mother!” He hugged her fiercely. “I’m so sorry. It’s all my fault.”

“Not at all,” she murmured, stroking his hair. “I knew they would come for us eventually — for me and for Leia. Ten years was better than I hoped.” He pulled back, aching with her sadness. “It had come to feel almost like home,” she sighed, wiping her eyes. “Home. Another place I will never see again.”

“Tell me about it,” Luke said, taking her hand.

With a wistful smile she began to describe a world of vivid colors; bright blue skies and lush green fields and crystal waterfalls. Luke snuggled close as she spoke, loving the sound of her voice so much he lost track of what she was saying.

So they passed the time until they arrived at a planet whose blue-white surface gradually filled the windows. Luke was eager to go out and explore, but Mother decided it was better if they remained on the ship while the other handmaidens obtained the supplies they needed. “We can’t yet be certain if the Empire is tracking us,” she explained quietly, and though her voice was steady, she could not hide her trembling hands.

Luke used to think he was pretty fearless, but he couldn’t help trembling a little too.

After the handmaidens returned, they embarked on a long, bewildering route that took them in and out of hyperspace several times. Each time they emerged from light speed, Mother and the others consulted in hushed voices before deciding to take yet another detour on the way to their final destination. Luke was anxious, and then bored, and then sleepy, and then wide awake when they arrived at last.

“Dantooine,” Mother told him as he clambered to his feet and accepted her extended hand. “Come and have a look.”

They descended the ship’s ramp together, blinking in the sunslight. No, he corrected himself, this planet only had one sun. As soon as his eyes adjusted, he looked eagerly at the peculiar landscape. Waving little leaves of green covered the ground — grass, if he was guessing right. As different from Alderaan as its snowy mountains were from the deserts of Tatooine. How many varieties of worlds did the galaxy contain? He bent and touched the blades, letting them brush his fingertips.

Mother breathed deep. “That’s better,” she said, almost happily. “I’ve had enough of the stale air of the ship.”

“Me too.” Luke shielded his eyes and and gazed into the distance. “Is that a settlement over there? Is that where we’re going?”

She nodded. “Not just any settlement. Luke, have you heard of the Rebellion?”

He drew breath sharply. “Against the Empire? Of course I have! Dad and Ben talk about it all the time — how much they want to help, how worried they are that the Rebels will be discovered and destroyed, how they hope they’ve found a safe place for their base —”

“This is it,” Mother said simply.

He stared at her, then stared at the distant buildings. In a hushed voice he said, “The Rebellion is here?”

“Part of it, anyway.” One of the other handmaidens offered her a bag, and she pulled it over her shoulder and began walking hand in hand with Luke. “Their resources are very limited. Gathering in one place has proven to be difficult, but a significant number of them have managed to establish the beginnings of a base here.”

“But — how did you know where to find it?” He gazed wonderingly up at her. “How did you know a secret like this?”

Mother’s mouth twitched. “Because I was one of the Rebellion’s founding members.”

While he stared at her in wonder, she went on to explain about the earliest days of the Alliance, before the Empire had even been formed. When she and a small group of Senators had grown increasingly distrustful of the Emperor (he was called the Chancellor back then) and tried to curb his powers. Another one of them was Bail. That was why she had gone to Alderaan with Leia.

She could not openly lead the Rebels, but she could stay in touch with them and pass along information through her contacts. She knew handmaidens on twelve different systems, and they formed a web of informants that kept them aware of the Empire’s movements so they could try to stay at least one step ahead.

“But why can’t you lead them?” he asked. “Why didn’t you come here long before?”

“Oh, Luke, I thought that would be obvious,” she said, squeezing his hand as they approached the entrance of the base. “It was Leia. I could never endanger her by drawing her into the perils of the Rebellion at such an early age. And I could never bear to leave her on Alderaan, even with such wonderful guardians as Bail and Breha. I stayed for her.”

“And you left because of me.” He stared at his feet in misery.

“Because of both of you,” she said gently. “Alderaan has become more dangerous than Dantooine at the moment.” She stooped and looked into his eyes, warm and reassuring. “Always, above everything else, we have worked to keep the two of you safe. Now.” She straightened. “How would you like to see the new starfighters they’ve been building?”

“Starfighters?” Luke repeated in delight. “Yes, yes yes!”

“Just like your father,” she laughed as the door slid open and they stepped inside.

Chapter Text

“But I can’t possibly be a Jedi,” Leia said, looking from Dad to Ben nervously. “I don’t know anything about their powers, or their training, or —”

“I understand your doubts,” Dad told her. “But you cannot let them guide you. Listen to your instincts. I suspect you’ve already started learning to follow them, even if you didn’t realize it.”

“How?”

“Are you sure this is the right moment?” Ben said. He was trying to keep his voice low, but Leia had always had good hearing, and she was particularly keen to know what he was saying about her. “She’s only just learned who she is — if we rush things, before she’s ready —”

“So says the man who was trained from infancy,” Dad replied dryly, without bothering to stay quiet. “We waited too long with Luke. Now he’s out there without nothing more than a glimmer of training.” He faltered a moment, then went on, “No more waiting. Leia.”

She looked to him, hands clasped nervously behind her back.

“Close your eyes. Breathe deep.”

She obeyed, feeling a little silly. But as she forced herself to relax her breath, a peculiar peaceful sensation settled down upon her. Dad’s voice drifted toward her as if through a cloud, explaining how to reach out to the Force. It was extraordinary. Even with her eyes closed, she seemed to see a soft glowing light, and a warmth wrapping around her that was far different from the harsh burning heat of Tatooine.

It could have been hours that she stood there, or perhaps only a few minutes. When she opened her eyes at last, everything seemed new. Ben’s old worn-down hovel was suddenly a place of wonders and marvels. It was all connected, even the smallest mote of dust.

“Very good.” Dad was standing there quietly, eyes bright. Ben sat nearby, arms folded, watching the scene with a curious smile. “You’re already beginning to see. I knew you’d catch on quickly.”

“I guess. I mean, I didn’t actually do anything.”

“It all starts here.” He laid a gentle hand atop her head. “The rest will come easily enough, if your mind is prepared.”

Leia nodded, taking another deep breath. Dad opened his mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by a sharp rap at the door. Frowning, Ben got up and approached the door with a wary gait, taking a short metal rod from his belt. Leia’s heart thumped as she stared at it. A lightsaber.

“Ben, are you there?” came the gruff, urgent voice of Uncle Owen. “Something’s happened.”

Ben put away the lightsaber, but he and Dad only grew tenser as they exchanged a look just before Ben opened the door.

Owen and Beru both hurried inside. Ben closed the door at once. “What’s going on?” he demanded. They were disheveled, their hair windblown, their eyes anxious and darting.

“Stormtroopers,” Owen answered shortly. “They came to the homestead.”

Dad drew breath sharply. Ben’s hand went to his saber again.

“They would have taken us too, if the sandpeople hadn’t given us an early warning,” Beru said, as breathless as if they’d run the whole way here. “We heard them braying in the distance and figured we’d better take the landspeeder and get a safe distance away to see what was going on.”

“The stormtroopers must have disturbed them.” Owen leaned against the wall, running a shaky hand over his face. “We watched them arrive and start searching the farm. When they couldn’t find anyone —” He choked.

“They set it on fire.” Tears were running down Beru’s face. Leia went and took her hand anxiously. She slid to the floor and wrapped her in a hug.

“It’s gone.” Owen was staring into the distance, his voice hollow. “Everything my father built — all those years of work —”

Dad clapped a hand on his shoulder, saying nothing. They were all silent for a while.

“I’m afraid we’re going to have to face this question sooner rather than later,” Ben said at last. “Why did the stormtroopers come? What were they looking for?”

“Me,” Leia said miserably, stepping back from Beru. “They were looking for me.”

Dad came to her, held her protectively. “Is that possible? We’ve managed to stay hidden here for ten years.”

“But then we messed up everything by switching places.” A franticness was rising in Leia’s throat. “Someone on Alderaan must have found out. They’re looking for me — what if they already have Luke? And Mother?”

Another look between Dad and Ben. Then Dad knelt and looked Leia in the eye. “You can’t torture yourself, wondering if this is all your fault. If the Empire’s agents have grown this suspicious, it must have started happening long before you switched places. You’ve been in danger from the moment of your birth. You can’t blame yourself for that at all.”

“One way or another, it looks like we’ll have to leave Tatooine,” Ben said.

“All of us?” Beru asked, getting to her feet with a deep furrow in her brow.

“I’m afraid so. It looks like we’re all in the Empire’s sights now.”

Beru buried her face in Owen’s chest.

“But where will we go?” Leia said. “Is any place safe anymore?”

“There are few systems that have managed to remain outside the Empire’s notice, for the most part,” Ben said, stroking his beard thoughtfully. “Though I admit my knowledge is a bit outdated. If only we could find a place where Rebels are gathered.”

Leia bit her lip. “I…I might know a place. I heard my adoptive father mention it once, in secret. It’s called Dantooine.”

Chapter Text

Mother had called the starfighters new, but the truth was, the Rebellion didn’t have anything new to work with. They had to make do with scraps and cast-offs, reconfiguring old ships into something usable. It didn’t matter. These battered, grease-stained starcrafts were the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

X-wings, they called them, because of the shape they took in attack formation. Luke ran a hand reverently over one of the wings after the man working on the engines said he was allowed to touch it. The ship that had brought them from Alderaan was sleeker and shinier, but it wasn’t designed for battle, just gentle travel. This ship, on the other hand, was made to charge forward, rocked by blaster bolts, dodging enemy attackers, a fierce bird of prey hurtling through space. He shut his eyes dreamily and imagined his own hands on the controls, blasting TIE fighters left and right….

“Luke.”

He looked up at Mother, startled. “I asked permission!” he said, pulling his hand back from the wing. “I swear, I wasn’t doing anything wrong!”

She smiled. “I didn’t think you were. I only wanted to introduce you to some old friends of mine.”

Relieved, Luke took her hand and walked through the hanger toward a large set of doors, which opened into a dimly-lit hallway. There was a group of people quietly talking together at the end of the corridor, but they all went silent and looked up as he and Mother approached.

One, a human woman with short red hair, broke away and clasped Mother’s hands warmly. “My friend. We truly believed we had lost you. What a gift to see you alive.”

“I’m sorry to have caused anyone grief,” Mother answered, “but I had no choice.” They really did speak as formerly as Leia told him. Luke felt awkward and tongue-tied just listening to them.

“There was no other way to ensure the safety of my children,” Mother went on. While the woman blinked in surprise, Mother drew Luke forward. “This is my son, Luke. Luke, this is Mon Mothma.”

He offered a shy smile.

When Mon Mothma had gathered herself enough to speak again, she looked to Mother. “There were rumors, of course. But I did not wish to pry. And when we believed you dead —”

“Exactly,” Mother said. “That is why their existence has remained a secret for so long.”

“Their existence?” Mon Mothma repeated, eyes widening. By now a second person had joined them, someone with a tall orange head, enormous eyes and webbed hands. Luke had seen pictures of most inhabitants of the galaxy. He tried to remember the name of his race. Cala-something. Calamari. “Children,” Mon Mothma went on. “You said children?”

Mother nodded. “Twins. The daughter is with her father right now.”

“Safe?”

“I believe so. For the time being.” Mother was gripping Luke’s hand a little too tight, but he didn’t want to complain. He was worried about Dad and Leia too. “Luke, this is Captain Ackbar.”

“Admiral Ackbar,” Mon Mothma said with a slight smile. “He’s had a few promotions since the Clone Wars.”

“Of course,” Mother said, nodding at Ackbar. “None more deserving, I’m sure.”

“I serve as well as I can,” Ackbar said with a slight bow. His voice was scratchy and strained — probably far smoother underwater. “Forgive me, but would it be too presumptuous to ask about their father?”

After a brief pause Mother answered, “He was a Jedi. We married in secret. We worried about a scandal.” With a humorless laugh she finished, “The least of our worries now.”

“Indeed.” Mon Mothma bowed. “So I understand why your children would be in particular danger. Of course we will offer you refuge here as long as you need. Shall we arrange your quarters now? You must be tired from traveling.”

“Thank you.”

As they started on their way, Luke glimpsed back for one last look at the hanger and the glorious X-wings. If Mother allowed it, he’d visit the hanger every day while they stayed here.

Chapter Text

Getting a ship was the next problem. When they arrived at Mos Eisley, Ben wanted to find a pilot and pay for their passage, but Dad said it was too risky. “What if they turn out to be an Imperial agent?”

“You just don’t want to someone else to fly the ship,” Ben retorted.

“Well, it would be a shame to waste my piloting abilities, wouldn’t it?”

Ben rolled his eyes. They probably would have kept arguing until sunsset, but Owen slipped off in the middle of their heated discussion and reappeared about a half hour later, announcing curtly, “I’ve bought us a ship.”

Dad and Ben whirled on him, both speechless. “How did you pay for it?” Beru asked quietly. Leia suspected she already knew.

“With last season’s earnings,” he said, eyes cast downward. “And I sold the landspeeder. It’s all we had left.”

Dad opened his mouth, then shook his head as if words weren’t enough. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Truly sorry. We’ll make it up to you.”

Owen shrugged. “It’s a small ship, and very old. But it’ll take us where we need to go. Bought it from an old friend. We can trust him.”

They followed him to the docking bay, where his description proved quite accurate. The tiny craft looked like it had been constructed with the mismatched parts of about a dozen different starships. It seemed even smaller on the inside, somehow. Dad seated himself at the controls with Ben in the copilot’s seat, while Beru helped Leia strap herself into an oversized chair meant for someone far taller than a human child.

“Are you sure you remember how?” Ben asked Dad as the engines clattered to life. “It’s been a while.”

Dad scoffed. “I could do it with my eyes closed.”

“Please don’t. I’d rather not fly into a supernova. Again.”

“Are you really going to bring that up again, Master? We were nowhere near that sun when we came out of hyperspace.”

“Still too close for my comfort.”

Leia settled back and let their bickering wash over her while the ship took off. In some strange way, it seemed to be how they showed affection for each other. Things were very different in the Alderaan court. She was kind of enjoying the change, she had to admit.

But space travel was hard on Beru and Owen. After all, they’d never left the planet before and they’d never wanted to. Both of them gripped the handrests of their seats with whitened knuckles as they left the atmosphere behind and burst into space. Beru left out a muffled whimper.

“The first time is the hardest,” Leia said in what she hoped was a reassuring voice. “It gets easier.”

Her aunt didn’t answer. She was gazing through the window wistfully, where the last glimpse of Tatooine was vanishing behind them. It was hard for Leia to imagine anyone being fond of that desert waste, but she supposed you could make a home anywhere, if you were with the people you loved.

“We won’t go directly to Dantooine,” Ben was saying as he started entering coordinates into the computer. “Just in case they’re tracking us.”

“If they’d tracked us this far, they would have caught us in Mos Eisley,” Dad retorted. “Besides, this ship is so scrawny there’s nowhere to put a tracking device.”

“Be sensible. Do you know how small a tracking device is? It would be a simple matter of —”

“I was kidding. I know what a tracking device looks like.”

“Wherever we’re going first, we should do it as soon as possible,” Leia put in, a little surprised at her daring. She didn’t usually interrupt conversations between adults. “At least we’ll be safe in hyperspace.”

They both looked at her in surprise. Dad’s astonishment quickly turned to a grin. “You have your mother’s sense. Thanks for being the voice of reason, Leia. Let’s get out of here.”

“And I suppose I was being unreasonable?” Ben said, but he was smiling too.

A few minutes later, they were hurtling through hyperspace.

Chapter Text

Luke woke in a strange bed in the dark. After a brief period of panicked confusion, he recalled their arrival at the Rebel base and the quarters Mon Mothma had offered them. The room was fitted with several bunks, and he had eagerly clambered to the top while Mother took the lowest one. That had been three nights ago. He still wasn’t used to it. Even his below-ground room at the moisture farm had never gotten this dark at night. There was always a little bit of starlight filtering in somewhere. Here, the darkness was absolute until morning, when the lights flickered on automatically.

So why had he woken before then? Something prickled along his arms. He sat up, his heartbeat quickening.

Slowly he climbed down from his bunk, making sure not to disturb Mother. She had been so tired lately. Reuniting with her friends and finding safety here was all very well, but she had just lost her home for the second time — gotten back one child only to lose the other —

He loved her so very, very desperately. They’d only met a few days ago, but it was like he had known her all his life. Without any real memories or time shared with her, he still knew her. And he wanted so intensely to protect her from every future pain, to comfort her for all her past sorrows, to make their time together bright and happy. So right now, he would be very careful not to disturb her sleep.

Luke, on the other hand, could never fall back asleep tonight. Not with this strange feeling running through his veins, this wild, inexplicable excitement. Strange, yet familiar. His hand was shaking as he opened the door to the quarters and stepped into the corridor. Familiar, and very near.

Leia. He knew it suddenly, though he had no idea how. How would she know to come here? How could they get off of Tatooine without a ship? Why didn’t they stay there?

Didn’t matter. She was here, and Dad too. He began to run for the hanger, sure of his way in spite of the darkness. A line of dim lights near the floor; that was all he had, but he never faltered or stumbled. He opened the hanger doors.

There would be a few guards on night watch, mostly positioned near the outer doors. Luke spotted them clustered together, conferring urgently. He hurried to join them.

“…two Jedi Knights, if you can believe it, but we can’t let them in if they don’t have the code…”

Two Jedi? So Ben had come too. And they weren’t letting them in. “I know who they are,” he declared, startling the guards. “You don’t have to worry. We can trust them.”

They exchanged dubious looks. “Sorry, kid — we’re going to need more than your word.”

A voice crackled on the commlink at the entrance. “Come on, we’re freezing out here! What’s it going to take to convince you?”

Luke grinned widely. “That’s my Dad. I’m sure of it.”

“Your father?” the head guard repeated, frowning slightly. “Can you prove it?”

“Ask him something only he could answer.”

Mother. Luke turned to see her gliding toward them, wearing a simple nightgown and robe. She had a haunted look in her eyes, and he suddenly realized. Dad was on the other side of that door. Dad, who she hadn’t seen in ten years, who she had never expected to see again.

“M’lady.” The guard bowed. “What do you suggest?”

“The first thing he ever said to his wife,” she said quietly. “Ask him.”

Bemused, the guard turned back to the commlink and said, “What was the first thing you said to your wife?”

There was a long pause. Luke waited, holding his breath. Then came the crackle of the commlink and the voice of his father. “Are you an angel?”

The guard looked at Mother. She nodded. Her face was very pale.

The doors opened. Leia came in first, running toward Luke and squealing, “I can’t believe you’re here! We did it; we brought everyone together!” Luke accepted her hug, somewhat dazed, as he watched not just Ben but Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru emerge from the dark night into the hanger. Dad came last, hesitantly, his eyes fixed upon one thing. Mother.

Leia gripped Luke’s hand, whispering, “It’s happening, it’s happening!”

Dad went to her, still slow and careful, as if he feared she might vanish. Mother lifted a hand and touched his face with her shaking fingertips. Then, after a long, steady, shared look, they turned and walked hand in hand toward the corridor at the far end of the hanger. Soon they were out of sight.

Leia let out a noise of disappointment. “They’re leaving? All this trouble we went through for their reunion, and we don’t even get to see the rest of it?”

“It’s okay,” Luke said. “There’ll probably be a lot of kissing. We don’t need to see that.”

She flushed bright red. “Oh, right. Fine. We can give them their privacy. But Luke!” She turned to him, ecstatic once more. “We did it! And it was beautiful, wasn’t it? I knew everything would work out in the end.”

“But how did you know we’d be here?”

“Um, we didn’t,” she admitted.

“So it was more of an accident. We didn’t do anything.”

Ben came to them and chuckled. “You did plenty. And I’m sure your parents will be full of thanks in the morning. In the meantime, I’m sure we could all use some sleep.”

Chapter Text

Leia was sure she would be too excited to sleep, but somehow she closed her eyes for just a minute and woke in the morning to a fully illuminated chamber. Luke was already getting down from his bunk, pulling a poncho over his shirt. “It’s f-f-freezing here,” he said, rubbing his arms frantically. “Why can’t they turn up the temperature?”

She sat up, rubbing her eyes. “Because most of us would rather not be burnt to a crisp, silly. You’re going to have to learn what a normal climate feels like.”

He stuck out his tongue at her. “Normal for you, maybe. Do you think Mother and Dad are up yet?”

“Let’s have a look.” She hopped out of bed. “But if they’re not, we’re definitely not going to disturb them.”

“Definitely not.”

They entered the corridor and began roaming up and down the hallway. A few grown-ups were striding importantly here and there or consulting quietly with each other, including Ben, but no sign of their parents. “Oh, well,” Luke sighed. “We’ll just have to wait.” He brightened. “Wanna see the X-wings?”

“Okay.” She ran after him as he dashed toward the hanger. But they both stopped short at an unexpected sight. Dad and Mother, sitting together atop one of Luke’s beloved X-wings. They were nearly doubled over with laughter.

“…can’t believe you grew this thing,” Mother was saying, her hand brushing Dad’s beard. “You have to get rid of it.”

“You don’t think it makes me more distinguished?” It sounded like he was trying, and failing, to sound affronted. Mostly he was giggling. Giggling.

“If by distinguished you mean ridiculous. Besides, it’s too scratchy.”

“Didn’t seem to bother you last night.” Then they were kissing, and Leia realized it was time to back away slowly and leave them alone.

“Come on,” she hissed at Luke, grabbing his hand. They retreated to a safe distance, leaning against the hanger wall.

“Well,” Luke said at last. He looked as if he’d been conked on the head. “That was really weird.”

“Yeah. But — nice.”

“Yeah.” Luke glanced back. “I’ve never seen Dad that happy.”

“Nor Mother.” Leia sighed wistfully. “I never realized how sad she always was until now — now that I’m seeing her so much the opposite.”

“It’s really happened,” he said, shifting his feet excitedly. “Our family is back together!”

“They really are,” Leia agreed. They exchanged grins. Sure, it had mostly happened by accident. But they had played an important part in it, no question.

After allowing what they hoped was a respectful period of privacy, they ventured toward the X-Wing again. Mother was leaning her head on Dad’s shoulder while he tinkered with the engines. She straightened as the twins came into view. “Oh, look at you!” she said, her eyes sparkling. “Come up here, my darlings.”

Leia and Luke obligingly clambered up the ladder to join them. Dad set down his tool and pulled Luke close, tousling his hair. “And how’s our little prince?” he asked with a chuckle. “How did palace life suit you?”

Luke groaned. “Don’t tease! I just wanted to see Mother.”

“Of course you did.” Mother hugged him. “And Leia…” She smiled ruefully. “Leia, your hair.”

Leia bit her lip. “It’ll grow again.”

“Indeed it will.” She pulled Leia into the hug. “I’m so proud of you. What a thing you’ve done. Foolish, reckless, and so brave.”

“So…what now?” Luke looked from Dad to Mother and back again. “We haven’t ruined everything, have we?”

“No, no.” Dad regarded him seriously. “You’ve only pushed us forward to where we always hoped to be eventually. We’ll have to keep hiding. But now we’ll do it together, as a family.”

“I hope both of you don’t mind joining the Rebellion,” Mother said wryly. “It’s the only chance you have of being safe right now.”

“Sounds good to me!” Luke chirped. Leia nodded eagerly.

“While you’re young, of course, you’ll be honorary members,” Dad went on. “It will take time to train both of you, even with Ben’s help.”

“Trained as Jedi?” Luke said wonderingly.

Dad nodded. “The remaining Jedi were the Republic’s last hope. But you — you are the Rebellion’s new hope.”

The twins gazed solemnly at their father and mother. Gradually the full import of his words was washing over them. They had thought that reuniting their parents was the ultimate goal. Now they knew it was only the beginning.

But it was a very good beginning.