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Chandrila had been touched by the war. Being the capital of the Second Republic, the First Order had wasted no time in invading it. That made the end of conflict all much sweeter. You could see it by the way people laughed and danced on the streets. The celebrations had been going on for weeks and they didn’t seem to be ending any time soon.
But Leia wasn’t here for the celebrations.
Little kids ran happily on the sidewalks, and Leia’s heart made a painful twist on her chest. A long time ago, she had a little boy of her own much like those, careless and free. But she hadn’t kept him for long.
How long had it been since she last saw her son? Over 20 years.
He was not her little boy anymore, he wasn’t even the broody teen Luke had told her about. He was adult. But even if he were a toothless old man, Leia was sure she’d recognize him. She was his mother, after all. With his high cheekbones and his father’s look…She would know him no matter what.
Not that she was the young woman he had bid farewell before going to his uncle’s Temple all those years ago. The time had taken its tool on her, her beauty had long since vanished, yet she retained every bit of regality from her youth.
There wasn’t a night she hadn’t spent wondering about her son. Where was he? Was he safe? Did he deserve to be safe?
It had nearly killed her, to receive that com-call with Rey’s voice at the end of the line. It was right after the First Order’s defeat, when hope had finally triumphed over the evil of the galaxy.
I’m with Ben, we can meet in Chandrila.
To think she expected to rest peacefully after the war’s end.
There had been an internal struggle about what was right to do in this situation. Even if the armed conflicts were over, the trials of those responsible for them were not. The right thing to do was to hand over Kylo Ren to the authorities, for him to be put on trial for his crimes against the galaxy. But there was Rey.
Rey wouldn’t have ran away with the masked monster that called himself Kylo Ren, the one that had killed her husband, but she would have with her son. Ben Solo. Named after her last hope.
Leia could only admire her self-sacrifice, to leave everything behind to save the soul of a man who had done so much evil, who had fought her and harmed her friends. She would forever be grateful to her.
Luke wouldn’t have been happy, she thought. He would have been proud.
She pulled her hood on as she made her way through the people. She couldn’t afford being recognized. Rey hadn’t given to much information about their whereabouts, likely fearing that she’d arrive with a firing squad at her tail.
It was the type of assumption that her son would make.
They would find her, then. She could only wait for them to reveal themselves.
Lost in her thoughts, she accidentally bumped into a child that was passing by, making them fall to the floor.
‘’Shmi, be careful!’’ deep brown eyes met hers. ‘’Lady, you alright? I’m sorry about my sister.’’
The little girl that had fallen huffed. ‘’Well I’m not, it was her fault!’’
Leia couldn’t help but snicker, children’s antics never ceased to amuse her.
The older girl, on the other side, seemed mortified by-Leia assumed-her little sister. They were very similar, sharing a pale complexion along with dark hair. The eldest couldn’t have been nine years old, while the younger was barely off toddlerhood.
It seemed strange, for two young girls to be alone.
‘’You are being rude! Apologize.’’
Leia shook her head.
‘’The fault was mine, I wasn’t looking.’’
The younger, Shmi, smiled triumphal. ‘’See? I told you!’’
Leia’s amusement didn’t left her, but the older girl was getting irritated by every second.
‘’Momma says that we should respect older people-‘’
‘’Cause’ they’ve seen more than us’’ she finished, as if this was a usual discussion between them. ‘’Well, Daddy says that if they’re nerf herders I can be rude.’’
This time, Leia couldn’t help her but laugh while the older girl blushed. She turn her head at the sides, as if she were looking for something. The street was full of people, they must have got lost in the crowd, Leia realized.
‘’Are you looking for anyone?’’ She asked, unable to leave them alone.
The older girl bit her lip, unsure. Leia tried another approach.
‘’I’m pretty lost too.’’
She raised an eyebrow at her, and the former Senator could have sworn she knew that look. The little one grabbed her hand as she sucked her thumb.
‘’Are you? I’m looking for my Momma, our Momma.’’
Leia nodded.
‘’I’m… I’m looking for my son. I haven’t seen him in a long time.’’
The girl frowned.
‘’But we are supposed to never leave our Momma’s side.’’
Leia’s heart twisted on her chest painfully at the girl’s innocence. She moved out of the crowd’s way and the girls followed her.
‘’The war separated us.’’ Her voice didn’t waver, in hopes of maintaining a trusting face. The girl’s face lightened with a grin, she had a front tooth missing. ‘’We are here because the war ended! We came to meet our Daddy’s Momma.’’
That made Leia smile, there more than a few great things about the war’s end. It made all the sacrifices, all the suffering, worth it.
Shmi tugged her sister’s hand suddenly.
‘’Let’s go! They waiting for us’’
‘’I told you, I don’t know where they are!’’
Leia saw her opening there. ‘’Maybe I can help, tell me, do you know their names?’’
Shmi nodded.
‘’My Momma’s Rey and my Daddy’s Ben’’, then she added, ‘’and I’m Anni. Anni Solo.’’
She had stood before thousands of rebels, councilmen, senators, you name it, and never once she had been left speechless. But this little girl had stolen her words, her breath, and her balance in a sentence. She had to lean in a wall not to fall.
It would be pathetic, she thought, to be killed by a heart attack right now.
Anni, her son’s daughter-for there was no doubt in her soul that those were her son’s eyes, her husband’s eyes- was looking at her with a curious stare. Not his only daughter, the other girl was her sister.
‘’Do you have a name?’’
‘’I’m Leia.’’ She answered softly.
Shmi raised her head to meet her eyes. ‘’My Daddy’s Momma is called Leia!’’
Her chest felt tight. ‘’Is she?’’ The little girl nodded.
‘’We have never met.’’ Anni provided. ‘’Never ever, always after the war. And it’s over!’’
It was Leia’s turn to nod. It was over.
‘’Come with me, maybe we can find my son and your father together.’’
-
Rey could call him a mother hen all she wanted, but there was simply no worse feeling that getting your child off your sight. It was even worse to lose both of children out of sight.
While the rational side of him knew that the war was over, that Chandrila was and had always been a peaceful planet, another, much older, side of him was all too willing to take the lightsaber off his belt and start to ask for his daughters.
If anyone had taken them… Well, they better hope he didn’t caught them.
No. No. Thinking like that would get him nowhere.
He needed to calm down and think rationally. There were street performers, game for little children all around, they surely got entertained with something and run straight to it. Curiosity was just in their nature.
But so was trusting strangers. Stars knew why, the girls had been raised half in an isolated moon and half in the worst back-alley planets of the Outer Rim. Why, in the name of the force, were they so trusting?
No. He wasn’t panicking, he couldn’t panic. He wouldn’t panic.
Ben took a deep breath, trying to sooth his own worries as he searched for his daughters through the crowd of people. It had to happen today, of all days. As if he didn’t have enough worries.
‘’Daddy!’’
A squeaking voice attracted him that was Shmi. He turned to see her and Anni running towards him, dragging along no other than Leia Organa.
Mother.