Chapter Text
"And you see that one? That big one, out in the distance?"
"Coruscant!"
"You're exactly right, my love. Hm... what about that one?"
"Um... Corali?"
"Almost, my darling. That there is Corellia. It's a mining planet that was under the rule of the Empire for a long time, but now it seems that rebellions are rising there, too."
"What about here, momma?"
The woman with kind brown eyes and almond skin looked back at the small child curled up beside her. She readjusted so she could look the child in her eyes, the eyes they shared.
"What do you mean, my star?"
"I..." the child started. "Will there be a rebellion here, too?"
The woman sighed heavily, gazing out into the vastness of space above them. "I don't know. But we are safe... you know that, right?"
The child had always been smart, too smart for her own good. She never gloated about it, or made it evident to others, but her manner and richness of speaking had always given truth to the fact.
So it came as no surprise to her when the child answered.
"You said once that there will always be bad people. So... that means there has to be good people too, right?"
The woman leaned back, her gaze turning back to the girl. "Yes. I suppose you're right."
"Then a rebellion will happen here... maybe. And we can be free."
"My star," the woman said softly, turning the child in her arms. "Listen to me... You are already free. The only thing holding yourself captive is yourself, your mind. You are the one who decides whether you are happy or not; that is not the responsibility of others. You stand for your own. You make your own path... Do you understand?"
She could see the child's eyes wandering, calculating, silently like she always did. She had never been one to speak first in conversations, to take charge of anything.
"Do you understand, my love?" She asked again, wiping a wisp of wild copper hair from the child's face.
"Yes, momma."
From their spot huddled together on the roof of a wealthy estate, the house the child had been born in, Thell Sai'Lya let her mind wander, and dreamed of days of freedom and peace with eyes as wide as the night sky.