Outwardly, Leia didn’t flinch. Inwardly, shock was followed by shame. Had word of her rescue on Wobani spread that far, that fast?
Probably it wasn’t Wobani he was most interested in, though. More likely it bothered him that she’d witnessed what happened to Calderos Station. She’d been waiting for word of the attack to hit the HoloNet, eager to learn the different theories about who might be responsible. Instead, there had been total silence. That meant a cover-up.
That meant she was one of the few people who knew a secret the Empire very much wanted to keep. Leia understood enough to realize that was a risky position to be in.
Tarkin added, “You have a talent for finding weaknesses, Your Highness. And for exploiting them. That talent can work for you or against you. You’ll have to decide which.”
He moved on to the next young legislator, and Leia stood alone in the crowd, silent amid the noise, unsure of what surrounded her.
Leia stayed up that night in hopes of seeing her father, but as the hours went on and she became more tired, she finally decided that he must’ve returned to Alderaan for a brief time. Or maybe he’d needed to go offworld on a fact-finding mission on short notice. Either possibility was plausible; she’d hopped back and forth between various worlds with him often enough. Since he knew she was now busy with the Apprentice Legislature, it made sense that he wouldn’t have asked her to go along. Determinedly she convinced herself not to be upset about it, to go to bed and start fresh the next day.
When she emerged from her room the next morning, however, she found her father seated at the table, absently eating a slice of fruit loaf while his caf steamed in a nearby mug.
Bail Organa startled when he saw her. “Leia? You’re here on Coruscant already?”
“Of course. The Apprentice Legislature came into session.”
His gaze turned inward. “I thought that was…” Then he grimaced. “Yesterday.”
“Yeah.” But she felt a little better already. It wasn’t okay for her father to have missed everything, but at least he felt bad about it.
“I can’t claim I’m sorry to have missed the speeches, but I’m sorry I wasn’t there with you.” He gestured to the nearest chair as he began cutting her a few slices of fruit bread. She grabbed her own cup of caf before sitting beside him. Her father raised an eyebrow. “They say caf stunts your growth.”
“My growth is stunted already. If I’m stuck being short, I might as well have the caf.”
Bail laughed out loud, and Leia had to smile.
Many senators dressed in ornate, luxurious robes trimmed with fur, or plated their hides with precious metals. Bail Organa wore simpler clothes with nothing finer than an everyday cape. With his height, broad shoulders, and striking dark eyes, he didn’t need shallow grandeur to command attention or respect. Until recently, Leia had thought her father didn’t even age the way other humans did. However, in the past few months, time and stress had begun to weave gray into the hair at his temples, to etch new lines on his forehead and around his eyes.
“Now, tell me about the other apprentices,” Bail said. “We don’t have much time, but there must be a few who stand out.”
“Kier Domadi—”
“The other representative from Alderaan? His mother’s a professor who teaches at Archipelago University. What about him?”
Leia realized she wasn’t sure what she wanted to say, even though Kier was the person she’d thought of first. “I thought he was standoffish at first, but that’s not it. He’s shy. Smart, interesting.” It occurred to her that she was spending too much time on just one apprentice legislator. Swiftly she added, “Then there’s Chassellon Stevis, from Coruscant, who’s totally full of himself.”
“Shocking,” Bail deadpanned. The two of them shared the same opinion of most natives of Coruscant.
Warming to her subject, Leia said, “Then there’s this girl from Gatalenta named Amilyn Holdo who is…let’s say, a little odd.”
Her father shook his head in affectionate disbelief. “I trust your judgment, Leia, but don’t be too quick to write people off. Sometimes they can surprise you.” With that he rose to his feet and downed the last of his caf.
Unable to hide her disappointment, she said, “You’re leaving already?”
“I have a meeting with Mon Mothma first thing this morning.” Bail said it in the tone of voice that meant his mind had moved ahead; already he was more there than here. “Then the session, and afterwards I’m taking the Tantive IV on a fact-finding mission for a week, perhaps two.”
“That’s a long time.” Leia had stayed in their Coruscant apartments on her own before, but rarely longer than a night or two, and even then 2V had been with her.
“You’ll be just fine here.” Her father’s hand rested on her shoulder. “No wild parties while I’m gone.”
That made her laugh, but his attention had already drifted elsewhere. He kissed her forehead absentmindedly before walking out without looking back.
Their apartments on Coruscant—a penthouse suite independent from the rest of its building, known as Cantham House—would be considered relatively modest by either senatorial or royal standards: a few bedrooms, a great room, and a crescent-shaped balcony that looked out on a wide swath of the cityscape. To Leia, who had been raised in a palace, the apartments had always seemed small.
They felt too big when she was alone.
The first real session of the Apprentice Legislature began with introductions. Leia had never been more grateful that only forty worlds sent representatives these days. If she’d been involved a generation ago, she wasn’t sure she could’ve endured thousands of people naming their homeworlds and a hobby. She paid careful attention the entire time—you never knew what detail might offer common ground or an interesting insight—but concentrating on this kind of minutiae for so long made her head hurt.
Chassellon Stevis talked about restoring antique landspeeders to luxury standards. “Takes a while to hunt down the right parts, I can tell you, but the end result is worth it.” Note: More patient and methodical than I would’ve guessed.
Amilyn Holdo had woven feathers into her braided blue hair, which gave her the look of a fledgling chick. “I like comparing different planets’ traditional astrological charts to see if they agree on the influences exercised by various stars. The parallels are uncanny!” No need for an extra note there—Leia had understood this girl from day one.
When they reached the Alderaan pod, she gestured for Kier to go first. His interest surprised her more than anyone else’s had. “I plan to be a historian, specializing in the Clone Wars era, so I take part in Clone War reenactments whenever I can. I usually play a clone SCUBA trooper, whenever aquatic battles come up.”