And you, you're just a substitute for the one that I hold dear

[coolhand]

Who: Luke Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker, Leia Organa, Han Solo
Action: On the Red Fish, in Luke's room
When: 1/7

[It's a small room, which is the focus of Luke's anxiety right now. Perhaps all this would be easier if his room was larger, if everyone had their own space to pace and gesture. As it is, the bunks on the Red Fish weren't built for four people to a room, and Luke sits on the bed next to Leia, their knees bumping together. He feels stupidly like a child sitting on the bed like this, but there's nothing for it. He doesn't want to have this talk in public, where anyone can listen-- so his room it is.

Of course, he isn't actually anxious about that. That would be stupid. But it's far easier to fret about the room than--

He glances over at Han. He'd had a talk with him, voices low and urgent, please don't start a fight, that's all it boiled down to-- I know you hate him but please-- and Han had, eventually, agreed. He's a good man, under all that gruff; he won't spoil this for them. If he interrupts, it will be for a good reason.

Anakin isn't here yet, but he'll be over soon; he'd just sent a message saying as such. So now they wait, they three: Luke fiddling with a bit of machinery he'd picked up on the last planet; Leia next to him, body coiled tight, her own tenseness feeding into his anxiety; Han, standing guard, his face drawn and his body held tightly.]

Comments

[imahologram]

[A university professor. Refugee Relief Movement. In six words, Leia can see herself within a greater family, in a man and a woman she'll never know. She's always traced her political aims back to her adoptive parents' influence, but perhaps it runs deeper than that. Perhaps it was buried within the bones of her, coaxed out by two people who loved her and taught her to use what was hers by blood.

There's a strange flutter of excitement inside her, an amorphous joy at the thought. She has room in her heart for Padme Amidala, somewhere nestled comfortably with Bail and Breha Organa.

But Anakin Skywalker is another story, even if it's him she owes for telling them anything of their past.

Leia's expression is tentative as her eyes flick towards Luke's again. The way he speaks, she wants to smile, but with Anakin watching... Her lips do curve a little after a breath, the smallest hint of pleasure.]

Maybe. [It's a compliment she's going to hold onto.] Like you, too--in some ways.

[There's a moment when it feels like it's just them, and then Han and Anakin's presences sneak into her thoughts once more. Looking up at Anakin, she speaks as though she's commenting on a dinner party he put together, or maybe a well-kept garden. Bland, neutral, dispassionate.] Is there anything else we should know?

[sandhate]

[ He thought of all the things he could tell them. The little secrets that they shared between them. The wooden box he knows she keeps in her bottom drawer, where two secret mementos live. And the really mundane things, like how Padme would stress over the littlest things.

But it just made him miss her more.

Anakin caught a brief glimpse of Leia then regretted it. He knew the look on her. It was a Politician's face; Padme wore it on more than one occasion and he always hated it. Instead, he turned his attention to Luke.

Not that his was any better. Luke looks at him like someone died. ]

I was 19 and she was 24 when we got married. We spent one day together before our careers led us down different paths.

It's difficult. We don't have a normal marriage. [ His jaw sets and there's a grim and weary look on his face.

What else is there.

She makes me happy in a way nothing else in life can, but I never feel like I'm the husband she deserves. I should be there with her.

But those aren't the things Leia asked. He doubts it's anything they want to know, and it's definitely worries he doesn't want to share with them. ]

We both have our duties. The war took us farther and farther apart. The only thing that we had of each other during those days apart was our wedding presents; she gave me a R2 unit and I gave her a protocol droid I built as a child and my Padawan braid.