Leia patiently sipped stimtea from a tall travel mug as the speeder she was riding in wove its' way through the busy streets of Theed, towards the Palace.
Seated beside her was Tom, and Leia had noticed that ever since they had gotten in the vehicle he had been trying hard not to stare at her.
After another few minutes and a close encounter with a street vendor's runaway fruit cart, the speeder came to a stop in front of the Palace. Leia moved to open the door and get out, but found that somehow Tom had managed to hop out and hurry over to her side to open the door for her. He spoke as she stepped out to stand beside him.
"Welcome back to the Royal Palace, Princess Leia. Hopefully this little trip isn't inconveniencing you too much..."
There it was again... Leia had also noticed that every time he addressed her he called her Princess. She was accustomed to being called that occasionally as well as under certain circumstances, but she could not figure out why Tom would have any reason to use it...
"No, it's not a problem at all... I hadn't planned to do anything else this morning anyways."
They were now ambling along a paved walkway, towards the main entrance of the Palace. Leia paused for a moment before glancing sidelong at Tom curiously.
"So... why do you keep calling me Princess?"
Several long moments passed before Tom finally replied.
"Well... actually I grew up on Alderaan. Well, at least until it was uh, well you know? I was offplanet luckily, I had just joined the Rebellion... served on a small Mon Cal cruiser rest of the war.
But anyways, my family... Well, we never really had much. My father worked as a librarian for one of the larger libraries in Aldera. We had a small house on the outskirts... it was nice."
He paused for a moment as if there was something he wanted to add, but was afraid to say it. Leia smiled over at him, her expression indicating great interest. Survivors of her still beloved home planet were far and few between. It wasn't as if anyone had seen the planet's destruction coming...
Who could have known that the Empire would go so far?
Tom apparently decided to go for it, because what he said next caught Leia by surprise.
"Heh... When I was in my early teens I even had a crush on you, though I suppose that was a rather common thing. I mean you were a beautiful rich Princess, what guy doesn't dream of having a girl like that all to himself?"
When Leia did not comment, he continued.
"I remember one day your father was giving a speech for something or other, I don't recall now. But you were supposed to be there, so a few friends and I went to go see. You might remember it, because.."
Leia swore she saw him blush bright red, and he started talking notably faster.
"...I was the one who put the itching powder down the back of the robe you were wearing that day, in case you noticed any uh, discomfort... and it looked like you clearly did."
Leia remembered almost instantly, and stopped dead in her tracks to gape at Tom for the second time in as many hours, shocked.
"You...
You did that?"
"Yeah, that was me..."
Tom avoided meeting her incredulous gaze and focused fixedly at some invisible point in front of them, unsure of how Leia would react.
Slowly a small smile started to form on Leia's lips, eventually turning into a wide grin.
"Good thing we're both a lot older now. If I'd known you did that back then, I might have killed you with my bare hands. God, that was the one of the most hellish days of politics I've ever experienced. It spread all over me, but I didn?t have time to change or to do anything about it before we left to spend the rest of the day in the Senate. I had to sit through the entire day like that, and then I was covered in the most horrible rash for the next week!..."
They had resumed walking, and now found themselves in one of the bright, cheery hallways of the palace. Tom looked quite sheepish.
"I'm so sorry about that now... Doubly so. I did it on a dare, actually... I was quite the little troublemaker then."
Leia sighed, and continued with a hint of sarcasm.
"Well I guess I'll forgive you, but only this once?. How did you do it, anyways?"
Tom blinked.
"Pardon...?"
"How did you do it, how did you even get close enough to me to do such a thing? As I recall security was pretty tight..."
Tom chuckled, appearing much more comfortable now.
"Well..."
They had reached the Royal chambers, and he trailed off as he opened the door and stepped aside to let Leia through with a bow.
"...I guess that's a story for another time, Queen Cordé awaits. Enjoy your day Princess, it has been an honor."
Leia smiled and nodded to him.
"And a pleasure here, take care."
She stepped into the chambers, and Tom closed the door behind her. Before her she saw the Queen seated on a sizeable throne, outlined by the blinding light flooding in the enormous windows behind her. A small ring of advisors and the like were seated at a long table of which the throne was arranged at the head of. They all turned to look at Leia.
Leia offered a half bow to them all, as she was not really subordinate to any of them; including the Queen herself.
It was the Queen Leia focused her gaze on first. She was a young girl, maybe of only 16 or 17 years old. She wore the traditional elaborate robes of her place, and seemed to exude a strong, confident presence. She seemed to know her place, and also how to handle it.
It was the Queen who spoke first... in a deep, strong voice that might have surprised others. Leia however recognized years of conditioning and discipline behind the visage.
Ironically if she had ever known her mother at all, she might have realized striking similarities between the two...
"Jedi Master Solo, it is a pleasure to finally meet you."
Leia approached the throne with slow, deliberate steps.
"Likewise, Queen Cordé. I apologize for us not having met earlier, but I have been... indisposed for some time"
Cordé smiled in response, and gestured to an empty chair at the table.
"So I have heard. Please join us, so we may talk..."
Leia slid smoothly into the indicated chair: opposite the Queen, and carefully placed the mug she had still been carrying on the table in front of her. It was time to settle in for a long morning - there was much to catch up on...