Days later, Leia remained moody. Even her long-awaited return to Coruscant for her first session of the Apprentice Legislature couldn’t fully banish her gloom.
The adventure with her pathfinding class had brightened only one day. Afterward, she was left with her parents’ continued absence, and her lingering remorse for what had happened on Wobani. She’d devoted herself to caring for the Wobani refugees in the immediate aftermath of their arrival on Alderaan; it was the only way she knew to make up for her errors in judgment there. But the refugees didn’t know she’d messed up negotiations that might’ve saved the rest of their people, too—which meant their gratitude hurt more than it helped.
“We’ll be moving along soon,” one woman had confided as Leia helped them set up accounts for their stipend from the queen. “We’ve cousins on Itapi Prime—distant cousins, but we’ve done a little business together lately. I think we’ll have a place there.”
“I’m staying right here!” declared an old man nearby. “Alderaan’s the most beautiful planet in the galaxy, if you ask me. I think of it as home already.”
They were so happy. So satisfied with how things had turned out for them. Leia knew she ought to take pleasure in that instead of constantly reminding herself how much better their situation would’ve been, for them and for everyone on Wobani, if she had only…
Only what? Walked off and left them there to suffer? Leia could never have done that, not without knowing a compelling reason to do so. Her parents hadn’t told her that reason because she still didn’t have access to all classified information.
Well, then, that meant she had to be brilliant in the Apprentice Legislature. Here, at least, she knew what she was doing. It would be her first step toward real political power, and with power came knowledge.
On her initial visit to Coruscant two years prior, to serve as one of her father’s interns, they had flown in together on the royal yacht, Polestar. Leia remembered her father pointing out various landmarks, legendary places becoming real to her at last. The bustle and brilliance of Coruscant overwhelmed nearly everyone who saw it for the first time, even girls who had grown up in palaces, and Bail Organa had laughed to see her wide eyes.
This time, he’d traveled here two days ahead of her, for yet more important business she apparently didn’t get to hear about.
Leia took in the scene alone as the Polestar swooped lower, taking its place among the intricate ribbons of traffic that covered the planet. In her opinion, Coruscant looked its best at night, when it sparkled with trillions of blazing lights, just like a galactic core. But it was daytime now, so she was buffeted by the frenetic energy of countless small craft, the bustle of individual traffic through transparent aerial passageways between blocks, and the ominous hulks of the tall buildings around them.
Only a place like this could make the Imperial Senate seem calm, she thought.
Since Leia was familiar with the Senatorial complex already and had her own place to stay in her father’s apartments, she hadn’t bothered to arrive early for the Apprentice Legislature opening. However, she hadn’t meant to cut it as close as she did, hurrying through the winding corridors to find her pod in the chambers as the first fanfare played. As she slipped inside, Kier Domadi glanced over his shoulder. His simple gray clothes stood in stark contrast to the formal finery worn by most of those around them, and to her own high-collared violet dress.
He kept his voice low as he said, “I wondered if you weren’t coming.”
“Why wouldn’t I be coming?” she whispered back. Speaking to him in such hushed tones meant leaning close to him, close enough to feel the warmth of his breath.
“Why wouldn’t you be early?”
Again Leia felt stung. Kier had earned his place here and valued it more than she did. The Senate might be familiar to her, but for him, it was new. For both of them, it was important. “You’re right. I should’ve been early.”
“That’s not what I—” he sighed. “I meant, you seem like the type to be early, most of the time.”
She considered this. “I am, actually.”
“We’ll see.” But he smiled as he said it.
Applause began as the guest speaker took the dais. It was a man Leia had never met before but one she had heard a great deal about…none of it good.
“Welcome to the Apprentice Legislature,” said Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin. He stood thin, pale, and sharp, like a needle carved from bone. “Every one of you will now begin the process of representing your planet to the Senate, and indeed, before the Emperor himself. We all live to serve this great Empire, to increase its strength and work for its preservation. This is where your service begins.”
To Leia that sounded less like service, more like servility, and that wasn’t what the legislature was about. The Imperial Senate was one of the few checks on Palpatine’s power, not that Tarkin would admit it.
“Some may say that you are only young people—still children, practically, and that you therefore have nothing to offer our Empire. Indeed, there were those in the Imperial Starfleet who were surprised to hear that I volunteered to speak at your assembly today. Those people are far too shortsighted.” Tarkin’s hawklike gaze searched through the various pods; Leia wouldn’t be surprised if he’d memorized all their faces by the end of his speech—if not before he even arrived. “When I was still a student, then-Senator Palpatine took an interest in me. He provided invaluable guidance, which shaped my path forward. His example taught me to look for the best when they are young, because the earlier we begin, the more influence our lessons will have. So know that you aren’t merely practicing the form of government, deciding a few minor issues here and there. You’re also proving what kinds of Imperial leaders you could someday be. Show us your potential, and we will show you the way.”
Everyone applauded as Tarkin came down from the dais. Leia clapped along with the rest, but Kier did not. She pretended not to notice; it was safer for him that way.
The reception afterward was relatively informal as such things went: food and drink set out on one of the high ledges overlooking a broad swath of the city. Sunset had painted the horizon rosy pink, and shafts of sunlight streamed between the craggy dark silhouettes of skyscrapers. A few Rodian musicians played a jaunty tune as everyone milled around and mingled. Of course the point was to meet people you hadn’t talked to before, but still, the members of Leia’s pathfinding class found each other.