“You’re learning the most powerful lesson of all, my daughter,” Breha continued. “You’re learning how to fall.”
Kier had said that. Leia had realized it was important even then. But it was one of those truths that couldn’t be understood until it had been lived through, until you finally fell.
“Normally, of course, I’d have gone with something more festive in a gold or perhaps red.” 2V whirred around Leia, straightening the long skirt. “But given everything—suffice it to say, silver is formal, elegant, and flattering. You look lovely.”
That was as close as her droid could come to acknowledging Leia’s grief. She was more moved by the gesture than she would’ve thought. “Thanks, TooVee.”
Glancing to one side, she saw the bare spot on her mantel where her keepsake chest had always been—until late last night, when she’d given it to her father as a sign that she considered her childhood over. Many heirs to the throne gave up their keepsake chests at the point of investiture, but the ritual didn’t demand it. Leia had simply known it was time. The hardest part about handing it over had been letting go of that lock of Kier’s hair, that one small part of him. At least it would always be contained within the chest as one of her greatest treasures.
“I’ll take good care of this,” her father had promised, in a tone of voice that made her wonder, yet again, what he’d meant….
The far-off fanfare echoing through the corridors alerted her that she was running late again. Leia turned to allow 2V to fasten a broad collar necklace, then straightened. Time to go.
Once more she took the shortcut through the old armory, full skirt billowing around her as she ran. At least today the weather had decided to do its part; brilliant sunlight streamed through every window, and she knew the throne room would glow with multicolored prisms from the stained glass. She felt—not happy, exactly, but as close to it as she’d come since Kier’s death.
Conflicting emotions still swirled inside her whenever she thought of Kier. She suspected they always would. In the first days after his death, she’d tried to swear she would never fall for anyone again, though the reasons for that promise shifted and twisted in her mind: because she couldn’t trust anyone completely, because she didn’t deserve to find love after what happened to Kier because of her, because she didn’t know how to bear another loss like this.
Her promise to herself had become more realistic. Not until my work against the Empire is over, she told herself. After the struggle is over, then maybe—maybe I will meet someone else I can care about.
Until then, I fight.
When she hurried into the antechamber, the guards straightened and smiled. The way they smiled at her had changed, though. What she saw there was less like the adoration she’d been granted since childhood, more like the respect given to her parents. Leia knew to be proud of that—and she was—but in some ways it felt like a loss.
The person she’d been before, the happy young princess, was gone. A beautiful part of her life had ended. She could mourn that while still being prepared to move on.
After months of strengthening her arms and back through pathfinding, Leia found the Rhindon Sword didn’t feel so heavy anymore. Holding it aloft, she waited for the next fanfare, and—
The velvet curtain was pulled aside. Leia walked into the throne room, up the long aisle, toward the dais where her parents waited. Both her father and mother were garbed in pure white, which seemed all the more dazzling amid the sun-dappled shine of the room. As Leia went, she recognized friends standing on either side of her: Mon Mothma, who gave her a small nod, and Ress Batten, who looked too bowled over to react, and Chassellon Stevis, who winked. Very near the front stood Amilyn Holdo, whose hair had been dyed glittery blue, but who wore a simple dark green dress, at last striking a balance.
Standing before her parents, though—that moved Leia in a way she hadn’t been fully prepared for. The pale color of their garments highlighted the long silver streak in her mother’s hair, and the salt-and-pepper tones that had crept into her father’s beard. Declaring her right to the throne inevitably meant acknowledging that, someday, her parents would be no more.
The formal language of the ceremony came through in her thought: May that day be long in coming.
Her father started the ceremony this time. “Is this our daughter, come before us once again?”
“It is I, Leia Organa, princess of Alderaan.”
Breha had the next line. “When last you stood before us, you swore to undertake Challenges of Mind, Body, and Heart. This you have done.”
Leia gripped the hilt even more tightly. “How do you judge me, my mother and queen?”
“I judge that you have completed your three challenges with great strength and even greater spirit. In all ways, you have proved yourself worthy.” Gesturing for Leia to step closer, Breha rose from her throne.
As Leia ascended the dais to join her parents, she held the Rhindon Sword aloft in one hand. Breha reached up to clasp the hilt along with her: two rulers, not fighting over the symbol of power but sharing its weight. Then it was time for Leia to let go and sink to her knees, bowing her head as her father stepped closer. At the edges of her peripheral vision, she glimpsed the glitter of jewels, but she had to keep her face down. Then the weight of the Heir’s Crown settled on her, fitting neatly into the nest of braids 2V had prepared for it. Even though Leia had waited all her life to wear this crown, the reality of it moved her more than she would’ve dreamed possible.
For Alderaan, she thought, promising both Kier and her parents to take good care of what she was being given that day.
“May all those present bear witness!” Breha cried. “My daughter is hereby invested as crown princess, heir to the throne of Alderaan.”
Applause and cheers filled the room as Leia rose to her feet and turned to face the crowd. Her parents stood on either side of her, beaming with pride—more pride, even, than many of their guests could know. Through the stained glass windows Leia could catch glimpses of the beautiful planet that she would someday rule.
My parents, Leia thought. My friends. My world.
These are the things the Empire can never take away.
THE END