“I’ve spent the past few hours on comms with angry Imperial officials everywhere from Wobani to Coruscant. They don’t like the idea of a young girl tricking one of their own—though as far as that goes, well, they can stuff it.” Breha sighed, more casual now, less a queen and more herself. “What’s more troubling is that they’ve asked some very pointed questions about our ship appearing at Calderos Station so soon after a…dissident action. We can’t afford to be associated with that, Leia. The minute the Empire decides Alderaan has anything to do with rebellion—”
“Shouldn’t we want to do something about the Empire?” Leia retorted.
“Don’t change the subject. Do you see how dangerous that link is?”
“I do, but it’s not as if I could’ve known that was going to happen,” she pointed out.
Breha put one hand to her forehead, as if trying to ward off a headache. The steely gray streak in her black hair was painted gold by the firelight. “No. You couldn’t have expected that. But you should’ve realized that you had no business going to Wobani.”
“Why? Because it made some major out there angry? The Emperor doesn’t like humanitarian aid going to anybody.” Leia had noticed this for herself during debates in the Imperial Senate. “If I’m going to upset them no matter where I go, I figured I should go someplace where the help would really matter.”
“And to take people away with you—through a trick, no less—”
Leia’s temper flared fresh. “Yes! I brought people with me instead of leaving them there to starve! How can you be angry with me for that? What kind of person are you?”
Breha stared at her daughter, stricken. The words couldn’t be unsaid, and Leia felt as though she’d crossed a much more dangerous boundary than she’d intended.
But her mother simply kneeled before her and took Leia’s hands in hers. “My daughter. I thought you would’ve understood. Your father, Mon Mothma, and some of his other allies in the Senate have been negotiating for resettlement of the Wobani population for months now.”
“What? It wasn’t in any of the files I reviewed for his office.”
“Your father doesn’t show you everything, Leia. Some things require higher security clearances than interns have, even when those interns are daughters of one of the Elder Houses. Any deal regarding Wobani would have to be carefully negotiated, and kept secret, so that the governor in charge of that sector could agree to our terms and still save face.” Breha’s head drooped. “I’m still speaking as though that deal can happen. It can’t any longer. Everyone with any authority over Wobani will be embarrassed, angry, and unwilling to bargain. Months of negotiation were effectively destroyed by what you did today.”
The floor could’ve disintegrated beneath Leia, letting her tumble down through rock and soil all the way to lava, without her feeling more horrified than she did in that moment. “No. That can’t be true. It can’t.”
“You’re very nearly an adult, Leia. Past your Day of Demand, and so I’m trusting you with the truth about this, even though I know it’s a hard truth for you to hear.” One of Breha’s hands stroked Leia’s hair. “Take heart. In a few months, when this incident isn’t as fresh, your father will take the cause up again. Maybe they’ll make more headway this time.”
Delaying the rescue of the people on Wobani wasn’t much better than destroying that rescue. Leia had seen how desperate they were, and had unwittingly condemned them to so much more time trapped in that same hell.
Breha squeezed her daughter’s hands, then rose to her feet again. “We’ll speak no more of it. I know your motivations were good, Leia. You showed compassion and courage, and even ingenuity. But you have to choose your missions more carefully from now on. Recognize that you may not have all the information necessary to make the right decisions in a dangerous situation, because there are things your father and I cannot tell you.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Leia said. On the first day of the Apprentice Legislature, she’d check to see what kind of security clearance upgrades they received. “But—”
“Yes?”
“If you two had spoken with me about my humanitarian mission before I left, this wouldn’t have happened. I tried to talk with you both. You didn’t have time.” The words came out small and quiet, unlike her. “I know that’s not an excuse. But it is a reason.”
Now her mother seemed as abashed as Leia felt. “You’re right. We’ve been terribly busy lately, and I’m sorry about that.”
“It’s all right,” Leia said, making herself believe it.
Breha put her hand on her daughter’s shoulder, a signal that meant lectures were done and life would resume. “You should head back to the spaceport and help people get settled. It’s back to the books for me.”
“How many accounts can there be to balance?” Leia asked. Breha simply shrugged as she walked out of the library.
They’d parted well enough; still, there was no missing that, once again, her mother’s attention was elsewhere.
Yet Leia couldn’t be that angry with her mother when she was so much angrier with herself. She’d been so proud of what she’d done on Wobani, so sure what she was doing was right.
It can’t be all bad that I got those people out of there, she reminded herself, thinking of the ecstatic smiles on the faces of the people she’d “hired.” Some people who would’ve gone to bed cold, hungry, and afraid will instead be warm, well-fed, and happy. That’s worth something. It’s worth a lot.
As she walked through the corridor, she passed her father’s office. The gleam of a candledroid revealed he was working within. Their palace had many old-fashioned doors that opened and closed by hand, and this was one of them; it stood half-open, revealing a sliver of the scene inside. He sat at his great desk, speaking intently with the person opposite him—who appeared to be Captain Antilles.
Don’t eavesdrop, she reminded herself, walking away quickly. But it scalded her pride to think that the captain of the Tantive IV had a chance to report everything she’d done on Wobani before her father even talked to her about it personally. There was nothing else the two men could’ve had to discuss.
The next dawn saw Leia on a suborbital jumper, wearing all-weather gear and drinking caf from a travel mug as she leaned against her rucksack of gear. She sat in the back with a few members of the royal guard and the supplies they were taking to the Istabith range garrison. All of them frequently served the palace itself, so none of them were self-conscious around her; after the first several minutes, they chatted easily among themselves, as if she weren’t even there.
(Well, she suspected they weren’t swearing as much as usual.)
Leia preferred it this way. Instead of making stately small talk, she could remain on the jump seat and look out at the snowy hills and mountains beneath. With the plasma window keeping out the cold, she could enjoy the way the sky turned pale pink at the horizon, or how the deep snowdrifts softened the jagged peaks of the range.