In Fair Aldera Where we Lay our Scene

Chapter One

Leia woke up early. Perhaps not incredibly early but it felt as such because she had returned home from Courscant very late the night before. Leia wasn't sure how many hours of sleep she'd gotten before she'd been waken up for breakfast by her attendant droid, WA-2V, and her three handmaidens, Mina, Alana and Agira but what she did know was that as soon as she appeared at the breakfast table she was going to dive directly for the pot of caf.

The Royal Palace of Aldera, the main home of the royal family and the court, had many rooms for dinning including several formal dinning rooms and a banquet hall but on a lovely day such as today Leia and her family took their breakfast out one if the southern terrances, the one in their private wing of the palace which gave them a great view of not only the grounds but also Alderaan's capital city of Aldera which surrounded the palace.

Leia wore her hair up in a crown of braids and wore a simple white summer dress that went down to her ankles with flowing sleeves and a matching pair of white ballet pumps.

As she arrived on the terrance, nodding to the guards as she went, she took her usual place opposite her parents and as she had previously decided went straight for the pot of caf to pour herself a mug and hopefully revitalise her energy. After taking a few short sips Leia felt energy begin to surge through her veins and moved to grab one of the sweet pastries that had been laid out.

Leia's parents, who had previously been talking casually and quietly between themselves, paused in their conversation to smile at their daughter.

Breha Organa, the queen and ruler of Alderaan, wore a dark green full length velvet gown and had her hair tied up into a bun with a braid on either side. Bail, Alderaan's viceroy and Breha's consort, wore simple blue shirt and a dark grey overcoat which had been a trademark of the viceroy of Alderaan for centuries.

"Good morning dear," Breha greeted her daughter kindly. "Did you sleep well?"

Leia shrugged. She figured she'd catch up on sleep later but right now she didn't want to miss the opportunity to have breakfast with her parents which she hadn't had for months. She swallowed the pasty that she was eating.

"Fine," she said, then honestly added, "but I'll probably need a nap later."

"Well," Bail said, "you'll be happy to know that your schedule is free for today. You've been working incredibly hard in the New Republic and you still need time to adjust from the time difference between here and Courscant."

Leia paused. As a princess then a senator she hadn't really had a free day since she was a child. There was usually something that called her attention. Still, she knew that her parents were trying to be kind and frankly Leia was a bit too tried to argue over having free time. She smiled back at her parents.

"Thank you," she said simply because there wasn't really anything else that she could think to stay.

The royal family continued to eat their breakfast together talking amongst themselves about the current state of both the New Republic and the Alderaaian court, as well as the occasional piece of gossip, before they were interrupted by one of the guards.

"Your Majestys," she said, "Captain Antilles."

Leia turned around to see Captain Antilles walk onto the terrace in his usual blue uniform and flashed Leia a kind smile before walking up to her parents.

"Your Majesty, Viceroy," he greeted them formally and in the proper manner, "I wished to update you on the Alderaaian fleet."

Leia's interest peeked slightly. She had seen the damage done to their ships during the Second Battle of Courscant and it wasn't good. Of course, it was necessary for defeating the Empire but she could understand why Captain Antilles had become so focused on fixing them before they would be returned to their original owners.

"Go ahead," Breha motioned towards him though Bail seemed more invested in the conversation Breha was the queen and therefore it was expected for everyone present to defer to her.

"Well as you know it is very hard to find mechanics and engineers given the wide demand for them recently," Captain Antilles started, "therefore, I have gotten in contact with Delia Leighton an old ally of the rebellion."

"Yes, I remember her," Bail nodded, "I believe she took part in the battle over Courscant."

"Yes," Antilles confirmed.

Leia thought a moment before she could recall the name. Delia Leighton owned a cantina in the Outer Rim who had used her personal ship, the Serendipity, to help smuggle messages and equipment to operatives of the Rebel Alliance. Despite having no military background she had willingly answered Mon Mothma's call and partook in the Second Battle of Courscant. Leia also recalled that she had been offered a medal of bravery for her actions but that Delia had turned it down.

"She gave me information to contact two individuals who she vouches are good with ships and mechanics," Antilles voice began to take on a less casual tone. "However the two are smugglers who just recently came out of debt to the Hutt Cartel."

Leia almost chocked on the piece of toast she was eating as she listened to the conversation. The Hutts‽ They were almost as bad as the Empire! Maybe even worse depending on who you asked!

Leia's parents didn't look much pleased by the idea.

"Smugglers‽" Bail exclaimed. "Captain, you can't be serious!"

"Delia vouches that they are both not genuinely violent individuals," Antilles said, standing firm even in the face of his viceroy's disapproval, "we have very few people available to help with repairs and so long as we pay them well they are unlikely to try to steal from us."

Bail seemed to remember himself and began to clam down. He turned towards Breha and the two seemed to have one of those conversations with their eyes. Eventually, Breha nodded and turned back towards Antilles.

"It's fine with us," she said, "but keep a close eye on them."

Antilles nodded before bowing, giving his formal finalities and leaving giving a nod each to the guards before he left.

Breha shook her head to herself before she and Bail decided to continue on with their breakfast. A part of Leia wanted to discuss the topic of theses two smugglers but she could feel her exhaustion begin to creep in again so decided it was probably best to wait until after she'd had her nap so Leia decided to return to more mundane conversations as she finished her breakfast.

**********

As Leia awoke she glanced towards the chronometer on her nearby bedside table and saw that she had slept for about 5 standard hours. She moved to sit up in bed and saw that next to her datapad was a frosty glass of mintea. Leia's favourite. Leia realised that one of her handmaiden must have had it delivered to her room from the kitchens for her when she woke up.

Probably Agira, Leia mused as she took a sip.

She placed the glass back on it's coaster and moved her datapad to her lap. As she looked over her messages, she saw that she had a message from Amilyn Holdo and a message from Mon Mothma both asking if she had made it to Alderaan alright and messages from senators Naberrie and Bel Iblis sending her drafts from the treaties that she was currently working on with them.

Leia knew that today was supposed to be a 'free day' but she just couldn't help herself and looked over the copies of the treaties, making notes and then sending revitalised versions to Senator Naberrie and Senator Bel Iblis respectively.

She tried to watch a movie for a bit but couldn't really bring herself to focus so decided to look over her schedule for tomorrow while she waited for responses from her colleagues. She saw that she had a dress fitting scheduled for her ballgown for the anniversary ball for her mother's coronation. The ball would have been considered big even under normal circumstances but with the recent defeat of the Empire it was to be a symbol of joy throughout the galaxy with several dignitaries invited to attend.

As Leia continued looking through her upcoming day her mind wondered back to Captain Antilles' idea that he had told her parents about early. She knew that it wasn't fair to judge people she didn't know but still she didn't understand what he was thinking. Leia shrugged to herself. She was sure everything was going to be fine.

Story Word Count: 1465
Published: 05/09/22