An Alderaanian Love Story

Chapter 1

Love, so thought Leia Organa, was a ludicrous idea. Everyone had their own ideas and opinions on the matter, none of it seemed reliable in the least bit. Even in her own family, each of her three aunts had their own vain theory about love and how it all worked. As for herself, Leia was hardly interested in men that way as she had a full schedule with politics and her cover work for the Rebellion. She could hardly even entertain the thought at the moment, it seemed so very childish. Of course, her father, aunts, and many of the other senators were anxious as baby nexus to marry her off to a wealthy prince from one of the other royal Alderaanian houses. But what really scared Leia was the fact that she was running low on excuses and missions to stall her aunts' work.
The marriage market, when it came to the Organa sisters, was an important, multi-step process of wearing Leia thin to the bone. With her twentieth birthday fast approaching, her aunts had been buried in files, tabs, and reports on the other princes of Alderaan, traveling to visit many of the other houses and speak to the young men. Her father was less invested but agreed and understood when it came to Alderaan's traditions. But Leia had a hard time trusting even her father as the whole process went and the time came for them to choose her a husband. Leia had little patience to endure the whole market season and the constant trips to buy new dresses, lessons on proper etiquette with Sabé, dance lessons with Winter and Aunt Tia . . . and meeting some of the men they wanted her to marry . . .
It was all a huge scandal and a waste of time. And suddenly politics were less boring to the princess. Her disinterest had slowly waned, but her daily lessons and sessions with tutors were still boring and long. As they all seemed pointless to Leia still, it was no wonder they were all part of her aunts' grander plan. No, not the marriage market plan. The Proper Princess Plan, Tia, Rouge, and Celly's greatest, grandest plan yet. By any and all means, the three sisters were dead set on grooming the finest, most proper and elegant princess they could for the House of Organa. And Princess Leia Organa was, thus far, far from it.
To Rouge's utter disappointment, Leia's tomboy "phase" had turned out to be the very essence of her personality, a trait that was second nature to her. A little dirt and grime was more than fine. However, there were a lot of other attributes to Leia's personality that didn't bother her aunts. Her selflessness, for example, or her loyalty. But her tomboy nature preferred to overrule and snap at her aunts' attention. Leia often found it fun to annoy the three dowagers, but they weren't the only ones who had something against it. Bail had made it clear the other young men from Alderaan's houses would not be pleased with a smart-mouthed, quick-witted, tomboy princess and insisted she seriously take into account her aunts' lessons and act more regal and proper. Leia was also honest and she saw no point in lying to a man who very well may one day be her husband. And she knew she would want to know who she was really marrying before her aunts dragged her down the aisle.
As far as her own thoughts on the subject went, all Leia knew was that she wanted to marry for love, marry whoever she wanted when she wanted. Not when tradition called for it.
Stretched out on her bed, Leia tapped away on a datapad, entering notes she was taking from her studies on an indignant species of the planet Honoghr, the noghri. A few months ago, there had been reported issues of unrest on the planet Honoghr which was very close to one of the Rebels' bases. Leia's father had gone with a team to investigate and had discovered a civil war between the planet's two main inhabiting species, humans and the noghri. The noghri had, as far as anyone knew, been native to the planet and there long before humans started settling on the plain and jungle planet. The Empire had most recently started settling on the planet and at a raid pace, too. The noghri had been given no time at all to adjust before their home was overrun by selfish, needy Imperialists, the consequences horrendous. Leia had agreed to help do some extensive research on the noghri, but this simple sounding task was proving to be a bit more difficult as there was very little information available on them. Still, Leia kept up her work. It was either this or lessons on Core World History with Madame Vesta. That was an easy choice.
She switched to another tab on the device just as AT-AV(All-Terrain Attack Vehicle), Leia's favorite of her aunt Tia's pet pittins, curled up in a ball at her feet. Smiling, Leia reached out to pet the pittin which she had long ago named. She smoothed back his soft, light pink fur until he started to pur and crawled to fit into the crook of Leia's arm. "Hey there, little guy. How are you?" AT-AV jumped and licked Leia on her cheek and she laughed, cuddling the pet to her chest. "Isn't Aunt Tia looking for you? I bet she's worried. After all, you make a much better child than Nial."