Their Lady Adyé [Star Wars]

Conviction

The instant she'd walked into the room Orran had straightened, leaning forward almost imperceptibly with interest. Something about her had been so familiar that he'd nearly blurted out a demand to know who she was. There had been something in her features that niggled at his memory, though he couldn't quite pinpoint what. But no matter how familiar she'd seemed, he'd been sure he'd never seen her before.

And yet...

Then she'd given them her real name, and he'd known. Somehow he kept his shock to himself. Or perhaps he had been simply too shocked to react with that shock, the implications not entirely sinking in until later. He managed to keep his expression neutral but curious. He'd had some measure of political training; his own aptitude tests, like Neva's, had shown his potential talent for the political arena, though not to the same degree as his older sister. Because of that, he hadn't stayed with the youth programs like his sister had and never held office of any kind on Naboo. But it had furnished him with some of the requisite skills. Because of that, he was able to maintain a rational interest and keep his reeling emotions under tight control.

But despite that self-control, he had nevertheless found himself thinking back to when he had in fact met Athara Adyé, though there was some variability as to the aptness of the terms 'met' and 'knowing' her; she'd been barely a few weeks old at the time. Force, possibly even a few days old.

He remembered, as clearly as if it had been yesterday, seeing his father, Brahm, holding his tiny granddaughter as his eldest child sat at his elbow, Neva looking between her father and her sleeping daughter with a faintly sad but still content pride. Orran and the rest of the family hadn't even known his sister was on Naboo, not until Neva had shown up at their father's door, baby Athara nestled securely in her arms. Orran remembered holding his niece that day, his fifteen year-old self astounded by the tiny baby he'd held, feeling an odd warmth deep down as he looked into his niece's large, innocent eyes.

Could this Athara Adyé be that tiny baby all grown up? Part of him doubted, of course; it had been so long ago, and they had been assured that neither Neva nor her daughter had survived the supposed 'Jedi' attack. But another part of him certainly did not doubt. The warm emotion had come back the instant the pieces had clicked together.

She looked like Neva. That was why she'd looked so familiar. And her eyes were just as he remembered them when they'd looked up at him out of his infant niece's face. Oh, there was certainly more in them, now. He felt he could almost see the harsh realities and dark cast of this young woman's life even if her gaze was guarded and unreadable.

And she was certainly spirited like Neva, though Neva's strong will had been disguised by a calm exterior and near endless patience. But his sister had also had a temper, no matter how hard one needed to work to set it off.

Judging by the sparking glints in Athara's eyes as she had argued with Alderaan's last princess, Athara had inherited that too...

More than that, Neva's will had been a force of nature. Once she'd made up her mind to do something, she rarely backed down. Athara seemed rather like her mother in that regard as well. That became abundantly clear when she refused outright to help the Alliance against Darth Vader specifically. He knew just from his memories of Neva that the set of Athara's jaw and the steel in her expression had been a clear sign of just how serious she was in her refusal to give them Vader.

It had been resoundingly unpopular within the Advisory Council and High Command. A few, Princess Leia most vocal of all, wanted to see her locked up and interrogated until they got every usable bit of information out of her. Others, though hoping for the same thing, were far more pragmatic and seemed to realize there was no way Vader's Shadow would submit easily to any such thing and would be even more unlikely to break under anything short of all out torture...and even that was debatable. But there were still more of them who seemed to recognize that they'd had an opportunity presented to them that they couldn't afford to pass up, no matter the risks and despite her astonishing caveat.