04 | the lost look in one's eyes

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT WHAT I'M GOING THROUGH?"

CEYDEA PALACE, CENTIUM CITY, CERADICIA-

In all honesty, Alora expected the Rebellion to come in with more grandeur than they actually did.

It was a quietly done procession, Roki, Aroyo, and Alora standing inside of one of the royal docking bays that were linked to the palace. Rienna was absent, which was a small mercy. That meant that Ambassador Geno was with her, and he wouldn't contact the Empire and notify them of the betrayal that the King of Ceradicia was committing against the Galactic Empire.

The royal bay was quiet as the ship landed into view, the bay almost a little too dark as to not draw suspicion. Aroyo had only roped in his youngest two siblings, figuring that the fewer people knew about what was going on with the Rebellion, the better. He didn't want any word to come out to anyone that would notify Ambassador Geno of what he had done- Aroyo didn't want the whole planet to hurt because of a small mission he wanted the Rebellion to help with.

That mission being helping find out who was so hellbent on murdering the Ceydea family.

There has been suspicions when their parents died and the Empire quickly swooped in to take over the investigation, but now, with the attempt in Aroyo's life and the loss of Advisor Cherton, Aroyo didn't want to take any chances. It was the obvious move, calling in the people who were actually making a difference in the galaxy to assist with the investigation in Aroyo's eyes. The Empire was just going to cover up any evidence that they found that would even point the royal family in the wrong direction- the direction that would point to something that the Empire didn't want uncovered.

Alora had arrived last that morning, barely making it in time to see the ship land. She was exhausted, the young woman having been up all night after the events of a couple of days past. There was the scene that replayed in her mind over and over, with the Advisor getting shot and the aftermath of his assassination stuck in her mind.

"Nice to see you finally get here." Aroyo remarked to his grumbling sister, who looked annoyed to be around her family so early. Noticing her exhausted bags under her eyes, a concerned look on his face becoming obvious. "Why the long face? Were you up all night again?"

"I don't wanna talk about it." Alora mumbled, rubbing her eyes as she tried to focus her vision on the now landed ship in front of them. Giving a look over at Aroyo, she could still see the worried look on his face, and she gave an annoyed one over to him. "Seriously. I'm fine. Just a lack of sleep is all." She murmured, trying to take a deep breath and change her attitude. Alora knew what her brother expected of her- to be on her best behavior- and she wasn't going to screw that up.

Her brother wanted to make a good first impression. The both of them- that was. She could see it in the nervous glance that Roki kept exchanging between his siblings and the ship in front of them. Alora could even see Aroyo bouncing on his toes, trying to keep his nervousness contained inside of the facade of being a well put and contained king.

"Lora." Roki nudged his sister, who was zoning out from the situation at hand. Bringing her attention back to her older brother, Alora was surprised to see him in the outfit he was in. Alora's older brother was slightly more dressed up than usual, his normal look of the casual cargo pants and t-shirt overtaken by a more formal attire of a deep plum blazer, neat slacks and a white undershirt. A sort of nice and formal welcoming crew- well except for her. She hadn't found the need to do anything out of the ordinary for the Rebellion members, opting for one of her casual outfits.

"Look." He slightly inclined his head towards where the ship had killed its engine, the soft light that came from the engine now making the bay that they were in even more darker than before.

There were three Rebellion members who made their way out of a ship that had become synonymous with the Empire fighters- the Millenium Falcon. Alora couldn't distinguish who the three were at first, but from the way Roki was bouncing up and down she assumed they were important people- or his friends. As the three moved closer into the light of the palace's docking bay, Alora was easily able to distinguish one man-

Luke Skywalker.

It was obvious that it was him, from the way that he carried himself, a small cloak resting on his shoulders. There was also the obvious lightsaber hilt tucked to the right (Alora's left) side of his belt. However, he wasn't like what she had expected at all. There was a smaller demeanor to him than she expected, the myths and tales of the Jedi who ran around defeating the Empire definitely not living up to expectation.

After Alora distinguished Luke Skywalker from the three, it was easy to tell who came alongside him. Leia Organa. Or as most of the galaxy knew her now as a Skywalker, the adventures on Tatooine synonymous with the bringing back of Han Solo and the discovering of her true heritage. Of course, Han Solo was with them as well.

It had been a couple of years since Tatooine, Alora not sure how long ago that the myth had come and gone about how Luke Skywalker had taken down Jabba the Hutt. He had supposedly shown up to the Tatooine base of the crime lord with a newly found blue kyber crystal in his lightsaber and a determination to get his friend back (a mission that had ultimately succeeded), but Alora wasn't sure how long it had been- the only thing that she was sure about was that it  had been a little while.

Well, it had been long enough for Leia Organa and Han Solo to get hitched and have a son of their own. Roki had told her a little bit about the Rebellion's most important members before they arrived, figuring that it was worth it to fill his youngest sister in so she didn't look like a complete dud in front of the Rebellion. Alora knew his name- Ben Solo. Roki had told her it was an homage to an old Jedi who helped Luke and Han early on, whose name was Ben Kenobi, better known as Obi Wan Kenobi- and well, Alora knew that was.

"Leia. Han." Roki gave a wide smile as he watched the two of them move forward, immediately wrapping Leia in a hug- almost as if they had been old friends. "It's nice to actually see your faces for once instead of hearing them through a communicator." He laughed, pulling out of the embrace with the woman, holding out his hand for Han to shake.

"I'd have to agree on that." Han chuckled, shaking Roki's hand with a hidden smile. "And it's nice to meet the rest of the Ceydeas. If you'd care to introduce us, or course." He gestured to the rest of Roki's family, seeing the young man sort of fluster as he realized that introductions were in order.

"Right." Roki's slight embarrassment faded quickly as he cleared his throat, regaining his composure as he looked back at his brother and his sister. "Uh, this is my older brother- Aroyo." He looked back at Aroryo, the young king offering a small smile as a greeting. "And this is Alora. My younger sister and the youngest of the family."

"Hi." Alora have a small wave at the three Rebellion members, trying her best not to do anything out of line. "It's uh- nice to meet all of you." The young woman was at a loss for words, unsure of what to say in front of the legends of the Rebellion. 

Actually, there was one thing. But she'd keep that in the back of her mind for now.

"Nice to meet you three as well. I take it that your other sister wasn't all too pleased with us coming to your planet. Her absence is noted." Leia nodded at the two of Roki's siblings, noticing the missing sister of the Ceydea lineage. She had done her research on the family, unlike her husband, and it showed in the way that she sized up Aroryo with a small smile and Alora with one less so. Giving a small sigh, Leia shook herself out of whatever judgmental look she gave Alora. "Anyways, I assume that you know my husband, Han and my brother, Luke."

Looking at the three Rebellion members again, Alora tried to hold in a scoff as she looked at them. Of course the Rebellion figure would have to look down upon her- the youngest and what some considered the most reckless. Alora had heard the whispers of what she was rumored to be like outside of the palace. She wasn't all too pleased with the fact that one of the Rebellion members had already sized her up for a person she wasn't- especially when Alora was essentially running on fumes at the moment.

Quite frankly, Alora thought that the Rebellion members in front of her didn't look like they were much of a force to be reckoned with either. They were a group hastily put together, barring Leia, Han in a getup much like her own. And Luke Skywalker? Well, there was one thing that was stuck in Alora's mind after the not-so-welcoming glance from the Jedi's sister.

"You don't look like much of a Rebellion to me." Alora scoffed, rolling her eyes as her older brother gave her a harsh glance. Ignoring the look she got from Aroyo, Alora decided to just finish her sentence. What was the harm in insulting a group that she had no desire helping or being a part of? The cherry on top of it all was Luke Skywalker, who was the very farthest thing from what Alora thought a myth and a man of his stature would be. "And you don't look like much of a Jedi."

The room went silent after Alora spoke, the room heavy with tension as Luke stared at the youngest daughter of the Ceydea family. There was a look of somewhat shock on the young Jedi's face, the man surprised that Alora had such a mouth on her. Sure, he had encountered his sister under the same circumstances, but he hadn't expected every princess that he met to have the same mouth and attitude on them.

And, in all honesty, the fact that this young woman wasn't grateful for the fact that the Rebellion was coming to help their kingdom out made Luke more than a little bit upset. "And you don't look like much of a princess."

"Luke!"

"Alora!"

"Apologize." Both Leia and Aroyo spoke in harmony to their designated sibling, neither one looking all too happy at that prospect. There was a pissed off glare in Aroyo's eyes as he glanced at his sister, a more peeved look evident in Leia's eyes as she looked at her twin brother.

"I'm not going to apologize for something that I meant every word of." Alora glared at her older brother, telling him that she definitely wasn't going to back down from the argument that she was inevitably going to start. She was upset and tired- and had this underlying feeling that as much as the Rebellion wanted to help, they weren't going to solve anything. They were only going to waste time and cause more trouble. "It's not like the Rebellion is going to be much help anyways." Alora grumbled, turning away from the trio of Rebellion members that were in front of her.

Before she could walk away, Roki caught Alora's arm, seeing the upset and exhausted look in her face and deciding to not poke the upset and sleeping bear. "Lora-" He paused, seeing how desperate the look in her eyes was to just let her leave, to just fix whatever mess that she had started. "Go get some sleep." Roki sighed, seeing how distraught his youngest sister was. "I'll handle all of it."

"Thank you." She whispered, giving an apologetic glance over to her other brother before brushing past the two of them, walking out of the ship's landing bay and into the hallways of the palace, not caring about anything except maybe escaping all of the horrible things that kept happening to her.

Alora wasn't sure what was going to happen next. Maybe the Rebellion would leave, maybe Roki and Aroyo would fix the mess that Alora had already started between them and they would go on to try and help the Ceydea family. Maybe everything would just be incredibly awkward, or maybe everything would be absolutely fine.

Although Alora wasn't sure that there was much that the Rebellion could do about it. The members would probably end up dead with the luck that her family was having currently.

Walking through the palace slowly, as with caution not to trip and fall over anything (Alora was known to be clumsy), she instinctively reached out to fidget with the necklace that was wound around her neck, a green crystal that had been gifted to her by her mother- the original Ceydea in the family that Alora knew. It was something that the young woman did to calm herself down, to try and let her focus on what matter was the highest priority to her.

And right now for Alora, that meant getting answers.

Answers on why the Empire was so actively involved with Ceradicia and her sister. Answers on why her mother and father who mysteriously ended up dead on a diplomatic mission to Naboo. Answers on what exactly was going on that would cause an assassination attempt on her brother. Answers on why Advisor Cherton was dead.

"Alora! Alora." The young woman heard a voice calling out her name from the hallway behind her, the exhausted princess turning to see the Jedi she had so shamelessly insulted a couple of minutes before in front of her. "I came here to-"

"Apologize? Believe me, it's not the first time I've been insulted like that. It's totally fine." Alora lied through her teeth, hiding the fact that maybe there was a sting of shame hidden deep in her heart that the Jedi had said the things that he said. She didn't even bother to look him in the eyes, deciding that it wasn't in her interest to make things personal. "There's no need. I'm over it by now. It's all in the past."

"Is it?"

The question stopped Alora dead in her tracks. She thought that the conversation would be quick and painless, an apology accepted and the quick retreat of the Jedi to go talk about more important affairs. She hadn't thought to be having such a deep conversation with a man that she barely knew.

"I see the look in your eyes." Luke called out to the young woman, finally catching her attention. Her eyes finally met his for the first time, stopping the young man dead in his tracks. There was a familiarity to the hidden glint in her eyes- a look of sadness, one of expectations imposed upon a young woman that matured too fast. "It's one that I know too well."

"Yeah? And why's that?" Alora questioned, giving a scoff as she still toyed with the crystal around her neck. She was so absolutely done with everything that happened that morning- the Jedi included. "Because you've seen the same look before in other desperate souls that you help?"

"No." Luke laughed, looking down at his feet with an embarrassed look upon his face. "Because I've had the same look in my eyes before too." He admitted, finally gaining the courage to look back into Alora's eyes, where he saw the tiniest flash of pity. "I have some knowledge on expectations placed upon you and what people expect of you."

"Oh." Alora seemed a little bit embarrassed at the fact that she had been so thick headed not to assume the fact that maybe the Jedi was a little bit like her. "In that case, I suppose I should be the one apologizing to you." She muttered, looking down at her necklace with a tinge of pink in her cheeks.

"No. It's fine, really." Luke waved his hand, his eyes drawn to Alora's necklace as she toyed with it. There was a familiar pulse to the crystal, a familiarity of the Force with it. But Alora? Not so much. There was a kind of... overwhelming warmth that opposed the calm, fresh, and cool feeling that the Force would normally overwhelm Luke with when he called out to it. Every feeling around the Ceydea family was a spreading heat, a tingling sense of warmth that was rather unfamiliar to the Jedi. "I can see how exhausted you are. There's no denying that you're running off of pure fumes, and I think that if you're going to be any use to your family or the Rebellion you're going to need some sleep."

"Uh- thank you." Alora was surprised by the overwhelming amount of compassion that Luke Skywalker showed her. She was surprised that he wasn't holding their opening conversation over her head- Alora would've most certainly done exactly what she was thinking. "But I'll rest when this is all over." Giving a small smile and turning away from the Jedi, Alora continued to walk down the hallway that would lead her towards her next mission.

Alora had her own plans while the Rebellion was investigating the assassination- and that was finding her own answers.

And she was willing to do whatever was necessary to get those answers.

<~•~>

okay ew I hate it but we finished it and we struggled through it

I'm so sorry that this chapter took forever to write, and I'm so sorry that I've been promising it for AGES and I didn't follow through! it's been a pain in the ass to write their first meeting, because I didn't know exactly how to put it into words

anyways this chapter didn't turn out how I expected it, but I think it's super interesting that my brain decided to go this way and write the interesting dynamic that is Luke and Alora! they're an interesting vibe and I'm excited to see how it all turns out!!

alrighty I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and I will see you in the next one, whenever it does come out!

comments make me work faster :)