━━━━━━  ✧˖*°࿐  ━━━━━━

THE SWEET SUMMER WINDS FROM THE CLEAR SKY ABOVE     greeted a young princess as she threw open the bedroom doors that led to her balcony, welcoming in the breeze that flowed through her wavy, chestnut hair and the smell of the simmering red and green grapes as they wafted up to her window and infiltrated her nostrils with their intoxicating scent. It was a smell that was unique and not like any other, as her home planet had its own magical brand of wines that couldn't be replicated elsewhere. Sauvignon, the planet was called. It was ruled by Velora and Valyr Bordeaux, who were the girl's mother and father. The eldest of three daughters, she was soon to be ruling when she reached her twenty-first trip around the sun.

Sauvignon was on the rather small side, only housing three million people or so and counting. While three million sounded like quite a bit on its own, it wasn't much to that of their sister planet Naboo, which held over 625 million of their own, making Sauvignon look minuscule by comparison. As for the planets, the two were in a financial relationship and always helping one another, Naboo being Sauvignon's main buyer and little Sauvignon was able to thrive off of that alone.

Alsephina, the eldest, sat in one of the chairs at her table, kicked up her delicate feet, and took in the morning sun, brushing her brunette hair away, leaning her head back, and feeling its warm rays seep into her already fairly tan skin, washing over her with light. She was careful not to be in her one spot for too long as she was still in her satin nightgown, leaving her arms, legs, and chest pretty well exposed. She was close to falling asleep in the simmering heat when her name caused her to be pulled out of her fatigued trance.

"Phina!" rang the voice—along with the pitter-pattering sound of footsteps—of her middle sister coming down the hall. Cassiopeia, who was seventeen years of age, was a spritely girl with the balance and grace of a very well trained ballerina. Despite how her face would look moody and vexed when rested, she truly was a nice young woman. It was Alsephina's youngest sister who could sometimes be a pain.

Bellatrix, who was soon to reach her sixteenth trip around the sun, her eyes filled with mischief and a smirk painting her lips, always had something hiding up her sleeve, which was how she earned the nickname "Trix." She was more of a nuisance growing up than she was now, as she had finally begun to mellow out and grow past her constant temper tantrums as she got older.

"Phina!" Cassiopeia called again, bursting through Alsephina's bedroom doors as though she were a wild barn animal setting itself loose.

"What is it, Cassie?" Alsephina tilted her head so she could see her sibling's chest heaving up and down, despite her trained grip on the doorknob, her grace and poise holding her up, and how not a single hair was out of place when she rammed herself into Alsephina's personal space. "And what have I told you about barging in?"

"Oh, never mind that," Cassiopeia dismissed, waving her hand to swat it away like a fly in her face, "that's not important right now. The matter of the very moment is that Mama wants you dressed because they're finally here."

"Who's here?" Alsephina rested her feet upon the warm floor of the balcony as she sat up from her reclined position, arching an eyebrow at her sister's urgent statement.

"The Solo family." Cassiopeia swung the door back and forth, smiling as she teetered and swooned. "And they've brought along their son this time."

The Solo family was quite the esteemed bunch, as it consisted of General Leia Organa, former Queen of Alderaan, and Han Solo, infamous gambler and starpilot, both turned Resistance legacy as they, along with Leia's brother Luke and his partner Maximilian Dupont, defeated Darth Vader and the Galactic Empire. Han and Leia had a son who Alsephina had not met yet, however, had heard a bit about with all the times that the Solos had traveled to Sauvignon for both business and pleasure, her parents catching up with them and filling the other in whenever they came.

Alsephina turned around in her seat and looked over the ledge to see her parents greeting Han, Leia, and their son outside. Shielding her face from the sun so she could see, she leaned over the ledge a little and squinted to get a better look at the young man at Leia's side.

He was certainly taller than her by a few inches, with sandy blond hair to complement his slightly tanned complexion, an almost golden honey. He wore a loose button-down shirt that was tucked into a pair of brown pants, where his hands were awkwardly shoved into its pockets as he tried to make conversation with her parents. Looking up and around, the young man managed to make eye contact with Alsephina, who was still in her lavender nightgown from the night prior, and earlier this morning from her sun soak. Suddenly aware of her attire, she covered her chest and quickly turned around, a blush beginning to bloom beneath her cheeks that wasn't from the sun.

"Phina, come on!" Cassiopeia shook the doorknob wildly, jiggling it to show the signs of her ever-growing impatience.

"All right, all right! Now, will you please calm down and get out, Cassie?" Alsephina rose from her seat and padded into her bedroom to sift through her wardrobe, looking through the copious amount of dresses that she had worn millions of times over. Settling on a flowy and flowery number, she stepped out of her nightgown and pulled the long dress over her head, making sure to fluff out her hair afterward, knowing well enough that the dress had flattened it. She pulled two strands of her hair back and pulled it into a ponytail, leaving the rest of it down and away from her to show off her sharp clavicles.

"Any day now, Phina," Cassiopeia said through the door, vexation coating her voice. Alsephina turned sharply to her sister's voice, surprised that she was still there.

"Why haven't you gone down, yet?" Alsephina asked, yanking the door to her bedroom open, seeing Cassiopeia begin to fall over but catching herself before she could.

"Mama wouldn't let me meet the boy without you there. Trix has already met him while she was with them."

"Was she afraid that you were going to jump him?" Alsephina raised a precocious brow at her sister, an impish smirk began to dance its way up her lips.   

Cassiopeia sighed, clutching her heart as she practically swooned, ignoring Alsephina's particularly snide comment. "I saw him through the window and he is absolutely divine, Phina. That's when Mama told me to come and get you."

"Then I suppose we should go and meet this supposed Prince Charming, hm?"

"Yes, let's!"

The two of them made their way down the stairs and out the front door, where their parents were still conversing with the Solo family.

"About time, Alsephina," Velora said, taking notice of her and pulling her forward so she could be in view, "what took you so long?"

"Mama, I was sunbathing," answered Alsephina and Velora scoffed. "Were you wearing your lavender nightgown?" Without waiting for an answer, she went on with her berating. "What have I told you about being outside with that on? Anyone can see you from up there!"

Alsephina's eyes quickly flashed over to the boy who was already staring back at her, eyes a little wide and his lips parted in what was either shock or surprise, she couldn't tell as the two reactions seemed to have blended together.

"I'm so sorry to have kept you all waiting," Alsephina apologized, returning her attention to Han and Leia. "Not entirely sure why though, we've already met."

Leia chuckled. "You're still funny. Good. I believe you haven't met our son, Benjamin." She held her hand out to bring him forward. "Ben, this is Alsephina—Valyr and Velora's oldest daughter."

Ben took one of his hands out of his pockets to meet hers in a handshake. "Pleasure to meet your acquaintance."

Alsephina nodded, still shaking his hand. "A pleasure to meet you, as well, Benjamin. Or is it better that I call you Ben?"

"Benjamin is fine." Ben retracted his hand and was about to put it back into his pocket until Cassiopeia yanked it back and shook it with great fervor. "Cassiopeia Bordeaux, how wonderful it is to meet you!"

"Cassie!" Alsephina yelped, her eyes widening as she pulled her sister back and out of Ben's handhold. "I'm so sorry. She hasn't seen a boy in well over a while so she's still in shock." With that, she got an elbow to the ribs and a grimace etched into her sister's doll-like features.

"I suppose that concludes all of the introductions," Velora clasped her hands together, "why don't we head inside for a spot of tea? Alsephina, why don't you show Benjamin around the estate?"

"I'll come with," Cassiopeia perked and Velora was quick to shut the idea down.

"Um," Alsephina tapped her finger against her bottom lip in thought, turning different ways to look for a place to start the tour, "I suppose we can start with the kitchen, and then we'll make our way on from there. Everyone's beginning to head that way, anyway."

"This palace seems a little small for a royal family," Ben commented, looking around. Alsephina smirked. "That's because it's an estate, Benjamin, not a palace. My mother thought a palace was too much for a family as small as ours. It'd be a lot of cleaning since my sisters and I do a bit of it ourselves. Whatever we can't reach, the staff will do."

"Do you do your own cooking, as well?" Ben raised a brow in intrigue, his face curious.

Alsephina nodded proudly. "A good practice of being self-sustained. So if I were to ever be on a foreign planet by myself, I'd be able to make my meals without help. However, we will have the staff on hand for the bigger holiday dinners."

They passed through the kitchen into the dining room which held a long table that could seat about twenty. A chandelier hung over the middle, catching onto the sun's rays and casting little rainbows onto the table and the floor. Behind the table was a tall dishware cabinet that held all of the fine china that was there mostly for decoration as all of the actual dinnerware was located in the cabinet beside the sink in the kitchen.

"This is where we dine. Clearly," Alsephina explained, a little stilted in her response as if Ben couldn't see for himself.

"Really?" Ben turned to her, teasing, "Didn't know."

Alsephina gave him a look before perking up. "Fair enough. Come, I wanna show you the backyard and the garden."

As they traversed back through the kitchen and out the back door, the two of them stepped out into the backyard, which was almost as large as the front yard. It was overtaken by a copious amount of flowers that were all varying in type, however, the one that was there the most was a pink peony.

"This is my garden," Alsephina introduced, "I'm very proud of how it all turned out. My family calls me the garden princess because of it."

"I can see that." Ben nodded sagely and Alsephina smacked a hand onto her forehead. "Oh my gods, I did it again."

"I see that you're a fan of the peony." Ben pointed to the peonies in their little section. They both walked over to it so they could both see. A bunch of pink peonies sat tall and pretty for all to see.

"It's my absolute favorite. It's the flower I was given when I was born. Cassie was given a lilac and Trix had been given a Campanella rose."

"And what about me? Do you know what I would've been given if I had been born here?" questioned Ben. Alsephina tapped her chin in faux thought. "I don't know, Benjamin. I would have to think about it for a while. Remind me again later."

Although she didn't have to think about it. She already knew.

Dinner soon came around and they were all seated in the dining room, talking amongst themselves as they waited for the food to be served. Cassiopeia was quick to seat herself next to Ben as soon as Alsephina pulled the chair out from under the table. Alsephina didn't bother fighting her about it knowing how excited Cassiopeia was so she sat down in between her and Bellatrix.

Ben leaned over to look at Alsephina engrossed in a conversation with her youngest sister, chatting about gods know what.

"Ben?" Cassiopeia asked, "Are you listening?"

Ben turned his attention back to Cassiopeia, who was talking about. . .something because it was all going in one ear and out the other for him. However, when it came to Alsephina, every single word stuck to him. "What were you saying?"

"Forget it," Cassiopeia huffed and turned away. When Ben looked over at Alsephina again, she was already looking back at him and glancing between him and Cassiopeia with pensive eyes. She raised him a curious brow and he only shrugged in return, not sure of what to respond. Alsephina could only smirk in response as dinner was commencing.

During dinner, the table was alight with the sounds of knives against plates, the clinking of glasses, and a number of ongoing conversations that flowed from one topic into the next.

"Switch seats with me," Cassiopeia demanded. "Why?" questioned Alsephina and raising an impish brow, "I thought you wanted to sit next to him."

"I did but then I got nervous so I started rambling and now I think I've annoyed him." Cassiopeia pouted, her bottom lip puckering.

"Well, where is he?"

"He's in the bathroom, trying to flush himself down the toilet, I suppose."

Alsephina sighed. "Fine. I'll switch with you."

"Thank you." Cassiopeia let out a breath of relief and quickly got up out of her seat. The two of them were quick to switch places before Ben returned from the bathroom. When he did return, he sat back down in his seat and asked, "Should I be worried?"

"Nothing to worry about." Alsephina shook her head, smiling, "Cassie's just made a fool of herself." Then there was a swift kick to her shin as a result of her response. Turning to her sister, she was met with yet another grimace.

"What should she be embarrassed about?" Ben questioned as he cut into the rest of his potatoes before taking a bite. Then there was another swift kick to Alsephina's shin before she could answer. "Ow," she grumbled, "that's gonna be a nasty bruise to wake up to."

"I'm sorry?"

"Nothing." Alsephina pulled a pained smile.

The rest of the night was spent with more talking and a few glasses of Sauvignon's finest wine between the adults. Alsephina was legally allowed to drink, being of nineteen years and all, but her parents wouldn't let her, saying it wouldn't be fair to her younger sisters, as if either of them would be interested in the activity.

Alsephina found Ben hiding in the kitchen cornered away from everyone else, and sitting at the island picking at his crème brûlée that he barely touched while they were all at the table.

"It's really not that bad," she said, walking towards him and taking a seat beside him. She was dressed in one of her more tame nightgowns and her hair was wet and tucked behind her ears, as she had gotten out of the shower.

"I can't get past the burnt sugar," Ben confessed. Alsephina gaped, doing her best to clamp down on her bubbling laugh. "That's what's stopping you? The sugar?"

"How can anyone enjoy the concept of burnt sugar?"

"Have you ever thought about scraping it off? Here." Alsephina plucked the spoon out of Ben's hand and carefully pulled back all of the sugar and set it aside. "There. Now it's just crème."

Ben took a spoonful of the dish and placed it in between his lips, letting the sweetness of the cream wash over his tongue. "It's good," he commented, going for another spoonful.

"You don't talk much, do you, Benjamin?" asked Alsephina, leaning her head to the side in curiosity. Ben shook his head and set his spoon down. "Well, I talk enough. I managed to get through dinner. That's something."

"That's good, I suppose. But what if you come across a girl you like and you're at a sudden loss for words. What are you to do, then?"

"I like you and I seem to be doing quite all right."

"That's because I'm easy to converse with."

"Only because you make it easy," Ben countered.

"Well, then," Alsephina smirked mischievously, "mark my words, Benjamin Solo. For I will crack you and it's not going to be pretty."

𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄 .｡.:*

all right, we got ourselves a first chapter !
please feel free to leave me some feedback !!
what'd you think ?