PART ONE: ESOTERIC

Leia and Luke walk side by side down the white hallways. They're rarely seen apart. When there's one Skywalker, the other isn't far behind. It's been that way for as long as anyone can remember. Even the newbies can quickly point out the twins though they are almost polar opposites. Luke is much more approachable compared to the scowling Leia. Most people assume that they fight constantly, but not couldn't be more untrue.

Their clashing personalities make them an almost unstoppable force. Just when you find a weakness in one, you quickly discover that the other has that strength. They are a power team that seems only possible in legends.

Though the galaxy is in the middle of a war, their mother insists that they keep their studies up. Most kids their age have given up studying to do their part in the battle against the Empire so teachers are a rare find. Bail Organa gladly offered to teach them about politics and government issues though so that solved their problem. The subject comes easy to the twins, but that doesn't make it exactly fun to learn. The only enjoyment they have by attending is getting to spend time with Bail.

"There are my favorite students." Bail greets as they enter his office.

"Only students." Luke corrects with a soft smile. He shakes out his blond hair, keeping the waves from falling into his eyes. His mother has been hounding him to get a haircut, but he refuses. Part of it is because it's the one way he can rebel against her. The other part is because he likes it long.

Bail gives a soft laugh as they sit in their desks. Every morning, he has to drag them in from one of the other meeting rooms. There are a few feet between the twins so that they can't glance over each other's shoulders to peek. Not like these two would ever cheat. They're plenty competitive with each other, so that keeps their eyes on their own papers. They want to outdo each other in everything.

"I hope you two studied." He says as he rises from his desk.

"We studied. Didn't get a lot of sleep though." Leia says, leaning back in her chair. She takes a pin out and then quickly adjusts her hair. She slips it back in, her bun now tighter to her head. Her mother has been spending the past few years teaching her all of the different ways to style her hair. Leia enjoys learning from her, but she always finds herself sporting the double buns that many Alderaanians wear.

"You know the drill. Keep your eyes on your own paper then turn it in for me when you're done." He says, handing each of them their test. "And no secret twin language to talk about me." He teases.

"We haven't used that in years." Luke waves away as he grabs his pen.

"Right. Like you weren't just using it two weeks ago." Bail chuckles as he returns to his desk. The room is then silent besides the sound of their pens writing on the papers.

Bail has always had a soft spot in his heart for these two. He and his wife had always wanted to adopt, but it never seemed to work out. Once the twins were old enough to be alone for a few days, Padmé would send them to stay with him on Alderaan. Soon, they started spending summers out there, happy to be able to be kids. Living on a rebel base as children can become frustrating, so he takes them anytime they need a break.

He loves both of them greatly, but he spends most of his time with Leia. She comes with him on diplomatic missions while Luke prefers to stay and work on the ships. Bail and Leia share many memories together because of this. He teaches her about the new planets they visit and she helps remind him that not everything has to be so serious.

Leia loudly flips over her page, making sure that Luke knows that she's ahead of him. He sends her a quick glare as he flips his as well. He is going to beat her today.

Bail watches in amusement as their hands soar over their papers. He's not even sure they are writing words anymore. Their pens glide from one side of the paper to the other. He is curious to see which twin will win today.

Abruptly, both of them bolt upright and rush towards his desk. They slam down their papers. "Beat you!" They shout at the same time, eyeing each other.

Bail takes the papers, looking them over. "Just as I suspected, smudged writing from Luke and missing punctuation from Leia." He says.

Luke looks at his hand, seeing the blue ink stains. He grumbles, licking his other hand and rubbing at the mark in an attempt to clean it. It doesn't do much to help.

"Sorry." Leia shrugs to Bail.

He chuckles, setting down the papers. "It's alright, this isn't English class." He says. He rises from his desk, his hands folding behind his back. "I'll have these back to you by this evening. You're free for the rest of the day."

The twins share a smile and quickly thank Bail. Most days, they spend an hour or so learning about what's currently happening with the Empire and the political efforts being made to end it. They're thankful that today Bail is letting them be free to be kids. They rush out of the room, basically tripping over each other. They want to be the first ones to get in line to take some practice flights.

"Can't believe you forgot to punctuate, Leia. Rookie mistake." Luke says, giving her a smirk as they speed walk down the hallways. For the past 15 years of their lives, they've been yelled at constantly by their mother that they're not allowed to run. Of course, that just meant that they'd have to bend the rules a bit. They can't run, but they can speed walk.

"Didn't forget." Leia grins, her brown eyes twinkling with energy. "You can really save time by not adding a period or comma every three seconds."

Luke hums, nodding his head. "Smart."

"Thanks." She says. They reach the landing platform, watching the ships fly in and out. Just recently, their mother let them learn how to pilot. They've been begging her for years and she's finally caved.

They walk up to one of the crew members keeping records of which ships are coming in. They are unable to keep their smiles to themselves. "We'd like to be next on the list," Leia says.

"Of course. Anything for you two. What would you like?" He asks as he scrolls through his datapad.

"X-Wing." Luke quickly answers. Leia elbows his side, making him groan in pain.

"The next fighter should be coming in in the next fifteen minutes. Once we refuel it for you, you can take it out."

"Thanks!" Leia grins. She grabs Luke's arm and drags him away. They go to their cubbies and quickly change into their uniforms. They pull on the bright orange jumpsuits, tugging at the sleeves so they fit properly. They snatch their helmets and go sit patiently on a bench in the landing platform, watching the ships and the pilots.

Luke lets out a sigh, resting his arms on his helmet. Leia looks over, knowing something's bugging him. Not wanting to deal with a whiny Luke all day, she decides to try and get it out of him now. "What's wrong?"

He furrows his eyebrows, looking at her. "Nothing."

She rolls her eyes. "You're lying."

"Am not." He argues.

"Yes, you are. I've been with you since the womb. I know when something's bothering you. So spill."

He groans, running his hands through his hair. He doesn't want to talk about it. It's something that he shouldn't complain about, but it bugs him. Today, it's only been amplified. "Do I have to?" He asks, pleading by batting his blue eyes at her.

"That only works on Mom, dumbass." She scoffs. "And yes. You have to." She says, punching his arm.

"Fine." He huffs as he rolls his eyes. He lowers his voice, looking out at the pilots working on their ships. "Does it bother you that we get everything?"

Leia pauses. This wasn't what she was expecting him to talk about. She agrees, it is annoying, but why did this suddenly darken his mood? She wants to know why he brought this up now. "What do you mean?" She asks.

"Come on, Leia." He says, his attention on her again. "We get everything we ask for. We show up here and get on the list to fly immediately. Wedge says that sometimes he has to wait 3 hours before he can get his time in."

Leia frowns. Luke's right. She has heard about new pilots having to wait for hours to get to practice while she and Luke have never run into that problem. And it's not just with flying times. It's for everything. They are always the first ones to get meals. Beds are found for them immediately whenever they have to move bases. Everything is catered to them and making sure that they have everything they could ever need. "Yeah." She sighs to Luke. "I have noticed."

He scrunches his nose. "I hate it."

She furrows her eyebrows. "Me too."

"It's not fair to everyone else." He continues, his tone urgent and quickening with every word. "I shouldn't have everyone falling at my feet. It's not my fault that Mom is the leader of the rebellion. I should be treated just like everyone else here. I'm no more important than Wedge or anyone else. Why should I get some special treatment just for being related to the rebel leader?"

She nods her head, agreeing with every word. "And when we want the special treatment, it's not like we get it." She scoffs. She leans in close to Luke, her voice just above a whisper. "Anytime there's a secret here, we're the last ones to know. It's like they're trying to shield us from something or someone. We're old enough to know now. We're not children anymore."

"There are people who have joined the rebellion that are younger than us." He says, anger now coursing through his veins. "Yet they treat us like we can't even tie our own shoes without someone watching over us."

Before Leia can add, their comlinks beep on their wrists. They swiftly look down, the flashing red light making them groan. She looks at Luke, rolling her eyes. "Mom." She grumbles.

"I'll go tell them to give our spots away." He replies as he rises from his seat. Leia takes their helmets and goes to put them away while he explains why they aren't able to fly at the moment.

The rebel leader wants to see them.

They met up as they're leaving the landing platform. They're practically dragging their arms on the floor. So much for having a free day. Their mother probably has some new chore for them to do. "What do you think she's going to talk about this time?"

Luke shrugs his shoulder. "I don't know. I'm hoping that it'll be some diplomatic mission."

"Why? So I go away for a few days?" Leia chuckles, brightening. It's a lot easy to deal with their mother if they aren't in a sour mood.

"Not for you to go away. So I can go away. I need to get off of this base for a few days." Luke answers, making her laugh. He's right. It would be nice to leave the base for a few days. Things around here have been unusually vibrant lately.

They pause outside of her quarters, neither one wanting to enter first. They love their mother and they know she loves them, but recently she's been a pain to deal with. Most of their conversations have only been about the rebellion and everything they should do to help out. Just for a few minutes, they would like to be with their mother, not the rebel leader.

Leia knocks, silently hoping that she isn't there. But that's dashed quickly when they hear her voice telling them to enter.

Luke pushes the door open, walking in first. Padmé strides over to them, placing a kiss on top of each of their heads. "How are my babies?" She asks, bringing smiles to their faces. They thought that this would be some rebel meeting.

"Good," Luke answers as he sits on the edge of her bed. He falls onto his back and stretches his arms out. "Bail said that we had the day off so we were going to go flying."

Padmé pauses, looking at them. She hadn't thought of that. She glances at her watch, realizing that it wouldn't work. It's too late to send them flying now. She brushes the idea out of her head and smiles at him. "That sounds like fun."

"Yeah, we were just about to get a ship when you called," Leia says. Padmé nods, now noticing that they're in the orange jumpsuits. They must be disappointed that she took them away.

"Sorry. I just wanted to see you two before my meeting this afternoon." Padmé says. A knock comes from her door and a few crew members enter carrying three trays of food. "I was hoping you two would join me for lunch."

"Sure. I'm starving." Luke says, hopping up from the bed. He plops onto the floor then takes a tray from one of the crew members. Leia and Padmé follow suit, forming a circle on the floor.

Once the crew leaves, Padmé decides to start the conversation. "I'm sorry that I've been so busy lately. I just need to be prepared for this next meeting. I promise that I haven't forgotten about you."

Luke and Leia share an embarrassed glance. They were being selfish. Their mother has a job to do and they've been complaining about not getting enough attention. They can't be the only thing on their mother's mind anymore. They are old enough to not need her constantly fretting about them. And besides, isn't that what they've been asking for anyway? To not have her breathing down their necks?

Wanting to change the topic, Luke speaks up. "Is there a chance that I could go on a diplomatic mission?"

"I thought you hated those," Padmé says before bringing her fork to her mouth. Luke hasn't gone on a mission in a little over a year. After what happened on Tatooine, he begged her to never send him again. Since then, he has always stayed behind to work on the droids and damaged ships.

"I do. Well, did. I don't know." He stumbles. He scratches the back of his head, a blush growing on his cheeks. "I just want to get off this base for a while. I feel cooped up."

Padmé nods. "I could ask Bail to take you two to Alderaan. It would be a change of scenery."

"I don't want to go to Alderaan." Luke immediately groans. "I want to go somewhere new. Please?"

Padmé takes a deep breath. She isn't exactly sure what to do. She will have to go through a lot of people to find somewhere to send Luke. And after this next meeting, she's not sure where he could safely go. "I'll bring it up with Obi-Wan. I'm sure he'll be more than willing to accompany you."

"Thanks." Luke smiles, digging into his food.

"That doesn't mean it'll happen though, so don't complain to me if you can't go." She replies, glaring at him.

"Got it." He says as he raises his hands in surrender.

Padmé smiles at him then turns her attention over to Leia. "You're being surprisingly quiet. Do you have something you want to ask me too?"

She shrugs her shoulders. "Not really. Unlike Luke, I don't have to beg to go on missions. I have one next week."

"Where are you going next week?" Padmé asks curiously. Bail hadn't mentioned that he was taking Leia on another mission. Usually, he tells her first and then asks if he can bring Leia along. Though Padmé would agree no matter what, it's nice to have a heads up.

"Bail is having me go to Lothal. It's just a supply mission." Leia waves away. Padmé awes, now remembering that Bail had asked her. This mission isn't going to take more than a day. She has nothing to worry about.

"Why can't I go to Lothal?" Luke asks with a soft scoff.

"Because you don't know how to work supply missions." Leia fires back.

"I could learn."

Padmé decides to cut in before it gets out of hand. She hates it when the twins fight. Things have never gotten farther than bickering, but she likes to put an end to it quickly. "Luke, you can't go to Lothal. Bail is not going to be with Leia this time. She's been there before and she has already been briefed on everything she has to do."

Luke slightly pouts but goes back to his food. Padmé begins to feel guilty. Luke is the one who wants to leave so bad. She wants to send him, but knows that there is no time to train him on what to do. "I promise that if the diplomatic mission doesn't work out that I'll find somewhere for you and Obi-Wan to go."

A soft smile grows on his face. "Okay."

A knock comes from the door and the handmaidens enter the room. Padmé rises from the floor, smiling at them. "I'm guessing that it's time for me to get ready."

Leia and Luke look at the handmaidens then glance back at each other. It's rare for the handmaidens to be brought in. The only time they prepare their mother for meetings is when it's with the Empire.

"Thank you two for joining me for lunch," Padmé says as the twins rise from the floor. She grabs Leia, kissing the top of her head. "Love you, Leia."

"Love you too," Leia replies.

Padmé grabs Luke, kissing the top of his head as well. "Love you, Luke."

"I love you too, Mom." He says.

They don't need to be told that they are expected to leave. They silently exit the room, their mother following them out. She shuts the door behind them, leaving them alone in the white hallway.

Leia sends Luke a smirk, an idea forming in her head. He arches his eyebrow, slightly worried. What is Leia up to?

~~~~~~~~~~