Saga - OT Rememberance (Leia, OC [Zizi Pao]), 2 ABY--Part One 9/18

Title: Remembrance
Author: leiamoody
Genre: Vignette, Drama
Timeframe: 2 ABY
Canonicity: AU
Characters: Leia, OC (Zizi Pao)
Summary: Leia goes out for lunch while pursuing the feeling of a cherished memory.
Author's Notes: This is a follow-up/perhaps-sequel-of-sorts? to a gift fic Ewok_Poet wrote called Emerald Wine. It’s a wonderful story, and I always wanted to do something that showed Leia and Zizi meeting up again when she was older.

This story occurs two days after my other Leia centered fic, Crystalline.
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Leia decided to seek out the tapcafe after finding the keepsake menu in her memory chest. It was a partially battered bit of flimsiplast with “Zizi’s Summerside Tapcafe” written in midnight blue and gold Aurebesh characters underneath the hallmark of a wooden building covered in light green Frejus vines.

There was no reason for a princess from Alderaan to keep a physical reminder of a little restaurant that lay in the mountains of a Royal Colony world. But it was a souvenir from her prior life, when she had family and friends, love and laughter, home and safety.

Of course Leia no longer claimed to be surrounded by any of those wonderful elements. The Death Star obliterated the planet she called home in the abstract sense, and the place that actually contained the physical comforts that defined the tangible reality of domesticity. Any notions of safety, laughter, and love had begun a slow decay process when she assumed the mantle of senator. Those ephemeral yet tangible realities became ideas wrapped in oblivion after the destruction of Alderaan and her total commitment to the Empire’s destruction. Such was life for her in the present, as the Rebellion’s most prominent representative, caught up in the never-ending whirl of battles and strategies.

After yet another day of soul-draining discussions with the Survivors’ Committee, Leia needed to find somewhere to retrieve her thoughts and regain any sense of calm. Then she remembered the keepsake menu tucked into her luggage, and the significance of that eatery among her childhood memories. It was an unexpected reward for a nearly perfect report card back during her fifth year of primary school (perfection would have required passing all her classes, including music). Rather than a typical celebration dinner, her parents decided to surprise Leia by traveling to Alderaan’s premier colony world. It was a good memory from a simple time, when the greatest words could be found in the swirling colors of scalefish and the peculiar grace of a Pho Ph'eahian gifted with the arts of cookery and music.

They weren’t supposed to leave for another two days, right after the public unveiling of the Shard Memorial. That event was still scheduled despite the fact it had been raining for over twenty-five planetary hours and showed no interest in stopping. Maybe it would stop raining just in time for the ground to be wet rather than soaked, and there would still be enough people to come outside for the unveiling of a memorial made from Dalonian crystal which commemorated the deaths of anonymous Alderaani that might not concern most beings on Aeithera.

It wasn’t the only reason she was on Aeithera, but her discussions with Tenet Aylhem and other members of the Survivors’ Committee were frustrating. The demands of one hundred thousand individuals who shared a collective fate of living on a temporary world were important. Yet their desire for a new planet to call home couldn’t be fulfilled when the Rebellion still had to focus upon its ongoing conflict with the Empire. Leia could understand their frustration. It didn’t help improve her ongoing sense of frustration with not only the state of the galaxy but the disconnection from her own emotions.

It had been several hours since Leia woke up and started on the paperwork that accompanied every diplomatic mission. Technically this was a day off in between the first part of the week and the final two days to be concluded with one final meeting with the Survivors’ Committee and the unveiling of the Shard Memorial. But she was distracted by the growing sense of dissatisfaction in her mind which made it difficult to concentrate on anything. So she pulled herself away from the paperwork and all the complications of trying to make arrangements for other people’s lives and decided to head for the little restaurant in the Cita dav Ilo.

She could have invited Han and Chewie along for lunch, but they were over at the docking bay trying to fix the latest problem on the Falcon. She should have called up Luke and asked if he wanted to accompany her, but he was at the Cultural University searching for lost Jedi artifacts. So Leia decided it was easier and more interesting to head out alone.

 

Wonderful introspection, eloquent and very much how she would feel about the losses and the daily grind. Happy she did have a tangible keepsake and looking forward to the reunion with Zizzi.

You can feel the crossroadsness of the entire situation as well. Leia and others are trying to reestablish a "home" which doesn't feel like it yet. It'll be sorta like home but not quite. At the same time the process can't help but stir up memories of the "original."

 

Beautifully written, leiamoody. It shows that Leia has to be a strong woman, because there is no real way out for her. The only way is ahead, because the past is the past. And she fights her battles alone.

 

Wow, wow, wow! I was not expecting this. A story with Zizi AND a sequel of sorts to Emerald Wine.

When Findswoman arrives before me, it's hard to say anything that she hasn't said, but I'm going to give it a go. Like, why not?

The idea that Leia has a keepsake from Zizi's place is lovely. And since this is your second story about Leia finding balance in a short time, I assume that Zizi will help her balance "then" and "now". It's completely logical that she is not taking this trip accompanied by Luke, Han or Chewie. It's her fight, it's her life and she has to make it on her own. However, unlike in Emerald Wine, this time she knows where she is heading to and that this is not going to be a chance meeting.

Looking forward to see what happens next!

 

Leia’s crossroads moment and trying to recreate that feeling of home is part of her development as a person. Being caught between the sweetness of the past in contrast to the stress of the present is a limnial moment that will help her evolve as a person.

Leia’s strength is what keeps her going, and it also keeps her sane.

I always wanted to achieve that level of Proustian madeleine reminders (I think it’s one of those literary milestones I felt was important to attain when I was younger and wanted to a Serious Writer). Leia keeps the menu as a reminder, and it will also help her to organize the past in such a way that it will help her balance out the stress of the present. It’s that desire for balance that will keep Leia going in the coming years, and will help affect the outcome of not only her life but also the existence of the galaxy. Unlike the messed-up state of affairs in the canon GFFA, I would like to see a galaxy that actually makes a better attempt at becoming functional after the fall of the Empire.

I knew this story would be a welcome surprise.

The idea of Leia keeping the menu was something decided to use as the MacGuffin that would help get the story going. It’s a little object and not uncommon that would be a small token of that day which she could easily carry around with her.

Leia finding balance in this story is completely different than in my other story. It’s possible for Leia to achieve balance in my version of the GFFA because, well, that’s what I want for her. (I generally want better things for my interpretations of the Big Three, although it doesn’t mean I’m going sugary sweet). Finding that sense of balance also means she’s going the independent route. I always liked stories where Leia got to function on her own. It’s nothing against Luke and Han, of course, but Leia is often portrayed in the context of her relationship to them. What about her relationship to herself?

 

She was a princess, a senator, a spy, and a general commanding a rebellion! She has to have a story behind her! She must have something to say. All we got out of George Lucas was a princess in distress - with a chip on her shoulder, but a princess in distress. We didn't get to see her influence in Galactic Republic politics, her part in the conspiracy to form a freedom movement, and later a rebellion against the Galactic Empire, and only got to see a sliver of her command abilities as a leader of the rebellion.

The latest movies portrayed her as a general, but we only got to see a small part of her overall influence in her charge to wipe out the remnants of the Galactic Empire and its successor (forget what the successors called themselves) who was on the losing end of the war.

Another thing I found interesting was that even though the Galactic Empire was taken out of power, and the rebellion had reestablished the Galactic Republic, with only a few holdouts from the Galactic Empire remaining, Leia's side kept calling themselves "the rebels." They ain't the rebels anymore! That last part has nothing to do with Leia, but I just needed to get that off of my chest.