Saga No Canto For Young Girls - Leia and the Organas meet Canto Bight's mysteries - Gift for Chyntuck

Author's Note: Happy holidays and apologies to @Chyntuck for being so tied up with moving.I was delighted to get this request, since Chyn has been the nicest person to consistently review my stuff re: Leia and I had fun with this idea. The request was as follows: “A story set during the Imperial era (between the end of RotS and the beginning of ANH) in which Bail and Breha have to go to Canto Bight for an official function. They're not happy about being there, and little Leia getting up to all sorts of mischief in the casino makes things worse.” This is going to be a weird mishmash, since it relies a little bit on the Obi-Wan Kenobi timeline and the Legends version of Leia’s upbringing. Enjoy! Oh, and thanks to the book Canto Bight for telling me about law enforcement.

—--

“Canto Bight is no place for a princess.”

Breha favored the viewport with a roll of her eyes, as it was considered bad form to look exasperated with a member of the Royal Court. The worrywart was her protocol droid and his tendency to render an opinion on Leia’s upbringing was what was least endearing about him.

“On the contrary,” Bail said. “Her Majesty the Queen visited Cantonica and the city of Canto Bight when she was fifteen years old and again the year before her coronation.”

“I’m sure there is a precedent for introducing an uncrowned monarch to the seedy underbelly of the Empire,” See-Threepio reasoned, “but it is not merely inadvisable. The Cantonica Security Code Article 17-Cresh paragraph 12 clearly states that a representative of a sovereignty may only be granted diplomatic immunity if they are sponsored by a citizen representative of Cantonica. The sponsorship of House Organa has not been extended to Her Royal Highness Princess Leia. Canto Bight is no place for a princess.”

Bail had been in favor of leaving the fastidious droid behind, but Breha had recalled the diversity of worlds and species at the trade summit and decided that it was best to bring along someone fluent in six million forms of communication.

“Not to worry, See-Threepio,” Bail said. “Her Royal Highness is protected by our diplomatic immunity and I’m confident–”

He broke off. In the past, he probably would have claimed that Leia could keep herself out of any serious trouble. They had reevaluated that confidence last year and while Leia’s attitude towards her guards had changed, so had her parents’ attitudes towards her youthful curiosity.

“I am confident that Leia will be safeguarded by the collective efforts of our delegation,” Leia’s father finished. “And I trust that you will consider her safety part of your duty as a valued member of that delegation.”

Breha found herself smiling at that. C-3PO would take this as a matter of honor - or whatever passed for it in protocol droids - and Leia would either resign herself to being constantly noticed or, worse, test her limits.

And that was where Queen Breha’s more unwitting spy came in handy.

“Canto Bight forbids patrons of her age, but we have made arrangements for her entertainment by people not as concerned with cheating the system. Cantonica is a wonderful place to raise a family and we will protect our asset the way the casinos of Canto Bight protects theirs.”

They could only hope that was enough.

—--

It wasn’t easy to tell when Leia was in a bad mood. Winter had first thought her playmate to be cautious, but never exactly unfriendly. When they’d first been introduced, back when Mama was alive and Winter’s visits to the Palace were on special occasions, she noticed how Leia only smiled when she thought she had someone’s permission. By the second visit, she’d gotten the Princess to break that rule, but it was obvious that someone had given Leia many lectures on how to behave in public.

Winter had been given some lectures of her own; she knew how to curtsy, what to call each member of the Royal Family, and how to respond to an invitation or order. Those lessons had been unlearned six months ago when Mama had died and Her Majesty the Queen had asked Winter if she would like to become part of their family.

She wasn’t royal, but she learned to not laugh when someone curtsied and called her Lady Winter. She developed the habit of calling the Queen and her viceroy Breha and Bail at home. Leia had placed a decicred in a vase every time Winter accidentally called her by a title and over the weeks, they stopped accruing money.

“Our first adventure,” Leia had announced this trip four days ago with a sparkle in her eye.

“It’s a diplomatic mission,” Winter disagreed. “Your father told me so.”

“He told me it was a trade summit and they’ll be meeting with merchants and economists and politicians from three dozen worlds.”

She could recite every one of those worlds and the full names of the delegates, but Leia preferred she not show off her perfect memory in ordinary conversation. “I don’t think it’ll be much of an adventure.”

Leia sighed like a teacher who had repeated a lesson for the third time that day. “They’re not having an adventure. But we’re not going to the summit. We have a mystery to solve.”

“What mystery?”

“Oh, we don’t know yet.” She sparkled again. Leia had a surprisingly mischievous side to her when you got to know her and this was doubly true when she was trying to scheme. “You’ll see what I mean.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”

Or, more accurately, that’s what Bail and Breha were afraid of. No one talked about it openly, but she sometimes saw Leia’s parents watching her with a lot of anxiety. It was like they’d seen her suffer a great injury and were worried they’d see her in danger of another fall. No one talked about it, but Winter suspected part of her adoption into the family was a hope that she would keep Leia from whatever they were afraid of. Someday, maybe, they’d tell her what that was.

While the Tantive IV was being loaded, Leia had nudged her eagerly, whispering observations and speculations to get her in a mysterious mood.

They had to make three hyperspace jumps on the flight out from Alderaan, which was exciting in itself, but after the second one, some of the light in Leia’s eyes dimmed. It wasn’t easy to tell when Leia was in a bad mood, but there was something wrong. Winter hadn’t dared to ask her about it, but she made sure they stayed closer to Bail and Breha on the flight to Cantonica and she knew from the furrow between the Queen’s eyes that she had noticed it, too.

“--Check-up once we get through Customs,” she heard Breha say as the Queen left the ship’s dining room. Suddenly aware that she had an audience, she stopped and squeezed Winter’s shoulder. “Thank you for keeping an eye on her,” she whispered. “I’ll do the same.”

Leia barely touched her food that night and went to bed before they made the third jump. Her father took her temperature and frowned, but repeated what his wife had said about a check-up. Leia would probably object to that, but if it meant she had more energy for the mystery-solving, she’d probably agree to being looked after for a day or so. After all, they had a week on Cantonica.

By the time they landed on Cantonica, Leia’s lack of appetite had turned into an upset stomach and a doctor came on-board before they even made it to Customs.

“Poor dear,” the Mon Calamari wheezed after his examination. “We can tend to the fever and I can prescribe an anti-emetic. I’ll run some blood tests for various diseases, but for now, let’s make Her Royal Highness rest comfortably.”

They were in the Chancellor’s Suite at one of the grandest hotels and Leia slept soundly through the night in a bed that could have held six full-sized humans, but Winter didn’t think she even noticed. She reluctantly slept in another bedroom, but found it hard to sleep when she was listening closely for any updates.

Bail came to wake her the next morning, dressed in his Snooty Clothes as Leia called them. “Good news,” he announced. “Leia’s fever broke last night. Bad news, she still has a stomachache. Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” Winter said, palming the sleep from her eyes. “Is the doctor coming back?”

“Not yet.” He sighed and straightened his embroidered shirt like it made him uncomfortable. “It’s going to have to be a quiet day here until she’s feeling better, but I’m sure she’d appreciate some company.”

“I can do that.”

“And I can probably come back for the afternoon,” he said. “It’s more important for the Queen to be at these meetings, so we can see if something other than medicine can cheer Leia up.”

One of the medicines made sure Leia didn’t feel like vomiting so much, but she begged off lunch. Bail returned to check in on them both, but had worry lines to match the Queen’s from the moment he walked in.

“I can’t get away,” he apologized to them both.

“I feel terrible,” Leia replied, her voice dull and exhausted-sounding.

He kissed her forehead and checked her temperature again before putting in another call to the doctor. “Threepio can let him in,” he said, “and let the servants know if you need any help. I’m sorry I can't stay home with you.”

It wasn’t allowed for her to get angry with the people who ruled her world, but Winter had to bite her tongue to keep herself from telling him to stay here until Leia was okay. That was the sort of thing that could be done when you weren’t in charge of billions of people.

Since she was self-appointed to be in charge of one person, she waited until Bail had left again before lying down on the bed.

“What mystery do you want me to solve?”

Leia paused so long that Winter thought she’d fallen asleep again. Finally, she said in a terribly small voice, “Find out a strange way to break the law here and tell me a story about how it was punished.”

Winter couldn’t go wandering into the city or even leave the hotel, but when the doctor came, Winter volunteered to help the servant go to the kitchens for broth and chatted to the cooks while they prepared some broth and fruit for their special guest. That led her to following a maid around while they replaced the towels. Threepio was easily tricked into giving her a history lesson on law enforcement and one of the officers the Royal Guard had hired for extra security here provided the last piece of the puzzle.

“They hate smuggling here,” she reported back that night. Leia had the covers pulled up to her chin and was frowning groggily, but Winter had her full attention. “There is a law against julaberries.”

“No,” the Princess of that fruit’s homeworld breathed in horror. “Why?”

“Because julaberries grown on Alderaan are fine, but there is a fruit grown here that they make into a drug and it looks almost exactly like a julaberry. People used to smuggle it in pies…”

“You’re making this up.” Her laugh made her curl up in pain for a moment, but relaxed a minute later. “Tell me what they really said.”

“I heard it from Miolno in the kitchens,” Winter said. “And I thought he was making it up. So I asked Tosk who talked to Canto Bight Police. Miolno maybe made up the part about the pies, but the law is real and the last time someone was caught, they had a five-pound bag of julaberries only containing five ounces of that fruit.” She shrugged and settled into the chair that the doctor used every time he came to check on the patient; “What next?”

“One of the signs at Customs listed all the punishments for travel violations,” Leia said. “Find out what bad thing you have to do to get a Level 2 Internal Organ Scan.”

The Organas returned just then, so Winter had to restrict her research to a computer console, No one questioned her doing homework after dinner, especially now that she was off of nursing duty, but she fell asleep before she could report in.

She awoke after midnight to a lot of commotion. The doctor’s now-familiar voice could be heard, but there were unknown voices as well and the kind of urgent whispering from Leia’s parents that she had only heard a couple of times before. Worst of all, Leia was crying in a long wailing way that meant she felt too sick to say what was wrong.

“We’ll be able to confirm with a Level 2 scan,” the doctor said, “but I’m glad you called me.”

Winter’s blood thundered in her ears. “Find out what bad thing you have to do.” Leia had been sick in bed since before they got to Cantonica, so she couldn’t possibly have gotten in that much trouble.

Bail and Breha left with the visitors, shouting instructions to Tosk. There was a terrible silence that followed, but finally, someone remembered that there wasn’t just one child traveling with the royal delegation.

“Don’t worry, Lady Winter,” Threepio said. “Her Royal Highness hasn’t had time to get herself in serious trouble.”

—

“In a galaxy full of medical marvels, nothing beats a commonplace ailment,” Addiun said sympathetically.

“Appendicitis,” the frantic Queen of Alderaan sighed. “Thank the stars for that.”

“The surgery went well and she is in no danger,” the doctor replied.

It had not felt so commonplace when their often-stoic eleven-year-old had woken them both with her weeping, but the worst of it was when Leia had been in so much pain that she took the news of a needed surgery with a look of relief.

“When can she come home?”

“We’ll keep her overnight and monitor her for any signs of infection, but the bacta therapy will speed her recovery.”

They waited until they’d been shown to Leia’s recovery room before making any sort of plan, but Breha,, somehow looking regal in a white caten nightshift, made a declaration.

“Our delegates can represent us until she’s feeling better.”

Bail, his own sleep tunic rumpled, kept her tucked under his shoulder, his heartrate still competing with the local fathiers for speed. “I’m not sure we need an ‘until,’” he commented. “We could go home as soon as she’s ready to travel and trust that there are wise people working on our behalf.”

Leia was cheered by their attentiveness that next day, but wearied of their constant attention by the time she was released from the medcenter. By breakfast of the next day, their daughter was begging for some space and they reluctantly took a meeting with a representative of the Banking Clan before lunch.

They knew she was back to her normal self when Tarrick interrupted a roundtable discussion of tax regulation to say that the High Princess of Alderaan had talked someone into bringing her a fathier and could not figure out how to return the animal to its stable.

Threepio had been right. Canto Bight was no place for a princess, but it was a playground for a trickster.

 

Super first scene with 3PO trying Bail's patience I loved Winter's POV in the latter scenes. I enjoyed particularly her insights on how it felt joining the royal family. Leia's visit to Canto Bight was definitely eventful although NOT in the way she initially was anticipating.

I like very much the warm mischievous tone with Winter before takeoff.

Wow, appendicitis is a thing in the SW 'verse too.

 

I loved this! What I loved? The short version is, everything. The longer version:

See-Threepio and his inimitable lines! I could quote every word he said, because each and every one made me laugh so hard – and the best bit that, for once, he wasn't touting his fluency in six million forms of communication, but his knowledge of precendent and rules:

Okay, I just quoted this one, because it's very possibly my favourite.

I loved how Bail and Breha are mildly annoyed by his antics, but then, just thinking back to to her adventures during Kenobi, Bail acknowledges to himself that Leia will most definitely not keep herself out of trouble. And I laughed out loud when I realised that the "people not as concerned with cheating the system" were... eleven-year-old Winter

Speaking of Winter: I love how you write her in general, but I especially liked how you expounded the idea that, even at this young age, she's a very perceptive child and senses how worried Bail and Breha are for their daughter – and that, apparently, doesn't only have to do with her parentage, but, again, with her adventures during Kenobi. Meanwhile, Leia is up to making mischief even before they leave Alderaan, and Winter does not approve, even if she won't say as much in so many words. But then, as things take a bad turn, Winter chooses to engage in a bit of mischief herself to keep Leia entertained. The bit about julaberries was so much fun, and Winter went to great, great lengths to figure it out.

But then, it turns out that Leia's purported mischief-making is about getting a Level 2 Internal Organ Scan, because she knows that she's unwell, and when the doctor announces it Winter's reaction is priceless. Her first tought is that Leia figured out the "bad thing you have to do" to get one, before she realises that Leia needs one because she's so sick.

For a moment I thought that Leia wouldn't be able to have some fun of her own, given the turn the story had taken, but then of course she did! What better proof that she was back to her normal self than talking someone into bringing her a fathier, what better proof indeed? I wonder how Winter felt about that!

Thank you so much for writing this! I'm starting my year wrapped in a blanket of warm fuzzies thanks to you

 

A nice story with Leia's best friend Winter in it and helping her when she gets appendicitis. And of course Treepio and his comments on Canto Bight and arguing with Bail about going there with Leia and Winter.

 

@WarmNyota_SweetAyesha I love Bail preventatively wiping threepio’s memory in ROTS. Glad you liked that. It’s never said in the EU, but boy, that’s an adjustment. In 2000, I was sick for three days of a 5-day hike in the Andes and because we all had altitude sickness, no one realized it wasn’t that until I had a high fever on the train back to Cuzco. They wanted to remove my appendix in a very small hospital just in case, but I refused. I still have mine. I figure that some things in human condition aren’t fixed by advanced society here. Thanks!

@Chyntuck boy, have I been looking forward to your thoughts on this bespoke fic for you. . Awww for loving everything. And the longer version. My favorite Harry Potter character is always quoting wizarding law in vague terms because he knows the rules from his dad, but doesn’t exactly pay attention to where you can find them written down. Threepio is the opposite of this and I love him for it. Favorite scene of ROTJ is “it’s against my programming to impersonate a deity.” There’s also a bit in Dark Force Rising about Han trying to be friendly with Threepio until the droid talking his ear off made Han ban him from the cockpit. That’s what inspired the Organas‘ frustration with him. Bringing in Winter as the accomplice was my favorite idea to play with, especially after using her as just that in the Queen Leiaverse. And Leia doesn’t mean to endanger herself, but that’s not enough. When you wanted Leia getting into trouble, I wanted it to be of the kind that wasn’t necessarily because she did anything wrong or asked for problems. Thanks for liking winter’s tendencies to notice thing. Her first intro in Heir to the Empire is her noticing Leia’s still awake and offering milk or crackers. I channeled that here. I have a sister who was the only one to notice I was really sick once and also gave me a stuffed rabbit to cheer me up. I was 17 and had a severe ear infection that sent me to the hospital that night. I originally thought of Leia and winter being targeted by people on their kid adventures on Cantonica and Leia somehow ingesting something that would get her in trouble and require a level 2 scan. In the Canto Bight book, a lowlife tries to get a patsy to get caught after eating an explosive and that’s where the internal organ scan is mentioned. It also requires someone to not have ties to criminals or a record and that was going to be a thing with the diplomatic immunity. It was going to be that Leia was scanned on suspicion of smuggling something and instead finding that she had an inflamed appendix and the brush with the cops got her medical attention. But I decided not to make Leia that easy a target. The bit about julaberries is the remaining vestige of my idea of “someone sneaks something illegal into what Leia eats for dessert.” Winter’s missions are a callback to my first book, where twin sisters who spend days apart give each other scavenger hunts. Leia wants to know about the scan out of genuine curiosity as well as “I wonder if that could tell me why my stomach hurts.” The fathier thing is based on the year at my school that the seniors cownapped a cow from a local farm and put it in the science hallway upstairs. No one could get to their biology or physics classes without dealing with a smelly animal who didn’t want to go downstairs again. It happened the year before I enrolled, but it’s why senior pranks were forbidden. And before you wonder where in the countryside the school was, it was in a small city near a dairy farm where one of the students worked. The truth of the fathier is that Leia talked someone else into bringing an animal to visit her and winter is the one to rat her out. I’m very glad you liked this.

@earlybird-obi-wan thanks! I laughed myself to the end with this one. And Threepio would have no qualms about trying to lecture a very high-ranking dad who didn’t know how to properly deal with children.

 

Started this days ago but only managed to finish. RL been busy.
____________________________________________________
Leia gets the best family trips.
Appendicitis notwithstanding.
C-3PO is fussy as always, but her parents know what to expect.
I always love when Legends and NuCanon interact, and Leia definitely needs more friends so its good to have Winter back.