A short little thing to finish us out. It felt important to me to see Leia out in the world, and to get a sense of who she is as a person now. So…

Epilogue

Water had a subtle way of transforming things: making them appear blurrier, almost magical, a glimmer of not quite real. These days Leia sometimes felt like she was always underwater. Was it true, did she really get to wear soft leggings that fit, break in a new pair of shoes, wake up after the sun? Really get to lie here in the soft white sand in the little brook that curved through these woods behind Luke's little hut, naked in the warm water, soaking all her hair? Watching it float up and rush around her… a luxury that wasn't a luxury, that was merely her life now. Had been her life for some time and yet…

She was holding the baby just above her, letting her float but tethering here there, she was so small she could easily be swept away in this easy summer current, watching idly as Hope considered how her toes appeared to blur under the water. Furrowing her brow, very slowly tapping her toes as if testing one hypothesis after another, the scraps of green ribbon holding together her tiny buns soaked through. Contemplative, serious little thing. What had she done yesterday? Picked up a teeny-tiny lizard without any hesitation and held it up to Leia's face and demanded, "Ah!" Look! Look! Have you ever seen anything like this, Mam?

She lived in a world in which she marveled over lizards. There were so many things she hadn't yet seen. There were so many things Leia was certain Hope would never, ever see: wounded friends, the death of her people, the torture of whatever lover she might someday take. Yes, a lizard was a marvel. Yes, the polka-dotted insect crawling with its babies in a line behind it was too. A gift.

It had taken the entirety of this long visit to get her to bathe with her in the brook though – she didn't like water because, Leia supposed, it reminded her too much of baths, which despite her and Han's hard efforts – toys and tools in the tub! – still seemed to signal the ending of her daily adventures... which were numerous, between the two of them plus her near-freakish ability to learn how to crawl terribly fast.

Once she'd acquiesced, though, Hope seemed into it; maybe because running water presented a new opportunity to explore? Take now, for example: as a little silver minnow flitted past her feet, Hope splashed wildly and grabbed at Leia's fingers. "Ah! M-m-m-ma!"

"Oh!" Leia said, sitting up and pulling the baby into her lap, kissing her soaking tangled buns – one, then the other, like her mother used to do. "Don't worry, they're only fish – they're only little fish, and you're my little fish…"

"Ah! Ah!"

"Now, don't splash them – you don't need to splash them. How would you like it if they splashed you?"

"Ah-ah-ah-ah m-m-m-ma!"

"Hush now. This is their home, and we're only guests. We don't want to disrespect their home."

"Ma! Ah! Ah! Ah!"

"Okay, okay. Listen, come here to me," Leia said, turning the baby around so they were facing each other, catching her eyes. "Listen to me. Those fish – they're part of everything, just like you and me. And Daddy, and Uncle Luke, and Chewie and Aunt Evaan – everyone you know… do you hear me my little fish?"

Hope reached for Leia's hair inquisitively, but Leia stopped her hand, held them in hers.

"Do you feel them with me, little fish?" Leia asked. She shuts her eyes and very gently nudged herself into Hope's head – it was normally such a porous barrier anyway, between the two of them, but recently Leia had been trying to encourage a little bit of independence, like when she'd weaned her a few months before – slowly, gently, earlier than on Alderaan but mostly because Hope was getting too restless and curious to lie still in her lap. Could it really be that she had a one-year-old and was already mourning the time when she would lie still and cuddle all sweetly? Wasn't that supposed to come later?

She felt the chirping hum that was Hope's presence – all bright energy eager to bounce off this and that, reaching out, excited by absolutely everything – and kissed her hair, gave her hands a little squeeze. "Do you feel me? That's me. That's you and I. Shh…"

Very slowly, Leia nudged their unified presences outward, stopping just when she was able to brush up against the lively, purposeful glow of the school of fish.

"Do you feel that? They're connected to you and me, to everything else. They're a part of our world, too. This place we all share…"

She used her toe to stir the water lightly, and the fish lit up with excitement, causing Hope to tense just a little.

"No no, don't worry – they're our friends too. I promise. They're our friends... are you being shy? Don't be shy… shh… just listen…"

She scootched the baby closer to her, so her forehead was touching her sternum between her breasts, stroking her hair. Feeling the exuberance of the world around them wash over them both…

Hope sneezed and her fingers splashed, and as she did so the fish perked up energetically – and that's when Hope pulled back, eyes wide open, clapping excitedly and laughing with her mouth wide open. "Ma! Mmmmma!"

"Yes! I know! I know!"

"Ma-ma-mmma!"

"I know! Everything, everything – it lives in harmony – it lives within you-ou," Leia sing-songed, and she bounced the baby in the water and smothered her with kisses. "I know, I know – yes yes yes!"

Once she'd used the last of the soap she kept out here to wash herself and her hair and the baby too, Leia stepped out of the brook and set Hope in the sand. She shook out her hair, then delicately used the Force to lift the droplets of water from her own body and fling it back into the brook, then did the same to Hope, who squealed at the tickling sensation. Once she'd braided her hair back into its comfortable halo and dressed the two of them, she scooped the baby up and settled her into the little papoose on her back atop her supplies pack, then grabbed her saber.

"Say see you later, woods," Leia said, adjusting the straps on her pack. "Say, we'll return soon."

"Ree… ah!"

"Close enough. Alright." She said a silent goodbye to the woods herself – to the few weeks she'd spent here, training with Luke, a welcome break from the stress of humanitarian work she'd relished in taking between assignments. Then she activated her saber – Hope squealing at the bright purple light, excited and pleased – and stepped into the forest, using the blade to cut their path through the brush. At first, Hope gurgled excitedly at every low vibration, but eventually it seemed to lure her into sleep. What a blessing, Leia thought, to see that blade of light as not a weapon but a tool.

She traveled with no path; they set up no meeting point. Old habits died hard – they never explicitly shared their destinations anymore, they merely found each other. She rubbed the little beacon on her wrist, smiling faintly. She always made her way to him.

The baby's breath was warm and steady against her neck, a soft reminder of everything else alive, and she could hear the birds around them, the rustling of the foliage as they climbed their way through, mother and daughter adventurers, charting their own path, making their own way. Alive, everything was alive. She was alive. She felt so…

There was a time when she had felt like some artifact from a distance land, a comet of debris hurtling through the galaxy, frozen and alone. Now she felt the thrum of every living thing, growing and birthing and finding its way – for the first time in a long time, she felt a part of a whole. The roots of the trees, the breath on her neck – her whole. The blinking beacon on her wrist, the insects in the air, the wedding ring on her finger – her whole.

The baby slept through when Leia paused for her early lunch, but by the time the afternoon sun was at its highest she was up again, squirming curiously and pointing at everything that moved, her chirping babble narrating the world around them. "Ma! Ma!" Whole.

Holding her daughter's presence in her head, Leia cut and climbed and crawled and hummed and then, suddenly, in the clearing before her: "How've my girls been, huh?"

Hope was kicking desperately, waving her hands and squealing into Leia's ear – "Dada – dada – ah! Dada!" – but he was too quick for them. Just as Leia deactivated her saber and went to pull the baby from her back, he had closed the gap between them, his own blue beacon shining through the fabric of his pocket, his strong arms encircling them both as he kissed her passionately. Hope's eager kicking, Han's warm lips against hers – whole. The faint humming at her wrist that meant they'd been reunited – whole.

"You look good," Han murmured against her lips, grinning crookedly. "Strong. Sunned."

"I've missed you," Leia said honestly, smiling up at him. "And not just for the compliments."

"Dada-dada-da!"

"You look strong too, lady!" Han assured her, unlacing her from Leia's back and scooping her over her head and into a tight embrace. "Definitely got some biceps going, huh? My tough little girl!" He bounced her up over his head and kissed her belly and she screamed with laughter, kicking wildly. "Y'got even bigger!" Han cried, setting her on his shoulders. "How'd you manage that!"

"We had some excellent adventures," Leia noted wryly, handing him her pack when he offered and greeting Chewie with a wave when he appeared at the top of the Falcon's ramp upon its descent. "This one nearly turned feral."

"She's a curious little beast, ain't she?"

"A very bright wild child."

"That's all you, princess."

"Funny, I was about to say the same about you… so you've got the med supplies, then? For the camp? The price – were you able––?"

"With a little negotiation, yep. Made it all happen. They threw in an extra bacta tank too, said it was only good for parts but I did some tinkering and it's all good now, though you owe Chewie an apology for my makin' him test in your place, he got pretty sticky…"

"I don't know what I would do without you."

"Well, as far as I'm concerned we'll never have to find that out. ETA's looking like tomorrow morning, that alright? Local time noon."

"It's perfect. Perfect."

"Gives us a night…"

"Oh… you're going to kill me…"

"You go back to lettin' her share your bed?"

"She likes to cuddle!"

"You met Miss Hope? She does not like to cuddle. Hope, you like to cuddle? Or your ma tryin' to sneak in some cuddles while you're out cold?"

"Well. You're welcome to partake in the cuddles should you be interested. I'm willing to share."

"Such a softie."

"Watch it, Solo," she teased, her hand flying to her saber. "Don't test me," she said, and as they boarded the ship she let out an accidental yawn.

"Tired?"

"Bit of a hike. And many adventures, like I said."

"Think you have it in you for another?"

"With you? Always."

"That's what I like to hear."

He kissed her again, hard, pulling her close, only to be interrupted by Leia laughing as Hope reached down from her perch atop his shoulders and pulled her hair.

"Well," Han said, holding out his arm and gesturing into the ship theatrically. "After you, Princess. Onwards."

Whole, Leia thought again, looking at his broad, optimistic smile, at the natural way he held Hope's hands. She flashed him a grin and stepped onto the ship, into their home, towards the next adventure. "Onwards."

#

And that's all she wrote! After so much claustrophobia, I really wanted to get our young family out into the natural world, to give them a sense of ease and optimism and growth. It felt more important to me to capture Leia and Han's relationship and emotional state later than the details of What Happens Next, but of course you can always reach me on Tumblr if you have questions about that. Otherwise: thank you so much for all of your support on this piece. It means the world!