RISE AGAIN ─ star wars

XV. A Bright Star

Chapter Fifteen
Leera

"Are you liking Coruscant?" I ask Aylin's hologram as I slump down in my throne, trying to get comfortable.

"It's lifeless despite the whole planet being a city. Just like with the rest of the galaxy, it will take time to heal after what the Empire did."

"Do you like your apartment at least?"

"It's nice. I don't really care though. I'm just glad to be living with Iris. What about you? Are you liking the palace?"

"It's lifeless despite being so big."

A suggestive smile creeps onto her lips. "At least Raymen is there to help fill the large space."

I feel my eyes narrow in a glare, and I sink deeper into my throne. "Don't start."

Aylin gives me an innocent look, the one a child gives their parent when they did something wrong and are trying to hide it. "Start what? I have no idea what you're insinuating."

"Mhm. Sure."

"He likes you too, you know," She says, dropping all playfulness in her tone. "I can tell by how he looks at you, how flustered he gets around you."

"Raymen is flustered around everyone."

"Not like how he is around you."

I let out an over exaggerated sigh, then force myself to sit up and not slouch like a bored child. "You don't know that, it could be—"

"Leera?" A voice interrupts. I look up from the hologram projector to see Raymen entering the throne room. I slam my hand on the projector and abruptly end the call, but not before I could see Aylin about ready to break out into cackling laughter.

He pauses when he sees me fumbling with the projector. "Am I interrupting you?"

"Uh no. It was nothing. It was just Aylin, and we were talking about nothing," Wow, way to play it cool, Leera. Take a deep breath and speak like a normal human being. "What are you doing here? Do you need something?"

I swear I see a faint smile cross his lips, and I feel my cheeks burn in embarrassment. I send out a prayer to the force that Raymen didn't overhear any of Aylin and I were talking about.

"I was thinking," He begins, taking slow steps towards my throne. "There are several crates of supplies we left on Concordia. There are some food rations, some clothes, some medical supplies. There aren't enough for all of Mandalore, but definitely enough for the capital, if we ration it correctly that is. Why don't we go there and collect them?"

"With just the two of us that could take a long time."

"There are machines there to help us load...and I wouldn't mind spending some time just the two of us."

I feel like my whole face is on fire, and it takes exerted effort to sound sane as I reply: "Let's go."

His only response is a smile.

-

I have never been to Concordia before, and now that I'm here, I realize I haven't been missing out on much. It's about as lifeless as Mandalore is, though at least here on this moon you can look up at the sky and the bright sun, while on Mandalore you can only peer through it through the blue glass of the cube. But that one upside isn't enough to make Concordia a pleasant place to visit. At least at Bo's rebel encampment there are large tents to block the view of abandoned Beskar mines and wildlife the Empire sucked the life out of. This allows me not to be distracted by the moon's desolate site and feel, it allows me to focus on our task at hand and forget that Mandalore is just as desolate.