Edges of the World

Chapter 44

Leia stood in front of a door.

She knew what waited for her in the room on the other side would upset her. No matter what was in it would be wrong in every way.

Opening that door could bring her nothing but pain.

Yet part of her was filled with curiosity and needed to know.

Her hand hovered by the door's controls - she was just as unable to turn away and leave this room as she was to simply press the button that would open the door.

She had to do something.

Anything.

Who knew how long she would have to soak up the atmosphere of this apartment, how long before she returned to her world, where it was deep in Imperial held territory and undoubtedly had been ransacked.

Yet she was wasting her precious time standing here, doing nothing.

Finally with an internal chastisement and a roll of her eyes Leia pressed down on the controls, and with an all too familiar hiss the door slid aside.

The room beyond it was... well honestly Leia hadn't known what she was expecting.

It certainly wasn't what she would have found in her own world, that was for sure.

All evidence of this being her own bedroom had been replaced with signs of another Princess, one Leia had never met.

Leia stepped into the room that should have been her own, giving the wooden canopied bed against one wall a suspicious glance. Her own style sense had always trended towards the utilitarian, her furniture modern and sleek, her possessions sparse and easy to keep track of. She knew she had the tendency, when she accumulated more things, to let them get disorganized and jumbled, and so she liked to remove that possibility by keeping her living spaces as minimal as she could.

Her tower bedroom in the royal palace had contained little more than her earned trophies and medals, and the invaluable keepsake box full of the items that held true deep meaning to her. Yes, her furniture there had been carved from priceless Glee Anselm hardwood inlaid with pure gold and silver, but that was less a matter of personal preference and more because it made no sense letting grandiose antiques waste away with disuse.

In contrast the furnishings of her bedroom at Chantham House had always been plain and white, with scattered datapads heaped about, each one keyed to different bills and texts she needed to reference in her work.

The owner of this room clearly had a very different relationship with her space. Almost all the furniture had an ornate touch, with painted flowers and animals native to Alderaan prominently displayed. The other Princess was certainly a fan of color, the different fabrics draped through the room brighter and more jarring than Amilyn's winter clothes when she and Leia had first met.

There were also a number of holos sitting on the other Princess' desk.

Leia was tempted to turn them on, to see just how much of her life this girl had stolen. What would she find if she did, she wondered. She'd undoubtedly be with Leia's family in most of them, there was no question of that, but beyond that?

What if there were images of this other Princess with Kier, happy and in love. Part of Leia desperately hoped that was the case, that part of her wanted her first boyfriend to be living his life to its very fullest here in this world where he had not had to die so tragically young.

She did not touch any of the holos, turning and exiting the room instead.

Her father was standing in the hall when she left the room. How long had she been standing in front of that door, unable to make up her mind about going inside, for him to have had the time to return from seeing their guests out?