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| - On their way back from dinner, the Lanmaws discussed the nights events. “We’ll have all the nerf we can eat.” Sadvo said in a mocking tone. “What kind of...?” “Relax, it was a joke. I’m quite certain he meant it to be in good humor.” Lania said as she turned to look at Epin. “Considering the nights big event, isn’t that right Epin?” “What?” Epin asked. “Oh don’t be shy hun.” Lania laughed. “It’s perfectly fine to get kisses from girls!” Epin’s face turned red. “Oh, you...you mean Princess Leia...” “So, I see that you have become quite good friends with our Princess, haven’t you boy?” Sadvo said, keeping his eyes straight ahead as he drove. Epin remained silent. “Oh, leave him alone Sadvo. I think it’s cute.” Lania said, noticing her son’s silence. She then turned her attention to her husband. “Cute huh?” Sadvo argued. “What happens when someone better suited for the young Princess shows himself? What then? The boy has nothing to show, he is nothing compared to what them royals can give her.” “You’re talking about the Princess of Alderaan, who’s barely thirteen years old, like she’s a Red Sector prostitute, offering herself to the highest bidder.” Lania said, with a hint of anger in her voice. “Being able to be bought by anyone who has some credits and an itch in need of scratching.” “What I’m saying is that he is not man enough for a female of her status. He would be downed by the first chump that decides he wants some Princess.” Sadvo said as they pulled into their farm. “You can sleep with the nerf tonight. You’ll feel at home among the other animals.” Lania said as she stepped out of the vehicle and slammed it behind her. “Come on kids, let’s go inside.” She said, as she watched her children exit the vehicles. "Daddy's really angry, you can hear him swearing, listen." Rena said as she and Epin made to get into their beds. Epin went to the window and pressed a button on the side, shutting it. He could hear their father outside, who was, as his sister had said, yelling obscenities outside in the yard. "I don't really care right now Rena." he said as he turned to his closet to change for bed. "Well, you'll care tomorrow," Rena said as she herself finished changing. "Dad won't be in a happy mood. Mom was pretty angry herself." He's never in a good mood, not with me, anyway. Epin thought to himself, getting into bed. Rena shut off the light and got into her own bed. "Goodnight Epin." she said. "Yeah." Epin replied vaguely. Epin was standing at the mouth of a large cave. He wanted to go inside, though at the same time he was hesitant to step into the unknown. He walked inside after a bit and pulled out a small stick from his pocket and smacked it against the wall, lighting it. After walking for a bit, he came to a crack in the rock wall that was wide enough to slip through. He squeezed through and emerged into an area covered in fog with the ruins of a large and ancient looking spaceship ahead of him. There also seemed to be some sort of dwelling alongside of the ship. About the same size as his families home on the farm. As he made his way closer, he noticed a figure appear out of thin air. Epin halted as the figure turned toward him. For a few moments, they stared at each other. At least, the figure faced Epin, he couldn't make out any true expression upon the face, as they concealed their eyes under a hood. Epin began to move closer to the person, who vanished. Epin jerked awake as he heard his mother's voice calling to him from downstairs. "Breakfast! Epin, Rena, hurry up or it'll be cold." Came Lania's voice. Epin got out of bed and roused his sister, who shooed his hand away. "Come on, mom's calling us." Epin said, shaking his sister awake. "What?!" Rena said, sitting up in her bed. "What is it? I was in the middle of a dream." "Mom's calling us. It's time for breakfast." Epin said, going to change into his typical dress of a simple black tunic. Rena yawned and got up herself. They both dressed, Rena mumbling to herself about a mountain, and afterward went downstairs to breakfast. Rena yawned as they sat down at the table. "Morning mom." She said. "Eat quickly, I want you two out of the house today. Your father and I need to have a discussion." Lania said softly, placing plates of food in front of her children. Epin and Rena did as they were told, and hurried outside. "Here," Lania said, following them outside. "For later today if you get hungry. Go on." She handed them each a few credits from her pocket and pointed toward the gate. Epin and Rena took the credits and pocketed them. They said goodbye to their mother then hurried out of the yard. They glanced back at their homestead and glimpsed their mother shoving the door to the garage open and caught her yelling their father's name. "I'm going to see if Arkus is busy. Maybe he wants to do something." Rena said as she turned toward down a road leading to another homestead. Epin waved his hand as he continued toward the city. Epin entered the city and halted. The entire city seemed to be overrun with royal class people. Being the capital of the planet, this wasn't uncommon, though there was something odd. There seemed to be many speeders and swoop bikes around the roads and on streets of the city. He looked around, covering his eyes slightly in the bright morning sun. He noticed many spaceships around the outer city, all of them bearing markings and crests on their hulls. Must be the other royal families Epin thought. They all seemed to be moving in the direction of the palace, so deciding to see what it was all about, he joined the crowd. As the palace came into view, the crowd seemed to be filing into a line. They were all moving through a sort of checkpoint at the palace gates. As Epin approached, he heard a man's voice repeating something about an identification card. As he obviously had nothing of the sort, he stepped out of line and watched as the crowd gathered around a large stage that had been built on the grounds. There were several large video screens with Bail Organa's face on them. He appeared to be making a speech, though the noise of the crowd outside of the gates made it difficult to make out his voice. "Epin?!" Said a girl's voice from behind him. Startled, Epin turned around and was facing someone who was concealing their face behind a scarf and a pair of sunglasses. "Who...?" Epin began. The person lifted the glasses and removed the scarf from their face. "It's me." Princess Leia smiled at him as she pushed the glasses to the top of her head and tied the scarf loosely around her waist. She hugged him and when she let go, gave him a swift kiss on the cheek. Epin felt a flutter in his stomach at the feeling of her lips. "What are you doing here?" Leia asked motioning to the road and starting to walk. "I was about to ask you the same Princess." Epin replied as he fell into step beside her. "Call me Leia, why don't you Epin?" She said with a hint of impatience in her voice. "Really, you don't have to be all formal. It's really quite annoying actually, you know I am not a title. My name's not Princess." "I'm sorry..." Epin said hanging his head slightly and looking away from her. She took his hand and squeezed it. "It's okay, just don't do it again, or I may have you disciplined for not heeding my wishes." Epin looked over at her and she winked. Still holding hands, they walked down the road. "Why are you hiding anyway?" Epin asked, pointing to the scarf tied to Leia's waist. She frowned. "Well, I don't really want to stick around and hear about how much money everybody has and hear them tell me how big their..." Leia laughed and continued, "...space cruisers are." They continued to walk through the streets for a bit, occasionally stopping to check out a shop window. "So what do you want to do now?" Leia asked, after they had their fill of shopkeepers stopping them and trying to sell them various items and merchandise. "Do? I don't know..." Epin started. "Whatever you..." Leia cut him off. "Let's go explore the mountains!" She exclaimed. "Or the caves by the canyon! Nobody ever goes there!" She started pulling him along. "And there's probably good reason for that. They're really dangerous." He said, breaking her grip on him. "Oh don't be such a killjoy Eppy!" She said, placing her hands on her hips and leaning forward a bit. "Come on, it'll be fun! Don't you want to?" "Well, I do want to, but..." Epin began. "Then what's the problem?" She said, folding her arms. Epin said nothing, but looked around slightly, as if he might find an answer somewhere in the streets. "Oh Epin, come on." She said in a slightly pleading tone. "I don't really get to do the things that I want to do. Please don't be like those other boys I have to be around, they..." Epin suddenly changed his whole outlook, what Leia had just said having sparked something inside of him. "Okay then, come on. Let's go check out the falls, I suppose it can't hurt to just check them out a bit!" As the pair came up to the canyon, they spotted Arod Vekkar, and his gang of Alderaanian upper class boys, The Sons of Alderaan, several yards ahead. They were standing in an area a little ways from the river that flowed into the canyon and were somewhat sheltered from view behind a few trees and bushes that grew along the riverbank. Epin quickly stepped behind a nearby tree to hide himself from them, pulling Leia behind it as well. "I don't want to go near them Leia, they're really nasty to anyone who isn't of the royal class." Epin said, peering past the tree at the boys, who appeared to be arguing. "It's Arod, and his friends, you know." There appeared to be six boys, five who were standing and one boy laying on the ground. Epin could recognize Arod as the one flailing his arms at the others and pointing to the boy on the ground. He could also see Otis Broxtin, Arod's best friend, who was slightly overweight. The three other boys, Epin did not recall at the moment, though he did know they were part of Arod's usual crew. The boy laying on the ground, Epin had not seen before. The boy laying on the ground stirred and got to his hands and knees. Otis grabbed Arod's arm as Arod made a gesture like he was going to drive his elbow into the boys back. Arod promptly shook himself free and shoved Otis, who didn't retaliate. "We can't let them just bully that poor boy Epin, we have to do something." Leia said, stepping out from behind the tree and shouting at Arod. "Come on Epin, let's go." She pulled him out and along with her as she made her way to the boys. "Well, well, well. Look who it is boys!" Arod said with a hint of pleasure in his voice. As Leia and Epin stopped a few feet from Arod, the other members of the gang surrounded them. Epin did his best to look tough for Leia, but in reality, he was shaking slightly with fear. His stomach felt strangely icy, and despite it still being a relatively sunny day, he felt like he was immersed in cold water. Possibly Leia could tell he was scared, as she squeezed his hand firmly before letting go of it. The boy on the ground took advantage of the distraction and got up, quickly running from the area. "And what do you want, your majesty?" Arod said in a mocking voice, a sneer on his face, glancing for a few seconds at the fleeing boy. Leia stepped forward and spoke directly to Arod. "For you to quit acting like you're better than everyone else." Arod laughed, a cold laugh, free of any humor at all. "And you expect me to just lay down at your feet?" He walked closer to her and stroked his chin for a moment. "Well, alright." Leia and Epin looked at him quizzically, Leia narrowing her eyes at Arod before looking over at Epin, who shrugged. "You..." Leia started, but Arod interrupted her. "Sure, me and my boys will lay down our bullying ways." Arod said placing a hand onto Leia's shoulder and smiling. "If you lay down for me..." "That's disgusting!" Leia yelled, slapping him across the face so hard, Arod twisted in a half circle and stumbled away from her. "How dare you." "You bitch!" Arod screamed as he faced her again, the side of his face reddening. "You wanna be tough? Then so be it." Arod kicked Leia in the stomach, causing her to hunch over with pain. "Let's show them what happens when you cross the Sons." Epin was grabbed from behind almost instantly by one of the boys. Otis and another boy took hold of Leia and pushed her to the ground. "No! Leave her alone!" Epin yelled as he struggled, his arms behind his back, pinned together by the boy who grabbed him. Leia coughed loudly, not a normal cough, but a hack and she spit up a bit. "Well, bet you're regretting sticking your nose into business that doesn't concern you my dear." Arod said, as he turned his back on the others. He placed his foot upon Leia's stomach and saluted, in a mock victory pose. There was a scuffling and the sounds of grunts and swearing. A body landed at Arod's side. It was the boy who had been holding Epin moments before. "What are you laughing at Lanmaw!?" Arod spat as he turned around to see Epin smirking at him. Epin was standing still, his head slightly lowered and was glaring at Arod. He looked around at his gang, two of them were getting up from the ground. "Well, what are you waiting for chumps? Get him!" Arod yelled. The boys were looking at Arod in slight fear, as if they would rather run than do as they were told. The thrown boy got up and joined Otis and the other boys. All five boys stood at one side facing Epin, all of them seemed hesitant to make a move. "Well, I said get him!" Arod yelled, pointing to Epin. Two of the boys advanced slowly on Epin, who remained focused on Arod. One of the two boys threw a right hook at Epin, who swiftly dodged it and brought his elbow up and back into the boys face, grounding him immediately. The other boy, thinking to take advantage of a possible distraction, lunged at Epin, tackling him to the ground. When the two hit the ground, Epin rolled through and landed on top of the other boy. Epin gave a quick punch to the boys face, who was knocked out at once. Epin stood again and looked around. Arod, Otis and the remaining boy had fled in the confusion, he could spot them running in the distance, back toward Aldera. Otis plodding along a few yards behind Arod and the other boy. Alderaan Affair Part VII - Part IX
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