jedi_librettist | Your prison is walking this world all alone

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Your prison is walking this world all alone

Ben watched out the window as the ship dropped out of hyperspace. He took a shaky breath. It was time. He wouldn't burden his brother anymore. He walked back to his cabin. He didn't know how what he would do after he left. It didn't matter. This was the right thing.

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It was fortunate that it was then that Leia came back in, carrying some food.

"Here we go."

Ben spun around when she walked in. "Mom..."

He let out a breath of relief, though. This should make distracting his son easier. "Ani, it's time to eat."

It was mostly fruit she had brought in, healthy things that would be okay for someone Ani's age to eat.

"It's all fresh, so eat up."

Ani came running over, porcelain thranta still in hand. "It eat, too. It want yogun."

Leia laughed. "Really? Well, can you see any yogun here?"

"Dere!" the toddler crowed, pointing to a slice of jogun fruit. He picked it up and held it to the figurine's mouth. "Vor'e."

Ben couldn't help flinching again. "Use Basic, Ani."

"Basic is the most spoken around here," Leia confirmed to Ben. "Not that the others aren't spoken but," she shrugged as if to say that a language barrier would not be very helpful to their cause.

"I don't speak Mando'a," Ben clarified. "I learned a couple phrases but... Ani starts speaking sometimes and I have no idea what he's saying."

"Ah," Leia said simply. She wondered, vaguely, where the child picked it up if it wasn't from Ben, but she supposed there were always going to be things about her son's life she wouldn't get answers to. After all, it had been a long time and he had had so many experiences that she hadn't been around for.

But he was back now, that was what mattered.

Relieved that his mother didn't press the issue, Ben turned back to his son. "You fed the thranta, Ani. Now give it to Grandma and eat your fruit."

The child shook his head. "It mine!"

Ben sighed. "Do you want it to break?" He waited for the kid to shake his head. "Then give it to your grandma."

Leia just waited to see what would happen. She know how stubborn children could be.

"Mine!"

Ben thought he might cry. If the toddler broke his mother's irreplaceable figurine, he didn't know what he'd do. "Ani. Give it to your grandma. Now."

The child pouted. "Dada mean! It mine!"

Ben looked to his mother for help.

Leia leaned down to Ani's height.

"Ani?" She asked, in a gentle tone. "Can I see the figure while you're eating?"

The toddler held it to his chest. "But it mine. I wuv it."

"I'm not saying you don't," she soothed. "I'm asking to hold it while you eat, so you can make sure you get all the yummy things before your father and Uncle."

Ani pouted but finally held out the porcelain creature.

"Thanks, Mom," Ben murmured. "I've been trying to get that away from him for several minutes."

That earned a glare from his son. "Dada mean!"

Leia took the figurine, and smiled at Ani. "Thank you, Ani. Now, you go enjoy some food." She gave Ben a little look.

"It just takes learning the right way."

In the background, Solo rolled his eyes.

"I did take it once. He started crying and took it back off the top shelf."

Ani reached his newly free hand for a piece of meiloorun.

"It's not like you were any better, Bail."

"Not like you were any better, Ben," he shot back, just as quickly. Leia sighed.

"You were both as bad as each other, and Ani's like the pair of you."