"It's the ability to practice and ease your way in that makes a difference," Leia tells her, sagely. "Though I don't think you'd agree with joining the military to get practice fighting gangsters."

Dalia interrupts her dramatic sighing to make a face. "Blegh. No. Not that Mama would let me do that, either."

"You could join Intelligence instead." Which would be the branch of government Leia totally has never received any extensive training from. Really. 

"They said I wasn't a good fit."

"I think you'd do a good job training with Auntie, though, and she works with Intelligence a lot."

Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. "She's never here long enough..."

"I could talk to mom about Auntie taking you with her."

"You think she'd listen to you?"

"I'm very persuasive. And it'll be good practice."

Hug!! "That's why you're the best sister."

Hug!!! "I know."

Dalia giggles.

"What do you want to do with Auntie?"

Naughty things. Sexy, sexy naughty things.

"Learn how to be like her? What she does beyond the stories she tells, how to fly like her, how to be brave like her..."

Skeptical eyebrow raise. 

She sticks her tongue out at Leia.

"I think I can make that work with mom."

"'Cause you're a master political negotiator."

Smug grin!

Heee. "Thanks, sis."

"It's what big sisters are for."

"Fulfilling little sisters' fondest wishes?"

"And facing big scary challenges like talking to mom for them."

"It's efficient delegation."

"And my calling."

"I appreciate it."

"Nice to know."

Shoulder bump.

She laughs and bumps back.

Best sister.

A good match for Dalia.

"Should I go talk to mom now?"

"That would be lovely."

"I'll do that then." Shoulder bump for good luck? 

Only the best luck.

From the best little sister. 

Yep!

She'll go find her mom next, then, assuming Queen Breha is free. 

The Queen of Alderaan is never not busy, but she's not actively holding court at the moment. That means she does have times for her daughters.

"Good evening, mother."

"Good evening, Leia. I trust you and your sister have been staying out of trouble?" Always best to check that one early.

"No trouble at all since the last time we talked." That Leia knows of; plausible deniability selective ignorance is a wonderful thing. 

"That is good to hear."

"And trouble wasn't what I'd wanted to talk to you about." Not directly at least. 

"What is on your mind, then?"

"It feels like - I'm moving ahead in life, in a way that suits me, but that Dalia isn't getting the same chance."

"Your sister tends to have less... actionable life plans than you."

"I think she has a pretty solid idea of a direction to go in to start."

"She has fantasies and not... yet... the ability to grasp them."

"She can't learn that ability shut up in the palace."

"I know it's dangerous out there, but - the biggest thing she wants is to learn from Auntie. And Auntie can keep her safe while she does - probably safer than I am in the Senate."

"You're both growing up so fast."

"It feels slower to us..."

"You should savor it while you can."

"That's all I want for you two, to be happy."

"Dalia would be happy with Auntie."

"And she has been getting more insistent..." Breha mutters.

"Perhaps the time has come. I'm just not ready to let go."

Hug?

Hug.

Hug! "I'm sure Dalia will come back to visit plenty."

"She is dutiful that way."

"More than just dutiful."

"Yes." Slightly distracted hum as she shifts some things around on her datapad. "I think this will work out better for your schedule, too."

" - What do you mean?"

"Your aunt has things she wants to teach you as well as Dalia."

- That was not an expected outcome of this conversation! 

"Still some work to do on control, hm?"

"...Apparently."

"She might be able to help you with that, too."

"Dalia will be happy."

"Yes, I'm sure she will. Getting to stay with two of her three favorite relations."

"She's already been doing that. This time, though, she'll get to do it on a ship."

"That will make all the difference for her, I'm sure."

"She's definitely enthusiastic about the idea."

"Are you?"

Thoughtful hum. "I think so, though it'll be - really different from what I thought I'd be doing."

"It will only be a brief detour, unless your time there changes your mind."

"That'd be pretty hard to do."

"Keep an open mind, dear."

"I will, mama."

"I love you, Leia."

"Love you too." Another hug.

Hug.

"I'll get in touch with your aunt and set things up. Why don't you give your sister the good news?"

She sees a lot of hugs in her future. "Will do, mama."

"Thank you."

"No problem." Quick hug and off to find her sister. 

Dalia perks back up out of her angst-wallowing when Leia returns.

"Good news!"

"Good news?"

"We're both going with Auntie."

"Both of us!!!"

Bounce bounce bouncebouncebounce.

"Both of us!"

Eeeee hugs!

Giggle hugs!

"This is gonna be so good, I can't believe you did it."

"I know! I was really surprised actually..."

"You weren't trying to come with?"

"No... I guess my argument for Auntie being good for you must have been really persuasive."

"Either that or mama wants you to get me to ask for my own stuff myself."

"I don't object to going with you."

"Yeah, but you had plans and stuff."

"Mama thinks this won't mess with my schedule."

"Oh, good."

"And I like spending time with Auntie, too."

"It's gonna be great."

Giggle hug. 

Now obviously they gotta make plans. And start packing!

Leia is very talented at both of those! Space is probably going to be limited on Auntie's ship, so they'll need to pack light...

But it's important to make sure they still have enough pretty outfits.

One, maybe two pretty outfits. If they're small. 

Small like skimpy?

Small like pack into a small space. 

Skimpy can do that!

Well, as long as it takes up only as much space as Leia's one nice outfit...

Aww, she doesn't want to match?

One of Dalia's outfits can complement her nice outfit.

But they could be twinsies of dress as well as birth!

Dalia might have to give up her dreams of ornate skimpiness then. 

Oh, woe!

How will she ever survive. 

It's terrible, terrible, truly terrible. Dalia's own sister won't indulge even this very simple and quite sexy request. Alas!

Dalia will need to work on her persuasiveness.

Apparently so.

Ooh! Idea! What if she models some of the outfits for Leia, maybe that will change her mind.

Leia doubts that...

Meh, worth trying anyway. Dalia has great tits after all, even if she does say so herself, and showing them off is fun.

If she insists, it's pretty hard for Leia to stop her. 

She does insist! Dress-up is fun.

Fine, fine, Leia will have fun. (Reluctantly.)

Fun is good for you, y'know.

Dalia's going to have to convince her of that. 

She'll do her best.

So which outfit does she want to make an argument for first? 

Well. Lots of options, but her most recent favorite is this one that's basically a bikini with extra long swishy pieces, very good for dancing...

Doesn't take up much more space than underwear, probably. 

Hmmmmm they could also do matching fancy underwear...

Depends on what Dalia means by 'fancy.'

Lace! And silk ribbons! And cutouts and strategic shinies!

Leia isn't quite masochistic enough to think lace is comfortable for daily wear...

Booooo. Modern synthetics can do quite a lot.

Hmmm... Can she feel some of what Dalia's got for that? 

Absolutely. That's what she's wearing now- here, see?

- ?! Um.

Leia is briefly very distracted from feeling the texture of the lace bra by the contents of said bra. 

Yep yep, she's very distraction-worthy.

...Reflexive squeeze. It's so squishy.

Eep! Giggle!

Blush! "Sorry?"

"No, it's fine. Just, wasn't expecting that."

Almost sulky blush. She's still holding Dalia's tit.

"I didn't really mean to..."

"It's basically what they're for, so."

"Me to squeeze?"

She sticks her tongue out. "For people who enjoy it."

...Squish squish.

Hehehehe!

Giggle blush! And: "Seems pretty comfortable, though this style of bra might look awkward on me... Yours would definitely be loose..."

"We'd have to go get you a proper fitting, of course."

"I'm not convinced this'll look good on me even at my size, though. Looking good is important."

"There's other styles to try out," she agrees. Does Dalia have an entire wardrobe's worth to demonstrate? Absolutely.

She can walk Leia through the catalogue. And how different bra styles can affect squishiness.

With hands-on demonstrations?

If she thinks it's warranted. 

It might be! Important to be thorough, y'know.

Fine, fine, hands on demonstrations.

She says that like it's such a chore.

She's gotta keep some aura of poise and reservation. 

That is part of her image.

It's an important image!

For her work life.

Maybe she just enjoys it. 

If that's what she really wants...

...It's complicated...

Well. Fair enough.

...Speaking of complicated - this is the type of thing they might not be able to tell anyone else about. 

The matching underwear? Or the testing?

The testing.

Mm. Yeah. That makes sense.

It'll be hard to hide from Auntie if they keep doing it. But... Maybe possible. 

Does Leia want to keep doing it?

...If Dalia does? 

She thinks it's fun.

It is fun. 

Cool.

So - yeah. They might have to hide it from Auntie.

They'll just have to do their best.

Hope the ship is small enough they're sharing a bunk. 

That'd be pretty cozy.

It'd be nice in a lot of ways. 

Dalia bets they'll at least be in the same cabin.

Hopefully separate from Auntie, though. 

Ideally. They'll just have to wait and see.

Shouldn't be too long. 

Over dinner the next day, the twins' mother lets them know their aunt will be arriving at the end of the week.

They've been looking forward to it.

Good. Have they started to pack for the trip?

"Dalia finished yesterday."

"That ready to leave me behind, hm?"

"Noooo. Just excited."

"Going forward doesn't mean leaving others behind," she says, in her best lofty princess voice. 

"Not necessarily, at least. Thank you for the reassurance."

"You're welcome."

"We love you, mama, don't worry."

Smile. "I love you too, darling."

That leaves them a few days to finish wrapping things up here (and reinforcing their cover story).

Breha has that taken care of, though Leia's assistance is certainly welcome.

And soon enough, the day arrives.

Dalia wakes up bounce-bounce-bouncing!

Leia is pretty easy to draw into the bouncing! 

It's an exciting day!

Makes keeping a straight face through breakfast a losing proposition. 

Why even try!

Excellent point! 

Sometimes she makes those.

Pretty often, if you ask Leia. 

Such a nice sister.

She's just being honest! She likes a lot of Dalia's ideas. 

Heee!

Like testing out bras together.

Smug smug.

An undoubtedly excellent idea. That they shouldn't get distracted exploring before breakfast.

That's okay they gotta stay fresh for Auntie.

Is Dalia's proposing 'Seduce Auntie' as their solution to having to maybe hide their 'testing'?

It might work, you never know.

It's a good idea.

Worth trying?

Leia thinks so. 

They should probably make a plan of attack...

Play to their respective strengths, too.

And what does Leia see those as?

Well, to start, Dalia's very good at being cute. 

So just do what she normally does?

The best kind of playing to their strengths. Dalia's naturally very seductive. 

Awww.

She caught Leia, didn't she? 

Hm, that's true, she did.

Proof of her great seductiveness.

So they've definitely got this in the bag, then.

They'll also need to figure out Leia's role...

Leia can be the sparkling wit!

Appeal to Auntie's intellectual side? 

Hit her with the ol' one-two combo.

Leave her no room to escape.

Pin her in place. Tied down tight.

Surrounded on both sides. 

Back up against the wall.

Overwhelmed and helpless.

That is... a really fun mental image.

It is. 

...What were they talking about?

...Uh not getting distracted before breakfast? Whoops.

Bit of a lost cause now. Oh well.

Mama shouldn't be too surprised they're a little late...

It'll probably just be fine.

Hopefully! 

Onward to breakfast then.

Breakfast!

Where their mother gives no indication she suspects any shenanigans.

Because no shenanigans are occurring. 

Good to know.

It's good to spend some time with mama before they leave, too.

Does she have any specific plans in mind?

Mostly sitting out on Leia's favorite veranda and talking or just hanging out...

They can do that.

And presently, they'll receive the message that a ship is coming in to land.

Auntie? (Leia's credits are on Auntie.)

So it is.

Leia and Dalia will head over to greet her when she lands. 

Bouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebouncebounce.

And soon enough, out strides their Aunt Felisa, in all her tight pants and leather jacket and roguishly tossled hair glory. Her blasters are very politely and discreetly tucked away, but Dalia and Leia can still see them, helping the air of danger. 

She beams when she sees the two girls waiting for her, too.

"Auntie!" Tacklehug!! Some habits Dalia will never grow out of.

Felisa doesn't think she's grown out of being picked up and spun around, though, so it all works out. 

"How are my two favorite girls doing?"

Whee!

"So good. Really excited."

"Dalia wouldn't stop bouncing."

"I can tell!" Then, to Dalia: "How's your sister doing?"

"Less bouncy, but still excited. She wasn't expecting to get to come along too."

Tiny pout.

"Glad we surprised her, then."

Squint. "Did you have plans for this?"

"Possibly."

Huff. "Rude not to share."

"Breha was still hesitant about the idea - until Leia talked to her."

"So it wasn't a total case of someone else doing my work for me."

"An accidental collaboration."

"We love a fortuitous confluence of circumstance."

"And perhaps good instincts for what to pursue, when."

"Could be!" Dalia chirps.

"An important trait for an aspiring politician."

"Important trait for just about anyone, I'd think."

"True..."

"I can help you both cultivate it."

"Is that what this is about?"

"That and more - but we can talk more once we're en route." She'd arrived in an anonymous small vessel, as she usually does - definitely not whatever ship she uses to get between stars, but she keeps tight-lipped about that.

"Kay. Did you want to stay and catch up with mama, or are we leaving right away? Me and Leia are already packed..."

"I do want to catch up with Breha some."

"We'd have to run and get our stuff anyway."

"Catching up will take me a bit longer than that."

"We can entertain ourselves while we wait."

"Yeah, take your time."

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do while I'm talking to Breha, then."

"That doesn't rule much out, Auntie."

"It rules out the things I'd disapprove of."

"Fair enough!"

She'll leave them to it, then. 

Kay!

(Things seem to be going okay so far!)

It's always good when Auntie visits. 

Mama always seems more relaxed, too.

Another reason to make sure they all come back here sometimes. 

Definitely.

Give Mama and Auntie a chance to catch up and talk.

Yep.

And it seems like they've got a bit of time to kill now...

And not much to investigate on the little shuttle...

Gotta go back and grab their stuff, anyway.

That first. 

They'll have to find some way to amuse themselves.

Some way or another. 

Dalia's sure they can think of something.

Especially with the privacy in the shuttle, and Auntie tied up with Mama...

Leia's getting pretty bold.

The excitement of the moment is getting to her. 

Go on, then.

Don't mind if she does. 

Leia is so pretty.

Dalia is very pretty. (Does she want to see more of Leia's prettiness?)

Yes.

Nice!!

They're somewhat at risk of getting carried away...

Dalia is sixteen years old and far too excited by all of the everything to remember what self-control is on her own.

Leia's going to have to remember for the both of them, then. As agonizing as the effort is.

That's what she gets for making her reputation as the responsible one.

She can reconsider responsibility later. But she's pretty sure she doesn't want to get caught. (Yet.)

Leave options on the table?

For later consideration.

That sounds like one of those diplomatic compromise sort of things.

Giggle!

Probably makes it a good idea.

Like Dalia said - leave options on the table. 

Sounds like a plan.

Clothes go back on, then. 

Alas!

A tragedy they'll have to remedy once they're settled on Auntie's ship. 

You bet!

Very quick kiss. 

Eeee kiss!! Okay settle down Dalia Auntie will be coming back soon...

Leia will help enforce the settling down, of course. 

She is the responsible one.

A hard duty, but one she's determined to bear. 

Dalia has every confidence in her.

She appreciates it! 

And her competence means they even get clothes straightened out by the time Auntie gets back. 

Their Aunt looks pretty languid and has a pleased smile on her face when she returns to the shuttle. "Have you already said your goodbyes to Breha?" she asks them. 

"This morning, yeah."

"We're all packed up and good to go."

"Then take a seat and I'll get us in the air."

Flying time yay! Can Dalia sit next to Auntie?

She'll not only permit but encourage it. 

Nice!!

Leia will sit behind Auntie. 

Hope she enjoys the view.

It's a very nice view! Only slightly interrupted by the chair.

Heeee.

And: takeoff! Their Aunt focuses on flying and the delicate dance of getting clearance to leave and avoiding Imperial scrutiny - she's good at it - then transfers them to a small ship at a station, then takes them on a few short hyperspace jumps - 

And arrives at a somewhat more lax station, then leads them over to -

An older ship, much larger than the one they've been in, but still looks like a light freighter. Felisa smiles softly when she sees it, and as the ramp lowers says, "Welcome to the Millennium Nexuha."

"...Is it bad if I say I was expecting something flashier?"

Their Aunt laughs. "She doesn't need to be flashy. She's got it where it counts."

"If you say so."

"Want me to show you?"

"Sounds like fun."

They'll need to get free of the station first. 

Dalia's perfectly willing to watch Felisa handle a big ship.

Leia'd like a demonstration too.

Luckily all three of them can fit in the cockpit.

"You do this all by yourself?" Dalia asks, looking at all the switches and readouts and buttons.

It's honestly a bit improbable that she can reach all of those from the captain's chair, especially in a pinch. 

"I've had a lot of practice. Though if you want to train up as my copilot..."

"I would."

"Watch carefully then."

Oh, she's watching the most carefulest.

Paying attention to how Felisa works the controls? 

Yes, definitely.

'With talent and no small amount of recklessness' seems to be the answer - she always knows exactly which switch to hit, where to turn, where to move - and moves quickly - though the feeling Dalia gets watching her fly is more 'well controlled chaos' than 'this ship is actually in fact flyable by one person.'

Very impressive, though.

Not something Leia is confident about replicating. 

It'd probably need both twins working together.