The candle in the window could be seen in the distance, a beacon of warmth and welcome to the weary travelers.

“The power must be out, again,” the Prince moaned, as his eyes traveled over the front stonework of his ancestral Palace home. The sparkling glow of the candles peeking through the falling snow, made the windows of the ancient building, shimmer with warming radiance.

His dark-eyed daughter gazed up at him and offered, “Maybe Mommy and Threepio left them on for us because they look pretty.”

A smile broadened on the Prince’s face, instantly highlighting his handsome features in the process. A dull ache surrounded his heart as he gazed into her earnest, intelligent eyes…she was the splitting image of her mother. Snaking an arm down around the seven-year olds shoulder he crushed her protectively into his side in a tight embrace.

The father and daughter sat huddled together aboard their Royal Shuttle as it cruised towards the Palace’s docking station. As the vessel flushed its vents and the repulsor controls shuddered to a halt, signaling that they had landed, the man secured a long, velvet-lined, hooded cloak around his daughter’s shoulders in preparations against the brisk, howling wind and snow. 

“Ready?” he asked, shoving his gloves into place, and covering his balding head with his hood.

Stamping her feet, she responded affirmatively, “Ready, Daddy.”

Not thinking twice that someone wouldn’t gather up their shopping bags, the Prince nodded to the royal guards who opened the shuttle’s door. All tendrils of warmth in the shuttle were sucked out into the frigid wind. Hand-in-hand, Father and daughter cautiously dashed towards the Palace’s side entrance, slipping ever so often in the slick snow and patches of ice. Their facial features, hidden in the depths of their hoods, soon became tight and chilled from the abrasively bracing weather conditions. At the door, they spied the animated form of a golden protocol droid directing their path in the darkened bay. 

As they neared the droid, they heard his tinny voice wailing over the wind, “Prince Organa and Princess Leia, you must hurry and get inside before you catch your deaths out there!”

Dashing past the droid, the royals and their security detail poured into the Palace. Flipping off his hood, Prince Bail Organa asked, “Why are the lights out, Threepio?”

With the outer doors now shut, the warmth of the Palace embraced the party, and they gladly stripped out of their multiple layers of outer wear. Servants materialized out of the woodwork, gathered the cold, snow-logged apparel and retreated with them into the depths of the Palace.

See-Threepio’s metal feet clattered over the green Alderaanian marble floor as he chased after the royal family members who wandered into the further depths of the Palace. He answered, “Your Highness, the storm knocked out the town’s main generator. The Alderaan Core of Engineers team has been dispatched to correct the problem.”

“Excellent. Thank you, Threepio. Why don’t you go check on their progress and report back to me, alright?” he asked the droid.

Threepio happily answered, “Certainly, Your Royal Highness!” The droid then scampered off into the depths of the building, leaving father and daughter alone in the cavernous, elaborately decorated entryway to the Palace. The surrounding architecture and marble carvings were crafted to depict the simple beauty of hard-working farmers and the Alderaanian goddesses of virtue and nature.

To his daughter, Bail imparted his wisdom, “You would think that with all of the technology that we have available at our fingertips that we would be impervious to any such problems as losing power, wouldn’t you think? Nature and the Goddesses always find ways of reminding us who is really in charge, though. Don’t they, Leia?”

“Yes, Daddy,” Leia replied, as she gazed adoringly up at her father. Her smile turned into a frightened frown. In a low voice, she asked, “You don’t suppose that he cut the power, do you?”

Bail’s heart seized for a moment with utter terror, his own untrusting nature had actually pondered the exact same notion when he had first noted the power being out in the Palace. Leia never ceased to amaze him with her astuteness. He found it disconcerting that she oftentimes seemed to be able to pluck thoughts right out of his mind.

Forcing himself to relax, he stroked her thickly braided, sable-brown hair and belayed her fears by answering, “No, Leia. I don’t believe that he cut the power.”

“What if he learned about…about…”

Lightly holding her shoulders, Bail stressed, “We are very careful, my dear daughter. He is unaware of what we are planning.”

“But he has spies,” she whispered. Her eyes widened with fear, “Maybe he’s coming here tomorrow!”