"Most were," Leia said, her expression becoming more solemn. "These few survived the same way a relatively small number of Alderaanians did; by not being on planet at the time. Mostly as part of a rotating display at Alderaanian embassies on several planets. A few of them were actually in my senatorial quarters on Coruscant."
"Naturally, they all disappeared from public knowledge shortly after... everything," she said. "It's thanks in large part to your father and his smuggling contacts that they were recovered. Most of them were in the hands of the glitterstim cartels, but a few had found their way into the hands of other unscrupulous private collectors." She smiled fondly, remembering. "He called it a 'several years late wedding gift' when he gave them to me. Shortly after that, there was a private exhibition for the Alderaanian Diaspora, but since then, they've been with me."
She stepped back up to the desk and directed her attention to the first case, and the jewels that sat there, secure in custom fitted padding. The case contained an elaborate gold broach set with multicolored gems and several necklaces, one showy and ceremonial, and two others that were more delicate. Also in the case was a heavy looking string of pearls. Leia ran her fingers over them lightly, feeling the numerous minute scratches in the surface. They obviously hadn't been treated well by the person who'd had them before they were retrieved; Leia could sympathize.
She carefully extracted the pearls and held them for Ben to get a closer look at. "You know, I never liked wearing these," she said. "I can't tell you how many functions and dinner parties I had to sit through with them around my neck, and they seemed to get heavier and more uncomfortable by the hour." But she was smiling in fond remembrance as she said it, time having turned annoyances into parts of cherished memories.
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Date: 2017-08-12 07:59 am (UTC)"Naturally, they all disappeared from public knowledge shortly after... everything," she said. "It's thanks in large part to your father and his smuggling contacts that they were recovered. Most of them were in the hands of the glitterstim cartels, but a few had found their way into the hands of other unscrupulous private collectors." She smiled fondly, remembering. "He called it a 'several years late wedding gift' when he gave them to me. Shortly after that, there was a private exhibition for the Alderaanian Diaspora, but since then, they've been with me."
She stepped back up to the desk and directed her attention to the first case, and the jewels that sat there, secure in custom fitted padding. The case contained an elaborate gold broach set with multicolored gems and several necklaces, one showy and ceremonial, and two others that were more delicate. Also in the case was a heavy looking string of pearls. Leia ran her fingers over them lightly, feeling the numerous minute scratches in the surface. They obviously hadn't been treated well by the person who'd had them before they were retrieved; Leia could sympathize.
She carefully extracted the pearls and held them for Ben to get a closer look at. "You know, I never liked wearing these," she said. "I can't tell you how many functions and dinner parties I had to sit through with them around my neck, and they seemed to get heavier and more uncomfortable by the hour." But she was smiling in fond remembrance as she said it, time having turned annoyances into parts of cherished memories.