"He doesn't," she said. "Not for himself, at least. But he does care about me, and has always been far better with gestures than words. You know that glass ornament that sits on the desk in my office? That's actually a piece of Braaken glass; your father got it for me after I mentioned once that my mother had had a collection of them." She smiled fondly. "I never had the heart to tell him that both father and I found the collection hideous." Braaken glass, while not nearly as rare or valuable as Alderaanian artifacts, were still very expensive due to the amount of craft that went into their creation. While Leia could appreciate that, it didn't make them any more pleasant to look at, as far as she was concerned. But the piece Han had given her had become oddly endearing, especially during the time he'd been gone.
The pearls themselves were from a species of freshwater shellfish native to Alderaan. Both the particular minerals in the water that contributed to the pearl's coloration and the sheer size of some of them made them close to impossible to recreate. Which was just as well, as it made exposing frauds that much easier.
Leia smiled in amusement at Ben's reaction to the broach. "There's really no other polite way to put it, is there?", she said. "Now that I'm older I can appreciate the artistry that it must have taken to create something like this a great deal more, but when I was younger all I saw was the excess of it. Money that I thought could have been better spent elsewhere, where it was really needed. And not just on jewels like this. I'm not exaggerating in the slightest when I tell you that you could have bought a small ship for the price of some of the outfits I wore back then. Especially before I got old enough to start really putting my foot down on my aunts' more extravagant tastes."
She carefully returned the broach to its case as Ben talked about the incident surrounding a particular Alderaanian tiara, looking thoughtful. "I don't recall ever having a tiara like that," she said. "And since House Organa never used a seven pointed star in any of our symbolism, it's unlikely it was mine and I was just too young to remember. More likely it was from House Panteer; they were fond of starbursts, and a stylized, four pointed star was on their house banner. If it can be retrieved, there are a few people still living from that house and their close servants who might be able to identify it."
"House Panteer actually produced more Kings and Queens than any of Alderaans other noble houses," she said. "Even the Organas. In fact, there was some question over whether my grandfather would even be able to claim the title of Viceroy. House Antilles contested his right to rule, and it was so hotly debated that an outside mediator had to be called in. I think that might have been the start of my father's good relations with the Jedi, since one of the mediators sent, a Jedi knight named Everen Ettene, championed House Organa's cause and the two of them became acquainted during that time."
"Eventually, the tribunal ruled in favor of my grandfather, and any ruffled feelings on the Antilles' side were soothed by my father's marriage to my mother." Leia smiled fondly though there was a bit of sadness to it too. "You'd never have known there was anything arranged about their marriage from interacting with them though; they were both very much in love. She would call him 'hotshot' or just 'B', and he would call her 'my dove'."
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Date: 2017-08-13 09:40 pm (UTC)The pearls themselves were from a species of freshwater shellfish native to Alderaan. Both the particular minerals in the water that contributed to the pearl's coloration and the sheer size of some of them made them close to impossible to recreate. Which was just as well, as it made exposing frauds that much easier.
Leia smiled in amusement at Ben's reaction to the broach. "There's really no other polite way to put it, is there?", she said. "Now that I'm older I can appreciate the artistry that it must have taken to create something like this a great deal more, but when I was younger all I saw was the excess of it. Money that I thought could have been better spent elsewhere, where it was really needed. And not just on jewels like this. I'm not exaggerating in the slightest when I tell you that you could have bought a small ship for the price of some of the outfits I wore back then. Especially before I got old enough to start really putting my foot down on my aunts' more extravagant tastes."
She carefully returned the broach to its case as Ben talked about the incident surrounding a particular Alderaanian tiara, looking thoughtful. "I don't recall ever having a tiara like that," she said. "And since House Organa never used a seven pointed star in any of our symbolism, it's unlikely it was mine and I was just too young to remember. More likely it was from House Panteer; they were fond of starbursts, and a stylized, four pointed star was on their house banner. If it can be retrieved, there are a few people still living from that house and their close servants who might be able to identify it."
"House Panteer actually produced more Kings and Queens than any of Alderaans other noble houses," she said. "Even the Organas. In fact, there was some question over whether my grandfather would even be able to claim the title of Viceroy. House Antilles contested his right to rule, and it was so hotly debated that an outside mediator had to be called in. I think that might have been the start of my father's good relations with the Jedi, since one of the mediators sent, a Jedi knight named Everen Ettene, championed House Organa's cause and the two of them became acquainted during that time."
"Eventually, the tribunal ruled in favor of my grandfather, and any ruffled feelings on the Antilles' side were soothed by my father's marriage to my mother." Leia smiled fondly though there was a bit of sadness to it too. "You'd never have known there was anything arranged about their marriage from interacting with them though; they were both very much in love. She would call him 'hotshot' or just 'B', and he would call her 'my dove'."