WHO: Leia Organa Solo & Kylo Ren WHEN: Friday morning WHERE: Downtown Tumbleweed SUMMARY: Leia personally invites Kylo to the fall festival at Poe's ranch. WARNINGS: A for awkward?
Despite her argument with Eliot, Leia was still insistent that she invite Kylo to the festival. While she understood where Eliot was coming from, she didn't want to make a decision for him. If he chose not to come, that was one thing. If he didn't know she wanted him there, that was another. The truth was, she wanted him as a part of her life, and she knew she probably needed to give him space and time, but that was something she wasn't going to be able to do; it just wasn't in her nature.
She tracked Kylo down, catching up to him right there on the street. "Kylo," Leia said, smiling widely in greeting. "You're back from New York. How was your trip?"
It wasn't as if he hadn't known that she was there. He had. He knew, but he wasn't going to acknowledge her unless she acknowledged him first. Which, of course she had. Of course she had. He turned around slightly, not really giving her a smile, but it wasn't an unfriendly look either -- more a cautious one because he had a suspicion based on the conversation he'd had with Eliot in New York where this was going to be going.
What Kylo still didn't understand is why she wanted him there. If she knew what happened between him and Han, why did she want him around? And it was a question he didn't know how to ask which meant that there was an extra awkwardness that seemed to have taken over the former awkwardness.
"Good," he said finally, as much because he had to say something as for any other reason. And for a moment his face softened slightly as his mind couldn't help but retrieve some of the things that he and Eliot had done together. "It was- enjoyable to be out of Tumbleweed for a bit."
Leia's smile grew a little. "Good! Good. I've been meaning to try and get out of town at some point myself. It's just that with the school and - well, Luke's here now so I don't want to just up and go anywhere." Not to mention, if Han were to return unexpectedly, she wanted to be here, close by to get to him immediately.
"I'm glad you and Eliot had a chance to go away for a little while," she said sincerely.
"Yeah, me too," he shrugged. Although that really made it seem like less of a big deal than it had been. Truthfully, he'd never really dreamed of something like what he had with Eliot. There had always been a destiny placed in front of him, something larger than he could really handle on its own, and certainly larger than any relationship would allow. There had been attraction, certainly, but Eliot was more than attraction - far more. "New York is bigger than here by quite a bit. I wish we were there."
But Leia's other words brought up things that Kylo didn't really want to think about. He had yet to speak with his Uncle or to even say that it was his Uncle. He had no particular interest in Luke Skywalker, particularly none in a young version of him. But none really at all. Which, of course, probably meant that he'd end up interacting with him at some point. He looked over at his mother and said more directly than he probably should have: "If you just throw yourself into work all the time, you'll never go. It's not even the Republic here, so this isn't your project. Go if you want to go. Don't get bogged down in other people's things."
She tipped her head and looked at him thoughtfully for a moment, as though she were trying to read between his words. She knew what her life was back home, with the New Republic, and she understood some of what was happening in his timeline, but it hadn't been since the days of the Rebellion that she truly felt she wasn't letting go of her work. Is that what he thought of his own mother? "Well, yes, but I still made a commitment to teach, and I'm enjoying doing so. As I understand it, there's a national holiday coming up next month. Perhaps I'll look into taking a trip then." Leia didn't want to admit that she didn't want to take a trip by herself. Even though she and Anakin had discussed it, she knew he'd prefer to go off somewhere with Nico, same as Kylo preferred time with Eliot. There was always Luke, once he was feeling better.
"Speaking of time off," she said with a wave of her hand. "I'm sure you've seen on the network that we're hosting a fall festival out at the ranch." Leia took a moment to pull something from her shoulder bag, a small orange envelope that contained an invitation for Kylo and Eliot. They hadn't really done invitations - well, Leia had, and she had given them out to a few friends but nothing widespread - but she wanted the two young men to feel special and wanted.
The card inside was in the shape of a tree with gold and orange leaves and some kind of creature - an owl - poking out from the tree's trunk. It reminded her of autumn on Alderaan, which is why she had picked it up. She handed it to him. "I hope you and Eliot can come."
Kylo's initial reaction was to of course say no. He didn't want to go to Dameron's ranch for a hundred reasons. Eliot hadn't been wrong in thinking that he wouldn't want to go there. Kylo rather doubted Dameron wanted him there either, which was the other piece of this. And Rey, who continued to snipe at him on the network and want nothing to do with him.
Still, there was a envelope. Which meant his mother had gone to effort even outside of finding him to ask. She could have asked him on the network, or just asked him, but there was an envelope being held out for him to take and the expectation was clearly that he would take it. His jaw twitched, and after several heartbeats he reached out his hand for it.
"I can't imagine Dameron wants me at his ranch," he turned the envelope over, staring at the back of it for a moment, rather than looking up at Leia's face.
Perhaps Kylo was right. No, Leia knew he was right. But she also knew that Poe wouldn't make a big deal out of it if she asked him not to. "Well, I want you to come," she said after a moment, pursing her lips. She cleared her throat and folded her hands in front of her.
Kylo did look up then, his gaze looking at a face that was much younger than what he'd last seen but was still incredibly familiar to him. Even knowing that she wasn't his mother, it couldn't take away from that familiarity. It also was clear to him though that there were differences in the similarities. Or maybe it was just that this Leia hadn't lived the things his mother had.
She still knew about them though.
It was on the tip of his tongue to ask, if she knew about Han, why she wanted him to come so badly. Why wouldn't she simply ignore him? Why would she instead seek him out and invite him to a place he probably wasn't wanted in the first place? It made no sense to Kylo whatsoever. But instead of saying any of this, he just shifted his gaze back to the envelope and tore it open, pulling out the card and examining it in silence.
She watched him for a moment, could tell that he had considered saying something and then didn't. She touched his wrist, just barely, for a split second, so that he would look over at her again. "I certainly wouldn't expect either of you to stay for a long time," Leia continued on, "but I was hoping you might be interested in seeing the pumpkin I'm carving, and maybe we could do the corn maze, so long as Eliot doesn't tell us the way to get out. We'll have some cider and a bonfire again as well. I'm hoping it'll be … nice." For want of a better word to describe it, at least.
Kylo slid closed the card and slid it back in the envelope, pocketing both before he looked back up to meet Leia's eyes.
"I'll ask Eliot," he offered. It wasn't a promise of coming, exactly, although they both likely recognized it as the excuse that it was. Everyone liked Eliot, and Eliot tended to like everyone - It was one of the things Kylo admired about him - thus it was unlikely that Eliot would say no to a social gathering like the one Leia was inviting them too, if not for Kylo.
But Leia frowned. Eliot had already made it rather clear that he didn't want to accept her invitation, so she wasn't sure how to take Kylo's response. "Of course," she murmured with a small nod and a somewhat forced smile. "Wlel, I should let you get back to whatever you're doing this morning," she said. "I need to stop by the library."
Kylo pretended to be more immune to the disappointment than he really was. In truth, he knew a hundred ways he'd disappointed Leia over the years, and this was really nothing compared to some of them. He hated the feeling of it, but what had she expected exactly? He wouldn't go without Eliot and while they'd talked some about it, Kylo wasn't going to say yes without talking to Eliot about this specifically. Had she expected him to just smile and agree? Irritation gathered but he pushed it away.
"Yeah, I gotta -" he shrugged. "Work. I'll see you later."
"Have a good day," she said to him. "I hope to see you and Eliot soon." She smiled. Leia didn't wait for him to walk away, rather she turned and headed back down the sidewalk the way she came.
Kylo didn't watch her go, but instead just headed for the shop, one fist tightening slightly with frustration. He might wish that she would leave him alone, but it didn't seem that she was going to, and perhaps being ignored would have been equally dreadful in feeling as the constant sense he was disappointing her. Kylo didn't know. But maybe that really was the problem when it came to his mother: he just didn't know.