The soft clatter of cutlery was the only sound filling the uncomfortable silence that you and Leia were sitting in, neither of you daring to speak a word.

The little meeting with your mother was long overdue, both of you making excuses to miss the two previous monthly dinners, but it wasn't any less awkward to sit in front of the woman you now only ever referred to as General.

Honestly, Leia was ashamed of how she had let your relationship go so wrong. She tried to tell herself that it was normal, that this was the only way that you'd grow your own wings. She tried to argument that she couldn't be as close to for professional reasons, now you were working in the resistance too. She tried to say that it was when Ben turned, no one in the family could bear to look at eachother anymore. It was less painful, at least, than admitting that she had never really understood you. That you just didn't see the world the same way, whether it was because she was Force-sensitive and you weren't, or for completely different reasons that she couldn't even imagine.

Clearing her throat, Leia looked up from her plate for a moment, trying to give you a small smile, that she realised looked more tense than had hoped it would.

"So, Commander, how are your pilots?"