"Well now, that was a lovely party, wasn't it?" Elsa smiled as she sat down on the couch beside Rebecca. All around, household attendants bustled around the room cleaning up the scraps of wrapping paper littering areas of the tables and floor.
"You didn't have to throw such a big affair for me, Nana," Rebecca said quietly, looking at the piles of gift bags and boxes surrounding her, most of them containing fancier clothes, perfumes and pieces of jewelry.
"Nonsense!" Elsa exclaimed. "You know I had to-- it's not every day my beloved granddaughter turns 21 years old." she patted Rebecca's leg gently. "How's it feel being full adult now?"
Rebecca shrugged, "the same as it did yesterday? Except now I guess being 21 means I'm designated to meet every single one of your friends." She paused. "Why DID you invite all of those people I don't even know....and their sons?"
"Oh...." Elsa started, " well I wanted you to be around more people...I mean honestly, sweetheart-- you've been living here for three years now and you barely step foot off the estate, kriff, some days you don't even leave your bedroom..."
Rebecca shrugged again, looking down at one of her birthday presents sitting in her lap. "I don't have anyplace to go, anyone to see. And I like my room."
Elsa gave a small, reassuring smile. "I'm just looking out for you, love. I get worried sometimes. You're always so lonely." she brushed her fingers through a lock of Rebecca's wavy red hair. "I know-- perhaps you need a man."
Rebecca froze for a second, not liking where this conversation was leading. "A man??" she asked, looking at her guardian, trying not to give off a horrified face.
"Of course! You're always so depressed, so lonely.A man will suit you just wonderfully!" She stood and started out of the parlor. "Lets see...Moff Vorru has several sons...I wonder if I still have his comm frequency..."
Rebecca watched her mumbling grandmother leave the room feeling very uneasy. Thanks a lot, Nana. That's exactly what I need right now... she rolled her eyes and gathered her gifts, taking a hint that now would be a good time to retreat back to her room before it gets too late. Returning upstairs, she entered her room and placed her birthday presents on her desk. She paused as something on her bed caught her eye. Turning slowly, Rebecca noticed a wrapped box placed in the center of her bed. She reached over and picked it up, not remembering how it got into her room in the first place. Upon seeing the tag reading "from Aria Brisard" on the outside, she eagerly ripped off the shiny wrapping paper and opened the box. As she expected, there were two envelopes sitting on top of a pile of tissue paper protecting the contents below. Rebecca laid down on her bed and opened the first envelope. She grinned as she read the birthday card from Aria, setting it on top of a large stack of Aria's other letters and messages she had accumulated throughout the years in her nightstand drawer and then reaching for the second, the one from her father. When she pulled it out of the box, the tissue paper began pulling up as well and she realized the object below was attached to the card. Gently, she turned the box upside down and let the heavy object fall onto the bed. After detaching and reading the card, she unwrapped the object slowly and gasped, gazing at a silver ornate jewelry box.
Daddy, you really shouldn't have... she thought as she turned the box around in her hands. As she did so, she heard something rolling around inside the box. She set it down on her lap and unlatched and lifted the lid. Her eyes lit up as she pulled out a silver locket pendant, admiring it. Inside of the locket she she noticed was a small image of herself and her parents taken back when she was a child. Smiling, she set the locket back into the jewelry box and paused, noticing a compartment hiding under the bottom lining of the box. Prying her fingers underneath, she removed the bottom layer to reveal a comm-link with a note attached to it. Rebecca eagerly took it out of the box, excited to own her very first comm unit.
Rebecca smiled upon reading the note attached. Thank you Daddy. Thank you so much.
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