WALKING TOWARDS HIM

(Leia)

"You look beautiful," Winter assures me as she sets my tiara atop my head and arranges my veil to frame my face. We hear the processional begin. It's time.

I'm feeling nervous but as in excited, not scared, and at the same time, I've never felt so much at peace.

I'm marrying the most wonderful man in the universe.

So what if he's a scoundrel? I love him because he's a scoundrel. He came into my life at one of the least opportune times. There was a war we needed to win! How could I have fallen in love when I had a job to do?

As it turns out, I didn't have to find love; it found me, and in the most unlikely form that is Han Solo, who is going to be my husband this very day.

There's a soft knock at the door, and Najia opens it. It's Chewie, who is going to walk me down the aisle. He's freshly scrubbed and brushed and no Wookiee ever looked finer.

{You are the most beautiful bride. For a human}, he tells me, and we all laugh. {All of you ladies look nice}.

I can hear the processional music starting. Winter and Najia step out of our antechamber, preparing to meet Lando and Luke for the walk. It's a long one; we have over a thousand guests and the altar of Cantham House takes nearly three minutes to complete. But that's nothing compared to how far the journey will take us. Our lives are ahead of us. Who knows where it will take us?

Wherever we go, we will be together, and that's what matters. I can't think of anyone else I'd rather share it with than Han.

What does the future hold for us?

Can I keep him happy? Will I be a good wife? What will our lives look like in ten years? In fifty?

I think it's a good thing that we can't tell what the future holds. If we knew, we'd probably die out as a species.

All I know is that Han makes me believe in a future that's right, that's good, and that's true. I never thought I could assign that to anyone. But Han has changed that. I think it's for the better.

Chewie and I hear the music start for Han's, if you'll forgive the pun, last solo walk. Chewie and I sneak a peek. I know that walking in front of a thousand people is not something that makes him terribly comfortable, but Chewie assures me he'll be fine.

{What are you thinking of?}, Chewie asks me.

"Mostly of being worthy of this marriage," I admit.

Chewie smiles and gives a soft bark. {He feels the same way}.

I think back on how Han and I met and fell in love. I can't help but laugh. We started out by verbally abusing each other and had our first kiss in the belly of a space slug. There was the disastrous trip to Bespin, my leaving the Rebellion for six months to find Han, illnesses we've nursed each other through, laughs we've had in the most serious situations, the Falcon, queen of ill tempered freighters, the victory celebration on Yavin 4, where he proposed to me.

Finally, Han is at the altar, and there's a brief pause before the downbeat of the Alderaanian wedding march. Chewie offers me his arm, and I take it.

And then I see Han, standing there, waiting, the most radiant smile I've ever seen on his face. We're being watched by a cast of thousands, but the only one I can see is my beloved, the man who asked me to join my life to his. As we approach the altar, he winks at me, the same way he did at the victory celebration after the Battle of Yavin.

Han rarely wears his emotions on his sleeve, but today, it seems he can't help it. I'm going to join my life to this irascible, funny, sweet, deeply emotional, intelligent, determined, stubborn, incredible man, whose sheer maleness possesses me.

I am the luckiest woman who ever lived.