Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, I just make them do stuff. I do not own them in any way shape or form nor do I profit from this in any way, shape or form.
Author's Note: Okay, so I needed a little break from another story I've been working on and decided to do a little one-shot to clear my mind from trying to figure out what to do with the other one. Skirts between events of A New Hope and my own world post-Endor that I have Han and Leia living in.
Leia pulled the blankets closer around her, a chill running thru her as she rolled to her side as she attempted to find a comfortable spot in bed. She normally would fall asleep quickly and peacefully aboard the Falcon, her and Han's home for the time being. They had landed on Chandrila a few days prior, choosing to stay on the ship rather than in the uncomfortable Alliance bunks. She had grown to love the ship as much as she loved it's Captain, never minding spending nights aboard. The sound of Han's soft snoring beside her echoed throughout the bunk mingling with the low hum of the Falcon's computers running the normal nightly diagnostics they had been programmed to complete. She finally nestled into a welcoming spot in the bed and drifted into sleep, her mind quickly slipping into a dreamlike state.
The air was hot around her, the sun beat down on her pale skin causing her cheeks to flush pink. She noticed she was wearing a simple dress that was rough like burlap under her fingertips as she ran her hands across the skirt. The beige fabric was dirty and worn thin in places. She looked around at her surroundings, the bright sun causing her to squint as she tried to figure out where she was. It seemed to be some kind of spaceport on a desert planet. Low adobe buildings dotted the sides of the street, interrupted every few hundred feet by moisture vaporators jutting their way skyward. It was an ugly place, a wretched hive of scum and villainy. She turned as she tried to make sense of everything. Am I on Tatooine? Something about the air, the sun, this all seems familiar yet so strange.
Various creatures and humans walked past her, not one noticing she was there, brushing past her as they went about their business. A landspeeder whizzed past her, causing a rush of wind to gust against her, sand kicking up from the concrete, stinging her legs as her skirt rippled around her. The speeder stopped a short distance ahead of her outside of a nondescript building. She watched as a cloaked figure and a young man disembarked from the parked speeder. The young man hopped easily over the side, quickly shooing some sort of creature away from his vehicle before turning back to the cloaked figure. She could tell the two were speaking to one another, but their voices too far from her to be distinguished. The sun caused a flash of gold to catch her eye as she began to walk briskly towards the speeder, curiosity drawing her to move closer to it.
"C-3PO!" she called out, noticing him helping R2 down from the back of the speeder.
Neither of the droids acknowledged her presence. She slowed her pace as she studied the young man, now close enough to him to instantly recognize him as her brother.
"Luke!" her voice rang out thru the desert air. No response from him came to her. He continued his conversation with the hooded figure.
Luke followed the figure towards the building, the droids now a few steps behind them. She felt an overwhelming urge to follow them as she began to walk again, her pace quickening as they entered the building, disappearing from her view. Her feet slipped in the sand, causing her to almost lose her footing. She quickly caught herself and began sprinting towards the doorway of the building to catch up to them.
The darkness of the cantina took her a moment to adjust to, a stark contrast to the blinding sun outside. She stood on top of a set of low stairs, her eyes scanning the room in attempt to locate Luke amongst the room full of strange creatures from every corner of the galaxy. Peculiar music surrounded her as she slowly stepped down the stairs and began to make her way thru the crowd, parting her way past the oddest looking beasts she had ever seen. She felt as though she was unwelcomed here, even if no one acknowledged her presence directly. One wrong misstep and any one of the creatures in this place wouldn't give a second thought to blasting her. She noticed Chewbacca casually leaning against the bar speaking to the once cloaked figure she now recognized as Obi-Wan. She paused for a moment and realized that this is where everything began. Her brother never elaborated on details of his first encounter with Han and she had never asked him further questions. Han she thought to herself as a creature brushed past her disappearing into the darkness. Her stomach tightened knowing that Han was somewhere in this cantina at the very moment, this moment she was witnessing occurring while she was held on the Death Star. She suppressed her own memories of this day as she focused back on her surroundings. She stepped closer to Luke, his back to her as he sat at the bar. Her hand reached out to touch his back, gently tapping against it. Luke made no movement. She felt uneasy, realizing that she was just a witness to the events unfolding around her, unable to make her presence known to her brother. She watched as a large creature with an ugly chin and protruding eyeballs pushed against Luke's shoulder causing him to turn quickly on the bar stool, grunting towards him in an unfamiliar language. Luke's face twisted in confusion, before turning himself back to the bar, trying to ignore the creature's unprovoked but obvious annoyance with him. Another creature stepped in close to Luke. He looked more human-like but his nose was upturned and had deep wrinkles under his eyes. Leia had never seen such a bizarre looking character in her entire life. He rested his hand against Luke's shoulder, causing Luke's to turn back to the pair.
"He doesn't like you" the creature growled, a brogue to his voice.
"I'm sorry" Luke quickly muttered, trying to ignore the men.
"I don't like you either. Just watch yourself, we're wanted men. I have the death sentence on twelve systems!" the creature hissed towards Luke, the palm of his hand firmly grasping Luke's shoulder pulling him back around to face him.
"I'll be careful" Luke turned back to his drink, glass in his hand, his gaze lost in the reddish liquor.
"You'll be dead!" the man exclaimed as his fingertips dug into Luke's arm, pulling him back around to face him, his eyes full of anger piercing Luke's.
Obi-Wan leaned over Luke, his voice calm as he confronted the man.
"This little one is not worth the effort. Now let me get you something".
The Jedi's words had little effect on the man, his grasp tightening on Luke as he lifted him from his seat and threw him aside. Luke crashed into a table, knocking it's contents to the floor. Leia gasped as she rushed to Luke's side. She rested her hand against Luke's arm as she looked down at him. He looked confused at what had just happened and what he could have done to possibly provoke this man to do such a thing to him. The sound of a lightsaber being activated drew Leia's attention back to the Obi-Wan and the men that had accosted Luke. One of the men had a blaster drawn but in the blink of an eye, Obi-Wan quickly maneuvered his lightsaber as the creature screamed out in pain. The creature's furry arm now lay severed from his body in a pool of blood on the cantina floor. The crowd had gone quiet for a moment as Obi-Wan deactivated his saber and Luke sat up from the floor. Leia rose to stand alongside him, stunned as she looked in Obi-Wan's direction. The crowd, hardly phased at what had just happened, turned back to their drinks as the music resumed. Chewie and Obi-Wan made their way closer to her and Luke, helping Luke from the floor. They began to walk away, Leia trailing just a few steps behind them as they continued thru the crowd of people to a corner table. She watched as Obi-Wan and Luke sat at the table as Han effortlessly slid into a seat across from them. Leia stood in silence, watching as the man who in a few hours would find himself rescuing a Princess began to work out details of an arrangement of passage to the Alderaan system with her brother and Obi-Wan.
"Fast ship? You've never heard of the Millennium Falcon?" Han sneered across the table towards Obi-Wan, his arms casually resting against the tabletop, his hands folded, fingertips tapping together hinting at a slight annoyance that this old man had never heard of his ship or any of it's achievements.
"What's the cargo?" Han smoothly asked, his head now tilting closer across the table towards Luke and Obi-Wan, his voice low.
"Only passengers. Just myself" Obi-Wan began to answer as he nodded towards Luke. "The boy, two droids and no questions asked".
Han smiled a cocky smile as he settled back in his seat.
"What about the girl?" he asked, his eyes settling on Leia, his gaze piercing into her.
"What? What girl?" Luke asked, his voice nervous as he twisted his head around his shoulder to understand who this arrogant pilot could possibly be talking about.
"The girl who has been following behind you this whole time" Han chuckled, wondering how the kid could have missed a woman as stunning as her.
Obi-Wan glanced at Luke, his hand resting against Luke's arm momentarily as he leaned close to him. "Certain things are not always as they seem" he whispered. Luke glanced behind him again, noticing Leia standing there, her arm crossed across her body, her fingers nervously clutching her elbow.
"That's the girl from the message!" Luke exclaimed, his voice louder then it should have been.
"And you are Luke Skywalker" she matter of factually replied.
"What? How do you know who I am?" Luke spun his body around in his seat, glaring at Leia, utter confusion crossing his face that she knew his name.
Leia couldn't find an answer to his question, instead only smiling softly at Luke as he shook his head, accepting he would not receive an answer from her.
Han rose from his seat and stepped close to Leia. A certain nervousness surrounded her as he came closer to her, knowing that she knew much more of him that he knew of her, wondering how the smuggler would interact with her.
"I'm Captain Han Solo. Never seen a woman of your beauty in such a rough place. Who might you be?" he casually asked as he extended her hand to hers.
"Leia" she softly responded, her voice weak, her mind racing of why she suddenly was noticeable when moments before she was completely invisible to everyone around her.
"Well, Leia, will you be joining these two on their little excursion today? I would love to have you on my ship". He winked at her suggestively as he took her hand into his, bringing it to his lips and kissing it softly.
"I, um, I don't know" she barely managed to respond taken aback by Han's gesture towards her.
He leaned close to her and whispered into her ear quietly, his voice barely audible over the music and the surrounding noise of the cantina.
"I don't know what business you all have going on but I'm the best pilot in the galaxy. Let me finish up the details with these two and before you know it, we'll be out in the stars".
Leia couldn't help to smile at his blatant ego, the way he swagged over her. Her mind tried to push the thought of the Han she knew now from her thoughts, the sweet caring man who would cook her breakfast before her morning meetings, the one who would hold her at night as they drifted off to sleep together. She had to remind herself that this was the Han she first encountered all those years ago in the halls of a detention center, the cocky arrogant scoundrel, currently in his element of former comfort, a seedy cantina on a backwater planet.
Han brushed his hand against Leia's arm, shooting her a suggestive lopsided grin as he stepped back and sat back down with Obi-Wan and Luke.
"Docking bay 94" he coolly stated as his eyes wandering past Obi-Wan and Luke into the crowd, noting two stormtroopers questioning the bartender as he pointed in their direction. "Looks like someone is taking interest in your handiwork" he muttered to Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan quickly rose from the table, pulling his hood over his head as he reached for Luke's arm, leading him quietly into the anonymity of the crowd.
Leia stood frozen, glancing over her shoulder noticing the stormtroopers making their way thru the crowd towards them.
"Come here" Han gestured towards her, patting the seat next to him.
"No! I can't stay here" She frantically searched the room, her mind screaming at her to run at the sight of the troopers but her body remained frozen in place.
Han pulled at her arm, causing her to take a step closer to him. "Just sit here and act casual" he easily stated.
Leia took a deep breath and slid into the bench next to him, reaching for Han's glass on the table and taking a long sip of the strange liquid inside of it, trying to calm her nerves. It burned her throat as she swallowed it. The stormtroopers had reached their table and paused for a moment in front of them, fear exploding inside of her at their presence. Han and Chewbacca showed little emotion as they stared back at the stormtroopers in silence. The troopers departed, leaving them alone, no questions asked of them. Once the coast was clear, Han stood from his seat and tapped his palm against Chewie's shoulder.
"Get back to the ship and get her ready" he instructed to the Wookiee. Chewie let out a low growl as he exited from the table.
Han turned to Leia, still seated at the table, her eyes remained wide with fear from the brief presence of the stormtroopers. Han extended his hand to her, pulling her from her seat. He paused for a moment, his body close to hers.
"You know that old man you are with is paying me more then I asked for? What exactly are you all running from?" he asked, his voice hinting at the excitement of the large credit sum.
"It's none of your business" she replied.
"You know I like a girl with a bit of mystery to her" he smirked.
"I'm sure you do, Captain".
Han stepped back from Leia turning to make his way away from the table. She followed him closely, carefully making her way thru the crowd, cautious to not disturb anyone after seeing how quickly they could be angered earlier. She wanted to reach out to his hand, longing for his calming touch, but decided against it, reminding herself that Han did not know her, she was just some strange girl in an even stranger cantina to him. He turned a corner and a slim, green creature stepped out from the darkness and immediately pressed a blaster into Han's chest, stopping Han abruptly in his tracks. Leia gasped as she saw the muzzle of the blaster against his shirt.
"Going somewhere, Solo?" the creature asked in a strange language.
The creature nudged the blaster harder against Han as he began to back up, lowering himself into a nearby table. Leia fumbled at her skirt, her fingers grabbing at the fabric looking for the blaster she normally would keep strapped against her thigh. She found nothing, helplessly watching Han ease into the seat as the creature sat across from him, the creature's blaster still directly pointed at him. Han seemed nonchalant about the whole situation, as if having a fully charged weapon pressed against his chest was a typical day for him. He swung his leg up onto the table and draped his arm across the back of the bench, his fingers absentmindedly tracing cracks in the cantina's walls as the creature scolded him in the incomprehensible tongue. She could see Han's hands under the table tracing down the side of his bloodstripes towards his own blaster, effortlessly flipping the safety off before sliding it from the hostler, his finger easily resting in the trigger hold as he smoothly replied to the creature.
"I bet you have" Han muttered, a blast firing off in the creature's direction in a cloud of smoke before his lifeless body slumped forward onto the table.
Han stood from the table as relaxed and unflustered as he had sat down as he re-holstered his blaster and reached for Leia's hand, her eyes wide again at the events that had just unfolded in front of her. His fingers wrapped thru hers, her breath drawing quickly as she felt his familiar touch against her palm.
"You shouldn't have seen all that" he calmly stated as he began to lead her towards the exit, pausing only for a moment to flip the bartender a credit and mutter "Sorry about the mess" under his breath.
The bright sun almost blinded her as they stepped outside into the dry desert air. She blinked slowly, trying to readjust to the light. She noticed Han had not let her hand go, his fingers still intertwined in hers.
"We better get to my ship and get you to where you need to go". He gently smiled at her.
The warm air slipped from around her, the touch of Han's fingers wrapped thru hers faded as she fell thru a seemingly empty void, the once vibrant spaceport and burning sunshine quickly disappearing from around her. She found herself against a cold metal bench, the air now chilled and unwelcoming. She picked her head up from her arms and looked around, her eyes adjusting to the artificial light that illuminated the steel room that she now found herself in. Her body tensed as she realized she was now in a prison cell aboard the Death Star. She had found herself here before in many dreams before, fear gripping her, knowing that her mind would replay the events that occurred to her within the cold walls. She picked herself up from the bench and pressed her back against the wall, her knees pulling towards her chest as she looked around the room, knowing the horrors awaiting her next. She could feel sweat beat against her forehead, her body shaking from fear and cold.
Han woke to Leia tossing against the bunk, her eyes squeezed shut, her lips muttering incoherent moans as her head moved against the pillows. Her fingers grasped the edge of the blanket, pulling the fabric tightly in her grasp. He sat up slightly in bed and placed his hand against her shoulder, gently shaking her to free her from her dream.
"Leia, sweetheart, wake up" he said, his voice hushed. He gently shook her again, hoping to free her from whatever horror she was experiencing in her sleep.
Leia's eyes parted slightly, the darkness of the bunk now surrounding her as she returned to reality, the dream fading away as her body relaxed. She noticed Han looking down at her, a worried but caring expression across his face. She released the blanket from her grasp and reached up to push away stray hairs that had fallen from her braids away from her forehead, noting her brow was damp with sweat.
"You alright?" Han asked softly.
"I think so" Leia faintly responded. She had relived the horrors of the Death Star and Alderaan many times before but she was left confused of why her dream had pulled her to that distant spaceport, why she was there watching Luke, Obi-Wan and Han interact for the first time. She rubbed her eyes as she pulled herself up in bed, Han's arm wrapping around her and pulling her close to his chest.
"You were having a nightmare" Han whispered into her hair, kissing her disheveled braids lightly.
"No, this time it was different" she replied. "It wasn't bad until the very end".
"No?" Han asked, slightly surprised that her dreams had taken on a new form. He had woken her dozens of times before, holding her close as she sobbed and shook, sometimes explaining to him what she experienced, other times just trembling in silence as her tears fell into his chest.
"This time it was on another planet. Luke and Obi-Wan were there. I followed them into this cantina but they couldn't see or hear me at first. I saw all these strange creatures and one of them threw Luke to the floor and Obi-Wan cut off his arm. You were there too. You spoke to me" she explained, trying to make sense of it all, the idea of her dream sounding completely ludicrous as she spoke.
"Mos Eisley" Han replied.
"What?" Leia pulled her head from Han's chest and looked up into his hazel eyes.
"You basically dreamed exactly what happened in Mos Eisley the day I met Luke and Obi-Wan. What else happened in your dream?" Han asked, his own memories of the day flooding back to him.
"This...this" She fumbled for the correct words to describe him. "This creature cornered you and pushed a blaster into your chest. I was trying to reach for my own blaster to save you, but it wasn't there".
Han chuckled to himself. "I think I did alright by myself with that".
"This is really weird, Han. How am I dreaming of exact events that actually happened?"
"I don't know, sweetheart. Maybe some kind of force thing but Luke would have the answers to that, not me". Han kissed her softly before pulling her close again to him, her head resting against his chest. "You going to be alright?"
"I think so. Just a little freaked out, that's all".
"Try and get some sleep, my Princess. Everything is alright" he reassured to her, trying to calm any remaining fears she had.
Leia nuzzled her chin into his chest. She felt safe, protected in Han's arms, although the confusion of her dream still lingered. Her mind still raced at the fact she had somehow recounted exact events that happened before she even knew who Luke or Han were, events that occurred thousands of parsecs away from where she was at the time. She took a deep breath, making a mental note to comm her brother in the morning. There was nothing she could do about it in the middle of the night.
Leia closed her eyes as she felt Han's body shift under her, pulling them back towards the pillows, his arms still holding onto her as she tried to quiet her mind, focusing on the fact she was safe on the Falcon in Han's embrace. Silence fell around them again as she drifted into a dreamless sleep.
Leia awoke in the morning, still groggy. Even though no more dreams came to her the rest of the night, her mind still felt confused and foggy as if she had hardly gotten any sleep at all. She sat up in the bunk, noticing that Han had already gotten up for the day. She let out a long sigh as she reached for her comm, hoping her brother's voice and advice could provide her some clarity to the new form that her dreams had taken. She listened to the crackle of static as she switched on her comm.
"Luke, it's Leia".
"Good morning!" Luke's voice broke thru.
"Are you busy? I have something I need to talk to you about"
"Everything okay? Where are you?" Luke's voice sounded concerned.
"On the Falcon" she replied, not sure how to put into words her current state of feelings. She didn't feel okay. She felt uneasy and unsure of herself, a feeling she didn't quite know how to contend with.
"Okay. I'll be there in a bit" Luke's voice faded as the frequency faded back into static as Leia switched the comm off. She felt better knowing Luke would be there shortly.
Leia pulled the blankets from her and stepped from the bunk. She wrapped a robe around her and made her way to the Falcon's lounge. As she walked down the hall, she heard a loud clank of metal against metal followed by Han's voice muttering a string of Corellian curse words. She rounded the corner to find a hatch in the floor pulled up, Han working on some part of his ship below deck.
"Morning. Everything okay down there?" she announced her presence as she stood at the edge of the hold, looking down at a visibly frustrated Han.
"Morning, sweetheart. The Falcon just doesn't want to cooperate with me today". He sighed as set down his hydrospanner and leaned his arms against the edge of the hatch.
Leia sat down on the metal floor grating, crossing her legs under her. She leaned forward, her lips quickly kissing Han's. She smiled at him as she sat back, taking in how handsome he was, even in his frustrated state.
"I comm'd Luke to come by this morning. I wanted to speak with him about…." Her voice trailing off.
"About your dream last night?" Han asked.
"Yes. It's bothering me".
"I know, sweetheart. If you want, I'll take a break from this and sit with you and Luke once he gets here" Han's hand waved to jumble of tubing and wiring behind him as he spoke.
"No. I think I need to talk to Luke alone about this".
"You know I was in that cantina too" Han stated, slightly hurt that Leia didn't want to include him in her meeting with Luke.
"I know you were. But I feel like you were right last night when you said this was some kind of force thing".
Han looked at Leia, her deep brown eyes sparkling in the florescent lights of the ship. He knew he could provide her comfort, but he did not understand the way the force worked, no matter how hard he could try, he could never provide her the answers she needed in the way that Luke could.
"I've got plenty of work here to keep me busy for awhile".
She leaned forward again, her hand wrapping around the back of his neck, pulling him close to her.
"I love you" she whispered as she gently kissed him.
"I know".
The sound of footsteps against the ship's flooring echoed down the hallway as Leia let her grasp on Han go, straightening herself upright again as Luke appeared.
"Hey, kid" Han announced as Luke stopped near the edge of the hold.
"What are you doing to this ship of yours now?" Luke laughed, looking at the mess of tools and disassembled parts laying strewn about behind Han.
"He's always tweaking something" Leia replied, a smile creeping across her face as she pushed her hands against the grating as she untangled her legs from under her, easily rising from the floor to stand alongside Luke.
"I'll let you two talk. If you need anything, I'll be down here for awhile". Han grabbed a hydrospanner and turned to resume his work.
Luke followed Leia into the lounge. Luke sat at the holo chess table, his leg folding over his other as he relaxed back in his chair.
"Would you like a cup of caf?" Leia asked. She still felt exhausted and felt as though she would need more than just a single cup of caf to keep her awake today.
"Sure"
Leia made her way to the holo chess table with two mugs of freshly brewed caf in her hands, setting one in front of Luke, steam curling its way into the air from the mug as she sat across from her brother.
"So what's going on?" Luke asked.
Leia raised her mug near her lips and blew against the edge, hoping to cool the caf down enough to take a sip. She looked up at Luke, noticing the concern on his face as she lowered her mug back to the table, deciding to wait for it to cool on it's own.
"Last night" she began trying to find the correct words to describe to Luke what she had experienced "I had this dream. It felt like a dream at least. I saw everything in Mos Eisley".
"Mos Eisley?" Luke questioned, surprised that Leia knew of the spaceport. "What happened in your dream there?"
Leia recounted the details, surprised she remembered the events as clearly as she explained them to Luke.
"Han woke me up and I told him everything. I was so confused, he told me that I had basically experienced exactly what happened that day. But how could I have been there? I was…"
Luke didn't want her to say the words. Held on the Death Star at that time. He nodded slowly, taking a slow sip of his caf.
"You experienced something very powerful. Force visions are something that are rare and uncontrollable" he explained.
"Has it ever happened to you?" She quietly asked.
"Yes, but visions manifest themselves in many forms. The future is difficult to see because it is always in motion, but to see into the past events is something very unique" Luke explained.
"So why did it happen to me then?" Leia was beginning to feel even more confused then she had already been. She had hoped her brother would put her fears at ease with a simple answer. Instead she was starting to feel like a freak that something so odd had occurred to her that even a Jedi master was confounded by it.
"The force is strong with you. You know that" Luke gently reminded her.
"Shit!" Han's voice echoed thru the ship, followed by another long mixture of Basic and Corellian curses. A loud thud followed Han's words as the sound of a tool being thrown forcefully against the wall rang down the hall.
Han briskly walked thru the lounge, the front of his shirt covered in oil and grease. His hands were covered with a black goo. He was walking with his hands extended in front of him trying to avoid getting any more of the mess on himself, only slowing for a moment to glance towards Luke and Leia, his brow furrowed in annoyance at his current state. He disappeared momentarily into the galley before stepping back into the lounge, a towel now in his hands as he began to work the greasy mess from in between his fingers. Han leaned against the doorway to the galley as he looked towards Luke and Leia.
"Sorry if I interrupted" Han muttered.
"You're not interrupting anything. It looks like the Falcon threw up on you" Leia chuckled, Luke joining her laughter as they both looked at Han. The front of his clothing was soaked in the dark liquid, the stain covering the majority of his chest and down his thighs, splatters of grease dotted his face and streaked his thru his hair.
"What happened?" Luke asked
"I pulled the wrong line"
"Did you have the main lines shut off?" Luke asked matter of factly.
Han looked down at his shirt and back at Luke, a sarcastic smile twisting across his face as he looked back at Luke as he chuckled quietly.
"What do you think, kid?"
"Why don't you take a break for a minute and join us?" Leia suggested, knowing that Han wasn't looking for a ship repair safety speech from Luke at the current moment.
Han finished wiping away what he could from the mess on his hands before turning slightly, tossing the towel back into the galley before making his way towards the table. He pulled out the chair next to Leia and sat down.
"So, Luke, what do you make of all of this?" Han asked, curious himself of what could have brought about Leia's dream. He had been pondering Leia's dream of Mos Eisley as he worked earlier. At first, it concerned him. The fact that she had recounted the events so vividly despite never having ever actually set foot in that cantina rattled his mind. He then began to wonder if this was something that was going to become a regular occurrence for her. He would rather have her dreaming of random past events over the nightmares of the Death Star and Alderaan any night, but he then wondered what events she was able to somehow find herself in. He worried about if she somehow found herself in other events in his life from before they had met, if what she saw would somehow change what she thought of him in the present day. He shook away that thought too, knowing that she loved him unconditionally, shadowed past or not. He had gotten so consumed in his thoughts that he hadn't paid attention to what he was working on, loosening the incorrect part of a fuel cell and now finding himself the messy state he was currently in.
"Leia had a force vision" Luke explained. "To see into the future or the past is just one of the ways the force manifests itself". Luke looked at Han.
"You remember Mos Eisley, right?" Luke asked.
"How could I forget it? Day kind of altered my life in a major way" Han smirked, as if he had just made the biggest understatement in the galaxy.
"I've been thinking about this. Obi-Wan knew exactly what he was doing that day going to that cantina. He wasn't just looking for any pilot that could fly us to the Alderaan system. He was looking for you and Chewbacca" Luke mused.
"Why us?" Han asked, surprised that there might be more to all of this.
"He knew he couldn't just trust anyone, especially in a place like Mos Eisley. He knew he could trust Chewbacca."
"Chewie?" Han questioned, his confusion clear in his voice.
"You know he fought in the Clone Wars." Luke stated effortlessly.
"Vaguely. He doesn't really talk much about his past. That fuzzball has seen a lot of stuff thru the years and I never really asked for all the details"
Luke continued. "Chewie commanded Wookiee troops on his home planet that worked alongside the Grand Army of the Republic"
"Yoda" Leia interjected softly. She had read about the Battle of Kashyyyk once in an article, the information seemly nothing more than history of the Republic at the time until now. "Yoda was the leader of the Republic forces".
"Okay, so Chewie knew Yoda back in the day. But why would Obi-Wan want to seek him out specifically?" Han questioned, trying to figure out the point Luke was trying to make.
"He knew that Chewie was sympathetic to the Jedi order. Chewie helped Yoda escape Kashyyyk when Emperor Palpatine ordered for all Jedis to be destroyed" Luke explained.
Han exhaled a long sigh as he leaned back in his seat, pushing his fingers thru his hair as he processed everything.
"So how come Obi-Wan never questioned my trust at all? Figured if I was with Chewie, I was alright?" Han asked.
"Why do you think he offered you so many more credits than you asked for originally? He knew you would do just about anything without questions for that sum at the time".
"Hey, I remember you protesting that saying you could just buy your own ship for my original offer!" Han chuckled.
Leia had sat listening in silence since her small contribution earlier to the conversation. She was baffled that somehow seemly random events of the past were working themselves together now, fitting together like some strange puzzle. She couldn't help to feel for a moment that Han really had just been pulled into this whole mess, unbenounced to him at the time. He was just looking for anything to pay back Jabba and here came some old man and a farm boy in a cantina offering him a large sum of credits. She looked at him and shook the thought from her head. In it's own way, he was a piece to all this too. If it wasn't for Obi-Wan seeking out Chewbacca, Han would have never come into her life. She leaned over to Han and kissed him on the cheek.
"What was that for, sweetheart?" Han asked, turning to look at Leia smiling back at him.
"The force really does work in mysterious ways sometimes" she whispered.
"And to think I used to say it was just some hokey religion".