Shaped by Sand
Chapter 1
The twin suns had just set over the desert sands, scorching heat quickly giving way to a night chill and intense light replaced by pitch darkness. A deathly silence had risen across the dunes, only broken by the occasional chatter of a dozen droids going about their business, attempting to maintain the various machines that pulled moisture from the depths of the earth beneath. Alongside them, another figure watched the stars above, imagining all the wondrous places that were waiting to be discovered.
Lying on the sands, Leia Skywalker sighed and realised how she was once again thinking about things that would never be: at least for her. Unfortunately living on a planet where the most exciting part of the day consisted of travelling to the town nearby to buy spare parts for the Moisture Vaporators, dreaming of fun and adventure elsewhere came easily and frequently: and Leia had a vivid and creative imagination.
However, dreaming about visiting strange and exotic worlds and seeing different cultures was one thing, but doing it was another entirely. While she may not have enjoyed this life, she was needed here on the farm. Her aunt and uncle were both getting older and the life of a moisture farmer, particularly on Tatooine, was extremely taxing. Alongside the intense heat came the constant threat of bandits and Sand People. Leia knew that should she decide to leave, eventually business would dry up once Owen and Beru became too old.
In a fleeting flight of fancy Leia imagined what it would have been like had she decided to leave this life behind, in particular had she applied for the Imperial Academy along with her friend Biggs Darklighter. Would she now be a Stormtrooper keeping the peace on a foreign hostile world? Perhaps a pilot, flying the fanciest ships the Imperial Navy had to offer. Or even an Imperial Officer, using her analytical mind in Imperial Intelligence or even while serving on a massive Cruiser.
Shaking these thoughts from her mind she turned her mind back to what she always did: her duty to her family and the farm. While they still needed her, she would remain here. Pushing herself to her feet Leia took one more look at the stars before making her way inside, hoping to find solace and adventure in her dreams.
She did not know why she was doing this. Usually, when her uncle gave her a task she did it to the best of her ability and often without question. But something was telling her to ignore him on this occasion, and it was something she could not quite put her finger on: something gnawing at the very back of her mind.
The focus of the task in question chirped quietly from behind her, in the X-34 Landspeeder she was now piloting. The white and blue astromech droid called R2-D2, appeared to be staring off into the distance wistfully, if that was possible to read from a droid. While her uncle had told her to have the droid's memory wiped, when she had heard the name Kenobi being spoken on the message R2 was carrying, she had decided instead to seek out old Ben Kenobi for answers: her inquisitive nature taking hold and refusing to lessen its grip. Besides, she was sure that R2 had no intention of remaining on the farm and would attempt to find this Obi-Wan at the first opportunity had his memory not been wiped fully.
A more selfish part of her realised that she wanted to do this for herself, to perhaps have a little bit of adventure in returning a long-lost droid to its owner at the behest of a Prince. There was a fairy tale quality to it that played upon Leia's imagination more so than she would have liked to admit. It had been why she had promised to take the little droid to Ben at first light. Now she just hoped that this would amount to something other than a scolding from her uncle for running off with his new workers.
Spotting the old hermits home up ahead she brought the speeder to a steady halt. Before she even had the chance to step out, she saw Ben standing at the entrance as if ready and waiting for her. She was not surprised that her uncle often referred to him as a crazy old wizard as he always seemed to appear from thin air. While Ben never gave much away to her, or anyone for that matter, he was always kind and willing to impart wisdom. Leia also found a great delight in hearing the stories he told of his youth, even if he never revealed too much.
She noticed his kind eyes move to the two droids accompanying her: firstly to the golden protocol droid C3-P0 and next to R2. Leia noticed a very brief flash of something cross his features, but she was unsure what it was. She often prided herself on being able to read others, and sometimes entertained the notion that she would have made a good politician in a different life. However, Ben was a master at concealing his true feelings.
Bringing his eyes back to her he smiled kindly: "Come inside, Leia. I'm sure you're here for a good reason".
Leia knew that it was not her fault, but that did not stop her from attempting to blame herself in some way. She knew what Ben, or Obi-Wan has she had come to learn was his actual name, had told her was true: had she been at the farm too when the Stormtroopers had arrived, she also would have been killed alongside her aunt and uncle. However, guilt continued to tear at her anyway and her mind was thinking of all the variables that she could have changed that would have resulted in them still being alive.
What had been worse for Leia was that she had not been able to say goodbye to them. She knew that her life here was coming to an end, there was nothing on this planet for her now, but at the very least she would have liked to have gotten closure on the part of her life that had shaped her into the woman she had grown into. Even more so now that she would never be able to ask them about her father. However, with her decision to accompany Obi-Wan to Alderaan she knew that she would never find any closure while she stayed on Tatooine. Leia also had a feeling that she was going to be forced to grow up very quickly in the coming days.
Now she sat in a dark corner of what she could only assume was the seediest bar on the entire planet: somewhere she never would have pictured herself ever being in prior to the day's events. There were alien species dotted all around the cantina that she had never seen or heard of, chatting in numerous languages all while the band played a tune she had never heard of which she assumed was from some far away world. Obi-Wan meanwhile was attempting to find them a pilot to take them to the planet Alderaan, and was seeming to find particular luck with a large Wookiee. It appeared that he had made progress with him, so Leia made her way over to them.
"Chewbacca here is 1st mate on a ship that might suit us" he explained to her once she came over.
She nodded and followed as the Wookiee in question led them to a corner of the cantina where a human man sat alone, his arms resting casually on the table in front of him. Once he noticed their approach he eyed each of them up, as if scanning them for potential threats or weaknesses. Obi-Wan stopped and so Leia did the same. She then watched as Chewbacca sat down next to the man and spoke something in the man's ear as he continued to watch the two of them, before he then nodded in agreement with whatever the Wookiee had said. Chewbacca then motioned for the them both to join them at the table.
"Han Solo. I'm captain of the Millennium Falcon. Chewie here tells me you're looking for passage to the Alderaan system?" he asked.
Leia watched as he relaxed once again in his seat while Obi-Wan negotiated terms with him. She could tell that his relaxed nature was simply a cover, and that he would be ready at any moment to pounce should the need arise. She had met people similar in the past, often Smuggler's who were extremely cocky and confident in their own abilities, usually with good reason. They had regularly survived great ordeals often with nothing but their wits to aid them. Leia had noticed that people such as Han Solo covered up their true intentions with a mixture of charm and nonchalance which put their opponents into a false sense of security. This smuggler seemed to be of a similar mould and Leia knew that she would likely find the man extremely irritating. However, she was shaken from her thoughts when the smuggler informed them of his fee for the trip.
"Ten thousand?" she interrupted, "you can't seriously think we'd pay you that much to just fly us to another star system"
"I do think you'll pay" Han answered smugly, before turning to Obi-Wan "Or am I wrong?"
Obi-Wan turned to her, giving her a look that told her that he would handle this. She just nodded slightly, accepting that they were desperate to get to Alderaan as soon as possible and trusting Obi-Wan in choosing the right people for the job. The Jedi offered a negotiation which Han eagerly accepted, telling them to meet him at docking bay 94.
Once they had collected the droids and Leia had sold her speeder they made their way to the hanger. Leia rolled her eyes when she saw the state that the ship appeared to be in and just hoped that it would be able to make it all the way to Alderaan. Despite this she could not contain the growing excitement within her. Leia Skywalker had a strong sense that she was about to have the adventure she had craved for so long.
Hope you enjoyed the first chapter and please tell me your thoughts.