It was cold, and dark by the time Leia's mood subsided and she decided to head back. The planet's moon had risen, a dusky pink on the horizon, the only beacon of warmth amidst the barren chill of its sandy, deserted surface. She shivered as she fingered the thin material of her sleeves and vest. She had been too angry stalking out to consider practicalities, an oxygen mask even. A sudden thought occurred to her. What if the air had some strange, undiscovered disease…what if the environment was not deserted at all, but harboured a myriad of hungry, nocturnal creatures?

Stop it, she scolded herself firmly. Imaginations are of no use to anyone in a crisis, unless it happens to distract them from their unhappy situation. Suddenly she thought of Han…and that still, almost unending moment onboard the Falcon, when he'd looked at her in a manner quite unlike she'd seen before.

The roguish expression had changed…and he had regarded her with…what? Passion…longing…desire?

She shook her head derisively, but it made her consider her own feelings. Did she regard him as more than a…well, he certainly wasn't her friend

In fact, the moment he had bent in to…what? Leia wouldn't allow herself the thought that he had tried to kiss her. He had leered at her, teased her, insulted her, toyed with her emotions. Leia didn't think it was possible for that sort of man to be attracted by her, much less a person like herself find him attractive.

Yes, Leia nodded firmly, that moment was the only flickering truce they had experienced this whole trip.

She wondered now what to do…Han….Captain Solo…was probably impatient to leave the planet, annoyed he'd lost the rebel's best ally. But she certainly could not walk back in there in this mind frame. Her emotions would be written all over face…and he would sit there gloating, basking in his own festering ego. Her thoughts shifted dramatically. And then there was her pride. She would not act like some swooning prize for him to add to his own egocentric collection of conquests. Leia knew some women might falter before his pirate charm. Not she.

Her gaze scanned the almost abyssal night, and tried to ignore the possibility of attack. They had come here for refurbishment and supplies, and that was exactly what she was going to find.

* * *

Han tried the commlink a dozen times, but there was no response. 'Stubborn woman.'

Unless, of course, considering her mood, she had forgotten to take that too. He checked the oxygen indictor level on the mask, slightly below average, but enough to discard the proxy experience. He tore of the protective cover, and breathed in cool, fresh air. Lucky for Leia, it wasn't poisoned.

Suddenly something forbidden entered his head. Han liked to be in control of his thoughts, and he certainly didn't like this. Her face, her Worship's face, had invaded his mind. That face wasn't one that recognised beauty, much less recognised her own beauty. But Han knew beauty.

He had spent the best years of his youth coveting it, chasing after it, seducing it. He had studied the faces of a myriad of women across the galaxy on his travels. The intimate kind of study. Indeed, Leia's face was not the stunning, mind-blowing beauty that Han and his plumped ego had come to expect in a woman. It wasn't the exotic that entranced him now. It was fire. Leia was a strange object. The ice on the surface was a mask, Han knew. She was no more made of ice than he was. Underneath the frost, Han saw the fire burning, flames and fire like the suns, sending out their solar winds to blow any other life away.

Han shook his head. What was wrong with him? Thinking of stars and suns and fire, out here of all places. Instead, his mind turned to more practical things. The terrain. Han scanned it.

He considered her alone out there, wandering across a foreign planet's deserted landscape. As Han walked, he couldn't help but feel partly responsible. Perhaps he shouldn't have made a move on her, but it was near impossible. It wasn't that she was the only woman with in nearest radius. It was the fire he longed to fuel. That radiance, however ugly it got when she was near him, to Han contained enough heat to supernova a distant star.

Besides, needling her was the only way she would respond. His temper grew when he remembered her kissing Luke, when the kid had hardly paid attention to her. I'm the one who always talks to her, makes her act a little more human

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a distant howl. His body geared into action, with the realisation that Leia was probably not the only hostile creature on the planet.

* * *