The Hands of Fate:
It was the voice of a woman, calling to her. No, not to her, the woman was calling her
someone else's name.
"Leee-iah" it whispered in her ear. "Leii-ahhh, Leiaahhh, Leia, Leia, Leia." The woman's voice would not stop.
"Quiet." Lucia hissed.
"Leia." The voice insisted
"No! Be quiet! Please, please leave me alone."
"Leia! Leia! LEIA!"
"I say go away!"
"Daughter…" the voice whispered in her ear one more time, pleading and desperate.
Daughter, daughter, daughter… the strangely foreign word echoed in Luica's ears.
"No, wait! Please, I don't understand…" but the voice was gone, in its place rose a memory, an old memory, faded and blurred, pulled by the owner of the voice from the depths of Lucia's mind.
The Hag's arms around her fragile body and a question, "What did your poor, pretty mother name you, eh?"
Lucia sat strait up in bed, her arms reaching out, fingers grasping at air as she cried out, still half asleep and in the grips of her dream, "Mother, wait!"
When Lucia slept, she dreamt. She dreamt of faces she could not make out and names that she could not remember. The Hag told her that things would become clear with time, but Lucia had the ever increasing feeling that there was no time to spare, that things were happening faster and faster the longer she waited for the fog of her future to clear.
With every dream she grew more and more restless. More and more sure that she was not supposed to be there anymore. She packed an unpacked her meager belongings, pacing the house until the Hag kicked her out to 'go wear a hole in somebody else's floor.' She wandered the Borderlands, lingering on the edge of the Syve, but never daring enter. She had never been in those dark woods alone, never since her rather spectacular entrance into this world as a babe. She wandered, and as her feet carried her in every direction, she tried to bring the words from her dreams into clarity. She knew only that they featured her mother and a faceless boy. Sometimes there were others well.
A dark man. The connection she felt to him terrified her.
An old man. He reminded her of the Hag. Kinder, but no less cryptic.
And a rouge. She did not like him. He was annoying.
But she could not remember the words.
~*~*~*~
Her world changed the night of the Syveran. It is a holiday of superstition, a night when children dress up and tell ghost stories. A night of wild pranks and contrived terror. A night in worship of the Syve and all it stands for.
Lucia has never dressed in a silly children's costume or joined the Ports festivities. She has never played a prank with other children and she had always considered their actions somewhat beneath her. 'Serious child' the Hag calls her. 'Stick in the mud' Lesra, the Port's local beauty, had said, her nose in the air, her hips swaying playfully at a particularly good looking boy. Travys is his name, Lucia remembers. Travys who flirts with her and then laughs at her embarrassment. Travys who has a black eye the next day.
"Control your temper." The Hag tells her. "Let your anger go. It does not help you. You see? Now you have one more enemy."
The next boy who flirts at her, she offers a cool smile and a gentle incline of her head to the side. She is proud that she walked away.
She had wanted to slap him. She did not like being teased.
This Syveran is the same. Far off in the distance, the Port is alight with its festival. She is up late with the Hag. Meditating, the Hag calls it. Tonight is the best night for it. "This night, the Syve speaks to us." Hag says.
The Hag is right, there is something. Something that nags at Lucia's thoughts. She goes to bed early that night. And as she sleeps, she dreams, and she remembers.
In her dreams, she is in the Forest, deep in the heart of the Syve, she knows this as she knows her mother hails from a world called Naboo. It is quiet, and light seeps in from the thick canopy overhead, and as quickly as she is there, she is in another forest, this one is alien, in the distance to her left there is a temple. She cannot see it, but she know it is there. Far above her head there is a battle, far larger than the one that brought her to Celessare. She knows this, as she knows the temple's location.
Then she is in the temple. Computer consoles are alight with moving red and blue dots, maps and plans. People buzz around her, moving with purpose, there is a mission to be done. For once she is comfortable in a crowd. She is sad, friends are gone. One by one they are gone.
Time moves again and she is in a box, metal walls hold her in and she is terrified. "Be strong daughter." A voice whispers to her.
And then another voice, real and solid.
A blond boy in white armor.
"I'm Luke Skywalker, I'm here to rescue you."
And then she woke.
~*~*~*~
"Something has landed in the Syve." The Hag tells her even as Lucia shakes the last remnants of sleep away. Her dream lingers with her. Solidifying in her mind. She closes her eyes to be sure she will remember and then turns to the Hag.
"I will go check it out." She says firmly. This is right, she feels it.
"You will not go alone." Lucia senses that this is alright and nods her head. She rushes to dress and breaks off a piece of bread to take with her.
"And a piece for me as well," the Hag says with a slightly mischievous smile.
~*~*~*~
The Syve is not a small place, but they find the disturbance easily enough. Come, come, come. The Syve calls them, this way.
What they find is not what Lucia expects at all. She does not know what she thought, but she knows that this is not it.
A woman with red hair and a pretty face lay in the dirt, debris and wreckage are strewn around her and the deflated cloth of a parachute extends from her back. Lucia knows that if she and the Hag were to search further on, there would be more twisted metal to be found. The unknown woman is small, but even so she is taller than Lucia.
The Hag slowly kneels beside her, and Lucia feels guilty, the Hag is old, constantly complaining of pain in her knees, she should not be kneeling. "She is not badly injured. A miracle some of this did not hit her on the way down." The Hags says. "A blow to the head, I think." Hag turns to Lucia. "Could you lift her?"
Lucia looks at the Hag as if she has grown an extra limb. "I am not weak, but I could not drag her through the Syve without further injury to her."
"You can throw stones without touching them, girl. That is not what I meant. Can you lift her?" Hag asks again.
Lucia flushes in embarrassment. "I have never tried with something so big before."
"her life depends on you, child, hop to it." The Hag says briskly, with a confidence that Lucia cannot bring herself to feel.
"I will try," she tells the Hag. The Hag snorts at her.
"You will fail if you merely try, girl. Do it. Now." It is a demand. A command. And Lucia moves to obey. She does not think about it, if she does, she knows that the impossibility will overwhelm her.
It is a long trip back to the Hag's stone house. The unknown woman is given Lucia's bed and exhausted as Lucia is, she cannot sleep. No sleep until the woman awakens. The Hag tells her. The Hag tends to the woman's wounds while Lucia watches. And then they wait.
~*~*~*~
The woman has a name. She is called Bria Tharen. Bria does not trust them and Lucia knows only that she herself trusts the Hag. She does not know what she feels for this woman who has stolen her bed, she feels that she does not, not trust Bria, she does not know if she feels anything towards the stranger at all, at this point. But Lucia is curious, and she want to know about this woman. She wants to know her purpose and what brought her here. She wants to know if it has anything to do with herself. She can feel it. Her own approaching fate, her future.
Bria heals well over the next weeks. She is impatient to leave. She has important business. She tells them. Vital. Lives are in the balance. She says, and Lucia is excited. This is an adventure, this is a chance to change things, she feels.
Bria has come to trust them, a little, at least. Lucia thinks that she a rebel, and she feels that she is right. But she does not ask. When she tells the Hag of her suspicions, the Hag says simply.
"Is she now? And what are you Lucia, if not a rebel?"
Bria tells Lucia stories of her adventures throughout the galaxy. She speaks of the Empire with obvious hatred and when Lucia can no longer hold it in she says,
"You are a rebel, aren't you? Part of the Alliance."
Bria does not answer her that day, or the next. But on the day that she is to journey to the Port and depart Celessare forever, she unexpectedly gives Lucia a hug and says, "Come with me."
"Why?" asks Lucia, suddenly hesitant and mistrustful of her dreams of leaving. Images of being trapped in a metal walled box overwhelm her and for a moment she is terrified. She catches the Hag's criticizing glance and takes a deep breath, letting go.
"You are…" Bria hesitates, searching for the words she would use to persuade Lucia, "powerful, the Alliance could use a woman of your skill. We do not have many like you… We do not have any like you."
"I do not like being used," Lucia says, her voice flat and final, Bria is about to speak again, but Lucia is not finished, "but I want to change things, there is something…not right about the galaxy now. Something is unbalanced and dark, dark like the Syve can sometimes be dark and… and things are moving quickly. I am afraid. But I will not let that hold me back. I will change things, as I am meant to."
The Hag helped Lucia gather what little she owned. Hag did not tell her goodbye, she did not even offer a hug or handshake. "I will see you again." Was all she would say.
And Lucia, at a loss for words settled for a simple "Thank you."
Then they were gone. The Hag's stone cottage far behind them. Imperial troops were in the Port, but such unwanted company was easily avoided and passage off planet was bought from traveling merchant.
The captain was called Devini Starchase. Lucia did not like him.
"No doubt he does some smuggling on the side." Bria commented. Lucia simply nodded and regarded their captain with a wariness she could not quite explain.
This man was dangerous. There was something wrong.
"I do not like this." She tells Bria, worry creasing her brow.
"Not every shady man you see is working for the Empire. Lu," Bria said with the tone of someone who had been from one end of the galaxy to the other, "I don't trust him completely, but we need this ride."
"He will betray us." Lucia said with a sudden feeling of certainty.
"How can you know that?" Bria quirked an eyebrow up, and regarded her with an expression that clearly said, what experience do you have that outweighs mine?
"A feeling. I just know." Lucia folded her arms and held Bria's gaze. Steady, unwavering. Don't lose your temper, she told herself.
"Look, Lu," Lucia was not sure she liked Bria's nickname for her, "I'm not wasting the only chance we may have to get off this planet before next month on some voodoo hunch of yours. I'm going, you can stay if you want. I'll give you a number to contact if you want to catch some other ride."
"No," Lucia said, "I am meant to leave with you."
"Whatever, witch-girl." She said the name with a smile. Not an insult then, but Lucia could not help feeling annoyed at being dismissed so easily.
~*~*~*~
Bria is uneasy and Lucia's dreams are haunted by a dark shadow and the sound of heavy, unnatural breathing.
Someone is going to die. And soon. The Hag always told Lucia that death is a heavy thing, it weighs down the heart with its sadness, but death is a thing that must be let go, the Hag always told Lucia not to cling. But Lucia was never very good at letting go.
They are picking up another passenger. Their captain tells them. When they stop for refueling and more cargo.
They have bought passage to a planet called Corellia. Bria has explained to her. When they were still in the Port, far away from the ears of the captain and his reptilian copilot, Bria had told her that from Corellia they would find passage to a world called Alderaan. Lucia felt a connection to this name.
"I was going there once." She told Bria. Bria had looked at her in surprise.
"Really? When? I thought you had never been off Celessare."
"When I was a baby. I don't really remember."
"Is this another one of those things that you just know, witch-girl?"
Lucia bristled at being called 'witch-girl' again, but said, "Yes," and the subject was dropped.
~*~*~*~
Their fellow passenger was a man, short, round and balding, travelling with him were two droids that Lucia watched with a curiosity she tried to hide, she did not have much experience with droids, she saw little of them, but for her few trips to the Port each year. She was not exactly inclined towards the mechanical, but something about these beings that moved and spoke like they were alive in the same way she was, intrigued her. The man said to call him Mr. Trillus, but he did not speak often to the odd girl and the dangerous looking woman who were his travelling companions.
Lucia does not trust Mr. Trillus either. He is connected to the captain. She knows this, but does not tell Bria, she does not want to argue again. Not on this ship.
The novelty of space travel having worn off a bit. She contented herself with watching the droids. The golden one reminded her of Astralli d'Levrer, who had grown up into a prissy little thing. Constantly going on about what was proper or not. Lesra teased her about it to no end, but the girl would not be swayed. On that thought, the small, squat one reminded Lucia of Lesra, sassy and blunt, but without the nasty streak. It was like having the two of them here with her. Their bickering near enough to drive her up a wall. She did not know if she liked this bit of familiarity or if she was annoyed by it.
~*~*~*~
As their journey wore on, Lucia noticed Bria growing particularly attached to the Lesra droid. When Lucia commented on this, Bria gave her the look Lucia had come to interpret as 'you say the strangest things' and then said, "It has a number you know, its name is R2-D2."
"Oh," Lucia had mumbled, "it just reminds me of a girl I knew back home. Her name was Lesra, she was very… sassy."
Bria laughed. "I'm sure Artoo here is flattered, but I bet he'll prefer you call him by his name."
"He?" Lucia arches an eyebrow at her companion as if to say and you think I'm strange?
"It feels like a 'he.'" Brie says, defensively.
Lucia only laughs.
~*~*~*~
Treachery. Lucia thinks.
The captain is dead, killed by his copilot, the copilot dead as well, a fatal wound from his captain had brought an end to his treachery. It had happened as soon as the Imperial Star Destroyer had come into view. It had happened quickly.
"Tatooine?" Bria had whispered, "Why are we stopping at Tatooine?"
Greed. Lucia, had greed to thank that she had survived. The copilot had wanted all the reward for Bria's capture. All or none.
Bria was dying. Mr. Trillus shot her. Well, he shot at Lucia.
"She's not part of the bounty," he had said, "We don't need to be toting around extra baggage." He had pointed the blaster at her after Bria had attacked him. The betrayal had been out in the open. The Imperials were here for them, for Bria.
"Cooperate." He had told Bria, "or I shoot."
In the brief moment that Bria's eyes met Lucia's, a decision was made. There would be no cooperating.
And now Bria was dying.
And Mr. Trillus was dead. Brained by a piece of hollow durasteel pipe wielded by Lucia.
Bria was dying. Death was heavy, so very heavy.
"The escape pods. Take the droids with you. They can help you." Bria gasped out. She weakly reached up and yanked something off her neck, "take these," she wheezed, "get them to Alderaan, whatever it takes, deliver them…" she gasped in pain, "deliver them to the hands of Queen Breha only. Do you hear? Breha and no other."
"But, what about you?" Lucia had never been one for hysterics, but she was treacherously close to losing control. "I can't do it alone." Her voice coming out in a near wail.
"You have to go now." Bria insisted, "Before the tractor beam stops you from launching the escape pod…" She fell back closing her eyes in pain, Lucia began to get up, but Bria's hand shot out, catching her wrist, "Tatooine." Her eyes, bright with pain, grew round as an idea formed. "Find General Kenobi on Tatooine, tell him… tell him that he has the high ground."
"What...?"
"Just tell him that, he'll help you. Now go, witch-girl."
~*~*~*~
Lucia was staring at the entrance hatch to the escape pod with mounting dread.
I'll be shot out of the sky, they'll know I'm in there. They'll know. She looked at the droids. Beings who imitated being alive like her. Beings that could not be sensed in the same way she could.
They will be safe. She felt a familiar certainty settle around her. This was the way it was supposed to be. She could trust them. She knew this.
She tucked Bria's datacard into Artoo's storage slot. Not knowing exactly what to say, she relayed Bria's instructions, hesitantly giving the rebel woman's name in hopes that this General Kenobi would recognize it. She added the odd code phrase, and not quite knowing what she was doing or why, tacked on to the end of her speech,
"Help me, General Kenobi, you are my only hope."
She watched as the hatch sealed the droids into the small metal pod, and had a sudden sense that once upon a time it had been her in there, her and a man whose face she could not remember. The pod was away and only seconds later the Destroyer's tractor beam settled in around the ship.
I'm Luke Skywalker, I'm here to rescue you.
Lucia walked out into the main cabin, she stood in the center of the small room, her hands clasped behind her back, Bria's body at her feet. Mr. Tillus was sprawled across the doorway, his ample frame stopping the automatic door from closing though it tried again, and again. From the front of the ship, where the entrance ramp was located she heard boots, stomping a steady military rhythm, coming closer, closer.
And then she heard it, the breathing. The breathing that had haunted her nightmares. The dark man was here. Fate was marching down the corridor.
Closer, closer.
She squeezed her eyes shut, Hurry, Luke.
Let it go, the Hag's voice came loud and clear, as if she was right there, with her. Let it go.
Lucia opened her eye and relaxed her shoulders. She took a breath in and let it out. No Fear.
Hurry, Luke.
~*~*~*~