Luke holds onto Aunt Beru's hand tightly. He doesn't want to get lost in the market again, like he did three months ago. That was the last time he went to the market with her, he realized. That was probably because Uncle Owen didn't want to have to look for him again, especially in a sandstorm. Maybe that's why only Aunt Beru would go to Mos Eisley to buy groceries, while Uncle Owen stayed home. He's not too sure, but he does know that Uncle Owen doesn't mind him going with again.
"My, Luke, but you're holding on tight!" Aunt Beru remarks. Luke nods.
"I got stuck in a sandstorm last time I didn't hold your hand, remember?" Aunt Beru chuckles.
"I'm glad you've learned. When you're older, you don't have to hold my hand. But for now, you do." Luke sighs.
"Okay..." He looks around at the crowd of people, hoping to see that one teenager he met last time. He thinks back as far as he can, and tries desperately to remember the boy's name. It started with an H. Or maybe it was an O. He can't remember. He remembers his face, though. He remembers the older boy's shaggy brown hair, lopsided grin, and a strange scar on his chin. He was wearing a vest that day, too. Luke gets a feeling that the boy liked wearing vests. He decides to look for him.
Aunt Beru heads towards the spice vendor, and Luke can already feel his nose start to burn. He reaches up and plugs it, hoping the old woman selling the spices doesn't notice.
"Hello, Beru!" The old woman says cheerfully.
"Good Morning, Katya! What have you got for spices today?" Luke tunes out the conversation, and keeps scanning the market place to see if Han is there. He knows he's probably not, but part of him is still hoping that there could be a chance. Then, he sees him. A tall man stands by a fruit cart, facing away from Luke. The man tugs on his black vest, and pulls on the hem of his red shirt. He pats the blaster held securely in its holster. Han! he wants to cry out. The young man turns around, and Luke is disappointed to see that it's not Han at all. To his surprise, who he thought was Han was actually a tall young woman! The woman runs her fingers through her short brown hair, and pulls up the front of her shirt. She looks around, as if she's trying to find someone, and she walks away.
Luke looks down at his new boots, and scuffs the ground beneath him. He does it again, and again.
"Luke!" Aunt Beru whispers sharply. "Stop. You're going to wreck your boots!" Luke looks up and gives his aunt his best "I'm sorry" look. Aunt Beru turns back to Katya, and they keep talking. Luke lets go of Beru's hand, and crosses his arms, bored. He takes a few steps away from her, hoping to get away from the strong smell of all the spices. No wonder Aunt Beru is one of the only people who actually come up and buy things from this old woman! Luke looks off at a huge sandcrawler in the distance. Then, someone bumps into him.
"Watch where you're going!" He says. He looks at the little girl in front of him, and his face goes warm. "Um, I'm sorry," he says. "I thought you were a grown-up." The girl raises an eyebrow.
"Uh, no," she replies. She smoothes a hand over the thick braids bundled up on her head. Luke has never seen hair like that before. The braids remind him of long snakes. The little girl blinks some sand out of her big brown eyes, and looks back at Luke. "What's your name?" She asks.
"I- I'm Luke," Luke says, suddenly feeling shy. He hopes his face isn't turning pink. He runs his fingers through his hair, something he does when he's nervous. "What's your name?" The girl doesn't seem to hear him. She's looking around absently. Luke senses she's distressed. "What's the matter?"
"I don't know where my parents are," she says, still looking around. "Last time I saw them, they were right here, and then they went somewhere!"
"So, you're lost?" The little girl looks at Luke and raises her eyebrows.
"Lost? No way! They got lost!" she shakes her head at Luke. "I have to find them!" She starts looking around again. This is Luke's chance! Han helped him find Aunt Beru, so maybe he should help this girl find her parents.
"I'll help you look for them," he offers. "My Aunt is busy over there," he points at the spice cart. "She won't know I'm gone!" The girl nods.
"Alright, sure. My mother is wearing a green dress with a black cape, and her hair is really long and curly. And my father's wearing a blue shirt and grey pants."
"Okay, let's look!"
Today, it seems that a lot of women decided to wear green dresses. Luke lost count after five women they had run up to and tapped on the back, only to find that she wasn't the little girl's mother. They stop walking, and the girl sighs. She hangs her head. "I don't think we're going to find them," she says sadly.
"We'll find them," Luke says, trying to encourage her. "I asked you this before, but you didn't say anything. Um, what's your name?"
"My name? You don't know me?" Luke shakes his head.
"Was I supposed to?" The girl rolls her eyes.
"I'm Leia. I'm the Princess of Alderaan. Well, I'm going to be." A princess? Luke is surprised. He's never helped a princess before. But what in the world is Alderaan?
"Alderaan?"
"Yeah. I live there. It's my homeworld. You haven't been there?" Luke shakes his head.
"I haven't been away from Tatooine," he admits.
"Really?" He shakes his head. Leia starts telling him about Alderaan, and how pretty it is. Apparently, Alderaan has lots of mountains, trees, and forests, and there are lakes and oceans just about everywhere. "You should come live there," she finishes her spiel with. "Luke, I have an idea." She takes Luke by his wrist and takes him back over to where they first met. "If we stay right here, I bet my parents will come right back to this spot!"
"Maybe. But what are we going to do while we wait?" Luke glances over to the spice cart to see if Aunt Beru is still there. She is. How long has she been talking to that lady? Luke wonders. Aunt Beru turns around, sees Luke, and smiles. She gives a polite wave at Leia. Leia waves back.
"Who's that?" Leia whispers to Luke.
"Oh, she's my Aunt!" Luke says. Leia nods.
"I hope my parents get here soon!"
Luke isn't sure how long he and Leia have been standing around. A few minutes ago, Aunt Beru told Luke that she was going to pick up a few more things for supper, and that she wants Luke to meet her at their speeder when the market closes. He knows where the speeder is, so he's not worried about getting lost, like last time. "Leia," he asks. "I'm curious. What's space travel like?" Leia shrugs her shoulders.
"I'm used to it," she says. "My parents travel everywhere, and I have to go with them. They're senators, you know. They came to Mos Eisley to meet with some fancy government lady."
"Really?" Luke doesn't know what a senator is, but he doesn't feel like asking Leia. She'd probably think he was stupid. Leia nods.
"And I wanna be one, too. Mother says that I'll be the Princess of my planet, though."
"I want to be a pilot," Luke says. "And I really wanna know what it's like to fly in space!"
"Well, you throw up the first few times if you eat too much," Leia says. "I learned that the hard way!" She and Luke both wrinkle their noses. "But the third time you go out into space, it's okay. You don't feel sick any more after three or four flights." She pauses. "Why would you want to be a pilot?"
"Well," Luke says. "I like ships, and I think it would be so much fun to fly one! I wanna go on adventures, and save planets!"
"So, you wanna be a Rebel?" Luke isn't sure what Leia means. He raises an eyebrow in confusion. "You know, a Rebel! My parents are Rebels! My father pretty much started the Rebel Alliance!" Luke nods quickly, pretending to know what the Rebel Alliance is. He'll have to ask Aunt Beru. He gets the sneaky feeling that she's not going to tell him, though. He watches her little round face as she talks. Her eyes sparkle a lot, he notices. And he still thinks her hair looks like snakes.
"Leia? Why is your hair like that?" Leia reaches up and touches her braids.
"What do you mean?" Luke laughs.
"I think those braids look like snakes!" Leia frowns. She runs her finger along one of them, but then a smile comes to her face. She says that her mother braided her hair, and she admits that they do look a little bit like snakes. She starts to giggle.
"Well, do you think my hair's pretty?" She asks. Luke feels his face go warm all over again.
"Well, um, yeah. I think you're pretty!" Leia blushes.
"Thank you," she says quietly, looking down and burying her face into her shoulder.
"Leia!" A man's voice calls. "Leia Organa!" Leia's face lights up.
"Father!" The man rushes over. He's a big man, with tanned skin and a round belly. His black hair is cut very short. Soon, a tall, thin woman comes over. Luke can't take his eyes off her face. She's beautiful, just like Leia. But Leia doesn't look much like her parents, he thinks. He wonders why. Leia points at Luke. "This is Luke! He's my friend!" Leia's father smiles politely.
"Hello, Luke." he looks at Leia. "You can't wander off like that, alright?"
"But I didn't-" Leia protests. Her mother shushes her.
"We have to go," she says. She looks at Luke and places a hand on his hair. "It was nice to meet you, hun." The last thing Luke sees of Leia is her big brown eyes watching him sadly as her parents lead her away, back to their ship. Luke sighs once they're out of sight. He might as well go to the speeder and wait for Aunt Beru. The market is going to close anyway.
Luke sees Aunt Beru heading towards the speeder from the opposite direction. She smiles at him.
"So, Lukie?" She teases. "Who was that little girl you were with? She was sure a pretty thing!" Luke looks down at his feet. Aunt Beru laughs.
"Her name was Leia," Luke says quietly. "I was helping her find her parents. She got lost. She's a princess, too!" Aunt Beru looks confused. "Well, she's almost a Princess. She comes from a different planet. Alder-something." Aunt Beru raises her eyebrows.
"Alderaan?" Luke nods.
"Yeah! That place!" He and Aunt Beru get into the speeder. Aunt Beru places her big paper bags in the back seat. "She said that her mom and dad were senators, and rebels. Aunt Beru, what's a senator?"
"Um, a senator is someone who helps rule a planet," she explains. "They do other things, too, but they usually make up laws for different parts of their planet."
"Okay." Luke still doesn't really understand. "Then, what's the Rebel Alliance?"
"Um," Aunt Beru sounds like she doesn't know what to say. "They're kind of like an army." Luke senses that she's thinking really hard about something.
"Aunt Beru, what are you thinking about?" She looks at him briefly, then back at the ground zooming by below.
"The little girl you met. Her name was Leia?"
"Yeah!"
"And her parents are senators and rebels?"
"Yeah! Why, do you know her?" Aunt Beru shakes her head.
"No. Not at all."
