Hello TEAM!
Chapter XXXV.
It had been easy enough to stay hidden on the bounty hunters' ship. They paid no notice to the occasional scraps of food that went missing, and when they stopped at some backwater planet on their way to Tatooine, Han made his escape.
The Empire had taken control of the struggling planet and yet, like so many planets, hadn't made any effort to secure it. They had arrived in the capital city, which was small by Galactic standards, and the crew had made a bee-line for the nearest seedy cantina. Now their stowaway was trying to find somewhere to go in the midst of all the chaos and noise.
He didn't know where to go. His first thought was to find something to eat. Despite his little larder raids during the journey, he was still starving. It wasn't long before he was lost.
People on all sides were jostling for pathways through the throng of bodies, others in a desperate attempt to find their bearings somehow in the twilit alleyways. Who knew what time of day it was through the haze of smog and stench of unwashed bodies? Han crawled his way to breathing space, near a wall. 'This was a bad idea. I need to get to an open space or something!' He was only four, and on his own; he was attracting a little attention. Time to go.
He found his way to a little more reputable district of town and crept into a bakery. It was filled with delicious smells and the sounds of upper class patrons ordering mouth-watering desserts and breads. Han could tell he didn't belong here, and it would be spotted soon. He looked up towards the counter, hidden behind a pillar as he was. The staff were busy addressing the customers, and the customers were busy pushing their way to the front of the queue. He looked around once more, then filched a bread roll and made a run for it.
"Stop, thief!"
He legged it down the street and round into another alley, only to bump straight into a group of grubby children. The leader seemed to be a boy of about eight. He was flanked by more than a dozen other kids.
"You just stoled from dat baker, didn't ye?" he demanded, crossing his arms.
"Um… yes…"
"Why?"
"I'm hungry," Han illustrated the point by biting into the roll. He bent a little at the knees, ready to spring up and make a dash for it if necessary.
"Well dat's alright, innit?"
"Yeah, I guess so," he mumbled nervously through crumbs, chewing and swallowing.
The boy himself didn't seem that threatening. He was of average height for his age, and skinny as the broken lampposts that lined these streets. His face was smudged with dirt, and his nose ran, but he carried an unmistakeable authority with him. His fair stance and crossed arms made a mockery of his high pitched voice, but his tone was even, and his expression neither suspicious nor altogether friendly. The others angled round him, with a slightly taller girl on his right, and a large boy that Han kept at least one eye on at all times on his left.
"Where's your folks?"
"Huh?"
"Where are your parents?" put in the girl helpfully.
"Um… got none now."
"Got nowhere te go?" the leader raised an eyebrow.
"Um… no," Han muttered sadly.
"Don't move," the boy ordered, before turning his back on Han to confer with the other two.
"Let him tag along. He can't cause any harm," the girl appealed.
"It's another mouth to feed," the ten year old grumbled.
"It's someone else te get food," reasoned their leader.
"Come on," she tried again.
"Fine, but it's on your 'ead if he does anythin'." He turned back round to look at the thoroughly intimidated Han Solo. "Stick wi' us. We look after each other 'ere. Group o' kids that no one cares about, so we stick together. Follow us."
He turned his back, and Han had a split second to choose. He followed them.
Someone took his hand and he looked up to see the girl who had fought his case. She had wild, tangled dark red hair and a sooty face dominated by a kind smile. He trusted her instantly; that smile reminded him of someone he couldn't remember. She wore a ragged and tattered grey dress that had probably been green at one stage. Her elbows stuck out and her little red mouth looked like it was ready to blast opinions out at any moment. "My name's Bella," she explained quietly as they made their way down more alleyways.
"Mine's Han Solo," he smiled back.
"Well then, Han, I guess I'll be looking after you from now on."
&
Lumara felt a little sick. 'Why do I have to be the one they always send out?' She knew why. She made her way down the corridor, towards Gan's office.
She was very happy with Padmé's decision, but apparently Master Finah wasn't. He wanted the twins to become Jedi, and he thought if he could get the leaders on his side then she would be more easily persuaded. Lumara didn't want to do his dirty work for him. She wasn't going to try and turn Gan against Padmé; that was for sure.
She arrived outside the door to his office, and stopped for a moment, hand on the panel by the entrance. 'What if I were to just walk away?' The thought occurred to her with a burst of exhilaration. Yes, it was possible to defy the masters and not do as she was told. But… in the long run it would do no good. An act of defiance just for the sake of it would get her nowhere, and after all, it would just mean that one of the masters would do it themselves. Gan would get quite a different picture from them.
She had only a heartbeat to wait for a response. "Come in," his kindly voice came, and the door slid open. She stepped in to see Gan in his usual position, behind the desk and swamped in datapads.
"Lumara, what beings you here?" he smiled, setting down his work and straightening in his seat. "Sit down, there."
"Thank you," she took the seat opposite him. "I'm afraid it's business rather than pleasure today. I'm here to deliver a message from Master Finah."
"So polite, you Jedi," he noted, "you always deliver your messages in person."
She chuckled, "Well, this is rather a sensitive issue and… I'm glad I'm here to make sure there was no misunderstanding." A curious little lilt hit the word 'misunderstanding', as Lumara already knew what she'd have to do.
"Oh? Well fire away," he sat with his fingers steepled upon the desk before him, an intent expression on his elderly face.
"I'm sure you've heard offhand accounts of this anyway, but it's about Padmé Naberrie's children, Luke and Leia."
"Oh yes," his expression became a little graver.
"They're Force Sensitive, yes. They have potential to become powerful Jedi, but their mother doesn't want them to. She would prefer them to grow up normally under her care."
"Yes," he prompted after a moment.
Lumara shrugged, and explained matter-of-factly, looking down at her hands, "I think Master Finah wants you to convince her to let them be trained. He thinks that she'll listen to you more than him. Well… he's right, but I'm not so sure you'll side with him," she looked up, an almost hopeful look in her eyes.
"You'd be right," he smiled. "Of course I'll speak to Padmé about this, but I certainly won't try to convince her either way. It's not my place, and… I do agree with her. She can choose what she wants for her children." Lumara grinned in response. "I must say," he continued, "you're not really selling this for poor Master Finah."
"No," she smiled. "I think Padmé should have her choice too. Just because I'm a Jedi, it doesn't mean I have to agree with all their views- especially if it involves trying to tear children from their mother." She inwardly shuddered at the thought. "Master Finah knew this, and still he decided to send me along to get you on side, because I knew you better than he. He'll have to pay for it," she laughed a little at her own words.
Gan raised an eyebrow, "Good for you, that's all I can say. Fight 'em from the inside," he chuckled. He seemed to remember something for a moment, and then his face snapped back to the present. "But, I'm glad it was you he did send, otherwise I'm sure I'd have gotten a much different view of things."
"Yes, I'd better go and tell them I've 'explained the situation to you'," she chuckled, quoting the Master. "Thank you for understanding."
"Thank you for coming, I'll see you soon," Gan smiled as she stood to leave.
"Hopefully, goodbye."
"Bye."
Lumara grinned to herself as she made her way back to the crèche. 'Mission accomplished. Now tamp down on those unruly thoughts or they'll catch on. You just turned Gan Pamive against Padmé, remember? And you went against your principles to do it! Try to look a little… disheartened or perhaps slightly weary. That's the ticket!'
Knight Onih seemed pleased when informed that her Padawan had done what she was asked for once. The day continued slowly enough, with little incident.
Lumara was getting ready for bed when a revolutionary thought occurred to her. 'That was easy. I just outright lied to the masters about something slightly devious. I've lied before, but not about something so important. It was easy. I don't think they sensed a thing. I guess being so withdrawn in the Force has its advantages! Just think, if I can do that, what else could I get away with? Oh! Better not go there… too late. Hmm… Shouldn't have thought of that. Right. Ok, time for beddy-byes! Time to shut up, brain.'
&
Another week slipped past with no correspondence with Ms Naberrie whatsoever. Master Finah began to think that perhaps Gan hadn't been successful- or he just hadn't gotten round to it… he was very busy after all.
Lumara was trying to get out of the crèche as much as possible, especially in the evenings. She really was beginning to find it stifling; being stuck in the one place all day. She was never out, apart from going out to construct the lightsabers with Dariinj, which was fast becoming the highlight of her dismal day. Perhaps too much, to her mind.
She bumped into Gan again on the way to another few hours of manufacture. "Oh, hello there."
"Hello, Lumara. How are you?"
"Fine. The usual. What about you?"
"Great, just busy as usual!" he smiled.
A crowd of chattering recruits jostled past the pair of them, weaving around the blockage they were making in the corridor. "I take it you haven't spoken to Padmé yet?"
"No, I haven't had time unfortunately."
"That's fine, I understand. Don't rush yourself or anything," she chuckled.
"Oh, don't worry, I won't. I'd better head on," he rearranged his customary stack of datapads and headed off. "Bye!"
"Bye."
A minute more down the corridor took her to the workroom. 'I must be a little early.' She seemed to have beaten Dariinj here, for once. Lumara took a few moments setting out all the tools and materials on the desk, and then sat back for a while. No Dariinj. 'Well that sucks… I'd better get down to it in the meantime; he's probably just running late.'
They had just finished the circuits for the energy channels, and were looking at more circuitry for the energy modulation. They were planning on making as many as possible, and then the specific Jedi themselves could worry about altering them as needed when the time came. At this stage in affairs, the most important thing was to just get them armed with something. They would create a few specifically for training sabers too.
She sighed and picked up another board, and began to hunt through the boxes for the correct component. It was a while longer before she sensed Dariinj's distinctive presence coming towards her. Lumara had become very familiar with his aura recently, and it intrigued her. When she looked logically at things, it was no different from most people, but she had the urge to explore it all the same. Such a thing would be foolish, however; she didn't want to pry or poke at him.
He arrived with an apologetic smile on his face, "I am sorry I am so late. Something came up and it could not wait."
"That's fine, that's fine," she replied with a smile too.
"I see you are getting on well enough without me anyway." Dariinj indicated the nearly finished circuit in her hands.
Lumara looked down in surprise. It appeared that she actually worked much faster without him here- though she wasn't going to tell him that. She hadn't really been paying attention to what she was doing, but a quick check confirmed that it was all correct. "Oh! I suppose so."
He gave her an odd smile as he sat down beside her. "I could get used to this- an excuse to get away from Mothma and her ramblings about new fighters for a while."
"Oh?" she murmured, snipping carefully at a little loose wire sticking out where it shouldn't be.
"She does not quite understand just how some of it works unfortunately, and I find she has a habit of asking the literally impossible."
He began to detail the ex-Senator's ridiculous requests, while Lumara listened. There was something nagging in her memory, and despite all propriety demanding that she shouldn't, she found herself drifting away. She began to consider what had happened not so long ago, in a storeroom. It seemed so far away, so small now. Looking back, things really had just blown out of proportion, hadn't they? Perhaps. All the same, she found herself focusing on the incident in question, and remembering… And then slapping herself upside the brain. 'No!' This was not the time to dwell on such things. In fact, there never was a time to dwell on such things! 'You're a Jedi!' Of course she was, and she'd blooming well act like one, she decided. Lumara was very firm that she would keep her opinions on certain issues, such as the twins. That went without saying. However, she drew the line as far as rebellion was concerned on those matters.
Dariinj suddenly realised that he was doing all the talking. "Are you alright? You are very quiet today."
She started a little, "Oh, of course! No, I'm fine. I'm just… thinking is all."
"Ok."
They continued to work, but didn't get much done, as immersed in their thoughts as both were.
&
Lumara felt that bed was a good place to think. Unless she was sleeping in the crèche there wasn't much chance of an interruption, and besides that thinking was really all that could be done while waiting for sleep.
Her thoughts floated back towards the afternoon. She'd been rather rude, she decided, letting her mind drift like that while Dariinj was talking. The things she'd been thinking about were wholly inappropriate, too. It was a good job that she had become so good at hiding her thoughts and emotions from the others, or she'd have been caught out easily. It seemed that her little wall of impassivity guarded her even in sleep too, for the others seemed totally unaware of her dreams- unless she became verbal. What luck…
There and then, lying in bed on her side, she made a decision. She wouldn't buckle to any of those silly little notions in the deepest, darkest recesses of her mind. She would do, say, and think Jedi, as far as that sort of thing was concerned. She would refuse to entertain the thoughts that came unbidden of forbidden acts. She would refuse her memory and imagination of combining and concluding into a picture of a possible future. Above all, she'd be a good little girl.
Lumara closed her eyes, and braced herself for another night.
&
"You can sleep 'ere," the boy gestured to a corner brusquely.
Han sat down as directed, his eyes wide. Bella was serene as ever; she settled down beside him, leaning against the wall comfortably.
"That was Pollio. He's just about what passes for a leader here. He can be harsh, but he's fair. Try and keep on his good side." She spoke with the air of a casually indifferent tour guide, who had been repeating this same spiel to thousands before. "The older boy there," she pointed to the ten year old, "is Jacque. Pollio rescued him from an orphanage and now he'll do whatever Pollio says. He's got a good heart," she added. "I sort of fit in the middle. I look after the little ones, and Pollio has some respect at least for me. I don't always do what he says, but when I don't it's for a good reason. Life with us is good, and so long as you look out for us we'll always look after you."
"That sounds good," he replied quietly. He was still taking everything in. Han gazed about the dilapidated hideout, cataloguing all the different children running about, sleeping, eating, playing, talking, and fighting.
"So what's your story?" she sighed in a friendly way, and pulled her shredded skirt round to cover her legs like an old cat blanket.
"I… I was travelling with my daddy- he's the best pilot in the Galaxy –but then these bad guys came and… they killed him." The last came out with a little shock. Han had never tried to string recent events together, but when he did, he realised that he'd been through a lot. He felt himself tear up a little, and looked down.
Bella frowned sympathetically into the distance, "These things happen, Han. None of our parents are still alive, and some of us don't mind," she half snorted. "The important thing," she brightened, "is to keep going. What about your mummy?"
"My daddy said she had to go away when I was very small," he said, his voice getting tinier by the minute. He felt a stinging behind his eyes, and somewhere in the region of his nose.
"So she's dead too then?" Bella sighed, her face filled with sadness. "That's ok. My mummy died a while ago, but I've learned to cope. Like I said, I'll look after you."
Han's lip began to wobble. He gave up.
"What? No, that's good! I don't smell that bad!" she laughed. Han started to cry. "Don't cry…" She put an arm round him, but the quiet tears didn't stop. "Han, it's going to be ok now," she tried again. He seemed to gather himself together for a great gasp, so that he could launch into a fit of bawling. Bella recognised it, and before he could do so she had pulled him to her roughly. She hugged him tightly, muffling his sobs against her filthy dress. "Don't be silly, you'll be fine," she smiled gently, and gave him a little squeeze.
He sniffed for a bit, holding her loosely, then after a moment he murmured, "I'm happy that you're here." If he'd been asked what his idea of a comforter or protector was, he'd have come up with someone nothing like Bella. But now that he had her, he realised that she did twice as good a job as that figure ever could.
She smiled softly, "Well, I'm happy that you found us. Come on, let's get some dinner before Jacque eats it all."
"Ok," he nodded, taking her hand as she led him into the fray of children fighting over the food.
So Han's found friends and Lumara's having a little battle! (There it is, Ben.)
Until next chapter!