"Of course in front of everybody, Luke. That's the point."
Luke's eyes went wide. "How many people are there in the base?"
Leia propped her chin on her fist and grinned.
"Luke Skywalker, I don't believe you. After all we've been through, you're afraid of a simple little awards ceremony?"
"I'm not afraid."
"Yes you are," she teased gently. He flushed.
"Am not"
"Are so. You're a terribly bad liar, Luke."
"Well, a little nervous, perhaps. A little tiny bit," and he held thumb and forefinger a few millimetres apart to emphasise how little. Leia laughed.
"Relax, Luke. You'll be fine."
"Aren't you afraid of anything, Leia?"
If Han had asked her that, it would have been a challenge, but Luke's voice was merely curious.
"Oh yes-I'm afraid Han will say something rude in the middle of the ceremony."
Luke joined in her laughter, bouncing happily on the end of her bed. She was sitting cross-legged on her pillows-"We're short on chairs," the quartermaster had explained. "Bits of Death Star, yes; chairs, no."
Leia piled her plaits on top of her head and tilted her chin to look in the mirror.
"What do you think-good or not?"
"Pretty," Luke said. "I like your hair; it smells nice."
Leia let her plaits fall over her shoulders, down past her crossed knees onto her blanket. The tail of her plait brushed the back of Luke's hand, and he turned his hand over so it coiled on his palm.
"Your hair's so soft-I never saw anyone with hair this long. My aunt used to have long hair when I was small, but she cut it."
"I think I'll have to cut mine, now I don't have droids and hairdressers and an hour every morning to get dressed."
His expression turned horrified, so she amended, "Not all of it, just some. I couldn't lose it all."
She turned back to the mirror.
"I'll need a necklace too," she mused. The word sent her hand to her belt pouch, where her true mother's love gift lay. It had been a necklace once, when she had been small, but the throng that had held it had snapped a few years ago, and she had never had it fixed. But she carried it always in her belt, like a good-luck charm, a tangible token of her mother's love. It had always been precious to her, more so than any of the Organa heirlooms, and now it was the only piece of jewellery she possessed.
"What's that?" Luke asked. A little reluctantly, she opened her fingers, and he took the fragment from her.
"It was my mother's."
"It looks like jappor," Luke remarked.
"What's that?"
"You find it in the desert at home. It's petrified wood or something like it. Aunt Beru had a multitool with a jappor handle."
"You think it came from Tatooine?" Leia asked. She had never before considered the love-gift's origin before, although she had a vague idea it had come from her unknown natural father. But then, she had never willingly shown it to someone before. Luke seemed to have a right to see it that she could not fathom.
He shrugged. "It probably came from a desert anyway."
He handed the little pendant back to her. She put it away in her belt again, and hugged her knees, watching Luke. It was odd, how at ease she felt with him. She didn't make friends easily, and this instant camaderie, this sense of rightness was something new in her experience. Luke sought out her company too. She had worried about him at the start, like a responsible older sister on the first day of school-because, after all, she had got him into this-but he seemed happy enough in his new role as Alliance hero. A little bewildered by all the attention, perhaps, a little inclined to return to her for safety, but he was coping.
As for Luke, he was at this moment, perfectly contented. He was always unquestioningly happy when he was with Leia. She made him complete; she was the missing part of his soul he had never known he lacked, and yet had been searching for all his life.
Of course, he didn't put it into those words. All he knew was that he liked being around her, that he liked looking at her and the sound of her voice. It was worth any effort just to make her smile.
She wasn't smiling now; she was scowling pensively at her datapad, tapping the end of her stylus against her lips. "Not written your speech yet?"
"No-" She ran a hand over her forehead. "I've got an outline, but it's just not coming together."
She flung the datapad down on the bed. Luke picked it up and scribbled away busily. Leia leaned over to see a credibly executed doodle of herself, large dark eyes and double-bun hairstyle, take shape under Luke's fingers.
"I'm the most beautiful, so you do what I tell you, ok?" he said, raising his voice an octave. Leia giggled. Luke, elated with his success, continued to draw, making caricatures of himself, Han and Chewbacca. He looked up at her in a wide-eyed parody of himself.
"I'm Luke Skywalker-I'm here to rescue you from stormtroopers, TIE fighters and my big-mouthed friend here."
He changed to a mock-drawl, "I'm Han Solo, captain of the Millennium Falcon. She may look like a flying junkpile, but she'll outrun anything from a snubfighter to a Death Star-if you show me the money first."
Leia doubled up in laughter, protesting weakly, "Oh, that's not fair-"
"Arroough, I'm Chewbacca and I'm a Wookiee not a walking carpet, graagh!" Luke finished triumphantly, and they both flopped back against the wall, laughing.
Leia grinned, "I'm keeping this-" and hit 'Save' on the datapad.
"Hey, no fair, you can't keep that-" Luke grabbed for it, but Leia hastily sat on it.
"I'm going to look at it in boring meetings and when I need fortified in awards ceremonies. You should be flattered."
Standing on the dais in the Massassi Temple, Leia felt she could have done with fortification. She lifted her chin, composing herself. At least her sartorial problem had been solved-Stores had dug up a white dress in her size from somewhere, and one of the Alderaani had even produced a replica of the chalcedony necklace that was traditional in the Organa family.
The trumpets blew a triumphant fanfare, and the three heroes appeared. She saw Luke and Han exchange glances as they started on the long walk between the ranks of Alliance personnel. Han looked marginally tidier, though his hair was still scruffy, and even Chewie looked brushed. As for Luke, he was scrubbed and polished, and shone outside and in. His eyes were fixed on her all the way up to the dais, and he gave her a broad smile as he reached her. She took his medal from Dodonna, beaming back at him. I'm so proud of you. Han winked as she put on his medal, and she had to smooth away a grin. He had been even worse than Luke to talk into this ceremony, but he seemed to be enjoying it enough now.
Chewbacca gave a loud roar as they turned to face the crowd. He had already got his medal-he had given a long and involved explanation, translated by a rather peeved Han, as to why it was taboo in Wookiee culture to openly receive 'the honour of battle'-although walking up to get it seemed to be fine.
Leia motioned for silence, and he applause died away to a few scattered claps, then quiet.
"Today, we honour those who fought for us. But there are those brave pilots who gave their lives so that we might live, and we honour and remember them. May their names never be forgotten."
She motioned to Dodonna, and he began to read out the list of those who had died above the Death Star. Luke bowed his head as Biggs Darklighter's name was said. The crowd remained silent, respectful of their fallen comrades.
Leia hadn't written the next part of her speech, had never got beyond her outline. She stepped forward. It would have been easier if there had been a podium to grasp, like in the representative rafts in the Senate. Of course, there wasn't a Senate any more. Or a Palace. Or a planet.
"These soldiers were not the only victims of the Death Star," she said clearly, letting her voice carry. "Before its destruction the battlestation was used against my home planet of Alderaan."
She paused. There was some shuffling and restive muttering as this was absorbed-although Alderaan's fate was known throughout the base, this was the official announcement. Leia ploughed grimly on, "Sixty million civilians perished-men, women and children. To read their names would take years."
She kept thinking determinedly of the number, not the names or the faces. A number is an abstract thing.
"I failed them-" that had not been in the outline-she amended it hastily to "We failed them. But we will fight the atrocious Imperial regime, so that this evil is never allowed to happen again."
She took a steadying breath, repeated, "Never again!" fiercely. And they took it up, starting with Luke and Han, Dodonna and the others on the dais, spreading out until a thousand throats echoed her cry. Good, she thought. They'll need all that enthusiasm later.
She waited for relative quiet, then proclaimed, "And may the Force be with us all!", dropping her hands in dismissal.
The troops began moving out, row upon serried row. Luke, with scant regard for protocol, came bounding up onto the dais to greet the repaired Artoo. He dropped to one knee beside the little droid, who was rocking and beeping excitedly. Leia tried not to feel jealous; she and Luke had had a discussion over who actually owned Artoo and Threepio, and had decided that as Luke needed an astromech anyway, he could keep Artoo. But Artoo's easy acceptance of Luke as his master surprised her-Artoo was very quirky, and stubbornly loyal.
She walked over to them, put one hand affectionately on Artoo's domed head, and the other on Luke's fair one.
"That went well, Your Highness-ness," Han said, loping over. Chewie gave another of his ear-splitting roars, and pulled her into an overwhelming furry hug. She staggered as he let go, and Han grabbed her arm to steady her.
"I think he likes you," Luke laughed. Leia laughed too, lifted Han's medal from his chest.
"A decorated Alliance hero," she observed. Han grinned as though something amused him hugely.
"Who'd have thought it?"
It was raining. The leaden sky had been weeping all morning, great plum-coloured swollen clouds rolling in from the horizon, and now it was coming down in good earnest. Sheets of falling water swept across the entry bay of the fighter hangar, forming great pools among the cracked flagstones. Leia dodged among the puddles as she crossed the open space. Pilots and technicians ran every which way, loading and taking off. The evacuation of Yavin Base was well under way. Although the threat of the Death Star had been removed, it was still too dangerous to stay on Yavin's jungle moon any longer. The Imperials could attack at any time.
Luke was standing by the entrance, in his flight suit with his helmet under his arm, staring out at the falling rain. She called out to him as she approached, and he turned with a happy smile.
"What's the matter, farmboy? Never seen rain before?" Leia asked, amused that Luke could find time to stand still in the midst of all the bustle.
"Yes, I have-three times. I've just never seen so much water at once before."
"Hey, Luke! Let's go!" Wedge Antilles' voice came from behind Leia. She stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. One of the other pilots-not Wedge-let out a long wolf whistle.
"Good luck, Luke."
He smiled down at her and ran off, glowing. Leia smiled too, hoisted her small bag to her shoulder-her belongings were of course practically non-existent-and walked on. Dodonna and a few officers were conferring anxiously beside a transport.
"What is it?" Leia asked, as she came up beside them.
"Nothing to worry about just yet, Your Highness. It's just-our spies have seen Vader, alive. I knew we were wise to begin the evacuation-"
"Oh," Leia said, her mouth drying. She turned blindly away from Dodonna, her fist clenched. And now, Your Highness, we will discuss the location of your hidden Rebel base. She could almost hear the humming of the interrogation droid.
Although she knew, in principle, that revenge was wrong, it had given her a certain grim satisfaction to think that Tarkin and Vader and Motti and the rest of them were reduced to their constituent atoms, orbiting Yavin. And now-
She blundered up against someone, and a pair of strong hands grasped her elbows.
"It's not like you not to look where you're going, Princess," Han said.
"Vader's alive," Leia said flatly. She was surprised her voice sounded normal. Han swore softly.
"I shoulda hit him harder, shouldn't I? Are you-are you ok?"
He ran his hands up to her shoulders, turning her round to face him. She tilted her chin up.
"We're very glad you did as much as you did, Han."
Suddenly she realised that he was going, that this would be the last she say of him. A wave of regret, frightening in its intensity, swept over her. She stepped back, folding her hands.
"I suppose this is it," she said, forcing lightness. "You've got your reward and..."
Han looked highly embarrassed.
"I couldn't take the money when you guys need it so badly, could I? The Wook would never let me live it down."
"So you'll just have to earn it honestly, hmm?"
"Yeah-I guess you'll have to put up with me for a while longer, Princess."
Leia beamed. She could have kissed him.
"I think I can manage that, Han. I-I'm glad you're staying."
On impulse, she reached up and hugged him. He grinned crookedly, obviously gratified.
"Hey, steady on-isn't that your transport about to leave? I'll see you later."
As Leia hurried off, she waved a hand to him.
"See you later, Han."