Sometimes, in the windowless bunkroom I shared with Vega, I longed for a world beneath my feet. The brief glimpse, on Magne, of sun and fresh air and the taste of salt on my lips had awakened all my memories of Alderaan. And Leia and her friends had still not returned.

I was sitting in the workshop one lazy afternoon, helping Alun reverse-engineer some captured Imperial hardware, when Voran, one of the boys-probably one of Alun's postgrads in a better universe-wandered in.

"The Falcon's back," he said. "Just saw her come in." He dumped the kaffs he had been to fetch on our workbench.

"I didn't know the snubfighter hangars were on the way to the canteen," Quinn said acidly. "Pass me that multimeter, Avram."

I grinned, hugging myself, happiness bubbling up and spilling uncontrollably onto my face. I might have known they would turn up all right, I thought.

"You look happy," Alun said. "In love with Solo or something?"

"No!" I said, half-laughing.

"The princess, maybe?" Voran said with a smirk. "So that's why I've been getting nowhere with you, Keitin."

I giggled. "If that's what it takes to salve your ego, Vor..."

Alun rolled his eyes. "Fascinating as Lieutenant Avram's love life is, can we try to get this finished before 0400, please?"

As my shift was dismissed I met Vega coming on to hers, eager to tell me all the news. The Falcon's return was the talk of the frigate. They had Luke Skywalker with them, a casualty-lost a hand, the whispers said-and a stranger, a brown-skinned man 'with absolutely impeccable trousers, my dear.' Han Solo had not come back.

I went to the medcentre. I knew the way, having visited Samoc Farr there when we had first arrived. It is amazing where you can get in to by walking confidently and looking official. None of the orderlies or medidroids challenged me. Following my hunch, I went to the VIP corridor, the one with the rooms alongside the viewports, and found them there.

Leia was sitting beside the bed; Luke was unconscious, but she was holding his hand so tightly their knuckles were white. Her face was pale and set. I knelt in front of her, taking her free hand in both of mine. I dropped my face against her knee, and she hugged me in an awkward one-armed clasp.

"Leia!"

"Oh, Keitin," she said, softly. I felt very fond of her, and—this was something new—a great pity for her. I had never seen her cry, but I thought that now she was close to it.

"What happened?" I whispered at last, after a long silence.

"Vader," she spat. I shuddered. I had seen Vader once, on Alderaan, when I had been small and Shamma had taken us with her on a visit to the Palace. Iruben had screamed, and Dan had made the superstitious sign the country people made to fend off evil, and pulled me and Iruben away. I had not been frightened until I saw the mask face-on. Even though his eyes were hidden, it felt as though he were looking through me.

"He nearly killed Luke," Leia said. I jumped; the silence had been stretching between us, and I hadn't expected her to speak again.

"And he froze Han in carbonite and gave him to the bounty hunter like he was a package of fish."

She leaned her forehead on her hand, elbow on her knee. I clasped my hands across her lap. Leia had loved Han Solo, and now she had lost him-I could read that in her face. Painful empathy burned in my throat and eyes. I knew. I wanted to say something to comfort her, but there were no words to say it. So I hugged her knees in silence, resting my head against her chair. We stayed like that for a long time. My thoughts spiraled into vague reveries.

Some small noise roused me, and I sat up, startled.

"You were asleep," Leia said tiredly. I rubbed my face where the edge of the chair had printed its mark across my cheek. On the bed, Luke stirred and moaned. Leia bent over him, soothing, "Shht," the way Shamma used to do when I was small and had a fever.

"Leia...it hurts, Leia," he whispered. "Can't you...make it stop...just for a little?"

"I would if I could, Luke," she replied softly, smoothing his hair. "Keitin, could you fetch me a glass of water?"

I scrambled up, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. There was a tumbler by the spigot. I filled it, splashing water on my face when I was there.

"Thank you," Leia said as I handed it to her, still in the tired voice. She held it while Luke drank. His face was flushed, his eyes too bright. I knew next to nothing about medicine, but surely that was a bad sign? I wondered suddenly what it would do to Leia if he died. I stood watching through a haze of drowsiness, hands behind me-the sorrowful weary-eyed girl, and he, his face looking almost translucent, an angel's face, if there were masculine versions of those semi-legendary inhabitants of Iego's moons. It came to me that I had never seen anyone die in their bed.

I shook myself properly awake, thinking that I was getting very morbid. The room had been half-lit, but it was brightening, as though with sunrise. But we were not orbiting a sun...I turned to the viewport. The Medical Frigate must have been making routine manoeuvres, because a galactic panorama had swung into view. I gazed out at a million stars, drinking in a spectacle I had only seen fragments of so far. Leia gave a soft, "Oooh," behind me. When I looked at her again, her face was determined.

"Han's out there," she said. "And I'll find him if I have to do it myself!"

Luke's eyes didn't open, but he murmured, "Isn't that what I'm here for?", and some of the tension went out of Leia's face.

-~-~-~-~

Even while Luke was still in the medcentre, he, Leia and the others were planning Han's rescue. I projected my feelings for Ari onto Leia, and after that would have done anything to give Solo back to her. I couldn't contribute to the rescue operation, but 'Start from where you are,' had been one of Shamma's dicta, so I helped Leia in any way I could. I spent all my off-duty in the medcentre, apart from when I was asleep, fetched and carried when she didn't want to leave Luke alone, and generally hovered around offering silent emotional support. I longed to give it verbally, but I was too diffident to offer it, and Leia, I supposed, too withdrawn to receive it. She was very quiet and dazed-seeming; her usual method of dealing with trauma—a smart mouth and a short fuse—was quite absent. It worried me.

Luke gave Leia a bad couple of days, too. The second night they were on the Medical Frigate, I entered the room with a tray of food to find Leia kneeling at the bed.

"Luke, please," she whispered to his unconscious form. "Luke, please try. Not you, too..."

I backed out silently and came in again with an unnecessary amount of clatter. Leia had been sending me for food and datacards on carbon freezing and the galactic underworld. I tried coaxing her into sleeping, without noticeable success. Apart from Chewbacca, I am sure I was the most persistent visitor, though I was far from the only one. Once Luke was conscious again, everyone from the mechanics to the High Command came calling. The Rogues were so noisy that Leia turned them out of the room in a fit of exasperation. But Wes and Hobbie's comedy double act made her grin unwillingly.

One morning a droid challenged me for the first time, "Are you authorised to enter? State your name, rank and number, please."

"Keitin, is that you? I authorise her-come on ahead."

The reason for the precaution, Mon Mothma, the elected leader of the Rebel Alliance, was sitting in Leia's usual seat. I nearly dropped the datacards I was holding.

"Ma'am," I said, and sidled to the other side of Luke's bed. He didn't look any more at ease than I felt. Mothma continued to ask him about his treatment for a few minutes, then took her leave, saying, "Best wishes for your recovery, Commander."

"Thank you," Luke said, smiling tightly. When the door closed behind her, he threw his head back against his pillows, sighing.

"She's curious about that two-month hole in your debriefing, Leia."

"Don't be so ungracious-it was very good of her to come and see you again. Is that the research paper I asked for-thanks, Keitin."

"Dubret and Kowwald on carbon freezing," I said. Some of the possible side-effects made me shudder, and I wished Leia didn't have to know about them, but lying to someone even to protect them went against my grain. Besides, lying to Leia for any reason was unwise. So I relinquished the datacards.

"Mothma's more bothered about you-you're her pet," Luke said. Leia snorted.

"The High Command are just worried about where the hero of Yavin-" Luke's voice was bitter-"disappeared to, hoping it wasn't Imperial reconditioning, and wondering about his sanity. I could tell them the truth-they wouldn't bother with a psych test, just shut me up straight off."

"Luke," Leia groaned, her head bent over her datapad. "If I can be evaluated as psychologically sound, I'm sure you can. Stop being so cynical; it doesn't suit you."

I shifted feet uncomfortably. This was the nearest approach to a quarrel I had ever seen the two of them reach, and for some reason it seemed more serious than Solo and Leia in a full yelling match. I tapped one foot on the floor, reminding them that there was a third person in the room, and Leia rolled her eyes at me.

"I wouldn't be so sure," Luke said, so softly that I don't think Leia heard him.

-~-~-~-