I kind of forgot to, uh, make a disclaimer last chapter. So here goes. I do not own Star Wars. I do not own Luke, or Leia, or Han, or Chewie, or 3PO, or Ben (who is mentioned but doesn't appear. Do'h. He's dead). I own Saera. I own her Dad. I own Glynn (who will be introduced in this chapter). I own most of the other characters that have things like "the random alien stood up." I own a couple of planets, actually. I made up a whole ton of junk for this story, now that I think about it...and I own it!

My Reviews (I love responding!)

Relyan: Yay! The anger is important. What do you think about her escaping from Daddy-o? (winks)

GreatOne: Hah hah, I never thought about the whole Mara Jade element! Unfortunately, no, she will not meet her. Well, no, that would be fortunate. OK, now I'm confusing myself...

Chapter 2

A figure wrapped up in blue cloth arrived at Mos Eisley in a well-kept speeder bike. Gathering its belongings, the human parked the bike with some difficulty on the side of a minor road. Pulling off the cloth wrapped around her head, Saera began to look around for anyone friendly enough to help her. She tried to stop several humans, but they just brushed past her. Where was she going to find someone she could ask about ships?

Saera spotted a general information office nearby and pushed through the market crowds to reach it. Though it seemed to be quite rundown and dingy, there appeared to be a human, who presumably spoke basic, behind a desk in the musky interior. Saera pushed open the doors and entered. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dim lighting, but she could soon make out the features of a woman a bit older than herself.

"Excuse me ma'am, is this an information area?"

"Ya, whaddya want?"

"Um, do you know where I could get a ship?"

"Listen, kid, you've gotta have a pilot's license to get a ship around here."

"Aren't they all just computer controlled these days?"

The woman laughed. "Ha, you wish! To get anywhere you've gotta have a stupid hotshot pilot taggin' along. I can put you in touch with an agency, though. You'll probably find someone there to wherever it is you want to go."

"Oh. Thank you," Saera replied, taking the offered business card. She just wanted to be by herself on this journey, but she supposed she couldn't really deal with a ship anyway. "Do you know where the nearest interplanetary bank is?"

"Yeah, just go down this street and take the second left. The big beige building with the goofy lookin' triangle on the front. Is that all?" She seemed very irritated that she was actually having to do her job.

"Yes, thank you." She picked up her pack and stepped out into the sunlight again, feeling much more confidant that she was going to find a way to do this. She just couldn't deal with her father anymore. Now that Luke was...gone, she didn't really have a reason to stay on Tatooine. She felt alone there. So now, she was going to start a new life. Coruscant sounded fascinating, even if it was the center of the Empire. She didn't know if the Empire was really that good or bad. She'd never really gotten into that kind of thing. Luke had hated it...

No, she must not think of Luke just yet. When she was in hyperspace, with Tatooine and her father behind her, then she would mourn some more. Because, after all, she was going to start the life she'd always wanted to have with Luke, in the center of things, away from the dull. The life she'd hoped she'd have if she ever did tell him...

Saera opened an account at the bank, depositing all but a hundred credits of the life savings she'd brought with her from home. She already had an account, but it was through her father's main one. She wasn't entirely sure about the clerk she'd been dealing with, but there was nothing she could do about that. She needed to be able to access her money without the risk of it being stolen.

Then she made her way to find a ship it turned out that "agency" meant a yard full of ships where you just pick one and hope the pilot is in and willing to drive you across the galaxy.

Oh, great. How am I going to tell a good ship from a bad one? She glanced around, trying to see if she could find a pilot near a ship, presumably theirs. Saera spotted a tall, reddish-brown-haired man wearing dark green pants and a strange design of shirt. He was in an odd position, twiddling with something on a solid-looking but slightly dinged ship. Alt least the ship looked large enough for a somewhat comfortable ride. She walked up to it.

Sensing a presence nearby, the man straightened out. He looked to be about five years older than her and a thin body. He would looked to be almost scrawny from a distance, but truly wasn't. He also had deep blue eyes that laughed. They were not blue like Luke's, they were much darker than Luke's...

"Glynn Torshnar, what can I do for you," he said in a slightly joking way, as if he expected her to laugh at him pretending she needed his service.

"Saera Mernoai. I need a ship, and apparently a pilot, to get me to Coruscant," she told him in a tone she might have used to speak to that stupid rock gardener. He could obviously sense that she did not hold him in high esteem, but kept that fakey business smile.

"Well she's not much for speed, kind of a plodder. But the Gaellia'll get you there unharmed, which is more than you can say for some ships." He made a face to demonstrate his contempt for "some ships."

"You mean it's not fast?"

"Like I said, she's safe." He shrugged apologetically.

"What am I going to do with a dumb slow ship?"

"I don't know, maybe hire it?" he said sarcastically. "Actually, you know what, cancel that. I've been in hyperspace with a lot of arrogant people before, and I don't particularly feel like doing it again. Especially in such a slow ship, where I'll be stuck with you for weeks! No thank you, not interested!" He was shouting by the end of this and was only a few feet from her. She was seething, though. So she'd been a little curt. That was no reason for him to blow up at her, especially when she was supposed to be a customer!

"Well, you've just lost a fare, because I'm not letting you pilot me anywhere!" With that she spun out of the corner that his ship was in and strode out the door of the hanger.

Then she felt a pang of guilt. She'd been pretty horrible to him for no reason other than she was a little ticked that she had to hire someone to pilot her. Well, and the whole losing-Luke-and-running-away-from-home thing, but neither of those were his fault, and it didn't excuse her behavior. She felt the need to apologize but couldn't bring herself to actually facing him after acting so terrible.

Oh well. She'd never see him again.

Glynn walked the streets of Mos Eisley later that day, traveling to the cantina nearby. He couldn't stop thinking about that girl wrapped in blue, Saera what's-her-name. He couldn't help but feel that he's been short-tempered, but she was the one that had started it, treating him like a tool rather than a person.

He'd had a lousy day, though. First the little oiling light thing had gone out on the Gaellia. That in its self wasn't too bad, just that it meant he had to hire a droid to fix her up, and that had cost some major credits. And then he'd lost that fare to Solo and his pet monkey yesterday, so he was still sore about that. It had looked like a good job, too, for a couple of guys from out near Anchorhead. An old man and a youth, his nephew maybe.

Glynn didn't really hate Solo and the Wookiee; he more envied their ship and good fortune. Sure, Glynn loved the Gaellia, and she was very special to him, but she wasn't enough to make him a substantial living. He thought wistfully of all the things he could do with the money from just a few good jobs. On the top of his list were engines. The girl had been right about one thing; those things were due for an update. It was getting so hard to compete with people like Sol when these days the majority of people wanted speed over safety. And Solo wasn't even really in the charter biz. He was a smuggler!

All this had been eating away at him, but what right did that give him to treat the poor girl like that? She was so young, she looked barely out of her teens, maybe even still in them. She was probably scared to death, that was why she'd treated him like...well, dirt.

But he had to stand up for himself! Maybe he shouldn't have been so assertive...but he had a right...

He kept arguing with himself, going half mad. Cut it out, Glynn! You can't do anything now, anyway.

No sooner had he thought this than he saw a crumple of blue fabric in a back street out of the corner of his eye.

No way...

He moved in to investigate the heap and spotted a dark brown-haired head. Cautiously turning it over, he looked in shock at the features of the girl he'd been driving himself crazy over. He sat for a minute with her head in his hands, examining the large cuts he found on her abdomen, cheek, and wrist.

You could just leave her here...

Instantly he rebuked himself. Stop pretending to be unsympathetic and help her, idiot. A second ago you wanted to apologize for what you did.

Gathering her limp form in his arms, he started back to the Gaellia.

Okie, that's it for this chapter. Please review!