Chapter Twelve

Glynn moved his fingers down his jaw, opening and closing his mouth. Well, she hadn't hit him that hard, just in a bad place, and now his jaw was shorting out a little. Should heal quickly.

But what was up with that? All of a sudden, a physically abusive Saera? Not that he was complaining. He rather liked this assertive girl. She was...sexy.

Sexy? Oh, you perverted old man.

He must be going crazy. What in the stars was wrong with him? Who cared? There was no way he was going to be able to stop thinking about her now, now that she'd shown this side of her that was able to stand up for herself, a side that wasn't afraid to get stuck into things. It was a big change from the shy yet temperamental girl.

At least we're on speaking terms again. But what the heck was she thinking? Obviously, that he needed some sense knocked into him. Little hypocrite, he though, amused. She tells me it was a random, impersonal anomaly, and then gets annoyed when I act impersonal! What was she doing in here anyway? Taking things into her own hands more than usual. Maybe I finally got through to her...

Eh. It was all so messed up. He knew one thing for certain: he didn't know Saera half as well as he'd thought.

--

Who am I?

Saera wasn't even sure anymore. The girl who'd slapped Glynn with hardly any provocation was certainly not her. It couldn't be! Saera would have stared at her feet and blushed when he started on all that 'physical attraction' stuff. Heck, Saera, wouldn't have even attempted to talk to him.

WHO AM I?

Not the girl from Tatooine, that was certain. And not the girl on Bothawui. She wasn't even sure she was the girl she'd been a day earlier. Somehow, this whole Glynn thing had affected her far more than she'd realized.

Go away! I don't want to think about you! I'm going to think about Luke. And how much I love him. And how we're going to find each other, no matter how hard the galaxy tries to pull us apart. He's going to know that I love him. He is.

I love him.

It was so strange, how she kept having to remind herself of this. And how, all of a sudden, those eyes that had been haunting her were gone, a new pair replacing them...

--

Parsnil. Didn't look like much from the cockpit. But then, Glynn was so used to seeing planets that few did impress him. Parsnil was mostly green, a few patches of heavy human existence, and a whole bunch of water. Nothing particularly unusual or special.

Except for the Rebel recruitment center that supposedly had the coordinates to the base, and Saera's apparent true love.

Glynn ran his fingers through his newly-dyed hair, unconsciously taking the path that Saera had a few days before. He hoped this worked. And she appreciated it. Sure, it was sort-term dye, but he'd still had to do the actual dyeing, which was a pain in the neck. He didn't know how all those holovid actresses with platinum locks did it every few months.

And my eyes.

That had stung big time. He wasn't looking forward to the second application he was sure to need. Ugg, they can make a ship go point five past lightspeed, why can't they make painless eye pigments? Hmph. Probably to discourage criminals from changing their appearance. In his opinion, very little could stop a man from trying to avoid death by stormtrooper execution squad.

"We're at Parsnil. I'm gonna head out." He said into the ship intercom. the plan was for him to find the rebels and then later they would approach them about the base coordinates.

"Wait a sec, I gotta get up there and see your 'disguise!'" He could practically hear the teasing grin in Saera's voice.

"Yeah, yeah, make it quick. I got things to do."

She was there less than a minute later and obviously ready with a barrage of teasing jokes.

"You look so weird, you have no idea!" was all that came out of her mouth, however.

"What, better weird or worse weird?"

"Just...weird weird!"

"Yes, well, while we're having this delightful conversation, there's probably a port official ready to drag us off to an Imperial garbage masher. So, alas, I must be leaving." He grinned. "Bye."

"Yeah, yeah, get going." She smiled back.

Once on the surface, Glynn paid the docking fee and made his way to a cantina, hoping to rustle up some information. The rebels on Parsnil were either more elusive or just more wary than the ones on Bothawui and Transaddinn III, however, and Glynn couldn't find a hint of where this recruitment base might be with his general questions. It was only after he mentioned actually joining the Rebellion that he got some responses. After some gentle persuasion and a lot of effort, Glynn was able to gain the location of the small recruitment base on Parsnil.

These guys must be really desperate. Even with all the time and energy expended, he knew he was still incredibly lucky to have gotten that information. Gods help them if an Imp ever gets hold of one of these guys. Under a probe droid they'd probably crack in two seconds. It's a wonder the Rebel Alliance hasn't already been crushed, with just dumb luck letting someone locate two hidden bases...

Unless it wasn't dumb luck. Sure, maybe he was extremely lucky. Or maybe what Mum said was true... He thought back, years ago, when he was ten, and his mother had first told him...

No. He didn't need to get caught up in myths and legends. He had other things to focus on now. His mother had just bee trying to explain things. It was just a story. An old story.