Chapter 11

by Saber Girl Leia

1/21/06

Sorry about the time lapse...

Thanks for all the reviews! About the Vader dying bit... let's just say I am a complete and total sucker for absolutely happy endings. Then again, sometimes my characters refuse to let me control them.

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We take him first to the area where there are the worst wounded-- those too far gone to recognize him. He shuffles among them, healing as best he can. He looks as if he wants to weep, but his injuries are also great and tears cannot come.

The makeshift doctors greet our little band with awe and some fear. A few run over to check me and Luke, but he brushes them off. I do, too, but for a different reason.

He knows it. "Go, Leia, I can take care of him."

"Luke-"

"Go. I will call you back if... if there is need." We touch hands briefly and then I run, new energy welling in me from some deep source.

As I run I realize that I have no idea where he is, where I am going... but he is alive, I cling to that. I would have known it, I am sure, if he had died.

At the outskirts of the camp, I see him and I run to him.

We fall into each others arms with a little cry and kiss passionately. I am holding him so tightly; trying to meld us together so we may never never have to go through that again. I feel like I am losing circulation where his arms are around me.

I don't want Luke to feel alone now, I need him, too, differently but just as desperately, and he needs me. But I put that aside for now, shoving aside bits of guilt that I know I will feel later, and let my mind fall to where it wants to be just now.

Which is with Han.

He pulls a way for a second to ask, "Luke?"

"Fine. With our father." He looks a little worried but then I cannot see his face because mine is buried in his chest and his is buried in my shoulder.

I'm scaring myself a little - this isn't me. The me I know doesn't feel incomplete without a man! The me I know doesn't fall unthinking into someone's arms! I don't need this! I can stand alone!

Alderaan.

Who am I fooling? No one can live alone. I've been alone. And I don't care now what anyone thinks. I need to be with Han, and he needs me. And I let my mind go, once again.

Han finally pulls me down so we can sit and I rest my head on his shoulder. He rocks us back and forth, and I realize that I am tearing up.

"I love you, Leia," he whispers. "I'm here for you, whatever you need."

But at the moment what I need is silence and a chance to rest. Han understands, though I do not speak. His shoulder makes a soft pillow, and his love a warm blanket.

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Interlude Ten

Luke helped Anakin through the ranks of injured, each healing the soldiers as well as they knew how. When the older man finally slid to the ground, exhausted, Luke was cold with fear, but there was yet life in his father.

"Sleep," he whispered, and Anakin did so. And as he did, Luke waved the nurses over. "Help us." They did. All were wary at first, but they had seen the black specter come among their people and coax them back from near death, and so they did the same for him.

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It was not much later, I think, that the music wakes us. Looking up, Han and I see bonfires and our people dancing. He pulls me gently to my feet. "You up to going, sweetheart?"

I nod, grinning from ear to ear.

Up in the camp, we dance for ages. I never want to stop. I never knew Han danced... but this is something different. None but Ewoks have heard most of this music before, and no one cares how we dance to it. There are no rules.

At some point Luke comes and taps me on the shoulder, his sense in the Force calm and joyful. So our father is all right. Han laughingly backs away to let me dance the next song with Luke, but not before engulfing him in a bearhug.

It is a long time before we all fall asleep.

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But once we do, I sleep on and off for a day. It is the dawn of the next day when I wake fully, to see all the others sleeping.

Morning came over the treetops, and with it a peace I have not known since childhood. Time seems to stretch out, and I could stand here at the edge of this bridge between trees forever, and never be bored.

I sense someone behind me, a very special someone. He grasps my shoulders and spins me around in a half embrace, and we both laugh. I rest my head on his shoulder.

Suddenly, he draws back.

"What?" I ask.

"Nothing, nothing... I just... no, it's nothing."

"Han," I begin, but at the same time he says, "Leia."

"You first," I say, then when he is about to argue, "no, really, please."

He lets go of my shoulders and begins, "Leia... please understand that I will understand, no matter what you answer, I um... I won't be angry." He looks comical, but I nod solemnly.

"Leia, will you marry me?"

"Yes!"

He kisses me, and I hug him tightly.

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She wakes finally, around lunchtime. My brother goes to see her. I stay back with Han, not ready to face her again yet. Instead, I drag him over a little ways to see my father, who, though he will never be totally well again, should live for a good time yet.

Luke sits at the side of her bedroll, checking her condition through the Force. I burned her badly, but she is beginning to recover.

"Good morning," he says quietly, "are you feeling better?"

She nods slightly, as though it is painful.

"It's Mara, isn't it? That's a beautiful name." My brother certainly does have an unconventional way of dealing with former enemies.

"It means bitter," she replies tersely.

"I'm Luke."

"Yes, I know. I was supposed to kill you. And your sister. I failed my Master." Silence. "You killed him."

"My father did."

Mara frowns. "You ruined my life, you know that Skywalker? And you don't even have the decency to let me die."

"Do you truly want to die? We want to offer you a new life here with us. You will be free here, with no one to make you do anything against your will."

"People make promises like that all the time, Skywalker, but they never keep them."

"You're free to leave whenever you want, after your wounds are healed."

She looks away. "Thank you for saving my life," she says grudgingly. "I can't imagine your sister was too happy about that.

"Not at first, no."

"How is... your father?"

"He'll make it," Luke says, and I can feel in his Force-sense how much just saying those words means to him. "It is going to be a hard, hard road for us, but he's living."

"He hates me."

They are silent for a moment, and he gently take her hand. I expect her to jerk away, and she seems to consider it, but she does not move.

"I think I might stick around for a while," she murmurs.

I cannot see them, but I experience all of this through the Force. And through the Force, I can feel my brother's smile.

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Yes, that is the end. I want to thank you all again for all the encouragement and pointers. Please review this, too, and I will reply.