Chapter 19
His task finally completed, Lonny looked up and saw that what he had seen earlier was a group of people, much closer now, and that they were looking around, as if searching for something. His initial reaction would have been fear, but he could not chance another moment's delay: he had already been gone for a long time. If he quenched his thirst before heading back, he would not have to return right away, as he could afford to give the water in the newly filled canteen to the others. He quickly drank, using a dipper, straight from the bucket, then rose to leave. Suddenly, he realized that he must have caught the attention of one of the group that he had been watching. He ran, knowing that he was a bit closer to the cave than they were and that he could reach it in a roundabout way, if need be. He hoped that they were not the type to attack someone who was unarmed, but he knew that he had never seen their kind before. 'At least, I do not remember seeing anyone like that before,' he thought…
Leia knew that this had to be the right place. She could feel it. Even if he was not here at the moment, this was the place he had described to her. Right now, that was the main reason why they were even trying to locate her brother in such a forsaken environment. The key word here was trying. As of this moment, there had been no sign that anyone had ever even been to this place…
"Over here! Come look at this!"
The voice calling out tore her from her thoughts. She walked over, looking around carefully as she did so. When she reached the spot, one of the others pointed to a boot that looked as if it had been worn recently. She immediately recognized it as a bantha-hide boot, the type that Luke might have worn, shortly after they had met. After all, banthas were on his home planet, weren't they? If she remembered correctly, bantha-hide boots were popular, not because of fashion, but because they helped a person walk around in desert areas as easily as a bantha itself by keeping the temperature down low enough to be tolerated in the hotter areas, yet warm enough in colder climates that a person's feet would not freeze; at least, not right away…
The question remained, though: where was Luke?
A sudden movement caught her eye. Rocks and dirt rolling down a hill? Looking further, she spotted a lone figure, running, but he was not running toward them; he was running away from them...
Puzzled at the fact that someone was running away from the group, she decided that maybe someone should follow the figure and see if he knew what had happened here. 'Maybe it is Luke himself, but he does not recognize us from this distance?' she thought hopefully…
AN:
.-Bantha-hide boots were quite popular, as the creature (similar to a mammoth with extra fur and horns on the males, but living in a desert area, instead of during the ice age) was found on various planets throughout the galaxy and the bantha's home planet was unknown. As a result of the fact that the bantha's home planet is unknown and banthas are found on so many planets, I feel that it is very possible that they would be found on the moon that Lonny has grown up on. The site telling about them is listed below:
www.starwars. com/databank/creature/bantha?ideu