Hello, dear readers! I hope you're enjoying what Alice is getting up to - she's a silly one, it has to be said.
As always, I have some shout-outs this week: thanks very much to Sev and Once A Blue Moon for reviewing, and to everyone that followed/favourited - it makes me very happy that so many people like this story! :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars, or any of its characters. Only Alice is mine.
Leaving a grimly silent Han Solo behind her, Alice stalked out of the briefing room and into the corridor. She had no idea where she was going, so she just followed the crowd of orange-suited pilots, who were presumably all heading to the main hangar. The huge room was a bustle of activity, men walking back and forth, carrying large crates and assembling guns and so on all around her.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Han saunter into the hangar, but she ignored him. There was a whistle behind her, and she turned to see Artoo trundling towards her as fast as his treads would take him. "Hey, buddy," she said, patting him listlessly on the dome, "pretty intense, huh?" He bleeped softly, and she nodded, "Yeah, me too. Uh oh…"
A familiar blonde-haired figure had approached Han and Chewie. Alice chewed on a fingernail as she watched Han and Luke talk. At least it did appear to be a talk, not a shouting match. Well, that's something. Eventually, Luke turned away and started to walk towards where Alice stood. He had his head lowered, but she called his name, and he looked up.
"Hey."
"So, you talked to Han," she said, shifting awkwardly where she stood.
"Yeah," he agreed, dismally, "I just…I really thought that he'd change his mind."
She winced, "I know. But, well, I expect he knows what he's doing. I'm sure everything will work out fine."
He nodded, "I just wish Ben were here."
"Me too."
An awkward silence fell and stretched uncomfortably. Alice wanted desperately to break it, Luke looked so miserable, but couldn't think of anything to say. Then, inspiration struck. Unfortunately, it struck at the same time that Luke made a move to leave, so Alice's idea to kiss him on the cheek went painfully awry as he started to move. Already halfway through the motion of stepping towards him, and with him about to step past her, panic set in.
And so, in one of those magical moments of bad timing, Alice simply grabbed him by the collar, dragged him towards her and kissed him full on the mouth.
Luke was quite clearly so shocked by this that he couldn't move, and Alice, equally surprised by the turn events had taken, couldn't either. So they just stood there, his face bent to hers, lips pressed unmoving together.
The sound of a loud, slightly awkward throat clearing to Alice's left (Luke's right), finally managed to unfreeze the pair of them enough for them to separate. Leia stood there, eyebrows raised so high they were practically disappearing into her hairline.
Alice started to babble at once, desperately trying to avoid Luke's bemused gaze, "Gosh. Wow, I didn't mean…I'm sorry…Um, yes. So, good luck, Luke. May the Force be with you, and…yup. Have fun. Bye!" She started to speed walk away, paused, and called over her shoulder what she had actually wanted to say to him before the whole accidental kissing fandango. "Come back safely!" Then she ran away. Nicely handled, Alice. Good one.
Feeling as though everyone in the entire hangar was looking at her, Alice speed-walked towards the nearest exit she could see. No idea where I'm going... She'd been walking for about ten minutes when she finally decided it was safe to stop. Glancing back over her shoulder to make sure no one would come racing down the corridor and squash her, she sat down with her back to the wall, heaving a huge sigh as she did so.
The embarrassment from…the earlier incident…had faded a little, leaving Alice with only nervy anxiety. I hope he comes back. Please don't let our last encounter be a startlingly bad kiss, which neither of us intended to happen. He's quite nice really, despite his rather unfortunate attraction to his twin sister…I don't want him to die. Of course, he'll probably be fine. He's the big hero, remember!
She shifted restlessly. I wonder how close the Death Star is now. Scrap that, I wonder what it'll feel like if they fail and this whole planet is blown to smithereens. That's what I'm really interested in.
She wrapped her arms around her legs and thought about home. Had she fallen into some weird coma? Was her mother worried about her? Or perhaps she had actually physically moved, and it was like she'd just disappeared.
If Ben were here he'd say something sensible about there being a reason for me being here, and something perhaps a little less sensible but awfully comforting about it being the will of the Force. Is it weird that I miss him? And his scrubby little beard of wisdom.
"The Force is always with you."
Alice blinked and sat up – that had to have been her imagination. She didn't just hear Ben speak to her. What did he think she was, psychic? Doubtful, she listened carefully, but there was nothing.
"Alice Miller?"
She looked up.
There was a man standing over her. She supposed he must be a rebel, but he wasn't dressed like any of the rebel soldiers she'd seen so far: instead of a uniform he was wearing a set of dark robes, dirty, torn and dust-stained, but still rather beautiful in spite of that.
He had close-cropped hair and a mild, serene expression – and he was blind. His head was cocked to one side, and his gaze was fixed somewhere to the left of her head, and yet he had found her, called her by name. Maybe it was the fact that he seemed so calm and purposeful in the face of imminent death, or even just that she wasn't alone anymore, but Alice suddenly felt better.
"Yes, that's me."
"Princess Leia sent me to bring you to the control room."
"Control room?" Alice said, tentative, "That sounds serious. I'm not very good at serious."
The man's head turned a little, his milky blue eyes seeming to meet hers, and he gave her a small smile, "Better than being on your own."
Right, when we all get blown up.
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
He leaned forward, offering a hand to her. A little embarrassed but grateful all the same, Alice took it. The man's hand was cool and soothing like the clear water of a river on a hot day, and when he pulled her to her feet, she found that she felt a little less scared.
"Follow me."
They set off, Alice scampering a little to keep up with her companion's longer strides.
"Excuse me, but what's your name?"
"Chirrut Imwe."
"It's nice to meet you."
"Likewise," he replied, his mouth curling with a hint of dry humour that she didn't quite understand, "I don't get to meet many new people these days."
They turned a corner, and a door appeared on the left, from which emerged a crackle of static, faint voices and a dim green glow. Chirrut stopped walking, and Alice paused too, glancing up at him. He nodded towards the doorway, "In there."
"Thank you," she said, a little puzzled. She'd thought he'd come in with her.
"Well, Alice Miller," he said, giving her another, slightly wry smile, "I hope to see you again. And that friend of yours, the one from Tatooine. Skywalker, yes?"
Alice, a little confused, nodded, before realising her mistake and saying, "Uh, yeah. Luke."
"Luke," Chirrut repeated, with a pleased little smile, "Luke Skywalker. Good name."
Alice laughed, "I suppose it is, yeah."
Chirrut winked at her and gestured at the door again. Still extremely puzzled, but feeling much better, she went in. When she glanced over her shoulder, the man had disappeared.
Inside, it took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dim lighting, but as soon as they had, she realised just how many people were crammed into the small room. Despite that though, it was incredibly quiet, the crush of bodies dampening even the hum of the computers. Everyone, even the rebels sat behind screens, was listening intently to the only real sound in the room: a relay of the communications taking place between the pilots attacking the Death Star.
Luke's up there…
Whispering apologies, Alice squeezed her way towards the centre of the control room, where Leia, Threepio and a few other men and women, presumably high-ranking officers stood around a circular table, listening intently to the radio communication between the ships.
"Sorry for disappearing. How's it going?" Alice asked softly, touching Leia gently on the arm as she reached her.
Leia didn't speak – just pressed her lips together – but that told Alice all she needed to know. She glanced down at the table top in front of them and saw that it was actually monitoring the position of the Death Star. As far as Alice could tell, it was almost in range.
There was a crackle of static and one pilot's voice rose above all the others, "Watch your back, Luke, watch your back!"
Alice and Leia glanced at each other, and Alice saw the princess's grip on the table tighten.
A moment later, Luke's voice came over the speakers, "I'm hit, but not bad, Artoo, see what you can do with it. Hang on back there, buddy!"
"Red Six, can you see Red Five?"
"-there's a heavy fire zone-"
"-Red Five, where are you?"
Luke again, sharper this time: "I can't shake him!"
Another voice, another pilot Alice didn't know, called, "I'm on him, Luke, hold on."
An ominous pause, then suddenly Luke spoke again, sounding a little bit like he'd been holding his breath, "Thanks, Wedge."
Wedge? Despite the seriousness of the situation, Alice couldn't help scoffing a little bit, That's like calling a kid 'Triangle'.
"Red Leader, this is Gold Leader, we're starting our attack run."
Alice glanced down at the map on the table; the red cone indicating the Death Star's firing range was uncomfortably close to encompassing Yavin 4. At that moment a robotic voice announced calmly, "Death Star will be in range in five minutes."
A ripple passed through the room; technicians glanced at each other, then resumed their work at an almost frantic pace.
The pilots weren't doing well, and the seconds ticked away as two attack runs were made and failed to destroy the Death Star. Alice flinched as one by one, the Rebel pilots dropped off the radar, until there were only three ships left, one of which was Luke's. The Death Star was about two minutes away from destroying them, and Alice was pretty much certain it was over at this point. She felt shaky, and she kept being hit by jolts of adrenaline every time one of the pilots' voices echoed over the loudspeakers. She glanced at Leia, but if the princess was anywhere near as scared as Alice was, she definitely wasn't showing it.
The final run began, with Luke leading the attack.
Last chance, everyone.
"Alright," Luke said, sounding determined, "we're going in full throttle, that ought to keep those fighters off our back."
"Right with you, boss."
"Luke, at that speed, will you be able to pull out in time?"
Alice wished she could be as confident as Luke sounded when he replied, "It'll be just like Beggar's Canyon back home."
"We'll stay back far enough to cover you."
"My scope shows the tower, but I can't see the exhaust port. Are you sure the computer can hit it?"
If it can't, we probably should have evacuated a bit sooner.
"Luke, fighters are coming in, at point three."
At around this point, Alice suddenly found that she was gripping Leia's hand hard.
"Hurry, Luke, they're coming in much faster this time, we can't hold them. Quick- quick!"
"Death Star will be in range in thirty seconds."
"Come on, Luke," Leia breathed. Alice glanced at her and the princess gave her a quizzical look in response; it was like she wasn't even aware she'd spoken aloud.
"He's almost at the target," one of the officers across the table said, his voice sounding as tense as Alice felt.
"…His computer's off."
The entire room fell silent. Alice turned around to spot an alien technician who had risen out of their chair, their expression distraught and one four-fingered hand pressed to their headset, "Red Five, you switched off your targeting computer, what's wrong?"
"Nothing," Luke said, sounding determined, "I'm alright. Just trust me."
Oh my god…
She glanced down, and almost laughed when she saw that she'd crossed the fingers of her free hand without thinking about it. Like that's gonna help. She thought for a second, then crossed her toes as well.
"Ah, I've lost Artoo!"
The robotic voice monitoring the progress of the Death Star spoke once more, "The Death Star has cleared the planet."
Leia's grip on Alice's hand was so tight by this point that it was going numb. She stared into the princess's brown eyes, half-hysterical at the thought that this was how her life was going to end, in the company of people she'd known for a couple of days at most.
"Yahoo!"
Alice couldn't quite believe her ears. The gleeful shout was so out of place in the terrified silence of the control room that it almost seemed like she must have imagined it. The only thing more shocking were the words which followed it: "You're all clear, kid, now let's blow this thing and go home!"
"You've got to be joking."
Leia was shaking her head slowly in a way that suggested she would quite like to be annoyed but couldn't quite manage it, "Han Solo."
A blinking light caught Alice's attention; on the table in front of them, the image of the Death Star flickered, then went out. There was a beat of silence in the room. Then suddenly, someone yelled, "They did it!"
The scream of delight that Leia let out made Alice jump, and she barely had time to recover herself before suddenly the princess had thrown her arms around her, and the two of them were jumping up and down, and there were suddenly crowds of technicians all around them, all equally giddy to have escaped death.
"Come on, come on," Leia said, when she finally let Alice go, bouncing up and down on the tips of her toes in her excitement, "let's go and meet them."
Hand in hand, they sprinted through the base back to the hangar, arriving just in time to see Luke's ship coming into land, closely followed by the Millennium Falcon.
A swarm of technicians and engineers were already heading straight for Luke's fighter, and so Leia and Alice ducked sneakily under the belly of the ship and managed to catch the man himself as he was climbing down the ladder, throwing themselves on him simultaneously.
"Luke!"
He grinned at them, looking like a delighted puppy who was so overwhelmed with excitement he didn't know which way to turn. Laughing, Alice kissed his left cheek (no mishaps this time) and Leia kissed his right, and then they hugged and jumped up and down, nearly falling over at one point before managing to right themselves.
"Hey!"
Alice spun, and let out a delighted yelp – Han was making his way through the crowd with Chewie in tow, grinning madly. She broke away from Luke's embrace and ran to meet him, cannon-balling into him at full speed. He staggered, but managed to catch her, and spun her around a few times before setting her back on the ground, both of them laughing like loons. "Bet that took you by surprise, eh, sweetheart?"
"You're wonderful," Alice declared, feeling ever so slightly delirious as she pressed an enthusiastic kiss to his forehead, "absolutely wonderful."
"Alright, alright," he said with a laugh, squirming away from her like a child, "I know I'm irresistible kid, but keep a lid on it, would ya?"
Luke popped up out of nowhere and pulled his friend into a rough embrace, "I knew it, I knew you'd come back!"
"Well, I couldn't let you get all the credit, not to mention the reward," Han said, pushing the boy away playfully, still grinning from ear to ear.
"Oh, please," Alice said, throwing one arm around Han's waist and one around Luke's, who hugged Leia in turn.
The princess laughed, her eyes shining, "We all knew there was more to you than money, flyboy."
Han laughed loudly, and the four of them hugged each other tight. Chewie, not to be left out, rested a large paw gently on Alice and Luke's heads, as if to say he was glad to see them again.
Then, over the noise of everyone cheering and laughing, Alice heard a slight groaning sound, and looked up. What she saw killed her smile instantly.
She pushed her way free of their group hug and ran forward as the smoking remains of Artoo were lowered to the ground. Threepio was already beside his friend, looking as upset as it was possible for a droid with a fixed facial expression to look.
"Oh, Artoo," she said, brushing the scorched and fragmented metal gently.
"It's okay," Luke said, resting a hand on her shoulder, "we can repair him, can't we?"
To her delight, it was Engineer Bob from earlier who answered, popping up seemingly out of nowhere to inspect the little astro droid, "Of course we can, sir. He'll be back to normal in no time."
"You're sure?" Alice asked, eyeing Artoo uncertainly.
"If any of my circuits or components would be of any help, I'd happily donate them," Threepio said, just as anxious as Alice for their friend.
"We'll get to work right away," Bob said.
"There, see? He'll be fine," Luke said softly to Alice, smiling the same sweet, friendly grin he'd first given her back on Tatooine. Only three or four days ago, but it felt like such a long time.
"Thank you," she said, realising how much she meant it. "Thank you, so much." She hugged him again, hard. Luke's so nice. And sweet. Even his haircut isn't that bad once you get used to it…
And as soon as she thought that, it got awkward. With a cough, she broke the hug. "Phew," she said, grinning, "well done, you…pilot, you." In an attempt to seem encouraging and morale boosting, she punched him on the shoulder. In an attempt to apparently injure the boy who had just saved their lives, she punched him a little harder than necessary.
"Ow!"
"Oh god!" Caught between horror and amusement, Alice started to giggle, trying to stifle the noise by pressing her hands to her mouth, and managing to snort horrifically instead, "Oh, I'm so sorry, I was…I was trying to…my bad."
Luke grinned, massaging his now injured arm, "You're stronger than you look."
"Uh, I promise, I'll stay away from…arms in future…"
"Hey! You two! Come on, we're getting out of here!" Han raised his eyebrows at Alice behind Luke's back, wearing an insufferably cocky grin. She raised her eyebrows right back, because after all, he was still hugging Leia. Han winked, and the two of them disappeared around the back of the fighter, Chewie following close behind.
"Great," she said, as she watched the crowd of men and women trail after Han and Leia, "now that he's saved an entire planet, he'll be even more unbearable."
"I think you'll find, sweetheart, that I'm the one who saved the planet," Luke said, in a surprisingly good impression of Han.
Alice let out a startled laugh, then wailed in mock despair, "Noo, now there's two of you!"
Luke grinned, "Don't worry, I won't let my incredible heroism go to my head."
"Stop," she said, rolling her eyes, "come on, if there's gonna be a party, I don't want to miss it. I hope there's food, cause I'm absolutely starving."
He relented and offered her the arm she had punched.
Alice paused, "You sure about that? I did just wound you."
"Don't worry. I trust you."
He trusts me. Winning.
The very next morning, Han and Luke were given medals. Alice was given a dress and got to stand with Threepio and the repaired Artoo while they were publicly awarded their medals by the princess. She felt quite proud as the two men stepped up to have the medals put around their necks by Leia, even more so when the assembled soldiers started to clap and cheer.
But the day after that, it was straight back to business. The rebels were evacuating and spreading out to various different bases throughout the galaxy – Alice and friends were heading for Hoth, an 'ice planet' (direct quote from Leia).
Alice frowned, "When you say ice planet…just how cold is it going to be?"
Leia didn't smile (she hardly ever did when she was in princess mode), but Alice sensed that she understood and shared her hatred of cold places. "It will be much colder than our current-"
"It'll be an ice-cube," Han interrupted, "let's not twist facts here, princess." He pointed at Alice, who had ditched the dress offered her by Leia in favour of her original tan flight suit, "You're gonna need to dress up warmer than that, kid."
"Alright, mum," she said, raising her eyebrows, "calm down. I notice you're not telling Leia she needs to dress more appropriately."
He raised his eyebrows at her, "I wouldn't dare tell Her Highness-ness over here that she should do anything."
Leia glared at him, and Alice had to stifle a snort. It was obvious that Han was deliberately trying to wind the princess up; this was about the fifteenth time today he'd made a "witty" comment. She took this to mean that Han was succumbing to his thus-far unspoken attraction to Leia.
"Yes, thank you, Captain Solo," Leia said, in a tone that Alice could only describe as 'frosty'. Frosty! Ahh, I'm so hilarious. She wanted to laugh, but given no one else had heard her fabulous joke, it would probably just earn her more odd looks.
With this in mind, she tried to keep her face as stoical as possible. Please, I don't have to try. I'm amazing at this. In fact, I'm so stoical, I'm practically freaking Seneca.
The princess turned to Alice and said, "I would be perfectly happy to lend you garments from my own wardrobe – I'm prepared for all climates."
Her utter seriousness intensified Alice's need to laugh. Be strong, Alice!
She took a deep breath and sounding slightly more nasal than usual, said, "I am glad to hear it, princess."
"Watch out, kid," Han muttered, "you're going to end up looking like a wampa." It was too much. The giggles overpowered her, and funnelling the laughter away from a huge explosive bray, she snorted stupidly instead, "A wampa? What the hell is a wampa?"
"Um…kid, you okay?"
"Fine," Alice wheezed, rubbing her poor nose which hurt from snorting so loudly, "absolutely fine." She waved a hand at Leia, "Go ahead."
"Yes…" Leia said, looking confused, "Alice, you and I will go directly to Hoth to manage the set-up of the new base. Luke, you will be part of a detachment of fighter pilots who will accompany the larger ships to Hoth, and Han, we need the Falcon to transport weapons and troops."
The smuggler narrowed his eyes, "Fine. But you just tell your toy soldiers to be careful when they're loading the old girl. She needs some serious repair work."
"I'm sure you can repair her once we reach Hoth," Leia said briskly, "now, if you will come with me, Alice, we'll depart." She nodded to the two men, "Good luck. Hopefully, we will meet again soon."
Swallowing the last of her giggles, Alice waved at them cheerfully, "Well, bye then, guys. Catch ya later!"
"Take care of yourself, kid," Han replied.
Luke raised a hand, "Don't have too much fun without us!"
"I'll...try? Don't get killed, kay?"
"We'll try," Luke called, grinning.
With one last, wistful glance at the two, she left with Leia. As they walked – or rather, as Leia walked and Alice jogged to keep up – she realised that she knew almost nothing about the princess, apart from that she was a princess.
"So…"
"Yes?"
Oh, gosh, she's in full management mode. Perhaps I'll save question time until she's feeling a bit more…relaxed…
"Oh, nothing."
Leia glanced at her but kept walking. "Where are you from, Alice?"
She blinked, startled, and hoped very hard that Leia was as vague on the exact name and number of planets in the galaxy as Luke was, "Surrey? It's in the…Outer Rim. Very far out. It's a bit dull, honestly, we don't get many outsiders coming in."
The princess frowned, as if trying to remember if she'd ever heard of such a place. It seemed she hadn't. "I see."
"Yeah…good old Surrey."
"And how did you end up on Tatooine?"
Alice swallowed, "Oh, Luke didn't tell you?"
"No, I don't recall that he did."
"Um, to be honest, it's a bit of a mystery. I must have hit my head at some point because all I remember is being at home one minute and then in Tatooine the next. Luke found me in the middle of the desert."
"Ah," Leia said, a look coming across her face that seemed to suggest that her suspicions had been confirmed, "no wonder he's fond of you."
Alice flushed, "Oh? Is he? I had no idea, that's…hmm, well, that's just…" Unable to finish her sentence because she was too busy trying not to beam, she gave up the effort.
Leia smiled, but didn't comment.
They reached the hangar, and one of the commanders, a general, approached them. Instantly, Leia's smile dropped, and she was a princess once more. "Is my ship ready for departure, General?"
"Yes, Your Highness. A convoy of five fighters is waiting to accompany you-"
"Save the fighters for the ships carrying the majority of the troops and the heavy artillery," Leia said, interrupting him with a wave of her fingers, "I need only two to protect me – any more will only attract attention."
Alice glanced over her shoulder briefly and had to repress a slightly wistful sigh at the sight of the Millennium Falcon sitting across the room.
"Your Highness, I do not think two will be sufficient protection."
"Of course they will," Leia disagreed, walking smartly up the boarding ramp with Alice and the soldier in tow, "unless my pilot is planning on taking me on a scenic tour of the galaxy, we should arrive on Hoth within fifteen parsecs."
"Very well. Have a safe journey, Princess. Miss Miller." With a salute, he left the ship, and called for the hangar doors to be opened. As the ramp began to lift up into the side of the ship in preparation for flight, Alice just caught a glimpse of Han, Luke and Chewbacca on the opposite side of the hangar. Then the door locked with a hiss, and she took a seat in the extremely comfortable cabin, preparing to wait out however long fifteen parsecs was.
Roughly three parsecs later, and Alice and Leia had struck up an interesting conversation about their childhoods. Well, more precisely, Alice talked about her childhood, while Leia recollected events from earlier in her life, which wasn't exactly the same as being a child.
"Genuinely, I am in awe of you," Alice said, shaking her head slightly, "I just can't believe that you've done so much. You've been alive for the same amount of time as I have, and you're leading an entire freaking rebellion! The most impressive thing I've ever led was the school gym team. And I actually didn't even lead that."
"Gym?"
"Gymnastics," Alice explained, "it's a sport…you didn't have gymnastics on Alderaan?"
"No, I don't believe so. We didn't have 'sports' so much as a fitness regime that was mandatory for both children and adults."
"Oh…well, I really liked gymnastics. It was the only extra-curricular activity I kept up at school." She paused, and reflected, "I think that everyone was pretty surprised that I was actually good at it. Actually, so was I."
"And what exactly did you do for these…gymnastics?" Leia asked curiously.
"Well, it's...there are a number of different events, but the one I specialised in was floor, where basically, you come up with a routine of dance movements, jumps and flips set to music, and perform it to a panel of judges."
Leia said, "It sounds lovely," but Alice got the impression that Princess Leia didn't see the point in any kind of activity that wouldn't better the lives of the citizens of the galaxy. Which, given that she lived in a galaxy-wide dictatorship, was fair enough.
"Your Majesty?" An impeccably dressed soldier entered the cabin and saluted smartly, "We are coming up on Hoth. The captain suggests the two of you change into attire more suitable for the planet's climate."
"Thank you," Leia said, inclining her head graciously. He saluted again and left.
"So now we get to pick out some awesome new clothes, right?" Alice asked, grinning. Leia nodded. "Sweet…"
Alice grinned to herself as she examined Leia's truly extraordinary wardrobe. She had everything from dresses to robes to cardigans to shawls; trousers and blouses, long sleeved shirts and short sleeved shirts, coats and jackets and boots of varying lengths. "I wish I was a princess," she said, as she gazed longingly at a beautiful peacock blue gown made of a shimmery, silky material.
Leia, holding up a pair of plain white trousers, gave a sarcastic laugh. Alice glanced at her as she replaced the dress and took a pair of thick white leggings that were more or less trousers in their own right, "Don't you like being a princess?"
"No, I do. My position allows me so much influence in the political affairs of the galaxy, much more than most people…it's just that, being a princess isn't like what everyone expects it to be like."
"How do you mean?" Alice asked, unbuttoning her jumpsuit and pulling on the leggings instead. They clung to her skin and seemed to generate their own heat, so that in under two minutes, she was boiling. Wonder what this stuff's made of…
"Well, I never really saw my parents when I was growing up. They were always away on some tour of a far-off country, and I had to stay at home to complete my studies. I went to school with other children, but I never really had that many friends."
Alice paused in the act of pulling on a long-sleeved white shirt to match her leggings, and winced, "That must have sucked."
"At the time I was so caught up in my father's vision of restoring the Republic that I hardly noticed. It's only now my planet is gone that I realise how much I missed out on as a child."
"Hey, don't worry about it," Alice said, "I had an imaginary friend until I was eight, and up until he disappeared, I didn't really chat with many kids my age either. My mum was probably on the verge of giving me up for psychiatric care when Mr Bulgy and I had a fight. He stopped turning up after that."
"Mr Bulgy?" Leia repeated, raising her eyebrows.
Alice stared seriously back, "Hey. Don't judge Mr Bulgy."
"Sure…are you ready?"
"Yup, think so." As well as the trousers and shirt, she'd picked up a thin knitted jumper and over that a beautiful fawn-coloured coat lined with a fluffy material that resembled wool. It had no hood, but she thought that with the furry collar turned up and wearing a close knitted hat she'd found, she'd probably be adequately shielded from the cold. She had changed the boots from her jumpsuit for some fur-lined ones which she wore over some thick socks. All in all, it was a pretty fabulous ensemble if she did say so herself.
"Your Majesty, we have just landed."
"Perfect." Leia raised her eyebrows at Alice, "Shall we?"
"Let's."
Thanks for reading and please review!
Note: Listen, I know Chirrut wasn't technically a Jedi and so probably doesn't have the training to conjure a Force ghost, but hey, whatever, ya know?
