Hey guys! Well, I've been prompted to update, and I'm never one to say no to you lot, so here it is, a brand new chapter! :) I hope you enjoy it, and just to prove I read all your lovely reviews, the first line is dedicated to Keeper of Storms. Thanks for the suggestion. :)
This week's shout-outs go to the following (awesome) people: crossMIRAGE19, ArtistsChild93, SocietyMember, Soofi Mtz, Keeper of Storms, a Guest, random reader w/o a profile, Concrete 63, Booksnake3, sarahmichellegellarfan1, Shannyrox101, Time-Dog and Notquiteafangirl. Thank you to all of you for reviewing, it's the most reviews I've ever got for one chapter, and I really, really appreciate it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of its characters. Only Alice is mine.
"I love it when a plan comes together," Lando agreed, grinning, as they soared easily away from the smoking ruin of Jabba the Hutt's sail barge.
"I say," Threepio said indignantly from below them, reminding them all that he was currently hanging from a magnet beneath the belly of the ship, "get me down from here. Master Luke? Mistress Alice? Help!"
Alice grinned, made a move to go and lean over the rail again, and found herself face to face with Luke. "Oh. Um. Hello."
"Are you okay?" He asked, giving her a brief once-over.
"Fine, I think." She glanced down at herself and blushed as she realised that her slave girl outfit had taken a bit of a battering – the flimsy material had barely counted as clothing before the battle in the desert. At the moment, it was practically falling apart. "Well. I could probably use some more clothes…" A blush spread across his face, but he turned and rummaged on the floor of the skiff until he managed to salvage a thick black cloak. Alice eyed it gingerly, wanting to take it but relatively certain that it had come from a dead man's body.
Luke hurried to reassure her, "It's mine."
She smiled, and taking it from him, swung it over her shoulders. It was heavy and comforting and covered most of her exposed skin. "Thanks," she said.
Almost before the word was out of her mouth, Luke was pulling her into a tight hug, his face pressed into the crook of her neck, his arms wrapped firmly around her waist. Alice blinked, opened her mouth, and closed it again, deciding now was not the time to ask if they were still fighting or not. Instead she threw her arms around his neck and squeezed him back, letting out a shuddering sigh that wracked both of their bodies.
Eventually, Luke pulled back a little, though she was a little surprised – and a little delighted – when he continued to hold her, his hands now resting lightly against the small of her back. That, combined with the steady and serious way he was looking at her, brought a hot flush to her cheeks.
"I'm glad you're alright."
She smiled at him, "I'm always alright."
He hesitated, "Are...we alright?"
"Oh, god yes. Fighting sucks. And holding grudges is even suckier."
Luke laughed, obviously relieved, "You said it."
Alice nodded sagely at him, "Hear my words of wisdom." That reminded her very suddenly of their agreement to go to Dagobah together once they'd rescued Han. "Speaking of words of wisdom, I guess you and I'll be going soon, huh?"
"Going?" Han interrupted, before Luke could reply, "Going where?"
Luke glanced at him, "To the Dagobah system to see an old friend."
"And you're taking Ally with you?" Han raised his eyebrows, "Good luck."
"Shut it," she said, hitting him lightly in the stomach, "Luke and I have got some things to work out, that's all."
"I bet you do," Han replied, with a suggestive wink.
"Silence," Alice said, brandishing a finger at him, a slightly redundant gesture given that he was still mostly blind.
"You and I will take the transport we came in, Alice," Luke said, still grinning, "and the others can take the Falcon back to the fleet."
"Sounds good," said Alice. She smiled at Luke and Han, then meandered over to sit by Leia who was sitting a little way off, Lando's cloak draped somehow elegantly over her shoulders.
Alice slumped down beside her, and looked enviously at the princess's dark, gleaming hair and perfect complexion, "Leia, you make anything look like a ball-gown."
Leia stiffened, and pulled the cape more tightly around herself, "Thank you, Alice, but if you could not mention…" She trailed off, gazing at Han, who was caught up in an animated discussion with Luke, "I'm glad he can't see me."
"Oh," Alice said awkwardly as she understood what Leia was saying, "I see." She shuffled slightly in her seat, then leaned in next to Leia and said, gleefully, "Luke and I are totally not fighting anymore!"
Leia looked over at Luke and Han, who were clearly in the process of a manly catch-up session, and smiled, "Good. I'm glad."
Chewie growled from across the deck and wandered over to join them. Luke guided Han over to a seat next to Leia, who leaned her head on his shoulder, then sat down himself between Chewie and Alice. Glancing up at Lando, he called, "How long until we reach Mos Eisley?"
"Not long," Lando replied, expertly steering them between two sand dunes, "half an hour or so."
"Anyone up for a little game of My Grandmother's Cat?" Alice asked hopefully.
Han frowned, "What's-"
"No!" Leia said quickly, sitting up and giving Alice the evil eye.
"Alright, alright," she said, raising her hands in surrender, "I get it. Nobody likes my old car games. Fine. Whatever. …I Spy?"
Luke rolled his eyes, "Alice, we're flying over a desert. What is there to spy?"
"You'd be surprised…"
BREAK
"No, nope, you're all wrong!" Alice called gleefully, "Do you give up?"
"Yes!" Her friends chorused, in varying tones of irritation.
"It was cumulus cloud."
This was met with resounding groans. "Come on," Han said, "that's completely ridiculous! I can't even see!"
"Yes," said Alice patiently, "that is why you were not invited to join the game, squinty."
Luke shook his head sagely, "Alice, it really isn't fair to discriminate against Han that way. It's not his fault he's an invalid."
"Shut your mouth, kid, or you'll be an invalid by the time I'm finished with you," Han said, grumpily.
Alice grinned, "Now, now, old man."
"Look!" Leia said, before an argument could break out, in a tone of evident relief, "Mos Eisley. We're here." Lando guided them easily through the open gates of the city and flew them quickly to Bay Ninety Four where they'd left both the Falcon and the shuttle.
"And we were just getting to the really good ones," Alice said, disappointed. The others rolled their eyes and jumped one by one from the side of the ship to the floor.
Threepio and Artoo, at last released from the grip of the magnets joined them by the familiar shape of the Falcon. "It's good to be back, isn't it," Alice said, smiling up at the ship.
"Lovely," Leia said, practically sprinting aboard. Alice guessed what she was after: a shower and some actual clothes. Which, frankly, she wouldn't mind herself.
While Leia was in the Millennium Falcon's one shower, Alice busied herself picking clothes from the wardrobe Leia had somehow managed to secret on board. Away from the forests of Yavin and the icy temperatures of Hoth, Alice went for simpler attire: plain black trousers, black boots and the closest approximation she could find of a white t-shirt, with a lightweight jacket over the top, courtesy of Han. When she had showered (one word for you: bliss), she pulled on the trousers and shirt, slipped on her belt and boots and headed off to find out was going on with the rest of the team.
They were gathered in the cabin, all looking a lot cleaner than they had previously – Han's hair was back to its usual perfectly styled flounciness, and Luke was wearing a black tunic unstained by dust and sweat.
"Well, don't we all look lovely," Alice said, collapsing into a chair. Leia, it seemed, had decided she wouldn't be doing any adventuring for a while, and was wearing a pretty tunic over her leggings, covered in delicate embroidery. In keeping with Han, her hair too was picture-perfect once again. "Off to a cocktail party, Leia?"
"Hardly," her friend answered with a sniff, "Han, Lando, Chewie and I will be re-joining the Rebel Fleet. I don't see any harm in looking respectable for our arrival."
"Don't forget Threepio and Artoo," Alice said, wagging a finger, "someone should give them a polish."
"Actually," said Luke, leaning forwards in his chair, "Artoo will be coming with us, Alice."
"Oh. Cool."
"Yes, where exactly are you going, Luke?" Leia said, sounding slightly grumpy that General Skywalker was taking off yet again on a little soul-searching mission.
He exchanged a glance with Alice. Well, don't look at me, I don't know what's going on.
Luke seemed to sense her lack of helpfulness and said, "Alice and I are going to see my old master, Yoda, in the Dagobah system. I made a promise to him the last time I saw him that I would return and complete my Jedi training. I will keep that promise."
"Hang on – we're going to see Yoda?" Alice burst out, ridiculously over-excited, "That's cool!"
Han frowned, "…And why are you taking Alice, again?" It seemed that his sight had nearly completely returned by this point, and he frowned in confusion at the two of them, "What has she got to gain from this?"
Alice glanced at Luke. He shrugged at her unhelpfully. She stuck her tongue out at him and turned back to the others, trying to think of the words to explain. "Luke's taking me to see Yoda because I'm…weird."
"Like we didn't know that already," Han said, grinning.
"Rude," she said, "I've got some weird Force business going on, right Luke?"
His mouth twitched and she got the feeling he was trying not to laugh, "More or less. Recently, Alice has been displaying some of the traits Yoda taught me a Force sensitive might exhibit. If she is Force sensitive, she'll be easier to find by those who are strong in the ways of the Force, like me and Vader." The others shifted twitchily in their seats – it was a bit like Luke had just shouted 'Voldemort' in a Harry Potter movie. "I need to go to Dagobah anyway, so I thought I might as well take her with me."
For some reason, everyone turned their heads towards Leia at this point. Alice wasn't sure why; maybe it was because of her rank as a princess and military leader, maybe they just equated her and Luke as being equal in authority within their group. Maybe, Alice thought to herself, we can all just tell, without being told, that Luke and Leia are connected. Brother and sister. Whatever the reason, they looked at her.
"Very well," Leia said, rising to match Luke, staring him down across the room, "but come back as soon as possible, and come back safe. We need you."
This rather poignant statement seemed to require, nay, demand a group hug, which Alice gladly joined, despite the fact that she got the sense that the 'we need you' was directed at Luke more than herself.
When they all shook off their overwhelming feelings, Luke said, briskly, "We should leave straight away. News of Jabba's death will spread quickly, and we don't want to get caught off guard by the Empire."
Leia said, "You're right. You're taking the transport?"
Luke nodded.
"Then we'll see you soon. Fly safely."
Luke and Han did a manly hug, and Lando clapped Luke on the shoulder – strange things, manly claps on the shoulder. It seemed the harder you hit the person, the more affection you showed. Where is the logic?
"Artoo?" Luke said, when he had hugged Leia.
The little droid beeped and spun his dome to face Threepio.
"Take care, my little friend," the protocol droid said, patting Artoo on the head. Artoo whistled an affirmative and rolled over to join Alice and Luke.
"Hey, Alice," Han said, raising an eyebrow in that charming way of his, "good luck with the whole Force thing."
"You too," Alice said automatically. What?
He grinned, "Thanks."
Alice turned to Luke, shrugging her shoulders at her own ineptitude, "Let's go."
"Right behind you," he said with a smile.
The journey to Dagobah was long, boring and peaceful. Alice and Luke lounged in their co-captains' seats and chatted about inconsequential things like the bit of the galaxy they were going to, and the names of the notable stars and planets there. It was nice, just talking again, without any of the awkwardness that had been hanging around them for the last couple of weeks. Alice dredged up a couple of facts from physics lessons about the nature of the universe and stuff in it, which Luke listened to, nodded, then gently corrected.
"I can tell you one thing, though," Alice said, desperately, her store of interesting facts about space starting to run low, "a comet's orbit is elliptical. That's right, isn't it? Please say that's right. Give me some faith in my ability to remember science stuff."
"Well, yes…but-"
Alice groaned, and let her head fall forward on the control board, "I should have seen this coming. My physics teacher put a note at the bottom of my final report saying, 'I'll miss Alice's somewhat eccentric classroom personality and her interesting take on physics'."
Luke chuckled, "You have an interesting take on most things, Alice."
"Yeah, well," she said, sitting up again, "it's all part of my unique charm."
A thought suddenly occurred to her, and she sat bolt upright in her chair. Hey, maybe Yoda will be able to tell me why I got put here in the first place, and if I'll ever go back home. He'll totally know about all this cosmic Force stuff, and if I ask him, he probably won't tell Luke about it…
She hadn't thought about going home in so long…what if Yoda somehow knew how she could go back? …Did she want to go back? I mean, of course I want to go back, but like…back back? Forever back? Never see Luke again back?
"Alice?"
Blinking, she gave him a sheepish grin, "Sorry. Lost in thought."
A loud beeping from the control panel caught his attention and stopped any further conversation, "We're coming up on Dagobah."
"Oh, good!" Alice said, peering curiously out of the window as Luke brought them in to land. She wrinkled her nose slightly at what she saw. "Oh."
"Picturesque, don't you think?" Luke said, with a grin.
Alice lifted an eyebrow. She wouldn't have exactly described the soupy, swampy, mossy, overgrown mess of a forest before them as picturesque, but then, she didn't think she could really use the word she wanted to in front of Luke anyway, so she nodded, "Lovely."
He laughed at the expression on her face, "Come on. Let's go and meet Master Yoda."
"I can't wait," Alice said, though to be honest, she was a bit nervous about meeting the famous Master Yoda, and what he might say to her, especially vis a vis the whole going home issue…
She followed Luke out of the ship and into the surprisingly hot, muggy air outside. "Yuck. It's like a sauna. I never did like the idea of saunas. How is sitting in your own sweat supposed to be enjoyable?"
"Alice?"
She caught the look of confusion and waved a hand, "Ignore me. I'm coming."
She set off after him, picking her way carefully over treacherous tree-roots and patches of boggy muck.
Luke had paused on a relatively dry piece of earth, and pointed ahead to a small, flimsy-looking hovel type thing, from which a small, flickering light was emanating. "That's his house."
"Right. It's nice."
"Luke Skywalker. Returned at last you have – and brought a visitor I see."
No way. He actually talks like that? Lord…
A tiny creature, no higher than Alice's knee was limping towards them over the rough ground, using a knobbly stick for support. He had wrinkly green skin, huge bat-like ears and large green eyes.
I, uh, I just. Huh.
"Master Yoda," Luke said, bowing respectfully. Uncertainly, Alice followed suit.
"Come, come," he chided, "introduce your friend you must. Keep her waiting, you should not."
Alice raised her eyebrows, "Well, there we are then. You heard him."
Luke grinned, "Master, this is Lieutenant Alice Miller of the Rebel Alliance. Alice, this is my master, Yoda."
"I'm honoured," she said.
"Hmm," Yoda said, frowning, "come closer, child, come closer." Feeling that a woman of twenty could hardly be called a child, but unwilling to argue the point, Alice obligingly took a few steps closer. Yoda peered up into her face, his green eyes surprisingly penetrating as he studied her.
"A mystery you have brought me, young Skywalker," he said, after a moment, "one you hope that I will solve, I sense."
"Yes," Luke said, bowing again, "if you would, Master."
"Hmm…yes. Come inside, come inside. If solved in darkness, understand little of this mystery you will."
Alice straightened up and raised her eyebrows slightly as she watched Yoda hobble back towards his little house, "Well. He can certainly turn a phrase."
"Wait till he gets going," Luke said, fondly.
Thanks for reading and please review!
