People greeted her. They always did, but it sounded different this morning. Usually it was a mutter. Two, required words: Your Highness. One might not note a fresh breeze that moved the hair but a Princess crossing one's path dictated an oral observation.

Leia was used to it. Luke called her Leia, but he was the only one. He was also late to catch on to using honorifics in the military, and humorously, because of his hero status, they let it slide. Somehow his Tatooine upbringing didn't include the use of many titles. Respect came from one's success against the desert. Tatooine created the rugged individual.

He'd said something to her after they escaped the Death Star. They were cleaned up and the many empty hours of hyperspace flight loomed like a frightening monster. It was interesting to her now, now that she could look back- like scaling a mountain; one didn't look down until they reached a safe vantage point- but the way their grief hit them was reflective of their homeworlds. She, on a grand scale, had lost her past and future in the destruction of Alderaan. Luke felt the same through the individuals he lost. Together, they met Time head on. They fixated on the near future, Yavin, and tried to build some semblance of a history by becoming friends.

From her safe vantage point, Leia saw how difficult and treacherous her path to now had been. She could look ahead, too, and see that it was still a tough climb. It was still possible to lose one's footing, but if she checked equipment, moved to toe and finger holds with great forethought, it was doable. And she saw too how important the journey to Yavin had been. Something else had needed their attention and care. Like a storm brewing on the mountain top, the Millennium Falcon was the shelter in which one was forced to wait the weather out, but if it wasn't set up correctly-

She tired of her analogy. That was saying something without having to say it. The truth was the ship's captain, who had been running around the Death Star with Luke and Leia but without the baggage, had put them to work, and quite likely the time spent in focus of something other than themselves had saved their sanity. It was then she had learned Han's name and the story of just how Luke had found her.

Building blocks, she thought now.

"I accidentally discovered your message to Ben," Luke had told her. "Just a piece of it. I think I would have found Ben no matter what, since R2D2 always meant to find him, and we still would have hired Han and gotten nabbed by the Death Star, but I'm not sure I'd have felt the same about you."

Leia had said nothing, but wondered at his curious turn of phrase. He didn't know it yet, but he was formulating his theory of destiny. If Luke only saw the full message in General Kenobi's presence, he might have shrugged it off as a mission statement. Go to Alderaan, deliver the plans, save the Rebellion.

"I asked the droids who you were," Luke had told her. "Threepio only said you were a person of importance. Isn't that weird?"

Instead, he'd seen a young woman at her most vulnerable. Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope. And that's who Luke wanted to rescue.

"So am I supposed to call you 'Your Highness'?" Luke had asked on the Falcon, and sounded a bit sullen about it.

"No," she had answered.

"What about Han," Luke had wanted to know, because Han had already called her 'Your Highnessness' and 'My Idol' and 'Your Worship' and looked like he was thinking of some more to use later.

Leia's brows rose a bit at the memory. She was only just realizing how long she'd gone without bothering to learn his name. Perhaps, to his view, it had seemed dismissive. Confirmed what he thought he knew about princesses when she was certainly the first he'd met. Well, she thought now, if it bothered him he could have introduced himself.

"You can call me Leia," she had told Luke, and maybe within Han's earshot.

This morning, the "Your Highness" greetings weren't muttered. They were minor exclamations, questions. The Princess always in their path, whom they didn't really know, whose title got in their way of knowing, who, admittedly, was never very approachable, was going to race a tauntaun in a few minutes.

When had Leia stopped hearing 'Your Highness'? Very early on, she assumed. Whenever she came into a room occupied already by another, they had to acknowledge her. That was they way it was on Alderaan. She had a bit of a memory, if it was a true one; she doubted it, but her mind was able to play out a scene anyway. The little Princess Leia skipped into a room and someone was in there, cleaning. They interrupted what they were doing and said, "Your Highness." Little Leia, whose memory assigned her a very young age, four or so, was old enough to understand something special was happening. She had leveled her serious eyes on the cleaner a moment, who kept theirs lowered, and wondered if she should answer. The cleaner wasn't a Highness so she wouldn't call them that. And she could tell the cleaner wanted to get back to cleaning. In the end, Leia skipped out of the room without a word.

Even offworld, it had continued. Of course, she had traveled with a large retinue of people, always, all trained in the Alderaani method of greeting a member of the royal family.

How weird would it be, to have people call her Leia? From Han, it would be nice. From Dr. Renzatl, Leia thought she could accept it. From General Rieekan... never. Then again, to no longer hear in the corridors, "Your Highness" but maybe, "Hi, Leia"...

Would she know what to do? She was an observer. She understood cues. To greet Luke as "Skywalker" in the corridor was different than reaching out to punch him and comment on the previous night's sabbacc match. It didn't feel right to her, though.

Leia was always defined by her role. And she strove to be as informed and capable as she could within it. She saw herself now in the role of a warrior for the Alliance, committed to ending the Empire. It was more important than personality. And she was committed to Luke, her friend. That was the reason for the race. Not to help pass the time or provide entertainment.

But no one seemed to understand that. There was a definite excitement for the race. Would they continue to hold her in a different regard, as one of them? Well, a tauntaun race was not likely to change things that much. The gossip was certain to continue, however. Maybe it would get worse. They seemed to want the Princess to have a personality, but it was silly to create one. If you really wanted to know something, why not just ask?

From just down the corridor she could hear a lot of tauntaun garbles, and she wondered why. She had her answer soon enough: the animals were complaining about all the humans inside. Leia didn't blame them. It was becoming a spectacle, the last thing Leia wanted.

Luke stood next to his mount, talking with Wedge. "Hey, Leia," Luke called out happily. "You look warm," he said of the additional snow suit she wore over her usual issue.

"Good morning, Your Highness," Wedge smiled at her. His speech was formal but his eyes were friendly.

"An advantage of being small," she told Luke crisply. "Another is my mount will race faster."

"Oo-hoo," Wedge looked at Luke. "A rivalry is born."

"I have my own advantage," Luke said. "Say hi to Big Mama."

"Hi, Big Mama," Leia answered readily. "Luke, don't you hear the animals are upset? Bring your crowd outside." She spied the tender trying to harness Number Eighteen, who seemed agitated. He kept stepping backwards and shaking his head.

"I was hoping to wait until the last minute," he pouted. "It's cold out there."

"I need a moment with mine."

"Alright. Which one's yours? Did you name it?"

"No. It's Number Eighteen."

"We gotta see about a course anyway, Boss, since the old one is flattened," Wedge said. "Rogues!" he called loudly. "Take the betting outside. Free fresh air! Odorless!" he joked.

Gradually, the room emptied. The trainer led Number Eighteen to Leia. "I hope he'll do alright for you." He was looking a little concerned.

"I'll walk him around the pen for a bit," Leia told him. She reached up and scratched Number Eighteen's fur where the horn grew out. She was well prepared for the race this morning. The extra snowsuit, in a size extra large, double insulated her. Goggles rested above the brim of her hat. The face cloth dangled by an ear, waiting for the other side to be fastened. And the large gloves went almost up to her elbow. She wasn't going to use the hood of the snowsuit. It had fallen back when Han grabbed the back of her coat, trying not to fall. She trusted what he said about a rider forging an aerodynamic fit with his mount, and a hood sweeping back from the breeze was not aerodynamic. But she needed to relax her mount before they got to that point. The tauntaun leaned into her hand a little, and Leia cooed at him. Nerfs liked to be scratched there, too. Perhaps it was a universal spot.

"Eighteen," Leia conspired in a low tone. "Walk with me. It's alright. You're going to have some fun today. Get out in the snow, and work those legs."

She kept talking, holding the lead so they were side by side, walking in a slow circle. Gradually, Number Eighteen's grumbling quieted. He let out a few punctual grunts when she finished a sentence and seemed to listen for more.

"What are you like, huh, boy? Besides smelly. You're listening. Are you making a list, like me? When I say you can trust me, you grunt."

Eighteen grunted.

"When I say we're going to walk and get to know each other, you-" She was interrupted by a perfectly timed grunt. "Oh, see, you understand! And then soon you'll let me climb on your back."

Grunt.

"You might not like the saddle too much just yet; that may not feel what a tauntaun is supposed to do-"

Grunt.

"- but I am going to signal you to run in all your tauntaun capability. Would you like that?"

Grunt.

"Good. I wish you had a proper name, Eighteen. I'll have to think of something. Let's go out this way. Come along, Eighteen. Let's see what's outside."

Wedge held the reins of the Big Mama. A crowd was gathered around Luke. The mount was standing placidly by, but when she saw Number Eighteen she garbled a greeting.

"They're conspiring, Boss," Wedge called out to Luke.

Luke ambled carefully over the ice toward Leia. "Thanks again for this," he told her.

Leia gave him a grin. The goggles were over the brim of his hat but she couldn't see his mouth due to the face cloth. His eyes were clear and blue in the gray sky, unsettlingly distant. It was the first time she saw him that way, not the man he was but the man he could be. She shivered. It was because of his intentions for the race- to access the Force, use it. Cheat, he had said, and she thought quite possibly her father may have been right about the Jedi.

Luke patted himself. "I like this outdoor gear. It's only a little warmer than space here but it's pretty effective. If they could adapt this into a flight suit-" He stopped mid-sentence. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing." Leia shook off the feeling. "Just suddenly wondering if this is a bad idea. How do you- What do you expect the Force to do?"

"Good question," Luke answered unhelpfully.

"Are you going to..." Leia felt rather badly bringing it up, "do something to me? Throw snow in my path? Bump me off Number Eighteen?" Her tauntaun grumbled.

Luke shook his head. "Han told me swoop racing is like that. Eliminate other riders to win. Rieekan would have a fit if a tauntaun got hurt. I guess one of us, too." There was a smile behind his face cloth. "At home, in the canyons it was pilot against the terrain, single man on the course. Here, it's two on the course, but it's still man with and against nature."

"Hey Boss," Wedge called. He was riding Big Mama and crossed the distance quickly to them. "Time to go over the course. Your first times," he glanced at Leia as he slid off Big Mama, "so you won't know any better. What do you think about that as a course?" He pointed.

Leia turned and saw he meant the ascent up the ridge. The terrain looked rocky.

"You start from there," Wedge pointed at an area that had a gentler slope and a clearer path, "and come down there."

"It looks steep," Luke observed.

"They're meant for it," Wedge shrugged. "Janson says it's part of sector one, and he's done it on patrols. Your first time, Her Highness's first time. Just let the tauntaun handle it."

Luke and Leia looked at each other. Leia felt nervous. It seemed a bit reckless, and the whole idea seemed suddenly very unwise, and she wondered why Rieekan permitted it. Or maybe she just didn't want to do it in front of a crowd of spectators. Number Eighteen had no idea what was being asked of him, but he was calm. His large back leg scratched at the snow.

It was a matter of trust, she thought. None of the men standing around seemed to worry. And as Wedge said, it was the tauntaun who would handle it. Nor did she have to win.

"Let's try it," she said.

"Good, make it quick 'cause I got clearance in thirty," Wedge grinned at them. "Solo's in fifteen; he's gonna miss it. Head down that way," Wedge pointed, and graciously gave the riders a moment to themselves.

"So this is Number Eighteen?" Luke asked. "I know why you picked mine; what's this one got for you?"

Leia smiled. "He's short."

"Oh," he laughed. "But Eighteen is his birth statistic. He needs a proper name."

"It's the last time I'll be riding him, Luke."

"You never know," Luke shrugged easily. "You could enjoy it."

Leia nodded. "You never know," she agreed. The theme of her new existence. The pattern of all life. There was something in the way he said it, something soothing.

How could it be soothing, to not know, she wondered. To let life take its course and never regret, never question. If it was the pattern of life, then it must be how the goddesses meant for life to be, and that was a scary, toppling thought. What about the tapestry?

She looked up at the sky, which was gray but not yet threatening snow. And she had such a sense of the unknown- everything gray, so open, so many paths- she thought it might break her heart.

If she'd thought about it, wondered what the god of irony and truth decided to play at, could she have sensed what would happen after she bid her father goodbye? And what about this morning? Would it be as simple as it sounded?

"I'll call him Git," she told Luke.

"Git? As in git going? Giddyup?"

"It's a pun and an acronym. For a hidden god."

"Oh." Luke wasn't sure if he should laugh or ask a question. That was another thing about his upbringing: he wasn't very religious. The planet was so harsh the rugged individual knew he was on his own. There was religion, though, she knew. He had told her a little of the native sand people, and the jawas. And a great variety of life forms had settled on the remote planet with two suns; maybe there were so many gods brought to Tatooine they lost their impact.

They walked the animals toward the ridge in silence. It was interesting, how she may never know what was going to come out of Han's mouth, but Luke's thoughts were never far from her own. "How often do you think about it, Luke, what could go wrong?"

"I used to. A lot," he admitted. "And it's not from what Ben taught me; it's the droids. It's what happened, after we bought them. All the what ifs I put myself through."

Leia nodded. "Yes."

"I get this feeling though- from Ben's teachings- you can't fix things before they happen. No matter how you try."

"Your sense of destiny," Leia said.

"I know you don't like it. Look at me and you, and look at Han," Luke said. "We think too much probably. Him not at all. I'm talking about what could happen. He reacts. We plan. We aren't any better off than him. He's better, maybe. Ignorance is bliss, they say, right?"

"I don't like that, either," Leia said.

"Yeah. It's a weight. That's what the Force has taught me. It's not lightness and ability, like it was for Ben. For me, right now, it's a knowledge of what can be. It's a responsibility."

"It's work."

"Very much so," Luke glanced at the horizon. "A lot of work. Maybe someday it'll come easy. Is this where we start?"

"Wait," Leia said, and was looking around. "I need Han."

That surprised Luke. "For what?"

His surprise jolted her in turn, and the second the words were out of her mouth she couldn't believe she said them. She was rarely flustered. In her life, everything was rehearsed, studied. Even aboard the Tantive IV her arrest had been a possibility. But the cold, the shift in mood- her speech was relegated to fragments.

She clipped the face cloth to the opposite side and covered her mouth. "For- My lips are so numb they can't keep up with my thoughts. I mean to get on. I need a boost. Earlier this morning, when it was still dark, I was out here trying to figure out how to do this, and I met Han. Captain Solo."

"I know who Han is," Luke said with a measure of irony.

"He gave me a boost to get on."

"Oh, he helped you." Now Luke's eyes were merry. "In your abbreviated speech, I now understand 'help' -and 'boost' is assistance, another word for help- otherwise known as Han."

"It's not funny," Leia bristled. "I'm not on patrols like you Rogues are, Luke. I'm new to this."

"I'll bear that in mind." He was as placid as Big Mama, waiting for Leia to continue. "Were you on Git?"

Leia glared at him. He had no right to enjoy this. "No, his. Sev."

"Oh, Sev. He's about Big Mama's size." Luke gave his mount a pat. "What was he doing out so early?"

"Cleaning up." Leia wasn't interested in explaining the actions of one Han Solo. Except to mention he had given her a boost. Except to mention she needed him, not to herself, but out loud. To Luke. Good gods, she thought. One never knew. "Look at the height of the stirrup. Once my foot was in I couldn't leverage up."

"Yeah, but Git is smaller."

"Princesses don't flop in public, Luke."

He cocked his head at her, suspicious. "Is that what this is about?"

"It's all very carefully arranged."

"Leia." Luke was shaking his head and laughing a little. "But it isn't. You were on the kriffing Death Star!"

That was true. It struck her in a way she hadn't seen before. She was supposed to die there, and she hadn't. It had all been beyond her control.

"And mind you," Luke was saying, "I'm not saying that was a flop. It wasn't. It was a very bold move."

"I just couldn't know," she finished for him.

"You couldn't," he agreed.

She was working her fingers. There was an energy in her, an agitated confusion. They were talking about things she hadn't meant to, nor could he have known, and all the while Luke accepted it as if that's the way it was. Those paths, that gray wide openness- once he shared the doubt of them with her, but now he was different about them.

"I'm very cold, Luke. Let's get this over with. Could you block Git with Big Mama? So no one sees."

Luke smiled. "Be a Han?" He was teasing again. "Sure. I could call for a type of Han, you know, like a crate you could step up on. That seems princess-y. Or-"

"Just fold your hands together and let me step up," Leia said, irritated. "And stop saying Han."

Luke lowered his arms and linked his fingers, still grinning. "Fine. He's more than a boost, anyway. I'm happy to fill the role for you."

The motion into Git's saddle was smooth. "Thank you," Leia said. "And no more talk of alternate meanings of Han."

Luke chuckled. "Can I at least-"

"No."

"Feel better?"

"Now that I'm on Git, yes. I'm ready."

"Me, too. Wedge! Start us off!"

"Places," Wedge began. Luke and Leia gave each other a competitive nod and lowered their goggles. "Set." They positioned the reins in their hands. "Go!" He raised his arm straight in the air.

Leia nudged Git. Luke and Big Mama had a good start. The older, more experienced tauntaun burst to speed on her strong legs. Git bleated, as if calling for her to wait.

"Catch her, Git," Leia urged, and she wrapped her arms around his neck and rested an ear flap on his oily fur.

The terrain of the ridge was shaped by the relentless wind. Leia had never seen elsewhere places of deep drifts shouldered against large rocks, or tresses of ice and bare, rocky ground, but somehow it was familiar. They were ascending; Big Mama's nails spread wide and hammered into the earth, and as the other leg moved forward, the rear toes curled over empty air.

On Git, Leia bounced hard in the saddle after his foot gripped the ground. It felt inefficient, like an aftershock, and she dropped her attention on Luke for a moment and concentrated on matching her movements with her tauntaun mount. It was hard work; the muscles of her legs and stomach were tight and her elbows moved back and forth, like a saw. She was panting, and blew her breath into his neck, warm on warm, so ice wouldn't form on her skin.

Luke looked behind him to see how he was positioned. She wouldn't catch him. There was something beautiful in Big Mama's stride. A smoothness. A perfection of the physical.

"You're doing good!" he shouted back at her. There was ice around his mouth. His goggles might be fogged, but he was confident in his mount and his body moved smoothly with hers.

The speed was exhilarating. His words were encouraging. She was too busy hanging on, too cold to physically form a smile, but she felt one. She saw, again, the man Luke was, the man he would be. "You're already using it!" she shouted at him.

"What?" He slowed just a little, and let her narrow the gap.

"The Force," she panted loudly. "You've got it."

He was panting, too. "The point-"

"I know! To use it. You are!" She urged Git forward. Big Mama turned her head toward him. "It's you, Luke. Spread it. Boost it!"

His face, goggled and iced, was questioning. But Leia saw it in him, the light around him less gray. He had it, but he let Big Mama use it. Luke from Tatooine, that harsh place that rewarded individuals, came to the Death Star and did everything to make sure a Princess left with him. The Force was an energy that bound all life, and no one succeeded in binding like Luke Skywalker did.

Leia lightened her grip around Git's neck and steadied the new balance of her body. Slowly, she dared reach out a hand. "Share."

He took her hand, and they finished going up the rise. They crested the ridge. The glistening Prairie was below them. The Millennium Falcon had been towed out, her dark gray hull looking very man-made against the backdrop of Hoth.

"Bye, Han!" Luke shouted. He was barely able to open his mouth.

The descent was different. The snow piled up in huge drifts, but both Git and Big Mama plowed their bodies through as if it didn't pose a barrier. Dry splashes of snow hit Leia and Luke on their chests and faces and they were going so fast they had to let go of each other and hang on for dear life. Down at the bottom the crowd had gathered. Over the noise of her breathing Leia realized they were cheering. She burrowed her face in Git's neck and let him do what he knew to do. He was younger, smaller; he did not have the stride of the older female or the stamina but he was giving it his all. The tauntauns no longer grunted at each other and pushed their bodies down the steep slope.

Luke whooped. He had won the race.

"Point eight seconds," Wedge exclaimed as Leia crossed the finish line. "Damn, that's nothing!"

Luke was on his back in the snow, his chest heaving, beaming an ice-covered smile to the sky. Leia, her legs shaking and feeling like a hard rubber, collapsed on the ground next to him.

"By the gods, that was-" Words failed him.

The crowd left them alone. Her fault, maybe, Leia considered. The Princess that raced.

"Thanks, Leia," Luke smiled at her. From his position on the ground with his eyes looking up at the sky, it looked like there were tears in them.