"Lelila," the general repeated her name. Leia could imagine his gentle gaze still on her, his brow furrowed slightly in worry. "Lelila, please stop ignoring me. You aren't a child anymore. Mothma and Madine aren't anywhere near. It's just you and me. . . . Lelila, what happened on that trip to Bespin?"

"Too much," Leia finally responded. Hot tears stung just behind her eyes and it made Leia so mad with herself. Her defenses were lowered for a second and they fell down her cheeks. "I can't talk about it, Rieekan." She turned to face the general and his features softened, though they'd already been so soft. "I can't."

"Leia, did he hurt you?"

Her eyes filled with more tears and before she closed them, they spilled down her face. She shook her head.

"Do you love him?"

Leia considered that question despite the fact that she already knew the answer. Of course she loved Han, but how had Rieekan guessed? Before she and Han had left the Hoth base, the only kind of relationship they'd had together was as official verbal sparring partners. That had been the extent of it, but then had come their trip together and the events of that trip had changed everything. It had made them into something they hadn't been before Bespin. Cautiously, Leia nodded. "You didn't really think Han would hurt me." She said this, not asked.

Rieekan smiled wholeheartedly at her, then shook his head. "In fact, I knew he wouldn't."

"But how did you know?"

"Because. I've been watching you two. Someone who's that annoyed with someone else doesn't wait so anxiously for their return."

"He did annoy me," Leia assured him, to which Rieekan laughed. "Oh, trust me, Lelila, I don't doubt that. What I'm trying to say is that I knew you two had feelings for each other before you left Hoth. It was just that neither of you understood them yet. I bet those several months away were really good for you two."

"Yeah," Leia agreed quietly as she pondered Rieekan's words. "It was."

"So. I don't need to know all the details. In fact, I have a feeling I'd rather not. However, I am interested in what happened to him."

"One of his bounty hunters found us," Leia quickly answered.

"I'm sorry, Lelila. Do you know where he took him?"

"If I knew, I wouldn't be here. But we had to save Luke and we weren't fast enough to follow Fett. He found us, but we lost him. He has Han . . . but I have no idea where he is."

Rieekan stood and crossed Leia's room until he stood only a couple feet before her. "We'll find him," he assured her, taking her into his arms. "I promise we'll get him back."

Leia hardly heard him, though. "They froze him, Rieekan."

"Pardon?"

"Vader was there. And he wanted Luke. He wanted to freeze Luke in carbonite. So he tried it on Han first. Vader wanted Luke, but they took Han from me! It's not fair!"
"Leia," Rieekan tried to soothe, his voice quiet and soft like an Alderaanian breeze. "Leia, we will get him back."

"How? High Command won't care. Han isn't a member of the Rebellion. He's not their problem. They couldn't care less what happens to him!"

"But, for three years, Han has been active in the Rebellion's progress. He's kept you safe this whole time and he's done great things for the Rebel Alliance. I'll talk to Mothma, we'll get a team out there, and we will find Han. Don't forget that I already promised you."

Leia wasn't so assured by his promises, though. Nevertheless, she nodded and added, "It's alright, Rieekan. If you can't do anything, I will. I already promised myself too."

"Leia, please promise me you won't do anything stupid."

Leia blinked at him. "Who said anything about doing something stupid?"

"I think it was implied in your statement. I can tell that you're willing to do whatever it takes to get Han back and while that gratifies me, I don't want to see something happen to you too. Leia, I consider it my job to watch over you in your father's place and I won't accept anything too foolish. I will agree to helping you search for him and get him back, but I will not let you do something that will put you at risk."

"Rieekan!" Leia snapped. Her gaze on him was hard and cold, almost glaring. "Bounty hunters have him! It's not going to be like they'll leave him in a pretty park for us to pick him up!"

"I get that, Leia. I'm just saying that I want you to be careful. Stay levelheaded. Don't do something you'll regret. Think of what happened to him as a sacrifice. He wouldn't want you to destroy that-"

"It wasn't a sacrifice, Rieekan! Vader had no reason to take him! He just . . . did! He took him from me and handed him off to Fett! He had no reason to!"

"Yes, he did." The voice that said this was new in the conversation and Leia spun to face her door in surprise. Even more so when she saw Luke there. Looking at her gravely, he added, "And it's my fault."

Rieekan scowled. "Oh, not you too!"

The door slid shut behind Luke and the young man took a seat on the edge of Leia's tidy bed. "Vader wanted me and you and Han were convenient tools."

"What do you mean?" Leia frowned.

"I told you I was on Dagobah training with an ancient Jedi Master."

Leia nodded while Rieekan's eyes only narrowed in confusion and bewilderment.

"I only left because I had a vision from the Force of you and Han in trouble. You're right; Vader had no reason to take Han. He wanted me."

"Then, why did he take Han?!"

"Leia, he caused my vision. I thought you were both in trouble. That's why I came to Bespin."

Understanding dawned on Leia and it showed on her face. "Everything he did to Han was to get to you. Vader didn't need Han, so he let Fett have him."

"I'm sorry, Leia."

"No. What Vader did wasn't your fault. It's always Vader's." Leia left it at that, slipping past Rieekan and Luke.

"Lelila," Rieekan spoke her name just firmly enough to make her stop. "I promise, we will find him."

Leia nodded curtly. "I know. Because I'm going to be the one to find him."

"You need to eat something."

Leia bit back a sigh. She didn't tear her gaze from her datapad and continued flipping through crime lord profiles and those of a dozen more bounty hunters. The only response she gave Luke was a question. "Have any reports arrived at High Command yet? I've been going through dossiers all morning."

"And now you need to eat," Luke insisted, pushing a plate of thin, crusty hotcakes Leia's way. "This isn't going to be like after the Death Star when you occasionally had a snack before bed. I'm going to make sure you eat. No excuses."

Leia glanced at the plate Luke had gotten for her and, biting back a sigh, she grabbed a couple of a small, round, orange-ish fruit and stuck them in her mouth. She bit down on one and the sour juice exploded in her mouth. She almost spat it out. At least the meals the Rebellion supplied were better than the frozen ration packets Han kept on the Falcon. But that wasn't the way Leia remembered their meals. She remembered hanging out in the crew lounge, laughing and joking, talking about nothing and everything. The taste of the food Leia had forgotten, but her memories with Han were all that could remember about those meals together. Leia's gaze dropped to her plate and the fruit suddenly tasted bland in her mouth. She spat it back into her napkin.

"Oh!" Luke exclaimed leaning back. "You couldn't swallow?"

"It tastes awful," Leia muttered her complaint.

Luke cocked a brow.

"What?"

Absentmindedly, Luke shook his head, dropping his gaze back to his own plate. "You never complain about the food. In fact, if I remember correctly which I'm pretty sure I am, Han used to complain about the food and you would always throw a fit about how ungrateful and selfish he was." Luke chuckled to himself. "That always shut him up."

For a long moment, Leia didn't say anything in response. She picked at her plate, trying to remember how she ever enjoyed these meals before. Maybe, she mused, it had been because Han was still there. Whether Leia had realized what she knew now or not, perhaps Leia had enjoyed his company in some muted way that it wasn't so bad. And only now was she able to tell the difference. Stuffing half a sandwich into her mouth and forcing herself to swallow, Leia got up to dump her tray. Luke just watched her. "I'm going to take off," she said, gathering her daily stack of datapads and flimsi notes.

"Where are you headed to?"

"I haven't spoken to High Command yet."

Luke dropped his gaze again and told her softly, "They aren't going to care."

"Well." Leia uttered a staccatoed sigh. "I have to try."

Luke only responded with a soft-spoken, "Good luck," and Leia was off.

She would be due soon for a High Command meeting, in half an hour if Leia remembered correctly. That should give her plenty of time to either be completely shot down or at least establish some support from her fellow leaders, she figured. She took the long way, weaving her way around corridors. She needed the walk to calm her mind before speaking with Mothma, Dodonna, Madine, and Ackbar. Besides, this would the first time she'd really been out around Home One since returning and Leia found that she mildly missed the semi-familiar Rebellion ship.

Leia, deep in thought and barely present, jumped when she was knocked aside by an elbow. Half of her flimsis went flying, but Leia glanced up before kneeling to pick them up. Her offender- an auburn-haired, well tanned woman with freckles dotting her nose and a smile that seemed all too sly- stood with her hands stuffed into her front pockets. When she made no move to help Leia gather her things, Leia cautiously lowered herself and began to clean the mess. Her gaze was on the floor, but she didn't miss the tone with which the woman said to her, "Got any pictures hidden in your stack?"

Confused, Leia looked up to meet her gaze. "Pictures?" she asked. "What do you mean? What pictures?"

The woman laughed as she was joined by a friend. The two shared a look before the woman turned back and elaborated. "Oh, you know." She winked at Leia. "Pictures. From your little honeymoon with Captain Solo."

Leia couldn't help it and she blushed fiercely, drawing even bigger laughs from the woman and her friend. "So the rumors are true," she noted, then turned and headed down the corridor with her counterpart.

Both flustered and embarrassed, Leia continued her walk at a faster pace, hurrying for High Command. On her way, she encountered several others who seemed to be encountering the same "rumors" as the first woman had as Leia caught the looks of her peers. Some were sly, others amused, and some even almost mocking, but by the end of her walk, Leia got the gist that, while gone, rumors about her and Han had been the height of the Rebels' excitement.

When she arrived in High Command's meeting room, Dodonna and Mothma were already there. Looking up from some sort of holo projection Leia was unfamiliar with, Dodonna looked at Leia carefully. "Hello, Princess."

Leia managed an appropriate yet nervous nod. "Good afternoon, General." She caught sight of Mothma at the head of the table and smiled at her. "Mon Mothma," she added. The older woman didn't return the smile, but eyed her carefully with narrow blue eyes. "Leia," she said. "I see you're back."

Leia nodded. "I saw you just yesterday," she reminded her. "When you and Rieekan came to greet me and Commander Skywalker."

"Of course, Princess. I remember. I was there, was I not?"

Leia frowned, but opted against responding how she desired. Instead, she said quietly, "Of course you were."

Shortly after Leia, Rieekan entered and he offered her a soft smile. For a reason Leia had not yet deciphered, she felt a rush of frustration with the general and she quickly turned away to instead talk to Dodonna and Mothma. "I was hoping, General, Mothma, that at the start of today's meeting I might be allowed to make a request before the council."

Mothma looked up, surprised. "What kind of request do you mean, Princess?"

Leia took a deep breath. "One involving the events of my recent trip to Bespin."

Mothma barely responded. "I suppose you can, Princess. . . . If there are any announcements you must make."

Leia's eyes widened and her nostrils flared, but she didn't say anything to the leader. She took a seat at the table, about halfway between Rieekan's seat at the end and Dodonna's and Mothma's at the front. She didn't have to wait long before Crix Madine and Ackbar joined the small group, taking their own seats at the table. Mon Mothma stood to begin the meeting and, with a rather unpleasant look upon her face (at least by the only standards Leia had if she were to claim that she saw Mon Mothma wear an unpleasant look), announced that Princess Leia Organa wished to start the meeting with her own words. As was only polite, Leia smiled at her as she stood and made her way to the front. Risking a brief glance at Rieekan, Leia saw that the general wore a slight grimace. Leia ignored him. "Thank you for allowing me the chance to speak, Commander-In-Chief. As you all know, I was absent from Alliance affairs for a time due to a sticky situation following mine and Captain Solo's escape from our Hoth base at the time of evacuation. We were chased by Imperials and, unfortunately, found. In a complicated attempt on Commander Skywalker's life, Lord Vader captured both me and the captain, torturing us and freezing Captain Solo in carbonite. In this state, he was taken by a bounty hunter and the man escaped before either I or Chewbacca could catch him. It's for this that I ask for your help and support in finding Captain Solo and bringing him home safely. Thank you." She took a step back and waited for the council's response.

They all shared a look before Mothma responded. "Princess, with all due respect, I understand that you are concerned for the captain, but it is as simple as this: we cannot allow personal matters to come before those of the Alliance's."

"Oh!" Leia shook her head. "But this is Captain Solo! This is for the Alli-"

"Princess, we cannot bear to dispense any part of our fleet only for a simple search-and-rescue mission."

"Captain Solo has been with the Rebellion for three years-!"

"And yet," Madine interrupted her, shaking his head. "He is not a member. And we rewarded him. Princess, please explain to me how any of that is fair."
"That shouldn't matter, General! Captain Solo has worked loyally for the Rebel Alliance for three years and I've heard you say before what a great asset he is to us! He's been a key member since he helped destroy the first Death Star. He has the fastest ship in the fleet-!"

"I believe I heard that the Millennium Falcon belongs to Lando Calrissian, yes?" It was Dodonna who asked this and Leia could already tell he was about to say something more to boil Leia's blood. "Captain Solo "won" it in a sabacc game. We can have his ship, Princess. We don't need Solo. He is not a member of this rebellion and, therefore, not our problem. He is a lowlife, a mercenary, and that is the only reason he's been with us for three years."

"That's not true!" Leia spat this through her gritted teeth, tears of anger already pooling in her eyes. It wasn't true, she knew. She should know.
"And I suppose you know him so well after your little trip together?" Madine mocked. "Really, Princess. I understand that you've been through quite a bit, but your father ought to have taught you so much better. I feel sorry for you that Solo managed to suck you into his games."

"General, I think that's going a bit too far."

Leia was just a bit surprised when she turned to see her support coming from Rieekan at the far end of the table. A stylus pen teetering between his teeth, he looked tiredly at the Corellian general. "The princess is right in reminding us all of what Captain Solo helped accomplish for the Alliance. Though this may be an issue he got himself into, I know for a fact that he's been working hard the past three years to pay off his debt. It would be wrong to deny Han his honor. He is a loyal member of this rebellion and he proved so by bringing the princess to safety when the Empire found us at our base on Hoth. The least we can do to pay the man back is rescue him."
Mothma considered Rieekan's words, but returned her gaze to Leia and said in her usual calm, "This is a personal request, Princess. Please don't think us so foolish that we can't see that. It's a personal request and the Rebellion has no time for that. Thank you, Princess. You are now dismissed."

"Dismissed?! That's it?"

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave this room, Princess. Thank you."

"You could have warned me," Leia complained darkly as Rieekan hurried after her.

"Warned you about what?"

Leia stopped so suddenly, Rieekan almost ran into the small woman. She sighed, dropping her arms to her sides. "The looks," she said. "The stares, the whispers. The-" Her gaze followed a few Rebels who watched her for a moment before walking off laughing. Someone following a few feet behind them called out to Leia, "Hey, Ice Princess! How's your lover?"

Leia quickly looked away. "There were rumors," she noted quietly, looking at Rieekan. He nodded. "There were a lot of rumors."