- - - - - Aboard the Millennium Falcon - - - - -

An hour must have passed before Tess could no longer resist the urge to get a peek at the people who probably just saved her life. She inched down the hallway and after a few sharp corners found herself in a place where she could see some sort of lounge room as far as lounge rooms on a cheap ship go.

She saw the back of a blonde head—the man who had cried out when Ben Kenobi was killed. He was sitting sullenly at a little booth with a table in front of it. A woman in a white dress with dark hair fashioned into two large buns approached him with a blanket. She wrapped it around his shoulders and sat at his side.

"I just can't believe he's gone," the man sighed. Tess made an educated guess that he was talking about Ben Kenobi.

"There wasn't anything you could have done," the woman assured him.

Hearing those words, Tess wondered if there was anything she could have done to save the Princess of Alderaan. Would Uncle Bail be disappointed in her?

Suddenly, the ship made a slight jerk to the left. Not having grown into her ship legs yet, the jolt sent Tess into the wall, which alerted the man and woman at the table to the intruder. Instinctively, the man pulled out his blaster and pointed it in Tess' direction.

Tess inhaled sharply in shock, holding her hands up in surrender.

"Please, don't shoot!" she begged.

"Luke, she's just a kid!" the woman spat, rushing over to comfort Tess. Luke stuffed his blaster in his pocket, his cheeks turning a boyish red with embarrassment. Now that she saw them up close, they looked more like teenagers than a man and a woman.

"Sorry," Luke apologized sincerely. "It was just instinct. We did just fly out of the Death Star, after all."

Suddenly, a deep, loud growl from behind made Tess jump a foot. She was even more terrified when she spun around and saw a 7-foot Wookie behind her. The older girl tried to grab Tess' hand to comfort her but at this point Tess felt like she was being chased around the room. She found herself running to the nearest hallway, which plowed her into a scruffy-looking man in a dirty shirt and vest. He grabbed Tess by the wrist.

"A stowaway?" he grumbled, loosening his grip on her enough so that she wasn't in pain but she was kept in place. "You think you can hitch a free ride on my ship? When did you tag along? Tatooine?"

"Do any of you see that this is a nine-year-old kid here?" the older girl said demandingly, as if it was an order to leave Tess be.

"I'm eleven," Tess corrected, her eyes locked on the scruffy man's, trying to look innocent. "And I got on the ship while it was on the Death Star. An old man told me to do it." Tess turned to face Luke, since he knew her savior. "The man who Darth Vader killed. Ben Kenobi. He set me free and told me to come here."

The man finally let go of Tess' wrist and the girl in the white dress guided her to the table, offering her a seat.

"I'm Leia," she said kindly, smiling. Tess smiled back. "What's your name?" Tess hesitated. Leia saw her anxiety and brushed off the question. "It's okay, you don't have to tell me yet. What were you doing on the Death Star?"

Tess bit her lip, not sure if Ben Kenobi's instructions implied that she could trust these people or just hitchhike with them. Still, she decided that at least Luke and Leia seemed nice enough.

"I was a prisoner," Tess admitted softly. Leia frowned, her eyes wide with palpable concern. "They took me from Dantooine. They killed my guardian. I still don't know why they did it."

The man shook his head in disbelief at the idea that a kid as young as Tess could be prisoner, but he tried to hide his concern for some reason.

Leia seemed to review some thoughts for a moment, then turned back to Tess.

"I don't know if Dantooine is entirely safe now…but do you know anyone anywhere else? Is there somewhere we can take you?"

"Does this thing look like free transportation to you?" the scruffy man spat.

"Han," Leia scolded, giving him a cold look. She turned back to Tess for her answer. The eleven-year-old tried to force the tears back when she thought about the planet she lived on most of her life. "My uncle was on Alderaan…but…"

Leia's face went stone cold, but her eyes shined just the slightest bit with what could have been tears if she had let them happen.

"I see," Leia said softly. She stood up and thought for a moment. Then, somehow her thoughts lead her down a hallway and out of sight.

Once Leia was gone, Tess couldn't help but feel like revealing herself wasn't the best idea. Han still considered her a stowaway, who knows what the Wookie could do to her, and Luke did not seem like one to step in if they wanted to throw her out of the ship into space.

To Tess' surprise, Han spun around and went back down towards the cockpit. The Wookie followed. She was left with Luke, who sat by her at the table. He sighed.

"Did you know Ben Kenobi well?" Luke asked. Tess shook her head. Luke nodded awkwardly, not really knowing what else to say.

"Why did you land on the Death Star?" Tess wondered aloud after a moment.

"To save the princess," he sighed. It was as if that meant nothing anymore. Tess assumed it was because he failed.

"I'm sorry you couldn't do it," Tess told him sincerely. Luke tilted his head, confused.

"But I did," he said. "You just met her. Leia Organa, the Princess of Alderaan. I know I sounded disappointed…that's just because Ben Kenobi was a family friend of mine so as great as saving the princess was, I just wish I could have saved Ben, too."

Tess' jaw nearly dropped to the floor.

"Leia is the princess?!" she blurted. Luke couldn't help but laugh.

"Yep, she is."

Tess still couldn't believe it. She couldn't process it. She had so many questions she could ask Leia—but should she?

How would Leia react to her father having a secret child that he got from somewhere and assigned guardians for? She was a princess—princesses were supposed to be spoilt rotten. But Leia seemed nice. Maybe it was a cover that would go away if she found out the truth about Tess.

Luke sensed Tess' anxiety.

"What's the matter?" he asked the girl, his voice soft and kind. Her teary eyes covered by the palms of her hands, Tess shook her head.

"You wouldn't understand."