Disclaimer: Still not mine

Author's note: Tholothian is what Adi Gallia, Stass Allie, and Katooni are

Snow

Ever since the new base's location had been selected, Leia and Chewie had gathered cold weather gear for Luke like they were preparing for the end of the galaxy. Half of the Falcon's pantry was stocked with warm beverage mixes, easy to make warm, heavy foods. Luke had found a cold weather survival kit in his X-Wing not too long ago with four thermal blankets, nonperishable food items, hand warmers, and odds and ends he couldn't identify. Leia took him shopping to find the perfect boots, gloves, and made him buy long underwear.

The first time he put the clothes on, he waddled around the room, arms held stiffly out, his feet crashed against the floor with loud, painful steps. "It's so thick!" he complained. "And heavy! How do you move?"

"It's not that thick," Leia pushed his arms closer to his sides. "You're just not used to it," Chewie put Luke's hat on for him and Luke pushed the brim up out of his face. "Trust me, you'll be grateful when you get to the new base."

"I've been in space, it can't be any colder than that," Luke dismissed Leia's concern.

Artoo beeped a scoffing response.

"Hush, you rotund liar," Threepio gesticulated at his counterpart with as much exasperation as the protocol droid could muster. "You were never on Orto Plutonia with General Kenobi and Master Luke's father."

Artoo beeped back a correction.

"No, I was not! I would remember that!"

"Orto Plutonia?" Luke asked. "That's a moon, isn't it? Covered by snow?" He said the word "snow" as if it were a mythical creature that existed only in the minds of dreamers.

Luke stared at the endless white expanse of snow as he landed on Hoth. So this was snow. It didn't look too different from sand, save for its white color and the sparkles under the sunlight. It was bright; he had imagined snow would make everything feel dark.

The landing cycle finished and Luke opened the cockpit canopy. The cold air rushed to his face and he winced. Oddly enough, his first instinct was to shout, "It's hot! It's burning my face!" but he kept quiet and climbed the ladder down to the base floor, which felt crunchy under his boot covered feet.

"Salt," Dayzha told him, holding out a scarf. "It's to keep the ice from forming and making everything slippery. And there's some sand in the mix." Her dark eyes were visible, but not her mouth or nose. "Put the scarf on," she ordered. "Trust me, Luke, you'll appreciate it."

Just like he'd practiced, Luke wrapped the scarf around his neck and Dayzha adjusted it so part of the scarf covered his face. "Welcome to Echo Base, Commander," she said formally. They walked further into the base where Luke spotted some bipedal creatures with short arms (or were they legs and they just stood on two feet?) covered in thick gray-ish fur and curled horns. "Taun Tauns," Dayzha explained. "We've been using them as transport, unfortunately we've been having trouble with the speeders. These are fairly easy to domesticate, which is a plus," she stopped to scratch one's neck.

Luke adjusted his scarf and shivered. "So, why are the speeders having difficulties?"

"The cold of course. I'd ask you, flying ace, but I know you have no cold weather experience."

Luke tugged on her hat teasingly, the motion of which caught her headdress and exposed her hair. Dayzha's eyes widened and she yanked her hat back on. "I'm sorry!" Luke apologized quickly. The Tholothian hurried away, embarrassed and horrified.

He didn't even have time to call her back or formulate a proper response. Leia ran up to him and grabbed his hand. "Luke, come on! Come on!"

Luke let Leia drag him out of the relatively warm base into the outdoors. The air immediately bit into his face and he understood Dayzha's adjustment of the scarf. It was all so white, so bright, he shielded his eyes with his hand and thought of the times he'd made the same motion on Tatooine to scan the horizon. Between the sense of wonder and the overwhelming cold, Luke felt a pang of loss. He wondered how his aunt would have reacted to this, he knew his uncle would have liked it.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Leia asked. "Dangerous, but beautiful…." She dropped down into the snow and began to flail her arms and legs.

"What are you doing?" Luke asked.

"I'm making a snow angel. My mother and I used to do this all the time." Leia got up and admired the impression in the snow. "You do it!"

So Luke dropped down into the snow and felt the gentle give beneath him. It was like being on an air mattress. Just as Leia had done, he kicked his legs and waved his arms, sweeping the snow side to side. When he got up, he left boot prints in the angel. "I ruined it," he lamented.

"Nonsense!" Leia laughed. "It's perfect." She reached down and began to scoop snow between her hands.

"Smile for the cam!" Han called out and Luke turned to see Han and Chewie taking holos. "The Kid's First Snow Day," Han titled the holos he took.

"Oh come on!" Luke complained. "When are we going to get to rag on you about your –" something hit him and Luke stopped midsentence to look around for the source.

"It's called a snowball," Leia said between fits of laughter. "And you should see the look on your face!"

Han went back inside a lot sooner than Luke or Leia. They had brought up how nice snow and ice would have been right after the incident on Ord Mantell and it left Han feeling sick. That bounty hunter had shown up out of nowhere on that supply run. And Luke's determination to keep Han away from that hunter – well that, that had not come out of nowhere.

But that damn fool kid…

And then the princess charging up as well –

Kriff, Han had definitely stayed way too long.