CHAPTER 4:
Luke examined the gems in his hands. He had seen nothing like them in his lifetime. The coin-size stones glittered green and blue and red and pink and gold. Luke wondered how these gems caught the light of the moons when most of the trees blocked out the sky.
"They're beautiful," Luke breathed, and Han examined the ones he held in his hand. Luke looked up at his friends. "Whaddya think they're for?"
The princess didn't bother looking at any of the gems, "Nothing."
"What?" Han stood up. "How do you know?" There was a hint of anger in his tone. He wanted to find Chewie, and this is all the Grendoli gave them. How could Leia think these gems weren't going to help find his best friend?
Leia's large brown eyes fell on him, "They're having their fun."
"I don't understand," Luke pulled himself to his feet.
"Humans have an innate attraction to shiny objects," she stated. Her eyes scanned the twisted branches overhead. She steamed with anger, "I guess the Grendolies don't."
Luke held his open palms full of gems out for Leia to exam, "So these are worthless?"
She pursed her lips and gazed at the beautiful stones, "They're definitely the real thing, but they won't help us find Chewie."
Han squeezed the gems he collected tight in his hand and then threw them as far as he could into the dense foliage. His hands rested on his hips, "What now?"
"We follow the clue they gave us."
"What clue?" Han growled.
"If you two didn't mess it up with all the crawling around you did," the right side of Leia's mouth quirked up, "then we have a clue."
Luke looked around, "Where?"
Leia walked over to the place where the Grendoli stood before he disappeared. She crouched down to get a better view of the muddy ground, "It seems Grendolies have prehensile tails."
"So what!"
The princess ignored Han's tone. She was just as angry as he. "There it is," she pointed to a deep groove in the mud.
Luke glanced down at the ground below him. He then took careful steps to stand next to the girl, hoping he didn't mess up any other clues the Grendoli might have left, "How do you know?"
"As I was speaking to him, his tail was moving around behind him in a definite pattern," Leia explained.
The princess' words caught Han's attention, and he joined his friends. He leaned over Leia to get a better look, "It looks like Grendolies also know how to write."
"At least it's in Basic," Luke pointed out.
Both Leia and Han shook their heads at the boy's naïveté. Leia moved her finger in the mud, tracing the marks with as much care as possible, "Where the forest ends."
Han walked away, pulled out his blaster, and fired a few shots into the nearest tree. Leia flinched. She then went over to him. "We'll find him," she quietly assured the man.
Solo re-holstered his blaster. He stared at the ground and chewed his lip. He wanted to believe her, and she made it easy to believe. Her tone inspired hope and strength, and she had loss so much. It amazed him that she could sound so auspicious. But maybe it was just her political training kicking in. Han sighed. He walked away from her, but not before he ran his hand down the length of her messed-up ponytail and gave it a slight tug.
Leia's brow knit and her head followed Han as he walked back to the clue.
"Too bad we don't have the GPS," Luke mused.
Han's eyes lit up, and he pulled out the thermal sensor he and Chewie used to find their lost friends. He pulled out the sensor, "Reeiken lent us this little thing to help find you."
"Does it have GPS?" Luke sauntered over to get a better look at the screen.
"No, but it might point us in the right direction," Leia offered. "This island is small and surrounded by a small shoreline. No forests there."
"So we head for the coast," Luke surmised.
"Not necessarily," Han grimly pressed his lips together. "There's a clearing northeast of the base. Some kind of meteor crater."
Leia tilted her head, "You sure?"
"Yeah," Han scratched the back of his head. "Reeiken gave us a map of the island."
"That's good," Luke's voice was filled with hope.
"Not really," Han placed his hands on his hips and glanced up into the dense branches. "We left it in the shelter."
"What?"
"We didn't have a lot of time to grab everything we needed when we left the shelter," Han explained. "Thought we wouldn't need it anyhow."
"Because Chewie has an acute sense of direction," Leia finished. Han's eyes briefly met hers.
Luke's eyes followed the length of the closet tree, "We have to go back up there to get it?"
"No time for that," Leia lifted her chin, and her eyes remained steady on Han, "You've seen the map, and we have the thermal sensor. The thermal sensor will tell us when the forest ends."
"How?" Luke asked.
Han's hopes rose, "Foliage, living things radiate heat. When we're cleared of the forest, there'll be less heat."
"Do you have any way of communicating with Reeiken?" Leia asked.
"Yeah, sure," Han pulled out his commlink and handed it to the girl.
Leia took it and held it to her mouth as she hailed the base. She walked away from Han and Luke and carried on a quiet conversation with General Reeiken. Han fiddled with the thermal sensor while Luke kept his eyes open and his senses focused on the dangers around them, mainly the hidden Grendolies.
Leia clicked off the commlink and sighed. She took small steps toward Han, holding the commlink out to him.
"Maybe you should keep that on you," he suggested. She shrugged and clipped it to her utility belt beneath the open rain poncho. "So," Han folded his arms across his chest. "What's the news back at the base?"
"Reeiken's taking your advice," Leia answered. "They're packing up as we stand here."
"Good to hear," but Han didn't really mean that.
"Reeiken wanted to send out more teams to search for Chewie," Leia bit her lip, "but I told him not too."
"Why not?" Luke whined.
"The Grendolies are playing with us," Han said. "Bringing in extra players might endanger the other rebels and Chewie."
"Sorry. I wasn't thinking."
Leia brushed her fingers against Han's, "And I'm sorry we're not sending reinforcements."
"You made the right decision," Han conceded.
Leia kicked the toe of her boot into the mud and whispered, "I hope so." Then she inhaled, "We can call in reinforcements if we need them. Reeiken said a few of your friends have already volunteered to take on the job."
"Few of my friends?" Han repeated. Was she talking to Luke?
"Yeah," her brow knitted. "What? You didn't think you made friends here over the last few months?"
Han's shoulders rose to his ears, and he shoved his hands in his pockets. Then his voice took on a dark tone, "I don't have friends, Your Worship! It's just about me and Chewie!"
Luke opened his mouth, but Leia cut him off, "Well, you're obviously the cold-hearted mercenary you've always been. Lucky for you, Chewie made friends."
"Leia…" Luke couldn't believe her words.
The princess shook off the boy and kept Han in her target, "It's a good thing it was Chewie who was abducted. I doubt anyone would come after you."
"Leia!" Luke snapped. He placed a hand on Han's arm, "I would've come after you."
"I wouldn't want or expect anyone to come after me!" Han shook off the boy and pointed his finger at the girl, shaking it in front of her nose.
"Glad we got that cleared up," Leia's eyebrow arched. "So are you ready to find Chewie now?"
An uncomfortable silence hung over the feuding friends. Luke cleared his throat, "So…do we head for the coast or the clearing?"
Han faced away from his friends and stared into the dense rainforest. Leia's arms were folded across her chest as she pondered the question. Putting one foot carefully in front of the other, she slowly approached Han, "You're the only one who saw the map of the island, and you also happen to be the one with the most knowledge of the Grendolies."
"Yeah," he sat down on a long, sinewy root, and Leia joined him.
"You know, they're probably listening to us," she leaned close and whispered into his ear.
Her breath was warm against his skin, easing his anger. Han buried his head in his hands and let out a long, pent-up breath. Then he turned at the girl, "What should we do?"
Leia sucked in her lips. That question was the last thing she expected. Her eyes discretely surveyed their surroundings, and then she leaned her head on his shoulder, "Find a way to turn the tables on them."
"How?" Han whispered as he placed his hand on top of her head.