Leia saw now how the goddesses were akin to a story, but also a reason. They weren't twelve incomprehensible star lives who danced in a circle and created a world from their fingertips. Rather they came from humans, who danced around a fire under a brilliant canopy of starlit blackness, who needed a reason for why the sun disappeared each day or why there was war or why they couldn't leave a body to decompose and be picked clean by animals, their bones dragged off. It was life that was incomprehensible. And so their creation merged with the creation they were given credit for, and each was the answer for the other.

They hadn't died with Alderaan. Leia finally had an answer to the question that had tormented her. It seemed so simple now, clear almost. As if she had taken a step forward and turned around to look behind her. They were here because she was here, and her ground troops that sang songs, and any other Alderaani who still needed them to explain what they couldn't themselves. Dr. Renzatl had said not to look for proof and it was Luke who helped her understand the answer came from within.

She didn't think she would ever come to an answer, whether her faith would remain intact or dissolve under the Death Star's laser. And for a while she had predicted one answer, suspected it really, but here now she was imagining Forgiveness emerging from that rubble she had described to Dr. Renzatl recently. Leia had dug herself out but the goddess climbed out by gripping Leia's outstretched hand. Was that not the embodiment of forgiveness?

She still thought a lot about it, because not everything fit neatly. Perhaps the queen who began the Recent Experiment was an evolution of civilization. She used to be a Warrior Queen- she came from a long line of them, hundreds of years of warfare- and decided to stop.

Leia was again a Warrior Queen. That had been an earlier question also answered. How to lead, what to do. She believed in it. There was hate in her, to be sure, and it surged whenever she had a memory of Tarkin. She was physically ill remembering Alderaan's last moments. She would exact revenge on Palpatine. She didn't know what she would do if she failed.

How to make it fit neatly? Everyone needed an answer: Leia, and her people and even the goddesses. When Chaos and Destruction swept through, it was Hearth and Creation who took root. Sometimes it took years before you could see them, such as seeds that could only sprout in fire. The same was for Forgiveness. One didn't see her effect until Vengeance left her mark.

She needed the forgiveness of her people. That's why she was at war. Vengeance was for the galaxy.

Alderaan had been such a vital planet. With the goddess's help all manner of life thrived, and this knowledge pained and awed her simultaneously, for she knew it from Hoth, which had a dull sameness. The people here were long progressed from those who had danced around a fire, wondering. And yet, though Hoth was very challenging, the kind of life the goddesses would want for their children was coming into being. Color and weaving, and games which used the snow. Friendship, community. Perhaps if there were more women, there would be families.

She didn't feel too differently from her ancestors, who didn't know and needed an explanation. She could tell them now not everything was magic: why there was snow, that the sun didn't really disappear. War had reasons but over the course of history they seemed trite but also inevitable, and that bothered her, because the loss of Alderaan was profound. She still asked why, just like her ancestors had, especially because of Alderaan. There had to be a reason.

It was Luke who helped her form the latest construct of her thinking, but he struggled just as hard with it. To him, the Force was magic, and he was having to readjust everything he knew to be able to fit himself in this world. His meager knowledge of the Force wasn't enough to explain the things he wondered about, not only why he was here, but why was he a moisture farmer. Why Tatooine, why Ben, why do that to his aunt and uncle. His belief in destiny agonized him, but he couldn't shake it.

The humans of Tatooine were not a religious culture. They spoke of the Maker and observed certain holidays, but Luke had never been indoctrinated in it except as a type of tradition. There weren't many humans settled on Tatooine, but there were a variety of sentient beings native and not, and the Maker coexisted with many other belief systems.

"Maybe they were all the Force," Luke posed to Leia. "Just with a different name."

They were sitting in Leia's office, their feet sharing a crate to keep them off the ice. Luke was finalizing a training schedule and Leia was poring over transcripts of Imperial transmissions the splicers had managed to intercept. A great deal of it was coordinates and acknowledgement of set courses. There was one series of messages between two admirals which was amusing, about the best restaurants in Kaas City.

"The purpose is all the same, isn't it, no matter what you call it?" Luke continued. "To explain the mystery of one's world. I think to ease the fear of death."

"Why are we here," Leia echoed her ancestors. "And because we are afraid to die?"

"Life's greatest unknown," Luke said thoughtfully. "But that can't be all. Can it? Because why the," he rolled his wrist in circles, "... everything."

Leia grinned at the difficulty he had in expressing himself. "Do you mean the structuring of society? There is a lot of life before death. Maybe that's why, so the transition is smooth. And maybe Death, whatever it is, wants it to occur naturally."

"You mean like old age?"

Leia was thinking of her mother. She had never learned the name of the illness that afflicted her. "And is it troublesome to Death that we cause things that don't allow that to happen?"

"Not all of it is our fault," Luke countered. "Pollution and speeder accidents, sure."

"War."

"But what about quakes? Famine?"

"True," Leia conceded, feeling like they'd only muddied the water. "Then the gods would have to take issue with themselves."

"Faulty construction," Luke joked, placing an ankle over his thigh. "You don't mind talking about it, do you?"

"No," she answered honestly. "We are not the first, are we."

"No." He danced his stylus between his fingers and regarded Leia a long moment. Then he broke eye contact and tried to concentrate on his work. Leia watched him wordlessly for a moment before returning to her own reading.

He described himself as a dreamer during his life on Tatooine, and he didn't call himself a deep thinker now because he was modest but that's what he was. Leia was fairly certain the change had occurred the moment of General Kenobi's death.

She was scrolling through a list of what she deemed scheduled propaganda, military shows of force on Imperial worlds, when Luke spoke again. It didn't seem he was getting much work done.

"I do believe in the Force. Because I've seen it. Have you? Do you have evidence of the goddesses?"

Leia lifted her weary eyes from the transcripts. She didn't mind his interruptions because her mind tended to drift while reading them, there were so many the same. "Evidence, but not like you think. The fact that there's weaving and thought bowls. What we say they gave us. Belief is evidence. I bet it's the same as with what you see as the Force. Because now you see it everywhere, don't you?"

"Yeah, that's true," Luke agreed soberly. "And I don't think I'm afraid to die. Before, I only know I didn't want to. Do you see the difference? So I see the point of belief. How do you feel about death?"

The databoard balanced on her lap as she moved her hands together. She'd asked herself that question often as well, and even spoke about it with Han. "Death is the answer."

Luke made a hesitant half-smile, unsure how to take her answer. "That's quite a feeling." Because of the difference in their backgrounds, he tended to defer to her as an authority. "That's the meaning of life, you die?"

She nodded simply. "Yes."

"You're serious," he observed. "But we were just talking about the, the structure. Societies. Everything beings have managed to accomplish isn't because of death."

Leia made an ambivalent movement with her head. His curiosity had the odd effect of removing any emotion she usually felt. By herself she trembled. "Among all those accomplishments is a large amount of time and a great concern for death."

"Yeah... I guess that's true. Is death a goddess on Alderaan? Is there a balance, and now there's more death than life so she's more powerful?"

She liked that since he believed in the Force he also believed in the goddesses, and it made him speak as if Alderaan still existed. It was very endearing.

"There are twelve goddesses," she answered him, "Each, when they interact with another, have some ability to create and destroy."

"So...," Luke was trying hard to make sense of what she said. "That large amount of time you mentioned: time is part of death?"

Leia shook her head apologetically and made a small smile toward Luke. "It's quite complex, really. I suppose even though I resist your idea of destiny, it is there, in our explanations. We are all stories. The first was Alderaan. All life is interwoven, and a story... well, yes; it runs out of time. It is described as cutting a thread from the loom."

"Interwoven," Luke repeated thoughtfully. "That sounds very much like how Ben described the Force to me. Then what is death?"

"As I said, a part of life."

"But did you say that."

Leia shrugged. "It's a physical thing. A body must be tended to." She was thinking of her mother again. "Accidents and death cause awful changes to a body. And it's up to the living to remove a body from the earth. So in that regard, death is separate and unknowable. But once the soul leaves the body, there is a final journey, and it is made- for me- with three goddesses."

"Then life goes on."

"We'd all like to think beyond the physical. You don't know how they say it happens with the Force, do you."

"No," Luke said, peering at her intently. "Although, did you see-" He trailed off.

"See what?"

"On the Death Star, how Ben-"

"I saw him fall." Leia saw Luke's memory was serious. His brow was furrowed. "We were a good distance from- from where it happened."

"Yeah. I saw him fall, too," Luke struggled, "but it was like..."

"Like what?"

Luke's mouth opened and closed. "If I were to describe what I saw and not what I know? I'd say I saw just his cloak fall. Flutter."

Leia didn't know what to make of that description. She stared at Luke, trying to remember. She knew her mouth was poised to shout a warning to Luke, who stood rooted to the spot behind a crowd of stormtroopers. Han moved behind her, and Vader's red blade impacted at General Kenobi's shoulder. That was all her memory gave her. Maybe Luke did really see the Force.

She didn't know how to respond, so she continued about the passage of death. "Anyway, once the soul leaves the living are relieved."

"And the dead get the answer."

"Yes," Leia was sad, for it didn't make sense, to keep life separated from death. But then, if all held that knowledge, would there be a need for the loom? For song? Would life lose its beauty, and did death have its own?

"That's nice for them."

"You're going to have to wait, Luke."

He laughed lightly and stretched his arms overhead. "I will. But I can't wait to get the answer."

He had heard Ben's voice after his death, Leia recalled. The answer was already within him. She envied him a bit. The idea of the Force was new to him and had so few followers at this time, but nevertheless his faith was more complete.

"I can."

"You can? Does that mean you're... I don't want to say afraid..."

"There's always death. And I've seen so much. It's the last answer we'll ever get." She had spent the first days after Alderaan's destruction looking for her father and writing names, demanding death speak to her, and the silence had been terrifying.

"That we know of," Luke pointed out.

"Possibly," Leia granted. "When I was on the Death Star, awaiting execution... Alderaan was gone and I felt my spirit detach from my life. I was close to death, but not by the Imperials. And then I was returned."

"By Han and me," Luke said brightly.

"I feel like there is so much yet to do."

"Yeah," Luke nodded, lost in thought. "I think Ben knew he was going to die."

"Really?"

"It wasn't the mission you gave him in your message, though he did tell me he was too old for that kind of stuff. I think he figured it out on the Death Star. Maybe the Force told him. Somehow."

"Then he was brave."

"Yeah, if the Force whispered at me, say your goodbyes, I'd still not want to. I'd still try not to die."

"You don't think he did?"

"He lowered his light saber."

"Did he say his goodbyes?" Leia was interested, though she continued to sift through the numerous messages. The patterning of the transcript made it easy to identify which ones she didn't really need to read.

"Not really." Luke's wide eyes and quirk of lips showed his disapproval. "Kept it to himself. Told us he had to go alone."

"But then you wouldn't have let him, would you. And if he knew, and he accepted that, then he needed to keep you safe," Leia soothed his bitterness.

"But-"

"You would argue with his destiny?"

Luke slumped back against his seat. "Oh, throw that in my face," and Leia laughed.

"You need to decide, Luke. If there is such a thing as destiny you can't fight it. So, is there, and should you stop fighting?"

"What if," Luke narrowed his eyes at Leia, mocking himself, "fighting is my destiny."

She smiled and threw up her hands. "I give up," she laughed.

They returned to their respective file work. Leia's tea brought from the mess had grown cold but she was used to it. Luke asked her for advice on what to do about Hobbie and Janson, as an intense rivalry had developed between them and was ruining their flight partnership. He gave her examples and she asked questions, all the while scrolling through the transcripts. She was reading a fairly lengthy one about meeting a shipment. It wasn't as interesting as good restaurant recommendations, but the transcript field had at least four participants, and that stood out to her.

"It's so quiet down here," Luke said. "Can I bring my cot and sleep here?"

Leia scoffed. "What little heat there is only happens during office hours." She read, Pay off the gangs to stay away.

"Oh, that's too bad. Had any epic dreams lately?"

"No." She shook her head. "You?" Just a matter of time until we have them now.

"No, I'm sleeping better. It's amazing what one extra layer of clothes will do."

"Yes." The only problem I foresee is we'll never hear the end of it from the Hutt syndicate.

"What if I make Janson Hobbie's gunner? Think that will work?"

"I don't know." Leia dropped her feet from the crate. "Luke. Read this."

Luke leaned far to the left to be able to read her screen. She could see his eyes moving rapidly side to side. When he was finished, he met her own. "Ord Mantell," he said.

She shook her databoard at him. "They talk about meeting a shipment."

"When? Is there a date?"

Leia scrolled back. "Yesterday."

"What else do they say?"

Leia's lips parted and then tightened. "They mention paying gangs-"

"There's gangs?"

"Yes, by the loading docks. Han told me about it when I went. They extort the warehouses."

"Since when don't they use sheer force? Why pay them?"

"They're keeping it quiet."

"For a surprise."

Leia nodded, going back to the beginning of the transcript. "And it mentions how they may have had a helping hand from the Hutts."

"The Hutts! What shipment, do you know?"

Leia's stomach sank. "If this means what I think...there's a barge coming, bringing speeder parts."

"Can we warn Han?"

"Would he get it," Leia asked, frustrated. "He's landed, but he knows not to contact us."

"Yeah. When's the barge due in?"

"I don't know. Rieekan would. I think he told me it would delay Han. It was arranged through Shino-ak, Luke."

"Shit, we're in trouble, aren't we. And Han on his own up there."

Leia stood. "I need to bring this to the General."

Luke stood too. "I can take my X-wing. R2 and I will be there as soon as we can."

"It's a few days, Luke. It'll all be over by then."

"Well, what else are we going to do?" He followed her out of her office. Leia barely heard Luke, the destiny fighter, who kept talking, if Han part of every sentence. Her chest was full from not taking enough breaths and she wanted to be like him, to be thinking of Han, and she wondered if there was something wrong with her. If it wasn't Han then it was everyone else. And a part of her knew too that Luke had told her he stopped the what ifs but he hadn't really; only the ones in the past. That steadied her path a bit as she grimly made her way to the Command Center. Rieekan would bring them to their next steps, as he knew more than either she or Luke did, so this was all that could be done for the moment.

General Rieekan saw by her face she had something and quietly left his desk and waited for them to join him in a briefing room. His face displayed tension.

"What is it?" he asked grimly.

He expected the worst, Leia saw; he expected the Empire here and soon, and she hoped he wouldn't be relieved that it was only their contract smuggler on the docks by himself. She waited while he read the transcript. Luke was reading over the General's shoulder.

When he was through, Rieekan rubbed his palm over mouth and jaw. "Ord Mantell," he said finally. "This is a fine kettle of nightmares."

"Sir," Luke seated himself before Rieekan, his posture eager and forward, but Leia touched his elbow. Luke became a hero on the Death Star for just such behavior, but this was a very different situation.

"Obviously, there are several issues to prioritize," Leia began.

"But what about Han," Luke sputtered.

She hated to do it. Destiny, Leia thought at Luke. He couldn't have heard her, but there must have been something in her eyes. He closed his mouth. She turned back to General Rieekan. "First, Shino-ak. Their communications have been intercepted."

"There could be a traitor," Luke half stood.

"Son," Rieekan almost snapped. "I can't have you getting carried away with each sentence Her Highness speaks."

Luke slowly lowered himself back in his seat. "Yes, sir."

"It is a possibility," Leia acknowledged. "Or, the Empire might only have gotten lucky with their own hacking attempts, just as we got lucky now."

Luke muttered, "You call that lucky."

"If we didn't have this, Luke, it would be over before we knew about it. Yes, lucky." To Rieekan, she continued. "Shino-ak will have to make that determination. Unfortunately for us, the Empire happened to tap in for the arrangement of parts to be shipped to Ord Mantell. That brings the security of Echo Base into consideration."

"Yes," Rieekan agreed. "The use of Ord Mantell as our supplies location."

"Precisely," Leia nodded. "What we know is that some entity of the Empire plans on intercepting the barge there. If they succeed, they will have the parts, they will have the warehouse-"

"Which should tell them nothing, really. Wampa food."

"Wampa food tells them the parts are going to a suspected rebel base where it is dreadfully cold."

"Good goddesses."

"Then it's just a matter of time," Luke exclaimed.

The Imperials thought the same thing. The irony was not lost on Leia. "They will doubtless impound the freighter docked on the warehouse roof and arrest her crew."

"Who could also be made to tell them where our location is."

Luke could no longer contain himself. "It's Han and Chewie and the Falcon. Kriff, use their names! Leia, how could-"

Leia had to keep ignoring Luke, though it cost her something. She included one more piece of information in case Rieekan missed it. "The transcript is dated yesterday. We have a chance. If the barge hasn't arrived-"

"I've waited months for those damn parts. I can wait some more." Rieekan had formed his priorities. "Shino-ak is a big problem. That we may suffer by their mistake is worrying. If it leads to the Empire attacking both bases the Force help us all. But I can't let the Empire get to that warehouse or that freighter or her crew. Gods, if they download nav'puter settings-"

"I think Han deletes it," Luke said.

"There's a way," Rieekan said. "There's always a way." He thought a moment. "Stay here. I'll contact Shino-ak. I have an emergency code they'll open immediately. We'll find out how close that barge is. And I'll find what cels are nearby, anyone that can get to Ord Mantell quickly and alert Captain Solo."

"Sir, I want to go. I will go. Leia says I may be too late but I've got to do it." Luke was composed now, Leia observed. Serene, almost. No longer jumping from thought to thought, he had settled into a quiet determination that was quite regal in its own way.

"We'll see, son." There was a gleam in Rieekan's eye. "If there's a way we can make their happy surprise ours, I may need more than you. Stay here."

Luke paced in the ensuing silence. Leia squeezed her clasped hands so hard she felt her bones. She read through more of the transcripts, in case there was something she missed. "I need the coordinates for Ord Mantell," she spoke at one point. "In case they are mentioned elsewhere."

"Dak is in the flights office," Luke said, and brought out his comm.

Leia watched him speak. "I'm surprised you didn't run there yourself."

He gave her a reluctant smile. "I'm trying to stay calm. I figure a comm will get to the 'puter faster than I will. But you realize I could have made the jump by now. How are you so calm?"

"I don't know that I am. I'm trying to surround myself with information."

"You sound like a princess."

"And you sound almost accusatory."

"No," Luke sounded torn. "I'm struck again that it's similar to what Ben would tell me. Let my eyes tell me something where vision is obstructing." He looked at her with some suspicion. "He took your mission. I wonder what he saw."

Leia lifted her chin. She could see where this was going.

"Only hope," Luke quoted. "You didn't mention the plans. You didn't say anything about something like a Death Star."

"Of course I couldn't." Leia was irritated. "I mentioned our darkest hour."

"But not yours. You're going to let Han go, aren't you? Same as you let yourself go?"

Leia jumped to her feet, and she could feel her legs trembling. "If you respect General Kenobi as much as you say you do, then I suggest you do as he says. And not on the back of a tauntaun," she said scornfully.

Luke clamped his jaw and glared at her. He flung himself into a chair and brooded. "I don't see you thinking about Han, is all."

"Of course I am," she snapped.

Luke stared daggers at the wall and then slapped the arm of the chair. "Arg, I feel like I've done this before! It's the same as when I tried to convince Han about you on the Death Star. I'm so agitated I want to climb the walls."

"It was easier to get to me then, wasn't it?" Leia's tone was icy. "I was a few doors away."

Luke sighed heavily. "It was so clear to me, what we had to do. Like this is, now. Do you see what I mean about destiny? I didn't know you then, so I wasn't acting out of friendship like you think I am now."

"Han said you wanted to be the hero. That you were taken with me."

Luke opened his mouth. "That's Han talking. He was hard to convince."

Leia kept her eyes on the databoard. "Stubborn as he is, he's easier to convince than a whole military."

"You have to make a choice."

"Yes! One man over the future of the Alliance! One man over hundreds!"

"Or one person's happiness over the galaxy's? A whole galaxy can never be happy, Leia. Not all at once. And do you remember the Alliance let you go, too."

"Because I let me go. That was understood, Luke." She stretched her arm out of the seat, trying to get him to see. "And what you are doing is trying to make Han your destiny. You can't have everyone's. Let him have his own as I have mine."

He turned his back to her but she felt he finally heard her. He walked around the room a few times, and Leia dropped all pretense of looking at her databoard. She watched him.

"Oh, here's Dak finally." He dictated the coordinates to her and resumed his pacing.

He was facing a wall when he spoke next, but he sounded contrite. "What do you think General Rieekan has in mind?"

"I couldn't say."

"Sounds like a battle." He turned back toward her.

Leia gazed at the opposite wall. "It's possible," she conceded.

"I want it. If we could-"

"Sit down over there and meditate, will you, Luke?" Leia said.

He was a bit taken aback at her exasperation but did as he was told. He looked sullen though, so Leia wasn't sure about the meditating.

"No other mentions," she informed him as a way of apology after the crosscheck was complete. "Which helps us pinpoint when they hacked us."

Luke nodded. "What if we comm Han anyway?"

"We shouldn't," Leia warned. "Certainly not without General Rieekan's knowledge. You need to understand making yourself feel better might make it worse for him."

"I'm only thinking of him," Luke stated.

"Think of him in a way that doesn't make you feel better."

"And how are you thinking?"

"Of him, and I feel very worried."

That seemed to appease Luke. "The way you were talking... What if Rieekan says nothing doing?"

"I don't think he will." Luke was about to challenge her to ask what else she would have done, and she stopped him. "There's no point in wondering when it doesn't matter, is there?" She sighed and shook her head. "You emphasize destiny, Luke. For me, it's... I've just lost too much."

Luke hung his head. "Yeah. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pushed. I have a hard time waiting for things."

She gave him a wry look. "I hadn't noticed."

They waited longer than an hour for Rieekan to return. Luke jumped up as soon as the door opened.

The color of Rieekan's face was better, and his eyes no longer held the dread. "The barge has been halted," he announced. "It was two days away. Debuted a new encryption code, so the Empire shouldn't get the new order."

Both Luke and Leia sagged in relief.

"We're sending out another happy accident, easy to hack, and if they miss it I'll personally send a letter to the Emperor recommending their dismissal. The phony dispatch will announce arrival clearance of the barge, three days from now. And we're going to go." He grinned at them. "Rogue squadron, and you, Your Highness, if you'd care to see some action with your troops on Ord Mantell."

Luke pumped his fist and hissed, "Yes!" to himself.

Rieekan was looking at Leia. "I figured you'd want a hand in this."

She was both nervous and sure. "I do."

He nodded. "This is hard," he said. "I don't think any mortal wants notice of when a string is cut from the loom. What would we have done, if we knew Alderaan's doom? If her end was written as her beginning? We'd make no descendants and we would leave. And Alderaan would die anyway, only unloved."

Luke had a strange expression on his face looking at Rieekan, and then his eyes swung over to Leia's.

"Get to it," Rieekan ordered. "Transport One has been given clearance. Good luck."

Luke and Leia left as quickly as they had arrived, but side by side and talking over the other. The talk was strategy rather than hypothesis, and it smoothed the tension between them.

"I can't believe Rieekan said that," Luke said breathlessly. "Like the Force was listening to us."

Destiny might be set, Leia knew he understood, but the way it unfolded could vary.