Perron led them across the campus towards one of the larger buildings and, looking around the grounds, Luke decided that anything that stood still longer than ten minutes would be in acute danger of being overgrown. Everything, even the lawn seats, had something growing up or over it. Testimony to such a fertile climate.
There were a variety of humans and otherwise out enjoying the late-morning sunshine. Some studying, others conversing in groups. One group was having a very heated and excited debate about something. But none of them gave Perron's little group a second glance. The Wookiee, yes, but not the humans with him. Luke guessed they looked pretty typical for a returning field-study group. He smiled and took a deep breath, wallowing in the university atmosphere.
"I always imagined the Academy would be something like this," he said to the princess walking beside him.
She smiled, regarding him, "Did you ever want to go to university?"
Luke shook his head, "No, just the Academy." He looked at her. She seemed to be enjoying the walk as much as he was. "How about you?"
"I..." Leia looked away, remembering how she'd felt when a lot of her peers had gone to university and how much they'd enjoyed it. And how jealous she'd been. "It was never an option."
"Because of who you were?" Leia nodded and Luke pressed, "What would you have done? If you could have gone?"
Leia looked at him sheepishly and admitted, "If I could have gone, I would have gone to the Academy."
Luke was surprised. "Really?"
Leia nodded and Luke found himself assaulted by a host of alternate possibilities that their lives might have taken… If things had been different.
"I always loved flying," she said distantly, her attention caught by a nearby couple who were kissing intently.
Luke's attention was caught by a fracas from one of the nearby buildings. They could hear things smashing and lots of yelling in a variety of languages.
"What's that?" he asked, frowning at the building.
"The Jedi house," Solo quipped, then grinned appreciatively at the Wookiee who chortled at his comment.
Perron scowled and waved his hand dismissively. "Happens on every campus," he said. "Don't ask me why. Most sentient beings come to university to learn. That lot see it as an excuse to run riot."
They watched as two young men fled the building under a hail of alcohol containers in various states of depletion. The two men were half-naked and laughing hysterically.
Luke shot Solo a sour look, which only seemed to amuse the Corellian more, then he asked Perron, "Why?"
"It's called enjoying yourself," Solo answered, chuckling, then rolled his eyes meaningfully at Chewbacca before looking back at them and adding, "But none of you would know anything about that."
Leia couldn't help herself. "Yes," she agreed condescendingly, "I could see you fitting in very well with that sort of crowd."
Solo eyed her smugly, happy to have got a bite. "We had a name for your kind too, Sweetheart."
"Particularly unimaginative, I'll bet."
Solo turned and faced her, hip-hitched. "You know, I almost wish we could have gone through the Academy together. I really would have enjoyed taking you down a peg or two."
"Not to mention shagging her senseless," Perron muttered under his breath. They all looked at him, shocked, and he looked at Chewbacca and asked, "Do they always fight like this?" The Wookiee nodded emphatically, highly amused, and Perron added snidely, "Must be love."
He set off again and Solo hurried after him. "Listen, Dad," he said indignantly. "I don't care what you-"
Perron rounded on him and snapped, "Are you involved with her?"
"No!" Solo replied hotly.
"Are you?" Perron demanded of Luke, who shook his head. Perron waved his hands at both of them. "Why not?"
Affronted, Leia stammered, "Professor-!"
"Look at her!" Perron berated them. "Are you blind?!"
It was a backhanded compliment and Leia was struggling to figure out a way to chastise him for it. "Professor…" she started.
Solo was working up some sort of denial when Perron paused and regarded both men through narrowed eyes. "You're not involved with each other, are you?"
Leia hooted with mirth while Solo rolled his eyes at his father, "Dad!"
Chewbacca was laughing too, and Luke regarded the professor with a vaguely befuddled smile.
"I've found it safest never to assume these things," Perron said, continuing across the lawn to the entrance of the Medical Centre.
Leia was still chortling and Solo gave her a gentle shove. "Alright, alright, you've had your laughs."
Luke, on the other hand, was fast deciding that Perron was right. Leia was gorgeous and he and Solo were insane. And it wasn't that he couldn't see it. He'd always been able to see it. So why hadn't he done anything about it? Sure, Leia didn't encourage him, but she didn't encourage Solo either and the Corellian flirted with her every chance he could.
The Spice-dream he'd had the night before came back to haunt him and he looked at Solo, laughing with and teasing the princess. And, for the first time in his life, felt pure, unadulterated envy.
Perron pointed to the western end of the building as they caught up. "There's a big spa facility there. Caters for all types," he said, glancing at the Wookiee. "Go feed yourselves into an autovalet. Her Ladyship and I will meet you in the student dining hall in an hour."
Leia looked at him sharply and wondered sourly if she was going to have to put up with both Solos giving her sarcastic titles.
Perron refused to meet her gaze and added as an afterthought, "And try to come out looking like students."
Chewie was rumbling pleasantly in anticipation of food and Solo herded him away. Luke gave Leia's uninjured hand a reassuring squeeze and followed them.
Without another word, Perron turned and walked into the building. Leia steamed briefly then looked at her bandaged hand and knew she had no choice but to follow him. He was as petulant and childish as his son, and she was determined to get her own back by letting him know how alike they were. But, for the present, she followed him through the maze of corridors in silence. Students dribbled past, paying them no heed.
As they neared their destination, Perron murmured to her in a low voice, "Your name is Nerila Otat-Ris. You have been injured during a field-study excursion. And I will do the talking."
Leia nodded and followed him into the campus medcentre. There were three people sitting in the waiting area, all of whom stared at her and the professor. A young, female receptionist eyed them distastefully until she recognised Perron and looked openly surprised.
"Professor Solo, they found you?"
"I need to see Obel Tevorac immediately," Perron snapped.
"I'm sorry, sir; he's with someone."
The young woman's eyes were darting furtively back and forth between Perron and Leia, trying to fathom their relationship. Perron glowered at her and she visibly quailed.
"I don't care if he's with the Emperor himself!" he growled succinctly. "I have a student here with kibrivask poisoning who may well drop dead at any moment!"
The woman's eyes flashed over Leia, paused on her bandaged hand, then back to Perron.
"I'll tell him you're here, sir. Go through to Surgery Four."
Perron inclined his head melodramatically. "Thankyou."
He had started to lead Leia away when the woman stopped them, "Oh, wait," she pointed at Leia, "I need your ID"
Perron sighed irritably, "I'm sorry, we don't have her ID"
Now it was the woman's turn to look peeved, "Well, I'm sorry," she shook her head, "I can't-"
Perron gave her a withering look, "I will fill out the necessary forms-"
"But I need her ID" she insisted.
"Her ID is in the belly of a lazech!" he bellowed. "Maybe you'd care to fetch it?"
He turned and stalked away, dragging Leia with him and loudly muttering about bureaucracy.
As they walked into the nominated surgery, Leia ventured quietly, "What are you going to-"
Perron silenced her with a look and directed her to a chair on the far side of the room. It faced a wall, surrounded by equipment that looked very similar to the variety in the professor's hut. Leia sat, feeling vaguely nervous for the first time, and stared at her bandaged hand.
A moment later a man burst in, bristling with irritation and curiosity. Of average height and painfully thin, Leia decided he was the sort of man who would forget to eat.
"Solo?" he demanded, "What's this rubbish about kibrivask?"
Perron indicated Leia, "Poisoned yesterday."
Obel Tevorac eyed her clinically for a moment then asked, "Why isn't she dead?"
Perron smiled amiably, "I was hoping you'd be able to tell me."
Oh, well done, Professor, Leia thought. Get on his good side by making him feel needed.
"Genetic?" Tevorac suggested.
"Possibly."
Tevorac hustled around to her chair and sat opposite, pressing a panel on the wall that promptly slid out between them, creating a small work table. "You gave her the antidote of course?" he said to Perron and rapped soundly on the panel, indicating to Leia that he wanted her hand there. She obliged, wondering why she felt so reluctant all of a sudden. Perron grunted affirmatively, nodding, and Tevorac pulled on a macrovisor.
He carefully removed the bandage and Leia was shocked at the state of her naked hand. It was white where the bandage had been, and the wound itself had not been cleaned. Dirt stood out sharply against the pallid skin and the wound was encrusted with dry blood and obviously infected. It smelled, ached terribly, and it was with some surprise and a little disappointment that she realised the nintwine was no longer in her system.
Leia started to move her fingers in an attempt to flex her hand and relieve some of the discomfort, but Tevorac had a vice-like grip on her arm in a flash.
"Don't move," he snapped, and Leia froze. Without looking away, he pulled an instrument from the wall and moved it over her hand, directing light into the wound. "How did this happen?" he asked.
Leia looked at Perron who answered matter of factly, "We had a run in with a lazech. Threw her into a patch of vines." Tevorac's eyes appeared over his visor to look at Perron, who nodded, "Yes, yes; a few broken bones, but I fixed all that."
Tevorac returned to his scrutiny of her hand. "You won't mind if I scan her afterwards?"
Perron obviously wasn't pleased, but nodded acquiescence nonetheless.
Tevorac put away the light, removed his visor and reported, "Remarkably, there is only one capsule with a very small tear. The poison is being released extremely slowly which, I'd surmise to say, is probably why she's still alive."
Perron nodded and Tevorac turned away while he reached for something. "Do you want a shield?" he mumbled.
Leia looked at Perron, uncertain to whom Tevorac had been speaking.
"Do you want to watch?" Perron translated quietly.
Leia immediately looked back at her hand and said, "Thankyou, I'll watch."
Tevorac didn't even acknowledge her as he attached an instrument to the appropriate nerve, numbing her hand.
Leia attempted to force herself to relax, and a hand on her shoulder made her look at the bearded professor. He smiled reassuringly and Leia guessed she was fooling no one; she was more than a little nervous and the Imperial medic was putting her on edge.
Tevorac was arming himself with a variety of tools, finally pulling from a wall socket a shockingly familiar device. Momentarily transported back to her cell on the Death Star, Leia flinched.
"Don't move!" he snapped, and Leia apologised, struggling to control her instinctive response, then noticed he was looking at her, really looking at her for the first time.
Leia looked back at her hand, unwilling to meet his gaze. His attitude... His demeanour... The intricate tool was not the only thing reminding her of Vader's gentle persuasions and it horrified her to think that her life was in the hands of some second rate torturer. The hand on her shoulder tightened just perceptibly and she mentally clung to it, grateful beyond words.
Tevorac put his visor back on and was about to look down at her hand when he froze and seemingly stared at her chest. Unable to see his eyes, Leia took it at face value and was hotly insulted. Just the thought of an Imperial leering at her... It gave her back the confidence that had been so seriously shaken a moment before.
Perron had a very good idea what the sharp-eyed surgeon had spotted and hoped he would have the good sense not to say anything in her presence.
Tevorac put his head down and started seriously working on her hand, while Leia watched with detached fascination as he dug for something only he could see. Shortly, he removed a small lump of bloody tissue to the dish beside her hand, and relaxed visibly.
"The capsule is out," he muttered, engrossed with her hand once more. He probed a little longer, making sure there were no more poison capsules, then finally set about cleaning her hand and sealing the wound.
"Try not to stress it for a few days," he said, gluing a thin strip of synth-flesh into place. "It may hurt for a little while but you should have full use of it within a week." He made a few finishing touches then detached the instrument affecting the nerve in her wrist and feeling flooded back into her hand. He removed his visor and looked at her, "You're very lucky, you know."
"I know," Leia replied thickly, managing to avoid eye contact by watching her hand as she flexed it experimentally.
Tevorac took the small dish containing the sample to the scanner beside his desk and entered it. A moment later the image came up on the monitor. He pointed, "There's the offender. Can you see?"
Leia thought she could and nodded, but remained where she was, not wanting to get any closer to the medic than she had to. Perron, on the other hand, moved in closer, fascinated.
"Definitely kibrivask," Tevorac said.
"I think I'd know kibrivask when I see it," Perron snapped.
Tevorac nodded placatingly, "Of course. But her survival?"
"Is remarkable for a human, yes, but not unique. You wanted to scan her I believe?"
"Mmm." The thin man turned to Leia and waved a hand at the large scanner. "Get in, get in."
Leia got a reluctant nod from Perron and moved across to the bed. Tevorac activated his terminal and the scanner closed around her.
The moment it closed, but without taking his eyes off the bio-displays rolling up the screen, Tevorac demanded, "Who is she, Perron?"
"A student," Perron answered simply.
"What's her name?" he growled, moving one hand to another terminal.
"Nerila Otat-Ris -"
"Is missing, presumed dead," Tevorac read as the information scrolled up.
"Yes, I know; I found her in-"
Tevorac gave him a hard look, "Don't lie to me, Solo." He pointed accusingly at the scanner. "That girl has been through Imperial Interrogation. Believe me, I know the signs. Besides," he added quickly as Perron opened his mouth to dispute, "according to her genetic pattern, Otat-Ris was dark-skinned."
Perron shut his mouth.
"And what was all the Kivvidan markings?" he demanded.
"They... think she's a god," Perron admitted.
"Why?"
"I have no idea."