Leia entered her quarters and when the door slid shut behind her she just stood there a moment. It was quiet of course; her status as a member of High Command provided her with a single. "Solitary confinement, you mean," Luke had said. Luke, who had a bunch of roommates and just as many friends. She had prized her solitude but tonight it felt different. Empty.
Her quarters were new- the whole of Echo Base was- and white, just as all of Hoth, a snow-covered planet. The path she tread in and out of the room had turned the snow floor gray, like she was some kind of pollution. No personal effects. She had nothing to put out: no holopics, no mementos, no splash of color.
She finally moved; walked the ten steps between door to 'fresher, where at least there were some signs of occupation. A hairbrush and some pins on the counter, a can of odor neutralizer. She stared at her image in the tiny reflector. Even against her skin her brown hair was richly dark, darker than she remembered. She unzipped her vest jacket and the cold took advantage, like an invader breaking down a defensive wall.
It was a mistake, she realized, to not cast out her net. This room wasn't all that different than her cell on the Death Star, only she was the one to toss herself in this time.
She removed more hair pins and braids fell down over her shoulders. Five today: four thin ones framed the sides of her face and the last was centered at the back of her head. Her fingers worked deftly, without aid of her eyes in the reflector, and she was remembering the little terrarium she had made for the roll beetles when she was a little girl. She had a box filled with dirt, and some sticks and leaves, even though she had no idea what the little insects ate. They were shy, she had told her mother, all curled up in a ball with their armored shell protecting them, and they needed a friend. She must have put half a dozen in the box, and she spent a long time watching and prodding them and singing to them, but nothing she did could convince them to unroll themselves.
Poor little roll beetles, she thought now.
She used the sonic over her teeth and face and stripped down to her thermals but left her boots on so she could dash to the cot with her feet protected. She left the 'fresher light on. She liked a little light, and no one had said the bulbs they used generated heat and threatened to melt the snow.
The best part of Echo Base was the blankets. Each personnel was issued two. One for the cot and a smaller one for dress. They were filled with down, and thick and formless and heavenly. Leia snuggled under the large one, drawing it over her ear as she lay on her side staring at the glow of light from the 'fresher.
She couldn't sleep. She had made it so there was nothing to think about. The beetles were a luxury. Probably because Luke and Han were off planet. She was trying to decide which of them were the beetles and who was doing the singing when her comm chimed.
She sat upright and swung the blanket off. There was no reason for her comm to go off, so that meant there was a reason. Shivering in the half-dark room, she knew she needed her boots and knew it took six chimes before the connection cut off, leaving only a call number.
Leia dashed out of bed and ran to the 'fresher in socked feet. She grabbed the comm off the counter and knocked her snow pants to the floor. She ran back on her toes, her thumb jabbing at the call activation button while in motion but she missed. She jumped back onto the bed, and on the fourth chime took a composing breath.
"Organa," she answered before the fifth.
"Hey."
With a breath of relief, Leia recognized the voice. "Han," she exhaled into the comm, gathering the smaller blanket to her neck.
"You sound glad to hear from me."
He was smug, as usual. Leia knew what expression his face wore, even though she couldn't see him. The smile, mischievous and knowing, was in his eyes, overflowing to his mouth just a little.
He and Luke had been gone three days. They weren't to report so the lack of contact shouldn't have bothered her, but it did.
"I am glad." Usually she would have told him he was imagining things, but he was far away and she just wanted to thank him. "I was worried. I thought Luke would be better- that I would hear from him."
"Yeah, he's off doing his thing. Thought I should check in." His voice was quiet. Intimate, almost.
"I appreciate it, I do." Leia settled in for a talk, sitting cross-legged on the mattress and spreading the large blanket over her knees. She leaned back against the thin pillow, the smaller blanket over her shoulders. She was shivering, but not from the cold. "How's it going?"
"As I said, he's doing his thing," Han said. "Says he's learning." He waited for Leia to laugh. "And I'm hanging around."
"It was good of General Rieekan to let Luke check that lead out," Leia said. She and Han had had this conversation before but it was better to feel bad about repeating it than nervous.
Luke had come across some information while on a patrol mission; vague talk about a mysterious people located on the moon of the planet he was investigating. He was convinced it had something to do with the Force and upon his return had asked General Rieekan for permission to take the X-Wing and travel back.
"Not in the X-Wing," Rieekan had answered. "And not alone." The Alliance knew of Jedi Master Kenobi's tutelage of Luke before he was killed on the Death Star, and decided that lending Luke their assistance on his path to becoming a Jedi was in both their interests.
"Yeah," Han agreed. "If you ask me, I don't think it's gonna pan out."
"You don't?"
"If they're not already dead, the Jedi have covered their tracks too well. Like Kenobi, practically living next door to Luke all those years and not sayin' a word."
"Well-" Leia had thought the same thing. There were gaps, no question, but for Luke's sake she wanted to believe he would find some direction. "What has he found?"
"Nothing. Yet. It's his new favorite word. He goes marching out each morning."
"And you're hanging around. Has he marched out already?"
"Yeah, been gone a while."
"Is it safe?"
"The moon is dead," Han declared. "He carries oxygen and the grav gives him a nice spring to his step."
Leia smiled. "What time is it there?"
"It's late afternoon. Figured it was night by you. You should be asleep."
"Then you shouldn't have called."
"Knew you wouldn't be asleep." Han was frank, and Leia detected an underlying reprimand in his tone.
She couldn't argue it. "I suppose you're calling for a distraction," she observed.
Intimacy returned. "Something like that."
They were silent so long that Leia was about to end the comm call by thanking him, but then he spoke.
"Need some?" he asked.
Leia had to think what, and then made the connection. "Distraction?" She looked around her cold quarters, larger than a closet but not by much. She shook her head, knowing he wouldn't see her smile. "Sure, why not."
"Ask me what I'm wearing."
Her head retreated and bumped the thin pillow. He still surprised her, and she didn't want him to. "Captain," she began. "That's not wh-"
"Just a harmless question, Princess." This time his voice was ungoading, innocent.
Leia put her fingertips to her forehead. She knew she was going to, despite her better judgment. It wasn't flirtation. It was- weird friendship. "Fine. What are you wearing."
He smiled again. She couldn't see, and he made no noise, but she knew it. "Head to toe. My shirt, the one you like. Creamy yellow with the too-short long sleeves. Got the blue pants on today. Boots. Holster."
"Red bloodstripe?"
"That's the one, sweetheart."
"I'm not your sweetheart. You're not wearing your vest?"
"Ah, you noticed!" He was triumphant, as if he had fulfilled the reason for his call. "It's hanging around, like me. Slung over the back of my seat. It's wearing-" he broke off a short time, and Leia heard things jangle. "- there's a hyrdospanner in one pocket, a blaster charge in another, lessee... a fuser and opera 'noculars."
"Well prepared, as always," Leia observed. It was possible she had stooped to flirting. "Are you going to the theater?"
"No. But they're small. Perfect size for carrying. I don't know why more don't carry 'em. They come in handy. These ones are nice. White enamel."
She had to end the call soon. She should be asleep. He was making her... awake. "Why was I supposed to ask that?"
"So you'd learn something about me."
"I've certainly learned something about you today, Captain. You're clad."
"I aim to please."
"I'm wearing my thermals."
"Well, damn."
Leia smiled. She liked it when she surprised him.
"It's yesterday already, where you are," she informed him. "But I was up. Worrying about Luke. And you."
"Thermals, huh? If I grab the kid and leave, think we'll catch you in 'em?" The mouth would be smiling now, she knew; the eyes would hold something else, like a loneliness.
She made sure he could hear her smile. "You wouldn't be fast enough. Not even in the Falcon."
"Never am, not for you."
Their laughter was quiet and together, followed by a pause.
Han said, "I'll tell the kid to check in."
"I'd appreciate that. Thank you, Han."
"Goodnight, Princess."