Luke and Leia stood in the center of the city square, next to the fountain, and watched the large crowd of people milling about. Leia glanced at her chrono.
"He'll be here." Luke guessed she was thinking about Han's whereabouts. "What did he say he needed to do?"
"Errands." Leia's tone of voice made it sound as if that were a bad thing.
"Hmm," Luke said. They had landed only a few hours ago. And they had everything they needed: food, charging packs, fake documents. Knowing Han, Leia probably did have a right to be suspicious of Han's motives. But there was nothing wrong with stretching one's legs, either. "He's not generally tardy, you know."
"But if he shows up with large quantities of black market chronos..."
Luke laughed. He positioned himself facing another direction, and enjoyed the view. "It's a beautiful city," he told Leia.
She nodded curtly, and offered in a monotone, like reciting. "Theeds has a rich and elegant history."
Cities were hard for Leia. Everything should be hard, Luke thought. Every step she took probably reminded her she'd never set on Alderaan's soil again, every sky taunted her with the one she'd never know again, but she took it out especially on cities. It wasn't their fault, though, so Luke looked around, at the domes and the statues and the entrance stairways that brought one to high off the sea level. It seemed a popular place for artists, who had set up easels and were brushing paint on a thick flimsy.
"Giants could fit in these buildings," he said. "Were Naboo- is it ites? ians? Naboos?"
"Just Naboo."
"Oh. Were they taller when these buildings were first around?"
Leia sighed at him. "I don't think so, Luke." And then her impatience erupted a bit. "What kind of errands would he need to do? We just got here."
Luke wanted to sigh at Leia but he refrained. "Maybe he knows someone here."
Lumped in with cities was some unfair notion about Han, but Luke hadn't figured it out yet. Maybe it was his history of being places.
Leia sighed again. "He just doesn't need to."
Luke bobbed his head as the sensation of disagreement came over him. He'd wanted to join Han this morning, but Leia had called Luke back to go over the mission briefing again, so he stayed with her. He didn't have a notion of Han. He didn't of Leia either, but right now errands sounded fun.
"I wish I had joined the Alliance like him," he stated.
"He hasn't, Luke," Leia reminded him acidly.
"Yeah." One shoulder shrugged, and now that it was out, he dared meet her eyes. "He's here though. All the time. But he's the master of himself, you know?"
"He can go out for errands while you have to work," Leia concluded.
"It's a beautiful city," Luke repeated.
"You're envious and you'd last ten minutes on your own."
"Yeah." Luke smiled. "I'd try to save the galaxy all by myself. He does errands. There he is." Luke jutted his chin toward the crowd and Leia turned in that direction.
"What's he got?" Leia asked, squinting into the distance. "That is him, isn't it?"
"It's a- he's not alone, that's for sure."
"There's a leash hooked to a harness of some sort."
"I count six legs. Furry, too. Hey," Luke waved, "over here, Han."
"What has he done?"
"I haven't the faintest idea. Dinner, maybe?"
Leia shook her head impatiently and decided not to talk to Luke any longer. They waited while he covered the short distance to them.
Han's stride was lazy but not slow. It was another trait that seemed to irritate Leia. His expression didn't change when he spotted them. The eyes stayed distant but maybe both did have some notion of Han. If Luke were to join the artists and attempt a portrait of Han in the foreground amidst elegant architecture, leading a 6-legged creature on a leash, he'd have one eye more crinkled than the other. Han's non-smile.
"He's pleased with himself," Leia snorted, her own notion showing its bias.
Passersby noticed the six-legged creature. Some smiled, others stepped out of its way, and many faces softened at the sight of the man wearing a blaster holstered low on his thigh, a leash coiled loosely in his hand.
"Hey," Han greeted them. "Found something to help us on-" he leaned forward on his toes and hushed his voice, "- the job." He straightened again. "It's a Hapan companion animal."
"A barker!" Luke exclaimed, stooping to pet the animal. "His fur is so thick. Hey, handsome. How are you, boy?"
Leia was looking down at the creature's golden eyes. "Did you actually buy this animal? And it's a yapper, Luke; not a barker. Han, you know we can't bring an animal back to ba- back to the place we are currently living."
And that was another thing Luke noticed about Leia, an inability to name a home, or even use the word home.
"I didn't buy him! I'm fostering him," Han explained. "We're here two days, thought I can do my part."
"You're what?"
"Fostering him. There's a place down thataways," Han twisted his torso to indicate the direction he'd found the animal, "wants beings to take a companion for a couple of days. Help it get used to living in a home, that kind of thing. And it benefits the- the- it's not a pet store. More like orphaned woofers- this a woofer- anyway, the place gets a break in having to support all these woofers. They had a bunch."
"What's his name?" Luke asked.
"Nerf." Han straightened smugly. "I am his herder. He knows lots of commands, don't you, buddy? Sit, Nerf." Han held up a finger.
"Oh, something that responds when you point a finger," Leia huffed at the now-sitting animal. "How is he supposed to help us, when-"
"He's cute," Luke said.
"Exactly," Han said. "It's a brilliant distraction. Your face is well known, Your Highness. But if we are walking with Nerf here, beings will focus on him and not us. They'll tell the Imps, there was a woofer, but won't be able to say how many humans he was with, or even that one was extraordinarily good looking-"
"Thank you," Leia said.
"I meant-"
"He does attract a lot of attention," Luke remarked to Leia.
As so often happened, the mission went wrong. Their contact was actually an Imperial, and it looked like there was no escape for them as fully armored stormtroopers swept into the building.
Luke wanted a moment with Han and Leia. If this was to be the end, he wanted to tell them how much the past few months had meant, but Nerf was growling.
Han stooped to pick the woofer up. Then he threw him at the Imperial agent. "Look out, he's loose!" he shouted.
The agent lost his balance as his body absorbed the impact of a thrown woofer, and he fell down. Luke whooped with joy, for this was just like the Death Star.
Almost. Then, it had been a ferocious Wookiee who "escaped" his bonds, and only a small handful of Imperials to shoot.
But, the woofer was about as effective as Chewie had been, for he was biting the ankles of the stormtroopers with a strong shake of his head. The stormtroopers hadn't started shooting yet, as some attended to the agent on the ground, and others didn't want to injure their colleague under attack from Nerf.
Han, Luke, and Leia dashed out of the building.
"Nerf!" Han roared, and he waved his index finger in the air. "Come!"
They all raced into the Millennium Falcon, Han passing Luke and Leia to start the engines. Nerf was at his heels.
Luke palmed the ramp to close and peered out with a blaster.
"If you hurry up I think we'll make it," he shouted to Han.
"Get in the gun well," Han shouted back, "And get Nerf off my lap!"
Leia went into the cockpit and picked Nerf up off Han's legs. "He's as bad as Threepio."
"No one's as bad as Threepio."
"You realize you're stealing Nerf, Han? You were supposed to return him to the shelter."
"Yeah, well, how'd I know he don't like the smell of blaster armor? We're leaving in a hurry."
Leia smiled as she sat in the navigator seat behind him and stroked Nerf's ears. "It was quite helpful he doesn't like the smell of armor."
Han smiled too, his eyes directed at the console.
Leia kept petting him as the ship lifted off. "He'll make a good agent, won't he. I bet we can train him to do all sorts of things."
Han sat back and relaxed a little as the ship cleared orbit. Luke came to join them.
"Hey, Nerf," he said. "Good thing we had this little guy around. Really saved us back there."
"I have to admit," Leia said. "I really thought it was one of your stupidest escapades. Except now the local police will be on the lookout for a single man, 30s, brown hair, tight pants, who goes around stealing woofers."
"You forgot to mention good-looking, sweetheart."
Nerf curled up in Chewie's copilot chair for a nap.
"No, I didn't," Leia said, but Luke saw she was in a fine mood. "I've set the coordinates for Brava II. She leaned forward to lift Nerf's chin. "We're taking you to your new home."