✧Communications #001✧

[borntorebel]

[After some extremely uncomfortable fighting with both her now shredded wedding gown and with the earbud for what she could only assume was a communicator, Leia's patience for all things regarding this day is shot. Very little about this situation makes her happy and when she speaks, it shows in her voice.]

Han? Luke? Threepio? Lando? Where are you? If this is some sort of sick joke of a honeymoon, I'm not laughing.

[After everything, today was supposed to be the happiest day of her life, and it had been until she'd woken up somehow in that pod. In the middle of a desert.]

I thought we'd agreed that we'd never return to Tatooine, even if it was the last planet in the galaxy? And what the kriff happened to my dress?

Comments

[borntorebel]

[She could laugh at the underlying jealousy written all over his face, considering that's exactly what led to their wedding happening the way it did.]

To you. Why? Do you think I would really marry Isolder after everything we've been through?

[Although, honestly, it was a tempting offer, what with his handsome good looks, riches, and utter devotion to her. It had been very heady to be wooed by him, considering how distant Han had been while leading the Rogues and Wraiths after Zsinj.]

[pilot]

[ his mouth opens, but no sound comes out. han looks from her face to the dress ( that dress, that damn dress ) to the pod and back to her. ]

Who? [ not the priority there, solo. han shakes his head. ]

Leia, I've been here for weeks. Before that, we were in Bespin. I was frozen.

[ he doesn't remember coming out, though he must have been released. he doesn't remember anything about the process except her face. ]

[borntorebel]

[Her smile falls and she looks at him, confused.]

Han, that was nearly five years ago. Lando, Luke, Chewbacca, and I rescued you from Jabba's Pleasure Palace as soon as we had a way in.

[If she were anyone else, she'd giggle hysterically, because he doesn't even know half of the crap that's happened to them. And she has to tell him.]

Did you really think I was going to let you get away with "I know" being the last words I heard from you?

[pilot]

[ five years. he's starting to feel a little like he suspects padmé did. but five is preferable to twenty in any world. tamping down further suspicion, he brushes a kiss to her forehead, his hand briefly coming up to thumb her jaw. he'd begun to fear —

it didn't matter. she's here. ]

They were good ones. [ a flash of a grin, and he would almost be himself again, but for the tightness remaining around his eyes. but when he takes her hand, it's as warmly as ever, giving her fingers a comforting squeeze. ]

Come on. Let's get back.

[borntorebel]

[She stops his hand with one of her own, studying his face before giving him a small, relieved smile.

It was enough for now. They'd have to talk about it, sure, but that could wait, obviously, for when they're out of the danger. If what she's been told is true.

She returns the squeeze to her hand.]

They were very you, that's for sure. [But she puts that aside to focus on the here and now.]

What do I need to know about this place, aside from the fact that I'm definitely striking it off the list of places I want to revisit?

[pilot]

[ where to start. han's eyebrows crept up toward his hair as he thought it over. ]

You ever hear those scary stories of witches who could bring the dead back to life? [ he doesn't give her space to answer. ]

There's no witches here, but getting attacked by things that should be dead? That's every day.

[borntorebel]

[She listens to him, her smile turning into a frown at the mention of witches. Dathomir is definitely off the list of planets she will ever be going back to. And probably wherever Isolder's mother ends up when he and his new bride are done with the Queen Mother of the Hapens. Force Witches are definitely not fun.]

Yes, the man named Daryl said something about the undead and cannibals walking around here before you showed up. [Her voice is painfully serious as she walks beside him, her small hand warm in his.] I think that's part of the reason he wanted me to run to the treeline so quickly.

[pilot]

Yeah, well, the forest's full of them, [ he speaks blackly. ]

They're drawn to noise. Attacked one of the downed ships a few weeks ago; almost got at the people inside. And this [ han pushes branches, vines out of the way with the makeshift staff, ] is about the extent of the weapons we've got. No blasters. No comms. Yet. I had to scavenge parts from the second ship to get started on repairs.

[borntorebel]

[She nods solemnly and pulls the knife from where she'd tied it to her thigh before.]

Then I suppose we should keep our fighting to a minimum and I should have this out while we walk.

[She shakes her head sadly, her voice strained.]

This was hardly what I expected to happen this morning when I woke up. My only worry was if Luke was going to make the ceremony on time.

[pilot]

The kid gets lost in his own room. [ spoken with the exasperated affection han has nursed for him since being dragged into the death star to find luke's princess. the princess.

when he looks at her, his eyes are shadowed by something almost like guilt. the very concept of marriage at this point in time is enough to drop a heavy stone into his belly. that he loves her is undeniable. he does. it's a huge leap from there to marriage…but there is something to be said about his keeping one hand wrapped around hers.

fact remains that if she's telling the truth — and he wouldn't suspect leia of lying, not about this — then he lost five years of his life. he lost five years of their life. if it leaves him unbalanced, he can't imagine what it must be for her.

he's no good with words. luke and leia are: the ones that can inspire the already prone to crazy to even crazier feats. han's the one pointing out how crazy the damn plan, and then going along with it anyway. he has nothing to say to her, no way to make it better when he has no idea what has been lost.

han brushes his thumb over her knuckles. he can be there, though. he's not leaving again. not if he can help it. hopefully, it will be enough. she deserves this much and far more. ]

[borntorebel]

He's gotten better, but a lot has happened lately.

[She can hear the affection that Han has for her brother and she approves. She's not sure where she'd be without the two most important men in her life. She loves them both so much, but in the end, she's glad that they get along and she doesn't have to choose between the twin she never knew and the man she loves with every atom of her body.

But she can tell that Han is worried about things. Why wouldn't he be? His last memory is of her declaring she loved him and now she's here telling him they're married. He doesn't know about the resolution of the war, the reclamation of Coruscant, the fact that he's a highly decorated general of the New Republic.

And she's not sure how much she could or should tell him. But she's not one to let fear and worry stop her. She never has been.]

Han, I won't tell you anything you don't want to know, but this is strange for us both. The best way to clear this hurdle is to talk about it.

[pilot]

Not right now.

[ an exhale and he looks forward again. he is easily satisfied: leia, luke and chewbacca are fine. he assumes c-3po was pieced back together and, much more importantly, the falcon is still in one piece. he doesn't need much else.

to soften his refusal, he jerks his head toward the trees. ] Let's get you back first.

[borntorebel]

That's fine. I wasn't saying we should talk about it right this second.

[Most of what she has to say tell him is long and complicated and she'd rather do in private, out of the hail and the sand.]

Back where, exactly? Is there some sort of base on this wasteland?