On the Wings of Valkyrie

Chapter XXIII

Luna had done many things in her life, but crushing on fictional, or, in this case, fictional that turned out to be real, characters wasn't one of them.

Lando was becoming very annoying.

Very.

To the point that if he hadn't destroyed the Second Death Star and wasn't good friends with Han, Leia, Chewie, and Luke, Luna probably would have Force choked him by now. Not kill him, just enough to make him too scared to talk. She could sense Han had expected her to already have done so.

But, Luna was being a good girl and biting her tongue.

It was reminding her of trips to Coruscant and the occasional parties Palpatine had forced Vader and, because Vader wanted company and to not feel as miserable or Palpatine wanted to make a statement, it depended upon what had happened recently, Luna to attend. These events usually consisted of following Vader, not that she didn't already do that on a daily basis; finding a dark, unoccupied corner of the room where they wouldn't be bothered, Vader detested coming to any party and made himself as unapproachable as possible, she knew he prefered to think he was doing a good job of making himself invisible, but Luna was the expert at that art and the way his suit was, not to mention the fact everyone tended to stay away from him anyway, made invisibility near impossible; people watching, because Luna apparently didn't do enough of it; being forced into the realms of politics by a handful of senators that were brave enough to start chatting with her while still staying away from Vader, of which Luna barely knew anything about considering she lived under a rock when it came to anything outside of military movements; being professional to previously mentioned senators that thought the world revolved around them and that Luna should do whatever they say; being thirsty, but unable to drink anything because of her mask; listening to music; and wishing that someone would be brave enough to ask her to dance and that accepting such an invitation wouldn't be looked down upon by both Vader and the Emperor.

Thinking about it in turn, reminded her of the one time someone had asked her to dance.

It had been the first time Luna had attended an Imperial Galla, or really any public event that was supposed to be fun. Vader had been peeved the entire week leading up to it, apparently very unhappy about the fact they had to attend. Luna had dressed up, per the Emperor's request, something that had angered Vader even more after he had seen her, first ordering her to change into something else before she had explained the Emperor required her to be dressed as she was.

Luna hadn't minded. The blood red dress, a princess gown design as she later discovered, was beautiful. It left her shoulders bare but had sleeves on her upper arm that flared out at the elbow and stopped midway on her forearm. There had been a black lacy trim on it that managed to make Luna's mask almost appear as though it was meant to go with the outfit. Her hair had been done in a bun, but it allowed for strands of her still growing out bangs to fall around her face just so. She had worn heels for the first time in her life, along with a little make up on her eyes.

Simply put, even with half her face covered, Luna had been breathtaking. She had to hand it to him, Palpatine had taste.

Of course, the dress did not have anywhere to put a lightsaber, so Luna had improvised, managing to find a way to hide her lightsaber under her skirt at the traditional place of a hidden blaster or knife. It had been the only thing Vader had been even marginally happy about that night, that Luna hadn't forgotten that all important This Lightsaber is Your Life lesson despite the fact trouble was the last thing they should have been encountering.

When they arrived, they managed to enter the building from a largely unknown entrance that hadn't had any HoloNet reporters stationed there. Vader had ordered Luna to stay with him at all times, an order that remained unchanged even after Luna had requested to look around. They entered the party somewhat unnoticed for a time.