Redamancy - Han Solo [3]

Chapter 12: What Is and Isn't Proper

"Look, I'm sure she'll be fine," Han said, pulling irritably on his coat as it caught on a bush, "your sister can take care of herself." The four of them: Luke, Tasha, Han and Chewie (along with the two droids) had been scouring the forest for an hour, and they still couldn't find any trace of Leia.

"Yeah, well, he shouldn't have left her!" Tasha growled under her breath as she stalked around the perimeter of the clearing they had come to, glaring at the ground.

"Don't you think you're being a bit harsh on the kid?" Han replied, his voice now with a slight edge to it. Tasha let out a mirthless laugh, turning her searing gaze onto Han.

"What if it had been me? Huh?"

"Then I'd know you'd be fine,"

"So you're saying you wouldn't worry if it was me? Oh thanks, nice to know!" her voice was harsh, "when Luke was lost on Hoth, you took out a kriffing tauntaun in the middle of the night to look for him!" she realised she was shouting when Han flinched a little. Tasha took a deep breath, looking down at the ground again as she thought about what she was going to say next. "If you can say you wouldn't be like this if it was me...then, you and Luke go. Go back to the squad and I'll find her myself!"

"Hey that's not fair-!"

Luke could hear the sounds of Tasha and Han yelling at each other from where he stood, looking around another clearing a little way off. He was just deciding whether it would be a good idea to go join the two arguing generals, when he spotted something utilitarian in shape poking out from the edge of a bush. Crouching down to inspect it, he saw it was Leia's helmet, the round, sparse, ribbed shape contrasting with the flowing, natural shapes of the forest around him.

"Luke!" he heard Han's voice shout through the trees, and hoped he wasn't being sent for as a witness in their argument. "Luke!" the smuggler called again. wrapping his hand tightly around the brim of the helmet, Luke jogged over to where the voice was coming from. Tasha was still glaring, her jaw clenched, but they both seemed to have found something more important than an end to the argument.

"Oh, master Luke." Threepio's voice trailed off sadly. Luke looked at the ground, the charred wreckage of a speeder bike had crushed some of the foliage, much like the spots on the ground where he had found Leia's helmet.

"There's two more wrecked speeders back there," he said, and Tasha's head spun around to face him, her anger dropping for a moment and being replaced by concern, "and I found this." He tossed her the helmet he had found. She caught it effortlessly, scanning it with her eyes before cursing, throwing it on the ground and stomping off away from the rest of them, deeper into the bushes.

"I'm afraid Artoo's sensors can find no trace of Princess Leia." Threepio added, unhelpfully. Han and Luke exchanged a look.

"I hope she's alright," Han said gravely. He quite liked Leia, in a sad, baffled sort of way. She was like a more concentrated and slightly more predictable version of Tasha. Artoo whistled, and Han and Luke looked up to where Tasha was nearly invisible through the bushes. Chewie gave a growl, snout in the air, sniffing generously, before he set off towards where Tasha had gone, letting out an enthusiastic bark.

"What, Chewie?" Han said, watching his co-pilot go speeding past the dark-haired girl.

"Chewie!" Tasha shouted out to him as he passed her, rushing through the foliage to try and keep up with the colossal walking carpet.

They approached another clearing in the undergrowth, almost identical to the last, except in this one there was a tall stake wedged into the ground, a bloodied animal carcass hanging from it. Tasha cocked her head to the side, still stood towards the edge of the clearing, wary and a little confused. There was something concealed here.