An Alderaanian Love Story

Chapter 8

A/N: Thanks for all the feedback, everyone. It means so much. Please keep leaving all those long comments and encouragement. Your encouragement fuels my muse! May the peace of reading, and the Force, be with you.
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It was official, Han decided. He had finally come to terms with what Chewie had tried explaining to him for years. He was an idiot. First of all, just landing on Alderaan . . . bad choice. Watching the princess whenever they coincidentally were in the same building or place . . . plain stupid. Going to her bedroom . . . idiotic. Thinking of visiting again . . . where were Jabba's bounty hunters, anyway?

Going to meet a princess, Han had not expected her to be a quick-witted, sharp-tongued, fierce fighter. Sure, it was a huge stereotype of general royalty, but Han was pretty sure they were supposed to be a bit more regal than that. Her fierceness intrigued Han, her dare to put up her own fight against him. It had caught Han off guard, like a blow to the chest. And she hadn't called her security to kill him on sight . . .

Trying to figure the chick out, Han worked on the Falcon's turret guns and their computers, trying to find the source of their glitch. After testing the system out by switching one of the wires, he turned the computer on to watch the lifeforms outside the Falcon erupt into a beautiful display of sizzling, red and orange, glitching figures. "Kriff!" he muttered under his breath, plucking the tested wire free. He tried another one only to hear Chewie howling from the cockpit. "What?! What is it, Chewie?"

Chewie went into a very vulgar, angered explanation to tell Han that, while working on the controls' board, he had been electrocuted. Whoops. He played some more with the wires until he got the graphics on the computers to look better, than he began working out the depth and distance controls. Intertwining red, blue, and green wires this way and that, Han slowly worked out the computers' issues into, one by one, they began to resolve themselves. It helped ease Han's mind of the stress and intrigue the princess had plagued him with, working on his baby. And Han tried not to think about going back to talk to the princess again.

She was an interesting one, alright. A princess who didn't want the prince . . . Han had to sit on that one awhile. Han figured it would take quite a long time to understand the girl, but he was curious as to why she was less than pleased with all the wealth and marriage proposals she was being offered. Han had noted, while outside her bedroom window, that on her dresser sat several engagement rings, all sparkling, dazzling jewels in the daylight, smudge-less in perfect glory. But, the princess didn't care. No ring nor man nor dress seemed to feed her longing for more and Han felt like he was hanging onto a string of suspense, trying to understand why. He suspected there was much more to her than met the eye and decided it would take time rather than questions to figure it out.

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Just as Leia was pulling on her boots for another daily marksman lesson with Sabé, Rouge swept her aside and gasped at the sight of her niece dressed in training clothes, her hair up in a sloppy pony tail. "Leia!"

"What are you doing? I'm going to my lessons with Sabé right now." She gestured back to the gym with a thumb, stomping a foot on the ground so her heel sunk back into the boot. "Sorry, Aunt Rouge, but I'm busy."

"Busy? You can't be busy." She grabbed Leia's arm and started for her room. Sabé, who had just come out from the gym, waiting for Leia, called out to Rouge. "Where are you taking her? Lessons are now and Bail only gave me so much time to practice with her."

"I'm sorry, Sabé! I suppose it'll just have to wait." Turning to Leia, the Organa sister said excitedly, "Prince Gram has come here! He has just ordered us to see you. Leia, isn't this wonderful? Oh! But, look at you. No, no. This won't do at all. I think I know the perfect dress for the occasion."