Star Wars: The Ancient Force

C H A P T E R . 1 8 -- Leia

THE ROSY-BLACK STEEL of the command center begins blending with the darkening rose of the sunset. Luke dismounts his speeder and stands before the building a few hundred feet away, at a distance where he could easily take off if seeing his friends come out was too much. He stands with the whole base in view, taking it all in, feeling Terigo's presence inside. He debates. Calms. Debates. Calms. Until he settles on a decision.

The halls of the building give off a soothing hum in their otherwise dimly lit silence. Luke's feet wish to drag as he walks towards Terigo's presence, but duty pulls them forward.

This must be a long struggle for her too, having felt me in the Mid for about a mile now. She must be worried...

But down the hall he hears her laugh and Chewbacca gargle playfully.

Or she's too trusting that everything will be alright...

Entering a brightly lit room, he finds Chewbacca and Terigo play-fighting. Chewbacca was trying to grab or hit her as she uses her Jedi sense to dodge and push him.

Chewbacca stops and waves at Luke before going over for a huge hug. Terigo almost keeps her back turned, turning her ear to him but not her eyes.

She says in a cheerful enough voice, "I prepared dinner for you when I felt you coming. Han will be downstairs in a minute." Then she pulls stuff away from a chair that they must have knocked over in their play so that Luke could sit down at the table where a plate of food was ready. She immediately returns to the center of the room and taunts Chewbacca to play more as if nothing were wrong, aside from her blatantly avoiding to look at him.

She's not even connecting her essence to me. But she doesn't feel disappointed like when she's avoided me before. She knows there's something wrong. Of course she does. Instead, he feels her wavering nearly constantly between tepid coldness and frail warmth. Seeing my emotionless face or feeling my emotions must be too much for her right now. It must be very hard for her to even be in the same room... But that's like her isn't it, to endure it on purpose, to fight it.

Terigo stops their fun when she feels Han coming down the hall. Han enters to see Luke and rushes over. Han almost squeezes him, but gives him a firm two-pats on the arm instead, smiling.

Han says conversationally optimistic, "Hey what's wrong? Terra here filled us in on your day together."

Luke and Terigo both blink, aimed at Han.

"What," Han says looking to Terigo. " 'Sweetheart' doesn't fit anymore, does it, jumping to your death like that."

"Well you'll have to pick a different pet name for me," Terigo says with joking bitterness. "That's the name of my greatest grandfather," motioning to the distant meeting they came from.

"What? Why didn't you say so?"

"I read you weren't interested in much of the details, just how Luke was doing and when he'd be back," she says. And Han looks to Luke for the answer.

Luke had prepared his answer over many miles, but still finds it hard to say, feeling like he was lying, "I'll be fine. I have a lot to think about, so I'll need to spend time alone to work it out."

Han doesn't like the sound of that. Sounds like he'll be brooding. But the only way Han knew to solve problems was to evade or cheat. So he chooses the first and foremost by evading the subject, "Well, good news," hoping another brotherly slap on the arm would snap him out of it, "I got communications running in this place. Contacted the General and Leia. She'll be connected in a minute. Come on," motioning for Luke to come upstairs with him.