intermediate ✰ luke skywalker

026

"Have you ever been inside?" she asked him.

"Never."

"How is Leia supposed to know where to find Han?"

"He'll probably be on display," Luke replied solemnly, chewing on his bottom lip.

"Well, that's messed up," she said, frowning, "Okay, so she'll be able to find him pretty easily, I guess. What kind of ideas did you have in mind?"

"I'm worried something will happen to Leia. I think we should send Threepio and Artoo inside before her. Artoo can have my lightsaber on him, so if I do have to show up, I stand a fighting chance."

"We can say they're a gift or something. I mean, this guy is calling his residency a palace. I'm sure he'd like to have his ego stroked a little, right?"

"Definitely. I was planning on sucking up to him anyway, but sending him a tangible sign of my good will seems like a nice idea."

They continued to plan for a few hours (though Avery called it scheming), and they'd managed to come up with a pretty solid outline of what was going to happen. Worst case scenario, Luke would show up and decimate everyone. After they'd worked out all of the kinks, only one more thing remained.

"Luke," she'd asked, and he knew where this was heading, "What should I do?"

He ran a hand through his hair, exhaling shakily and meeting her eyes with hesitation.

"What do you want to do?" he asked quietly.

"I want to go inside, but I have a feeling you're going to be opposed to that."

"Why?"

"What?"

"Why do you want to go inside? Is it because you feel like you have to, or do you actually want to?"

"Both. Do you want it to have to come to a massacre?"

"Preferably not, no."

"Then you need to make him think your offer is genuine. I'll go with the droids as a bargaining chip—"

"No. He's perverted."

"A handmaiden, then. I'll make sure to look my worst. I'll tell him I'll wipe up his shit for him, I don't care, but I need to be in a position to help you if things go wrong."

He didn't speak for several seconds, trying to get his thoughts in order.

"You've changed a lot," he finally said, his voice quiet, "I almost miss when you were a little selfish. It was a lot easier to keep you safe back then."

"I'm not asking for your permission," she told him gently, though the certainty in her assertion was clear, "But your approval would be nice. And your trust, maybe?"

"Of course I trust you," he explained quickly, "I trust you more than anyone. I don't want you to feel like I don't think you're capable, okay? You are. You're smart, you're quick to act. Your instincts serve you well. But, at the end of the day, you're a lot less familiar with this world than the others are. I just don't want you to do anything without fully understanding the risks. You haven't—well, it'll be different."

"I understand what the risks are," she clarified, "I understand that I'm putting myself in danger, and if anything were to happen, I would never be angry at you for it. This is my decision, right? We've been through enough together. I think I'm well aware of what kind of trouble follows you around."

"It's not just rescuing Han," he mumbled with a sigh, "I think we can probably get through that relatively unscathed. It'll be a lot more overwhelming compared to the types of altercations you're used to, but I don't visualize you having a difficult time adjusting. You're very adaptable."