An Alderaanian Love Story

Chapter 14

  "No!" Leia quickly shouted back, faking alarm as she took the blaster back. "Sabé, I swear, you're my only teacher. I would never betray you like that."

  "I'd never consider it betrayal. I only wonder who taught you to fire so well."
  "No one," Leia shook her head, again loosening her grip on the blaster. "This is the first time I've ever handled a blaster."
  "You must mistake me for a fool to think I'll accept that lie. Come, now! Where did you learn to fire targets so well?"
  "Nowhere!"

  "Where?"

  "No-"
  "Who! Who taught the princess to shoot?" Sabé caught a flicker of vulnerability in Leia and she smiled widely, handing her back the blaster. "Well? Come on, now. Show me how well you've been taught."
  Hesitantly, Leia took back the blaster, but stopped. Her gaze wandered around the room until they fell on the weaponry closet where Leia had last stored her bin of weapons. She went, dug out the Imperial rifle and settled it in her arms, positioned it how she remembered Han showing her. She stopped when she came to her shooting line and recalled all of Han's tips, the pointers he'd given her as she had begun running out of patience. She reminded herself of every time Han had told her she was doing something wrong, made her corrections, and stood still. She brought the rifle's barrel up and stared down the next target in line, leveling the barrel with her gaze and bringing her finger to rest on the cold, black trigger. Leia let out a slow, steady breath and fired off the Imperial weapon.

  Time seemed to stretch into years as she watched the laser-fire blast from the weapon, but really it was only a mere nanosecond before the first ring around the target's center was smoking, sporting a black burn mark.

  "Who taught you?!" Sabé practically exploded. "How? And where did you even get that?!"
  Leia quickly dropped the weapon and turned to face the storm. "Please don't tell Father. He'd kill me if he even knew I had these weapons."

  "I don't care where you got them," Sabé assured her, shaking her head. "And I won't tell Bail. All I want is to know where you learned to fire blasters like that."
  Nervousness curdled in the pit of Leia's stomach and she sighed before she began to explain. "He comes by at night sometimes. When Mama and Father are sleeping. I asked him to train me . . . because I didn't think Father would ever let me. And I wanted to be able to, to prove myself to him, that I could handle myself if I started actually fighting with the Rebellion."
  "He? Who is 'he'?"

  "His name is Han. He's not from here, but he's been visiting a while. We kept running into each other and . . . " Leia trailed off. She wasn't quite sure how to explain the rest or where to go from where she was at. A smile crept its way to Sabé's lips and the Nabooan waited patiently. When Leia failed to continue, the woman said, "And what? Who is he? Leia?! Are you seeing someone?"
  "What?! Sabé, no!"
  "So? Who is this man?"
  "Noone. Just . . ." Leia trailed off, pursing her lips.
  "Just. Who?"
  "I guess that's kind of the thing. I don't really know. Anyway, he was just around and . . . while this whole thing with my suitors has been going on, he's listened to me. He probably just pretends to listen, but at least he's there. He's working to pay off a debt and I helped him find a job. In his downtime, he's been training me in handling blasters. That's how I learned."
  Sabé could only eye the Imperial blaster for a long moment before she found the words to ask. "How long has this man been training you? I'd say you'd have to have been keeping this secret a while considering how well you just handled that E-11."

  "He's been here a while. A couple months."

  "A couple months? You've learned to fire an Imperial E-11 blaster in a couple months?"

  "It's not that hard. Okay, it's the hardest one yet, but we just started yesterday."

  Sabé froze, not even her dark eyes moving. Then, slowly, she rose from her seat, shaking her head, and left the gym. "I'm done," she called out to Leia. "I retire! I have nothing to teach you! My work here is done." Leia followed her, but jumped when her instructor abruptly stopped and met her, nose to nose. "Because she has found a man to teach her."