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chapter four, ashes
The black smoke billowed from the Lars' household. All that Luke Skywalker had ever known had been reduced to ashes by the Galactic Empire. Seeing burning villages and witnessing the wrongful deaths of innocent people was something Lora never grew accustomed to.
She was dazed as she gaped at the scene before her. She noticed the burning bones of what she assumed to be Luke's aunt and uncle. She was rooted in her spot, left watching.
She quickly snapped out of it, slowly approaching Luke as he stared on in horror. He was frozen, completely stiff as he processed what had happened. She reached her hand to his shoulder, hoping to offer comfort as he mourned his family.
He didn't move, still staring at the bones as smoke rolled off of them. Earlier, they had seen the murdered Jawas, but this pained her far more than the scene from before. She had seen far worse things, but Luke had just lost everything he ever knew.
She understood, but didn't know the feeling at the same time. He tensed under her touch, forgetting that she had been there in the first place. When he had run off to his speeder, she instantly followed, not entertaining the idea of Luke being killed by Stormtroopers. It was just them out there, in complete silence, the wind the only comforting feeling.
Luke put his head down, as Lora removed her hand. She could feel the rage roll off of him in waves, he had a right to be angry, the Empire had destroyed his life. They had taken away the people who, although they weren't his real parents, had raised him to become brave, kind and reckless. Lora hadn't even known him for more than mere hours, but she could tell he was benevolent.
He was a rare occurrence in the galaxy, not often did someone willingly run into imminent danger or kindly comfort a stranger. Lora didn't want Luke to lose that part of himself, she had seen too many go down the wrong path.
She would do whatever she could to make sure that didn't happen.
She moved to his side, noticing how he clenched his fists in anger and his eyes turned dark. Galaxies burned in his eyes, as he stared at the smoke.
Her face remained still, her expression becoming worried. She creased her brow, showing Luke that she cared. She spoke evenly and calmly, "Luke, we have to go back to Ben." She paused waiting for him to respond, when he didn't turn to acknowledge her she slightly shifted, moving in front of Luke, hands waving to express her urgency.
"We have to go now. They might come back and I don't think that the two of us can take an entire group of imperial troops."
His electric blue eyes met hers, entrancing her as she stared directly into them. Never before had she believed the saying the eyes are the window to the soul more than in this moment. His expression was blank, but his eyes spoke clearly. He was angry, dangerously so.
He nodded his head, just barely breaking the intense stare. He took one last look at his home, his former life, and ran to the speeder. Lora quickly followed after, sprinting to match his pace. The wind blew her braid wildly, it whipped her directly in the eye. She winced as she entered the speeder and moved it from her face, tucking the end in the back of her jacket.
Luke didn't wait too long for her to settle into the speeder and instantly took off, taking them back to Ben, knowingly leaving behind his life on Tatooine forever.
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Obi-Wan stood in front of the destroyed sandcrawler transport that once belonged to the Jawas. Luke drove the speeder closer to the wreck, stopping in front of the two droids as they burned the remains of the jawas, holding a small funeral for them.
Lora got out of the speeder at the same time as Luke. She noticed Ben looking at her and she shook her head, confirming his suspicions. Luke ambled towards Ben, moving with heavy steps as he approached him. Lora did not follow, knowing that Luke should talk to Ben in private. She knew that he would say the right things to Luke.
She instead joined Threepio in carrying the jawas to the fire, it was the best thing that they could do for the poor creatures. Lora slowly bent over, carefully picking up one of the smaller jawas. They were so small, she thought, as she easily carried it over to the fire.
She softly laid it down, frowning as it burned. Artoo watched as she stared into the fire and softly beeped, as if he was trying to comfort her. Although she didn't speak Astromech, she nodded in thanks, heading next to the small droid. She crouched down, meeting his height.
She put her hand on top of his metal head, resting it as a way to comfort both him and herself. Artoo released another set of beeps, moving back and forth. Lora assumed he was growing restless from being away from Leia for too long. "We'll get her back soon, Artoo. Once we take the plans to Bail, he'll do everything in his power to get his daughter back."
She paused, whispering softly as if she was reassuring herself and not the droid next to her, "She'll be okay. She will."
Leia Organa was Lora's best friend--practically her sister-- she couldn't... no wouldn't live without her. They were always together, except when their jobs didn't permit it. Even then, they would be constantly going on missions with each other, fighting oppression and bringing justice to all of the wretched villainy throughout the galaxy.
Leia was simultaneously stubborn and caring, a mixture of both of her parents. A loving nature that stemmed from her mother, the queen of Alderaan; and an ambitious drive for a political career from her father, viceroy of Alderaan and former member of the imperial senate.
Lora missed her smile as endlessly joked with her and her laugh as they made stupid remarks about the lastest drama in the galaxy. Leia truly was the galaxy's sweetheart, everyone had a soft spot for the young senator and princess.
It was hard for Lora to be without her, she was always the composed one who thought quick on her feet. Lora was the reckless one who was better at giving orders than following them. Lora was better at intel recon missions and small space scuffles, she wasn't often placed on high level dangerous missions.
Lora was determined to get her back after she got to Alderaan, the rebellion would be hopeless without their favorite princess.
Lora removed her hand from Artoo and slowly rose to stand straight. Her legs still ached from the day before, but she barely noticed as she ambled over to the two men who now stood next to the speeder. She caught the attention of Luke and nodded at him, still feeling concerned for his well-being.
She stood in front of the two and smiled slightly at Ben in greeting. "So how are we getting off this sandbox?"
Ben chuckled, he couldn't agree more, he hated this planet as much as everyone else who lived there. "Young Luke is going to take us to Mos Eisley, there we'll try to find a pilot who's willing to take us to Alderaan."
Lora turned to Luke, smiling, "So, you're coming with us now?"
Luke mustered as much as a smile as he could as he shook his head, "Yeah, I guess I am."
"Good." Luke blushed lightly as Lora went to go collect the droids. He enjoyed seeing her smile, especially if it was directed at him. He wasn't used to being around such a pretty mysterious girl, the only girl he was ever around was Camie and she was never nice to him like Lora was.
Luke Skywalker was overwhelmingly curious about the rebel soldier he just met and curiosity killed the Loth-cat.
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Luke slowly approached the edge of the bluff that overlooked the small city of Mos Eisley. They were quite a distance away, but Lora could make out the small buildings that littered the ground.
Obi-Wan watched over the city with narrowed eyes, his voice becoming low to signify the danger that laid ahead, "Mos Eisley Spaceport. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious."
Luke nodded as he stood next to Lora, he had only been to the spaceport once in his life. It was years ago but he remembered the terrible experience vividly, he would head Ben's words to the best of his ability.
Lora, on the other hand, didn't take the old man as seriously, she had met some pretty terrible people. She seriously doubted that anyone they would meet would be that evil. "I've met worse."
Luke glanced at her from the corner of his eye, internally laughing at her. He wondered what she had experienced. All he knew was that she had done some things that she would prefer not to touch upon and he could tell she was troubled by Princess Leia being captured.
She turned around meeting Ben at the speeder and adjusted herself back to her designated spot between Artoo and Threepio. It was slightly uncomfortable, considering that she didn't have an actual seat and she had to sit on the hard metal surface of the speeder.
Luke started up the speeder once again and they drove into town. Passing by a multitude of boring beige buildings and droids doing work. She swiveled her head, glancing from side to side to take in as much as she could. She ducked her head slightly as she noticed some stormtroopers scouting the area. She couldn't be too careful, the empire might have learned of her involvement as well as the droids.
The city consisted of several plain beige buildings, some no more than twelve feet high and with an oddly shaped dome roof. A few buildings were higher up, but it was still the least advanced city that Lora had seen in a while. Not a lot of people roamed around, the occasional resident passing by. But it seemed like most people were indoors, probably avoiding the heat from the harsh twin suns.
Lora was glad the wind from the speeder moving quickly cooled her skin down, it was far too warm on this planet in her opinion. She preferred the moderate temperature of Yavin IV, which had been the Alliance base for two years.
They continued to move throughout the town, until they were stopped by a group of stormtroopers. Luke stopped the speeder and became visibly nervous, Lora didn't dare turn to face the stormtroopers as they asked about the droids.
"How long have you had these droids?"
The trooper walked straight up to Luke, standing right by his side. Two troopers moved towards the back and stared at Lora and the droids, getting closer to the both of them. They attempted to intimidate them as they moved their blasters in front of them, showing them off.
Lora wasn't scared, but that didn't mean she wasn't nervous to hear Luke's reply, he wasn't entirely trained for these types of high stress situations. Luke's voice was steady as he replied, "About three or four seasons."
Obi-Wan added in hoping to ease some tension and convince the Stormtroopers, "They're for sale if you want them."
He smiled picking his head up slightly, just enough for only the main trooper to notice. Lora still kept her eyes to the ground, until she felt the stare of one of the troopers on her back. She sat still, not daring to move, praying that they would let them pass.
The main trooper in charge didn't seem convinced as he shook his head. "Let me see your identification."
Luke fumbled slightly, searching his pockets as he stared back at Ben, hoping that he had a solution. Lora shifted watching as he slightly waved his hand, "You don't need to see his identification."
The trooper turned to talk to the other soldiers, "We don't need to see his identification."
Lora's eyes widened as Ben continued, "These aren't the droids you're looking for."
"These aren't the droids we're looking for." Lora finally picked her head up, sharing a confused look with Luke. They both had no idea what was going on. She was surprised that no other stormtrooper was saying anything about how suspicious it was.
"He can go about his business."
The stormtroopers began to back up from the group. Lora stared at the leader as he nodded and went along with whatever Ben said. "You can go about your business"
The stormtrooper waved them off, releasing them, "Move along."
As Luke drove off, Lora asked shocked looking at Threepio to confirm that they just got off scot-free, "Did that really just happen?"
Her question was ignored as they drove on approaching a cantina. Lora watched curiously as a large group of a lot of different species walked into the building, already intoxicated. They were loud as they bumbled into the hut, laughing excessively. Lora inwardly smiled at them, laughing as some stumbled and giggled excessively.
Her attention was brought back to Luke as he talked to Ben. They all stepped out of the speeder, Lora helped Artoo down as Luke said, "I can't understand how we got by those troops. I thought we were dead."
Lora nodded in agreement, humming to verbally confirm it. She helped Artoo settle on the ground as Ben walked towards Luke, "The force can have a strong influence on the weak-minded. You will find it a powerful ally."
Lora glanced over at Ben and grinned at him and Luke, as she started to walk toward the cantina. She lightly sighed, saying, "I wish I could do that."
Luke laughed, agreeing with her, not knowing that one day he would be doing what Ben just did. Luke wasn't aware that the force destined him to be a Jedi and that Lora would be with him along the way.
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a little bit of a filler but the next one should be very action-packed, they meet Han, there is some next Luke-Lora interaction and the journey gets started! i do not edit so i'm sorry if it's rough, but when i'm done with part one, i'll make sure to come back and edit. part one should have around 10-12 chapters, i don't know though because i plan to add some original elements and interactions into it.
also, i made this, y'all obviously know the scene, but i love my babies so dang much. like they make my heart go: ❤️💝🥰❤️💗💝🥰💗 (btw lora has long hair and a braid at this scene, she doesn't have short hair but that would have been HELL to try to edit a braid. she also has that cut on her cheek but i'm lazyyyy.)
thank you for reading!!!
love, taylor