Saga - PT BEDTIME STORY

Author: Hopefulwriter
Summary: A father tells his son a bedtime story.
Rating: General


"Ready for bed son?" The dark haired man poked his head through the doorway of the child's bedroom.

"Almost, father." The small boy answered, fumbling awkwardly with the last few buttons on his nightshirt. The man smiled at his determined offspring.

"Here," he said, making his way into the room, "let me help."

"Oh, father." The boy fumed, "I can do it myself."

The man smiled again as he watched his son finish the buttoning and then boosted him onto the bed, tucking the fluffy cover snugly around the small body. "You've sure got an independent streak in you. Must get that from your mother." He laughed. The child giggled as his father ruffled his shaggy brown hair with a strong, comforting hand. Reaching to extingush the light, the father's hand was stayed by the small boy's plea. "Tell me a story."

The man looked down into the boy's pleading eyes. "All right," He relented, seating himself on the side of the bed. "But just a short one. If you mother finds out you're awake past your bedtime we'll BOTH be in trouble." The boy smiled, his brown-green eyes sparkling with the knowledge both he and his father shared; mother's growl was much worse than her attack.

"Let me see..." The man searched his mind for a suitable tale. " A long time ago in a faraway land there was a Kingdom. The King who ruled had a beautiful daughter. The Princess was very helpful to her father in ruling and protecting their domain. One day, an Evil Knight came to take over the King's rule. The Princess fled the Kingdom to get help to fight the Evil Knight.

In another land, far away from where the King and Princess were, lived a young man. He had dreams of traveling to distant lands, conquering all evil and restoring peace everywhere."

"Will the young man help the Princess?" The boy interrupted in anticipation.

"You'll have to listen to find out." The father teased. The child silenced expectantly and the father continued. "On her journey to find help, the Princess was captured by the Evil Knight's men. They put her in a deep, dark cavern." The boy swallowed nervously at the images conjured in his mind of the cavern. He didn't like dark places.

"Also held captive in the cavern was a pirate."

"What's a pirate?" The wide-eyed youth asked.

"A pirate...." the father improvised an explanation, "..is someone who has no family and makes a living doing things against the law."

"Is a pirate good or bad?"

"Pirates are usually bad, but not as bad as the Evil Knights and some pirates are both good and bad." The father watched as his son pondered what he'd said.

"This pirate was a man who was very handy with his weapon. At first, the Princess was afraid of him; she'd never seen a pirate before. Soon, she told him all about the Kingdom and the Evil Knight's intention to kill her father and rule the land. The pirate told the Princess of a plan he had to escape from the cavern. Later, when all the guards had finished their rounds, the pirate and the Princess escaped through a secret passage he had discovered. Many miles from the cavern they ran into the young man from the far away land. He told them the had left his homeland to seek his fortune. The pirate and the Princess told the young man about the Evil Knight and the Princess' Kingdom. The young man took them to his magical flying chariot and they flew to the Princess' kingdom.

The father stopped, noticing his son's sleepy nod and fluttering eye-lids. The boy stirred immediately. "What happened?" He prodded.

The father decided to hurry the story along as his sleepy, and stubborn, son would stay awake until it was ended. "Together they fought and defeated the Evil Knight and all his men and saved the Kingdom. The beloved King once again was a secure ruler. The young man became a trusted, honored Knight of the Kingdom, keeping peace throughout the realm. The Princess and the pirate fell in love, were married and lived happily ever after."

The boy's eyes were filled with wonder at the fanciful tale his father told.

"Things like that don't really happen, do they?" Questioned the boy as the father once again tucked the covers around his son.

"No, son, they don't." The father confirmed. "Go to sleep now." He leaned down and kissed his son's forehead, then turned out the light and headed for the door.

"Goodnight, father." The boy muttered sleepily.

The man answered as he closed the door. "Goodnight, Han."

 

Oh, I loved this and the last line clinched! Yes, they do happen.

 

Well, that was quite the twist.

Well paced short. Nice interaction and observations between parent and child.

No idea if this is ever a real thing, but interesting to note the little one feeling personally nervous because the story featured a dark place.

Nice job.

 

Nicely done!

 

Very nice! You had me going there until the end. I don't think I've read a kid!Han story before, and I liked it a lot. So nice to see a functional, happy father and son relationship between them.

 

Awww.... so sweet!

Nice twist, I totally thought Han was telling the story, not being told. And this is a much nicer back story than Han got in the EU!

 

The story was sweet as it was somewhat heart wrenching.

So Han´s dad was either a clairvoyant or a pirate or both...

 

Han's dad sure is Force-attuned here! But just like many people whose Force powers, well, never get to actually be counted as powers, he doubts his own story a lot; even though it seems to be more of a spoken equivalent of automatic, stream-of-consciousness writing than an actual fairy-tale. The moment when he denies everything he said is somewhat painful and it shows a lot about Solos deep inside, as well as whom Han got the cynical approach from.

But those green-brown eyes will see all of this story unfold before them.

 

Thank you for taking your time to read BEDTIME STORY. As most of my work, it was written several years ago.
I wanted the twist on who was telling the story and who was listening.

Lynda V.

 

I enjoyed this! Very nice to see a story featuring a young Han! I loved his curiosity and sense of wonder.

 

Thank thank you for taking your time to read BEDTIME STORY. I've been writing SW fan fiction since 1982 and all were published
in fanzines back in the day. I love writing humor/drama and light romance for the SW characters.

I'm fairly new to online posting and am enjoying it. Also enjoy reading other writer's stories, a lot of talent is displayed.

Have a nice evening. Lynda V.