Saga - OT FIRESIDE REVERIE

A rustle of leaves drew Luke Skywalker's attention from the burning embers he'd been staring into for the past hour. He glanced up to see Han Solo standing opposite from where he was sitting on the rough-hewn log bench. The tall Corellian was silhouetted against the star sparkled blackness of the Endor night, his dark features lit only by the shadowy flicker of flames from the fire.


"What are you still doing up?" Han asked, stradding a long bench. "The whole village has gone to sleep. Every last furry critter." Han joked about their new found allies, the Ewoks.


Luke smiled, poking absently into the fire with a long, forked branch causing sparks reminiscent of the fireworks earlier in the evening, to shower the ground around them.


"Just thinking" He responded. I thought you 'd be with Leia."


"She's asleep." Han told him. "What were you thinking about?" Han prodded, not really being nosy. Luke hesitated a moment, not reluctant to talk, but wanted to be sure he could voice his feelings.


"Just about how things have turned out." He began. "Losing Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen. Ben telling me he knew my father. Then Vader, the most hated man in the galaxy, tells me HE'S my father. Later, I find out Leia is my twin sister. Soon, you and Leia will be married and you, my best friend will become my brother-in-law." Han smiled at Luke. "It
just seems I've lost so much and gained so much all at the time time." Luke finished.


"I know exactly how you feel." Han commented, his eyes clouding with memories. "After leaving my home-world and living the way I have, I never thought I would ever care for anything or anyone again. Much less be lucky enough to have a family like you and Leia."


Luke listened intently. In the years he'd known Han he'd never heard him be so open about his past. The young Jedi had often wondered, but never pressed the subject knowing if and when his friend wanted to talk about it he would.


"Threre's even more change coming." Luke continued. "Soon, I'll be training new Jedi in the re-established Republic and, in time." Luke grinned knowingly at Han, "you and Leia will give me nieces and nephews."


Their talk over, the two men sat in the comfortable silence that surrounds friends and watched as the last ember of the fire died into the ashes.

"We better get some sleep, kid." Solo used the term affectionally. "Tomorrow will come soon enough and all those things you're looking forward to won't come about by themselves. It's gonna take a lot of work."


They began to walk toward the huts.


"Uh..Han...don't tell Leia about our conversation . I don't want her to think I'm too sentimental." Luke requested.


The Corellian slapped the Jedi playfully on the shoulder and laughed. "Me, neither, kid,.........
me neither."

 

First off this is a really neat concept for a story. In films once the villains have been defeated the story ends but in life the story continues and it's cool to see characters dealing with their emotions in the space after a major event.

However as I'm reading though this I'm thinking to myself "what are these characters feeling deep down?" With Luke we don't get his feelings so much as a recap of events, events of which Han is fully aware already and so is the reader. With Han we get to see a little more but I think you could go a little bit deeper.

That said, I felt the strong connection between Han and Luke in this piece. There was a definite camaraderie between them, and it's nice to see that Han still thinks of Luke as "kid" despite how much he has grown and matured. Cool wee story!

 

Wonderful sense of serenity and sharing between two friends. On the shape of the dialogue/conversation, I feel like the "deep" things are still being absorbed and gotten used to. I have a sense that whatever profound things Han and Leia talk about in the days or weeks to come, it'll come as they adjust and can articulate them. LOL Any self-disclosure to any degree for Han is something special.

 

You clearly have a deep love for Han. Nothing wrong with that, of course.

You seem to understand Han better than many others, if I do say so myself.

 

I thought I have left a review of your other Endor story, but now I'm not quite sure, so I'm sorry if I'm repeating myself - I love the way you depict the atmosphere in terms of scents, onomatopoeia of the surroundings... to the point where I can almost feel the fire. And I love the way you give respect to the local sentients and their culture, no matter how primitive. Thank you for that.

As Darth Kronos said, you clearly have a deep love for Han and the way you get his mimic, common phrases he would most definitely utter and how he would support Luke, yet tease him is spot-on.

The idea of an after-party, after-everything, what-now scene is always hard to write; but this one is believable and touching. Thank you for sharing that with us.