Saga The Princess Wore Red (fic-gift for Chyntuck) 1/2

Title: The Princess Wore Red
Author: Viridian-Maiden
Summary: Princess Leia goes shopping in Cloud City.

A/N - This was written as a 2014 holiday fic-gift for Chyntuck. Chyntuck asked for:

This is pt. 1 of 2 or maximum 3. Pts. 2/3 coming Saturday/Monday. (And let me just say that I loved this request so much but it's definitely been a challenge. In fact, I had so many ideas in different directions I didn't know quite what to do with them. Also, apparently I can't be short. I can't outdo the amazing job Chyntuck did with mine, and I hope she will excuse my lateness!)

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One​

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“Yeah. I'm responsible these days. It's the price you pay for being successful.”

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Leia was sure she heard the irony in Lando’s voice as she walked with Threepio and Chewbacca down the lit hallways of Cloud City. Lando was just the sort who would be found in a mining colony, she thought to herself as Chewbacca barked at an Aqualish who had come just a little too close while rounding a corner quickly. Calm, controlled, charming…but possibly also cunning. That could be a good or a bad thing, she supposed, but she wasn’t about to let her guard down near him.

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She followed Lando and Han through two bright doors into the comfortable Cloud City reception room. The room was homey – Cloud City had a bright quality that recalled her own planet, and she felt immediately familiar with the circular way the room was oriented. It reminded her of Alderaanian homes, with their emphasis on circular patterns, although the sofas in the room weren’t exactly stylistically close to conversation rounds.

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“Don’t worry,” Han said after Lando had left the three of them alone together. “Like I said, we go way back.”

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“It makes me uneasy,” she said. She glanced around. She was about to ask what happened to Threepio, but Han was already trying to placate.

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“Calm down, will ya?! Chewie and I will get right on mending the hyper drive so we can get out of here and get you back to the rendez-vous point. Nobody’s going anywhere without you, and you know what I mean.”

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Chewie wailed his assent. He looked knowingly at Leia, as though nodding.

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“All right,” she capitulated when she noticed the firm intention in Chewie’s look. “I could use a fresh change of clothes. I wonder if there’s anywhere to get that around here.”

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“Are you kidding?” Han chuckled. He looked at her as though she had never studied popular geography. “One trip down to the casino level and I’m sure we’ll have you looking like the princ…er, spice dealer you’re used to being.”

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Han managed to remember their cover story, at least.

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“But keep your com on you, okay? I don’t want to lose track of either your or Chewie’s signal for one second, no matter how much you think Lando’s your friend.”

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Leia stepped into the main elevator after rounding a few corners of white corridor, next to several humans and two moderately-dressed Sullustan females chattering excitedly. She was only catching every other word – her Sullustan vocabulary was limited mostly to technical terminology and a spattering of spacer slang – but she gathered their agreement about the effects of the civil war on the Sullustan’s galactic social status and their husbands pilot wages.

The humans were all Cloud City residents, or so she concluded from the loose, comfortable look about them and their heartier outer-rim clothing styles. Trade restrictions shuffled the finest items towards the Core and more verbally Empire-aligned systems. Her own rebel-issued snow pants and tauntaun-gel vest had to show she was off-world, but everyone in the elevator appeared taken up with their own business and hardly noticed her over the chirping of their datapads.

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“Gaming?” the Ugnaught operator grunted at her after letting the humans off in an emptier and less cheery-looking mid-level hall. Leia nodded and the Ugnaught stopped at what appeared to be another residence level where they took on an unusually breezy-looking Quarran.

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When Leia reached the casino level, she stepped out of the elevator into a bustling melting pot of shopping and business. It seemed, as Lando had said upstairs, like a small operation compared to the trillion-wager podcircuits on Malistair or the heavily-taxed Jhabacc tables proliferate within the Core.

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Leia walked slowly around the hallway, peering over the railing to watch a green-skinned Twi’lek who had just emerged from a side hallway begin meandering around. He smirked with charm at a group of serious-looking Cereans before looking up to see Leia. His lekku swayed just a little behind him as he ever-so-subtly motioned for her to come down.

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Leia sighed, glancing down at the dirt on her clothes and turning away from the railing.

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Fashion houses filled the corridors around the gaming hall; only a few carried names recognizable to imperial society, but their goods were obviously still too fine for everyday space purposes. Her luggage ended up in her cabin with the fleet. Leia just needed a change of clothes before getting back on the Falcon.

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Despite Han’s joke, Leia didn’t really want to look like a princess – in fact, with no homeworld to speak of she didn’t expect to actually feel like a princess ever again. Regardless, now was not the time for luxury and Leia only wanted to feel comfortable while blending in. She wanted to feel…civilized, at the very least. Selorian silks had no place on the Falcon; that thing was dirty as a grazer’s gut.

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The sound of the tables subsided behind her as she moved to find more local merchants. How much time before Chewie got the hyperdrive fixed? Restlessness wasn’t easing, but the order and nonchalance of Cloud City was working to lessen her initial skepticism and post-traumatic sense of alertness and there was a certain stability to the way the species mingled in friendly, but un-imperial, uniformity.

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“Ever seen a thranta?” A Lutrillian child pulled suddenly on Leia’s arm and asked. The girl pointed to a moving, multi-colored pictorial behind her. “Last in the galaxy, except the ones in the zoo on Coruscant. But ours are better. For 15 total you even get to feed one a fish biscuit.”

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“Yes,” Leia said, shaking her head. “I mean, no. Not now.”

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“It’s only 10 to see one. I’ll even discount the fish biscuit.” The girl’s brown eyes stared expectantly and the folds of skin on her forehead raised slightly.

Leia’s steps hardly slowed; she heard a slight huff as she left the girl to solicit other clients.

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Nothing can give me what I only remember, she reminded herself. Leia didn’t feel a need to inform the girl of the obvious fact that whatever type of flying creature that was, it certainly wasn’t a thranta on the sign.

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I really like the idea that they came up with a alias for Leia on Cloud City - it makes sense and her reflections on what she's lost are very poignant.

 

As I read this, I was commenting to myself about the attention to detail -- the comparison to Alderaanian architecture and decoration, the description of the casino level, the presence of an adequate number of aliens in the population of Cloud City... And then in realised I had asked for that last one It's so seamlessly integrated in the story that I forgot!

Also, when I wrote my request I thought "I hope whoever gets this likes the PT" because it seemed such an obvious choice of background, and I'm delighted you're surprised me. I luuuv the idea of finding out where and how Leia got her Bespin outfit!

This is such a wonderful gift, Viridian-Maiden, and the fact that it's multi-post makes it a luxury gift! Thank you

 

Wonderful start!

I especially love the part when Leia states she really doesn't expect to feel like a princess again. In that one thought, I could really feel her pain.

 

Viridian-Maiden - wonderful slice of life and missing moment of ESB. Great details creating the ambience.

I too was struck by Leia's almost offhand comment about never expecting to feel like a princess again.

 

Interesting idea about her outfit from Bespin - although I always thought it was maroon.

 

Since I was more or less shy when it comes to commenting on people's stories at the time the Holiday Gift Exchange took place, I am going to be annoying and bump this, because it's absolutely cool and I hope the rest of it surfaces someday.

Leia and Han's confrontation is more subtle than in the actual film and therefore more likeable. But what I am intrigued by is the end of this part of the story, with the child. Is Cloud City really as shiny as Lando presented it to us or does it hold some cruel realities the same way Coruscant does? Child labour, perhaps?

Good stuff, either way.

EDIT: I also adore the said red clothing item.

 

Nothing can give me what I only remember, she reminded herself. Leia didn’t feel a need to inform the girl of the obvious fact that whatever type of flying creature that was, it certainly wasn’t a thranta on the sign.

Another short yet beautiful story with much insight. I envy those fanfic authors who can be so brief, precise and elegant like a Japanese haiku.

 

Nice insert into my favorite of the movies. I've seen versions of this with different explanations for the outfit and am looking forward to more of Leia's adventures on the other levels of Bespin.

 

So, I was looking at challenges from years past to see if my story from last exchange is the only aborted one (I needed some comfort) and I realised that this one was not completed, either. GAH, now I want to know what happened!1!1!!1!oneoneone THE AGONYYYYYYYYYYY!

Seriously, Viridian-Maiden - I always wanted to see how this wraps up. So, whenever you're around and having time...