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"So we give them a false rendezvous point," Kiro said. When they arrive, we'll confiscate their comlinks, then lead them to the princess. That way, they have no chance to report her coordinates to anyone."

"I think you're forgetting our biggest problem," Han cut in. "We can handle this amateur stuff—but the Imperials are on their way. Am I the only one who'd rather be someplace else when they arrive?"

"Sounds like the Empire is expecting Halle and Nahj to do their dirty work for them,"

Kiro argued. "You can spend the night on your ship—it's safer there, anyway. We meet first thing in the morning. You'll be offplanet by the time Nahj and his group know what happened."

"Risky, but it could work," Elad said.

"I don't know," Luke said, watching Kiro closely. It felt wrong to discuss Leia's safety with outsiders in the room. "It sounds dangerous."

"Since when are you afraid of a little danger?" Leia asked.

"This is different," Luke said fiercely.

"Why?"

Because this is you. But he knew better than to say it loud.

The night is alive with shadows. Leia can feel them out there watching her, following her. She wants to go home.

But the streets all look the same. She is walking in circles. Lost.

The palace sits on a wide stretch of ground, its towers climbing high into the sky. She should be able to see it in the distance—but the buildings block her view. She needs to get to high ground.

She comes upon a half-finished building, a thin durasteel crane climbing up its stories of scaffolding. This is her answer. She scrambles onto the mast of the crane, propelling herself up its rungs. It's easy, like climbing a ladder, and soon she is ten stories above the ground. The arm of the crane overhangs a narrow catwalk that wraps around the unfinished building. She climbs onto it, slowly circling the scaffolding, staring out at the city. Your city, her father always tells her. Someday, it will be your responsibility.

The city twinkles beneath her, and she can see the lights of the palace off to the east.

She knows the way home.

Eagerly, she climbs down. Too eagerly.

Her foot skids off a rung.

Her fingers slip.

She is falling.

She reaches out but her hands clutch nothing but air. The rushing wind is icy against her face. For a moment, time seems to stretch out. She notices the moonlight glimmering off the durasteel. The stars twinkling overhead. The strange freedom of the fall, her legs and arms flailing through empty air, her stomach in her throat. And then the world speeds up again, and the ground, an unforgiving plane of duracrete, once so far away, is hurtling toward her. She screams, but the wind snatches the shriek out of her mouth and carries it away, and the ground is closer, and she is—

Caught.

For a moment, she thinks her father has saved her. But it is not her father lowering her to the ground. It is the detestable Fess Ilee.

She jerks away from him and dusts herself off.

" What are you doing here? " she asks, her heart still pounding. She looks up to the top of the crane—up and up—wondering what would have happened if he hadn't caught her.

I would have caught myself , she thinks angrily. But he didn't give me the chance.

" I've come to take you home Leia, " he says.

She crosses her arms. " I don't need you, " she spits out. I can do it myself. I know how to go. "

He nods. " Then you lead the way. "

She walks east. She doesn't look back. Fess makes no noise, but she knows he is following. A small piece of her is glad. This only makes her hate him more.

The walk is long, her legs tired. As night leaks into day, she can barely keep her eyes open. She sits for a moment to rest, and lets her eyes drift shut. Only for a moment.

The next thing she knows, someone is carrying her. " Father? " she murmurs, still half asleep.

" It's just Fess, " he says.

She wants to tell him that she doesn't need him, that she can do it herself. But she is so tired.

" Don't worry, you're safe with me. "

She yawns, and closes her eyes again. " I know. "

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

"You sure about this?" Luke asked