�My Mother�
By Liesel Solo
Chapter 3
Leia stared at the face for several long moments, unable to do anything else. Intense chills repeatedly jolted through her body as she struggled to keep her breath steady. The awful memories of the frozen form of Han Solo seemed to be escaping the confinement of her brain and once again stimulating her actual senses. She saw Han....then she saw the woman....then she saw Han again...the images were taking turns in front of her eyes, as though determined to lead her to madness. She closed her eyes, but the ghastly images appeared beneath her eyelids, soundlessly crying in pain, soundlessly calling out to her to free them from their deathlike nightmare....
Free her! When those two words entered Leia�s head she suddenly snapped back to complete reality. She quickly slipped her light down to the side of the carbonite box to read the life monitors.
Leia�s eyes grew as wide as their sockets would allow. The woman in the carbonite was alive!
Leia gulped as she crouched down beside the box. Though she had successfully freed someone from carbonite once before, she was still hesitant to do it again. She remembered how Han had shaken in her arms, blind, ill, disoriented. He had later told her that his only source of comfort during the completely overwhelming time of coming out of hibernation had been the knowledge that someone he knew and loved was with him. Leia shuddered. She had heard that some people had gone insane after being unfrozen, and in this case, she was not someone the woman knew and loved, but a complete stranger. What sort of comfort could she offer?
Despite her doubts, Leia would have to do what she could to help this woman. She could feel something - almost like a voice was telling her to set the woman free. A deep breath filled her lungs before she worked the controls to melt the carbonite.
Time was repeating itself. The woman�s body glowed red as the carbonite melted, her mouth and hands slowly and stiffly began to move, it was all so eerily similar to Han�s decarbonization. Leia held her breath, anxiously waiting for the woman to wake up, as though she were an old friend instead of a stranger.
Finally, the process was complete, and the woman gasped as her eyes slowly opened. Her body started shivering violently as she took in uneven breaths. Leia quickly reached out and took the woman�s icy cold hand. �It�s all right,� she said in a steady voice. �It�s over. You�ll be all right.�
�I-I...I can�t see,� the woman gasped.
Were those always the first words people uttered when they came out of hibernation? Leia wondered. She gently stroked the woman�s stiff hand. �The hibernation sickness will wear off and your eyesight will return,� she continued, amazed at how confident she was sounding. �I don�t know who you are or how long you were in that carbonite, but I�m here to help you.� She carefully reached behind the woman�s back to help her sit up. �Come with me. You�re going to be fine, I promise.�
To Leia�s complete surprise, the woman complied to her request. She seemed to automatically trust Leia as she helped her stand up and guided her towards the stairs, like they knew each other before. Even stranger was that Leia felt like they knew each other. As she touched the woman�s cold skin, she could sense a connection, a deep connection, a connection that felt like a bonding of the souls. Her curiosity grew more and more intense with each step. Who was this woman?
She turned and looked into the woman�s blind eyes, and the world disappeared. Though those eyes could not see, they seemed to reach out to Leia and pull her into the very soul of the woman, which was an inviting place, a comforting place, a place where no harm could come to her.
Leia quickly turned her eyes away, a bit overwhelmed by this experience. Right now she had to concentrate on getting this woman to her home, where she could rest and recover her strength. But, no matter how hard Leia tried to concentrate on that, she could not ignore the silent voices that were speaking to her.
You know this woman, they were saying. You know this woman.
Chapter 4
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