Title: It's a Breeze!
Rating: PG
Description: Challenge: write a short story that encorporates either air, water, fire, earth (or all 4) as the focal point.

'It's a breeze,' he'd said. A piece of cake. "Yeah right," Leia mumbled sourly, running across the field, making yet another fruitless pass. She'd been at it for about a half an hour now with no success. Han had introduced this passtime to her just this morning. He made it look so easy. Indeed, he had insisted it was. But, for some odd reason, she couldn't accomplish it. 'Who's idea was it for me to wear my hair down, anyway?' she thought furiously as her hair was blown relentlessly into her face by the high winds. "Stupid Nerfherder!"

"Did I hear my name?" Han called, running up to her, a basket in one hand and a blanket in the other.

Leia turned, glaring at him. She held out before her the tangled stunt kite. "This is not a breeze, nerfherder!"

He watched her silently for a moment as he set down the basket. She was dressed down for once in a simple t-shirt and slacks. Her hair flew about her like a living thing, and her face had taken on a familiar shade of scarlet thanks to the brisk air as well as her fury. She did look quite angry, but he couldn't help but grin; she also looked increadibly cute. "What's the problem, sweetheart?"

Her mouth dropped open as if to say, 'you couldn't figure that out on your own?' She tossed the stupid kite down in front of her. "I can't do it!" she explained, exhasperated.

Han picked up the blue kite she had dropped and began to untangle it. It was a simple diamond shape, perfect for stunts. He had made it himself, as he had been taught back on Corellia. "But, sweetheart, it's a--"

"A breeze?" she interupted him, eyebrows raised. "No. This--" she gestured toward the sky as the wind picked up again, "--is a breeze. That is an evil device sent by the Empire to drive me crazy!"

He laughed at her, then, unable to stop himself. He saw her warning stare, but he didn't care. He sat down unceremoniously in the grass, holding his sides.

Leia's anger boiled over and she pounced on him. "You nerfherder!" she growled, wrestling him playfully.

Han quickly turned over and pinned her under himself. "Careful, princess. You're gonna get grass stains on that white shirt of yours," he warned, grinning at her.

Her fury began to fade, as she got an idea. Reaching out she pulled a handful of grass from the cool, soft earth beside her and proceeded to rub it against his shirt, laughing mischeviously.

"Hey!" he cried, then grabbed his own handful and fought fire with fire. "Two can play that game, your highness!"

Leia's eyes grew wide for a moment and she grabbed his arm. "Watch your hands, mister," she warned, smiling.

Han was about to respond, when a familiar rumbling sound made itself known, subtly shaking the ground below them. "Uh oh," he mumbled, just before the raindrops began to fall.

She just laughed as the shower quickly drenched them both. "So much for that little picnic," she said, running a hand through his soaked hair. There was something about the rain that made him look...well, pretty damn hot! A sudden burst of light behind him quickly lowered her libido, however. "Lightning!" she gasped, stating the obvious.

He got off of his wife hastily, knowing that an open field was not a good place to be in a thunder storm. "We should get outta here."

Leia gave him a look as if to say, 'duh!' then proceeded to help him gather their belongings.

He looked around for a moment. "Where'd the kite go?"

She pointed up toward the sky, laughing as the paper thin object was pulled to and fro by the strong arms of the wind. "Sure, now it works!"

Han stared dumbly for a moment, mourning the loss of his hard work, then laughed himself. Their mirth was quickly quenched when a second burst of lightening struck the kite, igniting it instantly. "Oops," he said simply, and they watched the orange-red flames lick at the air around it as it fell gracefully to the earth below. Luckily, the strong rain was enough to put out the fire and nothing serious became of it.

With all of their picnic supplies collected, they proceed to run back toward their appartment. As they sprinted, Han shouted above the thunder, "See, I told ya it was a breeze!"

"Nerfherder!!!!"

End